IN A HANDFUL OF DUST by Mindy McGinnis

September 27, 2014

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After an outbreak of polio hits their small society, Lynn and Lucy strike out for California. Though Lynn has spent all of her life living in one spot, defending her little pond, she knows that Lucy needs more. Lucy needs people. Lucy needs hope. What Lucy doesn’t need is to be faced with the fear and animosity that falls on her after the cause of the outbreak is narrowed to either her or her boyfriend as a carrier.

Some say that after the Shortage parts of California were able to maintain some semblance of normalcy. The stories suggest that folks there were able to come up with a way of making ocean water drinkable. There they wouldn’t have to worry about harsh winters and the promise of limitless water means no more living or dying by their small pond.

The road will be long and the journey will be difficult, but together they’re willing to face the challenges ahead in hopes of a better future.

Mindy McGinnis does it again. This companion/sequel to Not a Drop to Drink returns readers to Lynn and her unforgiving waterless world, this time throwing Lynn and young Lucy into a cross-country journey that tests their limits. Fans of McGinnis’s debut will no doubt find this second outing equally satisfying (and harrowing.) but even if you’ve not yet read Not a Drop to Drink you can easily start with In a Handful of Dust.

McGinnis is definitely not afraid to put her characters in the thick of it or to expose her readers to some ick, so if you’re a more sensitive reader this might not be the best choice for your TBR. All I’ll say about that here is: Oh, Vegas.

09/14 Becky LeJeune

IN A HANDFUL OF DUST by Mindy McGinnis. Katherine Tegen Books (September 23, 2014)). ISBN 978-0062198532. 384p.

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FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

September 26, 2014

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Narrated by Rebecca Lowman & Maxwell Caulfield

I love Rainbow Rowell. I first read her debut novel. Attachments, and then went through all of her books. With Fangirl,  I am now all caught up – until she publishes another book., and I can hardly wait for it.

Fangirl is an adult novel that is probably more popular with the Young Adult set since it is about a college freshman who writes fan fiction. I personally don’t know any adults who read fan fiction, although I’m sure they are out there. But my 22 year old daughter devours it, as do other young adults that I know. And interestingly, the paperback was published by Macmillan Children’s.

Anyway, Cather is the college freshman and I listened to this on audio book. Rowell’s books are fantastic on audio, and this one is no exception. There are two narrators, Rebecca Lowman, who reads Cather’s story, and Maxwell Caulfield, who reads the fan fiction that Cather writes. It is loosely based on Harry Potter, but is called Simon Snow and is gay fan fiction with vampires. I don’t like vampires and I wasn’t a fan of the fan fic, as it is called, so I tended to fast forward through those parts.

Cather is an identical twin, her sister is Wren (say the names together and you’ll get it.) Their mother took off when they were 8 years old and their father is bipolar but has managed to bring them up by himself. They girls go away to school in Lincoln, Nebraska, not too far from their home in Omaha. Much to Cather’s dismay, Wren decides she doesn’t want to room with her sister and they drift apart.

Cather’s roommate is Reagan, an upperclassman with a string of boyfriends. One of them, Levi, is always in their room and is very kind to Cather. Eventually they fall in love, but not without a lot of misunderstandings along the way. There is more angst with Cather’s family – her mother shows up, her sister gets alcohol poisoning, and her father has a bad manic episode. But Cather’s real struggle is with her fiction writing class – she wants to write fan fic, and her professor isn’t having any of it.

This is another charming story from this terrific storyteller. The characters are deftly brought to life and their stories are absorbing. I hated when it ended, and I can’t think of a better recommendation than that.

9/14 Stacy Alesi

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin’s Griffin; First Edition edition (September 10, 2013). ISBN 978-1250030955. 448p.
Audiobook on CD: Listening Library (Audio); Unabridged edition (September 10, 2013). ISBN 978-0804121286.

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NO TIME TO DIE by Kira Peikoff

September 25, 2014

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There’s something wrong with Zoe Kincaid. Her stunted size and figure are that of a pre pubescent teenager rather than a twenty-year-old. To date none of the doctors or tests have yielded any results and her parents are ready to write it off as a fluke, but after being embarrassed out of college Zoe has had enough.

