The Innocent by Taylor Stevens

The Innocent (Vanessa Michael Munroe Series #2)The Innocent. Finished 3-10-13, rating 4/5, thriller, 331 pages, pub. 2011

Book 2 of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series (The Informationist)

Eight years ago, a man walked five-year-old Hannah out the front doors of her school and spirited her over the Mexican border, taking her into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who’ve searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who’ve managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn’t trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.

from Goodreads

In this second Munroe novel, she is just as brutal and lethal, but she is also more damaged and vulnerable, and that made this book better than the first for me.  After some after-Africa downtime, Munroe’s best friend Logan finds her and begs her to help him find the daughter of a very good friend a fellow cult survivor.  Munroe needs to work and she loves Logan so she says yes and they head to Buenos Aires and she prepares to infiltrate The Chosen, a religious cult, and get the girl out.

In my review of the first book I said that I didn’t necessarily like Munroe and certainly wouldn’t want to grab a coffee together, but this book had me liking her more. Munroe has her own history of growing up on the streets and living through torturous experiences and so her task of getting close to The Chosen and the survivors felt right.  And her having Miles Bradford as her wingman for the operation was great since I already knew their history and was hoping for a little more heat.  I was not disappointed.

I thought this one took a little more time to get sucked into, but it was worth it because by halfway through I didn’t want to put it down (and only did so to do laundry!).  If you know about the author’s history then you know this book was close to her heart.  She knows about this culture and is living proof that people do break free and thrive.   Here’s a link to her website that gives you a little of her history.

Munroe is a great series heroine – there need to be more thrillers out there with kick-butt women leading the way.  I do think that this should be read only after reading the first one (The Informationist).  I bought this with my own money when I heard Taylor speak last year.

Classic Endings Quiz with a little prize – guessing closed

Do you recognize these last lines from famous literature?  Just to entice you a bit I’ll be randomly choosing a winner from everyone who has participated in this round.  I picked up this cute little thing last week at a Women’s Night Out event because I love Emerson. I’ll draw a winner next Tuesday. Good Luck!

IMG_5610

Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize.  No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying.  You have til Sunday to enter.  All extras can be found here.

Leave your guesses in the comment section.  

You only need to guess one to be eligible for a prize.

1 .”It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”   A Tale of Two Cities – Dickens

2.  “With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.” – Pride & Prejudice – Austen

3.  “It’s funny. Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”   Catcher in the Rye – Salinger

4.  “But I don’t think us feel old at all. And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt.”   The Color Purple – Walker

5.  “Oh, my girls, however long you live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this.”    Little Women – Alcott

6.  “He turned out the light and went into Jem’s room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.”    To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee

7.  “After all, tomorrow is another day.”    Gone With the Wind – Mitchell

8. “He loved Big Brother.”   1984 – Orwell

9. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”   The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald

10. “Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.”   To the Lighthouse – Woolf

Answers to last week’s Spring quiz here.   Details and Leaderboard here.

Mailbox Monday – March 10

mmb-300x282Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

IMG_5592

The Catch by Taylor Stevens came my way from Taylor herself.  I appreciate her sending it to me and assured her I would be caught up with the series by the time this one came out.  Isn’t the packaging great?  Thanks, Taylor!

In the wake of going head-to-head with international sex traffickers in The Doll, Munroe has retreated to Djibouti, where, while passing as a man, she finds work as an interpreter for a small, private, maritime security company. Pressed into duty at sea by her boss, Leo, Munroe discovers she is part of a gunrunning operation and she wants no part in protecting the crew or cargo. When the ship is attacked by pirates off the Somali coast, Munroe escapes and takes the unconscious captain with her to get answers. Leo’s wife, Amber Marie, the only person Munroe has cared about since she arrived in Africa, is desperate when Leo goes missing along with the rest of the hijacked crew, so Munroe agrees to try to find him for Amber Marie’s sake.

Vengeance Follows by Scott Lax came from Jane at Gray & Company.  The author lives in the neighboring town so I had to accept when offered.  Plus, I get to go to Paris 🙂 Thanks Jane!

A young man loses the true love of his life and seeks vengeance from the man he holds responsible for his wife’s death. Told with elegant simplicity, this novel of literary suspense is a tragic story of love and loss that ultimately reveals the cruelty of human nature and the healing power of forgiveness.

Sam and Sophie’s idyllic life of Parisian cafes, fine wine, and romantic passion is torn apart when Sophie is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Then Sophie reveals something that happened years before they met–a horrific event that changed her life and left her wounded in ways no one knew. She’s found peace in the years since, she swears to Sam. But then she’s gone, and Sam finds only pain.

Bereft and alone, he leaves the City of Light and seeks solace in a small French village where no one knows him or his past. Troubled in heart and mind, he knows one man is responsible for Sophie’s death. Sam cannot live without confronting him and holding him accountable for his past crimes.

Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch I picked this up at the local indie for $1.  Not a bad deal, right?

When Hannah Legare was eleven, her father went on a fishing trip in Charleston Harbor and never came back. And while most of the town and her family accepted Buzz’s disappearance, Hannah remained steadfastly convinced of his imminent return.

More than twenty years later, Hannah’s new life in San Francisco is unraveling. Her marriage is on the rocks; her business is bankrupt. After a disastrous attempt to win back her husband, she is shipped to her mother’s home to “rest up,” and she is once again sucked into the mystery of her missing father. Suspecting that those closest to her are keeping secrets — including Palmer, her emotionally closed, well-mannered brother, and Warren, the beautiful boyfriend she left behind — Hannah sets out on an uproarious, dangerous quest that will test the whole family’s concept of loyalty and faith.

Did anything arrive in your mailbox this week?

So Pretty It Hurts by Kate White

So Pretty It Hurts: A Bailey Weggins MysterySo Pretty It Hurts. Finished audio 2-28-14, rating 3/5, mystery, pub. 2013

Unabridged audio 10 hours 36 minutes.  Read by Renee Raudman

#6 in the Bailey Weggins series (If Looks Could Kill) (A Body To Die For) (Til Death Do Us Part) (Over Her Dead Body) (Lethally Blond)

Bailey Weggins, the Manhattan-based thirtysomething true-crime journalist, is in a good place. She’s enjoying her regular gig at Buzz, a leading celebrity magazine, getting freelance work, and hoping her first book will garner attention. In the love department, she’s finally back in the game with her recently-turned-exclusive boyfriend, Beau Regan. When Beau heads out of town one early December weekend, Bailey accepts an invitation from her office friend Jessie to a music mogul’s house in the country, hoping for a fun, relaxing getaway. But a weird tension settles over the houseguests–a glamorous crowd that includes the famously thin supermodel Devon Barr. An impending snowstorm only adds to the unease. So when Devon’s lifeless body is found in her bed, Bailey immediately suspects foul play. When Bailey starts to nose around, she finds herself a moving target–running closer to the truth and straight into danger. 

from Goodreads

I fell in love with Bailey Weggins in 2008 and I read the first five books of the series within a year.  Bailey has that cool New York City vibe, with the cool job, the great apartment with a view, and hunky men falling in line.  She writes about true-crime and most often seems to be right in the middle of it.  If I were Bailey I wouldn’t worry so much about solving the murders as I would hiring a bodyguard to keep dead bodies and murderers far away.  I’m not sure I like the stories as much as I like Bailey.

Bailey is invited for a weekend out the city where she gets a chance to party with some big players in the music and modeling biz.  Not surprisingly, one of them ends up dead.  A freak snowstorm keeps them all together in the country long enough for some more nefarious shenanigans and Bailey is hot on the scent of a new murder.  Once back in the city she must wade throught the multitude of suspects (ok, maybe just 8 or so) because the cops don’t think it was murder.  And her beau Beau comes back and wants more of a commitment.  And she’s been suspended from her job at the magazine for making threats.  And she finds herself in more than one deadly situation.  Bailey is a busy girl.

Bailey made too many conscious decisions that put her in harm’s way for me. That coupled with her insecure reactions to Beau and she felt more like a green around the ears 20-something, not a professional  in her 30’s who has seen more of her share of dead people and had more of her share of relationships.  Maybe I was expecting too much out of Bailey since it’s been so long.

I think this could easily be read as a standalone. It might even be better actually.

I checked the audio out of the library and thought Renee Raudman did a great narration.

The Traveler by Daren Simkin

The TravelerThe Traveler. Finished 3-4-14, rating 3.5/5, fable, 48 pages, pub. 2008

Once, there was a boy named Charlie. He had a pretty nice life . . . but it wasn’t perfect. So one day he packed up all his time—all his round, squishy years and square, mushy months, down to every itsy-bitsy second—in his suitcase and locked it up safe, said goodbye to his parents, and set off to find something better to spend his time on. Charlie traveled all over the world in search of the perfect thing to make him happy, but that turned out to be much harder to find than he thought. In the meantime, his itsybitsy seconds and silky, smooth hours and raggedy days ticked away and vanished, and soon they added up to weeks and months and years—so that once Charlie stopped his traveling and realized what he really needed out of life, it was almost too late. Almost.

from Goodreads

I rarely have the opportunity to browse library shelves. I usually go in with a purpose or am picking up books on hold, so when I had forty free minutes at the library, I somehow found this very slim book in the fiction section.  I think the only reason I’m mentioning this is because if I actually just talk about the book my review would be over.

I thought this was a sweet 5 minute read.  There isn’t exactly anything profound about spending your time wisely as advice, but it left me with a smile on my face and a little nod in agreement.  If you have a moment I’d see if your library has a copy.  I also think it could be a cute gift for a young person going offi into the great unknown for the first time.  They might not fully appreciate the lesson (not many do in their youth) but it is packaged in such a way (easy to read with illustrations) that you can be pretty sure that at least they’ll read it!

This book  was written and illustrated by two brothers and dedicated to their sister.

So how often do you browse your library bookshelves?

Ready for Spring Quiz – guessing closed

Let’s see if you can identify these 10 book covers.  I only need the titles.  You’ll get an extra 10 points if you tell me what they all have in common.

Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize.  No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying.  You have til Sunday to enter.  All extras can be found here.

Leave your guesses in the comment section.  

You only need to guess one to be eligible for a prize.

umbrella

umbrella2

1. A Hundred Summers-Beatriz Williams

2. I Always Loved You-Kirsty Moseley

3. The Gods of Heavenly Punishment-Jennifer Cody Epstein

4. Tigers in Red Wether-Liza Klaussmann

5. The Devil I Know-Claire King

6. English Tea Murder-Leslie Meier

7. Ladies’ Night Out-Mary Kay Andrews

8. Murder Melts in Your Mouth-Nancy Martin

9.He’s Gone-Deb Caletti

10.The Secret of the Nightengale Palace-Dana Sachs

Answers to last week’s Weighty Quiz here.   Details and Leaderboard here.

Mailbox Monday – March 3

mmb-300x282Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I’m excited by both books that made their way to my doorstep this week.

IMG_5576

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikrey by Gabrielle Zevin (from the publisher)

A.   J.  Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who persists in taking the ferry to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, he can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

The Line by J.D. Horn (from a Goodreads win!)

Move over, Sookie Stackhouse—the witches of Savannah are the new talk of the South. Bold, flirty, and with a touch of darkness, debut author J.D. Horn spins a mesmerizing tale of a family of witches . . . and the problem that can arise from being so powerful. As Charlaine Harris’ series winds down—and as Deborah Harkness’ series heats up—Witching Savannah is new contemporary fantasy that will be sure to enchant new readers.

So did anything fun show up in your mailbox this week?

Saturday Snapshot – Trees

Last month I posted a picture of some of my heart postcards and asked which your favorite was (the heart-shaped tree beat the coffee beans by 1) so this month I thought I’d show you some of my tree postcards and see if you can choose a favorite.  Interestingly enough, when I put these together and told a little about each sender I discovered that 7 of these 8 came from Germany.  Germany must be a heaven for tree lovers!

IMG_5557

So which one catches your eye?

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.