TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Sunrise

About The Sunrise

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (July 7, 2015)

Internationally bestselling author Victoria Hislop delivers a stirring novel set during the 1974 Cypriot coup d'état that tells the intersecting stories of three families devastated by the conflict. . .

Summer 1972—Famagusta is Cyprus's most desirable tourist destination in the Mediterranean. Aphroditi Papacostas and her husband, Savvas, own The Sunrise, a wildly successful new luxury hotel. Frequented by only the very wealthiest of Europe's elite, The Sunrise quickly becomes the place to see and be seen. Yet beneath the veneer of tranquil opulence simmers mounting hostility between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Years of unrest and ethnic violence come to a head when, in 1974, Greece's coup d'état provokes a Turkish attack on beautiful Famagusta.

The fallout sends the island's inhabitants spiraling into fear and chaos, and the Papacostases join an exodus of people who must abandon their idyllic lives in Famagusta and flee to refugee camps. In the end, only two families remain in the decimated city: the Georgious and the Özkans. One is Greek Cypriot, the other Turkish Cypriot, and the tension between them is palpable. But with resources scarce and the Turkish militia looming large, both families must take shelter in the deserted hotel as they battle illness, hunger, fear, and their own prejudices while struggling to stay alive.

The Sunrise is a poignant story about the measures we take to protect what we love.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Review:  I love all things Greece, so I thought I'd give this book a go. I have mixed feelings about this book. Some of the characters were really hard to like. Most of the time, I can get past that. There have been several great books that I've read that had characters you couldn't like. Gone Girl comes to mind, but that story had a great plot that kept me reading, this one was more difficult.

I think this book might be one I revisit at a later point. I loved the setting and Victoria's writing is engaging but I had a hard time really getting into it. There were so many things going on and the plot just didn't flow well for me. It started out slow and once the war was on, my interest was wavering.

I did go back and reread sections of the book, and for me it didn't get better. I would have liked better resolution between Aphroditi and Markos as well as Savvas. The characters just didn't get developed enough for me. One minute Aphroditi dislikes Markos and the next they are carrying out a passionate affair, which doesn't really have much emotion. So there was a bit of romance eluded too, while her marriage to Savvas degenerates.

Overall the writing was beautiful and descriptive. Hislop conveyed the political unrest and uprising well, it is a shame that it was impossible to connect with her characters.

Rating: 3 flowers

About Victoria Hislop

Victoria Hislop is the internationally bestselling author of The Island and The Return. She writes travel features for the Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, House & Garden, and Woman & Home. She divides her time among rural Kent, London, and Crete. She is married and has two children.

Find out more about Victoria at her website and connect with her on Twitter.

Tasty Book Tours Book Review & Excerpt: Ever After

Ever After at Sweetheart Ranch
Valentine Valley # 6

By: Emma Cane

Releasing April 28^th, 2015

Avon

Blurb

The only thing hotter than a cowboy...

Math teacher Lyndsay De Luca never surprised anyone-least of all herself-until this summer. First, she secretly published her debut romance novel. Then she started dating Will Sweet, the cowboy of her dreams. And now Lyndsay’s scrambling to hide the juiciest tidbit of all: that the hazel-eyed hero of her steamy fiction is the same guy whose kisses have become her mind-blowing reality.

Is a cowboy in love.

Ever since Will’s high school sweetheart died in a tragic accident, he hasn’t been able to commit to a long-term relationship. Lyndsay is the first woman in years who’s been able to catch-and keep-his attention. She’s fascinated by his work at Sweetheart Ranch, and a glance from her gorgeous brown eyes sends Will’s thoughts wandering. Will she be the one to finally break down the walls around his guarded heart?

Link to Follow Tour:  http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/03/ever-after-at-sweetheart-ranch.html

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22864471-ever-after-at-sweetheart-ranch?ac=1

Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/89051-valentine-valley

Buy Links:  Amazon | B & N | iTunes | Kobo 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ever-After-Sweetheart-Ranch-Valentine/dp/0062323423

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ever-after-at-sweetheart-ranch-emma-cane/1120056923?ean=9780062323422

iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ever-after-at-sweetheart-ranch/id906057270?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/ever-after-at-sweetheart-ranch

 Excerpt 

Lyndsay put Will out of her mind and scanned the people scattered through the stands for friends to sit with. Nearby, she saw a big banner that hadn’t been there last week, stretched across two poles and stuck into the ground, in perfect view of the stands.

The Valentine Valley Historical Society needs you!

Vote for Mrs. Rosemary Thalberg for President!

On the left side of the banner was a picture of Mrs. Thalberg wearing a confident smile. Her hair was dyed a flattering red, and her tasteful makeup gave her the appearance of being in her sixties instead of seventies. The woman herself was overseeing the placement of the last pole, making suggestions to her grandsons Nate and Josh Thalberg, who both kept glancing toward their softball team with longing.

“What do you think?”

Lyndsay’s recently renewed best friend, Kate Fenelli, was walking toward her. Still wearing her law firm work clothes of tailored slacks, multicolored top, and blazer, Kate radiated happiness. Her short blond hair was windswept around her head, and her laughing eyes were a violet hue that always made people take a second look.

Ten years ago, when Kate’s marriage with Lyndsay’s brother, Tony, had fallen apart, neither of them had even told Lyndsay they were having problems. The breakup had ruined Lyndsay’s friendship with Kate and strained her sibling love, but you didn’t break up with a brother over something like that. Of course Tony hadn’t been talkative about his problems—he was a guy.

Kate, on the other hand…nine years had gone by, but last fall their friendship was repaired. Kate had quit her job with a powerful Denver law firm and moved back to Valentine Valley to buy into a small, local firm. And somehow, she and Tony had rediscovered their love and were getting remarried in two months.

“I didn’t know about an upcoming vote for the historical society,” Lyndsay remarked to Kate.

“I’m surprised a banner was necessary,” Kate said, crossing her arms over her chest and examining it almost critically. “After all, wouldn’t a mailing to the historical society members accomplish the same thing?”

“That’s right, you were gone nine years and don’t know. Every resident in town is a member of the historical society, automatically.”

Kate blinked at her. “Now that’s interesting.”

“Keeps everyone invested in the town’s history and tourism. The society puts out a great newsletter.”

Kate eyed Mrs. Thalberg. “Are the widows the driving force behind that, too?”

“Oh, they’re part of it all right, but it isn’t their ‘baby,’ like the Valentine Valley Preservation Fund is. But the two groups certainly go hand in hand.”

“And you just know all about this stuff from living here?” Kate asked.

“Nope. Remember, my dad has been dating Mrs. Thalberg for a few months now. I get to hear all the gossip.”

“Uh-oh,” said a deep male voice behind them.

  Review: I discovered Emma Cane's Valentine Valley book about 2 books back and I'm glad I did. I'm just really sad that this is the last installment of the Valentine Valley series, as I really like all the characters in these books.

Valentine Valley is a series much like Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cover series. Its sweet romance in a small town setting. If you love books like that, than you'll want to stop in Valentine Valley.

I really loved Lyndsay. She's the type of girl I wish I could be. She's got a regular job by day,as a math teacher,  but she's got a secret. She's going to be a published romance writer soon.

~sigh~

Like most readers, I dream of being a writer, so that's one of the reasons I loved Lyndsay.

Then there's our hero, Will. A Cowboy. I have to admit, I've always been a fan of cowboys/farmers in contemporary romance, and Will is a perfect hero. He's got his own problems/secrets too. The woman he planned to marry was killed in an accident and he feels guilty about it.

We get to revisit characters from the past books too, which is always nice. If you are new to the series, don't worry, this will only make you want to go back and read the other books. Like most small town series you don't have to read them all.

If you haven't read any of the previous books, you'll meet Tony, who is Lyndsay's brother and his soon to be wife Kate, who is oddly enough his ex-wife too.

Lyndsay wants to hook up with Will to get him out of her system. She's had a crush on him since high school when he was dating her best friend Brittany, the one that died in the accident. Relationships with Will don't last because of his odd sense of guilt.

I really liked how you know from the start that their fling was going to be more than that.

I totally loved this book and can't wait to visit Valentine Valley again

Rating: 5 flowers

                                           
Author Info

Emma Cane grew up reading and soon discovered that she liked to write passionate stories of teenagers in space. Her love of “passionate stories” has never gone away, although today she concentrates on the heartwarming characters of Valentine, her fictional small town in the Colorado Rockies.

Now that her three children are grown, Emma loves spending time crocheting and singing (although not necessarily at the same time), and hiking and snowshoeing alongside her husband Jim and two rambunctious dogs Apollo and Uma.

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Website:  http://www.emmacane.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/EmmaCaneAuthor

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/emmacane

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5035994.Emma_Cane

Rafflecopter Giveaway (Print Copies of the Valentine Valley Series including A TOWN CALLED VALENTINE, TRUE LOVE AT SILVERCREEK RANCH, A WEDDING IN VALENTINE, THE COWBOY OF VALENTINE VALLEY, A PROMISE AT BLUEBELL HILL, and SLEIGH BELLS IN VALENTINE VALLEY )

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TLC Book Tours Book Review: About A Girl

About About a Girl

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harper (April 14, 2015)

Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider.

After accidently answering her roommate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right?

But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run…

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Review:  I hope it is summer and you have a beach chair and a girly drink with you when you read About A Girl. This is by far the best chicklit beach read ever!

Its whacky and not very realistic, but it is oh so very fun.

In between wanting to choke Tess and hug her, I was already trying to cast the characters in the book, for one of the best comedies ever. However, I'm not sure I want this made by Hollywood, because I want British actresses playing the parts.

I wonder if we could get Jenna Coleman to play Tess's bff Amy...maybe Karen Gillan as Vanessa? I wish I could figure out who would play Tess, because my mind sees her as Miranda Hart!

This book was..to keep in the Miranda Hart theme, "Such Fun!"

Tess, loses her job, sleeps with her best male bff, who she has been in love with for years, screws that up and assumes her rather evil flatmate's life.

So, yeah, hilarity has to ensue! And believe me, it does.

Tess was a character that I wasn't sure I would like at the beginning. In fact, for the first 50 pages or so, I didn't care for her much at all, but as the book went on, I really loved her.

Then there are the two guys in her life, Charlie, the bff from home and Nick the journalist she meets when she's pretending to be Vanessa. Both guys are less then perfect but an awful lot of lovable.

I loved that Tess' passion was photography and the relationship she cultivates with Al on the beach in Hawaii will endear her to you more.

I will warn you, the ending leaves you hanging, not in the cliffhanger, something awful is going to happen to someone sort of way, but in the what will she do kinda way.

If you love British chicklit you won't want to miss this one.

I can't wait for the next book!

Rating: 5 flowers

About Lindsey Kelk

Lindsey Kelk is a writer and children's book editor. When she isn't writing, reading, listening to music, or watching more TV than is healthy, Lindsey likes to wear shoes, shop for shoes, and judge the shoes of others. Born in England, Lindsey loves living in New York but misses Sherbet Fountains, London, and drinking gin and elderflower cocktails with her friends. Not necessarily in that order.

Find out more about Lindsey at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Bookseller

About The Bookseller

• Print Length: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 3, 2015)

A mesmerizingly powerful debut novel about the ways in which past choices can irrevocably define the present—and the bittersweet confrontation of what might have been

1962: It may be the Swinging Sixties in New York, but in Denver it's different: being a single gal over thirty in this city is almost bohemian. Still, thirty-eight-year-old Kitty Miller has come to terms with her unconventional single life. She was involved, once—with a doctor named Kevin—but when things didn't work out the way she had hoped, she decided to chart her own path. Now she dedicates herself to the bookstore she runs with her best friend, Frieda, returning home each evening to her cozy apartment. Without a husband expecting dinner, she can enjoy last-minute drinks after work with her friends; without children who need to get ready for school, she can stay up all night reading with her beloved cat, Aslan, by her side.

Then the dreams begin.

1963: Katharyn Andersson is married to Lars, the love of her life. They live in a picture-perfect home in a suburban area of Denver, close to their circle of friends. It's the ideal place in which to raise their children. Katharyn's world is exactly what Kitty once believed she wanted . . . but it exists only when she sleeps.

At first, Kitty enjoys her nighttime forays into this alternate world. Even though there is no Frieda, no bookstore, no other familiar face, Kitty becomes increasingly reluctant to open her eyes and abandon Katharyn's alluring life.

But with each visit to her dreamworld, it grows more real. As the lines between the two worlds begin to blur, Kitty faces an uncertain future. What price must she pay to stay? What is the cost of letting go?

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Review:  I finished this book this morning, and actually I am hard pressed to know what to say about it. This doesn't happen to me very often.

I have mixed emotions about this one and I can't pinpoint what it is.

I enjoyed the book, but it didn't wow me like some book do. In fact, it kind of left me confused.

I think I will edit this review once I have time to let the story settle in my mind.

~  edit 4/11/15

I'm still very undecided about this book. It is an enjoyable read, but it left me with far more questions then answers. There are a whole lot of plot holes in this one that really just make it hard to grasp what was going on.

I think the best way to explain this book is to look at it in science fiction terms.

Kitty life in 1962 as a single woman and a bookshop owner and her life in 1963 as Katharyn Andersson, wife and mother.

The book explains her "other" life as a dream, but one that feels real, and one that has root in people that she really knows.

The way Kitty deals with trying to find answers for her dreams works. It feels like something that anyone that might be having dreams that felt that real, might do. But I couldn't really understand a lot about her, especially her not sharing this sort of dream with her best friend and partner.

And then towards the end when she couldn't figure out which world was reality, I found myself getting more and more baffled. There was no explanation for the second life she was experiencing or how she was getting out of it.

The way she treated Freida in her alternate married life, didn't sit well with me either, not did her treatment of her autistic son. Another plot hole if you ask me. I wondered if there was any significance in her son having this disease and her double life, but again, we were left without any answers.

I can't say it enough, that this book left me wondering more than it satisfied me.

Rating: 3 flowers

About Cynthia Swanson

Cynthia Swanson is a writer and a designer of the midcentury modern style. She has published short fiction in 13th Moon, Kalliope, Sojourner, and other periodicals; her story in 13th Moon was a Pushcart Prize nominee. She lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children. The Bookseller is her first novel.

Find out more about Cynthia at her website and connect with her on Facebook.

TLC Book Tours Book Review: A Reunion Of Ghosts

About A Reunion of Ghosts

• Print Length: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper (March 24, 2015)
• Book Blurb:
Three wickedly funny sisters. One family's extraordinary legacy. A single suicide note that spans a century ... Meet the Alter sisters: Lady, Vee, and Delph. These three mordantly witty, complex women share their family's apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. They love each other fiercely, but being an Alter isn't easy. Bad luck is in their genes, passed down through the generations. Yet no matter what curves life throws at these siblings—and it's hurled plenty—they always have a wisecrack, and one another. In the waning days of 1999, the trio decides it's time to close the circle of the Alter curse. But first, as the world counts down to the dawn of a new millennium, Lady, Vee, and Delph must write the final chapter of a saga lifetimes in the making—one that is inexorably intertwined with that of the twentieth century itself. Unspooling threads of history, personal memory, and family lore, they weave a mesmerizing account of their lives that stretches back decades to their great-grandfather, a brilliant scientist whose professional triumph became the sinister legacy that defines them. Funny, heartbreaking, and utterly original, A Reunion of Ghosts is a magnificent novel about three unforgettable women bound to each other, and to their remarkable family, through the blessings and the burdens bestowed by blood.

  Praise

 “What if the man who invented chemical weapons was also a grandfather, and what if his great-grandchildren grew up to be three hilarious, introverted, deeply-haunted sisters? And what if those sisters co-wrote a fascinating, funny, and deeply sad 350-page suicide note? Then you’d have A Reunion of Ghosts. This is a triumphant, beautiful, and devastating novel about coincidences, family, and the sins of our fathers.” — Anthony Doerr, New York Times bestselling author of All The Light We Cannot See

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Review:  A Reunion of Ghosts is one of the most unique books I've read recently.  It wasn't an easy read, in fact, for awhile, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish it. It took me quite a bit of time to warm to Lady, Vee and Delphie.

Three sisters, who come from an unusual family. Their great grandfather is is the father of chemical warfare. Not exactly something you want to brag about. His works seem to fuel a curse in the family. A curse that sees many of the family members committing suicide. The sister's plan to kill themselves on the last day of the year in 1999.

The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children to the 3rd and 4th generations. 

This is something that their mother Dahalia has said in regards to their family and it is so important that Delphine had it tattooed to her leg.

I found the first few chapters to be a bit confusing, but when the focus went to Lenz and Iris and the Einstein family, I was hooked. I read a great biography on Albert Einstein several years ago, and I like seeing how others see the genius.

The story alternates between events in the sister's lives and the past. I had a hard time dealing with the reasons the sister's wanted to commit suicide together. Ok, I could understand why Vee would want to. She has the worst luck of the three sisters, at least where her health is concerned.

It's Lady whose suicide attempts confused me the most. I didn't feel like there was a good reason for her wanting to take her life. (She has tried multiple times throughout the course the novel)

Just when they think they are going to do the deed, something happens. One of the family members that they thought was dead appears at their apartment and for a brief time, they see that maybe they aren't cursed.

The ending is bittersweet, and after meeting their aunt Violet and her son, I expected something different, but I still enjoyed the book even though things didn't end on a happy note.

About Judith Claire Mitchell

Judith Claire Mitchell, author of the novel The Last Day of the War, is an English professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she directs the MFA program in creative writing. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Judy has received fellowships from the James A. Michener/Copernicus Society, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and elsewhere. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband, the artist Don Friedlich. Find out more about Judith at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

Book Review: Cancel The Wedding

Author: Carolyn T. Dingman
Title: Cancel The Wedding
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: Aug 5, 2014
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours
Book Blurb: 

A heartfelt fiction debut that will appeal to fans of Emily Giffin’s Southern charm and Jennifer Weiner’s compelling, emotionally resonant novels about the frustrations of blood ties, Cancel the Wedding follows one woman’s journey to discover the secrets of her mother’s hidden past—and confront her own uncertain future.

On the surface, Olivia has it all: a high-powered career, a loving family, and a handsome fiancé. She even seems to be coming to terms with her mother Jane’s premature death from cancer. But when Jane’s final wish is revealed, Olivia and her elder sister Georgia are mystified. Their mother rarely spoke of her rural Southern hometown, and never went back to visit—so why does she want them to return to Huntley, Georgia, to scatter her ashes?

Jane’s request offers Olivia a temporary escape from the reality she’s long been denying: she hates her “dream” job, and she’s not really sure she wants to marry her groom-to-be. With her 14-year-old niece, Logan, riding shotgun, she heads South on a summer road trip looking for answers about her mother.

As Olivia gets to know the town’s inhabitants, she begins to peel back the secrets of her mother’s early life—truths that force her to finally question her own future. But when Olivia is confronted with a tragedy and finds an opportunity to right a terrible wrong, will it give her the courage to accept her mother’s past—and say yes to her own desire to start over?

Review: I love books that involve a family mystery and this is definitely one of those reads. Don't call it chicklit though. I wouldn't lump it in with that genre. Its a beach read or a vacation read. The kind of book you want to sit down with in one afternoon and finish, even though its 400 pages long!

It was easy to see from the prologue that part of the mystery involved Jane's childhood friends, George and Oliver. Her daughter's names are Georgia and Olivia....hmmmm...but you'll find out more about that later.

I could totally understand Olivia's taking off, after Leo's setting the date for their wedding without even discussing it with her. I would have done more than leave my ring in the bathroom. I probably would have shoved it somewhere not to pleasant feeling.

Logan is a fun character too. I love the interactions with Olivia, especially at the beginning. She's more than your typical fourteen year old. There are definitely times when she acts more like the adult than her aunt.

There's also a romance that brews between Olivia and Elliot a local newspaper owner. He is just perfect. Of course, when you compare him to Leo, you have to think he's perfect. Leo is just a workaholic and there really doesn't feel like there's any real love between him and Olivia.

I absolutely loved everything to do with them finding out about Janie's life in Georgia. There was so much to it and it will really play on your emotions.

Oh and the title doesn't necessarily mean the wedding you think it means.

This book is full of everything I love, families, mystery and a who gamut of emotions. And yes, you will cry a few times while reading this!

Rating: 5 flowers

TLC Book Tours Book Review: Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932

About Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932

• Print Length: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper (April 22, 2014)

Paris in the 1920s. It is a city of intoxicating ambition, passion, art, and discontent, where louche jazz venues like the Chameleon Club draw expats, artists, libertines, and parvenus looking to indulge their true selves. It is at the Chameleon where the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club’s loyal denizens, including the rising photographer Gabor Tsenyi, the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol, and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine.

As the years pass, their fortunes—and the world itself—evolve. Lou falls in love and finds success as a race car driver. Gabor builds his reputation with vivid and imaginative photographs, including a haunting portrait of Lou and her lover, which will resonate through all their lives. As the exuberant twenties give way to darker times, Lou experiences another metamorphosis that will warp her earnest desire for love and approval into something far more sinister: collaboration with the Nazis.

Told in a kaleidoscope of voices, Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 evokes this incandescent city with brio, humor, and intimacy. A brilliant work of fiction and a mesmerizing read, it is Francine Prose’s finest novel yet.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble

Review: I have to admit that this book was a bit difficult for me to read, yet I was totally fascinated by some of the characters.

I was intrigued by Lou, who the vast majority of the story is about. She is a woman that history is trying to forget. I also liked Gabor. He was really an interesting character, and I loved his articles and letters.

When I read the opening pages, I thought maybe this book was going to be something like Moulin Rouge, but that isn't the half of it. Lou's character is based on Violette Morris and as I found out more about her, it became a little easier to read the book.

I think I would have enjoyed the story more, if it weren't told from so many different sources, but they all link back to Lou. It felt a bit disjointed to me at the times at the beginning, but as the story developed it was easier to piece each character's role in Lou's sad tale.

It was a slow read and one I had to put down a few times, but not because the story or anything about it was bad, but it wasn't light reading for me, especially knowing that there had been a woman out there like Lou Villars.

She's a character you really didn't know how to feel about. In some ways you felt terribly sorry for her. Her life wasn't all that great and she ended up being brain washed by the Nazis, which led to her becoming a spy and a torturer.

It is a fascinating period of time and Lou's story is a unique one.

It wasn't an easy read, but it was definitely worth reading.

Rating: 4 flowers

About Francine Prose

Francine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife and the New York Times bestsellerReading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director’s Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She lives in New York City.

Book Review: When The Cypress Whispers

Author: Yvette Manessis Corporon

Title: When The Cypress Whispers

Publisher: Harper

Publish Date: April 1, 2014

Buy: Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours

Book Blurb: 

On a beautiful Greek island, myths, magic, and a colorful cast of mortals come together in a lushly atmospheric debut celebrating the powerful bond between an American woman and her Greek grandmother.

The daughter of Greek immigrants, Daphne has been brought up to believe in the American dream. When her husband dies in a car accident, leaving her with an inconsolable baby and stacks of bills, she channels everything she has into opening her own Greek restaurant. Now an acclaimed chef and restaurateur, she has also found a second chance at love with her wealthy, handsome fiancé.

Although American by birth, Daphne spent many blissful childhood summers on the magical Greek island of Erikousa, which her grandmother still calls home. At her Yia-yia’s side, she discovered her passion for cooking and absorbed the vibrant rhythms of island life, infused with ancient myths and legends lovingly passed down through generations. Somehow her beloved grandmother could always read her deepest thoughts, and despite the miles between them Daphne knows Yia-yia is the one person who can look beyond Daphne’s storybook life of seeming perfection to help her stay grounded. With her wedding day fast approaching, Daphne returns to Erikousa and to Yia-yia’s embrace.

The past and the present beautifully entwine in this glorious, heartfelt story about a woman trapped between the siren call of old-world traditions and the demands of a modern career and relationship. When Daphne arrives on Erikousa with her daughter, Evie, in tow, nothing is the way she recalls it, and she worries that her elderly Yia-yia is losing her grip on reality. But as the two of them spend time together on the magical island once again, her grandmother opens up to share remarkable memories of her life there—including moving stories of bravery and loyalty in the face of death during World War II—and Daphne remembers why she returned. Yia-yia has more than one lesson to teach her: that security is not the same as love, that her life can be filled with meaning again, and that the most important magic to believe in is the magic of herself.

Review:  When The Cypress Whispers is truly one of the most beautiful and beautifully written works of women's fiction that I've read in quite a long time.

Yvette brings the Greek island, Erikousa and all its inhabitants to life. This is possibly the most vivid novel that I've read. I really felt like this book was a feast for all of the senses. Everything just came to life for me as I read.

I loved Yia-yia. She was the kind of grandmother that we all dream of having. Her relationships with Daphne and her daughter, Evie help to make this novel such a wonderful read.

The story is about relationships and dreams and how sometimes the dreams we have have aren't necessarily the one's that are right for us. When Daphne comes back to the island she learns that the money she thinks is so important, really isn't.

We get wonderful snapshots of Daphne's life growing up, both on the island and in New York. You get to see her relationships with the men in her life, her first husband, Alex, her fiance, Stephen and her grandmother's young friend Yianni.

I felt bad for Stephen for part of the book, knowing early on that it wasn't likely that he would end up marrying Daphne, but then there was a scene where they were discussing Yia Yia and a nursing home, and I knew right then and there, that I hated him,

This was a wonderful read that left me with tears in my eyes towards the end. A lot of tears.  The actual ending came as quite a surprise. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

Definitely one of this year's must read books, perfect for the summer reading season.

Rating: 5 flowers

AUTHOR LINKS:

• Website
• Twitter
• Facebook

TLC Book Tours Book Review: Clever Girl

Author: Tessa Hadley
Title: Clever Girl
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: March 4, 2014
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours
Book Blurb:

Like Alice Munro and Colm Tóibín, Tessa Hadley possesses the remarkable ability to transform the mundane into the sublime—an eye for the beauty, innocence, and irony of ordinary lives that elevates domestic fiction to literary art. In Clever Girl, she offers the indelible story of one woman’s life, unfolded in a series of beautifully sculpted episodes that illuminate an era, moving from the 1960s to today. Written with the celebrated precision, intensity, and complexity that have marked her previous works, Clever Girl is a powerful exploration of family relationships and class in modern life, witnessed through the experiences of an Englishwoman named Stella. Unfolding in a series of snapshots, Tessa Hadley’s involving and moving novel follows Stella from childhood, growing up with her single mother in a Bristol bedsit, into the murky waters of middle age.

It is a story vivid in its immediacy and rich in drama—violent deaths, failed affairs, broken dreams, missed chances. Yet it is Hadley’s observations of everyday life, her keen skill at capturing the ways men and women think and feel and relate to one another, that dazzles, pressing us to exclaim with each page, Yes, this is how it is.

Review: I have to say Tessa Hadley's novel Clever Girl left me a bit befuddled. Stella seldom came across as a Clever Girl. In fact, many of her life decisions made me think she was more a foolish girl. She was a hard character to like and as the story progressed, though she showed signs of being "clever" she wasn't really.

I didn't like Stella, much at all. I wanted to warm to her, but she was just not someone I could really invest any emotion in. It is supposed to be a story about ordinary life, but it is really anything but. Stella is so messed up.Her family is so messed up and she just follows suit, only she has a brain. She could have been something early on, but she made so many mistakes, mistakes that ordinary people make, but somehow because they happen so often to her, it makes the ordinary, less ordinary.

So much of her life seemed to go back to her boyfriend from her teenage years, and when she gets to see him again, it is very anti-climatic.

I really had to plod my way through this one, which is a shame because the book was well written, it was just Stella.

It took me days to get through a book that only had 250 pages is not a good. I wanted to like this book so much, but it just didn't work out for me.

Rating: 3 flowers

About Tessa Hadley

Tessa Hadley is the author of four highly praised novels: Accidents in the Home, which was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award; Everything Will Be All Right; The Master Bedroom; and The London Train, which was a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of two short-story collections, Sunstroke and Married Love, both of which were New York Times Notable Books as well. Her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker. She lives in London.

TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Perfume Collector

Author: Kathleen Tessaro
Title: The Perfume Collector
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: May 14, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours & the publisher

Book Blurb: A remarkable novel about secrets, desire, memory, passion, and possibility. Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor. Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is. The Perfume Collector explores the complex and obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent.

Review: If there is a novel that is a must read, this book is it. The writing style is beautiful and it is easy to get caught up in the lives of Grace and Eva. Both women will captivate you, most especially Eva who comes from the most humble upbringings.

If you are a fan of M.J. Rose's last two novels, this book will definitely appeal to you, as you get a wonderful glimpse into the world of fragrances. This is something I really found fascinating, especially at one point where they captured the scent of snow and even more so when they found a formula that was looking for the scent of hair.

The story weaved the lives of these two women perfectly. Eva's story is told as Grace continues to look for clues on Eva's life, as she essentially left her estate to her, and Grace had never met her once in her life. (OK, she thinks she hasn't, but to tell you more would be SPOILERS).

I loved getting to know Eva, and while doing so, watch Grace become a different woman.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it. I reminded me of several wonderful books that I have read in the past year, The Shoemaker's Wife, The Book Of Lost Fragrances and The Baker's Daughter.  There are certain aspects of this story that seemed similar to that of these three book, perhaps the writing style as well, though M.J. Rose's novel is much more complex a read. The Perfume Collector is  much lighter, but seeped in history, as these other books are.

This book was easily one of the best I've read this year, engaging and wonderful, a page turner til the end.

Rating: 5 flowers

TLC Book Review: The Shoemaker's Wife

Author: Adriana Trigiani
Title: The Shoemaker's Wife
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: April 3, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher

Book Blurb: he fateful first meeting of Enza and Ciro takes place amid the haunting majesty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the last century. Still teenagers, they are separated when Ciro is banished from his village and sent to hide in New York's Little Italy, apprenticed to a shoemaker, leaving a bereft Enza behind. But when her own family faces disaster, she, too, is forced to emigrate to America. Though destiny will reunite the star-crossed lovers, it will, just as abruptly, separate them once again—sending Ciro off to serve in World War I, while Enza is drawn into the glamorous world of the opera . . . and into the life of the international singing sensation Enrico Caruso. Still, Enza and Ciro have been touched by fate—and, ultimately, the power of their love will change their lives forever. A riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny, inspired by the author's own family history, The Shoemaker's Wife is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write.

Review: I've had Adriana's books on my TBR pile for ages. This is the first book I've gotten around to reading and boy am I glad I did.

There is absolutely nothing not to love about The Shoemaker's Wife. You start with the cover that is so hard to pull your eyes from and then you sink into the story itself.

You fall in love with the characters. I loved that Ciro took center stage over Enza for the greater part of the book. He was a character with faults, but he was so genuine that you loved him for them. He wasn't perfect but he was believable. Enza was almost too good to be true, but you wanted good things for her.

It seemed like forever before these two finally found each other at the right time. Fate really found ways of keeping them apart throughout the whole novel.

Adriana paints a vivid picture of NYC in the 1900s, when the US was welcoming immigrants from all over. The story of Ciro and Enza is not a happy one in many ways. Like many of the families that came to the US then, it was life that conspired to send them from their homeland. Adriana shows us their struggles as well as their triumphs. Both characters build lives in NYC and then in Minnesota.

There's only been one other book that brought me to tears this year and that was Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter.

Everyone should read at least one of Adriana's books. I highly recommend this one and I'm soon going to go through all the others sitting on my shelves, because I think I'm addicted to her writing. This book is definitely a must read! If I could give it more than 5 flowers I would.

Rating:  5 flowers

About Adriana Trigiani: Adriana Trigiani is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. The author of the Big Stone Gap series; Very Valentine; Brava, Valentine; Lucia, Lucia; The Queen of the Big Time; and Rococo, she has also written the bestselling memoir Don’t Sing at the Table as well as the young adult novels Viola in Reel Life and Viola in the Spotlight. Her books have been published in thirty-six countries, and she has written and will direct the big-screen version of her first novel, Big Stone Gap. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. Visit Adriana at her website: www.adrianatrigiani.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Uninvited Guests

Author:Sadie Jones 
Title:The Uninvited Guests
Publisher: Harper
Publish Date: May 1, 2012
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours and the publisher
Book Blurb: One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.

The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors is not invited to taste. But nothing, it seems, will go according to plan. As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels.

Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.

Review: This book is not what I expected, and I mean that in an absolutely good way. I've never enjoyed a book that was so full of characters that you can't like. The Torringtons' are getting ready for a birthday supper for Emerald when things start falling apart. They've actually been falling apart for awhile, but the events that follow really get things crashing. (Literally)

A train accident is the cause of the upheaval in their lives.

Sterne is apparently the only house for miles and when the accident occurs, many of the passengers are sent there until they can continue on their journey. You would think this would cause these people to be filled with compassion!

HA!

I couldn't believe how they treated them. It really left me flummoxed!  They were so incredibly rude. They put them away like something to be hidden and went on with the planned birthday party! They didn't even offer the victims refreshment! They were in a train accident!!!!!

Then there was the man from Charlotte's past. And he reveals a secret that no one could have expected!

For all intents and purposes I shouldn't have liked this book, but I did. The only character that I really liked was Smudge, and her peculiar Great Undertaking!

I loved the time period that this book was set in (the early 1900s in Britain). Such snobbery, even when funds are low. Oh how they soldier on! And like all the well to do there are secrets that really make an unusual story even greater.

If you are looking for a little something different/unexpected to read. This is your book!

Rating 4 flowers