Review of One Summer by David Baldacci

One Summer
David Baldacci
Grand Central
ISBN 13: 9780446583145
337 pages

It’s days until Christmas and this year in the Armstrong home they aren’t waiting for Santa, they’re waiting for dad to die. Jack Armstrong gave it the good fight and in the end it’s the kids and especially Lizzie that he’ll miss when the light finally goes out. He spends his final days with what little strength he has to write Lizzie a letter a day in which to pour out his heart and his love.  Then on Christmas Eve the unthinkable happens and Lizzie is killed in an accident. Left with no choice Jack agrees to go into Hospice care while the children are whisked away and split up between family members far away while he’s left to die alone. With only breaths left Jack makes his peace only to find that the universe has something entirely different in store for him.  

David Baldacci is in a class by himself when it comes to telling a story, from the first paragraph he has his audience right in the palm of his hand and in this case with tissues. He takes us on an emotional ride with his plot of death, illness, regret and despair and just when all faith is gone he gives us that ultimate emotion, hope. The narrative is so exact that you can feel the salt breeze on your face and the brightness of the lighthouse in your eyes. The author then goes one step more and conveys his characters emotions so well that you can feel the anger the hurt and the joy in equal measure. He gives us remarkably unforgettable characters, not celebrities but just everyday Joe and Jills that put one foot in front of the other to make it through another day. Mr. Baldacci does an amazing job with his protagonist Jack, portraying a realistic picture of a man in crisis. His other characters are imperative to his story, from the children to Jack’s in-laws, Jenna and Liam to the petty villains.

Be prepared for a memorable journey, a journey from the abyss back to the living, from the heartbreak of loss to the spirit of renewal, from the terror of loosing love to the elation of finding it again and maybe the most important lesson we’ll learn is that blind faith is blind for a reason. Take this journey with your eyes open so you don’t miss a stop on the trip because with every destination you’ll learn something important.

This is a love story, a family drama, and an important piece of literary fiction, it’s also the first must read of the summer and a title you’ll find yourself going back to time and time again.
Buy the book here visit the author’s website here

Review of Trespasser by Paul Doiron

Trespasser

Paul Doiron
Minotaur Books
ISBN 13: 9780312558475
320 pages

Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden, is not what you’d call an exemplary employee, he’s earned a reputation as a hot headed rule breaker during his last case involving his father and unfortunately it’s still following him, the one good thing to come out of all of this is his rekindled relationship with his girlfriend Sarah who has decided to move back into the home they once shared. Mike gets called to a deer/car accident where the woman driver is mysteriously missing and amidst all his other cases and along with his mentor Charley he gets pulled deeper and deeper into this one when it seems that the other agencies involved brush it aside. When the woman is found murdered there are many similarities to a murder case from years ago a case where a local man is still imprisoned for the crime. Mike is unaware of the danger he is putting himself in by nosing around in this case, but he will soon find out, if he survives.

I first met Mr. Doiron during the discussion of his first novel about Mike Bowditch with First Look group at B&N.com book clubs and was very impressed not only with his characters but his exquisite descriptions of the Maine wilderness and wildlife, he made the novel very real for me with his words. This novel is no less descriptive and captivating as from the very first page he has me wondering where the path is leading to and who will live and who will die in his second thriller. The plot pulls you right in with the mysterious disappearance and he keeps us enthralled with the twists and turns not just of this story line but the others that he introduces us too as well. The narrative is a study in Maine wildlife habitat and lifestyle between the haves the have nots and the in betweens filled with dialogue that matches each to perfection. The characters are all excellent and we learn more about our protagonist and what makes him tick as we watch him slowly and at times painfully climb to his potential. Mr. Doiron’s other characters are a study of human nature and sociology, we also in this novel get to know the enigmatic Sarah who we only met peripherally last time.

If you like investigations that take on a somewhat environmental view of mystery and thrillers you will like this. If you like being on the front lines when a new series is started, here is only number two. If you love a great mystery, a drama and a protagonist who’s not perfect give this series a try.
This reads well as a stand a lone, but my suggestion is to read The Poacher’s Son when you’re through with this and find out all about Mike from the beginning.
Mr. Doiron I am now anxiously waiting for number three.
Buy the book here visit the author’s website here.

Review of Tangled Threads by Jennifer Estep

Tangled Threads

Jennifer Estep
Pocket Books
ISBN 13:9781439192634
357 pages

Tangled Threads is the fourth in the Elemental Assassin series

It seems that ever since Gin Blanco the infamous assassin known as the Spider finally decided to hang up her Silverstone knives and retire, she’s been busier than ever. She’s trying to rid the world of Mab Monroe the Fire Elemental that’s responsible for the annihilation of her family and assorted other atrocities. She’s trying to reconnect with the sister she thought dead for so long who recently came back to Ashland wearing a gold detective’s badge, something an assassin really wants in her family. And she’s still getting comfortable getting cozy with Millionaire Businessman Owen Grayson and of course she’s still running her murdered adoptive father’s barbeque joint The Pork Pit. Suddenly Ashland’s become a lot more crowded, could it be because there’s one too many assassins in town, oh the "Tangled Threads" we weave.

Jennifer Estep launched her new series right in the middle of the paranormal/urban fantasy craze that seems to be going around right now. And with so many out there Ms. Estep’s is very original as she brings the elements into her weaponry where the subjects use the forces of nature and earth to power their personal artillery and where the heroine isn’t some fair flower feminine Miss, no she’s a rock-em socke-em, bad to the bone paid to kill people assassin and yet she’s got a heart of gold would never consider killing with the possibility of collateral damage and would do anything to protect those she loves and cares for. The narrative is exactly what you’d expect in an avant-garde read with the in your face dialogue used by the undesirables of society, so don’t read it in church. The heroine is as unique as the tale, she’s hard nosed meets heart of gold, she’s not afraid to slice open your throat if that’s what needs doing, but it’s her emotional heart that she has trouble with and Ms. Estep has picked the perfect man for the hero job in Owen Grayson, he’s an semi-honest business man who’s not afraid to look the other way when Gin does her thing and that’s not something that Gin’s used to and is having trouble accepting Owen at face value. The romance is as in your face as the characters and the love scenes are excellently camouflaged and veiled behind doors so if the blood shed doesn’t scare you off the sex scenes definitely won’t.

Come meet the world according to Gin, see the world through her eyes and you will be an instant fan.
Thank you Jennifer Estep for a Butt-Kicking series I can really get into, I can’t wait for the next installment.
Buy the book here visit the author’s website here

Review of Baby Drive South by Stephanie Bond

Baby Drive South
Stephanie Bond
Mira
329 pages
ISBN 13:9780778329442

 Over a decade ago Sweetness Georgia was swept away by a monster F-5 Tornado destroying every standing building and amazingly without loss of life. Now after their stints in the various arms of the military the Armstrong brothers with the help of men they personally recruited and a government grant are back to rebuild the town, only now it’ll be better than before it’ll be eco-friendly and it’ll sustain itself and it’s residents on environmentally approved businesses. The only trouble, the town needs women, lots of them and fast so the brothers advertise in a small northern town hit hard by the economy looking for 100 pioneer minded women to help these brothers and their men rebuild this town.

The youngest Armstrong, Porter is looking forward to this influx of females, so much so that he’s been known to stand on top of the water tower looking for them and one such day he sees a huge cloud of dust on the horizon and realizes it’s a ton of vehicles headed their way, on his way down to alert the town he falls off the tower and breaks his leg. He’s rescued by the petite Dr. Nikki Salinger who has her own reasons for coming to this back water town, but she’s not so sure she’s staying. Porter is told by his brothers to keep Nikki there at any cost, he just didn’t know it would cost him his heart.

This is a very interesting and very cute concept for a trilogy. Ms. Bond does a good job with her story line making me want to find out what happens next, making me interested in what happens to the characters, and making me like the characters. I liked her down-home southern dialogue from the Armstrongs  mixed with the mixed cultures of the women and a few strings of expletives when they’re needed. The characters were funny and interesting and pretty three dimensional. The hero and heroine were also in depth characters and I found myself liking them very much. The romance was predictable but it really fit in with the concept of the novel and worked really well. The love scenes are steamy and sexy.

Take a breather this summer to enjoy the first in this brand new trilogy, I wasn’t sorry and you won’t be either.
Buy the book here visit the author’s website here

Review of The Beach Trees by Karen White

The Beach Trees

Karen White

Penguin Group

432 pages

ISBN 13: 9780451233073

 Julie Holt knows better than most that “death and loss plague you”, she’s had a lot in her life and now as she starts on this new and frightening adventure she feels it all again. Being named as guardian to her friend’s small son after her death leaves more questions than answers for Julie so she loads herself and her small ward and goes to the other thing left to her by her friend, a home in Biloxi Mississippi named River Song. When she arrives it’s to see only empty landscape where once a house stood and so she takes her next step in this journey to the family that her friend left behind. Maybe she’ll find answers, maybe she’ll find solutions or maybe she’ll just find more questions.

Reading a novel by Karen White always reminds me of salt sea breezes, sitting on a swing on a wide wrap around porch and sipping sweet tea and I always have one handy to read during my long Midwest winters while ice pelts the windows and the furnace works overtime to heat my home. This novel is no different only that I read it during the humid late spring instead.

 Set in the aftermath of the storm known as Katrina, Ms. White gives us in this incredible read a story line that will appeal to the mystery lover, the romance lover, the family drama lover and the literary fiction lover all in one with a tale that will entertain and educate us as she takes us deftly on her twists and turns and knots our emotions as she spins her tale. She gives us her narrative with a bit of southern hospitality mixed with New England stubbornness and an all American apple pie goodness. Her characters will endear themselves to us and by making them so believably real she also makes them temporary friends as each person she creates becomes someone we must know better and we do. She will also give us a hint of a romance to come and explore love stories gone by and the secrets, tragedies and milestones they’ve endured.

So come with me on this sentimental journey, learn to love again, learn to hope again and learn to live again with her incredible story and the people who tell it. This is your first must read of the summer, a perfect beach read, a vacation staple and a friend you’ll look for again at another point down your road.

Buy the book here visit the author’s website here

Review of Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson

Any Man of Mine

Rachel Gibson

Harper Collins

384 pages

ISBN 13: 9780061579110

Autumn Haven came to Vegas for a much needed vacation and armed with her to-do list she planned to hit the jackpot. What she didn’t plan on was finding I’m too sexy for my hockey stick Sam LeClaire, what she didn’t expect was to be wined, dined and seduced into next Saturday. She may not have expected that, but that and more is what she got.
Sam LeClaire the infamous Seattle Chinooks player knew what to expect in Vegas  what he didn’t expect was Autumn Haven and how she made him feel. What he didn’t expect was his darn the consequences exploit and his cowardice afterward.

Fast forward five years and Sam sees those consequences with every scheduled visit with his and Autumn’s son Conner, then Sam has a revelation that changes his outlook on Conner and on Autumn too and just maybe those wild days and crazy nights in Vegas was the start of something after all.

Several years ago while looking for something to entertain myself I picked up Rachel Gibson’s Not Another Bad Date, the cover intrigued me and the blurb decided my purchase and ever since I’ve been a Gibson Girl, why, let me tell you the ways.

Rachel Gibson can take an oversexed, larger than life hockey star and cut him off at the knees, make him a regular Joe and turn him into every girl’s dream hero, she can  take a down on her luck lady and make sure she turns her into Helen Ready’s W-O-M-A-N and not take one inch of femininity away from her and that’s just what you get with Any Man Of Mine. She gives us a great yet simple story line that anyone can understand and enjoy with easy to read dialogue and characters that will ingratiate themselves to us and make us keep turning those pages. Our hero Sam will frustrate and charm his way into your heart just like he does his heroine Autumn and Autumn is every little girls dream of a heroine, strong, determined and won’t take any hockey puck off anyone. The romance is filled with missed possibilities, grave mistakes and other varied minefields, will they get their HEA in spite of all that, you’ll have to read it yourself to answer that question. The love scenes are harder hitting than getting face planted in the rink, full of lust, desire and descriptive bedroom scenes that don’t all happen in bedrooms.

So if you’re looking for a read to heat up the summer, look no farther. If you’re not a fan of Rachel Gibson it’s only because you’ve never read her. If you love a quick easy romance that heat up the pages this one’s for you. If you like Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Kristan Higgans you’ll like the work of Rachel Gibson.

Buy the book here visit the author’s website here

Review of The Warrior by Claire Delacroix

The Warrior
Claire Delacroix
Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B00562R5AU
File Size 449 KB

The Hawk came back to Inverfyre to collect his rightful inheritance, the one his mother barely escaped from with her life when he was in her belly. While visiting a distant neighbor he falls under the spell of Aileen of Abernye, and knows he must have her for his bride, but she brings more than passion, she brings visions, visions that he’s tried to forget, visions of a past he knew and one he doesn’t.  Aileen has never tasted desire from a man only fear, that is until The Hawk of Inverfyre comes calling. His courtship is rather unique, as it’s really a kidnapping. But there’s no denying the passion that’s between them, there’s also no denying the haunting the meeting has seemed to bring forth. There are prophecies and curses waiting to be fulfilled for the Hawk and his lady, the question is whether they stop the curse or relive it yet again.

Fortunately for her fans Claire Delacroix’s 2004 novel The Warrior is being re-released in digital form with a brand new cover but the same wonderful story a story that kept the middle ages alive, a story about a curse and the two people who could fulfill it. I love that the story is a continuation of The Rogue which is the love story of The Hawk’s parents. I love her dialogue in her historical romances, it always reflects the setting of the read with just enough period speak to make it effective while at the same time is current enough that anyone would be able to easily read and understand it. Her characters are larger than life riding warhorses and wearing chainmail, living in towers of keeps in the early 15^th Century Scotland and every single one of those characters are worthy of their own story.  The best and brightest though without a doubt are Michael (the Hawk) and Aileen, we readers will laugh, cry and scream right along with them as they fall face first into love. We will have front row seats for their romance as they stumble their way to their Happy Ever After. The love scenes are steamy and sensual but with longing and loving that wouldn’t put off any romance lover.

So come back and experience the last Rogue of Ravensmuir, come back to the late middle ages, come back to when a knight knew how to court his lady and a lady knew how to wield a weapon to defend her family and her home. If you missed it the first time get it now in e-form, if you had it before get it again, you won’t be sorry.

Visit the author’s website here buy the digital format here