Alyssa Goodnight's Blog, page 2
April 5, 2016
Review: Flight of Dreams ~ BRC
A new month, a new review for Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club. My reading lately has been a little choppy. Lots going on and reading opportunities are coming in little snatches. So, in some ways, my April pick was perfect. May I present (ahem, review…) Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon.
From Amazon:
On the evening of May 3rd, 1937, ninety-seven people board the Hindenburg for its final, doomed flight to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Among them are a frightened stewardess who is not what she seems; the steadfast navigator determined to win her heart; a naive cabin boy eager to earn a permanent spot on the world’s largest airship; an impetuous journalist who has been blacklisted in her native Germany; and an enigmatic American businessman with a score to settle. Over the course of three hazy, champagne-soaked days their lies, fears, agendas, and hopes for the future are revealed.
Flight of Dreams is a fiercely intimate portrait of the real people on board the last flight of the Hindenburg. Behind them is the gathering storm in Europe and before them is looming disaster. But for the moment they float over the Atlantic, unaware of the inexorable, tragic fate that awaits them.
I will admit that it took me a little while to really get into this book. As I mentioned above, I really wasn’t dedicating my full concentration to the story, and I think you need to, particularly at the beginning. Right out of the gate, Ms. Lawhon is immersing you in the Hindenburg experience. All manner of people are scurrying around, interacting, while at the same time, absorbed in their own thoughts and problems and secrets. Because everyone (more or less) has a secret. And each mini chapter is designated by the label of its focus: The Stewardess, The Cabin Boy, the Journalist, etc. The beautiful thing about this book is that, much like a well-crafted mystery, all of those characters, and all of those secrets slowly–over the course of three days on a flying airship–become entwined, to create a desperate, suspenseful climax.
But beyond the mystery lies the backdrop of history–the true events of the “flight of dreams.” I can’t claim to have known the real historical details of this flight–but I was truly fascinated (and even more impressed) when I read the Author’s Note, in which Ms. Lawhon held her story up against reality. Flight of Dreams is built on a solid foundation of nervous tension. Hitler has already begun his persecution of Jews, and Europe is tumbling inexorably toward war. And even if the reader is unaware of the outcome of this luxury trip from Germany to New Jersey, Lawhon drops sinister hints early on: Something explosive is going to happen. This book is a powder keg, ready to blow.
It didn’t take long before I was hooked. I wanted to see how the romance would play out between the two crew members, I wanted to know the story behind the American’s diabolical determination, I wanted to know what sort of trouble the twitchy, feisty journalist was going to get into it–and with whom! And while this wasn’t (almost certainly) the real story of this Hindenburg flight–but it COULD have been. And I’m quite sure that in future, when a reference to the Hindenburg crosses my path, I will remember these characters and the interactions Ms. Lawhon imagined for them as real.
Recommended for fans of historical mysteries, fiction set between the World Wars, suspense novels, character-driven novels, or a solid good read.
Make sure to click through to read all the other reviews!
Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
March 25, 2016
JUST SAY YES is only 99¢!
For a limited time (till April 3rd), my latest contemporary romance JUST SAY YES is only 99¢ at all the major retailers!
Here are the links if you want to grab it…Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks.
I’ve been having a bit of fun making some food-themed teasers.
March 21, 2016
JUST SAY YES is 99 cents!!
http://www.amazon.com/Just-Say-Yes-Al...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just-...
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebo...
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/just...
March 1, 2016
Review: Love in Lowercase ~ BRC
March has swept into the Houston/Galveston area with rain and eighty-degree weather. Our winter was almost non-existent. Summer will most likely be mosquito-littered and sticky as all get-out. Blech. We will soldier on, reading books by the pool, with iced chai and watermelon… But I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s still March, and this month’s book is Love in Lowercase by Francesc Miralles, evidently an International Bestseller.
From Amazon:
A romantic comedy for language lovers and fans of The Rosie Project, about a brainy bachelor and the cat that opens his eyes to life’s little pleasures
When Samuel, a lonely linguistics lecturer, wakes up on New Year’s Day, he is convinced that the year ahead will bring nothing more than passive verbs and un-italicized moments—until an unexpected visitor slips into his Barcelona apartment and refuses to leave. The appearance of Mishima, a stray, brindle-furred cat, becomes the catalyst that leads Samuel from the comforts of his favorite books, foreign films, and classical music to places he’s never been (next door) and to people he might never have met (a neighbor with whom he’s never exchanged a word). Even better, the Catalan cat leads him back to the mysterious Gabriela, whom he thought he’d lost long before, and shows him, in this international bestseller for fans of The Rosie Project, The Solitude of Prime Numbers, and The Guest Cat, that sometimes love is hiding in the smallest characters.
Let me start by saying that I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED The Rosie Project. I gushed about it. When I saw this book recommended for fans of TRP, I snatched at the chance to read it. Let me tell you, this book is nothing like The Rosie Project. There are a few similarities: it was written by a male author, and told from the POV of a male professional who is extremely passionate about his work and looking for companionship. That’s pretty much where the similarities end.
I have read a lot of romance novels, and a lot of novels that have included romantic side plots and elements. I would not, however, classify this book as romantic at all–for two simple reasons. The romance plot is almost entirely one-sided. Samuel remembers knowing this woman as a child, and when he happens to see her again, in passing, after thirty years, he suddenly realizes he’s in love with her. He is obsessed with not only finding her again, but professing his love. It’s borderline creepy. Secondly, while a tiny thread of obsession is woven through the storyline, it really takes a backseat to the rest of the novel–there are very few interactions between Samuel and Gabriela. Plus, Samuel gives up on Gabriela multiple times in the book, and is actually tentatively pursuing a different woman. That’s pretty much the definition of not romantic.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I can proceed with the rest of the review. Beyond my above complaints, I’m not entirely sure what to make of this book. It almost seems like a collection of the author’s favorite books (with the occasional movie or piece of music thrown in), quoted, paraphrased, and referenced, to make a story. It’s philosophy with a HEAVY dose of absurd.
I couldn’t relate to almost any of Samuel’s decisions. Example: He dislikes cats, but at the beginning of the novel, one runs through his door, and when he can’t lure him back out, he decides that he’ll keep him a couple of weeks. [insert eyeroll]. Then there’s the instalove with Gabriela (based on games of hide-and-seek as a six-year-old), and his agreement, when his upstairs neighbor (whom he’s just met) goes into the hospital, to WRITE AN ENTIRE BOOK for him, in order to meet a nonnegotiable deadline. [There aren’t enough eyerolls in the world.]
To sum up, this book was…interesting, but also tedious. I’ll admit, it did have somewhat of a happily-ever-after. By the end, Samuel’s life is much fuller, and there is the promise of a real romance in his future. If you don’t dive into it with any preconceived notions, you might just be okay.
Side note: I wasn’t able to finish last month’s book, The Wild Girl. When things started moving into the truly disturbing, I was unwilling to read any further. I’m disappointed I couldn’t get to the happily-ever-after.
Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
FCC: I checked this book out from the library, and the Amazon URL above is linked to my Associates account.
February 11, 2016
Sale!
What's not to love??
February 2, 2016
The Wild Girl ~ BRC
I have been a bad blogger. It’s been months since I’ve posted. Seasons have changed, holidays have come and gone. Books have been read. Convenient, as today is the first-of-the-year get-together of Barrie Summy’s Book Review Club, and the book I’ve chosen to share is The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth.
I will admit: at the writing of this review, I have not yet finished this book, but I’m close. As soon as this review is written, I’ll be getting back to it. I’ll explain below.
From Amazon:
One of six sisters, Dortchen Wild lives in the small German kingdom of Hesse-Cassel in the early 19th century. She finds herself irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the handsome but very poor fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm. It is a time of tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer all of Europe, and Hesse-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, Wilhelm and his brothers quietly rebel by preserving old half-forgotten tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses grand and small over the land.
As Dortchen tells Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in what will one day become his and Jacob’s famous fairy tale collection, their love blossoms. But Dortchen’s father will not give his consent for them to marry and war, death, and poverty also conspire to keep the lovers apart. Yet Dortchen is determined to find a way.
Evocative and richly-detailed, Kate Forsyth’s The Wild Girl masterfully captures one young woman’s enduring faith in love and the power of storytelling.
When I found this book at the library, I was giddy with excitement to read it. The true story (mostly) of the Grimm brothers? The girl who lived beside them and was the source of many of their stories? Mid-nineteenth century Germany? Fairytales? Romance? YES, PLEASE!
Merely taken as a diary-like account of Dortchen Wild’s life in turn-of-the-19th century Germany is imminently readable. Add in Dortchen’s caring heart, deeply affected by the suffering of friends and family, and her knowledge of the remedies of (and superstitions surrounding) many flowers, plants, and trees, and the book comes alive. Layer in the joys and sorrows of the Grim and Wild families: Five brothers and one sister and six sisters and one brother, respectively, and lay a pall over it all: Herr Wild, Dortchen’s abusive father, and this book is quite fascinating.
I admit, Herr Wild is the reason my reading has slowed. His unnatural interest in his daughter. I know what’s coming. It’s been hinted at. And I don’t want to read it, imagine it, or consider it. So, I’m struggling. I so want to read Dortchen’s story–I’ve been invested since she was seven years old, and at this point in the story she is seventeen. And I know that before there can be a happy ending–which there will be–I have to push through the dark times. So I will. I just haven’t done it.
