A Book Blogger's Diary

This book was received free, for review purposes. Series: A Summerhouse Novel (Book 3) Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: MIRA (March 6, 2018) ISBN-10: 0778307611 Synopsis -  One fateful summer, three very different women find themselves together in Summer Hill, Virginia, where they find they have much more in common than they realized… Sixty-year-old Olivia’s first marriage was long and unhappy, but now she is a newlywed, thrilled to finally be starting her life with the man she’s always truly loved—even if they are getting a late start. Kathy is in her forties and married to a handsome, successful businessman. Theirs would be a fairy-tale romance if it weren’t for one problem: he’s passionately in love with someone else! Twenty-something Elise is also in a troubled marriage, stuck with the man her wealthy parents chose for her. Now that he has a pregnant mistress, he seems willing to go to drastic lengths to take Elise out of the picture. Though each of them wound up ...

Have you ever picked up a book by an author you've never heard of, written in a genre that's not your usual cup of tea and with a title that reminds you of a cheesy sci-fi movie...and then ended up loving it? That's how it was with me and 'The Martian'. The story is pretty straightforward. A manned mission to Mars goes wrong and the crew have to flee the surface in haste when a storm threatens to destroy their take-off vehicle. In the chaos, botanist/mechanical engineer Mark Watney is injured. Believing him to be dead, the crew takes off. However, Watney is still alive. And he has every intention of "staying alive" (a song our hero adopts as his theme song - yes, Watney is funny that way). Mark Watney becomes the first Martian - a good humored, resourceful and the one and only resident of Mars. How he survives on a freezing cold planet with no help in sight and no way to communicate with Earth makes for a terrifically compelling read and the suspe...

Ballantine, Isbn-034550691X In this captivating novel of romantic suspense, New York Times bestselling author Linda Howard brings us deep into the wild, where a smart and sexy outdoor guide and her ruggedly handsome competitor must join forces to survive—and avoid becoming what they never expected to be: PREY Linda Howard's books are a general hit or miss for me. Veil of the Night is one book of hers that I still remember with fondness and that's the only reason I made it past the synopsis for this book. Reason - it screamed predictability and in that aspect I was proved right. What's different is Howard's treatment of it which makes it somewhat interesting. I'm not saying I loved it, but then I didn't hate it either. As mentioned before, the story is way predictable: Angie and Dare (the name, the hoarse voice, the attitude - all  kept screaming Clint Eastwood to me) are in the same business - camping/hunting guide - and unfortunately Dare is better so he'...

Sourcebooks Casablanca, 347p, ISBN: 1402238835 Synopsis - Returning to his family seat from Waterloo, Gervase Frant, seventh Earl of St Erth, could have expected more enthusiasm for his homecoming. His quiet cousin, stepmother, and young half-brother seem openly disappointed that he survived the wars.  And when he begins to fall for his half-brother's sweetheart, his chilly reception goes from unfriendly to positively murderous. Yes, this is a sort of a murder mystery, my dear Heyer fans. Or rather attempted murder, I should say (that's not a spoiler, for I'm sure you guessed the hero can't be murdered - right?). I feel the real mystery lies in the romance part of it, for till the end the reader is left wondering who exactly will end up with whom. Not at all the usual sort of fare we've come to expect from this wonderful romance author of yester years, but one which she writes surprisingly well. Before I explain all that, let me begin by telling you about our ...

St. Martin's, 374p, Isbn-031265121X As a former Navy SEAL turned cop, Joe Quinn has seen the face of evil and knows just how deadly it can be. When he first met Eve Duncan, he never expected to fall in love with a woman whose life would be defined by her dual desires to bring home her missing daughter and discover the truth behind her disappearance---no matter how devastating. With the help of CIA agent Catherine Ling, they make a shocking discovery that sheds new light on young Bonnie’s abduction and puts Quinn squarely in the crosshairs of danger. Eve’s first love, John Gallo, a soldier supposedly killed in the line of duty, is very much alive---and very much a threat.   Emotionally charged, with one shock after another, Quinn reveals the electricity of Joe and Eve’s first connection, and how they fell in love in the midst of haunting tragedy. As their search takes them deeper and deeper into a web of murder and madness, Joe and Eve must confront their most primal fe...

Sourcebooks Casablanca, 368p, ISBN:1402238797 To say that the beautiful and tempestuous Lady Serena is highly upset to find that her recently deceased (and highly eccentric) father, the Earl of Spenborough, left the care of her fortune and control over her marriage to her jilted fiancé Ivo Barrasford, the Marquis of Rotherham, is to understate the case. Too much time has elapsed since Serena broke her engagement to her childhood companion, Rotherham, (and that too after the invitations had been sent - such a scandal !) for them to feel anything but discomfort at this bit of posthumous matchmaking on the part of the Earl. Or so they both declare. Used to commanding a large household and having acted as her father's hostess from a young age, energetic and politically-savvy Serena soon finds herself in doldrums when her life is suddenly reduced to a small Dower house with none but her father's young widow, Fanny, for company and a social sphere consisting of occasional visits from...

Otherworld, Book 12 Dutton, Isbn: 0-525-95220-9 Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she’s powerless to help herself. At the conclusion of Waking the Witch , Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would help a young girl. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise. And now, witch hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell casting talent, the thing she counts on most.  In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Spell Bound gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jaime, Hope, and others, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within...

