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Though I haven't read a lot of science fiction lately, “Here and Now and Then" by Mike Chen completely captured my interest. It has it all: Time travel, suspense, love story (or stories,) father/daughter connection, friendship, all included in a well-written narrative that will keep you hooked from the beginning. Kin was stranded in 1996 for 18 years, after time-traveling there from the future, due to a bullet that disables the transponder thingy implanted in his chest. After the mis-hap that disabled Kin's communication with his future compadres, and without the drug injections he needed to stay current, he forgot everything about his previous (future) life, though little nigglings inserted themselves into his happy current (past) life with his wife and daughter and were beginning to alarm them all. Until, finally, suddenly, contact is re-established with the future and Kin's life (and that of his wife and daughter) changes drastically. Kin is forced to return to the future and, despite being forbidden to have any contact, finds a sneaky way to check up on his loved ones in the past from the future. You will find yourself rooting for Kin and his daughter and will love the unexpected ending. I highly recommend this book. I could not put it down and was so delighted to find a good Sci-fi novel with heart.

I enjoyed this thriller that begins with a jealous ex-wife wanting to stop her ex-husband from remarrying. The story is told from the points of view of Vanessa, the ex-wife and the beautiful young fiancé, Nelly. This is a tough book to review without giving away any spoilers. We know from the beginning that it’s a tale of obsession but there are so many twists and turns that what we think is true changes drastically more than once. We know that Vanessa wants to stop this wedding at all cost. She is desperate to keep Richard from marrying her ‘replacement’ (since the two women are much alike yet Nelly is a younger version of what Vanessa once was.) But Vanessa’s reasons for wanting this marriage stopped go beyond jealousy and betrayal, and the truth is stranger and more shocking than we could possibly have predicted because in Vanessa and Richard's marriage, it's more about what we think we see than the real truth. It is only through Vanessa's flashbacks that we suddenly come to see that we've been wearing a blindfold. Though I found Vanessa’s desperation and obsession to be a bit tedious at the beginning of the story, I was drawn into the mystery of trying to figure out what was really going after the first (of several) twists. We think we know everything when we come to the final chapter, the truth about Richard, Vanessa and Nelly. But we don't. This book is well worth reading for the surprising twists alone. I want to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book as an uncorrected proof through Read It Forward (several months ago, I must admit and am just now getting around to writing a review.) Contrary to what some may think, this is not just another 'celebrity' tell-all fluff piece. Kimberly Williams-Paisley, despite being well known as an actress and the wife of a popular country-western singer, tells her story in a simple and heartrendingly honest way.I was thoroughly drawn in by this story of someone who realizes that her mother is beginning to exhibit some unusual behaviors and then finds out the devastating diagnosis of her having a rare form of dementia. The account of how things develop and how the family is impacted is really enhanced by the interspersed photos of the mother and the daughter and the family. These are real people who are experiencing something that is so difficult, the inexorable decline of a loved one. This is a sad story but also beautiful because there is so much love in the memories as well as among the people who care so much about the wonderful woman who is Kimberley's mother. The ending is bittersweet but I love how there are resources included at the end for those who my need them. Overall, this is a fantastic book for everyone to read and especially for those who may be in a similar situation with a family member.

Another exclusive pre-publication read from Powell's. I was a bit reluctant to get into this one but one day I was bored with nothing else to read at the moment and suddenly just plunged into it. And, boy, am I glad I did. What an amazing, crazy, wild story that is grounded by some great imaginative writing. Here is one of my initial favorite quotes: "Our bodies brimmed with the sap of adolescence, the same stuff that dripped from pimples and shot through veins to bring on sudden fits of angst. Sometimes we seemed as helpless as coupling rabbits...in that sweet warbling vortex that blooms from a pesky genital itch." There are many more note-worthy quotes in this wild ride that chronicles ordinary, down-on-his-luck Romie's adventure who opts to get paid downloads into his head that render him poetic and erudite and then leave him adrift back into his old life feeling a bit awkward with such new and interesting information bouncing around in his brain. Then, be ready for his obsession with a genetically-modified humongous feral hog that lives at the edge of a mysterious, nefarious biotech company compound. That part is quite the adventure. And the humor abounds throughout. You'll see what I mean. In the end, Romie might find what he really wants...or needs. Or, maybe not.

