THE GIRL FROM HOME by Adam Mitzner

April 6, 2016
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Jonathan Caine is living the dream; successful hedge fund manager with multi-million dollar bonuses, trophy wife, New York City apartment with breathtaking views. The hedge fund relies on the Russian ruble; when that starts tumbling, so does the hedge fund and Caine pulls a fast one to recover.

Of course he gets caught, then fired, which he neglects to tell his wife. Eventually everything comes to a head; there is an FBI investigation and his wife throws him out, demanding a divorce.

With all his assets frozen and nowhere else to go, Caine ends up back home, while his father, suffering from dementia and other ailments, is in a nearby nursing home.  Caine starts mending fences with his father and his sister, and while home he attends his 25th high school reunion where he hooks up with Jackie, the former prom queen, still beautiful and stuck in an abusive relationship.

Things develop quickly between Caine and Jackie and when her husband finds out, everything just spirals out of control. Caine is an unlikely hero, but his smarts ultimately redeem him in this fast paced, twisty thriller.

Copyright ©2016 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE GIRL FROM HOME by Adam Mitzner. Gallery Books (April 5, 2016).  ISBN 978-1476764283. 336p.

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From Paul Lane:

Adam Mitzner presents an extremely engrossing story revolving around Jonathan Caine, a brilliant and very successful currency trader.  Jonathan has made himself a fortune trading currencies for a huge hedge fund.  He has a beautiful wife,  a multimillion dollar condo in a prestigious part of Manhattan and nothing but expectations of continuing in the same vein.  A problem crops up when a big customer suddenly gets edgy and demands that he be paid off on his investment.  The fund at that moment does not have the liquidity to pay and Jonathan has to resort to what is actually an illegal move in order to get the funds.  He is caught, fired from the fund and possibly subject to prison for the crime.

When circumstances become bad for him Jonathan finds that he is sitting on a house of cards.  His wife leaves him, he loses the condo and he is forced to flee to his home town where he intends to care for his ailing father.  He also decides while there to attend the 25th anniversary of his High School graduation.  At this affair he meets Jacqueline Williams who was the prom queen at his graduation and did not give him a tumble at that moment.
This time there is a mutual attraction turning into love between the two spoiled only by the existence of Jackie’s husband.  The man is abusive and jealous of every movement Jackie makes, and she has thought how to get rid of him for a long time.  With nothing presenting itself and the husband refusing to let Jackie go thoughts turn finally to murder.
The last half of the book is about what becomes of these thoughts and how Jonathan and Jackie work things out. And of course, the prison sentence hanging over Jonathan’s head due to his illegal actions at the Hedge fund. The ending is very far from what the above circumstances might be in other novels causing the reader to find that he or she has been reading what is a brilliantly worked plot.  Mr Mitzner continues on his path of being a well sought after author.

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TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum

April 5, 2016

TELL ME THREE THINGS

Losing a parent is always difficult, but especially when a teenage girl loses her mother. Jessie and her father are close, but the relationship is definitely different than what she had with her mother. Jessie feels like she needs to be strong for her father, and Googles everything she would normally have asked her mother.

Two years later her father returns from a business trip and announces that he has remarried, to a woman he met online, and they are moving to Los Angeles. Her stepmother is nice enough, but Jessie feels totally displaced. The house is a mansion and her stepmother some type of movie mogul. She pays for Jessie to attend the private school her stepbrother attends, and he just ignores her.

Her first day at school she meets the mean girls, but an email pops up from “Someone/Nobody,” SN for short. SN becomes her first friend and confidante, but Jessie doesn’t know who he is and he wants to keep it that way.

She gradually makes a few friends, finds a job at a bookstore,  and even has a bit of a social life. Meanwhile she is in constant touch with her best friend Scarlett from Chicago, and between Scarlett and SN, she muddles through.

The SN plotline is reminiscent of one of my favorite films, “You’ve Got Mail,” where the Tom Hanks character sees the Meg Ryan character in real life, but also has this secret email relationship with her. SN works the same way, to a similar end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Young Adult novel. Buxbaum has written two previous novels, both women’s fiction so this was a new direction for her. This was a bit reminiscent of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, which I loved, so that is high praise indeed.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum. Delacorte Press (April 5, 2016).  ISBN 978-0553535648.  336p.

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THE NEST by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

April 3, 2016
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This is the story of four siblings who stand to inherit an enormous trust fund when the youngest, Melanie, turns 40 years old. Of course, nothing goes as planned in this dysfunctional family tale of first world problems.

The Plumb patriarch didn’t believe in giving handouts to his kids, he wanted them to stand on their own feet. So he put aside a small amount of money for each of them, but he passed away and his money manager managed to grow the fund into millions of dollars. The Plumb mom, an odd duck to be sure, had control over the fund prior to inheritance. Shortly before the important 40th birthday, the eldest sibling is in a horrible car accident with a waitress – in a compromising position – a waitress who is not his wife. The mom decides to use the nest, as the kids call their trust fund, to pay his medical bills and more importantly, pay off the waitress and help settle his divorce.

The siblings are outraged when they find out their inheritance is but a paltry couple of hundred thousand dollars. They all have been living their lives depending on inheriting a great deal more, so they need to figure out how to live without it.

At times charming, but more often annoying, this was written in the vein of the much better This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. If dysfunctional family fun is your thing, you’ll love this book.

4/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE NEST by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. Ecco (March 22, 2016).  ISBN 978-0062414212. 368p.

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THE BIRD EATER by Ania Ahlborn

April 2, 2016
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Aaron Holbrook was just a baby when his mother committed suicide. Her own sister happily took him in and raised him as her own, never revealing the truth about his mother’s fate. But then his aunt died, leaving a teen Aaron orphaned and alone.

Years later, Aaron’s life is rocked once again by tragedy and death. The loss of his son has dragged him deep into the depths of despair and drink, breaking up his marriage and causing Aaron to question everything. Determined to prove he can come back, though, he returns to Holbrook House intent on fixing it up. It’s to be his chance to win his wife back and show that he can beat the depression and alcohol that’s been eating away at him. But Aaron is haunted by more than his own tragedy. A boy appears at Holbrook House. A boy Aaron believes is harassing him. A boy no one but Aaron seems to be able to see.

Ania Ahlborn must take great pleasure in freaking out her readers. As the new reigning queen of horror, though, it’s quite appropriate.

The Bird Eater is definitely freaky. As the reader, we’re privy to at least one detail that Aaron himself is not and that’s exactly what happened to his mother. Her own sister has kept it from him, determined that Aaron will live a normal and happy life. And her secret is twofold considering the dead teen (Aaron’s mom) was said to have been pretty unstable. But of course Aaron’s adoptive mother soon learns there was much more to her sister’s ramblings than she ever gave her credit for.

And that’s just what’s revealed in the opening chapter.

Ahlborn keeps a lot hidden even by the time the story has ended. There’s a bit of reading between the lines that’s required, a history behind Holbrook House that’s never delved very deeply into (but would make a fabulous book on its own.). I personally would have loved more of that history and more about Birdie himself. Some might argue that the lack of detail and explanation makes the story more focused and creepy, though. The Bird Eater is Aaron’s story, after all, not Birdie’s or even Aaron’s mother’s. In that sense I actually agree. As stated above, Aaron never learns the truth about his mother. In fact, the little bit the reader learns about her and Holbrook house and Birdie is saved just for us and never revealed to Aaron at all.

Even without a deeper backstory, The Bird Eater is still a quick and satisfyingly creepy haunted house story. It has a killer ending, too.

4/16 Becky LeJeune

THE BIRD EATER by Ania Ahlborn. 47North (April 1, 2014).  ISBN 978-1477817605. 267p.

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A MUDDIED MURDER by Wendy Tyson

March 31, 2016

muddied murderA Greenhouse Mystery, Book 1

After the death of her husband, lawyer Megan Sawyer decides it’s time for a big change. A desire to return to her roots sends her home to the family farm in Winsome, Pennsylvania. Here, Megan plans to revamp the land into a certified organic farm that will provide produce for the local farmers market as well as her own café and market.

Everything is rolling along well enough until the local zoning commissioner who, for reasons mostly unknown to Megan and everyone around her, becomes intent on making Megan’s plans difficult bordering on impossible. And when that same zoning commissioner is found dead in Megan’s barn, the authorities can’t help but turn an eye her way.

This first in Tyson’s new Greenhouse Mystery series is a bit lighter in tone than her Allison Campbell books.

The small town setting and tight-knit community make this an appealing read on many levels. Anyone with any inkling as to how small towns work will know there’s the picture perfect public façade and a sometimes not so hidden catty underbelly. This cattiness in particular proves to be a big part of the tension in this first outing of the series. And, as it turns out, there are way more potential killers out there than just our struggling heroine.

Tyson gives readers a really great look at the inner workings of Winsome, the small town politics, and the characters that make their home here. There’s even a little bit of romance wound up in this mystery, too.

All in all, this is a fine outing from Tyson and a fun new series (and town) I’m looking forward to seeing more of.

3/16 Becky LeJeune

A MUDDIED MURDER by Wendy Tyson. Henery Press (March 29, 2016).  ISBN 978-1635110050. 276p.

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EATING IN THE MIDDLE by Andie Mitchell

March 30, 2016
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A Mostly Wholesome Cookbook

Mitchell has lost a bunch of weight and kept it off for over ten years, apparently by eating food per the recipes she includes in this book – mostly healthy, but definitely with an occasional indulgence. It’s a nice take on a cookbook, part diet book with a dash of reality thrown in.

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Mitchell wrote a memoir, It Was Me All Along, which was published in 2015. People magazine said it was “A charming memoir about weight loss and self-discovery.” Kirkus Reviews said, “A candid and inspiring memoir.” And she has a beautiful blog,  Andie Mitchell: Recipes & Inspiration for a Feel-Good, Balanced Life, with many of her recipes and weight loss tips. Plus she has a Facebook group, along with Gina Homolka of Skinnytaste.com, where you can cook along with her and find even more inspiration.

But back to the cookbook. Every recipe starts with a brief paragraph about the genesis of the recipe, or something about the ingredients or where it came from, or what to serve with it. These are often charming little vignettes about Mitchell’s family; her mother, her grandmother, and they add a special appeal to the book.

I like knowing what the dish is supposed to look like, and there are lots of pictures. I have a review copy, so my pictures are black and white, but I suspect the pictures are just glorious in color in the finished book.

The book isn’t as divided up as many cookbooks are, so the table of contents is pretty short:

Introduction

Starting Fresh

Lunchtime

Vegetables and Sides

Dinnertime

For Sharing

All Things Sweet

The recipes are realistic for most home cooks. I like things like Lightened-Up Pad Thai in Under 15 Minutes, which uses shredded cabbage instead of rice noodles and is really filling and delicious. I also liked the Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki & Feta, which takes a bit longer as you marinate the chicken for half an hour but still very easy and good. I haven’t tried the Turkey Burgers with Apple, Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese yet but I will. Turkey burgers can be super dry unless additional fat is added but Mitchell uses a grated apple and some goat cheese instead. Mitchell insists her Brown Sugar & Chili-Rubbed Salmon with Avocado Crema would do the Barefoot Contessa proud, and I won’t argue with that.

There are some great salads and I especially loved the Bagel & Lox Salad – yes, you read that right. All the flavors including lettuce, red onions, lox and capers plus some pumpernickel crisps, and a dressing based on low fat Greek yogurt. I did add a tomato though. Another good lunch is the Tuna and Orzo Salad with Parmesan and Basil. It’s loaded with protein between the tuna and cannellini beans, and the simple lemon honey dressing pairs perfectly with the salad. Not all the lunches are salads though; I am intrigued with the Loaded Black Bean Burgers and will be giving them a try.

The Sharing chapter includes recipes that probably don’t belong in a healthy cookbook but again, it’s all about balance. The Cuban Pulled-Pork Sandwiches with Caramelized Onion and Thyme Mayo sounds fabulous. I’m not seeing the health benefits here but it is a slow cooker, can-make-it-in-the-middle-of-the-week-if-I-want recipe, so I may give it a go. I didn’t bother with the Sweets, I do enough of those but it is nice to have that chapter.

All in all, it is a good, mostly healthy cookbook with some interesting recipes. If you are looking for ways to eat healthier, (and really, who isn’t,) try this cookbook.

3/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

EATING IN THE MIDDLE by Andie Mitchell. Clarkson Potter (March 29, 2016).  ISBN 978-0770433277.  240p.

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THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS by Chris Bohjalian

March 27, 2016
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I am a long time Bohjalian fan, but I haven’t read all of his books. So when the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition selected this book as the book to read for the biennial Read Together Palm Beach County, I was delighted.

I would say that this book is a little different for Chris, but let’s face it, all of his books are vastly different, from transgender to Armenian genocide to midwifery. This book is set in Italy and moves between two time periods, 1944 during the second World War, and eleven years later, in 1955.

At it’s heart this is a mystery. Two people are killed within a few days of each other. Both are members of an old Italian family of noble descent, the Rosati family, and the police fear that other family members may be in danger. And not only were they killed, both had their hearts cut out of their bodies, so this feels very much like a serial killer at work.

During the war, the Rosati’s estate was inhabited by Nazis. The Italians were allies of the Germans, and the Rosati’s uncomfortably worked with them, entertained them and so forth. One of the young German soldiers starts courting one of the Rosati’s daughters, too, but like Romeo and Juliet, their love is threatened by the family, and the circumstance of war just adds to the misalliance.

The detective investigating the murder is a young woman named Serafina. She was a partisan fighter during the war, and suffered grave injury. Her memories of that time in her life are sketchy at best, but start trickling back during this investigation.

Bohjalian is a literary writer, and the writing here is beautiful. The story is all about the characters and doesn’t move as quickly as one might expect a serial killer type thriller to move. But it is a deeply moving, albeit often times upsetting read, but that is the subject matter. One review called it a “why done it” instead of a “who done it” and I think that is apt.

If you enjoy literary mysteries, historical settings, and beautiful writing, then this is the book for you.

3/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE LIGHT IN THE RUINS by Chris Bohjalian. Vintage; Reprint edition (April 22, 2014).  ISBN 978-0307743923.  309p.

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RELISH by Lucy Knisley

March 26, 2016
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My Life in the Kitchen

I  haven’t read a graphic novel in quite a while, it’s not something I read regularly. They have to be pretty special to get me to pick one up and this one is.

Lucy Knisley grew up with a caterer mother and a food critic father and this is her story. She both writes and illustrates it, and as you can see from the cover, the illustrations are fun but also somewhat true to life. Starting as a young girl in New York City, she talks about the food she tries, and the food her family cooks and eats. Each chapter ends with an illustrated recipe.

Her parents divorce and she and her mother move to upstate New York to a small farm. There her mother gets involved in the community and starts a green market with local farmers that eventually becomes a mecca for foodies in the area. Lucy falls in love with food, but also with drawing and becomes a cartoonist.

Written with great warmth and humor, this is a graphic novel to be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good memoir and foodies everywhere.

3/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

RELISH by Lucy Knsisley. First Second (April 2, 2013). ISBN 978-1596436237. 176p.

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PREDATOR by Wilbur Smith & Tom Cain

March 25, 2016
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Wilbur Smith is a well established author with actions generally  centered in Africa. His protagonists are always men and women of action involved in stories of events that are never sedate or ordinary. He has also penned a series of novels involving ancient Egypt and people living at that time. Predator, written in conjunction with Tom Cain, adds events set in Texas and the maximum security prison located at Huntsville into a scenario that also takes in a section of the African continent.

Former SAS major Hector Cross has been introduced in previous books. He had his own security company which he had sold to Bannock Oil after marrying Hazel Bannock the daughter of Bannock’s founder. In a previous novel Cross runs into the arch villain, Johnny Cane. Cross defeated Cane, but did not kill him as he wanted to due to Hazel’s request not to do so. In return Cane killed Hazel making Cross his enemy like never before. Cane is sent to Huntsville to await his execution that had been previously sentenced but on the day that he was to die escapes and manages to leave the US and set up in Africa.

Hector Cross has the contract for security for Bannock Oil, and after a costly mishap to that company in Alaska brings his company to Africa. Bannock is involved in opening a new oil field offshore of Cabinda, a small, but emerging prosperous African nation due to the oil found. CrossBow, Cross’ company, finds itself up to it’s eyeballs in alligators when terrorists organized and financed by Johnny Cane attack and destroy a Bannock oil rig. It is obvious that they intend to cause further harm and the reason why becomes apparent when a woman working for a law firm with Bannock as it’s client finds incriminating evidence involving the lawyer’s actions. She reports her suspicions to Cross, but is killed when the legal firm’s backers realize what she has done.

With Smith’s predilection for continued action the reader is caught up in Cross’ actions to get rid of Johnny Cane, protect Bannock and exact revenge for the killing of both his wife Hazel and the woman contacting him about her suspicions of her firm. Along the way, Hector finds new love with both a  lady, as well as the daughter he had with Hazel before she was killed. There will most assuredly be further adventures involving Hector Cross and his security firm CrossBow. With Wilbur Smith’s ability to mesmerize his readers these novels will certainly be sought after.

3/16 Paul Lane

PREDATOR by Wilbur Smith & Tom Cain. William Morrow (March 22, 2016).  ISBN 978-0062276476.  416p.

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JUST FALL by Nina Sadowsky

March 24, 2016

JUST FALLThis debut novel turns a marriage inside out and upside down. Ellie and Rob are in love when they get married, but that love is not based on reality. When Rob reveals a life-changing secret on their wedding night, Ellie is thrown for a loop – but she has her secrets too.

Can two people who barely know one another make their marriage work?

Their story utilizes flashbacks via alternating chapters of “now” and “then,” except the flashbacks are not in any kind of order and can be confusing to follow, plus they add many extraneous and unnecessary characters. But despite all that, the tension becomes almost unbearable as Ellie tries to determine if she can save her husband, and her marriage.

While these characters are not especially likeable, the many loose plot ends are mostly woven together as the story hurtles towards it shocking, yet not quite believable ending.

The popularity of thrillers centered on an enigmatic husband and wife continues here, with the inevitable comparison to The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
Copyright ©2016 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

03/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

JUST FALL by Nina Sadowsky. Ballantine Books (March 22, 2016).  ISBN 978-0553394856. 304p.

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