THE BLUMHOUSE BOOK OF NIGHTMARES ed. by Jason Blum

July 18, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

THE HAUNTED CITY

Horror fans, have you ever wondered what happens when some of the bigwigs in the industry get together and pen a collection of short stories? Apparently someone has and the result is the new Blumhouse Book of Nightmares release. The theme is “The City” and the only stipulation was that the contributors had to write something that fit within the theme. Beyond that, the stories vary wildly. From haunted houses and gypsy curses to Nazis and demon hunters, these tales run the gamut of horror.

The contributors themselves are people whose work you already know even if you don’t know them by name – authors like Sarah Langan and Michael Olson, actors like Ethan Hawke and Jeremy Slater, and the minds behind Sinister, The Lazarus Effect, Hostel and more – and of course they’re all brought together by Jason Blum and Blumhouse.

The overall collection is quite fun. A few of my own personal favorites include Leslie Bohem’s “Geist” an excellent ghost story in my opinion, Eli Roth’s twisted revenge tale “Valdivia,” and Simon Kurt Unsworth’s eerie “Gentholme.”

Table of Contents:

Hellhole by Christopher Denham
Valdivia by Eli Roth
Golden Hour by Jeremy Slater
A Clean White Room by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill
The Leap by Dana Stevens
Novel Fifteen by Steve Faber
The Darkish Man by Nissar Medi
1987 by Ethan Hawke
Geist by Leslie Bohem
Gentholme by Simon Kurt Unsworth
Donations by William Joselyn
The Old Jail by Sarah Langan
The Words by Scott Stewart
Dreamland by Michael Olson
Meat Maker by Mark Neveldine
Eyes by George Gallo
Procedure by James DeMonaco

7/15 Becky LeJeune

THE BLUMHOUSE BOOK OF NIGHTMARES ed. by Jason Blum. Doubleday (July 7, 2015).  ISBN 978-0385539999. 384p.

Comments Off on THE BLUMHOUSE BOOK OF NIGHTMARES ed. by Jason Blum | Book Reviews, Horror | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

SECRETS OF THE LAST NAZI by Iain King

July 17, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

Myles Munro Action Thriller Series

The story opens with the discovery of a well connected Nazi SS commander dead in Berlin in 2015. Werner Stolz guarded the last secret of  Hitler and the Nazis for 70 years. A secret so deadly that if discovered could plunge the world into a fight for power because of it. Military historian Myles Munro and an international team he leads are tasked with piecing together the complex puzzle left by Stolz.

When one of his team is killed, Myles realizes that the stakes are much higher than originally perceived and quite possibly his group includes a traitor. The hunt for the secret and its ramifications broadens all across Europe. What comes out are factors that might be useful in predicting future events. It appears that the Nazis had used the secret to try and ascertain major future happenings. King indicates in an afterwards that the ingredients of the secret were used successfully in the real world for much of recorded history and have applications for our future.

What the secret is and where and when it originated comprise one of the most original and carefully thought out stories that have yet to appear in print. King introduces facts and dates to substantiate his thesis making this a mesmerizing novel with the distinct possibility that it introduces new truths in a world of science previously debunked as fakery. Great thinkers out of the past are introduced as discovering and using these ideas.

Not only a better than average conspiracy book, but one also backed up by research that brings new ideas into the possibility of reality. A book that will thrill and one already followed by another Iain King novel featuring Myles Munro and delving into further proof of the ideas that he espouses.

7/15 Paul Lane

SECRETS OF THE LAST NAZI by Iain King. Bookouture (July 14, 2015). ISBN: 978-1910751107. 454p.

1 Comment | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE MALL by S.L. Grey

July 16, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

Rhoda left the kid alone for just a few minutes and now he’s gone. Sure, she shouldn’t have taken him to the mall in the first place. But she needed a score and she was only watching the kid as a favor for her cousin. Given her appearance and attitude, mall security isn’t taking her seriously in her search for a white kid, but she knows the guy at the bookstore saw them together and lied about it.

Dan only caught a glimpse of the kid running through the mall tunnels, but it isn’t until Rhoda attacks him in the parking garage that he puts two and two together. Now he’s basically a hostage leading her through the warren of back halls and stairwells after hours in search of the boy. As they wind their way down and down and down, though, Dan realizes that they’re lost. The place still looks like Highgate, but everything looks just a little off. What’s worse, now Dan and Rhoda are getting weird texts from someone who calls themselves management and a large and foul smelling creature seems to be tailing them on their journey.

