This one’s been floating in and out of the house for a while – ever since the sequel, Endurance, showed up on my doorstep…

drey’s thoughts:

Green is the story of a girl who’s bought, brought to a land across the seas from her home, and trained to be the best courtesan in Copper Downs. She can read and write, cook for kings, sew for queens, dance like an angel. She can also hold a grudge.

When Green decides enough is enough, she does the only thing she knows will get her out of this form of captivity – she mars her beauty. And kills her caretaker, accidentally. But things done are done, and now she has to run. Drawn into intrigue beyond her ken, Green next dispatches the one who bought her – and sets into motion more than she can comprehend. She is barely twelve, after all.

The next chapter in Green’s life brings her home – along with disillusionment – and surprise that she makes it that far. When she’s drawn into the folds of Kalimpura’s ranks of women warrior priestesses, Green seems to thrive. And you’re happy that she has a place to belong. But if that were it, the story would be over. Instead, she’s sent back to Copper Downs to deal with the mess she left behind.

Jay Lake’s world is vivid and well-defined. I didn’t like how women and children are treated, but I think that plays a huge part in my liking Green. She’s impetuous and brash, and thinks she can handle anything. Oh, the folly of youth. She is also an underdog, and still very much just a child.

I will be reading Endurance as soon as I can to find out what happens next to this unlikely God-maker.

drey’s rating: Pick it up!

Title: Green (Green #1)
Author: Jay Lake
ISBN-13: 9780765326478
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Tor, 2009
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Waukesha Public Library

Have you read Green? What did you think?

Good morning! Today I have for you an excerpt of Angel’s Rest by Emily March. And a giveaway, of course, because you’re going to want a copy of the book once you’ve checked out the excerpt!

Gabriel Callahan has lost everything that mattered. All he wants is solitude on an isolated mountain estate. Instead, he gets a neighbor. Vibrant, no-nonsense Nic Sullivan is Eternity Springs’ veterinarian, and she has an uncanny plan to lure this talented architect back to the world of the living. First with a dog, next with a renovation project, and, finally, with a night of passion that ends with a surprise.

Now a man still raw from tragedy must face the biggest struggle of his heart. Can he forgive himself and believe in the power of second chances? Dare he trust in the promise of a future and a brand-new family here in Eternity Springs?

Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository

Angel’s Rest by Emily March (Excerpt)

Giveaway!
This one’s open internationally. US residents have their choice of a paper or e-copy. International winners will receive an e-copy. (E-copy via NetGalley.)

To enter, fill out the form below before February 15th. Good luck!

* If you can’t see the form, please refresh your page, make sure Javascript is enabled, or try another browser.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Boy, do I have winners to announce! So, here we go…

Ayad Akhtar’s American Dervish goes to Maureen Carol and Jeffrey Tretin!!

Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud goes to matkeltri and Tim!!

And Christie Craig’s Murder, Mayhem and Mama! goes to Beth C!!

Congratulations, everybody! Emails have gone out, please reply!

Today our Featured Author Alan Orloff stops in to talk about love (now I have that song stuck in my head, ugh!)… Read on!

Sometimes I try to keep it a secret, but I’m in the middle of a very long love affair.

With books.

As a kid, I was an avid reader. I remember the first “real” book (no pictures) I ever read: Little Lefty, by the prolific children’s sports writer Matt Christopher. It was a baseball book and I think I read it in a few hours. After that, I became a regular at my local library (thanks Mom and Dad, for taking me there!), and I used to come home with a stack of books under each arm. I’d hole up somewhere in the house and read, oblivious to the world around me, entering new worlds between the pages. I made friends with Freddy the Pig, Danny Dunn, and Homer Price. I traveled to new lands, in different times—even visited a few other planets.

As a teen, I moved from baseball books to science fiction. Then to horror. If a book had a black cover with a picture of a bloody body part on the cover, I grabbed it. I welcomed Stephen King and Dean Koontz into my home, and into my mind (not sure that was a great idea, but at the time…).

When I went to college, though, my reading for pleasure waned. I spent plenty of time with books, but they were of the Vibration Analysis and Welcome to the Wonderful World of Thermodynamics varieties.

A few years after I’d graduated, I was working in the Boston area and a boss of mine turned me on to a series about a wise-cracking PI which took place in that fine city. Of course, the PI was Spenser, and the author was Robert B. Parker. Fifty or sixty books worth, and I’ve read every one of them, some multiple times.

One PI series led to another, and another. Then bestselling legal thrillers (Hello Grisham, Hello Turow!), then I went through a spy phase, then YA books, then Reacher books, then I devoured the “adventures” of Alex Delaware and Lucas Davenport.

And I’m just hitting a few of the highlights.

As you can tell, I love books! In fact, I love reading them so much, I decided to write some of my very own.

But that’s another story altogether.

Thank you for sharing, Alan! I hope you’ve had a good visit here this month… Everyone – enter the giveaway for Alan’s books, if you haven’t already.

This title’s been sitting on my shelves since late 2009, so it’s been very very patient with me.

drey’s thoughts:

There’s an opening on the Supreme Court, and the President’s nominees are being rejected over silly made-up “deficiencies”. He’s ticked, and more than a little frustrated. Retreating to Camp David for some R&R, he finds Pepper Cartwright on her TV show Courtroom Six. And gets a very very crafty idea…

Pepper can’t believe it when she gets the President’s phone call. But she’s tempted – after all, who wouldn’t want to be one of those nine (old farts in robes sending footnotes to each other)? She’s up-front about her shortcomings, and I love how she refers to the skeletons in her closet: “My closet’s so messy there isn’t room for skeletons.” “They kind of hang around the rest of the house.”

What follows is a wickedly funny, refreshingly witty, over-the-top look at those who rule our nation.

If you like political satire and haven’t read Supreme Courtship, pick it up.

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Title: Supreme Courtshp
Author: Christopher Buckley
ISBN-13: 9780446697989
Paperback: 285 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2009 (reprint)
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Hachette Book Group

Have you read Supreme Courtship? What did you think?

I featured James Rollins on the blog in 2010 (May) and picked up Altar of Eden then; I also meant to pick up some of his other books, which I did – but didn’t get around to reading til’ now…

drey’s thoughts:

I know I’m reading these out of order, but that’s alright – The Judas Strain stands on its own. Even so, one of these days I will backtrack and read the prior books.

James Rollins drags you into this thriller slowly as he sets the stage for a high-action, fast-paced race against time to save (what else?) mankind. The threat first shows up in an island in the middle of the ocean, and it is devastating. Sigma Force sends two of its own to assist, and in short order they’re taken hostage – along with a cruise ship volunteered as a floating hospital for those afflicted. Now Gray Pierce must decide if he can trust his archenemy when she shows up looking for help in averting disaster.

There’s a bit of everything for everyone here. See paragraph above for the omg-it’ll-be-a-biologically-disastrous-doomsday scenario (for those fans). A trip to the Vatican to unearth a clue (for the Dan Brown fans). Another clue at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (for the They Might Be Giants fans). A third clue at a tomb (for the Lara Croft fans). A blast of an ending at Angkor Thom’s Bayon temple (for the explosives fans). And running through it all – Marco Polo’s return journey from China (for the history fans).

The Judas Strain is a quick read with plenty of action to keep you going. The Sigma Force characters are likable, the villains are not (hah!), and the ending is kinda creepy. Pick this one up if you like this sorta thing (see above for fans-of examples), you won’t regret it.

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Title: The Judas Strain (Sigma Force #3)
Author: James Rollins
ISBN-13: 9780062017925
eBook: 396 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Purchased

Have you read The Judas Strain? What did you think?

Targets of Opportunity has (only) been sitting on my shelves since last August, so it’s a relatively recent addition to my TBR pile…

drey’s thoughts:

Like Jason Bourne? Meet Jordan Sandor, action hero who does it all – like Bourne, Bond, and Hunt. Recovering from events in Targets of Deception, Jordan is summoned to question an Iranian defector – one who also happens to be on his list of I-don’t-care-if-you-die-and-I-caused-it people.

But Ahmad Jaber has fragments of information to share – fragments that almost ended his life in Tehran. And so Sandor sucks it up and talks to the guy. What could it hurt, right? Next thing you know, Sandor’s on the way to North Korea to meet with someone who could help fill in the blanks. And it’s all very hush, hush and very dangerous.

When Sandor makes it out of Korea, he has another piece of the puzzle. But the big picture is still fuzzy, and remains so until the last quarter of the book. There are multiple story-lines going at the same time, but they eventually converge into a discernible threat. The action is fast-paced (so much so I wonder how Sandor manages to do it all without much sleep), and the resolution is satisfying. Targets of Opportunity will keep you turning the pages to the very end.

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Title: Targets of Opportunity (Jordan Sandor #2)
Author: Jeffery S. Stephens
ISBN-13: 9781451624328
Hardcover: 420 pages
Publisher: Gallery Books, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Penguin

Have you read Targets of Opportunity? What did you think?

I have had Case Histories sitting on my shelves since late 2009, and kept meaning to pick it up. I finally did, and …

drey’s thoughts:

Case Histories is a collection of stories that meet up along the way to solving the mysterious disappearance of three-year-old Olivia Land – thirty-four years later. Talk about a cold case!

