Book of the Week | We’ve Already Gone This Far by Patrick Dacey

~ Danielle Olson ~ Leave a comment

cover78685-mediumTITLE: We’ve Already Gone This Far

AUTHOR: Patrick Dacey

PUBLISHER: Henry Holt & Company

RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND | GOOGLEPLAY

A heartfelt, vital collection; the debut of an exciting new talent already hailed as one of George Saunders’ “favorite young American writers”

In Patrick Dacey’s stunning debut, we meet longtime neighbors and friends–citizens of working-class Wequaquet–right when the ground beneath their feet has shifted in ways they don’t yet understand. Here, after more than a decade of boom and bust, love and pride are closely twinned and dangerously deployed: a lonely woman attacks a memorial to a neighbor’s veteran son; a dissatisfied housewife goes overboard with cosmetic surgery on national television; a young father walks away from one of the few jobs left in town, a soldier writes home to a mother who is becoming increasingly unhinged. We’ve Already Gone This Far takes us to a town like many towns in America, a place where people are searching for what is now an almost out-of-reach version of the American Dream

Story by story, Dacey draws us into the secret lives of recognizable strangers and reminds us that life’s strange intensity and occasional magic is all around us, especially in the everyday. With a skewering insight and real warmth of spirit, Dacey delivers that rare and wonderful thing in American fiction: a deeply-felt, deeply-imagined book about where we’ve been and how far we have to go. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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Book of the Week | Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves

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cover74034-mediumTITLE: Work Like Any Other

AUTHOR: Virginia Reeves

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

PRE-ORDER LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | INDIEBOUND

In this astonishingly accomplished, morally complicated, “exceptional and starkly beautiful debut” (Kevin Powers, National Book Award–nominated author of The Yellow Birds), a prideful electrician in 1920s rural Alabama struggles to overcome past sins and find peace after being sent to prison for manslaughter.

Roscoe T Martin set his sights on a new type of power spreading at the start of the twentieth century: electricity. It became his training, his life’s work. But when his wife, Marie, inherits her father’s failing farm, Roscoe has to give up his livelihood, with great cost to his sense of self, his marriage, and his family. Realizing he might lose them all if he doesn’t do something, he begins to use his skills as an electrician to siphon energy from the state, ushering in a period of bounty and happiness. Even the love of Marie and their child seem back within Roscoe’s grasp.

Then a young man working for the state power company stumbles on Roscoe’s illegal lines and is electrocuted, and everything changes: Roscoe is arrested; the farm once more starts to deteriorate; and Marie abandons her husband, leaving him to face his twenty-year sentence alone. Now an unmoored Roscoe must carve out a place at Kilby Prison. Climbing the ranks of the incarcerated from dairy hand to librarian to “dog boy,” an inmate who helps the guards track down escapees, he is ultimately forced to ask himself once more if his work is just that, or if the price of his crimes—for him and his family—is greater than he ever let himself believe. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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Book of the Week | Written on My Heart by Morgan Callan Rogers

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cover77532-mediumTITLE: Written on My Heart

AUTHOR: Morgan Callan Rogers

PUBLISHER: Penguin Group Plume

RELEASE DATE: February 2, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND

The marriage of Florine Gilham and Bud Warner is cause for celebration down on The Point, the Maine fishing village where they’ve grown up together. Yet even as the newlyweds being their lives together, Florine is drawn back into the memory of her mother, Carlie, who vanished when Florine was twelve.

As unexpected clues regarding Carlie’s fate surface and problems mar their young marriage, Florine and Bud face the challenges of trying to solve an old mystery while sustaining their marriage, holding on to love and trust, and raising a family. Ultimately, they find themselves being led down a strange path bordered by memory, struggles, and triumph, even as they are reminded of the power of family—the one you are born into and the ones forged by friendship. This unforgettable sequel to Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea contains its own unique heartbeat, as well as the pleasure of re-acquainting readers with old and new friends (Description found on Morgan Callan Rogers Website)

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Book of the Week | The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton

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cover62926-mediumTITLE: The Quality of Silence

AUTHOR: Rosamund Lupton

PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing

RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2016

GENRE: Mystery & Thriller

PRE-ORDER LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND

The gripping, moving story of a mother and daughter’s quest to uncover a dark secret in the Alaskan wilderness, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sister and Afterwards

Thrillingly suspenseful and atmospheric, The Quality of Silence is the story of Yasmin, a beautiful astrophysicist, and her precocious deaf daughter, Ruby, who arrive in a remote part of Alaska to be told that Ruby’s father, Matt, has been the victim of a catastrophic accident. Unable to accept his death as truth, Yasmin and Ruby set out into the hostile winter of the Alaskan tundra in search of answers. But as a storm closes in, Yasmin realizes that a very human danger may be keeping pace with them. And with no one else on the road to help, they must keep moving, alone and terrified, through an endless Alaskan night. (Description from Amazon)

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February New Releases

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FEBRUARY NEW RELEASES

cover64898-mediumTITLE: One More Day

AUTHOR: Kelly Simmons

PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Landmark

RELEASE DATE: February 1, 2016

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

Don’t look away

No one wants to be the mother whose child disappears. It’s unthinkable, the stuff of nightmares. But when she turns her back to pay a parking meter, Carrie Morgan becomes that mother. Ben is gone, and more than a year later, it’s clear that he is never coming back.

