Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine


My pick this week is the second novel historical suspense novel by author Lynn Shepherd featuring private detective Charles Maddox. The first, The Solitary House (aka Tom-All-Alone's) was published in the 2012.


Published as A Treacherous Likeness in the UK in February, A Fatal Likeness will be out in the US in May


A FATAL LIKENESS by Lynn Shepherd
A mystery that explores the dark lives and unexplained secrets of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.

As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.

The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained.


There is this really odd thing where, despite never having read all of Frankenstein -- which now that I remember that is a fact, I'm moving way up both my TBR and to-do lists -- I'm fascinated by Mary Shelley's life. (I watch too much History Channel sometimes.)

Anywho, this part of the synopsis:
[T]hen he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.
has me just super excited to read this and see where it all goes. I've thought their lives would make for great fiction for a while (not talking about the Frankenstein movies, thank you) and while this is after them it's still them and that story.

Really anxious to read this one -- plus, isn't that a fantastic cover?



A Fatal Likeness on Goodreads &Amazon









What are you waiting on this week? Link me to it!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Teaser Tuesday + ICONS Kindle Preview


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 • Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
 • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Today I thought my Teaser Tuesday should be from Icons by Margaret Stohl (really who doesn't want a teaser of that?):

I let myself be pulled.
Almost.
The I hear someone moaning, and I remember we aren't alone.

-from the egalley*, don't know a page number, but 14%**


add it to your Goodreads shelf/shelves here



*egalleys are uncorrected proofs, not supposed to be quoted as they can change so, this quote can change . . . and shouldn't really be a quote -- oops?
**I'll try to update with a page number



get a FREE five chapter preview of the first five chapters:

Monday, April 22, 2013

Isolation ~ Dan Wells review

Isolation (Partials #0.5)
Balzer + Bray
August 28, 2012
~75 pages (enovella)
add to Goodreads/buy on Kindle/or Nook



Two decades before the events of Partials, the world was locked in a different battle for survival: a global war for the last remaining oil reserves on the planet. It was for the Isolation War that the American government contracted the ParaGen Corporation to manufacture the Partials—our last hope in reclaiming energy independence from China. And it was on these fields of battle that the seeds of humanity's eventual destruction were sown.

Isolation takes us back to the front lines of this war, a time when mankind’s ambition far outstripped its foresight. Heron, a newly trained Partial soldier who specializes in infiltration, is sent on a mission deep behind enemy lines. What she discovers there has far-reaching implications—not only for the Isolation War, but for Partials and humans alike long after this war is over.

A powerful take of our world on the brink, Isolation gives readers a glimpse into the history from which Partials was born—as well as clues to where the Partials Sequence is heading next.

After reading Partials last February, I was really excited to read both Fragments, the sequel and "Isolation", the prequel novella. Though, "Isolation", is set prior to Partials, it was released just this past August -- between the releases of the two full length novels in the series.

If you've already read Partials and are looking for some more insight into how the Partials are made, how they come to be and a bit of insight into the Isolation War, I would recommend, "Isolation".

The story is told through Heron and alternates between her inception as a Partial and her assignment inside the Chinese military.

As a stand-alone tale or as an introduction to the series, I'm not sure I would recommend "Isolation." I loved Partials, the characters, their interactions, the plot, the way things unfolded, but, "Isolation" didn't really work for me.

The Chinese generals felt almost like we were hearing the dubbed version of them, if that makes sense. Their dialogue didn't really flow and seemed like it was Chinese translated (a bit oddly) into English before we read it.

That was on top of, perhaps, my bigger trouble with, "Isolation." What was going on with the gender roles in this story? 2060 China and 2060 military is apparently more misogynistic than 2013, which, okay plausible, I guess. But the ease with which Heron knows, accepts and plays into this as well as another place it was part of the story . . . Yes, it worked for what needed to be accomplished, but was it the only way? It felt cheap. Contrasting the treatment of Heron, the only female character, with Kira, Partials main character left me really disappointed.

I liked learning how the Partials were 'conceived' and trained, but I don't feel that this short story was crucial to Partials and I'll see if it plays a role in Fragments as I read it.



Rating: 5/10


A Novel Toybox does, possibly, a better job making some of my same points in her review



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Taken ~ Erin Bowman (earc) review

Taken (Taken #1)
HarperTeen
April 16, 2013
352 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.
It's the day of his brother, Blaine's heist - the last day Gray will ever see his older brother when Taken opens.

As if that's not enough, the pain of losing his brother, the only family he still had -- Gray knows his own Heist is imminently approaching. With his own eighteenth birthday just months away, Gray finds a letter from his mother that makes him question everything he's ever known: his family, the Heist, the uncrossable wall that surrounds Claysoot, everything.

Crossing the wall may be suicide, but with his days already numbered, Gray may be willing to risk trying to find out what's on the other side.


Taken is a book that pulls you in right from the beginning and doesn't let you go. At first, of course, there's just the wondering of what exactly the Heist is -- how it works, what it really is and what, after all, is beyond that wall that no one can cross without dying.

With all of the members of one gender vanishing as they reach adulthood, Claysroot, isn't like society as we know it. It becomes clear, though, that may not be the only thing keeping the village from advancing to what we recognize as 'today.' A lot stays unclear or in question, though.

That's one of the best things about Taken. A more plot-centric (as opposed to character-centric) novel,  a lot happens in Taken. There are plot twists and turns around every corner. As soon as you think one big development is the final one, that the story is finally going to being unraveling, the mysteries revealed, something (often even bigger) happens.

While all of the twists absolutely keep you guessing, it's never to the point of frustration. Rater, it keeps you beyond engrossed, anxious to see how it all comes together (or apart).

With as much focus on the, albeit fabulous, plot, it felt almost like the character development and/or whatever made them characters readers could connect to, wasn't as strong. At the end of the novel, however, they came through stronger. Due both to the strength of the ending as well as the overall arc that's visible for the main characters -- Gray especially. Bowman has created a great job in this complex story and world -- I can't wait to see where things go for him.

It's true that in individual scenes, the story may be what you focus on more than Gray's feelings but at the end it's great to see where he's come from the first page to the last.

The ending really is superb. Except for a small part in the middle that did lag for a bit, the book starts out strong, continues strong and somehow ends even better. Taken was a book I didn't want to end, but one I also couldn't wait to finish, a true accomplishment on Bowman's part! I hate that this book is over, yet love how it ended and cannot wait for Book 2 -- for the developments in the plot and with the characters.

Epic, with an unraveling story that's focused on so much more than the characters or only their centralized world, Taken reminded me of The Hunger Games or Legend,and -- pretty in love with the novel -- I so recommend it. (Also, if there are spoilers anywhere, avoid them. It's a joy to discover this story as you read it, to not know what's coming.)


10/10


you may also enjoy: Variant by Robison Wells and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Legend by Marie Lu





 thank you to Harper for the egalley through Edelweiss


Side note: isn't the cover gorgeous?

Teaser Tuesday


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 • Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
 • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teaser:

"A distant second to guns is knives or any kind of weapon made up of a blade. Last is hand-to-hand combat; thought lethal if if done properly, it can get messy, almost personal.

pg. 45 of Dualed by Elsie Chapman



If you have a Teaser Tuesday post, link me to it!

Monday, April 15, 2013

COVER REVEAL!

How about a cover reveal and interview to start the week off?

Vicki Grove's Everything Breaks will be released in the fall but you get to learn a little bit about it -- and possible WIN a galley copy -- now!!

Putnam Juvenile
October 3, 2013
240 pages


Tucker was supposed to be the designated driver. But there was something about the beauty of that last true summer night, that made him want to feel out-of-control just once. He drank so much and so quickly that he was instantly sick. That left Trey to drive. "I'll catch up to you later," were the last words Tucker would ever say to his friends as he heaved by the side of the road. It was the last time Tucker would ever see them alive.

Tucker’s grief and guilt are just about unbearable and he wonders how he can continue living himself. When he meets the Ferryman who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers that divide the world of the living from the world of the dead, Tucker gets a chance to decide: live or die. The temptation to join his three best friends on the other side may be too much for Tucker to overcome. A gripping, haunting and emotional read.


the interview, with giveaway following are just below so keep reading!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

This is What Happy Looks Like ~ Jennifer E Smith (earc) review

This Is What Happy Looks Like
Poppy
April 2, 2013
416 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon


If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

The email that starts everything couldn't be more unassuming. One that Ellie could have not replied to, could have ignored, not knowing who it was from. But she replied . . . and everything was changed.

