#BookReview The Fairies of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe @AlexBledsoe @torbooks @MacmillanUSA @FreshFiction

The Fairies of Sadieville: The Final Tufa Novel by Alex Bledsoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charming and lyrical, The Fairies of Sadieville continues Alex Bledsoe's widely-praised contemporary fantasy series, about the song-wielding fairy descendants living in modern-day Appalachia.

"This is real." Three small words on a film canister found by graduate students Justin and Veronica, who discover a long-lost silent movie from more than a century ago. The startlingly realistic footage shows a young girl transforming into a winged being. Looking for proof behind this claim, they travel to the rural foothills of Tennessee to find Sadieville, where it had been filmed.

Soon, their journey takes them to Needsville, whose residents are hesitant about their investigation, but Justin and Veronica are helped by Tucker Carding, who seems to have his own ulterior motives. When the two students unearth a secret long hidden, everyone in the Tufa community must answer the most important question of their entire lives -- what would they be willing to sacrifice in order to return to their fabled homeland of Tir na nOg?

"Imagine a book somewhere between American Gods and Faulkner. Absolutely worth your time." - Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author

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Note of warning THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE is the very last novel in the Tufa series, so reading this book without having read the previous five novels will make it a bit hard to really understand since many events and people from the previous books will be addressed. You can read this book as a stand-alone. However, having at least read one or two books before will make this book a bit easier to understand.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview Vit krysantemum (White Chrysanthemum) by Mary Lynn Bracht (SWE/ENG) @marylynnbracht

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

En oförglömlig historia om en uppoffrande syster under andra världskriget

Korea, 1943. Hana arbetar som djuphavsdykare och åtnjuter ovanligt stor frihet och självbestämmanderätt för att vara kvinna. Tills den dag då hon ertappas på stranden. För att skydda sin lillasyster ger hon inte ett ljud ifrån sig utan låter sig tillfångatas av japanska soldater som för henne till en militärbordell.

Sydkorea, 2011. Emi har ägnat mer än sextio år åt att försöka glömma den uppoffring som hennes syster gjort för henne. Nu måste hon konfrontera det förflutna.

Systrarnas parallella historier leder fram till en gastkramande upplösning. Kommer Hana att finna sin väg ut ur fångenskapen? Och kommer Emi att kunna sluta fred med sitt land och dess historia?

Vit krysantemum är en fängslande skildring om två egensinniga och starka systrar, vars kärlek är tillräckligt stor för att segra över krigets grymma ondska.

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Vit krysantemum är i grund och botten en otrolig sorglig och jobbig bok att läsa. Men den är även oförglömlig och svår att lägga ifrån sig när man väl börjat. Nu är det ett tag sedan jag läste klart boken, men jag minns så väl hur gripande boken var samt hur mycket jag lärde mig livet i Korea under och efter andra världskrigets slut.

Systrarnas olika öden, Hana som blir tillfångatagen av japanska soldater och Emi som får leva med skuldkänslorna av att se sin systers uppoffring berörde mig på djupet. Deras olika livsöden får vi läsa om. Hana som kämpar för att bli fri, men som alltmer förlorar hoppet. Sedan har vi Emi som ser tillbaka på sitt liv, också det fyllt av tragedi. Slutet på boken är väldigt berörande!

Vit krysantemum är en otroligt bra bok, hemskt jobbig att läsa men jag lovar dig att man känner sig mer berikad efter att man har läst klart den.

Tack till Bookmark Förlag för recensionsexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

In the spirit of Lilac Girls, the heartbreaking history of Korea is brought to life in this deeply moving and redemptive debut that follows two sisters separated by World War II.

Korea, 1943. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. As a haenyeo, a female diver of the sea, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Until the day Hana saves her younger sister from a Japanese soldier and is herself captured and transported to Manchuria. There she is forced to become a “comfort woman” in a Japanese military brothel. But haenyeo are women of power and strength. She will find her way home.

South Korea, 2011. Emi has spent more than sixty years trying to forget the sacrifice her sister made, but she must confront the past to discover peace. Seeing the healing of her children and her country, can Emi move beyond the legacy of war to find forgiveness?

Suspenseful, hopeful, and ultimately redemptive, White Chrysanthemum tells a story of two sisters whose love for each other is strong enough to triumph over the grim evils of war.

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White Chrysanthemum is such an incredibly sad and difficult book to read. It is also unforgettable and hard to put down when one has begun to read. Now it's been a while since I finished the book, but I remember how gripping the book was and how much I learned about Korea during and after World War II.

