Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Random House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random House. Show all posts

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Book Review: The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White





Title: The Night the Lights Went Out
Author: Karen White
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: April 11, 2017

About the book:  Set in the gilded realm of Sweet Apple, Georgia, THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT achieves a magnetic sense of place, and with good reason—it is the first novel White, the “Queen of southern fiction” (Huffington Post), has set in her own community, the affluent suburbs of Atlanta. She puts you in the carpool line made up of giant SUVs and has you rolling your eyes at the Head Mom in Charge’s passive aggressive tactics, bless her heart.


In THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, recently divorced Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to Sweet Apple, Georgia. It’s not her first time starting over, but her new beginning isn’t helped by an anonymous local blog that reveals for the whole town the scandalous affair that caused her marriage to fail. And Merilee’s new landlord, the proud, irascible, Atlanta born-and-bred 93-year-old Sugar Prescott, certainly isn’t helping.

But off Sugar’s property, Merilee finds herself swallowed into the town’s most elite ranks—its inner circle of wealthy school moms—thanks to her blossoming friendship with the belle of Sweet Apple, Heather Blackford. But behind the tennis whites, shiny SUVs, and immaculate women, lurk generations of secrets and resentments. And Merilee quickly learns that, in a town where appearance is everything, sins and secrets can be found in equal measure in the dark woods on Sugar’s property, and within the gated mansions of her newfound friends…

~I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Berkley via Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.~

My thoughts: I really enjoy books set in the South, they always have a different sort of feel to them.  Merilee was likable, if somewhat naive, but given her circumstances I will cut her some slack.  I loved Sugar - crusty on the outside, but very caring and loyal underneath - just don't get on her bad side!  Of course there are a couple of men in the story - Dan Blackford, "Ken to Heather's Barbie", and a successful doctor to boot! And Wade, grandson of Sugar's best friend and potential love interest for Merilee.

Full of "southernisms"  (Bless her heart. . . ) the anonymous blog/blogger lent some humor and wisdom to the goings on in Sweet Apple.  There are lots of secrets that get spilled, lots of family - much of it dysfunctional, and lots of love and loyalty.  And if you are familiar with the song that I am sure the book takes its name from, there is also murder.

It was a very quick read and I liked the way that it would jump back in time and share Sugar's history.  The intermittent blog posts were also fun to read.  Perfect for this time of year, it would be a great beach read!

Excerpt from : The Night the Lights Went Out

A cluster of moms stood in the parking lot surrounded by high-end SUVs following first day drop-off at Windwood Academy. The women appeared to be listening with rapt attention to the tall blond woman in the center of their semi-circle, her hair arranged perfectly beneath her white tennis visor, her long and lean limbs brown and glowy. Merilee noticed this last part only because her ex-mother-in-law had given her a bottle of glowy lotion for her last birthday and Lily had told her it made her look sparkly like Katy Perry in one of her videos. Merilee had thrown out the remainder of the bottle, realizing she wasn’t the type anymore to look glowy much less sparkly.

But the blonde definitely was. Her whole body glowed. Her face glowed. Even the hair visible beneath the visor appeared to be lit from within. The woman looked vaguely familiar, and Merilee realized she’d probably been one of the mothers she’d met at the open house the previous week. She’d only been to the one let’s-get-acquainted event, her work schedule precluding any of the various parties that were held almost exclusively on weekdays when she worked.

Merilee was terrible with names, had been ever since she started dating Michael. He was so good at it, always reminding her who everyone was when they were at a party, that she’d simply stopped trying. She hoped she was only out of practice instead of permanently disabled. Her children’s futures probably depended on it since Michael wouldn’t be there to make sure Merilee remembered the names of Lily’s friends who were or were not speaking to each other. And which of Colin’s teachers appreciated his dreamy attitude and those who didn’t. It had always been a game with them—her recalling every detail about a friend or teacher, details always overlooked by Michael—and then he’d fill in the missing part—the name. But now she had to do it all on her own.

She smiled vaguely in the direction of the blond woman and her entourage and had almost made it to her van when she heard her name being called.

“Merilee? Merilee Dunlap?”

Great. The woman not only remembered her first name, but her last as well. Forcing a warm smile on her face, Merilee turned. “Oh, hello. It’s good to see you again.”

The other women parted like the Red Sea as the tall blond walked toward Merilee and she remembered that the woman had been wearing a Lily Pulitzer sundress and two-carat diamond stud earrings when they’d met before. But she didn’t remember her name. “I thought that was you. I looked for you in Mrs. Marshall’s homeroom. I’m the room mother and wanted to welcome Lily myself.”

Merilee remembered the voice. It was very Southern, heavily laced with dropped consonants and elongated vowels. The most memorable part about it was that it sounded exactly like Merilee’s mother.

“We were running a bit late this morning.” Feeling suddenly short and frumpy in her dark skirt and blazer, Merilee had the strong urge to explain. “My son couldn’t find his new uniform shoes. They somehow managed to find their way back into the box they came in and then got shoved so far under his bed that it took nearly twenty minutes to locate them. And then Lily spilled her bowl of cereal and milk down the front of her skirt, and I had to quickly iron one of her other ones so she could wear it.”

The woman gave her a warm smile from behind dark Chanel sunglasses as if she knew exactly what it was like to be a frazzled single mother. “Bless your heart. And on the first day at a new school. You’ll get used to the routine, I promise. It took me a whole month to realize that I should have a skirt and blouse for every school day plus one, and have Patricia have them cleaned and ironed as soon as my girls dropped them on the floor.”

Not exactly sure how to reslake, Merilee picked out the first confusing part of the sentence. “Patricia?”

“My house manager. I couldn’t live without her. You know how crazy busy it is with all of the kids’ schedules.” She reached into her large handbag that was more briefcase than purse, with a designer’s logo sprouting over its surface like kudzu. “I was going to stick this in the mail to you, but since you’re here I’ll give it to you now. It’s a sign-up sheet for parties and field trips—it lists everything for the year. Just let me know your availabilities and ask Lily to bring it in to school and give to Bailey as soon as you can. Bailey is very responsible and will make sure it gets to me.” The woman smiled, her teeth perfect. “Only sign up for four—every mother wants to be at every single event, but then it just gets crowded—plus there won’t be room on the bus for the kids.”

“Only four…” Merilee took the list and looked at it, almost letting out an audible sigh when she saw the woman’s name at the top of the page, Heather Blackford, Class Mother, followed by three different phone numbers. Now she remembered. Heather had a daughter in Colin’s class, too, both girls’ names starting with ‘B’.

“Yes. And if you could turn it back in tomorrow that would be terrific. I’ll have Claire put it all in a spreadsheet and I’ll email it to all the mothers. Please write neatly—Claire has a way of butchering your name if she can’t read it.”

“Claire?”

“My personal assistant. She’s only part time but I would simply die of exhaustion without her.”
The ladies behind her all nodded in understanding.

“Yes, well, I’ll take a look at it and get it back to you tomorrow.” Merilee was already wondering how she was going to approach her boss to ask him for more time off. The divorce and move had already eaten up all of her vacation time, and although Max was kind and understanding, everyone had their limits.

“And don’t forget the ‘I survived my first week of fourth grade’ party at my lake house this Saturday. I’ll be handing out disposable cameras to all the moms and dads to take pictures throughout the year at our various events—I like to do little photo albums for all the kids and the teachers at the end of the year.” She beamed, like it was just a small thing. “Oh, and I took the liberty of signing you up for a dessert because we’re overrun with vegetables and dip and pimiento cheese. I figured you’d know how to make something sweet.”

“Oh…” Merilee simply blinked her eyes for a moment, wondering if Heather had meant to be insulting.

“Because you’re from South Georgia. You mentioned that when we met. You said I had the same accent as your mother.”

Feeing oddly relieved, Merilee said, “Yes, of course. Where did you say you were from?”
“Here and there—but mostly Georgia. I can always tell a native Georgian. Hard to hide it, isn’t it? It’s almost like no matter how far you go in life, all you have to do is open your mouth and somebody knows exactly where you’re from.”

There was something in the way Heather said it that made Merilee pause. “Yes, well, I’ll call my mother today and ask her what she might recommend.”

“Wonderful.” Heather beamed. She pointed a key fob toward a black Porsche SUV with vanity plates that read YERSERV, and the rear door slowly raised. As the other mothers oohed and ahhed appropriately, Merilee stared into the trunk where fourteen metallic gift bags with blue or pink tissue paper expertly pleated at the tops were arranged in neat rows.

Heather moved toward the car. “A little lagniappe—that’s Cajun for ‘a little extra’ to all of my Yankee friends—for the first day of school. My treat. I thought we could each give our children a bag at pickup today and then head over to Scoops for ice cream afterwards. I’ve already reserved the party room at the back of the store. Claire is picking up the helium balloons this morning and will have it all decorated in Windwood colors.”

“You are just too much,” one of the mothers said as the other women eagerly stepped toward the car and took a bag.


Since Karen White burst onto the publishing scene, she has written eleven New York Times bestsellers, created the beloved Tradd Street series, and left readers on the edge of their seats awaiting each year’s new standalone novel. I have reviewed one of her earlier books, The Lost Hours, and have many more on my TBR list - including Flight Patterns!

FLIGHT PATTERNS tells the story of Georgia Chambers, a fine china expert who left her family years before and is forced to return home and repair the relationships she’s carefully avoided. To embrace her own life—mistakes and all—she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep.


Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including the Tradd Street series, The Night the Lights Went OutFlight PatternsThe Sound of GlassA Long Time Gone, and The Time Between. She is the coauthor of The Forgotton Room with New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband and two children near Atlanta, Georgia.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Review: Death at a Fixer-Upper by Sarah T. Hobart

Title: Death at a Fixer-Upper
Author: Sarah T. Hobart
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: May 17, 2016

About the book: In Sarah T. Hobart's wickedly funny and fast-paced Home Sweet Home mystery series, small-town real estate agent Sam Turner discovers it's bad for business when her clients keep dropping dead.

Newly armed with her real estate license, Sam Turner loves Arlinda, her quirky seaside hometown in Northern California. But life by the beach isn't exactly a breeze: She and her teenage son, Max, are being evicted from their apartment, her long absent ex-husband unexpectedly resurfaces, and her possibly romantic relationship with sexy Chief of Police Bernie Aguilar is, well . . . complicated. All Sam wants is a quick and easy sale. What she gets instead is a killer headache—or three.

Sam's trying to drum up interest in 13 Aster Lane, a rambling Victorian fixer-upper that's more than a little neglected—and possibly haunted—so when a trio of offers arrive out of the blue, she can't help thinking it's too good to be true. But after a new client drops dead on the property, she fears she's lost more than a commission. Before Sam's out of house and home, she must unmask a killer targeting her clients, or the only property she'll be moving will be plots—at the local cemetery.

~I received a free copy of Death at a Fixer-Upper from Chatterbox for Random House. #RHMystery Pack #Sponsored.~

My thoughts: This was my third book to read of the cozy mysteries I have received from Chatterbox for Random House.  I must admit this one was not my favorite.  For some reason I had a hard time getting into this story.  I just wasn't invested in Sam in the beginning.  I couldn't get a feel for her very well.  I am thinking that this was maybe no fault of the book, but the fact that I was dealing with an ear and sinus infection - followed 2 days later with my son getting strep throat.  So my focus was on other things.  

Once my health cleared up a little, and I was able to get back into the book - then I became more invested and I had to find out who and why someone was killing all of Sam's clients!  The second half of the book I read in one sitting and it flew by!  While the killer from this book was eventually identified, there is a lot of story here that is just waiting to be told.  Story involving Sam and Bernie, Sam and Wayne, Wayne and Max, Sam and her sister. .. . et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  I want to know where these are all going!   

So, even after a slow start, I would recommend this book for a quick cozy mystery.



Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Book Review: The Skeleton Garden by Marty Wingate

Title: The Skeleton Garden (A Potting Shed Mystery #4)
Author: Marty Wingate

About the Book: USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate’s Potting Shed series continues as expert gardener Pru Parke digs up a Nazi warplane—and a fresh murder.

Texas transplant Pru Parke has put down roots in England, but she never dreamed she’d live in a grand place such as Greenoak. When her former employers offer Pru and her new husband, former Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse, the use of their nineteenth-century estate while they’re away for a year, she jumps at the chance. Sweetening the deal is the prospect of further bonding with her long-lost brother, Simon, who happens to be Greenoak’s head gardener. But the majestic manor has at least one skeleton in its closet—or, rather, its garden.

Working on renovations to the extensive grounds, siblings Pru and Simon squabble about everything from boxwood to bay hedges. But when the removal of a half-dead tree turns up the wreckage of a World War II–era German fighter plane and a pile of bones, the arguments stop. That is, until a rival from Simon’s past pays a surprise visit and creates even more upheaval. It’s suddenly clear someone is unhappy their secrets have been unearthed. Still, Pru’s not about to sit back and let Simon take the fall for the dirty deed without a fight. (from Goodreads)


My thoughts: Being the 4th book in the series, I am afraid there was some backstory that I was missing that might have contributed to a better understanding of the relationships in this book.  As far as the mystery goes, it read well as a stand alone.  However, sometimes there were people or relationships mentioned that I had to go back and try to figure out who they were.  

