We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Keller Croft

October 8, 2024

We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Keller Croft

In the 1970s disco scene in London, 100+ year old vampire Nicola spots Amber and knows she is her soulmate, and that she has to have her. She'll do anything for Amber, including killing Amber's husband. For her part, Amber adores the way Nicola makes her feel special. But will she feel the same way 50 years later?

Grrrl power! Usually vampire novels feature dark smoldering broody guys, but this one is about the girls who hunt the night. Imagine being trapped for eternity with someone you don't even like anymore, who will kill you if you try to leave, and you can't even ghost them because they can always find you. Vampires, toxic female friendships, disco - what's not to like?? This character driven story was part of my seasonal reading for the spooky season, recommended for readers who enjoy horror in general and vampire books in particular.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A 1970s era disco

The Women by Kristin Hannah

October 5, 2024

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Frankie McGrath grew up in a wealthy family on Coronado Island, California. Her father always preached the importance of service to one's country, but when Frankie volunteers for Vietnam as an Army nurse, her socialite parents are horrified and go to great lengths to hide Frankie's service from their friends. Frankie faces the horrors of war, but when she comes home, she is not prepared to face the scorn of her fellow American or the shame of her family.

Let's get one thing straight right away: women have gone to war as long as their have been wars. They were nurses, cooks, laundresses, ambulance drivers, clerks, spies, and yes, camp followers. Women have stood behind their men, reloading their guns for them, or fighting right beside them. All of the men in the book who claim there were no women in Vietnam were not paying attention. There is only one veteran in the book, a World War II veteran, who honors Frankie for her service, saying that he is alive today because a nurse like Frankie saved his life in France. It wasn't until two television series aired, China Beach and MASH, that Americans realized what these wonderful women did, and were ashamed of how they treated the men and women who returned home from the Vietnam War.

The government was just as bad, offering few services to the men returning from Vietnam, and absolutely none to the women veterans. PTSD was unknown at the time, as were the dangers of chemicals like Agent Orange, which caused high rates of cancer and miscarriages in veterans. In addition, the women veterans had to fight to have their fallen women comrades' names included on The Wall. There are now eight nurses honored on The Wall.

This is a wonderful book about the nurses who served in the Vietnam War. The author's previous book The Nightingale is about women on the homefront in France during World War II, also spectacular. I highly recommend both of these books to readers of historical fiction, literary fiction, or women's fiction.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington DC near the Vietnam War Memorial, aka The Wall - it's a Pieta of three nurses and a wounded soldier - there is a third nurse kneeling behind the three figures that you can see in this photo

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

October 1, 2024

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

In 1904, construction begins on the Panama Canal. But not everyone is in favor of building the canal, particularly the local people whose lives are being uprooted in order to make way for the canal.

Historical novel about the building of the Panama Canal, told from several viewpoints: the Americans in charge of the project or who travel to Panama for other reasons, local people whose lives are affected by the canal, and workers from other countries. The canal divides the country physically but also divides the characters emotionally and psychologically. While the subject is interesting the story was slow moving and I found the ending to be unsatisfying. There were a lot of characters and very little character growth or resolution to their situations. This was one of my choices for Hispanic Heritage Month. Disappointing. Recommended only for readers who read only historical fiction.

The Panama Canal

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

September 30, 2024

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

Alfred invites his five closest college friends to spend the weekend at his Alfred Hitchcock themed hotel, free of charge. Alfred has always been a huge Hitchcock fan and collects Hitchcock memorabilia. But something bad happened during their senior year of college (maybe more than one something), and Alfred has waited 16 years to exact his revenge.

This had a good creepy vibe, great for the season: an old house in a college town, converted to a boutique hotel and filled with movie memorabilia, a creepy housekeeper who is always lurking about, plus an aviary full of crows behind the house. All the characters have secrets in addition to being morally bankrupt. There are a couple of good twists that I didn't see coming. I read the author's previous book (Darling Rose Gold, based on the Blanchard case), which had its own squirm factor. Fans of Alfred Hitchcock and psychological suspense will enjoy Wrobel's latest novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Alfred Hitchcock with a Thanksgiving turkey - this photo is referenced several times in the book

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

September 28, 2024

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

Ever since her bestselling romantic suspense novel was published, fans of reclusive author Veronica St. Clair have been clamoring for the author to write a sequel. When editorial assistant Agnes Corey loses her job at the publishing house that published the novel, she secures a position as the author's assistant to help her write a sequel. Little does she know that the job will open up a window into her own life story.

When I was in high school, I was a huge fan of Victoria Holt's gothic novels. The cover and description reminded me of those books (in fact, at least one is referenced in the text), but this one is no where near as well written or engaging. It's a book within a book, a trope which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. There are too many dreams that repeat the same thing, too much falling asleep in the bathtub. The plot is really slow moving and the characters are unlikeable as well as confusing. All the narrative threads are jumbled together at the end in a confusing heap, with the characters proving to be exceptionally stupid. It was a slog to get through, and a good editor should have deleted at least 25 pages. It will appeal to readers who are big gothic fans - maybe.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

I remember this being one of my favorite Victoria Holt novels

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

September 27, 2024

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

In the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, Arthur Parnassus, magical adult and caretake of a group of magical children, petitions to adopt the children in his care, rather than just supervise the group home where they live. With his partner Linus Baker, they work to thwart the bigoted government agency that is attempting to force their beliefs on the world by gaining control of one particular magical child: Lucifer, aka Lucy, spawn of Satan, age seven.

While I loved revisiting the characters from the first book, there is a certain amount of lecturing here, with more emphasis on politics. In addition to being a fantasy, it is also a parody of the current issues on gay and transgender rights. A certain percentage of the population believes that anyone who is different from them, is a lesser life form and not entitled to the same rights as a human being. Gorgeous cover art. It's still worth reading. Recommended for fantasy readers everywhere.

A phoenix, like Arthur

Diamond Dust by Russ Swain

September 17, 2024

Diamond Dust by Russ Swain

After borrowing $10,000 from a loan shark and realizing he had no way to repay the loan, Russ Swain decided to put his artistic skills to good use and forged a pile of $20 bills that were so good even the Secret Service had a hard time detecting them. After his life crashed down around him, Swain used his talent to rebuild his life.

Who doesn't love a good Mormon book? A lot of information about what makes U.S. currency unique (who knew there was silk in the paper or that the surface has a slight grit to it), as well as how to counterfeit a $20 bill. Will appeal to readers of true crime, general nonfiction, and do-it-yourself.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Example of a counterfeit $20 bill