I found that the book's story, the sisters' fates touched my soul. Hana being captured by Japanese soldiers and Emi who had to live with the feeling of guilt seeing her sister sacrifice herself for her. We then get to follow them through their different lives. Hana who struggles to be free, but as she's increasingly losing hope as she is put through ordeal after ordeal. Then, we have Emi who looks back on his life, also that filled with tragedy. The ending, well let's say it's a very strong ending.

White Chrysanthemum is an incredibly good book, terribly hard to read, but I promise you will feel enriched after you have read it.

Thanks to Bookmark Förlag for the review copy!

#BookReview The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson @writernwaiting @sbkslandmark

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. The lonely young Appalachian woman joins the historical Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky and becomes a librarian, riding across slippery creek beds and up treacherous mountains on her faithful mule to deliver books and other reading material to the impoverished hill people of Eastern Kentucky.

Along her dangerous route, Cussy, known to the mountain folk as Bluet, confronts those suspicious of her damselfly-blue skin and the government's new book program. She befriends hardscrabble and complex fellow Kentuckians, and is fiercely determined to bring comfort and joy, instill literacy, and give to those who have nothing, a bookly respite, a fleeting retreat to faraway lands.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a powerful message about how the written word affects people--a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman's chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases a bold and unique tale of the Pack horse Librarians in literary novels — a story of fierce strength and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere — even back home.

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I read The Sisters of Glass Ferry by Kim Michele Richardson some years ago and I loved that book. So, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was a title that I was really looking forward to reading. I was intrigued by the fact that the main character, Cussy Carter, is the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. Also, she worked on the Pack Horse Library Project of Kentucky which of course intrigued me since anything concerning books and libraries are something I love to read about. An aspect I found interesting in this book is the racism towards the blue people, although nothing surprising when you think about it. She's counted as a colored just like anyone else that isn't white. It's saddening to read about, especially when she is given a cure, not a permanent cure. But, still, for a little while can she feel "normal". Alas, it leaves her terribly ill.

As for her job as a librarian. That part intrigued me how she with her trusty mule traveled long distances to lend books to people. How they loved getting new books, all the colorful folks that live in the mountains. And her comes Cussy, an outcast and they are looking forward to the books she brings. It's a book that sometimes is very sad to read not to mention that it sometimes made me angry, but it sure is a book that I recommend reading!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review through Edelweiss!

#BookReview The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason @AlgonquinBooks @FreshFiction

The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Get ready for one of the most inventive and entertaining novels of 2019—an edge-of-your-seat Victorian-era thriller, where the controversial publication On the Origin of Species sets off a string of unspeakable crimes.

London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later—and only a block away—Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that these crimes are connected to an even more sinister plot. Was Victoria really the assassin’s target? Are those closest to the Crown hiding something? And who is the shadowy figure witnesses describe as having lifeless, coal-black eyes?

Soon, Field’s investigation exposes a shocking conspiracy in which the publication of Charles Darwin’s controversial On the Origin of Species sets off a string of murders, arson, kidnapping, and the pursuit of a madman named the Chorister. As the investigation takes Field from the dangerous alleyways of London to the hallowed halls of Oxford, the list of possible conspirators grows, and the body count escalates. And as he edges closer to the Chorister, he uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden. 

Tim Mason has created a rousing page-turner that both Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would relish and envy.

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London, 1860. Inspector Charles Field is convinced that the attempted assassination of Queen Victoria is part of a plot. He's not convinced that she was the intended target and that a killer is still out there hiding and planning something. He also suspects that there could be high ranking people behind it all. His investigation leads straight to the publication of Charles Darwin's very controversial On the Origin of Species. Could this book be behind it all, and why? Why would someone kill because of a book?

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin @GrandCentralPub

The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

TRADE PAPERBACK - 1538715716 / 9781538715710
ELECTRONIC BOOK - 1538715732 / 9781538715734

Available wherever books are sold June 11, 2019

From the bestselling author of Girl Last Seencomes "a spine-tingler" (Booklist) of a psychological suspense, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Jessica Knoll.

Local police have announced that they're closing the investigation of the suspected drowning of 37-year-old painter Colleen Westcott. She disappeared on April 11, 2010, and her car was found parked near the waterfront in Cleveland two days later, but her body has never been found. The chief of police has stated that no concrete evidence of foul play has been discovered in the probe.

I close the online search window, annoyed. These articles never have enough detail. They think my husband's first wife disappeared or they think she is dead. There's a big difference.

My phone rings, jarring me away from my thoughts, and when I pick it up, it's an unknown number. The only answer to my slightly breathless hello is empty static.

When the voice does finally come, it's female, low, muffled somehow. "Where is it, Claire? What did you do with it? Tell me where it is."

A woman. A real flesh-and-blood woman on the other end of the phone. She's not just in my head.

A wave of panic spreads under my skin like ice water. It's Colleen.

