THE PROPOSAL by Mary Balogh

August 23, 2014

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The Survivors Club series, Book 1

So I committed the cardinal sin – I started reading this series with the second book, The Arrangement. I liked it so much I went back and found book 1. Happily, the third book in the series, The Escape , is also available.

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 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, one of them will marry.

This book centers around war hero Lord Trentham, who suffers from what today would be called post traumatic stress disorder. He is of the middle classes, but received his title from the King for his heroism during the war. He has arrived for their annual retreat and is walking on the beach when he finds a young woman who has trespassed, and seriously sprained her ankle. Lady Muir is a young widow and is terribly embarrassed to be carried back to the manse. The chemistry between them is palpable.

They both have lived through violence and death, and their differences seem too much to overcome. Meanwhile Lord Trentham’s young half sister needs his help to find a husband, and he needs Lady Muir’s help to that end. After much soul searching, eventually they all find their happy ending.

Balogh creates interesting characters with real depth, and we can’t help but root for them. This is a fast read and a good one.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE PROPOSAL by Mary Balogh. Dell; Reprint edition (May 28, 2013). ISBN 978-0440245308. 384p.

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THE APPLE ORCHARD by Susan Wiggs

August 22, 2014

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Bella Vista Chronicles, Book 1

This series is set at the Bella Vista apple orchard in Sonoma County, California, in the small town of Archangel. I read these out of order, starting with book 2, The Beekeeper’s Ball, which I liked so much that I immediately ran out and got this book. They don’t have to be read in order, but probably is better to do so.

This story centers around Tess Delaney, an antiques appraiser working for a prestigious California auction house like Sotheby’s. She grew up in Dublin with a single mom who travelled a great deal, so really her grandmother raised her.  The grandmother had an antiques store and Tess loved being there with her, and learned a great deal that helped her in her career. Her mother told her that her father was a one night stand and she didn’t even know his name.

Tess is on the verge of a big promotion and move to New York when Dominic Rossi enters her life. She originally believes he’s come to her for an appraisal, but is shocked to discover that he’s there to deliver some bad news. Her grandfather, Magnus,  has taken a tumble and is in a coma. The news would be devastating to anyone, but the real shocker is that Tess never knew she even had a grandfather. Then she comes to find out that she also has a half-sister.

Dominic is divorced with two kids and dogs and is the executor of Magnus’s estate, and tells Tess that the two granddaughters are equal heirs. Stunned to learn she stands to inherit an estate, Tess decides she had better go meet her half sister, Isabel, and find out more. Along the way she falls in love with the area, and with Dominic, but the estate is on the verge of bankruptcy. Dominic works for the bank that holds the mortgages, but try as he might, the conglomerate that owns the bank won’t budge – until Tess ferrets out a rare antique that is worth millions.

The backstory here is a complicated family one, with some really interesting flashbacks to World War II in Copenhagen, and the Danish resistance. A very fast read with characters that come alive on the pages, and I truly hope there are more books to follow.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL by Susan Wiggs. Harlequin MIRA; Reprint edition (April 29, 2014). ISBN 978-0778314967. 448p.

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DON’T LOOK BACK by Gregg Hurwitz

August 21, 2014

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Eve Hardaway, mother of one, and just left by her husband decides to take the trip of a lifetime. She goes to Oaxaca in the southern part of Mexico to enjoy rafting and hiking in company of a few other tourists to a small resort run by a Mexican couple.

She is immediately flung into the adventure of her life when she spots a man living alone in the Jungle near the resort area. While peering at him, she finds a camera, picks it up and takes it with her back to her group. She also finds a prescription bottle with the name Teresa Hamilton on it.

From this chance sighting and the picking up of Hamilton’s property Hurwitz accelerates the pace of the book to breakneck speed. The man she sighted does not want to be seen by anyone and begins a campaign against Eve’s group involving murder and terror. A sudden violent storm wipes out all roads and in effect closes down the area leaving Eve and her group at the mercy of a dangerous predator who proves that he will stop at nothing to keep his presence there a secret.

The group realizes that he has already killed Teresa Hamilton and they are at his mercy with no way out or any means to call for help due to the damage caused by the storm. The book leads the reader through a maze of secrets and terror. A definite all nighter with answers seeming to elude everyone and leading to mayhem and all powering fear.

Who is the man living there? What does he want to do? Questions that Hurwitz answers logically and keeping the reader pasted to the book.

Good book, great plot, well fleshed out characters and Greg Hurwitz continues his record of engrossing fiction.

8/14 Paul Lane

DON’T LOOK BACK by Gregg Hurwitz. St. Martin’s Press (August 19, 2014). ISBN 978-0312626839. 400p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL by Susan Wiggs

August 20, 2014

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Bella Vista Chronicles

This was the first book I’ve read by Susan Wiggs, and as soon as I realized it was the second book of a series, I went and got the first – this is the sequel to The Apple Orchard . Hopefully, there will be more to come.

This story is set at Bella Vista farm in Sonoma County, California, in the small town of Archangel. Isabel Johanson is a culinary school dropout but a gifted chef, and she is converting the large hacienda where she grew up into a farm-to-table cooking school. She is also busy helping her half sister Tess plan her wedding, which will be held at the recently converted barn on the property.

Bella Vista is home to a small apiary, and Isabel is determined to expand it. She leaves a message for a local beekeeper and is waiting for some help, but her bees have minds of their own and start swarming, looking for a new home. As she tries to capture the swarm, a young man stops, who she assumes to be Jamie, the beekeeper. But he knows even less than she does about bees, and gets stung, triggering a life threatening allergic reaction.

Turns out he is Cormac O’Neill, a famous journalist who is on his way to Bella Vista to work on a book about Isabel’s grandfather, Magnus, who worked with the Danish resistance during World War II. This is a family with a lot of secrets, and having the writer there helps them all come out.

There is obvious chemistry between Cormac and Isabel, but she is hesitant about getting involved. She had a bad experience in culinary school and hasn’t really come to terms with everything that happened, but she is forced to when her ex shows up in town to open a restaurant.

There are a lot of threads to this story, and Wiggs masterly weaves them all together seamlessly, creating an engaging page turner with historical significance – I learned a lot about about Denmark’s role during the Holocaust. Her characters are skillfully brought to life, and the setting becomes another character here. There are a few honey based recipes included as well, and I’m dying to try the Bee Sting Cake, a sort of breakfast sweet bread.

If you liked The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, try The Beekeeper’s Ball – I liked it even more.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL by Susan Wiggs. Harlequin MIRA; First Edition edition (June 24, 2014). ISBN 978-0778314486. 368p.

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SHARK FIN SOUP by Susan Klaus

August 19, 2014

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The young, rich, and good-looking Christian Roberts sails off aboard his luxury yacht on an idyllic Bahamian vacation with his beloved wife, Allie. When they stumble upon long line fishermen illegally killing sharks to harvest their fins, Christian goes after them, freeing the sharks from their lines.

But the anglers respond by killing Allie, and with her last breath, she asks Christian to “save the sharks.” The fins are being harvested for export to China, where shark fin soup is in great demand.

The husband is always the first suspect, and F.B.I. agent Dave Wheeler is called in to help the limited Bahamian police department. Christian takes a polygraph, which is inconclusive, and Wheeler decides to keep a close eye on him.

Christian is heartbroken and depressed about his wife, but determined to save the sharks for her, turning into eco-terrorist “Captain Nemo.” He is helped by retired mob boss Vince Florio, who has no problem with mass murder and arson for a good cause.

Klaus is obviously passionate about her subject, but unfortunately, pedestrian writing and a vigilante hero are unlikely to gain her any support.

Copyright ©2014 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

SHARK FIN SOUP by Susan Klaus. Oceanview Publishing (August 19, 2014). ISBN 978-1608091232. 340p.

