WHILE THE DUKE WAS SLEEPING by Sophie Jordan

November 14, 2016

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The Rogue Files, Book 1

One my favorite Christmas movies is “While You Were Sleeping“, Sandra Bullock’s first starring role and if you, too, like that movie, you will like this book. The film:

Lonely transit worker Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) pulls her longtime crush, Peter (Peter Gallagher), from the path of an oncoming train. At the hospital, doctors report that he’s in a coma, and a misplaced comment from Lucy causes Peter’s family to assume that she is his fiancée. When Lucy doesn’t correct them, they take her into their home and confidence. Things get even more complicated when she finds herself falling for Peter’s sheepish brother, Jack.

This book is the same story, only set a couple of hundred years earlier.

Poppy Fairchurch is a salesgirl in a flower shop where the Duke of Autenberry shops nearly every day. He is handsome, kind and generous, and Poppy fancies herself in love with him. He, of course, doesn’t even know she’s alive.

One day after shopping, Poppy sees the Duke throw a punch at another man. The Duke ends up in the road and a horse drawn cart is racing down upon him. Poppy flings herself on the Duke, pushing him to safety. A moment later, the other man in the fight pushes Poppy to safety.

Turns out the men are half brothers and don’t get along. Poppy’s boss insists she accompany the unconscious Duke home, where due to a mis-overhead conversation, the housekeeper thinks they are engaged. The Duke is in a coma, but family is delighted with Poppy somehow, despite the difference in their classes.

Meanwhile Struan, the half-brother, who was raised in Scotland, is intrigued with the shopgirl and can’t quite believe she is engaged to the Duke. The Duke’s best friend knows it isn’t true, but he peruades Poppy to allow the family to think they are engaged.

Poppy and Struan are both fighting an intense physical attraction but none too successfully, and there are a few steamy scenes there.

The happy ending is eventually reached, and Poppy and Struan realize they fell in love while the Duke was sleeping.

11/16 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch™

WHILE THE DUKE WAS SLEEPING by Sophie Jordan. Avon (October 25, 2016). ISBN: 978-0062222541. 384p.

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A WEDDING FOR CHRISTMAS by Lori Wilde

November 13, 2016

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A Twilight, Texas Novel

Although there are several Twilight, Texas novels, this is really the sequel to last year’s I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. That story was a takeoff on the film, The Holiday, where Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet trade homes over the Christmas holiday. In the book, Kate and Gabi trade homes, and Gabi falls in love with Kate’s brother.

This book starts off with Kate’s adventure in Los Angeles while staying at Gabi’s home. She goes to a club where she runs into her first high school crush, Ryder Southerland. He is security at the club and tackles her, mistaking her for a stalker. They end up spending the night together having mind blowing sex, but Kate slips out in the morning and heads home.

The story then picks up a year later. Gabi and Joe’s wedding is taking place on Christmas Eve and Kate is the maid of honor. Ryder is the best man and it is his first time back in Twilight in over a decade. He comes home a few weeks early after he finds out the stepmother who hated him has died. His father is in the hospital and Kate is hired to clear out the house before he comes home. There were major hoarding issues going on there.

Kate and Ryder meet up and the sparks fly, but Kate is afraid of a relationship because of Ryder’s commitment issues. Ryder has feelings for Kate, but is afraid to take the next step. Meanwhile the housecleaning goes on, as do the pre-wedding parties and Ryder and Kate are constantly thrown together.

They end up back in bed again but Kate is treating him like an embarrassment. Eventually Gabi and Joe point out that everyone knows what’s going on and they come out of hiding. A pregnancy scare moves things forward but there is no easy path to the happy ending.

Another fun, sexy read in Twilight, Texas.

11/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

A WEDDING FOR CHRISTMAS by Lori Wilde. Avon (October 25, 2016). ISBN 978-0062311450. 384p.

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John Grisham on his literary influences

November 12, 2016

In high school, author John Grisham (THE WHISTLER) was assigned a book by Steinbeck, who he appreciated for the clarity of his writing. Later, John le Carré’s THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL became an important influence.

THE WHISTLER

From John Grisham, America’s #1 bestselling author, comes the most electrifying novel of the year, a high-stakes thrill ride through the darkest corners of the Sunshine State.

