New Releases 4/12/11

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry

Gone With a Handsomer Man by Michael Lee West

A Hard Death by Jonathan Hayes

Slugfest by Rosemary Harris

The Law of Angels by Cassandra Clark

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Sam the Cooking Guy: Just Grill This by Sam Zien

New on DVD:

Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt1

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien

Pulse by Jeremy Robinson

Pre-Pub Book Buzz: The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry

So you can see I'm genre hopping lately. A lot has been going on -- I won't go into it, but it's been a long few weeks. Reading keeps me sane.

Jael McHenry's debut, The Kitchen Daughter, arrived on my doorstep just days after I started to see ads and comments on the book. Critics are loving it, readers are loving it, and I'm totally loving it!

Ginny Selvaggio is most comfortable in the kitchen. Her Aspberger's makes socializing awkward, but in the kitchen she is completely at home. When her parents die and her sister becomes set on selling their house, Ginny discovers that she has the ability to bring certain people back. Their recipes, their carefully prepared dishes, seem to call certain people to Ginny's kitchen, but their brief visits and cryptic messages only make her more confused. As she tries to unravel their meanings, she also copes with the loss of her parents and what it might mean to be on her own.

The Kitchen Daughter officially hits shelves on April 12. Definitely a highly recommended read in my book. I love Ginny and her point of view. Really a lovely, lovely story about families, sisters, loss, growth, and cooking. It transfixed me from beginning to end. And though Ginny's favorite site isn't a real one, McHenry herself keeps a blog with tons of recipes and kitchen tips (and book stuff), check it out at Simmerblog

Anticipating Hanging Hill

I'm in an odd mood of late. Mo Hayder's new book is on the near horizon in the UK, which means I'm getting antsy. Splurging and allowing myself the buy -- already sent Cynthia with High Crimes the order. Now all I seem to be in the mood for is that dark UK thriller stuff Hayder provides.

It's messing with my head.

Ah well, I have a wonderful book from the review stack right now and it'll be tomorrow's Pre Pub post. Not sure what I'll tackle when I finish just yet. I do have some UK stuff hoarded (some Claire Seeber, some Sarah Rayne (exciting Sarah Rayne news to come! I know you can't wait.), and some Sophie Hannah along with some new to me stuff I've picked up of late.

Hanging Hill hits shelves in the UK next week. You can bet I'll be dropping everything when my copy arrives. And in spite of commonalities in style and tone, I've yet to find another author who does the whole package quite like Hayder. Comparable authors, sure. But she seems to stand alone in my book. I'm a fan. Seems the best cure is to read outside the genre until I can get my fix (hence tomorrow's post). It's good tat I read a range.

I'll keep you posted. I do know Hanging Hill is a stand alone, so no return to Caffrey and Flea just yet. It'll probably be about a year before the US edition is released.

Sometimes You Need A Break

I know I could! Seems like things just keep coming at me. Ah well. What are you going to do, right? Until I get that dream vacation on a beach somewhere, I've got my new chair and a ton of books. (The chair, btw, for those who know me, is the brown chaise that mom got back in the 70s. It's been recovered and has new foam and is back thanks to Mike and C. Winn!)

Hester Browne's Swept off Her Feet is one of those reads that makes a great stay-cation diversion (comfy chair or not). A sweet romance with enough humor for some great laugh-out-loud moments and characters you just fall in love with. Browne is also the author of the Little Lady Agency books (the first of which is now in the TBR).

Evie Nicholson's dreams are about to come true when she's asked to appraise a Scottish estate as a favor to the family -- friends of her sister's boyfriend. The home, a castle! called Kettlesheer, has been in the McAndrew family for generations, but the cost of upkeep has become too much for the new heirs to handle. If Evie can find some hidden treasures that can be auctioned off quietly to help, the McAndrews can keep the home. As the estate prepares for its annual reel ball, Evie gets to see the inside workings of a life she's only imagined until now. But as se falls in love with both Kettlesheer and the youngest McAndrew, Evie's starts to imagine what it would be like to stay.

Browne's style is light and easy -- easier than I imagine doing an actual reel would be! A quick read that will lighten anyone's mood, guaranteed!

New Releases 4/05/11

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The Confession of Katherine Howard by Susannah Dunn

A Song For My Mother by Kat Marting

Devil Wind by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid

Games to Play After Dark by Sarah Gardner Borden

Deadworld by J.N. Duncan

Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson -- Goldy Schultz #16

There is No Year by Blake Butler

Friendship Bread by Darien Gee

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare -- Mortal Instruments #4

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly -- Mickey Haller #4

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

Bossypants by Tina Fey

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer

Drawing Conclusions by Donna Leon

Treason at Lisson Grove by Anne Perry

New on DVD:

Tron: Legacy

Little Fockers

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:

Deadworld

Devious by Lisa Jackson

Pre-Pub Book Buzz: The Restorer by Amanda Stevens

So I've been hearing great things about Amanda Stevens. I have one of her backlist titles, but looks like her first books are all ebook only right now : (

But... Stevens is starting a new series with The Restorer, her latest and the first Graveyard Queen book is due out April 19. Don't you love that cover art -- looks so creepy!

Here's a bit about the book from Amazon:

My name is Amelia Gray. I'm a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I've always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman's brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I've been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I've vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

And this is a little blurb I found on Stevens's Goodreads page:

Never acknowledge the dead
Never stray far from hallowed ground
Never associate with those who are haunted
Never, ever tempt fate

My father's rules. I've never broken them...until now.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's the book trailer:

Peter Grant Rocks!

Last month, I told you about a new must-read urban fantasy debut from a Doctor Who writer, Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch. Surely I should refer to him differently by now, but Doctor Who is just such a great thing to have on your resume, don't you think? Especially for someone writing paranormal mysteries. Love it!

Anyway, the second in the series, Moon Over Soho, hit shelves last month and proved again that the Peter Grant series is seriously going to knock the socks off of paranormal mystery/urban fantasy fans. I really think Aaronovitch is doing amazing things with these books. I know, I'm going a little fan girl, but everything about this series is so original.

They're set in London and the surrounding area with great emphasis on the history, which is an aspect I think is fantastic. Peter Grant and the fellow cast of characters are awesome -- if I had a stack of these books, I'd probably hang out with them all the time! And the stories themselves play out so well -- great plots, great pacing. What more could you ask for in a really great read?

In Moon Over Soho, Grant takes the lead on a new case that smells of magic. A jazz musician dies after a performance and all signs point to natural causes--all signs but the lingering notes of an old jazz tune that hover around the body. Meanwhile, the man-mangling killer that appeared briefly in Midnight Riot has killed again and this time it looks as though the vic has been dabbling in the black arts. Grant has his work cut out for him considering the novice is still getting the whole magic thing down!

Book three, Whispers Under Ground, is due out in October. I can't wait. I have to highly recommend this series to anyone who loves Jim Butcher, Anton Strout, and any other urban fantasy/paranormal mystery series with strong characters and a different twist on the current genre trends.

Happy reading!