I crave books

This is the debut mystery and I was quite pleased with it. However, my one complaint is that at times (and especially in the beginning) I felt the narrator talked down to the reader. At times the narrator over explained things that a mystery buff (or even a regular watcher of CSI) would know and this slowed down the narrative pacing). On the author hand, the author is a freelance television producer and certainly knows her subject and I was impressed with the details and things I learned about a news station.

Riley Spartz is an investigative television journalist returning to work after a personal tragedy. A cold case file lands in her lap, about two Susans who died a year apart on the same day. Since the anniversary conveniently falls during sweeps month Riley begins investigating and finds a link between the two cases, and things heat up when someone starts leaving dead flowers on her porch.

Overall a promising debut. and I wonder if Riley is going to become a series character. I certainly would like to read about another adventure of hers.

So Claire Danner Crispin, the main character in this book, should have read When Good People Have Affairs because it would’ve helped her end this book about 100 pages earlier.

All kidding aside, I really enjoy novels by Elin Hilderbrand. And this was no exception. The first part of the book was told from Claire’s point of view and the second part moved around from Claire, to her best friend, her high school boyfriend, and the secretary of the foundation. That made it move quickly and interestingly.

Claire lives on Nantucket with her four children and husband. She is a glassblower, although she stopped working after an accident when she was pregnant. She is asked by Lock Dixon to chair the Summer Gala for the Nantucket’s Children Foundation and unable to say no (to anything really - her best friend jokes her cells don’t have membranes) , she agrees. And for the next year she grows close to Lock as they plan the gala. Lock convinces her to create a magnificant piece of glass for the auction. All of this time spent away from home adds tension to Claire’s marriage and to her relationship with her best friend (also her sister-in-law).

This is a good, quick read and realistically portrayed. I liked Claire and wanted her to be happy. And I think in the end she was.

This wasn’t the fun, light, chick-lit read I was expecting from the cover photo (flip flops on a clothesline) and  blurb from Claire Cook (a fave author of mine). No, it was better. Another intelligent women’s story in the vein of Leslie Schnur (who contributes a quote to the back).

Rose is 39 and trying to make a fresh start in the Cape Cod town of Nauset. She’s gone from writing instruction manuals (quotes from which cleverly foreshadow events at the beginning of each chapter) to wanting to be a journalist. After renting a cottage from Val, she meets her neighbor, Noel, an autistic savant, who is being cared for by the town after his mother dies. A piece Rose writes about Noel ends up in USA Today, where Simon, Noel’s estranged uncle, sees it and decides to travel back to Nauset to make amends. This is a town with lots of secrets and as the town gears up for the celebration of its 300th birthday many of those secrets are in danger of being exposed.

I enjoyed the story once I got into it (and past my preconceived ideas of what I thought it was going to be). The cast of characters is wonderfully diverse, and on the surface seem kooky, but they’re real people with real issues (the mother who lost her child, the man with a dark secret, an alcoholic) and I thought the author struck a good balance between reality and wanting a happy ending. There was also a good twist at the end(one of the secrets exposed) that I didn’t see coming, although it is foreshadowed. All in all a good read about family, love, friendships and the nature of secrets.

This is different from what I normally read. But it was really good. A non-stop action thriller. Seven people come to work on a Saturday. When the group arrives the boss says their company is a front for a secret government agency and they are all to die. They can either drink the poison mimosas or wait to die in the fire that will develop from the explosives he’s rigged. However, the boss’ plan doesn’t come off and soon the office workers are pitted against each other - who’s good and who’s bad? Who can they trust? As the story shifts viewpoints, the reader is also privy to the two agents who seem to be behind this terror filled Saturday morning, but are they?

This was an exciting fast paced action story. The plot twists and turns. It is a bit gory, and violent but not in a gratuitous or terribly explicit way. And the ending, of course, is completely unpredictable. All in all much better than I expected.

I love Sarah Strohmeyer books. I am a big fan of her Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series and I’ve enjoyed the light-hearted chick lit books she’s been writing recently.

Sweet Love focuses on Julia, a divorced single mother who has been working in the tv news business for 20 years. She’s about the get her big break (reporting on the presidential election) if she clears a background check. This check involves her childhood crush, Michael Slayton, who was the campaign manager for a senator that Julie busted for sexual harassment. On another front, Julia’s mom has arranged for Julia & Michael to both take a Friday night cooking class - hoping love will blossom, since she kept Michael (the neighborhood tough kid) away from Julia when they were younger and now she wants to make amends.

This was a quick read. I did enjoy it but not as much as the others. Although there was a plot twist at the end that I didn’t really see coming. I did enjoy the various Shakespeare quotes at the beginnings of the chapter which foreshadowed events.  And I totally wish I could eat the cupcake pictured on the cover - it looks delicious!

PS - with this and Comfort Food I’ve been reading a lot of novels involving food and cooking lately - wonder what’s up with that?

This was a modern day take on marriage and motherhood, with fame thrown in.

Julia is married to tv star Joe. It’s the eve of the Golden Globes and Julia accidentally dials Joe’s voice mail and hears a message from another woman. This propels her to become a husband-stalking, botox-injecting crazy woman. It’s an amusing tale, although the ending did bring me up short, as I expected more resolution but I have an inkling of what will happen. (I liked my stories all wrapped up with a neat bow.)

The author clearly knows her subject (her husband is Denis Leary) and she is a wonderful writer - great descriptions and characterizations. I enjoyed the story and Julia’s character.

I recently listened to the second novel by this author (Sugar Queen) and really enjoyed it. So I decided to read her first novel, which was equally enchanting.

The Waverleys are a curious family with their mysterious garden in Bascom, North Carolina. Claire is a successful caterer who prepares dishes made with her mystical plants. Her elderly cousin, Evanelle is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. Then there’s Claire’s rebellious sister Sydney, who fled Bascom at 18. But she’s back, with her daughter Bay in tow, and turns Claire quiet life upside down.

I enjoyed this - it’s a quick read and features some of the same plot elements as The Sugar Queen (the magic, the star crossed lovers, the house that is almost a character itself, absent fathers).

Found this while browsing the library shelves and the title and premise appealed to me.

June Parker was in a car accident, where her passenger, Marissa, dies. June barely knew Marissa but when she finds Marissa list of “20 things to do before my 25th Birthday” June decides to complete the list for her. The tasks are varied (run a 5K, go braless, change someones life).

This was a fun read. There’s a great cast of quirky characters and I did laugh out loud at times. I enjoyed June’s character and was rooting for her. And the lesson in the end was quite poignant. I think I’m going to pick up the author’s first book, Flip-Flopped since I enjoyed this so much. Look for a review here soon!

I picked up this book because it’s set in Portland, Oregon, which is where I grew up. It focuses on Ellen Flanagan, who is getting divorced and in the process selling her beloved home. The home means everything to Ellen and she keeps trying to figure out ways to get it back. Plus she’s confused by the feelings she having for her ex-husband and the man who bought the house.

This is an okay read. The plot was a little thin for me, but I did enjoy the descriptions of Portland, which rang true to me. I’m curious since the jacket says the author lives in northern Virginia why the novel is set in Portland and what led her to that.

This is the second book by the author of the Friday Night Knitting Club (which I loved - see this post for proof).

This was a slow starter for me, but once it got going (around page 150) I really got into. I think my problem with the first part was too much setting up of back story - there’s a large cast of characters (sort of like FNKC - all different people thrown together). I did like how she finally told one character’s secret - instead of having the character tell it through flashbacks, she told it to another character who was not familiar with it). There were two good twists - one that I thought was believable and one that stretched credibility a little for me. And I did laugh out loud several times during the book - there are some great lines and I was a little weepy by the end. So what’s this book about?

Well, Augusta “Gus” Simpson is turning 50, and isn’t that thrilled about it. She’s the successful host of a tv cooking show, and has raised two daughters. But then the executives at the Cooking Channel decide her show needs a ratings boost so they bring in Carmen Vega, former Miss Spain, to co-host with her. Gus re-formats her show as an on-air cooking class, bringing together her friends and family. And the fireworks fly. The cast includes her daughter Sabrina, just engaged for the third time; her over serious daughter Aimee; Troy, Sabrina’s ex-boyfriend; Hannah, Gus’s shy neighbor; and Oliver, the new culinary producer.

I had a soft spot for Troy, who grew up on an apple farm in Hood River, Oregon. As that’s near my old stomping grounds. Plus Troy was an ad-exec who quit to open his own business (love his business idea - read the book though).

Anyway this is a story about finding yourself (at any age - it’s a multiple generation cast), friendship, motherhood, and love.

In fact, one theme I noticed that was consistent between FNKC and Comfort Food, was absent fathers. Gus is a widower and how she and the girls handled the death (18 years ago) is a good plot point during an otherwise hilarious (description wise) teambuiliding retreat.