Review: My Sweet Vidalia by Deborah Mantella

My Sweet Vidalia

by Deborah Mantella

Publisher: Turner Publishing

Pages: 272

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  On July 4, 1955, in rural Georgia, an act of violence threatens the life of Vidalia Lee Kandal's pre-born daughter. Despite the direst of circumstances, the spirit of the lost child refuses to leave her ill-equipped young mother's side.

For as long as she is needed―through troubled pregnancies, through poverty, through spousal abuse and agonizing betrayals―Cieli Mae, the determined spirit child, narrates their journey. Serving as a safe place and sounding board for Vidalia's innermost thoughts and confusions, lending a strength to her momma's emerging voice, Cieli Mae provides her own special brand of comfort and encouragement, all the while honoring the restrictions imposed by her otherworldly status.

Vidalia finds further support in such unlikely townsfolk and relations as Doc Feldman, Gamma Gert and her Wild Women of God, and, most particularly, in Ruby Pearl Banks, the kind, courageous church lady, who has suffered her own share of heartache in their small Southern town of yesteryear's prejudices and presumptions.


Kritters Thoughts:  An interesting book that is very different from what I normally read as a stillborn baby that is still "haunting" her mother is narrating this story from a different perspective.  Cieli Mae unfortunately didn't make it during birth, but she stays with her mother to help her and provides the reader with a perspective into this family.

I can honestly say I have never read a book with this type of a character providing the story and I went back and forth enjoying her point of view and being off put by it.  At the same time the cause of her death was hard to read and as it continued through the story, I was definitely talking out loud to Vidalia hoping she could make some major decisions for her and her family.  Sorry being vague - don't want to reveal too much!

In the same instance, I loved the time and place.  I loved the setting of the South and specifically Georgia and 1955 in a rural setting made this story just pop.  

So I would say as a historical fiction fan it was interesting and there were times where I was enjoying the whole story, but there were also some cringe worthy moments, so I would absolutely caution a reader to know what you are getting into on this one.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Finally a quiet week at work and at home, so I read away!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

If I Run by Terri Blackstock
Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith
The Doll's House by MJ Arlidge
My Sweet Vidalia by Deborah Mantella
Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson

The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle

Currently Reading:

Beside Myself by Ann Morgan

Next on the TBR pile:

One More Day by Kelly Simmons

Review: The Doll's House by MJ Arlidge

The Doll's House

by MJ Arlidge

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 432

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  A young woman wakes up in a cold, dark cellar, with no idea how she got there or who her kidnapper is. So begins her terrible nightmare.

Nearby, the body of another young woman is discovered buried on a remote beach. But the dead girl was never reported missing - her estranged family having received regular texts from her over the years. Someone has been keeping her alive from beyond the grave.

For Detective Inspector Helen Grace it's chilling evidence that she's searching for a monster who is not just twisted but also clever and resourceful - a predator who's killed before.

And as Helen struggles to understand the killer's motivation, she begins to realize that she's in a desperate race against time . . .


Kritters Thoughts:  The third in a series that follows a Detective in England - Helen Grace.  Each of these books have a serial killer who has interesting ways they find their victims and kill their victims and The Doll's House did not disappoint.  

In this book, you have a killer who has a particular type of girl for a certain reason that he finds and holds on to until it doesn't work out and then he kills them and disposes the body.  Helen Grace and her team need to find out how he finds the ladies and then where he keeps them in order to find him.  

At the same time that the major investigation is going on, there is drama inhouse and Helen Grace and her team have some infighting and they have to fix it before it affects their work.  This storyline has continued from the previous and ties the books together, so even though each killer is contained within each book, I would suggest starting at the beginning so you can get the full story of these officers beyond their investigations.  

I read this one while my husband was away on a work trip and there were definitely some times where I wish I wasn't home alone!  MJ Arlidge definitely knows where to find the creep factor and if I am honest, I loved every minute!  I will be not so patiently waiting for the next one!  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith

Ginny Gall

by Charlie Smith

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 464

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Delvin Walker is just a boy when his mother flees their home in the Red Row section of Chattanooga, accused of killing a white man. Taken in by Cornelius Oliver, proprietor of the town’s leading Negro funeral home, he discovers the art of caring for the aggrieved, the promise of transcendence in the written word, and a rare peace in a hostile world. Yet tragedy visits them near-daily, and after a series of devastating events—a lynching, a church burning—Delvin fears being accused of murdering a local white boy and leaves town.

Haunted by his mother’s disappearance, Delvin rides the rails, meets fellow travelers, falls in love, and sees an America sliding into the Great Depression. But before his hopes for life and love can be realized, he and a group of other young men are falsely charged with the rape of two white women, and shackled to a system of enslavement masquerading as justice. As he is pushed deeper into the darkness of imprisonment, his resolve to escape burns only more brightly, until in a last spasm of flight, in a white heat of terror, he is called to choose his fate.

Kritters Thoughts:  Delvin Walker is our main character and he starts the book as a very young man, maybe even child abandoned by his mother as she has killed a man and as a black woman will face the harshest of punishments for her crime.  Devlin and his siblings are taken to an orphanage of sorts and from there Delvin's life is a whirlwind.

To describe this book in one word, which I rarely do, I immediately thought of adventure.  If you are a reader who loves books that are just one big grand adventure, then pick this book up.  From here to there to everywhere, Delvin lives everywhere and does almost everything.  

But with all of this, the author definitely uses a ton of words which at times made the book feel heftier than I wanted it to.  I would read a chapter or two and then go to a "faster" read book and then come back to this one to slow down.  I do this rarely as I am a one book at a time girl, but I wanted to keep a slow pace on this one, so I read this one this way.

This book is absolutely set in a certain time of place, so beware the language and feel are very particular.  I felt at times that something may have gone over my head and it could vary well have, but I still felt like I got most of this book and it still felt like a full read.

Very out of my comfort zone, but sometimes that is a good thing!


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: If I Run by Terri Blackstock

If I Run

by Terri Blackstock

Publisher: Zondervan

Pages: 320

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Casey knows the truth.

But it won’t set her free.

Casey Cox’s DNA is all over the crime scene. There’s no use talking to police; they have failed her abysmally before. She has to flee before she’s arrested . . . or worse. The truth doesn’t matter anymore.

But what is the truth? That’s the question haunting Dylan Roberts, the war-weary veteran hired to find Casey. PTSD has marked him damaged goods, but bringing Casey back can redeem him. Though the crime scene seems to tell the whole story, details of the murder aren’t adding up. Casey Cox doesn’t fit the profile of a killer. But are Dylan’s skewed perceptions keeping him from being objective? If she isn’t guilty, why did she run?

Unraveling her past and the evidence that condemns her will take more time than he has, but as Dylan’s damaged soul intersects with hers, he is faced with two choices. The girl who occupies his every thought is a psychopathic killer . . . or a selfless hero. And the truth could be the most deadly weapon yet. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Told through two points of view - Casey Cox and Dylan Roberts, this book is a chase and the pacing keeps up with the feeling of a chase to the end.  Casey Cox finds herself at a murder scene and she knows that she will be suspected as the killer, so she runs and fast.  Dylan Roberts is hired by the police to go and find her, he has recently left the military and is battling PTSD. 

Between these two we get the full story of what really happened and who really murdered their mutual friend and how they can release the truth and have the real killer or killers get punished for their crimes.  The thing I liked about the book was its pacing, I was able to read this book in one evening from start to finish because it kept moving along.

But something that I didn't completely love was the obvious Christian fiction of it.  I read a bit of Christian fiction and what I love about it is the innocence of the characters and the lack of sexy times.  This mystery had odd bits of Christianity shoved into weird spots that didn't feel real or authentic and Christian or not, I don't like when a book feels awkward and not authentic.  

Because of the above reason, this one hit me weird and in the end I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.  I would probably still read another Terri Blackstock, but maybe with some reservation.

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Litfuse Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke

The Ex

by Alafair Burke

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 304

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Twenty years ago she ruined his life.

Now she has the chance to save it.

Olivia Randall is one of New York City’s best criminal defense lawyers. When she hears that her former fiancé, Jack Harris, has been arrested for a triple homicide—and that one of the victims was connected to his wife’s murder three years earlier—there is no doubt in her mind as to his innocence. The only question is, who would go to such great lengths to frame him—and why?

For Olivia, representing Jack is a way to make up for past regrets and absolve herself of guilt from a tragic decision, a secret she has held for twenty years. But as the evidence against him mounts, she is forced to confront her doubts. The man she knew could not have done this. But what if she never really knew him?

Kritters Thoughts:  My fourth Alafair Burke book and I am officially a fan!  

Olivia hurt a man a long time ago and a relationship went bust in a bad way, she feels guilt and he re enters her life in an interesting way and she has the chance to right the wrongs that she thinks she inflicted on him.  Jack the man in question, needs her help to get him out of a real bad situation - arrested on suspicion of murder and he is hoping that her trust in him is still strong and she can get him out of the mess.

This book lies in where the truth is.  Any lawyer must trust their client to give them the whole truth to help in their case, but in this book Olivia has to not only confront the present but the past and make sure through it all she is seeing the truth.  I loved that seeing the book through Olivia's eyes I never was satisfied and fully feeling the truth.  Not until the very end did I not know where the truth really is, thank goodness the author reveals it all in the end!

The other thing that set this book apart for me was that the entire thing took place during the investigation.  There wasn't a ton of courtroom drama, instead it was the defense and prosecution looking for clues to support their sides, I liked that most of the book took place outside of the courtroom in discovery, it made it feel different to me for some reason.

After reading four books by Alafair Burke and all of them being 4 or 5 stars, I will now read anything she writes without reading one word of a synopsis.  I love that most are stand alones completely so you can pick up her books whenever they come your way!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Ramblers by Aidan Donnelley Rowley

The Ramblers

by Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Set in the most magical parts of Manhattan—the Upper West Side, Central Park, Greenwich Village—The Ramblers explores the lives of three lost souls, bound together by friendship and family. During the course of one fateful Thanksgiving week, a time when emotions run high and being with family can be a mixed blessing, Rowley’s sharply defined characters explore the moments when decisions are deliberately made, choices accepted, and pasts reconciled.

Clio Marsh, whose bird-watching walks through Central Park are mentioned in New York Magazine, is taking her first tentative steps towards a relationship while also looking back to the secrets of her broken childhood. Her best friend, Smith Anderson, the seemingly-perfect daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest families, organizes the lives of others as her own has fallen apart. And Tate Pennington has returned to the city, heartbroken but determined to move ahead with his artistic dreams.


Kritters Thoughts:  Three friends are reunited in New York and each has a personal secret that they have kept from people and through the book each of their secrets are revealed in various ways and they have to live with the repercussions of those secrets and how they affect others.  

Two girls and a boy are the main characters in this book and each have chapters in the book to tell their own stories.  I loved that this was different, the addition of a male main character was nice.  I read a lot of books with women as main characters, so I enjoy that a man was thrown into this mix and it just gave a little more to this one.  

I also loved that this book moved chronologically, so although it took place over a few days, when one character was the main, the others were involved, but the story kept moving forward.  The reader doesn't go back and re read the same days but through other eyes, instead it just keeps moving forward which made the reading experience just enjoyable.  

I own Rowley's other book Life After Yes, and after reading and loving this book, I am excited to pick up that one even more.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Little Bird Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another sad week of reading, but a quiet weekend helped!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault
The Ramblers by Aidan Donnelley Rowley
The Ex by Alafair Burke

Currently Reading:

If I Run by Terri Blackstock

Next on the TBR pile:

Ginny Gall by Charlie Smith

Review: The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault

The Evening Spider

by Emily Arsenault

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Frances Barnett and Abby Bernacki are two haunted young mothers living in the same house in two different centuries.

1885: Frances Barnett is in the Northampton Lunatic Hospital, telling her story to a visitor. She has come to distrust her own memories, and believes that her pregnancy, birth, and early days of motherhood may have impaired her sanity.

During the earliest months of her baby’s life, Frances eagerly followed the famous murder trial of Mary Stannard—that captivated New Englanders with its salacious details and expert forensic testimony. Following—and even attending—this trial, Frances found an escape from the monotony of new motherhood. But as her story unfolds, Frances must admit that her obsession with the details of the murder were not entirely innocent.

Present day: Abby has been adjusting to motherhood smoothly—until recently, when odd sensations and dreams have begun to unsettle her while home alone with her baby. When she starts to question the house’s history, she is given the diary of Frances Barnett, who lived in the house 125 years earlier. Abby finds the diary disturbing, and researches the Barnett family’s history. The more Abby learns, the more she wonders about a negative—possibly supernatural—influence in her house. She becomes convinced that when she sleeps, she leaves her daughter vulnerable—and then vows not to sleep until she can determine the cause of her eerie experiences.

