Book Tour and Review: The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

Publisher: Harper Perennial  

Publish Date:  May 1, 201

 Trade Paperback, 392 pages

My Review:
I was thrilled to be asked to review The Queen of Palmyra by TLC Book Tours.  I had seen it around the Waiting on Wednesday meme and knew it sounded good.  I live in the south so I love the authors who write about the south.  Also this time frame is one I am somewhat unfamiliar with.  You know how history class in high school goes, you always cover the same time frame and never seem to make it past World War I, at least that was how it was in my high school.  So I have a gist of what went on in the 1960s, but not a full understanding.

The Queen of Palmyra gave me more of a feel of the 1960s in the deep south.  It was entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time.  The characters came alive for me through the words of young Florence.  I found each one interesting.  Ms. Gwin does a magnificent job with both characterization and with the descriptions and the plot too.


I don't read much of what I consider to be general fiction, but books like The Queen of Palmyra make me want to read more of it.  Real, yet entertaining, The Queen of Palmyra hooked me from the beginning to the very last word.

My Rating:  4.5/5.0

About The Queen of Palmyra

In the turbulent southern summer of 1963, Millwood’s white population steers clear of “Shake Rag,” the black section of town. Young Florence Forrest is one of the few who crosses the line. The daughter of a burial insurance salesman with dark secrets and the town’s “cake lady,” whose backcountry bootleg runs lead further and further away from a brutal marriage, Florence attaches herself to her grandparents’ longtime maid, Zenie Johnson. Named for Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, Zenie treats the unwanted girl as just another chore, while telling her stories of the legendary queen’s courage and cunning.
The more time Florence spends in Shake Rag, the more she recognizes how completely race divides her town, and her story, far from ordinary, bears witness to the truth and brutality of her times—a truth brought to a shattering conclusion when Zenie’s vibrant college-student niece, Eva Greene, arrives that fateful Mississippi summer.
Minrose Gwin’s The Queen of Palmyra is an unforgettable evocation of a time and a place in America—a nuanced, gripping story of race and identity.

About Minrose Gwin

Minrose Gwin is the author of the memoir Wishing for Snow, cited by Booklist as “eloquent” and “lyrical”—”a real life story we all need to hear.” She has written three scholarly books and coedited The Literature of the American South. She teaches contemporary fiction at UNC–Chapel Hill and, like her young protagonist, grew up in a small Mississippi town.

 

 

Minrose Gwin will be on Blog Talk Radio with Book Club Girl on Monday, May 17th at 4pm EST.

Minrose’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS

Tuesday, May 4th: five borough book review
Wednesday, May 5th: The Bluestocking Society
Monday, May 10th: Rundpinne
Tuesday, May 11th: Natty Michelle
Wednesday, May 12th: Pam’s Perspective
Wednesday, May 12th: My Reading Room
Thursday, May 13th: The Book Lady’s Blog
Monday, May 17th: Crazy for Books
Wednesday, May 19th: Staircase Wit
Thursday, May 20th: Lit and Life
Tuesday, May 25th: Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, May 26th: Take Me Away
Thursday, May 27th: Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker
Monday, May 31st: Green Jello

What are you Reading Monday - May 10

Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and join in!

Books Completed Last Week:

• Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard (for YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle)
• Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson (Library)
• Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (library) 
• When Lightning Strikes by Meg Cabot (library)
• Scream by Mike Dellossa (library)

Reading Now:

• Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell (from Sourcebooks for review)
• The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (library)
• The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (review/audiobook)

Next:

• The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark (library)
• More Than Words Volume 6 by Joan Johnston, Robyn Carr, Christina Skye, Rochelle Alers and Maureen Child (Review)
• Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann

Summary -
This week found me off work most of the week, but I slept a lot due to a sinus infection.  Since I was tired, most evenings found me outside my back door in my chair reading, and I roasted myself in the sun a little while on Saturday afternoon and got a bit of reading in.  I also spent a fair amount of Mother's Day reading.  It was a wonderful day filled with hugs and special gifts from my boys.  They both even seemed to get along with each other for the day which allowed for my reading time.

I had a bunch of library books coming up due so that is mostly what I read this week.  Most were older and all were really good.  I think my favorite of the week was Scream by Mike Dellosso.

Audio Book Tour and Guest Post: One Night in Memphis by Allie Boniface

Please welcome Allie Boniface, author of One Night In Memphis to My Reading Room.  She has a great guest post for us today on her tour stop at my blog.

Allie will be giving away the winner’s choice of either the Lost in Paradise audiobook or One Night in Memphis audiobook to one randomly drawn commenter from the tour and to the tour host with the most comments, excluding duplicates or Allie’s responses. So comment away for a chance to win.  Now on to the guest post:

Book covers – ah, a delicate topic. As a small press author, I’m fortunate enough to have some say in what goes on mine (authors who write for big New York publishing houses aren’t usually that fortunate). But what do authors request, when the cover art form comes along? Typically, we’re asked to give physical descriptions of our main characters, along with an overview of the plot. We’re also asked if there’s anything we really do or do not want on our covers. I’ve always been really happy with my covers – but I do have a couple of stories that go along with them.

My first two covers with Samhain Publishing, One Night in Boston and One Night in Memphis, are night-time city scapes with clock hands imposed on them, suggesting the locale and intrigue of the plots, which is pretty accurate. They do not, however, suggest to a casual observer that they are romance novels. I was happy with this at first, because my stories are sweet rather than sensual or erotic, so I thought appealing to a wider range of general readers would benefit me. And it has, I think – to a certain degree. However, it has also, I recently discovered, run the risk of landing my book in the “wrong” hands. I have found that certain readers thought my books were more suspense than romance – and when they got halfway through, didn’t like the storyline after all.

So despite the cliché about not using book covers to judge, people still do, which means now I do believe that they really should suggest what genre your book falls into. Now, by the way, Samhain pretty much requires their covers to have people/faces/figures on the front. So my latest release, One Night in Napa, does. (I’ll admit: I really, really like it – it portrays the setting as well as the sensuality perfectly).

When I contracted my books with Audio Lark to produce them as audio books, I got new covers – how exciting! I love them both, and I think both suggest perfectly what to expect from the story. They are sweet love stories – but Lost in Paradise does have a hunky hero (check out the muscular back on the audio book cover!) and One Night in Memphis suggests the right amount of suspense and unfolding attraction.

But enough about me – what do you think? I’d love to know. Check out my audio book covers at http://www.audiolark.com/books/tag/allie-boniface/  or any of my print covers at http://samhainpublishing.com/authors/allie-boniface  and let me know your thoughts! Do covers sell books? Have you ever felt “misled” by a cover? Will you make a purchase decision based on the cover alone? Do tell!

About the Book:

What if a woman, tired of broken hearts and bad choices, traveled a thousand miles to the heart of Memphis, Tennessee, and spent a night forgetting her past in the blues clubs of Beale Street? What if a man who lost his wife to cancer ventured to Beale Street's social scene for the first time in over a year? And what if they met and realized love was still possible for them both?


Dakota James and Ethan Meriweather have both given up on finding happiness in a relationship. When they meet in downtown Memphis, at a crowded nightclub, neither has romance on the brain. But as the evening unfolds, and small talk turns to the stuff of hopes, dreams, and shared loss, a kinship grows that surprises them.

Before the night is over, though, Dakota's past will catch up with her in the form of a violent ex-boyfriend. As dawn approaches, and tragedy threatens to tear Dakota and Ethan apart, both will have to make a decision that could change their lives forever. Is new love worth putting your life on the line for someone you've just met?

Other Tour Stops:

April 29: Sherry Gloag
April 30: Word Wranglers
May 3: The Life (and lies) of an inanimate flying object
May 4: Liana's Place
May 5: You Gotta Read Guest
May 6: Book Junkie
May 7: My Reading Room
May 10: Marta's Meanderings
May 11: Nicole Zoltack
May 12: Perils of Pauline
May 13: Jacqueline Page

Momentarily overwhelmed and sick

So my posting has been a bit sparse lately and I am late announcing some winners and sending some books.  But please rest assured I will catch up.  This spring has been insane around our house with various activities and events that two boys and a husband have.  There have been two camp outs, t-ball games and the CF walk and then school and we are planning a 3-day weekend vacation.  Add to that my 40-hour a week job which has me under deadline and the I like to sew from time-to-time.  My reading has suffered and so has this blog.


This week was the week I was supposed to catch back up.  Read ahead and get reviews up, catch up on reviews, interviews, giveaways, etc.  Then what happens?  I get my annual May sinus infection.  I have been working from home and sleeping the last two days.  It seems I wake up, fall back asleep get up and work a few minutes and then go back to sleep.  I haven't even been able to read a lot.  Hopefully this will pass quickly and I will get caught up.


So if you are awaiting giveaway results or books, please know they will be coming.  I hope to catch up everything early next week.  Thank you for your patience and for keeping on reading.

YA Book Bloggers Debut Book Battle

I don't know if you have seen it around but we are in the first round of the YA Book Bloggers Debut Book Battle.  Each blogger is to read two books and select the one they like best and that one will go on to the next round.  Some of us are working on teams and some are working alone.

  vs. 

My bracket is Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves vs. Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard.  As of today I have finished both books and now it's decision time.  My ultimate decision will be revealed next week I believe on The Shady Glade blog.  So I'm not here to share, in fact I haven't decided.  It's a lot to think about especially when both books are very enjoyable.  So if you were a judge, how would you decide on which book would win?  Is it plot, character-appeal, execution of the book, meaning behind the story?  What would you make your decision on?


So check back next week for the decision, but don't worry, if the book you like best isn't chosen, it has one more chance to come back in a later round.  There is a group of judges reading the cut books and deciding which one will come back.


It's all very interesting and I can't wait to start seeing the results.  This has been fun to participate in and I look forward to doing it again!

What are you Reading Monday - May 3

Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and join in!

Books Completed Last Week:

• Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (for YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle)

Reading Now:

• Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard (for YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle)
• Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell (from Sourcebooks for review)
• The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (library)
• The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (review/audiobook)

Next:

• The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark (library)
• More Than Words Volume 6 by Joan Johnston, Robyn Carr, Christina Skye, Rochelle Alers and Maureen Child (Review)

Summary -

It was a slow week for reading, due to a busy week with the family, my youngest son turned 5 this week and that along with t-ball kept me busy.  I also did a bunch of sewing on Saturday and no reading so that took a lot of my time.  I enjoyed it though and I'm ready to do some more reading this week.  The big challenge - trying to decide which book to choose for my bracket in the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle - is it Bleeding Violet or Prada and Prejudice.  Stay tuned next week to find out!

Book Review: Caught by Harlan Coben

Caught by Harlan Coben

Publisher: Dutton

Publish Date: January 1, 2010

Hardcover, 400 pages

My Review:
Tell No One was my first Harlan Coben novel and I read it 2-3 years ago.  I found it at a yard sale and had no clue who Harlan Coben was.  Needless to say I fell in love with that book.  I read it in one sitting and have read each of his stand-alone new releases since then.  So of course I grabbed Caught when it came out (I was third on the library list).

Caught did not disappoint. This is one of those great stories that shows how things and people that are seemingly very different can be linked to each other.  It was a non-stop thrill ride and if I didn't have two kids now and a busy spring season I would have read this in one season.  Coben does not disappoint. 