A parallel world where stores are run by mindless slaves and shoppers literally shop until they drop, The Mall is seriously fun and creepy. The book does essentially poke fun at retail culture, and much of the book has a tinge of dark humor to it, but the deeper criticism also makes the premise that much more scary.

The Mall is the first in the Downside series penned by S.L. Grey (aka Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg). It was first released in 2011 but has only been available here in the US for the past year. I can’t recommend it enough; seek it out, it’s well worth it!

7/15 Becky LeJeune

THE MALL by S.L. Grey. Atlantic Books; Reprint edition (April 1, 2014).  ISBN 978-1848878877. 320p.

Comments Off on THE MALL by S.L. Grey | Book Reviews, Horror | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

2015 ITW Thriller Awards

July 14, 2015

If you follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page, then you know I spent the weekend in New York at ThrillerFest, my favorite conference! I got to chat with all pf my favorite authors – Lee Child, Greg Iles, Sandra Brown, Jon Land, Nelson DeMille, Clive Cussler, Joe Finder and so many more. But for me the best part is meeting new authors, and finding new books to read! And did I mention they give away tons of books at this conference? It’s a book hoarder’s, I mean book collector’s dream, especially as all the authors are there to sign their books.

The conference ends with the Thriller Awards banquet. I admit I skipped it and went to see Jason Alexander in Larry David’s Fish in the Dark on Broadway, but I did find out who won all the awards – congratulations to all the nominees and all the winners.

Best Hardcover Novel

The Fever, by Megan Abbott (WINNER)

Broken Monsters, by Lauren Beukes

Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles

Suspicion, by Joseph Finder

That Night, by Chevy Stevens

Best Paperback Original

Moonlight Weeps, by Vinent Zandri (WINNER)

The Buried, by Shelley Coriell

My Sister’s Grave, by Robert Dugoni

Shadow Maker, by James R. Hannibal

Whirlwind, by Rick Mofina

 Best First Novel

The Weight of Blood, by Laura McHugh (WINNER)

The Axeman’s Jazz, by Ray Celestin

Invisible City, by Julia Dahl

The Life We Bury, by Allen Eskens

The Martian, by Andy Weir

 Best E-Book Original Novel

Hard Fall, by C. J. Lyons (WINNER)

13 Hollywood Apes, by Gil Reavill

The Metaxy Project, by Layton Green

Post, by Sean Black

Wannabes, by Michael Logan

Best Young Adult Novel

Nearly Gone, by Elle Cosimano (WINNER)

The Eighth Guardian, by Meredith McCardle

Tabula Rasa, by Kristen Lippert-Martin

The Unbound, by Victoria Schwab

Wicked Little Secrets, by Kara Taylor

2 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES by Debbie Macomber

July 12, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

Blossom Street #10

This is the latest entry into this very gentle series. It encompasses everything Debbie Macomber readers expect; women’s friendship, a sweet romance and knitting. The series is set in Seattle and centers around A Good Yarn, a knitting shop.

This time the story centers around Lauren Elliott, who works in a nearby fine jewelry establishment. Lauren and Todd, the handsome and ambitious TV newscaster, have been dating for a few years and Lauren feels like they should be ready to move on to the next step – marriage. But Todd wants to wait until he gets that coveted anchor spot, so Lauren decides to break it off.

Bethanne and her husband Max are separated – not because they don’t get along, but because they are newly married and he owns a business in partnership with Rooster in California; Bethanne’s business is in Seattle. And her ex has decided that maybe he made a mistake and wants her back.

Lauren meets Rooster at A Good Yarn, he’s a biker and totally out of her comfort zone but she decides maybe she needs to make a new list of what she wants in a man.

There is additional intrigue when baskets of yarn are found around town with notes to knit a scarf that will be donated to the homeless shelter, and the knitters are asked to turn in the finished product to A Good Yarn. But the proprietor, Lydia, doesn’t know anything about it, although she is certainly enjoying the good will and increase in business.

These women form a bond with each other and with the men in their lives, leading to a satisfying ending. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and it was completely captivating and entertaining. Narrated by Cassandra Campbell.

7/15 Stacy Alesi

BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES by Debbie Macomber. Ballantine Books (March 31, 2015). ISBN 978-0345528865. 432p.

Kindle

Audible

3 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE ASSASSINS by Gayle Lynds

July 10, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

The Judd Ryder Books

After a time away from writing for personal reasons Gayle Lynds returns with an intricate story about six assassins seeking a prize worth many millions of dollars. The six found a common ground when they did a job for Saddam Hussein and were not paid half of the agreed upon fee due to his death. They settled upon stealing an ancient tablet with cuneiform symbols upon it valued at millions of dollars that is being exhibited at a museum in Baghdad. The theft was successful but the tablet accidentally dropped and broken into pieces while the six flee the scene.

Years later when Judd Ryder, formerly a spy for the U.S. is walking home from work he spots a man that looks exactly like him coming from Judd’s house. As Ryder approaches him the man is killed by a hit and run accident.

Investigating the incident Judd learns that the key to his doubles killing and to the events surrounding the theft of the tablet from the Baghdad museum lies with an assassin active during the cold war known as the Carnivore. He was one of the six killers that stole the tablet, and the other five are seeking him in order to finally put the pieces together and possibly sell it for the money Saddam owed them. Judd and a CIA trainee, Eva Blake were known to have seen the Carnivore a short while ago and are sought in order to get the information needed to catch him.

The chase pitting the assassins against each other and seeking Judd and Eva is played out on an international stage going from Washington D.C., Marrakech and Baghdad and is explosive in the speed of the action. The many details are held together neatly by Gayle and make for a very welcome return to the literary world for her.

7/14 Paul Lane

THE ASSASSINS by Gayle Lynds. St. Martin’s Press (June 30, 2015). ISBN: 978-0312380908. 416p.

Kindle

Comments Off on THE ASSASSINS by Gayle Lynds | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

A LOT LIKE LOVE by Julie James

July 8, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

I am really enjoying Julie James’ FBI/US Attorney series. I’ve read the first one, Something About You,  book 3, About that Night, book 4, Love Irresistibly, and book 5, It Happened One Wedding. I finally got hold of book 2; thank you library! Need I say I did not read these in order? Probably not, since I’m finally reviewing the second book in the series.

This is a terrific series, and one of the things I like best is that they don’t need to be read in order. But if you are one of those people that feel the need to do that, there are delicious little nods to the previous books, so go for it and enjoy.

The series centers around the Chicago U.S. attorneys’ office and the FBI agents that they work with so closely. A Lot Like Love is about FBI agent Nick McCall and the billionaire heiress Jordan Rhodes. Rhodes made an appearance in About that Night as her brother, Kyle, AKA the “Twitter terrorist” is at the center of that book. But that’s the next book in the series, so never mind…

Nick McCall has been working undercover for years, precluding any sort of relationship. His newest assignment is to help out a rookie, but when the rookie gets sick, Nick has to go undercover again. This time he’s Nick Stanton, wealthy businessman who is Jordan’s date at the swankiest charity gala of the year.

In reality, he is there to infiltrate the owner’s office and plant a few bugs that will hopefully tie up a big money laundering sting. Nick and Jordan take an instant dislike to each other; he has no use for high society, and she finds him sarcastic and thug-like. But when Nick finds out he’s being followed, he knows he needs to play the boyfriend full time.

Chicago is the setting once again, with a side trip to beautiful Napa valley. Believable characters and a suspenseful storyline make for a great read – the hot sex is just the icing on the cake. Hope there’s another book or two left in this series, I am seriously hooked.

7/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A LOT LIKE LOVE by Julie James. Berkley (March 1, 2011). ISBN 978-0425240168. 304p.

Comments Off on A LOT LIKE LOVE by Julie James | Book Reviews, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW by David Bell

July 7, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

A combination love story and mystery spanning 20 years. Nick Hansen fell in love with a girl named Marissa Minor while both were in college. To get married was definitely in the cards for them when a horrible accident, a house fire, killed four girls, including Marissa. Nick, devastated, was forced to go on with his life and eventually marries another woman who has a boy from a previous marriage. Nick was crazy about the boy, but unfortunately the couple divorced.

