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Category: Mystery & Thrillers

Review: Bulletproof Mascara by Bethany Maines

[ 4 ] September 4, 2010

Reviewed by Jennifer J.

After embarrassingly bombing an interview, down-on-her-luck Nikki Lanier spontaneously agrees to pose as a handsome stranger’s wife in her Canadian hotel’s lobby. Nikki isn’t quite ready to face her mother after her recent humiliation, so she turns what was supposed to be a short introduction into a lunch date with her pretend husband “Jim” and his prospective business partner, Jirair Sarkassian.

Selling cosmetics for the Carrie Mae Foundation isn’t exactly the brilliant career move that Nikki had in mind, but she’s desperate for some income and all too eager to please her overbearing mother. Her first attempt to sell the Carrie Mae products ends in disaster, leaving Nikki in need of a lawyer. Mrs. Merrivel, the founder of the Carrie Mae Foundation, bails Nikki out of the slammer and reveals to her that Carrie Mae is about more than just makeup: it’s really a top secret spy organization designed to fight and preserve the rights of all womankind. When a mission to find a do-gooder’s kidnapped daughter brings her to Thailand, Nikki unexpectedly runs into “Jim” (whose real name is Z’el) and Sarkassian. Thinking their presence in Thailand is more than just a coincidence, Nikki begins to suspect that Z’el is not the lawyer that he pretends to be, and that both of these men are somehow connected to the missing girl.

Bulletproof Mascara by Bethany Maines is a mix of James Bond, Charlie’s Angels, and a lot of girl power. This fluffy chick-lit spy novel is the perfect companion for the beach or on an airplane. Maines has come up with an adorable idea for a series, but I found the main character to be just a little too ditzy for my tastes. Though she is constantly mucking up her career ambitions and her romantic life, she somehow makes for a brilliant top secret agent. In future books in this series, I hope that Maines will do a little more research into spies, their technology, training, and even their income; an offer of $75,000 a year for Nikki’s position seemed to be too little compensation for the tasks her job would entail.

Though her writing style is easy to read, the chapter structure of the novel is hard to follow and a bit sloppy. The chapters are not chronological, and might cause some readers to pause and backtrack to find out where they are at in the story. Each chapter is labeled with the city or country where the action is currently taking place, but sometimes even that was unhelpful. In some chapters, flashbacks were revealed in past tense, further adding to my confusion and frustration. This wasn’t my typical preferred read, but with minor gripes aside, it’s a promising first in series.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Atria. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Swimming Pool by Holy LeCraw

[ 6 ] September 1, 2010

Reviewed by Amelie L.

If you’re in the mood for a long, deep dive into water, The Swimming Pool will take you and wrap you in its spell. An unsolved murder lurks at its heart and laps at its edges, surrounded by years and layers of secrets, love and betrayal.

The writing is gorgeous, as rich and redolent as a Cape Cod summer. Deftly, Ms. LeCraw draws complicated, tangled relationships; between siblings, parents and children, memory and longing. The story is set in motion by a bathing suit; evocative, beautiful, it stirs the waters of a young man’s recollections and draws him forward. His quest is full of nuance and elegance, pain and an intoxicating, contagious desire. Often it is as much what the writer doesn’t say as what she does that moves the story along. Brother and sister, father and son, husband and wife, all breathe and speak the pulse of real life in its most tender, untouched territory.

There is a mesmerizing sensuality to this book; I wanted the mystery solved, the prime suspect vindicated and the lovers resolved with a happy ending but I also didn’t. The mystery, as full of shadows and light as water, were part of the intoxication of reading.

Illicit love can be impossible to write without creating villains but The Swimming Pool manages to take us into the heat of forbidden desire willingly.

“It was easy, at the beginning, not to think. He swam, constantly, in desire. One weekend he left her house to go for a run, and as he ran, on the sand-edged roads near the beach, he felt he was more fully aware of his own body than he had ever been before. He could feel every strand of muscle flexing, every drop of blood rushing through his heart. This was what desire was like. He had had girlfriends before but never someone he had craved, like a drug.”

So it is for the reader, pulled into surrender into the passions of a beautiful book.

Amelie lives and works on a pond in Cape Cod. She shares her home with her husband and two sons and both reads and writes whenever possible. Her ‘day job’ is in social services.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Doubleday. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour: Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower

[ 4 ] August 19, 2010

Please join Amanda Flower as she tours the blogosphere with her new book, Maid of Murder!

To learn more about Amanda, please visit her website! And a note for all Clevelanders – Amanda will be signing books at Joseph Beth Booksellers at Legacy Village on August 25th!

Reviewed by Erin  N.

In a Northeastern Ohio town that “connected itself with civilized New England and distanced itself from its Midwestern-ness,” a wedding and murder threaten to tear a liberal activist family down to its very foundation. India Hayes’ childhood friend returns home to get married and instead meets a terrible end at Martin University’s campus. And all fingers point to India’s brother, Mark.

India is the middle child of Presbyterian Reverend Lana Hayes and the wheelchair bound Mr. Alden Hayes. Along with her older sister, Carmen, and her younger brother, Mark, she has spent her entire life in the Akron suburb of Stripling. Working as a librarian at Martin University where her brother is a member of the mathematics faculty, India spends her free time indulging in her painting and pampering her cat. That is, until Olivia Blocken, her estranged best friend (and her brother’s unrequited love), blows into town on the 4th of July with an arsenal of emotional fireworks. Suddenly, India is plunged right in the middle of a murder investigation, desperately trying to clear her brother’s name and find justice for her erstwhile friend.

Maid of Murder by Amanda Flower is a riveting tale of murder and family dynamics. Permeating throughout the story are unforgettable, eccentric characters, amusing anecdotes of Northeast Ohio life, and tongue-in-cheek humor that captivates the reader in this page-turning mystery. Amanda Flower truly captures the essence of traditional mystery writing, complete with an ending that leaves the reader saying, “Why didn’t I see that coming?”

Erin fell in love with the written word as a small child and subsequently spent most of her life happily devouring literature. She works as a freelance news, marketing, and technical writer. Erin lives just outside of Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, children, and grandchildren.

Check out other stops on the blog tour!

Melissa’s Bookshelf

Bookin’ with Bingo

Just Short of Crazy

Reading At The Beach

Books and Needlepoint

Books By Their Cover

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Amanda Flower. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Hemingway Deadlights by Michael Atkinson

[ 9 ] August 8, 2010

Reviewed by Joanne L.

I once had a Hemingway Year. I started the year in Tanzania studying field biology and reading Hemingway out of the Arusha library. A couple months later I was in Europe reading more Hemingway out of another library. My timing was good and I hitchhiked to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls (La Feria de San Fermin).

My interest in Ernest Hemingway led me to Michael Atkinson’s first novel, Hemingway Deadlights. I enjoy books where the author fictionalizes the lives of writers whose work I know.

Atkinson picks up with Hemingway in 1956, years after the wars and Hemingway’s life in Europe. The US is heavy into Cuba, Castro is an outlaw, and there are vestiges of the McCarthy-era paranoia. Hemingway is on his fourth wife, Mary, and staying at his home in Key West while Mary waits for him in Cuba. The wave he rode after winning the Noble Prize in Literature for The Old Man and the Sea is waning and Hemingway is writing sporadically, drinking heavily, and breaks his leg when he falls of the roof while shooting at a gecko.

When a casual friend of Hemingway’s is murdered, the local officials pay little attention. Hemingway, with his wariness towards authority, assumes clandestine issues are afoot. With this premise, Atkinson creates Ernest Hemingway: murder investigator.

Early in the book, I found Atkinson’s portrayal of Hemingway to be overly bumbling and absurd. For example, Atkinson wrote, “Hemingway leapt. Too far, as it happens – like a flying squirrel, the man’s khaki-dressed, potbellied frame soared narrowly over the top of the tree, immediately beyond which lay a rock garden, rose bushes, and more cement.” Hemingway is too real a person for me, the detail and ridiculousness of the tone fit more with the behavior of Janet Evanovich’s character, Stephanie Plum, than author and adventurer Ernest Hemingway.

Atkinson stopped trying to remake Hemingway as the character got into the murder investigation. There was Hemingway’s drinking and womanizing and the self-confident behavior grounded in a lifetime of machismo, adventure, and notoriety. It was enjoyable to be transported to the nascent tourist mecca of Key West where Hemingway was dining at Sloppy Joe’s and taking a ferry to Cuba. The Hemingway character finally felt like Hemingway.

With Hemingway Deadlights, Atkinson has written an entertaining novel both for Hemingway fans and for others who are not familiar with his work. The character finds himself in situations that draw upon the Hoover-era energy of distrust common at the time. Hemingway meets Castro and Che, has problems with a variety of feds, and is threatened by shadowy underworld figures. I found lots of references to the Hemingway life the world has been aware of, and to events and attitudes that created Hemingway’s voice. I look forward to reading Atkinson’s second Hemingway novel, released earlier this year.

To learn more about Hemingway Deadlights, please visit Michael Atkinson’s website.

Joanne is an organization development and human resources professional with a business background living in Ohio. She has lived in Europe, Africa (including her Peace Corps service in South Africa), and arround the United States. She loves to plays volleyball, read, write, and has a cat named Ender.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Michael Atkinson. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

[ 215 ] August 5, 2010

Please join M.J. Rose, author of The Hypnotist, as she tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

To learn more about M.J. Rose, visit her website or Facebook page!

Reviewed by Jennifer J.

