Book Review: Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

Title: Death of a Nightingale: A Nina Borg Novel by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnee Friis
Published November 5, 2013; Soho Crime
Genre: Scandinavian crime fiction
Objective rating: 4.5/5

"But not everyone looked at Oxana and Olga with such adoration. Some eyes were lowered when they turned around in the schoolroom. Whispering would suddenly cease when they walked by and later start up again behind their backs." (Ukraine, 1934), p. 143

Two young girls, Oxana and Olga, live under Stalin's socialist rule in the Ukraine in the 1930s. One joins the party and becomes unpopular when the authorities begin to question and arrest people about breaking rules and hoarding food during a time of famine. Oxana is suspected of being the nightingale - the one that "sings".

The most obvious reason, of course, was that she took off and left the country with her daughter a few hours after she had been questioned. But there were other suspicious circumstances as well. Even though her husband had disappeared four days before he was found, the hadn't reported him missing." (present day, p. 70)

In present day Denmark, Natasha is wanted by the  police for the death of her husband. She is desperate to retrieve her young daughter from the Danish authorities and to escape with her from the country. Dansh Red Cross nurse Nina Borg is concerned about the safety of mother and child.

What do these two stories have to do with each other - sisters in 1930s Ukraine and a Ukranian mother and daughter in modern day Denmark?  There are surprises and twists in the novel as the two plots slowly mesh together into a tale of old betrayal and modern day revenge. I loved this crime fiction, as much as I liked the authors' first book, Boy in the Suitcase. A terrific story of how the past can continue on and spread its tentacles into the future.

Publisher's description:
"Nina. Natasha. Olga. Three women united by one terrifying secret. But only one of them has killed to keep it. Natasha Doroshenko, a Ukrainian woman who has been convicted of the attempted murder of her Danish fiancé, escapes police custody. That night, the body of Michael, the ex-fiancé, is found in a car, and the manhunt for Natasha escalates.

Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg has been following Natasha's case for several years now, since Natasha first took refuge at a crisis center where Nina works. Nina just can't see the young Ukrainian mother as a vicious killer. But in her effort to discover the truth, Nina realizes there is much she didn't know about this woman and her past. The mystery has long and bloody roots, going back to a terrible famine that devastated Stalinist Ukraine in 1934, when a ten-year-old girl with the voice of a nightingale sang her family into shallow graves."

Have you read any in the Nina Borg series?

Thanks to Soho for a review copy of this book.

Also submitted to Saturday Review of Books on semicolon's blog. 

A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire

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.

Title: A Beautiful Wedding: A Beautiful Disaster Novella by Jamie McGuire
Published December 10, 2013; Atria Books
Genre: romance novella

First paragraph:

Abby: I could feel it coming: a growing, persistent unease that crept just below my skin. The more I tried to ignore it, the more unbearable it became: an itch that needed to be scratched, a scream bubbling to the surface. My father said the urgent need to run when things were about to go wrong was like a tic, a defense mechanism inherent in the Abernathys. I'd felt it moments before the fire, and I was feeling it now. 

Teaser (ch.9):

My phone buzzed in my purse. I checked it quickly.

Cops just left. Dad's @ Tim's but I told them you guys were in Vegas getting married. I think they f---ing bought it.

Publisher description:
Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!).

Would you keep reading?

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for review/feature.

Sunday Salon: Winter Reading

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer, and It's Monday: What Are You Reading? at Book Journey. Also, Mailbox Monday hosted by Rose City Reader this month.

I downloaded books for the first time on Edelweiss, thanks to an offer by William Morrow for the following e-galleys for review:

Tiger Shrimp Tango by Tim Dorsey. a mystery/thriller set in Florida.

A Garden of Marvels: How We Discovered That Flowers Have Sex, Leaves Eat Air, and Other Secrets of Plants by Ruth Kassinger, a history of the first botanists and info on the plants of today.

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore, a "satiric Venetian gothic"
That Old Black Magic by Mary Jane Clark, Wedding Cake Mystery #4

I'd much rather have paper books in my hot little hands and will take print any day over e-books, but I am going to do my darn est to read these before they disappear from my computer. I only have them for 45, 52, 80, or 136 days, depending on the release date of the books.

I also found myself reading several books at a time, vowing to finish them all:

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, Chinese-American fiction, a book from my shelves

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, memoir and essay writing
Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith, spy thriller
Paws for Murder by Annie Knox, cozy mystery that I'm quite enjoying
I worry that I have Book-ADD (a term I made up) and am too easily distracted by a new book while I'm already reading one.

Review books and AREs (advance reader's editions) that came recently?

The Altarpiece (The Cross and the Crown Series, Book One) by Sarah Kennedy- an imagined h8istory of what might have happened to all the nuns after Henry VIII took over the church in England in the 16th Century.

The Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim, a romance, murder mystery, and suspense - historical novel set in Paris just before WWII

Children of the Revolution (Inspector Banks Novel #21) by Peter Robinson, police procedural and crime thriller

This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash, fiction

What I bought for myself, on Kindle:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Berg, historical novel involving a family of botanists.

What's on your winter reading list? Keep warm!

Until My Soul Gets It Right by Karen Wojcik Berner

Title: Until My Soul Gets It Right: The Bibliophiles, Book Two
Author: Karen Wojcik Berner
Published May 23, 2012; Kindle and paperback
Genre: women's fiction

"Hey, Catherine," Scott said loudly enough for everyone to hear as he followed her into the living room. "I hope we can put aside any past animosity and be friends." He lowered his voice. "And you are going to play along, aren't you? ..."

My comments: 
Catherine Elbert is dissatisfied with her small Wisconsin farming town, her family, and her circumscribed life there, and leaves after high school for Portland, Maine, to spread her wings and find independence.
Her mistakes and deceptions along the way, from Maine to San Diego and back to the Midwest, and her attitudes make her a main character one may not like. But is she heading in a direction of self-realization?

Publisher description:
 From the author of  A Whisper to a Scream comes a story about growing up, making peace with your past, and finding love along the way. Catherine has never been good at making decisions, whether it was choosing an ice cream flavor as a small child, or figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up. The only thing Catherine knew for sure was there had to be more to life than being stuck on her family’s farm in Wisconsin. While watching a PBS travel show, Catherine becomes entranced by Portland, Maine. The ocean. The lobsters. The rugged coast. Nothing could be more different from the flat, nondescript farmlands of Burkesville.

Despite her parents threatening to disown her and her brothers taking bets on how many days until she comes home, Catherine settles on Peaks Island, off the coast of Portland. She was finally free. Or so she thought...

About the series: 
A suburban classics book club, members also reveal their personal stories. Includes Reader's Guide with book club discussion questions. Until My Soul Gets It Right is a 2013 Readers’ Choice Award Nominee by BigAl’s Books & Pals

Thanks to the author for a review copy of this book.

The Thrill of the Haunt by E.J. Copperman

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.

Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.

Title: The Thrill of the Haunt: A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery by E.J. Copperman
Published November 5, 2013; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

Page 56:

She pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses. "These will be good to hide my face," she said.

Book beginning:

"Are you the ghost lady?"
I've heard the question many times, but I'm not crazy about it, frankly. Living in a large Victorian with my eleven-year-old daughter and two dead people who never took the hint - while trying to make a go of the place as a guesthouse - is difficult enough. 

"Alison Kerby’s guesthouse is already crowded with spirits. As Alison’s reputation as “the ghost lady” grows, so does her business—and not always in a way she’d like. Tourists may be flocking to her guesthouse for a chance to glimpse her resident spirits, but her special abilities are also bringing unwanted private investigation cases to her door.

And she has no choice but to take a case when the local homeless man is found murdered under mysterious circumstances, just hours after asking for help in exorcising a specter. If that weren’t enough to deal with, Alison’s other PI case soon turns fatal, as the mistress she was spying on for a jealous wife turns up dead as well. The cases seem as if they couldn’t possibly be linked, but with clues, motives and suspects—both living and dead—Alison will have to think fast before someone else checks out for good." (publisher description)

Are you in the mood for a ghostly mystery?

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for review/feature.

Waiting on Wednesday: Paws for Murder by Annie Knox

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted weekly by Jill @ Breaking the Spine. Let us know what new releases you are eagerly awaiting. Link your post to Breaking the Spine.

Title: Paws for Murder: A Pet Boutique Mystery by Annie Knox
To be published January 7, 2014; Signet
Genre: new series, cozy mystery

"Animals aren't meant to wear clothes," Sherry continued. "It's not natural."
I didn't bother pointing out that guinea pigs didn't "naturally" travel in canvas slings. Or live in Minnesota, for that matter. (ch. 1)

Publisher description:

"Izzy McHale wants her new Trendy Tails Pet Boutique in Merryville, Minnesota, to be the height of canine couture and feline fashions. But at the store’s opening, it turns out it’s a human who’s dressed to kill….

Izzy’s own beloved pets are dressed to the nines for the grand opening. Feisty feline Jinx is large and in charge, and happy mutt Packer is lapping up the attention. Izzy and her best friend Rena have their hands full meeting Merryville’s menagerie and serving tasty pupcakes and kitty canapes from their "barkery.” The last thing they need is the town’s local activist, Sherry Harper, scaring off customers and picketing the event.

The two manage to stop Sherry’s protest, but the trouble is just beginning. Sherry is found murdered in back of the shop, and Rena is named the lead suspect. Now Izzy and her furry friends have a new pet project—collaring a killer."

What new release are you eagerly waiting for?

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

Chasing Utopia by Nikki Giovanni

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.

Title: Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid by Nikki Giovanni
Published October 29, 2013; William Morrow
Genre: a combination of prose and poetry

First paragraph:

So here is the actual story. I was bored. Well, not bored because I had the privilege of interviewing Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, who said she pursued a degree in physics and also became a medical doctor to keep her mind occupied. Mae's IQ must be nine hundred and fifty-five or thereabouts. I asked, "How do you keep from being bored?" And she replied, "A friend of my father's once told me "'If you're bored you're not paying attention.'" 

Poetry teaser:

Poets shouldn't commit
Suicide
That would leave the world
To those without imagination
Or hearts
(from the poem, "Poets")

Publisher description:
"Nikki Giovanni's poetry has spurred movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations. She's been hailed as a healer and as a national treasure. But Giovanni's heart resides in the everyday, where family and lovers gather, friends commune, and those no longer with us are remembered. And at every gathering there is food--food as sustenance, food as aphrodisiac, food as memory. A pot of beans is flavored with her mother's sighs--this sigh part cardamom, that one the essence of clove; a lover requests a banquet as an affirmation of ongoing passion; homage is paid to the most time-honored appetizer: soup.

With Chasing Utopia, Giovanni demands that the prosaic--flowers, birdsong, win-ter--be seen as poetic, and reaffirms once again why she is as energetic, "remarkable" (Gwendolyn Brooks), "wonderful" (Marian Wright Edelman),"outspoken, prolific, energetic" (New York Times), and relevant as ever."

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for review/feature.