Though, I didn't know the summary of this novel -- I think I chose to read it based on enjoying The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and liking this cover, alone -- so I didn't know the two main characters names, relationships or that Graham was a movie star.

TIWHLL begins with Graham and Ellie's email exchanges and it was fun to see how they 'met.' As the story brought in the movie, it became clear -- even not having read the synopsis that states it -- that Graham was Ellie's email buddy and they were going to be in the same location.

I worried it was going to be too much like a teen romance film when her friend Quinn was introduced, especially after Quinn was a fan of Graham Larkin, movie star and Ellie didn't seem to be. That it would be the type of story with too many missed chances, bordering on too much frustration as the main characters can't quite get it together and/or one of them wants the other, but one falls for someone else. Full of broken hearts and tears.

Thankfully, it wasn't.

It did feel a bit cinematic, at times, though. More like a television show or mini series, though where you learn more about the characters and their back stories than you would in a movie. The sweet, cute, summery feeling of Ellie and Graham -- and Henley make TIWHLL a perfect summer read, either fitting in with your summer surroundings or transporting you to an ideal small town summer.

Yet, we also get some depth and a bit of drama. Things aren't entirely smooth sailing for Ellie and Graham, but the hindrance isn't the, at first, obvious one.What it is, along with how it all plays out, brings out a lot about the different characters in the story.

This Is What Happy Looks Like is fun and enjoyable, great for the summer. It starts off fantastically, pulling you in right away and is one you can fly through. Henley, Maine, the town created for the novel reminds me more than a bit (though maybe a bit less eccentric) of Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow and left me wishing it were real.


Rating: 8/10

You may also enjoy:  Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith






thank you to the publisher for the egalley through NetGalley

Friday, April 5, 2013

WHITE LINES ~ Jennifer Banash (arc) review + Giveaway

White Lines
Putnam Juvenile
April 4, 2013
304 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

Whether you're a child of the 80's, born in the 80's or all you know of the 80's is a Madonna song on Pandora, Jennifer Banash's new novel is going to be your next book addiction. White Lines main character, club kid Cat, has illegal drugs, but all you'll need is the novel -- to keep you up all night to finish it.
A gritty, atmospheric coming of age tale set in 1980s New York City.

Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream: she has her own apartment on the Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But when someone comes along who makes her want to truly live, she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control.

Both poignant and raw, White Lines is a gripping tale and the reader won’t want to look away.
White Lines is a novel that you'll stay up finishing (or trying to finish -- depending on the time you have!).

At 304 pages it isn't a very long novel, certainly, yet, I don't know that I could have taken it longer. Not because it's bad, either. The opposite, actually. White Lines is intense and real and gripping and almost overwhelming. A big, long version of Cat's story would have been too much.

Jennifer Banash doesn't skimp on Cat's story anywhere here. We see glimpses of her childhood. scenes of both her mother and father. Though, understandably, mostly her mother. We see how they're both still affecting her today. There's a full immersion in Cat's club kid life, her night's at the club and all that entails for her.

Then there are her days at school. Her 'real world' and attempts at maintaining a semblance of the life that is expected of a seventeen-year-old.

The dichotomy of who Cat is at the club - the in charge, powerful girl who decides who's allowed into the VIP area; in her colorful, outrageous outfits/costumes and makeup - next to the quiet girl who avoids everyone at school, is presented early in the novel:
"The only time I'm really comfortable with the feel of eyes gliding over my skin is at night, hidden behind a veil of powder and paint." - pg 3
"In real life, daylight steals my words like a vampire running from the sun." -pg 6
It's a contrast that almost shouldn't make sense, but because Cat is so well written and feels so real as a character, the daytime and nighttime sides to her both feel believable. (And you hope that she can find a balance.) Cat does seem older than her seventeen years at certain points. Some times because of her actions/schedule. Having her work at the club at night, then attend school during the day was done very well, though. It didn't feel as if she was attending high school as some sort of perfunctory, barely happening activity to keep this a YA novel. It was truly a part both of the novel and her character.

The friendships, relationships were a great part of the novel. Cat had one for both sides of her life and it was easy to see how they each worked for that part of her life. The relationships that form during the novel were not ones that were not ones I expected or not ones I expected to work out as they did. We were given a lot of depth to characters that I was, I suppose, expecting to play more superficial roles.

Banash's descriptions, more present in the beginning, are especially worth noting: "[H]er auburn hair the color of burnished strawberries, her legs wrapped in a pale pink tights. . . made me think of pirouettes, a haze of tutus, feathers drifting slowly across a darkened stage." (pg 9)

This is a coming of age story that is gritty and real; honest and painful; heartfelt and true. Cat's story isn't one that will leave you any time soon.


Rating: 10/10

other books you may also like I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert and Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly



thank you to Penguin, to Stacey for the review copy.

and now for the giveaway . . .  




. . . Click below 



Thursday, April 4, 2013

Hysteria ~ Megan Miranda (earc) review

Hysteria
Walker Children's
February 5, 2013
336 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon

Mallory knows that she killed her boyfriend, Brian. Everyone else, including Brian's mother, knows it, too. What Mallory doesn't know -- and everyone else wants to know -- is why. At least, she can't remember.

Mallory wasn't charged after it was decided she killed Brian in self defense. Getting on with her life isn't as easy as she might have hoped. Brian's mother isn't ready to forgive or forget and Mallory still feels her boyfriend's presence all around her.

More than ready for a fresh start she leaves for boarding school in another state. Full of new faces, Monroe is supposed to be a new start . . . But Mallory's secrets -- and Brian's presence -- don't seem to have stayed in New Jersey. Neither does death.

Mallory will have to find a way to unlock her memories if she wants to finally prove her innocence to others and herself.


Hysteria is Megan Miranda's second novel, after last year's Fracture. I loved and adored and hearted and squished (I don't know!) Fracture so maybe I had too high of hopes for Hysteria (the cover and paragraph teaser posted somewhere helped, too)? It's not that I didn't like Hysteria, I did. I just didn't love it.

I never really connected with Mallory -- who narrates the entire book, so I never really connected with the book as a whole. Obviously she's skilled her boyfriend, stabbed him, so that could be a part of it. But I've read other novels where the main characters are -- human or paranormal -- killers so I do think its possible for them to be characters I can relate to, connect to.

As the whole truth of what happened the night Brian died remains elusive -- and as it starts to come out, I never found myself pulling for Mallory and truly hoping things would turn out in her favor. That she'd be a good person at the end of it all. At the end of Hysteria.

Despite my lack of a connection with Mallory, once she got to Monroe the mystery of the story picked up. About half way through the novel events happened that did leave me wondering how they would play out and what role the different characters would play in them.

There are enough characters, with enough strange little traits that it's hard to figure out how they all play into things. Or if they do.

This really wasn't a book that I could race through -- though if you connect with Mallory, you just may -- but it has some interesting twists.

Megan Miranda has some really great scenes in Hysteria and her settings in the novel are great. My lack of a connection with the books main character really kept me from getting into the book, but I'm definitely looking forward to Vengeance (Fracture #2). 



Rating: 7/10






thank you to Bloomsbury for allowing me to take part in the tour -- and for the egalley through NetGalley

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

This Is the Day ~ Leonard Freed review

This Is the Day: The March on Washington
J Paul Getty Museum
February 5, 2013
128 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon
Getty page for the book

Tomorrow, April 4th, it will be 45 years ago that Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. It's another anniversary, however, that is marked in This Is the Day: The March on Washington: the 50th anniversary of August 28, 1963's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

There's a foreword by Julian Bond that helps provide some historical background on the march's conception as well the behind the scenes preparations. It's only about four pages, but there was a lot in it that I did not know and found both informative and interesting. (Some can, of course, be blamed on my previous limited knowledge.)

The essay is by Eric Michael Dyson, author (of Holler If You Hear Me, among others) and Georgetown Sociology professor. He does a fantastic job of explaining how significant seemingly small things about the march were. Things that were obvious to those present and some now, but not to everyone. He also draws great parallels between the events - not just of that day - fifty years ago and those of today.

Besides giving me new information on things I thought I already knew about, it also presented things differently and/or in combination with things I hadn't thought about before. This Is the Day is a photo-essay, but its essay essay is great.

I appreciated Paul Farber's afterword for the bit of insight it provided into the artist and the taking of the photographs.

I should probably get to the photographs as This Is the Day is a photo-essay, right? Freed's photographs are a fantastic example of photojournalism. While there are also great, current examples, to be sure, there's something about black and white photography that I love. His composition is also really, really good. Shots are framed fantastically, even those that had to have been taken quickly.

The photographs on pages 18 and 19, each with the Washington Monument in the background, though quite differently have interesting composition and focus.

Freed was really in the midst of what was happening that day and you really get a view of who was there and what was happening. Much more so than from anyone who might have stood on the periphery looking in. I really like the the photographs are from the entire day, from before, during and after the march -- it captures the entire day, not only the energetic feeling of the 'while.'

The set of pictures from the 1983 march are a great inclusion, too.

My only critique of the book, interestingly enough, actually arose partially based on information in Dyson's essay. He talks about how they didn't include women . . . which helped me to realize that Getty Publications had no women contribute to This Is the Day.


As an aftersound if you will, I have a woman as my soundtrack song for this book:

Symphony Of Brotherhood feat Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr - Mri Ben-Ari




 

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Sleeping Doll ~ Jeffrey Deaver (review)

Jeffrey Deaver's The Sleeping Doll, the first Kathryn Dance novel, is a bit like the Fox TV show The Following (and at the same time incredibly different). Both follow an agent -- Kevin Bacon's character on The Following and Kathryn Dance, a CBI agent in The Sleeping Doll -- as they deal with a deal with a killer, Joe Carroll for the former and Daniel Pell for the latter. Both Carroll and Pell are charismatic, leaders who present quite a challenge for law enforcement. How their stories play out is quite different, though.


The Sleeping Doll (Kathryn Dance #1)
Simon & Schuster
June 5, 2007
428 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depo/or Amazon


In The Sleeping Doll, Kathryn Dance's week begins normally enough with an interrogation of Daniel Pell. As a kinesics expert, she's been sent to question the, "Son of Manson," in a newly discovered crime. Pell is already serving a life sentence for killing a family. A crime reminiscent of those committed by the Manson Family. Except, Pell's Family wasn't careful. They were caught. And they left someone alive.

The Sleeping Doll.

Hidden in bed by her toys and unnoticed that night, the youngest of the Croyton family, was dubbed the Sleeping Doll. Now, years later, she's still never talked about that night.

So, as Dance questions him about the new murder charge, she finds it an opportunity to learn about the past crimes, about the Family and who Daniel Pell is, as well. After he's transferred back from the Courthouse to the Prison, she'll lose her chance.

But something goes wrong. Pell escapes and Dance is going to have to use every resource at her disposal, everything she learned in their interrogation to track him down -- and keep everyone safe.


It was great that this book started with Kathryn Dance and her interrogation of Daniel Pell. Not only was it a fantastic introduction to who the Kathryn Dance character is and what makes her so special, what she can does, but we get quite an interesting introduction to Daniel Pell, as well.

I loved seeing a great, smart, strong, independent female character in this type of story . . . who has a family. There are other novels I have read and loved (JT Ellison's Taylor Jackson series comes to mind) where the characters were single and/or dating, but I like that Dance has kids. And a house and dogs and the different dynamic that brings to the story. Her love of shoes isn't too bad, either, though I do think she should have changed them more.

The cult leader story line seemed a great way to start Kathryn Dance's series. It has that intrigue and drama -- and Deaver added some drama on top of the obvious, promised drama. The characters present, likely, just for this book were very good and a great part of the story. Those that seem to be more long term, series characters are ones that I'm looking forward to seeing developed over more novels. I want to see how their relationships play out.

 I already know I want to read the third book in the series, XO, as it was what prompted me to find this first book so I can only hope the second is great.

It's mentioned in the book that Dance's mind jumps, "A to B to X," (pg 19). That does seem to be how a lot of things happen in The Sleeping Doll . . . at least at first. Readers are given information A and information B and then, sometimes, X happens without C through W being revealed, yet. It makes the story quite fun and full of twists. Nothing absurd happens. Rather, it's fun to discover the connection of things (even after they happen) instead of knowing how it will all unfold before it does.

If you like being able to figure an entire mystery of a book out before it all unfolds, The Sleeping Doll likely won't be your favorite. If you like twists and turns that are surprising but make sense in the end, then it's a fantastic read.

Rating: 9/10


Book Trailer Friday [@RandomHouse @TransworldBooks]

Beth Dorey-Stein's From the Corner of the Oval  - a tale of being the White House stenographer during the Obama administration will be ...