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 Simon and Schuster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simon and Schuster. Show all posts

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Book Review: The Bracelet by Roberta Gately

Title: The Bracelet
Author: Roberta Gately
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

About the book: Newly heartbroken and searching for purpose in her life, Abby Monroe is determined to make her mark as a UN worker in one of the world's most unstable cities: Peshawar, Pakistan.  But after witnessing the brutal murder of a woman thrown from a building, she is haunted by the memory of an intricate and sparkling bracelet that adorned the victim's wrist.

At a local women's shelter, Abby meets former sex slaves who have miraculously escaped their captors.  As she gains the girls' trust and documents their horrifying accounts of unspeakable pain and betrayal, she joins forces with a dashing New York Times reporter who believes he can incriminate the shadowy leader of the vicious human trafficking ring.  Inspired by the women's remarkable bravery -- and the mysterious reappearance of the bracelet -- the duo traces evidence that spreads from remote villages of South Asia to the most powerful corners of the West, risking their lives to offer a voice to the countless innocents in bondage.

Browse inside The Bracelet

My thoughts: This book was fascinating and tragic at the same time.  It gave me a look inside the world of human trafficking at a time when my local church is getting involved in a local program dealing with human trafficking.  It is really scary to me to think that there may be women in my own community who are trafficking victims - but that is a story for antoher day - back to The Bracelet.

Abby chose to go to Peshawar to get away from a broken heart and an unsatisfying job.  She wasn't really thinking about where she was going, but what she was running from.  When she sees a woman fall from a balcony in Geneva on her way to Peshawar, she has no way of knowing what that even will come to mean to her, but it is really just foreshadowing the events that she will experience in Pakistan.

She is pretty timid at first, pretty introverted, visiting the camp but not really stepping out side the boundaries she has erected for herself.   As she gets to know the women though, her compassion comes to the forefront and she really starts to relate to them and goes out of her way to befriend them.  Abby does not really understand how Najeela, an Afghan woman who works in the UN house that Abby lives in, does not want to do more for these women.  Najeela is just concerned with what her European boyfriend can give her in the way of jewelry,  and how she is going to get past her father's objections when she announces that she wants to marry him.

Nick, a journalist who comes to Pakistan to do an article on Abby, also helps to push Abby out of her comfort zone.  Abby is determined not to cooperate with him, because she does not want to be the subject of an article.  But like with the women in the camp, her carefully constructed walls start to come down and soon her and Nick have stumbled upon some key players in the trafficking world.

LIke I said in the beginning, this was a fascinating read but the tragedy that is happening both here and all over the world is horrifying.  It was quick paced and really kept me glued to the pages.  I would highly recomment this one if you are looking for chick lit with a little soul.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon and Schuster in exchange for my unbiased review.~


Publisher/Publication Date: Gallery Books, Nov 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4516-6912-1
316 pages

Friday, August 5, 2011

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Book Review)

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing

In the not-too-distant future, because of genetic engineering, every human is a ticking time bomb - males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty.  To keep the population from dying out, girls are kidnapped and sold into polygamous marriages.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine is taken, she enters a world of wealth and privilege that both entices and terrifies her.  She has everything she ever wanted -- except freedom.  With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to escape before it is too late.

My thoughts: This was a super dystopian novel that I had a hard time putting down.  Rhine shares her world with two sister wives, Cicely (younger) and Jenna (older).  The three of them are "married" too Linden - son of the wealthy and devious man.  There is no love in the marriages though.  Linden only loved his childhood friend Rose who makes a brief appearance in the beginning of the book.  He is married to these three by his (evil) father in hopes of procreating. 

The girls in this time period are not given any choices.  They are rounded up by the wealthy and either shot or sold depending on their looks and health.  Rhine is kidnapped and leaves behind a brother who has no idea what has happened to her.  She is not happy with her marriage but is doing the best she can to cope.  She meets Gabriel, a servant in the mansion and they become friends. He is the one thing that she looks forward too.

Though the story is mainly about Rhine, Jenna and Cicely are also well-rounded characters.  I particularly liked Cicely.  For some reason I pictured her as the Kirsten Dunst character in Interview with the Vampire.  A grown-up - albeit a spoiled one - in a child's body. 

I don't think of myself as a fan of dystopian - but every one that I have read I have really enjoyed.  I think that I am going to have to start searching them out more! There is a rating of 14 and older for this book, and because of the subject matter that it deals with, I think I would have to agree with that. 


Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy)
Publisher/Publication Date: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ISBN: 9781442418646
358 pages


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Chasing the Red Car by Ellen Ruderman - Giveaway!


Chasing the Red Car
by Ellen Ruderman

Transplanted from her home in the Bronx to the burgeoning San Fernando valley of 1947, Kim Lebow is faced with trouble on every side.  Her home life is rocky and emotionally unpredictable, while the McCarthy era communist witch hunts strike all around, threatening Kim's father and even reaching into her high school.

The political struggles and personal cataclysms that follow change Kim from an open and caring young girl into a political activist and educator, while leaving emotional scars that only time, and the return of the great love of her life, are able to heal.

Drawing parallels between the political repression of the 1950s and the abuses of executive power after 9/11, Chasing the Red Car reminds us that all politics is personal, and that the truth of George Santayana's maxim about history repeating itself can be seen all around us every day.

About the author: Ellen G. Ruderman, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and mental health consultant who has published numerous books and articles about the
challenges of women's quest for autonomy in professional and familial
relationships. CHASING THE RED CAR is her first novel. She holds a
private practice in Encino, CA. Please visit www.chasingtheredcar.com
for more info.
Thanks to Julia Drake PR and the author, I have one copy of this book to giveaway.  To enter, please fill out the entry form - links will be checked, so please be sure to leave them.

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