Twenty years ago, Lucian Glass was unable to stop the murder of his beautiful girlfriend, a gifted young artist. Though he no longer creates original art, Lucian now works for the FBI in a specialized unit that investigates art heists. His current investigation, which involves an art collector responsible for destroying valuable masterpieces, is loosely connected to the Phoenix Foundation and Dr. Malachai Samuels. In disguise as James Ryan, Lucian’s own past memories are revealed to have a connection to the case which he is currently working.

Lucian’s past memories, which are tapped into via hypnosis, may also be linked to a recently discovered statue of the Greek god Hypnos about to go on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The lives of others may depend on Lucian to use what he has learned in this life to keep them all safe, including that of a troubled woman who could be the reincarnation of his past love.

M.J. Rose’s The Hypnotist is the third installment in a series that covers a topic I would love to see more of in today’s fiction: reincarnation. She is very scientific in her approach to the subject, having researched some of the leading experts in the field. Like her protagonist Lucian Glass, many readers may not put much faith into the idea of reincarnation. After reading all three of the novels in this series, I’ve decided this is a subject I’d like to personally study more.

Each of the books in this series can be read as a stand-alone novel but I would highly recommend reading them in order: The Reincarnationist, The Memorist, and The Hypnotist. Dr. Malachai Samuels is a driving force in each of these novels, and his chronological actions are slowly leading up to something that has yet to be revealed. I have really enjoyed the character development in Samuels most of all because he is the only character (with the exception of Glass, who was a minor character in The Memorist) that has been in each of the novels.

The first two books seemed very formulaic, and I was relieved that The Hypnotist had an entirely different structure. This has been my favorite of the series so far, and what has convinced me that the rest of the books will be worth my time. The main story arc of the series has been slow to take off, but I’m now beginning to see that there is a purpose and end goal in sight.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Giveaway:
1 winner will receive a copy of The Hypnotist and an exclusive pin of the phoenix in the book (pictured on the left)!

Mandatory entry: Please comment on this post with your e-mail address.

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
- Subscribe via e-mail, follow or subscribe to the feed. You must verify the subscriptions. (1 entry each)
- Enter another current giveaway and tell me which one you entered (1 entry each)
- Share this giveaway on a social network of your choice. Click the “Share/Save” button at the bottom of this post (1 entry each)
- Become a fan on Facebook (2 entries)

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on August 30th.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Mira Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: Once in a Blue Moon by Eileen Goudge

[ 258 ] August 3, 2010

Please join Eileen Goudge, author of Once in a Blue Moon, as she tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

To learn more about Eileen Goudge, visit her website and check out her Q&A! A reading group guide for the book is also available here.

Reviewed by Melanie K.

Once in a Blue Moon is a book about decisions and the resulting consequences.

Lindsay and Kerrie Ann were born to Crystal – a drug addicted stripper who thought that her job as a mother ended with giving birth. Miss Honi Love, a retired stripper, lives downstairs from them and does her best to take care of the girls. Crystal dies in prison and Lindsay and Kerrie Ann are sent to foster homes despite Honi’s efforts to keep the girls.

Lindsay is adopted by an older couple who love her and raise her to be an honest and respectable person. When the couple passes away, Lindsay inherits their house and owns and operates a bookstore. Kerrie Ann cycles through foster home after foster home and eventually runs away to live on the streets. She finds herself following in her mother’s footsteps – she now has a drug addiction and has had her child taken away.

Lindsay searches for her sister for years and one day, out of the blue, Kerrie Ann appears at the door of her bookstore. She is desperate for help in getting her daughter back. The two have led very different lives and sometimes have a difficult time understanding and getting along with each other. Honi, who now lives with Lindsay, does her best to help them through their issues.

Kerrie Ann finds that changing her life and turning her downward spiral around is not an easy road, but will do anything to regain custody of her daughter. Lindsay discovers that not only are people not perfect, but that it is okay to not always do everything right. Together they form the sisterhood bond that was taken away from them many years ago and give each other the strength necessary to fight for what they believe in.

Once in a Blue Moon teaches us that life is not all about fate as some would have us believe. We are not destined to be “good” or “bad” just because things are not easy, and can easily turn our lives around if we so choose to.

Giveaway:
I have 1 copy of Once in a Blue Moon to give away, courtesy of the publisher!

Mandatory entry: Please comment on this post with your e-mail address.

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
- Subscribe via e-mail, follow or subscribe to the feed. You must verify the subscriptions. (1 entry each)
- Enter another current giveaway and tell me which one you entered (1 entry each)
- Share this giveaway on a social network of your choice. Click the “Share/Save” button at the bottom of this post (1 entry each)
- Become a fan on Facebook (2 entries)

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on August 30th.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Vanguard Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Heat Wave by Richard Castle

[ 3 ] July 31, 2010

Reviewed by Cal C.

