Category: Book Review

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Featured New Release of the Week: Loving Liberty Levine by Colin Falconer

This week, we look at a multi-generational tale of a mother’s love from yet another new-to-me Lake Union author. This week, we look at Loving Liberty Levine by Colin Falconer.

This book was a bit structurally divergent from most other Lake Union books I’ve read – while also being longer than others at 442 pages, it divided those pages up into nearly 70 short-ish chapters rather than the more common 20-30 mid-length chapters. Since I was just having a discussion about such things in one of my Facebook book groups recently, it felt worthy of mentioning here.

Overall, the story is very nicely told, beginning circa 1912 or so in Russia and then moving to the US in 1913, where the majority of the rest of the story – save for the last couple of chapters – plays out primarily in New York City. The descriptions of life as an immigrant Jew seem accurate to my knowledge of the actual history and yet tell an excellent tale of a family doing whatever it takes to give their daughter the life they think she deserves. Along the way we encounter World War I – also a topic of two other recent Lake Union books -, the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Depression, and finally, World War II, where we end. The story ultimately calls into question the lengths a mother is willing to go through for her child and the secrets she is willing to bear, but even goes deeper than many books that explore these issues and dares to go into infertility and what truly makes a mother. It is for these last two reasons in addition to simply great storytelling that this book rises above many others. Excellent book, yet another smash hit from Lake Union. Very much looking forward to seeing more work from this author.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release of the Week: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

This week, we look at an excellent historical fiction novel from yet another new=to-me Lake Union author. This week, we’re talking about The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen.

This book presents an interesting case when looking at it alongside Aimie K Runyan’s Girls On the Line, as both tell a story of a woman falling in love in the middle of World War I – Line from the perspective of an American socialite who chooses to go to the battle lines in France, and Garden from the perspective of a British socialite who feels she must remain in her own country, yet still has a burning desire to do something to help the cause. The fact that both authors can tell such dramatically different stories using the exact same time period and very similar beginnings is a true testament to the power of story telling, and both are to be commended for their strong work.

This book in particular is very reminiscent of Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy or Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell in that all three books have the same general feel to them and all three books tell the tale of a woman whose parents aren’t quite noble but wish to be seen in those circles who leaves home to find her own way in life and encounters both love and difficulty in the process. While those books both clock in at over 1000 pages (at least the versions I read in the same summer, 20 years ago later this year), this one is a far quicker read at roughly 300 pages that retains the best elements of its longer “cousins”. Literally my only real complaint about this book is fairly nitpicky – the titular garden doesn’t come in until roughly 2/3 of the story is told, and is never once referred to by the name in the title within the story.

A truly excellent book in its own right, it really is one to read regardless of your feelings of those other stories. If you’re a fan of these other stories, you’re going to want to go pick this one up immediately. Very highly recommended, very much looking forward to seeing what is next from this author.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: One Last Summer by Victoria Connelly

This week we are looking at a tale of three friends getting together to spend one last perfect summer together in a former monastery in the English countryside. This week, we are looking at One Last Summer by Victoria Connelly.

This was a solid tale of three middle aged women long out of college getting back together for one perfect summer to reconnect with each other. While one might expect there to be little to no drama and more of a feel good story, there was actually quite a bit of drama to be had between the reason the one woman actually drew everyone together – and her hesistance to reveal it -, another’s workaholic ways that send her to the hospital, and the other’s insecurities about her own life. Toss in light flirting with two eligible men for the two single ladies and a stern and insistent housekeeper, and you get most of the characters of this book.

Given the central premise of the book, one might expect it to be tearjerker city. And this reader could see where perhaps others would have such a response. But for whatever reason, it just wasn’t happening here. Great story, perfect for the age and situations of the characters involved. Looking forward to this author’s next work.

And one last Goodreads/Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: The Memory Man by Steven Savile

This week, we look at an intensely dark and gritty new police procedural story that is intended to launch a new series. This week, we look at The Memory Man by Steven Savile.

This was one of the darkest, grittiest books I’ve read in quite a while. It opens with the brutal torture and murder of a Swedish politician, and it only gets darker from there. All across Europe, we see people getting mailed human body parts with a note demanding a meeting, going to the meeting… and disappearing. Clearly, a serial killer is on the loose. Eurocrimes Division agent Peter Ash, based in London, gets roped into the mystery when his friend, a fixer for the Catholic Church, asks for a favor in Paris. Eurocrimes Division agent Frankie Varga gets roped into it by a mysterious request from someone high in her local government in Sweden asking for her specifically to investigate the murder that opens the book. Along the way, all three will find they are on the exact same case.

Overall, this tale works extremely well in setting the book in the real world with all of its messiness – including brief commentary on the complexities of implementing the impending Brexit split. Each of the characters have an interesting backstory that could work as their own spinoff books, and the overall central mystery is one of those insanely dark tales that unfortunately is plausible enough – while fortunately *not* directly based on any actual known real world events – that the story desperately needs to be told. Sadly, too few authors have the courage to even mention it. Savile manages to string the reader along with just enough reveals and just enough further muddying of the waters to keep the reader engaged, and the short chapters help to compel a sense of both urgency and satisfaction of having completed another chapter.

This reader for one is very much looking forward to Book 2, as this promises to be an excellent new series indeed. Very highly recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: Wildflower Heart by Grace Greene

This week, we’re talking about yet another new-to-me Lake Union author’s newest book, the first in a new series. This week, we’re looking at Wildflower Heart by Grace Greene.

This book ultimately is all about finding yourself again after loss. And it resonates quite a bit, as most all of us have felt these things to one level or another. The story itself works well in grounding us in the world it is creating while also allowing several possibilities for the stories to come – and making us look forward to them. This isn’t an action packed bombastic ride, and yet it also isn’t the cozy, feel good story others might seek. But it is a quiet, well crafted story of heartbreak and hope, and in that vein it can prove very cathartic.

Overall, this is a world I would love to come back to, and I can’t wait for the next book.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: The Post by Kevin Munoz

This week we look to an excellent post Apocalyptic zombie tale by a promising debut author. This week, we look to The Post by Kevin Munoz.

This was a book that was very reminscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road in terms of overall bleakness. The key difference being that while I often cite The Road as the singular worst book I have ever read, this particular book was genuinely great. While I cop to being a Georgia native – and UGA athletics fan -, I am not overly familiar with most of the particular locales described in this book. That said, it is always nice to see an area you’ve known even a bit to be featured in a book. This book is an excellent examination of how society can rebuild itself from nearly anything, including the dual Apocalyptic events described as having happened years before the events here. Truly an excellent human centered book that happens to take place in a world that has survived the Zombie Apocalypse and is still in the process of rebuilding, this book shows those efforts – and secret efforts that could undo every ounce of progress made so far. I really cannot heap enough praise on this debut work. If you are open to genre, read this book. If you like post Apocalypse, read this book. If LGBT centered stories are your particular bent, you will also enjoy this book. If you’re just looking for a solidly entertaining read, read this book. Seriously, just read this book and hope – as I do – that we get an unnecessary yet welcome sequel.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: Ghost Of Himself by Pandora Pine

This week, we look at a book that introduces a new spinoff series from a well established world. This week, we look at Ghost of Himself by Pandora Pine.

This was an excellent entry point into an existing well-established world. You get enough of a sense of the larger world without being overwhelmed in the details and thus not being able to enjoy the particular story you are currently reading. Indeed, just the opposite is true: the current story is the laser focus at all times, and you get just enough background to understand where the various existing players are coming from while whetting your appetite to find out exactly how they arrived at their current locations. Case in point being one half of the focal couple of this very slow burn romance – private investigator Jude Byrne. He is one of many links to the previously existing world, finally getting his own story in this spinoff series, and apparently he has been quite… open… with the sheer volume of partners he has bedded. Apparent series newcomer pyschic witch Copeland Forbes has been a bit more selective with his lovers, but is certainly no prude himself.

MM romance enthusiasts will likely be dismayed to realize there is no penetrative sex in this particular tale – as I said, it is truly a slow burn romance – though it does have some sexual activity, as one would expect from most modern romances outside of certain particular subgenres. But that is the only minor quibble to be had here and that is mostly just the lack of a genre trope. Otherwise, this truly is a strong tale in its own right that serves as an excellent launching pad for its own series within this larger world, while also getting new readers interested in learning about that larger world. Outstanding on all points, and very much recommended.

As always, Amazon/ Goodreads:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: Justice In Plain Sight by Dan Bernstein

This first week of 2019, we examine a book that sheds light on the fight to secure a crucial, if often underappreciated, Constitutional right in the United States: the right of the press and the public to attend jury selection and pre-trial hearings in criminal cases in the United States. This week, we look at Justice In Plain Sight by Dan Bernstein.

This was a well researched and documented look at two pivotal Supreme Court cases from the mid 1980s that established a Constitutional Right of the public and the press to attend jury selection (the first case) and pre-trial hearings (the second case). The last 17% of the version of the book I read was nothing but footnote references, and that didn’t even include an index! Yet for all its research, it still presented a very readable, very well structured look at the entire environment surrounding these cases. What were the specific facts of the cases themselves? What had the Supreme Court been doing recently relative to the issues being asked of it in these cases? Who were the humans involved – from the accused criminals to the lawyers representing them to the prosecutors and the newspapermen and the newspapermens’ lawyers and the various judges at ever level? We get brief biographies of them all, and yet it all works together to show how these people met at this particular moment in history to fight this particular battle that produced this particular result. Even the epilogue, showing just how important these two cases have been in just the last decade or so, was eye opening.

Seriously, read this book. Read it this year, the 35th anniversary of when the first case was decided. Because it has only been within this reader’s lifetime that these cases have been decided at the Supreme Court level, and that in and of itself is simply astounding.

And as always, we end with the Goodreads review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: At Home by Carly Marie

This week, we look at a strong and rare (and unique, in my own reading experience) book from a debut author. This week, we look at At Home by Carly Marie.

This book overall is a solid romance between two guys roughly a decade apart in age (with the younger one being mid 20s) who happen to meet by chance. What follows is a moving romance wherein each tries to adjust to the other’s life while also exploring a particular kink that both have considered or actively participated in for several years. It is this particular kink – age play and specifically infantilism, including open discussion of whether the “boy” should wear a diaper – that ventures into “oh hell no” territory for this reader, but it works well within the story and Marie does a great job of humanizing those who enjoy this particular kink that many, perhaps most, would have the same reaction as this reader over. And it is for that reason above all others that this book is a very worthy read. It is a strong romance outside of those elements, but in its efforts to show that even those with kinks deemed particularly strange by mainstream society, it truly shines. Very much looking to see what Marie writes from here.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: Shy by Brad Tanner

This week, we look to a fun, flirty Christmas romance. This week, we look at Shy by Brad Tanner.

This was a fun, somewhat typical, comedy of errors Christmas tale. Very light and breezy read, with excellent chemistry between all involved. You’ve got the classic tightwad. The classic flirt. The classic meddling best friend. Basically, nearly every trope of any Christmas romantic comedy you’ve ever seen. But it works well together, as it was designed to do and as it has done for countless tales for decades, which is why these particular tales are so popular. Does this book break any molds? Not really. But does it give you a few hours of light hearted Christmas themed mirth? Absolutely.

So while this book is arguably best read at Christmas or at any time you want to be in the Christmas spirit, it really is a solid book that does exactly what it attempts to do, and for that it is to be commended. Oh, and just to be aware, since some might try to throw their book when they see it on like page 2: This *is* a MM romance. The meddling best friend is straight, but the couple in question is in fact both guys. But hey, it *does* say that directly on the cover, so if you read more than the cover and still got mad… that’s on you. 😉

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon:
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