Book Review: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Publisher:St. Martin's Press

Publish Date: February 2, 2010

Hardcover, 394 pages
Audiobook, Brilliance Audio

My Review:
I did not know what to expect when I started listening to this book.  I always enjoy Kristin Hannah's books but sometimes they are a little slow and I wasn't sure I was in the mood for it, but then I decided I had to listen to it.  I am so glad I did.

The plot is amazing.  In the beginning I did not understand Meredith and Nina's mother at all, I saw her as cold and unfeeling and wondered what her problem could be.  Then there was Meredith and Nina themselves.  Meredith who stayed behind and helped with her father's orchard and gave up her dreams, she married young, had children who are now in college and now feels more distant from her husband than she ever thought possible.  Nina is following her dreams wherever they take her, searching for the perfect photograph and running from love.  When their father's health problem brings them together after being a part things begin to change.

I love all the self-discovery in this book and I love the way it is written with the telling of the fairy-tale as the center piece.  I learned a lot about WWII Russia, things I never knew about this area and the hardships the people went through.  The story is ultimately a story of never giving up, going for your dreams and being true to yourself.  All three women grow so much during this story and it is beautiful to watch it unfold before you.  The characterization is beautifully done, the plot moves along at a great pace and there are numerous surprises I never saw coming.  You will probably need some tissues for this one, but you won't mind.  If you enjoy Kristin Hannah's novels then I highly recommend this one.

As an audio book - this one is amazing.  The reader does a terrific job with all of the voices and her Russian accent makes the book even better - it really came to life as I listened.  So I highly recommend it in either form you like - written or audio.

My Rating:  4.5/5.0

About the Book:
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family business; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, these two estranged sisters will find themselves together again, standing alongside their disapproving mother, Anya, who even now offers no comfort to her daughters. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise: Anya will tell her daughters a story; it is one she began years ago and never finished. This time she will tell it all the way to the end.

The tale their mother tells them is unlike anything they’ve heard before—a captivating, mysterious love story that spans more than sixty years and moves from frozen, war-torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska. Nina’s obsession to uncover the truth will send them all on an unexpected journey into their mother’s past, where they will discover a secret so shocking, it shakes the foundation of their family and changes who they believe they are.

Mesmerizing from beginning to end, Winter Garden is that rarest of novels — at once an epic love story and an intimate portrait of women poised at the crossroads of their lives. Evocative, lyrically written, and ultimately uplifting, it will haunt the listener long after the last word is spoken.

About the Author:
Kristin Hannah is the New York Times bestselling author of sixteen novels, including Firefly Lane and the blockbuster On Mystic Lake. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband.

Kristin Hannah's webpage
Her Blog



Other Reviews of Winter Garden:
Beck's Book Picks

If you have a book review up of this book let me know and I will link to it.

FTC Information: I checked out this audiobook from my local library for my listening enjoyment.  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.

 

Book Blogger Hop: July 9-12

To check out other answers and join the hop go and check out Crazy-For_Books.com for the Mr. Linky for the Blog Hop. 

This week's question:  Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!

My go to author is Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb - I always enjoy her books.  I also enjoy Nicholas Sparks since he is a local author and writes about the area I live in.  Other favorites are J.P. O'Donnell - I love his Gallagher series, Simone Elkeles is my new favorite YA author, I always read James Patterson and enjoy Susan Mallery's romance books.  I think I could go on and on, but that is a pretty good representation of some of my favorites.

I can't wait to hop around this weekend and see everyone else's answers.

Winners

It's time for more winners - I have three giveaways to announce this week and more starting up.  Thanks so much to all of you for commenting and to Danielle Jackson at Sourcebooks for providing the copies of I Love This Bar by Carolyn Brown and Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase.

The Two Winners are:

misskallie2000

Andrea

The Two Winners are:

Cheryl F

Chey

The Winner is:

allisonrocks

I have emailed the winners and as soon as I get the addresses for Strange Neighbors and I Love This Bar I will forward them to the publisher.  If you have not received an email from me - please email your address to crystalfulcher(at)ec(dot)rr(dot)com. 

I will be mailing out Infinite Days early next week - I'm over halfway through this and plan on finishing it over the weekend.  It's wonderful and I hope Allison enjoys it.

Thanks again to everyone who entered.  I currently am giving away The Tension of Opposites so check the side bar and enter.  I also plan on adding another couple of giveaways in the next few days.

Giveaway: The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

This week isn't an ARC giveaway but it is a recently released YA book that has generated a lot of buzz.  I luckily won a copy and want to read it now so the only way I can do that is to plan to give it away.

This week's giveaway is The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride.  It released at the end of May from EgmontUSA and I have a nice hardcover copy, gently read but still in wonderful condition. Haven't heard of the book yet?  Here is some more information:

When Tessa's best friend Noelle disappears right before the start of eighth grade, Tessa's life changes completely--she shies away from her other friends and stops eating in the cafeteria. Now, two years later, Noelle has escaped her captivity and is coming home, in one piece but not exactly intact, and definitely different. Tessa's life is about to change again as she tries to revive the best-friendship the two girls had shared before Noelle--now Elle--was kidnapped; puts up a futile resistance to the charming new guy at school; pursues her passion for photography while trying to build the bravado to show her photos to the public; and tries to balance her desire to protect and shelter Elle with the necessity to live her own life and put herself first.

Rules for the giveaway:  Simple, just comment and leave an email address where to contact you.  Nothing more.  No additional entries, just keeping this one completely simple.  Open to the US/Canada only.  Ends 7/16/2010.

Book Review: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #1)

Publisher:Harlequin Teen

Publish Date: February 1, 2010

Trade Paperback, 363 pages

My Review:

If you enjoy an author who is excellent at world building then this is the book for you.  Ms. Kagawa shines while developing the world of the Fey and the Nevernever.  The descriptions take you there without being too wordy and she does an excellent job balancing the world-building with the plot of this first installment in her Iron Fey series.

And if that isn't enough for you, the characters are amazing too.  Robbie, Meghan and Ash are well-developed and you really feel like you get to know them.  This is another one of those books that has you as the reader trying to decide which boy is better for the main character and if you scroll down you can find out which team I am on.  Meghan is very human as a character, she makes mistakes, but she also tries her best and it endears her to the reader.  She is strong and stubborn, but still a girl who loves and wants to save her little brother and not hurt those who are dear to her.

Finally, the icing on the cake is The Iron King has a plot that keeps you moving through the pages at lightning speed.  Moving from one world to the next, facing strange creatures and never losing her determination, it is a joy to watch Meghan develop and grow through this book.  The plot is well-paced and I am anxious to read Winter Passage (a novella that is free to read until August 1) and The Iron Daughter which will be out on August 1.

Excellent young adult paranormal fiction for the young adult and for the adult.

My Rating;  4.75/5.0


About the Book:
Meghan Chase has never fit in at her small-town high school, and now, on the eve of her 16th birthday, she discovers why. When her half brother is kidnapped, Meghan is drawn into a fantastical world she never imagined--the world of Faery, where anything you see may try to eat you, and Meghan is the daughter of the summer faery king. Now she will journey into the depths of Faery to face an unknown enemy . . . and beg the help of a winter prince who might as soon kill her as let her touch his icy heart. The Iron King is the first book in the Iron Fey series.

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Which team are you on?  My choice:



About the Author:

Julie Kagawa's website.
Julie on Blogger


FTC Information: I checked this book out from my wonderful local library for my reading pleasure.  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.

Book Tour and Review: Plan B by Steve Verrier

 Plan B by Steven Verrier

Publisher:  Saga Books

Publish Date: March 17, 2010

Paperback, 186 Pages

My Review:

Plan B is about how one single decision can change your life and how with that decision you can make further decisions to either improve your life or just give up.  Danny chose to make the best out of life.  It wasn't always easy and his decision-making skills were constantly put to the test, but with the love and support of his parents behind him, he put one foot in front of the other and continued walking forward.

I found Plan B to be a fascinating novel.  I haven't read many books focused on teenage boys as this one does.  Danny is incredibly smart and focused and is pretty amazing.  However I never felt that he wasn't real or that his situations weren't real.  Mr. Verrier adds a nice does of reality to each situation.  Danny has regrets and guilt.  He is thrilled with some things and ho-hum about others.  Danny is fascinating to watch make his decisions and I loved watching his life unfold before him, the ups and downs, and all the other events that made up this book.

I was captivated from the first page and spend the first 30 or so pages being outraged at the way Danny was treated by his high school.  Then things calmed down and I was further captivated and my attention was held through the whole book.  It's a quick and very enjoyable read.

One of the things I really like about this book is the fact that Danny's parents are involved in his life.  There are so many young adult novels out there with parents' who don't care.  Danny's parents work hard to be involved, but not overbearing especially when he goes off to college.  They understand he needs to grow up but they are there for him and hold him to some accountability.

Plan B runs through a gamut of teenage boy emotions.  There is love and lust, indecisiveness and decisiveness.  He shows great maturity at times and can be immature at others, but mostly he is very thoughtful about his actions and he learns a lot about himself in this book.

A wonderful study of a teenage boy making his way through the pitfalls of high school, college and girls, Plan B is a book that is hard to put down and will stay with you long after you finish it.  I think I will keep this one around for my sons when they grow older.  I think a lot can be learned from this book no matter what your age or gender is.

My Rating:  4.75/5.0

About the Book:

Life was good to fifteen-year-old Danny Roberts. He was a model student, playing violin in his high school orchestra and earning straight A’s on the fast track to university. But then things went very wrong very fast. The problems started when a teacher wouldn’t let Danny out of class to go to the bathroom – even though he said “I’ve really got to go!”

Danny responded by defying authority for the first time in his life. That shocking act of defiance earned him a suspension, and Danny’s troubles snowballed from there. But Danny isn’t your typical student, and he doesn’t take his lumps lying down. He fights back on his terms as he plots a course through uncharted waters.

About the Author:

Steven Verrier, born in the United States and raised in Canada, has spent much of his adult life living and traveling abroad. Publications include Plan B (Saga Books, 2010), Tough Love, Tender Heart (Saga Books, 2008), Raising a Child to be Bilingual and Bicultural (Hira-Tai Books of Japan), and several short dramatic works (Brooklyn Publishers, USA). Currently he is living with his wife, Motoko, and their five children in San Antonio, Texas.
You can visit his website at StevenVerrier.com

