Blog Tour: Heaven Should Fall by Rebecca Coleman

Title: Heaven Should Fall
Author: Rebecca Coleman
Publisher: Harlequin/Mira

About the book: Alone since her mother's death, Jill Wagner wants to eat, sleep and breathe Cade Olmstead when he bursts upon her life -- golden, handsome and ambitious.  Even putting college on hold feels like a minor sacrifice when she discovers she's pregnant with Cade's baby.  But it won't be the last sacrifice she'll have to make.

Retreating to the Olmsteads' New England farm seems sensible, if not ideal: they'll regroup and welcome the baby, surrounded by Cade's family.  But the remote, ramshackle place already feels crowded.  Cade's mother tends to his ailing father, while Cade's pious sister, her bigoted husband and their rowdy sons overrun the house.  Only Cade's brother, Elias, a combat veteran with a damaged spirit, gives Jill an ally amidst the chaos, along with a glimpse into his disturbing childhood.  But his burden is heavy, and she alone cannot kindle his will to live.

The tragedy of Elias is like a killing frost, withering Cade in particular, transforming his idealism into bitterness and paranoia.  Taking solace in caring for her newborn son, Jill looks up to find her golden boy is gone.  In Cade's place is a deperate man willing to endanger them all in the name of vengeance. . . unless Jill can find a way out.

My thoughts: Rebecca Coleman has done it once again. She has taken what appears to be a normal college kids and a New England family and has laid them bare and shown us all their flaws.  The thing that I find amazing about her writing is how, when she writes about these flaws, she makes them appear seemingly normal.  The issues that are raised, in this case, most notably, the lack of assistance to returning soldiers, stay with you and resurface long after the book has ended.  

Cade has tried to keep Jill separated from his family, but circumstances no longer enable him to keep them separated.  The circumstances have actually thrown them all together on a New England farm.  Jill and Cade, along with Cade's sister Candy, her husband and three boys; his brother Elias, recently home from a tour in Afghanistan, and Cade's mom and dad.  Whew - talk about crowded!  And as I mentioned before, this isn't really a normal family.  

Cade's dad was once the meanest guy in the county - part of the reason Cade left and hadn't returned - but he has had a series of strokes which has mellowed him out some, but left him dependent on Leela, his wife.  Candy and Dodge are not your normal couple.  Candy very much fits her name, and Dodge, being much older, has always been able to take advantage of her to his benefit.  Cade, being back in this environment, also begins to be swayed by Dodge and his warped view of life.   Elias, suffering from PTSD, makes an unhealthy connection with Jill, which only adds to the tragedy.  

I loved The Kingdom of Heaven and this one is a close second to it.  If you are a fan of "happily ever after"  then I would have to tell you to avoid this book!  Of course, if you have a little bit of a sadistic bent that you allow out in your readings, then pick this one up next!

Please enjoy this excerpt as part of Book Trib's Blog Tour/Scavenger Hunt and check out their website to follow the whole tour! 

As Elias extracted himself from the hug and made his way out of the line, I watched him. He was shorter than Cade by a couple of inches, and stockier; his face offered none of the animation that lit Cade’s, but his blue eyes, like his brother’s, were piercing. His expression was more or less the same as the one he wore in the photo. When he looked at me I felt as if he had been watching me all this time, all these months I’d been with Cade, a witness to my secrets. I felt embarrassed when he shook my hand.

Heaven Should Fall
Publisher/Publication Date: Harlequin, Sept 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1389-2
368 pages

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf (Book Review)

Title: One Breath Away
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: MIRA/Harlequin


About the Book: In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom.  Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.


Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands.  Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again.  Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care.  And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.


As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.


My thoughts: I liked the premise of this story and the way that it was told from five different points of view.  The narrators all came from different walks of life and are at different stages of life.  


Meg is a police officer with a child who attends Broken Branch school in Iowa.  On this day, however, her child is with her father for an early start to spring break. Even so, she feels close ties to the children still left inside.  


