Book Review: While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax

Title: While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax
Published December 31, 2013; Jove
Genre: chick lit, women's fiction
Objective rating: 4.5/5

About the book: The novel is about three women and a concierge in an upscale apartment building in Atlanta, Georgia, modern time, who meet each other as part of the concierge's weekly Sunday event - Watching  the TV series, Downton Abbey, while having drinks and elaborate hors d'oeuvres in the building club room. These four all have their problems, however.

Samantha is married to a wealthy businessman who she feels married her out of pity and not love. Claire is a divorced mom with an 18-year-old son in college, but she believes she is failing as a writer, her chosen profession. Brooke, also divorced but with two daughters ages 5 and 7, has a self-confidence that is almost nil after her husband walked out and later moves into the same apartment building with his mistress. Ed Parker, the British concierge, relies on his uncle back in Britain for helpful advice in making his new concierge business a success.

How they all help each other cope with their problems and upcoming crises is the crux of the novel. The glue that holds their relationships together is their weekly get-togethers to watch Downton Abbey, from the first series onward.

My comments:  Great characterization, story, and plot situations made this a very enjoyable read.  The plot was well crafted and the colorful, realistic characters made the novel entertaining and lively. I highly recommend it.

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

Book Review: A Different Sun, a Novel of Africa by Elaine Neil Orr

Title: A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa by Elaine Neil Orr
Published April 2, 2013; Berkley
Genre: historical novel
Objective rating: 3.5/5

About the book: A novel of Emma, a young woman from Georgia, who marries an American missionary in the mid-19th century and travels with him to West Africa to live among the Yoruba people. There she lives a life of challenge as well as gets to know, befriend, and rely on the local people.

My comments: I could tell while reading the book that the author belonged to missionary people, as the novel is circumscribed by the strong and determined faith of Emma and her husband Henry Bowman to build a church and bring Christianity into the heart of the African country. How well they succeeded is not clear to me, as the customs and beliefs of the local people, and the challenges of not enough money and supplies, and isolation from other Westerners take a strong toll.

There is an element of the magical in the book, as Emma carries a talisman of sorts from her home in Georgia back to Africa. The talisman is a carved wooden knife or letter opener that the old African slave from her father's plantation, Uncle Eli, had given Emma to take to Africa with her. It somehow challenges Emma to make amends to Uncle Eli for the conditions of his slavery. The novel is told mainly from Emma's point of view, and occasionally from her husband's, and from their African cook and helper, Jacob's. As a look into the lives of missionaries abroad, it is an excellent addition to the literature of this genre.


Elaine Neil Orr's memoir, Gods of Noonday, was a Top-20 Book Sense selection. She is associate editor of Writing Out of Limbo, and the author of two scholarly books. Orr was born and grew up in Nigeria to medical missionary parents. Orr left West Africa at age sixteen and attended college in Kentucky. She studied creative writing and literature at the University of Louisville before taking her Ph.D. in Literature and Theology at Emory University.

She is Professor of English at North Carolina State University and on the faculty of the MFA in Writing Program at Spalding University. She  lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, Anderson Orr. Visit her website and Facebook page.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book. See more reviews by tour participants. 

Book Review: My Mother's Funeral by Adriana Paramo

Title: My Mother's Funeral by Adriana Paramo
Published October 1, 2013; Cavankerry Press
Genre: memoir; creative nonfiction
Objective rating: 4.5/5

About the book:  Adriana Paramo, who had left her home in Medellin, Colombia to become an anthropologist, gets a phone call about her mother Carmen's sudden death and returns home from Alaska to attend the funeral. She and her four sisters and a brother, all older siblings who had remained in Colombia, meet up again to pay final respects to their mother, reminisce about her life, and claim sentimental items from their family home.

The book flashes back to Adriana's memories of growing up without their father, who had left them when Adriana, the youngest, was only five or six years old. The book explores Carmen's life, her marriage, her love for her husband before and even after he deserted her, and her raising six children by herself. All of this from Adriana's viewpoint as an impressionable child, then a rebellious adolescent and as an independent adult.

My comments: 
A moving family story, expertly written, with the life and personality of Adriana's mother fully developed as creative nonfiction. Carmen came through as a determined personality who wanted more for her children and demanded more from them as well. She was successful in moving them on to a better life, where they could help both her and each other.The book was also very informative of Colombia's customs, dynamic society, and its volatile politics during that time period.

As the last of six children, myself,  I was amazed at how much I could relate to this narrative of the relationship between the mother and daughter. Adriana came to know Carmen more deeply as she had spent more time with her as the youngest child. As Adriana's brother said, Carmen was a different person and mother in the 1960s-70s than she was in the 80s when she had Adriana. I highly recommend this book on several levels.

Paramo has written another work of creative nonfiction, Looking for Esperanza, which has won several awards. I would really like to read that book also.

Adriana Páramo is a cultural anthropologist, writer and women’s rights advocate. Her book “Looking for Esperanza,” winner of the 2011 Social Justice and Equity Award in Creative Nonfiction was one of the top ten best books by Latino authors in 2012, the best Women’s Issues Book at the 2013 International Latino Book Awards, and the recipient of a silver medal at the 2012 BOYA, Book of the Year Awards. “My Mother’s Funeral,” a creative nonfiction book set in Colombia, was released in October 2013 by Cavankerry Press.

Her work has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and her essays have been included in the Notable American Essays of 2011 and 2012. She currently lives and writes in Qatar. Connect with Paramo at http://www.paramoadriana.com/

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book. Click on the link for more reviews by book tour participants. 

Sunday Salon: a Cozy Kind of Winter

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 at it's permanent home, and Stacking the Shelves at Tyngas' Reviews.

I've been reading cozy mysteries in between my book tour books. They seem to fit winter - lighter and often entertaining, except for some grisly details on occasion as they are crime novels, after all. Here are a few that arrived in the mail for review, thanks to Penguin and Berkley Prime Crime.

A Fatal Slip: A Sweet Nothings Lingerie Mystery by Meg London will be released February 4.

  "For Valentine’s Day, Emma Taylor and her aunt Arabella have organized a special evening for men only to shop for their sweethearts in the Sweet Nothings lingerie shop. But when art dealer Hugh Granger is pushed from the balcony, Aunt Arabella is framed… for her old flame’s murder." (goodreads)

Pecan Pies and Homicides: A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery by Ellery Adams, published January 7, 2014. 



" Owning the Charmed Pie Shoppe and serving enchanted treats in Havenwood, Georgia, seemed like a little slice of heaven for Ella Mae LeFaye. When an enchanted grove is set ablaze, Ella realizes  she’s going to have to sleuth from scratch to stop an arsonist who has no respect for sacred ground—or human life…." (goodreads)

A Chorus Lineup: A Glee Club Mystery #3 by Joelle Charbonneau, published January 7, 2014.

"Paige Marshall, the high school show choir coach, is fighting to keep her singers in a national competition despite charges of sabotage…. So-called accidents keep befalling the other choirs. Yet Prospect Glen remains untouched. Paige needs to discover who’s behind the sabotage, or end up singing her own swan song…." (goodreads)

For my final book tour for January, I'm now reading and enjoying Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim, an historical fiction set in Paris in the mid-1930s.

What are you reading this winter? Any cozies planned? 

Book Beginnings: Playing With Fire by J.J. Cook

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.

page 56:

"What's up?" Stella asked. "You're one of my best people. What happened today?"

Book beginning:

Sweet Pepper Fire Chief Stella Griffin stood in the middle of a field of red, yellow, and green hot pepper plants that looked as if it went on forever. The August sun beat down on her head and made her question why she's worn long jeans, instead of shorts, on this outing.

Book description:

"Welcome to Sweet Pepper, Tennessee. Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, it’s home to the hottest and sweetest peppers in the world—as well as at least one ghost and a hotbed of secrets….
GETTING WARMER.  Fire Chief Stella Griffin is working to solve the mysterious death of her predecessor, Eric Gamlyn—who also haunts her cabin. Just as Stella thinks she has a lead from Deputy Chum, someone snuffs her hopes—and the lawman. Stella’s parents soon arrive—with her ex-boyfriend—hoping to persuade her to return to Chicago. Now Stella is torn between the life she left behind and uncovering what happened to her ghostly friend. "

Title: Playing With Fire by J.J. Cobb
Published January 7, 2014; Berkley
Source: publisher

What do you think of the teaser and the beginning paragraph? Do they make you want to read the book? 

The Storycatcher by Ann Hite

First Chapter, First Paragraph is a weekly meme hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

Title: The Storycatcher by Ann Hite
Published September 10, 2013; Gallery Books
Genre: Southern fiction, historical novel

Opening paragraph, first chapter:

September 1935 

The salt from the ocean hung thick and heavy in the air. The only breeze came from the boat moving. Roger and me stood together side by side at the boat's wheel, him driving, me watching.
Ebb tide gave me the creepy crawlers. Ebb tide was unnatural, bad, nothing but bad.
"That sorry fool Mr. Benton is bringing his colored mistress to stay for two weeks. Mr. Tyson be letting them sleep in his house. He never struck me as one to put up with that mess, but by gosh he is...." 

Publisher description:
"Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around. But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore.

Award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt."

Based on the opening paragraph and book description, would you keep reading? 

Book Review: Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking by Janice Gary

Title: Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance by Janice Gary
Published August 1, 2013; Michigan State University Press
Genre: memoir

About the book: Janice Gary slowly finds healing through her dog Barney, through her frequent walks in the park with the dog, and in her writing. She details in her memoir her progress in overcoming her fear of strangers and deserted places such as the park, while her dog Barney learns to accept other dogs and curb his aggression towards other dogs.

My comments: This is a very personal account of an individual's attempts to recover from mental injuries and be the confident, outgoing person she was before. To overcome traumatic events, namely the memories of a brutal attack by a stranger and the traumatic suicide of her father, the author walks and writes her way to recovery with the help of her second dog, Barney, and her new interest in writing. Her books takes you along on her walks in the park and tracks her thought processes along the way. This also very much a "dog book," as it deals with the happy times, the responsibilities, and the heartbreak that can come with owning a dog.

Excellent writing, but expect a book that is often very reflective and slow paced. The book reads as a personal journal that takes you season by season through the author's observations of nature and her thought processes as she walks to recovery with her dog Barney.

Short Leash: A Memoir of Dog Walking and Deliverance, was chosen as a “Groundbreaking memoir” by Independent Publisher and a New Pages “Editor’s Pick”. Janice Gary is the recipient of the Christine White Award for Memoir and the Ames Award for Personal Essay. As a writing coach, she helps others writers find their unique voice and stories. She blogs at janicegary.com

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book.
Click on the link for more reviews by the tour participants.