The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude

The history of Rowan's Glen is not a pretty one. Legend has it a murderer stalks its woods, screaming out in the night. Pets have begun to disappear and mutilated remains have been discovered in the fields. Some folks are starting to worry that the long unseen Birch Markle has returned. 

Ivy wasn't even born when Birch Markle began his reign of terror. But she's heard all the stories and knows about the death of the Glen's May Queen, their last - until now. And even with the tremor of fear currently running through their community, some believe it's time to bring the tradition back. 

There were a lot of things to love about Sarah Jude's debut. The atmosphere, the pacing, the superstition and folklore base...

Ivy and her cousin are part of a small community that lives outside of town. They attend school with the regular kids, but otherwise don't socialize outside of Rowan's Glen. And Ivy is fine with that. She's happy in the Glen. Her cousin, Heather, wants more. And though they share everything, Ivy soon discovers that Heather is keeping secrets after all.

The book begins with a missing animal. Another in a long string of missing animals considering they've been disappearing for some time. Which of course brings to mind the stories of Birch Markle - the Glen's most infamous resident. Ivy's grandmother shared the tales with both Ivy and Heather as they were growing up. But their grandmother doesn't talk these days.

All of these little details (ok, some not so little) give readers a fabulous understanding of Ivy, her home life, and the community she's part of. They also set the tone for an ominous read. It reminded me in part of The Village, obviously. But the superstitions - both Ivy's mother's and her grandmother's - added a great layer of intrigue to the tale.

It was the end where I felt The May Queen Murders faltered a bit. There's some misdirection that, unfortunately, feels a bit like an afterthought. Honestly, up until that stage I was all on board but I did kind of wish that the book had ended without that little extra bit thrown in.

All things considered, I quite enjoyed The May Queen Murders. It's an overall satisfying and chilling read and Sarah Jude is definitely one I'll be looking forward to reading more from.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Possibility of Somewhere by Julia Day

Eden has long fought against what she sees as a possible and maybe inevitable fate. Determined not to take the same path as either her biological mother or her father, she avoids most social niceties and focuses instead on her academics. A full scholarship is her best hope for a good college, and the Peyton Scholarship in particular seems to be the answer. With valedictorian all but in the bag, it seems she's on the right path for a ticket straight out of her hometown. 

But Eden has a few obstacles in her way. The first is Ash Gupta, her primary rival in everything academics. The second is her father. And when Eden and Ash are forced to work together time after time, it seems their rivalry could be in danger of becoming attraction. 

The Possibility of Somewhere is a sweet and charming read. Eden, a somewhat foul-mouthed teen who closes herself off from everyone around her, immediately draws the reader in and rallies you to her side. Her home life isn't great, but it also isn't tragic, and she has the means and determination to do whatever it takes to ensure her future.

But that determination has a down side: Eden has no friends. She doesn't allow anyone to get close, especially when the few times she's made exceptions have backfired. But Eden's armor proves to be no protection against the new girl in school.

Mundy, a transfer from California who turns out to be the daughter of one of Eden's teachers, forces her way in and proves to be just the first big change of Eden's senior year. And Mundy proves to be exactly what Eden needs in her life - someone who will bring her out of her shell, offer her a shoulder to cry on, and will stand in Eden's corner no matter what. Though it turns out Mundy isn't the only one in Eden's corner by a long shot.

I loved The Possibility of Somewhere. It was an overall light read (which it turns out I needed) but it also tugged at my heartstrings more than just a little bit. I loved that, as mentioned above, the story wasn't oh, so tragic. I loved that Eden had obstacles in her way but wasn't broken by them. And I loved that in the end, with a few exceptions, Eden had a strong support system behind her - and she comes to realize it, too.

Like I said, sweet and charming!

Rating: 4/5

(The Possibility of Somewhere is due out September 6.)

New Releases 8/30/16

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Liar's Key by Carla Neggers

The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd

High Stakes ed by George R. R. Martin

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

Pumpkin Picking With Murder by Auralee Wallace

The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

The Nix by Nathan Hill

The Thousandth Floor by Katherine McGee

The Call by Peadar O'Guilin

The Bronze Key by Holly Black

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

New on DVD:
Me Before You
The Jungle Book


New reviews at Bookbitch.com:
Pressure by Brian Keene

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell + a Giveaway

Good morning, everyone! Today I'm super excited to be a stop on the TLC blog tour for Lisa Jewell's latest, The Girls in the Garden.

Note there is a tour wide giveaway on this one, so be sure to read through to the end to enter the Rafflecopter.

Pip, Grace, and their mother are starting over. Their story not a pleasant one by any means and it's one they all hope to keep to themselves. So the move to a new neighborhood is a chance to keep their secrets and rewrite their past while moving forward.

The new place sits on a communal garden that offers safety and friendship for everyone in their small family. Kids run free, roaming the shared space, while their parents share wine and gossip. But the assumed safety and community spirit is shattered one balmy summer evening when Grace is attacked and left unconscious. For Pip, who was unfortunate enough to stumble upon her sister's bloodied body, everyone is a suspect with questionable motives. And for their mother, the wait for Grace to awaken is an agony no mother should ever suffer.

There are essentially two mysteries in Lisa Jewell's latest, at least for the reader. First, who attacked Grace? Second, what are Clare and her kids running from?

The book begins with the attack: the aftermath of the summer party, Clare passing out, and Pip's awful discovery. But then the story goes back to Clare's arrival at Virginia Park, introducing both the family and the reader to the neighbors one by one. There's the homeschooled family of girls and their possibly overly friendly parents. There's the absent mother and her feral ringleader of a daughter. There's the handsome teen crush with the special needs brother...

Each and every one of them is a potential suspect in the reader's eye. It's as though you're waiting throughout the tale for a bomb to drop, for the attacker's (or attackers') identity to be revealed via a sly word or a salacious look observed almost unnoticed by the various narrators.

This waiting and careful attention to potential clues makes The Girls in the Garden an incredibly tense read. Definitely a favorite of mine this summer!

Rating: 5/5

And now for the giveaway. As mentioned this is a tour wide one, so you'll only need to enter on one blog to get your name in the hat.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

For more on Lisa Jewell and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

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

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

Hi, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Greg Iles's Natchez Burning.

Mayor Penn Gage has always looked up to his father, but when Dr. Tom Gage is accused of murder Penn is forced to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about the man. 

Viola Turner was a nurse who worked alongside Tom during the Civil Rights era. In fact, Viola's own brother was a well-known musician and activist whose disappearance has never been solved. Viola left for Chicago where she lived until just recently. Sick and with the knowledge that she didn't have much time left, she returned to Natchez and sought care from Tom. Though her time was limited, her death is attributed to an overdose of morphine and Viola's son is convinced that Tom is behind it. Assisted suicide is a prosecutable crime in the state of Mississippi and unfortunately for the doctor the line between that and murder is a fine one. 

At the same time, a reporter from just over the river has made his career exposing the crimes of the Double Eagles - a violent offshoot of the KKK. Viola had been recently interviewed by the man who now has cause to suspect that the Double Eagles themselves could be responsible for her death. As the mystery becomes more convoluted, crimes of the past begin to surface and certain individuals are definitely willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their names are kept out of the spotlight. 

Natchez Burning is actually the fourth book to feature Penn Gage - author, lawyer, and now Mayor of Natchez. Interestingly, it's also the first of a trilogy that continues in The Bone Tree and next year's Mississippi Blood. The story traces back to the 1960s, and indeed begins there with multiple murders and the formation of the Double Eagles. And the scene is set for this dark and twisty doorstopper of a thriller!

In spite of it's heft (roughly 800 pages), Natchez Burning moves at a swift pace. Part of this is spurred by the fact that many of the players are still actively involved in the plotting that began all those decades ago. The book is set in 2005 and, as Penn and reporter Henry Sexton discover, the original Double Eagles are still very vested in keeping their crimes under wraps.

Sexton, inspired by (according to the author's afterword) the very real pursuits of Stanley Nelson, is determined to not only bring the Double Eagles' crimes to light but to unmask those who have so far been able to hide behind not only power and money, but the public's ignorance of the very crimes they are responsible for. The murders kept quiet for generations, the disappearances that have yet to be uncovered, and the other crimes that were swept under the rug so many years ago. Of course his efforts have not gone unnoticed - the FBI consults with him in their own attempts to solve these cold cases and the perpetrators themselves are very aware of how close his stories have come to revealing their secrets.

Penn, however, is mostly unaware of his father's own involvement. Tom Gage held a precarious position in the 60s and has vowed to keep Viola's secrets. Claiming doctor patient confidentiality, he is unwilling to budge and offer any help to Penn in his own defense.

It's hard to say much more about the plot as there are still two chapters to the trilogy to consider and I don't want to spoil anything for those just coming to the books! Natchez Burning is a fine example of exactly why so many folks are fans of Iles's books. And while I'm not completely new to the author, I've never delved deeply into his work before now. I am, though, completely invested in this story and in seeing how it will continue to play out.

