World (Book) Without End

Like many people I watched the mini-series on Starz of Ken Follet's epic tale of love, intrigue and cathedral building Pillars of the Earth.  While I had not read the book, I was completely drawn into the mini-series, which featured a stellar cast and a pretty decent script.  Before embarking on a long drive to visit my parents in northern Michigan, I decided to download the audiobook of Follet's follow-up effort to Pillars of the Earth, called World Without End. Fifteen hours in the car and two months later, I have finally gotten to the end of the story.

World Without End follow the small English town of Kingsbridge, the same town featured in Pillars of the Earth.  World Without End advances the story a couple of hundred years-the tale begins in the early 14th century.  The cathedral that Tom and Jack Builder envisioned stands tall and proud, as do the monks that live and work there.  On a bright autumn day during the fleece fair, four children go exploring in the woods.  The stumble upon a knight, fighting for his life against two armed men.  One of the children manages to kill one of the men, and the knight is saved.  The knight has a secret, which he buries in the forest.  This sets off a chain of events that leads to love, murder, treachery, betrayal, a bridge, an awful lot of sex, and the tallest tower in England.

As historical fiction goes, Follet's work is first-class.  Given the enormous amount of detail about 14th century Follet is either really detailed in imagining his fictional settings or the book is meticulously researched.   I definitely know more about medieval town politics than I ever thought I would. 

Like many young girls, I decided after reading too many fairy tales that I wanted to live back in the days of kings and queens, courtly love, all that...yeah, not so much.  The amount of superstition, sexism, and classism in 14th century England made me want to punch something, hard.  I'm not unfamiliar with the lack of social justice back, back, back in the day, but I got sucked into Follett's characters and his fictional village such that every injustice left me frustrated and angry and swearing at various fictional people in my car.  In the end, everything turned out exactly as I would have wanted, but I suppose when  one book covers the better part of 50 years that's not as unbelievable as it sounds.  Frankly, it just confirms my firm belief that in the end, everyone gets what they deserve.

Wordless Wednesday (Austin #5)

Looking down from the top inside Texas State Capitol.
People sitting around the mosaic . . .

. . . meditating.

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

To save money, Ma made many of my clothes herself, even though she couldn't do it very well, so I had on a home-sewn shirt while the other kids were wearing cool T-shirts with English sayings like "Remember to Vote."

(Pg 36, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok)

Mailbox Monday and . . . More Books!

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This month's Mailbox Monday is hosted by Mari Reads.

I know my post is up early (it's Sunday afternoon here as of writing this) but here's what I received last week (purchased from The Book Depository):

1) What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

2) Wild (aka Illusions) by Aprilynn Pike

What books came into your house last week?

---

The annual Great Singapore Sale is here again and this year it runs from 27 May to 24 July; and this is where most shopping malls from all locations come together to offer consumers their best promotions and discounts. However, this not only applies to Singaporeans but also the tourists around the world get to enjoy the special privileges as well simply by flashing their passports to the respective shopping malls service counter or the Singapore Visitors Centre.

Anyway, I bought two pairs of shoes and a black sleeveless blouse during the spree yesterday. Of course my spree wouldn't go complete without books so here's what I bought:

1) The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

2) What Comes After by Steve Watkins

So did you buy any books lately? Do share if you do! Well I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

5 Books Meme

I noticed this bookish meme has been circulating around the blogosphere (meme originated by Simon of Stuck in a Book) and I decided this is too fun to let it pass so there you go. Plus, I figured I haven't been posting too many book reviews considering I have been slacking in my reading (thanks to my shortened commute time ever since I moved office last November and my lately addiction to Gardens of Time, one of the games featured on Facebook) so this little meme helps to fill the void, even if it is only for a day.

1. The Book I'm Currently Reading:

In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. Don't you just love the cover and the title, but let me tell you that there is nothing pleasing or cute to the story. Set in the backstreets of Japan and with a plot that evolves around the sex industry there, this psychological thriller never let your attention wavers even though you know the places where the author take you isn't pretty.



2. The Last Book I Finished:

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon (my review here). This is one of those wonderful classic which I would never get tired of reading it over and over again. What makes this retelling tale a wonderful reading experience to me is the writing style and the two narratives so it is refreshing to read the other side of the story from Princess Margrethe's point of view aside from the mermaid's.

3. The Next Book I Want to Read:

I have a long list of books I want to read but I suppose I will choose this book for now - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. I don't think I have ever read a negative review of this book so I really look forward to reading it (I'm just waiting for the right mood to strike).

4. The Last Book I Bought:

The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto. I fell in love with this author's prose and writing style after reading Kitchen and Goodbye, Tsugumi. Also, there is just something about her stories that will make you pause and think about them.

5. The Last Book I Was Given:

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax. This book was given to me by a publicist for review. I read The Accidental Bestseller and Magnolia Wednesdays by the same author awhile back and enjoyed them so I can't wait to see what is in store for this one.

Wordless Wednesday (Austin #4)

3 different perspectives of the Texas State Capitol dome's interior

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

I told myself these were just random, unconnected blips, but I couldn't shake my suspicion, and before I knew it I was getting all worked up. I had to keep telling myself to calm down and be reasonable. It's crazy to suspect a guy of murder just because he lied about his job and has a bill stained with something that looks like blood.

(Pg 30, In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami)

A Book Geek's Dream

It has become more and more obvious to me, in part thanks to a thought-provoking series of posts from The Reading Ape, that there is a very clear culture of reading among serious readers, and a strong subculture specific to book bloggers.  We have our own jargon, common practices, etiquette...all of it built on a foundation of love for books and storytelling.  So it comes as no surprise to me that I had to find the book blogger community to find Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.  Fforde's books are a treasure trove of literary references and inside jokes any serious reader, especially of classic literature, should feel right at home in what is a decidedly strange world.

I just finished The Eyre Affair.  It is the novel that introduced Thursday Next, a SpecOps agent on the LiteraTec squad-that is, the group that is responsible for protecting the great books from harm.  While this includes rather ordinary things like verifying manuscripts for authenticity, it also includes some decidedly unusual things-like traveling into the book in pursuit of an evil villain out to destroy the great works of literature.  The Eyre Affair is a rather strange combination of literary discussion and science fiction, all rolled up into a thriller format.

I will admit that the structure of the novel didn't always sit well with me, and I'll have to read more to see if the rules that govern his particular universe stay consistent.  There are a lot of moving parts in this novel-Thursday herself and her past, a time-traveling father, a giant corporation (named Goliath-not the most subtle name I'll admit) that secretly runs things behind the scene, and a bullet-proof super-villain who can't be seen on camera and can apparently change the molecular structure of glass.  Intrigued yet?

What I loved about this novel is the creation of a world where literature is so important to everyone that an entire arm of the government is dedicated to it.  In Fforde's world, the Marlovians and Oxfordians feel so strongly about their positions they go door to door like Jehovah's Witnesses trying to get converts, as though Shakespearean authorship study is a religion (frankly, there's just as much evidence for some of the authorship theories as their is for some religious beliefs, namely not much)  Some literary movements actually took up arms to fight for their literary theory, though that does seem like taking it a bit too far.  Imagine a world where people cared that much about reading and books.  That's not to say I thought this book was without its problems-the characters were not that well developed, and the action jumped around a bit.  But as fun, escapist reading for readers, this book was a winner.

Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon

ISBN-13: 9780307589972
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: March 2011
256 pgs
Source: Personal Library

After reading Carolyn Turgeon's Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story in April last year (my review here) and was mesmerised by her wonderful storytelling skill, I know I wouldn't want to miss reading Mermaid after knowing that she would be writing this new release based on Hans Christian Andersen's original tale.

