First Chapter: Murder Is No Picnic by Amy Pershing

Murder Is No Picnic

(Cape Cod Foodie Mystery #3)

by 

Amy Pershing, publication June 7, 2022, Berkley Books

About the book: 

A search for the world's best blueberry buckle turns into a search for a killer in this delicious installment in the Cape Cod Foodie Mysteries by Amy Pershing.

 What could be better than a DIY clambake followed by the best blueberry buckle in the world? Sam has finally found the perfect recipe in the kitchen of Clara Foster, famed cookbook author and retired restaurateur.

But when Clara dies in a house fire blamed on carelessness in the kitchen, Sam doesn't believe it. Sam needs to find Clara's killer before the fireworks really start..

First chapter/first paragraph:

"Ladies and gentleman, I have an announcement," I said grandly.

My friends paused from wolfing down various decadent desserts and glanced at one another skeptically. They were not used to me saying anything grandly....

"My search for a blueberry buckle worthy of our upcoming Fourth of July is finally at an end," I said, still in grand mode. 

 

Would you read on ?

First Chapter/Intros meme is  hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each Tuesday post the first paragraph or two of a book you are reading or plan to read soon

Book Review: Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler

 

Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler

Pub Date 08 Feb 2022

Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley

Genre: multicultural interest, women's fiction

Rating: 4.5/5 

Source: Netgalley

My comments:

A sudden tragedy leaves Tam a widow, one who finds herself in charge of a cousin's five-year-old daughter and facing a decision of whether to go through with her pending adoption of a young boy in China. 

The accident that kills Tam's husband, Tony, and his cousin Mia haunts her days, as she struggles with the idea of raising two young children on her own.  

A heartfelt story but with a predictable ending, the novel keeps your attention,  especially as it takes you through the complex process of going through with an adoption from China.

********

First Chapter of Red Thread of Fate:

She was on the phone with her husband when he died.

Tamlei Kwan leaned against a wall outside the elementary school during her lunch break, her phone tucked between her ear and shoulder.  

First Chapter/Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Yvonne at Socrates Book Reviews.

First Chapter: Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

 

First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros are hosted by Socrates Book Reviews. Teaser Tuesdays by The Purple Booker

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara, February 4, 2020, Random House. Award winning novel based on a true story, a mystery set in the slums of India. 

CHAPTER I

This Story Will Save Your Life

 

When Mental was alive, he was a boss-man with eighteen or twenty children working for him, and he almost never raised his hand against any of them. Every week he gave them 5Stars to split between themselves, or packs of Gems, and he made them invisible to the police or evangelist-types who wanted to salvage them from the streets, and the men who watched them with hungry eyes as the children hurtled down railway tracks, gathering up plastic water bottles before a train could ram in to them.  

 

Publisher description: Nine-year-old Jai ... decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from episodes of Police Patrol to find a missing schoolmate,...ventures into some of the most dangerous parts of the city. But kids continue to vanish, and Jai and two friends must confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force and soul-snatching djinns in order to uncover the truth.

My review on goodreads:

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Realistic, eye-opening, heart breaking. Life and survival in the slums through the eyes of a ten year-old boy who decides with two classmates to become detectives and find out why and how children in their settlement have begun to disappear. Good character development that allows you into the hearts and minds of the people in the slums.

View all my reviews

First Chapter: Cygnet by Season Butler

 

 First Chapter/First paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Yvonne@ Socrates Book Reviews. Post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book you are reading or plan to read soon.

Cygnet

Cygnet by Season Butler, June 25, 2018, Harper

A 17-year-old young woman comes of age in a community of the elderly, rejecting the promise of youth, on an isolated island off New Hampshire

First paragraph:

I open my eyes to the churning of the waves outside. It doesn't rest, so I don't sleep well either. I really should be used to it by now. At least it's sunny. I try to use the thought to power my move out of bed and into my clothes and off to Mrs. Tyburn's house for work. To be honest, I preferred it last week when it rained every day. Rain in big wet slaps, the kind of rain you only get on islands, out to sea. On dark mornings there's a reason why it's hard to get up, an actual weight in the air to to fight, something real to run from, to hide your face from.... 

 Would you read on?

First Chapter: A Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert

 First Chapter/First paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Yvonne@ Socrates Book Reviews. Post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book you are reading or plan to read soon.

Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert, February 2020, Berkley

Genre: thriller

Setting: Thousand Islands region, upstate New York

A storm-struck island. A blood-soaked bed. A missing man. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant believes it all adds up to a killer in their midst—and that murder is a family affair.

First paragraph, chapter one

"Murder," I repeated, the word clumsy on my tongue. The last time I spoke it, I was in another world.

Tim rocked his office chair, testing the bounce on springs sticky with dust, and raised his empty coffee mug. "Murder on an island," he said. "If it didn't make me a heartless creep, I'd call this your lucky day, Shane. 

Would you read on?

I will not be reading this thriller till mid-April, as I have other books: nonfiction, literary fiction, and contemporary fiction I'll be reading  till then! 

First Chapter: Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta, MD

 

First Chapter/First paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book you are reading or plan to read soon.

Keep Sharp by Sanjay Gupta, MD

Published January 5, 2021, Simon & Schuster

Genre: health, self-help

First paragraph, first chapter:

Are You At Risk for Brain Decline?

Over the past few years, I have spent a great deal of time distilling the best evidence-based brain research into guidance for you. It is based on formal and informal conversations with colleagues and other experts in the world of neuroscience and human performance. In order to make it more useful, I have created a list of questions that are highly relevant to your brain health and potential.... 

Would read on?  

Review, Intro: Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley

 First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews.

 Every Tuesday, readers post the first paragraph of a book they are currently reading or plan to read.

Clever Girl by Tessa Haley, published March 2014, by Harper.

Setting: England

Genre: women's fiction, family drama, character-driven novel

First paragraph:

My mother and I lived alone. My father was supposed to be dead, and I only found out years later that he'd left, walked out when I was eighteen months old. I should have guessed this -should have seen the signs or the absence of them. Why hadn't we kept any of his things to treasure? Why whenever he came up in conversation, which he hardly ever did, did my mother's face tighten, not in grief or regret but disapproval - the same expression she had if she tasted some food or drink she didn't like....

I only now realize I have read this book before, in 2014 just before it was published in March that year.  Here is the short review I wrote on goodreads:

More character driven than plot driven. This is the story of Tessa Hadley, from a young girl to a rebellious teen, single mother, wife, and middle aged woman. Well written, poetic in parts.

The novel is narrated by the main character, Stella, a "clever girl" who only realizes her full potential later, after "going off track" during the rocky stages of her teen years and single motherhood. I enjoyed reading it again and got much more from it the second time around!

First Chapter: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

 

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week, share the first paragraph of a book you are now reading or plan to read soon.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokaraczuk

After I started reading and was enjoying this novel, I realized that the Polish author not only won the Man Booker International Prize for a previous book, Flights, but is also a Nobel Prize winner for literature. I immediately borrowed the ebook of Flights from our library and so have that to look forward to after this book. 

First Chapter/First Paragraph:

I am already at an age and additionally at a stage where I must always wash my feet thoroughly before bed, in the event of having to be removed by an ambulance in the Night.

Had I examined the Ephemerides that evening to see what was happening in the sky, I wouldn't have gone to bed at all. Meanwhile, I had fallen very fast asleep; I had helped myself with an infusion of hops, and I also took two valerian pills. So when I was woken in the middle of the Night by hammering on the door - violent, immoderate and thus ill-omened - I was unable to come round. 

 

Would you read on?  

First Chapter: The Passengers by John Marrs

 

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each week, share the first paragraph of a book you are now reading or plan to read soon.

The Passengers August 27, 2019, Berkley

Genre: suspense

First paragraph:

UK NEWS

House of Lords votes unanimously in favour of driverless vehicles on British roads within five years. Ban on non-autonomous vehicles expected within a decade.  

NOTES

• 1. Programme car for Ben's office.
• 2. Use Uber app for car under "guest" account. don't use real name.
• 3. Get picked up from Ben's car park, go to work.
• 4. Start testing Ben midmorning. 
• 5. Call his boss around midday.

 

CLAIRE ARDEN

By the time the front door closed, the car was parked outside Claire Arden's home, waiting for her. 

She lingered outside the porch, re-reading the notes she had made on her phone until she heard the faint beep-beep of the alarm as the house secured itself. 

Would you read on or pass on this novel? 

 

First Chapter: Hope Is Our Only Wing by Rutendo Tavengerwei

Hope Is Our Only Wing by Rutendo Tavengerwei

September 10, 2019, Soho Teen

Setting: Zimbabwe 2008

A fifteen-year-old girl and her new friend find courage in the face of terrible personal losses during a time of upheaval in Zimbabwe

First chapter, first paragraph:

Shamiso's heart broke into a shudder of beats. She could hear the jazzy trails of the mbira spiraling in the air. Her father would have loved that sound. She glanced at her mother, who stood next to her, fanning her sweaty neck. She seemed preoccupied. The music played on, painful and familiar.

Meme: Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book they are reading or that they plan to read. 

Book Review: What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr

What Rose Forgot, a novel by Nevada Barr

What Rose Forgot

First paragraph:

Rose's head jerks, drops, and she's awake. I've fallen asleep meditating, she thinks. It's been a while since she's done that. Over the years, an ease of concentration has incrementally developed. Staying awake is - was - easy. Eyes still closed, she sweeps her hands overhead, breathing in. The inner elbow of her right arm burns like a cigarette has been stubbed out on her flesh....

Rose, 68, wakes up frail, feeling like 100 years old, and finds herself on the grounds of a home for the mentally impaired, from which she seems to have escaped. She doesn't remember how she got there or why. After being hauled back into the maximum security home, Rose realizes she  doesn't belong there but is being drugged to make it seem as if she is mentally incompetent or suffering from ALS. Rose stops taking her medications, hides her pills, becomes slowly more alert daily, and plots her escape.

She not only has to get through locked doors, but find out who has done this to her - admitted her to this home from which no one comes out alive. Rose's husband has recently died, which leaves only her two stepsons and her 13-year-old granddaughter, Mel, the only one she thinks she can count on.

As the suspense builds, Rose, a former yoga practitioner, decides how to fool her caretakers in the institution and slither out of their grasp, with the help of granddaughter Mel and Rose's long-distance sister Marion. She also has to find out who committed her to the home and why.

I loved the intrigue, the unanswered questions posed by a tantalizing plot , and Rose's determination and quick thinking, at age 68. This was an entertaining read, which I did in just over a day.

This ebook was borrowed through NetGalley. Publication: September 17, 2019, Minotaur Books

Meme: Each week, Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the beginning paragraph(s) of a book they are reading or plan to read.  

Murder in Bel-Air by Cara Black: First Paragraph

Murder in Bel-Air by Cara Black, published June 4, 2019, Soho Crime

Murder in Bel-Air (Aimee Leduc Investigations #19)

Genre: mystery set in Paris

First chapter, first paragraph:

Paris. Late October 1999. Monday, Midafternoon

The young woman stumbled on the cobblestones in her worn shoes, fist in her pocket, clutching the steak knife she'd nicked from the cafe. She'd felt eyes watching - fear had charged up her back, impossible to ignore. Her gut had screamed at her to get out of there. 

Now. 

Why hadn't her contact showed?   

A car engine revved up, gears scraping. She glanced back and saw a black Renault slide onto Boulevard Picpus. Her heart pounded. 

Would you read on, based on the opening paragraphs?

Meme: I’d Rather Be At The Beach is the host for First Chapter First Paragraph on Tuesdays. Post the opening paragraph(s) of a book you are currently reading or planning to read. 

Review: When You Read This by Mary Adkins

Review: When You Read This by Mary Adkins

When You Read This

Published February 5, 2019, Harper
Genre: epistolary novel (told through letters/email), contemporary fiction

This novel was brilliant. The story is told through blog posts and emails of many different characters, primarily Smith and his former secretary Iris, her sister Jade, and Smith's company intern, Carl. 

We learn at the beginning that Iris has died of cancer and has left Smith her blog posts to publish as a book after her death, her blog written while she was ill and undergoing chemotherapy.  Smith's public relations company is failing but things begin happening when he hires Carl, the college student intern, to replace Iris for a summer. Carl sets things in motion, through bumbling, interfering, and general nosiness about his boss, the business, and about publishing Iris's blog. 

The novel has a lot of humor, as in the emails and readers' responses to Iris's blogs. It also has pathos, sentimentality, and is in part a love story. It will have the reader crying and laughing at the same time, and is a book that I would call brilliant, excellently written and conceived.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for my possible review. 

First chapter, first paragraph:

Simonyi Brand Management

New York, NY 10014

June 18

Dear Mr Simonyi:

I came upon your company on the Stanford University Employers Forum, on which your firm is listed as a place where Stanford students have had positive internship experiences previously. Grace Wang ('16) wrote that she had a wonderful summer working with you and your colleague Iris. While "wonderful" is rather nebulous and uninformative, her point is well made. I see that you have not posted a fall internship opening, but I am writing to express my interest in interning for you come September....

....

Sincerely,

Carl Von Snyder III

---------

Meme: Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

All the Rage by Darcy Lockman: First Chapter, First Paragraph

Nonfiction

All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership

by 

Darcy Lockman

All the Rage

All the Rage by Darcy Lockman, publication May 7, 2019, Harper
Genre: non-fiction
Gender inequality that has not changed: the unequal amount of parental work that falls on women, no matter their class or professional status.

Opening paragraph (text may change in the final copy)

Introduction 

The Problem That Has No Name 

Married with Children 

Am I being unfair to my husband? 

It is a gray spring Saturday in 2016, the day before Mother's Day. There've been ten days of rain preceding this one;, and I've spent half of those in Michigan with my kids without their father, visiting my parents. I love taking my daughters to Detroit, but solo-parenting Liv and Tess is draining, not least because I am the only person available to issue and enforce the dreary commands of early childhood, the one that begin upon waking and do not cease until it is night and the weight of their petal-soft eyelids has finally become too heavy to resist. Use the potty. Brush your teeth. Put on your socks. Put on your shoes. Don't hit your sister. Clean up the basement....

Author Darcy Lockman is a former journalist turned psychologist. Her first book, Brooklyn Zoo, chronicled the year she spent working in a city hospital's psychiatric ward. She lives with her husband and daughters in Queens.

Meme: Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where  readers post the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan

Each week, Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the beginning paragraph(s) of a book they are reading or plan to read.  



My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan, April 24, 2018, William Morrow
Genre: contemporary fiction, romance

First chapter, first paragraph:

"Next!"
The customs agent beckons the person in front of me and I approach the big red line, absently toeing the curling tape, resting my hand on the gleaming pipe railing. No adjustable ropes at Heathrow, apparently; these lines must always be long if they require permanent demarcation.
My phone, which I've been tapping against my leg, rings. I glance at the screen. I don't know the number. 
"Hello?" I answer.
"Is this Eleanor Durran?"
"Yes?"
"This is Gavin Brookdale."
My first thought is that this is a prank call. Gavin Brookdale just stepped down as White House chief of staff....

My thoughts:
I enjoyed the first part of the novel about a new graduate student at Oxford, the atmosphere and culture of the school new to her and different from an American university's. Ella makes a group of new friends, fellow students, and begins to fit into the system. However, here comes attraction, love, and romantic entanglement. 

The second part of the novel, a romance in crisis, reminded me a bit of Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and Love Story by Erich Segal, with similar ethical dilemmas involving serious illness and questions of commitment. The ending of this story may be unique in its own way, however. 

I liked the banter between Ella and her friends about poetry and was disappointed when the book left Oxford behind and concentrated on a love story that was not half as unique. Overall, a very good read, however, that covers several themes. 

Do you like the writing in the first chaper? Would you continue reading?

First Chapter: Beijing Bastard by Val Wang

Each week, Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the beginning paragraph(s) of a book they are reading or plan to read.  

Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of  a Changing China by Val Wang, October 2014, Avery
Genre: memoir, humor 

Raised in America, Val travels to Beijing in 1998 expecting to find freedom but instead has a different experience living in the old city with her traditional relatives.

First chapter:

On the very first page of a book about Christopher Columbus that my dad is reading to me, there is a word I don't know. I am squeezed next to him in the creaky maroon recliner where he does all his reading. Every new word opens up new worlds to me. This one has a long, slow sound to it and looks so different than it sounds. 

"What is a journey?" I ask. He looks surprised and pauses before answering. 

"A journey is a long trip," he says. 

"A long trip!" What a disappointment. But as we read further into the book, I see what he means.

Do this make you curious? I am, considering she takes her journey to old Beijing when she grows up. 

First Chapter: The White Mirror by Elsa Hart

Each week, Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers share the beginning paragraph(s) of a book they are reading or plan to read.  

The White Mirror

The White Mirror by Elsa Hart, September 2016, Minotaur Books
Genre: historical mystery
Setting: 18thC China

First chapter, first paragraph:

In high places, a single storm takes many forms. A wise traveler knows to be wary of what the clouds and the mountains are saying to one another. So when Li Du observed a raindrop strike his mule's bridle and bounce into the air instead of slipping quietly down the leather, he stooped and looked up with some trepidation. Through dripping branches, the sky was like rough silk stretched tight across a frame. 

Book description: 

Li Du, an imperial librarian in 18th century China, is now an independent traveler. He is journeying with a trade caravan bound for Lhasa when he discovers the body of a monk, a painter in the valley, and sets out to discover the secrets behind the murder. 

Do you like the writing? Would you continue reading?

Book Review: Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh
Publication March 13, 2018, Berkley
Genre: thriller
Anna is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ deaths, unable to comprehend why they chose to end their lives. Now with a young baby herself, she feels her mother’s presence keenly and is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. (publisher)

My comments: 

Anna can't understand why her father would throw himself off a cliff, not why her mother would do the same seven months later, leaving her alone, devastated, and wondering. A retired cop decides to investigate the cold cases on his own, especially after Anna begins receiving anonymous notes suggesting her parents were not suicides, but murders. 

Plot twists and intrigue enliven this thriller, as we follow the clues to the very surprising end. Anna is believable and the old cop Billy is likeable, characters that engage the reader as the book moves forward.

I gave this thriller 4-5 stars. 

First chapter:

Death does not suit me. I wear it like a borrowed coat; it slips off my shoulder and trails in the dirt. It is ill fitting. Uncomfortable. 

Thanks to Berkley for a galley copy for review.

MEME: Every Tuesday Vicki @ I'd Rather Be at the Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where readers share the first paragraph, maybe two, of a book that they are reading or plan to read soon