This book had me intrigued from the beginning and did not let me go. I think I bought it as a $1.99 promo on my Kindle from Amazon, so I was a bit surprised at how well it was written (not sure why, since all caliber of books are promoted on Amazon periodically, it seems, and I try to be a good judge of what will be a good book since I read constantly and want to invest my time in worthwhile reads, especially as I get older.) I could not stop reading this story to find out what happened next.The characters were so realistically portrayed that I could see them vividly in my mind.I felt like I was right there with them in every scene. I was up late into the night, eyes glued to my glowing kindle, fascinated and anxious to find out what happened next. I enjoyed not knowing or being able to guess and feeling surprised by the plot twists. The ending was a bit of a surprise and I am sure many will think it's a disappointment. Personally, I like the unresolved ending of a story. It does leave you feeling a bit unsettled, but it also allows your imagination to fill in the details. And there's room or hope for a sequel, perhaps. Someone told me once that Americans insist on happy endings (they were speaking of movies) and I think that may be true of mainstream folks. But not me and not others who appreciate ambiguity and uncertainty. Who knows what will happen next? (the question I had after reading the end of this amazingly executed novel.)

I have discovered a new author that excites me so much that I've already ordered three of his previous novels. I received this uncorrected proof in my Indiespensible box via Powell's Books and, from the first page, I just could not stop reading it, I was so mesmerized, so intrigued. Some of it was just a quiet story about a 50-something sheriff who was on the verge of retiring but whose past bobbed up now and then during his last weeks, like one of the fish in the story, then submerged for a while, only to surface again in a new light. I finished Above the Waterfall today and I'm still reeling, blown away, amazed and just plain grateful for such a great story that manages to be both poetic and suspenseful. It's an odd combination that works: part ordinary narrative suspense and part poetic reflection. I loved it so much (in a quiet kind of way, really) that I will add it to the (imaginary) pile of books that I know I will want to read again. Not many make it into that pile. I read a lot and over the years I've become somewhat impatient with mediocre stories and adept at avoiding them. This one grabbed me from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end. I'm so glad to have discovered a new author that excites me so much and who has (thankfully) written other books that I am sure I will enjoy. It's been a while since I've felt this way. I can't wait to read Ron Rash's earlier novels that are winging their way to me as you read this. I swear I haven't been paid to write this review. I never heard of the guy before reading this novel. And, what kind of name is that, anyway? Ron Rash. Would his Appalachian buddies joke with him about being itchy? Hah.

A masterful tale that alternates in time, between 1976, when the young protagonist is taken by her survivalist father to live deep in the woods of Germany, and 1985, when she has returned, irrevocably changed, to her life in London with her mother and a younger brother she didn't know existed. Though the description of the harrowing yet routine life with her father in the woods is filled with lush details, I found myself anxiously awaiting a return to the story of how Peggy was coping with life in London at age seventeen, having not seen another person besides her father since she was eight years old. Towards the end, she did connect with the mysterious Reuben, just before she made her way out of the woods and those encounters with him were heart-wrenching. I had a presentiment before the shock of the ending so it wasn't a complete surprise. I did wish that the story would have continued and had revealed, not only the truth that is alluded to in the final pages, but also how Peggy and her mother, Ute, and her brother, Oskar, continued to thrive (or not) as a family.

I read some reviews on Amazon before deciding to read this book and I am glad that I ultimately decided to disregard them. I am so glad that I read this book, even though I feel somewhat sad now at the end. The richness of the inner life of Anna, the main character, and the details of her world relentlessly drew me in, propelled me forward and just would not release me. Every time I put this book down, I found myself thinking about it and yearning for it and I couldn't wait to pick it up again and immerse myself in Anna's world. I only wish it would have never ended. The prose is amazing; I could quote innumerable lines that reverberated in my soul. I would read this book again, which is not something I feel about too many books.

I just finished reading this book and I'm still reeling from its impact. I didn't think I'd like it so much when I first began, but I was quickly drawn into Aaliya's life as an older woman beset by memories, a reclusive reader, translator and survivor in Beirut, Lebanon. What really struck me was the juxtaposition of her ironic, literature-bound reflections and her memories of the long-gone people she loved. And the ending, when she confronts her mother and then what happens in her apartment! Amazing. You have to read this book. The prose is fantastic. This is a book I will read again just for the exquisiteness of so many phrases. And, of course, I will have to look up a lot of literary references, though I was surprised at how many I was familiar with. A short read, dense with history and meaning that will cause you to reflect on love, life, literature and the true nature of human connection.

Fascinating story about Lillian Leyb's journey from Russia,(where she survived the massacre of her husband and family and lost her young daughter,) to New York, then Chicago and Seattle, all the way up into Alaska on a focused quest to find her daughter, who she finds out may still be alive. Amazing evocation of the 20s era across the nation. Bittersweet ending which struck my heart, with love at last perhaps a compensation for her loss.

What is most interesting about this story is how relationships unfold for the main character, eleven-(almost twelve)-year-old Julia: with her crush on the cool but reticent skate-boarder guy at the bus stop; with her parents and grandfather; with the piano teacher across the street (and how things evolve between the piano teacher and her father.) And then, things become even more interesting, as we see how her understanding of these relationships and of life in general evolves with, not only the passing of adolescent time, but with the changes everyone is adapting to. This is fiction at its best: believable and heart-wrenching.

Re-reading, after many years, the Elmore Leonard books that feature (in a somewhat minor way) the character Raylan Givens, who is played with great panache by Timothy Olyphant in the television series "Justified," I find myself captivated once again by the incomparable writing, plotting and details. The television series clearly wouldn't exist without the vision of Mr. Leonard. The story he created in 'Riding the Rap' still packs a punch and keeps the reader entranced.

I don't know why I let this book sit beside my bed and gather dust for so long before picking it up. A mis-guided 'ho-hum, another magic story' attitude, I suppose. But, let me tell you, once I finally started reading, I was blown away: this is so much more than any ordinary magic tale. More than a romance, better than an adventure tale, this story will keep you engaged, guessing and amazed all the way through.

I couldn't stop reading this illustrated memoir that just totally captivated my soul. My bedside lamp glowed long into the night as I followed Alison's journey, trying to figure out where or how it would end. I couldn't stop thinking about her story, which translated into my dreams: I was following my father in a multi-roomed house, but he turned out to be her father. Go figure.

This is not your usual older man who leaves longtime wife for a younger woman tale. This quirky, engaging story has many facets, not the least of which is the older woman met during the summer hiatus who weaves hidden subversive messages into her embroidery. A tale of transformation and redemption. Highly recommended.

Yes, she's bad, even very bad at times. But, it's hard to not root for Marie and her desire to take care of the child. Even at the end, I still want Marie to be okay (and the child also, of course.)

Although at first it seemed a bit stereotypical, I was ultimately so engaged by this story that I couldn't put it down for days. I had no idea how it would end and was pleasantly surprised. After I finished this book, I immediately ordered all of Charlotte Bacon's previous novels and can't wait to read them.

I started off wondering who killed the girl and who took the baby, but I got sucked into the question of 'who would Clair end up with?--the contemporary and sexy fellow teacher? Or the dashing, mysterious sensitive detective? It was a great read and a great ride and I loved every minute of it.