Will has two grandchildren at the school - grandchildren he just met for the first time weeks earlier.  He had an instant connection to P.J., and they have become very close.  However, P.J.'s sister Augie is a hard nut to crack.  She is much like her mother and Will has a hard time relating to her, in much the same way as his relationship with her mother, his daughter Holly, suffered.  


Augie has not given her grandpa much to work with though.  She grew up hearing her mother complain about her life on the farm and was prejudiced against him before she ever met him.  She would do anything for P.J. though and refuses to leave the school without him.


Holly is in a hospital bed thousands of miles away in Arizona.  She is suffering from burns that cover her hands, arms and part of her head.  Her mother and father flew out and it was the first time she had spoken to them in fifteen years. Her mother has stayed to take care of her and her father has flown home with her children. 


Mrs. Oliver is the third grade teacher whose class the gunman has entered.  It is through her that we learn what we can about the gunman and his motives.  She does her best to keep her class from harm, one of which is P.J.


These five narrators begin to paint a picture of Broken Branch and it's people.  The secrets that we choose not to see, the ones that we do.  Those that we are quick to blame when something goes wrong. I liked the way that secrets were revealed and tension was built.  Unfortunately I had figured out who the gunman was early on, just didn't have a clue to what his motive was.  


~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Media Muscle in exchange for my review.~


DON"T FORGET TO CHECK OUT MY GIVEAWAY FOR A COPY OF THIS BOOK THAT ENDS ON JULY 16.


One Breath Away
Publisher/Publication Date: MIRA, July 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1365-6
384 pages

One Breath Away (Scavenger Blog Tour and Giveaway)

One Breath Away

by Heather Gudenkauf

In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom.  Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.

Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands.  Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care.  And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.

As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

In her most emotionally charged novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf explores the unspoken events that shape a community, the ties between parents and their children and how the fragile normalcy of our everyday life is so easily shattered. 

One Breath Away is touring with a Scavenger Blog Tour Hunt!  My excerpt is below, but I am number 7 on the tour so please visit this link to read all the excerpts! You can also join the author, Heather Gudenkauf for a live chat on July 26!  Click the picture for more details!

(Excerpt from One Breath Away)

Not sounding like my daughter at all. Augie is confident, smart, a take-charge, no one is ever going to walk all over me kind of girl.

“Augie? What’s the matter?” I try to blink the fuzziness of the morphine away; my tongue is dry and sticks to the roof of my mouth.

Interview with Heather Gudenkauf

What draws you to write suspenseful women’s fiction? I’ve enjoyed writing since I was a child – yes, I was one of those kids who did a fist pump whenever the teacher assigned a writing project -but as is typical with most writers, I was and am, first and foremost an avid reader. As a child my favorite place in the world was our public library and I spent as much time as possible with my nose in a book. I loved mysteries and plowed my way through all the Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew Mystery books. One of my favorite mystery series growing up was The Boxcar Children which I recently learned was originally published in 1924. I read all the books that were available when I was a child, and again as an adult I read them to my own children with enthusiasm. Who can resist a story about a tight knit set of orphaned siblings, an abandoned boxcar, a dog, and the mystery surrounding a long lost grandfather?

As I got older, I continued to enjoy mystery and suspense novels but my interests expanded to a variety of genres, including books that explored the intricacies of the human heart: Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Elizabeth Berg’s Pull of the Moon, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and so many more. I’ve always admired the way writers could take me away to different places and times through the written word. I knew I wanted to try my hand at writing but didn’t sit down and seriously begin until after I was married and had my children.  But when I did, I remembered all the stories and books I’ve read through the years, remembered how deftly authors could arrange the words on a page to be suspenseful, heart wrenching, or heart-warming – to evoke all varieties of emotion. My hope is to do the same for my readers.

And last but not least - please enter to win a paperback copy of One Breath Away!  Giveaway is open to U.S./Canada only and will end on July 16, 2012 at midnight.

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The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain (Book Review)

Title: The Midwife's Confession
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Publisher: Mira Books

Dear Anna,

What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry. . .


The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide.  Everything they knew about Noelle -- her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family -- described a woman who embraced life.

Yet there was so much they didn't know.

With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives -- and the life of a desperate stranger -- with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.

My thoughts:  When Noelle commits suicide, seemingly out of the blue, her two best friends try to uncover the Noelle they thought they knew.  The face Noelle presented to the world was that of midwife, supporter of causes - especially ones involving babies, good friend to Tara and Emerson - was not the true Noelle.  For years she has had to deal with the guilt of something she was responsible for - a secret that no one else knew.

After finding a partial letter that Noelle had written before she died, Tara and Emerson set out on a path to try to figure out their best friend.  The story is told from different points of view, but comes together beautifully.  This was a book that I did not want to put down.  I thought I had it figured out, but in the end, I was wrong.

This is a great book exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters, and between women in general.  Again - this would be a great book club pick.  If you haven't read anything by Diane Chamberlain - this would be a good place to start!

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Media Muscle in exchange for my review.~

The Midwife's Confession
Publisher/Publication Date: Mira Books, Apr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2986-2
416 pages

Dead of Wynter by Spencer Seidel (Book Review and Giveaway!)

Title: Dead of Wynter
Author: Spencer Seidel
Publisher: Publishing Works

"Dolly, it's your mother."

Dolly.  Jackie Ruth Wynter had called Alice that for years.  Alice hated it.  Almost as much as she hated her old life as Alice Wynter when she lived with her torn up family in the small town of Redding, Maine.  Her twin brother Chris had been fading fast, transforming into a mirror image of their drunken, violent father.  Now Jackie Ruth was telling her that Papa was dead and Chris was missing.

Alice resigns herself to return, helping her mother and the local police with the mystery surrounding the crime.  But there are some family secrets her mother would sooner take to the grave than reveal.  As the authorities come closer to solving the mystery of the men in her family, she begins to realize her past life as Alice Wynter is the missing part of the puzzle.  But who is searching out the former Alice?

Wynter family secrets run deep, and they all have something to hide in the bone-chilling cold of Maine lake country. The mystery of her father's murder and brother's disappearance will capture your attention well past when the fire has gone out.

My thoughts: I loved this book.  I read it quicker than I have read any book in quite awhile.  I literally did not want to put it down.  The story jumps back and forth between the present time, when Alice goes back to Redding to be with her family and 1984, which is where the circumstances that drive the present day events started.  You get just little bits of the story at a time, some I was able to guess, some not so much.  Just when you thought you were going to get some juicy morsel the author would turn the story to make you wait a little longer.

The present day story wraps up in just a couple of days, but lots of family secrets are unearthed.  Alice thinks she is the only one with anything to hide, but learns that everyone in her family had a secret - some old, some new. She reconnects with an old boyfriend from highschool while she is back in town and is able to eventually heal some wounds that had happened with him. 

I liked the way the author used the Maine weather to play a role in the story.  As the weather intensified, so did the story.  The more the snow fell and covered the landscape, the more secrets were unburied.  I felt satisfied by the ending and felt like all the loose ends had been wrapped up.  Highly recommend this book for anyone who loves mysteries, thrillers, and are fans of good fiction!

About the author: Spencer Seidel lives and works in suburban New Jersey.  This is his first book.  Follow his musings of music, books and other things at http://www.spencerseidel.com/ or on Twitter @SpencerSeidel.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange from my review from Media Muscle.~

Giveaway! 

 Thanks goes out to Erin from Media Muscle in providing a giveaway for one of my readers!

To enter:  Just leave a comment below with your email address.  This contest will end on June 6th and is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

 

For additional entries:  Follow my blog - just tell me how you do it (up to two ways, good for two entries)

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A total of five entries are available - please leave each one in a separate comment.  You only need to leave your email address once.

Winners of all giveaways on Books and Needlepoint are chosen using random.org.

Dead of Wynter

Publisher/Publication Date: Publishing Works, May 24, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-935557-69-2

281 pages