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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
PShaw has commented on (7) products
Color Blind
by
Colby Marshall
PShaw
, November 12, 2014
Colby Marshall has done it again with an intense psychological thriller that had me jumping at strange sounds late at night, and giving the side-eye to strangers I meet while out and about every day. Who among them might be the next Ted Bundy, Robert John Maudsley, or (tragically) the next one to open fire on a crowd of innocents? They walk among us every day, and Ms. Marshall has created some terrifying examples in this gripping, racing thriller. From its opening with a mass shooting at crowded theme park until its gripping conclusion, Color Blind had me breathless. She’s also created the most unique protagonist I’ve encountered in a long time. Dr. Jenna Ramey is a consultant for the FBI as a profiler of sorts. The special thing she brings to her analysis is synesthesia, a condition/ability/unusual brain-wiring that some people have where letters, numbers, words, flavors, etc. are intrinsically linked with colors, and the colors have special meanings unique to the person with the condition. Ms. Marshall has said in interviews that she herself has synesthesia, so she brings a reality to Jenna Ramey that would be hard to achieve for many other writers. Jenna isn’t just a tough FBI agent; she’s a fully rounded character with a family and friends, and who also has a sociopathic mother who tried to kill them all. This book, including the traits and behaviors of sociopaths has been extremely well researched, according to the author notes, and it shows. The psychopathic antagonists are skin-crawlingly creepy, and their victims (including a couple of other “villains” who are manipulated by the psychopaths)are presented with a touching sympathy; there are clear, logical reasons for their vulnerability to the remorseless, cruel machinations of the primary sociopaths, Isaac Keaton and Jenna’s own murderous mother. Ms. Marshall is very effective at creating the miasma of malignancy that is the unseen-until-it’s-too-late hallmark of these twisted, terrifying people. As a sort of “Easter egg”, fans of Ms. Marshall will recognize a familiar face in the character of Yancy, a man with a prosthetic leg and an independently-minded dachshund. He first appeared in a small cameo role in The Trade, part of Ms. Marshall’s McKenzie McClendon series. In Color Blind, Yancy solidly moves into the role of protagonist, with a few clever tricks up his sleeve (or rather, down his leg!) I, for one, hope that some day Ms. Marshall uses that link to bring the two series together. Dr. Jenna Ramey and McKenzie McClendon would be a truly dynamic duo! Until then, I’m very much looking forward to the next Jenna Ramey novel!
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Getaway
by
Lisa Brackmann
PShaw
, January 01, 2013
Lots of folks go a little loco in Puerto Vallarta, land of sun, sand, tequila, and (if you're a lucky woman in need of some self-esteem building), a one-night stand with a handsome, dangerous man. Michelle Mason is that lucky woman. A new widow left disillusioned and penniless by her rat of a husband, she's having one last fling on a vacation that had already been paid for before the SOB died and left her world in chaos. Or what she thought of as "chaos", because she's about to learn the REAL meaning of that word. An accidental switch of cell phones with handsome ex-pat Daniel and suddenly Michelle is seeing the darker side of this vacation paradise. The side with quasi-official government men with guns, drug cartels, Mexican jails, bodies piling up around her, and secrets that can turn her into one of those dead bodies. Where do you turn when your passport has been confiscated, your family has been threatened, you've been thrown into jail, and the only man you can remotely trust is the one who got you into this in the first place? I've been waiting anxiously for Ms. Brackmann's newest book, after being so blown away by her debut, Rock Paper Tiger. GETAWAY is every bit as intense, real, and thrilling. Her real talent is in so realistically portraying a setting and then dropping a character that might just be you or me into this place. Then she twists the kaleidoscope and changes everything. She writes beautifully about the loveliness of a place, then unflinchingly turns over the rocks and shows us the horror that lies beneath. In this book, Michelle visits the dump in Puerto Vallarta (note: I believe this place is now closed and folks can no longer go there, but while writing the book, Ms. Brackmann visited the place. The sounds, the sites, the gut-wrenching odors, and the horror of children living in the squalor she writes so eloquently about are real). My stomach churned as I followed the heroine into this nightmare. I kept asking myself what I--an ordinary middle class woman like Michelle--would do. I'd have been just as lost and horrified as Michelle. And I would hope that--like Michelle--I'd find the inner strength and gut instinct to claw my way out of the morass and survive. In my review of her debut novel I called Ms. Brackmann "fierce". She continues to prove me right.
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Casanova Code
by
Donna Macmeans
PShaw
, June 14, 2012
The code word is SEXY! Edwina Hargrove is a very modern woman (for the Victorian era!) She rides bicycles (scandalous!) and longs for independence and adventure, but the closest she ever comes is using her uncanny code-breaking skills to decipher letters from her brothers and to decipher coded messages in the personal ads in the newspapers. Until the day she decodes a message from one of the ton’s most notorious rakes, advertising for a good woman to draw into his debauchery. Edwina, along with her friends, form The Rake Patrol to put paid to this cad’s intentions by diverting women away from the disreputable Ashton Trewelyn. Then it’s Edwina herself who falls into his hands. And oh, what sexy, sensuous, compelling hands they are! Ms. MacMeans has a wonderful knack for getting her characters into every sort of madcap adventure (and out of their petticoats and drawers) on the way to a tear-inducing happily ever after, and does so with delicious details and terrific humor. With lively discussions (and demonstrations!) of Japanese erotica, and the possibly nefarious activities of a secret society to be uncovered, the only question is, can a lively code-breaker crack the secrets of a wounded hero’s heart? All I will say is, oh my! And oh, YUM! And I can hardly wait for book two of the Rake Patrol’s adventures!
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Getaway
by
Lisa Brackmann
PShaw
, May 26, 2012
Getaway Mexico, Margaritas, and Murder Lots of folks go a little loco in Puerto Vallarta, land of sun, sand, tequila, and (if you’re a lucky woman in need of some self-esteem building), a one-night stand with a handsome, dangerous man. Michelle Mason is that lucky woman. A new widow left disillusioned and penniless by her rat of a husband, she’s having one last fling on a vacation that had already been paid for before the SOB died and left her world in chaos. Or what she thought of as “chaos”, because she’s about to learn the REAL meaning of that word. An accidental switch of cell phones with handsome ex-pat Daniel and suddenly Michelle is seeing the darker side of this vacation paradise. The side with quasi-official government men with guns, drug cartels, Mexican jails, bodies piling up around her, and secrets that can turn her into one of those dead bodies. Where do you turn when your passport has been confiscated, your family has been threatened, you’ve been thrown into jail, and the only man you can remotely trust is the one who got you into this in the first place? I’ve been waiting anxiously for Ms. Brackmann’s newest book, after being so blown away by her debut, Rock Paper Tiger. GETAWAY is every bit as intense, real, and thrilling. Her real talent is in so realistically portraying a setting and then dropping a character that might just be you or me into this place. Then she twists the kaleidoscope and changes everything. She writes beautifully about the loveliness of a place, then unflinchingly turns over the rocks and shows us the horror that lies beneath. In this book, Michelle visits the dump in Puerto Vallarta (note: I believe this place is now closed and folks can no longer go there, but while writing the book, Ms. Brackmann visited the place. The sounds, the sites, the gut-wrenching odors, and the horror of children living in the squalor she writes so eloquently about are real). My stomach churned as I followed the heroine into this nightmare. I kept asking myself what I��"an ordinary middle class woman like Michelle��"would do. I’d have been just as lost and horrified as Michelle. And I would hope that��"like Michelle��"I’d find the inner strength and gut instinct to claw my way out of the morass and survive. In my review of her debut novel I called Ms. Brackmann “fierce”. She continues to prove me right.
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Irish Healer
by
Nancy Herriman
PShaw
, April 15, 2012
I love historical romances, rich in perfect period detail, well researched, and lushly written. The Irish Healer, Nancy Herriman’s debut novel, is all of that and more. I will be honest and say I would normally have bypassed this one since it’s billed as “inspirational/Christian” romance. That is way outside my reading comfort zone as a non-Christian. And that would have been a tragedy. I would have missed a tender, beautiful, glorious romance that made my heart sing and left me with happy tears at the end. Rachel Dunne,the Irish healer of the title, is running away. Although acquitted of murdering a child under her care, she’s come to London to escape the scandal of her past, vowing to give up her gift of healing, believing it’s really a curse. She finds work with Dr. James Edmunds, a man with tragedies of his own in his past, a physician who is also in the process of giving up his medical practice. Rachel vows only to work as a sort of secretary for him. She will not help him in medical matters, will not sit at the bedside of patients, will not trust or use her own special gifts. James and Rachel have each in their own way given up on God, as they believe God has abandoned them. This love story is about healing, not only the bodies of those they comfort and serve, but their own hearts and faith and each other. Inspirational references are woven in subtly, without browbeating the reader with it, which was what I had feared from an inspirational romance. Again, I could not have been more wrong. This is a book about the universal themes of loss and forgiveness, about finding redemption, and most powerfully, about finding love. It transcends a specific, single belief system. It’s about learning to forgive yourself, and love yourself; about accepting love and forgiveness from others. And make no mistake, this is first and foremost, a romance, as sweet and delicious and yummy as you could want. There is no overt sex in this book; there’s barely a single kiss. But oh, the yearning! The longing! Ms. Herriman beautifully, powerfully builds the tension, page by page, a glance, a touch, a sigh at a time, until the reader is as wound up as Rachel and James, an ember about to burst into a conflagration. This is a truly romantic romance. The power of faith is the backbone of this feast of a novel, but love, God’s and man’s, is the heart and soul of it. I’ve never been happier to have been wrong about something. Missing out on this wonderful book would have been a tragedy indeed.
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The Second Duchess
by
Elizabeth Loupas
PShaw
, January 01, 2012
This book is an intoxicating historical fiction about the (real) royal court of 16th century Ferrara, and the second duchess. It was inspired by Browning's famous poem "My First Duchess" (the first duchess also appears, and we are as drawn into her story as much as we are the story of Barbara, the second duchess). This debut is as rich and lucious as the cherries that are a repeating motif in it. It's a brilliantly crafted piece of art that includes not only history, but suspense, a love story, and a delicious murder mystery.
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Redeeming the Rogue
by
Donna Macmeans
PShaw
, August 14, 2011
In Redeeming the Rogue by Donna MacMeans, the central plot is summed up nicely by the hero’s best friend (and intriguing, mysterious, delicious sidekick) Phineas Connor: “Have you considered the absurdity of it all, Rafe? That you, a son of Ireland, are traveling to America to impersonate a British minister in order to catch a fellow Irishman?” Michael (Rafe) Rafferty is an Irishman working as an agent for the Crown to develop a peaceful, political solution to the question of Irish Home Rule. Ranged against Rafferty are the Home Rule League and the Fenians, who killed his parents and who believe violence is the only way to achieve Irish independence. Rafferty, with his network of street urchin spies, is more at home in the rough alleys and taverns of London than in its ballrooms. Unfortunately, the new role he’s been asked to play, as a British diplomat in Washington, D.C., requires something more than native intelligence and rakish good looks. It also requires someone to play his hostess. And that “someone” would best be a wife. Lady Arianne Chambers, the daughter and sister of a duke, has lived her whole life in diplomatic circles. Polish, politics, and protocol are in her blood. But like Rafferty, there are secrets in her past and she has very good reasons for wanting to escape London and head to Washington with her reluctant, recalcitrant, delightfully roguish protégé. As danger creeps up on them, just how far will this couple go to make their pretend marriage look real? I loved this sensual, sexy, and slyly funny romance. Best of all, it included a solid mystery and interesting plot to drive the story. The historical scaffolding on which Ms. MacMeans builds the romance doesn’t overwhelm the central love story, but provides a solid framework for it. She deftly mixes real and fictional people with a believable tale of danger and intrigue. I was rooting for Rafferty and Arianne from the first pages. My heart broke right along with Lady Arianne’s (yes, 2:00 in the morning, I’m flipping pages as fast I can and crying my eyes out). Just as she did, I fell in love with Rafferty. And of course, because this is romance, the ending made my heart go pitty-pat. Le sigh. Redeeming the Rogue is the third book in the Chambers Trilogy (book #1 is The Education of Mrs. Brimley and book #2 is The Seduction of a Duke). The only question remaining is, when are we going to get the story of Phineas Connor? I can hardly wait for more!
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