The Daughter by Jane Shemilt

Hi, readers! Today I'm part of the TLC book tour for Jane Shemilt's debut, The Daughter.

On the second to last night of her performance in West Side Story, Jenny's daughter, Naomi, is supposed to be out at an after party with her fellow cast members. But when Naomi doesn't return home , Jenny discovers there was no party. Or at least not that night anyway. Naomi has vanished, seemingly without any trace.

As time passes, Jenny refuses to give up hope but as more and more of Naomi's secrets begin to come to light she realizes she knew very little about her daughter.  

I was a little worried about reading this one pretty much back to back with Lacy Eye. Fortunately, even with some similarity in themes, the two books are very different. The most outright differences right off the bat were the voice and style of the narrative. The Daughter is told from Jenny's perspective, first person, and the reader gets a very clear sense of her personality and her emotions immediately.

Chapters alternate between 2009 and 2010/2011 with Jenny reexamining (as our lead in Lacy Eye did) the events leading up to her daughter's disappearance. As it turns out, Naomi wasn't the only one with secrets. Jenny's world essentially falls apart as she discovers that those around her - those she thought she knew better than anyone else - have all been hiding things.

The Daughter is as much a family drama as a thriller. More so, perhaps. It's really a wonderful blend of suspense and emotion. And full of really lovely imagery. Shemilt's style is lush with description! Honestly, this doesn't read at all like a debut. Shemilt has an assurance to her writing that seems to come naturally given this is her first release.

Rating: 5/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here. For more on Jane and her work, you can follow her on Twitter.

Lacy Eye by Jessica Treadway + a Giveaway

Good morning, everyone! Jessica Treadway's latest is set to hit shelves tomorrow and as part of a launch week blitz the publisher has graciously offered up a copy for a giveaway. Be sure to read through to the end to enter.

It's been three years since Hanna and Joe were attacked. Hanna survived, suffering permanent damage to her face and head. Joe died before the paramedics arrived. 

It was the day after Thanksgiving and Hanna's youngest daughter, Dawn, had been visiting with her boyfriend, Rud Petty. After the house was burgled - with Rud being the police's main suspect - the couple left in a huff. Later that night, someone broke in and bludgeoned Joe and Hanna with a croquet mallet. 

Given the circumstances, Rud was always the primary suspect in the attack and a jury agreed wholeheartedly. But now Rud has won an appeal and is set for retrial. Hanna knows it would be best if she could testify, but she can't remember the events of that night. One thing she does know, in spite of the suspicion of those around her, there's no way Dawn had anything to do with it.

Lacy Eye is a powerful read. When we meet Hanna, she's vowed to try and remember anything she can to ensure that Rud will remain behind bars. But her efforts seem futile given the fact that so much time has passed and she's never once had an inkling of memory about that night. And yet, the prospect of Rud going free is one no one wants to face.

Her eldest daughter, Iris, believes that Dawn had to be involved. Her neighbors believe that Dawn had to be involved. And both the prosecutor and the police believe that Dawn had to be involved. But Hanna is certain, based on her relationship with her daughter, that there's no way that can be. And Dawn has essentially been cleared by a grand jury. But when Dawn comes home, in the wake of the announcement about the retrial, it seems no one but Hanna is willing to see her as anything other than a potential accomplice.

Throughout the book the reader is given more and more of a look into Hanna's life, from her childhood to meeting Joe through to raising both of her girls and the attack itself. Not only does it give readers great insight into Hanna as a character, but it also gives us a chance to piece together the clues about the night of the attack as Hanna herself analyzes those events as she considers whether or not her own daughter could have been behind such a shocking crime.

Rating: 4/5

You can check out a free e sample of the book (here's the BN link).

And now for the giveaway: to enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, March 23. US only and no PO boxes please.

