Sunday Salon: Guidebook for Couples; Historical Fiction; Reviews

Trouble the Water, a novel by Rebecca Dwight Bruff, July 4, 2019, Koehler Books

Trouble the Water

Inspired by a true story, Trouble the Water is about risking everything for freedom. Born a slave, Robert Smalls commandeered a Confederate arms ship from the Charleston harbor, and with the woman he loved and a small crew of other slaves, delivered it to the Union Navy. After the war ended Smalls was able to purchase the house in which he and his mother had been enslaved, and he became one of America’s first black legislators. (publisher)

Let's Do Us by Charly Ligety and Les Starck, June 11, 2019, Harper Design

Let's Do Us
A pair of playful and romantic twin guidebooks created specially for couples to help them talk about the difficult yet important issues that will affect their relationship and their future. (publisher)

Finished reading:

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, August 14, 2018, G.P. Putnam's Sons. Source: personal copy

This coming-of-age novel had me in tears. Wonderfully developed characters and an unusual, to me, setting in the North Carolina swamps. A book for lovers of nature and stories of adolescents enduring extremely trying circumstances. Some parts of the plot are hard to see as completely realistic, but it makes for an excellent story of strife, survival, and accomplishment. Five stars.  

I've recommended this novel to our library book club which meets the first Thursday each month. 

 The Last Time I Saw You by Liv Constantine, May 7, 2019, Harper

The Last Time I Saw You (review ARC from the publisher) is a thriller set around the unexplained murder of a wealthy woman, Lily, the mother of Kate, a heart surgeon. Kate is reunited at Lily's funeral with a childhood playmate, Blaire, who also knew and loved the charming and generous Lily.
   

There are many suspects for the crime, and Blaire, a successful detective author, sticks around, supposedly to help her friend Kate solve Lily's murder. There are unexpected twists to the story that I found improbable and unbelievable, though it did help to prolong the suspense in the plot. I gave the book three stars.  

Currently reading:

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames,  May 7, 2019,  Ecco Press

In this stunning debut novel, a young woman tells the story behind two elderly sisters’ estrangement, unraveling family secrets stretching back a century and across the Atlantic to early 20th century Italy (publisher)

What books have you been reading lately?
Memes: The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Stacking the Shelves. 

Short Book Reviews: Thrillers and a Romance

Goodbye Paris by Mike Bond

Goodbye Paris

Goodbye Paris by Mike Bond, June 11, 2019, Big City Press
Genre: thriller, political suspense
The author has written thrillers set in political hotspots around the world. This one is set in Paris.
I was captured by all the what-ifs taken to be true facts in this fictional novel. Five stars. I hope to read his other thrillers set in other parts of the world. 

The Family Upstairs

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, October 29, 2019, Atria BooksGenre: suspense, family drama

I enjoyed this thriller, suspense novel, with its unusual setting, plot, and characers. The story is primarily told from the point of view of young people and teens living in an old mansion but manipulated and at the mercy of deluded parents being controlled by their new adult friends. How the different characters manage to weather the storms that ensue when  the intruding strangers take over their lives is quite intriguing and hair-raising. I gave this five stars.

If She Wakes

If She Wakes by Michael Koryta, May 14, 2019, Little, Brown and Company

Genre: suspense
I've always enjoyed suspense novels involving patients who wake up from a coma, but this one takes place while one of the main characters, Tara, is still semi-comatose, unable to speak or move her extremities, but able to hear and understand everyone and everything around her.  

Tara understands what is going on with the investigation into the car accident when her passenger was killed and she was injured. She, however, can only move her eyes up and down in response to yes and no questions. Abby, an insurance investigator, tries to help find the truth about whether the fatal crash was truly an accident or if the death of Tara's car passenger was murder. 

Another five star suspenseful read.

Ellie and the Harpmaker

Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior, May 2, 2019, Transworld Digital

Genre: romance, contemporary drama
I found this a good change from the thrillers I've been reading. It involves the gradual flowering of a timid unhappily married woman when she begins to take harp lessons from an equally timid but eccentric harpmaker, Dan. 

Ellie is surprised when Dan offers her one of his handmade harps free, and she reciprocates by helping Dan in his private life, apart from falling in love with him. 

Unusual characters and a romantic plot with a few twists and turns makes this very enjoyable reading. 

What have you been reading lately?
Memes: The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Stacking the Shelves. 

Sunday Salon: Domestic Drama, Suspense

Domestic drama and books of suspense

The First Mistake by Sandie Jones, June 11, 2019, Minotaur Books

Genre: domestic suspense

(A) wife, her husband, and the woman who is supposedly her best friend.

Murder She Wrote: Murder in Red by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land

Publication: May 28, 2019, Berkley Books

In what appears to be medical malpractice, Jessica learns her friend was actually a victim of something far more sinister.

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok, June 4, 2019, William Morrow
Genre: suspense, family drama
In one Chinese immigrant family, the book explores what happens when the eldest daughter disappears, and a series of family secrets emerge.

The Last Train to London

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton, September 10, 2019, Harper
This historical novel centers on the Kindertransports that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe in WWII—and one brave woman who helped them escape to safety.

The Chestnut Man

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup, Sepember 3, 2019, Harper
Genre: police procedural, thriller
A madman is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a matchstick doll and two chestnuts. 

Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel

Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel by Jaclyn Moriarty, July 23, 2019, Harper
Genre: contemporary fiction
A single mother's search for happiness. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  Stacking the Shelves. Also visit The Sunday Salon hosted by ReaderBuzz, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading by Book Date. and Mailbox Monday 

Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann: Shinobi Mystery #1

Claws of the Cat (Shinobi Mystery #1) by author  Susan Spann is being re-released by Seventh Street Books; Reprint edition (April 23, 2019)

Claws of the Cat

My review:

An unlikely pair of collaborators in 16th century Kyoto risk their lives to solve the murder of a samurai who died from claw and stab wounds in a local tea house. The fatal wounds were made by neko-te or "cat's claws," a type of weapon used mostly be female fighters. But did a female murder the samurai?

Father Mateo, a Portuguese Jesuit priest who is protected and sponsored by the shogun, and his official protector, the ninja Hiro, must prove that Mateo's convert to Christianity, the tea house entertainer Sayuri, is innocent of the crime. The son of the dead samurai threatens to kill both Mateo and Sayuri unless another person is found responsible for the murder.

An engrossing mystery in an intriguing historical setting, with likable and well developed main characters, Claws of the Cat is also an entertaining and well researched novel about the samurai, their code of conduct, and their manner of fighting. I recommend the book for those who enjoy a good mystery and are curious about the old samurai culture of Japan.

Blade of the Samurai

The next in the series, Blade of the Samurai,  originally published July 15, 2014, is also in reprint with a new cover by Seventh Street Books.  Here is my review of the first edition.

See my reviews of the other books in the series:
The Ninja's Daughter
Flask of the Drunken Master
Trial on Mount Koya
Betrayal at Iga

There are six novels in the mystery series so far, all being reprinted in paperback by Seventh Street Books, with a seventh book, Ghost of the Bamboo Road to be released November 2019. I have enjoyed all the books, and am looking forward to the seventh book!

Susan Spann is the award-winning author of the Hiro Hattori mystery novels, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo. She has a degree in Asian Studies, as well as a lifelong love of Japanese history, food and culture. She currently lives in Tokyo, where she is working on an upcoming nonfiction book about mountain climbing in Japan as well as the next installment in the Hiro Hattori mystery series.Visit her 

website

Book Tour and Review: EXPOSED by Jean-Philippe Blondel

France Book Tours

France Book Tours presents Exposed by Jean-Philippe Blondel, June 4, 2019, New Vessel Press
Genre: literary fiction

My comments:

Alexandre Laudin, an internationally known artist, tries to attract the attention of his former teacher. Monsieur Claret, now a 58-year-old divorced man with two grown daughters. Laudin tells Claret that he played an important role in his life in his student years, and that to him, Claret had become an obsession. He eventually persuades Claret to be a subject of his art, eventually getting his former teacher to pose for his canvas, almost in the nude.

Claret is eventually pulled in by Alexandre's persistence and artistic exuberance, and at the end of the book, the two seem to make a last-minute pact that is as surprising as it is unconsidered by Claret. In other words, Claret seems to be neither unwilling or dismayed by events.  

A book about artists, obsession, and a willingness to go to extreme lengths for the sake of art. The novel, nevertheless, is written with restraint and leaves a lot for the reader to intuit. An intriguing book that I enjoyed for its unusual style, writing, and personalities. 

Book excerpt: (page 26)

"I don't know how to explain it. I think a teacher signs a tacit contract with his students from the moment they walk into the classroom. It goes beyond a pact of non aggression. It is an agreement that stipulates that even over the years, there will be respect between us, and ...how should I put it...mutual protection. I'm not sure this makes an sense." 

"And I doubt whether your feelings would be shared by your colleagues. Or by some of the kids you have there in front of you."

Book excerpt: (page 34)

"All I can say is that when I saw you the other day, I understood that you had played an important role in my life. I thought about you all evening;, part of the night, and all of the following week. You became an obsession."

"Now you're scaring me."

"This happens a lot. But there's nothing to be afraid of." 

The author:

Jean-Philippe Blondel
was born in 1964 in Troyes, France
where he lives as an author and English teacher.
His novel The 6:41 to Paris has been acclaimed
in both the United States and Europe.

Enter here for a giveaway of this novel. 

Thanks to Emma for a review copy for the blog tour. 

@wordsandpeace

#franceBT

http://francebooktours.com/
http://wordsandpeace.com

Book Review and Tour: Phoenix: Transformation Poems by Jessica Goody

Phoenix

Phoenix: Transformation Poems by Jessica Goody
Published March 1, 2019, CW Books
Genre: poetry

Review:

What appealed to me most about these transformation poems was the rich and imaginative language of the poet - the sensory words, metaphors, similes, and other devices used to describe her observations and convey her feelings and her ideas.

In "Bitter Tea," an illicit flirtation between two people reveals their true relationship at the tea table. "The tea was bitter with betrayal" because of their secret. "The spoons rang," "the ice clatters," "Her summer dress like stained glass," "She tickles his ankles with her painted toes." All the senses are at play here, as the reader is caught up in images of taste, sound, sight, and touch that convey the feelings of the two lovers.

In "Blue Rhapsody," a description of a group of musicians at play, "Chords twinkle in the air like stardust." We have a mixture of sensory images that Goody uses in almost all of the poems in her book, to a very effective degree.

The poet is very conscious of each and every word she uses and her images are new, impressive, and extremely effective. In "Along the Amazon," she describes the jungle:  "Dense trees draped with rope-thick vines /winding among green boughs, concealing/the snakes that lie within,...  I was pulled into that jungle, seeing and hearing it vividly.

Jessica Goody excels in description, pulling in readers with her use of words to capture the senses. Her poem "Jazz" is inspired by the works of Henri Matisse, one of my favorite artists because of his use of color, shape and form to pull the viewers in. Goody manages to do the same with her use of language to transform words into feelings and images.

I enjoyed reading her poems very much. This is a collection that I will keep close by on my reading shelf.

About the collection:

The sideways glance, the quick turn of the head, the sudden look up: these provide Jessica Goody's angle of vision into the fleeting experience of the world that is captured and rendered in her lines.Phoenix: Transformation Poems consists of 70 poems, a mixture of free verse, sonnets, and haiku. They cover a wide variety of subject matter, but the main theme is transformation--the triumph over pain and trauma and the resilience of the human spirit.

SAMPLE POEMS HERE.

Early Praise:

“Through language and emotion, Phoenix: Transformation Poems  connects the soul of the poet to the soul of the reader and takes it on a wondrous journey through the rich intricacies of the mind and heart. Jessica Goody paints with a brilliant palette of words that fills the senses and emotions with vibrant images of her special universe of joy, pain, love, mystery, and fulfillment. Phoenix is a rich triumph and marks its author, once again, as an artist whose work should be followed closely by those interested in the forces shaping the future of American poetry.”

-Harvey Trabb, co-author of September 19

About the Poet:

 Jessica Goody is the award-winning author of Defense Mechanisms: Poems on Life, Love, and Loss (Phosphene Publishing, 2016) andPhoenix: Transformation Poems (CW Books, 2019). Goody’s writing has appeared in over three dozen publications, including The Wallace Stevens Journal, Reader’s Digest, Event Horizon, The Seventh Wave,Third Wednesday, The MacGuffin, Harbinger Asylum and The Maine Review. Jessica is a columnist for SunSations Magazine and the winner of the 2016 Magnets and Ladders Poetry Prize.

Thanks to Serena M. Agusto-Cox for a copy of the book for this tour/review

Poetic Book Tours -- Where Readers Come to Poetry

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Sunday Salon: Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to one and all! Unfortunately, we are housebound for the most part because of flu in the household and rain on the way! But we are enjoying chicken soup and hot cider nevertheless. Hope all the other moms are having a good day.

Some new books:

Death in Kew Gardens

Death in Kew Gardens by Jennifer Ashley caught my eye because of my interest in plants, gardens, and gardening! This is the third in the Kate Holloway Mysteries set in Victorian London. Published June 4, 2018 by Berkley.

Invitation to Die

Invitation to Die by Barbara Cleverly is the second in the Inspector Redfyre Mystery series, This one is set in Cambridge in the 1920s. Its publication date is August, 2019 by Soho Press. 

The Book Supremacy

The Book Supremacy is the 13th in the Bibliophile Mystery series. This one is set in Paris and San Francisco, with book restorer Brooklyn  and her new husband Derek, solving a crime. Thank heavens that the books in the series can be read on their own and not sequentially. 

After the End

After the End by Clare Mackintosh is a novel of contemporary fiction about family dynamics, to be published June 25, 2019 by G.P. Putnam Sons. 

Finishing up a mystery series

The Stone Circle

The Stone Circle is the 11th in the Ruth Galloway mystery series set in the swamplands and saltflats of Norfolk, England. I recommend that readers read the books in sequence because of Ruth's intriguing personal life that changes with each novel. I hope there will be a 12th in the series! This one was just printed May 7 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

Memes:

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  Stacking the Shelves, and  It's Monday, What Are You Reading by Book Date. and Mailbox Monday