Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomon
Published by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 978-0-316-07758-3
At the request of Reagan Arthur/Hachette Books a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (borrowed from book’s jacket): At the outset of World War II, Jack Rosenblum, his wife, Sadie, and their baby daughter escape Berlin, bound for London. They are greeted with a pamphlet instructing immigrants how to act like “the English.” Jack acquires Savile Row suits and a Jaguar. He buys his marmalade from Fortnum & Mason and learns to list the entire British monarchy back to 978 AD. He never speaks German, apart for the occasional curse. But the one key item that would make him feel fully British-membership in a golf club-remains elusive. In postwar England, no golf club will admit a Rosenblum. Jack hatches a wild idea, he”ll build his own.
  It’s an obsession Sadie does not share, particularly when Jack relocates them to a thatch-roofed cottage in Dorset to embark on his project. She doesn’t want to forget who they are or where they came from. She wants to bake the cakes she used to serve to friends in the old country and reminisce. Now she’s stuck in an inhospitable landscape filled with unwelcoming people, watching their bank account shrink as Jack pursues his quixotic dream.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I have to be honest that I was quite skeptical in reading this book because I received it with no prior knowledge and add to that, that this was a debut novel. It is not the type of book that I would routinely read, but was pleasantly surprised once I picked it up. Ms. Solomons writing style was written, with such detailed descriptions and with the flow of the story line, as if it was by a seasoned author. The characters relatable. I found that there were a gamut of emotions felt for both Mr. Rosenblum and his wife, Sadie due to the descriptive and poignant words that the author was able to convey to this reader. I did enjoy this book but, and this is my opinion and my opinion only, it was not a fast paced, page turning read. I didn’t find myself “needing” to pick it up. (Possible Spoiler Alert)……I was surprised to see that the premise of this story was taken from her “grandparent’s experience” and wonder if I had known that it was based on reality that I would have had a different reading experience.

The Chill Of Night by James Hayman
Published by St. Martin’s Press
ISBN 978-0-312-53271-0
At the request of Pump Up Your Book, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review.
  Synopsis (borrowed from book’s jacket): Beautiful, Brilliant, and ambitious, Lainie Goff has overcome a nightmarish past to achieve remarkable success as a young attorney on the fast track to a partnership at one of the more respected law firms in New England. Then one cold night, the secrets of her past come hurtling back when she’s found stabbed to death, her frozen body discovered in the trunk of her own car abandoned at the end of the Portland Fish Pier.
  The only witness to the crime is a mentally ill young woman named Abby Quinn, who tries desperately to tell police what she has seen. Because of Abby’s illness no one in the department believes what she says. Until she, too, disappears.
  As Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe begins his investigation he learns there may be more to Goff than meets the eye. Not only had she been having an affair with a partner of her firm, she had also been creating enemies closer to home.
  Struck by a remarkable resemblance between Goff and his own ex-wife, McCabe is forced to grapple with memories of his failed marriage as he races to fine Lainie’s killer before Abby Quinn is slain.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I now have read both books written by this author where Michael McCabe is the main character, but both books can stand on its own. I read this book during a very bad reading slump but was able to pick it up and continue reading without having to reread past chapters. The author introduces characters, which could have the motives and/or a history to have killed Lainie Goff. And the story fluctuates between these characters. I was able to figure out “who did it” through omissions after the introductions made (anything more said would be a spoiler). The plot was fast paced at times then it would drag a bit and continued in this mode throughout the book. My opinion, and this is just my opinion, I felt that Abby Quinn, the witness, was in the background for most of the story and, after reading the synopsis, assumed a lot of the attention would have been about her. I felt that it was an easy mystery read.

