FRIDAY OUT ON A LIMB: BOOK BEGINNINGS & THE FRIDAY 56 — MAY 18

Welcome to the opportunity to go out on a limb as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

Today I’m excited about a book from next week’s stack:  The Witness, by Nora Roberts, a story about one night’s adventures that turned into a defining moment for one woman.

Blurb:  Daughter of a controlling mother, Elizabeth finally let loose one night, drinking at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever.

Twelve years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer, she designs sophisticated security  systems—and supplements her own security with a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. But Abigail’s reserve only intrigues police chief Brooks Gleason. Her logical mind, her secretive nature, and her unromantic viewpoints leave him fascinated but frustrated. He suspects that Abigail needs protection from something—and that her elaborate defenses hide a story that must be revealed.

With a quirky, unforgettable heroine and a pulse-pounding plotline, Nora Roberts presents a riveting new read that cements her place as today’s most reliably entertaining thriller
author—and will leave people hungering for more.

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Beginning:  (June 2000) -  Elizabeth Fitch’s short-lived teenage rebellion began with L’Oreal Pure Black, a pair of scissors and a fake ID.  It ended in blood.

Wow!  I can’t wait to keep reading!  What do you think?

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p. 56:  They took her to a room with a table and chairs.  One of the officers stayed with her while the other went to get her coffee.

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I’m really excited about this book…and now I’m off to see what the rest of you are spotlighting today.  Go out on a limb…and come by and visit.

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY — FORGOTTEN — APRIL 25

Good morning, and welcome to another Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine.

It’s time to go out on a limb and grab that upcoming release!  Today I’m excited about a book from someone who is fast becoming a favorite author:  Catherine McKenzie’s Forgotten is due out on 10/16/12.

Snippets:  “Imagine if Bridget Jones fell into a million little pieces, flew over the cuckoo’s nest, and befriended Lindsay Lohan along the way….” (Leah McLaren, Globe and Mail columnist, author of The Continuity Girl )

“For fans of The Good Wife, Catherine McKenzie’s Forgotten is a pure page-turning pleasure that combines a clever premise, a compelling character, and law-meets-life to keep you entirely entranced. ” (Gwendolen Gross, author of The Orphan Sister )

“From her big city legal career to earthquake-battered Africa and back again, Emma’s whirlwind of location, circumstance and emotion involves many an unexpected twist. By turns hilarious and heart-tugging, we follow her on her most important journey-that of self-discovery. A thoroughly enjoyable read!” (Juliette Fay, author of Deep Down True )

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Since I absolutely adored both Spin and Arranged, I am very eager for this one!

What are the rest of you eagerly awaiting?  Come on by and shout it out….

A MESSAGE OF HOPE — A REVIEW

In this “message” from Edgar Cayce, who left the physical world in 1945, the author reports that he sat down at his computer one day in 2011 and saw “text flowing onto the screen as he typed. The words were not his own—and he soon realized the text was in fact coming from the world famous prophet and psychic Edgar Cayce….”

Over the next 160 pages, the reader is offered various philosophical ideas, as well as descriptions of what happens to the entity (the person) after death. Questions arise about what the next plane is like.

“Free of physical limitations, time and space become a continuum of past, present, and future. There are no walls of daylight and dark. Years become a trillionth of a second in the tick of creation.”

He goes on to describe that birth is not the onset, nor death the terminus, but merely aspects of existence. He makes logical arguments for the job of the physical entity and how successfully achieving “goodness” by helping others will result in fewer regrets in the spirit world. In talking about reincarnation, he describes that the spirit entity “chooses” a new incarnation because of the desire to return to the physical plane and what it offers. However, when the new incarnation is achieved, the fourth spiritual dimension will no longer be present; in the new incarnation, the past life or lives will not be remembered.

Some of the format is in the Q. and A. structure, addressing what will happen to mankind; what destruction will occur in the world; and what global warming has to say about the future.

In the end, he advises entities to “Forgive yourself, make the world happy to have had the pleasure of your company.”

He adds:

“Man will survive.

So will you.”

A provocative exercise in enlightenment and hope, The Return of Edgar Cayce was thoroughly enjoyable to me. If nothing else, I felt peaceful afterwards, as if the fears we face in life can be assuaged with the proper actions. Four stars.

TOSSED OUT OF PARADISE: A STORY OF LOST ILLUSIONS — A REVIEW

What would the rebellions of the 60s look like to someone crafted for another kind of life? A life of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss? Someone like Seymour “The Swede” Levov, idolized and admired by many, groomed for tradition and convention, and suddenly catapulted into the horrors wrought by his very own daughter?

American Pastoral is narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, a character we’ve met in other works by this author. He knew The Swede in school and admired him from afar; he was in closer proximity to the younger brother, Jerry. When Zuckerman has occasion to meet The Swede many years after their graduation, his thoughts and curiosity spring to life and he literally seems to “imagine” the life of his idol once he has “fallen.”

Paradise Remembered and Paradise Lost are portrayed through these imaginings. From that point on, we are “seeing” things from Swede’s point of view and watching his life unfurl in slow motion, as he goes back and forth between the past and the present, probing for what triggered the tragedy of his daughter Merry.

He thinks about the loss of his daughter, a fugitive after a bomb she allegedly planted: “….the angry, rebarbative spitting-out daughter with no interest whatever in being the next successful Levov, flushing him out of hiding as if he were a fugitive—initiating the Swede into the displacement of another America entirely, the daughter and the decade blasting to smithereens his particular form of utopian thinking, the plague America infiltrating the Swede’s castle and there infecting everyone. The daughter who transports him out of the longed-for American pastoral and into everything that is its antithesis and its enemy, into the fury, the violence, and the desperation of the counterpastoral—into the indigenous American berserk.”

The story unfolds in great detail and we learn a lot about Lou Levov, the patriarch; about Swede’s youth and sports victories; about his “mixed marriage” with Irish Catholic Dawn Dwyer, former Miss New Jersey; and about the early childhood life of Meredith (Merry) Levov, with much speculation about the origins of her “craziness.”

Reading this multilayered and textured story was tedious, at times, but every detail seemed important to the creation of the final production: the story of lives and illusions toppling. I could see how someone for whom life seemed golden would be quite unprepared for a daughter like Merry. Perhaps many of the events are exaggerated to show the contrast from Swede’s point of view. Definitely for someone couched in the protocol of doing what is expected would be toppled by the rebellions of the 60s.

Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to know more about families in crisis, and also for Roth fans. Four stars.

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY — WHEN MORNING COMES — MARCH 14

Welcome to another fabulous bookish event.  Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine, is our opportunity to celebrate upcoming releases we’re excited about.

Today I’m excited about a book that is coming out on June 5, 2012.

When Morning Comes, by Francis Ray, introduces a brand new series featuring long lost siblings who find family, friendship, forgiveness and love.

From the Author

In this unforgettable new series, five men and women who grew up as orphans seek out their lost brothers and sisters, finding love and family along the way.

 

From the Back Cover

Dr. Cade Mathis learned early that he was not the son of the man who raised him. His adoptive father, a cruel, bitter man had always been quick to tell him that he was a bastard and an embarrassment to the rich society family whose daughter got pregnant with him. So when Cade received a full scholarship to college, he was only too happy to leave the only home he had ever known behind and never looked back. Now a successful doctor and one of the best neurosurgeons in the state, the only thing he still wants are answers about where he came from. What he doesn’t expect to find is Sabrina Thomas, the new patient advocate at his hospital or how this woman will lead him to the family he has been searching for and a love he never expected to find.

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What about you?  What is grabbing you today?  I hope you’ll come on by and share.

 

 

CONUNDRUMS: QUESTIONS OF TRUTH, REALITY, & ETHICS — A REVIEW

Siblings Alice and Edith are en route to Edith’s wedding, from Casablanca to Melilla. Along the way, they converse about their thoughts and feelings, reminisce about their childhoods…and then, out of nowhere, it appears that the plane has been hijacked.

The players/perpetrators are Bruno, Stephen, Tom…and possibly unknown others.

But this story is not at all what it seems. In the opening paragraphs, Alice, telling this story as the first-person narrator, is at an Institute where role-playing and anti-terrorist games are the order of the day. In a Post 9/11 world, referred to throughout this book as The Big Terrible, the anti-terrorism advocates have turned to in-fighting, dividing into the Insurgents and the Brain Worms.

Thus, on Alice’s flight to Melilla, there is an aura of game-playing all around the participants: Unwilling participants who are subjected to numerous experiences which, in retrospect, may not have actually been life-threatening.

Themes of rivalry (including sibling rivalry) appear throughout the story, as do themes of questioning reality and truth. Which stories does the reader believe? Who is doing what and why? Did events unfold as we thought, or is it all the “effect of living backwards”?

In a conversation between Edith and Alice, we glean a bit more about the “experiment”:

“Talk about controlled experiment.”

“Or maybe we’re just the controlled test audience,” Edith said. “In the not too distant future—depending on our valuable feedback—people will be signing up for this sort of experiment willingly. People will pay to be hijacked, so that they can attain some transcendent, triumphant sense of resignation about their slogging, awful lives. The motto could be: No matter how far you go, there you are again. You know. Familiarity. Remember what Dad said about familiarity.”

“It breeds intent.”

“He said people don’t want new things. People don’t want to be surprised.”

As we ponder the themes, the ethical questions posed throughout The Effect of Living Backwards, we also hear the narratives of several “passengers” on the “hijacked flight.” But their versions of truth are just that…their versions. Or so we come to believe.

But what is the true story here? And how do Alice and Edith fare? What will ultimately happen, and how will each of them resolve the issues?

As a reader, I felt confused most of the time, intrigued some of the time, and quite happy to finally finish this “experiment.” Boldly contrived and brilliantly articulated, the author shows the reader her talent for philosophical issues and experiments. But I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who enjoys simply reading and understanding a story. And while I admired the effort, I didn’t enjoy it. Therefore, three stars.

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WAITING ON WEDNESDAY — ARRANGED — MARCH 7

 

Welcome to another fabulous bookish event.  Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine, is our opportunity to celebrate upcoming releases we’re excited about.

Today I’m featuring a book coming out on May 15, 2012.  Arranged, by Catherine McKenzie, is a modern day tale of marriage.

 

Blurb: 

Anne Blythe has a great life: a good job, close friends, and a potential book deal for her first novel. When it comes to finding someone to share her life with, however, she just can’t seem to get it right. When her latest relationship implodes, and her best friend announces she’s engaged, Anne impulsively calls what she thinks is a dating service—only to discover that it’s actually an exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriage service. Anne initially rejects the idea, but the more she learns about the service, the more she thinks: Why not? After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world; maybe it could work for her.

A few months later, Anne is traveling to a Mexican resort, where, over the course of a weekend, she meets and then marries Jack. And initially, everything seems to be working out. . . .

Doesn’t that sound intriguing?  Now I’m really excited about this one. 

What are you waiting for?  Come on by and tempt me….

FINDING THE ANSWERS AT HER OWN RISK — A REVIEW

Kris Langley loves working nights because she has trouble sleeping. Needing to leave the 9 to 5 life brought her from New York, and what her mother still thinks was a promising career, back to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up. Her mother and older sister are doctors and never stop reminding Kris that she has fallen flat of her potential.

In the bowels of the newspaper business, writing obituaries and nosing through history via microfilm, Kris stumbles upon something that intrigues her and thrusts her right into an investigation. On her own time, she begins checking out leads of a cold case. Twenty-five years ago a young girl was brutally murdered…and finding out what happened to Diana Ferguson becomes her mission.

Her instincts lead her onto some intriguing pathways, bring her into the Ferguson family’s world, and toward some previously unexplored connections to the case. She also begins to fall in love. But can she trust that love, or is the object of her affection using her? How do certain individuals figure into the events of that night, and how will she find the answers? And while she is nosing things out, will the resurrected secret of her own childhood threaten the balance she has found?

Kris was one of those characters I could identify with right away. She knows that it’s better to do what you love, even if it seems like a wrong choice for others. I could see the other characters clearly, too, and recognize qualities in people I’ve met over the years: the uptight editor Jacqueline; Bruce, the pompous reporter; and Dex, the aging editor who is her mentor. They were not one-note characters, however, and watching each of them in action filled out the scenes and made the newspaper staff come alive.

I started to figure out the person who did it about halfway through, but then, in the end, I was thrown an unexpected curve. The kind of mystery I enjoy, Twenty-Five Years Ago Today was definitely a 4.5 read.

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SEEKING A SENSE OF BELONGING — A REVIEW

In New York City, a pre-teen boy named Dmitri loses his mother to cancer, and without any other family, finds himself in foster care. His foster mother seems caring, but she is also parenting a crack-addicted baby, so her attention is divided.

In school, “D” meets a Muslim basketball star Keem when he is asked to tutor him in math. Both boys are enchanted by a young girl, Nyla, who has numerous piercings and an attitude.

These three African-American pre-teens connect and form an odd pack when they decide to go to the park with D, who enjoys bird watching.

A strange bird that talks and shape shifts appears to D one day, and from that day forward, nothing is the same.

What quest is D following with the bird as his guide? Why do Keem and Nyla decide to participate? When the three end up underground with an even stranger assortment of “characters,” what will eventually bring them back to their world?

A very short book, Ship of Souls was an inspiring tale that helps the reader understand how loneliness and not fitting in can lead to intriguing journeys. Despite the shortness of the story, I did find myself empathetic with each of the characters and rooting for them in their quest. Four stars.

TEASER TUESDAYS — SHIP OF SOULS — FEB. 14

Welcome to another edition of Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here’s how it works:

• 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’m excerpting from an ARC, sent by Amazon Vine.  Ship of Souls, by Zetta Elliott, is an urban fantasy with issues of war, poverty, racism, Islam, and 9/11.

When Dmitri, an eleven-year-old bird-watcher and math whiz, loses his mother to breast cancer, he is taken in by Mrs. Martin, an elderly white woman. Unaccustomed to the company of kids his own age, D struggles at school and feels like an outcast until a series of unexpected events changes the course of his life.

First, D is asked to tutor the school’s basketball star, Hakeem, who will get benched unless his grades improve. Against the odds, the two boys soon realize they have something in common: they are both taunted by kids at school, and they both have a crush on Nyla, a beautiful but fierce eighth-grade girl. Then Nyla adopts D and invites him to join her entourage of “freaks.” Finally, D discovers an injured bird and brings it home from the park.

D is stunned when the strange bird speaks to him and reveals that she is really a guiding spirit that has been held hostage by ghost soldiers who died in Brooklyn at the start of the American Revolution. As Nuru’s chosen host, D must carry her from Brooklyn to the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, but the ghost soldiers won’t surrender their prize without a fight.

With the help of Hakeem and Nyla, D battles the Nether Beings who lurk underground, feeding off centuries of rage and pain. But it takes an unexpected ally to help the trio reach the ship that will deliver the innocent souls of the dead back to Nuru’s realm. An urban fantasy infused with contemporary issues and historical facts, Ship of Souls by Zetta Elliott will keep teen readers gripped until the very end.        

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Teaser #1:  “Yeah—group home’s no joke.  I had a cousin who wound up in a group home.  They messed him up pretty bad.  Between the gangs and the pervs, Alfie didn’t stand a chance.  p. 7

Teaser #2:  Instead of answering, the bird silently morphs into a purring orange tabby cat.  Nyla freezes, then lets her fingertips trail across the cat’s soft fur.  “How’d it do that?” she asks me.  p. 63

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Intriguing…now I’m really curious.  What about the rest of you?  What are you sharing today?