There is really more than one mystery going on here, beginning with the bones that were dug up when the German plane was unearthed.  It isn't long before another body - this one more recent - is discovered and the list of suspects begins to grow.  It seems like many people may have wanted this gentleman dead - or at the very least - to pay for some of his wrongs from the past. Pru's brother Simon is on this list, and Pru fears that the policeman in charge will find him guilty, due to his inexperience with murder investigations.  For this reason, her husband is running his own investigation in secret. Of course Pru is going to be doing her own investigation as well! 

I enjoyed meeting these characters and hope to go back and get caught up on how they all came to be a family.  It was a quick read and very much a cozy mystery.  All of the gardening references made me hungry for spring to get here so I can get outside and start playing in the dirt!

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Random House Monthly Mystery Chatterbox in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Monday, May 12, 2014

BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge: The One and Only by Emily Giffin


I am very excited to be a part of BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge and am kicking it off with my reivew of The One and Only by Emily Giffin!  To see a full list of the review books, continue reading to the bottom of the post.



The One and Only
by Emily Giffin

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.


My thoughts:  This book started out slow for me, but I was interested enough in Shea that I kept reading.  I soon became invested in Shea's life, wanting to know who she would end up with as well as what career path she would take.  

Shea was raised by her mother, but considers her best friend Lucy's family as her own as well.  When Lucy's mother Connie dies, it leaves a hole in all of their lives, including Coach Carr, her husband, who is also the winning coach of Walker football and has been for years.  Shea's relationship with Coach Carr has changed over the years, from him being her best friend's dad, to mentor, to friend.  She understands and is involved in football in a way that Lucy is not, so is closer to coach than his own daughter.  He has most recently given her a lead on a job that would finally get her out of the Walker atmosphere and start a life of her own.  

The relationships in this book were complex and messy.  And that is what I liked best.  The author does not back away from the uncomfortable, but meets it head on.  She explores unlikely attractions as well as unhealthy ones.  She shows us that what might appear perfect on the outside sometimes hides ugly secrets and the things that make us uncomfortable might really be what's worth fighting for.

I will definitely pick up another book by Emily Giffin!

~I received a complimentary ecopy of The One and Only from BookSparks and Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review as part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.~


Purchase Links: 




THE ONE AND ONLY
by Emily Giffin

Random House; May 20, 2014
432 pages; $28.00 U.S.
ISBN- 978-0-345-54688-3

Check out all the great books that will be reviewed this summer!
May:
The One and Only by Emily Giffin
Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan
Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

June:
The Witch of Belladonna Bay by Suzanne Palmieri
The Revealed by Jessica Hickam
The Walk In Closet by Abdi Nazemian

July:
Elly in Love by Colleen Oakes
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Serenade by Emily Kiebel
Queen of Hearts Vol. 2 by Colleen Oakes


August:
Gravel on the Side of the Road by Kris Raddish
The Curse of Van Gogh by Paul Hoppe
Wild Within by Melissa Hart

Add-ons
My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal
In Bloom by Katie Delahanty

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The Memory Thief by Emily Colin (Book Review)

Title: The Memory Thief
Author: Emily Colin
Publisher: Random House

About the Book: Reminiscent of On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah, readers will adore Emily Colin’s unique and beautifully written debut novel, where one man’s promise to return drives an exquisitely passionate, unforgettable tale of love lost and found.

When Madeleine Kimble’s husband Aiden dies in a mountain climbing accident, Maddie can only think of his earnest promise to return to her and their young son. Aiden’s best friend J.C. feels great remorse over his inability to save him, but J.C.’s grief is also seasoned with the guilt of loving Maddie through the years. Meanwhile, across the country another young man wakes up in a hospital and finds that his memories have been wiped clean, and replaced with haunting dreams of a beautiful woman and a five year old boy whom he feels driven to find. What Nicholas Sullivan discovers upon his journey is utterly unexpected—and it will change all of their lives, especially Maddie’s.

My thoughts:  The Memory Thief is told from three different points of view - Maddie's, Nicholas' and Aiden's (AJ).  In the beginning I would get confused as to whether it was Nicholas or Aiden telling the story, but I quickly got into the flow of it.  

Maddie is dealing with the loss of her husband.  In her own way, she has been preparing for this day for years, as he was a mountain climber and they had lost friends in various accidents before.  Somewhere in the back of her mind I think she knew it was only a matter of time.  She had a bad feeling about the climb he was on and had begged him not to go.  