Unbeknownst to her parents, Zoe submits herself for a series of genetic tests and finally gets an answer: physically her body stopped aging at fourteen. Only one other person has ever been known to suffer this same disorder and further testing could show the exact gene responsible. Zoe is all set to sign on for whatever it takes – after all, her genes could be the key to agelessness – but lawyers have determined that if Zoe is only physically fourteen, she is still a minor. Without the consent her parents refuse to give, any further study of Zoe and her condition are a no go.

When a group called the Network steps in and offers Zoe what private doctors can’t, she jumps at the opportunity. But the Network is the focus of a government investigation determined to unmask and dismantle the organization. In Zoe’s quest for answers has she actually placed herself in the hands of a group of murderers?

This latest from Peikoff is certainly a thought provoking one. On one hand there is the seemingly endless quest for longevity and immortality (should we, shouldn’t we, and what are the ramifications of an un-aging population?). On the other there are the politics involved in medical research.

Some aspects of the book do come across as far fetched, but most of story works. The Network itself is an intriguing prospect, and one I’m sure exists in some throughout the scientific community (though that may just be a bit of conspiracy theory talking).

9/14 Becky LeJeune

NO TIME TO DIE by Kira Peikoff. Pinnacle (August 26, 2014). ISBN 978-0786034895. 448p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

ART, INC. by Lisa Congdon

September 24, 2014

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I earned my Bachelor’s degree in English, an endeavor which has long been the source of great jokes about the serious lack of employment opportunities (can you spell SUPERSIZED?) Art majors don’t have it much easier. But the thing is, some of the brightest and most creative people are pursuing their passion before reality hits and they have to get a job.

This book helps point the way for artists to find more creative and worthy outlets for their passion than just teaching (not that there’s anything wrong with teaching!) What Congdon has created with this book is more of a business guide for artists, with clearly laid out chapters and lots of good advice.

She speaks from experience. Congdon shares a lot of her art online, and has parlayed that into a money making enterprise. She includes such practical advice as opening a bank account to how to buy a scanner. There are interviews with illustrators, fine artists, and others.

Best of all, Congdon offers lots of good advice like how to use social media to your benefit and how to deal with galleries. She also talks about the illustration jobs she’s had and how she got them, and how you can too. Learn how to price your work, photograph it and market it like a pro. And if your confidence needs a boost, well, she addresses that as well.

Buy this book for the artist in your life and they will thank you.

9/14 Stacy Alesi

ART, INC. by Lisa Congdon. Chronicle Books (August 12, 2014). ISBN 978-1452128269. 184p.

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SPARROW HILL ROAD by Seanan McGuire

September 23, 2014

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It was 1952 when Rose Marshall was killed on Sparrow Hill Road on her way to the prom. She was only sixteen. The circumstances of her death left her a hitcher, a ghost forced to roam the roads in search for rides.

The Phantom Prom Date who murders those who offer her a ride. The Ghost of Sparrow Hill Road whose date died alongside her. The Girl From the Diner who is an omen of bad things to come… for generations her story has been passed on, becoming twisted into a legend that barely resembles the once real story. But Rose herself isn’t a harbinger of doom. Instead, she can tell when an accident is on the horizon and can sometimes save someone who would otherwise die. In other cases, she helps those who have passed on get to their final destination.

In 2010 Seanan McGuire released a dozen Rose Marshall stories through the ezine The Edge of Propinquity. While the mag does still have a few stories in its archives, including McGuire’s “Good Girls Go To Heaven,” the rest have been collected here in the author’s latest release.

This is a story most readers probably know in one form or another, but McGuire expands it and gives it a depth that the word-of-mouth urban legend never could. What’s more, she’s placed the story smack dab in the middle of an urban fantasy world populated with some of the most unusual characters I’ve ever seen: routewitches, trainspotters, crossroads and dead highways, strigoi who don’t suck blood, and a bevy of ghosts ranging from the hitchhikers to maggy dhu (ghost dogs who collect souls).

Sparrow Hill Road is a ghost story, a love story, a horror story, and a story of the road.

