review: the fatal gift of beauty of nina burleigh

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In The Fatal Gift of Beauty, journalist Nina Burleigh dives deep into the circumstances surrounding the murder of British college student Meredith Kercher and the subsequent arrest of Kercher’s American roommate Amanda Knox along with Knox’s boyfriend, an Italian college student named Raffaele Sollecito. For those who followed the American media coverage (note: I worked for news outlets in Washington state during the relevant time frame), some parts will be familiar, but much of what Burleigh explores was never presented in the coverage from Knox’s home country. Burleigh presents how the timing of Kercher’s murder shortly after Halloween was much more significant for Italians than it would likely have been for Americans as well as how other cultural differences affected perceptions. Additionally, Burleigh details the life of Rudy Guede, who was also convicted of Kercher’s murder but separately from Knox and Sollecito. The one element lacking from The Fatal Gift of Beauty and other works about the case is Kercher’s part of the story. Burleigh acknowledges this at the end in Notes on Sources and Methods by stating she contacted Kercher’s family and friends but did not receive any response.
5/5
Review copy provided by Blogging for Books.

review: the red thread by ann hood

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In The Red Thread, a group of incredibly unlikable characters pursue having children in the belief that a child is the answer to all their problems. In parallel stories that Ann Hood creates, the reader also learns the backstories of the Chinese girls about to be adopted by the American couples--those stories were far more interesting and powerful than the stories of the potential parents, but made up only a small portion of The Red Thread. The plot did not feel realistic either as many of the couples trying to adopt have issues (ongoing adultery, inability to love a biological child with special needs) that might disqualify them and the owner of the adoption agency uses very outdated information to get her own "happy ending."
1/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, W.W. Norton.

review: the mirror sisters by v.c. andrews

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Wow, the backstory dump that is The Mirror Sisters is pretty remarkable—how many other authors can claim to have written a 355 page novel that doesn’t really begin until about 300 pages in? During those first 300 pages, the V.C. Andrews ghostwriter details the many ways in which Haylee torments her identical twin, Kaylee. Haylee is a master at covering her bad deeds and Kaylee never tells on her either because their mother insists that the twins are perfect and very, very special. The mother has what it takes to be a true V.C. Andrews villain, but her power is taken away by the author’s choice to have Kaylee tell so much of the story via reflections on the past. The Mirror Sisters serves only as a set up for Broken Glass, which will pick up the story on the same night that The Mirror Sisters ends with Haylee’s plot finally in full swing.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Pocket.

review: death steals a holy book by rosemary & larry mild

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In the third book of the series, bookstore owners Dan and Rivka Sherman discover two rare books that were hidden away by the previous owner of the store. The books include a letter giving the finders permission to do with the books as they will, so Dan and Rivka decide to have the books appraised and restored with the intention of selling. A big problem with this plan occurs when the man doing the restoration is murdered and the books are stolen. In a secondary plot, one of the bookstore’s employees inherits a house, but must fight to keep it.

The primary plot keeps the reader guessing with the whodunit, but the authors frequently shift focus from the mystery. The many threads of Death Steals a Holy Book are a bit disjointed (they might flow better if I’d read the first two in the series) and never tie together, so that all of the subplots feel like distractions from the murder mystery.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: the chameleon by merrick rosenberg

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Before writing The Chameleon, Merrick Rosenberg taught organizational communication and leadership, including the DISC model, for decades. According to the preface of The Chameleon, Rosenberg received feedback that it was difficult for people to remember Dominant-Interactive-Supportive-Conscientious, so he decided to equate each style with a bird in hopes of making it easier for people to understand and remember. Throughout The Chameleon, Rosenberg discusses the personality styles via fables. The fables seem intended to make the traits relevant, relatable, and easy to understand, but the use of names like Xander, Xenia, Sarah, Samuel, and Sadie actually made things a little confusing (it would’ve been far easier to remember who was who if the same letter names had corresponded to the letter of the bird—why not have E names for the Eagles?). Each section ends with bullet points on the important takeaways—many of these are fantastic and the bullet points make for easy reference—but Rosenberg doesn’t elaborate on how to take action. For example, one suggestion here is “manage your emotions when dealing with button-pushers who are different from you,” which is great advice, but hard for someone to implement without an action plan.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, The Cadence Group.

review: evil librarian by michelle knudsen

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When an attractive new librarian arrives at Cyn’s school, she immediately notices a change in her best friend, Annie. Cyn initially thinks Annie is simply experiencing her very first crush (albeit an inappropriate one), but soon realizes there is something dark about the new librarian. Cyn has a crush of her own on a classmate, who she teams up with to defeat Mr. Gabriel after the pair see him in his demon form complete with wings and horns. Mr. Gabriel is on to them, but willing to let them live given their involvement with the high school’s performance of Sweeney Todd, which happens to be a favorite among demons. Evil Librarian is a thrilling and hilarious paranormal novel that is grounded in many of the realities of high school. The characters all feel authentic (even the demons) and there’s never a dull moment.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Candlewick.

review: so damn lucky by deborah coonts

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As a UFO convention hits Las Vegas, Lucky O’Toole finds herself involved in yet another mystery—a magician appears to have died during his final performance—while her personal life becomes unexpectedly complicated. With the UFO convention as a backdrop, conspiracies abound as Lucky is pulled into a world of secret government experiments. The plot involving the magician and the way Deborah Coonts ties it in with the UFO convention keeps the pace of So Damn Lucky moving forward, but Lucky’s romantic interests become diversions in this third book of the series.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, FSB Associates.