Fiction

Review: The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable

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New England family saga set in a beach town – my cup of tea! Author Michelle Gable puts the reader on Cissy’s bicycle for a Nantucket journey through time. The Cliff House holds memories and secrets – and Gable does a phenomenal job weaving them together. With flashbacks to the 1940s, we find out what the Cliff House meant to Cissy’s mother … then fast forward to find out what makes it so hard for Cissy to leave. 

My favorites parts were the Bess parts. Love that Cissy’s daughter came to “save” her from herself -and Mother Nature.  Bess is a woman I can identify with – good head on her shoulders, self-reliant, smart. When she’s dealt a raw deal, Bess puts it aside to help her mom. And when high school ex boyfriend Evan comes into the picture, Bess lets herself lean on him just a little bit. 

I’m not a flashback kinda reader, so I wish this was actually two separate books. I loved the Ruby-Hattie friendship and the marriage issues described in the ’40s and could’ve read about that all day long.  I also totally enjoyed some of the contemporary romance going on in the 2010s – as well as the mother-daughter dynamic and the environmental issues that arose on the island cliffs. But mostly the romance. 🙂

-Calliope 

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Review: The Romeo Catchers by Alys Arden

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I love vampires.  And witches.  And scary stuff in general.  But I also love history.  And when all those things are wrapped around a great story set in New Orleans, it’s usually a winner for me.

This is the sequel to The Casquette Girls, another outstanding story.  So if you haven’t read that one, stop right now and go read it.  It’s not an absolute necessity, but it makes this one so much easier to follow.

The Casquette Girls

But back to this one…

The story picks up shortly after the first one.  It’s several months after Hurricane Katrina.  Nicco and his vampire kin are safely tucked back into the attic at the Ursuline Convent.  So all should be well.  But of course it’s not.  A new danger is lurking in the city.  And all roads lead back to the Medici.  Adele and Isaac’s relationship is tested as she can’t get away from her memories of Nicco.  Will their love, and the coven, be strong enough to survive?

This is a looong book.  But anything less would have left out too many important details.  I love the author’s knowledge of the city and the way her words pull you in.  I could feel myself walking along the dark streets of the French Quarter, just waiting for something to jump out.  The sights, sounds, and smells are all there.  And that cover!  I’ve been waiting for this sequel for a very long time.  And now I begin waiting for the next one…

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The Romeo Catchers

Review: I am Death by Chris Carter

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i-am-deathHaving just turned the last page I have to say this book was fantastic. It was also one of the most disturbing books I’ve ever read. Talk about taking deviance to a whole new extreme!

You’ve read one thriller, you’ve read them all right? I mean some might be better or more thrilling (see what I did there?) than others, but at the end of the day they are all the same basket of fish, eh? Wrong! This one had me hooked from page one and breathless all the way to the end.

I had to find out more about Chris Carter since this was the first time I had picked up one of his books. After looking up the author’s profile here I admit to finding his history quite fascinating as well…

Can’t wait to read more from this series and anything else Carter has penned!

Until next time…
Urania xx

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

Buy it now I am Death by Chris Carter

Review: The Final Vow by Amanda Flower 

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This is number three in a series – and I so wish I had read the first two, well, first. I totally dug the storyline: Kelsey Cambridge, historical farm director gets herself embroiled in a murder mystery. And I dug the characters: bridezilla, jerky ex, perky assistant, grouchy good old boys club, Wonder Woman wedding planner, and uber-supportive wannabe boyfriend. But I struggled to empathize with them, because I didn’t get to know them deeply enough. I almost felt my heartbeat faster when things got a little dicey for Kelsey, but for the most part I was on an even keel, just watching the events unfold but not really feeling them. 

I think I need to read number four though. Now that I’ve been introduced to Kelsey et al, I need to see where the romances go, how the Cherry Foundation decides to proceed, and if ringing the bell makes it into daily rotation at Barton Farm. By the end, I was invested, and now I need more!

-Calliope

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Review: One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline

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Lisa Scottoline is greatness.  She has a way of pulling you in from the very first sentence and then not letting you go until the last page.  This latest thriller is no exception.

Chris Brennan is not who you think he is.  He seems like a perfect candidate for a small-town coaching/teaching position.  But everything about him is a lie.  And there’s a lot at stake, including lives.  Among the cast of characters are high schoolers with troubles of their own, single moms trying to get by, and married couples coping with lies as well.

I will tell you that this book made me think one thing at the beginning but then made me change my mind several times along the way.  It’s not who you think it is, and it’s not why, either.

This one is a great suspense story.  My only complaint is that the ending seemed a bit rushed in a bid to tie up loose ends.  That doesn’t take anything away from the riveting story, though.

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  One Perfect Lie

Review: Every Other Wednesday by Susan Kietzman

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This is the story of three women moving from one phase to another in their life journeys, meeting for lunch to vent and learn and make decisions.

I would’ve liked more depth of character and personality in Joan, Ellie and Alice. I saw a lot of their behaviors but didn’t feel like I knew them very well. And because I didn’t know them, their behaviors annoyed me instead of endearing me, which is too bad because this could’ve been a terrific book. 

Unfortunately, the book seemed more like a list of “sins” (in the characters’ eyes) — gambling, homosexuality, a woman making her own money —  than a story of three authentic women. 

