Book Review: "Village in the Dark" by Iris Yamashita

I’ve never been to Alaska but it’s high on my travel bucket list. Luckily, lots of books are set there, so I can visit by reading.

A year ago, Cara’s husband and young son disappeared while on a hike, as the family vacationed. Their remains were found, but Cara’s grief and anger have remained, and led to her suspension from the Anchorage Police Department.

When she finds a picture of her family on the cellphone of a dead gang member, she starts to wonder what really happened to her husband and son. And while every lead she follows winds up in a dead end, she’s determined to find the truth.

As she tries to investigate what happened to the other people whose photos appeared on the gang member’s phone, she steps into a very complicated web of deception and danger. Connecting with a young Native woman, they wind up traveling to a remote village called Unity, created to protect women and children from their abusers. It is there that Cara learns the truth.

As she puts herself and others at risk in order to find answers, she must also resolve her feelings for JB, a police detective she met while on assignment. He’d do anything for Cara, but will his sacrifices lead to happily ever after or grief and danger?

This is the second book in a series which in part takes place in Point Mettier, Alaska, an isolated town that can only be accessed by an underground tunnel, and where all the residents live in one large condo building. The first book, City Under One Roof, is really good, too, but you don’t have to have read that first.

I love the way Iris Yamashita writes. These books are so atmospheric I can feel the cold and see the images she creates. The fact that these books read like a movie is no surprise, considering Yamashita is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. I hope there’s a third book!!

Book Review: "The Boyfriend" by Freida McFadden

Ohh…so now I get all the hype. So many of my thriller-loving friends have said great things about Freida McFadden’s books, so it was time to give one a try. My head is totally spinning!

Sydney wants to find Mr. Right. She can’t endure her friends’ social media posts of their baby bumps and happy families. And if she has to hear her mother tell her that someone else older than her had babies, she might scream.

The dating apps haven’t yielded anything worthwhile. Too many guys who don’t look like their pictures, want her to pay the whole check, or expect her to sleep with them. It’s crazy that she finally meets her dream guy when he rescues her from a dangerous encounter—but he walks away.

When they see each other for a second time, they both know it’s right. Tom is a handsome doctor, he’s generous and kind, and he’s amazing in bed. Sydney definitely could see herself spending the rest of her life with him. But of course, there are some strange things she can’t wrap her mind around.

Apparently there’s a guy who has been dating a number of women from one app, and they’ve wound up dead. But the police can’t seem to track him down. Sydney starts to have her own suspicions, but could she be right? Is she in danger of becoming the next victim?

There’s a lot more to this story that needs to unfold, and lots of twists. I’ll admit I didn’t quite figure things out and McFadden definitely kept me guessing. This is the kind of thriller I enjoy the most—it didn’t slow down for a second!

Book Review: "Lies He Told Me" by James Patterson and David Ellis

If I have whiplash, I blame James Patterson and David Ellis for packing so many twists into one book! Given the teaming of these two authors, my expectations were fairly high, and this book exceeded them all.

Marcie grew up in the small town of Hemingway Grove, Illinois. She was determined to be somewhere bigger, so she wound up getting a job as a lawyer at a big Chicago firm. But after that lost its appeal, she moved back, met and married David, and they’re raising two children. David also is the owner of a local pub in town.

They have the idyllic small-town life people envy. And then one day while on a hike, they see a car drive off a bridge and plunge into the river. Without thinking, David jumps in to save the driver, and after some tense moments, both are rescued. Video of David’s bravery goes viral, making him an object of attention in town.

But while David is hailed as a hero, both he and Marcie are thrown by a series of odd things that keep happening. While each is relatively innocuous on its own, taken all together, they start to fear for their safety and that of their children.

It seems as if the news of David’s bravery has made him the center of attention for people with a different interest in David. And Marcie can’t help but wonder what David is hiding—but is he the only one with secrets?

I used to be a faithful reader of Patterson’s but as his volume increased, I lost track. Ellis has been a favorite of mine for a while. I really loved this collaboration.

Book Review: "Prodigal Son" by Gregg Hurwitz

You’ve got to love it when a thriller series is still kicking ass six books in!! That's the case with Prodigal Son, the sixth book in Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series.

Evan Smoak was an orphan, pulled from a group home and trained to be a government assassin called Orphan X. He was tremendously good at what he did, until the government discontinued the program and he decided to use his powers for good. He became the Nowhere Man, vowing to help people when it’s their last resort and they have nowhere to turn.

After some, umm, persuasion from the government to get out of the rescuing business, Evan retires. Not that he knows anything about being “normal.” And then she calls—a woman claiming to be his mother, the woman who gave him up all those years ago. She asks him to help a man who has inadvertently run afoul of a dangerous and deadly sibling duo. But Evan’s involvement could make him a target and harm those he cares about. It also brings him full circle in many ways.

These books are always full of pulse-pounding action, cool gadgets, and some surprising moments of emotion, but this one felt particularly personal. Whenever I’m looking for a quick, fast-paced, action-packed read, I know I can count on Evan Smoak.

I’ve been reading this series since the beginning but for some reason I didn’t get to this one when it came out last year. I don't know that you couldn't read this book before any of the others, although you'll miss what advanced the plot and the characters to this point. I’m glad to be catching up with Hurwitz's series, and I’ll be reading book 7 soon!

Book Review: "Enjoy the View" by Sarah Morgenthaler

Enjoy the View, the third book in Sarah Morgenthaler's Moose Springs series, makes one thing clear: Every rom-com should have a marmot.

Handsome mountaineer Easton Lockett gets more than he bargained for when he stops for a woman walking down the side of the road, pulling a suitcase. It turns out that she’s no damsel in distress—it’s actress River Lane—and she happened to be in the middle of filming. And Easton ruined her shot. (And he wasn't the only one, so she's even angrier.)

With her acting career on the decline, River is determined to get relevant again, so she decides to film a documentary about the charming little town of Moose Springs, Alaska. One tiny catch: the town and its residents don’t want the documentary to be filmed. But resistance has never stopped River before, so she’s going to shoot the film no matter what.

In an effort to compromise (and spend more time with River), Easton agrees to lead her and her film crew on a climb up Mount Veil, so she can shoot from up there. An experienced climber, River is excited for the challenge—and excited about climbing with Easton. What could go wrong?

Lots of things, of course. With a wayward crew, a lovesick marmot, and bad weather on the horizon, it’s going to take all of Easton’s skill to get them back safely. And if they do make it back, can Easton convince River to put down roots in the town he loves so much? Can two people with wholly different lives find happiness together? (What do you think?)

It’s so good to be back in Moose Springs again. I love the characters Morgenthaler has created—even the animal characters are so appealing!! I so enjoyed getting to see the characters from the last two books, The Tourist Attraction and Mistletoe and Mr. Right, again.

I’ll admit, it took a while for River’s character to grow on me, but I loved the chemistry between her and Easton. I also loved the climbing aspect of Enjoy the View, which added another dimension. (It’s something I will NEVER do, so it was fun to live vicariously through the characters.)

I hope we get to take another trip back to Moose Springs soon!!

Book Review: "Destiny" by D.D. Larsen

The first book in D.D. Larsen's Academy series, Destiny, is a sexy, mysterious combination of romance, family secrets, and some magical elements.

At age 18, Jamie fled her small Colorado hometown, feeling stifled and needing to make a fresh start. She cut all ties to her friends, figuring it was easier that way than feeling the pull of home. After college she landed a job with a top biotech company and started to pursue her dreams.

Now, seven years later, her career has fallen apart and her last romantic relationship crashed and burned as well, so she decides it’s time to go home. While it’s good to see her parents, she quickly finds out it’s hard work to rebuild relationships with people you’ve neglected for so long.

Not long after her return home, she meets Wren, a ruggedly handsome park ranger with whom she feels an immediate, intense connection. He always seems to be around when she is in need of help, but otherwise he’s brooding and pushing Jamie away.

Meanwhile, people in her town are reportedly seeing wolves for the first time, and everyone is worried. And in a few cases, some creatures are harming people. Are the wolves to blame? Why does Jamie keep having dreams in which wolves appear, even one where she is a wolf? Is she safe, or is she in danger?

Little by little, Jamie realizes her town—and her family—is full of secrets, secrets of epic and almost magical proportions. She is drawn into a world she had never imagined, one that will change her life and her destiny.

This was a really fascinating read, with a brooding Twilight-esque vibe, although I don’t mean that in a negative way. Destiny had an interesting mix of romance and fantasy and even a little bit of the paranormal, and this was so compulsively readable. Can’t wait for Book 2 of the series!!

Kate Rock Book Tours and D.D. Larsen invited me on the tour for the book and provided me a complimentary advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Destiny publishes 4/20!!

Book Review: "The Grace Year" by Kim Liggett

Kim Liggett's upcoming novel The Grace Year feels like a mashup of The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies, with a little bit of The Hunger Games mixed in for good measure. Yet at the same time, it's an immensely unique and disturbing story all its own.

"They call us the weaker sex. It's pounded into us every Sunday in church, how everything's Eve's fault for not expelling her magic when she had the chance, but I still can't understand why the girls don't get a say. Sure, there are secret arrangements, whispers in the dark, but why must the boys get to decide everything? As far as I can tell, we all have hearts. We all have brains."

Girls are told that they are dangerous, that they possess the power to lead men into destructive temptation, much as Eve did to Adam. They are led to believe that they have "magic"—that their bodies give off a certain essence when they're on the cusp of their 16th birthday. So all of the 16-year-old girls are sent away for one year, their so-called "grace year," and they're expected to release their magic into the wilderness so they can return purified and ready for marriage if they've been selected, or ready for life as a laborer if not.

Tierney James has always lived her life caring little for convention, not listening to the commands of her mother or the insults of the other women and girls in the community. She's not interested in getting married, in being the property of a man—she looks forward to living a life working in the fields, spending time at one with nature. She's known by many as "Tierney the Terrible" for her wild ways, and no one expects her to be chosen for marriage anyway. But when she is chosen, she is uncertain that she wants that kind of life for herself, although refusing will have grave consequences for her and her family.

The girls are sent into the wilderness and left to fend for themselves. They must deal with the brutal elements, forage for their own food, and avoid the so-called "poachers" that lurk in the woods, who wait for one wrong step so they can kill a girl and sell her essence to the black market. But as the girls begin to form a society of sorts, Tierney realizes it's not the wilderness or the poachers that pose the biggest threat to their survival—it's each other.

"We hurt each other because it's the only way we're permitted to show our anger. When our choices are taken from us, the fire builds within. Sometimes I feel like we might burn down the world to cindery bits, with our love, our rage, and everything in between."

The Grace Year is at turns violent, disturbing, sad, defiant, sexy, romantic, and hopeful. It is a story of young women being made to believe they are dangerous yet deficient, that their only true worth will be recognized if they marry and have children, and that they need to destroy each other in order to secure a happy future for themselves and their families. It is also a story of how much men fear women and seek to control them to overcome those fears.

As outrageous as this story is on many fronts, there are definitely places in which the book is eerily prescient of what is happening in our society today. Liggett did a great job ratcheting up the tension in the book, and creating characters I found myself rooting for, as well as some I was definitely rooting against.

At times, I found the violence in the book to be really disturbing, and after a while, the cruelty of the girls' was very hard to read about. The violence may be a trigger for some, because at times it's fairly graphic. But even when I had difficulty with the book, there was something about the story that I couldn't turn away from.

Reading The Grace Year definitely got me thinking, and I'm certainly thankful that we're not in this kind of situation in our society today. This is one of those books that I won't be able to get out of my mind for a while.

NetGalley and Wednesday Books provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

This book will be published October 8, 2019.

Book Review: "Sea Prayer" by Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini's Sea Prayer isn't a book—it's a poem. But it's more than a poem—it is, in essence, a letter written from father to son, a prayer lifted up on the eve of a journey away from their war-torn country, a journey which could prove tremendously dangerous.

In less than 50 pages, Hosseini's words and the beautiful illustrations break your heart. This was inspired by the story of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy believed to have drowned during his family's attempts to flee their country, but it could be anyone's story. The remembrances of better times, reflections of a country once utterly beautiful but now devastated by war and the resulting effects, words that a young boy might not understand now but might grow to appreciate later.

I read this in just a few minutes and it punched a hole in my heart. We often don't take the time to think of what families must go through when they leave their homes which are welcoming no more. We don't think about their fears, their memories which make them reluctant to leave, the dangers they face along the way.

Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, will donate his proceeds from this book to the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund lifesaving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe.

Sea Prayer is short and powerful, and once it is read it will not cease to be felt or forgotten. Thank you, Khaled Hosseini, for reminding us of the emotional and physical costs of immigration.