Teaser: The Last Word by Ellery Adams

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.


Title: The Last Word: A Books By the Bay Mystery
Publisher: Berkley; December 6, 2011

"Why does he scare you?" she asked very gently....

"He's got a secret. I can tell."

Olivia nodded. "He probably does. Most people have secrets, I think." (ch. 2)

Book description: Olivia Limoges and the Bayside Book Writers are excited about Oyster Bay's newest resident: bestselling novelist Nick Plumley. But when Olivia stops by Plumley's rental she finds he's been strangled. Her instincts tell her something from the past came back to haunt him, but she never expects the investigation could spell doom for one of her dearest friends...

Opening Sentences: Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Beginning sentences: Over that part of England the Winter Solstice came down with a bitter antiphony of snow and frost. Trees, minutely articulate, shuddered in the north wind. By four o'clock in the afternoon the people of south Mardian were all indoors.

It was at four o'clock that a small dogged-looking car appeared on a rise above the village and began to sidle and curve down the frozen lane. Its driver, her vision distracted by wisps of grey hair escaping from a headscarf, peered through the fan-shaped clearing on her wind-screen. Her woolly paws clutched rather than commanded the wheel.

Comments: The atmospheric description of place and driver slowly builds up suspense. Marsh is known as a master of mysteries, and this one sounds good enough for me to borrow it from  relatives to take back on my long trip home.

Book description:

Pagan revelry and morris dancing in the middle of a very cold winter set the scene for one of Ngaio Marsh's most fascinating murder mysteries. When the pesky Anna Bunz arrives at Mardian to investigate the rare survival of folk-dancing still practised there, she quickly antagonizes the villagers. But Mrs Bunz is not the only source of friction -- two of the other enthusiasts are also spoiling for a fight. When the sword dancers' traditional mock beheading of the Winter Solstice becomes horribly real, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn finds himself faced with a case of great complexity and of gruesome proportions...(amazon)

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Title: Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins Pb (August 21, 2000)

Book Review: Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip

Title: Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Kensington; 1 edition (April 1, 2011)
Genre: contemporary fiction, travel
Rating: 4/5

In a nutshell: Lily Lin,  a graduate student in New York who grew up in Hong Kong, is offered three million dollars by an aunt she has never heard of. But first she must travel along China's famed Silk Road and across the desolate Taklamakan Desert--and carry out a series of strange and almost impossible tasks along the way.  Lily meets Alex, a young American also traveling across China who offers to accompany her on her journey and who falls in love with her.  The ending of the journey reveals huge surprises for Lily that change her perception of herself and her life as she knew it.

Comments: Lily is not always a likeable person as she is stubborn, could be seen as promiscuous, and uses very expressive language at times, but her six to eight month trip along the Silk Road is informative and entertaining, travel wise, and her unusual story has an interesting twist at the end that helps to set her on a firmer path.

© Harvee Lau 2011
This book is my personal copy.

Current Read: Mrs. Jeffries and the Mistletoe Mix-Up

I finished one of my Thanksgiving reads, will listen to the other this weekend, and picked up another book to read as well - a cute Victorian mystery where the help gets involved in their employer, the Inspector's, cases and get enough information to help solve the crime. Mrs. Jeffries is the inspector's housekeeper and runs a household of several who are willing to go out and snoop and question other maids, footmen, shopkeepers,  pub patrons, or anyone who will talk with them about the case.

Title: Mrs. Jeffries and the Mistletoe Mix-up by Emily Brightwell
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover (November 1, 2011)
Genre: Victorian mystery
Source: publisher

Book description: Under a bundle of mistletoe, art collector Daniel McCourt lies dead, a bloody sword next to his body. Inspector Witherspoon is determined to solve the case-preferably before the eggnog is ladled out on Christmas Eve-but of course he will require assistance from the always sharp-witted housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, who has a few of her own theories on why McCourt had to die by the sword.

Thanksgiving Reads

graphic courtesy of Dover Publications

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy the day and the weekend!

I've decided to armchair travel for my Thanksgiving reading, in between enjoying turkey and other goodies.

Title: River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh, on a ship on the Bay of Bengal heading to Canton, China. Historical novel, 19 discs audio.

Title: Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip, heading along the Silk Road in China. Contemporary novel, paperback.

Title: Skeleton Letters (A Scrapbooking Mystery) by Laura Childs, in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Which of the three trips would you take this holiday? And what will you be reading, if anything, over the busy Thanksgiving weekend?

Teaser: Labyrinth of Terror by Richard P. Wenzel

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

"Isn't that a bit far-fetched, Rose? A bit histrionic of you to think that someone would deliberately try to hurt or kill patients at King's with a terrifying microbe? You've been reading too many sci-fi books." (ch. 2)

Book description: "Terror reigns when a string of post-op infections erupts in the sanitized halls of King s College Hospital in London. A trio of experts--microbiology Professor Chris Rose, Jake Evans, an American infectious disease specialist, and Elizabeth Foster, a senior agent with M15--soon realize that the offending organism is a weapon in a worldwide terrorist plot. The terrorists turn their focus on an upcoming medical-legal conference, hoping to infect hundreds and subsequently ravage the global community, as well as those very doctors who might be able to find a cure.

Author and physician Richard Wenzel takes us on a journey through Europe and the Middle East, unravels the science of infections, and opens a revealing window on the complex politics of medicine."

Title: Labyrinth of Terror by Richard P. Wenzel
Paperback, 202 pages
Published September 1, 2010 by Brandylane Publishers, Inc .
Genre: medical thriller, environmental thriller
 
I received a complimentary copy of this book for feature or review.

Book Review: Borneo Tom by Tom McLaughlin

Title: Borneo Tom: Stories and Sketches of Love, Travel and Jungle Family in Tropical Asia  
Author: Tom McLaughlin
Perfect Paperback: 132 pages
Publisher: Tom McLaughlin; August 27, 2010
Genre: travel memoir and sketchbook. Objective rating: 4/5

In a nutshell: A former biology teacher from Maryland and divorced father of two relocates to Malaysian Borneo, where he finds love and adventure, and documents in this book his southeast Asia observations during his travels with his adult children and his new wife. Sketches were done by Waterfront Niki of Sarawak, Borneo.

My comments: I enjoyed reading about Tom's travels throughout southeast Asia and his  lively observations about the places, people, and the wildlife of  several countries - Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, and Malaysia - plus his trip to Chengdu, China to see the pandas at the research center there. Each page of his book is an essay in itself, with accompanying full page sketches of Tom and the scenery. These clever and often humorous sketches were a great accompaniment to Tom's narrative.

Tom also tells us about Alfred Wallace, the little known naturalist who collected and studied animals in southeast Asia and who may have contributed significantly to Darwin's theories of natural selection described in "The Origin of Species."

Besides the local wildlife descriptions, Tom narrates about the local culture as well -  a marriage ceremony, food preparation, his courting of his present wife, and his marriage. I thought it was a really nice gesture that Tom flew his two daughters to Bali with him and his new wife during their honeymoon.

About the author: All the proceeds from Tom McLaughlin's books go toward supporting the Matang Wildlife Center, which rehabilitates orangutans and other wildlife.

This book was a complimentary copy provided for the Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour of Borneo Bob, touring October to December.

Sunday Salon: Yoga, Anyone?

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in.

I've taken up yoga! I've dabbled with yoga in the past, attending a class or two and reading yoga how-to books. I dropped in to three classes by different teachers this week and like what I found. I didn't even mind working up a sweat. It felt and feels good! Next on the list was to get yoga togs. Doing yoga in sweats just doesn't cut it; they bunch up.

Thanks to reading Yoga Bitch by Susan Morrison last week, I am now a dedicated yoga fan. Last week I also reviewed Endangered by Pamela Beason, a mystery novel about a missing toddler and the great outdoors, plus endangered cougars in Utah. The other book I read was for a blog tour - The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, a novel about African-American homesteaders in the South Dakota Badlands in the early 1900s.

Right now, I'm reading a travel memoir for another tour Borneo Bob, which I'll post tomorrow.

What have you been reading recently?

Book Review: Endangered by Pamela Beason

Title: Endangered  (A Summer Westin Mystery)
Author: Pamela Beason
Publisher: Berkley; paperback
Publication date: December 6, 2011
Objective rating: 4.5/5

Sam scoffed. "Well, of course in California! People there go jogging through wild areas like they're running down Hollywood Boulevard."

In a nutshell: Sam Westin, a wildlife biologist and photojournalist doing a news feature on the mountain lions in a park in Utah, becomes involved in finding a missing two-year-old, Zack, who wandered off from his parents in the park campground. She is determined to find the child alive and prove that a human, and not the cats, were responsible for Zack's disappearance.

My comments: A lover of wildlife and the outdoors, although mostly while sitting in my armchair, I was attracted by both the cover and the title of the book. It did not disappoint. The book takes you through the canyons, mesas, plateaus of the rugged and wild park, in search of elusive mountain lions or cougars and in search of a two-year-old who might have been taken by several people - a human predator, by his father looking for ransom money, by hunters who want to be able to shoot the cats legally, or by Coyote Charlie, a reclusive and elusive hermit who lives in the wilderness.

It was a wild ride and trek with Sam and FBI investigator Chase Perez, who also becomes Sam's love interest in the novel, possibly edging out her longtime friend Adam, a news editor who seems more interested in getting a good story than he is in helping Sam.

A very enjoyable read that I recommend to all cozy readers and wilderness lovers.

A complimentary copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher.
© Harvee Lau 2011

Book Review: Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison

"Guiding my friends through the poses with Indra's voice in my ear, I remembered something about yoga that was easy to forget in the world of celebriyogis and sacred schwag. At its best, it nourishes something real in me. Something vulnerable and authentic, where I am most myself. "(p. 298)

Title: Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment by Suzanne Morrison
352 pages. Three Rivers Press, August 16, 2011
Genre: memoir. Rating: 5/5

In a nutshell: Undecided about her future, the author tries to find spirituality and a role model at a yoga camp in Bali, Indonesia. Though she becomes disillusioned with the camp toward the end of the two-month period, the training experience has a solid influence on her life years later.

Comments: Written with a lot of humor, and down to earth in her approach to yoga, the author details her yoga retreat, the yogis, her yogamates, the food and environment, and of course, the exercises and practices taught by her Seattle yoga masters, Lou and Indra.

One of the humorous events that Suzanne writes about is her experience with Bali Belly, a stomach ailment akin to Montezuma's revenge or diarrhea and severe cramps. Lou and Indra's yoga practice advocated drinking her own urine, which is supposed to have a strong anti-toxin effect, instead of taking antibiotics. Suzanne is reluctant to drink her own waste but gives in when she has no other alternative. Happily, she is cured by this urine therapy, but never takes this cleansing drink again, unlike her roommate Jessica, who sips from her coffee cup every morning, eyes closed, the sun on her face.

Suzanne gets discouraged when her role model Indra starts to focus on money, but in spite of this, the camp experience  and her own "enlightenment" continues to affect her years after, especially in making important decisions about her love life. More self aware and in tune with herself, Suzanne finds her own path to real happiness. Some years later, the author visits Lou and Indra back home in their Seattle yoga studio, a subtle acknowledgement that she did learn something valuable from them.

I gave this 5 stars for turning me on to yoga even more than I was before, and for keeping me entertained and informed through the entire book!

About the author:  A writer and solo performer currently living in Seattle, SUZANNE MORRISON has a one-woman show, Yoga Bitch, which has played to sold-out houses in New York City, Maui, Seattle, Memphis, London, and Oxford. You can find Suzanne at Huffington Post and at http://www.suzanne-morrison.com/, where she writes about absolutely everything she's reading, writing, and rehearsing.

Disclosure: This book is a library loan.

© Harvee Lau 2011

Teaser: Burned, A Novel by Thomas Enger

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.


Title: Burned: A Novel by Thomas Enger
Publisher: Atria Books; October 4, 2011; 368 pages
Genre: suspense

I'll carry on your work
See you in eternity
Anette

....Where are you, Anette, he wonders? And what's the work you intend to complete? (ch. 12)

Book description: A solitary tent is found to contain the body of a half-buried woman. Internet reporter Henning Juul is told to cover the story, but despite the police making an early arrest, he seems convinced that the story is more complex than they think. Physically and emotionally scarred from the death of his son, Henning must battle to be taken seriously again as a reporter - by his old colleagues, his ex-wife and the police - and when another life is lost, he knows the stakes couldn't be higher. (Goodreads)

About the Author: Thomas Enger is a former journalist and a music composer. Burned is his first crime novel. He lives in Oslo, Norway.

A complimentary copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher.

Book Review: The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber

Title: The Personal History of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber
Publisher: Penguin (July 26, 2011)
Genre: historical fiction

My comments: The novel helps to fill in the some of the gaps in our knowledge of African American history. It's well written with a cast of realistic, well developed characters whose story shows the harsh life of western homesteaders in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Rachel, daughter of a Louisiana cane farmer who was a former slave, meets Isaac DuPree in Chicago and plans a marriage of convenience that does not suit Isaac's mother. As a single man and single woman, the two young people can each claim 160 acres of land in South Dakota according to the Homestead Act of 1862; together as man and wife, they can combine their share to 320 acres, more than enough for a good farm. Isaac's mother complains that Rachel has no social background and is darker complexioned than Isaac and therefore beneath him.

The couple nevertheless marry and have several children in South Dakota, where their life is more than harsh. The book opens with an example of the deprivation and sacrifices the family endures living in south Dakota as homesteaders. There is a severe drought, the cattle are dying off, and Isaac compels their 6-year-old daughter Liz to allow herself to be lowered into the bottom of a deep dark well to fetch water. The girl is frightened and reluctant but does go down; she says later there was a snake down in the bottom of the well that terrified her.

The novel follows the couple from the time they meet, to their life in the Badlands, through the death of at least one child there, and into their children's growing into near adulthood. Rachel tries to protect her children, especially the oldest girl, Mary, whom Isaac wants married off to an older but wealthier man for convenience's sake.

Historical buffs will enjoy this book and all readers will benefit from reading this story of grit and determination in early America.

Book description: Reminiscent of The Color Purple as well as the frontier novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Willa Cather, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree opens a window on the little-known history of African American homesteaders and gives voice to an extraordinary heroine who embodies the spirit that built America. (Amazon)

Author Ann Weisgarber was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio. She was a social worker before earning a master’s degree in sociology at the University of Houston and becoming a teacher. She divides her time between Sugar Land and Galveston, Texas. Visit the author at her website, Ann Weisgarber


For a complete schedule of reviews, visit TLC's Book Tour Stops.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.

Sunday Salon: What Next?

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in.

After finishing and reviewing the surprisingly easy to read  Murakami's 1Q84,
I thought I'd switch to something entirely different.

My new book is Yoga Bitch: One Woman's Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment by Suzanne Morrison, about the author's trip to a yoga retreat in Bali, Indonesia that she attended before a planned move to NYC with her boyfriend. In spite of the title, there are no swear words in the memoir, none I've come across as yet, but lots of candid and humorous comments on yoga, the yogis, and her fellow yoga students.

There is a TLC book tour review of The Secret Life of Rachel DuPree that I'll post tomorrow. I'm also reading a fun book, an illustrated travel memoir, for another book tour later this month - Borneo Bob. This one takes you all over Southeast Asia.

I also have a brand new granddaughter! I can't see her personally as yet as she's in Japan, but I hope to see pictures and catch her later on webcam.

Have a great week to come! What have you been up to this past week?

Booking Through Thursday: Kindle E-Volution

E-readers like the Kindle and iPad are sweeping the nation … do you have one? Do you like it? Do you find it changes your reading/buying habits? If you don’t have one, do you plan to?

I got a Kindle about a year ago, and gave one to each of my two sons for Christmas presents. They used theirs more than I did mine. Until recently, I've used the Kindle only to read a few fairly short crime novels.

That changed with the very long book, 1Q84 by Murakami. The novel didn't seem very long while I was reading it on Kindle. In fact, I felt I breezed through all 900 plus pages, and now I am planning to read more of the author's books on the eReader. To show I'm serious about this, I downloaded his Norwegian Wood to start reading. I am now fully Kindle-hooked!

How about you?

Book Review: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Title 1Q84: A Novel by Haruki Murakami
October 25, 2011; personal Kindle edition
Genre: literary fiction
Rating: 5/5

My take on the novel in a nutshell: A crime thriller plus a love story in an alternate reality full of magic and fantasy. 1Q84 starts out being a thriller, one of my favorite genres, and I was quite surprised by this. It then also became a love story between two people, Tengo and Aomame.

Fantastical and magical things and people appear  in the novel - the Smurf-like Little People, for one, and the Air Chrysalis - devices that almost seem like children's fantasies. But this is no book for children. There is explicit sex and calculated murder, but also sympathetic looks into the hearts and minds of some of the main characters. Tengo in particular, is a very likable mathematician turned writer, whose relationship with his dying father adds a touch of pathos to the novel. His search for his grammar school classmate, Aomame, and her search for him, is the love story that fuels the novel.

In the plot, Tengo and Aomame both enter an alternate reality, 1Q84, when Tengo rewrites a book, Air Chrysalis, written by the enigmatic teenager Fuka-Eri, and when Aomame climbs down a long metal staircase from one level of the expressway to the next and from one reality to another. In this alternate world that declares itself by the two moons hanging in the sky, the two try to find each other, though they met since the third grade about 20 years before.

Religion is an important link between Tengo and Aomame, and 1Q84 takes aim at religious cults - those controlling Big Brother-like organizations in which children are sexually and mentally abused and  all their members restrained psychologically. The book also seems to focus on women avenging the crimes of severely abusive men, making sure they are dispatched to "another world" in order to prevent them from continuing.

In such a long and complex book, there is bound to be a lot more to discuss. For instance, Murakami follows the idea that time does not flow in a straight line. In 1Q84, time twists around, reality shifts, and the past can sneak up unannounced behind you. These are just a very few of the interesting themes I found.

Besides the thriller and love stories, I liked how well the main characters were developed in the book, the careful and realistic descriptions of physical features, personality, and motives. Murakami's comments on writing are also interesting, as are the ways he weaves a world of magic and fantasy into the novel.

I'd love to hear from others who have read 1Q84.. What do you think about the book?

For other reviews on this book, visit Fantasy Book Critic, Dolce Bellezza, Magnificent Octopus, Man of La Mancha, and Sam Still Reading.

© Harvee Lau 2011
Submitted for the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge and the Japanese Literature Challenge V

Sunday Salon: On Reading 1Q84 - an Update

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in.

I've reached Book 3 of Murakami's mammoth 1Q84. I've enjoyed it so far and am looking forward to seeing what happens to the main characters in this final book.

There is a subtle difference in Book 3, which has a different translator. I find I'm not hanging on every single word as I did in Books 1 and 2. Did I really skip over the detailed descriptions of Aomame's three dreams? The translation of this book is good, clear, and I'm following it, but the narration is not in the same vein as Books 1 and 2, I think.

Nevertheless, this is an awesome novel, though some might find it quirky - a seamless mixture of a children's fantasy, sci fi, a crime thriller, a love story, a plot that points out some of the serious problems in society, and a wild mixture of other things. You never know where the book will take you. Read it if you can!

See my full review, here.

Book Review: As the Pig Turns by M.C. Beaton

 Title: As the Pig Turns: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton
Publication date: October 11, 2011
Genre: mystery
Source: library

Comments: Another enjoyable cozy with retired PR turned private investigator Agatha Raisin, who runs her own PI office in a picturesque cottage in the Cotswolds. I found the first murder in the book (there are two) rather gruesome for this series, but the likable and quirky personality of Agatha pulls the novel through. We are just as interested in her friendships with longtime pals Roy and Charles, and ex-husband James, as we are in the mystery she is trying to solve. Agatha's monitoring of the love life of her best young PI in her company also makes for interesting reading.

I have gone through all the books in the Agatha Raisin series and am not disappointed in this one.

© Harvee Lau 2011

Book Giveaway: A Variety Pack

Inspired by many of my fellow bloggers who are giving away individual books or books in bulk to narrow down their libraries, I have seven paperbacks to offer as a giveaway. One person will win all seven books:

Sci-fi- Vast by Linda Nagata

Mystery/Thriller -
Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia
The Taba Convention by Stephen W. Ayers
Justice by Jay Lillie

Fiction -
Carry Yourself Back to Me by Deborah Reed, ARC
Lamb Bright Saviors by Robert Vivian
You Never Know: Tales of Tobias, an Accidental Lottery Winner by Lilian Duval

To enter, leave a comment with an email address where I can reach you. The giveaway is for U.S. residents only, due to Media Mail restrictions. No P.O. box addresses, please. You'll have three days to respond to a winning email, after which another winner will be selected. Hope you like the books! Click on the titles for information about each one. Contest ends Nov. 10.

UPDATE: The winner was Suz! Congrats!

New ARCs

It was a great pleasure to  have these ARCs arrive - some solicited, others won or a surprise. Two of them were published in October; four will be published late 2011 or in 2012.

I was especially waiting to read:

Title: The World We Found: A Novel by Thrity Umrigar
 (A Shelf Awareness giveaway). Publication: January 3, 2012
The story of four women who grew up in Bombay and the indelible friendship they share.

Title: Nanjing Requiem: A Novel by Ha Jin
 (from Amazon Vine). Publication: October 18, 2011
An American missionary in the city of Nanjing tries, at times unsuccessfully, to save tens of thousands of homeless women and children in one of the darkest moments of the 20th century: the Rape of Nanjing in war torn China, 1937.

Title: Falling Together: A Novel by Marisa de los Santos
(from Amazon Vine). Publication: October 4, 2011
When three college friends reconnect at a college reunion after six years have gone by, a collision of past and present sends them on a journey across the world, one that will change everything.

Title: Helpless, a thriller by Daniel Palmer
(from the author). Publication: January 31, 2012
Navy Seal and high school soccer coach Tom Hawkins must clear his name when an anonymous blog post accuses him of sleeping with one of his players. He has to unravel lies about his past that someone may kill to keep a secret.

Title: Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman
(from Europa Editions). Publication: Jan. 31, 2012
Two stories set in East Africa in 1899 and 2000 are told in alternating perspectives of an American engineer and an ethnobotanist.

Title: A Vine in the Blood: A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation
(from the author). Publication: Dec. 27, 2011
Three weeks before the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the soccer star Tico’s mother, is kidnapped. The pressure is on Chief Inspector Mario Silva to get her back.

Happily, four of the ARCs have been printed with the same covers as their final copies. I'm looking forward to reading all six - two set in Asia, one in Africa, one in Brazil, and two in the U.S. A good trip around the world with contemporary fiction, two thrillers, and some good literary fiction.  

Teaser: The Year Everything Changed by Georgia Brokoven

The Year Everything Changed: A Novel by Georgia Bockoven
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; August 23, 2011
Genre: contemporary women's fiction

Long repressed pain and anger flared through her like flames through a summer-parched forest. He was summoning her as if she were supposed to care that he was dying?

"Well, I don't," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, old man, you died a long time ago." (ch. 5)

Book description: Four sisters who never knew the others existed will find strength, love, and answers when they come together around their father's deathbed. Georgia Bockoven is an award-winning author of The Beach House and Another Summer. She lives in Northern California.

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.