Aiden's love for Maddie was so strong, and his promise to return so true, that nothing could stop him from coming back.  He just has to keep his promise to her.  He is determined to find some way to get a message to her.  The problem is getting her to believe that it is truly him.

Nicholas can't stop obsessing over this woman and child he only sees in his dreams.  But he has no other memories after a motorcycle accident has wiped his slate clean.  He tries to adjust back to what his old life was, only to discover he has new habits that his friend's can't explain and his girlfriend even says he makes love differently.  He begins to learn more about this other woman and eventually learns her name, as well as the man he sometimes sees in his dreams - Maddie and Aiden. 

J.C. was Aiden's best friend, who also had the unfortunate reality of being in love with Maddie.  He had approached her years before and had made his feelings known - but then backed off and let Aiden and Maddie live their lives.  Maddie would have been lying if she said that she hadn't thought about what it would be like with J.C., but Aiden (and Gabe - their son) was her life.  J.C. had been with Aiden when he died, and he feels guilt over not being able to save him, and guilt for wanting to be with Maddie now that he is gone. 

Emily Colin is able to weave together all of these characters into a wonderful story of loss, love, grief, promises and discovering what it means to live a life of passion.  I loved this book and can't wait to see what else Emily Colin writes in the future. 

~I received a complimentary ecopy of this book from Random House/Edelweiss in exchange for my unbiased review.~

The Memory Thief
Publisher/Publication Date: Random House, Aug 21, 2012
ISBN: 978 - 0345530394
432 pages


Monday, May 28, 2012

Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin (Book Review)

Title: Playing Dead
Author: Julia Heaberlin
Publisher: Random House


About the book: “Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?” 

The perfume-scented letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago.
 
Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself inextricably linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain.  
 
A riveting debut novel from a thrilling new voice, Playing Dead is a mesmerizing story of family, identity, and secrets that can kill.


First sentence: Despite its name, Ponder, Texas, pop. 1,101, isn't a very good place to think. 

My thoughts: This book draws you right in at the beginning with the revealing of the letter that Tommie receives from Rosalina Marchetti claiming that Tommie is really her daughter.   With her father dead, and her mother suffering from dementia/Alzheimer's, she does not know who she can ask to verify if there could be any truth to the letter. When she finally mentions it to her sister Sadie, Sadie reveals a conversation that she overheard as a child between their parents that makes Tommie think her whole life might be a lie. 

Beginning with what she can find out about Rosalina Marchetti, and her husband Anthony Marchetti, a mobster currently in jail in Texas for killing an FBI agent and his family, Tommie starts her journey in trying to figure out who her parents really were. Before she gets too far in her investigation, a reporter comes calling claiming to know something about her and her family ties to the Marchetti's.  Close on his heels are two goons that have her picture and aren't looking for her to bring her good news.  She quickly realizes that she may be in danger, as well as her sister Sadie and Sadie's daughter.  At the insistence of Sadie, she enlists the aid/protection of an old flame, Hudson Byrd. 

She starts uncovering secrets and unknown safety deposit boxes, which only lead to more questions. The trail takes her from Ponder, Texas to Chicago by way of Oklahoma, with a visit to Anthony Marchetti in prison thrown in. 

I really enjoyed this book and had no clue as to how it was going to end.  I loved the "reveal" at the end, as it wasn't something I was expecting.  I am looking forward to seeing what else Julia Heaberlin writes in the future!

~I received a complimentary ecopy of Playing Dead from Random House in exchange for my unbiased review.~

About the author: Julia Heaberlin is an award-winning journalist who has worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Detroit News, and The Dallas Morning News. Before launching her career as an author, she was an assistant managing editor over features sections at large metropolitan newspapers. Many of those sections won national and state journalism awards.The Star-Telegram Life and Arts section was named as one of the Top 10 sections in the country during her tenure. She has edited real-life thriller stories that inform her writing, including a series on the perplexing and tragic murders of random girls and women buried in the desert in Mexico and another on the frightened women of domestic violence. Playing Dead is her debut novel. She lives with her husband and son in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where she is a free-lance writer and is at work on her second book, Lie Still, to be published by Random House in Spring 2013. (from author's website)

You can connect with Julia Heaberlin on Goodreads, Facebook, and on her website.

Playing Dead
Publisher/Publication Date: Random House, May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0345527011
352 pages

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