The Truth About Love & Lightning

The Truth about Love & Lightning, by Susan McBride.

Gretchen had spent way too much time ruminating over the choices she'd made. It had taken years before she'd finally accepted that Sam wasn't coming back, that Annika had flown the coop, and she was on her own, caring for a child, a farm, and her sisters, too. Must we live our lives in hindsight? she wanted to ask. Wasn't it enough to e right where they were, to accept their lot and move forward? Or was she lying to herself, believing she could ever forget the mistakes she'd made and never ever dwell on the past?

Susan McBride is the author of Little Black Dress, among others, which I reviewed back in 2011. I also got the chance to interview her via email then as well. It comes to no surprise to me, then, that I liked The Truth about Love & Lightning - McBride is an excellent storyteller and this novel is no exception.

Official synopsis:
After discovering that she is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's child, Abby Brink returns home to the family farm on a day of a twister, only to discover a mysterious man, struck by lightning - who might be the father she's wished would reappear in her life for years. Gretchen Brink must now care for her newly-returned daughter, and for the mysterious stranger who may be the man Abby believes to be her father - all while nursing a lie that could shatter her relationship with her family, or make it stronger than ever. 
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I really liked how this book went back and forth between time periods. It starts in the present, in 2010, when The-Man-Who-Might-Be-Sam shows up at their door after a tornado passes through the area. Gretchen and Sam had a friendship of sorts when they were in high school, and when she got pregnant with Abby, she told everyone that the baby was his; he had taken off for Africa at that point, to volunteer, and was never seen from again after that - everyone assumed he had died there. The baby was NOT Sam's, however, but it was far more acceptable for Gretchen to say that it was then to tell the truth, which we don't learn until about midway through the book.

Meanwhile, Abby, Gretchen's daughter, returns to the farm from Chicago for a visit, and she is now pregnant, by her boyfriend who she recently broke up with. She's 39, though, and is going to keep the baby; it's up to Nathan whether he wants to be involved in her life or not.

I liked this novel a lot, and it was a quick read. We learn about Hank Littlefoot, Sam's grandfather, who was a Native American rainmaker - he was able to compel rain to fall from the sky, though it took a great toll on him. Sam later finds out that he has the same birthmark as his grandfather, and that he has this gift to create rain as well but that, like Hank, it takes a major toll on his body and mind.

My only complaint with this book is that I felt the ending wrapped up a little too neatly, even though it was heading in that direction throughout the novel.

The Truth About Love & Lightning will be in stores on February 12th. 3.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel to review. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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Paper Airplane: Unique Tales from a Mile High

Paper Airplane: Unique Tales from a Mile High, by Kersten L. Kelly.

I didn't experience the first crazy thing on an airplane, and I won't be the last. One thing I do know is that my individual experiences were indeed special. Each of the individuals who made them that way influenced my life more than they will ever know. Each one created a lasting memory that I was able to re-create and share here, with you, and I am grateful for all of them. This is my collection of unique tales from a mile high.

I was interested to read this book because I, too, try to strike up conversations with strangers on airplanes. I don't fly that much - maybe three to four times per year - but I've met a few interesting people. On my last trip a week or so ago, flying back to Detroit from Las Vegas, my plane was delayed three hours due to mechanical problems, and I started up a conversation with the woman sitting in my row, as well as her husband, who proceeded to educate me about Vegas history. I'm a fan of interesting history, especially when it comes to Vegas, and I loved hearing their stories about the "old Vegas" and the hotels that used to be there.

In this novel, the author aims to do much of the same - recount her experiences with strangers she meets on airplanes and the lessons she's learned from each of them.

Official synopsis:
The book recalls life lessons from perfect strangers about love, family, perseverance of dreams, and humility through a series of brief anecdotes all taking place on airplanes. Selfless philanthropy was discovered, long-term friendships bonded, and talents unveiled. The book proves the phrase “you never know what you will learn on an airplane” over and over again. Every chapter will capture the mind and sometimes the heart of anyone who jumps into this collection of humanity at its best. With a raw authenticity stemming from old notes in a ragged journal, this is a personal reflection of unique tales from a mile high.

The book is about half of the author talking about her family and her life - aka, how she ended up on each plane, or factors relevant to her flight - and half about the actual flights themselves and the people she meets. I found the stories interesting, but didn't actually think they were that "unique," although "unique" in this sense seems to mean that they impacted her life in a special way, which she says is correct. Overall, the book was a quick read and I would recommend it for anyone who has ever talked to a seatmate on an airplane, or who maybe wished they did.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-copy of this novel to review. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

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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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