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New Releases 3/10/15

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Life & Death by Michael Robotham

All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer

Lacy Eye by Jessica Treadway

The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis

Dog Crazy by Meg Donohue

The Doll Collection ed by Ellen Datlow

The Exile by C. T. Adams

The Discreet Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa

Asylum by Jeanette de Beauvoir

The Prince by Vito Bruschini

Persona by Genevieve Valentine

Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis

Last One Home by Debbie Macomber

World Gone By by Dennis Lehane

Cold Betrayal by J. A. Jance

Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce

Endangered by C. J. Box

Soil by Jamie Kornegay

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen

The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James

Silent Alarm by Jennifer Banash

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

Tether by Anna Jarzab

New on DVD:
The Pioneer
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Pre Pub Book Buzz: Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke

My pick for today is another upcoming Saga release and, readers, it sounds AMAZING! Our Lady of the Ice is the latest from the Assassins Curse author Cassandra Rose Clarke - here's a bit about the book from Goodreads:

Hope City, Antarctica. The southernmost city in the world, with only a glass dome and a faltering infrastructure to protect its citizens from the freezing, ceaseless winds of the Antarctic wilderness. Within this bell jar four people–some human, some not–will shape the future of the city forever:

Eliana Gomez, a female PI looking for a way to the mainland.

Diego Amitrano, the right-hand man to the gangster who controls the city’s food come winter.

Marianella Luna, an aristocrat with a dangerous secret.

Sofia, an android who has begun to evolve.

But the city is evolving too, and in the heart of the perilous Antarctic winter, factions will clash, dreams will shatter, and that frozen metropolis just might boil over…

Amazing, right?! And that cover design! Our Lady of the Ice is due to hit shelves in October.

Short Fiction Friday: Photoplay by Hallie Ephron

Later this month we'll see the release of Hallie Ephron's latest thriller, Night Night, Sleep Tight. But before it hits shelves, readers can check out Ephron's latest, the e short "Photoplay," out now from Harper's Witness Impulse imprint.

Duane Foley isn't one to turn down a cushy job. As a photographer, much of his day is spent tracking down Hollywood's most glamorous in hopes that he'll catch something worth selling, so being hired to shoot Bunny Nichol's party means a guaranteed - and easy - pay day. But behind all the glitz and the glam, Bunny Nichols's life is anything but perfect, something Duane learns in his short time at the star's home. And when the party turns ugly, Duane is there to get it all on film. 

"Photoplay" offers readers just a little taste of what's to come in Night Night, Sleep Tight. It's a prologue of sorts, the story behind the story that will later play a larger role in the novel. This is necessary to point out as the short by itself likely won't accomplish much other than frustrating the reader! But it is a great and enticing little read, one that will most definitely leave you wanting more.

Hm, a somewhat sleazy photographer (papparazi) and a starlet with secrets, sounds like a good set up to me. Of course that's just part of the story. I don't want to give anything away, but a quick look see at the synopsis of Night Night, Sleep Tight does reveal exactly what part of the story "Photoplay" pertains to.

Night Night, Sleep Tight hits shelves March 24. "Photoplay" is out now and includes an excerpt of the upcoming novel as well.

Rating: 4/5

Month of Maisie Readalong: An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

Good morning, readers! To celebrate the release of the eleventh installment in Jacqueline Winspear's massively popular Maisie Dobbs series, the good folks at TLC book tours are hosting a month long series blog tour. So here I am today with book number five, An Incomplete Revenge.

Maisie's latest job should be fairly straightforward: James Compton, the son of Maisie's earliest supporter, is interested in making a large land purchase in Heronsdene. The time is right and the purchase would be very advantageous to Compton Corporation. But James has concerns about the landowner and wants Maisie to do a bit of poking before the deal goes through. 

Maisie figures it'll be a quick and easy assignment but when two young boys are arrested for allegedly breaking into the very same landowner's home, the intrepid investigator realizes the case is more complicated than it initially seems. Heronsdene is rife with petty crime, the townspeople are closemouthed, and the overall atmosphere is just off. The secretive nature of the villagers suggests there's something more than just vandalism and minor thieving plaguing Heronsdene and Maisie intends to find out exactly what that might be. 

This is hands down my favorite of the Maisie Dobbs series so far.

I adored the setting of Heronsdene. The village has an almost insular feel - as though it's completely cut off from the rest of the world, even though realistically it's not at all. The influx of outsiders in search of temporary work with the hop harvest means that the regular villagers have even more stress upon them than usual. And, as Maisie soon discovers, tension is already high to begin with.

I did also love the gypsy aspect of the story. Maisie herself can trace her roots back to the Romany, which means she's very open and sympathetic to the local group that's become the focus of so much suspicion in Heronsdene. (Maisie is generally open and sympathetic to those around her, it's what makes her both a likable and believable character.) It also means that we get a bit more insight into Maisie and her family - her mother and grandmother in particular.

Winspear immediately sets a wonderful ominous and eerie tone in An Incomplete Revenge. I found it not only instantly appealing but it left me with absolutely no doubt that there's something fishy enough to warrant both Compton's concern and Maisie's curiosity. And though it is the fifth in the series, I've personally read them totally out of whack and can attest to the fact that this one in particular seems to be the most accessible so far in terms of having little to no background or context on the series as a whole. (Though I am admittedly a bit more prepared than "little to no background," I've not read the series religiously or in order.)

Rating: 4/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Jacqueline Winspear and her work, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook.

Hush Hush by Laura Lippman + a Giveaway

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Laura Lippman's latest Tess Monaghan entry, Hush Hush. To go along with my post today, I'm offering up a brand new trade paperback of the very first Tess Monaghan mystery, Baltimore Blues. Be sure to read through to the end to enter.

Tess and her new assistant, Sandy, have been hired to serve as security consultants for one of Baltimore's most notorious murderers. Melisandre Dawes was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity when she was tried for the murder of her two month old baby. Now, over a decade later, she's returned to Charm City to reunite with her two teenage daughters and produce a film on the insanity defense. The job comes Tess's way through her old friend Tyner Gray, but while the lawyer vouches for Melisandre Tess isn't so sure the woman can be trusted. 

I have to apologize for my late posting today - we spent the last week back home where we attended TWO weddings and related festivities. It's been CRAZY and I'm still recovering. But Hush Hush couldn't have been more timely thanks to that - returning to Tess and Lippman, who can always be relied on for engaging reading, meant that I could recuperate some while still enjoying an overall clever mystery.

Hush Hush switches between various narrators including Tess and Sandy, as well as Melisandre, her two daughters, and even her ex's new spouse. Interestingly, the story also includes transcription-style chapters reflecting interviews done for Melisandre's documentary. Those various viewpoints paired with the goings-on of the story itself mean that the reader can be certain very early on that someone isn't being completely forthright. And yet figuring out the who-done-it as well as the why is pretty elusive.

This twelfth installment of the series brings back a whole cast of series characters including Tyner (who is a big part of Baltimore Blues) and Sandy (the retired detective from After I'm Gone). The book also gives Tess's fans a first look at her life as a mother. Carla Scout is three and a complete handful with as much spunk as her PI mom. Considering the initial focus of the case, both the job and the demands of motherhood have a heavy impact on Tess here. It's great to see her - and those around her - continue to grow with the series.

(My reading was timely, too, because I received a copy of the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook and surprisingly had everything on hand to make Lippman's "Aunt Effie's Salmon Ball" as a snack to go along with the book.)

As a whole, Hush Hush made for fabulous post travel recovery reading and great icky snow day reading as well.

Rating: 5/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Laura Lippman and her work, you can find her on the web here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. As an added bonus, you can also head over to the publisher's new Tess Is Back site for series info, excerpts, and giveaways!

And now for my own giveaway: to enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, March 16. Open US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway