The Splendour Falls. Finished 11-24-15, rating 4.25/5. 380 pages, pub. 1995

Chinon-chateau of legend, steeped in the history of France and England. It is to Chinon that Emily goes on a long-awaited holiday, to meet her charming but unreliable cousin, Harry. Harry wanted to explore the old town and the castle, where Queen Isabelle, child bride of King John, had withstood the siege of Chinon many centuries ago, and where, according to legend, she hid her casket of jewels. But when Emily arrives at her hotel she finds that Harry has disappeared, and as she tries to find him she becomes involved with some of the other guests and learns of a mystery dating from the German occupation during the Second World War. Another Isabelle, a chambermaid at the hotel, fell in love with a German soldier, with tragic results.

Emily becomes increasingly aware of strange tensions, old enmities and new loves; as she explores the city, with its labyrinthine dungeons and tunnels and its ancient secrets, she comes ever closer to the mystery of what happened to both the Isabelles of Chinon’s history. from Goodreads

Kearsley has officially become a comfort read for me.  This was my third read from her and each of them has left me satisfied and happy.  There is always a back story that takes place in another time that connects with the current story in some way.  This book had less of the back story, which I think it suffered for, but the mystery, romance, and yes, evil all combined to make this a fun read.  I didn’t think it was as good as the other two, but this is an earlier work of hers and it’s still good.

The essence of the setting is always so easily felt and her writing is so accessible that once I get started I find it hard to put down.  There were so many potential bad guys in this one that I didn’t really have and handle on it until late in the game, but those smarter than I probably figured it out much sooner.

If you love historical intrigue with a dash of modern day romance I highly recommend Kearsley.

Last Night’s Reading. Finished 11-27-15, rating 5/5, graphic non-fiction, 160 pages, pub. 2015

Why do we go to book readings? For a chance to see the authors we love come to life off the page, answering our questions and proving to be the brilliant, witty people we catch glimpses of through their work. Illustrator Kate Gavino captures the wonder of this experience firsthand. At every reading she attends, Kate hand-letters the event’s most memorable quote alongside a charming portrait of the author. In Last Night’s Reading, Kate takes us on her journey through the literary world, sharing illustrated insight from more than one hundred of today’s greatest writers—including Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, Lev Grossman, Elizabeth Gilbert, and many more—on topics ranging from friendship and humor to creativity and identity. A celebration of authors, reading, and bookstores, this delightful collection is an advice book like no other and a love letter to the joy of seeing your favorite author up close and personal.  from Goodreads

What a delightful little book!  This was just released at the end of October so when I picked it up at the bookstore I hadn’t heard anything about it. The author loves to attend author events in the New York City area, draw the authors and make notes on what they say. She drew this charming book and included her story interspersed with quotes and sketches of the authors she met.

It’s beautifully made and a smaller size making it a perfect gift, either for yourself or a friend.  It’s inspiring and will make you want to attend every author signing you can.  In case you can’t tell, I love it!

You can check out her tumblr or instagram for some of her work.

http://lastnightsreading.tumblr.com/archive

https://www.instagram.com/lastnightsreading/?hl=en

Shatter. Finished 11-10-15, rating 4.25/5, thriller, 433 pages, pub. 2008

Book 3 of the Jospeh O’Laughlin series

Joe O’Loughlin is in familiar territory–standing on a bridge high above a flooded gorge, trying to stop a distraught woman from jumping. “You don’t understand,” she whispers, and lets go. Joe is haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide–not like that. She was terrified of heights.

What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?

Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart. With pitch-perfect dialogue, believable characters, and astonishingly unpredictable plot twists, Shatter is guaranteed to keep even the most avid thriller readers riveted long into the night.

I haven’t read the first 2 books of this series, but I had no problem jumping in and not only liking the action but also the layered family history.  I liked it enough to add the next in the series to my reading list.

What set this apart from other series, especially thrillers, is that the hero is struggling with a debilitating disease, Parkinson’s.  Because of that and stress from earlier cases he and his family are living in Somerset, outside of London, and he is teaching part-time at a nearby university.  As a clinical psychologist, when the police come to the school looking for someone to talk down a potential jumper on a bridge, he is the obvious choice. Joe is devastated when he can’t save the troubled woman and decides to look into it a little more after talking to the woman’s daughter. What he finds has him leaning on the police to find the boogeyman who is making women kill themselves without even lifting a finger.

This was good, with lots of twists and plenty of family drama. The fact that these women were killing themselves just by listening to someone on a phone was something new and because of it, it felt fresh and different.  The way the daughters acted afterward felt off to me, but that was my only complaint.  I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to Joe next!

Holy Cow. Finished 11-11-15, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by the author, 3.5 hours.

Elsie Bovary is a cow, and a pretty happy one at that—her long, lazy days are spent eating, napping, and chatting with her best friend, Mallory. One night, Elsie and Mallory sneak out of their pasture; but while Mallory is interested in flirting with the neighboring bulls, Elsie finds herself drawn to the farmhouse. Through the window, she sees the farmer’s family gathered around a bright Box God—and what the Box God reveals about something called an “industrial meat farm” shakes Elsie’s understanding of her world to its core.

There’s only one solution: escape to a better, safer world. And so a motley crew is formed: Elsie; Jerry—excuse me, Shalom—a cranky, Torah-reading pig who’s recently converted to Judaism; and Tom, a suave (in his own mind, at least) turkey who can’t fly, but who can work an iPhone with his beak. Toting stolen passports and slapdash human disguises, they head for the airport.    from Goodreads

David Duchovny, who I haven’t really seen much of since the X-Files even though I know he has a new series, always won me over with his wry humor and the twinkle in his eye.  So, I am so glad that I listened to him read his first novel.  The book has illustrations that I might have to check out someday but listening to Duchovny voicing Elsie, the brave cow with a mission, was a perfect way to experience this short, zany book.

A cow, a pig, and a turkey walk off the upstate New York farm and head to the airport, what could possible go wrong?  Quite a bit as you might imagine.  I really hate to spoil much of the story past that point, because the insanity really should be enjoyed the first time when reading the book.  Told from Elsie’s point of view this is the story of a cow finding out her fate in life and deciding not to accept it. She’s silly, witty and very up-to-date on pop culture so she’s a hoot to listen to.  This book was fun, but you must start with the expectation of a madcap tale told by a playful talking cow.  If you want something more refined then this probably isn’t for you. I’ll include the first paragraph and you can decide for yourself.

Most people think cows can’t think. Hello. Let me rephrase that, most people think cows can’t think, and have no feelings. Hello, again. I’m a cow, my name is Elsie, yes, I know. And that’s no bull. See? We can think, feel, and joke, most of us anyway. My great- aunt Elsie, whom I’m named after, has no sense of humor. At all. I mean zero. She doesn’t even like jokes with humans in them doing stupid things. Like that one that goes— two humans walk into a barn . . . Wait, I may not have much time here, I can’t mess around.