The Chill Of Night by James Hayman
Published by St. Martin’s Press
ISBN 978-0-312-53271-0
At the request of Pump Up Your Book, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review.
  Synopsis (borrowed from book’s jacket): Beautiful, Brilliant, and ambitious, Lainie Goff has overcome a nightmarish past to achieve remarkable success as a young attorney on the fast track to a partnership at one of the more respected law firms in New England. Then one cold night, the secrets of her past come hurtling back when she’s found stabbed to death, her frozen body discovered in the trunk of her own car abandoned at the end of the Portland Fish Pier.
  The only witness to the crime is a mentally ill young woman named Abby Quinn, who tries desperately to tell police what she has seen. Because of Abby’s illness no one in the department believes what she says. Until she, too, disappears.
  As Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe begins his investigation he learns there may be more to Goff than meets the eye. Not only had she been having an affair with a partner of her firm, she had also been creating enemies closer to home.
  Struck by a remarkable resemblance between Goff and his own ex-wife, McCabe is forced to grapple with memories of his failed marriage as he races to fine Lainie’s killer before Abby Quinn is slain.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I now have read both books written by this author where Michael McCabe is the main character, but both books can stand on its own. I read this book during a very bad reading slump but was able to pick it up and continue reading without having to reread past chapters. The author introduces characters, which could have the motives and/or a history to have killed Lainie Goff. And the story fluctuates between these characters. I was able to figure out “who did it” through omissions after the introductions made (anything more said would be a spoiler). The plot was fast paced at times then it would drag a bit and continued in this mode throughout the book. My opinion, and this is just my opinion, I felt that Abby Quinn, the witness, was in the background for most of the story and, after reading the synopsis, assumed a lot of the attention would have been about her. I felt that it was an easy mystery read.

this one is MINE by Maria Semple
Published by Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0-316-03133-2
At the request of the author’s friend, a PB copy was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from back of book): Violet Parry has a picture-perfect life: a beautiful house, a successful husband, a darling daughter. Violet can speak French, quote Sondheim, and whip up dinner from the vegetables in her garden. She has everything under control-except her own happiness. All it takes is a chance encounter with Teddy Reyes, a roguish small -time bass player with a highly evolved sexuality to open Violet’s eyes to what she’s missing and upend her life completely
  My Thoughts and Opinion: This week I asked advice for getting out of my reading slump because I felt that I just couldn’t and didn’t want to pick up this book and read. And then today, in my google reader, another book blogger/reviewer answered my question. Alayne from The Crowded Leaf, posted her review of this very book and made me realize why the slump. She could not finish it. I read 90 pages and did not like, nor could I relate to any of the characters. This is my opinion, and only my opinion, but without giving away a spoiler to the plot, I had a hard time with the story line. I have read other books with a similar theme but this book was difficult to read in the way it was presented. Unfortunately, I had to set this one aside and place in the DNF pile.

 

this one is MINE by Maria Semple
Published by Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0-316-03133-2
At the request of the author’s friend, a PB copy was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from back of book): Violet Parry has a picture-perfect life: a beautiful house, a successful husband, a darling daughter. Violet can speak French, quote Sondheim, and whip up dinner from the vegetables in her garden. She has everything under control-except her own happiness. All it takes is a chance encounter with Teddy Reyes, a roguish small -time bass player with a highly evolved sexuality to open Violet’s eyes to what she’s missing and upend her life completely
  My Thoughts and Opinion: This week I asked advice for getting out of my reading slump because I felt that I just couldn’t and didn’t want to pick up this book and read. And then today, in my google reader, another book blogger/reviewer answered my question. Alayne from The Crowded Leaf, posted her review of this very book and made me realize why the slump. She could not finish it. I read 90 pages and did not like, nor could I relate to any of the characters. This is my opinion, and only my opinion, but without giving away a spoiler to the plot, I had a hard time with the story line. I have read other books with a similar theme but this book was difficult to read in the way it was presented. Unfortunately, I had to set this one aside and place in the DNF pile.

 

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Published by Doubleday
ISBN 978-0-385-50112-5
At the request of Doubleday, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from book’s jacket): On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games, and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift, she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice.
  She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother-her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother-tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. Anything can be revealed at any meal. She can’t eat her brother Joseph’s toast, a cookie tat the local bakery is laced with rage, grape jelly is packed with acidic resentment.
  Rose’s gift forces her to confront the secret knowledge all families keep hidden-truths about her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s strange detachment, Joseph’s clash with the world.
  Yet as Rose grows up she realizes there are some secrets that even her taste buds cannot discern.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: Before I started reading this book, I had read reviews from one end of the spectrum to the other. I went into it with an open mind and high hopes that I would enjoy it. Instead, I found myself not wanting to pick it up and continue reading. I thought it was me and I was experiencing a reading slump. But I forced myself to continue reading and it wasn’t a slump, it was the book. The following is my opinion and my opinion only. Others may disagree. I had read 100+ pages and can honestly say, I did not like anything about the book, the premise of the story line, the author’s writing style nor the characters. In all my years of reading, I have never seen this type of writing, there was not one quotation mark in the 100+ pages I read and it was elementary at best. Unfortunately, I had to put this book aside and move on.
  My Rating: 1

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Published by Doubleday
ISBN 978-0-385-50112-5
At the request of Doubleday, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from book’s jacket): On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games, and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift, she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice.
  She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother-her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother-tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose. Anything can be revealed at any meal. She can’t eat her brother Joseph’s toast, a cookie tat the local bakery is laced with rage, grape jelly is packed with acidic resentment.
  Rose’s gift forces her to confront the secret knowledge all families keep hidden-truths about her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s strange detachment, Joseph’s clash with the world.
  Yet as Rose grows up she realizes there are some secrets that even her taste buds cannot discern.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: Before I started reading this book, I had read reviews from one end of the spectrum to the other. I went into it with an open mind and high hopes that I would enjoy it. Instead, I found myself not wanting to pick it up and continue reading. I thought it was me and I was experiencing a reading slump. But I forced myself to continue reading and it wasn’t a slump, it was the book. The following is my opinion and my opinion only. Others may disagree. I had read 100+ pages and can honestly say, I did not like anything about the book, the premise of the story line, the author’s writing style nor the characters. In all my years of reading, I have never seen this type of writing, there was not one quotation mark in the 100+ pages I read and it was elementary at best. Unfortunately, I had to put this book aside and move on.
  My Rating: 1

The Remains by Vincent Zandri
Publisher StoneHouse Ink
ISBN 0982770502
ISBN 13: 9780982770504
At the request of Pump Up Your Book, an EBook edition was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (borrowed from PUYB): Thirty years ago, teenager Rebecca Underhill and her twin sister Molly were abducted by a man who lived in a house in the woods behind their upstate New York farm. They were held inside that house for three horrifying hours, until making their daring escape.
  Vowing to keep their terrifying experience a secret in order to protect their mother and father, the girls tried to put the past behind them. And when their attacker was hunted down by police and sent to prison, they believed he was as good as dead.
  Now, it’s 30 years later, and with Molly having passed away from cancer, Rebecca, a painter and art teacher, is left alone to bear the burden of a secret that has only gotten heavier and more painful with each passing year.
  But when Rebecca begins receiving some strange anonymous text messages, she begins to realize that the monster who attacked her all those years ago is not dead after all. He’s back, and this time, he wants to do more than just haunt her. He wants her dead.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: Zandri delivers again!!!! If you follow my blog, you know that I became a fan of Vincent Zandri after reading Moonlight Falls. He has been a frequent visitor here as “Guest Author” for his books and one Sunday was here “Live”. I have to be honest, I was a bit skeptical reading The Remains, afraid that it would not be as good as, or better than Moonlight Falls. I was wrong!!! I will be very vague as to the story line so as not to include spoilers. This was the kind of book that I call a “one more chapter” read. Short chapters and so gripping that you have to read “just one more chapter” and then you realize it is 10 chapters later. The chapters alternate between Rebecca’s present life and then to her past and back to the present. The characters were life like including the autistic savant artist. Mr. Zandri’s writing style is brilliant and because of that, this reader became so engrossed in the plot that I was transported to Albany, where the story takes place, and not aware of what was going on around me. The story pulled me in from the first few pages and didn’t let go until the last word. It was a bone chilling read!!! This talented author takes the reader on a heart pounding suspenseful ride as the story follows Rebecca in the present and just when you remember to breathe, he catapults you to her past. The unfolding progress of the plot is written at a crescendo pace, from the first word to the last. This book is a nail biting, white knuckle, spine chilling, page turning thriller. Do I suggest that you read this book? Not only do I think that YOU MUST read this book but also recommend that this be the next book you read!!!  Fantastic!!!  Sensational!!!  Excellent!!!  Vincent Zandri hits this one out of the park!!!!!!