Natchez Burning and The Bone Tree are both out now. Mississippi Blood is due out next spring. You don't have to have read the prior three Penn Cage books in order to dive into the trilogy, but here's the full series list if you're interested:

The Quiet Game
Turning Angel
The Devil's Punchbowl
Natchez Burning
The Bone Tree
Mississippi Blood

And now for the giveaway! I've got one copy of Natchez Burning and a super cool tote bag to give away today. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below before Monday, September 5. Open US only please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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

For more on Greg Iles and his work you can visit his website here. You can also like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Kerry Lonsdale's Everything We Keep.

It's Aimee's wedding day, but instead of exchanging vows with her childhood sweetheart, James, Aimee and her friends and family are attending a funeral instead. James's funeral. 

James was supposed to have been going to Mexico for a quick business trip, but the trip ended with his disappearance. It was two months before his remains were recovered and sent home for burial. Aimee is beyond heartbroken, understandably unable to move on in the months after the funeral. But when a woman contacts her claiming James is still alive, Aimee isn't at all sure what to believe. James is gone, positively identified by his own brother. But Aimee has known James for so long, she's certain she'd feel it if he were truly gone. And something within her says he isn't. 

Kerry Lonsdale's Everything We Keep is an intriguing read. Much of the story is focused on Aimee's emotional state and attempt to rebuild her life in the aftermath of losing James. But there's a vein of suspense as well.

Aimee and James had plans for their lives. Plans that included Aimee taking over her family's restaurant after her parents retired or even opening her own place. And since she's known James since she was eight years old, her past is as deeply wound around his as her future was to be. So yes, moving on without the person who is so deeply a part of her life is going to be challenging, to say the least. Lonsdale does a fairly good job of tackling the emotions of grief, though they certainly could have been explored much more deeply (that said, the book isn't really a tearjerker and I was glad for it!).

I really liked Aimee. She was fleshed out and genuine, so it was easy to become emotionally invested in her story and to want to see where it would go and how it would play out. But it was the mystery element as a whole that really made me want to dive in and continue with Everything We Keep.

It's in Aimee and James's backstory that this bit of mystery begins to unfold. James's family is weird. Stringent rules, a required commitment on the part of each member to be involved in the family business, and especially James's mother's regard of Aimee from the very start of the book all make the reader wonder what's really lying under the surface of this seemingly picture perfect family.

And of course there's a psychic's claim that James isn't actually dead.

Everything We Keep isn't a deep read. In fact, it's a bit like sitting down with a Lifetime movie in book form. But like those movies, it was fun! I did kind of hate the ending, in an "argh, you're killing me," kind of way. But Lonsdale's debut was one that I definitely could not (and would not) put down until I'd reached the bitter end!

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

For more on Kerry Lonsdale and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

A Little Knowledge by Emma Newman

Things are getting tense in Londinium. Will is under pressure to secure his lineage, per orders from Lord Iris himself, while also trying to keep the truth about Margritte under wraps. Cathy's drive to change things for the women of the Nether isn't helping. Even though he agrees on most counts, the other men of Londinium are none too pleased about the prospect of their wives being more than arm candy. 

Up in Mundanus, Max has started a new investigation into a rash of missing people, including his own father. As his case progresses, his path crosses once again with Sam, the new Lord Iron, who faces challenges similar to that of Cathy. Turns out the Elemental Court is about as eager for change as the folks of the Nether!

I love this series! With an undying passion! I seriously want everyone to discover the fabulousness of the Split Worlds and am so very, very glad that Newman has had the opportunity to bring us more installments!

As I'd mentioned in my release/what I'm reading post a few weeks ago, there are currently plans for a fifth installment to be released next year. I am dying to see how things will turn out for Cathy, Will, Max, Sam, and the others.

A Little Knowledge has started to address some of the questions of the Elemental Court and their purpose. We've also returned to the Sorcerer issue (no spoilers) and maybe a bit more insight into the plot there. But the true goals of the fae are still in question. What does Lord Iris envision for Will and Cathy's son? Why is Lord Tulip so interested in Cathy's "full potential?" And when will the people of Albion catch on to the progress that seems to be passing them by!?

Emma Newman's series is filled with fabulous characters, intricate detail, and tons of political intrigue. And of course magic and fae. The combination alone is appealing but paired with Newman's fabulous prose, the series is a serious stand out!

Rating: 5/5