THE TIDE WATCHERS by Lisa Chaplin

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Tide Watchers by Lisa Chaplin, to be released June 30, 2015; William Morrow.

"... the story of a young woman who must risk her life as a spy to help stop Napoleon's invasion of Great Britain in the winter of 1803. The daughter of an English baronet, Lisbeth has eloped to France with her new husband. But when he abandons her, her only hope is to be reunited with her young son who is being raised by her mother-in law.

A seasoned spy known as Tidewatcher, Duncan apprenticed under Lisbeth's father and pledged to watch over his mentor's only daughter while he searches the Channel region for evidence that Bonaparte has built a fleet to invade Britain. 

American inventor Robert Fulton is working on David Bushnell's "turtle"--the first fully submersible ship--when he creates brand-new torpedo technology, which he plans to sell to the French Navy. But when his relationship with Bonaparte sours, he accepts Tidewatcher's help to relocate to the French side of the Channel, but he refuses to share his invention. Tidewatcher must get that submersible, along with someone who knows how to use it, to uncover Bonaparte's great secret.

Lisbeth is asked to pose as a housekeeper and charm Fulton so she can learn to use the submersible before the invasion fleet sails--but is she willing to sacrifice her heart when she's already lost it to another...?

A fast-paced, deeply-researched, and richly imagined novel, The Tide Watchers explores a long-hidden, chapter of Bonaparte's history "(publisher)

Sunday Salon: Still Reading, Still Raining

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Mailbox Monday.
Rain has spoiled some planned events this weekend. 
The hydrangeas we planted last year are beginning to bloom.
The McKinley sour cherry tree has lots of ripe fruit, being shared with the squirrels and robins. I picked some to stew with sugar for tarts or cherry juice!
Of course, the grass needs mowing....again.

I've finished reading

Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman, a mystery - four stars
Crazy Mountain Kiss by Keith McCafferty, a mystery set in Montana - five stars
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, fiction - four stars

and I'm currently reading

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango, to be released June 23, 2015; Viking.
I am on chapter 5 and finding the plot intriguing so far. A famous and wealthy author hides the fact that his reclusive wife, a prolific writer, is the true author of all his books. 

Other review books that are on my desk:

The Drowning, to be released September 16, 2015; Pegasus Books

The Someday Jar

A Lady of Good Family

Pretty Much Screwed

Next on my list to read:
Hotel Moscow by Talia Carner, for a book tour on June 29. 

Has the weather been good to you this summer? How about your reading?

First Chapter: Watch the Lady by Elizabeth Fremantle

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 hosted by Jenn.

Watch the Lady (The Tudor Trilogy #3) by Elizabeth Fremantle, published June 9, 2015; Simon and Schuster
Genre: historical fiction

First chapter, first paragraph

October 1589: Leicester House, the Strand 

The wax sizzles as it drips, releasing an acrid whiff. Penelope presses in her seal, twisting it slightly to make it unreadable, wondering if it - this letter- is folly, if it could be construed s treason were it to fall into the wrong hands.
"Do you think..." she begins to say to Constable, who is standing at her shoulder.
"I think you risk too much."

Book description: The daughter of the Queen’s nemesis, Penelope Devereux, arrives at court and finds herself in love with one man, yet married off to another...She and her brother, The Earl of Essex, are drawn into the aging Queen’s favour but his enemies gather and Penelope must use her political savvy to prevent the unthinkable from happening. Told from the perspective of Penelope and her brother’s enemy the politician Cecil, this story, wrought with love, hatred and envy, unfolds over two decades in which we see the last gasps of Elizabeth’s reign, and the scramble for power in a dying dynasty.

Based on the opening paragraphs and the book description, would you read on?

Sunday Salon: June Reading

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Mailbox Monday 

These review books and galleys/proofs came in recently:

The Royal Assassin: Victorian Bookshop Mystery #3 by Kate Parker, from Berkley
Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle (Chef Maurice Culinary Mysteries #1) by J.A. Lang, a gift from the author
Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman, from William Morrow
Crooked Heart by LIssa Evans, from Harper
The Small Backs of Children by Lidia Yuknavitch, from Harper
French Concession by Xiao Bai, from Harper
The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall, from Gallery Books

I have read two of them, thoroughly enjoyed them, and will post reviews later:
Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle (Chef Maurice Culinary Mysteries #1)
Crooked Heart

It has been raining almost daily, so it's been easy to sit and read. What an unusual summer! I think my garden may have enough rain now, thank you. I wish I could send our rain clouds to California!

What are you reading this week?

Book Feature: Truffled to Death by Kathy Aarons

Truffled to Death: A Chocolate Covered Mystery #2 by Kathy Aarons, published June 2, 2015; Berkley

I love food-based books, especially ones with recipes included! Just reading about candies, pastries, and tasty dishes makes me feel as if I had tasted and sampled them all. And that's better for my waistline than actually indulging in all the goodies!

Opening sentences, Chapter 1

"It's so beautiful," I practically cooed at the plain clay bowl sitting just inches from my face behind the glass. My fingers were itching to hold it.
"My niece could do better.": My assistant manager Kona laughed at me as she scooted by with a silver, multitiered tray of appetizers to place on a small table. 

Book description (publisher):

Two best friends sell books and bonbons—and solve crimes—in this mystery from the author of Death Is Like a Box of Chocolates…
Michelle and Erica host a reception highlighting a new museum display of ancient Mayan pottery curated by Erica’s former mentor, Professor Addison Moody. The ladies offer servings of wine and chocolate.
The next day, the antiquities from the reception are discovered missing. The professor accuses Erica of having sticky fingers. And she’s only in more trouble after he’s found stabbed with one of the artifacts. Michelle must help Erica track down the real killer.

Recipes include Banana Foster and Mocha Truffles!

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

Book Review: The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall

Meme: Visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

The Wolf Border: A Novel by Sarah Hall, published June 9, 2015, Harper.

Book beginning, first paragraph:

It's not often she dreams about them. During the day they are elusive, keeping to the tall grass of the Reservation, disappearing from the den site. They are fleet or lazy, moving through their own tawny colourscape and sleeping under logs - missable either way. Their vanishing acts have been perfected. At night they come back. The cameras pick them up, red-eyed, muzzles darkened, returning from a hunt. Or she hears them howling along the buffer zone, a long harmonic. One leading, then many.At night there is no need to imagine, no need to dream. They reign outside the mind.

My comments:
Zoologist Rachel Caine leaves the wildlife park in Idaho where she has worked with and studied its sizable wolf population. She returns home to Cumbria in England where she reconnects with her mother and her younger brother, having secured a job with a wealthy Earl to reintroduce the grey wolf to the British Isles. Two wolves would be imported from Romania, a breeding pair, and confined in a large enclosed and self sustaining park in the Lake District area.

The novel makes the assumption that Scotland wins independence from Great Britain and becomes an independent nation. It also makes the assumption that a wealthy Earl has received government permission to use parts of Great Britain's nature preserves for the proposed wolf enclosure.

The story is compelling with the "What Ifs" that it proposes. Of course, not everything goes as the Earl assumes, and humans and nature have a way of interfering with best laid plans. Can there really be a border when it comes to wildlife? This leads to some suspenseful events that kept me reading.....

I also liked the character of Rachel, the reluctant zoologist, who at first had turned down the Earl's offer to work with his wolf project, but accepted it later on under duress when she has to leave Idaho for very personal reasons. How Rachel copes with her personal life, her formerly estranged family, and her love interests add a lot to the whole story of her involvement in the wolf project.

Rating: Excellent plotting, characterization, and writing made me easily give this novel five stars.

About the author:

Sarah Hall was born in 1974 in Cumbria, England. She received a master of letters in creative writing from Scotland’s St. Andrews University and has published four novels. Haweswater won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (overall winner, Best First Novel) and a Society of Authors Betty Trask Award. The Electric Michelangelo was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Eurasia Region), and the Prix Femina Étranger, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Daughters of the North won the 2006/07 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the James Tiptree Jr. Award, and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction. How to Paint a Dead Man was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Portico Prize for Fiction. In 2013 Hall was named one of Granta‘s Best Young British Novelists, a prize awarded every ten years, and she won the BBC National Short Story Award and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Purchase Links: Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Author Links: Website and Facebook

Check the TLC tour schedule for other reviews of the book.

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for a review galley of this novel.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis, to be published July 7, 2015; Simon and Schuster
Genre: contemporary women's fiction

The Herington girls - Maggie, Jess, and Virgie -  are together again, with their husbands and kids, for another summer in the family’s old Cape Cod house.

When their mother, Gloria, announces she’s coming for an unscheduled visit—with her new boyfriend—no one is more surprised than their father, Arthur, who has not quite gotten over his divorce. 

Still, everyone manages to navigate the challenges of living grown-up lives in close quarters, until an accident reveals a new secret that brings everyone together in heartbreak… and then healing. (publisher)

Is this a book you would wait for? It will be released in about a month.