09/14 Becky LeJeune

SPARROW HILL ROAD by Seanan McGuire. DAW Trade (May 6, 2014). ISBN 978-0756409616. 320p.

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THE ESCAPE by Mary Balogh

September 21, 2014

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Survivor’s Club Series, Book 3

Just to recap, this series focuses on a group of men who all sustained injuries during the Napoleonic Wars. The Duke of Stanbrook, having lost his son in that war, had invited this group of five men with various serious injuries, and one woman who had the misfortune of seeing her husband tortured and killed, to recuperate at his estate. They spend a few years there healing, form an eternal bond, and after they have healed enough to return to the world, they meet up once a year at the estate to renew their bonds. And apparently each year, at least one of them will marry.

The Escape centers on Major Sir Benedict Harper, who had his legs crushed during the war. He was told that he would never walk again and the surgeon wanted to amputate, but he refused, and through sheer strength of will, has fashioned two canes that allow him to walk, albeit slowly, and with some pain.

Benedict is out riding and decides to try jumping a hedge, which he accomplishes but unfortunately, when he lands he scares a young woman and her dog, and his horse gets a bit spooked. He gets the horse under control and then notices the woman has fallen on her behind. His temper gets the best of him and she storms off.

It turns out she is Mrs. Samantha McKay, recently widowed after caring for her invalid husband for many years after he was injured in the war. Their meeting doesn’t get off on the best foot, but Benedict’s sister helps make amends. Then Samantha finds out that the home she thought was hers has been given to her brother-in-law and his family, and she is being sent to live with her puritanical in-laws, so she decides to run away to a cottage by the sea in Wales that her mother had bequeathed her.

Benedict offers to accompany her, and she reluctantly acquiesces. During that trip, that learn a lot about each other, and they fall in love but are hesitant to admit it. The village in Wales is dominated by a mansion on top of a hill that overlooks the town and the sea, and it turns out to be owned by the grandfather Samantha never met. Family issues are complicated, and Benedict leaves for several months to allow Samantha to finish her mourning for her husband, and to get to know her recently found family.

This is another terrific story in what has turned into a favorite series. I’m looking forward to the next book, but as an added treat, there is a short story called “The Suitor” that is included in the paperback that stands alone, but also ties up a loose end from The Arrangement.

9/14 Stacy Alesi

THE ESCAPE by Mary Balogh. Dell (July 1, 2014). ISBN 978-0345536068. 416p.

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PINES by Blake Crouch

September 20, 2014

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The Wayward Pines Trilogy Book 1

Special Agent Ethan Burke was investigating the disappearance of two fellow agents when the car he was riding in was broadsided by a Mack truck. When he woke, he had little to no memory of the crash at all, nor could he recall how he wound up lying next to a river in the small town of Wayward Pines.

As his memory returns, though, he begins to realize there’s something strange going on. His phone and ID are missing, his phone calls to his boss go ignored, and he can barely remember his home phone number. What’s more, it seems someone or something is intent on his staying in Wayward Pines.

I kind of loved Blake Crouch’s Pines. It first caught my interest when I learned that FOX had picked up the small screen adaptation (produced by M. Night Shyamalan) for 2015. The trailer is quirky and the cast is a literal who’s who of big name Hollywood stars. In short, I was sold. When I found out it was based on Crouch’s trilogy, I knew I had to start reading. What a ride it turned out to be.

Part of the appeal in the book is the wondering and to tell much more would be to ruin that for potential readers. I can’t wait to see how it comes across on TV and really do hope that they’re able to pull it off.

09/14 Becky LeJeune

NOTE from the editor: This book made my Best of 2012 list:

PINES by Blake Crouch: This is a genre-bending, completely riveting thrill ride, which mixes suspense, horror, science fiction and dystopian nightmare all rolled up into one unputdownable book. Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

PINES by Blake Crouch. Thomas & Mercer (August 21, 2012). ISBN 978-1612183954. 320p.

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ASSASSIN’S GAME by Ward Larsen

September 19, 2014

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David Slaton was a “kidon” for the Israeli Mossad. Kidon are assassins doing the work called for by the agency. He left the service to marry a girl he was very much in love with and settled down in Virginia in the U.S., expecting to live an ordinary life.

Unfortunately, the Mossad finds they need his particular talents once more. A scientist in Iran has brought that country to the brink of perfecting a nuclear tipped ballistic missile.

Several attempts to assassinate him, all unsuccessful and resulting in loss of life on the part of the assassins, were tried. The head of the Mossad believes that a source within the organization has been leaking information to the Iranians to prevent the assassination.

In order to circumvent the leak, it is decided to reactivate David. Aware that he would not be willing to come out of retirement the decision is made to kidnap his wife and return her only when the job is done.

Larsen makes the search for David’s wife, and the attempt to kill the Iranian scientist into one of the most exciting novels in a long time. Action runs from Sweden to Switzerland and of course, Iran in a torrid pace. This is not a book that can be put down without finishing it.

There are surprises, all within the scope of events depicted and are logical,and at several points just stunning. I’ve read previous novels by the author and never been disappointed, but Assassin’s Game might be his best. Highly recommended for a great read.

9/14 Paul Lane

ASSASSIN’S GAME by Ward Larsen. Forge Books; First Edition edition (August 26, 2014). ISBN 978-0765336729. 384p.

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WHAT A DUKE DARES by Anna Campbell

September 18, 2014

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Sons of Sin #3

I found this title on the Top 10 Romance Fiction: 2014 list by Donna Seaman for Booklist. I had read a couple of titles on the list and liked them, so thought I’d give this one a try. I’m glad I did.

Yes, once again I am starting a series in the middle, this is the third book, but I didn’t feel like I missed a thing.

When Camden Rothermere, the Duke of Sedgemoor, proposes to Penelope Thorne, she turns him down and he is not happy about it. They grew up together, Penelope’s brother is Cam’s closest friend, and she’s been in love with him for years. But he has some serious dysfunctional family stuff going on, and love is not in any equation for marriage for him. Pen takes off, travelling through Europe until her brother passes away several years later. Cam’s made a deathbed promise to bring Pen home, and finds her under attack in the Alps.

Cam rescues Pen, and begins an arduous trip back to England. Along the way, they are forced to travel as husband and wife to avoid scandal, but when they run into some trouble, they really have to get married – but can they make this marriage work? Will Pen have her heart broken by a loveless marriage? Will Cam keep on avoiding love despite their passion?

I really enjoyed this Regency romance. The characters are believable, the settings are interesting and the romance is hot in this fast, fun read.

9/14 Stacy Alesi

WHAT A DUKE DARES by Anna Campbell. Forever (August 26, 2014). ISBN 978-1455557905. 432p.

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HOUNDED by David Rosenfelt

September 17, 2014

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This is the twelfth entry into one of my favorite series featuring attorney Andy Carpenter. I fell in love with this character in the first book, Open and Shut and have loved every book since.

Andy gets a phone call from one of his closest friends, police captain Pete Stanton. He asks Andy to hurry over and to bring Laurie. They arrive at a home with multiple cop cars out front and when Andy hears a dog barking, he knows why he was called. Turns out a friend of Pete’s has been killed, leaving his young son and his dog behind. Pete not only wants Andy to take the dog, he wants them to take the kid too, in hopes of keeping him out of the system.

Andy feels like a kid himself but Lauri agrees and then things get really complicated when Pete is arrested for the murder. Andy thinks Pete is being set up, and all the regulars are there to help – Laurie, his long time girlfriend, and an ex-cop turned private investigator; Marcus, top notch security; Hike, a lawyer who helps out Andy when he takes a case; Sam, the accountant and computer hacker extraordinaire; and Willie, an ex-con who partners with Andy and runs their dog rescue foundation.

This is a complicated case, and Andy definitely will need more than his usual courtroom antics to keep Pete out of jail. Someone with a lot of money and a lot of reach is trying to have Pete discredited and jailed. The more they dig, the deeper they get into something really sinister until the shocking ending.

Hounded is a fine addition to the series. If you like legal thrillers, or dogs, or humor along with your murder and mayhem, don’t miss it.

9/14 Stacy Alesi

HOUNDED by David Rosenfelt. Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (July 22, 2014). ISBN 978-1250024749. 3208p.

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