Today I am reading The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly for my book club. We are meeting on Sunday and watching the movie and discussing the book…nothing like waiting until the last minute to read the book, right?!
So something I just learned by looking at the author’s website….there are several books with the same character – Mickey Haller. I didn’t know this was a series….guess I’ll be picking up the rest to read at some time in the near future because I know I have had a hard time putting this book down to do work or go to sleep at night!
Synopsis from the dust jacket:
Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn’t recognize innocence if it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.
Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers – they’re all on Mickey Haller’s client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence – it’s about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it’s even about justice.
A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high paying client in years. It is a defense attorney’s dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career.
Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face to face with evil as purse as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal – this time to save his own life.
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
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Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers
The book I’m reading is one that I mentioned last week (but just not getting around to starting) Pleating for Mercy by Melissa Bourbon. So far the book is a good one!
pg 112
“Whoa. I’m not a plumber, I’m a – “ The pipes moaned again, louder this time.
I like to read books by first time authors and especially when that author is a sorority sister! It just seems like there is something special reading a book by someone that has a connection to you in one way or another.
Ellen Cardona wrote Brownie Fix to help deal with the postpartum depression she experienced after one of her pregnancies. Through her writing, she found that postpartum depression was real but conquerable, especially when one has the help of some dark chocolate and even darker humor. When Ellen is not writing, she teaches literature to college freshmen and attempts to help them understand the writing process, though they think she’s crazy because of her love for literature and writing. She graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a PhD in Humanities with a specialization in Literature. Even though she has published several academic works on Ezra Pound, she could not ignore her true passion as a fiction writer. Ellen lives in Richardson, Texas and continues to learn daily from her husband and two children. In good times and bad, she still enjoys her brownies.
I was also able to interview Ellen to see how she felt about being a published author!
SBR: Since this is your first book, how does it feel to be published?
EC: It feels like I’m finally doing what I am supposed be doing, writing. It’s scary to release a book out to the public because some people will like it and some will not, but I can’t imagine not taking that step and releasing it. I don’t want to the play the “What if” game. Writing and now publishing feels right.
SBR: How long did it take to write your book and then get it published?
EC: It took me three years to write this book, and it took me a year to find a publisher, and then another year to “let her go”. Never in my life did I think I would self-publish because two years ago, it was looked down upon. All of sudden, when I signed the contract with my publisher, ebooks took off and writers started to self-publish. Even agents started their own publishing houses with ebooks and paperbacks. Never say never, but I don’t think I’ll ever sign with a publisher again. Iplan to self0publish all my books now, and I am very excited about this opportunity.
SBR: Do you have another book in the works?
EC: Yes, I have to plish it and then have my “test” readers go over it for any weird plot and grammar issues. I plan to release it next year. It’s called The Return of Raven and it is the first book in the Triology of Raven. The Return of Raven is about the birth of a goddess, who has long been forgotten, and how she comes to terms with who she is and her fate. Set in today’s time, it’s a coming of age story, except she becomes a goddess. Add a love triangel with ahunky guy and battle of good vs. evil, and I have a fun, fun story and trilogy. I can’t wait for The Return of Raven to be released to the public.
SBR: Tell us why we should read your book in 1 -2 sentences.
EC:Brownie Fix is a story about postpartum depression mixed with chocolate and some dark humor. It’s a bit offensive and funny, but there is a common thread that many women can relate to: how hard it is to find yourself again, your true self, when you’ve lost it or really never even known who you were in the first place.
SBR: Who is your favorite author and why? And from that author, what is your favorite book?
EC: Hard Question. My favorite modern author is Stephen King and his book, The Shining. It’s the scariest book I have ever read. I have to add a book that is the basis for my writing: Virgil’s Aeneid. The Aeneid, which I had to translate with much grumbling from Latin to English in high school, showed me how literature is put together with rhythm. I think that’s where I learned how to write with rhythm and develop my voice. The mythology in the book is the cornerstone for the books I write. The characters in the Trilogy of Raven are based on Greek gods, and the characters in Brownie Fix are based on Greek and Roman gods. Can you find them? (SBR – I found at least 1!)
SBR: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
EC: Chocolate chip cookie dough. I’m a digger for the cookie dough. Don’t give me a gallon of that ice cream because I will stand over it and spend all my time digging, and there will be nothing left except vanilla ice cream and big holes.
SBR: What do you do in your free time?
EC: I’m a runner an da cyclist. Right now, I’m training for a marthon, and I’m coaching a running class, which is so much fun. I also ride a tandem, a bicycle built for two, with my husband. Believe me, it takes communication skills to ride that tandem, and we go very fast. Also, I spend my time in the evening as a chauffeur for my children.
Synopsis:
Chocolate. Love. Sex. Really, what else could a woman want in life? For Persey, the heroine of Brownie Fix, her days are fun-filled until what is normally one of life’s most fulfilling experiences, the birth of her son, leads her straight into a dark state of postpartum depression.
Wandering in her own postpartum hell, Persey meets people that are absurd, like the swinging neighbors who want a little more than a cup of sugar and a group of mothers who become whipped up in worship to a climactic furor. On top of the madness, she keeps seeing a yellow-toothed old man who acts like he wants to breastfeed from her. Or is it her imagination? Add the voices in her head that become louder and louder, and it’s little wonder that Persey reaches for brownie mix to soothe her insanity.
Buckling under the pressure and lack of sleep from motherhood, Persey experiences the five stages of grief that lead her to uncover a buried secret, and gradually she begins to heal with the help of her family, friends, and, of course, brownies.
My Review:
I don’t think I realized when I first started this book that the main character was suffering from postpartum depression. I noticed it was very dark pretty quickly, but that didn’t stop me from becoming engrossed in the storyline right off the bat! I started the book with the intentions of just getting a quick peek since I needed to finish another book first…well about 4 chapters later I put it down! There are many times during the book that I just wanted to shake Persey and tell her to go get help! That she was depressed and what she was feeling was normal but not normal. But I like a book that engages the reader with the characters and can put themselves in the character’s shoes or related to them somehow.
Overall I’d give the book 3 1/2 stars and definitely recommend it to everyone!
There are various blogs I like to read and get suggestions of books to read…sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes this is a bad thing. Actually the only reason why it is bad is because my TBR list grows by leaps and bounds and from when I used to have maybe 25 books I now have around 400 books plus about 200 e-books on my Kindle and about 400 e-books on my Sony E-Reader. I’m not sure when I will get through all of these! But I am finding new authors and genres that grab my attention.
While visiting one of the said blogs I saw this question and it made me think about what my answer would be and I’m not sure that I have a single answer!
The Question: Do you have a Book Soul-Mate? Who is it and why?
Recently in my mailbox, this book showed up: Pleating for Mercy by Melissa Bourbon (aka Misa Ramirez) which is the first in the Magical Dressmaking Mystery series. I haven’t cracked the spine yet but here is a synopsis of the book for you. Maybe it will whet your appetite and you will want to get your own copy!
When her great-grandmother passes away, Harlow Jane Cassidy leaves her job as a Manhattan fashion designer and moves back to Bliss, Texas. But soon after she opens Buttons & Bows, a custom dressmaking boutique in the turn-of-the-century farmhouse she inherited, Harlow begins to feel an inexplicable presence…
One of her first clients is her old friend Josie, who needs a gown for her upcoming wedding. But when Josie’s boss turns up dead, it starts to look as if the bride-to-be may be wearing handcuffs instead of a veil. Suddenly Josie needs a lot more from Harlow than hemming a dress. Can Harlow find the real killer—with a little help from beyond?
Thank you for visiting my blog and signing up for the Back to the Books Blog Hop! Since we did get 60 people in the contest I am going to add 2 books, 1 for every 10. Now I have no idea what the other 2 will be and will have to peruse my stacks of books at home but I’m sure it will be something good.
Here are the winners (in no particular order)
Dorothy of The Alaskan Bookie has won Our Lady of Immaculate Deception
Ellie W has won Once Upon a Blind Date
Melanie L has won The Hope Chest Gloria Schumann (author that I reviewed recently!) has won Boiling Point
Lisa of A Casual Reader has won a mystery book
Becca of Becca’s Back Yard has also won a mystery book
You never know what else might show up with the book….so Congrats again to the winners and look for your books in the mail soon! If I have questions about your mailing address I will email you.
Just a reminder that the Back to School Blog Hop giveaway ends Wednesday at Midnight and I will be choosing the winners on Thursday morning
Visting my Back to the Books Blog Hop Page to register. Have a entries but still have a good chance to win! and I might throw in a 5th book if the total gets up to 50 (about 6 away) which means a 1 in 10 chance of winning!
I thought I would try something new, participate in a large scale giveaway where people visit many blogs for a chance to win a book or a book related item. This is being put on by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Buried in Books. I had to put some thought into this and decide what I wanted to give away and decided to go through my bookshelves to see what I might have that someone might like to read.
I found 4 books that are worth of passing on to another reader:
The contest will close at midnight on the 7th and I will pick the lucky winners on September 8th. Just fill out the form below and you will be entered! Don’t worry, all information is kept confidential and will be deleted when the contest is over and winners chosen (and verified!). Open to US residents only.
Don’t forget to visit the other blogs for more chances to win! There are over 250 blogs giving away books or Amazon gift cards or other goodies!
Once I finish Lost and Fondue I will be starting on Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyle. Murder by Mocha is the 10th in the Coffee House series.
From the dust jacket:
Clare Cosi, manager and head barista of the landmark Village Blend coffeehouse, can brew a beverage to die for. But can she stir up some evidence against a bitter killer who has gone loco for mocha?
Clare’s Village Blend beans are being used to creatte a new java love potion: a “Mocha Magic Coffee” billed as an aphrodisiac. Clare may even try some on her boyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn – when he’s off duty, of course….
The product, expected to rake in millions, will be sold exclusively on Aphrodite’s Village, one of the Web’s most popular online communities for women. But the launch party ends on a sour note when one of the Web site’s editors if found dead.
When more of the Web site’s Sisters of Aphrodite start to die, Clare is convinced someone wants the coffee’s secret formula – and is willing to kill to get it. Clare isn’t about to spill the benas, but will she be next on the hit list?
It was a great weekend, but maybe not one for reading. Took me several days to read the book by Lee Harris and that is something I normally knock out in a day.
On Friday I got another book in my mailbox. Another cozy, Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames. This is the second in the Cheese Shop Mystery series. The first is The Long Quiche Goodbye.
From the back of the book:
Charlotte Bessette – proprietor of Providence, Ohio’s, charming Cheese Shop – is busy catering a fund-raiser for her best friend, Meredith. In addition to gourmet fondues, Charlotte is serving an array of delicious cheeses and delightful wines – the perfect complement to the setting of the wine tasting party, a once abandoned winery. But not everyone is happy, for the winery has long been a source of local legends about hidden treasures – and buried bodies.
When a fresh body is found in the wine cellar and Meredith’s niece, Quinn, becomes the chief suspect, Charlotte trades in her fondue fork for a flashlight to prove the case against Quinn has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. But as Charlotte’s sleuthing starts to turn up the truth, the killer starts to turn up the heat.
I saw this on other blogs and thought it might be nice to let you know when I get books in the mail and what I received. I belong to 2 book swap sites, Paperbackswap and BookMooch. Both are great sites to find books that the library might not have on their shelves.
Since I have so many books to read at home I try not to request too many…why add more to my shelves when I still have so many left to read? I could stop working and if I didn’t get any new books, I think I have enough to read for 2-3 years assuming I read a book a day. Now some of these books are on my e-readers so they don’t take up as much space, but I have 3 bookcases and a couple of boxes full of books. And to prove it, here is a picture of just one of the bookcases. Now I say that I have 3, but well one is by the fireplace and has mostly books I want to keep. The other is in a spare bedroom and books only occupy a part of it…so maybe I should say I have 2 bookshelves full of books. Of course the main bookshelf has books stacked 2 deep and 2 high when possible.
I’ve been trying to get books only at the library when I want to read a new series or continue on with another, but that doesn’t always work especially if the library doesn’t have all of the books. That is probably the most frustrating but then that is where I turn to my book swap sites to fill in the gaps.
This is my most recent book that arrived in my mailbox:
The Yom Kippur Murder by Lee Harris. This is the 2nd in the series featuring an ex-nun Christine Bennett.
From the back of the book:
When ex-nun Christine Bennett arrives at her elderly friend’s apartment to accompany him to Yom Kippur services, she finds him murdered. He was a lonely widower, estranged from his children, and since Christine took a special interest in his life, she is determine to do the same for his death.
The police arrest someone almost immediately, but Christine doesn’t sing hallelujah yet. Despite her years in the Church, she is quickly learning the ways of the secular world: men and women forsake their souls, protect their sins, and never forget the past….
