Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Fiction Review: Be with the Dead

I rarely read whole book series, but I am completely hooked on the Ann Kinnear series by Matty Dalrymple! I just read book 6, Be with the Dead, in this gripping, engrossing series about a woman who solves mysteries by communicating with ghosts. In this novel, Ann gets involved with two different mysteries, both involving mystery/thriller authors.

Ann is settled in her cottage on the beautiful grounds of the local winery that was the site of the last book, A Serpent's Tooth. She has been asked to speak at the Gotham Crime Fiction Conference about her experiences solving mysteries by speaking with the dead. Her liaison is Darren Van Osten, an editor who has worked for years with best-selling thriller author Jock Quine. Unfortunately, Jock was killed recently in an armed robbery of his mansion in Princeton, and Darren is struggling to work with Jock's son, Alec, who is supposed to be continuing the series. Alec might not work out, so Darren is hoping to keep his editing business alive with a promising new client, Lara Seaford, whose first thriller novel is already winning awards.

Meanwhile, down in Ocean City, Maryland, cozy mystery author Marilee Forsythe is desperate to get out of her contract for another cozy "berry mystery" so that she can follow her true passion and become a thriller author. To this end, she is pressuring her son, Jeremy, and his wife, Jeanette, to repay the loan she gave them so she can buy out the rest of her contract. After Marilee is attacked leaving a reading in a local bookstore, she refuses to leave her ocean-front condo, forcing Jeanette to make repeated trips from their home in Pennsylvania to Ocean City to act as her courier and errand-runner. Jeanette is trying to be patient with her mother-in-law, but Marilee isn't the easiest person to deal with.

Ann ends up getting pulled into both of these situations, using her unique talents to unearth some secrets that would otherwise be taken to the grave. As with the other Ann Kinnear books, this one is propulsive, filled with action, danger, and unexpected twists. Besides being great thrillers, these books also feature Dalrymple's excellent writing. The characters feel real and three-dimensional (Ann and her family are practically close friends to me by now!), and she makes her settings come alive with details. I loved the subject matter here, focused on thriller writers, editing, bookstores, and the publishing industry. This is another great entry in this engaging, addictive series!

392 pages, William Kingsfield Publishers

You can also read my review of the first book in the series, A Sense of Death.

 

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - B

Literary Escapes Challenge - Maryland

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!   
   

Or start with the first book in this wonderful series, The Sense of Death:

 

Or you can order Be with the Dead from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Monday, March 27, 2023

It's Monday 3/27! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

It's a big day for our family! It's our older son's first day in his new job, his first-ever full-time job in the professional field he studied in college (environmental engineering/sustainability). He's had the same chronic illnesses as me (an immune disorder and tick infections) since he was ten years old, so he's had a long, challenging road to finally get to this point where he is well enough to manage working full-time. Plus, this sounds like his dream job! It's exactly what he wanted to do when he graduated. We are so proud of his hard work, determination, and persistence. 

He came to visit this weekend. I just love having all four of us together, which doesn't happen often enough these days! We all enjoyed a nice dinner together Thursday night, and my husband and I enjoyed his company on Friday, too.

Saturday, we got to see friends we hadn't seen since last fall, which was wonderful. And yesterday, my husband and I enjoyed a hike on a gorgeous sunny spring day. After three days of rain, everything was in bloom!

 

Forsythia in bloom in our yard!

Lesser Celandine in bloom along the trail.

Bubbling creek and a brilliant blue sky, with green buds.

Enjoying a beautiful day

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On the Blog

Two Great Middle-Grade Novels on Audio - short reviews of two excellent novels I listened to for Middle-Grade March - both very different but very good!

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On Video

Friday Reads 3-24-23 - my weekly update about the books I am reading

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What We're Reading

 

I finished reading We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer, my first book for Booktopia 2023! That's a fabulous annual book event held in Vermont the first weekend in May, where readers and authors hang out together--tickets are still available! (Click Events and scroll down to the bottom.) Here's my summary from Booktopia 2022. The booksellers choose about 8 authors with new books coming out. This one is a thriller that will be released on April 25. It's about a home renovation reality show featuring Robert and Holly, who purchased property in Vermont super-cheap, and are creating an expensive, eco-friendly mansion there. Unfortunately, the previous owner who was evicted isn't too happy about that. And now the two TV/social media stars are missing ... or are they? This unique novel was great and filled with suspense!

 

Now, I am taking a break from Booktopia reading for a book group read, The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. I enjoyed The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Benedict, so I've been looking forward to this one. It's historical fiction based on the real life of Belle da Costa Greene, personal librarian for J.P. Morgan and his famous Pierpont Morgan Library of historical manuscripts, books, and art, beginning in 1906. Belle had Mr. Morgan's complete authority in purchasing decisions for the esteemed collection and became famous in her own right, doing a job that was typically handled by men at that time. But Belle had a secret: she was actually a Black woman, passing as white in very public persona and moving among the upper echelons of Gilded Age society. It's excellent so far, detailing Belle's fascinating job as well as the pain and anxiety she endured in hiding her true self from the world.

 

I've been enjoying Middle-Grade March with novels on audio. I finished It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds. It starts as a story about a pretty typical twelve-year-old boy named Eddie, who is grounded and can't go to the beach with his family because he hasn't done his laundry in 40 days, since school ended! But then the power goes out (just as he starts his second load), and he ends up alone with four other kids from his neighborhood. Both power and cell service are out, everyone else in town is at the annual Beach Bash, and the kids begin to realize something very strange is going on. I enjoyed this audio book, though I wish I had known that it's book one of a series! The questions as to what has happened are not answered in this book, though it's a great story about a group of kids coming together to help each other. I talk about it more in my Friday Reads video.

Now, I am listening to another middle-grade audio, The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart, released last summer. I always enjoy Gemeinhart's novels; The Honest Truth and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise are two of my favorites. Here, a boy named Ravani Foster lives in a town called Slaughterville. He's a nice kid, but he's lonely and is bullied a lot. One night, looking out his bedroom window at midnight, he sees seven children of different ages carrying suitcases get out of a truck and enter an abandoned house on his dead-end street. Ravi gradually gets to know the kind and quiet Virginia and eventually, the other kids, too. But this family carries some deep--and dangerous--secrets. It's an intriguing story so far, with perhaps a hint of magic, set against the gruesome backdrop of a town named after its main industry, a slaughterhouse.

 

My husband, Ken is still reading Across the Sand, book two in a post-apocalyptic series by Hugh Howey (book one is Sand). We both absolutely loved Howey's Silo trilogy: Wool, Shift, and Dust. If you haven't read it yet, you should! It's one of our favorites. He says this newer series is just as good, and he's enjoying it.

 

I won't be able to check in with our son, 28, on Monday mornings anymore because he'll be at work! But this weekend, he gave me a reading update while visiting. He finished reading book 5, Wildfire in the Street Rats of Aramoor series by Michael Wiseheart. This was a prequel series to Wiseheart's The Aldoran Chronicles, so now he's gone back to that series and is reading book 3, The Four-Part Key. He really enjoys this author's novels.

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week

 

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Two Great Middle-Grade Novels on Audio

I've been enjoying Middle-Grade March, an annual reading challenge, and using it to help me catch up on some middle-grade books on audio. Here are two that I've enjoyed this month:

First up, I listened to Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, which combines mystery, thriller, family drama, and science fiction. It won the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

Twelve-year-old Katrina is in the witness protection program with her parents. The three of them are very close but live isolated lives, on the run from a dangerous drug cartel and unable to stay in one place for very long. Katrina is only the latest of her names; she's been choosing them alphabetically and is up to K. New place, new name. Their new location is something different, though. They usually live in cities, where they can get lost in the crowd and blend in. This time, they are in an RV, pulling into a trailer park in a small town in Georgia. Katrina's parents are hoping that this will allow her to have some independence and maybe even make a friend or two. And right away, Katrina meets the boy in the trailer next door, Parker, who is a computer whiz her age. Things are looking up. But then, everything goes wrong. Katrina's parents are missing, and she and Parker are on their own ... and on the run again. 

As Katrina tries to find her parents and is on her own for the first time, long-held secrets are uncovered, lies are revealed, and the danger builds. This is an excellent (award-winning!) and very twisty thriller with a gripping story that kept me rapt. It's an outstanding audio, wholly original and completely compelling.

320 pages, Scholastic

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges

Alphabet Soup - C

Literary Escapes - Georgia 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!
 

  

Or you can order Concealed from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

 

My second audio book this month was completely different but just as good: Can You See Me? by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott. 

 

Eleven-year-old Tally is starting sixth grade and middle-school. She's extra nervous about this big change because she's autistic. Her parents are very supportive (and so is her older sister, most of the time!), but no one at school--kids or teachers--knows about her autism, except her best friend. Tally works very hard to try to fit in and be like everyone else, but she's not like everyone else. She sees and hears and feels and notices everything and is constantly trying hard to act "normal." Her nemesis, a mean boy named Luke, is here, too, making things even harder. The pressure Tally feels to not seem weird builds and builds, until it finally starts to come out. Along the way, she finds an unexpected ally in her new drama teacher and a new friend in a three-legged dog.


This honest story about empathy and kindness puts the reader right inside Tally's perspective, experiencing the world as she does. It includes diary entries--a suggestion from a counselor--and Tally's tips for others interacting with those with autism that she hopes will someday help others. In fact, the diary entries were written by a real-life girl with autism, the co-author Libby Scott, who was just nine years old when this book was published! Libby's contributions add to the authenticity of this wonderful novel. Listening to it on audio makes the experience of being in Tally's shoes even more immersive and insightful. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot.


368 pages, Scholastic


This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Challenge (and mini-challenge: #ownvoices)

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   

 

Or you can order Can You See Me? from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

 

Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.


Monday, March 20, 2023

It's Monday 3/20! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

Happy First Day of Spring! Here in the northern hemisphere, spring officially begins at 5:24 pm eastern time today. Yay! Even though we had a relatively mild winter, with no snow and only a few brief cold snaps, I am ready for the vibrant colors and warmer temperatures in spring. I managed some short walks last week and enjoyed some early signs of spring, as well as the natural beauty of our area:



 

I was missing our sons for St. Patrick's Day on Friday, so we invited our closest friends over for our usual feast: corned beef with cabbage and vegetables, Irish soda bread, and Irish beer (and they brought dessert!). My apologies for the half-eaten food photos - I really need to become more patient when I have a lovely plate of food in front of me! lol

 


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On the Blog

TV Tuesday: Will Trent - a unique crime show with a sense of humor - we're loving it!

Fiction Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - outstanding classic novel about the life of a Black woman in 1930's Florida

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On Video

 The Song Tag - something different, all about what kinds of music I enjoy!

Friday Reads 3-17-23 and Weekend Getaway Vlog - my weekly update of what I'm reading, plus photos and videos of our weekend away

__________

What We're Reading

I am currently reading We Love to Entertain by Sarah Strohmeyer, my first book for Booktopia 2023! That's a fabulous annual book event held in Vermont the first weekend in May, where readers and authors hang out together--tickets are still available! (Click Events and scroll down to the bottom.) Here's my summary from Booktopia 2022. The booksellers choose about 8 authors with new books coming out each year. This one is a thriller that will be released on April 25. It's about a home renovation reality show featuring Robert and Holly, who purchased property in Vermont super-cheap, and are creating an expensive, eco-friendly mansion there. Unfortunately, the previous owner who was evicted isn't too happy about that. And now the two TV/social media stars are missing ... or are they? Good so far, and the suspense keeps ramping up!

 

I finished listening to the middle-grade audio book, Can You See Me? by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott. It's about an autistic eleven-year-old girl named Tally who is experiencing the challenges of starting middle-school. Tally has supportive parents and an older sister, plus a best friend who knows about her diagnosis, but no one else at school knows. The story is told from Tally's perspective and is interesting and engaging and provides a great inside look at what it's like to live with autism. It was excellent. Listen to more details in my Friday Reads video, including how a nine-year-old girl came to co-author it!