Heat Wave, ostensibly written by Richard Castle, requires a little bit of background before I can dive into the review. Castle is a television show currently running on ABC starring Nathan Fillion as a famous crime novelist named Richard Castle. His previous series of crime novels finally came to an end with the death of beloved protagonist Derrick Storm, and Castle needs a new muse. He calls in a favor with the mayor and gets partnered with gifted homicide detective Kate Beckett. Together, they solve crimes, and it’s from there that Castle draws his inspiration for Heat Wave. ABC had Heat Wave written up and released, in large part as a promotional stunt for the show’s second season. As a marketing tool, it’s undeniably clever. The question, however, is whether or not it also works as a novel.

For fans of the TV show, the book can’t be missed. It maintains much of the show’s easy, pop-savvy banter that holds it above many standard police procedurals. The mystery is engaging, with enough potential suspects, dark pasts and seedy revelations, very much in the same vein as those on the show. Even character interactions are handled in the same manner as the show – the easy camaraderie between the two less experienced detectives who work with Heat, the semi-hot, semi-hostile back-and-forth between Heat and ride-along journalistic superstar Jameson Rook – making the book an extremely comfortable read, while the layered fictions of the show and the book give it a surprisingly complex charm.

It won’t win many converts, however. The beginning of the book is clunky as the author tries (and fails) for a pulp noir aesthetic that doesn’t read well, and while the stylistic failure is dropped relatively quickly in favor of a more successful tongue-in-cheek tone, it is nonetheless disruptive. The characterization is lacking, ripped almost fully from the more fleshed out show’s primary characters, giving much of the cast a cardboard cut-out feel. Furthermore, it’s unconscionably brief, turning it at just under 200 pages, with few unpredictable twists, and that includes the book’s steamy romance.

As a marketing stunt, Heat Wave is innovative and fun, an excellent way to expand the show’s universe and something to keep fans engaged between seasons. As a novel, however, it seems relatively anemic. Not bad, definitely enjoyable, just not all there.

Cal is a young, underemployed librarian and a frequent contributor to Read/RANT comic book reviews. He’s currently living in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, with his family and using the post-grad-school grace period to read and write as much as he can.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Hyperion. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour: “The Rembrandt Affair” by Daniel Silva

[ 8 ] July 20, 2010

Please join Daniel Silva, author of The Rembrandt Affair, as he tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

This blog tour is a little different! Instead of doing the usual review, we were asked to answer a fun questionnaire. Read on for more!

Written by Caleb S.

If you were to write a blurb in fewer than three sentences for The Rembrandt Affair, what would it be?

A man is killed, a Rembrandt stolen. Gabriel Allon is asked by a friend to try to recover it and he finds that the history of this painting is soaked in blood and it’s future is not looking too clean either.  The Rembrandt Affair is a story of international intrigue, and a history lesson on the Dutch participation in the Holocaust.

Gabriel Allon is a talented spy and assassin, but also a master art restorer. If you could have two careers that seem to be complete opposites, what would they be?

Well, I’m temped to point out that I’m a software engineer and a wood worker. I believe most people would consider them to be fairly extreme in their differences –  one is completely cerebral (and many would consider rigid and stark) while the other is very physical and often artistic. I have a good paying white collar professional job, and yet I go out fell my own trees, cut and cure my own lumber and then build useful and beautiful furniture from it.

What three words would you use to describe the character of Gabriel Allon?

Fierce (Friend), Loyal, Dangerous (Enemy)

The Rembrandt Affair takes the reader all over the world. Of all the locations mentioned, which would be your ideal vacation spot?

Switzerland. I enjoyed my time there but it wasn’t nearly long enough.

Art theft plays a major role in the novel. If no crime were involved, what piece of art would you like to have in your home?

The Statue of David or The Thinker, though I would have to make a special addition to have it ‘In my home…’

Zoe Reed is a powerful female character in the novel. Tell us about an influential woman in your life.

My wife. She’s always there when I need her, stands up to me when I need it, and is one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever known.

Who was your favorite “good guy” in The Rembrandt Affair and why?

Well the only two good guys we really get to know in this book are Gabriel and Zoe. Gabriel is hard not to admire and I really liked Zoe. Though Chiara has been my favorite from past novels, she is mostly in the background in this one.

All of the technology discussed in the novel is real. Does any of it surprise you?

Not really, but then I work in the tech industry.

What celebrity would play Gabriel Allon if The Rembrandt Affair were on the big screen?

Matt Damon did an excellent job as Borne. William H. Macy could do an excellent job portraying Allon as the unassuming art restorer. He’s an incredible talent that is under appreciated.

Which fellow book-loving, blogging friend do you think would enjoy The Rembrandt Affair? Tag them here and we will mail a finished copy of the novel!

Stacie at Simply Stacie!

Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Putnam Adult. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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