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We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of justice.

But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board, she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption.

But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S. history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money.

But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that this one could be dangerous.

Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.

THE WHISTLER by John Grisham. Doubleday (October 25, 2016). ISBN: 978-0385541190. 384p.

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THE MAN WHO WANTED TO KNOW EVERYTHING by D.A. Mishani

November 11, 2016

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Avraham Avraham Series, Book 3

In this third entry in the Avraham series set in Tel Aviv, the detective investigates his first murder case. The victim is a 60-year-old widow, and Avraham is surprised to see that he knows her.

A neighbor reported seeing a policeman in the building around the same time as the murder, but the higher ups don’t want to hear about that or publicize it in any way. Avraham is also dealing with his girlfriend, who recently moved in with him after moving from Brussels. Avraham struggles with his personal problems and his murder case, especially when his bosses zero in on a suspect he is not convinced did it.

Mazal Bengtson realizes her marriage is in serious trouble, and when her husband tells her he may have hurt someone in a hit and run accident, she realizes there may be more to his story than he’s telling.

The case slowly unfolds and the translation by Todd Hasak-Lowy is occasionally awkward or politically incorrect (“yesterday night”; “Do I look retarded to you?”) and that awkwardness tended to pull me out of the story. Nonetheless, this should appeal to readers who enjoy international police procedurals, books set in Israel, or Liam Shoham novels.

11/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE MAN WHO WANTED TO KNOW EVERYTHING by D.A. Mishani. Harper Paperbacks (November 8, 2016). ISBN 978-0062447906. 304p.

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CITY ON EDGE by Stefanie Pintoff

November 10, 2016

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Eve Rossi, Book 2

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is at the center of this New York City thriller. A riot breaks out the night before the parade and Police Commissioner Logan Donovan is shot.

Luckily, it’s not as serious as it first appears, until he realizes that during the confusion, his thirteen year old daughter has been kidnapped. Fearing for her life, he turns to the FBI, specifically to Eve Rossi.

Rossi heads Vidocq, a strictly undercover team of ex-cons with specific skills that can be put to good use here. Then another child is kidnapped, one with serious medical issues.

The kidnapper has several demands and Eve and her team scramble to meet them all, but panic ensues when they realize there may be more than just a kidnapping at stake. This appears to be a personal vendetta against the police commissioner, with possibly horrific consequences for the thousands of people lining the streets for the parade.

This is a worthy follow up to the first Eve Rossi thriller, and should appeal to Linda Fairstein or Meg Gardiner readers.

9/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

CITY ON EDGE by Stefanie Pintoff. Bantam (November 15, 2016). ISBN 978-0425284452. 400p.

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NIGHT SCHOOL by Lee Child

November 7, 2016

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Jack Reacher Series, Book 21

In this 21st entry in the hugely popular series, Jack Reacher is still in the Army as it is 1996. That means he’s not wandering and he’s following orders. It also means no internet, no cell phones, no 9/11.

Reacher has been given a medal for his mission in the Balkans, and immediately is ordered to attend night school. But when he gets there, he realizes this is not school at all, but a secret mission.

There are rumors that an American traitor has something to sell to Islamic terrorists for $100 million. Reacher is working with other government agents from the FBI and CIA, along with Frances Neagley (Without Fail.) Of course Reacher takes lead on the case, despite being low man on the totem pole, and eventually figures out what’s going on. This involves an extended stay in Hamburg, Germany with a variety of bad guys popping up.

I found this to be one of the slowest moving books in the series, the action doesn’t really take off until beyond the half way point. It’s an interesting story, especially given the time period, but I’m sorry to say it is not my favorite Reacher book.

11/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NIGHT SCHOOL by Lee Child. Delacorte Press (November 7, 2016). ISBN 978-0804178808. 384p.

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GOLIATH by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid

November 5, 2016

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A powerhouse story of men against the sea in the tradition of authors that pioneered the genre such as Jack London. Russia launches the world’s largest supertanker on a secret mission during it’s maiden voyage. The only person with knowledge of what is to be accomplished is the captain.

An engineer discovers a minor defect in the ship’s mechanism and informs the captain. But in spite of attempts to correct the problem a fire erupts and in spite of efforts to control it, it spreads to engulf the entire ship.