Read an Excerpt

Though his parents had pushed him hard to make a hotel reservation in Paris before leaving the States, Danny, hardly strapped for cash but mindful of nearly every penny in his pocket and bank account, had ruled otherwise. He’d read a stack of books about traveling in Europe, and one, Europe on the Cheap, had warned him in no uncertain terms not to make any hotel reservations before starting his trip. It would be a lot easier, the book said, to find reasonable accommodations upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where desperate hoteliers would be dispatching workers to round up travelers to fill up unoccupied rooms. Travelers arriving at night would be able to play hardball and score rooms of any class for pennies on the dollar. But the reality awaiting Danny was that Paris was packed to the rafters, hostels were filled beyond capacity, and any hotel rooms that were still vacant were going for exorbitant prices.
Identifying himself as an American college student on summer vacation, Danny breezed straight through immigration, exchanged a hundred dollars for Euros, and then spent half an hour looking through brochures at a travelers’ aid bureau at de Gaulle and bartering in basic French with a few hotel agents who seemed intent on taking him for every Euro he had and then some. Though Danny wanted to see Paris, he decided to postpone that indulgence until later in his journey. Now, with no place to stay, and with night about to sneak up on him seven hours earlier than usual, he decided this would be as good a time as any to try out his Eurail Pass, which offered him fifteen days of unlimited travel on its intercity rail network covering much of the continent.
It took Danny, a novice at riding trains, a few hours to arrive at the Gare de Lyon, a station recommended in some of his guidebooks. As soon as he arrived there he learned he could have taken a bus from de Gaulle directly to the station and made the trip in under an hour. Determined not to rush into any other bad decisions, he decided to relax at a café he’d noticed near the station.
Not having his French footing yet, Danny looked about as disoriented as a hayseed dropped out of a plane into the middle of Manhattan. Such was all too apparent to a young blonde who sidled up to him as he headed for the café.
“Puis-je vous aider?”
“Uh, no, merci,” said Danny once his tongue was untied.
“Oh, you’re American.” Danny stopped and looked at the attractive young woman, who was about eighteen or nineteen. His disappointment that his accent had given him away as an American was mitigated greatly by the fact that a very pretty young female, dressed in tight shorts and smiling broadly, was standing barely a foot away from him.
“That’s right,” he said.
“What is your name?”
“Daniel.” He said it with a French accent, with heavy stress on the last part.
“Where are you going, Daniel?”
“I was just going to have a snack before catching a train tonight.”
“You’re leaving Paris?”
“I didn’t plan to. I’ve just arrived but couldn’t find a cheap place to stay.”
“Perfect,” she said. “My name is Julienne. You stay in my house.”
Danny, not yet wise to the world, stood there flatfooted, not sure which foot to pick up next.
“You don’t like?” said Julienne, smiling with the confidence of one who’d seen it all. “Daniel stays at Julienne’s house. Doesn’t that sound good?”
Unsure whether he was talking to a prostitute or a good Samaritan, Danny didn’t want to snuff out his prospects just yet. He’d hinted, after all, that he wasn’t a rich man – not that his worn clothes and tattered bag would have left much doubt anyway – and she still seemed interested … but in what?

Continue to check out Steven as he tours the blogosphere duirng the month of July with Pump Up Your Book Promotion

FTC Information: I received this book from Pump Up Your Book Promotions for review.  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.

Book Review: Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Worst Case by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publish Date: February 1, 2010

Hardcover, 400 pages

My Review:
There is something about the breakneck pace of James Patterson books that I love.  And Worst Case doesn't disappoint in that area at all.  It's the typical James Patterson -  a thrill ride the whole way that reads quickly and satisfactorily.

Worst Case features NY Detective Michael Bennett who has been in two earlier books.  I will honestly say that I didn't think I was sold on this series.  I loved Alex Cross from and the Women's Murder Club from the beginning, but for some reason, I didn't like this series as  much.  I'm really not sure why.  Michael Bennett is a great guy, he wants to right the wrongs of society and does what he can through his police work.  His wife died a while back and left him with 10 kids that they adopted.  He also has the help of his grandfather Seamus (who I love), the priest.  The kids are interesting and the nanny, has been a possible love interest.  Whta is not to like about all of that.

I think it all just came together for me in this book and I know I will be picking up the next book in the series. 

So in summary - good suspense, great thrill-ride, a little confusing romance and some funny scenes as well make Worst Case a very enjoyable book.

My Rating;  4.0/5.0


About the Book:
Best case: survival

The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street and held hostage. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Worst case: death

Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn the heat up on the mayor, the press--anyone who will listen--to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett's life--and love life--suddenly get even more complicated.

This case: Detective Michael Bennett is on it

Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most devastating demonstration yet--one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York. From the shocking first page to the last exhilarating scene, Worst Case is a non-stop thriller from "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes).

About the Author (from Amazon.com):
James Patterson is one of the bestselling writers of all time, with more than 170 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the author of the two most popular detective series of the past decade, featuring Alex Cross and the Women's Murder Club. He has won an Edgar Award--the mystery world's highest honor--and his novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider were made into feature films. His lifelong work to promote books and reading is reflected in his new website, ReadKiddoRead.com, which helps parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians find the very best children's books for their kids. He lives in Florida.

Michael Ledwidge is the author of The Narrowback, Bad Connection, and most recently,the coauthor, with James Patterson,of The Quickie, Step on a Crack, and Run For Your Life.

James Patterson's website.


FTC Information: I checked this book out from my wonderful local library for my reading pleasure.  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.