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#BlogTour: The Last Day In Paris by Suzanne Kelman

For this blog tour, we’re looking at one of those WWII Paris tales that is familiar in that it has been done so often before, yet also very tense and very real because this particular entry into that space is done so well. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Last Day In Paris by Suzanne Kelman.

Here’s what I had to say on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph, BookHype, Goodreads):

Tense Yet All Too Real. “Book 0” of this series, The Paris Orphans, does a much better job of setting up the overall series than this particular book does – and yet this particular book actually does a far better job of showing what we’re in for with the rest of the series. Here, we get an all too real world in both WWII era Paris and 2010s era England. Yes, this is a dual timeline, and yes there are the usual linkages there. There are also multiple character perspectives, but both timelines and perspectives are switched well. The tension throughout both timelines, though wildly divergent (and appropriate for the given timeline) is done quite well, with brief moments of reprieve sprinkled throughout the story before the tension is ratcheted up even higher. The setup for Book 2 is sprinkled in later in the text here, but the Epilogue is essentially a stinger to make you want to pre-order Book 2 immediately. (Which I don’t even think is possible as I write this review on release day.)

Overall a solid tale of its type, with an intriguing twist of the idea of having s linked series of sisters and their tales during the war (along with, presumably, a post-war dual timeline of some form). Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Last Day In Paris by Suzanne Kelman”

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#BookReview: The Paris Orphans by Suzanne Kelman

Short Story Effectively Sets Up Larger Series. This is one of those series introduction novella/ short story kind of tales where there is a touch of a semblance of a plot, but the larger target is introducing the world and the major players of the overall series. The ending is a bit abrupt and clearly designed to be picked back up at some later point in the series, but the larger emphasis is truly on establishing that there are several different sisters each with distinct interests and each hoping to be able to use those interests in particular ways in this particular setting.

Having now also read Book 1, The Last Day In Paris, it becomes clear that this particular tale isn’t *as* critical, yet that one *does* have aspects that are revealed in this tale that would be missed if this tale is missed.

Overall a quick introduction to an intriguing series, and a fairly quick read to boot. Very much recommended.

This review of The Paris Orphans by Suzanne Kelman was originally written on March 1, 2024.

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#BlogTour: A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a deliciously dark and creepy multilayered supernatural murder mystery reminiscent of IT and Stranger Things. For this blog tour, we’re looking at A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian.

Here’s what I had to say on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph, BookHype, Goodreads):

Deliciously Dark And Creepy Multi-Layered Tale Reminiscent Of IT And Stranger Things. This is one of those dual timeline tales where a group of six kids get pulled together as teens to fight off an incredible supernatural evil in their rural smalltown hometown, then as adults have to come back home to end it once and for all. So like I said in the title, pretty well a blatant homage, all these years later, to IT. And of course, some say “homage”, others say “blatant rip off”. I’ll leave that to those who choose to read both my review and Kurian’s work. But if you have problems with dual timeline or multiple perspectives… just know up front that this book isn’t for you. It is truly a great story, but meh, even I know of what I know to be *phenomenal* stories that even I simply can’t read. (Looking at you, Lord of the Rings.)

Where Kurian shines particularly brightest is in giving these characters realistic Xennial (that weird merger of the youngest of Generation X with the oldest of the Millenials) character arcs, and yes, that does include LGBT discovery for at least one character. Again, if that is a problem for you… maybe not your book here.

Particularly strongest for me personally was Maddy’s own arc, particularly as a teen, as she is deeply immersed in conservative Christian culture of the early and mid 90s – as I myself was as a male just a few years behind her in the same period and in a similar small town atmosphere. (Here, our kids are Sophomores that school year, and I was in 7th grade that year – so just 3 yrs younger than our characters.) Maddy’s arc in some ways has a lot of things that were specific to females in that culture in that era, but in a lot of other ways were common across teenagers of both sexes during this period, and this is where I connected with the story the deepest. Maddy’s struggles as she realized what was going on and her role within it, and her desperate attempts to try to change and correct things… yeah, that was the early years of my own young adult form. So again, and particularly for any females reading this – there is quite a bit of discussion and action around purity culture in the conservative evangelical American church circa the mid 90s, including some of its atrocities being actively shown “on screen”. If this is something you can’t handle exploring in fiction form 30 yrs later (OW!)… maybe not the book for you.

Overall this was a deliciously dark and creepy tale that hit so many strong notes and was so very layered and multi-dimensional… it really was quite a ride. I very much enjoyed it, and I very much look forward to seeing what Kurian thinks up next. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian”

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#BookReview: The Resort by Sara Ochs

Solid Tropical Murder Mystery Will Be Problematic For Some. Straight up, this book features an “on-screen” rape and an “off screen” predatory “relationship” between a teacher and a student. And yes, that last bit is a bit spoilery – but it is also something a lot of readers are going to want to know about before they get to that point in the tale. If either of those issues are absolute no-gos for you, you’re going to want to avoid this book.

But if you’re still here… beyond those two issues, this book was a *great* cat and mouse thriller that has twists almost literally through the last page of the text, and you’re going to need to be clairvoyant to catch the last one in particular because it comes that far out of left field, but in a Now You See Me type manner where well, you were just looking too closely.

It also uses its tropical setting absolutely stunningly, in all its beauty… and perils. This book is going to make you want to go to Thailand and find one of these remote island resorts… but just be careful about it. 😀 And if you read J.M. LeDuc’s Eastern Drift, based in Miami but featuring a trip to Thailand itself, near in time to reading this book – as I did – you’re *really* going to be tempted to look up pricing for flights out to Bangkok. (Looks like around $3K for a late April 2024 round trip flight, staying a week. Just saving you some time on a casual check. :D)

But seriously, the scenery is both beautiful and visceral in this tale – you’re going to feel like you’re there as much as you want to be there. Indeed, the scenery is used so well in the tale that at times it actively overshadows the overall plot… but that is actually a great thing in the early stages of a tale such as this, because I in particular almost *want* that to happen in a book such as this. Ground me in the lush tropical setting. Give me some hints of some trouble, but have it overall be about just how amazing this place is. *Then* hit me with the “well… paradise for some may be hell for others” bit. Which Ochs does spectacularly, then proceeds to ratchet up the tension and ultimately action sublimely.

Again, if you can withstand the onscreen rape and offscreen predatory “relationship”… this truly is an excellent book that I sincerely hope the author can replicate in future works. Very much recommended.

This review of The Resort by Sara Ochs was originally written on February 23, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Messy Life Of Jane Tanner by Brenda Novak

Solid Series Continuation. This is one of those books where you thought the author was doing a trilogy… and yet with the story herein, perhaps the author plans to continue coming back to this rural small western town. Both female leads from the first two books, as well as the male lead from the first book, play prominent roles in this tale as we learn of the mess one of their friends has truly gotten herself in. The ending is perhaps a bit rushed and maybe even, arguably, “tacked on” feeling, as though perhaps Novak had a page target, realized she still needed to wrap up the tale, and squeezed into that target. Still, the tale to that point is solid, and even the mad dash to wrap up the book mostly works within the story told here. Note that for those wishing to avoid all versions of pregnancy tales, this is absolutely one of those – and it absolutely works for the character as portrayed within this tale. Overall a solid tale of its type, but absolutely read the first two books in this series first. Then speculate along with me whether Novak plans to continue this series or not. Very much recommended.

This review of The Messy Life Of Jane Tanner by Brenda Novak was originally written on February 23, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery

Perfectly Within Expectations. Susan Mallery has a type of tale, at least over these last few years at minimum. It isn’t quite “Hallmarkie” in that it generally features a group of female leads that share the spotlight, but those who enjoy the Hallmarkie type will likely also enjoy this type of book – particularly the women it is clearly catered for. Yes, the male characters can be a bit wooden and one dimensional, but again, Mallery knows her target audience well, is clearly very popular within it, and clearly these benign affronts work within this space for this author – and aren’t ever really “offensive” to anyone. They’re simply too cardboard to have any real agency or motivations of their own, and mostly exist to affirm whatever the women in their lives are doing in the moment / serve whatever emotional or physical needs the woman they are paired with may have. Again, perfectly in line with what Mallery’s audience clearly expects, and a perfectly fine tale within these confines. If this type of casual, non-preachy, female friendship type of tale is what you’re after, you’ve found a great book within that space. If you’re looking for something *more*, no matter how you define “more”… you need to look somewhere else. This is one of those books that isn’t really going to challenge anyone or anything, it is more of a comfort read. I won’t necessarily say “vacation” read and I despise the term “beach read” because not everyone reads any given type of book at the beach and whatever book you may be reading at the beach is by definition a “beach read”, and at 400+ pages it would need to be a decently long vacation for anyone to read this book while on vacation. Still, it is that same kind of relaxing type of read that many ascribe to those scenarios, so perhaps for some it will truly be a “beach read”. Very much recommended.

This review of The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery was originally written on February 23, 2024.

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#BookReview: Eastern Drift by J.M. LeDuc

Sinclair O’Malley Meets Her Match. I’ve said in reviews of earlier books in this series that Sinclair O’Malley is an even more bad ass Jack None Reacher, and this book is yet another example of this. And yet, an interesting wrinkle here is that when Sinclair has to keep her enemies close… it turns out one of them in particular is actually just as badass as she is, and is damn near O’Malley’s equal in pretty well every way – a very yin/ yang situation going on here, which was pretty awesome for LeDuc to include. You’ll never see Child doing that with Reacher, and indeed very few characters of this level of badassery ever get that camaraderie with a genuine yet darker equal. Thus, it introduced an interesting dynamic to the usual “beat the bad guys into submission” action trope. Also, with starting out featuring a different character altogether and having this particular character go through an entire development arc through this book, again LeDuc manages to craft more interesting wrinkles and make this series so much more than just “good guy is better than everyone”.

