Laura Wilson - My Best Friend

30. My Best Friend by Laura Wilson (2001)
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Started: 12 April 2013
Finished: 15 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 11 April 2013
Why do I have it? I like historical mysteries and had read and enjoyed A Little Death by the same author in the past.

England, 1944: In a time of unparalleled fear, youngsters everywhere sought sanctuary in the magical books of author M. M. Haldane. No danger was ever too great to prevent her hero - Tom Tyler, Boy Detective - from returning safely home for tea. Inside such an idyllic storybook world, the danger was always overcome and good always vanquished evil.

Playing in the woods of a quiet Suffolk village one day, fourteen-year-old Gerald Haxton - the disturbed and unpopular son of the famous children's author - discovers the body of his elder sister Vera buried in a shallow grave. She had been beaten to death with a wooden stake and her boyfriend, a young GI, is hanged for the crime. The discovery of Vera's body is so horrifying for Gerald, that his innocence is lost forever...

England, 1995: As a new generation prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of VE Day, Gerald, who still remains a loner, is terrorized by his memories. Gerald is nearing retirement, desperately lonely and living something of a hermit's life. Obsessed with routine, he still talks to his dead twin brother, Jack. Surrounded by the nostalgic artifacts at the television prop-hire business where he works, he is constantly reminded of the past, and with it, his sister Vera's death.

Gerald eventually finds solace in following twelve-year-old Mel, the daughter of his colleague, home from school every day. To protect her, he says. But when Mel - who bears a striking resemblance to Vera - goes missing one day, all eyes turn accusingly to Gerald.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This was the second book by Laura Wilson that I've read, but it is actually the third book that she has written. I felt so sorry for Gerald - in my opinion, Gerald received rather a raw deal. He was targeted because he was different, but in my opinion, Gerald couldn't or wouldn't have harmed a fly. I give My Best Friend by Laura Wilson an A! 

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Celebrate National Library Week - April 14th-20th, 2013!!

Well, hello everyone! :) Since this week is National Library Week, I've decided to talk a little bit about my local library. I live in Loudonville, upstate New York and the library that Mareena and I usually go to is called the William K. Sanford Town Library. This library serves the Town of Colonie - surrounded by the main cities of the Capital District - Schenectady, Albany (where Mareena and I live), and Troy. 

There is always something going on at the library: art shows, book club meetings, kids' storytime, computer and Internet classes, book discussion groups and so many other things that I just can't list them all here. There is also a continuous Library Book Sale called the 'Book Nook Sale' which is always Mareena's and my stopping place during each library visit: paperbacks are .50, oversized paperbacks are .75 (I think), hardcovers are $1.00, CDs, DVDs and audiobooks are between $1.00 and $3.00. I believe that the funds raised by the Library Book Sale go to support the library somehow, I'm just not completely sure in what way. 

Mareena and I try to get to the library as often as we can - Mareena's birthday always warrants a celebratory visit - and we tend to visit the library once every two or three months beyond that particular visit. 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Kaye Gibbons - Sights Unseen

29. Sights Unseen by Kaye Gibbons (1995)
Length: 209 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 9 April 2013
Finished: 11 April 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 2 February 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Kaye Gibbons is a new author for me.

In the minds of the good people of Bend of the River, North Carolina, the exotic Maggie Barnes is 'not right', 'flighty' or, put more politely, 'the Barnes woman with all her problems'. To Maggie's immediate family - her husband Frederick, son Freddy, and young daughter, Hattie - she is a maddening and beloved paradox: quite clearly depressive, yet also a beautiful, generous, satin-clad siren.

Maggie is at times vivacious and captivating, but at others she is infuriating, violent and heartless to those who love her. Through Hattie's now adult eyes, a devastatingly poignant portrait of her mother emerges - wry, irresistibly comic yet unsparing in its depiction of a child's despairing love for her mentally disturbed mother. Sights Unseen is also the story of the marvelous extended Barnes family. Each with their own strategies for dealing with the impossible Maggie, the members of the Barnes family struggle to understand her and to preserve a nurturing, loving family relationship with her.

I really enjoyed this book, although at certain points I found the story incredibly poignant. Sights Unseen by Kaye Gibbons clearly illustrates how mental illness affects the entire family, however I think that during my reading, I kept expecting the author to branch out more into the community with this story. I ultimately gave Sights Unseen by Kaye Gibbons an A! 

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Laura Wilson - A Little Death

28. A Little Death by Laura Wilson (1999)
Length: 293 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Started: 7 April 2013
Finished: 9 April 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 2 February 2013
Why do I have it? I like historical mysteries and Laura Wilson is a new author for me.

The police find the bodies of three elderly recluses amid the musty, hoarded belongings in a 1950's London town house. The victims - one man and two women - have all been shot to death. However, when the death scene yields no clues as to what might have occurred, the police conclude that one of the victims shot the others before committing suicide. But which one? And why?

The story is told from the view points of the three main characters, the three elderly recluses themselves, whose bodies were recently discovered by the police. Georgina Gresham - maverick and manipulative - a former society beauty, had been a prime suspect in her husband's notorious murder thirty years before, but was ultimately acquitted.  Georgina's brother, Edmund - her lifelong confidante and companion - loves his sister dearly and will do anything she asks him to do. Ada - their long-suffering housekeeper - is salty, shrewd, and slowly, silently witnessing her life pass her by, until...