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Out of all the books I've read by Nina Laurin is this the one I had the hardest time reading. Both What My Sister Knew and Girl Last Seen are great thrillers, while this took forever for me to get into. Now, I think it's because I right from the start felt very, very annoyed with Claire, the main character. And, the more I read the less I liked her. What kept me going was the fact that I wanted to know what the heck is going one and if Colleen really committed suicide. The best part was the last 1/3 of the book when you got Claire's husband Byron's POV as well. Now the story starts to make more sense, and I started to understand more about those weird chapters when someone is stalking Byron's wife that were interwoven with Claire's chapters.

The Starter Wife is not my favorite Nina Laurin book, the last part of the book did make the reading worthwhile, although I found the ending very abrupt. I found it particularly hard to read the book because of my dislike for Claire (for God's sake she doesn't even like cats), but if the Laurin had that in mind when she created the character. To make her as unlikable as possible, well then she succeeded. I would, however, recommend starting with the author's first two books before going for this one. They are way better!

I want to thank the publisher for providing a free copy for an honest review!

The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin

#BlogTour Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge @Tr4cyF3nt0n @crmcgeorge @orionbooks

Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Six people went in. Only one came out...

Introducing Standedge Tunnel: the longest canal tunnel in England.

Last year six students went in, and two and a half hours later, the boat reappeared on the other side with only one of the students, unconscious, and the dog.

The case of the Standedge Six was largely kept from the national media. The police investigation concluded that the only remaining student, Matthew, killed his friends, hid the bodies on the boat and returned later to move them to an undisclosed location.

Matthew is in prison . . . but maintains he is innocent.

Robert Ferringham is grieving for his missing wife, Sam. So when Matthew contacts him for help with his case, promising information on Sam, Robert has no choice but to help. But can he trust Matthew?

And how will he solve the insolvable case?

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Now You See Me is the first book I've read by Chris McGeorge. I do own Guess Who and plan to read it (hopefully soon). What appealed to me about this book was the fabulous blurb. What happened to the five people that went into the tunnel and then disappeared? Matthew was the only one that got out of the tunnel (and the dog Amy), but he says that he doesn't know what happened to them and he was unconscious. Not that the police believe him. Now he needs a miracle and what he does is reaching out to Robert Ferringham. Robert has also lost someone mysteriously. His wife disappeared some years ago. And, now Robert gets the first clue to what happened to her. Because Matthew knows something about Robert wife Sam. Could Robert find out the truth about what happened to Sam, and will he help free Matthew?

I LOVE reading mystery books and Now You See Me felt like just my kind of book. Missing people and a village that has pretty much condemned Matthew, despite no bodies ever found and lacking evidence of him being the murderer. Why is everyone so hellbent on it just being Matthew, especially the police chief? And, who is the young woman that is stalking Robert? Personally, I liked the first of the book the best, when everything was still a mystery. And everyone in the village was introduced as Robert tried to figure out whom to trust. As for the ending, well I found that part less interesting and sadly not that thrilling. And, I think it's because I just felt that I had hoped to be truly surprised. I was not shocked about the truth's that were revealed. Rather, it felt pretty much logical how it all was connected. You know "aha" kind of moments followed by "that makes sense". Yes, it's a satisfying ending, no loose threads. I just can't help wish that had been some really surprising twist. However, I read a lot of thrillers and mystery books and I feel nowadays that it's hard to be surprised. I do recommend reading the book and I look forward to reading Guess Who and see if that book will rock my socks!

#BookReview I'm Traveling Alone & The Owl Always Hunts at Night by Samuel Bjørk

I'm Traveling Alone by Samuel Bjørk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A six-year-old girl is found in the countryside, hanging lifeless from a tree and dressed in strange doll’s clothes. Around her neck is a sign that says “I’m traveling alone.”

A special homicide unit re-opens with veteran police investigator Holger Munch at the helm. Holger’s first step is to persuade the brilliant but haunted investigator Mia Kruger, who has been living on an isolated island, overcome by memories of her past. When Mia views a photograph of the crime scene and spots the number “1” carved into the dead girl’s fingernail, she knows this is only the beginning. Could this killer have something to do with a missing child, abducted six years ago and never found, or with the reclusive religious community hidden in the nearby woods?

Mia returns to duty to track down a revenge-driven and ruthlessly intelligent killer. But when Munch’s own six-year-old granddaughter goes missing, Mia realizes that the killer’s sinister game is personal, and I’m Traveling Alone races to an explosive—and shocking—conclusion.

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I honestly think that Norwegian crime novels are the best. I just love reading/listening to crime books set in Norway and now I have one more favorite series. I'm Traveling Alone is the first book in the Holger Much & Mia Kruger series. I listened to the Swedish version of the book and I was hooked. The case with the dead children is both eerie and sad. And both the main characters made a great impression on me, Holger who has not recovered from his divorce 10 years previously and Mia who dreams of reuniting with her dead sister. She actually planned on doing it at the beginning of the book, but Holger came to her in the very last minute. So, this case is a respite for her before she ends it all...

I recommend this book warmly!

The Owl Always Hunts At Night by Samuel Bjørk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a troubled teenager disappears from an orphanage and is found murdered, her body arranged on a bed of feathers and surrounded by candles, veteran detective Holger Munch and his team are called in to the scene. Star investigator Mia Kruger, on temporary leave while she continues to struggle with her own demons, jumps back on the team and dives headfirst into this case: just in time to decode the clues in a disturbing video of the victim before she was killed, being held prisoner like an animal in a cage.

Meanwhile, Munch’s daughter, Miriam, meets an enticing stranger at a party—a passionate animal rights activist who begins to draw her into his world and away from her family.

Munch, Kruger, and the team must hunt down the killer before he can strike again in this sophisticated, intricately plotted psychological thriller by the newest phenomenon in international crime fiction.

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The Owl Always Hunts at Night is the sequel to I'm traveling Alone is just like the first book a great crime novel. Miriam Holger's daughter gets caught up with an animal rights activist group that will draw her away from her family and may put her in danger. Meanwhile, Holger and Mina try to find out who could have starved and killed a young girl and put her on a bed of feathers in the woods.

As with the first book did I listen to this one and I really love the Swedish audiobook version. The next book will I listen to in English and it will be an interesting change. I think if you like Scandinavian crime novels is the Holger Much & Mia Kruger series a must read. I quite like Holger, Mia and the rest of the crime-solving gang and I'm looking forward to listening to The Boy in the Headlights.

I recommend reading this book after you have read I'm Traveling Alone!

#BookReview The Invited by Jennifer McMahon @FreshFiction @doubledaybooks

The Invited by Jennifer McMahon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house, they start building one from scratch, without knowing it, until it's too late . . .

In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate abandon the comforts of suburbia and their teaching jobs to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this charming property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. As Helen starts carefully sourcing decorative building materials for her home--wooden beams, mantles, historic bricks--she starts to unearth, and literally conjure, the tragic lives of Hattie's descendants, three generations of "Breckenridge women," each of whom died amidst suspicion, and who seem to still be seeking something precious and elusive in the present day.

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Helen and Nate think they have found the perfect spot for building their dream house. What they don't know is that the area is said to have been cursed since a witch was hanged in 1924. At first, life there seems harmonious. They are working together, but slowly things start to happen, for instance, tool and other things go missing and one day there is a strange bag outside there temporary home. Could it really be that the place is haunted...?

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum @GrandCentralPub @FreshFiction

A Bend in the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Women in the Castlecomes a riveting literary novel that is at once an epic love story and a heart-pounding journey across WWI-era Russia, about an ambitious young doctor and her scientist brother in a race against Einstein to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

In Russia, in the summer of 1914, as war with Germany looms and the Czar's army tightens its grip on the local Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brilliant physicist brother, Vanya, are facing an impossible decision. Since their parents drowned fleeing to America, Miri and Vanya have been raised by their babushka, a famous matchmaker who has taught them to protect themselves at all costs: to fight, to kill if necessary, and always to have an escape plan. But now, with fierce, headstrong Miri on the verge of becoming one of Russia's only female surgeons, and Vanya hoping to solve the final puzzles of Einstein's elusive theory of relativity, can they bear to leave the homeland that has given them so much?

Before they have time to make their choice, war is declared and Vanya goes missing, along with Miri's fiancé. Miri braves the firing squad to go looking for them both. As the eclipse that will change history darkens skies across Russia, not only the safety of Miri's own family but the future of science itself hangs in the balance.

Grounded in real history -- and inspired by the solar eclipse of 1914 -- A Bend in the Stars offers a heartstopping account of modern science's greatest race amidst the chaos of World War I, and a love story as epic as the railways crossing Russia.

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Russia, 1914. Miri Abramov and her brother Vanya have been raised by their grandmother after their parents' death years before. There is unrest in the country and the Jewish communities are especially at risk. Miri Abramov is now one of few female surgeons, while Vanya is a physicist who dreams of solving the final puzzle concerning Einstein's theory of relativity. Now an eclipse is coming and this could be the answer to solving the puzzle. However, with Russia at war, it is unsure if Vanya will be able to take the photographs he needs to confirm his theory. But, he will not give up and together with Miri's fiance he sneaks away from the army in hopes of taking photographs of the eclipse...

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!