St. Martin's, 341p, Isbn-031236394X Synopsis - A priest murdered in his church…a homeless man slaughtered in a toilet... these are just the first of two seemingly unrelated murders plaguing a sweltering New Orleans. As the murders continue it becomes clear that glass restoration artist Mira Gallier is somehow at the heart of it.  Whether she’s the one killing people and leaving weird Biblical quotes at the murder scenes or someone connected to her is, are the questions that plague the uneasy partnership of homicide detectives Spencer Malone and Karin Bayle.  Meanwhile Mira is convinced her dead husband has come back to life. Could that be a clue? ******** Erica Spindler is at the top of her game in this edge-of-the-seat Hitchcockian psychological drama. Her skill is evident whether describing a character’s heart-rending survivor’s guilt, capturing the subtle nuances of a police partnership, or building an atmosphere of exponentially ominous tension. This subtle, intelligent p...

An encrypted text message sends James Bond to Serbia where he diverts what he thinks is a plot to derail a train containing toxic chemicals. He soon learns this is just the tip of the iceberg and follows clues that lead him to a recycling company’s owner with an obsession with death, decay and privacy. Flying all over the world, Bond races against time to save thousands of lives…from what, he himself doesn’t know. ********* Without reading Ian Fleming’s 007 novels, it’s not possible to tell where the novels left off and the movies picked up. However Carte Blanche, Jeffrey Deaver’s endeavor to continue the series in print, certainly has a Hollywood-like feel to it. Deaver does a good job of continuing the traditional aspects of the Bond story - fast cars, gorgeous women with odd names, fiendishly clever villains and lots of gadgets (or rather apps - in keeping with modern tradition, Bond has an app for that, no matter how improbable). Also in tradition, Deaver’s globe-trotting Bond make...

William Morrow, Isbn-0061434426 Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more.He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for supersuccess, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without reaping its intended rewards. So now Bill's starting to mix it up—just a little—to accelerate his way into the future that he knows he deserves. Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for him, with no indication who it's from or why it was sent. Its message is just one word: modified. From that moment on, Bill's life begins to change. At first, nothing seems very different. But when things begin to unwind rapidly, and one after another, people around Bill start to die, it becomes increasingly clear that someone somewhere has a very different plan for Bill's future. Confused and angry, Bill begins to fight against this un...

William Morrow, 288p, Isbn-0061735108 Overbite 's story picks up six months after where the previous (and first) Meena Harper story ' Insatiable ' ended. Now Meena is officially working for the Vatican which believes Lucien has left NYC even though Meena knows otherwise. A misunderstanding has left the possible romance between Meena and Alaric Wolf in doubt. Torn between two men, and varying allegiances Meena tries to take the burden of everything upon herself and sets herself up for failure in a situation where failure is not only not an option, but a sure way of becoming vampire fodder. *********** As I mentioned in my review , Insatiable is one of the best books I've read this year (even though it was first released last year). Overbite is its sequel and like all sequels, sadly falls short... way way short. With Insatiable I couldn't find anything to dislike, but with Overbite , it's just the opposite. ->    Let’s get to the meat of the story, which is th...

William Morrow, 451p, Isbn-0061735086 Despite a talent for predicting people's death, Meena Harper doesn't believe in the supernatural. Forget vampires in real life...she doesn't even like them invading the reel life of soap opera Insatiable, for which she's a dialogue writer.  And then at a neighbor's party, she meets and is instantly smitten by the intensely gorgeous and charming Lucien Antonescu, who seems to return her interest in him. Little does Meena know that this modern-day prince has a very dark side to him, one that will rip away all her illusions and defenses. Question is will she survive it? ********* Leaving behind the YA world of Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot makes a stellar entry into the world of adult paranormal writing. I'd frankly grown sick of books starring vampires but was persuaded to pick up this one as Cabot has a knack for taking a tired plot and enlivening it with her particular fun and sizzling brand of adventure and romance. And I...

Forge Books, 434p, ISBN: 978-0-7653-6142-4 Synopsis - Jack McClure has had a troubled life. His dyslexia always made him feel like an outsider. He escaped from an abusive home as a teenager and lived by his wits on the streets of Washington D.C. It wasn’t until he realized that dyslexia gave him the ability to see the world in unique ways that he found success, using this newfound strength to become a top ATF agent. When a terrible accident takes the life of his only daughter, Emma, and his marriage falls apart, Jack blames himself, numbing the pain by submerging himself in work. Then he receives a call from his old friend Edward Carson. Carson is just weeks from taking the reins as President of the United States when his daughter, Alli, is kidnapped. Because Emma McClure was once Alli’s best friend, Carson turns to Jack, the one man he can trust to go to any lengths to find his daughter and bring her home safely. Having previously read and enjoyed some of this author's stori...

Press Here :  Children's book, 56 p, Isbn-0811879542, Ages 4-8, Guided Reading Level: I, HC I continue to be amazed at the innovative books that are being published these days for children. Gone are the days of just blah-blah word stories, now there are books that invite you to step into their world and interact with them, just like another child would. A playmate who, as an added bonus, teaches only good things. And that's exactly how I found Hervé Tullet's Press Here , published and sent to me for review by Chronicle Books . Only this book exercises their imagination and involves a bit of physical activity as well - perfect for both the sit-still and can't-sit-still children! The concept of the book is deceptively simple. A series of dots invite kids into a world of fun and learning. On the very first page, perfectly white in color, a bright yellow dot (which looks very much like freshly painted one) is there with one word beneath it - Ready? On the next page, the sam...