2012 Favorite Reads: Samantha’s Picks
Sad Desk Salad Jessica Grose 5 stars Sarah’s Key Tatiana de Rosnay 5 stars Blackberry Winter Sarah Jio 5 stars Don’t Let Me Go Catherine…
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
Oh boy. I knew I was going to be in for a ride with Home Front, the latest from Kristin Hannah, because well – it was Kristin Hannah. And that was exactly what happened. While I couldn’t stop reading the book, I made myself put it down because I wanted to stop crying! The emotions that swirled through me while reading left me a bit exhausted when I finally finished the story. But what a book. A five star review all the way. Shall I finally get to the review?
Michael and Jolene Zarkades are a married couple whose happiness is slowly disappearing. After twelve years of marriage, two children and hectic work schedules, there is a clear gap between husband and wife. But they are about to face the biggest challenge yet when Jolene gets deployed to the war. As a Blackhawk pilot with the National Guard, it is her duty to go, and Jolene and best friend Tami – also a Blackhawk pilot – head to Iraq together. Michael now faces being Mr. Mom at home, a job he isn’t happy about. Never one to support his wife being a soldier, Michael is furious Jolene abandons him – and tells her he doesn’t love her just before she leaves. While Jolene and Tami fight for their lives on a daily basis in Iraq, Michael tries to hold his family together back home. A horrific accident will change all the characters involved, and push them to the brink as they valiantly try to find their way home.
Hannah clearly put an insane amount of research into writing this book. From describing Iraq and what the soldiers go through to the families that are without a parent to what happens when the heroes come home is so eye opening. I have family in the military – my brother-in-law actually deploys this month to Afghanistan – so this book really hit me hard. I will say if you have a loved one deployed or soon to be deployed, I suggest you wait on reading this. Parts were hard for me to get through. But the story is so beautiful written, so masterful when it comes to creating characters, that this book has to be on your to-read list. Another 5 star review for Kristin Hannah from me!
[Rating: 5]
In My Mailbox: Week of February 26
In My Mailbox: Week of February 26
Title: Home Front
Author: Kristin Hannah
Received: For the SheKnows Book Club
Synopsis: In her bestselling novels Kristin Hannah has plumbed the depths of friendship, the loyalty of sisters, and the secrets mothers keep. Now, in her most emotionally powerful story yet, she explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war.
All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . .
Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family.
At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.
Title: Vivid
Author: Andrea Murray
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: When Vivian Cartwright was five years old, she witnessed her mother’s death.
Now, sixteen-year-old Vivian only wants a normal life—hard to accomplish when you possess the power to control energy. Her entire life she has feared her power and its connection to her mother’s murder. She has kept her ability a secret from everyone except her guardian, Charlotte, who has hidden Vivian from the man responsible for her mother’s murder.
Her secret is safe until Vivian subconsciously defends herself at school using her power. After this first use of her gift in many years, Vivian’s power seems to take on a mind of its own, increasing in strength and demanding to be used. This increase in power also brings dreams of her mother’s death and the mysterious man connected with it. When she is assigned to tutor the would-be boyfriend of Trista Parmer (a.k.a. the biggest diva in school), Vivian cannot deny the electrifying connection that she feels for the boy, Easton Garrett. In her desire to get Easton away from Vivian, Trista doubles her efforts to humiliate Vivian, forcing Vivian to use her supernatural gift over and over. With each use, Vivian fears she is losing control and discovers her powers are growing—maybe too much—bringing her unknowingly closer to the man who murdered her mother.
Title: Run Rabbit Run
Author: Kate Johnson
Received: From Choc Lit
Synopsis: Sophie’s in trouble. Must be Tuesday.
Sophie Green’s an ex-spy, or trying to be. You wouldn’t believe the trouble she’s in. An MI5 officer has been shot with her gun, her fingerprints all over his office. And no, she didn’t kill him.
But she has gone on the run.
Now Sophie’s desperately seeking whoever’s trying to frame and kill her. She’s being forced to work with the least trustworthy man in Europe, MI5 is following her every move, and she’s had to leave the tall, blond, god of a man she loves behind.
Luke Sharpe works for MI6. Or did, until his girlfriend became a murder suspect.
Doing nothing wasn’t an option, so he started investigating. Who cares if it is means jeopardising his career? Sophie’s everything he used to say he never wanted. Young, irresponsible, bright and mad. Now she’s just everything – and she has to live.
She will live, won’t she?
In Sara’s Mailbox:
Title: Miracle’s Pain
Author: JT Keitt
Received: From Lauren @ AuthorRight
Synopsis: From the beginning, Patricia Ann Hall knew she had a secret. Within a darkness of shouting voices that only she could hear, inside a world only her eyes could see, she grasped onto a deadly Miracle that although cruel and deceptive, offered her the only escape. Sex was the weapon. Money was the bait. Sanity was the vehicle. And someone had to suffer. Patricia s daughter Symphony finds that even she can t erase the melody of the madness as her past catches up to her, and everything she thought was real reveals its true identity. But is it too late? Miracle s Pain is part two of Secrets of my Soul, the novel that began this twisted tale of mystery; a trilogy that leads to A Promise Fulfilled.
Title: The Book of Lost Fragrances
Author: MJ Rose
Received: Lindsay @ Media Muscle
Synopsis: A Secret Worth Dying For …
Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by visions of the past, her earliest memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up with as the heir to a storied French perfume company. These worsened after her mother’s suicide until she finally found a doctor who helped her, teaching her to explore the mythological symbolism in her visions and thus lessen their painful impact. This ability led Jac to a wildly successful career as a mythologist, television personality and author.
When her brother, Robbie—who’s taken over the House of L’Etoile from their father—contacts Jac about a remarkable discovery in the family archives, she’s skeptical. But when Robbie goes missing before he can share the secret—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.
Traveling back to Paris to investigate Robbie’s disappearance, Jac discovers that the secret is a mysterious scent developed in Cleopatra’s time. Could the rumors swirling be true? Can this ancient perfume hold the power to unlock the ability to remember past lives and conclusively prove reincarnation? If this possession has the power to change the world, then it’s not only worth living for . . . it’s worth killing for, too.
The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion and suspense in an intoxicating web that moves from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. This marvelous, spellbinding novel mixes the sensory allure of Perfume with the heartbreaking beauty of The Time Traveler’s Wife, coming to life as richly as our most wildly imagined dreams.
