Fiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

VIRGINS by Diana Gabaldon

April 29, 2016

Click to purchase

An Outlander Novella

I love the Outlander series. I’ve read all the books and watch the Starz TV series. I’ve also listened to all the books.

I’ve always heard that with a truly great reader, listening to an audio book can bring a great deal more to the story. I enjoy a lot of audio books, but never really felt that something was added until I read the Harry Potter books, read by the great Jim Dale. He makes listening to those books an immersive experience, and the same goes for the Outlander books. Davina Porter is the narrator, and she is simply transcendent. She takes me away on these amazing adventures – plus I learned the correct pronunciations for all the characters’ names, the various places and even the Gaelic.

But now that I’ve read all the Outlander books (and yes, some of them several times!) I was bereft. I know, I have more books on my shelves and my Kindle than I’ll probably ever read, but still, I love Claire & Jamie and I’m watching the Starz show and I want more! And we all know how long it takes for a new book to come out. But Gabaldon has been releasing novellas as ebook only, Kindle singles, and my library has them!

This is the first one I’ve read. If you’ve ever visited Gabaldon’s website or seen an interview with her or seen her speak at an event, you know she writes her books in chunks, then pieces them together to form a cohesive story. Some of the chunks end up in other books than the one she started them for, and I suspect these Kindle singles are chunks that just didn’t make it into her already super long books.

If you haven’t read the Outlander books, I’m not sure I would recommend you start here. It’s not a bad way to get a feel for the author, the way she writes and a few of her characters, but it is so much more meaningful when you already know these characters and their history.

Virgins is a prequel of sorts to Outlander. Jamie’s father has just died, his back is a mess thanks to Black Jack Randall, when he meets up with Ian Murray (who still has all his limbs) and a band of French mercenaries. Ian and Jamie end up taking a job to protect a young Jewish woman and transport her, her dowry, and an extremely valuable Torah to meet her husband-to-be. But things go awry almost immediately, and hints of the canny Lord Broch Tuarach emerge. I loved the Jewish history, the way the French and the Scots saw the Jews, something that has not come up in any of the books (at least that I can remember!)

If you’re an Outlander fan, this is a fun, albeit super short read. Then again, Kindle Singles only cost $1.99! And do check your library’s ebook collection.

Virgins is also available in an anthology if you prefer print: Dangerous Women, edited by George R.R. Martin.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

VIRGINS: An Outlander Novella by Diana Gabaldon. Dell (April 8, 2016). ASIN: B01BRFMCWU. Print Length: 86 pages

4 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Adventure, Historical | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THAT DARKNESS by Lisa Black

April 27, 2016

Click to purchase

This is the first book of a new series featuring Cleveland forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner and homicide detective Jack Renner, but this is not your typical detective story.

Gardiner is a complete forensic nerd with no real personal life outside of her job. She has become obsessed with the victims of several murders, all of whom were shot point blank in the back of the head, yet are seemingly unrelated. By using tapings – pieces of tape pressed against victim’s clothing that pick up threads, dust and fibers – she has literally picked up enough clues to find the place where all the murders took place.

And just in case you think that sounds far fetched, Black has worked as a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, where she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she is a latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes. In other words, she knows her stuff.

Renner is a vigilante cop turned serial killer, but he only kills people who need killing, somewhat reminiscent of the Dexter books by Jeff Lindsay. But Renner is no sadist; he kills quickly and cleanly in his quest for the justice often denied by the legal system.

While Gardiner is not a cop, she works hand in hand with the police as she narrows in on the killer. The surprising ending is sure to keep readers coming back for more.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THAT DARKNESS by Lisa Black. Kensington (April 26, 2016). ISBN 978-1496701886. 336p.

Kindle

Comments Off on THAT DARKNESS by Lisa Black | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

IT TAKES ONE by Kate Kessler

April 26, 2016

Click to purchase

Audrey Harte is a successful Los Angeles criminal psychologist working with children and appearing on a television series called “When Kids Kill.” She hasn’t returned to Edgeport, Maine in several years, moving as far away from her past as possible.

Growing up in the small town left some serious scars – Audrey’s best friend Maggie was sexually abused by her father, and no one would help. The teenage girls took matters into their own hands and killed him. Maggie was sent for psychiatric help and Audrey was sent to a girl’s juvenile facility, where she was mentored by the psychologist in charge, who led Audrey to her career.

Returning home to her alcoholic father, her bitter sister, her estrangement with Maggie, not to mention Jake, the heartbreak of her life, is extremely stressful. A day later, Maggie is dead, Audrey is the prime suspect, and the tension really starts building.