Frances Barnett might not be the only new mother to lose her mind in this house. And like Frances, Abby discovers that by trying to uncover another’s secrets, she risks awakening some of her own. 


Kritters Thoughts:  Two mothers who are linked through a home, but are set apart far in time, both narrate in this book and tell a creepy story about how maybe history can stay in a home.  

A tangent - my home is older and I live near Mount Vernon.  I am the second owner and the home was built in the 1950s.  My home has raised three boys and housed a veteran and sat empty for two years, so I wonder what memories are in the walls of the home.  My property is one of George Washington's original farms, he had five!  So I wonder often about not only what happened in the home that I live in, but also on my property.  

At first this book wasn't working for me, I can't pinpoint it exactly, but neither storyline was really pulling me in.  In some dual narrative books, one or the other storyline hooks me from the beginning and I grow to love the other while reading.  

This is my first Emily Arsenault and will definitely not be my last.  I may have to read her next one with all the lights on because this definitely made me cringe, but I guess thats a good thing!

I heard rumor that this book was true, has anyone else heard this rumor?  Can anyone confirm?  If so, that would make this book jump up quite a few notches in my opinion!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Casualties by Elizabeth Marro

Casualties

by Elizabeth Marro

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 368

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Some come back whole. Some come back broken. Some just never come back...
 
As an executive for one of the most successful military defense contractors in the country, Ruth Nolan should have been thrilled when her troubled son, Robbie, chose to join the marines. But she wasn’t. She was terrified.

So, when he returns home to San Diego after his second tour in Iraq, apparently unscathed, it feels like a chance to start over and make things right—until a scandal at work tears her away from their reunion. By the next morning, Robbie is gone. A note arrives for Ruth in the mail a few days later saying, “I’m sorry for everything. It’s not your fault. I love you.”

Without a backward glance, Ruth packs up Robbie’s ashes and drives east, heading away from her guilt and regret. But the closer she gets to the coast she was born on, the more evident it becomes that she won’t outrun her demons—eventually, she’ll have to face them and confront the painful truth about her past, her choices, the war, and her son. 

Kritters Thoughts:  I am not sure if this is the first Iraq war fiction I have read and I am sad by that because there is quite a catalog of them now and I have heard great things.  This one started exactly where I hoped it would, but I lost if halfway and for that I am so sad - it went somewhere that I didn't expect and it didn't seem like the right path for Ruth, the main character.  It isn't what I would have chosen for her, so for that I didn't love it, but I would still read another book by Elizabeth Marro.  

Have you ever wished something else for a main character?  

The thing that I adored was how she portrayed Robbie as he came home from Iraq and wasn't ready to go back to "normal."  It felt completely honest and I appreciated that it was hard to hear how he felt about his friends and family.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Feathered Bone by Julie Cantrell

The Feathered Bone

by Julie Cantrell

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In the pre-Katrina glow of New Orleans, Amanda Salassi is anxious about chaperoning her daughter’s sixth grade field trip to the Big Easy during Halloween. And then her worst fears come true. Her daughter’s best friend, Sarah, disappears amid the magic and revelry—gone, without a trace.

Unable to cope with her guilt, Amanda’s daughter sinks in depression. And Amanda’s husband turns destructive as he watches his family succumb to grief. Before long, Amanda’s whole world has collapsed.

Amanda knows she has to save herself before it’s too late. As she continues to search for Sarah, she embarks on a personal journey, seeking hope and purpose in the wake of so much tragedy and loss.  


Kritters Thoughts:  A hard book to read from beginning to end, but not for the writing, but instead the issues that Cantrell tackles with this book.  From Katrina, child trafficking, spousal abuse, to survivor's guilt, this book deals with it all in the most delicate way and even with all of this in one book, it didn't feel overwhelming.

I can't go on and on about this book because I would probably spoil it, so I will keep this short and sweet, but will say that I loved it.  I loved that the author interjected little moments from the child who is missing in the most creative way.  I also loved how she skipped time cleverly, but as the reader I didn't feel like I was missing anything.  I felt as though I was getting all the right moments in their lives to make a full story.

I will definitely be looking into Julie Cantrell's other works and you may see them here on this blog soon.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2016 Challenge: 3 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Smith Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.