I am sure many of you have read or heard of the original tale, but what makes this book a little different from Andersen's is it features two narratives - the mermaid princess, Lenia, and Princess Margrethe, who is the daughter of a northern king.

On Lenia's eighteenth birthday, she was given the chance to swim ashore to the upper world. She had wanted to do so ever since she had heard wonderful stories from her elder sisters as they shared with her the tales of the curiosities and wonders that lay above. But what made her trip so different and special from her sisters is that she witnessed a shipwreck and she had fell in love with a handsome man while saving him.

On the other end, Princess Margrethe, who is daughter of the northern king, is hiding in a convent when news broke that the northern and southern kingdom might go to war. While wandering around one day, she found a mermaid with an injured man in her arms. Both women are struck by the sight of each other, but circumstances called so Lenia delivers the man to Princess Margrethe as she thinks she could save him. Meanwhile, Princess Margrethe thinks it must be fate that brings her and this man together. As luck would have it, the man whom they rescued, is the son of the southern king but none of them knew each other's identity.

What unveils this story is the love triangle and aside from the original tale where Lenia requested for a magic potion in exchange for her voice so as to have her tail be split into human legs, Carolyn Turgeon has gone a step further into making this beloved classic more intriguing by adding Princess Margrethe's point of view besides Lenia's though the story is told in the third person throughout the whole book. Turgeon also pushed this story to a climax through Princess Margrethe's dilemma between love and saving her kingdom, and the stakes she and Lenia have to take should they decide on any choice they have to make. What would be the ending? Would there ever be a happy ending this time around? I'm not telling, but I have to say I was once again mesmerised by Turgeon's writing, and felt myself entranced by The Little Mermaid all over again. I don't think I would ever get tired of reading this poignant yet beautiful story over and over again, be it the original or any retelling tales.

As of writing this, I also learnt that Carolyn Turgeon will have a new book out in August titled The Next Full Moon; and I knew it would be another magical, compelling story after reading the synopsis. I can't wait.

Wordless Wednesday (Austin #3)

Top Ten Tuesday: Minor Character Love

This week's Top Ten topic, from the brilliant bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish, is Top Ten Minor Characters.  It's interesting that this topic came up this week, as I am finally reading The Eyre Affair, which is full of talk about minor characters and how taking them out of books is a crime.  I'm going to try not to let this list devolve into Top Ten Sidekicks Redux, but I admit to having trouble thinking of enough minor characters to fill a whole list...besides, there are no small parts, only small actors, or something like that...

10.  Octavia, Venia, and Falvius from The Hunger Games-These three were Katniss's prep team for the Hunger Games, and along with her stylist Cinna were in charge of getting her support from wealthy capitol residents.  I'm not sure why I found them so charming-they are completely shallow and not that bright, but something about them just struck me as endearing.

9.  Robin Castagna, from Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series-Robin is Alex's love interest, a musician who makes and restore guitars and other stringed instruments.  She provides the perfect compliment to Delaware's rather driven nature.  I was so upset when they split for a couple of books, but they are back together and all is right with the world.

8.  Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter-Poor Neville!  He just couldn't seem to catch a break, could he?  And I only loved him more after I found out what happened to his parents.  Such a sad story!

7.  Fletch, from Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster-OK, so he's a real person, and therefore not minor in the least, but I love reading about him as Jen writes about him.  He appears rather saintly, putting up with her snarkiness.  I admit to being convinced that Jen and I are destined to meet on the streets of Chicago and become besties, and then I would get to meet the sainted Fletch in person!

6.  The Town of Niniltna and The Park, from Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak series-I realize that choosing the whole town is a bit of a cop out, but there are so many interesting, quirky characters in this series that choosing one is almost impossible.  This series makes me want to lace up my mukluks, grab my parka, jump on my snowmobile, and ride down a frozen river.

5.  Miss Celia from The Help-Poor trashy Celia!  She is so out of her depth in the world of privileged Southern women, and her poor, stupid husband just doesn't seem to get it.

4.  Windsor Horne Lockwood III from Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series-Win, as he is known, is a rich and powerful child of privilege who is completely amoral but fiercely loyal to the few people he calls friend.  What's not to love?

3.  Moira, from The Handmaid's Tale-I'm not sure if it is the fact that she was a lesbian, or the fact that she refused to accept her fate as a Handmaid and ran away, but whatever the reason I always felt close to Moira when reading this book.  What happens to her is tragic, but I would not have felt it so strongly if I didn't also feel a strong connection to her.

2.  Eeyore, from Winnie the Pooh-I know that he is all sad and stuff, but he makes me happy.  Perverse, I realize, but there it is.

1.  Lucy Farinelli, from the Kay Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell-She's slowly become a more major than minor character, but I loved her from her precocious, 10 year old start.  Kay's neice, only daughter of her flighty, many-times married sister, Kay has always taken care of Lucy as best she could.  Lucy is brilliant, a millionaire by 25, but emotionally stunted, especially after she is sucked in by the manipulative Carrie Grethen, who uses her love to try and kill Scarpetta.  She might be my current favorite character from this series.

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

She wanted to tell the abbess that it was a mermaid who had brought the man to her. She wanted to turn and shake her, cry out, I need to see him again!

(Pg 67, Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon)

Rediscovering the Punny World of Fantasy

For a period of a few years when I was in middle school and high school, I read almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy.  My love affair with science fiction started with A Wrinkle in Time, and my first fantasy love was The Wishstones of Shannarah.  I tore through the works of Terry Brooks, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, Stephen R. Donaldson, Anne McCaffery, and Ursula K. LeGuin.  One of my favorite authors from this period was Piers Anthony.  His Xanth novels were always light and amusing, and better yet, there were a TON of them.  I spent whole weekends ensconced in my room with a pile of Xanth novels, reading non-stop while listening to Abba on vinyl.  That's right, I was a total nerd, but a happy one!

Then I went away to college, and spent my reading time on textbooks instead of reading for pleasure.  Between that and the fact that I'd lost my book supplier (my mother, who was somehow not willing to drive two hours just to take me to the bookstore for more reading material), I didn't read a Xanth book for a long time.  When I finally did get back to them, I was saddened to discover that the puns that I thought were so funny and clever in my teens now seemed a bit immature.  I remember how sad I was at not really enjoying the books as I once had.

Fast forward 20 years, and I am once again in love with a goofy, pun-filled series of fantasy humor.  Terry Pratchett's Discworld series was recommended to me by a friend years ago, but for some reason I never managed to pick up any of his books.  Finally two circumstances fell into place-morning door duty and an iPod Touch.  One morning at school while on door duty, in between buses coming in, I was exploring my new iPod Touch, and there in the iBooks store was Terry Prachett's Color of Magic for less than $5.  The universe had finally brought Prachett and I together.

The Color of Magic is the first book in the Discworld series, though not necessarily the first book chronologically in the Discworld mythology.  In The Color of Magic we are introduced to Rincewind, a failed wizard living a dissolute life in Ankh-Morpork, a large city on the Disc, a world being carried through the universe by four elephants that are perched on a large turtle A'Tuin.  Rincewind chances to meet Twoflower, a tourist from across the sea, who has a magic chest that follows him everywhere.  What Rincewind doesn't know is that he and Twoflower are pawns in a large chess game being played by the gods and goddesses of the Discworld.  Rincewind becomes Twoflower's tour guide and protector, and they travel around the Discworld meeting all manner of magical beings, heroes, and danger.  Despite being completely inept as a wizard, somehow Rincewind manages to take advantage of every piece of luck that comes his way to help Twoflower and himself survive.

The books is full of puns, illogical magical mythology, and humor, just like the Xanth novels.  But unlike Anthony's series, The Color of Magic also feels more mature. A combination of satire and silliness, The Color of Magic is a light read, with layers of meaning that can be thought about-or not-at your leisure.  Pratchett's books are like a big "wink wink, nudge nudge" to the fantasy community, at once spoofing it and enriching it.  If you, like me, loved fantasy as a youth but find it rather immature as an adult, then Pratchett's books may be right up your alley.

Slow Dancing on Price's Pier by Lisa Dale

ISBN-13: 9780425239957
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Published: April 2011
368 pgs
Source: Publisher

I love reading books about relationship; be it a romance, friendship or the tie within a family. Thus when I received a pitch from the publisher to review Slow Dancing on Price's Pier, I didn't hesitate because this book seems to have all the elements I mentioned above.

Set in Newport, Rhode Island, Slow Dancing on Price's Pier tells a story of a young woman named Thea Celik and her relationship with the two Sorensen's brothers - Jonathan and Garret, and how a hasty decision she made years ago has led to complications within the Sorensen's household.

Thea knew the two brothers when they were in their teens; they were the best of friends and she would seek refuge at the Sorensens' house after she has learnt of her parents' plan about moving back to Turkey. Sue, the mother of the Sorensen's brothers, will always comfort and lend her support to her and this made Thea feels like she is part of the Sorensen's family. And though she likes the two brothers, it is always Garret she is thinking about. Needless to say, they began to fall in love but unlike Jonathan, who is quiet and sensible, Garret loves the attention from other girls and this has caused Thea to have doubts about him, as well as their relationship. Thereafter, everything seems to go downhill and Thea ended up with Jonathan.

Fifteen years later, Thea became a coffee shop owner and she has a ten-year-old girl named Irina. Thea is navigating through a divorce as she struggles to keep her life at peace while she tries to find the balance between her business and her daughter. Unfortunately, her wish to finding peace is ruined when Garret returns home to Newport to restore his relationship with his brother and his family after learning about Thea's and his brother's divorce. And most of all, it brings back all the memories of the past but yet the more they try to keep a distance away from each other, the more they are drawn together. Is history repeating itself? Thea doesn't want to let go of the Sorensens but if she and Garret are back together, it would tear the whole family apart and this time around there would be no turning back.

First off, I have to say Slow Dancing on Price's Pier is a wonderful story of self discovery, second chances and forgiveness. Though the plot may sound common and a cliché to readers, it is the characterisations that what makes this story stands out. Lisa Dale has a way of writing that makes you feel for the characters as they go through their emotions. But that is not all, I also loved it that Lisa included bits of the coffee bean history and culture before every chapter (through a paper column written by Thea) which I find it interesting and informative. Here is an example (Pg 23):

From "The Coffee Diaries"

by Thea Celik

Coffee is the official and unofficial drink of friendship in many cultures.

In Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony is a fundamental rite of friendship. To be invited to a coffee ceremony is a sign of honor and respect. Guests drink three cups with their hosts and by the third cup, it's said they are friends.

Coffee plays such a big part in that country that it has infiltrated the language. "I don't have someone to have coffee with" means "I don't have close friends." Mothers warn their children, "Don't let your name be mentioned at coffee time."

Sometimes the age of coffee corporations and flavour crystals can make it feel like coffee has lost its connotations of friendship. But the connection between coffee and friendship persists.

Look around and you'll see old men drinking coffee and talking shop at the countertops of sleepy diners. Women smiling and pausing for coffee between errands, chatting with a friend in the line.

Coffee has been bringing people together for centuries. And as the coffee business grows, so too do our conversations over coffee, whether they are meaningless and silly or the most important moments in our lives.

Well I am not a heavy coffee drinker (I am more of a tea drinker, genmai tea to be specific), but reading these excerpts about coffee has definitely made me want to be one. Are you enjoying your cup of coffee now?

Wordless Wednesday (Austin #2)

Texas State Capitol

Top Ten Tuesday: Jerkface!

Thanks to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly excuse for list-making!  This week's topic is Top Ten Literary Jerks.  Well, I guess the hero/villain dichotomy doesn't really work without Jerky Jerkerson, the jerky mayor of Jerkytown, Jerksylvania, so here are a few I found distasteful.

1.  Anne Coulter-I don't care if she's a real person (and that she isn't literary)!  She's still a bookish jerk!  She is everything that is wrong with the way politics is discussed in this country.  While we disagree about, oh, every single topic in American political and cultural life, I could live with that if she could express her disagreement without calling people names like the playground bully.


2.  Curly, Of Mice and Men-Curly was the boss's son, the little guy who liked to pick fights to try and prove what a man he was.  There should really be a sub-category of jerkiness just for boss's sons.  And to continue a theme...

3.  Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter-While not exactly the boss's son, he was a child of privilege who felt a need to hold it over everyone's head and generally make their lives miserable.

4.  Bill Sikes, Oliver Twist-He takes jerkiness to a whole new level.  I mean, is there any major crime he leaves undone?  Robbery, child abuse, domestic violence, animal cruelty, and murder-he's a one stop criminal shop.  Plus, he's a got a really foul attitude!

5.  Prior Godwyn, World Without End-I've been listening to the second installment of Ken Follett's epic tale of medieval cathedral/bridge building, and while most of the men in the novel make me want to run my car into the embankment with their sexism and superstition, Prior Godwyn takes the cake.  While you have to excuse most of the characters their ignorance due to, you know, the fact that they are living in 14th century England, he is purposefully and willfully deceptive, manipulative, greedy, and dishonest.

6. Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda-While the Trunchbull has made my list of favorite villains and bitc..I mean, mean girls, this category seems prefectly made for Matilda's neglectful, conniving, hateful parents.  Thank goodness for Miss Honey!

7.  Big Jim Rennie, Under the Dome-Stephen King always has some jerky characters in his books, but very few rise to the level of Big Jim.  When the dome descends on his small Maine town, Big Jim, car salesman and city councilman, could have gone into action to help his fellow townspeople.  Instead, he steals their propane, gets anyone who disagrees with him thrown in jail and/or beaten, and tries to protect a meth lab that ends up destroying the whole town when it explodes.  That, and he doesn't even notice his own son has gone off the deep end.

8.  Daniel Cleaver, Bridget Jones Diary-I have to admit that I never read this book, only saw the movie version.  Chick lit isn't really my thing, but the movie had Hugh Grant in it, so there you go.  What I didn't realize going in was that he was the jerkface of that story.  Oh, but what a cute jerkface it is!

9.  Commander Fred, The Handmaid's Tale-Let's see, he and the other powerful men that killed the president and created a theocratic military regime keep fertile women as slaves, refusing to even allow them their own name, all for the glory of God and country.  And the description of the martial bed...ewwwww does not begin to cover it.

10.  Jack Randall, Outlander-When Claire finds herself transported back to 18th century Scotland, the first person she meets is this cruel, sneering man.  He later proves to be sadistic and single-minded in his desire to hurt her and have her husband Jamie as his own.  When Jamie is later captured by Randall, he is tortured and sexually assaulted by him.  Charming.

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

Everyone had been certain that a friendship of two brothers and one woman could not last - that one brother, the better brother, would "take home the prize."

But Jonathan knew and took refuge in the truth - that even though Garret was so much more popular and accomplished and praised than Jonathan had ever been, they were equal in Thea's eyes.

(Pg 121, Slow Dancing on Price's Pier by Lisa Dale)

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This month's Mailbox Monday is hosted by Mari Reads.

Here's what I received last week:

1) So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti (purchased from The Book Depository)

2) Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts (The Book Depository)

3) The Taker by Alma Katsu (The Book Depository)

4) Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax (from the publicist)

5) When You Dare by Lori Foster (a surprise galley from the same publicist)

What books came into your house last week?