After the divorce Nick continues working at a dead end job and trying to continue seeing Andrew, his  ex-wife’s son. One day while in the grocery he is stopped in his tracks by a girl that is the exact image of his dead girlfriend Marissa. Nick attempts to speak to her but the girl runs off.

The next day the police come to his house and indicate that the girl he tried to speak to was found dead in her hotel room with Nick’s address in her possession. Convinced that there has to be a connection between the dead girl and his old girlfriend, Marissa, Nick asks for help from an old friend of his, Laurel Davidson, who works in the D.A.’s office.

Bell is tossing a lot of people at us during the course of the book but does succeed in tying all pieces together at the end to come up with a logical conclusion to what is happening. A fast read, keeping the reader’s interest, and possibly a little reminiscent of Harlan Coben’s novel Six Years, it does stand on its own as well done.

7/15 Paul Lane

SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW by David Bell. NAL (July 7, 2015). ISBN: 978-0451474209. 432p.

Comments Off on SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW by David Bell | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Romance | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng

July 6, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

It’s May 3, 1977 and Lydia is missing. Actually, Lydia is dead but no one knows that just yet.

The police are called. A search begins. And Lydia’s family hopes beyond hope that the teenage girl will return on her own. As more time passes, Lydia’s parents and siblings worry that they missed something, that there was some sign or clue as to Lydia’s fate. And of course they’re right. Lydia had been hiding things, but so had the rest of them.

Interestingly, Lydia’s death – the exact cause and the reason behind it – isn’t the focus of this story at all. Instead, it’s the relationships between the family members and how they deal with this loss that take center stage.

The parents, Marilyn and James, want their kids to excel in ways they never did. Marilyn in particular pushes Lydia into the same areas she herself studied in a misguided attempt to see her daughter travel a road she never could. Lydia never does have the heart to tell her this isn’t what she wants.

Lydia’s parents are a mixed race couple in the 70s, something that weighs on them all. Marilyn broke with her own mother over the marriage and Lydia and her brother and sister feel the sting of their difference every day. Lydia has no friends and no one to talk to, but her brother notices and doesn’t say anything. Where all three share this feeling of always being an outsider and never quite fitting in, there’s still a disconnect between them. Nath always comes in second to Lydia but never seems to realize how much his sister relies on him. Even Hannah, the youngest, takes a backseat to Lydia almost from the day she’s born. No one pays attention to Hannah, who might have heard Lydia leave on her last night at home.

Everything I Never Told You is such a tragic tale. Misunderstandings, lack of communication, and the fear of disappointing one another lead this family down a road that has awful consequences.

7/15 Becky LeJeune

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng.  Penguin Books; Reprint edition (May 12, 2015).  ISBN 978-0143127550. 320p.

3 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

ONLY A PROMISE by Mary Balogh

July 5, 2015
Click to purchase

Click to purchase

Survivor’s Club Series, Book 5

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 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.

By this fifth book, four of the men have married – all but Ralph Stockwood, next in line to be the Duke of Worthington. He lost his childhood friends in the war, and suffers extreme guilt that he talked them into fighting. While physically scarred from the war, it is the emotional scars that have truly crippled him.

With the Duke more than 80 years old, his mother and grandparents are pressuring him to marry quickly and produce his own heir. But Stockwood feels cold and empty inside, and hesitates to make a union when he knows he will make his bride unhappy. Nevertheless, with his title and his money, girls are lining up for him.

The Duchess has a young companion, Chloe Muirhead, who has had quite a bit of scandal and heartache in her young life. At 27, she has no prospects at all. When Stockwood arrives for a visit, he overlooks her presence and has a frank talk with his grandmother about his marital prospects. The next morning, Chloe steels her nerve and makes him a proposal –  a marriage of convenience. Neither wants nor expects love, but Chloe would like her own home and a family, and Ralph needs a wife and heir. They marry quickly, and prepare to face society.

Chloe and Ralph overcome many obstacles, which of course bring them closer together. Theirs is a slow growing love, which takes them both by surprise. The sex scenes were surprising to me, almost chaste and somehow seem fitting for the time period and this marriage – but that eventually changes.

Once again Balogh creates wonderful characters and a magical romance. I loved it.

7/15 Stacy Alesi

ONLY A PROMISE by Mary Balogh. Signet (June 9, 2015). ISBN 978-0451469670. 400p.

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

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »