Synopsis

 

“Award-Winning Finalist in the Humor/Comedy/Satire category of the 2022 American Fiction Awards”

Inspired by real-life class-action lawyers, The Education of Ryan Coleman begins in a Texas courtroom, where an ambitious attorney from Philadelphia chases his share of a lawsuit and gets his ass reamed by the judge. During this “trial-by-fire,” Coleman meets Eugenia Cauley, a female legal shark whose life ends tragically, and Robert Smalley, a brilliant attorney and borderline criminal who boasts that “I have the greatest practice of law in the world. I have no clients.” Coleman enters a hedonistic world of wealth and power, and becomes an errand boy and fixer for Randy Hollis, an insanely successful lawyer who is trying to buy a professional football team. Patrick Coyle, a prosecutor with an old grudge, and Dick Dickey, former Secretary of Defense and CEO of a military contractor, try to ruin Hollis and Coleman. When an escort mysteriously dies in Hollis’ penthouse, Coleman must choose between telling the truth or going to jail. This satirical thriller reveals how our legal system enables lawyers to get filthy rich. As Mortimer Zuckerman, real estate magnate and media billionaire, once said, “Practicing law is the exact opposite of sex. Even when it’s good, it’s bad.”

 

 

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Praise

 

I laughed out loud at the salty wise cracks on most every page. But the lightning paced humor provides a serious message about corruption in class action litigation. This is a hilarious satire about a very real problem. —Matt Flynn, author, Milwaukee Jihad

Felgoise and Tabatsky take us on a wild ride into the intense and lucrative world of class action litigation. Sex, money and drugs are only part of the reward available for lawyers who are tough and crafty enough to play in a league where shameless greed is sometimes rewarded, but where the personal and professional risks are as big as the dollar signs. —James V. Irving, Bean, Kinney & Korman, P.C., author, of Friends Like These and the Joth Proctor Fixer novels

Filthy Rich Lawyers is expertly crafted and witty, which helps ‘the medicine go down’ as we follow Ryan Coleman, a naïve stooge, as he navigates his way through a craven, soulless world.—Rick Parks Professor, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California, co-writer, Ever After and The Secret: Dare to Dream

 

 

Review

 

If you always thought most lawyers were the bottom of a scummy barrel, well this book will just verify those beliefs. Ryan Coleman is trying to break into the world of class action lawsuits. It starts with a small interest in one case, but by the end, it has blown up into something much more. It also proves that some lawyers are only in it for the money, which is the direction Ryan seems to be headed.

I imagine most people have been part of some class action lawsuit. We have all gotten the cards in the mail for things like data breaches and the like. But when it comes down to it, because there are so many people involved, you are lucky to get $20. Yet, when you read the settlement and see how much the lawyers receive, it just doesn’t seem right. I learned a few facts in this book about how those expenses and such are inflated, which means even more money in the lawyer’s pockets when all is said and done. While the book made me squirm at times with the details, it was also an eye-opening read.

I can’t imagine being a part of this world, and Ryan is dazzled by the money and the opportunity to receive a lot of it. Any sort of morals he had went out the window once he began hanging out with two other class action lawyers, Robert Smalley and Eugenia (Gene) Cauley. I felt like Ryan was being sucked into a world that kept him blind to the truth, and perhaps those things he was asked to do weren’t totally on the up and up. The book also describes the excesses that these high-powered attorneys obtained from exotic cars, yachts, large homes, and even security teams to protect them. And the connections they made to get what they wanted in life or a case.

This was quite a fascinating read, and I am glad I am not a lawyer, especially one of this ilk. I think this would be an interesting read for anyone thinking about going into the law profession.

We give this book 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Authors

 

Brian M. Felgoise, Esq., is a graduate of Temple University Law School and has been practicing class-action law for more than 25 years, including cases where billions of dollars have been recovered for class members who lost a significant amount of money.

 

 

 

David Tabatsky has authored, co-authored, and edited many novels, including The Boy Behind the Door, Friends Like These, The Marijuana Project, The Battle of Zig Zag Pass, and Drunk Log. His memoir, American Misfit, was published in 2017. Tabatsky was consulting editor for Marlo Thomas and her New York Times bestseller, The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Camp Culprit: A Short Romantic Cozy Mystery
Cozy Mystery
Setting – Michigan
Independently Published (May 11, 2022)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 66 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Camp Starfall is closing. But that doesn’t mean the past is going with it.

 

Despite her misgivings, Lindsey returns to the campground she last left as a broken-hearted teen. She’s determined to spend Camp Starfall’s farewell weekend focusing on the good memories she has of her time as a camper. But fate has other plans.

Lindsey’s teenage sweetheart Tyler shows up, stirring up feelings in her that had long lain dormant. Too bad she doesn’t have time to dwell on him. Someone is breaking into the cabins, and if she doesn’t find the culprit, more than her heart will be at stake.

 

 

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Review

 

This mystery novella brings together characters with various motives, a mystery to solve, and even a little potential romance.

This group of former campers gathers for a final reunion before the camp is sold. It brings back memories for them, and for me, at least a little bit thinking back to my youth, but someone is skulking around the camp. What are they up to? Why are they searching the cabins? Lindsey pulls out her detective skills to uncover the culprit.

Because this book is short, there isn’t much time to build deeper characters or the crime. I have to admit I didn’t catch onto what was going on and what the person was looking for in the cabins. Once all was revealed, it made sense. The crime is minor; no one dies or is hurt.

There is a potential romance between Lindsey and Tyler, picking up where they left off years ago. It is a sweet romance and could grow into more outside of the camp.

The story has humor peppered throughout, and this was an enjoyable read. I wouldn’t mind seeing this turned into a longer book and a potential series.

We give it 3 1/2 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

C.K. Fyfe has always enjoyed a good mystery. Fyfe’s childhood love of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys led to a grown-up love of writing cozy mysteries with quirky, funny, and kindhearted characters. Fyfe lives in “The Wolverine State.” Much like wolverines, Fyfe’s villains have vicious dispositions, but the clever sleuths know how to tame their foes’ tempers.

 

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Synopsis

 

The world-class Port Huron-Mackinac sailboat race has just finished at Mackinac Island. As soon as the boats dock, the sailors head for the legendary Pink Pony. But the night takes a grisly turn, and Jimmy Lyons is found dead the next morning in the bar, strangled by a string of Christmas tree lights.

Murdo Halverson, a wealthy manufacturer from Detroit and Jimmy’s former partner, is arrested for the murder. It turns out that the free-spending Jimmy was broke. Each of his crew, including Murdo, had a reason to kill him. As did his wife, Jane.

Burr Lafayette, recently divorced and the deposed head of the litigation department of a major Detroit law firm, is recruited to defend Murdo. A man at loose ends, Burr is a brilliant litigator. But he’s not a criminal lawyer, and this looks like a losing case.

This is the first book in the Burr Lafayette mystery series.

 

 

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Review

 

This new mystery series is set on the historic Mackinac Island. It is famous for its fudge and the fact that there are no cars on the island – only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. However, that doesn’t stop someone from killing Jimmy Lyons, and the answer might surprise you.

Burr Lafayette is on vacation but is roped into helping his aunt’s friend’s son stay out of jail for supposedly killing someone. The evidence is sparse, yet the D.A. decides to prosecute, and the judge lets him. That was just bizarre, but I suppose that is how Burr will unravel the truth while defending his client with assistance from his staff.

I found this an intriguing tale and loved Zeke, the dog. There is also Zeke, the son, but he has a very minor role in this novel. I didn’t realize that this book was set in the past but wondered why there were no cell phones or other modern technology. I think I read in another review that it is supposed to be set in the 1980s, which is very possible.

Burr bumbles along in trying to uncover the true murderer since the police don’t seem to know what they are doing and the judge doesn’t help when Burr wants to seek out other potential killers. Of course, Burr doesn’t even practice criminal law yet decides to stick with it for the money, which he desperately needs since his office was just shut down because of the non-working elevator.

Several scenes cover a sailboat race; you will appreciate the finer details if you understand things like tacking. If not, just enjoy those scenes. The story does flip back and forth in time, which threw me off, but it was flashing back to this race that might have something to do with the murder.

This wasn’t a bad first installment in this series (and I assume there will be more to follow). The characters were interesting, and I found myself engaged in the plot, wondering if Murdo did kill Jimmy or if it was someone else. There were just too many possibilities.

We give this book 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Reviewers are calling Charles Cutter a master of the courtroom drama and the next Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason series. Although Mr. Cutter has years of legal experience, he is now a “recovering attorney” writing full-time. In addition to the Burr Lafayette series, he has written literary fiction, screenplays, short stories and a one-act play. He is currently working on the next book in the Burr Lafayette series. He lives in East Lansing, Michigan, with his wife, two dogs, and four cats. He has a leaky sailboat on Little Traverse Bay and a leakier duck boat on Saginaw Bay. His books are available on Amazon and at your local bookstore.

 

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Synopsis

 

An LA screenwriter is killed shortly after completing his latest script, FALL OUT – a thriller destined to be a blockbuster but written with a secret double purpose.  Echoing events from the past, the screenplay is sent to a very specific group of people and will change their lives forever.  All are connected to a movie that had abruptly stopped shooting in the jungles of the Philippines years before.  FALL OUT exposes the truth about a conspiracy and murder that led to a half-a-billion-dollar fortune for a select few.

Follow the story of Producer Marcus Riley, who sets out on an increasingly dangerous quest to get FALL OUT made.  From a powerful agent’s office in Hollywood, hidden treasures in Belgravia and a remote chalet in the Swiss Alps to murder at the Cannes Film Festival, Marcus teams up with designer Melinda (Mako) de Turris as they and the other recipients of the screenplay are pursued by an assassin from the past.

With clues cleverly concealed in the screenplay, Marcus and Mako unravel a lethal puzzle that for some will bring death, others the truth and ends in a cave with a shocking secret…

 

 

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Praise

 

“If you want a fast-paced stand out different thriller, I can’t recommend Fall Out enough. I loved it.” —Emma Forbes, broadcaster

“Amazing . . . I agree with all the other reviews that have stated if you like Dan Brown or James Patterson, then this book is for you.” —Joyful Antidotes

“And, action! Plenty of it and super nasty bad guys and stories so outrageously crazy they can only be true . . . Fall Out is inventive and, at times intentionally filmic . . . The fun doesn’t stop for 440 pages.” —Booksplainer

“A page-turning, jaw-dropping thriller of action and surprise. A riveting debut.” – Damien Lewis, international bestselling author

 

Review

 

Corruption, greed, deceit, lies, dreams, and death describe this novel to a T. This cast of characters has a secret they are hiding, or at least some of them are hiding one. The others are determined to uncover the mystery of why so many have died over the years.  It also gives us a look into the film industry, what goes into making a movie, and how those attributes could make or break a film and those involved.

The story jumps around a lot – from the past (1945 or so) to the 1970s to the present. It took me a while to get used to the jumping around and to understand the significance of the scenes from the 1940s since you truly don’t understand it until about 3/4 of the way through the book.

This is a fast-paced book with many plot lines and characters to keep up with. The book also shares some pages of a screenplay, but the significance will take some detective work to uncover the truth. I was surprised at some of the twists and turns the book took with the different characters, including those that were running for their lives. It is amazing how much deception there was from the various characters, and it seemed like anyone could be bought or paid off.

I did think that the book was about 75-100 pages too long. Others would probably disagree, but at times there was text that didn’t seem to add much to the storyline. I did enjoy the action and the fast-paced novel, and we give this book 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

“Fingers burnt, huh, playing with the big boys? You should have stayed on your side of the pond making Godfather knock-offs with a cockney accent.” The man extended his hand towards Marcus.

Straightening up to his full height, Marcus looked down at the outstretched hand.

“Do you validate?” he asked dropping his parking ticket into it.

As Marcus drove his cheap rental out through the wrought iron studio gates, he went over his options. There were few. The best seemed to be to get blind drunk. He was teetering at the tipping point; nearly broke, his judgement was suspect, and he’d just been dismissed by the entire Hollywood system. He pulled into a liquor store parking lot.

“A bottle of Chivas Legend Special Reserve,” he said, pointing at the most expensive whisky in the shop.

“Celebrating?” the girl smiled.

“Death of my career,” replied Marcus. “Just want to give it a good send-off.”

Two hours later he collapsed fully clothed onto the thin mattress of the bed of his motel room.

It was dark when he woke up with a hangover so bad his hair hurt. He sat up checked, his tousled brown locks in the mirror and pulled his long fingers down the sides of his cheeks. He stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelids, the green iris flecked with brown, but the whites of his eyes were bloodshot. Not a good look at twenty. Bad in your forties.

“Great career farewell,” he murmured.

He gulped down a glass of water and four Tylenol and picked up the phone to check his emails. A voice mail icon flashed reminding him of the badly timed call from that morning. He dialed to retrieve the message.

“Hi Marcus, Sam Wood here. Tough out here, eh? They tell me you not staying quite at five-star hotels these days,” said the broad Australian accent. “So, I am sending you my latest script…see what you think…. if it rings any bells, jogs any memories. Oh, and Balzac was right.”

Sam Wood. Marcus was in shock. At the very moment his world was collapsing around him, one of the most successful writers in Hollywood had sent him a screenplay. Sam was the last person on earth Marcus expected to hear from, let alone receive a script. Twenty years ago, he and Sam had been almost brothers, but on a typhoon-lashed movie set, their bond had been broken by death and violence. They had not spoken since.

He stood stock still for a moment trying to absorb the enormity of that call. A beat, then he rushed down the thinly carpeted hallway to the reception desk.

“You have anything for me?” he panted as he reached the reception desk.

The young girl on duty looked up startled by the tall disheveled Englishman.

“I’m sorry. No manners,” Marcus took a deep breath. “Please, did anything come for me by courier today, while I was…out?”

She handed over a manila envelope. “I knocked on your room, but you were…no answer…,” she trailed off as Marcus gave her his last twenty-dollar bill as a tip and ran back up the corridor.

Shutting the door, Marcus ripped open the envelope. Inside was a screenplay, titled FALL OUT, with a handwritten note attached.

Dear Marcus,

THE SECRET OF A GREAT SUCCESS FOR WHICH YOU ARE AT A LOSS TO ACCOUNT IS A CRIME THAT HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND OUT, BECAUSE IT WAS PROPERLY EXECUTED. –

Honoré de Balzac

You’ve got an eighteen-month free option.

Sam

An hour later and with shaking hands, Marcus put down the screenplay. His body was pumping pure adrenaline. FALL OUT was far and away the best thing the Australian had ever written. A gripping plot with box office smash written all over it. It was exactly what Marcus needed.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Mark Grenside, born and raised in London, began his working career straight out of school at Lloyds of London, specializing in Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion Insurance. At 25, it was time for a career change and to dump the suit and tie, so he started his media career working for Jim Henson and The Muppets©. From that moment on, he has been involved in Entertainment and nearly every aspect of it.

He went on to create and produce several television series and mini-series. At the same time, he started a music management company launching million seller artist Neneh Cherry.

In 2004 he arranged the US $250 million buy-out of the Hallmark Channel International, which was then successfully sold to NBC. He returned to producing a number of movies and mini-series.

He has recently morphed into a serial entrepreneur and is now a co-founder of seed to shelf CBD producer Dragonfly Biosciences (www.dragonflybiosciences.com) and a founder of two separate digital companies.

In addition to his love of cooking, an unhealthy amount of time and money is lavished on a collection of classic cars that he has raced all over the world. He enjoys risk and has parachuted in New Zealand, scuba-dived in the Pacific, hang-glided in the Himalayas and even tobogganed down the Cresta Run. In nearly every case chasing after his wife, who is utterly fearless!

He is now writing the follow-up to Fall Out, entitled The Bastion. In addition, he writes a humorous blog with subscribers in more than 40 countries.

He has two grown sons, two daughters’-in-law, three grandchildren and lives in Malta with his wife and two French bulldogs.

 

 

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PROMISE OF THE HEART

 

Author: Susan Berry

 

Pages: 203

 

Genre: Clean Romance

 

 

Synopsis

 

After a distasteful first meeting and a rocky start to their romance, Maggie Kinsley has been happily married to Desmond for the last eleven months. And although she was often alone when he traveled for business, she rather enjoyed how he passionately greeted her when returning home.

So when he received a letter naming him as executor of a property that belonged to a deceased family friend and had to leave for a few weeks, Maggie should have been content as she kissed him goodbye. But there was something about the whole thing that made her uneasy. Why was Desmond so evasive with her when she asked him about the previous owner. And why had he insisted she not tell anyone of his plans to stay on the property? Maggie soon found the answers to her questions were more than just a woman’s intuition, but rather something that not even her wildest, darkest fears could have foreseen.

“I so enjoyed the long-awaited final book to the trilogy the author so lovingly created. Maggie’s story has a wonderful ending, and she’ll be in my heart and mind for a long time.” – Amazon

 

 

Amazon

 

 

Excerpt

 

A shaking of the car startled her, as did the feeling of Desmond’s arms around her as he’d opened the door and lifted her from the seat. Now cradled in his embrace, she lost whatever control she had left. Her hands clenched the front of his shirt as she buried her head in the soft fabric. She wanted to crawl inside his skin. To get lost in the protection it offered. The warmth of his arms soon soothed her. When she loosened her grip on him, she realized he was crying too. She wiggled free and stood in front of him. With her open palm, she wiped his face, then kissed his lips. She lingered there for a moment, needing to ground herself to have any hope of gaining control over her own fractured emotions. Again, she put her hand to Desmond’s face, only this time she left it there. “Are you okay?”

 

 

 

 

 

Review

 

While billed as a clean romance (which it is), this felt like more of a romantic suspense novel.

This is a shorter book, but there is plenty of action within the pages. Maggie has some major issues going back to her childhood. I think that she would benefit from some therapy that I don’t think she ever received after witnessing her mother’s death as a child. Her sister, Jilly, doesn’t seem to have the same issues and is a major source of support for Maggie. Jilly can be a bit self-absorbed, and her timing is crazy since she keeps interrupting romantic moments between Maggie and her husband Desmond.

Desmond has some strange quirks about him. He is in his early 40’s while Maggie is 27, yet he tends to treat her as a child and not his equal partner. This can be seen when he makes decisions without talking them over with Maggie, especially when it affects her. But then, Maggie has her issues and doesn’t tell Desmond things about her past and other secrets that happen during the book. I don’t understand why she doesn’t trust him to understand her history or the current issues.

The suspense portion comes from an unknown person (initially) causing issues at a winery that Desmond inherited. We find out that this person thinks that they are the heir and is searching for the proof that he thinks is hidden on the property. I found this portion interesting leading up to the revelation of who this person was and what they were doing. I wondered if Mateo, an employee of the vineyard, had anything to do with the strange events.

Overall, this is a fast read. I did find Maggie annoying, and she was not my favorite character. This is apparently the third book in this series and reading the information about the first two books leads me to believe that this is a series to read in order to truly understand Maggie and what she is going through. Perhaps I wouldn’t have found her so annoying had I read the first two books…one will never know!

We give this book 3 1/2 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Since Susan Berry was a young girl, she loved to write. Her imagination was filled with stories that she couldn’t write down fast enough. But it wasn’t until her grandmother had given her a Harlequin romance novel to occupy her time on a long, boring car ride that she fell in love with reading romance. The excitement of the characters first meeting and the dance of the heart that followed left Susan frantically turning pages. From that day on, Susan spent her free time with her beloved grandmother, reading the latest novels they’d retrieved from a used book store or the local second-hand shop. That reading eventually turned into the writing of her own romance novels. Novels filled with characters who have not yet found love but eventually find a way to overcome romantic troubles with humor, wit, and the consumption of lots and lots of chocolate.

Susan’s latest book is the clean romance suspense, Promise of the Heart.

 

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Synopsis

 

What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas, when one night out turns into a wedding that neither newlywed can remember, from New York Times bestselling author Jaci Burton.

Wedding planner Honor Bellini is in Las Vegas for a work convention when she runs into her sister’s ex-fiance, Owen Stone, who’s also in town for his craft brewery business. They’re both glad to see a familiar face from home…until a night of drinking leads to waking up in bed together–and a marriage certificate from a wedding that neither of them can recall.

Horrified, Owen suggests an immediate annulment. Honor agrees, but when they spend the day together, their chemistry is overwhelming. Plus, Honor has a flash of memory of their steamy wedding night, and she definitely likes what she remembers. They decide to wait before canceling the whole marriage thing, though they both head back to Oklahoma determined not to tell anyone at home what happened in Vegas.

The problem is, Honor and Owen can’t seem to stay away from each other–or keep their hands off one another. The longer they keep their secret, the harder it gets to deny how they really feel. Even worse, this huge secret has the potential to hurt someone they both care about. They need to get an annulment before this accidental marriage turns into love.

 

 

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Review

 

This is the first book in this series that I have read and now I’m curious about the previous two and will have to go back and check them out. This light-hearted romance was filled with steamy scenes, family drama, and witty comments.

Honor and Owen have known each other for quite some time so it wasn’t unusual for them to hang out in Vegas when they realized they were both there. What they didn’t expect was to get married, but that is what too much tequila will do to you. Even though they can’t remember the ceremony, they both think that maybe something is there between them. Is it chemistry? Lust? Only time will tell.

We’ve all heard about people that get married in Vegas by mistake…well maybe not a mistake, but it is a drunken event and you have to wonder why they allow people to get marriage licenses if they are intoxicated? They did, and now they have to figure out how to handle everything because Owen was previously engaged to Honor’s sister, Erin, which could make for a sticky situation even though Erin was happily married now.

Honor and Owen do have chemistry so it begs the question, why are they trying to get an annulment or divorce? Wouldn’t it be better to try dating since they have hot for one another? Or maybe it is more fun sneaking around and not letting everyone know what happened until much later.

There are some family dynamics that come into play once the truth is out there which causes people to take sides. It is one hot mess and it takes some time and conversations between Owen and Honor to realize they should maybe stay together.

And let’s not forget the rescue dog! Dogs always make a story better.

We give this book 3 1/2 paws up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Jaci Burton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Brotherhood by Fire series, the Hope series, and the Play-by-Play novels.

 

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Synopsis

 

Introducing a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century: a new amateur sleuth exploring the landscape—both physical and virtual—of New York in a debut novel about love, technology, and murder.

Claudia Lin is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she’s just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she’s landed her ideal job. But when a client goes missing, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.

 

 

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Review

 

I do love a good mystery and this one intrigued me with the premise of a dating verification business and a young woman that loves solving mysteries and tends to think of two Chinese detectives and what they might do to solve the case. But this book was more than a mystery of who killed one of their clients, it is also about family and Claudia working to find her true self and what she wants from life despite any pressures from her brother or mother.

The mystery is one that is not easily solved as Claudia discovers. She may think she can follow the clues, but it might put her in harm’s way when everything is said and done. However, I admired her persistence realizing that something wasn’t quite right when it came to the death of their client.

Beyond the crime, there is also family drama when it comes to Claudia’s family. Her sister is very self-absorbed and thinks that her boyfriend is cheating on her, her brother is a workaholic, and she may be her mother’s favorite, but that is not without a price when it comes to her siblings. I found the family dynamics interesting because everyone is flawed but it seems to work for them. I am glad that Claudia was finally able to tell her mother that she was not going to marry a nice Chinese boy and that she preferred women. Her mom’s response was priceless, “two out of three.” It was her way of accepting her preferences but still being a mom wanting only the best for her.

This was an interesting story but I felt that at times the pace slowed and it seemed to get off track. There wasn’t any way to solve the mystery since there are no real clues to point us in the right direction. I did think that the dating verification business was intriguing and in today’s world is something that is needed considering the number of strange people out there and you never know who you are going to meet.

We give it 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

I was born and grew up in Singapore, and now live in New York. I have a BA in History from Yale University, a JD from the New York University School of Law, and an MFA from Brooklyn College.

My short fiction has been anthologised in The Best American Short Stories. My debut novel The Verifiers is forthcoming from Vintage/Knopf in February 2022.

During the day, and sometimes night, I work as a lawyer at a global investment company.

Some of the things I’m into: picking up different martial arts, reading coming-of-age novels, watching contemporary theatre, and cycling around the city in search of superlative almond croissants.

 

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Synopsis

 

From the bestselling author of When All is Said comes a delicious new novel about a young woman who can hear the dead – a talent which is both a gift and a curse.

Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the last words of the dead.

Passed down from generation to generation, this gift means she is able to make wrongs right, to give voice to unspoken love and dying regrets. She and her father have worked happily alongside each other for years, but now he’s unexpectedly announced that he wants to retire early and leave the business to her and her life is called into question.

Does she really want to be married to the embalmer, or does she want to be with her childhood sweetheart, off in London? Does she want to have children, and pass this gift on to them? And does she want to be stuck in this small town, or is there more of the world she wants to see – like the South of France, where she’s discovered a woman who shares her gift?

Tied to her home by this unusual talent, she begins to question: what if what she’s always thought of as a gift is a curse?

 

 

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Review

 

The premise of this book sounded fascinating, those that could talk to the dead even only for a short time before they moved on to the other world or wherever someone goes when they die. But this book is a bit more than that, it is how it impacts those that can hear the dead and their family. It is also about finding love and setting it free and then losing it when you least expect it to happen.

Jeanie has had the ability to hear the dead since she was a young girl and this is a blessing and a curse because she finds herself tied to her small town in Ireland despite wanting to see the world. Is it duty that holds her back or her own fears? Her mother encourages her to go off to the University and find a passion, and the love of her life moves to London and wants her to join him. Essentially, it is fear of the unknown that holds her back and turns her life in a direction that maybe isn’t the best choice for her. She does marry a childhood friend, but is it the same love she feels for the one she lost to London?

I was hoping to hear more stories from the dead, but the ones that are shared are intriguing and it explains so much when other facts are revealed down the road regarding her father and her aunt.

The road is bumpy for all of the characters as they endure life from childhood forward. Jeanie has to deal with bullying from classmates, a business thrust upon her without consulting her, and a rocky relationship with her husband, Niall. Jeanie’s brother, Mikey, is on the spectrum and has his quirks about him and he reminds me of some others that I know that are focused on a few things in life and are steadfast in their dislikes. I don’t feel like all of the characters were fully developed and felt somewhat shallow.

This book has some witty moments and others that you might relate to in your own life. I think the biggest turning point for Jeanie was with an event regarding the childhood sweetheart. This was the pivotal point for her and she did step up and make some big decisions.

The ending isn’t quite wrapped up but you can surmise what happens and it really isn’t a huge surprise as you read about the struggles of some of the characters.

Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

AI was born in Dublin in 1969. I received a BA in History from UCD. Over the following eight years, I worked for Waterstones in Dublin and London. I left the bookselling trade to undertake a Post Graduate Diploma in Community and Youth Work in Maynooth University. I have worked with various charities over the last twenty years including Women’s Aid, Youth Work Ireland, and the Dyslexia Association of Ireland.

I began writing in 2013, and in 2015 undertook an MA in Creative Writing in UCD studying under James Ryan, Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, Frank McGuinness, Lia Mills, Paul Perry and Anne Enright.

I have been shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award with my short story ‘Grace’, the Sunday Business Post Short Story Award for ‘Some Tiny Clue’, and the Benedict Kiely Competition with ‘Mr. Henry’. My short stories have also been published in The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, Crannóg, The Lonely Crowd, Ogham Stone, The Incubator, The Weekend Read For Books’ Sake, and Bunker, a collection of short stories published by Cork County Libraries. In 2017, I received the John McGahern Award for Literature from Roscommon County Council in recognition of my short story work and in support of my endeavours to complete my first book.

My debut novel  ‘When All Is Said’ was published in 2019 and received the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Irish Book Awards. It is translated into twenty foreign languages. My second novel, Listening Still, was published in April 2021 and is available in the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, and will be published in the US and Canada in March 2022.

I am grateful for the arts grants I have received from Westmeath County Council in 2017 and the bursary in literature from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2020.

 

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Synopsis

 

The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant’s delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family’s secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last.

Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead—presumed murdered—and his sons find they’ve drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant’s reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens—and the family dog meets an unexpected fate—Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father’s outsized appetites and their own future survival.

Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.

 

 

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Review

 

I have mixed emotions about this book. It started off slow but then started getting interesting especially when Leo Chao is found dead. Couldn’t have happened to a “nicer” fellow. Actually, he was quite a narcissist and the town was truly better off without him. Anyway, the mystery portion is probably tied to how he could have died; was it an accident, or was it murder? I did find this quote described Leo quite well:

 

Your father was the consummate American id, an insatiable narcissist, a shameless capitalist who wanted to screw everyone.

 

This family was quite dysfunctional and I wasn’t sure I liked many of the characters. James was probably my favorite character of them all with Ming not too far behind. They weren’t without their own faults and issues, but they seemed a bit more normal compared to the rest of the family.

This town in Wisconsin has racist issues especially toward those of Asian descent. There are countless mentions of bullying of the boys when in school and even as adults, there is a scene that could be considered bullying if what was said is true. I don’t want to give away too much so you’ll have to read the book.

Dagou, the oldest son, only wants what is due to him based on his father’s promises when he came back to help run the restaurant. But considering Leo’s character and other comments he makes at the beginning, it is easy to see why he wasn’t liked and why Dagou was doing what he could to get what rightfully his, at least in his eyes.

Katherine is of Chinese descent but was adopted and raised by a white family. She tries to find a tie to her cultural background through Dagou and his family. While I think it is noble that she is searching for roots and where she fits in, I think she was trying too hard and needed to find a balance between her ethnicity and her adopted family.

There is a scene at the beginning where James helps an older man try and find his family but the man dies before they can get on the train. James ends up with this man’s bag but it just seems to go missing in the story until about 2/3 of the way into the book. There are brief mentions here and there, but I kept wondering what happened to that bag considering the hints that are shared tied to the contents.

The characters deal with trust, loyalty, mental illness, love, and loss throughout the book. There are reflections on racism, immigration, and cultural differences that we can all learn a little something from the topics.

Overall, we give this 3 1/2 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Lan Samantha Chang was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, and attended college at Yale where she earned her bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies. She worked in publishing in New York City briefly before getting her MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was a Wallace E. Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford. She is currently the Elizabeth M. Stanley Professor in the Arts at the University of Iowa and the Director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the first woman, and the first Asian American, to hold that position.

Chang’s first book is a novella and short stories, titled Hunger (1998). The stories are set in the US and China, and they explore home, family, and loss. The New York Times Book Review called it “Elegant.… A delicately calculated balance sheet of the losses and gains of immigrants whose lives are stretched between two radically different cultures.” The Washington Post called it “A work of gorgeous, enduring prose.” Her first novel, Inheritance (2004), is about a family torn apart by the Japanese invasion during World War II. The Boston Globe said: “The story…is foreign in its historical sweep and social detail but universal in its emotional truth.” Chang’s latest novel, All Is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost (2011), follows two poets and their friendship as they explore the depths and costs of making art. The book received a starred review from Booklist and praise: “Among the many threads Chang elegantly pursues—the fraught relationships between mentors and students, the value of poetry, the price of ambition—it is her indelible portrait of the loneliness of artistic endeavor that will haunt readers the most in this exquisitely written novel about the poet’s lot.” Chang’s fourth book and third novel, The Family Chao, is forthcoming in 2022.

Chang has received fellowships from MacDowell, the American Library in Paris, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

As the fifth director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Chang has been fundamental to the increase of racial, cultural, and aesthetic diversity within the program, and has mentored a number of emerging writers. In 2019, she received the Michael J. Brody Award and the Regents’ Award for Excellence from the University of Iowa.

 

Website

 

 

Synopsis

 

What holds more secrets in the library: the ancient books shelved in the stacks or the people who preserve them?

Liesl Weiss has been (mostly) happy working in the rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she’s left to run things, she discovers that the library’s most prized manuscript is missing.

Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book but is told repeatedly to keep quiet to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian goes missing as well. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues’ pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long—and about the people who preserve and revere them—shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life.

 

 

This book releases on January 25, 2022

 

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Review

 

As a book lover, I have always known about rare books and special collections that are held by most university libraries and other libraries, not including what is held by private collectors. It is amazing to think about how these books impacted the world around them when books were rare. It took a lot to print a book, much more than we see today.

Liesl is called in to temporarily run the library at her university when the current department head ends up in the hospital. What she, or anyone else for that matter, expects is to find that several books have gone missing including a recent acquisition. What ensues is a twisted road of clues and the end result was a bit surprising but not too surprising once the pieces fell into place.

I will admit that I didn’t care much for Liesl. She does not come across as a strong and capable woman that was second in charge of this library. She had her strengths, but she didn’t seem to think many things through that she wanted to do, like call the police when the book was discovered missing. The university president had told her to not involve them only because he was concerned about perception and what the donors would think. However, she kept insisting at every turn and while I understood why she wanted to involve the police, she had been expressly told to not contact them so why did she keep bringing it up? She has quite an interesting past too as we find out near the end of the book. It was something of a surprise.

I thought that this book gave the reader a good insight into libraries and the lengths they go to when acquiring new pieces and dealing with donors. I was surprised at how little the characters seemed to talk to each other in this book. Not even Liesl and her husband, John, seemed to talk to each other and Liesl fueled her unhappiness with alcohol. There were conversations but they seemed shallow and flat. This book does contain a mystery but it doesn’t really pick up until about the 75-80% mark. Then the last part of the book flows quickly and smoothly.

Overall this was a fascinating book but it seemed to move at a slower pace until the end. We give it 3 1/2 paws up.