I recommend this book–highly. To anyone interested in fairytales, Germanic or Napoleonic history, or general historical fiction. The writing of this book must have been a monumental undertaking, involving considerable research, and it definitely shows. It’s truly excellent. I just need to power through…
Being that I’m a little fascinated and in love with book covers, I wanted to include two other versions of The Wild Girl here. While I think my favorite cover is the one above that I found at the library, I think the dark tone of the forest cover is spot-on. The other cover seems entirely too whimsical for the novel, although it fits well with Dortchen’s lively, sweet personality and her love of stories and nature.
Until next month…
Be sure to click through on the typewriter for some stellar reviews in all sorts of genres!
Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
FCC: I checked this book out from the library, and the Amazon URL above is linked to my Associates account.
October 28, 2015
Get Wicked with Entangled Halloween Blog Hop!
Hey y’all!
My Entangled Select Contemporary novel JUST SAY YES released in August…
Single mom Jade Moran isn’t ready for any big changes in either her horrible ’70s kitchen or her romantic life. Her ex did a number on her, and she isn’t interested in getting hurt again. But when she meets a super-hot contractor, she wonders if avocado appliances are on the way out and romance is on the way in.
Max Gianopoulis doesn’t have a clue why he’s so enchanted by Jade. She’s almost as big a mess as her kitchen, and he’s a guy who likes to keep things simple. He let himself get involved with a previous client, and he’s not interested in repeating the experience. But Jade has turned up the flirty heat – and he can’t keep his hands off her.
With everything moving too fast and coming too easy, Jade’s insecurities kick into high gear. She’s not sure she can trust another man again – and she definitely doesn’t believe in magic.
…and given that my hero, Max Gianopoulis, was inspired by Neal Caffrey (aka Matt Bomer in White Collar), I couldn’t resist creating my own meme with a hunky image of Bomer and a wicked quote from Just Say Yes.
A bit of background: Max has just invited Jade to watch The Avengers with him on the lawn after dark. (Imagine that’s grass beneath him and not carpet.) She’s waffling because she’s afraid she won’t be able to keep her hands off of him.
As you can imagine, Max can be very convincing, and soon, Jade’s given in, and things are heating up…
“But as the minutes passed with adrenaline pumping continuously through her veins, keeping her in a state of constant, edgy awareness, she came to an unexpected decision. There was a way to avoid all this angsty uncertainty. Okay, maybe “repressed lust” was the spot-on terminology.
She didn’t have to wait and wonder and, yes, kind of hope he eventually made a move. She could do it.
One kiss didn’t mean anything. Okay, one more kiss. The first one had been an anomaly—unexpected by both of them—and she’d survived it with no adverse effects. More or less. So, beyond being a huge tension reliever—she hoped—what was one more? Right now she was part consenting adult, part nervous wreck, and the combination was making her twitchy. She wouldn’t be able to relax until it was done.
Setting her beer in the grass, she closed her eyes, said a quick prayer to whoever might be the patron saint of awkward situations, and, in one semi-smooth move, leaned into him, fisted her free hand in his shirt, and tugged him toward her. Staring into his startled eyes, her breath caught, and she lost her nerve.
As the moment hung between them, the scent of popcorn and dark beer and spring grass crowding in, he didn’t move, waiting. Gathering her courage, she slowly dipped her mouth to his, feeling that first velvet touch, and then, quickly, the seductive slide of urgent lips and tangled tongues. Jade let out a breathy sigh, overwhelmed with relief to have finally reached this moment.”
Now for the treat!
I’m giving away an ebook of JUST SAY YES (or a gift card for the equivalent amount should the winner be international.) To enter, tell me your favorite Avenger and what it is about them that appeals to you.
Good luck and Happy Halloween! And be sure to click through to all the other participants on the hop!
October 13, 2015
Girl Waits With Gun ~ BRC
It’s October! My favorite month of the year! Fall is here–or in south Texas it’s thinking about maybe showing up sometime in the near future. (Very often kids are sweating profusely through their full body Halloween costumes come the end of the month.) Anyway, the Book Review Club was postponed a week, but now it’s here, so get ready to read some awesome reviews. I’ve read some good books recently, and out of all of them, I’ve chosen to review GIRL WAITS WITH GUN by Amy Stewart.
From Amazon:
Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters into hiding fifteen years ago. One day a belligerent and powerful silk factory owner runs down their buggy, and a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their family farm. When the sheriff enlists her help in convicting the men, Constance is forced to confront her past and defend her family — and she does it in a way that few women of 1914 would have dared.
You know I have to mention that cover–LOVE the newspaper aesthetic, the simple, eye catching coloring, and, of course, the calm composure of the “girl with the gun.”
While based on a true story, this is historical fiction, and it is written in such a way that reading about the Kopp sisters’ disrupted farm life is full of tension and comfort at the same time. I didn’t read the author’s note, which specifies which parts of the book are true and which are fiction, until I’d finished the book, and I must say that the author did such a stellar job of interweaving both parts together that I never would have guessed which parts were fabricated.
What I loved about this unique book:
1. The glimpse into small town and country life in the early 1900s in New York. Even though the world was changing, ushering in automobiles, electricity, and modern conveniences, the Kopp sisters lived on an isolated farm with none of these things. As they occasionally went into town–even into New York City–the disparity was notable. They were, in very many ways, living in the past. And yet, rather amazingly, they were ahead of their time.
2. The sisters! Constance’s courage and spunk, Norma’s snarky attitude and fascinating hobby (pigeon training!), and Fleurette’s flair for drama.
3. The ingenuity involved in trying to bring a malicious thug (a mill owner) to justice in a time when the odds were weighted decidedly with the thug.
4. Girl power!! Three women, living alone on a farm in 1914, being terrorized by a gang of thugs. They persevered, proved their mettle, and won the day. (And Constance even roughed up the mill owner a bit–whoop!)
5. The secret. I won’t spoil it, but I didn’t see it coming. (Probably should have, but I didn’t.)
6. The dialogue: Plain talking. Sometimes it’s exactly what a situation needs.
Really, I loved all of it. This is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it. I became so fascinated by these characters, that I felt compelled to look up the real people behind the story. I’ll save you the trouble… http://www.amystewart.com/characters/
Now click on for more reviews of more great books!
Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
September 8, 2015
Spotless ~ BRC
Today I am reviewing and am reviewed! Time for another round of Book Review Club, and this month, I am reviewing SPOTLESS by Camilla Monk, and our host, Barrie Summy, is reviewing my August 24th release, JUST SAY YES, so be sure to click over to see what she thought. (I know I will be!)
From Amazon:
Island Chaptal—nerdy IT engineer by day, romance novel junkie by night—just walked into her messy New York apartment to find Mr. Right waiting for her. No, wait…Mr. Clean.
A gentleman professional killer with a bad case of OCD and zero tolerance for unsorted laundry, March isn’t there to kill her…yet. He wants the diamond her late mother stole for a sinister criminal organization. Island agrees to help him find it, facing the kind of adversaries who dismember first and ask questions later. Good thing she’s got March to show her the ropes. And the guns. And the knives.
The buttoned-up Island is soon having a blast racing from Paris to Tokyo following the clues in her mother’s will, and for the first time, she’s ready to get close to someone. But falling for a hit man may be the very definition of loving dangerously.
Basically, this book has all the thrilling action sequences of a Bond film, all the humor of a caper novel, and plenty of tension-filled romantic scenes. Which is ironic because this book is also a parody of romance novels. In fact, each chapter begins with a completely over-the-top snippet from an imaginary (I hope they’re imaginary!) romance novel.
Chapter Two:
“‘Shouldn’t she feel guilty that she was allowing this werewolf to force himself on her? But he was so perfect and well-muscled! Cindee’s body reacted instantly.’ – Gilda Sapphire, Scorching Passion of the Billionaire Werewolf”
(Let me assure you: not all romances are quite so silly and cliched as these snippets. I may write romance, but I admit, some of the tropes are a little ridiculous and the reactions of some heroines are even more so.) So I loved the snippets! All in all, SPOTLESS is smart, and funny, and totally entertaining. Island’s romantic soul is the perfect counterpoint to March’s tortured one, and just when you think, maybe, things are getting a little too intense, Monk offers up the perfect catharsis in the form of a hilarious comment or situation.
It was pure escapism and I loved it! The sequel to this romp, BEATING RUBY, is out in January, and I. CANNOT. WAIT.
Side note: This book (which I purchased) is published by Montlake Publishing, an Amazon imprint. Over the summer, I read several books from Thomas and Mercer, another Amazon imprint, that I quite enjoyed. I recommend both The Detective Lavender Mysteries and the Very English Mysteries.
In other news, there is an Amazon giveaway for a print copy of JUST SAY YES going on right now, if you’re interested. 
And don’t forget to click through to read some amazing reviews posted this month!
Click icon for more
book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
August 24, 2015
OUT TODAY!!
Today’s the day! JUST SAY YES is out in the world. And since I don’t have a red and white polka dot dress or any sort of red shoes (let alone the sort of heels gracing my cover), I’ve donned my red lipstick (courtesy of Birchbox), and I’m ready to celebrate! I just need to go to the grocery store first…
If you’re interested, there’s a blog tour going on this week for JUST SAY YES, complete with giveaway, and you can find the schedule here and the Rafflecopter here.
And there’s a Free Book Friday giveaway as well–three autographed copies up for grabs!
