Touch & Go

Touch & Go, by Lisa Gardner.

Then Mick returned, except this time he wasn't alone. He shoved Justin before him, my husband stumbling toward the nearest bunk, grabbing for the metal frame to support himself.

Z released my shoulders, and just as quickly as they'd come, both men disappeared.

Justin looked up, his formerly handsome face now beaten nearly beyond recognition.

"Libby," he whispered. "Libby. I was wrong. We have ... to get ... out of here."

Then my husband collapsed into a bloody heap upon the floor.

I had never heard of Lisa Gardner before reading this book, but her novels are very similar to Harlan Coben's, in that they are in the mystery and suspense genre, and I ended up enjoying Touch and Go very much. One chapter would be from the point of view of Tessa, about the search for the family, and then the next chapter would be from the Libby Denbe's point of view, and I found that this was a strategy that worked very well throughout the novel.

Official Synopsis:
On the surface, the Denbes look like they have it all - a luxurious Boston townhouse, a beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, their own mega-construction company - but behind closed doors, their marriage is reaching breaking point. Justin and Libby return home from a much needed date night to find the door ajar and a group of intruders terrorizing their daughter. They are quickly overtaken, stripped of their personal belongings and thrown in the back of a van.

Tessa Leoni, now an investigator retained by Denbe's construction firm, arrives at the crime scene to find Taser confetti in the foyer, scuff marks on the floor, and the pile of possessions on the kitchen counter. There are no witnesses, no ransom demands, no motive, simply an entire family gone without a trace.

Held captive in an abandoned prison and fighting for their lives, the Denbes are quickly forced to confront hard truths about themselves and their so-called perfect family. For their kidnappers have clearly done their homework. They know everything about the family's home, business and personal life, including the most effective ways to make each of them pay.
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The end of this novel had a crazy twist that I didn't see coming. Throughout the book, we learn about Tessa's past - who apparently was in another novel of Gardner's called Love You More - and about how she too had her daughter kidnapped at one point, and was acquitted of murdering her husband. Since the chapters are alternating, we also learn about Justin Denbe's indiscretions, through Libby, and how Libby has been popping pills lately to deal with it all. And their daughter, Ashlyn, also has a secret, though Libby and Justin don't learn about it until they are trapped together in the prison that their kidnappers take them to.

I think anyone who likes a well-written story would like Touch & Go - you don't have to be a mystery/suspense fan to like it. The pace is done very well and there's a lot of little twists, including one big twist at the end of the book, that aren't always easy to predict. The point of view is third person omniscient, but works for the novel, as we get to experience both the pursuit of the kidnappers from Tessa's point of view and the terror of living with the kidnappers from Libby's.

4.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing this review for the BlogHer Book Club. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Also Known As

Also Known As, by Robin Benway.

My family works for the Collective. You've never heard of the Collective, but you've definitely read about our work. Tobacco executives on trail because of damning evidence? Human smuggling rings being broken up? The fall of that Peruvian dictator? That's us.

I have to admit, I'm still not sure who or what the Collective even is. I know only a few details: there are two hundred spies stationed around the globe, moving to wherever we're needed. Some of us are forgers (more on that later), computer hackers, statisticians, weapons experts, and I think a few assassins, too, but my parents won't answer my questions about them. I don't know how many safecrackers there are, but we move a lot because of me. Apparently a lot of safes need cracking.

If you are a fan of Ally Carter's books (which I am), or a fan of YA fiction in general, you will like this book. It's about Maggie, a spy who was born into her life, since her parents are spies, and cracked her first lock when she was a toddler. She and her family move back to NYC, for her toughest assignment yet: high school. Maggie has to become friends with a boy named Jesse Oliver and then figure out how to stop his dad, Armand, from publishing an expose on the Collective that could unmask her and her family and countless of other spies. The only problem is that she's never actually been to high school before ...

Official synopsis, from Amazon.com:
Believe it or not, there are some drawbacks to being a 16-year old safecracker, daughter of spies, and member of a Robin Hood-esque organization that fights corruption. On the list: never getting to stay in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend, being the only spy ever to have a 10 p.m. curfew, and being sent on assignment to Russia. In the winter. For Maggie, the major perk thus far has been the avoidance of high school, and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple Masterlocks on the lockers(If it’s three digits or less, why even bother?). But when Maggie and her parents are sent to New York on a major assignment, though, all of that changes. She’ll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school’s security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the information she needs to crack the case, all while trying not to blow her cover.

I thought the characters in this novel were very likable, including Maggie; my only complaint is that she seems to assimilate and make friends super quickly, and I don't know if that would play out in real life like that. Her "assignment," Jesse, is gorgeous, and predictably she falls in love with him. She also makes one good friend, Roux (pronounced like Kanga-ROO, minus the "Kanga"), who later ends up helping her with her mission. This book was a little "fluffier" than most teen spy novels I have read (meaning that it reads more like a YA book than a spy novel, if that makes sense) but it was definitely fun to read, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good romcom/mystery.

And PS: if you end up reading Also Known As and liking it, the author has confirmed that there will be a second book - so keep an eye out for that on the shelves too, hopefully sometime soon.

Also Known As will be in stores on February 26th. 3.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley to review. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

It had made sense when a beautiful girl was saying it. Now that I was back home, alone, and in my own bed, I was finally losing it. Even Link wouldn't believe any of this. I tried to think about how the conversation would go - the girl I like, whose real name I don't know, is a witch - excuse me, a Caster, from a whole family of Casters, and in five months she's going to find out essentially if she's good or evil. And she can cause hurricanes indoors and break the glass out of windows. And I can see into the past when I touch the crazy locket Amma and Macon Ravenwood, who isn't actually a shut-in at all, want me to bury. A locket that materialized on the neck of a women in a painting at Ravenwood, which by the way, is not a haunted mansion, but a perfectly restored house that changes completely every time I go there, to see a girl who burns me and shocks me and shatters me with a single touch.

And I kissed her. And she kissed me back.

It was too unbelievable, even for me.

First off: how have I not heard of this series?! This book, the first out of four books, was published in 2009, and the film version of it is coming out next week, on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14). I ran to buy the book before my flight last week and then started it on the way home, and was immediately enthralled ... this will be the next Twilight, in my opinion, except it's much better written and it's a combination of the supernatural (witches, or Casters) meets Harry Potter meets Twilight, at least in the love story sense.

Ethan Wate lives in the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, where life is boring and nothing ever changes. When Lena Duchannes (pronounced "Dukane") comes to town, however, he realizes that she's the girl he has - literally - been dreaming of, and they strike up a friendship, which quickly turns to something more. She has a problem, though: her 16th birthday is coming up, where she will be Claimed either by the Light or the Dark; she has no choice in the matter. Her cousin, Ridley, recently went Dark, and is now shunned by the family. Ethan must help Lena try to figure out a way around going Dark and in the process, he learns that perhaps Gatlin isn't the sleepy town he once thought it was - everyone's keeping secrets, and some of them will surprise you.

The other books in the series are Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, and Beautiful Redemption, and the last one just recently was published. I'm definitely hooked after the first one, so I plan to read the others at some point. This one was rather long - about 500 pages - but I whipped through it in two days because it was that good.

I'm looking forward to the movie version too - it stars relative unknown actors as Lena and Ethan, but Jeremy Irons stars as Macon, Lena's strange uncle, and Viola Davis as Amma, a librarian and protector of Ethan who was best friends with his mom before she died. At the beginning of this book Ethan's dad is equivalent to a zombie - he hides out in his study all day and is writing a novel, so he says - and the reason he's been so antisocial is Ethan's mother's death about a year earlier.

I've also heard that in the movie version, they combine Amma - Ethan's protector and housekeeper - and Marian, the town librarian; in the book, they're two separate people, but in the movie they've been combined as one character to streamline the film a bit.

5 stars out of 5.

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Here I Go Again

Here I Go Again, by Jen Lancaster.

Maybe I considered bucking the social norm for a minute, but then I was all, "Wait, what is this, a John Hughes film?" News flash - no one actually gives the popular chick the slow, standing clap when they find out you're dating down. People don't rally around you and praise your open-mindedness. This was real high school and not some far-flung, romanticized eighties-movie concept of it. The truth is I'd have committed social suicide in dating him, and I did not work my way to the head of the Belles to throw it all away for some guy who was more into George Lucas than Troy Aikman. Thank you, no.

Lissy Ryder was "the popular girl" in high school, but now she's 37-years-old, newly divorced and kicked out of her house, and living at her parents'. She goes to her 20th high school reunion, only to find that everyone there still hates her because she made their lives hell when they were 18. Deva, one of her old classmates who is a "spiritual healer" now, gives her a potion of sorts that lets her go back in time, and this time she's nicer to people in high school. However, when she gets back to the present, everyone's lives are different, including her own, and she realizes she must go back a second time to make sure everyone has the bright futures they are supposed to have.

I'm a big fan of chick lit but when I started reading this book, the "valley girl" narrator's voice, so to speak, was kind of annoying. Lissy reminded me a bit of Elle from the movie Legally Blonde, but more bitchy than fun overall. However, as the book went on, even though the story was crazy and completely unrealistic (I guess that's why it's called fiction ...), I found myself enjoying the story more, although Lissy herself was still kind of an annoying character. I think this could be made into a good movie, actually, especially since "time traveling" books/movies are popular right now, but most of the scenes were a little hard to believe overall.

I did like that Lissy manages to "better herself" over time, though, and eventually realizes that in high school she was a jerk to everyone, even to her boyfriend and BFFs, the Belles.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing this review for the BlogHer Book Club. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Time Between Us

Time Between Us, by Tamara Ireland Stone.

"I thought it would be safer to explain in writing." My next words are the most important. After all my practice, I should have this part perfected, but I think through each word in my head again, just to be sure. It's too easy for me to say the wrong thing today, and if I do, we may never meet at all."

His head springs up, and he stares at me, wide-eyed. No one's ever said anything like that to him before, and with that one statement, he knows that I'm in on his secret.

When I saw this book on the library shelf, I immediately thought of The Lake House, the movie with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reaves, where they both live in different years but are able to communicate via a "magical" mailbox. The difference with this book, however, is that Bennett is able to time travel - he lives in 2012 San Francisco, and Anna lives in 1995 Evanston, Illinois - and that is how they meet. So the book is more like The Lake House combined with The Time Traveler's Wife, in a way.

17-year-old Anna has never really gone anywhere, and 16-year-old Bennett has gone everywhere - he can time travel to wherever he wants and whenever he wants. The only rule is that it must be within his lifetime - March 1995 to present-day for him, 2012. He tries to travel to 1994 with his sister, Brooke, to see a concert - he loves using his gift to see concerts of his favorite bands back in the '90s and 2000's - but something goes wrong, and Brooke gets lost. He then travels to 1995 Evanston to recoup and stay with his grandma, Maggie (though she thinks he's a Northwestern student) and try to find Brooke. It's there that he starts a relationship with Anna, a high school student, and he eventually lets her in on his secret.

The book starts when Anna is in her 30s, in 2012 San Francisco, when she gives a letter to Bennett (see quote above), but the rest of the book takes place in 1995 Evanston, for the most part. Although I loved the book, I would have liked to have known how 34-year-old Anna was able to find Bennett, and what eventually happened to them, but the author has told me that there will be more of them in a future book, and so I suppose I can wait for that one to find out more about them. Bennett also shares Anna's letter with her 1995 self at one point (in present-day events, he received the letter before he met the "past" her), and it changes the whole trajectory of her life; she decides to take more risks and travel, and at the end of the book she goes on study abroad to Mexico.

Time travel is crazy to think about, but most of the (fictional) books I've read about it, including this one, have all been done very well. Time Between Us has also been optioned by CBS Films for a movie version, and I think that could be an interesting film if done properly.

4 stars out of 5.

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Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, by Jennifer Chiaverini.

"How dreadful," exclaimed Elizabeth. No wonder the president had grown so gaunt and weary, if such terrible imaginings plagued him at night. "But, Mrs. Lincoln, you must not fear that this nightmare will come to pass."

