A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

 

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a great day.

My mom used to tell the story of her office romance that wasn't.  Before she had children, she was the receptionist at a major corporation, she would deal with visitors and salespeople.  My mother was quite beautiful, so I'm not surprised they put her out front.  Now stop rolling your eyes.  I know all moms have to say their children are attractive but not the other way around, so just stop moving your eyes like that or they'll stick that way.  She really was stunning (making me question why I was so short sheeted...oh my gosh, if you don't understand that term you need to go to summer camp).  Anyway, Mom caused a scandal.  Seems she was seen often having lunch with an older man, a respected employee that was also a politician...and very married.  When her boss finally gathered his nerve to broach the topic, he explained why that it was not proper behavior.  He demanded she stop meeting with the man, and most definitely having lunch in the corporate cafeteria.  My mother stood her ground and steadfastly refused.  Her now irate boss wanted to know how she could possibly refuse his order; she calmly told him it was easy.  She was well aware that the man she was eating lunch with was married, and she didn't care, she didn't care because he was married to her mother.  My mother was eating lunch with my grandfather, her dad.  Oh to have been a fly on the wall that day!

I recently read A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing.  This is the fourth book I've read by Downing and I have enjoyed and reviewed them all.  This is the story of Wes and Ivy.  They have been a couple, on and off, for years.  They have a passionate relationship where they can't stand to be apart, but then once together for a while they burn each other out and break up.  They are like two cogs, trying repeatedly to fit together correctly to make each other spin but they keep missing the perfect alignment.  Because of this constant cycle, they find ways to test each other, often resulting in trouble.  Despite their issues, they will never be far apart because they share a secret.  When the police suddenly become interested in them both, they realize that making their relationship work is the only way to survive what lies ahead.

If you've never had your heart broken, wondered about someone in your past, held a flame for someone longer than you should, or found the person you were meant to be with...well, you might interpret this story as two people dating who can't get it together.  If you've had your fair share of romantic experiences, you will quickly realize that Wes and Ivy's feelings and actions are much more complicated.  The secret they hold, and are being pursued for, drives the story and their relationship forward.

A Twisted Love Story started out slower than the author's other books but once you understand what is going on, the couple's dynamics make it interesting.  When more about the dreaded secret comes out, the book moves quickly towards an unusual but satisfying resolution.  A different type of story for Downing but still very enjoyable.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

 

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a nice day.

Picture this, the air is cold, snowing slowly.  People are a bit nicer.  Everything sparkles and smells good.  It is Thanksgiving, you're in New York City.  Your mom is in charge of getting the Santa for the Macy's parade.  Someone volunteers to replace the drunk father Christmas she's just fired, and this Santa is very special.  He is everything Chris Kringle should be. When you are fortunate enough to meet this new hire, he tries his best to convince you that there is a real Santa and, in fact, it is him.  Yet you've been taught not to believe but this kind man works his magic on little ole' you. Before you know it, you have a new house, a new dad, and a snazzy holiday cane.  Heard this story before?  Of course not, I just made it up.  Okay, stop giving me that look, it is the movie Miracle of 34th Street.  Right now, I am the little girl and Riley Sager is Santa. First, he gave me a huge gift, not as good as a house but still worthy of a holiday gift.  In addition, he has convinced me that "yes, April, there are still great thrillers out there!"

I recently read The Only One Left by Riley Sager.  This is the story of Kit McDeere, a young woman who is a caregiver   She has been given her next assignment, taking care of an elderly, mostly paralyzed, stroke victim, Lenora Hope.  Lenora lives in Maine, in an old falling down mansion, on an oceanfront cliff.  As Kit tries to settle into her creepy new setting, she finds that Lenora can communicate by moving her left hand only, knocking for yes and no.  Eventually Lenora indicates that she wants to use the typewriter in her room.  She is able to give actual worded answers.  What she has to say is quite interesting since Lenora is famous, there is even a song about her.  Well, more like a chant.  Why? Because approximately 50 years ago Lenora killed her parents and younger sister (think Lizzie Borden). There was never enough proof to charge her with their murders.  Now the broken, elderly woman wants to confess everything and tell Kit exactly what happened that horrific night in 1929.

I am both a slow reader and a sporadic one. I can read with the TV on, or people talking around me (or to me!).  I usually read about 10 pages at a time before putting a book down.  Not with this book though.  I sat down and read.  I couldn't stop. I read 200 pages at one time.  Me!  The setting for the story is so isolated and spooky, described in a way that I could feel the mansion's walls crumbling around me.  The interesting characters had me liking them one moment then doubting everything that came from their mouth in the next.   Nothing in this story is on solid ground, right down to the floors of the mansion.  I felt completely off balance and I loved it.  Although the majority of the books I read are thrillers, I have NEVER read a story with so many twists.  Riley Sager hits the reader with a major twist that I thought was the big one, but I was wrong.  They kept coming and coming, twist after twist. It was fantastic.  So fun, such a great roller coaster ride from the beginning to the very end.  Don't let your guard down, don't undo your seatbelt, no matter which twist is just revealed, Sager is far from over.  Great fun and shouldn't be missed!

At seventeen, Lenora Hope

Hung her sister with a rope

Stabbed her father with a knife

Took her mother's happy life

"It wasn't me," Lenora said

But she's the only one not dead

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

 

Hello everyone. I hope your day is perfection.

When you are from New York State (notice I capitalize "state" as we consider it a specific place) and we say we're going to the city it doesn't mean Buffalo or Syracuse.  Going to the city means New York City. When I was a kid, we got all "the city" TV channels, along with small town locals. There is a downside to that...Crazy Eddie commercials.  Don't know what they are?  Count yourself lucky!  They were commercials for this guy that sold small appliances.  He was loud, gruff, and screamed at the camera.  He ended each commercial with "Crazy Eddie, his prices are insane!" You can see them on YouTube, but don't say I didn't warn you. 

My parents went to the city often, leaving us kids at home.  Sometimes we would go as a family. One time I went alone with my parents, no sisters. They wanted me to experience something very special, The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.  The building itself is amazing, but I don't remember it.  What I do remember is the music, beautiful, room filling, and live.  I remember the stage actually being three stages and they moved up and down.  Most of all, I remember the Rockettes.  They were so pretty and smiling.  They danced perfectly in sync. The costumes were like the best Christmas decoration you could ever imagine, full of color and sparkle. It was wonderful and many decades later, I still remember it.  What a fantastic tribute to those women, that decades later, a little girl (now practically old lady) still remembers them.

I recently read The Spectacular by Fiona Davis. This is the story of a young dancer, Marion, in 1956 who goes through the exhaustive audition process to win a spot as a Radio City Rockette.  She is shunned by her father who wants her to have the life of a lady, married, at home, having a family.  Marion wants to dance and experience independence.  The book includes a cast of interesting characters including a young doctor specializing in mental health.  He believes he has developed a way to profile criminals by their behavior and the clues they leave behind.  This proves useful as he and Marion are pulled into an investigation of a bomber who has been terrorizing the city for 16 years yet remains at large.

This book is historic fiction, but don't let that scare you off. The story is completely engrossing.  Loads of research has been done into Radio City's workings and what it takes to be a Rockette.  In addition, the history of the bomber is real.  This adds a mystery/thriller component to the tale of a young woman trying to follow her heart and live her life and not the one that others want for her. The book reads smoothly and moves along with just the right amount of description to transport you to 1956 Manhattan. You'll cheer for Marion and cry for her, this is the complete storytelling package.  You can kick up your heels for this book, a delight from beginning to end.

Now would be the perfect time for Crazy Eddie as this book is insanely good!

Zero Days by Ruth Ware

 

Hello everyone.  I hope your week is going well.

Well, the part of the year I dislike immensely is here.  Hurricane season, typhoons for you in the east.  So many areas seem to have a bullseye on them, coastal North Carolina is one of them.  There are two storms in the Atlantic already and it is only June.  Of course, I'm watching them like a hawk.  I drive my husband bananas checking each update, looking at all the spaghetti graphs, trying to decide which model looks the most reliable.  It's exhausting and frightening.  If you've never been through a hurricane, count yourself lucky.  I remember one of my first storms, I think it was Gloria.  My apartment was on the Chesapeake Bay and was sure to get a lot of water and wind.  My boyfriend (now husband) wanted me to come stay with his family.  I kept putting it off, baking several coffee cakes.  Don't laugh, for some reason, I thought my mother's coffee cake could work magic.  It is a darn good coffee cake but warding off hurricanes is a bit beyond its abilities. My sisters who still adore that cake and have never been through a hurricane would disagree, don't listen to them. By the time I drove to my boyfriend/hubby's house, the wind was so bad I was terrified. I took in town roads, afraid of the elevated interstate. I literally thought my little car was going to flip just from the wind. The roads were flooded, there was only a tiny passable area in the center of four lanes, and the storm hadn't even hit yet.  I made a huge fool of myself, leaning to the side whenever I had to stop, to prevent blowing over, and bracing myself certain I would be blown miles away, fancying myself as Dorothy without the sparkly shoes. Finally, I arrived at hubby's house regaling him with my harrowing experience and how I had defied death just to see his face, when his mother arrived home.  She, ever the gentile southern lady, took off her coat and straightened her hair, lipstick still in place and said sweetly "I think we're going to have some water to feed the flowers." It was practically a monsoon with cataclysmic winds, and she isn't the least bit rattled with un-smudged lipstick.  I think perhaps she traveled through a worm hole. By the way, she scrubbed floors on her knees with perfect clothes and full make up too...only one step away from Leave it to Beaver's mom's pearls.  I must have given everyone quite a laugh but I'm certain leaning was necessary! This has nothing to do with the book below, but hurricanes are good reading times if you have any lights.  I'm sure I can scrape up a book or two around here (that will make hubby roll his eyes).

I recently read Zero Days by Ruth Ware. I'm not sure if you're aware of it but Ruth Ware and I have a "thing" going on.  It's off and on, hot and cold.  I've read everything she has written.  I have really liked most of her books, really didn't like One by One, and count The Death of Mrs. Westaway as one of my ALL TIME favorites, for the setting alone. I'm thrilled to say, Ruth Ware and I are happily allied again, reader and author.  Zero Days is about a husband (Gabe) and wife (Jack) team, they work as penetration specialists. They are paid to break into buildings to see what security measures are too lax. They are working at a client's business late at night, with Jack inside the building. Gabe, a computer specialist, at home on his computer, directing Jack through the building and around security through her earpiece. Suddenly Gabe stops answering and Jack gets caught, taken to police.  While trying to get Gabe to explain their business to the police, he stops answering the phone. Exhausted herself, Jack finally drives home, mad that Gabe has obviously fallen asleep, leaving her to deal with the cops alone.  Only when Jack gets home, she finds her beloved husband murdered.  The story goes from bad to worse when the police have only one suspect, Jack. 

This is the best thriller I've read this year.  Nothing even comes close to Zero Days.  I am a slow reader, I received the book yesterday morning and had it finished this morning, something I've never done. I wanted to stay up all night reading it, I didn't but wanted to.  It is smart and twisty; the pacing is relentless.  This book does not stop, it grabs you, shakes you by the shoulders and asks cockily "How did you like that?"  Start to finish, a great story and edge of your seat thriller.  If there was thriller writing school, this would be the textbook.  

Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

 

Hello everyone. I hope you're having a wonderful week.

I love having a whole roasted chicken in the fridge, it's so homey and I feel like I can make a million different meals from that one ingredient.  Yes, I know I mention chicken roasting ad nauseam here, but believe it or not I can cook other things.  I can trim a whole beef tenderloin, clean and sectioned, in under 15 minutes.  I can make stuffed, braided bread, chocolate pot de creme, ice creams, seafood, ratatouille, or biscuits that will make you cry out in joy. Surprisingly, I don't have that many cookbooks, preferring books that teach not just feature recipes.  Of course, many people, including me, have the classics like The Joy of Cooking or the ever-famous Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.  I have my mother's copy of Julia Child's famous book, even in 1970 it was in its 19th printing, it's still going strong today.  Pretty amazing for a book not to be relegated to a backlist, all these years later. Of course, me cooking anything out of this book likely looks like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory, while standing on banana peels and being pelted with eggs, but I imagine I'm a world class chef. The hot, boob-a-licious kind of chef with dazzling smile and great hair, not the grumbling old man with dirty towel tucked under his apron.

I recently read Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge.  The first thing that you'll notice in this mystery is the cover, which looks very much like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking only with a chef's knife plunged through the middle with blood running down it.  An amusing start without even opening the book.  This is the story of Tabitha Knight and her pal, Julia Child in 1949 Paris.  The book opens the day after a party held at Julia and husband Paul's apartment.  Tabitha and Julia are food shopping.  Julia has undertaken the task of teaching her friend to cook so is introducing Tabitha to various vendors and how to pick the best vegetables.  Upon returning to Julia's apartment, they discover something amiss, one of the guests from the previous night's festivities is dead in the building basement.  Not only is the death of a young woman terrible enough but she has been stabbed in the chest with Julia's own chef's knife.  Quickly, Julia and Tabitha become the main suspects in the brutal murder.  The only way out is to help solve the murder.

This book will be delightful for any fan of Julia Child, post-war Paris, cooking in general, or mystery lovers.  While Julia is present throughout, she does not overwhelm the story nor does the author treat the book as her term paper about all her Child research.  A pleasant read, with plenty of twists, the story will "stir" your imagination as you "strain" through the characters to figure out this "well-seasoned" who-dun-it.  Okay, I'll stop, but seriously, this was lots of fun.

I have to go start making dinner, hope I can find my chef's knife.

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a great day.  

Did you ever watch scary movies when you were a kid?  I've already told you I snuck into the family room to see a minute of The Exorcist, which was way too frightening for me.  We would often watch less vomit-is (I'm certain that is a real word) movies. We'd be on the floor, on our stomachs, chins propped on hands, elbows on the floor. Now, even if I could get in that position, which I can't, I'd fall asleep in two seconds. As a kid, it was a favorite way to watch TV.  Two For a Guillotine and The Legend of Hell House (a great book) were two of our favorites.  As adults, the latest thing is ghost hunting shows. In fact, an episode of the TV show A Haunting was filmed in our Victorian house.  People go through houses looking for things to move or voices, hoping to see an entire ghost. Frankly, I thought it was all baloney, until things started happening in our house.  When you hear hard-soled shoes coming up your long wooden staircase repeatedly, but there is never anyone there, you don't dismiss the paranormal as easily.

I recently read Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie.  This is the story of a ghost hunting TV show called Fade to Black, filming their thirteenth episode.  The show stars a married couple, Matt and Claire, who are very excited to be able to explore Foundation House in Virginia.  This house was previously owned by the Paranormal Research Foundation whose members conducted odd experiments in the house before they all went missing. As we learn about the filming crew and the previous owners, the house begins to come alive in a terrifying way.

This book was long. 433 pages.  It really didn't need to be so long.  Considering the length, the character development was minimal, and I just didn't care about them as you would expect with so much page real estate. In the writer's defense, this story is told through texts, journals, film clips, etc. So, making the characters endearing may have proven difficult.  In addition, because of the style the book reads very quickly.  Do not find the length intimidating. I think most will find the plot unique and imaginative.  I wonder, though, if the author has watched many of these types of shows.  He has the group getting an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) where you can hear ghosts talking on a tape recorder.  I've heard hundreds, sometimes it's singing or whistling, sometimes it's talking but it is always short, rarely more than a single sentence and often very difficult to hear.  In this book, the author has the team getting a clear EVP of 399 words!  Please, figure out some other way to get the info into the storyline, this broke the mood. Despite my criticism, which I really don't mean that way, the book was fun.  If you like ghost hunting shows, horror books, imaginative stories, you'll likely find this very enjoyable.

Despite my thinking of Casper as the ghost gold standard and the most sperm shaped cartoon, I think what was in our house was female, protective and kind...thankfully.

Wait...what was that noise?

Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a wonderful day.

When I moved out of my parents' house I settled in coastal Virginia.  I had saved a thousand dollars and thought it was a million.  I got a tiny apartment on the Chesapeake Bay.  I mean, on the bay...walk out the door and onto the beach.  If you've never lived on a huge body of water with a pretty sandy beach, you're missing out.  Do it while you're young, as you age the storms, traffic and frankly, the sand that travels into every ounce of carpet and every part of your body, becomes highly annoying. I found a job, making barely $12,000 a year and was convinced I was six months from becoming CEO.  One of the first purchases I made with my new "grand" lifestyle was a piece of high-end makeup.  An item, just one, I couldn't afford it but it was certainly necessary for someone in my elevated position. I went to a department store and bought a blush, an Estee Lauder blush.  It came in a beautiful cream color compact with a raised gold square in the middle with an etched scripted E.  I can hear the snickering out there, but that blush became such a symbol of my independence that I kept it for years.  If you watch the movie Home Alone, the mom pulls out the same compact while on the plane.  Now anyone who has a TV show has a cosmetics line, but back in the day, there were classics and Estee Lauder was among the best.

I recently read Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renee Rosen.  This is the story of Estee Lauder as she tries to sell the creams she makes in the kitchen of her apartment.  She dreams of becoming a major player in the beauty industry and is determined to become the best. The story, told from the perspective of her best friend, Gloria, is endearing.  We learn that Gloria has a secret past which she wrestles with as it threatens to ruin her life.  Meanwhile, Estee has secrets of her own.  The story progresses as the women grow as people and in their careers, following Estee from selling one cream in the corner of hair salons to icon.  Gloria goes from being on the verge of being homeless to an executive in cosmetics buying for Saks Fifth Avenue. Each woman struggles to learn what happiness and success means to them.

This story is well written and rich with character development.  While historic fiction, it is far from a history textbook moving quickly telling its evolving story. In addition, it gives us a peek behind the scenes of the beauty industry and how it is very competitive.  If you've ever been at the makeup counter and received a "gift with purchase" or had a consultation, you need to read this book.  If you've ever gotten mascara in your eye, read this book. If you love lipstick, read...oh heck just read the book if you like makeup.  If you aren't a cosmetics enthusiast know that this is a good and interesting story with characters you will care about.

I wonder if I need to try Estee Lauder's wrinkle products...no comments necessary!