The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White

ISBN-13: 9780451227997
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Published: November 2009
335 pgs

When bricks crumble, the fireplace falls;
When children cry, the mothers call.
When lies are told, the sins are built,
Within the waves, hide all our guilt. ~Pg 20

I enjoyed reading The House on Tradd Street by Karen White so much so that I read the next installment, The Girl on Legare Street right after I finished that book.

Well, where shall I begin? For starters, let's say I loved this book more than The House on Tradd Street. Don't get me wrong, I loved that book, but this book is better in my opinion. And also, I loved seeing Realtor Melanie Middleton and True historical crime writer Jack Trenholm are back together again working on another project - this time around it is the mystery and secrets surrounding her ancestral home on Legare Street.

Melanie is still recovering from her bewilderment on inheriting a historical estate on Tradd Street as from the previous book, so when Ginnette, her estranged mother suddenly returns to Charleston and told her she needs to protect her after receiving a premonition (readers who have read The House on Tradd Street would know that Melanie and Ginnette have psychic abilities) and she fears Melanie might be in great danger from a supernatural force, which she sensed has got something to do with the house on Legare Street left by her late mother, Sarah Manigault Prioleau as she had left some clues behind and she is determined to unravel the secrets behind the old house.

Melanie is still feeling terribly hurt by her mother's sudden departure thirty-five years ago, but she gave in to Ginnette's offer to stay in the house on Legare Street, since her historical house on Tradd Street is under major renovation and plus, Jack Trenholm offers to help them in investigating the mystery. Melanie might not want to admit it, but she could not help but feel attracted towards Jack although at times she is confused by the way he talks and acts around her. To heighten the complexity, Rebecca Edgerton, a reporter and an old friend of Jack, enter into the picture and Melanie is not sure if she is unhappy over her insistent probing on the house or that she is getting too cozy with Jack. Either way, it irritates her but she is soon caught up by the intrigue and the secrets of the Legare Street's house and besides, she is also interested to find more about her supernatural protector, who had kept her accompany since she was staying in the house on Legare Street when she was young and knowing that he is somewhat linked to the mystery.

What I loved about this book is the great characterization and the author has a way in building the tension and suspense. I find myself flipping through the pages quickly and/or holding my breath most of the times while reading this book and immersed into the story deeply that at times I have to remind myself that this is not a true story and that Melanie is only a fictional character. Rebecca gets on my nerves and I have to admit I do not really like or trust her in the beginning of the story, but you know how one's opinion will change once the story slowly unfolds in front of your eyes and that things might not be what it seems at first.

I enjoyed reading the history of the Legare Street's house, and I was really intrigued by the family tree of the Prioleau's family and some others. Though the story is nicely wrapped up, I felt a little perplexed over a particular character towards the end and I hope the next book (considering if there is a sequel, that is) will be able to shed some light on the issue.

Last but not least, I want to thank Joan Schulhafer Publishing & Media Consulting for sending this book to me for review.

Other reviews:
J. Kaye's Book Blog
S. Krishna's Books
Savvy Verse & Wit
(Let me know if I missed yours.)

Wordless Wednesday

Cologne Cathedral

Koln, Germany

Cover Attraction

This is a weekly event hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page every Wednesday.

Marcia says:

I love beautiful, and interesting, cover art so every Wednesday I post my 'Cover Attraction' for the week along with a synopsis of the book. Everyone is welcome to stop by and, if they'd like, post a link to their favorite weekly book cover.

* * * * *

Death Without Tenure by Joanne Dobson
ISBN-13: 9781590587096
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: December 2009

Synopsis (From B&N):

Professor Karen Pelletier is about to realize her dream; after six years in the English Department at New England’s exclusive Enfield College, she is up for tenure. Then Professor Joseph Lone Wolf, her rival for the one tenured spot in the department, whose ethnicity gives him minority-preference status, is found dead from an overdose of Peyote buttons. First on the list of suspects, Karen is harassed by a homicide cop with a grudge against his colleague, the love of Karen’s life, Lieutenant Charlie Piotrowski. On campus, political passions rage. Two of Karen’s favorite students, Khalida Ahmed, a hijab-wearing Muslim, and Hank Brody, a coal-miner’s son on full scholarship, are caught up in the furor. Without the presence of her beloved Charlie, now serving a tour of duty with the National Guard in Iraq, will Karen be able to survive the investigation, protect her students, and find a permanent niche in the world of academe? And what if the killer feels the need to strike again?

Teaser Tuesdays (and an award)

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, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• 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!

My teaser for today:

The prospect of talking face to face with Sirius was all that sustained Harry over the next fortnight, the only bright spot on a horizon that had never looked darker. The shock of finding himself school champion had worn off slightly now, and the fear of what was facing him was starting to sink in.

(Pg 275, Harry Potter and the Globlet of Fire by J.K. Rowling)

This is a buddy read with Julia. Though I had re-read Book 1-3 of this series and had watched all the movies to-date, this is actually the first time I'm reading this book, and I'm enjoying every moment of it. J.K. Rowling is truly a wonderful storyteller!

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This post has been long overdue but I want to thank Alice of Hello, My Name Is Alice for passing on "The Uplifting Blogger" Award to me.

If you have not visited Alice's blog, you should because she is a great photographer and she always has some stunning pictures to share! And I want to mention she is also one of my great blogger friends and I am very glad to know her.

I won't be passing this award on to anyone, but just want to say your passion for books and reading is uplifting to this wonderful book blogging community!

Musing Mondays - Holiday Reading/Blogging

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about reading/blogging during the holidays…

How does your reading (or your blogging) fare in the holiday months? Do you read more or less? Do you have to actively make time to read?

On an average, I read about 6 books per month (which to me is a small amount considering most of my blogger friends read about 10 books or more given the same time, but hey I am not complaining. After all, everyone of us has different reading schedules and as long as we find some time to read, it is all good, isn't it?).

Anyway, I do notice I have not been reading much beginning end November because of the holiday season where this time I will start to do a little shopping and getting ready to send off all the greeting cards. And then of course there is always my reading mood that has control over what books I should read, as well.

What about you?

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page.

I received the following books last week:

1) Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (bought from The Book Depository) Don't you love the cover?

2) Dying Scream by Mary Burton (review copy)

So what books came into your house last week?

Strobe Edge #2 & #3 by Io Sakisaka (闪烁的爱情 #2, #3 - 咲坂伊緒)

So I had finished reading these installments a while back, but just did have find the time of reviewing it until now. However this time around, I will discuss more on the characters than giving a brief summary. Moreover, it is hard to talk about these installments without giving away the plots.

If you had read my post on the first installment, you would be able to remember that I had mentioned about not knowing the Japanese names of the characters. So what I did after that is I did a google search and I was glad not only to find out their Japanese names but also found out a link where you could get to read a few chapters online but you will read about that towards the end of this post.

Ninako (a high school girl and the protagonist of the series) is simply a meek, mild-mannered girl and though she knew she could not get into a relationship with the boy she loves because he has a girlfriend, that does not keep her from admiring him from afar and in fact, she is satisfied being the way things are as long as they are friends. And this made my heart ache for her because she does not even think ill of him or his girlfriend.

Her childhood friend, Daiki, shares the same personality with Ninako but his views on love and relationship differs from her. I cannot decide if I should stand by Ninako or Daiki because each has his or her own valid reasons and love and relationship can be such a complicated issue. However, among all the characters I like Ren the most, not because he is the most good-looking and popular boy in school, but he is such an understanding person (and oh, he is a perfect gentleman and if you have read the manga, you would know what I mean).

So what did I feel after reading the first three installments? I loved it! I like the characters and the plot, but most of all the romance and the intensity! And I cannot wait to finish reading the rest of the installments (#6 is the latest installment to-date). I found a link where you can read the first 13 chapters and they are in English edition (Click here if you are interested). I think the illustrations are beautiful, and I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I do.

My previous post on Strobe Edge #1.