Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown

Title: Smoke Screen
Author: Sandra Brown
Read by:  Victor Slezak
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours – 5 CDs (Abridged)
Source: This was a birthday present from my best friend Jenn

My best friend Jenn knows that most of my reading these days is actually through audiobooks.  With a hectic job and three small kids, the most time I have to sit down and “read” is on my two hours of commute time per day.  Knowing this, she thoughtfully gave me Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown for my birthday.

Smoke Screen is a fast paced mystery, one of my favorite types of stories to listen to on a long drive.  Britt Shelley wakes up one day naked and in bed with an ex-flame, Jay Burgess, a detective in the Charleston police department.  As Britt tries to remember what exactly happened the night before, she showers and goes back to check on Jay, only to find that he is dead.  Britt soon finds herself in the cross hairs of an investigation that believes that she murdered Jay and also in the cross-hairs of the murderers who now want her dead.   Britt soon teams up inadvertently with Raley Gannon, Jay’s ex-friend who was framed for a crime he didn’t commit in the past. The two investigate the crime and come with some shocking conclusions.

I really enjoyed this mystery and have enjoyed Sandra Brown’s books in the past.  I will have to check out more for my drive!  The only flaw was in the narration of the novel.  I thought Victor Slezak was a serviceable, but uninspiring narrator.

Ladies’ Night by Mary Kay Andrews

Title: Ladies’ Night

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

Read by: Kathleen Mcierney

Publisher: MacMillian Audio

Length: 14 CDs

Source: Kewaunee Public Library

Grace Stanton is a blogging mogul. She writes the popular blog, GraceNotes about interior design, and has done quite well for herself. So well that her husband, Ben has quit his job to help with the advertising and marketing of her blog. When Grace finds Ben in a compromising position with her assistant J ’Aimee, she flies into a rage and drives Ben’s car into their swimming pool. Leaving her former life behind, she moves in with her mother, Rochelle, who owns and operates the Sandbox, a beach dive bar. Sentenced to a Divorce Group by her woman-hating judge, Stackpole, she makes a whole new group of friends that are also going through a tough divorce. She also meets, Wyatt, the only man sentenced to the recovery group. The group also discovers that their therapist, Paula, is not all that she seems to be. They spend time after the session at the Sandbox having their own bit of therapy with lively discussions.

Kathleen Mcierney was an excellent narrator. I loved listening to this story and found myself wanting to drive to work on a Saturday so I could listen to more of the story. I liked all of the characters and hearing their stories. I will admit though that the stories did make me sad, especially when there were children involved in the divorce process. It brought back some painful memories for me from when my parents were getting divorced.

This book was the October pick for my FLICKS Book and Movie club. We met at a bar in October and only three of us could make it. Two of us read the book and enjoyed it. We thought it was a good pick.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

In 1962, Pasquale is trying to promote and improve his family’s hotel in a remote coastal Italian community. He is surprised when a young American movie actress, Dee Moray, shows up looking for a room. He is further surprised to discover she is dying of cancer. The book flips between many different viewpoints of the story through the years. In present day, Shane Wheeler is trying to sell his movie idea to Claire Silver, the legendary producer Michael Deane’s assistant, when he finds himself an impromptu translator for an aged Pasquale who has turned up looking for Dee Moray. Together they all unravel the love story of Dee, which touched many lives including film legends Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

I love 1960’s film so having the novel set during that time and involving the production of Cleopatra was wonderful. The novel also touched the horrors of WWII with novelist Alvis Bender. He wrote one perfect chapter of a novel while staying at Pasquale’s hotel, but was never able to finish it. I loved the threads of all of the tales and how they eventually wound up together in one perfect story. I still find myself thinking about this novel, it was a great read.

Beautiful Ruins was the September FLICKS Book and Movie club pick (I’m behind on my reviews!). I sadly had to miss that meeting due to work; I really would have liked to discuss the novel!

Being a Wisconsinite, these quotes were some of my favorites in the novel. It is a young woman, Maria, talking to Alvis while he is in Italy during WWII.

“I can take you to Wisconsin. You can get fat there.”

“Ah, Wisconsin,” she said, “The cheese and the dairy fields.” She waved her hand in front of her face as if Wisconsin lay just beyond the shrub trees alongside the road. “Cows, farms, and Madison, moon over the river, and the college of the Badgers. It is cold in the winter but in the summer there are beautiful farm girls with pigtails and red cheeks.”

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Winners for The Outlaw Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick and The Returned by Jason Mott

I am sorry that I have been missing for the past month.  It's been crazy times in the Gerold household lately.  I am working an extreme amount of hours at work trying to get the second year of my program going.  If I only I got paid overtime, it would fund my dream library addition to my house!

I have two giveaways that I need to announce winners for and a lot of reviews to catch up on.  I'll post a couple of the reviews today and will keep working on catching up.  The giveaway winners were chosen via random.org and were notified via email.

The winner of The Outlaw Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick is Meghan of What Does that Have to Do With the Price of Butter?  and the winner of The Returned by Jason Mott is Barbara E.  Both winners have one week to email me their mailing addresses.  After that, a new winner will be chosen.

Thank-you to all who entered the giveaway and to Author Jason Mott and publisher Harlequin Mira for giving away a copy of The Returned and to Sourcebooks for giving away a copy of The Outlaw Knight.  Also thank-you to Elizabeth Chadwick for the great guest post!



The Returned by Jason Mott Review and GIVEWAY!

Harold and Lucille lived through the worse tragedy that a parent can face; their eight-year old son Jacob tragically drowned on his eighth birthday in 1966.  The years have passed by and they’ve grown old together without him.  Then one day, eight-year old Jacob shows up on their doorstep with Agent Bellamy of the Bureau of the Returned.  Jacob looks the same, acts the same, and has the correct memories.  He has no memory of what happened to him and is overjoyed to see his parents.

Harold and Lucille are not sure what to believe.  Why has Jacob returned?  Why are people that were previously dead returning all over the world? Is it a miracle?  A curse?  Lucille has nothing but love for Jacob, while Harold is mistrustful.  As more and more people are returned, the infrastructure is not able to care for so many more people.  Although some are overjoyed to see their loved ones again, many feel that the dead are taking over what should be for the living.  Tensions increase to a boiling point.  What will happen?  How will the world survive?

I loved the premise of this novel and had a hard time putting it down.  I really wanted to know how this novel would end.  I’m still pondering the end of the novel.  I enjoyed how the novel showed that what would seem like a miracle (a dead son alive again!) could be a curse if too many people came back alive and we didn’t have enough food, water, housing, sewer, etc.  Where would these people go?  I also enjoyed how the novel delved into humanity and ethics.  How would you treat these people?  They are as alive as you or me, but they were once dead.  Do they deserve the same respect and regard as those that have never died?

I also think it is interesting that this novel is already being made into a new TV series by Brad Pitt's Production Company - Plan B.  http://youtu.be/0e7vp9yMTuA  I will be watching!  This trailer brings tears to my eyes.

I reviewed this novel as part of the TLC Book Tour.  For more review and information, please click here.

 Giveaway
Author Jason Mott and publisher Harlequin Mira has graciously offered a giveaway of one copy of  The Returned.

If you would like to win this book please leave a comment about what most intrigues you about this book.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday October 18th, 2013.

Please make sure to check the fourth week of October to see if you are a winner. I send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk mail" folder instead of their inbox.

Good luck!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

 

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Author: Roald Dahl

Read by: Douglas Hodge
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 3.5 hours (3 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

Somehow in my youth, I missed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I’ve never read the book nor have I seen either version of the movie.  My husband LOVED Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he was a youth.  When these new audiobook versions of Roald Dahl showed up in the mail from Penguin for me to review, he was VERY excited.  The kids had also not been exposed to Charlie yet, so we got out the CD to listen to on our trip to Michigan in August to visit my family.

My seven year old and five year old sons LOVED this audiobook.  Douglas Hodge as the narrator was enthusiastic and had a fantastic English accent.  The audiobook also featured numerous sound effects and great music that definitely added to the entire audiobook experience.  My two-year old daughter just wanted to listen to the music at the start of the story over and over again. The story itself was fantastic and really engaged the boys.  They didn’t want to stop the car as they wanted to find out what had happened to Charlie, especially whether he had won the golden ticket.

For those of you like me that have somehow not been exposed to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this story is about a nice, honest boy named Charlie Bucket.  He lives with his parents and both sets of grandparents.  They are facing tough times with not enough food to eat, but the one thing that engages the entire family’s imagination is a contest to win a “golden” ticket to visit Willa Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  Only five lucky children will be lucky enough to win a ticket to see the wonders of the factory itself.

The kids were fully engaged with the story and loved the vivid imagery.  It was quite the story and so very unique.  I enjoyed it as well.  The boys started listening to the next novel, Charlie and the Glass Elevator and they are having a harder time listening to it,  although they have recently been listening to it again on trips to Green Bay and are enjoying it.

I typically donate audiobooks to the library after I review them, but the kids have begged me to keep this one.  They definitely want to listen to it again!

Kids’ Summer Reads

 I know its October, but I’m finally posting about our favorite kid reads from the summer. We read a lot in my family.  Each kid gets at least one book a night (one or two depending on how the night is going, sometimes more if you are Penelope and look cute).  We read to my five-year old son and two-year old daughter, but we “flip-flop” with my seven-year old son.  He reads two pages and then we read the next two pages and so forth.  These favorite books are actually favorites for the boys, particularly Kile (my seven year old) from the summer.  I need to make a post soon with Penelope’s favorite reads!

Who Cloned the President?  By Ron Roy

 

Kile and I flip-flopped read this book together, but both boys enjoyed it.  I learned of this series from one of my friends on Facebook when I asked for everyone’s favorite kid series.  It sounded like something my boys would like so we checked it out.

KC Corcoran notices something is odd with the President on TV.  He uses the wrong hand to sign papers and is not acting right.  She realizes he must have been replaced by a clone.  She ropes her friend Marshall into sneaking into the White House to solve the mystery.

The boys loved the inventive use of spiders and how the kids saved the day.  They also enjoyed how the kids were rewarded at the end.  I think they would definitely enjoy reading more of this series.

Michigan Chillers #1:  Mayhem on Mackinac Island by Jonathan Rand

Mayhem on Mackinac Island was a bit above Kile’s reading level (he just started second grade), but he will probably be reading these books soon.  I have never seen a book capture both Kile and my five year old son Daniel’s imagination so completely.  What was even more amazing was that this book had no pictures but it was so enthralling that at the end of each capture the kids would say, “Mommy keep reading.”  They loved it.

The book is told through the point of view of a young girl named Sandy.  Every year she vacations on Mackinac Island with her family including her brother Tim. They are riding their bikes around the island when they follow a mysterious stranger into a tree.  The tree swallows them and they find themselves on the Isle of Mayhem. They have to find the mysterious stone key in order to return back home.  They meet various amazing creatures along the way and also are each given a stone that gives them a secret power.  They work together with their new friends and against their enemies (Wartwings) to solve the mystery.

We’ve started reading book two in this series and it is just as engaging to my boys. Thanks to my college friend Liz for recommending this series!

Scooby-Doo!  Mystery #32:  The Haunting of Pirate Cove by Kate Howard

My eldest son Kile LOVES Scooby Doo.  His siblings enjoy Scooby as well, but not to the level that Kile does. He loves to read the Scooby Doo Readers and watch the cartoons, old and new.  He picked this book out from the Scholastic Book order before school ended and we read it over the summer.  It doesn’t have many pictures, and appeared to be above Kile’s reading level.  He was so enthused about the subject matter though that he dove in and read the book with me over the summer.  Pirates are another favorite of Kile’s so combining Scooby Doo and pirates was a winner in his eyes.  

In the Haunting of Pirate Cove, the Mystery Inc. gang are on a pirate cruse.  When Daphne is kidnapped, the rest of the gang has to figure out to crack the mystery of an evil ghost pirate.  Kile enjoyed this book and I think he’s ready to read some more Scooby Doo Mysteries.