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CALL ME IRRESISTIBLE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

August 18, 2014

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Good thing you can’t judge a book by its cover, otherwise, I never would have picked this one up. But Phillips is one of my favorite authors, so despite the cover I read it anyway – and I’m happy I did.

Lucy and Ted are getting married; that is, until Lucy’s best friend and maid of honor, Meg shows up. Meg takes one look at her friend and knows something’s wrong, and keeps pushing until Lucy admits she really doesn’t want to marry Ted, and takes off, leaving him at the alter.

Ted is no ordinary jilted bridegroom. He is the town hero, their mayor, their favored son, Mr. Perfect. Tall, good looking and rich, every woman in town was after him but they accepted Lucy with good grace. But Meg is blamed for the debacle, and everyone in the small Texas town of Wynette is mad at her.

That complicates things for Meg. Her father, a superstar actor/writer and her supermodel mother have cut her off, demanding the free spirit earn her own way. Meg has a problem – she thought Lucy’s family was paying for her hotel, but they’re gone and she’s stuck with the bill, no cash and a maxed-out credit card. She tries to sneak out of town in her old rustbucket of a car, but is stopped by the Sheriff and the Mayor, the jilted groom himself.

Her only options are work as a maid at the hotel to pay off her bill or go to jail. Meg chooses work. She has no money and no where to live so she is sleeping in her car. She remembers Lucy showing her a beautiful old church that Ted bought for her, and she decides to crash there. You can bet that is going to create additional problems.

The economy is bad and Ted is trying to lure a wealthy investor to build a sustainable golf course on the old landfill, and everyone in town is hoping it goes through. When the old rich guy takes a shine to Meg, Ted knows he needs her help. Meg is the only one who sees through Ted’s perfection and he doesn’t know how to handle it. They end up having an affair and Meg falls hard for Ted, distressed that she is now acting like every other woman in town. But Ted falls too, only it takes him a while to figure it out.

The crazy characters of Wynette add a lot of humor to this romance, and a hero like Ted is hard to resist, so don’t even try. Just sit back and enjoy turning every page – I did.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

CALL ME IRRESISTIBLE by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Harper Collins Publishers India; Reprint edition (March 27, 2012). ISBN 978-0061351532. 384p.

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INVISIBLE by James Patterson & David Ellis

August 17, 2014

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Overall, a fairly routine serial killer novel, only this time the murderer uses fire to cover his crimes.

Unfortunately for him, one of his victims is the sister of Emmy Dockery. an FBI researcher. Now all she has are the newspaper clippings that wallpaper her bedroom, and her recurring nightmares of an all-consuming fire.

Not even Emmy’s ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison “Books” Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes, and murders are all connected. That is, until Emmy finds a piece of evidence he can’t afford to ignore.

More murders are reported by the day–and they’re all inexplicable. No motives, no murder weapons, no suspects. Could one person really be responsible for these unthinkable crimes?

I found the interplay of chapters “written” by the killer and the search for him to be off-putting. Not a good Patterson.

8/14 Jack Quick

INVISIBLE by James Patterson & David Ellis. Little, Brown and Company (June 23, 2014). ISBN 978-0316405348. 432p.

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THE BONE SEEKER by M.J. McGrath

August 16, 2014

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An Edie Kiglatuk Mystery

Edie still hasn’t fully recovered from the loss of her ex stepson. As such, it is suggested that she spend the summer away from Autisaq. Her friend Derek Palliser has helped set her up with a place to stay in Kuujuaq while she takes on a summer teaching position in the local school. Then one of her students goes missing and is later discovered having been brutally murdered. The townsfolks immediately turn to the nearby military base for a scapegoat and tension is beginning to run high. Edie has no desire to get caught up in yet another investigation but Kuujuaq is grossly unequipped to deal with such a case. The ME and forensics folks are tied up elsewhere and Derek needs all the help he can get if he’s to do the girl’s case justice.