Two hundred miles from the stricken vessel, Sonny Wade, the owner of a failing salvage business, is telling his crew that a salvage attempt just completed has not produced any money. The business is not able to continue operations.

Just after he has dismissed his men including his daughter who sails with him and attempts to keep the business going a mayday is received. It is from the Bennkah, the 700,000 ton Russian tanker that is aground and filled with petroleum worth a fortune. The name Bennkah is Russian for Goliath and that is also the Herculean task Sonny seizes as his way out of the financial doldrums his business is in.

Sonny quickly gets the crew together and goes out at an attempt to pick up the Bennkah and in so doing collect the huge amount of money salvaging the ship will bring. But sailing also to grab the prize is Dan Sharp, Sonny’s former employer and currently his nemesis.

The novel is a tale of men arising to great heights in fighting the eternal sea for the prize. The book moves with a rapid pace and is guaranteed to keep the reader transfixed. Sonny’s knowledge and understanding of the ocean and problems and solutions it brings is showcased. A new member of the crew picked up before sailing due to his knowledge of underwater welding provides a love interest for Sonny’s daughter who has had a bad relationship with Dan Sharp’s captain. She fights her attraction but it does let her come to understand that things have a way of working out.

Excellent book and hopefully the beginning of a series.

11/16 Paul Lane

GOLIATH by Shawn Corridan & Gary Waid. Center Street (October 11, 2016). ISBN 978-1455530441. 384p.

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THE HOPEFULS by Jennifer Close

November 4, 2016

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I think this was the review snippet that got me to pick up this book:

“Jennifer Close’s fresh, smart, realistic portrayal of two young Washington couples is a must read for House of Cards junkies…. [D.C.] almost functions as a fifth character in the book, with its own quirks and dynamics and idiosyncrasies.” —Kimmery Martin, The Huffington Post

I love House of Cards (British version even more so,) love politics (although this election season has just about driven me around the bend) and I am a West Wing fanatic (re-watching the entire series to follow along with the West Wing Weekly podcast, amazing!) So this sounded like a book I would love.

I didn’t love it, but I did enjoy it. It was more about the relationships between husbands and wives and friendship than about politics. Although that is not a bad thing, it wasn’t what I expected. And D.C. was a very minor plot point.

Beth and Matt are newly arrived in Washington D.C., where Matt has secured a job in the Obama White House after working on the campaign. Beth hates it immediately, missing New York City. Matt loves it. He comes from a family that models itself on the Kennedy’s, with ritual Sunday family dinners, super competitive football in the yard, and a week every August at the family compound on the shore.

Matt is Harvard smart and dreams of running for office himself one day. Beth isn’t so sure about any of it. They befriend another young couple, Jimmy and Ash. Jimmy has a great job as advance man for Obama, and Matt envies his career path and the easy way he charms every one he meets. Ash is a Texas Southern belle, but quickly she and Beth become the closest of friends, two fish out of water in D.C. and clinging to each other.

The book follows the ups and downs in their lives and is told mostly from Beth’s point of view, so it is a complete bitchfest, although there are some very funny moments that help balance it out. When Jimmy runs for Railroad Commissioner in Texas (yes, there is such a thing, and even though I lived in Texas for five years I never heard of it) Matt becomes Jimmy’s campaign manager. The two couples move to Texas, share a huge house and a life until ten months later the election is slipping away. All their relationships have slipped away as well. Matt and Jimmy are fighting. Ash and Jimmy are fighting, Matt and Beth are just ignoring each other, and even Beth and Ash drift apart.

Eventually things work out the way they are supposed to, Matt finds a better job in DC, as does Beth, and they live happily ever after. We hope.

11/16 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch™

THE HOPEFULS by Jennifer Close. Knopf (July 19, 2016). ISBN 978-1101875612. 320p.

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THE TWENTY-THREE by Linwood Barclay

November 3, 2016

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The third book in Linwood Barclay’s series set in the town of Promise Falls, New York. All of the people described in the first two books are present and following the patterns set previously. But this novel dives right into a problem never before encountered in the small city and devastating for the people living there. It is Memorial Day weekend and suddenly hundreds of people become sick with flu like symptoms rushing to the hospital, with many dying almost at once. The water supply quickly becomes the culprit and it is found to be so. Who would poison the town’s drinking water and why? Private investigator Cal Weaver starts to look at the situation and investigating who would benefit from this catastrophe and what would be gained by it.

Meanwhile Barry Duckworth, a detective with the Promise Falls police department has another set of problems. A coed at the local college has been murdered. Duckworth sees the same pattern in the homicides of two other women in the past. Strange recent happenings in Promise Falls begin to make sense; bloody mannequins found in car 23 of an abandoned Ferris wheel, a fiery out of control bus with the number 23 on the back and the same designation on the hoodie of a man accused of assault. The number 23 seems to represent the reason for the harm brought to the townspeople with both Weaver and Duckworth looking into the situation as quickly as possible.

Barclay has succeeded in making a variety of people in the stories lifelike, with characteristics that are painstakingly followed through in the three books. All of the principal characters continue to act in accordance with the personalities and interests inherent in them from the beginning. And while the Promise Falls books seemingly were to be a trilogy, some factors coming out in the end of book three point to another novel coming up. I certainly would look forward to reading more books centered around the people and town of Promise Falls in the near future.

11/16 Paul Lane

THE TWENTY-THREE by Linwood Barclay. Berkley (November 1, 2016). ISBN 978-0451472724. 464p.

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SMALL GREAT THINGS by Jodi Picoult

November 2, 2016

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Let’s start out with the fact that I loved this book. I read it in one sitting on my iPad, and had no idea it was almost 500 pages because the pages just flew.

If the title seems familiar, it is because it was taken from a very famous Martin Luther King Jr. quote:

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

This is a book about racism and inclusiveness. Written by a white, privileged woman mostly for other white, privileged women and anyone else who likes a good read with a lesson. There is a strong message here and Picoult delivers it without hitting anyone over the head, but rather by showing, more than telling, if that makes sense.

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse in New Haven, Connecticut. She grew up in Harlem, the daughter of a maid who pushed her to be more. Ruth was a smart girl who ended up with a scholarship to the Dalton School, followed by college and finally nursing school at Yale. She is a bright, dedicated nurse who takes pride in her work; in fact, she thinks of it as a calling.

Until a white supremacist family demands she be taken off the care of their newborn son. A note is placed in his file that states no African Americans are allowed to touch the child. This is a small hospital and the note hurts. But Ruth is a pro, so when an emergency takes the other duty nurses to the operating room leaving her in charge of watching the baby after his circumcision, she resents it but knows she has no choice. And then the unthinkable happens.

The baby appears to be in respiratory distress. Does Ruth try and save the baby, ignoring a direct order from her supervisor? The child dies, and the family decides that Ruth is the reason. The hospital is happy to have someone to blame that leaves them in the clear, and Ruth is arrested and charged with murder.

Ruth lost her husband in Afghanistan and has struggled to raise her son. He’s at the age where he is applying for college and the only money she has is tied up in his college fund, so she has no choice but to use the public defender as counsel.

Kennedy is a white woman, married to a doctor and able to do the work she loves – she also has a calling. She’s never tried a murder case but something about Ruth just makes her want to try, and she does. Along the way, Kennedy and Ruth become friends, and they both learn quite a bit from each other.

We also learn about white supremicsits like Turk, the father of the baby, and how they are recruited, trained and sometimes even have their lives turned around again.

All of these characters are fully dimensional which totally draws the reader in. There are major themes about parenting, the law, power, privilege and race. A lot of it is very uncomfortable to read, and I admit to crying more than once. It feels like an important book, and was extremely thought provoking but more than that, I needed to talk about it. As I was reading it, I told my husband about it, my daughter, my boss and my co-workers. Book clubs take heed, you will not want to miss this one. In fact, the publisher has thoughtfully provided a readers’ guide already.

I loved this book and will be reading it again. Picoult’s publicist had sent me an email about it, that said, in part, “Some books leave you thinking. This one gets you talking.” It’s gotten me talking for sure and I have a feeling I won’t be shutting up anytime soon.

Don’t miss it.

11/16 Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch™

SMALL GREAT THINGS by Jodi Picoult. Ballantine Books (October 11, 2016). ISBN 978-0345544957. 480p.

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