I was quickly drawn in to each character's story in the chapters of this chronicle of a newspaper in Rome. Figuring out how they were all interconnected was fascinating, though I was a bit puzzled at first by the backstory in italics. I could not stop reading this book and was a bit disappointed by the last chapter but would recommend it highly to anyone interested in journalism and the human beings who inhabit the newspaper world.

I must admit that I'd recieved this book as an Indiespensible offering I'd signed up for and then put it on the back burner of books on my shelf. It seemed such a heavy topic to automatically delve into. Then, a few months later, delve I did and oh Wow. Poor Golden, I thought and continued to think throughout, about the main character. I kept looking at the author's photo at the end of the book and wondering if he had actually experienced having multiple wives and children. Udall does an amazing job of drawing the reader in from multiple points of view, from the Father to the Wives to the poor sad son, who nonetheless turns out to be one of the best characters. I am still not sure what I think about the ending of this story, but I do know that it was an amazing ride and I'm glad I stuck it out.

Though I initially disliked the protagonist, angst-ridden 25-year-old Francis, I was completely drawn in by Katie Arnold-Ratliff's lucid writing. The alternating 1st and 2nd-person points of view, while at first a bit disconcerting, even somewhat confusing, quickly took on a fascinating rythym that successfully juxtaposed past and present. As Francis' story unfolded, I felt more sympathetic toward his bumbling haplessness as I better understood the emotional underpinnings of his state of mind. I couldn't stop reading this book as it drew me nearly breathlessly toward the conclusion. And, though I have mixed feelings about the end of the story, it was also unbelievably beautiful.

Jackson Brodie stumbles upon yet another series of mysterious happenings while he's traveling the country visiting Abbeys and lackadaisically looking for the woman who stole his fortune. He rescues a little dog from a bad man and takes it with him on his wild journey. I love the way Atkinson juxtaposes her different characters and draws the reader inexorably into their lives.

What astounded me throughout was the amazing length of time it took in the early 18th century, for communication to go back and forth between these early scientists on faraway continents. At the beginning, I thought I was reading historical fiction but it didn't take long for me to realize that this story, in truth, had unfolded from actual historical documents. And I appreciated that the author didn't take liberties: he said this is what we can know from the records. Whitaker does such a great job of telling this story of an explorer's quest and his romance with a native noblewoman. I was on the edge of my seat, avidly reading page-by-page to find out what happened. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it surprised me.

In spite of the fact that Elizabeth Gilbert is a well-renowned and very well compensated author, she comes across so well as a regular person wondering about what marriage really means. I almost believe that she didn't know where her next hundred dollars would come from. Putting that aside, she does a good job of spacing out while wondering about the meaning of love, partnership or sexual fidelity. While I was beguiled by her descriptions of the loveliness of Bali and her lover's home there, I wondered how Ms. Gilbert managed to reconcile her ideals and her reality.

Though a vague part of me wanted to disapprove of Marie's lackadaisical attitude at first, more of me decided to cheer her on. She didn't disappoint my faith in her. Marie is one of the most amazing heroines in recent literary history. I love her. And I love her dedication to little Caitlin. Hurray for Marie and Caitlin!! May they forever play in the sea together.

The wild landscape in this compelling novel is amazing, but the relationship between Arvid, the grown son, and his contemptuous yet affectionate mother who is dying from cancer is the real, can't-look-away narrative draw. As the story unfolds, going back and forth in time, the truth becomes more ambiguous yet also sharper, like shards of rock gleaming on a beach.

Though I didn't expect it, I was drawn in by this simple, raw tale, could not put it down. I can't wait to read the next book, to find out what happens after the games. Courage, resilience, bravado, tenderness mixed with steely resolve....wow, Katniss Everdeen is quite the heroine!

I was captivated by this story, though initially bewildered by the different characters' points of view--had to go back and re-read a couple of times to put them into perspective in terms of how they connected with each other. The father/son relationships are deeply entwined with the amazingly portrayed sense of place, the raw wilderness, its beauty coexisting with a lurking menace. The ending felt wrong, though. As if the writer had spent so much time getting everything else just right and felt he had to grind out a conclusion, put an ending to the story just to finish it, rather than take the time to make it a beautifully perfect and fitting ending to the story. Still, it's well worth reading and kept me up late several nights in a row.

I love the pacing and mystery of this story of a woman who suddenly remembers a traumatic childhood incident and her participation in the events leading up to it. What is memory? How reliable is it? What if others remember something very different? How does one reconcile deeply buried feelings of blame and guilt with an adult recognition of the variability of reality? These questions bob beneath the surface of this story of a woman who goes home seeking answers and finds out something far different than she expected.

I was slowly but surely seduced into this story of the nuances of an evolving memory of childhood events that had been successfully suppressed for years only to break through in sporadic sharp bursts and slowly emerging truths. I was right there with Celia as she explored and discovered the merging of her childhood past and her present adult life. Even though I imagined that it might end the way it did, it still took my breath away.

I read this biography just after reading Julia Child's autobiography that she wrote with her nephew. I was amazed at some of the details in this book that ultimately helped me see her as a fuller human being. I really enjoyed learning about the beginnings of the romance with her husband, Paul, and was saddened to learn of his decline. I liked learning about how Julia continued enjoying life to the maximum all the way to the end. I was a little shocked to read about her having plastic surgery and being so concerned about her 'looks' though it seemed understandable given the mores of the day. The wigs, also, seemed a bit odd to me, but again, understandable. What really came through was her tenacity and love of good food and insistence on doing it all in a very pure way. I came away with a deep admiration of Julia Child. Great biography done with deep feeling and a sense of staying true to who she was. Bravo.

It's a cliché, I know, but I truly could not put this book down. I loved the imagery and sense of place and purpose: cedars and forest, snow and wind, people struggling through the snow, all juxtaposed beside the central conflict of disparate people's desires and intermingled lives. This is a book I'll keep and treasure for its truths and essential wisdom.

Most of the disparate yet somewhat interconnected stories were conveyed fairly seamlessly in this sumptuous tale of lives changed by learning about and experiencing the preparation, sensual delight and transformative power of food. I was drawn in by some of the characters' life stories; they moved me. Something about the whole, though, just didn't click with me overall and I was left wanting more details about both the individuals' lives and the context of their transformation. I would recommend it as a light, delicious read but not as a substantive meal.

This story of a mother and daughter in their journey through a year of difficult realizations of who they really are is amazingly interwoven with exquisite descriptions of the weather and the seasons in a small New England town. The tension and suspense of what has happened is revealed slowly, in a way that keeps the reader totally engaged and wanting more. Any mother of an eager-to-please-Mommy child transformed into a willful and ultimately unknowable teen will be drawn into this story, however uncomfortable some of the issues that arise may be.

Though some think this a sad, bleak tale, I disagree. At first, the narrator's life does indeed seem stagnant and boring, stuck on a farm in the Netherlands for most of his life, thwarted from completing his studies in Amsterdam years before; but the deft way that Bakker weaves in the back story of the instigating tragedy that occurred is suspenseful storytelling at its best. And the slow yet inexorable journey of the main character, Helmer, as he moves toward and through a never anticipated transformation and redemption is exquisite. The final scenes are glorious.

A heartbreaking yet incredibly mesmerizing tale of the relationship of a younger sister and her older brother during their difficult childhood in Norway in the late 1930s and early 40s. Their already grim life is further complicated by the arrival of the Nazis and the ensuing incidents that implicate the brother and deeply affect the little sister for life. The details of the setting are absorbing and I found myself rooting for a happy ending while sensing on some level that it was not likely going to happen. Well worth reading for Per Petterson's wonderful prose and sense of place that transports you to the Norwegian seaside in innocent as well as sinister times.

Fantastic story spanning centuries with details about a lost Jewish prayer book. From Sarajevo backwards to Inquisition-era Spain from a Catholic, Muslim and Jewish perspective with fascinating characters, this book kept me entranced.