The Gift
Cecelia Ahern
Harper, Nov 3 2009, $19.99
ISBN: 9780061706264
In Dublin, business mogul Lou Suffern is a 24/7 workaholic who has no time for his family, who is tired of his failure to be there for them ever. On a brisk wintry morning in front of his office, Lou buys a hot cup of coffee for a homeless person and for no known reason offers Gabe a job in the mail room. Gabe in turn tells Lou his boss is having serendipitously lunch dates with his rival.
Gabe tries to convince Lou how important family is, but the corporate officer is uninterested in his two children who are young and boring and his wife Ruth as he has a mistress. Lou realizes that Gabe can be in two places at one time and begs the man to help him do so. Gabe gives Lou a magical pill to clone himself. One Lou will close the real estate deal; the other goes home to his family as Gabe prays his “client” will learn the importance of loved ones.
This is a fascinating version of A Christmas Carol as Lou thinks he is helping Gabe with an act of kindness, but Gabe is actually trying to help Lou place his priorities in order. The underlying message of this whimsical angelic story line is too simplified as Lou learns what matters between being “Ruthless” and being with Ruth and his other family members. Fans will enjoy that Lou learns what matters in a wonderful life is it is never too late because it’s a wonderful world.
Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunflowers-Sheramy Bundrick
Sunflowers
Sheramy Bundrick
Avon, Oct 13 2009, $14.99
ISBN: 9780061765278
In 1888 in Arles, France, prostitute Rachel Courteau takes a needed time out from her brothel life that she embraced out of necessity when her parents died. She hides in a garden from the nasty cracks of the good citizens, but soon falls asleep. She is awakened by a thirty something red haired male who has secretly sketched her nap.
Rachel assumes her visitor, the crazed artist Vincent Van Gogh is another client. He arranges a tryst but brings with him wildflowers. He begs her to let him paint her instead of sleeping with her as she expected. As their relationship blossoms in spite of his increasing bouts madness, she meets his friend Gauguin while wondering if she can ever be free of being a fille de maison as increasingly she believes it will not be with Van Gogh consumed by his lunacy.
Rachel is the key to this terrific look at the life of Van Gogh as she brings freshness to the artist and the period. As Sheramy Bundrick notes in her afterward, there is little known about the real Rachel so the author took liberties with her, but tried to remain true to what is considered factual about Van Gogh; she succeeds. Fans of historical biographical fiction will want to read SUNFLOWERS, as art professor Sheramy Bundrick captures the essence of Vincent Van Gogh’s Lust for Life (by Irving Stone) through Rachel’s first person perceptions of the artist and his work especially SUNFLOWERS.
Harriet Klausner
Sheramy Bundrick
Avon, Oct 13 2009, $14.99
ISBN: 9780061765278
In 1888 in Arles, France, prostitute Rachel Courteau takes a needed time out from her brothel life that she embraced out of necessity when her parents died. She hides in a garden from the nasty cracks of the good citizens, but soon falls asleep. She is awakened by a thirty something red haired male who has secretly sketched her nap.
Rachel assumes her visitor, the crazed artist Vincent Van Gogh is another client. He arranges a tryst but brings with him wildflowers. He begs her to let him paint her instead of sleeping with her as she expected. As their relationship blossoms in spite of his increasing bouts madness, she meets his friend Gauguin while wondering if she can ever be free of being a fille de maison as increasingly she believes it will not be with Van Gogh consumed by his lunacy.
Rachel is the key to this terrific look at the life of Van Gogh as she brings freshness to the artist and the period. As Sheramy Bundrick notes in her afterward, there is little known about the real Rachel so the author took liberties with her, but tried to remain true to what is considered factual about Van Gogh; she succeeds. Fans of historical biographical fiction will want to read SUNFLOWERS, as art professor Sheramy Bundrick captures the essence of Vincent Van Gogh’s Lust for Life (by Irving Stone) through Rachel’s first person perceptions of the artist and his work especially SUNFLOWERS.
