Yesternight by Cat Winters + a Giveaway

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Cat Winters's latest, Yesternight.

It's 1925 and Alice Lind would love to go to grad school to study psychology. Unfortunately, the path for women scholars isn't an easy one and so she's taken a job with the Department of Education, traveling to various schools in order to test the students and ensure they're getting the educational resources they need. It means a lot of time on the road, but it also means valuable experience she might one day be able to use as ammunition in applying to get her PhD. 

Alice doesn't flinch from difficult cases. In fact, she prides herself on finding the psychological roots to some of the most problematic children's issues. But the tiny town of Gordon Bay offers a real challenge: a seven-year-old girl who claims to remember her past life. The girl's stories are incredibly detailed and come paired with an aptitude for mathematics that Alice believes is genius level. But is the girl really remembering a past life or is someone feeding her stories for attention?

I love Cat Winters. Her combination of eerie supernatural elements and historical fiction make for the kind of books I want to devour in one sitting! And of course then I immediately regret not having more.

Alice is a fabulously enjoyable character. She's a psychologist in 1925! She's got some paranoia issues and a past that she's desperate to keep hidden, all the while trying desperately to understand it. But she's no shrinking violet. She's not afraid to go after what she wants.

Again, Gordon Bay proves to be a challenge for her. Alice doesn't believe in the supernatural one bit. But this case forces her to widen her scope and consider the fact that maybe the girl is telling the truth. But in order to find out as much as she can, she has to find a balance between a father who seems willing to do anything to help his child and a mother who is afraid of losing the girl to an institution.

And the girl's story is a mystery as well. If it's to be believed, a nineteen-year-old was murdered in the tiny town of Friendly, Kansas! In spite of the fact her investigating possible reincarnation could seriously damage her credibility as a psychologist, Alice feels an obligation to help the girl.

Like I said, I love Cat Winters's work and Yesternight proved to be an excellent addition to my growing collection of her titles.

Yesternight is the perfect blend of creepy atmosphere and gothic elements. And the historical aspects are, as always, utterly fabulous!

Rating: 5/5

And now for the giveaway: to throw your name in the hat for a copy of your very own, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, October 24. Open US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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

For more on Cat Winters and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

New Releases 10/11/16

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike

Hagseed by Margaret Atwood

Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta

The Abandoned Heart by Laura Benedict

Crimson Death by Laurell K. Hamilton

A Conspiracy of Ravens by Lila Bowen

A Soldier's Revenge by Matthew Dunn

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander

A Most Novel Revenge by Ashley Weaver

The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Order to Kill by Vince Flynn

Death Among Rubies by R. J. Koreto

The Witch House of Persimmon Point by Suzanne Palmieri

Treachery's Tools by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Bridget Jones's Baby: The Diaries by Helen Fielding

Triple Crown by Felix Francis

Beast by Brie Spangler

Black Widow: Red Vengeance by Margaret Stohl

The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky

The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortunati

Still Life With Tornado by A. S. King

The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan

In Case You Missed It by Sarah Darer Littman

New on DVD:
Ghostbusters
The Legend of Tarzan
The Infiltrator

New reviews at Bookbitch.com:
Brain Storm by Elaine Viets

Short Fiction Friday: The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Vellitt Boe is quite happy with her life. Her adventuring days long behind her, she now spends her time teaching and molding young minds as a professor at Ulthar Women's College. But all of that changes when one her students disappears. 

Rumors suggest the student has made off with a man from the waking world, and though it's rare for someone from the dream lands to cross into that other plane it seems that's exactly what the student and her beau have planned. Vellitt knows that if they succeed, the results could be quite bad for the college. But it's not until she begins her quest that she learns exactly how disastrous losing this student might be. 

I seem to be in the midst of a stubborn bout of insomnia. Double insomnia - I always have the I'm-asleep-but-not-actually-fully-resting insomnia. Now I'm having some of the I'm-fully-awake-and-can't-fall-back-to-sleep insomnia too. Fun times!

So it was a bit appropriate then that I cracked open this novella at 2am and found that it was set in a fabulously built dream land! The kind of land you want to sink into and never leave. The kind of land (and story) that, in the deft hands of Kij Johnson, makes it a little more ok to be unable to sleep.

Vellitt Boe was, once upon a time, a traveler and adventurer, so it seems she's the obvious choice to head off in search of her missing student. Her plan is to follow the student, in hopes of catching up to her, to a the Gate of Deeper Slumber. If she can stop the young lovers before they cross, all will be well.

And of course, as is the case with any quest, nothing goes as planned.

Fortunately for Vellitt, her experiences on the road and the wisdom gained from her travels, long past they may be, haven't fully left her. As hurdle after hurdle gets thrown her way, she finds solution after solution and is able to continue against all odds. Granted, the possible and likely impending total destruction of your home and everything/one you love is certainly motivation, but Vellitt finds she enjoys the return to the road as well.

Hers is a world that doesn't really afford much freedom for women. Even the college is a luxury that is tenuously allowed. And this is just one of the plays Johnson has made on a tale that is based straight out of Lovecraft.

If you caught my review of Ellen Datlow's new Children of Lovecraft anthology, then you may have seen the interview Johnson and two fellow Tor.com authors did with Barnes and Noble recently on rewriting and reclaiming Lovecraft. Additionaly, Wired recently ran this piece on Johnson and "Spinning Lovecraft Into a Feminist Dream Quest." (There's a link in the piece to the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast featuring Johnson as well.)

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is a fabulous and fantastical tale. As I said, the world is amazing - and based on Lovecraft's created world in "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath," which features Randolph Carter. Don't worry, though, if you haven't read the original tale that so inspired Johnson's recent release. She's taken the world and definitely made it her own, populating it with (as is not the case in Lovecraft) women of great spirit and depth!

I highly, highly recommend this one, even if you aren't sharing in my need for distraction during the wee hours. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe makes for great reading at any hour.

Rating: 5/5

They Were Like Family to Me by Helen Maryles

Good morning, readers! Today I'm part of the TLC blog tours book blast for Helen Maryles's They Were Like Family To Me.

Here's a bit about the book from the publisher:

Critically praised, beloved by readers, In the Land of Armadillos has an evocative new cover and title, They Were Like Family to Me. Now in Paperback! Available October 4.

1942. With the Nazi Party at the height of its power, the occupying army empties Poland's towns and cities of their Jewish citizens. As neighbor turns on neighbor and survival often demands unthinkable choices, Poland has become a moral quagmire—a place of shifting truths and blinding ambiguities.

Blending folklore and fact, Helen Maryles Shankman shows us the people of Wlodawa, a remote Polish town. We meet a cold-blooded SS officer dedicated to rescuing the Jewish creator of his son's favorite picture book; a Messiah who appears in a little boy's bedroom to announce that he is quitting; a young Jewish girl who is hidden by the town's most outspoken anti-Semite—and his talking dog. And walking among these tales are two unforgettable figures: silver-tongued Willy Reinhart, commandant of the forced labor camp who has grand schemes to protect "his" Jews, and Soroka, the Jewish saddlemaker, struggling to survive.

Channeling the mythic magic of classic storytellers like Sholem Aleichem and Isaac Bashevis Singer and the psychological acuity of modern-day masters like Nicole Krauss and Nathan Englander, They Were Like Family to Me is a testament to the persistence of humanity in the most inhuman conditions.

“One of the most original and consistently captivating short story collections to have appeared in recent years…(They Were Like Family to Me) is a singularly inventive collection of chilling stark realism enhanced by the hallucinatory ingredient of top-drawer magical realism, interrogating the value of art, storytelling, and dreams in a time of peril and presenting hard truths with wisdom, magic, and grace.” —Jewish Book Council

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

For more on Helen Maryles and her work you can visit her website here. You can also follow her in Twitter and Pinterest.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Books a Million | Barnes & Noble

Devil Sent the Rain by Lisa Turner

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Lisa Turner's second Billy Able mystery, Devil Sent the Rain.

Caroline Lee was something of a society darling. The daughter of a well known and well respected family, and a high priced lawyer to boot. She was also, once upon a time, the woman Detective Billy Able was in love with. 

And now she's dead. Murdered, to be exact, and Billy is on the case. 

It's one that will test the detective and push him to his limits as he tries to separate his personal feelings from the investigation. But as more and more secrets about Caroline's life are revealed, the case becomes more complicated and more twisted than Billy ever would have thought. 

As noted above, this is the second title in Turner's Billy Able series, which kicked off last year with The Gone Dead Train. Fortunately, Devil Sent the Rain does work well as a starting point if you happen to have missed that first outing. There are some allusions to the case featured in that first title, but nothing hinges directly on it or spoils the mystery should you decide to read them in reverse.