I did like the title, and it reminded me of another “Wednesday” book I’ve read — one I absolutely adored: The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, which got 4 fat and happy stars from me. 

-Calliope 

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Review: Four Bridesmaids and a White Wedding by Fiona Collins 

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What a hoot! Wendy’s getting married, and the bridesmaids do some early celebrating on a spa weekend. Except the spa part falls through and they’d never guess what was in store for them instead. 
Collins successfully writes this romcom with a true ensemble cast. Each woman reminded me of someone I know in real life, so reading this book became something of a movie in my head with my friends as the actors.  I won’t name names here, but if you read it you might recognize yourself. (For the record, I’m either Tasmin or JoJo.)

Four Bridesmaids is lighthearted for sure, but does take a somewhat serious look at the sacredness of relationships and our responsibilities in maintaining them. Collins also illustrates the strong bonds of female friendship. Sometimes all it takes is knowing you’ve found a kindred spirit to shine the light of truth on your life, and give you a happy nudge forward. 

-Calliope 

Buy FOUR BRIDESMAIDS AND A WHITE WEDDING ($2.99 hey now!)

Review: The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

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valley-amazementI absolutely loved parts of this book, but then parts of it bored me to tears. Parts were well detailed, other parts seemed like hours and hours of wasted details, and yet others seemed lacking in details. I also felt strongly that Tan just invented a few parts of the novel to add more drama and those parts,for me, took away a great deal from the book.

I don’t begrudge Tan for making the book almost 600 pages long. However, I think the 600 pages had many parts that were missing and many that were not needed…the different storylines, although connected, just felt so out of balance.

The whole *****SPOILER**** man in the country basically holding the wives hostage and escaping over a mountainside just seemed so out of tune with the rest of the novel. Then we finally have this novel ending in a mad rush to tie everything together and reunite certain characters. We spend hundreds of pages with the finer details of what some of the women went though to have one of the main focal character summarize her life in a couple of pages saying how bad it was to virtual strangers…again, it just didn’t ring true with me.

As a massive Tan fan, this one left me feeling a bit flat…even more so because I genuinely started out loving it and loved so many parts of it…but at the end of the day, I can’t give it more than a mediocre rating…something I don’t like doing to a beloved author…

Until next time…
Urania xx

Buy it now The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan

Review: Silent in the Sanctuary (Lady Julia Grey #2) by Deanna Raybourn

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silent-sancI didn’t like this one nearly as much as I did the first book in the Lady Grey series. I have to admit, I started to give it a mediocre rating. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it, I just felt it was missing some of the charm and the prepossessing nature of the first novel. Let’s also be honest and admit I felt some of the banter between Ms. Grey and Brisbane was missing…or there wasn’t enough of it. Julia Grey seemed a bit fickle at times, wanting her independence and then being a bit disappointed when Brisbane didn’t pressure her or demand answers. However, I have to be honest and say that’s often how it is in real life, is it not?

However, the few talks that Julia has with a few characters at the end really made me love this book. There really was some profound tidbits in there that made me sit back, stop the book, and marvel at how even a light, fun read can make you ponder life.

Now living in England, stories such as these really are a delight since I am familiar with many of the places that are mentioned. I was often able to see that some life long traditions and some favourite places of the characters are now some of my favourite traditions and places of my very own.

There were several storylines going on in this novel, so I shall leave the description and plot summary to the book’s cover and to other reviewers, and, instead, leave you with a few of my favourite quotes from this one…

I took a sip of my tea and averted my eyes. The tea was bitter now, and I put it down again.

‘Ah, the taste of regret,’ Magda said softly. ‘You wish you had not come. But you did, and you must let me finish the tale I have begun.’

Those are facts. Are they the truth? No, for they do not tell you of the heart, and that is where truth lives.

It is astonishing how words can cut one to the quick and yet leave no outward trace. One would have expected a lash like that to leave a mark.

Life is either far too short or far too long to make yourself miserable.

‘But surely such things are better left unknown, I too have the curious cousins, but we do not speak of them.’
‘That is the difficulty, my dear. In your family you do not speak of them. In my family, we celebrate them. In Italy, one must always be conscious of la bella figura, of presenting one’s best self. Among the Marches, we please ourselves and the devil take the rest.’

Until next time…
Urania xx

Buy it now Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

Review: The Thing About Love by Julie James

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Jessica Harlow (love that name) and John Shepard went to the FBI academy together – and everything was a competition.  After six years in different offices, they’re back in their hometown of Chicago, working an undercover operation… together. 

Julie James did her thing with this book – infused the right amount of levity, tension, witty banter, fierceness, and tenderness. In The Thing About Love, James gives us cool bromances, family get togethers, a trendy bar scene, and a trashy egomaniac of a mayor that you’ll love to hate. By the middle of the book, I KNEW Jessica and John, I rooted for them as they figured out how much of themselves to share, my jaw dropped when they moved their relationship in various directions, and I cried when Jessica finally saw her own truth. 

I couldn’t put down this book for the life of me. I read it while I brushed my teeth and then stayed up really late and by that time I was at 84% so I just stayed up even later to finish it.

I finally saw the last page at 2:30am, got 4 hours of sleep, and I’m not even sorry. It’s a really good story with badass FBI agents. If that’s not enough for you, there’s a Gucci happily ever after, too. 

-calliope

Buy THE THING ABOUT LOVE