Until he does…for just twenty-four hours, before once again vanishing from his crib without a trace. Rumors start to circulate through Carrie’s small town. Whispers that she’s seeing things. That her alibi doesn’t quite add up.

Her husband and friends start to think she’s crazy. The police start to think she’s guilty. As the investigation heats up, Carrie must decide what to share, and why. Because the crime is about to be solved… and her secret revealed. (Description by Netgelly.com)

cover65672-mediumTITLE: In Another Life

AUTHOR: Julie Christine Johnson

PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Landmark

RELEASE DATE: February 1, 2016

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

She has fallen for a man who shouldn’t exist

Historian Lia Carrer has finally returned to southern France, determined to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. But instead of finding solace in the region’s quiet hills and medieval ruins, she falls in love with Raoul, a man whose very existence challenges everything she knows about life—and about her husband’s death. As Raoul reveals the story of his past to Lia, she becomes entangled in the echoes of an ancient murder, resulting in a haunting and suspenseful journey that reminds Lia that the dead may not be as far from us as we think.

Steeped in the rich history and romantic landscape of rural France, In Another Life is a story of love that conquers time, and the lost loves that haunt us all. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

cover74250-mediumTITLE: The Flood Girls

AUTHOR: Richard Fifield

PUBLISHER: Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books

RELEASE DATE: February 1, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

This snappy, sassy redemption story set in small-town Montana is “a wild and crazy debut novel by a talented young writer” (Jackie Collins), filled with an uproarious and unforgettable cast of characters you won’t want to leave behind.

Welcome to Quinn, Montana, population: 956. A town where nearly all of the volunteer firemen are named Jim, where The Dirty Shame—the only bar in town—refuses to serve mixed drinks (too much work), where the locals hate the newcomers (then again, they hate the locals, too), and where the town softball team has never even come close to having a winning season. Until now.

Rachel Flood has snuck back into town after leaving behind a trail of chaos nine years prior. She’s here to make amends, but nobody wants to hear it, especially her mother, Laverna. But with the help of a local boy named Jake and a little soul-searching, she just might make things right.

In the spirit of Empire Falls and A League of Their Own, with the caustic wit of Where’d You Go, Bernadette thrown in for good measure, Richard Fifield’s hilarious and heartwarming debut will have you laughing through tears. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

cover75550-mediumTITLE: I’ll See You in Paris

AUTHOR: Michelle Gable

PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Press, Thomas Dunne Books

RELEASE DATE: February 9, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

Michelle Gable’s I’ll See You in Paris winds together the lives of three women born generations apart, but who face similar struggles of love and heartbreak.

After losing her fiancé in the Vietnam War, nineteen-year-old Laurel Haley takes a job in England, hoping the distance will mend her shattered heart. Laurel expects the pain might lessen but does not foresee the beguiling man she meets or that they’ll go to Paris, where the city’s magic will take over and alter everything Laurel believes about love.

Thirty years later, Laurel’s daughter Annie is newly engaged and an old question resurfaces: who is Annie’s father and what happened to him? Laurel has always been vague about the details and Annie’s told herself it doesn’t matter. But with her impending marriage, Annie has to know everything. Why won’t Laurel tell her the truth?

The key to unlocking Laurel’s secrets starts with a mysterious book about an infamous woman known as the Duchess of Marlborough. Annie’s quest to understand the Duchess, and therefore her own history, takes her from a charming hamlet in the English countryside, to a decaying estate kept behind barbed wire, and ultimately to Paris where answers will be found at last. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

What new releases are you excited about this month?

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Book of the Week | Why We Came To The City by Kristopher Jansma

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cover75967-mediumTITLE: Why We Came to the City

AUTHOR: Kristopher Jansma

PUBLISHER: Penguin Group Viking

RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction, Literary Fiction

PRE-ORDER LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | iBOOKS | INDIEBOUND

A sweeping, funny, and poignant novel about a tight-knit group of twentysomethings in New York whose lives are forever altered by an unexpected tragedy—from the widely acclaimed author of The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards.

Five years after their college graduation, the devoted friends once known as “the Murphys” remain as inseparable as ever. There’s Sara Sherman, an editor and social butterfly; George Murphy, her caring, if troubled, astronomer boyfriend; Jacob Blaumann, a poet manqué and their loudmouth third wheel; William Cho, an awkward but well-meaning investment banker; and Irene Richmond, an enigmatic, immensely talented artist. As this absorbing novel opens in December 2008, they are making their way through heavy snowfall to gather at a lavish art world holiday party. But for all the glitz and glamor, the festivities mark a more momentous evening than any of them realize. Irene will first notice a curious lump under her eye. William will fall desperately in love with her. And George will, at long last, ask Sara to marry him.

Over the years that follow, this cast of rich, warmly drawn characters scrape by chasing their dreams in Great Recession New York. They watch acquaintances drop like flies and cling ever tighter to one another. When a devastating blow threatens to tear them irreparably apart, they must struggle to carry on together. A powerful and transfixing follow-up to Kristopher Jansma’s celebrated debut, Why We Came to the City paints a portrait of a generation and tells an unforgettable story of hope, love, and friendship. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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Book Review | Meredith Into the Fire by Amanda Gale

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BOOK REVIEW | MEREDITH INTO THE FIRE

10006997_460430227437143_2048026878112665492_nTITLE: Meredith Into The Fire, Book #3

AUTHOR: Amanda Gale

PUBLISHER: Brenda & Cobena Books

RELEASE DATE: July 3, 2014

GENRE: Women’s Fiction, Romance

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N

Ever optimistic, Meredith has never given up hope that she’d recapture perfection. However, experience has taught her how easily her world can fall apart. Having endured enough losses, in Book Three, Meredith Into the Fire, she resolves that it will never happen again.

They’ve been crossing paths for over a year. Now fate seems to throw Meredith together with Shane Thayer, an aspiring celebrity chef with an odd sense of humor and a volatile temper. Struggling to make a name for himself and to satisfy the ambitions of his overbearing parents, Shane seems a far cry from the security for which Meredith yearns. But she is tired of following the same path, and she is anxious for her search to be over. Against the advice of her friends and family, to whom it is obvious that Shane is all wrong for her, Meredith sprints toward what she convinces herself is stability. Unfortunately, her attempt to take control of her life only brings her more chaos.

With tension at her job mounting and her unstable relationship rushing toward an unknown conclusion, Meredith makes a desperate grasp for control as her life crumbles around her. As her journey culminates in a dramatic explosion, will she settle for Shane or will she find what she is truly looking for?” (Description from Amazon)

MY THOUGHTS

Meredith Into The Fire is a classic case of settling and feeling defeated. If you’ve read books one and two, then you know that Meredith has already gone through two breakups that tore her heart apart. That’s why she pretty much gave up the search for the perfect man because she’s convinced that he’s unattainable and doesn’t exist. Then she starts dating Shane Thayer.

This book really brings the character crashing down and you see her making terrible choices and convincing herself that it’s what she really wants. Her new love interest comes from a wealthy family and is quite the spoiled entitled “brat” if you ask me. She’s exactly what his parents don’t want for their son and that becomes clear during Meredith’s interactions with them. There may have been times when Shane seemed to love Meredith, but his actions contradict that and later you find out why he decided to be with Meredith.

The whole situation made me sad for Meredith. She just couldn’t see what Shane was doing and what his true motive was for wanting to be with her. Thankfully she finds out towards the end, but not until they are literally about to walk down the isle.

Overall, this was a great addition to the Meredith series. I would suggest you read the series from the beginning before reading Meredith Into The Fire, that way you understand why she’s making those terrible decisions.

You can check out my reviews of the first two books here: Meredith Out of Darkness & Meredith Against the Wind

FAVORITE QUOTES

“But the most important lesson Meredith had learned was that one never knew what the future would bring; one never could predict the motives in another person’s heart, not matter how close — and that thought gave Meredith hope.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT AMANDA

10599584_523754897771342_4909773565129544750_n

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM

A graduate of Vassar College and Boston University, Amanda Gale taught high school English before she began writing women’s fiction. She loves history, classic literature, and quiet nights at home. She lives outside Philadelphia with her family. (Photo Credit: Lisa Schaffer Photography)

Book of the Week | News From Berlin by Otto de Kat

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cover70544-mediumTITLE: News From Berlin

AUTHOR: Otto De Kat

PUBLISHER: MacLehose Press

RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2014

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

BUY LINKS: AMAZON

In War time Europe Dutch diplomat Oscar Verschuur has been posted to neutral Switzerland. His family is spread across Europe. His wife Kate works as a nurse in London and their daughter Emma is living in Berlin with her husband Carl, a “good” German who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Briefly reunited with her father in a restaurant in Geneva, Emma drops a bombshell. A date and a codename, and the fate of nations is placed in Verschuur’s hands: June 22, Barbarossa.
What should he do? Warn the world, or put his daughter’s safety first? The Gestapo are watching them both. And with Stalin lulled by his alliance with Hitler, will anyone even listen?

Otto de Kat is fast gaining a reputation as one of Europe’s sharpest and most lucid writers. News from Berlin, a book for all readers, a true page-turner driven by the pulse of a ticking clock, confirms him as a storyteller of subtly extravagant gifts. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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Book Review | Between Worlds by Jacqueline Smith

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BOOK REVIEW | BETWEEN WORLDS

Between Worlds Cover VER01TITLE: Between Worlds (Cemetery Tours Book 2)

AUTHOR: Jacqueline Smith

PUBLISHER: Wind Trail Publishing

RELEASE DATE: June 29, 2014

GENRE: Paranormal Thriller

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N

“Someone always dies… Someone is always left behind… Now that his secret is out, Michael Sinclair finally agrees to join paranormal superstar Luke Rainer and the Cemetery Tours crew on an investigation. Not just any investigation. The biggest investigation of their career. Once home to the wealthy Sterling Hall and his beloved wife, Joanna, Stanton Hall Manor in Maine is famous for the love story that inspired it… and the ghosts who now inhabit it. For Luke and the crew, Stanton Hall is a dream come true. Unfortunately, some dreams turn out to be nightmares.” (Description from Amazon)

MY THOUGHTS

Between Worlds is the sequel to Jacqueline Smith’s Cemetery Tours. This book starts off pretty close to when the first one ended. Michael see ghosts, but now has some sort of pseudo-celebrity status. As with anyone who says they can see or speak with ghosts, Michael found himself being ostracized for his abilities. He lost his job. Kate’s parents wanted her to have nothing to do with him.

The upside is that there were people who believed him, but they always wanted his help. So instead of keeping to himself like he did in Cemetery Tours he was going on talk shows (not that he was comfortable doing it) and people knew who he was. At times, it seemed like he missed the solitude, especially when ghosts would seek him out for help.

When Michael was let go from yet another job he decided to finally take up Luke Rainer’s offer and be a part of his hit television show Cemetery Tours. That’s when they wind up at Sterling Hall to investigate the story behind the ghost who might be roaming the house. It’s this ghost who puts everyone’s lives in danger, especially Kate’s, so it’s up to Michael to help the ghost move on.

Overall, I loved Between Worlds. It’s great being able to read another “adventure” about characters I enjoy. I feel this series can have multiple books associated with it and thats exactly what Jacqueline Smith is working on. I can’t wait to read more about Michael and his ability to see and speak with ghosts. It’s the only paranormal series I’ve actually been interested in and I can’t wait to read the next books in the series.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“Real love meant loving the whole person, in every form, in every state, in every way. It was what transformed the ordinary monotony of everyday life into extraordinary moments of warmth and compassion and joy.”

“Unfortunately, he’d also come to learn that life was rarely every that simple. It wasn’t like a movie where the credits rolled after all the conflicts had been resolved or a book wrapping up its story on the final page. The story of a human life never ended, not even in death. But really, that was a good thing.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT JACQUELINE

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | BLOG | TWITTER | GOODREADS

Smith_Jackie-1732

Jacqueline E. Smith was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Dallas, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Performance in 2010. Two years later, she earned her Master’s Degree in Humanities.

Along with writing and publishing, Jacqueline loves photography, traveling, and nature.  (Photo Credit: Kaylynn Krieg)

 

 

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Book of the Week | What She Left by T.R. Richmond

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cover71515-mediumTITLE: What She Left

AUTHOR: T.R. Richmond

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

RELEASE DATE: January 5, 2016

GENRE: General Fiction (Adult)

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | INDIEBOUND

In this brilliantly modern novel of love, obsession, and revenge, a professor pieces together the life and mysterious death of a former student—and unearths a shocking revelation about her final days.

On a snowy February morning, the body of twenty-five-year-old journalist Alice Salmon washes up on a riverbank south of London. The sudden, shocking death of this beloved local girl becomes a media sensation, and those who knew her struggle to understand what happened to lively, smart, and savvy Alice Salmon. Was it suicide? A tragic accident? Or…murder?

Professor Jeremy Cooke, known around campus as Old Cookie, is an anthropologist nearing the end of his unremarkable academic career. Alice is his former student, and the object of his unhealthy obsession. After her death, he embarks on a final project—a book documenting Alice’s life through the digital and paper trails that survive her: her diaries, letters, Facebook posts, Tweets, and text messages. He collects news articles by and about her; he transcribes old voicemails; he interviews her friends, family, and boyfriends.

Bit by bit, the real Alice—a complicated and vulnerable young woman—springs fully formed from the pages of Cookie’s book…along with a labyrinth of misunderstandings, lies, and secrets that cast suspicion on everyone in her circle—including Jeremy himself. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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