TLC Book Tour: The Cutting Season by Attica Locke (Guest Reviewer)

I read this book earlier this year and posted a review then. When the blog tour option came my way, I knew that my friend, Cheryl would be great for this one. I enjoyed the book and I knew she would too.

From the website (http://www.atticalocke.com/):

Caren Gray is the general manager of Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate’s owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction complete with full-dress reenactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, an ambitious corporation has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have grown sugar cane for generations, replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property, her throat cut clean. The list of suspects is long, but when the cops zero in on a person of interest, Caren has a feeling they’re chasing the wrong leads. Putting herself at risk, she unearths startling new facts about an old mystery—the long-ago disappearance of a former slave—that has unsettling ties to the modern-day crime. In pursuit of the truth about Belle Vie’s history—and her own—Caren discovers secrets about both cases that an increasingly desperate killer will do anything to keep hidden.

Taut, hauntingly resonant, and beautifully written, The Cutting Season is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision, demonstrating once again that Locke is “a writer wise beyond her years” (Los Angeles Times).

Cheryl's review:

The Cutting Season is a book with many layers. Though the book takes place entirely in the present, Locke’s expressive writing and characters provide a story that blends the past and present to provide the reader with an emotional and historical understanding of rural Louisiana.

Caren’s suspicions that the wrong person is accused of the migrant worker’s murder revives the history of Belle Vie and therefore, the history of her family and ancestors. The questions raised through the investigation make her assess her place at Belle Vie, both as manager and her childhood memories. Along the way, the characters weave in and out and and often influence how Caren works through her doubts about herself and her past.

The Cutting Season centers around a mystery but is also a family and Southern history. Locke’s storytelling transports the reader into the different times and lives of living in rural Louisiana. The characters’ deep roots and emotional ties to Belle Vie and Louisiana intertwine and it’s easy to get caught up in their lives. Though the book is a mystery, the murder was a catalyst for Caren and others to examine their places in the present and reconcile their ties to the past. Locke’s conclusion is a realistic portrayal that not everything can be tied up neatly and that sometimes the past should remain in the past.

Author Info:

website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

Blog Tour:

Tuesday, September 17th: red headed book child

Wednesday, September 18th: Time 2 Read

Thursday, September 19th: Book-alicious Mama

Monday, September 23rd: BoundbyWords

Tuesday, September 24th: Kritters Ramblings

Wednesday, September 25th: Peppermint PhD

Thursday, September 26th: Lectus

Monday, September 30th: Booksie’s Blog

Tuesday, October 1st: Olduvai Reads

Monday, October 7th: M. Denise C. 

Thank you Cheryl for being a terrific Guest Reviewer and 

TLC Book Tour Host this time around.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Nothing to do about Blogging Books

So this has nothing to do with blogging about books but I am just finishing up with the final season of Friday Night Lights and I must say, I will miss it so.

Mostly the brooding, lonesome, lost cowboy Tim Riggins played by actor Taylor Kitsch. Sigh

I know. I know. It's only TV but it's damn good TV.

That's it.

Happy Viewing and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Audio Review: Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole

A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.
 
March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.
 
June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago. (Goodreads)

This audio book came into my library as a new item and I happened to be the one processing it. A new author, an intriguing storyline, it had the potential to be good. It took me a little while to finish it because I wasn't driving as much during this month. I finished it on my road trip to Iowa. 

It had four different narrators and they were magnificent in bringing the story to life. I wasn't sure how I would feel about listening to letters being read but it turned out that listening to it is better than reading it. There is something incomplete about a story in letter form to me. I feel like parts of the story are missing. Though the story line jumped around and weeks would pass, in this case, the letters connected the dots quite nicely.

I loved the location of this story and the two time periods. The love story was genuine and sweet. I don't know if it was my slow listening pace or the story itself, but I got a tad bit impatient with waiting for the love story to happen. No spoilers here! There was some back and forth drama that went on that made me a little anxious for the outcome. 

Overall, it was an unique story and told with heart. I definitely recommend it for fans of historical fiction, centered around the World Wars.

Author Website:
Jessica Brockmole

Happy reading and listening and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

R.I.P Challenge here again!

Ahh, fall and Halloween are soon here. I can't wait! One of my favorite challenges is upon us once again. R.I.P challenge created by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Click on the link to find out more.

Challenge runs from September 1 through October 31.

I am choosing to do Peril the Second, reading two books within the categories listed on his page. 

I am choosing a dark fantasy/urban noir title, Agents of Light and Darkness (Book 2 in the Nightside series) by Simon R. Green. I JUST finished Book 1, Something from the Nightside just yesterday and loved it!

My second choice is going to be more of a literary thriller. It has been getting rave reviews and I was sent an ARC of it many months ago from Tom at Random House. It's about time I read it!
Night Film by Marisha Pessl.

Click on the link above for more details and sign up! 

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Review and Giveaway: Noah's Rainy Day by Sandra Brannan

I've done the cover reveal, showed you the book trailer, reminded the virtual world that it was coming and now I give you a review and a giveaway. 

I really don't think you have any more excuses as to why you have not read her yet.

Really. 

:)

This is book four of the Liv Bergen series and do you need to read the others in order to get it all? I would say yes. I'm a fan of having back story and character progression and if I start something mid series, I do tend to feel left out. 

Liv's character goes through quite a change in each book leading up to this one and this one is quite personal. It's more about her family and a bit about her family's past.

I saw Sandra at a library event in my state just last night and I told her this was one of my favorites along with the first book, In the Belly of Jonah. I liked the grit, the suspense and the rock solid psychological terror of it all. I felt for the little boy. I was screaming at the pages, "Listen to him!!!!". I felt the closeness of the crime and just wanted to reach in to the pages and shake people. That's good writing!

Me and Sandra

Liv's character continues to progress and surprise me as well.  I want to see her succeed and I look forward to seeing what her next step is. Because her family is so much a part of her character, she has a realness about her that is identifiable.

I will continue to champion Sandra Brannan and her books until she knocks Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell off those bestsellers charts and takes their place. She is a talent and I really do look forward to more of Liv Bergen but also for other stories she has up her sleeve (cuz'  I know they are there and coming!)

I have an extra copy to give away of Noah's Rainy Day and due to how slow I can be to get to the dang post office, y'all have plenty of time to read the first three books before you receive this one (if you have not already done so)

Leave a comment and your email please.

Contest runs through September 3, the official release date of Noah's Rainy Day.

Author Website: Sandra Brannan

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Noah's Rainy Day by Sandra Brannan Release Week Kick-Off!

It is my pleasure to be a part of kicking off another amazing thriller by Sandra Brannan. Book 4 of her Liv Bergen series released this week and if you haven't read them yet, please start!

Description from Goodreads:
From birth, Noah Hogarty has lived with severe cerebral palsy. He is nearly blind, unable to speak, and cannot run, walk, or crawl. Yet his mind works just as well as any other twelve-year-old’s—maybe even better. And Noah holds a secret dream: to become a great spy, following in the footsteps of his aunt, Liv “Boots” Bergen.

Now, freshly returned from training at Quantico, FBI agent Liv Bergen is thrown into her first professional case. Working side by side with veteran agent Streeter Pierce, enigmatic agent and lover Jack Linwood, and her bloodhound Beulah, Liv must race to find five-year-old Max—last seen at the Denver International Airport—before this Christmastime abduction turns deadly. Meanwhile Noah, housebound, becomes wrapped up in identifying the young face he sees watching him from his neighbor’s bedroom window, but he can neither describe nor inscribe what he knows.

And his investigation may lead to Noah paying the ultimate price in fulfilling his dream.

Noah’s Rainy Day (the fourth novel in Brannan’s mystery series) combines classic Liv Bergen irreverence and brainpower with an unflinching look at the darkest of human motivations, all while a whirlpool of increasingly terrifying events threatens to engulf Liv and Noah both in one final rainy day.


I will have the pleasure of seeing Sandra this weekend at a library event in my neck of the words called Wine and Words, hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. I can't wait!

Noah's Rainy Day can be purchased at Indie Bound.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

WTH?!

My inability to finish a book lately has caused a sort of...mania with checking out massive amounts of cozy mysteries, science fiction romance, detective stories and well, Fifty Shades Darker. WTH?! I can't decide on anything but feel interested in EVERYTHING. I have no idea what is going on. On my nightstand I currently have A Kiss of Shadows by Laurel K. Hamilton, Moon Kissed by Patricia Briggs, Real Murders by Charlaine Harris, Night Passage by Robert Parker, Abby Cooper PI by Victoria Laurie and Bedeviled Eggs by Laura Childs.  Oh and the Fifty....

I'm obviously in some sort of escapism mood. I have no clue how to make this pass. 

Bring on the smut, I guess.

Atleast my Audio choice is going strong. Now if my son would allow me to listen to it in the car instead of those darn Imagination Movers...

Happy Reading and, as always thanks for stopping by.

red headed book child