2009 ARC Reading Challenge

Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan is the first book in the Charlotte McNally mysteries and it’s a fast and good read that I really enjoyed. It’s a suspenseful thriller based in the journalism world made all the more realistic as Hank Phillippi Ryan is a television investigative reporter herself. What I liked even more is that the main character Charlotte (Charlie) is a forty-six year old woman trying to survive in a world where how you look and how old you are mean a lot. It was really refreshing to read something from the point of view of someone in my age range for once.

Charlie McNally is a character you can relate to. She starts off talking about her hot flashes, hangover and spam on her computer and how she’s never going to be able to get anything done and I was already hooked. Charlie is funny, sassy, intelligent and has a nose for getting the best stories and she has the awards to prove it. She’s not afraid to do whatever she has to in order to get her story – even to the point of risking her own life.

In this installment Charlie is scrambling for her big story for the November sweeps and she still hasn’t come up with anything. She is terrified that she’s on the way out, that she’ll be replaced by someone younger and prettier. Every time her snarly boss Angela phones or pops in her door, Charlie cringes.

As luck would have it Charlie stumbles on a story she wasn’t even looking for. She’s called in to interview the widow of a man who had just been killed in a car accident. She finds out that he had apparently sent her an email before he died so when Charlie heads back to the office she looks for this email and it ends up opening up a whole other can of worms. What seemed to be only spam actually turns out instead to be something sinister with a bunch of corporate firms – something that may have already caused a few deaths and may be putting Charlie’s life in danger as well. Will Charlie uncover what’s going on in time to save her own skin?

Prime Time is a great start to the series. Charlie and her producer Franklin make a great pair and Charlie’s sense of humor adds a spark to the story. There was even time for a little romance for Charlie who all but thought that romance was a dead end in her world. I’m really looking forward to reading the next in the series, Face Time, so keep an eye out for that review soon.

You can visit Hank Phillippi Ryan’s website and learn about all her books and other goodies. You can purchase Prime Time here in the US and here in Canada.

My Thanks…to Nancy Berland Public Relations Inc. for my review copy of Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Wild Blue Under by Judi Fennell is the second book in the Mer Trilogy, the first being In Over Her Head (my review). In the first book we were introduced to Reel who ultimately decides to become human and live on land for the woman he loves. In Wild Blue Under we are introduced to Rod, his brother who has to travel to land to find the woman who can help him become the leader in his world.

Let me explain, the Mer world is under water. It’s a beautiful and magical place and when you read Judi’s descriptions of the the under water world you can almost envision it in your own mind. You’ve got wrasses, gobies and angelfish. You’ve got birds and fish that can talk.

In Wild Blue Under, Rod has to find Valerie who is a hybrid – half Mer and half human. Her father was from the Mer world although Valerie had never known this. Rod has to convince Valerie that in order to get her inheritance she must travel with him to the ocean. Valerie agrees because she wants to save her mother’s gift shop. Well this sets Valerie and Rod on an unbelievable and crazy trip that has birds, fish, pizza crusts, tin cans and shoes flying at her car trying to run them off the road. Somebody does not want them to make it to the ocean. Somebody does not want Rod becoming leader in the Mer world, but the question is who?

Now Rod is just out to do his duty to the Mer world. He has no intention of falling for any human even if she is half Mer. However as we all know things don’t always go as planned and he falls head over heels for Valerie. This book is a cute little romance story as Rod tries to convince himself he can’t possibly fall in love with a human and Valerie simply doesn’t want a relationship even though it’s obvious they are extremely attracted to each other. As things go on though, they can’t deny how they feel and soon enough the sparks are flying.

This is a fun series – the perfect get me away from my world for a bit. You simply have to suspend the believable when you read this book and let yourself be swept away by Judi Fennell’s creative fantasy world of the Mer people. I do have to say that I liked Reel a bit more than Rod and enjoyed In Over Her Head a bit more but that doesn’t take away from Wild Blue Under in the least. Rod is likable and as the novel progresses you are rooting for he and Valerie to hopefully have their happily ever after. I’m definitely looking forward to the final one in the series!

Wild Blue Under by Judi Fennell was released by Sourcebooks on November 3 of this year. You can buy it here in the US and here in Canada. Be sure to visit Judi Fennell’s website as well!

My Thanks…to Sourcebooks for my review copy of Wild Blue Under by Judi Fennell.

The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White is a continuation of a book I read recently called The House on Tradd Street (review here). I was very excited to read more of Melanie and Jack’s adventures and I wasn’t disappointed. I can’t even pick a favorite between the two books because they were both great although I think maybe The Girl on Legare Street had me a little more creeped out than The House on Tradd Street.