Jake has become extremely successful and owns a good chunk of the town, but is still single. He and Audrey are wary of one another, but after Maggie’s death, they work together to try and clear Audrey’s name and more importantly, find the killer. Along the way, Audrey mends fences with the town and Jake.

An intriguing mystery and terrific characters make this a compelling read, sure to appeal to Nancy Pickard or Lisa Unger fans. First book of a series.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

IT TAKES ONE by Kate Kessler. Redhook (April 26, 2016). ISBN 978-0316302500. 416p.

Kindle

Comments Off on IT TAKES ONE by Kate Kessler | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Thriller | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

SWEETEST SCOUNDREL by Elizabeth Hoyt

April 24, 2016

Click to purchase

Maiden Lane, Book 9

Way back in 2010, I read a couple of Hoyt books in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series and I liked them a lot. But I haven’t read her since; why, I’m not sure. After reading Sweetest Scoundrel, she is definitely back on my radar.

As my regular readers know, I work with a woman who is a huge romance reader and she often recommends books for me, which is how I found Hoyt originally. I picked up this book because it was short listed for the Romantic Times “Historical Romance of the Year for 2015. I’d actually read most of the other books on that list so now I’m trying to hunt down the few I missed. If you like historical romances, it’s a great way to find new books to try.

Sweetest Scoundrel is a very fitting title. This book was a bit different than the usual because the main characters weren’t titled. Our hero is Asa Makepeace, AKA Mr. Harte, owner of Harte’s Folly, a theater and garden of entertainment. He is in the process of rebuilding, using funds from his backer, a Duke, although we never actually meet him. Instead, we meet his man of business, who in this case happens to be his half-sister, Eve Dunwoody.

Eve’s father was a Duke, but Eve is a by-blow, but her half brother takes care of her. Eve suffers from a traumatic event that happened earlier in her life, rendering her terrified of dogs and men. Her brother has provided her with a bodyguard who has been with her for ten years.

When Eve approaches Harte about how he’s spending his money, she is quaking in her shoes. He is a big, virile man, just the type to terrify her. But she is resolute and determined to go about her business. She moves a small desk into his office and begins her accounting of his books – or lack thereof.

Eventually they come to depend on one another, and Harte teaches Eve about her body and sex. There are some very erotic scenes in this book and yes, Harte is the sweetest scoundrel who helps Eve find her happily ever after – and she, his. A wonderful read and I will be looking for more books in this series.

04/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SWEETEST SCOUNDREL by Elizabeth Hoyt. Grand Central Publishing (November 24, 2015). ISBN 978-1455586363. 368p.

Kindle

Comments Off on SWEETEST SCOUNDREL by Elizabeth Hoyt | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: Regency | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

LOVE OF THE GAME by Lori Wilde

April 22, 2016

Click to purchase

Stardust, Texas Series, Book 3

Wilde writes a lot of different series and I have yet to read all the books in one of them. This isn’t a personal choice, but if the publisher doesn’t send me the books, I find them at my library and we rarely have all the books in a series. As they age, or get read multiple times, they tend to get ugly and we weed them (send them to the great big bookstore in the sky.)

Case in point, this third Stardust, Texas novel is my first in the series. Stardust is a fictional small town a couple of hours outside of Dallas. Axel Richmond is a pitcher for the Dallas Gunslingers, and dreams of pitching for the Yankees, which I can sort of understand at the baseball level but have a harder time understanding any Texan wanting to move to New York. I lived in the Dallas area for a few years and never met anyone who had anything good to say about New York. But I digress.

Our hero, Axel, has a serious shoulder injury that so far has not responded to physical therapy. His team of coaches, doctors, and PTs are trying to talk him into an experimental surgery that has no guarantees. The Gunslingers have a new PT on staff, the beautiful but mysterious Kasha Carlyle and she disagrees. They acquiesce and allow her a week of therapy but if there is no improvement, bye bye job and hello surgery.

Axel moves to Stardust and stays at his coach’s house and he is putting the moves on Kasha, but she is determined to maintain her professional distance despite her attraction. Meanwhile, Kasha finds out she has a half sister with Down’s syndrome living in a group home, and she wants to take guardianship of the orphaned young woman.

Lots of challenges in this romance but also some really sweet moments. Both Axel and Kasha have a lot of baggage, and as the physical therapy starts to work, they form a real attachment to one another. Plus the magic hope chest that the Carlyle sisters have been passing down to one another as they marry says that Axel and Kasha belong together, and who can fight magic?

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

LOVE OF THE GAME by Lori Wilde. Avon (April 26, 2016). ISBN 978-0062311436. 384p.

Kindle

2 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

POISONOUS by Allison Brennan

April 20, 2016

Click to purchase

Max Revere Novels (Book 3)

Max Revere is an investigative reporter who specializes in cold cases. She is tenacious, speaks her mind without a filter, is a trust fund kid, and always seeks the truth. I could be friends with her.

Max has a lot of baggage from her childhood with a mother who abandoned her and no father, but luckily she was raised by her wealthy grandparents. Her relationships are difficult at best. Her boyfriend Nick, and her best friend/bodyguard David are both in similar situations with child custody issues, and Max just doesn’t get it.

When Max receives a letter from Tommy, a young man who is a bit slow, she wants to help. He tells her that his sister was killed and no one was arrested, and his stepmother thinks he did it and has banished him from the family. Max can relate and decides to take the case.

The local cops haven’t been able to ascertain whether or not Ivy was killed, committed suicide or just fell off the cliff where her body was found. Ivy was a cyber bully who had tormented a classmate into suicide, so not a very sympathetic victim even though she was a teen. Yet somehow Max does empathize, and with her resources, is determined to ferret out the truth.

This is a good look at the whole teen online social networking nightmare that every parent has to deal with nowadays, only this time with devastating results. A really good story, well developed characters and enough twists to keep me up half the night makes this another excellent entry into this terrific series.

04/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

POISONOUS by Allison Brennan. Minotaur Books (April 12, 2016). ISBN 978-1250066848. 368p.

Kindle

Comments Off on POISONOUS by Allison Brennan | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

NOBLE CHASE by Michael Rudolph

April 19, 2016

Beth Swahn has won her first big settlement for her client, Sloane, to the tune of over a hundred-million-dollars. But when Sloane’s boss, C.J. Leung, flies in from China to take her out to celebrate, she realizes that something is very wrong. He is under the impression that the settlement was just $30 million dollars.

Sloane has disappeared along with his banker girlfriend and the rest of the money. After a frantic Mayday call, both are presumed dead when their yacht supposedly sinks.

Furious and embarrassed, Beth is determined to find the money, and ends up working with Sloane’s son but isn’t at all sure he can be trusted, despite their mutual attraction. Meanwhile the law firm may be on the hook for the money, but Leung seems more interested in getting his files than in the money.

International money laundering, corruption, violence and a horrific tropical storm all combine to make this a breathless race to the finish line – and the money. Readers who enjoy John Grisham and Scott Turow will be satisfied.

04/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NOBLE CHASE by Michael Rudolph. Ballantine Books (April 19, 2016). ISBN 978-1101884379. 320p.

Kindle

Comments Off on NOBLE CHASE by Michael Rudolph | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Legal thriller | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE PASSENGER by Lisa Lutz

April 17, 2016

Click to purchase

Lisa Lutz writes a wonderful, funny mystery series featuring the irrepressible “Izzy” Spellman, that started with The Spellman Files. She has a unique voice so when I heard she wrote a standalone thriller, I was intrigued.

The Passenger is about Tanya Dubois, but that’s not her real name. Tanya has been on the lam for most of her adult life for reasons that aren’t made clear until the end of the book. But boy, did I get sucked into her story.

Tanya is definitely an odd duck but somehow also a sympathetic character. When we first meet her, her husband Frank has just died from a fall down the stairs. She takes off, not because she had anything to do with it, but because she doesn’t want to deal with the cops.

At another town with another name, she wanders into a bar and meets Blue, a pretty blonde bartender that immediately sees something is off about Tanya. Blue is also on the run and they become friends, for lack of a better word, until circumstances and a murder force them to part ways.

There are emails throughout the book between “Joe” & “Ryan” and we don’t really know who they are. Tanya wanders the country, changing her name, her hair, her job and her car until she finally goes home and all is resolved.

There have been several books out with unreliable narrators like Gone Girl, The Girl on a Train, and others, and I didn’t really care for them as the characters were just so unlikable. Lutz has taken that same premise but turned it on its head with a relatable yet still unreliable narrator.

This is a dark thrill ride and I enjoyed being the passenger.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE PASSENGER by Lisa Lutz. Simon & Schuster (March 1, 2016). ISBN 978-1451686630. 320p.

Kindle

Comments Off on THE PASSENGER by Lisa Lutz | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Thriller | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE STRANGLER VINE by M. J. Carter

April 16, 2016

Click to purchase

A Blake and Avery Novel (Book 1)

It’s 1837 and the East India Company reigns almost supreme in India. William Avery was drawn to the country thanks to the work of his favorite writer, Xavier Mountstuart. But the India Avery discovers after joining the Company isn’t quite what Mountstuart’s adventures led him to expect. Then Mountstuart himself goes missing and Avery is tapped to be part of the mission to find him. It’s not an assignment Avery relishes in spite of the fact that it revolves around his personal hero. First off it means leaving the relative comfort of Calcutta. And second, his superior in the assignment is a man whose distaste for Avery rivals the soldier’s own feelings. Jeremiah Blake is, in Avery’s eyes, a man on the brink of madness. He’s unkempt to the point of resembling the natives more so than the company man he’s said to be and his methods are beyond questionable.

Mountstuart was last said to have been seen in Jubbulpore, home of the famed Thuggee Department, where Mountstuart was rumored to have been studying the fearsome Thuggee culture for the purpose of his next piece. But months have passed with no sign of Mountstuart and, in light of his more scandalous recent release, the Company has reason to want him found and ejected from the country quickly.

This first in the Avery and Blake series is equal parts mystery and adventure, but in addition to that, there’s history too. Through Avery and Blake, Carter offers readers two different perspectives of colonialism and India.

Blake is one of the old guard, somewhat encouraged to learn the language and cultures of the region the Company was commandeering. As such, he sympathizes with the natives and has understandably come to reconsider the Company’s position in the country.

Avery on the other hand has very little interest in Indian culture or the natives. In fact, when faced with leaving Calcutta and its overwhelmingly English atmosphere, he immediately tries to turn down the assignment. Fortunately Avery is still able to be molded and influenced, but only if he can set aside his prejudices long enough for Blake to reach him.

The mystery of Mountstuart’s fate and the threat of the Thuggee draw the reader in, propelling the story and giving it a fantastic suspense element perfect for any mystery/thriller fan. Even more appealing is the fact that Carter does this all the while staying true to the history of the region itself. Cameo appearances by actual historic figures help lend an air of authenticity to the tale, making it that much more entertaining.

The Strangler Vine is a fantastic series opener and has even been nominated for the Edgar Award for First Novel this year. The second title in the series, The Infidel Strain, is out now.

4/16 Becky LeJeune

THE STRANGLER VINE by M. J. Carter. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (February 23, 2016). ISBN: 978-0425280744 400p.

Kindle

Comments Off on THE STRANGLER VINE by M. J. Carter | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Mystery | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE OBSESSION by Nora Roberts

April 15, 2016

Click to purchase

I am happy to be along for the ride on Nora Roberts’ blog tour for The Obsession. It is my first Nora Roberts book!

I met Nora at least sixteen years ago when I was a bookseller at Borders – in those days, she was still doing book tours. She was incredibly nice and friendly to everyone. I recommended her books regularly, she was (and is) enormously popular.

My favorite Nora Roberts story happened when she started writing under the J.D. Robb name. We had an employee at Borders, a young man who flat out refused to read anything written by a woman. I knew that Robb was Roberts, but he didn’t. He read Naked in Death and loved it. Did my heart good. <smirk>

So the other night I started reading The Obsession, and within the first hundred pages I knew why Nora Roberts has so many diehard fans. I became obsessed with it – stayed up well into the night to finish it. The book has everything I like all rolled up into one terrific story; a serial killer, a coming of age story, a great dog, a terrific romance and even an old house renovation and antiquing.

Naomi Bowes is twelve years old when the book opens. That child accidentally stumbles on her father’s secret and saves the life of a young woman. That finding unleashes a nightmare for the family – her father goes to jail and her life is never the same. Her uncles raise Naomi and her brother, and they change their name to Carson. Naomi becomes a professional photographer, always travelling and never settling down. Her brother becomes an FBI profiler. Then Naomi finds this big old house on the other side of the country and moves in.

Shortly after moving in she finds a stray dog who just wiggles his way into her heart. Then she meets a mechanic who also worms his way into her heart. Her contractor and his wife become good friends and life is good. Until a young girl goes missing and turns up dead a few days later. Murdered in the same way Naomi’s father’s victims were. And then there’s another missing girl. But it soon becomes apparent that Naomi is his intended target.

This was a real page turner and I loved it.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE OBSESSION by Nora Roberts. Berkley (April 12, 2016). ISBN 978-0399175169. 464p.

Kindle

6 Comments | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Romantic Suspense | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi