Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

FEAR THE DARKNESS by Becky Masterman

February 11, 2015

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This is the second book I’ve read this year in which the main character starts acting all crazy and appears to have been drugged or poisoned. I loved Jane Green’s version, Saving Grace, but this plot line irritated me here.

That said, I think Masterman has created one of the most unique protagonists in a long time, and I adore her. Brigid Quinn is a 59 year-old retired F.B.I. agent who can kick ass, and as I approach that age I really appreciate reading about a character that strong at that age. Her first book, Rage Against the Dying, was terrific if a bit of a stretch (a former F.B.I. agent kills a man in self defense and doesn’t report it? Really?)

This time out Brigid’s sister passes away, and her niece, Gemma-Kate, comes to live with her and her ex-priest husband, neither of whom has any experience with children. Gemma-Kate is a piece of work, but needs to stay with her aunt to establish residency for college. When one of Brigid’s beloved pugs gets poisoned by a toad, Gemma-Kate may be responsible, and things go down hill from there.

Brigid’s best friend Mallory, (the first time in her life that she’s had a best girlfriend,) isn’t exactly like her. While Brigid loves to go hiking, Mallory loves to go shopping but they both like the lunches served with lots of wine. Mallory’s husband suffers from locked-in syndrome; he was in a car that was hit by a train and the only movement he can make is to blink his eyes. Mallory has turned their home into a virtual hospital, and her time with Brigid is often the highlight of her day.

Brigid is working part time as a private investigator. When a local teenage boy dies under suspicious circumstances, the mother asks her to look into it. There are other storylines going on and eventually they all intersect, but Masterman excels at misdirection and the ending is quite a shocker.

2/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

FEAR THE DARKNESS by Becky Masterman. Minotaur Books (January 20, 2015). ISBN 978-0312622954. 336p.

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CRAZY LOVE YOU by Lisa Unger

February 10, 2015

Ian is an overweight, very unhappy little boy growing up in The Hollows, a small town in upstate New York that is as creepy as it sounds, where people know how to keep secrets. His mother has killed his baby sister during a severe bout of postpartum depression, and spends the rest of her life in an institution. He grows up bullied and prone to bouts of explosive anger, and his only solace is a young girl named Priss, who shows up in his yard one day and befriends him – and defends him.

Fast forward to Ian’s successful life as a graphic artist in New York City, where he is struggling with drugs and alcohol and a toxic relationship with Priss. Then he meets Megan, a young woman from a fine family, and they fall in love.

Ian wants to be a better person for Megan, and he decides to stop using drugs with her urging. Megan also wants to meet Priss, but Ian can’t let that happen. Priss is very jealous, and keeps moving in and out of his life, leaving all sorts of damage in her wake.

As the story weaves back and forth between his childhood and his adulthood, his relationships with Megan and with Priss, the story becomes more entangled and more riveting. Is Priss real, imaginary, or a ghost? Does Ian have anger issues, flying into rages and blacking out in the process, or is Priss doing all the damage?

This is a complex, intricate story yet the pages fly by as Ian, the most unreliable narrator since Nick Dunne in Gone Girl, leads us on a wild ride in this superb psychological thriller. Unger is at the top of her game here.

2/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

CRAZY LOVE YOU by Lisa Unger. Touchstone (February 10, 2015). ISBN 978-1451691207. 352p.

5 Comments | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Thriller | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE GIRL ON A TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

February 9, 2015

The latest buzz book is Hawkins’ debut thriller and frankly, that’s why I read it. To be honest, I felt like it was my professional responsibility to read it since my library patrons are all asking about it, other wise I never would have finished it.

In a word, it’s weird.

The unreliable narrator surged in popularity with Gone Girl – and just a caveat here, I tried to read the Flynn book on three separate occasions and just could not get past the first 40 pages. So I am not the one to do any comparisons there but rather I’m just repeating the oft told comparison in every other review.

That said, Train has a cast of several unreliable characters and the story switches viewpoints among most of them. Rachel is the girl on the train and she is a drunk with blackout issues. She rides the train to London back and forth each day imagining the lives of a couple she names “Jess and Jason.”

Anna is married to Rachel’s ex and understandably no love is lost between them. When Anna’s neighbor Megan goes missing and later is found dead, more details start emerging, and Megan is yet another voice we hear from. Megan turns out to be “Jess” and of course her controlling husband is the first suspect. She lived a few houses down from Rachel’s ex and his new wife, Anna, and there are lots of confrontations between Anna and Rachel.

I had a hard time relating to any of these characters and didn’t really care what happened to any of them. I started to like the book more than three quarters of the way through. That said, I really liked the ending.

2/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE GIRL ON A TRAIN by Paula Hawkins. Riverhead Hardcover (January 13, 2015). ISBN 978-1594633669. 336p.

9 Comments | Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Fiction | Tagged: Humor, Mystery | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

WOULDN’T IT BE DEADLY by D. E. Ireland

February 8, 2015

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Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Mystery

If you, like me, enjoyed every minute of My Fair Lady (or Pygmalion for the intellectuals), this is a must read.

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are still at odds and Liza goes to work for “that Hungarian” who was Higgins main competitor. Now Emil Nepommuck is dead and Eliza and Professor Higgins must work together to clear Higgins who is a prime suspect in the Hungarian’s death.

To say more would spoil the read, but suffice it to say everyone is there is one way or another. Enjoy.

2/15 Jack Quick

WOULDN’T IT BE DEADLY by D. E. Ireland. Minotaur Books (September 23, 2014). ISBN: 978-1250049353. 336p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

LONG WAY DOWN by Michael Sears

February 7, 2015

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Michael Sears worked on Wall Street for 20 years and is therefore more than qualified to bring us a novel involving white collar crime in the financial world. His main protagonist, Jason Stafford, has appeared in two previous thrillers and is presented as a person with flaws but very well equipped to work on problems associated with the complex world of high finance.

Jason served two years in prison for insider trading while working for a Wall Street firm. Now, not able to return to his trade, he is dedicating himself to helping others who find themselves involved with problems within his previous field. Stafford is a complex individual fleshed out very well by Sears. He is a single father raising an autistic son and involved with a woman he is falling in love with while attempting to rebuild a life changed radically by prison time.

Philip Haley, an engineer whose company is close to developing a biofuel breakthrough, has been indicted for insider trading based on the projected increased value to be derived by the development. He asks Jason to help him prove his innocence and convinces him that the accusation is false. Stafford does take the case and finds himself involved not only with a white collar criminal accusation, but with murder and hit men attempting to do so.

Sears is extremely good at fleshing out his characters and allowing the reader to see them as human beings that are real and react to situations as most normal people would. He holds the reader’s attention by building towards a logical climax. The one flaw that I noticed is the use of overlong descriptions of various details which are extraneous to the plot and not essential in moving the action forward. While the novel has an overage of these details they should not cause the reader to lose interest in the action. An interesting and basically well written book, excellent characterizations, and one that delves into a world that most of us know little about but with descriptions that do allow the reader to understand what is involved.

2/15 Paul Lane

LONG WAY DOWN by Michael Sears. Putnam Adult (February 5, 2015). ISBN: 978-0399166716. 352p.

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2014 FLORIDA BOOK AWARDS WINNERS

February 6, 2015

2014 FLORIDA BOOK AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. With its ninth annual competition now complete, the Florida Book Awards has announced winners for books published in 2014 in the nine categories of competition.

Coordinated by the Florida State University Libraries, the Florida Book Awards is the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program. It was established in 2006 to celebrate the best Florida literature. Authors must be full-time Florida residents, except in the nonfiction and visual arts categories, where the subject matter must focus on Florida.

The more than 200 submissions for the 2014 awards were read by juries of three members, each nominated from across the state by co-sponsoring organizations. Jurors are authorized to select up to three medalists (including one gold winner, one silver runner-up and one bronze medalist) in each of the nine categories; jurors are also authorized to make no selections in a given year.

A new award has been introduced this year, the “Gwen P. Reichert Gold Medal for Children’s Literature”, which provides a cash prize for the Gold Winner of the Florida Book Awards in the Children’s Literature category. This award is in memory of Gwen P. Reichert and serves as a lasting tribute to honor her accomplishments as a rare book collector, nurturer of authors and their audience, and her commitment to children’s education. Gwen worked as a school principal and was an enthusiastic children’s book collector. She became friends and pen pals with celebrated children’s book authors including Tasha Tudor and Maurice Sendak. Gwen also founded and served as president of the Randolph Caldecott Society in St. Augustine, Florida.

Florida Book Awards 2014 Winners by Category

Children’s Literature

Gold Medal and Gwen P. Reichert Gold Medal for Children’s Literature: Cleopatra in Space (Scholastic) by Mike Maihack

Silver Medal: Hello, I’m Johnny Cash (Candlewick Press) by G. Neri, illustrated by A.G. Ford

Bronze Medal: Just A Drop of Water (Sky Pony Press) by Kerry O’Malley Cerra

Florida Non-Fiction

Gold Medal: La Florida: Five Hundred Years of Hispanic Presence (University Press of Florida) edited by Viviana Díaz Balsera and Rachel A. May

Silver Medal: The Peace of Blue: Water Journeys (University Press of Florida) by Bill Belleville

Bronze Medal: Mr. Flagler’s St. Augustine by (University Press of Florida) Thomas Graham

General Fiction

Gold Medal: The Invention of Wings (Viking Penguin Group) by Sue Monk Kidd

Silver Medal: The Heaven of Animals (Simon & Schuster) by David James Poissant

Bronze Medal: The Sheltering (University of South Carolina Press) by Mark Powell

General Nonfiction

Gold Medal: Merlin Stone Remembered (Llewellyn Worldwide) by David B. Axelrod, Lenny Schneir, and Carol Thomas

Silver Medal: Einstein Relatively Simple: Our Universe Revealed in Everyday Language (World Scientific Publishing Company) by Ira Mark Egdall

Bronze Medal: Southside Buddhist Essays (University of Tampa Press) by Ira Sukrungruang

Poetry

Gold Medal: SLANT SIX (Copper Canyon Press) by Erin Belieu

Silver Medal: On the Street of Divine Love (University of Pittsburgh Press) by Barbara Hamby

Bronze Medal: The Small Blades Hurt (Measure Press) by Erica Dawson

Popular Fiction

Gold Medal: Haunted (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) by Randy Wayne White

Silver Medal: Assassin’s Game (Forge Books) by Ward Larsen

Bronze Medal: The Design is Murder (Carina Press) by Jean Harrington

Spanish Language

Gold Medal: El Arma Secreta (Editora Nacional de la República Dominicana) by José M. Fernández Pequeño

Visual Arts

Gold Medal: Africa in Florida: Five Hundred Years of African Presence in the Sunshine State (University Press of Florida) edited by Amanda B. Carlson and Robin Poynor

Silver Medal: Everglades: America’s Wetland (University Press of Florida) by Mac Stone

Bronze Medal: Surfing Florida: A Photographic History (University Press of Florida) by Paul Aho

Young Adult Literature

Gold Medal: Kiss of Broken Glass (HarperTeen) by Madeleine Kuderick

Silver Medal: Knockout Games (Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner Publishing Group) by G. Neri

Bronze Medal: More Than Good Enough (Flux) by Crissa-Jean Chappell

All award recipients will be honored at the Abitz Family Dinner, the annual Florida Book Awards banquet, on April 9th at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee. The nine gold medalists will be recognized March 11th at the Florida Heritage Awards Ceremony sponsored by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Cultural Affairs. Winners will also be hosted by First Lady Ann Scott at a luncheon at the mansion and invited to participate on a Florida Book Awards panel at the inaugural Word of the South literary and music festival in Tallahassee in April.

Co-sponsors of the competition include humanities organizations from across the state such as the Florida Center for the Book; the State Library and Archives of Florida; the Florida Historical Society; the Florida Humanities Council; the Florida Literary Arts Coalition; the Florida Library Association; the Florida Association for Media in Education; the Center for Literature and Theatre @ Miami Dade College; the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America; Friends of FSU Libraries; the Florida Writers Association; the Florida Literacy Coalition; and “Just Read, Florida!”

Learn more about the Florida Book Awards at floridabookawards.lib.fsu.edu.

Winners by Location (Florida only)

David B. Axelrod – DAYTONA

Viviana Díaz Balsera – MIAMI

Bill Belleville – SANFORD

Erin Belieu – TALLAHASSEE

Kerry O’Malley Cerra – CORAL SPRINGS

Crissa-Jean Chappell – MIAMI

Erica Dawson – TAMPA

Ira Mark Egdall – HOLLYWOOD

Thomas Graham – ST. AUGUSTINE

Barbara Hamby – TALLAHASSEE

Jean Harrington – NAPLES

Sue Monk Kidd – MARCO ISLAND

Madeleine Kuderick – PALM HARBOR

Ward Larsen – SARASOTA

Mike Maihack – LUTZ

G. Neri – TAMPA

José M. Fernández Pequeño – MIAMI

David James Poissant – OVIEDO

Mark Powell – DELAND

Lenny Schneir – DAYTONA

Ira Sukrungruang – BRANDON

Randy Wayne White – SANIBEL

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DESPERATE GAMES by Pierre Boulle

February 5, 2015

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Pierre Boulle, noted author of books like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes, passed away in 1994. Among his other works is a dystopian science fiction novel of a world controlled by pure scientists translated and recently reissued.Dys

Boulle postulates scientists from all over the world getting together and deciding that all the problems that exist on earth are due to leaders who do not understand what they are doing, that they are men and women with no grounding in science and lack the perspective of what people really need. The physical scientists propose that they take over all governments on earth and have the current leaders step down and just enjoy life without the stress of governing.

Said and done, the scientists quickly choose a president by a method of formal testing, along with advisers and other officers. All governments are disbanded and countries are consolidated into a world wide organization. The scientists begin working on eradicating the pressures of disease, strife and conflict quickly allowing all mankind to work less and have more.

The required workday is cut to about 2 hours with plenty of time for recreation and rest. The new leaders, the physical scientists, believe that they have achieved the optimum conditions for all the planet’s inhabitants and everyone is happy with the new status quo.

In a short time it is noted that the rate of suicides has gone up and it is quickly determined that these are due to the lack of challenges for the people. The scientists decide that they will provide games to entertain similar to those held in the ancient world, namely fights to the death between trained individuals. This works for a short time until the rate of suicides again climbs.

The answer, of course, is to increase the participation and number of fatalities in the games. Continuing on to staging great battles based on real incidents fought throughout history, namely massive assaults such as the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the world war I battle of the Marne.

While the tone of the book is tongue in cheek and has some similarities to Animal Farm, it can also be taken as a serious condemnation of allowing any group to achieve absolute power without normal checks and balances. It was true while Boulle was alive, and just as true today where philosophies of one group are forced on others causing strife and war. If the book had received more publicity at the time Boulle wrote it it has the potential to be part of works like 1984 and Animal Farm and taken it’s place as a classic example of power run amok.

2/15 Paul Lane

DESPERATE GAMES by Pierre Boulle. Hesperus Press (January 1, 2015). ISBN: 978-1843915355. 208p.

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A DOG GONE MURDER by Elaine Viets

February 4, 2015

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Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper (Book 10)

Josie has come a long way in this series, from struggling single mom renting her mother’s downstairs apartment to happily married to veterinarian Ted, living in their own home, a mid-century modern cottage. But she’s still mystery shopping, which I always find fascinating, maybe because I’ve been on the other side of the counter. When I worked for Borders Books & Music we were mystery shopped on a monthly basis, and people lost their jobs over those reports – or were rewarded!

Josie’s weaselly boss asks her to check out three local doggie day care centers that are seeking accreditation. This behind the scenes look at these establishments will hopefully give dog owners the gumption to look around themselves before dropping off their pets.

But it wouldn’t be a mystery without a murder, and sure enough Josie finds the popular Uncle Bob’s Doggy Day Camp local television spokesperson/celebrity, Uncle Bob himself, dying in his office. Is it natural causes brought on by a high meat diet or did someone poison Uncle Bob? There are lots of suspects, all his employees have issues with the man and he and his wife are separated.

Josie continues her mystery shopping assignment but when her mom’s new renter and possible love interest is arrested for the murder, Josie has to help out and find the real killer.

I love this series and this latest mystery is a good one – I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. Viets creates believable characters, both good and bad, and I find myself thinking about them long after I turn the last page. Another winner from one of my favorite authors.

2/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A DOG GONE MURDER by Elaine Viets. Signet (November 4, 2014). ISBN 978-0451465986. 304p.

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Win THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah

February 3, 2015

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I loved this book so much that I want one lucky reader to get a free copy! Read on for my review and how you can enter to win.

This was quite a departure for Hannah, who typically writes really good stories about contemporary women’s lives. This time she starts out that way, but quickly goes back in time to 1939 France as the war is getting underway.

Sisters Isabelle and Viann have lost their mother, and their father, damaged from World War I, can’t deal with his loss and his daughters so he sends them away. Isabelle is rebellious and gets kicked out of one boarding school after another, until she’s sent to live with her older sister Viann and her husband. Things don’t work out there and the sisters part ways. But when Viann’s husband goes off to war, eighteen year old Isabelle is sent back to stay with her sister again.

Isabelle wants to be involved in the war effort, but not in a typical-of-the-time way of rolling bandages. When she meets Gäetan, a partisan rebel, she falls in love and wants to go off with him to fight, but he sneaks away, leaving her angry, frustrated and heartbroken. As the Nazis move in to France, the country is divided in two, the Nazi occupied territory, and the Free Zone under Vichy government. The sisters’ small town is taken over by Nazis, and one is billeted in their home.

Isabelle joins the Resistance movement at great personal risk. Her exploits become legendary as eventually she leads downed British and American airmen out of France, walking them across the mountains into Spain and freedom. She becomes known as the Nightingale.

Meanwhile, back at home, Viann’s best friend Rachel is Jewish, and we all know what happens there. She begs Viann to take her baby boy, and as dangerous as it is, Viann acquiesces. Then another Jewish friend is being taken away, and leaves her son as well. Viann knows she can’t keep another Jewish child, so she approaches the Mother Superior at the local convent orphanage, and they take the child. They decide there will be more Jewish children to be saved, and eventually Viann saves several more.

The story moves occasionally back to contemporary times, when one of the sisters is being moved to a nursing home by her son, a doctor, who knows nothing of his mother and her sister’s past – and, in a brilliant stroke on Hannah’s part, we don’t know which sister she is.

This was a completely mesmerizing story, a female side of the war that isn’t often explored. I was totally immersed in their world, and often brought to tears. It is a difficult subject, and the brutality and violence is not whitewashed at all, but is necessary to the story. I have read a lot of Holocaust fiction and this was one of the more interesting, unusual and compelling books on the subject. This strong, well written feminist historical fiction is simply not to be missed. It is sure to make my favorite list for 2015.

To win your own copy, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “WIN NIGHTINGALE” as the subject.

You must include your snail mail address in your email.

All entries must be received by February 20, 2015. One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your book will be sent by the publisher, St. Martins Press.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

1/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s Press (February 3, 2015). ISBN 978-0312577223. 448p.

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SYNDROME E by Franck Thilliez

February 2, 2015

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While keeping watch over her sick daughter, Lieutenant Lucie Hennebelle receives a quite shocking call: her ex has been struck suddenly and inexplicably blind. And while it was somewhat coincidental that Lucie’s was the number he dialed, she is both willing and able to help.

Ludovic Sénéchal was the first to arrive at the estate sale. This meant he had first pick of ad’s promised 800+ historic film reels. His most exciting purchase, though, is a reel found hidden away on a top shelf. The unlabeled movie is the first thing Ludovic loads onto his projector as soon as he gets home. And it’s the last thing he sees.

Miles away, five horribly disfigured bodies have been discovered at a work site in northern France and Chief Inspector Franck Sharko has been assigned to lend his profiling expertise. While at first the two incidents are seemingly unrelated, an anonymous call indicates otherwise, leaving Hennebelle and Sharko forced to pool resources in order to unravel a bizarre and twisted crime.

Syndrome E is fantastic. The plot is perfectly executed – with just the right amount of tension and twists – and the characters are wonderfully realized. Both Hennebelle and Sharko have great stories, though Sharko and all of his idiosyncrasies make him my own favorite of the two. They’re perfect for driving a series, which is fortunate considering they’ll both return this month in Syndrome E’s follow up, Bred to Kill.

2/15 Becky LeJeune

SYNDROME E by Franck Thilliez. Penguin Books; Reprint edition (April 29, 2014). ISBN: 978-0147509710. 384p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi