Book Review: Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg

"No," Irene says. "I don't care what your father says. Your father is not your primary caretaker. I am your primary caretaker, and I do not feel it is safe for you to go unchaperoned with a bunch of kids to spend a whole weekend rock climbing."

Sadie draws lines with her chopsticks through the black bean sauce left puddled on her plate. "What are you so afraid of?" (ch. 5)

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg
Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (October 4, 2011)

Comments: John and Irene had misgivings right before they walked down the aisle. Irene had just asked her bridesmaid to announce the cancellation of the wedding to the  waiting guests, when Irene's father walked in to walk her down the aisle. She went wordlessly along with him.

Years later, John and Irene are divorced, John living in Minnesota and Irene in California with their high school daughter Sadie.  Sadie's sudden disappearance brings the two parents together again and let them relive the reasons they once loved each other. Sadie is the catalyst that gets them to try to get along again, while they try to find her safe.

A moving story, very well told,  of marriage, relationships, family, and the things that really count. John and Irene find what is most important to them - their daughter Sadie and remaining true to themselves, who they really are, and who they have become.

My rating: 4/5
From my personal library.

Book Review: No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie

"You compromised my search." Tavie realized that passersby were giving them a wide berth and made an effort to lower her voice. "And my chain of evidence," she hissed at him....
(ch. 7)

Title: No Mark Upon Her: A Novel by Deborah Crombie
Published February 7, 2012 by William Morrow; hardcover
Genre: police procedural, mystery

Everyone on the police force on Henley-on-Thames, about thirty miles north of London, seems to be on the case, that of a woman rower found drowned and caught in a weir on the river Thames, her racing skiff washed up on shore. Scotland Yard is called in; it seems to be murder as the woman was an experienced rower training to enter the Olympics and would not have capsized the evening she took her boat out on a calm river.

Search and rescue teams had been called out, including a man with his black Labrador retriever who is devastated when they find the abandoned skiff and the body of the woman rower.

The police procedural continues with Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James, both investigating the case, either directly or indirectly. For Gemma, the name of a possible suspect hits too close to home as she has had a frightening run-in with the suspect before. A close call, she realized.

Comments: About a third of the way into the novel, I thought I knew who the murderer was and the reason behind the murder and was about to skip ahead to the end to see if I was right. I'm glad I didn't, as I was totally wrong, and I soon realized this as I read on. The possibilities were many, the situations complex, and I was then kept guessing till the end.

A very satisfying mystery and police procedural, I give this one 5 stars. I'm eager to look at others in this series, and though No Mark Upon Her is a stand-alone mystery, wished I had read them before this book, for continuity.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.

An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

“Excuse me lady, do you have any spare change?”

This was the first thing he said to me, on 56th street in New York City, right round the corner from Broadway, on a sunny September day.

And when I heard him, I didn’t really hear him. His words were part of the clatter, like a car horn or someone yelling for a cab. They were, you could say, just noise—the kind of nuisance New Yorkers learn to tune out. So I walked right by him, as if he wasn’t there.

But then, just a few yards past him, I stopped.

And then—and I still don’t know why I did this—I came back.

Title: An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny
Author: Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski
Publisher: Howard Books; November 2011; hardcover and e-book editions

Book description: An Invisible Thread is the true story of the bond between a harried sales executive and an eleven-year-old boy who seemed destined for a life of poverty. It is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned three decades and brought meaning to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy living on the streets.

When Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, something made her stop and turn back. She took the boy Maurice to lunch at the McDonald's across the street that day. And she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both of their lives had changed dramatically.

About the authors: Laura Schroff worked as an advertising executive with media companies including Time Inc. and Conde Nast. She lives in New York City.
Alex Tresniowski of New York City has been a senior writer for People Magazine since 1998. He is also the author of six books, including 2005’s The Vendetta, a true crime story purchased by Universal Pictures and used as a basis for the 2009 Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies.

Click for the Book trailer

Opening sentences: Pineapple Grenade by Tim Dorsey

Title: Pineapple Grenade: A Novel
William Morrow (Jan. 24, 2012), Hardcover, 352 pages
Rating: 3/5

Opening sentences in a novel can set the tone and help readers decide about the book.

"A prosthetic leg with a Willie Nelson bumper sticker washed ashore on the beach, which meant it was Florida.

Then it got weird.

Homicide detectives would soon be stumped by the discovery of the so-called Hollow Man. Empty torso with no external wounds, like all his organs had been magically scooped out. Little progress was made in the case until a TV station began calling him the Jack-O'-Lantern Man, which immediaely doubled the number of nicknames.

But right now, the victim had yet to be found. In fact, he was still breathing." (prologue)
From the 15th in the Serge Storms Mystery Series.

Comments: A very strange homicide situation and even stranger main characters. My first reaction was - Florida is another country! Car hijackings and robberies of unwitting tourists off the highway leading from the Miami airport , for instance. An old news item, I thought. Is this really still going on, or is this part of the fiction of this mystery novel?  In any case, the writing and characters did not grab me. I had a hard time getting into the book. But his other books have made the author a New York Times bestselling author.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.

Left for Dead, a Novel by J.A.Jance

Title: Left for Dead: a Novel by J. A. Jance

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published February 7, 2012; Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Genre:mystery- thriller

Today is the release date for J.A. Jance's new thriller, Left for Dead. I received a review copy and am looking forward to it. I've liked many of her previous mysteries.

Book description: When Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff Jose Reyes, Ali Reynolds' classmate from the Arizona Police Academy, is gunned down and left to die, he is at first assumed to be an innocent victim of the drug wars escalating across the border. But the crime scene investigation shows there’s much more to it than that, and soon he and his pregnant wife, Teresa, both fall under suspicion of wrongdoing. Another victim left for dead is also in the hospital. Ali investigates these two shocking cases of victims brutally left for dead despite pressure to drop the case.

Book Review: We're With Nobody by Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read.

"Political research is about searching for evidence of both hypocrisy and nobility on front porches, in smoky conference rooms, and in courthouses, bars, deer camps and roadside cafes. It can be grueling, corrosive, satisfying and entertaining by turns." (ch. 1)

Title: We're with Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics by Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian
Published January 24, 2012; William Morrow

Comments: I found this non fiction book by two political researchers to be very revealing. They write about "opposition research" and declare neutrality as they accept jobs to hunt down information nationwide on political candidates - interviewing far and wide, going through newspaper stories, court records, delving into the detailed backgrounds and lives of candidates, large and small, to find the truth. So this is how they do it! A timely book! I give this a 4.5/5 rating!

Book description:
For nearly two decades, former journalists Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian have been uncovering the buried truths about political candidates, from presidential appointees all the way down to local school-board hopefuls. We’re with Nobody is the eye-opening account of their life as opposition researchers—a remarkable adventure across the American political landscape and through the often seamy underbelly of U.S. politics.

From doing battle with reluctant, sometimes purposefully misleading bureaucrats to arriving in an unmarked police car for a clandestine meeting on the New Jersey waterfront, We’re with Nobody offers readers a revealing slice of national and political life: a close-up look at today’s political process, the fallible men and women we often choose to represent us and the little-understood industry of trying to bring candidates’ weaknesses to light.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book.

Book Tour: Casey and Kyle by Will Robertson

Title: Casey and Kyle: I'm Saving Up for a New Brother
Author: Will Robertson
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (May 8, 2011)

Description: A new collection of nearly 300 cartoons from the web-comic "Casey and Kyle".  Casey and Kyle is a self-syndicated cartoon appearing both online and in print.

Comments: Casey and Kyle sometimes wreck havoc in the house with their dart guns. Lamps may hit the floor, for example.  They may sometimes start playing with the water hose outside in 30 degree weather, much to the dismay of their mother. We follow their antics through the year and through the seasons and various holidays. This is a family comic with humor, as Casey and Kyle and their parents and friends interact in an amusing and sometimes wry way. Cute and clever.

Author and creator Will Robertson enjoys playing music and tennis. He is an avid mini golfer and an aggressive bumper car driver. He lives with his wife and two children in Oregon's Willamette Valley. He has published two other Casey and Kyle comic books, in 2010 and 2011. Visit www.caseyandkylecomics.com

Thanks to Pump Up Your Book for a review copy of this book.

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