3 1/2 stars
Vesta is out for a walk in the woods with her only companion, her dog Charlie, when she finds a strange note about Magda who is dead and that the note's author didn't do it. There is no body, there aren't any news reports and even though Vesta is shaken up she refuses to let the matter go. Maybe it is because she is lonely, maybe it is because she can't come to terms with her husband's death or maybe she wasn't that stable to begin with, but her mind begins to unravel and she becomes obsessed with finding Magda's killer. This slim novel filled with unspooling prose is the disintegration of Vesta's mind and marriage.
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When Arden was six she survived a horrible ordeal. Sleepwalking in a storm she was discovered days later in a storm drain. Overnight, she and her mom became a media sensation although Arden doesn't remember any of it. It is twenty years later and although Arden has changed her name to Olivia and moved away from the small town, she still has nightmares and problems that aren't going away. Someone else has questions and is watching. Intense with a riveting ending, this is one thriller that you won't know who to trust. A made for tv movie just waiting! 4 stars
Based on a real legal case this clever debut focuses on Japanese law and customs and their place in modern day relationships. It is told from the viewpoint of mother, daughter and the man who would both save and sacrifice the mother. There is a practice called "Wakaresaseya" where one spouse can hire someone to seduce and get dirt on the other spouse to pave the way for divorce. This is life changing because there is no such thing as no-fault divorce or shared custody of children. Sato hires Kaitaro to seduce his wife Rina but Kaitaro changes the game by falling in love with her for real. When Rina is murdered and Kaitaro is charged with the murder, what could have been a perfect new life for Rina, Kaitaro and Rina's young daughter is crushed forever. Years later, Rina's daughter is grown up and is trying to come to terms with her mother's death and understand her relationship with Kaitaro. Even with the violence of the murder, this is a quiet love story full of contradictions the beauty and grace of Japan mixed with deceit. This is one author I am eager to read more of.
4 stars What seems to be a dream community away from the busy city under majestic Mt. Rainier soon turns into survival camp for the unprepared. A group of wealthy yuppies and a few others who are fortunate enough to be able to work remotely move to a high tech cabin compound. Getting back to nature is great until a massive eruption from the volcano cuts them off from civilization and turns them into prey. Told from the journal of one of the compound's occupants and her brother's interviews with authorities trying to find any trace of them, this harrowing novel explores the possibility that Bigfoot might not be a myth and humans might not be the top of the food chain. That is what makes this horror story really scary. Watch your back on the next hike into the woods, fellow readers and proceed with caution. 4 stars
The narrator does not take credit nor responsibility for the disaster she sets in place as she tries to explain her relationship with her best friend and the lies she tells to keep that connection. Marnie and Jane have been best friends joined at the hip since school and as they grew up were still in each other's live nearly every day. Then they discovered the loves of their lives. Each has known hard times and grief and have depended on the other. Guilt should play a big part in Jane's story but it really doesn't. Tension ramps as Jane hangs on to that friendship obsession until a heart pounding finish. 3 1/2 stars
Way up in the Adirondack forest there is an exclusive hunting lodge where very wealthy men fish, hunt and get into mischief. There is also Valhalla, Lulu's mansion and it is here that a local girl finds her life's passion for restoring statues. Both Evie and Lulu have run ins with the powerful men who call themselves "The Lost Boys" and just like the women before them can't do anything to get back at them - until now. Violence, control, lies and fear all lead to a powerful conclusion and a day of reckoning for all the harm the Lost Boys have inflicted upon the women in the little mountain town. Perfectly paced with the beauty and violence of the mountains in contrast to the human violence, this intelligent thriller will grab you from the first page. Boys will be boys doesn't cut it as an excuse for the women of Rangley, New York. Fans of smart stories where there isn't always a straight path to justice served will appreciate this bad boy thriller. 4 1/2 stars
A historical novel that features a group of people whose histories are not talked about very much. Puerto Rico has been taken over by the Spanish, Mother Nature has given it a thrashing and now the Americans have put their claim in. They cling to the land growing coffee and whatever else they can as well as working whatever jobs just to survive. Vicente and Valentina are out of options so they leave their beloved country and travel to Hawaii to harvest sugar cane. As if the horrific journey there wasn't enough they now find themselves living under another kind of slavery and the brutality that made them leave Puerto Rico. Poignant and heartbreaking filled with just enough Spanish to feel authentic but not too much that a non-Spanish speaker won't understand.
Olivia runs off to the last place her father was seen - a buddhist boot camp called the Levitation Center. He isn't there and while searching for clues as to where he is she begins to find clues as to who she is. She falls in with the alpha females who have been going to the camp for years to escape their own parental issues. They want to experience levitation which only comes from fully embracing the Buddhist training and to teach them they wear down handsome Luke who works at the center. Luke is dangerous and as alluring to the girls as bees to a flower. This is the quintessential coming-of-age story with girls trying to understand this new power they have over men, looking for someone to fill the hole that Daddy left and the love/hate relationship between teen girls. Each one of them has nothing to go back to at home and this quest for enlightenment that they search for is really something else all together. This amazing debut is provocative, intense and gets you into the head of Olivia from page one. It is what I imagine a dinner party would be like with the Salem teen witches, Buddha, a cult leader like Charles Manson and Einstein. For fans of no nonsense , intense coming of age stories like THE GIRLS and MY DARK VANESSA. 4 stars
Six year old Jenny disappeared from her nice middle class home in her nice middle class neighborhood one morning. Seven years later, Jenny suddenly came home. Her parents were overjoyed, her older brother not so much and the police had doubts. I don't want to spoil anything so I will just say that this is a very twisted roller coaster of a ride. Jenny is the queen of the unreliable narrators and if you are squeamish about child abuse this is not for you. Prepare for thriller whiplash. We all want the happy ending right? 4 stars
Two parallel stories - The first takes place in Renaissance Venice where an artist slowly going blind falls in love with the courtesan he is commissioned to paint. He keeps a diary hidden in a manuscript that serves as a manual of art techniques. The second story is in modern day where a bookseller/book restorer gets an unusual project when she is given an old manuscript from a Venetian artist to restore and discovers much more than an art manual. The art restorer, Rose and the artist who brings her the manuscript fall for each other in the same way that Giovanni and Chiara did but as most great loves are - it is doomed from the start. An age old romance mixed with a political historical mystery. 3 stars |
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