Mostly centered in the Miami area, the trip to beautiful lush Thailand is well done – and an interesting pairing with reading Sara Och’s The Resort, about suspicious deaths at a remote Thai resort, when read close together.

Overall yet another excellent entry in this series, though it does follow on almost immediately from its prior book and has several references to at least one other book earlier in the series (Painted Beauty, book 2 in the series), so for those who can never have any spoilers at all… go back and read those books if you haven’t yet. You’ll get awesome stories and be glad you have this one when you get done with them. 🙂

I, for one, am hoping we get Book 5 in this series with a much shorter gap between the books. 😀 Very much recommended.

This review of Eastern Drift by J.M. LeDuc was originally written on February 22, 2024.

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#BookReview: Where Butterflies Wander by Suzanne Redfearn

My Scars Remind Me That The Past Is Real. Wait. Sexton. You’re quoting *Papa Roach* to title your review of an emotional women’s fiction tale? I mean, you’ve done some crazy shit in your reviews over the years, but come on, dude. Really??

Yes, really, because ultimately this is a tale of scars and the beauty and pain of healing from them – and of allowing them to get you stuck in the first place. Pretty well everyone in this tale has lost loved ones. For many of the perspectives we live in through this tale – a family who recently lost one of their youngest members – the scars are on the inside, and are eating them alive in various forms. For another of the perspectives we live inside in this tale, the scars are much more open and visible, though even these hide just as many internal scars.

And yet, with her usual skill, Redfearn once again turns in an excellent story of healing and hope, even in some of the darkest times unfortunately far too many face. Hopefully, you, the reader of my review, won’t actually have these *exact* scars and thus the exact particulars here won’t resonate *as* much with you. Read this book anyway, as it could well provide at least a touch of catharsis and magic for even your own scars, no matter what they may be.

And if you *are* one of those who happens to have some remarkably identical scars to our characters here… you have my sympathies and condolences. Read this book anyway as well, and perhaps find at least a modicum of healing and hope in these fictional words. Hell, maybe even learn a lesson from our family here and use this tale as a catalyst to talk to others about your pain and perhaps heal even more from that.

No rooms ever got particularly dusty while I was reading this tale, but I’m also not one who has suffered these particular kinds of scars. Still, the overall quality of the tale and the writing of it is Redfearn’s usual excellence, and ultimately the story is truly quite good on so many levels. Very much recommended.

This review of Where Butterflies Wander by Suzanne Redfearn was originally written on February 10, 2024.

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#BookReview: One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Twisty Interconnected Suspense. This is another one of those tales where Tony Stark’s snark about Nick Fury in The Avengers rings true: his secrets have secrets! Or to use another movie connection… Now You See Me: Come in close, because the more you think you see, the easier it’ll be to fool you. Yes, this is one of *those* books, the kind where the WTFs per minute rise and you begin to get whiplash from whipping your head back and forth trying to follow all the twists and turns, particularly late in the tale. Ultimately a satisfying read… if you like that kind of story. For those that don’t… you’ve been warned. Very much recommended.

This review of One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan was originally written on February 9, 2024.

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#BlogTour: The Uncharted Flight Of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman.

Here’s what I had to say on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph, BookHype, Goodreads):

Solid Dual Timeline Tale Featuring Unique And Unexplored Moment In History. This particular tale was inspired by and set within a real world event in the early days of human flight, back in the years before intercontinental air travel had become trivial and long before the era of GPS. A time when doing something as routine – in 2024 – as flying from SFO (San Francisco, California) to HNL (Honolulu, Hawaii) was so fraught with danger that not everyone made it, for a variety of reasons. A time when women had only recently won the right to vote in the United States and were still searching for any modicum of equality in the work force. A time when Hawaii itself was still a US territory governed by the US military more as a forward operating base than as an actual place to live. Within this world, we find a female who will do whatever it takes to become a pilot, and not just any pilot – the *best* pilot anywhere near her, in the capacities she can fly in at all. Here we get much of the excitement and wonder of the book.

Decades later, in the other timeline, her exploits have long been forgotten – indeed, her own contributions were never actually known, thus forming the core mystery of the book. Stumbling into the mystery we get another much more modern woman, currently quite down on her luck. Taking a last ditch *now routine* flight from California to Hawaii, she discovers a land she had forgotten and a particular piece of it she had never known – and within that piece, the mystery begins. Will this modern woman find her peace? Did the earlier woman ever find hers? What has happened to the earlier woman? What will happen to the newer woman?

All this and so much more… in this pulse pounding emotional rollercoaster of a tale.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Uncharted Flight Of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman”