Little Did I Know by Mitchell Maxwell

Here is the story of an unforgettable summer. Set in Plymouth, MA in the late seventies, Little Did I Know (Prospecta Press, 336p, Isbn-1935212575) is the tale of a young man with an outsized dream – to refurbish a dilapidated but historic theater and produce a season's worth of vibrant musicals.

A recent college graduate, he fills his cast and crew with people he has come to love and trust in his university life, and with others whose talents and personalities prove undeniable. Yet, while the productions drive his ambitions, a local woman drives his passions, and their romance is fateful, star-crossed, and ultimately more than either of them expected.

Told with with, compassion, and the kind of insider's access to the theater that only someone like Mitchell Maxwell can provide, Little Did I Know is a novel about coming of age in the spotlight and embracing one's entire future in a single season.


Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

A Woman's Work: Street Chronicles

A Woman's Work: Street Chronicles
One World/Ballantine, 256p, Isbn-0345504305
Street lit’s finest female voices—Keisha Starr, Tysha, LaKesa Cox, and Monique S. Hall—deliver searing stories about women who make hard sacrifices to stay on top of their hustle and seize the power, money, and fame they can’t live without. Enterprising and fearless, these players are more than equipped to handle whatever the street throws at them. That’s because they are hellbent on survival—by any means necessary.

Once again, Nikki Turner shares ultra-realistic page-turners that will keep fans coming back for more.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Following Atticus by Tom Ryan

Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship
William Morrow, 288p, Isbn-0061997102
Middle-aged, overweight, and acrophobic newspaperman Tom Ryan and miniature schnauzer Atticus M. Finch are an unlikely pair of mountaineers, but after a close friend dies of cancer, the two pay tribute to her by attempting to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire’s four-thousand-foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity. In a rare test of endurance, Tom and Atticus set out on an adventure of a lifetime that takes them across hundreds of miles and deep into an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland. Little did they know that their most difficult test would lie ahead, after they returned home. . . .

At the heart of this remarkable journey is an extraordinary relationship that blurs the line between man and dog, an indelible bond that began when Tom, following the advice of Atticus’s breeder, carried the pup wherever he went for the first month of their life together. Following Atticus is ultimately a story of transformation: how a five-pound puppy pierced the heart of a tough-as-nails newspaperman, opening his eyes to the world’s beauty and its possibilities. It was a change that led to a new life among the mountains; an unforgettable saga of adventure, friendship, and the unlikeliest of family; and an inspiring tale of finding love and discovering your true self.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Eve by Iris Johansen

Eve (St.Martins, 384p, Isbn-0312651260)

Eve Duncan’s mission in life is to bring closure to the families who have experienced the agony of a missing child. As a forensic sculptor, she is able to piece together bones, create a face, and bring an identity to a child who would have otherwise gone unidentified, maybe forever. Eve is brilliant, and driven, and tormented--because her own daughter, Bonnie, was taken from her years ago. And Eve has never discovered what happened to her. But now a name from the past resurfaces, thanks to CIA agent Catherine Ling who knows all too well what it’s like to lose a child.

After teaming up with Agent Ling to find her missing son, Eve and Catherine share a bond forged by their mutual pain. Now, Catherine challenges Eve with a name: John Gallo. A man from Eve’s past. A man, seemingly raised from the dead, whose whereabouts are unknown. Could Gallo be the missing piece to the puzzle that has haunted Eve for years? Why was he in Atlanta just before Bonnie’s disappearance? With a brilliant narrative that goes back to Eve Duncan’s early life, exploring her history and motivations like no other novel before, Eve reveals long-guarded secrets and is guaranteed to leave Johansen fans panting for more, in the next book in this series, Quinn.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Uncommon Valor

Uncommon Valor: The Medal of Honor and the Six Warriors Who Earned It in Afghanistan and Iraq by Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Author), John D. Gresham (Author), Sgt. Ola Mize (Foreword)
St.Martins Press, 304p, Isbn-0312363850

Since the Vietnam War ended in 1973, the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor, has been presented to only eight men for their actions “above and beyond the call of duty.” Six of the eight were young men who had fought in the current war in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. All of these medals were awarded posthumously, as all had made the choice to give their lives so that their comrades might live.

 

Uncommon Valor answers the searing question of who these six young soldiers were, and dramatically details how they found themselves in life-or-death situations, and why they responded as they did. For the first time, this book also provides a comprehensive history of the Medal of Honor itself—one marred by controversies, scandals, and theft.

 

Using an extraordinary range of sources, including interviews with family members and friends, teammates and superiors in the military, personal letters, blogs posted within hours of events, personal and official videos and newly declassified documents, Uncommon Valor is a compelling and important work that recounts incredible acts of heroism and lays bare the ultimate sacrifice of our bravest soldiers.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

The Monster by Michael W. Hudson

The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America--and Spawned a Global Crisis
St.Martins Griffin, 384p, Isbn-031261053X
In this page-turning, true-crime exposé, award-winning reporter Michael W. Hudson reveals the story of the rise and fall of the biggest subprime lender and Wall Street's biggest patron of subprime: Ameriquest and Lehman Brothers. They did more than any other institutions to produce the biggest financial scandal in American history.

It's a tale populated by a remarkable cast of characters: a shadowy billionaire who created the subprime industry out of the ashes of the 1980s S&L scandal; insatiable Wall Street executives; ensnared home owners; investigators who tried to expose the fraud; politicians who turned a blind eye; and, most of all, the drug-snorting, high-living salesman who tell all about the money they made, the lies they told, the deals they closed.

Provocative and gripping, The Monster is a searing look at the bottom-feeding fraud and top-down greed that fueled the financial collapse.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Wife-in-Law by Haywood Smith

Wife-in-Law
St.Martins, 384p, Isbn-0312609779

Neighbors Betsy Callison and Kat Ellis were oil and water when they met thirty-five years ago.  Betsy was a prim, neat freak, Republican wife, and Kat was a wild, irreverent, hippie Democrat. But they soon discover common ground that creates a bond that lasts for decades. Until Betsy's husband leaves her for his secretary, then comes sniffing back around two years later and convinces newly widowed Kat to marry him!

Not that Betsy wants him back, but it’s hard to move on when the newlyweds are flaunting their love right across the street. But there’s trouble brewing in Paradise, and no one knows philandering Greg better than his ex-wife Betsy. Can Betsy get involved in her best friend's marriage--even if it means helping her wife-in-law figure out the same man she shared a bed with for thirty years?

Told with Haywood's Smith inimitable southern voice, WIFE-IN-LAW provides loads of laughter, insight, and plenty of heart.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb

The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Ballad Novel (Appalachian Ballad)
Thomas Dunne Books, 320p, Isbn-0312558171

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley…The folk song, made famous by the Kingston Trio, recounts a tragedy in the North Carolina mountains after the Civil War. Laura Foster, a simple country girl, was murdered and her lover Tom Dula was hanged for the crime. The sensational elements in the case attracted national attention: a man and his beautiful, married lover accused of murdering the other-woman; the former governor of North Carolina spearheading the defense; and a noble gesture from the prisoner on the eve of his execution, saving the woman he really loved.

With the help of historians, lawyers, and researchers, Sharyn McCrumb visited the actual sites, studied the legal evidence, and uncovered a missing piece of the story that will shock those who think they already know what happened—and may also bring belated justice to an innocent man. What seemed at first to be a sordid tale of adultery and betrayal was transformed by the new discoveries into an Appalachian Wuthering Heights. Tom Dula and Ann Melton had a profound romance spoiled by the machinations of their servant, Pauline Foster.

Bringing to life the star-crossed lovers of this mountain tragedy, Sharyn McCrumb gifts understanding and compassion to her compelling tales of Appalachia, and solidifies her status as one of today's great Southern writers.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay

A Secret KeptA Secret KeptA Secret Kept
St.Martins Griffin, 320p, Isbn-0312553498

It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island—over thirty years, since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.

Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse.

Trapped in the wake of a shocking family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with his own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts as a son, a husband, a brother and a father, Antoine Rey will learn the truth about his family and himself the hard way. By turns thrilling, seductive and destructive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family, the invisible ties that hold it together, and the impact it has throughout life.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Goddess of Vengeance by Jackie Collins

Lucky runs a high profile casino and hotel complex, The Keys in Vegas. Lennie, her movie star husband, is still writing and directing successful independent movies, while Max, her stubborn and gorgeous teenage daughter is about to celebrate her 18th birthday, and her son, Bobby, owns a string of hot clubs. Lucky has everything. Family. Love. Life.

And everything is exactly what billionaire businessman Armand Jordan is determined to take from her one way or the other.

Born a Prince in the small but affluent Middle Eastern country of Akramshar, Armand comes to America with his American mother at an early age, and rises to become a real estate business titan. Armand regards women as nothing more than breeding mares or sexual playthings, so when his people inform him that the one property he covets more than anything, The Keys, is not for sale, he is shocked. That a mere woman would dare to turn down his offer to buy The Keys is unthinkable, and Armand vows to force Lucky’s hand whatever it takes. And so the battle for power begins . . .

Meanwhile Bobby is dealing with shady Russian investors, while his girlfriend—smart and independent Denver Jones—is becoming a Deputy D.A. in the L.A. drug unit.

And Max, Bobby’s seventeen year old sister, is busy embarking on a forbidden affair with a sexy young movie star. An affair they have to keep on the down-low lest Lucky finds out.

The word is that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and what happens in Goddess of Vengeance (St. Martin's Press, 528p, Isbn-0312567464) will blow your mind!
Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

Amy Kathleen Ryan’s GLOW

In Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Glow (Sky Chasers) (September 13, 2011; St. Martin’s Griffin; $17.99; 320 pages), two young lovers on a ship bound for New Earth are attacked by their supposed allies and separated. Now they must find a way back to each other to save themselves, their ship, and the most important mission in human history: preserving the future of the human race.

Waverly and Kieran have grown up on the Empyrean, and the ship is their entire world. But unknown to them and the rest of the Empyrean’s crew, their sister ship, the New Horizon, was unable to conceive a generation to continue their mission, and now they’ve come for what they need: young girls.

In a violent battle, Waverly and the other girls are kidnapped and taken aboard the New Horizon, which is under the tight control of Anne Mather, a dogmatic leader willing to do anything to populate New Earth with her followers. But Pastor Mather finds a worthy adversary in Waverly. Meanwhile, Kieran is left in charge of the Empyrean in the wake of the attack, and must find a way to lead a group of unruly boys in a desperate struggle for survival. Kieran must first vanquish the darkly brilliant Seth Ardvale, his rival both for the Captain’s chair and for Waverly’s heart.

In this thrilling first installment of The Sky Chasers series, readers will race through the pages to find out if Kieran and Waverly will ever see each other or their families again, and if this dangerous mission marks the end of the human race, or a new beginning.

Disclosure - This product was received for review/feature consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...

My Soul to Take by Tananarive Due

My Soul to Take
Washington Square Press, 432 p, Isbn-1439176140

Fana, an immortal with tremendous telepathic abilities, is locked in a battle of wills. Her fiancÉ is Michel. But Johnny Wright, a mortal who is in love with her, believes that if she doesn’t stay away from Michel, they will become the Witnesses to the Apocalypse described in the Book of Revelation.

Fana and the Life Brothers are rushing to distribute their healing “Living Blood” throughout the world, hoping to eliminate most diseases before Fana is bound to marry Michel. Still, they cannot heal people faster than Michel can kill them. Due weaves a tangled web in this novel, including beloved characters from her bestselling Joplin’s Ghost, in a war of good against evil, making My Soul to Take a chilling and thrilling experience.

Disclosure - This product was received for review consideration. The synopsis/description was taken from Amazon or the back of the book. 
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!
If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

read more...