Exposure, by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Despite the fact that he is a jock and the new big man on campus, Craig is secretly friends with Skye, who is awkward and in a much lower social circle.  And despite the fact that Craig is dating the beautiful cheerleader Beth, Skye is desperately in love with him.  When Craig's friend and teammate Duncan mysteriously dies, Skye finds that Craig and Beth are hiding something.  Will her desire to protect him be stronger than her conscience?  Or will Beth prove to be the strongest force of all?

Even as a teenager, I really liked Shakespeare.  At times, I was a little frustrated with the language and style of his writings, but when I was able to strip that away and get to the heart of the stories, I was in love.  Young adults today have a little less patience, and are less likely to seek out the heart of his writing, which is why I think books like this can be so brilliant.  This book is a modern retelling of Macbeth, and I found it to be really well done.  It had the perfect balance of creative liberty with the story, while sticking to the most important themes and aspects of the original tale.

I found Skye to be really intriguing as a character, despite the fact that she is the biggest change from the original story.  She serves as a kind of narrator, her point of view frames all the action.  And the story is just as much hers at it is Craig's.  I liked that many of the characters bore strong resemblance to their original counterparts, while others, like the "witches" were quite modern.  Again, I found it to be a great balance.

The thing I really liked about the book is it seemed genuine.  I felt like it accurately portrayed young adult life.  The kids struggled with things real teens do, and for the most part they talked and acted like real teens do.  That means young adult readers will be more likely to connect with this book.  I really think that, by pairing this with the original tale, teachers could open up great discussions with their students over the deeper themes at work in Macbeth.  All in all, I think this is a real gem.

I received a review copy courtesy of the Amazon Vine program, in exchange for my honest review.

Fear in the Sunlight, by Nicola Upson

In 1936, Josephine Trey spent some time at a resort with her friends, interacting with famous film director Alfred Hitchcock.  Hitchcock wants to buy Josephine's novel to make it into a film, so the goal of the weekend is to convince her to seal the deal.  Events take several odd turns, ending up with dead bodies.  It seems like an open and shut case, but many years later the truth is revealed.

I really struggled with this book, for a few different reasons.  We know from the beginning that a murder crime has occurred, but after its first mention, it is not even hinted at again for about 100 pages.  That made the book really plod along in my opinion.  It took so long to get to the action, that by the time the action started occurring, it was pretty lackluster.  Also, there were entirely too many characters for my taste.  I had an incredibly difficult time keeping the characters, and their multitudinous secrets, straight.  I felt like none of the characters were very well developed, which was part of the reason I could not keep them straight.  It has been one full day since I finished the book, and already, I have forgotten most of the characters and their details, because to me, they just were not memorable.

I thought the concept of Alfred Hitchcock as a character was going to be really cool, but I was a little disappointed.  Perhaps I was too colored by the public image of Hitch, but I just had a hard time imagining him saying the things he did in the book.  I feel like, as a person, he had a pretty distinctive voice, and I was not convinced that was captured in the book.

The book does a great job of setting the scene, to me this was probably its biggest strength.  I loved the setting, and the role it played in the story.  It has the perfect combination of luxury and creepiness to make the perfect ambiance for the story.  The book seems much like a traditional mystery book, which may account for my inability to really connect (I prefer contemporary mysteries and thrillers).  It is also one in a series, and having never read the previous books in the series may have altered my opinions as well.

I received a review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours, in exchange for my honest opinion.  See the rest of the tour here.

Roses Have Thorns, by Sandra Byrd

Elin is leaving her home in Sweden, and her unfaithful fiance, to head to England,  and the court of Queen Elizabeth.  Through marriage, Elin gains rank, and changes her name to Helena, embracing her new identity as a British woman.  Helena develops a close relationship with the Queen, seeing her through perilous interactions with Mary, Queen of Scots.  Throughout the years, Helena learns much about love, loyalty, and what it is that she holds most dear.

Sandra Byrd never fails to bewitch readers with her historical fictional accounts of life in the Tudor court.  I really fell in love with Elin/Helena as a character.  It was interesting to see the perspective of an outsider coming into court life, making choices regarding her loyalty to a country that was not the one of her birth.  I loved watching Elin grow throughout the years, and see the different roles she took on.  I particularly loved watching her relationship with the Queen.  While there was still the appropriate royal etiquette in place, Elin helped the Queen appear as more than just a monarch, but also a real woman, with heartaches, desires, and disappointments.

The Tudor dynasty is fascinating to a great many readers, both British and American.  I really love the way the author weaves small historical details into the larger historical fiction picture.  When historical fiction is done well, it allows history to really come alive, and that certainly happened for me with this book.  I knew very little about the conflict between Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots, so watching it unfold through Elin's eyes really helped me connect to that aspect of the story in a way that no history book ever could.  When I read a book like this, my first instinct is to then research the actual history records to learn more.  I think that is a tremendous compliment to an author of historical fiction, because clearly, the story connected pretty deeply.

Fans of historical fiction will adore this, particularly Anglophiles.  This book is a must read for anyone who is fascinated with the Tudor monarchy.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in exchange for my honest review.

Something About Sophie, by Mary Kay McComas

Sophie has always known she was adopted, and never really cared to learn about her biological parents.  But when a mysterious stranger contacts her asking to meet with him to discuss her birth mother, curiosity gets the best of her.  She arrives at his bedside a little too late to hear his deathbed confession, but his will, and her role in it, pushes the curiosity even further.  Suddenly, people are being harmed, all because of the secret of Sophie's biological mother.

While this is a mystery book, it feels very untypical of the mystery genre.  Sure, the book opens with a murder, and the secret that murder is protecting, but I found myself focusing much more on the characters than the mystery.  I was really enchanted by Sophie as a character, and her desire to be, as she repeatedly states, flint.  It is clear that she is protecting herself, and anticipates emotional trauma, despite the fact that she has a fairly happy life.  I am also fascinated with the concept of motherhood that Sophie is tangling with.  Her adopted mom died, and her biological mom is such a mystery, Sophie is left without maternal guidance, like a ship without a captain.

The story itself, in terms of mystery, seemed a tiny bit slow to me.  The action was just not enough to draw me in, but luckily the characters more than made up for it.  I cared more about Sophie's personal relationships that who was behind all the nefarious deeds.  However, because I was less invested in the mystery, the revelation came as a big surprise to me, which I loved.  I do feel like the story had good resolution, in every sense, and even despite my lack of connection to parts of the plot, I still consider this a good solid book.

The book will appeal to mystery fans, particularly female mystery fans, as well as fans of psychological thrillers.

I received a review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.  See the rest of the tour here.

  

Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter

In the 1960s, a beautiful American actress named Dee Moray shows up in a remote Italian town.  She stays at a hotel owned by Pasquale, and informs him she is meeting a male friend.  The actress is dying, and when the male friend never shows up, Pasquale takes matters into his own hands.  He seeks the man out, and the result will change the lives of many for years to come.

This book was slow to pull me in.  I knew it had gotten rave reviews, and for the first 50 pages or so, I could not understand why.  There are about 4 or 5 stories going on at once here, some of which I found very irrelevant to the overall story.  It switches time and point of view a lot, and for the life of me, I could not see where the story was going.  Eventually, however, it clicked for me.  And I did really enjoy most of the book.  The main storyline, of what happened in Italy all those years ago, is what made me stick with this book.  The modern storylines, well, I did not care about them at all, and I feel the added very little to the book (particularly the subplot of the young guy pitching his idea of a movie).

The only characters I really cared about were Dee and Pasquale.  However, I did love the fact that Richard Burton and Liz Taylor were characters in the story, it made for an interesting twist.  The modern characters (the producer, his assistant, the man pitching the movie) were of no interest to me, and I found myself mentally checking out on their portion of the story.

Still, it all sort of works, even the parts I found lackluster.  I did, in the end, enjoy the book, though not nearly as much as those rave reviewers.  A good book, but not on my list of best reads for the year.

I received a review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours  in exchange for my honest review.  See the rest of the tour here.

 

Every Hill and Mountain, by Deborah Heal

Abby and John are back, and once again doing some time surfing.  This adventure involves trying to research the family tree of Abby's best friend, Kate.  Kate has traced her ancestry to a man named Ned Greenfield, in the small town of Equality.  The town looks old fashioned and idealistic, but slowly the sleuthing team discovers that not all is as it seems on the surface.  They discover the town has a deeply held secret, one that has a significant impact on Kate's family.

I am completely enchanted with this series.  I think that this third book may be my favorite yet, because it truly elicited emotional responses from me.  First off, we have some of the old characters that we know and love from the previous books.  I enjoy watching Abby and John's relationship evolve.  They truly function as a team, and it reminds me of my marriage.  I also liked having the storyline involve Kate a lot more.  While as a character I really disliked Kate's boyfriend Ryan, he was well written, and served a distinct purpose in the plot.

Speaking of the plot, I really loved the storyline, with a big emphasis on slavery, and the darker side of the slave trade in 19th century America.  This plot was emotional, not only due to it's actual historical context, but in light of all the people in today's world who are still denied their rights and freedoms.  Given the historical context, the language and themes are a little more uncomfortable than in the previous books in the series, but I think it is important the the author tackled them in an honest way.

I never had any doubt that this third book would be fantastic, based on how much I liked the first two, but this surpassed my expectations.  The book is Christian fiction, but the emphasis on evangelism is very low.  Violence and sexuality are mildly present within the appropriate context of the story, but by and large this is a very clean book, one that a parent would feel comfortable allowing a teen to read.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in exchange for my honest review.

The Guilty One, by Lisa Ballantyne

Daniel is a solicitor who is called in to deal with a controversial case.  Eleven year old Sebastian is accused of murdering his young friend Ben at the playground.  During the course of the investigation and trial, Daniel is forced to come to terms with his own troubled youth, and his relationship with the mother figures in his life.

What an emotionally intense book this was!  The action takes off from the very beginning, and while the idea of a child being murdered (possibly by another child) is incredibly morbid, it was also very captivating, and had me hooked from the first few pages.  The writing is crisp, without a lot of fluff, and the book has a feeling or moving rapidly.  There are dualing storylines, the criminal storyline focusing on Sebastian, and the more emotional storyline focusing on Daniel and his past.  The story switches with each chapter, but they run parallel, so that switch always makes sense.  Both stories unfold at the same pace, in complementary ways, so the writing has great impact.

The characters, both major and minor, are really complex, and it seems most everyone one has a guilty secret.  Sebastian, as a character, is troubling and unsettling, which makes his story so captivating.  Daniel, while still an intense character, is easier to handle.  There is obviously an emphasis on the theme of guilt and innocence, but also a strong emphasis on maternal relationships.  

The book will appeal to fans of contemporary thrillers, mysteries, and crime dramas.  But do not be fooled, this book has a lot more depth than just those specific genres.  I was more than a little impressed.

I received a review copy of the book courtesy of TLC Book Tours, in exchange for my honest review.  See the rest of the tour here.