Harriet Klausner
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Margerita Nights-Phyliss Smallman
Margerita Nights
Phyliss Smallman
MacArthur & Company, 2008
ISBN: 9781552786994
In Jacaronda, Florida Sherri Travis works as a bartender at the Sunset. She has left her husband, Jimmy, the golf pro at the nearby country club as she is tired of his scams. When his ship the Suncoaster explodes, the lead cop Stiles believes Jimmy died on board and Sherri killed him to collect life insurance.
Sherri believes Jimmy is alive pulling another scam. She tries to find their mutual friend bi-polar Andy who may know what is going on especially after someone stole a video Jimmy left her that apparently includes what he was up to. As her arrest seems imminent and her upper crust in-laws hold her culpable, Sherri with the help of friends (especially Marley) investigates her late spouse’s recent dealings, but soon Andy is killed too, but not before he refers to Casablanca.
This terrific cozy serves Long Island tea as Sherri goes from sarcastic doubter to griever (for both Jimmy and Andy) to lover to killer pursuer. She makes the tale fun with her sass, spunk and spitfire sleuthing. The support cast is super also as the island community in the mind of Jimmy’s mom is divided into three groups: the rich, the servant class from the other side of the causeway and the trailer trash. Phyliss Smallman provides an entertaining Florida west coast amateur sleuth with a touch of romance.
Harriet Klausner
Phyliss Smallman
MacArthur & Company, 2008
ISBN: 9781552786994
In Jacaronda, Florida Sherri Travis works as a bartender at the Sunset. She has left her husband, Jimmy, the golf pro at the nearby country club as she is tired of his scams. When his ship the Suncoaster explodes, the lead cop Stiles believes Jimmy died on board and Sherri killed him to collect life insurance.
Sherri believes Jimmy is alive pulling another scam. She tries to find their mutual friend bi-polar Andy who may know what is going on especially after someone stole a video Jimmy left her that apparently includes what he was up to. As her arrest seems imminent and her upper crust in-laws hold her culpable, Sherri with the help of friends (especially Marley) investigates her late spouse’s recent dealings, but soon Andy is killed too, but not before he refers to Casablanca.
This terrific cozy serves Long Island tea as Sherri goes from sarcastic doubter to griever (for both Jimmy and Andy) to lover to killer pursuer. She makes the tale fun with her sass, spunk and spitfire sleuthing. The support cast is super also as the island community in the mind of Jimmy’s mom is divided into three groups: the rich, the servant class from the other side of the causeway and the trailer trash. Phyliss Smallman provides an entertaining Florida west coast amateur sleuth with a touch of romance.
Harriet Klausner
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The End-Salvatore Scibona
The End
Salvatore Scibona
Riverhead, Oct 2009, $16.00
ISBN: 9781594484056
In 1953 in the Italian neighbored Elephant Park in Ohio, the residents enjoy the annual August Feast of the Assumption. “Unwifed" and “Un-children” baker Rocco cannot accept his family left him; in fact he rejects the military informing him his son died in action in Korea. He expects every one of them to come home shortly.
The workaholic jeweler with nothing else in his life, the bone weary seamstress, the runaway teen, and the acrimonies elderly abortion doctor attend the Feast. They are just as lost as the baker is as they cannot accept desertion although each in some way has been affected by dissimilation. In fact in a macabre way they have each other as they and others unite when a few blacks try to enjoy the festivities but are not just unwelcome but hostilities turn violent with The End justifying the means.
This not a simple linear historical tale that goes from one point to the next until the end is reached; instead the story line is convoluted and difficult to follow, but once the reader adapts, he or she will appreciate a deep look into the window of the souls. A sort of Eleanor Rigby starring in the Outcast of Poker Flats; The End is a profound tale of what makes a community as the coming together is not necessarily positive. Not for everyone, Salvatore Scibona provides to his audience a resonating character study in which each of the key cast members find their respective past converge on a hot humid August 15 1953, a day of infamy for the lost residents of Elephant Park
Harriet Klausner
Salvatore Scibona
Riverhead, Oct 2009, $16.00
ISBN: 9781594484056
In 1953 in the Italian neighbored Elephant Park in Ohio, the residents enjoy the annual August Feast of the Assumption. “Unwifed" and “Un-children” baker Rocco cannot accept his family left him; in fact he rejects the military informing him his son died in action in Korea. He expects every one of them to come home shortly.
The workaholic jeweler with nothing else in his life, the bone weary seamstress, the runaway teen, and the acrimonies elderly abortion doctor attend the Feast. They are just as lost as the baker is as they cannot accept desertion although each in some way has been affected by dissimilation. In fact in a macabre way they have each other as they and others unite when a few blacks try to enjoy the festivities but are not just unwelcome but hostilities turn violent with The End justifying the means.
This not a simple linear historical tale that goes from one point to the next until the end is reached; instead the story line is convoluted and difficult to follow, but once the reader adapts, he or she will appreciate a deep look into the window of the souls. A sort of Eleanor Rigby starring in the Outcast of Poker Flats; The End is a profound tale of what makes a community as the coming together is not necessarily positive. Not for everyone, Salvatore Scibona provides to his audience a resonating character study in which each of the key cast members find their respective past converge on a hot humid August 15 1953, a day of infamy for the lost residents of Elephant Park
Harriet Klausner
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Southern Lights-Danielle Steel
Southern Lights
Danielle Steel
Delacorte, Oct 20 2009, $28.00
ISBN: 9780385340281
New York Assistant District Attorney Alexa Hamilton is assigned the lead of prosecuting alleged serial killer Luke Quentin of rape and murder. The case is loaded with forensic evidence that Alexa sifts through diligently until the single mom is distracted when her seventeen year old daughter Savannah begins receiving letters threatening to harm her. Alexa assumes Luke or an ally is behind the nasty threats.
Alexa asks her former spouse Tom Beaumont, who lives in Charleston, to keep their teenage child Savannah with him and presumably safe. His current wife who was also his first spouse objects to the intruder from his in between marriage, but Tom ignores her complaints and that of his upper crust family. As Savannah becomes closer to her dad and step-siblings, Alexa also begins to feel better about her relationships especially after meeting Edward.
Although wrapped inside a serial killer legal thriller, SOUTHERN LIGHTS remains more a typical Danielle Steel affluent family drama as the focus is on how everyone in the extended Beaumont-Hamilton circles interrelate or do not. Entertaining especially for fans of Ms. Steel, the threatening letters subplot takes a back seat to the Alexa personal drama.
Harriet Klausner
Danielle Steel
Delacorte, Oct 20 2009, $28.00
ISBN: 9780385340281
New York Assistant District Attorney Alexa Hamilton is assigned the lead of prosecuting alleged serial killer Luke Quentin of rape and murder. The case is loaded with forensic evidence that Alexa sifts through diligently until the single mom is distracted when her seventeen year old daughter Savannah begins receiving letters threatening to harm her. Alexa assumes Luke or an ally is behind the nasty threats.
Alexa asks her former spouse Tom Beaumont, who lives in Charleston, to keep their teenage child Savannah with him and presumably safe. His current wife who was also his first spouse objects to the intruder from his in between marriage, but Tom ignores her complaints and that of his upper crust family. As Savannah becomes closer to her dad and step-siblings, Alexa also begins to feel better about her relationships especially after meeting Edward.
Although wrapped inside a serial killer legal thriller, SOUTHERN LIGHTS remains more a typical Danielle Steel affluent family drama as the focus is on how everyone in the extended Beaumont-Hamilton circles interrelate or do not. Entertaining especially for fans of Ms. Steel, the threatening letters subplot takes a back seat to the Alexa personal drama.
Harriet Klausner
Serena-Ron Rash
SERENA
Ron Rash
Ecco, Oct 2008, $24.95
9780061470851
During the Depression in Appalachia, wealthy lumber baron George Pemberton returns from Boston to Waynesville, North Carolina accompanied by his new wife, the orphan Serena. Waiting for him to disembark from the train is his sycophant partners, pregnant teenage kitchen hand Rachel Harmon and her outraged father. A drunken Harmon demands Pemberton take care of the child he sired. Instead encouraged by Serena, George kills him as he knows he is above the law.
Pemberton destroys the land and its people and his wife Serena is as evil and avaricious as he is. She insures Rachel is scorned by everyone and that the brat once born remains the bastard he or she is. Meanwhile Serena also obtains the undying loyalty of foreman Galloway whose life she saved; he becomes her slave willing to kill anyone if she asks; however George actually likes having a son adoring Jacob and angering his wife.
This is an intriguing look at the Depression from various perspectives. Especially fascinating is the poignant glimpse at horrific working conditions that make a case for a strong OSHA and yet in spite of the danger of death and maim the workers have forged a club like solidarity (mindful of soldiers in war conditions). Although the key cast is stereotyped; the Pembertons especially Serena are evil caricatures of the abuse of wealth while in contrast poor single mom Rachel is kind and noble, fans will appreciate this powerful 1930s drama.
Harriet Klausner
Ron Rash
Ecco, Oct 2008, $24.95
9780061470851
During the Depression in Appalachia, wealthy lumber baron George Pemberton returns from Boston to Waynesville, North Carolina accompanied by his new wife, the orphan Serena. Waiting for him to disembark from the train is his sycophant partners, pregnant teenage kitchen hand Rachel Harmon and her outraged father. A drunken Harmon demands Pemberton take care of the child he sired. Instead encouraged by Serena, George kills him as he knows he is above the law.
Pemberton destroys the land and its people and his wife Serena is as evil and avaricious as he is. She insures Rachel is scorned by everyone and that the brat once born remains the bastard he or she is. Meanwhile Serena also obtains the undying loyalty of foreman Galloway whose life she saved; he becomes her slave willing to kill anyone if she asks; however George actually likes having a son adoring Jacob and angering his wife.
This is an intriguing look at the Depression from various perspectives. Especially fascinating is the poignant glimpse at horrific working conditions that make a case for a strong OSHA and yet in spite of the danger of death and maim the workers have forged a club like solidarity (mindful of soldiers in war conditions). Although the key cast is stereotyped; the Pembertons especially Serena are evil caricatures of the abuse of wealth while in contrast poor single mom Rachel is kind and noble, fans will appreciate this powerful 1930s drama.
Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
An Echo In The Bone-Diana Gabaldon
An Echo In The Bone
Diana Gabaldon
Delacorte, Oct 2009, $30.00
ISBN: 9780385342452
With the hostilities everywhere, it is unsafe to journey; as the rebels seem heading to certain defeat. Ironically travelers Jamie Fraser and his wife Claire Randall know the upstart colonial Americans ultimately win the war against the mother country England because she read the outcome in twentieth century history books. They travel together along with others as Clare fears for the safety of her spouse and his son fighting for the British; her schooling and history books never told her what happened to her Jamie.
In the twentieth century, their daughter Brianna, her husband Roger and their children struggle with adapting to life in the future. However, though they connect with the Mackenzie clan, another time traveler has arrived and a real threat to their well being has surfaced.
This is an exciting historical thriller that takes readers on a tour of the battlefields and Europe as people die during the American Revolution. Claire is terrific as she knows the ultimate outcome, but neither the personal outcome nor that trouble has traveled to the twentieth century. Well written with the deep characterizations, fans will relish Fraser and company’s latest tale as Diana Gabaldon overcomes the completing of all the previous major threads in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by expanding the minor left behind subplots into a great entry.
Harriet Klausner
Diana Gabaldon
Delacorte, Oct 2009, $30.00
ISBN: 9780385342452
With the hostilities everywhere, it is unsafe to journey; as the rebels seem heading to certain defeat. Ironically travelers Jamie Fraser and his wife Claire Randall know the upstart colonial Americans ultimately win the war against the mother country England because she read the outcome in twentieth century history books. They travel together along with others as Clare fears for the safety of her spouse and his son fighting for the British; her schooling and history books never told her what happened to her Jamie.
In the twentieth century, their daughter Brianna, her husband Roger and their children struggle with adapting to life in the future. However, though they connect with the Mackenzie clan, another time traveler has arrived and a real threat to their well being has surfaced.
This is an exciting historical thriller that takes readers on a tour of the battlefields and Europe as people die during the American Revolution. Claire is terrific as she knows the ultimate outcome, but neither the personal outcome nor that trouble has traveled to the twentieth century. Well written with the deep characterizations, fans will relish Fraser and company’s latest tale as Diana Gabaldon overcomes the completing of all the previous major threads in A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by expanding the minor left behind subplots into a great entry.
Harriet Klausner
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