Melanie is a woman who can see and hear ghosts. She’s been able to do this since childhood and it runs in the family; her mother and grandmother were the same. While The House on Tradd Street saw healing between Melanie and her father, the Girl on Legare Street sees healing between Melanie and her mother. Melanie’s mother left her when she was just seven years old and now over thirty years later has come back to purchase her old childhood home on Legare Street. However along with Melanie’s mothers return, a ghost from the past with revenge on her mind is forcing Melanie to put past hurts behind her in order to fight this deadly presence with her mother.

Jack is back as well and still wants more of a relationship with Melanie. She drives me crazy though as she keeps pushing him away. Unfortunately this time when she pushes him away it’s into the arms of another woman, Rebecca Edgerton. Rebecca seems to have some physic powers of her own and for some reason Melanie feels as though she recognizes her from somewhere. Rebecca isn’t Melanie’s favorite person as it seems as though she’s out to have Jack for herself and while Melanie can’t make up her mind about him; neither is she willing to give him up. It turns out though that Rebecca may have more of a connection to Melanie’s family than anyone could have expected.

The mystery that unfolds in this story is one that kept me on the edge of my seat at times with my heart pounding just a bit. I wouldn’t say the book is really scary, more like creepy when you think of ghosts wandering among us; maybe protecting us or those trying to hurt us. Karen White manages to draw us into this mystery completely and weaves the past with the present as Melanie, her mother, Jack and a few others uncover the story behind the vengeful ghost.

I really enjoyed this continuation of the story. I really like Melanie despite the fact she drives me more than a little crazy with regards to Jack but I’m hoping in the next novel she wakes up and realizes she should keep him. However she really is a likable character with her quirkiness and smart remarks that she’s either saying or thinking. I also enjoyed reading about the history of the old houses and the area so vividly described by Karen White as well. The Girl on Legare Street would stand alone but in all honestly I think it’s a good idea to read The House on Tradd Street first to have all the background information – it will make this novel much more enjoyable.

You can visit Karen White’s website here and you can purchase The Girl on Legare Street here in the US and here in Canada.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow as Karen White will be joining us here at Peeking Between the Pages with a wonderful guest post.

My Thanks…to Joy with Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting for my review copy of The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks has been around for a few years but is making a comeback as it’s been made into a major motion picture and I think it’s going to make a great movie! I have been a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks for years now and have read everything he’s written except for his very latest novel which I’m getting to. The thing is I had read Dear John a few years back and have to say that the mark of a really good story is when you pick that book up again and get completely immersed into the story and finish that book in one day. That’s what happened when I picked up Dear John and I’m glad it did because I so enjoyed reading it again. Dear John has all the elements of a good story – young love, romance, tragedy, heartbreak and sacrifice.

John is a young man who starts out life on the wrong track as a teenager. Eventually he realizes he’s going no where in his life and decides to join the army. It’s the best thing he could have done. It may be cliche, but it does turn him into a more responsible adult. At home on leave, while out surfing, John meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. They are very different people but that doesn’t seem to stop the bond they are beginning to form. They realize they are in love.

Being in love is a good thing right? Well, not so if you’re heading back into the army which John has to do. They feel their love can withstand him being away and promise to write and call each other. Finally John doesn’t have much longer to go in his service to the army and he’s heading home to Savannah. However the best laid plans can get destroyed in a matter of seconds and that’s what happened for John and the world – 9/11 changed everything. John reenlisted for another couple of years and at first Savannah understood but slowly that understanding started to wear thin. Will Savannah and John’s love withstand being apart for so long or will Savannah finally move on?

One part of this story that I absolutely loved and that brought tears to my eyes was the back story of John and his father. John had never been close with his father because his father had always been a very quiet man whose only interest was his coins that he collected. When Savannah met him she realized that he may have a developmental issue and she gave John a book to read that helped him to better understand his father. John and his father were able to have a few good years together and it was really heartwarming to read.

Ultimately this book is about love and what it means to really love someone…

• ‘that love meant that you care for another person’s happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.’ (pg 275)

John is faced with a huge decision in the book. Do you give up your happiness and what you want for what might be best for the person you love? John makes a heart wrenching decision that changes everyone’s lives.

This novel is pure Nicholas Sparks. He just has a way of writing a book and portraying love and sacrifice in a way that always gives me the shivers. I think this is one of his more emotional books and it left me smiling one minute and crying the next but it never left me bored. I really enjoyed it, even more the second time around I think!

Hachette Book Group is re-releasing Dear John on December 7 in preparation for the movie coming out. I always like to read a book before I see the movie but I have to say that I’m pretty excited for the movie now. You can buy Dear John here in the US and here in Canada. Here’s a peek at the movie trailer…

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I’ve got 5 copies of Dear John courtesy of Miriam at Hachette Book Group (thank you Miriam) to give away to my lucky readers. To enter…

• For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
• For 2 entries follow my blog. If you do already, thanks, but be sure to let me know.
• For 3 entries blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway will be open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) as the books will be coming to you directly from the publisher. I’ll draw for the winners on Sunday, December 27, 2009. Good luck to you all!

My Thanks…to Miriam with Hachette Book Group for my review copy of Dear John by Nicholas Sparks.

Dragon House by John Shors is a book that I can honestly say has affected me. The story focuses a lot on the street children in Vietnam and I found even when I put this book down in between reading it that I thought of these children. Even now after finishing it these children are still on my mind. This novel really tugged at my heart; it horrified me to learn what these street children live through and yet to know there are people in the world trying to help them gives hope as well. To me, this is a mark of a very good novel – a book that grabs you and doesn’t let go and leaves you feeling as though you’ve experienced something that changes you in some way.

The story begins with Iris, sitting in the hospital with her father who is dying. They are talking about the past and regrets. One thing that Iris’ father regrets is not finishing the center for street children that he was building in Vietnam. Iris tells him before he passes that she will travel there and bring his dream to life; she will finish the center. Iris’ father had experienced the war firsthand and suffered from it; the center was his way of giving back. As a child Iris hadn’t gotten a lot of emotional support from her father although she believes he loved her. Traveling to complete the center is a way of healing for Iris as well, a way to become closer to her father even in his death.

Iris leaves for Vietnam with an old childhood friend, Noah, who is an Iraqi war veteran himself and been disabled by it, losing a leg. He is bitter and angry and wondering what life could ever possibly hold for him again. Noah is living life on pain pills and booze and only going to Vietnam with Iris to please his mother. They arrive in Vietnam and Iris is surprised to find that her father had named the center after her; she had never known this. She sees all he has done and all that needs to be done but in time she really realizes his dream and believes in it for herself too. What her father wanted to do for these street children was amazing and she felt that need to do the same now.

I think what I loved about this book the most was how connected I felt with the characters and the place. The way that John Shors describes Vietnam really makes you feel as though you are there on the busy streets or trying to maneuver around on the roads on a scooter. You can see vividly in your mind the bridges that street children live under or the hovels that others are surviving in and it just completely grips your heart. Yet on the other side of the coin you can also see the beauty of Vietnam and this is what struck me as well. How if you look, you can always find a small bit of beauty in something whether it be the clouds in a blue sky or a rainbow.

There isn’t a main character that I didn’t like; Iris is a kind and caring woman; she truly cares about what happens to these children. Noah, who eventually finds a way out of his fog learns that he can still love and be loved. The street people who just take your breath away like Qui and Tam. Qui is Tam’s grandmother and the love that they have for each other was a beautiful thing to read about. Mai and Minh, two street children who have been horribly abused throughout their lives and forced to work for a cruel man are two children you won’t soon forget. Then there is Thien, who was an assistant to Iris’ father and stayed on to help Iris. With her quiet strength, she really brings everyone together and you could literally feel her hope and positive outlook through the words on the page. She may not have had much but she felt lucky to have what she did. It makes you sit back and look at all you have sometimes and wonder why you may not be happy when others in countries like this can be happy with so much less.

I had so many passages that I read and reread but here are a few of my more favorite ones…

• ‘Mai understood because she also knew how to place herself in the company of others, to pretend that she inhabited other worlds. Minh was better at the game, of course. But she still played, still imagined that she walked among schoolgirls, ate pho on the street with her father, read a book while waiting for her mother at the market. Mai, like Minh, played the game because it transported her from a place of hunger and pain, weariness and fear. In the pretend worlds she didn’t have to worry whether or not Minh would win, whether Loc would beat them, whether she’d have to someday sell herself to survive. In these worlds she went to school, Minh was her brother, and she was loved and protected by those who had given her life. (pg 35, eBook edition)
• ‘It wasn’t just happiness, or love, or contentment. It was a sense that the human spirit wanted to soar. Despite all the suffering, pain, betrayal, and ugliness of life, the human spirit couldn’t be easily beaten, easily caged. (pg 286, eBook edition)

While Dragon House is difficult to read at times, it also offers us hope. Hope that centers such as these will be built and will help street children to build a life where they can be normal kids and have a life that isn’t full of pain. John Shors is planning to donate some of the funds generated by the sale of Dragon House to an organization called Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. This is a group that works with children in crisis throughout Vietnam. It offers them this chance at a different life than they’ve been dealt so far. Be sure to visit John Shor’s website to learn more about him, his books and this charity.

I would absolutely recommend Dragon House, not only because it transports you to another world but it addresses an important issue which is the plight of many homeless children throughout our countries. John Shors has brought a great story to life in Dragon House and I certainly look forward to reading more from him. You can purchase Dragon House here in the US and here in Canada.

My thanks… to Diane and the author John Shors who sent me my review copy of Dragon House for his blog Tour but I did actually purchase my own eBook copy after reading that part of the proceeds would go to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.