Book Haunt

I have long been a fan of Yasmina Khadra, whose books usually give one a realistic look at Arab culture and family life, alongside the cultural oppression and fundamental extremism that has saturated their daily lives.  This book takes us back a bit further than others I have read. 

The Angels Die is set in 1920s and 1930s Algeria during a time when French colonials ruled over the Arab nation and the native population has been decimated by a century of bloody conquest and rampant disease.  Those born in Algeria are treated as if they are foreigners in their own land.  The French live in luxury while the Algerians live in squalor. 

Twenty-seven year old Turambo grew up in a shanty town in Oran.   Turambo tells us of his life growing up in Oran where he constantly rages at the unfairness of life.  But Turambo’s willful spirit doesn’t allow him to give up his dream of a better future.  At home, he is embarrassed by and resentful of his father, while he longs for an unspoken but promising love with his cousin Nora.  When Turambo finds an unlikely friend in a French boy, Gino, who cares for a sick mother, he begins to take refuge from his life in Gino’s apartment.  As Turambo grows from a boy to a man, he is sure that his chance to become a boxer is his way out of the harsh life he was brought up in.  He will make a success of himself, win the girl he loves and show the oppressors that Algerians are a proud and indomitable people.  But Turambo’s rage at all the inequities of the world could very well cause him to be his own worst enemy. 

Maybe you can tell that this book caused me to take a little look at the history of Algeria.  Khadra continues to educate me each time I read one of his books.  The history of Algeria is both tragedy and triumph at different times as is so much of the world.  IMHO, we need to continue translating all authors of this caliber.

I want to thank the publisher (Gallic Books) for providing me with the ARC through NetGalley for an honest review. 

See review at Book Haunt

See review at Book Haunt

The Night Stalker is the Book 2 in Robert Bryndza’s Detective Erika Foster series.

A shadowy figure creeps upon a house in London seeking retribution against the man within.  We bear witness to Dr. Gregory Munro’s killer in action.  Four days later his mother enters the house and find’s her son’s dead body with a plastic bag over his head.  

Detective Erika Foster is called to the murder scene, a scene that appears to be a sex crime.  When another just like it follows, indications are that there is a cold-blooded serial killer on the loose and Erika and her team must figure out what these murders have in common. 

Erika is a tough, uncompromising detective who will get the killer at any cost and her determined doggedness doesn’t always go over well with her boss or her peers.  She is once again put on notice about not doing thing’s the department’s way.  Despite rubbing people the wrong way, she will continue to lay both her job and her life on the line to catch the killer. 

When we first met Erika in the first book, she was freshly grieving over the death of her husband Mark and just returning to work.  Erika’s grief for Mark is still very present and she agonizes over it in more detail, all the while still blaming herself.  This also enables us to get more of a glimpse into her past and how Mark’s killing went down. 

Robert Bryndza is such a good writer and he is definitely making a name for himself with this series.  The twists and turns don’t let up and keep you guessing to the end.  He has also done some nice work on the character development here.  In the end the characters are what makes or breaks a series.  We learn a bit more about Crane, Moss, Peterson, Marsh, Stark, and Isaac Strong.  Erika is getting to know each of them and so are we.  She is beginning to foster friendship, loyalty, respect, and of course some antagonism.  Each of the afore-mentioned supporting characters is sketched in further and one of them even becomes a prime suspect in the killings. 

I want to thank the publisher (Bookouture) for providing me with the ARC through NetGalley for an honest review. 

See review at Book Haunt

Perilous Judgment is a legal thriller that takes us to the forefront of the ongoing issue of immigration.

Edward Lamport is a man of great conviction and as a federal judge he exercises those convictions in his rulings.  His most current case is of one of great controversy.  Voters in his home state of California have voted to pass Proposition 68 concerning illegal immigration and now Edward has to rule on whether the proposition is constitutional.  With his fellow judges and political contacts pressuring him, he is carefully weighing his decision. 

Edward is also happily married to Jacqui.  Jacqui works for the California school system and with pressure from her coworkers and peers she is becoming more and more anxious herself to find out what her husband’s ruling will be.  Edward and Jacqui both know the danger they may face if he makes the “wrong” decision. 

Now a woman Edward was once in love with resurfaces and begs for his help.  Alana tells Edward of the son he never knew about, who is now a grown young man.  This son, Carlos was born and raised in Mexico and works for Bancomex.  In the course of his work he has stumbled on dangerous information involving his employers and his life is in jeopardy.  Alana wants Edward to use his political connections to help get Carlos out of Mexico and into the safety of the U.S.

Edward is going to have to manage a very complex balancing act here.  How will he manage to be true to the integrity his job demands while trying to get his illegitimate son asylum in the U.S.?  Why are all his political connections stonewalling him?  And how is he going to face his wife with the secrets of his past?  Will the woman he was forced to leave behind 25 years ago stir old feelings anew?  Will he be able to save his son’s life and will that son accept a father he has never known? 

This is a book where we are reminded that the big issues that the talking heads on TV argue about incessantly are not as black and white as they are made out to be.  No matter which way the decision goes there are real people behind the scenes who will be affected.  We would like to think that the judges ruling on these issues are personally detached but what if one of them weren’t.  What if something like this happened to them?  Now that could be a far reach, but hey, in today’s world maybe not.  It is a most unfortunate fact that political corruption, blackmail, drug running and money laundering are all alive and well. 

But in this book we also see a man torn by his convictions and struggling to make the right decisions, none of which are easy.  With all of his options growing slim, Edward will turn to his strong Christian faith and values for guidance.   With all of the obstacles we face in this world, this is a strong reminder that in the end, it’s up to us how we handle our beliefs and act on them.

I want to thank the publisher (Waterfall Press) for providing me with the ARC through the Goodreads Giveaways program for an honest review.

Reviewed at Book Haunt

One of my first reviews was In the Blood (The Witchbreed Series #1) by R.L. Martinez and it turned out to be one of my favorite reads of 2016 so I was very excited to be offered an ARC of the second book in the Witchbreed series, Beneath the Skin.

Oriabel Dominax is a witch and she has always used the magic she was born with to heal those around her, but now her magic has taken on a new and deadly form and she no longer trusts herself to use it. With her life in danger, she has fled Corlaan, the only home she has ever known. She travels in the company of her sister Ottilde and two strangers, Wilder Coomb and Artair och Mahan. Separated from her husband, she longs to be reunited with him but she has no idea if he longs for the same.

Oriabel’s twin sister, Ottilde Dominax was once a knight but then she became a prisoner of her country. She is a fierce survivor and driven to keep her sister safe at all costs, yet she too is learning to control a new and deadly side of herself. Still on the run from the prison she escaped, Ottilde finds herself relying on the one man she shouldn’t trust, the prison warden Wilder Coomb, to help keep her sister alive.

These two sisters are on the run and threatened from all sides. They live in constant peril and how to trust and who to trust will affect them each in different ways. Everyone has a motive and love and betrayal can often be tied together.

I love it when you pick up a book and feel like you’re coming home to characters you love to spend time with. I hadn’t had enough of them at the end of book 1 and I still want more after book 2. The author gives us a study in extremes on both good and evil with well-defined characters who can straddle both. This book twists and turns and outright socks you in the end. I was never certain where it would end up and that’s the way it should be. My anticipation was richly rewarded with another installment that ranks as a fave and I cannot wait for R.L. Martinez to write more!

See review at Book Haunt

Sir Winston Churchill was an accomplished, larger-than-life, somewhat pompous and unlikeable, yet oft-revered historical figure.  He was born a British nobleman, the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and his wife, Jennie Jerome, an American socialite.  As such he was a direct descendant of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough and his parents were personal friends of the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria’s oldest son and heir.  For a member of Churchill’s high social class, the highly bold and unabashed ambition he had was a novelty, if not an outright scandal.  Every move Churchill made from early adulthood was in conquest of glory and the strong belief that he would someday be Britain’s Prime Minister.  Indeed, not only did Churchill serve two separate and very memorable terms as Britain’s Prime Minister, he has also been remembered through time as a brave soldier, a great journalist and a riveting orator. 

Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill concentrates on Churchill at the age of 24.  He had already served in two wars and while working as a journalist he wheedled his way to the frontlines of south of Africa during the Second Boer War.  The Boers were Dutch-speaking settlers, mostly farmers, who had lived in southern Africa for centuries, but rose up to defend their land against annexation by the British in the 19^th century.  The Boer Wars had turned out to be more of a challenge than the British expected.  Having lived, fought and learned alongside the fierce Shaka Zulu of the Zulu Nation, the Boers were more accomplished in military tactics than the British understood.  Churchill proves himself to be a man of courage while accompanying a scouting mission on an armored train that is ambushed, but he is subsequently captured by the Boers and interred as a POW.  Churchill, who was absolutely used to being master of his own fate, manages to escape from the prison and cross 300 miles on his own.  When he reaches safety, he wants only one thing, a commission, so that he can go back and wreak revenge on those who held him.  This, despite the fact that he knew the War Office had a rule barring correspondents from being soldiers and soldiers from being correspondents. 

This was my first foray into any kind of bio on Churchill and it was a great place to start.  This particular glimpse into the history of Churchill definitely gives us a deep understanding of who the man was.  Winston Churchill was definitely a man to be remembered and Candice Millard managed to not only gave me a fantastic primer on the man himself, she also broadened my knowledge of South African history and the Boer Wars.  I have to say I really admire her writing style.  She managed to bring the adventure, the tragedy and the terribly inhumane conditions of the experience to life for the readers.  This author paints beautiful scenes and her background research is impeccable.  This is not a bio to be slogged through, it is thoroughly enjoyable. 

I want to thank the publisher (Doubleday Books) for providing me with the ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

See review at Book Haunt

Thomasin Drew was 13 years old when she went to stay with her uncle in the country.  This is where she first meets a young Lady Elizabeth, the daughter of King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn.  Befriending Lady Elizabeth sets Thomasin on a path that she will follow the rest of her life, that of friend, confidant and attendant to a royal.  Lady Elizabeth would one day become Queen Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.  In this piece of historical fiction as told by Thomasin, we get an up close and personal view of Queen Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth was born a princess but when her mother was beheaded by the King, she was declared illegitimate and sent away.    Cast off and out of favor, she lived with her stepmother, Catherine Parr.  This is the time period when Thomasin first encounters Elizabeth.  She describes Elizabeth as a person who often found the world to be enchanting and full of excitement.  But beneath her smiling and giggling exterior she was often a sad and lonely person.  She had no true friends until she met the forthright Thomasin.  Thomasin could always be relied on not to flatter and fawn over her as others did. 

Maureen Peters skims through the years of young Elizabeth’s life leading up to her reign.  Her father, King Henry VIII had taken a total of six wives, creating quite a stir and leaving behind many potential successors to the throne.  The years that lead up to Elizabeth’s succession to the throne were often turbulent, filled with religious conflict, wars, beheadings and political maneuvering.  King Henry VIII had designated his 9 year-old son, Prince Edward, the son of former wife Jane Seymour, to be his successor.   King Edward VI’s reign ended after only 6 years due to a fatal illness.  Though he attempted to have his half sister Mary removed as his successor, she seized the throne from the proclaimed Queen, Lady Jane Grey after only 9 days.   Queen Mary I was crowned in 1547 and would rule 5 years.    The stiffly Roman Catholic Queen would become known as Bloody Mary due to her many executions of Protestants.  When Queen Mary becomes pregnant, Lady Elizabeth is called to her side to attend her.  However, the pregnancy is a false alarm and as it turns out Queen Mary is actually dying, and so the Elizabethan era begins.    

This is the core of the story.  Yes, politics and the realm are a big part of Elizabeth’s story but what about the story behind the scenes?  Why didn’t Elizabeth ever marry?  Elizabeth’s story is oftentimes a sad and heartbreaking one.  She seemed to be full of exuberance for life yet unable to live it.  She had many men try to woo her but unable to marry for love, she could not bear to marry at all, and she died being known as “The Virgin Queen.”  Every overture made toward Elizabeth was possibly tainted, whether with fear or betrayal.  Her siblings, cousins and all those surrounding her could not be trusted, for there was an ever present threat that they might try to usurp her throne.  Elizabeth had to rule with her head instead of her heart and she has gone down in history as a powerful and politically savvy monarch who managed to rule for almost 50 years.  Many of the facts surrounding her reign are skimmed over here with the story concentrating primarily on Elizabeth’s many dramatic moods, her strong determination, her trials with love and friendship and her inner qualms over her decision to imprison her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.  This is what might have been a side of Elizabeth I that the public never got to see.  It’s a fascinating and decidedly human side, filled with tragedy, yet spoken with the tenderness of a longtime companion. 

I want to thank the publisher (Endeavor Press) for providing me with the ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

Read my latest review at bookhaunt.com

Really not so happy with BookLikes since I have to add a new book or edition every time I do a review.  

In the third book of The Red Queen’s War series, Mark Lawrence starts us off with a neat recap of the characters and storyline thus far.  But for goodness sake, don’t start here, go back and read the first two books if you haven’t done so already.  As a matter of fact, with the references to Jorg Ancrath made in this book I am thinking it might have been better had I read Mark Lawrence’s other trilogy, the Broken Empire series first.

Regardless of where I started, I was absolutely hankering to continue on with the adventures of the incorrigible self-described coward, Jalan Kendeth. 

As we rejoin Jalan he is traipsing through the desert after having escaped from Hell.  He tells us of his time in Hell in reoccurring flashbacks.  What has become of Snorri?  We are not yet certain but in time it shall be revealed. I thoroughly enjoyed it as Jalan described his journeys through the desert and by sea.  As with most things he does, he tells us of his travels with a humorous cynicism.  We don’t get the potentially long and boring travel descriptions of some books.  Travelling through Jalan's eyes, these journeys become vastly entertaining.

“The desert is hot and boring. I’m sorry, but that’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s also sandy, but rocks are essentially dull things and breaking them up into really small pieces doesn’t improve matters. Some people will tell you how the desert changes character day by day, how the wind sculpts it endlessly in vast and empty spaces not meant for man. They’ll wax lyrical about the grain and shade of the sand, the majesty of bare rock rising mountainous, carved by the sand-laden breeze into exotic shapes that speak of water and flow . . . but for me sandy, hot, and boring covers it all.”

As usual Jalan is in the thick of it.  He’s still not too keen on responsibility of any type and he certainly doesn’t understand how he keeps getting in the positions he gets himself into.  He longs to be back home playing the rich playboy grandson of the Red Queen.  But alas, you can’t turn back time!  Jalan’s grandmother the Red Queen has taken an army to confront the Lady Blue.  The girl he longed to marry has married his best friend.  As for Jalan, he is still running from Maeres Allus, wanted by the banking world and on the run from those who seek what he now holds, Loki’s Key.  Oh yeah, there’s also still a little matter of revenge on Edris Dean for his role in killing Jalan’s mother and his unborn sister.  Speaking of the unborn sis, well you know…the “unborn” have been something of a problem for Jalan.  With no certain escape from all of the dangers that chase him, Jalan knows that he is bound by circumstance to proceed on his journey.  It soon becomes apparent that he will need to head toward the Wheel of Osheim to avert certain disaster.  Am I for one minute worried that the fate of the world is in Jalan’s hands?  Not on your life! 

This final book in the trilogy is supreme entertainment from page one!  You will come to love the well wrought characters.  It’s full of “I didn’t see that coming” surprises, genuine chuckles and ever-present danger around every corner.  I will leave you with one final thought before you get started reading:

“When someone lets you off too easily there’s always that suspicion that they know something you do not. It’s an irritating thing, like sunburn, but I know a sure-fire way to ease it. “Let’s get a drink!”

Miller’s Valley is a finely woven family saga narrated by the main character Mary Margaret Miller, aka Mimi.  As an adult, Mimi is facing eminent domain of her family’s land and the small town that was named after them.  Her family has resided in the town for over 100 years.  This is their home, the place they know and love.  But the state wants to open up the dam and flood the valley to create a recreational lake area.

Read entire review at Book Haunt

“Poor girls. The world fattens them on the promise of love. How badly they need it, and how little most of them will ever get.”

Summary:

Evie Boyd is now in her fifties as she reflects back on her time as a 14 year old living in late ‘60s Northern California.  As with most 14 year old girls, Evie is young, impressionable and longing to find her place in the world.  She comes across a group of young women in the park and their carefree ways captivate her.  Soon she manages to befriend one of these young women, Suzanne.  Suzanne takes her under her wing.  Evie is swept into Suzanne’s world when they visit the ranch where the girls are living.  She is introduced to their leader, Russell Hadrick.  Russell is an enigmatic man who has this fantastic following and seems to be on the edge of fame.  He and his “family” seem to have the world in the palm of their hands and Evie can’t resist the pull.

The Premise:

This book has gotten rave reviews.  Perhaps I am alone in not finding it all that captivating.  None of the characters in this book were likeable including the main character, Evie.  It’s so obvious that this is a fictional representation of a young girl being taken into a Charles Manson-like cult.  Knowing the outcome of that horrendous true-crime story makes it hard for me to understand how anyone could be lured to it.  I read Helter Skelter when I was very young and I was appalled by it.  I didn’t get how those young women could be drawn to such a monster and I still don’t get it even after reading this book.  Someone of a younger generation who cannot recall those events so easily might find this book much more riveting than I did.  Like Gone Girl, this book just made me want to take a shower. 

The Writing:

Each generation has their version of living on the edge and doing things that seem taboo.  The 60s were a great turning point in the freedoms that society experiences to this day.  It was a turbulent time of change for young people.  Emma Cline takes us into the head of one young girl during that time.  Evie became easily misdirected and her poor decisions will forever haunt her.  To me, there is one very important point here.  When we are young our expectations of the world are high.  Society leads us to believe that things should be a certain way.  We begin to realize during adolescence that maybe for some of us those things aren’t that easy to come by.  Is the world going to be disappointed by us?  Are we going to be disappointed by it?  The heart can be a lonely confusing place and we all long to belong somewhere.  As we grow away from some we’ve been close to and towards new people, we each have an inner journey going on that no one else is privy to.  Cline did indeed give us a vivid picture of the strife that can come with this journey. 

I want to thank the publisher (Random House Publishing Group – Random House) for providing me with the ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.