Caught has a great plot and interesting characters.  I didn't like Wendy to begin with, but she fully redeemed herself in my eyes and became a very likable character.  I also loved the fact that I never could quite figure out where the book was going.  I would think I had it figured out and then Mr. Coben threw another twist at me.  If you like fast-paced suspense with lots of twists and turns then Harlan Coben's Caught is for you. 


My Rating: 4.25/5.0
About the Book:
Wendy is a reporter on a mission: She's chasing down the lowest of the low-sexual predators-and exposing them on national television. Her big break comes when she nails a child advocate who works with abused and underserved children. She's there, cameras rolling, when the cops cuff him and the guy realizes his life is well and truly over.

Three months later, the perp is off the grid, missing and presumed dead after the father of a victim claims to have killed him. Wendy, proud to have taken the man down in front of a shocked television audience, has moved on to the story of a missing girl, Erin, in a nearby suburb. The whole country is obsessed with finding this child, and Wendy should be well on her way to journalistic superstardom.

Then is all comes unhinged: Wendy gets a phone call that changes everything. A group of local fathers, out of work and not above vigilante justice, begins to take matters into their own hands on Erin's behalf. Secrets long-buried rise to the surface and Wendy begins to wonder if her assumptions that fateful night three months ago were based on solid investigative journalism-or if she has unwittingly been part of a grand manipulation aiming to destroy an innocent man.

About the Author (from Goodreads.com):
International bestselling author Harlan Coben's last seven novels, The Woods, Promise Me, The Innocent, Just One Look, No Second Chance, Gone for Good, and Tell No One have appeared at the top of all the major bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Book Sense, The Times (London), Le Monde, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as many others throughout the United States and the world. His most recent book The Woods (2007) was a bestseller on lists across the country including USA Today, Publishers Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Nielsen Bookscan and Entertainment Weekly. Promise Me and The Woods were both named one of the best thrillers of the year by Library Journal. Coben's books are published in 38 languages and have 40 million copies in print world wide. His new novel, Hold Tight, will be published in the U.S. on April 15, 2008.
In his first books, Coben immersed himself in the exploits of sports agent Myron Bolitar. Critics loved the series, saying, "You race to turn pages...both suspenseful and often surprisingly funny" (People). After seven whodunit books Coben moved away from Myron Bolitar. "I came up with a great idea that simply would not work for Myron," says Coben. The result was the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Tell No One, which has been credited by many as reinventing the thriller and which became the most decorated thriller of 2001 Ð nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, a Nero, and a Barry; winner of the Audie award for Best Audio Mystery/Suspense Book; and a #1 hardcover book on the Book Sense 76 list. Coben followed the success of Tell No One with the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Gone For Good (2002), No Second Chance (2003), Just One Look (2004) , The Innocent (2005), Promise Me (2006) and The Woods (2007).

Coben's unique take on the American dream has struck an international chord. Bookspan, recognizing his broad appeal, named No Second Chance its first ever International Book of the Month in 2003.

Since 1995, Harlan Coben has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award Ð the first writer to win all three. In 2004 he was shortlisted for the Author of the Year Award for the British Book Awards, dubbed "The Oscars of the Book Trade." He was the first American to make the list.

Tell No One, Coben's first stand alone novel, was released as a film in France in 2006. A runaway smash, Tell No One has grossed over $32 million in France and Variety called the film, "a sharp, efficient package." Tell No One was directed by Guillaume Canet (Mon Idole), and features an all-star cast including Kristin Scott Thomas (Gosford Park), Nathalie Baye (Catch Me If You Can), and Marie-Josée Croze (Munich). The movie will be released in theaters in the US in the summer of 2008. FOX TV has purchased the rights to Coben's popular Myron Bolitar series for a pilot by Bones creator-executive producer Hart Hanson.

A graduate of Amherst College, Harlan Coben was born and raised in New Jersey, where he still lives with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben. Harlan and Anne have four young children and two dogs.

FTC Information: I checked this book out from the library.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.