Sunday Salon: Books I'll Read and Books I Won't

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey, and Mailbox Monday.


I won this book and was hoping to start reading it soon, but.....

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, paperback published January 6, 2015 by Anchor.

I happened to glance at a reader's rating and comments on Goodreads, and I didn't like what I saw. Strange supernatural elements! I don't read Stephen King. So what should I do re this book? Read it and shudder, have nightmares, or pass it on? 

I did get some lovely cozies too, much easier for me to read...

Assault and Pepper: A Spice Shop Mystery by Leslie Budewitz, first in a new mystery by Agatha Award-winning author of Death al Dente. To be published March 3, 2015 by Berkley. Set in Seattle's Pike Place Market. 

How to Catch a Cat: A Cats and Curios Mystery by Rebecca M. Hale, st in San Francisco. To be published March 3, 2015 by Berkley.

Horse of a Different Killer: A Call of the Wilde Mystery by Laura Morrigan, A psychic animal behaviorist who can communicate with animals. I read and reviewed A Tiger's Tale, the previous book in the series, and really liked it. I expect this one will be good too.

What's new on your reading shelf?

Book Review: THE LAST GOOD PARADISE by Tatjana Soli

The Friday 56: *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 visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli, published February 10, 2015; St. Martin's Press.

Book beginning: 

A 7.1 tremor had been felt throughout the Southland that morning, the epicenter somewhere out in the hinterlands of Lancaster, unnerving residents, but the offices of Flask, Flask, Gardiner, Bulkington, Bartleby, and Peleg were seemingly immune. Ten floors up in the sybaritic conference room,the air conditioner purred; the air was filtered, ionized, and subtly scented of cedar. Ann looked out the plate glass windows at the expansive, gaseous hills of West Los Angeles as a contemplative might look out of her meditation temple. Smoke was opouring from a Spanish Colonial Revival house halfway up a nearby manicured hill, and as she watched, toylike, candy-colored fire engines curled up the narrow canyon roads to put it out. The glass was proofed; no siren sound reached them.

Page 56: 

There was always the unforeseen lurking. What if she and Richard drowned or got eaten by sharks? What if they were killed for the money? 

My comments: The above scenario in Los Angeles is what Ann, junior partner in a law firm, wants so desperately to escape. When her husband Richard and his business partner, Javi, must use all of their and her hard-won savings/earnings to pay Javi's exwife in her bid for extra alimony, Ann and Richard decide at the last minute to literally take their money and run, before creditors can withdraw the funds from their bank account. The couple flee the country with their money, leaving Javi to face his own music, and the two end up in a resort on a remote island in the South Pacific, where they however face new and challenging situations.

Interesting premise - a new life in paradise, remote and private. Complications ensue with the manager of the resort and with the other tourists, however, and the plot becomes complex and a bit complicated. I personallyl prefer more streamlined storytelling, but this is an entertaining escape into a Gaugin like environment, but one with problems nevertheless.

Richly atmospheric, the novel will be enjoyed by armchair travelers and those who love stories that show how complicated personal problems can unfold and yet be satisfactorily resolved.

Objective rating: 3.75/5


TATJANA SOLI is a novelist and short story writer. Her New York Times bestselling debut novel, The Lotus Eaters, was the winner of the James Tait Black Prize, a New York Times Notable Book, and a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. Her second novel The Forgetting Tree was also a New York Times Notable book . Her stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, Boulevard, and The Sun, and have been listed in Best American Short Stories. She lives with her husband in Southern California.

Visit TLC Book Tours for other reviews of the book and a list of tour stops. 
Thanks to TLC and the author for an ARE of this book for review.

Sunday Salon: Some New Cozies!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey, and Mailbox Monday.

I have a pile of new 2015 cozies for review/feature that are dying to be revealed on this blog, and here they are. Thanks to Penguin.

As Gouda as Dead (A Cheeseshop Mystery #6) by Avery Aames, published February 3, 2015 by Berkley. Providence, Ohio, is celebrating Valentine’s Day with weeklong events, including lovers’ baskets with heart-shaped cheeses at Fromagerie Bessette. Charlotte Bessette is finally about to marry handsome artisanal cheese farmer, Jordan Pace. But when a beloved bar owner is discovered murdered on Jordan’s farm, he wants to reschedule their wedding.
Charlotte is heartsick and decides no one is ruining her wedding plans!

 This Old Homicide (A Fixer-Upper Mystery #2) by Kate Carlisle, published January 27, 2015 by Signet. Contractor Shannon Hammer specializes in improving Victorian homes in Lighthouse Cove, California. 
Valentine’s Day is approaching, and Shannon is delighted to be friends with  two handsome men. But after her elderly neighbor Jesse Hennessey fails to make his daily appearance at the local diner, Shannon finds Jesse dead—of an apparent heart attack—but she also realizes that his home has been ransacked. When another victim turns up dead, Shannon must find the killer before someone else gets nailed.

Murder in the Queen's Garden (An Elizabethan Mystery #3) by Amanda Carmack, published Februry 3, 2015 by Signet. 1559. Elizabeth has been on the throne for six months, and life in England seems newly golden. But for the Royal Court, murder and betrayal are foretold in the stars.... 
Kate Haywood, the young queen’s personal musician, has been playing for summer parties where famed astrologer Dr. John Dee and his fantastic horoscopes are all the rage. However, Dr. Dee fails to predict the discovery of a skeleton in the queen’s garden—and the victim’s identity will call his innocence into question. When the doctor’s pupil is the victim of a second murder, the queen enlists her trusted Kate to clear the doctor. 

 Fry Another Day (A Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery #2) by J.J. Cook, published February 3, 2015 by Berkley. Zoe Chase, a Southern food truck chef who serves justice on the side. 

Zoe drives the Biscuit Bowl to Charlotte, North Carolina, to enter a nationally televised food truck race. Competition isn’t just fierce—it’s killer. As everyone gears up for the first challenge, another food trucker from Zoe’s hometown is found dead. When the body count rises, police begin to suspect her handsome attorney Miguel. Now Zoe must race to catch the killer before her attorney needs an attorney.

I love the attractive covers and the clever titles of these cozies. Which one would you pick to read first?

Two books I finished last week and rated 5 stars. My comments below:

A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers by Hazel Gaynor, historical novel. Two sets of sisters' stories intertwine in this story. A blind young sister is lost on the streets of London, and another, who is crippled, is left behind in the village. The older sister tries in vain to find her lost sister and the other older sister has to deal with the past and the sister she was responsible for accidentally injuring. A moving, historical look at life for flower sellers in Victorian London.  .

My Father's Wives by Mike Greenberg, contemporary fiction. A man questions his marriage as he tries to find answers by seeking out and visiting all six of his father's former wives. A unique look at love and relationships from a male point of view this time.

Book tours posted last week:
Doll God by Luanne Castle, a collection of poetry
The Monster That Ate My Socks by A.J. Cosmo, children's book.

How was your week?

Book Beginnings: ONE OF US by Tawni O'Dell

The Friday 56: *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 visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

One of Us by Tawni O'Dell, published August 14, 2014; Gallery Books. Genre: psychological mystery

Book beginning:

A Memory - Danny

"Come quick before he starts looking for you," my grandpa hissed.in a frantic whisper below my bedroom window, where he stood on an overturned wheelbarrow with outstretched arms while my father roared drunkenly downstairs.

Page 56:

Since her release from prison almost twenty years ago, my mom has lived off and on with Tommy, but he can't make her stay wit him and I can't make her stay with me either and I wouldn't want to attempt it.

Book description:
Dr. Sheridan Doyle, a  forensic psychologist, is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney's office but beneath his Armani pinstripes, he's still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago.

Returning to his hometown in Pennsylvania coal mining country, Danny finds a dead body at the infamous Lost Creek gallows where a band of rebellious Irish miners was once executed. Strangely, the body is connected to the wealthy family responsible for the miners' deaths. Teaming up with veteran detective Rafe, Danny, in pursuit of a killer, comes dangerously close to startling truths about his family, his past, and himself. 

Would you read on, based on the excerpts? 

Poetic Book Tour of DOLL GOD by Luanne Castle

Blog tour of Doll God by Luanne Castle, poetry published January 10, 2015 by Aldrich Press. Tour by Poetic Book Tours hosted by Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit.

The poems show the artist's feelings and observations. Many themes are related to sewing, seamstresses, dolls loved and played with, then disparate, ruined, desecrated. Beauty torn apart.

Like me this doll is studious
with thick legs,
has been a victim of potients
and infatuated with love,
though tenderness has nestled close to danger.
I look closely to confirm she's been martyred. (p. 20)

In another poem, an artist pauses in his work, faced with the real thing of beauty - in "Caught," page 15. The first few verses of the poem below:

Perched on the rail 

of the garage door 

the hummingbird stares 

at the ceiling, 

waits for it to part.

          The painter wants to catch her.  

He lays down his brush.

          Neither does their work 

and the sounds 

of the schoolchildren

and the traffic 

grind down 

to nothing. 

I loved the artist confronted with nature that she enjoys more than her own work.

Do read this small book of poetry and see how you may be moved by both similar and different images in the variety of poems.

Tour Stops:
Feb. 9: Patricia’s Wisdom (review)
Feb. 10: Everything Distils Into Reading (review)
Feb. 13: Bell, Book & Candle (review)
Feb. 14: Book Dilettante (review)
Feb. 19: Peeking Between the Pages (Author Guest Post)
Feb. 20: Peeking Between the Pages (review)
Feb. 22: Regular Rumination (review)
Feb. 23:  A Garden Carried in the Pocket (review)
Feb. 24: Bookgirl’s Nightstand (review)
March 1: Tea Leaves (review)
March 4: Diary of an Eccentric (review)
March 6: Savvy Verse & Wit (review)

About the Poet:

Luanne Castle has been a Fellow at the Center for Ideas and Society at the University of California, Riverside. She studied English and Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside; Western Michigan University; and Stanford University. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in Barnstorm Journal, Grist, The Antigonish Review, Ducts, TAB, River Teeth, Lunch Ticket, Wisconsin Review, The MacGuffin, and other journals. She contributed to Twice-Told Children’s Tales: The Influence of Childhood Reading on Writers for Adults, edited by Betty Greenway. Luanne divides her time between California and Arizona, where she shares land with a herd of javelina.

Thanks to Poetic Book Tours and the author for a review copy of the book.

Book Tour: The Monster That Ate My Socks by A.J. Cosmo

The Monster That Ate My Socks by A.J. Cosmo, Thought Bubble Publishing, third edition.

Young kids with big imaginations will love this story of the socks eating monster who gobbled those missing socks. And the solution to having the sock monsters not starve while leaving the socks alone? Brilliant.

Kids will love this book and the entire monster series.

Book Synopsis:

A young boy, who is about to be grounded for going through so many socks, discovers that a monster has been eating them.

Max is a young boy who is constantly getting in trouble for his socks disappearing. He doesn’t know where they go, but he does know that if he doesn’t do something quickly his mom will ground him for summer. Max soon discovers that a little green monster is sneaking into his room at night and eating his sweaty socks. His mother, of course, doesn't believe him, so Max calls on his best friend to come for a sleepover to catch the monster.

They devise a trap and capture the monster only to learn that the creature can speak. It hasn’t meant to cause any harm, it's just trying to feed its family. The monster shows them his home and his three little children and begs the boys not to turn them over to the adults. Adults, he says, want to destroy monsters.

The boys are left in a pickle. Allow the monsters to be and get grounded, or turn the monsters in knowing what will happen to them? Neither idea seems good, so they come up with a new plan!

Author's Bio:

A.J. Cosmo's stories are crafted to help parents teach their children simple everyday lessons in an easy to understand manner. By artfully marrying beautiful illustrations and language, children are challenged to explore his magical worlds. Written for the transitional reader, A.J.'s stories allow your child to develop and master a new level of reading.

Connect with A.J.:  Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

Visit the iRead Book Tour schedule with reviews and giveaways:

Feb 9 -  One Frugal Girl - review / giveaway
Feb 9 -  Rockin' Book Reviews - review / author interview / giveaway
Feb 10 - Library of Clean Reads - review / giveaway
Feb 10 - Bookroom Reviews - review / author interview / giveaway
Feb 10 - Hello, my name is Alice - review / author interview
Feb 11 - Book Dilettante - review 
Feb 11 - Back Porchervations - review
Feb 12 - Nighttime Reading Center - review / author interview / giveaway
Feb 12 - Book Loving Hippo - review / guest post / giveaway
Feb 13 - Working Mommy Journal - review / giveaway
Feb 16 - Life as Leels - review / author interview / giveaway
Feb 16 - Genuine Jenn - review / giveaway
Feb 17 - Reading Authors - review / giveaway
Feb 17 - Bound 4 Escape - review
Feb 18 - Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks - review
Feb 18 - Deal Sharing Aunt - review
Feb 19 - Walking with Nora - review / giveaway
Feb 19 - Girl With Camera - review / giveaway
Feb 20 - View From the Birdhouse - review / giveaway
Feb 20 - Being Tilly's Mummy - review / giveaway
Feb 23 - Just One More Chapter - review
Feb 23 - Kincavel Korner - review
Feb 24 - Pinky's Favorite Reads - book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 25 - fuonlyknew - review / giveaway
Feb 26 - Did YOU Hear About the Morgans? - review 
Feb 27 - DeDa Studios - review / author interview / giveaway
March 2 - Christy's Cozy Corners - review / giveaway
March 3 - Life with Katie - review / giveaway
March 4 - 3 Partners in Shopping - review / giveaway
March 6 - I'd Rather Be At the Beach - review / giveaway

Thanks to iRead Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book.

First Chapter: JOHN THE PUPIL by David Flusfeder

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme.

John the Pupil by David Flusfeder, to be released March 3, 2015; Harper. 
Genre: historical novel

First chapter, first paragraph:

...and see your face on the roof of the friary. Sometimes you would cast your eye down at us and we would scatter. More often, the face would disappear as if it had never been there at all, as if you were something we had conjured to frighten ourselves with. He was a prisoner, it was said, convicted of monstrous crimes. He was mad, he fed on the flesh of children, he wiped his mouth with his beard after he had done feasting. He was in league with the Devil, he was the Devil, performing unnatural investigations. Sometimes we would hear inexplicable thunder from the tower, a few claimed to have seen lightning on clear sunny days. Once, I myself,grazing my father's goats, I was touched by a rainbow, slowly turning, painting the field with brief marvellous colour.

As I got older, I would go there less often. The grass grew higher by that part of the Franciscans' wall. Strange flowers bloomed. Animals refused to graze there.

This novel is described as "...recounting the journey taken from Oxford to Viterbo in 1267 by John and his two companions, at the behest of the friar and magus Roger Bacon, carrying a secret burden to His Holiness Clement IV."

What do you think: Would you read on?