 

I am continuing to enjoy Middle-Grade March with another middle-grade audio, It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit by  Justin A. Reynolds. So far, it's a story about a pretty typical twelve-year-old boy named Eddie, who is grounded and can't go to the beach with his family because he hasn't done his laundry in 40 days, since school ended! But I know there is something creepy and weird coming up ...

 

My husband, Ken, finished reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch (which I want to read, too) and has moved onto another Christmas gift book, Across the Sand, book two in a post-apocalyptic series by Hugh Howey. We both absolutely loved Howey's Silo trilogy: Wool, Shift, and Dust. If you haven't read it yet, you should! He says this newer series is just as good.

 

So, last week, I reported that our son, 28, was reading Hurricane, book two in the Street Rats of Aramoor series by Michael Wiseheart. When I checked in today, he said he has now finished books 3 and 4, Rockslide and Sandstorm, and is in the middle of book 5, Wildfire. And he was busy all weekend visiting an old friend! When I laughed about how much he read, he said, "These weren't really big books, Mom, like I usually read. Each one was only about 530 pages"!! He's getting all his reading in before he starts his new job next week :)

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What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Fiction Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God

I recently read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston for the first time, a perfect choice for Black History Month. I never read anything by Hurston in school. Now that I think about it, I don't think we read any books by Black authors in high school! That was the 70's/80's; I know my sons' literature curriculum was much more diverse, thank goodness. This classic novel, published in 1937, was an absolute delight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As the novel opens, a woman named Janie walks through a town at sunset. Because of the time of day, everyone is out on their porches and watches as she walks by, gossiping about where she's been and what she's done. Jamie has been gone for a year and a half, and from the gossipers, we know that she left town in a fancy blue dress with a younger man in a car, and she is returning alone in muddy overalls and a ratty shirt, barefoot. As Janie reaches her own home, her best friend, Pheoby, greets her with a dish of food. Janie gratefully gulps down the dinner, starving, and then tells Pheoby her story: not just the story of the last year and a half, but her whole life story. She begins with her earliest days as a child, brought up by her grandmother without a mother or father, and continues through to this evening and how she came to be returning to town in such a bedraggled condition. The rest of the novel is her story.

That's the framework of the novel, Janie telling Pheoby her story. I don't want to disclose any more of Janie's story here because it is riveting to read as it slowly unwinds. That was one of the surprises I encountered in this book: just how gripping the plot was. A lot happens to Janie, and she lives a full life, with plenty of ups and downs between her grandmother's home and returning to her own front porch this evening. The other surprise was the language and the writing itself. The dialogue is all written in the Black dialect of Florida in the 1930's, and I had heard it was difficult to read. It did take a little getting used to, but I soon adjusted to the rhythm and cadence of their speech, sort of hearing it in my mind as I read. The surprise was how much fun Hurston has with the language, especially with the unique similes and metaphors the characters use, like "Speakin' of winds, he's de wind, and we'se de grass. We bend whichever way he blows." Characters' mutual teasing on the front porch of the general store is clever and often laugh-out-loud funny. Many beautifully written passages are also very thoughtful:

"The spirit of marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. It was there to shake hands whenever company came to visit, but it never went back inside the bedroom again."

This novel was unique at the time--and for many decades after--for describing ordinary Black lives. Its focus is not on slavery or discrimination (though some of that is along the edges of the story) but just people living and loving, with joys and sorrows. In fact, much of it takes place in an entirely Black town in Florida, the first of its kind and a real place. I finished this book almost three weeks ago, but I still find myself thinking about it. I'll add it to our shelves of classics, and I have no doubt I will read this moving, delightful novel again.

193 pages, Amistad

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR

My own Classics Challenge (the one I usually do stopped this year) - a classic by a BIPOC author

Alphabet Soup - T

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes - Florida

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 


Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, beautiful read by actress Ruby Dee, and/or download it from Audible.  The sample is from the beginning of the book, as Janie walks back into town, and her neighbors gossip. It sounds wonderful on audio!

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

 

Or you can order Their Eyes Were Watching God from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.