Lynn's List (January 26, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James
• Saving Grace by Jane Green
• A House Divided: The Civil War and Nineteenth-Century America by Jonathan Daniel Wells
• The Seventh Victim by Mary Burton
• A Cold and Lonely Place: A Novel by Sara J. Henry
• Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America by Nancy Maclean
• Those who Love: A Biographical Novel of John and Abigail Adams by Irving Stone
• The President's Lady by Irving Stone
• Repeat After Me by Rachel Dewoskin
• Blind by Rachel Dewoskin
• 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton
• Her Every Fear: A Novel by Peter Swanson
• Need to Know: A Novel by Karen Cleveland
• Anatomy of a Scandal: A Novel by Sarah Vaughan
• Fall from Grace: A Novel by Danielle Steel
• Keep Her Safe: A Novel by K. A. Tucker
• The Wife: A Novel of Psychological Suspense by Alafair Burke
• Brass: A Novel by Xhenet Aliu
• The View from Rainshadow Bay by Colleen Coble
• Breathe (The Homeward Trilogy #1) by Lisa T. Bergren
• Sing (The Homeward Trilogy #2) by Lisa T. Bergren
• Claim (The Homeward Trilogy #3) by Lisa T. Bergren
• These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen
• De Gaulle by Andrew Shennan
• Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate
• The Hollywood Daughter: A Novel by Kate Alcott
• Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice by Guy Walters
• High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto
• On Secret Service by John Jakes

Review: The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Simon Baatz

Title: The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century
Author: Simon Baatz
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: January 16, 2018
Edition: ebook (251 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Biography
• Crime
• History
• True Crime

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Simon Baatz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In 1901, Evelyn Nesbit, at age sixteen, moved to New York, with her mother, and became a chorus
girl in the musical Florodora. She met and became involved with famous architect, Stanford White. More than twice her age, he drugged her, and after she was unconscious, raped her. Thereafter, they had a complicated relationship, and she told no one what had happened to her until she became involved with Harry Thaw, millionaire playboy who would later become her husband.

Years later, in June, 1906, Harry Thaw shot and killed Stanford White at a theatrical performance in Madison Square Garden. He was taken into custody, arrested, and tried twice for the murder. And the scandal didn't end there.

As a girl, I saw a movie about this crime and was captivated by it. Naturally, I wanted to read this account, as soon as it was published. It did not disappoint. This is one of those cases where the truth is stranger than fiction. This true story is a thriller.

Review: Terminal Secret by Mark Gilleo

Title: Terminal Secret
Author: Mark Gilleo
Publisher: 2020 Press
Publication Date: September 26, 2017
Edition: Kindle (378 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Crime Fiction
• Detective

Terminal Secret by Mark Gilleo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Washington D.C. police Detective Earl Wallace and his new partner investigate the murder of an attorney and find their investigation taking numerous twists and turns wit no easy answers. At the same time, lawyer/private investigator, Dan Lord's new client doesn't seem to be telling him the truth, and he has to try to figure out the whole story before he becomes a victim of a terminal secret.

This story is fast-paced and the characters are interesting. The book also offers a glimpse into big city life, and there is good description of D.C. layout and topography. Through no fault of the author, I had some difficulty finding commonality with the characters, and the final outcome seemed too me to take too long to reach.

Lynn's List (January 19, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Mountain Rose by Cheryl St. John
• Dangerous Crossing: A Novel by Rachel Rhys
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Restorative Justice in Practice: Evaluating What Works for Victims and Offenders by Gwen Robinson, Joanna Shapland, and Angela Sorsby
• Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices by Andrew Rippin and Teresa Bernheimer
• Behind The Kitchen Door by Saru Jayaraman
• The Collected Novels Volume One: Captains and the Kings, Testimony of Two Men, and The Sound of Thunder by Taylor Caldwell
• The Girl Behind the Door by John Brooks
• Borrowed Dreams by Debbie Macomber
• Heartsong by Debbie Macomber
• Mail-Order Bride by Debbie Macomber
• Reflections of Yesterday by Debbie Macomber
• Deep Waters by Jayne Ann Krentz
• Washington Square by Henry James
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• The Money Changers by Upton Sinclair
• Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Comtemporary Context byDavid P. Gushee and Glen H. Stassen
• Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
• Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• Path to Zero: Dialogues on Nuclear Dangers by David Krieger and Richard A. Falk
• The Days of Henry Thoreau by Walter Harding
• Deadly Deception by Marissa Garner
• Stand Up!: How to Get Involved, Speak Out, and Win in a World on Fire by Gordon Whitman
• Where the Line Bleeds: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
• The Weight of an Infinite Sky: A Novel by Carrie La Seur
• The Girls in the Picture: A Novel by Melanie Benjamin
• Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement, and 12 Years on Death Row Failedto Kill My Soul by Anthony Graves
• Roses and Radicals: The Epic Story of How American Women Won the Right to Vote by Todd Hasak-Lowy and Susan Zimet
• Gratitude in Motion: A True Story of Hope, Determination, and the Everyday Heroes Around Us by Jenna Glatzer, Colleen Kelly Alexanderand Bart Yasso
• Red Clocks: A Novel by Leni Zumas
• The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Simon Baatz
• Beneath the Summer Sun by Kelly Irvin
• MLK: An American Legacy: Bearing the Cross, Protest at Selma, and The FBI and Martin Luther King. Jr. by David J. Garrow
• Dawn's Early Light (Williamsburg #1) by Leila Meacham and Elswyth Thane
• Coma by Robin Cook
• The Terror of Living by Urban Waite
• Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden
• The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson by Joseph A. Califano Jr.
• The Boys In Blue: 10 Cop Romances by Tami Lund
• Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan
• Against All Odds: A Novel by Danielle Steel
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Bamboo and Lace by Lori Wick

Review: The Girl Behind the Door: A Father's Quest to Understand His Daughter's Suicide by John Brooks

Title: The Girl Behind the Door: A Father's Quest to Understand His Daughter's Suicide
Author: John Brooks
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: February 9, 2016 (first published January 1st 2014)
Edition: ebook (224 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Adoption
• Biography
• Memoir
• Mental Health
• Parent/Child
• Parenting

Literary Awards:

• Kindle Book Award for Nonfiction (2015)

The Girl Behind the Door: A Father's Quest to Understand His Daughter's Suicide by John Brooks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


John and Erika Brooks experienced a parent's worst nightmare, when their seventeen-year-old daughter, Casey, jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and took her own life. He shares Casey's and their family's story so that others may benefit from the tragedy.

This book is a candid telling of their story. Poignant and heartbreaking, and yet filled with love for his daughter. I wanted to read it because I have long been interested in how the experiences of childhood translate into who we are as adults. And, how and why seemingly insignificant events can often stay with us our entire lives. I am richer for having read this book.

Review: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Title: Sing, Unburied, Sing
Author: Jesmyn Ward
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Edition: ebook (304 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• African American Fiction
• Contemporary Fiction
• Cultural
• Literary Fiction

Literary Awards:

• National Book Award for Fiction (2017)
• Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2018)
• Kirkus Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2017)
• Reading Women Award Nominee for Fiction (2017)

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Set in rural Mississippi, in modern times, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward chronicles the lives of a family struggling with poverty, prejudice and death. As with her previous book, Salvage the Bones, this book is raw with feeling, the consequences of abject poverty and the overcoming of much.

Jojo, thirteen, and his little sister, Kayla, three, live with their maternal grandparents. Their mother is not a constant presence. She is battling drug addiction. Their father, Michael, is about to be released from prison. And their maternal grandmother is dying of cancer. Their mother decides to bring Jojo and Kayla with her when she drives north to bring Michael home after he is released from prison. The trip is not easy, and there is danger lurking.

There is so much more to this book than I can describe here, but I am not surprised at the number of literary awards it has received. Jesmyn Ward knows how to tell a great story.

Lynn's List (January 12, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Brown Girl, Brownstones by Mary Helen Washington, Edwidge Danticat, and Paule Marshall
• Quicksand by Nella Larsen
• Magellan's Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation by Antonio Pigafetta
• Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
• The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice
• The Force: A Novel by Don Winslow
• Sully: My Search for What Really Matters by Jeffrey Zaslow and Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III
• The Heart of Simple Living by Wanda Urbanska
• Captains and the Kings: A Novel by Taylor Caldwell
• Bright Flows the River: A Novel by Taylor Caldwell
• The Capture of Atlanta and the March to the Sea: From Sherman's Memoirs by Gen. William T Sherman
• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Bob Blaisdelland Stephen A. Douglas
• Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality by Richard G. Wilkinson
• Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Last Jew of Treblinka by Chil Rajchman
• Secret Societies of the Middle Ages by Thomas Keightley
• Segregation: The Rising Costs for America by James H. Carr and Nandinee K. Kutty
• American Stranger: A Novel by David Plante
• Seeing Red by Sandra Brown
• Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Dana
• American Guerrilla by Mike Guardia
• Anne Frank in the Secret Annex by The Anne Frank House
• Survival in the Shadows by Barbara Lovenheim
• The Wrong Man by James Neff
• The Polk Conspiracy by Mark Crispin Miller and Kati Marton
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Through Five Administrations by William Henry Crook
• The Day the Bubble Burst by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts
• Fire and Fury by Randall Hansen
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Review: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

Title: Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
Author: Michael Wolff
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication Date: January 5, 2018
Edition: Kindle (336 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• American Presidents
• History
• Politics
United States History

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Michael Wolff, investigative reporter and journalist, chronicles the first nine months of the Donald J. Trump presidency, in detail--the good, the bad and the ugly.

It is difficult to write a completely objective review of this work, due to my own political beliefs. However, I would characterize the author's efforts as fair-minded, and my take on the representations in this book is an honest effort to portray the events accurately, based on sources from inside and outside the White House, Administration personnel and Donald J. Trump's acquaintances and friends. I also very much appreciated the historical context the author provided concerning the personalities behind the events. And though I had already formed definite opinions about President Trump and his presidency, I found this book offered me even greater perspective.

I'm glad I took the time to read it, and I believe it has historical value that goes well beyond many so-called "tell all" books.

Review: Killman Creek (Stillhouse Lake Series Book 2) by Rachel Caine

Title: Killman Creek (Stillhouse Lake Series Book 2)
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: December 12, 2017
Edition: Kindle (348 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Crime Fiction
• Suspense
• Thriller

Series: Stillhouse Lake #2

Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The fight continues for Gwen Proctor to save her children and herself from her ex-husband. He has now escaped from prison, and Gwen instinctively knows he will come after her and her children. And, that is confirmed by a text message she receives. She knows she has to find him before he can find her.

Kilman Creek continues where Stillhouse Lake leaves off. Stillhouse Lake is an excellent read, and Kilman Creek doesn't disappoint either. The tension builds, and the action does not end until the very last page. If you like psychological thrillers, this book is definitely for you. There is so much emotion and feeling in this book, it practically jumps off the pages at you.

Lynn's List (January 5, 2018)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Wishing each one of you a happy and blessed 2018!

Please note that by clicking on the links below, you will be taken to the Goodreads site description of the book. Happy reading!

• The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans
• Apollo Expeditions to the Moon: The NASA History by Edgar M. Cortright
• Strings of Fate: The Mistresses of Fate, Book One by Deirdre Dore
• Whispers of Fate: The Mistresses of Fate, Book Two by Deirdre Dore
• Monsoon Summer by Julia Gregson
• The Crime Trade (Tina Boyd #1) by Simon Kernick
• Siege by Simon Kernick
• The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
• The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
• Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
• My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward: A Memoir by Mark Lukach
• A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival by Melissa Fleming
• How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child by Abigail Pesta and Sandra Uwiringiyimana
• The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince by Mayte Garcia
• Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger
• Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley
• Before We Were Yours: A Novel by Lisa Wingate
• Soft Like Steel by Barb Malek
• These Are My People: The Merle Kilgore Story by Mark Rickert
• Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science by Carey Gillam
• Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future by Edward Struzik
• Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity by Sandra Postel
• Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint by Donald Spoto
• The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 by Frederick Taylor
• Wild Texas Wind (The Tates of Texas, #1) by Victoria Thompson
• The Peter Savage Novels Boxed Set: (Books 1-4) by Dave Edlund
• Behind Closed Doors by Lisa Renee Jones
• The Wild Inside (Glacier Mystery #1) by Christine Carbo
• Fall Into Love by Melody Anne, Rachel Goodman, L. E. Bross, Samantha Joyce, and Sara Rider
• Someone to Watch Over Me: A Novel by Judith McNaught
• Tender Triumph by Judith McNaught
• Beyond the Wild River by Sarah Maine
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
• Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff
• Crime, Justice and the Media by Ian Marsh and Gaynor Melville
• In the Shadow of Prison: Families, Imprisonment and Criminal Justice by Helen Codd

Review: Little Girl Lost (DI Robyn Carter, #1) by Carol E. Wyer

Title: Little Girl Lost (DI Robyn Carter, #1)
Author: Carol E. Wyer
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: January 19, 2017
Edition: ebook (412 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Crime Fiction
• Detective
• Psychological Thriller

Series: DI Robyn Carter #1

Little Girl Lost by Carol E. Wyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Robyn Carter is about to return to the police force after suffering a personal tragedy and working, for a time, as a private investigator. The cases she is working on seem not to be connected, but as she begins to investigate missing person situation, a murder and a kidnapped child incident, she realizes she has to solve them all in order to catch a killer.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was indeed a thriller. The plot's twists and turns gave me the feeling of navigating a very curvy road, in the dark, at high speed. I never knew what might be around the next corner. For those who might be squeamish about crime scene description, be prepared. I will go on to read the other books in the Series.

My Reads (December, 2017)

At the beginning of each month, I publish a list of books I have read the previous month. By clicking on the links in the list, you will be taken to my review of that title. Happy reading!

• Night Passage (Jesse Stone #1) by Robert B. Parker
• Her Christmas Protector by Terri Reed
• Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark
• Window on the Square by Phyllis A. Whitney
• Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War by Steven M. Gillon
• Trouble in Paradise (Jesse Stone #2) by Robert B. Parker
• The Kennedy Assassination--24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President by Steven M. Gillon
• An Irish Christmas by Melody Carlson
• The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
• Great Chicago Fire, The (Images of America) by John Boda and Ray Johnson