Author Jill Shalvis Never Disappoints!

July 29, 2015July 28, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

I read a lot of contemporary romance books, although lately, I haven’t been reading much. The books seem to carry the same theme and they were all starting to sound alike. I’ve even passed on some new books by a few of my favorite authors. But then one of my most favorite authors came out with a new series and I gave her new book a shot. Nirvana! I was not disappointed in the least!

Second Chance Summer by Jill Shalvis is the first book in her new series, Cedar Ridge. Cedar Ridge, Colorado, is famous for crisp mountain air, clear blue skies, and pine-scented breezes. And it’s the last place Lily Danville wants to be. But she needs a job, and there’s an opening at the hottest resort in her hometown. What has her concerned is the other hot property in Cedar Ridge: Aidan Kincaid-firefighter, rescue worker, and heartbreaker. She never could resist that devastating smile .

The Kincaid brothers are as rough and rugged as the Rocky Mountains they call home. Aidan has always done things his own way, by his own rules. And never has he regretted anything more than letting Lily walk out of his life ten years ago. If anyone has ever been in need of rescuing, she has. What she needs more than anything are long hikes, slow dances, and sizzling kisses. But that can only happen if he can get her to give Cedar Ridge-and this bad boy-a second chance .

There have been plenty of books about firefighters and rescuers, but somehow (because she’s overflowing with talent?), Ms. Shalvis consistently writes books that are fresh, new, and exciting – and this one is a real page turner. From the very first chapter, you are completely engaged in the characters and the location. Readers can relate to the Kincaid family – it is flawed and struggling with a life that hasn’t been easy. Ms. Shalvis’ description of the town of Cedar Ridge makes you want to move there. The story flawlessly moves along enveloping you in lots of romance and laughter, great chemistry between characters, and enticing secondary characters throughout that make you very excited for the next book to come out!

POST NOTE: On July 25, 2015, Ms. Shalvis was awarded a RITA award at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York City for her book, One In A Million, the last book in her Lucky Harbor series.

(RITA Award – The purpose of the RITA award is to promote excellence in the romance genre by recognizing outstanding published romance novels and novellas. The award itself is a golden statuette named after RWA’s first president, Rita Clay Estrada, and has become the symbol for excellence in published romance fiction.)

Linda Reads: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

March 29, 2015March 5, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a poignant, beautifully written book that takes us back in history to France during World War II.

The book starts off in present day and the story is told by an elderly woman facing a move into a nursing home to face her last battle, cancer. But first, she has something she must do.

The story follows two sisters, Viann and Isabelle Rossignol, who have always been close despite their differences. Younger, bolder sister Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann lives a quiet and content life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. When World War II strikes and Antoine is sent off to fight, Viann and Isabelle’s father sends Isabelle to help her older sister cope. As the war progresses, it’s not only the sisters’ relationship that is tested, but also their strength and their individual senses of right and wrong. With life as they know it changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Viann and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

Ms. Hannah writes heartfelt, vivid descriptions taking great care with every detail. You will be transported to wartime France. You will feel all the pain, joy, love, and hardships of the Rossignol family and those who interact with them. I read the book in one sitting, unable to put it down and the story still lingers with me a month later. It earned a spot on my top ten favorite books list.

Louise Reads: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

February 15, 2015January 29, 2015 / Louise / Leave a comment

The Rosie Effect is the sequel to 2013’s runaway hit The Rosie Project, author Graeme Simsion’s debut novel (reviewed here). That romantic comedy followed the efforts of Don Tillman, a genetics professor and extremely socially inept, to procure a life partner for himself. The Wife Project ends successfully with Don finding true love with the free-spirited and quirky-in-her-own-way Rosie.

The sequel opens with Don and Rosie starting their married life in New York City. Don is feeling very satisfied with his adjustment to marriage, until he notices orange juice on his breakfast table one morning. “Orange juice was not scheduled for Fridays.” , he muses in the book’s opening sentence, and it’s the beginning of even more changes for Don. Rosie, you see, is pregnant.

A comedy of errors ensues as Don tries to adjust to this unplanned event. His best friend from Australia moves in with Don and Rosie after his wife kicks him out, Don’s endeavors to observe fathers in action end up getting him arrested, and his attempts to take control over the pregnancy have, of course, the opposite effect. As troubles start mounting, Rosie begins to doubt that Don is meant for fatherhood.

This blurb from Simon & Schuster sums it up nicely: “As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, servicing the industrial refrigeration unit that occupies half his apartment, helping Dave the Baseball Fan save his business, and staying on the right side of Lydia the social worker, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most. ”

I enjoyed The Rosie Effect, though I must admit, not as much as The Rosie Project. Half of the fun in the first story was getting to know Don and his myriad of quirks. The sequel also seemed a bit rushed to me, with almost too many crazy misunderstandings thrown into the plot to keep it lively. I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Dan O’Grady, who was fantastic. A very enjoyable read, even if I didn’t love it as much as the original. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Susan’s Picks from 2014

January 27, 2015January 16, 2015 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

I feel terrible for only squeezing in 27 books this year, a new low for me, but considering I wrote or edited three books in between, I don’t feel so bad. I am an unforgivable nerd, wallowing in science, history, psychology, and biography to the point I read almost no fiction at all anymore. I feel bad when people ask me to recommend something and I have no clue what to offer because the last really good book I read was on the histology of Ebola, or they’re looking for romance recommendations and my idea of a great romance is the novelization of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Here are the best and worst I read this year, not counting a reread of Chris Wooding’s Retribution Falls, which I love so much I gave out ten copies at Christmas:

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The Riddle of the Labyrinth: the Quest to Crack an Ancient Code, by Margalit Fox. Fox covers the work by Michael Ventris, who eventually untangled the mystery of the early Greek/Mycenean Linear B glyphs, but spends much of the book discussing Alice Kober’s work, so much of it uncredited yet without which Ventris would not have succeeded. When Kober – who spent the majority of her life working on the syllabary – dies just a year before the pieces fall into place, you want to cry for her. If you love a good detective novel – this is a true story that shook the history world. (I warned you about the nerdism).

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Detroit: An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff. An incredible book about the decay of Detroit, a city so far gone America has forgotten it exists, while the people still try to survive in a place without – well, anything. No jobs, no police, no grocery stores, and most recently, no water. Made me incredibly angry to see America left to rot like this.

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W ho Discovered America? by Gavin Menzies. Ever read a book that makes you feel like you woke up on an alien world, that everything you were ever told about history was wrong? This book takes Thor Heyerdahl to a whole new level, pointing out overwhelming scientific evidence that Asian, African, and European peoples were routinely coming to America long before Columbus was born. Utterly fascinating. Even if Menzies is only 10% right, it still changes everything we know about history. Easy to read, and you won’t be able to put it down.

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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in Northern Korea, by Barbara Demick. This book is so touching and so sad, you cannot help but be moved by people who have so little control over their lives that even their food and clothing is doled out by the government, and if they say you will starve, then you starve, because they will not give you more. People risking death to swim to China, or pay for an underground railroad to South Korea, where they have extreme culture shock that defies the propaganda they have been fed for generations. Hate the leader, but love the people. I love Gavin Menzies, but I think this gets my vote for Best Book of the Year.

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I Can Hear You Whisper: An Intimate Journey Through the Science of Sound and Language, by Lydia Denworth. Denworth’s youngest son is born profoundly deaf; this is her story not only of trying to decide how to educate him (as a lip-reader, a signer, or hearing w/ a cochlear implant). Interspersed with her journey is the science behind hearing and language, and the history of deafness, and it is utterly fascinating how much hearing and learning are interconnected, and why many deaf people never read beyond a fourth-grade level.

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John LeCarré. I needed to read a couple of spy novels as research for a book I was writing. Every list I looked at said this was the best. I have no doubt they are right. A spy novel that will keep you guessing until the very end, it makes James Bond look like a pampered fool. Very British, but very, very good.

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Worst book I read this year? There were a couple of stinkers, but I think the worst I read was The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood, by Roger Rosenblatt. I don’t care how many awards he’s gotten. I almost never abandon a book half-way through, but I just couldn’t finish this. It has a boy, and he’s in New York, but the rest is just a single run-on sentence of chapterless rambling. You know how your brain wanders foggy from topic to topic when you’re lying in bed half asleep? That’s this book. I read some clunkers, but I made it to the end of them. This one I couldn’t get past 50 pages. No, thank you.

What did you like/dislike this year?

Sharon Reads: The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats by Sandra Markle

January 22, 2015January 22, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats is a non fiction book for children by Sandra Markle. This book explores the brown bats remarkable decline in population, including the likely causes and the effect that this decline can have on our lives.

Are you among those that think of bats and shudder, or do you think they are cute or useful? Well The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats can show those that are not overly fond of bats why they might want to help them stick around. Bats eat a large number of bugs, limiting the amount of bugs that can spread diseases, and the amount of damage insects can to to crops and our food supply. Sadly large populations of little brown bats have been dying off each winter. Scientists have been hard at work to figure out if a virus killing them, if climate change or pesticides be the cause, or if it something else? This book follows a team of dedicated scientists working to save the little brown bats in this real-life science mystery. Thankfully, unlike the continuing death of bee colonies, there are now answers about what is hurting our bats and there are steps being taken to help them. There are suggestions for further research and ideas for families to help the cause.

I love bats, and the fact that they can decimate the mosquito population in no time flat. The Case of the Vanishing Little Brown Bats is a well researched and organized book that presents the facts of the investigation along with extra pieces of information that could be of great interest to middle grade readers. It is not sensationalized, but instead shows the steps of a scientific investigation and all of the possible causations and solutions, including those that turned out to be dis-proven. I think animal lovers will get something great out of this book, it could help some creeped out by the bat understand them a bit more, and will act as a credible resources for research. I gave this book four stars on Sharon the Librarian and Goodreads.

If this sort of animal mystery appeals to you, you might want to check out: The Case of the Vanishing Honey Bees, and The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs by the same author.