Mrs. Lincoln regarded her flatly. "You said yourself that it would have been an easy matter for an assassin to kill him as he stood at that window last night."

And how Elizabeth regretted saying so. "What I mean is that you should not believe that these are anything more than troubled dreams. They are not glimpses into the future. It would be astonishing if Mr. Lincoln did not have nightmares prompted by the threats made against him - in fact, it is a testament to his strength that he does not have more of them.

Mrs. Lincoln looked as if she wished she could believe her.

I recently saw the movie Lincoln, and although I wasn't a huge fan of the film, it did get me interested in the Lincolns and their lives in general. In Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, the relationship between Mrs. Lincoln and her "modiste," Elizabeth Keckley, is explored, and the book continues on many years past Abraham Lincoln's assassination as well.

Official synopsis:
Born into slavery, Elizabeth Keckley earned freedom for herself and her son by the skill of her needle. She moved to Washington, D.C., where she quickly made a name for herself as the city's most talented dressmaker. It didn't take long for Washington's political and social elite to take notice of her intricate designs, flawless needlework, and the flattering fit of her dresses. After moving into the White House, Mrs. Lincoln called upon Keckley to be her personal modiste - but she soon became much more. A devoted friend, Keckley supported Mrs. Lincoln through political scandal, the loss of a child, her husband's assassination, and her eventual descent into poverty. 
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I didn't know until midway through my reading that Elizabeth Keckley was a real person, and when I found that out - that this novel is fiction but based on fact - it became more interesting to me. Keckley wrote a book about her time in the White House and the Lincoln family, with the intent of shedding positive light onto Mrs. Lincoln, but instead it became known as a "tell-all book written by a [Negro]," and she never received a cent from the publishing of it. Today, however, that book is well-regarded as a personal look into their lives, and has received much praise.

I thought the pacing of the novel was a bit slow, and although overall I enjoyed it, it's not normally the type of book I would read. Chiaverini is known for her Elm Creek Quilts series, but this is her first time writing about the Lincolns; the writing was definitely good, and she must have done a ton of research for the book. Those interested in the Lincolns and their history will most likely enjoy this book, as well as those interested in what it was like during slavery times in the U.S., and the impact it forever had on those who were slaves.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was compensated for writing this review for the BlogHer Book Club. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Amber House

Amber House, by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed.

The thing I could do in Amber House was - unbelievable. Maybe a little scary. But Jackson said they couldn't hurt me; they were only echoes. And they were my echoes - people who had contributed bits and pieces to the puzzle of me. I had to admit - I was interested. We'd be gone in two weeks anyway.

Maybe I would stay and see what happened.

I received an e-galley of Amber House from NetGalley a while back, and finally got around to reading it - and I'm definitely glad I did. It's part teen love story, part supernatural, and part family heritage themed, and the house itself is almost a character in that Sarah, whose grandmother lived there, can feel "echoes" of the past throughout it.

Sarah's grandma dies, and so she, her mother, and her autistic brother, Sam, come back to Amber House for the funeral and to eventually sell the house. Sarah meets Jackson, whose grandmother Rose was taking care of the house and of Sarah's grandma, and they have a connection; however, she also meets Richard, a senator's son, and starts spending time with him as well. Meanwhile, the house has "echoes" - remnants of the past - that Sarah can feel, and she and Jackson embark on a hunt to find the long lost treasure of Amber House. What she finds, though, is a little more than what she bargained for.

I'm not one for scary books or movies, and at times this book was a bit scary; however, it's worth getting through the scary parts to learn more about the house, which has been around since the 1800s, if not earlier. I was also shocked to learn later that this is the first in an Amber House trilogy, as I'm not sure how they can go from here - the end wrapped everything up nicely - but the authors have already released a sneak peek of book #2 in the series, it seems.

I would recommend this book for anyone who is into YA books, good mysteries, or supernatural books (or all three, like me) - it's a quick read with interesting characters and plots.

4.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley to review. The opinions listed here, however, are my own.

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