We meet the Lands first, and learn all about their dysfunctional family. Then we meet Theo, and watch as his daughter Laura is murdered. Next is Michelle, her infant daughter Tanya, and her soon-to-be-deceased husband Keith. How do all these disparate stories tie together?

Well, say “hi” to Jackson Brodie – formerly married, father to Marlee, nice to old ladies, now a private investigator with a cranky secretary. He’s doing the suspected-cheating-spouse watch when he’s hired to find out what happened to Olivia, who killed Laura, and where Tanya went. On different days, by different clients.

Case Histories is engrossing, in spite of so many characters and stories to keep track of. Atkinson never loses your focus, and she never loses your interest. I’m picking up One Good Turn so I can get to When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog. Looks like my TBR pile is growing instead of shrinking!

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Title: Case Histories (Jackson Brodie #1)
Author: Kate Atkinson
ISBN-13: 9780316033480
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co., 2008
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Hachette Book Group

Have you read Case Histories? What did you think?

Today, our Featured Author Alan Orloff stops by to answer that oft-asked question: What are your favorite books, and why? I bet you can’t wait to see what he has to say… Read on!

I don’t know about you, but when I try to come up with a list of my favorite books, titles and storylines and characters begin to flash before my eyes, and I quickly become overwhelmed. I mean, how can I compare A WRINKLE IN TIME, which I read in sixth grade, to IT, which I read much later. Both great books, but not quite on the same playing field… And ENDER’S GAME, and THE HOBBIT, and WATCHERS, and THE UNORIGINAL SINNER AND THE ICE CREAM GOD, and THE BLACK ECHO, and NATHAN’S RUN, and ABSOLUTE POWER, and THE FIRM, and THE MONKEY’S RAINCOAT, and, well, I could go on. So I’ll just tell you about three excellent crime fiction books I read in the past year.

INNOCENT MONSTER by Reed Farrel Coleman
(Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository)

If you haven’t met Moe Prager yet, what are you waiting for? He’s the former NYPD cop-turned-PI with a tumultuous personal life, and in this book (the 6th in the series), he comes out of retirement to investigate the abduction of an 11-year-old girl at the request of his estranged daughter. As usual, Coleman combines wonderful prose, a twisting plot, and terrific characters in the perfect proportions and comes up with another winner.

THE LOCK ARTIST by Steve Hamilton
(Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository)

In Steve Hamilton’s stand-alone crime novel, the eighteen-year-old protagonist has a unique relationship with locks—he can open them all. He also has a unique affliction; due to a traumatizing event that took place when he was a young boy, he can’t speak. So what does a mute boy do with his talents? Become a safe-cracker, of course. Despite how this summary reads, THE LOCK ARTIST is really a love story. As well as being a great book. And it’s not just me who thinks so — it won the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay
(Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository)

I was lucky to score an ARC of this one at Bouchercon, and man, it was one of those books you don’t want to put down! It’s been getting terrific pre-pub buzz, and every word of it is deserved. It’s a legal thriller that’s well-written, well-plotted, and has great, but flawed, characters. I will go out on a very short limb and predict many awards for this one.

Well. There are three more books that just got added to my want-to-read pile. Thanks, Alan! (No sarcasm there at all. Really.)

I’ve added the pile-o-books Alan listed right off at the beginning of his post to a widget for those who would like to take a peek. The three above are on my wish list (hint! hint!). Have you read any of these titles?

Every so often a girl needs to read some lighter fare, especially after thrillers, zombies, killer horses, and bloody revolutions…

drey’s thoughts:

Can an unrepentant pirate give it all up for the love of a very proper lady? Mickey O’Connor certainly doesn’t expect so, especially when the lady is asking him to give it all up for the sake of respectability. And safety, but never mind details like that… After all, he has a reputation to uphold.

Dashing, arrogant, ham-handed, Mickey has no idea how to interact with a member of the fairer sex – especially one who hasn’t lived the same rough life he has. So he treats her as he would his men – barking orders, expecting obedience. And he has no clue how to react to Silence’s stubborn refusal to comply. Of course, his entire household is in cahoots with her – because she’s the awesome heroine of the story, duh.

Silence is awesome because she’s fearless where it concerns those she loves – no matter the consequence – and isn’t afraid to show it.  She’s smart and sassy and just a teeny little bit intimated by the pirate king – when she can get over being infuriated by him. She’s a mouse with claws who learns that sometimes, love is worth losing it all for.

I enjoyed Scandalous Desires and its cast of characters so much, I am going to add the other books in the series – Wicked Intentions and Notorious Pleasures – to my wish list, along with the upcoming (in July) Thief of Shadows…

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Title: Scandalous Desires (Maiden Lane #3)
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
ISBN-13: 9780446558938
Paperback: 370 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Hachette Book Group

Have you read Scandalous Desires? What did you think?