Monday, November 30, 2015

Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets

Breaking Wild
In the Northwestern wilds of Colorado, Amy Raye decides to leave her fellow elk hunters, preferring the peace and quiet of bow hunting alone. She gets her shot and then tracks the wounded elk into even more remote areas, coming up against unanticipated dangers. When Amy Raye fails to return to camp, Pru Hathaway and her search and rescue dog, Kona, are called in to try and find her, but snowstorms halt their exploration. Despite freezing temperatures and clues pointing to Amy Raye's demise, Pru believes she is alive and is determined to find her and to find out more about her mysterious and perplexing life.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Amy Raye and Pru, frustration and tension builds quickly as readers are aware of how close and yet how far away Pru is from discovering what happened to Amy Raye. Flashbacks provide in-depth details into each woman's tragic past and how they both have arrived at their current situations, creating immensely complex and yet sympathetic characters who have already endured a great deal. Breaking Wild is a nail biting adventure, showing how far a person can go to survive and just how brutal nature can be.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

The Japanese Lover
Alma Belasco managed to escape Poland in 1939 just in time, traveling to San Francisco to live with relatives until it would be safe to return to her family. Alma is never reunited with her parents and, instead, is adopted by the Belasco family. While living in the grand Belasco house called Sea Cliff, Alma becomes close friends with the Japanese gardener's son of the same age, Ichimei. Eventually, the two become secret lovers throughout most of their lives due to the pressures and constraints of class as well as cultural and familial traditions. Decades later, in the twilight years of Alma's life, she moves from Sea Cliff to a nearby assisted living facility called Lark House. It is at Lark House that Alma meets a young, enigmatic Romanian caretaker, Irina Bazili, who is trying to escape demons from her own harrowing childhood. As Alma and Irina grow closer and more trusting, each begins to divulge secrets from their traumatic pasts.

Allende focuses her story on the trials that can be overcome by true  and everlasting love, especially physical separation. Alma and Irina, and a whole host of other characters, have many secrets and, therefore, keep their emotions and thoughts in check. Relating to such disconnected, unrevealing characters may be a struggle for readers until the secrets are divulged in a torrent nearer the end of the book. Many mysteries and frustrations then become clear, leading us to a better understanding of the limitations of humankind and how far we will go to protect those we love while remaining true to ourselves. The Japanese Lover is listed as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Publishers Weekly for fiction.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Reluctant Duchess by Sharon Cullen

The Reluctant Duchess
After the horrific murder of her cousin, Meredith, Lady Sara Emerson begins receiving chilling, anonymous letters. Since the murderer was never discovered, Sara decides to seek aid from Meredith's former betrothed, the Duke of Rossmoyne, hoping he will help solve the riddle of the mystery writer. In the two years since Meredith's death, Rossmoyne has been stationed in India, keeping his mind off of Meredith and her family. But now he has been summoned home to London by the queen and must adjust to Sara's determination when she refuses to allow him to investigate alone. Working together, Sara and Ross come to see each other in a new light. Ross understands that Sara, the quiet country wallflower, is actually a woman with steely resolve and a debilitating shyness in social situations. Sara realizes Ross is no longer a gregarious, party-loving duke bur rather a passionate, serious man. They find themselves falling in love, but the unnerving letters continue, and the threat to Sara's life escalates.

Verdict Cullen (Sebastian's Lady Spy) allows the suspense to ebb and flow naturally between finding clues and hitting dead ends. She wisely uses the downtime to develop two strong main characters. Ross' ability to see past Sara's shy reserve and his admiration for her courage and strength will have readers rooting for the couple's success. Highly recommended for historical romance buffs who prefer a little mayhem in the mix.

This review was originally published in Library Journal Xpress Reviews: E-Originals, October 1, 2015.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

The Lake House by Kate Morton

The Lake House
It's 1933 in Cornwall, and the reclusive but elegant Edevanes are celebrating their annual Midsummer's Eve bash at their country home, Loeanneth. Everyone is having a grand time, until the family finds out the youngest child, Theo, is missing. Seventy years later, Sadie Sparrow, a London detective, is on a forced vacation with her grandfather in Cornwall, after becoming too involved in a recent missing person's case. While in Cornwall, Sadie stumbles upon the abandoned Edevane estate and sets out to solve the decades old cold case, enlisting the help of Alice Edevane, the sister of the missing boy.

Morton excels at evoking lush, descriptive settings and period details, immersing the reader into the secluded world of the Edevanes in the early twentieth century. The plot alternates between the hunt for clues in the present and flashbacks from various perspectives of Edevane family members and friends. The overly tidy ending might stretch credulity too far for some, but for those who love happy endings, The Lake House will be thoroughly satisfying. If you enjoy British mysteries focusing around abandoned estates and don't mind an eerier atmosphere, try Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale.

Monday, November 2, 2015

A Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis

Girl in the Woods
Aspen Matis was incredibly excited to go to college out of state and begin her life as an independent adult. But only a day into her life as a student, she was raped. Over the following school year, her once promising time at college turned into a nightmare as her rapist was allowed to continue on at her school and even moved into her dorm. Not surprisingly, Aspen dropped out, and to try and heal her wounds, she decided to hike the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 mile journey from the Mexican border in the south all the way to the Canadian border in the north. The rest of her memoir details her choices, trials, triumphs and mistakes as she makes her way northward, going from desert to snow-capped mountains.

Readers may be tempted to compare Matis' memoir with that of the well-known memoir, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and it is similar in the fact that both women suffered horrible tragedies and hiked the PCT in the aftermath. This is where the similarity ends as their writing styles differ dramatically as do their experiences on the trail. Matis' writing highlights the immediacy of her emotions when hiking, while also focusing at length on the dependent and sheltered way in which she was raised and how, by hiking the trail, she attempts to listen to her instincts instead of relying on others to protect and care for her. Both Wild and Girl in the Woods are intense memoirs full of mistakes and burgeoning enlightenment, and both are worthy of a reader's time.