Buried in the trio's youth is the fatal seed whose dark tendrils overlaid Victorian country summers, the Great War, the Roaring Twenties...and all the cravings, fantasies, and twists of fate that would chain them together in life...and in one explosive moment of violent death.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were all rather quirky and got up to all kinds of shenanigans throughout the story. I did find it slightly difficult getting into the pace of the story, but that might just be because of a lack of concentration on my part. I ultimately picked up the threads of the mystery very quickly during my reading and gave A Little Death by Laura Wilson an A+! In my opinion, this was an excellent debut, and I have put Laura Wilson's next two books on my Wish List.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Leah Stewart - Husband and Wife

27. Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart (2010)
Length: 344 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 5 April 2013
Finished: 7 April 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 2 February 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Leah Stewart is a new author for me.

Sarah Price is a thirty-five year old wife and mother of two small children. She doesn't feel as though she's getting older, but there are some noticeable changes: a hangover after two beers, the stray gray hair, and, most of all, she's called "Mom" by two small children. Always responsible, Sarah traded her MFA Degree for a steady job, which allows her husband Nathan to write fiction. But Sarah is happy and she believes Nathan is too, until a shattering truth is revealed: Nathan's upcoming novel, Infidelity, is based in fact.

Suddenly Sarah's world is totally turned upside down. Adding to her confusion, Nathan abdicates responsibility for the fate of their relationship and of his novel's publication - a financial lifesaver they have been depending upon - leaving both in Sarah's hands. Reeling from Nathan's betrayal, Sarah is constantly plagued by dark questions. How well does she really know Nathan? And, more importantly, how well does she really know herself? 

For answers, Sarah looks back to her artistic twenty-something self to try to understand what happened to her dreams. When did it all seem to change? Pushed from her complacent plateau, Sarah begins to act - for the first time not so responsibly - on all the things she has let go of for so long: her blank computer screen; her best friend, Helen; the unread volumes of Proust on her bookshelf. And then there is that email in her inbox: a note from Rajiv, a beautiful man from her past who once tempted her to stray. The struggle to discover which version of herself is the essential one - artist, wife, or mother - takes Sarah hundreds of miles away from her marriage on a surprising journey of self-discovery.

I really enjoyed this book. It was beautifully written and the characters completely drew me in. I just had to find out what happened to them. Husband and Wife is the first book by Leah Stewart that I have read, although I will certainly be looking out for more books by this author. I give Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart an A!   

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Kit Tinsley - Beneath

26. Beneath by Kit Tinsley (2013)
Length: 330 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 3 April 2013
Finished: 4 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Amazon
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 26 February 2013
Why do I have it? Mareena got this book as a free download on her Kindle. She got it for me to read, as I like horror and Kit Tinsley is a new author for me.

Dan Martin and his family move into a new house situated in the quiet, picturesque region of Blackfrairs Crescent in the English countryside. Everything seems perfect for the Martin family - they have found their dream home and are living next to the loveliest people who have wholeheartedly welcomed the Martins into the neighborhood. The nightmare begins when the family dog falls through a hole while digging in the back garden. During the resulting rescue mission, Dan and his next door neighbor, Bill discover an ancient chamber buried beneath the house.

As the secrets of the area's dark history come to light, the Martins begin to experience frightening supernatural phenomena. Hooded apparitions stalk their garden at night, an unseen hand carves messages on their walls, and most disturbing, their neighbors start to die. Opening the underground chamber has released a dark and evil force that has existed eons before man.

Can Dan Martin - a scientist who prides himself for his logical thinking - accept the existence of the paranormal in order to stop it? Can Dan protect his family and will they survive what dwells beneath?

This book also contains a bonus short story called 'Fear Thy Neighbor' - a story from Kit Tinsley's forthcoming collection Dark County: Tales of Terror From Rural England.  

On the whole, I enjoyed this book very much. The plot was tremendously frightening and completely original and actually was a terrific debut from a very promising author. I give this book an A! and I look forward to reading more from Kit Tinsley in the future.

If I did have one complaint about Beneath by Kit Tinsley, it would be that while reading this book, I encountered multiple typos and numerous grammatical errors which I found rather annoying.

A! - (90-95%)
 
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Juliet Barker - The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors, the Story of Three Sisters

25. The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors, the Story of Three Sisters by Juliet Barker (1994) (Revised and Updated Edition 2012)
Length: 1,184 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 26 March 2013
Finished: 3 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Netgalley
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 4 January 2013
Why do I have it? Mareena downloaded this book for me as a 'just because' gift - which is what we call spontaneous gifts that we acquire for each other from time to time. She downloaded this ebook onto her Kindle along with three others for me to read. I like reading anything about the Brontes and their lives and Juliet Barker is a new author for me.

The story of the tragic Bronte family is well-known to everyone: we are all familiar with the half-mad, repressive patriarch, Patrick Bronte, the drunken, drug-addicted wastrel brother, Branwell, wildly romantic Emily, unrequited Anne and "poor Charlotte". Or are we? These stereotypes of the popular imagination are precisely that - imaginary - creations of amateur biographers like Elizabeth Gaskell who were primarily novelists and were attracted by the tale of an apparently doomed family of genius.

The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors, the Story of Three Sisters by Juliet Barker demolishes the myths, yet provides startling new information that is just as compelling - but true. Based on firsthand research among the Bronte manuscripts and among contemporary historical documents never before used by Bronte biographers, this book is both scholarly and compulsively readable. 

If I had to say one thing about this book and Ms. Barker's writing, it would be: 'Less is More'. On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book as I am very interested in anything about the Brontes. However, I do have to say that I found Ms. Barker's writing to be incredibly detailed. So much so, that I had to give this book a B+!

B+! - (89-94%)
   
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight