A great valentine's read

Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing. She has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley.
Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing,  it she has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.
Published in Friends of the Rochester Public Library Wordpress blog, celtreads.blogspot, Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

Valentine approaches. It is a time of gift giving, to express our love with personal presents. Books are ALWAYS appropriate, especially this one. I have read all of Jio's previous novels, recommended them to many people, and included one as a book club pick as I have never been disappointed. Her books are charming, gentle, thought provoking reads. They often provide you with an intense sense of time and place with fascinating i depth characterization and wonderfully descriptive layered stories. They are all great escapism reads too, to continue my 2017 theme. I opened this book with high expectations and great anticipation.

Title Always by Sarah Jio
Publisher Random House (Ballantine Books)  February 2017 288 pp
Genre women's literature, fiction, romance, chick lit, contemporary romance
4.5 stars
Author
Sarah Jio is an international bestselling, award winning author of 8 books. She also is a contributing journalist to u droid publications including the New York Times, O, Glamour, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPRs Morning Edition.  She lives in Seattle and knows the city well. I know little about the music scene in Seattle, but her research is generally impeccable, and she writes hauntingly beautiful prose.
I was originally giving this 4 stars, but having read her recent columns for my background research, I was ready to give her five full stars for her continued faith in love. My cynicism is showing,  it she has my admiration. I have no doubt she is raising the future Prince Charmings in her three sons.
Story line
I was immediately transported to Seattle, present and past (1996) as the story alternates between these two time frames. Kailey, a newspaper journalist with a promising career is newly engaged to a seemingly perfect businessman, Ryan, who adores her. However, she will always remember her first, true love, Cade. Then she unexpectedly meets him and has to uncover his story. This provides an interesting social awareness backstory of homelessness. There is a powerful mix of heartbreak and hope. It's an emotional tangle with two good men and impossible choices. There is good pacing, with an element of suspense and good character development. Yes, you can predict the ending, and it's a little too perfect, but sometimes suspending reality feels lovely. Love is rarely simple, and it's always worth fighting for. The greater good  humanitarianism, has never been more important.  It was a fast read (my kindle said two hours). I'm expecting Tom Hanks in the title role.
Spoiler: With each new political appointee I wanted her to marry the rich guy and buy the right people, not move to France.
Read on
Especially her debut The Violets of March and The Last  Camellia
Lisa Kleypas, Debbie Macomber, Georgette Heyer, Sophie Kinsella
Quotes
To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.
It’s true. I’ve long since stopped feeling the ache in my heart that I lived with for so long. I may not have had closure, but I have tasted wisdom.
I know that all I want, for the rest of my life, is this. All I want is this love. I want it every day. I want it morning and night. I want to breathe it in. I want to drown in it. And it strikes me how wonderful and tragic it is that in a sea of people just one can reach you so deeply.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.
Published in Friends of the Rochester Public Library Wordpress blog, celtreads.blogspot, Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

It's Always Sherlock Season

It's (Always) Sherlock Season!
I have many favourite Sherlocks: literary, media, old and new, not the least being Cumberbatch, who I sincerely hope plays Mr Holmes, husband of Mary Russell, as written by Laurie King. The original Sherlock Holmes, the fictional English detective extraordinaire, was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887 (A Study in Scarlet) and has never died. This legendary figure lives on in current literature, television and movies. I have especially liked many of the modern takes, including the short stories of King and Klinger. Each collection has had spectacular tales by some of the best writers of our time: (King, Klinger, Connolly, Bradley, Gaiman, ...) Indeed, each volume I couldn't wait to see who wrote another installment! Every volume has a fascinating, charming, unsettling story for everyone, so don't miss them.

Title: Echoes of Sherlock eds Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
Publisher:
Genre: mystery, thriller fiction, series, short stories,
5+ stars
Authors:
Laurie R King is a best selling author of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, SanFran homicide inspector Kate Martinelli mysteries, as well as highly recommended stand alone suspense novels. She has been nominated for and won many awards for her writing, (including a Nero for A Monstrous Regiment of Women, (Russell/Sherlock) and a MacCavity for Touchstone, one of my favourite mysteries). Recently, she was awarded an Agatha for best historical 2015 Dreaming Spies! The first Russell/Sherlock is The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994).
Leslie Klinger is an American attorney and writer AND an eminent literary editor and annotator, particularly of the Sherlock Holmes Canon. His New Annotated Sherlock Holmes won an Edgar (the annual Edgar Allan Poe awards). Both King and Klinger are Baker Street Irregulars. They have edited three collections of stories inspired by the canon. The previous book in this series  In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Tales Inspired by the Holmes Canon, won both the Anthony and the Silver Falchion awards for “Best Anthology”.
Story line:
This is the third editorial collaboration of Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger of newly commissioned tales from somewhere in the Sherlock Holmes tradition or canon. Like the previous collections, A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, this edition has 18 short stories, memorable, wonderful, intriguing and suspenseful. There are two that didn't appeal to me but most have widely different takes, so I would recommend reading one or two an evening, savouring each gem. Too many at once dims the appreciation of these unique stories. Enjoy the different takes in Victorian life, fresh imagination, reflections of current Holmes/Watson (PSTD) with complex cases and nasty villains.  They all pale in comparison to John Connolly's (soon to be award winning!) contribution. I have absolute favourites in each of these three volumes and would love to have them in a best of volume! My top three would be Connolly, Alexander, Perry, followed closely by David Morrell, Dana Cameron. Indeed I will be reading more of some of these authors. Several left me wanting to turn the page for continued story. Continue the anthology please! Keep the new stories and varied authors coming. I had no idea so many people would like to try their hand at Holmes.
Read on
A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon.
Caleb Carr The Italian Secretary
Anthony Horowitz The House of Silk, Moriarity
Laurie R King Mary Russell series
Alan Bradley Flavia deLuce series
Jasper Fforyde Eyre Affair Tuesday Next series
Quotes:
All of which only goes to prove that when one is dealing with Sherlock Holmes, a man “who never lived and so can never die,” physics goes out the window.
Holmes on The Range by John Connolly is both my favourite and the best of this collection. It extends his Edgar award winning novella The Caxton Private Lending Library 2014 in Night Music. Don't forget to read his first set of unsettling supernatural short stories Nocturne.
The history of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository has not been entirely without incident, as befits an institution of seemingly infinite space inhabited largely by fictional characters who have found their way into the physical realm.
Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository was established as a kind of rest home for the great, the good and, occasionally, the not-so-good-but-definitely-memorable, of literature, all supported by rounding up the prices on books by a ha’penny a time.
“I don’t profess to be an expert in every field,” he replied. “I have little interest in literature, philosophy, or astronomy, and a negligible regard for the political sphere. I remain confident in the fields of chemistry and the anatomical sciences, and, as you have pointed out, can hold my own in geology and botany, with particular reference to poisons.”
“It’s not the way I was written. I’m written as a criminal mastermind who comes up with baroque, fiendish plots. It’s against my nature even to walk down the street in a straight line.
Believe me, I’ve tried. I have to duck and dive so much that I get dizzy.”
“By the way, is my archnemesis here?” asked Holmes. “I’m not expecting him,” said Mr. Headley. “You know, he never seemed entirely real.”
He then returned to the bowels—or attic—of the library, and found that it had begun to create suitable living quarters for Holmes and Watson based on Paget’s illustrations, and Watson’s descriptions, of the rooms at 221B Baker Street.
The Spiritualist by David Morrell (where Conan Doyle gets a ghostly visit from Holmes full of family history)
“But the great actor, William Gillette, used it as a prop when he portrayed me on stage. It looks more dramatic than an ordinary straight pipe.
Raffa by Anne Perry is a lovely, charming tale of a 9 year old who needs Sherlock.
He drew in his breath to try to explain to her that he was Marcus St. Giles, playing Sherlock Holmes on television.
Her wide blue eyes did not waver from his. The trust in them was terrifying. Was the real Sherlock Holmes ever faced with . . . but now he was being idiotic.
There was no ‘real’ Sherlock Holmes! “That sounds about right,”
“The things we love matter, whatever they are,”
“I think you are a lot nicer for real than you are in the stories that Dr Watson writes about you.”
The Crown Jewel Affair by Michael Scott
This once-elegant street was now the cancer at the heart of Dublin, the second city of the British Empire. Crime, perversion and disease were rampant and it was ruled by a series of terrifying women:...
“Mr. Corcoran, there are more whores in this city than in London and Manchester combined. That is because we are a garrison city, a port city. We have English regiments training in the Royal Barracks and on the Curragh, and the quays are busy with British warships and merchantmen from around the world. All those soldiers and sailors are looking for relief.
The Case of The Speckled Trout by Deborah Crombie
I’d never been north of the Border, so as the train gathered speed out of Edinburgh’s Waverly Station I looked out the window with interest.
While I was trying to decide whether I had sold myself into Dickensian slavery—or was destined to be a Scottish Jane Eyre, stuck on the moor with a dour master and a mad wife—the road ran downhill and we were again in the land of green glens and burbling streams
Cooking, it turned out, was only chemistry.
The Adventure of The Empty Grave by Jonathan Maberry (Watson meets Dupin, the first fictional detective of EA Poe)
Dupin was clearly possessed some of the same intellectual qualities as my late friend, but he also had a fair few of the less appealing habits that apparently are part and parcel. Superiority and condescension, not the least.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.

We're Not Dead Yet

I am reading a lot of escapism now in the wake of the new president. January devoured 40 books in mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, children's and much non fiction. Mysteries are great fun, especially by known authors. I have many favourites and always look for their new releases. A fan of Thomas Perry, I have recommended his stories since his debut Edgar award winning novel The Butcher's Boy (1982). Metzer's Dog followed and then I loved the Jane Whitefield series. I own most, have read them all, given several away multiple times. I have recommended several of his later mysteries on this blog. I am just delighted to report that his latest novel is fantastic. I read this immensely satisfying tale straight through.

Title: The Old Man by Thomas Perry
Publisher: Mysterious Press January 2017, 352 pp
Genre: mystery, thriller, espionage, suspense.          5 stars *****
Author: Thomas Perry (b 1947) has a phd in English literature (and as they often do, lists employment as laborer, fisherman, maintenance, weapons mechanic, university administrator and teacher. But then it gets interesting with writer, television producer and writer, including Simon and Simon. 21 Jump Street and Star Trek, the Next Generation.) He is an award winning author, having written 24 suspense novels, notably The Butcher's Boy (series), Metzer's Dog and the Jane Whitefield series. Recently he has been writing stand alone mysteries/thrillers, although with this novel, I am sincerely hoping he will start a new series.
Story line: This is a dark tale of a former army special ops, who has lived quietly in Vermont for many years, raised a family, while always on alert. And they did come for him. Not just the Libyans, but our own government, in an all too possible scenario. He stays one step ahead of them using his planning, discipline, intelligence and competence.
Dan Chase (aka Peter, Harry, Bill...don't get used to the name) is a very young "old" man (60 retired widower). 60 is the new 30? Actually I am just fine with that this birthday year!
I particularly liked Julian Carson a conflicted field officer and a great pair of trained dogs, Dave and Carol. I wanted more from the ending, and a few things didn't add up for me, especially the female character. But it was fast paced and clever with several unexpected twists. Given his hiding in plain sight, I expected to see Jane Whitefield too!
Perry has addictive writing, sharp, engaging, tight multi layered plot, with interesting characters.  I thought this book was a return to his previous stellar works, although all are worth reading.  I would love to see Dan/Bill become a series, would like to believe we have such individuals in the world. As well as have an older hero, whose maturity provides wisdom (and answers). This is great escape reading, perfect for your winter vacation; it also works to avoid winter cabin blues, with the rollercoaster ride providing adrenaline rushes.
Read on: if you like John LeCarre, Geoffrey Household, Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne
John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series
Quotes: The predicament he had created for himself when he was young had made him aware that life was precious.
Curiosity is a sign of a lively mind. That’s the only kind worth having.
Julian kept walking. He had warned his superior officers. He had told them a couple of times that the old man wasn’t just an old man, like somebody’s uncle.
He was old in the way a seven-foot rattlesnake was old.

Received as an ARC ebook from Netgalley, as well as purchased hardcover.