I quite enjoyed this one. Turner imbues the story with a wonderful Deep South feel (and the darkness of the Deep South as well). And while Billy Able is billed as the star of the series, his partner Frankie is equally developed and just as fascinating.

Since I haven't yet read Gone Dead Train, I can only assume that Able's past is fleshed out much more significantly in this second outing. The case is intertwined with his own personal history - his father owned a cafe that the Lees frequented throughout the years, which is how he and Caroline initially met. As the case unfolds, so do more of their connected backgrounds, giving readers a look into two very different family histories from two very different sides of the tracks.

Turner does well in organically weaving both the past and present together - for the purposes of the overall mystery, of course, but also giving readers enough information about Able to really make them connect with him. And to want to know more about him! It's something the best series writers are able to do, getting readers invested in the characters so that they want and crave more. And she's certainly accomplished that here - The Gone Dead Train is in my immediate TBR and I will definitely be looking forward to more in this series down the line!

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

For more on Lisa Turner and her work you can visit her website. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Instagram.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Fairy tale retellings may be all the rage right now, but once upon a time - way back in the 80s (wink, wink) - editor Terry Windling conceived of and commissioned a series of retellings for Tor. Each installment in the series was penned by a different author, renowned and admired in the fantasy genre.

Earlier this year, Tor Teen rereleased one of those titles: Jane Yolen's Briar Rose.

Becca grew up with her grandmother's stories but one always stood out amongst the rest - that of Briar Rose, or Sleeping Beauty. The tale isn't quite like that of movie fame. In fact, it seems to have twists to it that are unique to Gemma herself. But just how unique isn't clear until after her death. 

See, in her final moments Gemma insists that she is Briar Rose - a princess who lived in a castle and was the only one to survive a terrible sleeping curse. In the moments before her death, she makes Becca promise she will find the castle and the legacy that is now hers. And it's a promise Becca intends to keep, even when it takes her back to one of the worst atrocities in all of history. 

The new edition includes a foreword by Windling herself and an introduction by Yolen, both of which make it clear exactly how this twist on the classic was conceived. And it's an interesting twist indeed - here, Sleeping Beauty is set not in medieval times but in Poland, during WWII. The castle is real - a schloss that Yolen had read about and fortuitously came across mention of again in the aftermath of Windling's approach about a book. An extermination camp called Chelmno, that apparently only four people survived.

This version of Briar Rose is an awful tale because of the truth in it. But it's also a wonderful retelling, too. And one that makes complete and utter sense in it's conception and execution.

Becca's journey into her own family's history illustrates just how complex a family history can be. They know little about her grandmother's history except when she came to the United States. Of course they're all certain that her insistence she's a real Sleeping Beauty is just a figment of an aging mind. And yet...

Yolen does a wonderful job with a subject that is both emotionally difficult and sensitive. Definitely recommended!!!

Rating: 5/5

It's my understanding that quite a few of the series titles have been rereleased in years since, though sadly at least one appears to be out of print. Here's the full list if you're interested in tracking them down:

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars by Steven Brust
The Nightingale by Kara Dalkey
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint
White as Snow by Tanith Lee
Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost

New Releases 10/4/16

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

Feed by Mira Grant

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

Little Boy Blue by M. J. Arlidge

The Trespasser by Tana French

The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu

A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky

Friday on my Mind by Nicci French

Otherworld Chills by Kelley Armstrong

The Apartment by S.L. Grey

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie

Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass

All Your Wishes by Cat Adams

By Gaslight by Steven Price

Coffin Road by Peter May

The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskens

Ghost Times Two by Carolyn G. Hart

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

The Wangs Vs the World by Jade Chang

Vanished by Tim Weaver

Winter Storms by Elin Hilderbrand

Crossing the Horizon by Laurie Notaro

Legacy of the Demon by Diana Rowland

The Rift: Uprising by Amy S. Foster

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

Nemesis by Anna Banks

A Darkly Beating Heart by Lindsay Smith

Goldenhand by Garth Nix

Children of Eden by Joey Graceffa

The Black Key by Amy Ewing

Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Black Flowers White Lies by Yvonne Ventresca

Aerie by Maria Dahvana Headley

Something In Between by Melissa de la Cruz

New on DVD:
X-Men Apocalypse
The Purge Election Year
Swiss Army Man
Satanic
Into the Forest