The Winner of the Brand New Copy of
The Edge of Lost
by Kristina McMorris is:
Celestial A. (lilyofthefield)
Congratulations! Your Book will be on the way to you soon!
Thank you to everyone who entered!
Posts Tagged ‘Book Suggestions’
Free Book Friday Winner!
Sunday, June 23rd, 2019Free Book Friday!
Friday, June 21st, 2019
The Edge of Lost by Kristina McMorris
On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard’s only daughter—one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island—has gone missing. Tending the warden’s greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl’s whereabouts, and that both of their lives depend on the search’s outcome.
Almost two decades earlier and thousands of miles away, a young boy named Shanley Keagan ekes out a living as an aspiring vaudevillian in Dublin pubs. Talented and shrewd, Shan dreams of shedding his dingy existence and finding his real father in America. The chance finally comes to cross the Atlantic, but when tragedy strikes, Shan must summon all his ingenuity to forge a new life in a volatile and foreign world.
Skillfully weaving these two stories, Kristina McMorris delivers a compelling novel that moves from Ireland to New York to San Francisco Bay. As her finely crafted characters discover the true nature of loyalty, sacrifice, and betrayal, they are forced to confront the lies we tell—and believe—in order to survive.
ISBN 9780758281180, Paperback
There are currently 49 Members Wishing for this book.
1 lucky member will win a brand-new copy.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this Blog post. You must be a PaperBackSwap member in good standing to win.
We will choose 1 winner at random from comments we receive here on the Blog from PBS members.
You have until Sunday, June 23, 2019 at 12 noon ET, to leave a comment.
Good Luck to everyone!
Note: All the books given away on Free Book Friday are available in the PBS Market. We have thousands of new and new overstock titles available right now, with more added hourly. Some of the prices are amazing – and you can use a PBS credit to make the deal even better!
Fiction Review – The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts
Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)
From page two I was hooked on this The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. Molly O is decorating The Honk for Christmas and ‘frizzy- haired Barbies’ are now positioned doing splits, taped down on every napkin holder. I laughed out loud at this decorating description and realized I was in for quite a unique story with this novel by Billie Letts
Set in the 1980s in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, Letts has created a world for her unique, yet totally relatable, characters. Caney, wheelchair-bound diner owner, and Molly O, his mother figure and friend, own and operate The Honk and Holler Opening Soon diner (don’t worry, the name is explained in the book). The diner is a big part of the community and is part of the daily lives of many of the locals.
One day Vena Takes Horse walks into the diner inquiring about a job and she’s carrying a three-legged dog with her. Soon after Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese immigrant, arrives and wants to work at the diner, too. What had become a hum drum existence at The Honk is now a place where new faces are making a big difference in the business and the lives of those in the town.
Billie Letts has a way of creating characters (I love all of the character names she comes up with in her books) that have unique personalities but life experiences that are totally relatable. She writes stories that have pain and hope swirling together an emotional mix that helps the reader understand the character and their challenges. I got swept in the lives of Caney, Molly O, Vena and Bui and even though I was satisfied in the end, I was also left wanting more and that’s what makes The Honk and Holler Opening Soon a 5-star read for me.
I would also recommend Where the Heart Is and Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts. You can read my review of Made in the U.S.A. here.
Mystery Monday Review – The Case of the Reluctant Model
Monday, June 3rd, 2019
The Case of the Reluctant Model by Erle Stanley Gardner
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
Millionaire collector of pictures Otto Olney wants to sue art maven Colin Durant for slander, claiming that Durant is saying that a painting purchased by Olney is a fake.
Lawyer-series hero Perry Mason discourages the slander suit but provides his usual sage legal advice. He later realizes that Durant might be plotting an intricate scam with the coerced help of model Maxine Lindsay. Maxine ends up in trouble deep after Mason and Della Street find a body in her apartment and Maxine seeming to take flight. DA Burger and Homicide Detective Lt. Tragg are not amused.
I liked this one because it did not follow the lockstep stages of a typical Mason novel. Also, I clearly shouldn’t read these because Gardner’s antique Americanisms – “no doubt of it on earth” or “take a powder” or “as dead as a mackerel” – seep into my vocabulary and make middle-aged women at work say to me, “You sound like my dad.”
Cold War Thriller – The Ascent of D.13
Friday, May 31st, 2019
The Ascent of D.13 by Andrew Garve
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
Born Paul Winterton, Garve (1908 – 2001) was known for his thrilling adventure stories set in places like Turkey and the USSR. In this 1968 rouser, mountain climbers from both sides of the Cold War are sent to retrieve a spy camera from a crashed plane in the mountains on the border between Turkey and Soviet Armenia. Readers who aren’t too sure about climbing gear such as the ice ax, pitons, crampons or features like couloirs, cornices, or tors will still enjoy the vivid fight for survival in cloud, wind, snow and cold at 13,000 feet. Between Bill Royce, a British mountain climber, and Varvara Mikhailovna Lermontov, a Russian Master of Sport, there are engaging conversations about the benefits of democracy and the joy of mountain climbing. So read this for the unique plot and striking setting.
Historical Fiction Review – The Piano Teacher
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)
I am always interested in books set during World War II and I like to look for books that explore various perspectives of the war. The Piano Teacher is set in Hong Kong in the years surrounding World War II. The story is not told in chronologically, but rather flashbacks to before and during the war are dispersed amongst events from the 1950s.
Claire Pendleton arrives in Hong Kong with her husband after the war. She gets a job as a piano teacher for the daughter of the wealthy Chen family. The Chen’s driver, Will Truesdale, is handsome and mysterious and Claire is drawn to him immediately. Feeling unhappy and unfulfilled in her marriage, Claire begins an affair with Will. As Claire gets to know Will better, she realizes his experiences during the war deeply impacted him. She also learns there are deep-rooted secrets from the war shared among the members of Hong Kong’s social elite.
In learning Will’s story, the reader meets Trudy Lang, a socialite in Hong Kong prior to the war. She and Will are in a relationship that gets derailed by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Will is forced into an internment camp and Trudy begins her perilous association with the Japanese, including the head of security forces who uses Trudy as a pawn in his dangerous manipulations to gain power and control.
I found this novel a little difficult to get into at first. The characters seemed to lack substance initially and I had a hard time connecting with them and feeling invested in their stories. The storyline did gain traction about half-way through the novel and my interest increased. The characters seemed to gain a ‘voice’ at this point, and it was easier to be interested in what happened to them and I was drawn into their stories. The secrets revealed in the end explained character connections and provided depth to the novel on the whole.
Fantasy Review – Midnight Crossroad
Friday, May 24th, 2019
Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris
Review by Mirah W (mwelday)
I really didn’t need to start a new series. I am already reading numerous series and I sometimes forget when new books are released, and then I get behind in my reading! But here I am, writing a post on Midnight Crossroad, book one of the Midnight, Texas series by Charlaine Harris.
Midnight, Texas is what could be described as a ‘one horse town’. Midnight has seen better days, but now businesses are boarded up and residents have to go to other towns to take care of basic errands. When Manfred Bernardo moves to town he is welcomed by a few of the locals, but he quickly realizes things are ‘different’ in Midnight. There is a diner, a convenience store/gas station, and a pawn shop; these three locations are where most of the action takes place in this small town.
Bobo owns the pawn shop and is heartbroken that his girlfriend Aubrey has left him. But did she just leave Bobo or did something more sinister happen? Manfred Bernardo is new to town and works as a psychic. But does he truly have a gift or is he a fake? Fiji has a New Age shop in her home and describes herself as a witch. But does she really have any powers? These characters are just the tip of the iceberg of the quirky residents in Midnight.
Now strangers are coming into Midnight and they’re asking questions about Aubrey and attacking the residents. Who are these strangers and what are they really after? And can the locals all be trusted? It seems the residents of Midnight all have secrets, and none react well when they believe their secrets will be exposed.
This book had its downfalls, but overall, I enjoyed it. I found it to be fast-paced and a fun escape, but I don’t think the plot was as exciting or as well-developed as previous Harris books. I think the characters were rather two-dimensional, but I am hoping there is more character development in the next books of the series because the characters were likeable and had redeeming qualities. There are obviously more secrets and true identities to be revealed and I’m curious what else can happen in this sleepy town. One of my favorite things about this book was the inclusion of Lily Bard from Harris’s Lily Bard mystery series.