This third release in the Edie Kiglatuk series returns readers to the Canadian Arctic, this time during the literally endless days of summer. It’s an insular and harsh landscape, one that comes through quite clearly in McGrath’s prose.

While the main focus of the book is the murder there is a subplot concerning the military – both past and present. It’s actually a quite fascinating subplot that McGrath weaves quite well into the main story.

This latest is not without issue: the pacing is a bit off and there are hangups that prevent it from being a smooth and quick read. Overall, though, this is a satisfying addition to the series as a whole.

8/14 Becky Lejeune

THE BONE SEEKER by M.J. McGrath. Viking Adult (July 24, 2014). ISBN 978-0670785803. 352p.

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THE ARRANGEMENT by Mary Balogh

August 15, 2014

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I can’t believe I’ve never read this author before – Balough is one of the queens of the Regency romance, and now I know why.

This is the second book in the series, which focuses on a group of men who all sustained injuries during a battle. This book centers around Vincent Hunt, Lord Darleigh, who was blinded when a cannon misfired.

Our heroine is Sophia Frye, born a lady but whose father was a rake and a gambler and cut off from his family. When her mother left, he raised her but when he passed, she was left in care of family members who didn’t care about her and barely kept her fed and clothed.

Lord Darleigh’s family is determined to get him married, and he escapes their matchmaking attempts to return to his hometown, and a ball is thrown in his honor. Sophia’s aunt and uncle are determined that he shall marry their daughter, and a scheme is hatched to get them in a compromising position and force the issue.

But Sophia interferes, enraging her family who throw her out into the night. Lord Darleigh hears what happened and approaches Sophia with an unusual arrangement. He is tired of his family’s matchmaking and he knows he needs a wife; she needs a place to live and someone to take care of her. An arrangement is reached, and within a week of meeting, they are wed.

Sophia is bright and imaginative, and it was fascinating seeing her come up with ideas to give her blind husband more independence, including what has to be one of the earliest examples of using a guide dog.

This is a richly detailed story with warm, engaging characters and a happy ending, of course. A terrific read and I look forward to exploring more from this prolific author – she has written more than 60 novels.

8/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE ARRANGEMENT by Mary Balogh. Dell (August 27, 2013). ISBN 978-0345535870. 400p.

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SERVANTS OF THE STORM by Delilah S. Dawson

August 14, 2014

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Dovey has spent much of the year since Hurricane Josephine hit Savannah in a drug-induced haze. The loss of her best friend Carly – who was swept away in the storm before Dovey’s own eyes – hit her harder than anyone expected. But the pills that are supposed to keep Dovey calm and guard against the episodes that increased in occurrence and intensity after the storm leave Dovey a shadow of her former self. Her memory is plagued with fog and holes and now she’s starting to see things she suspects may not be real. Like Carly.

Dovey drops her meds and immediately begins to see things more clearly. Then she sees Carly again. Dovey chases her into a strange part of the city and thus begins a terrifying adventure.

Delilah S. Dawson’s teen debut is completely creepy and odd, just what I’d expect based on her Blud series for adults.

I loved the progression of the story. It begins with the hurricane and then jumps to almost a year later. With the exception of the storm aftermath, everything in Dovey’s world is achingly normal. Then she sees her dead friend and it all goes downhill from there. Servants takes on a bit of an Alice in Wonderland feel (if Alice were packed with even more bizarre and murderous characters than it already is) as Dovey’s world is turned upside down.

Servants of the Storm is a teen read but I think it’s quite dark and unique – enough to satisfy Dawson’s Blud fans for sure. And while there’s no connection to that series there is a fabulously chilling abandoned amusement park that’s certainly reminiscent of Criminy Stain’s carnival.

8/14 Becky Lejeune

SERVANTS OF THE STORM by Delilah S. Dawson. Simon Pulse (August 5, 2014). ISBN 978-1442483781. 384p.

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