Book Review: Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by Joanne DeMaio

Title: Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans by Joanne DeMaio
Paperback published March 11, 2013
Genre: fiction, women's fiction

About the book: So much can happen in one summer. Friends reunite in the little town of Stony Point on Long Island Sound and renew old friendships, remember their youthful days growing up there, find out each other's secrets and their own deep family secrets, and work to resolve their future.

"...and in some way, they all hope those days aren't over, but if they are, can't they bring them back to life, for a night even, a song, a look? Can't they bring the past back, somehow, tonight?" (ch. 16)

The main characters: Maris is back home from Chicago to settle her father's estate and finds old family photographs that puzzle her. Jason has decided to move his architect's office to the Sound to renovate cottages, but is still haunted by the death of his younger brother Neil. Eva is a realtor on the island, married to Matt, but desperately longing to find her biological parents. Lauren and Kyle are a married couple on the point of breaking up because of Kyle's problem finding a steady job in Stony Point and because of Lauren's memories of the past.

The setting: A small town by the ocean, with beaches, boardwalks, seashells, driftwood, cottages, and a laid back tourist atmosphere. The author writes with the eye of a painter or photographer, contrasting light and shadow, day and night in her vivid descriptions of the Sound. There is symbolism too in the shadows that hang over some of the characters, and in the waves, the "swells of grief" that come over Lauren when she remembers the past.

Recommendation: I loved the descriptions of the people and the exploration of their personalities and feelings. I also liked the descriptions of Stony Point, and the use of the imagery of the setting to reflect the outward and inward drama of the characters.

Two minor things that I did notice, from an editing point of view: on a night out on the water, the "black sky" and the "blackness could swallow her whole" on page 44 becomes on page 46, a sky "heavy with thousands of stars and a nearly full moon painting a swath of amber light across the water."  A discrepancy, I felt in the description of the night.  Also bothering me was the sudden appearance of a character named Vinny who is not introduced to the reader; I was puzzled about who he was when he first appeared.

Objective rating: The plot was excellent, the setting and the characters memorable and real.  Overall, a satisfying ending to a summer reunion by the beach, a book for any season.

Visit the author's website or Facebook.com/JoanneDeMaioAuthor.

Joanne DeMaio has also written the bestselling novel WHOLE LATTE LIFE, which won First Place in the 2012 Discovery Awards and was named a Kirkus Reviews Critics' Pick. BLUE JEANS AND COFFEE BEANS is her second novel. Both books explore the intricate relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends.  Joanne lives with her family in Connecticut and is at work on her next book.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book. 
This review is linked to Cym Lowell's Book Review Link Up

Other reviews: See Thoughts in Progress, Suko's Notebook, and a giveaway at Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book.

Sunday Salon: Happy Mother's Day and International Migratory Bird Day!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also submitted to It's Monday; What Are You Reading? at Book Journey, and  Mailbox Monday hosted by Abi at 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

If you are looking for a Mother's Day theme in crime fiction, here is Janet Rudolph's list: Mother's Day Crime Fiction/Mother's Day Mysteries. Lovers of mystery novels won't find this alarming! There are mystery novels to fit almost every theme!

Today is also International Migratory Bird Day and there are bird watching events happening all over the country. Want to read a few bird mysteries or a birding novel? Here are a few:

The first one is a mystery and The Guide to the Birds of East Africa  is a novel set in contemporary Kenya with its 1,000 species of birds. Click on the book covers to get more information.

We went birding at Magee Marsh near Lake Erie last Saturday, a pretty cool but sunny day and we saw more migrating warblers than we had last year. Or maybe we are just getting better at finding the birds on the ground and among tree branches low and high. It was a fun day and we saw birds that were new to us, such as the beautiful yellow and black hooded warbler. I learned the names of many of the birds we saw; birders are eager to share what they know.

American Goldfinch in our backyard 

We were so excited that this goldfinch visited. Seems we have been getting more birds we haven't had in the backyard before. For the first time ever, I saw an Eastern Towhee, the American Goldfinch, and Dark-eyed Juncos. Maybe that long winter made them want to come out in force!

Back to books - ARCs that arrived last week:
Dark Diversions by John Ralston Saul; Pintail Books
A Half Forgotten Song by Katherine Webb; William Morrow/HarperCollins
Siege and Storm: Book 2 of the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo; Henry Holt

Books that arrived:
Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher; Penguin
Down London Road by Samantha Young; Penguin UK
Agorafabulous by Sara Benincasa; William Morrow/HarperCollins

Mother's Day brunch later on, then maybe back to the park! Happy Mother's Day and hope you have sunshine and laughter!

Book Feature: A Good Home: A Memoir by Cynthia Reyes

Title: A Good Home: A Memoir by Cynthia Reyes
Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: BPS Books (May 6, 2013)

Publisher description: "A Good Home is a profoundly emotional book about the author’s early life in rural Jamaica, her move to urban North America, and her trips back home, all told through vivid descriptions of the unique homes she has lived in — from a tiny pink house in Jamaica and a mountainside cabin near Vancouver to the historic Victorian farmhouse she lives in today, surrounded by neighbors who share spicy Malaysian noodles and seafood, Greek pastries and roast lamb, and Italian tomato sauce and wine (really strong wine).

 Full of lovingly drawn characters and vividly described places, A Good Home takes the reader through deeply moving stories of marriage, children, the death of parents, and an accident that takes its high-flying author down a humbling notch. Its pages sparkle with stories and reflections on home as: A foundation on which to build connections with children, relatives, and friends A place to celebrate the joys of elegant design, overflowing gardens (except for the wisteria vine, which cannot be coaxed into blooming), and the sharing of good food.

A wise teacher, showing us who we really were — and who we really are. When this brave, clear-eyed, and honest book returns, full circle, to the way it began, readers will want to read it all over again." (from amazon)

About the author: Cynthia Reyes has published non-fiction stories in Arabella Magazine, one of the fastest-growing magazines in the United States and Canada, as well as in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Life. Reyes is a former journalist and executive producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. More than a hundred episodes of her programs have appeared on network television. She is the winner of national and international awards and acclaim for her work as a television producer, project leader, and public speaker, including the Children’s Broadcast Institute Award and the Crystal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film and Television.

Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol by Gyles Brandreth

Friday 56 Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.

Title: Ocar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol by Gyles Brandreth
Publication date: May 14, 2013; Touchstone
Genre: historical mystery

"I'm a friend of the man who invented Sherlock Holmes," I said with some dignity. "Have you heard of Sherlock Holmes?"(p. 57)

In this next excerpt, an imprisoned Oscar talks with the prison surgeon, Dr. Maurice, and we learn a little about Oscar Wilde's friendship with Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer.

"... And you, I've been led to believe, are Conan Doyle's model for Holmes's older brother - the brilliant but indolent Mycroft Holmes." (ch. 6)

Book description:  In this new installment in the engaging mystery series—currently in development as a BBC television series—the incomparable playwright, novelist, raconteur, and now ex-convict Oscar Wilde faces his most fiendishly puzzling case yet.

It is 1897, France. Oscar Wilde has fled the country after his release from Reading Gaol. Tonight he is sharing a drink and the story of his cruel imprisonment with a mysterious stranger. Oscar has endured a harsh regime: the treadmill, solitary confinement, censored letters, no writing materials. Yet even in the midst of such deprivation, his astonishing detective powers remain undiminished—and when first a brutal warder and then the prison chaplain are found murdered, who else should the Governor turn to for help other than Reading Gaol’s most celebrated inmate? (goodreads)

This is the fifth in the Oscar Wilde mysteries.
Thanks to Touchstone for a review copy of this book.

Memoir: THE COOKED SEED by Anchee Min

Title: The Cooked Seed: A Memoir by Anchee Min
Published: May 7, 2013; Bloombury USA hardcover

The date was August 3, 1984. It was China's midnight and America's morning. I was about to drop out of the sky and land in Chicago. What made me scared and nervous was that I didn't speak English and had no money. The five hundred dollars I had folded in my wallet was borrowed. But I could not let myself be frightened. I was twenty-seven years old and life had ended for me in China. I was Madame Mao's trash, ..., which meant that I wasn't worth spit. For eight years, I had worked menial jobs at the Shanghai Film Studio. I was considered a "cooked seed" - no chance to sprout. (opening paragraph from the Advance Reading Copy)

Publisher's description:
In 1994, Anchee Min made her literary debut with a memoir of growing up in China during the violent trauma of the Cultural Revolution. Red Azalea became an international bestseller and propelled her career as a critically acclaimed author. Twenty years later, Min returns to the story of her own life to give us the next chapter, an immigrant story that takes her from the shocking deprivations of her homeland to the sudden bounty of the promised land of America, without language, money, or a clear path.

It is a hard and lonely road. She teaches herself English by watching Sesame Street, keeps herself afloat working five jobs at once, lives in unheated rooms, suffers rape, collapses from exhaustion, marries poorly and divorces.But she also gives birth to her daughter, Lauryann, who will inspire her and finally root her in her new country. Min's eventual successes- her writing career, a daughter at Stanford, a second husband she loves- are remarkable, but it is her struggle throughout toward genuine selfhood that elevates this dramatic, classic immigrant story to something powerfully universal.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences from your current read and identify author and title for readers. First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Opening sentences in a book can help readers decide if the book is one they would continue reading. 

Based on the opening paragraph of The Cooked Seed, would you keep reading?

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC of this book. 

Sunday Salon: Gardening and Books

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also submitted to It's Monday; What Are You Reading? at Book Journey, and  Mailbox Monday hosted by Abi at 4 the LOVE of BOOKS.

I have decided not to plant many veggies this year and so far only a few banana pepper seedlings made it into the ground and into a pot. There are baby bunnies running in and out of the backyard from our neighbors' where they live under a tool shed. A white possum came into the yard for an orange I had left for the birds and was seen again the next morning in the neighbor's yard. A black cat wanders the grounds and gazes into ground cover that hides chipmunks and into the dense euonymus shrub that is the hiding place for a rabbit or two. I don't think veggies would last without wire mesh to protect them, even with a cat on patrol. In any case, we spent the nice, cool and sunny day yesterday pruning bushes and clipping and seeding grass. An uncluttered garden.

New books and ARCs that arrived:

Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog by Jamie Ivey; Skyhorse Publishing
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijan; Atria Books
A Certain Summer by Patricia Beard; Simon and Schuster
Running with the Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse; Three Clover Press
Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman; Simon and Schuster
Gaijin Cowgirl by Jame DiBiasio; Crime Wave Press

Can't wait for summer weather to get out the hammock. What are you reading these days?

Book Review: Roses Have Thorns by Sandra Byrd

Title: Roses Have Thorns: A Novel of Elizabeth I by Sandra Byrd
Published April 9, 2013; Howard Books paperback
Genre: historical novel

Publisher description: In 1565, seventeen-year-old Elin von Snakenborg leaves Sweden on a treacherous journey to England to witness the dizzying heights of Tudor power. Transformed through marriage into Helena, the Marchioness of Northampton, she becomes the highest-ranking woman in Elizabeth’s circle. But in a court surrounded by Catholic enemies who plot the queen’s downfall, Helena is forced to choose between her unyielding monarch and the husband she’s not sure she can trust–a choice that will provoke catastrophic consequences.

My comments: I may have read too many books about the Tudors recently and so was not blown away by this one, though I was entertained by the story of a lady-in-waiting whose loyalty to the queen allows her intimate access to Elizabeth I and her court. Elin, renamed Helena, has unquestioning loyalty to a queen who is temperamental, sometimes brutal and seemingly heartless, but who could also be generous and forgiving to those close to her.

An interesting section of the novel regarding Elizabeth's never marrying - Elin/Helena elicits personal comments from Elizabeth about her love for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

"I have loved Lord Robert since I was a girl," she said. "I am given to him in all manner but one. I had, and have, passion. But I put it under glass, Helena, lest it set my kingdom on fire."
.... "Then what, my lady?"
"Within weeks of my marriage to Robin this kingdom would fracture into factions like a shattered platter, never to be whole again." (ch. 11)

Elizabeth's later remarks to Elin, "Roses have thorns," is a warning to be careful in her actions and words. Elin has to remarry in secret, for instance, being afraid that Elizabeth would not give her permission to marry her second husband, Thomas. The queen retaliates by withdrawing favors, as expected, but then relents.

The stories of the imprisonment and execution of those who plotted against Elizabeth I, including her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, are well known historically and are retold in an interesting way in this novel of Elin's life at court.

I think the novel presents Elizabeth I in an overall flattering light, but I was annoyed with Elin, a Swede, for not questioning more the events going on in the English court and for her unrealistic and wholehearted support of the Tudor politics around her. This is of course from my 21st century point of view.

Overall, an entertaining novel and certainly informational for anyone not familiar with the history of the Tudors.

For more reviews of the book, visit the tour schedule at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.
Thanks to HF Virtual Book Tours and the author/publisher for a review copy of this book.

Sandra Byrd has published more than three dozen fiction and nonfiction books, including her Tudor series, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr, about the life of Henry’s last wife. She edits, mentors, and coaches and lives in the Seattle, Washington area.

Connect with Sandra Byrd: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER