#BookReview Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly @Connellybooks @orionbooks

Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At the end of a long, dark night Detectives Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch cross paths for the very first time.

Detective Renée Ballard is working the graveyard shift again, and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours only to find that an older man has snuck in and is rifling through old file cabinets.

The intruder is none other than legendary LAPD detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin. Ballard kicks him out, but eventually Bosch persuades her to help and she relents.

Bosch is investigating the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway who was brutally murdered. He crossed paths with her devastated mother while working a previous case, and Daisy's story has seized hold of him.

*********

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship". If you have seen the movie Casablanca, then you know this classic line. And, it's such a perfect way to describe the paring of Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch.

DARK SACRED NIGHT is the second Ballard book and the 29th Bosch. And, I was thrilled to get a copy of the book. Bosch was mentioned in The Late Show, the first Ballard book, but I never thought that we would get a crossover so early. I thought perhaps a cameo or something in the two series, or just mentions. However, to my surprise, a dream come true!

Ballard first encounter with Bosch is hardly a friendly one. He's looking through files he has no right to go through and Ballard almost read him his rights, but then she gets curious. Well, after he's gone and she notices what he was looking for. She can't help herself, and soon she teams up with Bosch to work a cold case. And, as they work together, the more of a team they become.

DARK SACRED NIGHT is a great book. I'm a big fan of cold cases and I love the teaming of Ballard of Bosch. The older cop and the younger one that both can learn from each other, not to mention saving each other's lives. The ending gave hope that there will be more crossovers and I can't wait to find out what B&B will do next!

I want to thank Orion for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

#BookReview The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay @tatianaderosnay @StMartinsPress @FreshFiction

The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first new novel in four years from the beloved superstar author of Sarah's Key, a heartbreaking and uplifting story of family secrets and devastating disaster, in the tradition of THE NEST.

Linden Malegarde has come home to Paris from the United States. It has been years since the whole family was all together. Now the Malegarde family is gathering for Paul, Linden’s father’s 70th birthday.

Each member of the Malegarde family is on edge, holding their breath, afraid one wrong move will shatter their delicate harmony. Paul, the quiet patriarch, an internationally-renowned arborist obsessed with his trees and little else, has always had an uneasy relationship with his son. Lauren, his American wife, is determined that the weekend celebration will be a success. Tilia, Linden’s blunt older sister, projects an air of false fulfillment. And Linden himself, the youngest, uncomfortable in his own skin, never quite at home no matter where he lives―an American in France and a Frenchman in the U.S.―still fears that, despite his hard-won success as a celebrated photographer, he will always be a disappointment to his parents.

Their hidden fears and secrets slowly unravel as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster, and the Seine bursts its banks and floods the city. All members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances. In this profound and intense novel of love and redemption, de Rosnay demonstrates all of her writer’s skills both as an incredible storyteller but also as a soul seeker.

**********

THE RAIN WATCHER is the first book I've read by Tatiana de Rosnay and I'm impressed by how the story got under my skin. I watched the movie version of SARAH'S KEY a couple of years ago and it was fabulous. For some time I have wanted to read Tatiana de Rosnay's work, and I am glad to have started with THE RAIN WATCHER.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

#BookReview Skönhetens väg (Lilac Girls) by Martha Hall Kelly (SWE/ENG) @marthahallkelly

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

CAROLINE är volontär på franska ambassaden i New York och har precis mött mannen i sina drömmar. På andra sidan Atlanten tar den polska sextonåringen KASIA spionuppdrag för att imponera på pojken hon älskar. Samtidigt ser den unga tyska läkaren HERTA inget annat val än att börja arbeta i ett koncentrationsläger för att försörja sig.

Efter att Kasia tillfångatagits av tyskarna möter hon Herta under omständigheter som saknar motstycke i vår historia. Men Carolines välgörenhetsarbete tar henne till Europa, där hennes och Kasias vägar möts.

Skönhetens väg bygger på en sann historia. Caroline Ferriday och Herta Oberheuser var verkliga personer. Den ena förärades två tapperhetsmedaljer för sina insatser under andra världskriget. Den andra dömdes i Nürnberg för fasansfulla brott mot mänskligheten. Romanen är en fängslande berättelse om deras drömmar, umbäranden och uthållighet och det godas seger över ondskan.

**********

Jag har läst många böcker om andra världskriget men inte alla har berört mig på samma sätt som SKÖNHETENS VÄG gjorde. Utan tvekan är detta en bok man verkligen bör läsa. Jag har faktiskt svårt att med ord beskriva hur fasansfullt det var att läsa denna bok. Det kan låta illa, men övertrampen som skedde under andra världskriget skildras verkligen till det yttersta och det var inte alltid lätt att läsa boken utan att känna fasa. Att även bifoga Herta Oberheusers berättelse till handlingen gjorde boken ännu starkare. Jag läste inte upp mig, när det gällde Herta, innan jag började med boken, det gjorde jag först senare. Det gjorde att jag inte visste att hon skulle senare ställas till svars för sina handlingar vid rättegången i Nürnberg. Så, när jag började läsa boken var hon bara en karaktär till, tillsammans med Caroline och Kasia. Men till skillnad från de andra två kvinnorna är Hertas berättelse den av ondska. Detta upptäckte jag medan jag läste boken. Hennes arbete på Ravensbrück, försöken som utfördes kan inte bortförklaras på något annat sätt. Att läsa om Ravensbrück, vad som hände Kasia och dena andra kvinnorna där var svårt. Så hemskt svårt.

Martha Hall Kelly har skrivit en fantastisk bok. Men också en av de mest jobbigaste böcker jag har läst. Men böcker som SKÖNHETENS VÄG behövs. Man behöver läsa böcker som tar upp svåra ämnen. 

Tack till Bookmarks förlag för recensionsexemplaret! 

ENGLISH REVIEW

Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this debut novel reveals a story of love, redemption, and secrets that were hidden for decades.

New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.
The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.

**********

I have read many books about the horror of WW2, but not all of the books have moved me in the way LILAC Girls did. Undoubtedly this is a book one really should read. I actually have difficulty describing how terrible it was to read this book. It may sound bad, but the devastation that occurred during WW2 is written in such a detail in this book that I couldn't help feel trepidation reading the story. Also, to add Herta Oberheuser's story to the book made the story even stronger. I did not read about Herta before I started reading the book. I did not do that until later. That meant that I did not know that she would later be held accounted for her actions at the trial in Nuremberg. So, to me at first, she was only a character, along with Caroline and Kasia. However, unlike the other two women, Herta's story is of evil doings. Which I discovered as the story progressed. Her work at Ravensbrück, the tests carried out cannot be described in any other way. Reading about Ravensbrück, what happened to Kasia and the other women was truly difficult. So, very, very, difficult.

Martha Hall Kelly has written a wonderful book. It's also one of the hardest books I have read. However, books like the LILAC Girls are needed. You need to read books that deal with difficult topics like this.

Thanks to Bookmarks förlag for the review copy!

#BookReview The Winters by Lisa Gabriele @lisagabrieletv @VikingBooks

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“From the brilliant first line to the shattering conclusion, The Winters will draw you in and leave you breathless. . . . A must read.” —Liv Constantine, author of The Last Mrs. Parrish

Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, a spellbindingly suspenseful novel set in the moneyed world of the Hamptons, about secrets that refuse to remain buried and consequences that can’t be escaped

After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter—a wealthy politician and recent widower—and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell. She soon realizes there is no clear place for her in this twisted little family: Max and Dani circle each other like cats, a dynamic that both repels and fascinates her, and he harbors political ambitions with which he will allow no woman—alive or dead—to interfere.

As the soon-to-be second Mrs. Winter grows more in love with Max, and more afraid of Dani, she is drawn deeper into the family’s dark secrets—the kind of secrets that could kill her, too. The Winters is a riveting story about what happens when a family’s ghosts resurface and threaten to upend everything.

**********

First, I want to say that I love REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier. It's a book that I have read several times and I feel like I love it a bit more every time I read it. Second, this book, well we got off on the wrong foot I think. I had a hard time getting into it, found it hard to like the story and the characters. So, I took a break and then I came back to it a couple of month's later and I pick up where I left on, but this time did I choose the audio version. And, now the story felt much more to my liking.

If you have read Rebecca, then the story will have a familiar tone. However, I would say that the author has brilliantly made something new. It's more of a feeling of Rebecca than a retelling and that is a great move. It's an intense story and one thing that Lisa Gabriele has managed to do is to make the main female character, the nameless second Winter (just as with the first book) a bit stronger than the meek character in REBECCA. That has always been my problem when it comes to the story. I just like my female characters a bit gutsier.

So, the verdict. If you haven't read REBECCA or seen any of the movies/mini-series then you will have nothing to compare with, and that can be nice and you will probably be more surprised by the story than if you have read REBECCA. If you have read the book, then I will bet that the wedding scene in this book will make quite apprehensive since you probably know what will happen...

#BookReview This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong @MinotaurBooks

This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Casey Duncan first arrived at Rockton, the off-the-grid, isolated community built as a haven for people running from their pasts, she had no idea what to expect. There are no cell phones, no internet, no mail, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. She certainly didn't expect to become the town homicide detective. But, the very last thing she expected was for the council to drop a dangerous criminal into their midst without a plan to keep him imprisoned. And she never thought that she'd have to be responsible for him. 

The longer Oliver Brady stays in town, the more people seem to die around him. When evidence begins piling up that someone inside Rockton is working as his accomplice, Casey races to figure out who exactly Brady is and what crimes he's truly responsible for committing.

**********

I'm lucky enough to have, WATCHERS IN THE WOODS, the latest book in the Rockton series. However, I wanted to read THE FALLEN PRAY, the previous book released before I started it since it's the only one I hadn't read. So, I went for the audio version and it was a thrilling ride. I'm a big audiobook fan and Therese Plummer the narrator did an excellent job.

The Rockton series is fabulous, and THE FALLEN PRAY is one of the strongest books in the series. Casey Duncan and her law enforce colleagues get caught between a rock and a hard place when dangerous criminal Oliver Brady is dropped in Rockton and they are now responsible to keep him safe. Which is hard since the general population in Rockton, the off-the-grid community is, of course, curious to know who he is and what he has done...

I really liked this book and I'm now really eager to read the next book in the series. I recommend this series if you want a slightly different kind of thriller series. Rockton is a town with a lot of secrets and dangerous people. And, Casey's skill as a homicide detective is much needed...

#BookReview Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker @PutnamBooks @PRHGlobal #partner

Dracul by Dacre Stoker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a riveting novel of gothic suspense that reveals not only Dracula's true origins but Bram Stoker's -- and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen -- a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen -- and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.

**********

I would say that DRACUL is a good book, but ultimately one that was just a bit too long. And, I say that regrettable because of the idea of the book, to link the Dracula myth with Bram Stoker's own life is marvelous and I quite enjoyed the story. Especially the first part with the creepy nanny. I also came to like Bram's brave and gutsy sister Matilda very much. What for me sadly just didn't work was the pacing. It's a thick book, 500 pages and I just felt that my interested in the story went up and down as the story progressed. Some parts really interesting, other parts, well I lost the focus now and then. On the plus side, the ending is quite good and the story had a lovely gothic atmosphere. Also, I did, however, quite enjoyed the author's notes at the end of the book. Fascinating reading.

So, would I recommend this book? Yes, definitely. The story is interesting and you will like it especially if you have a burning obsession with everything concerning the Dracula myth. Confession, the original Dracula book by Bram Stoker was never a favorite of mine so perhaps it's not that odd that I did not totally love this book.

I want to thank G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! 

#BookReview Another Side of Paradise by Sally Koslow @sallykoslow @HarperCollins

Another Side of Paradise by Sally Koslow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author of the acclaimed international bestseller The Late, Lamented Molly Marx imaginatively brings to life the shocking affair of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his longtime lover, Sheilah Graham, in this dazzling novel of romance, celebrity, and Gatsby-esque self-creation in 1930s Hollywood

In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheilah Graham’s star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald’s career is slowly drowning in booze. But the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, is charismatic enough to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own. Like Scott’s hero Jay Gatsby, Graham has meticulously constructed a life far removed from the poverty of her childhood in London’s slums. And like Gatsby, the onetime guttersnipe learned early how to use her charms to become a hardworking success feted and feared by both the movie studios and their luminaries.

A notorious drunk famously married to the doomed “crazy Zelda,” Fitzgerald fell hard for his “Shielah” (he never learned to spell her name), a shrewd yet soft-hearted woman—both a fool for love and nobody’s fool—who would stay with him and help revive his career until his tragic death three years later. Working from diaries and other primary sources from the time, Sally Koslow revisits their scandalous love affair, bringing Graham and Scott gloriously alive in this compelling page-turner saturated with the color, glitter, magic, and passion of 1930s Hollywood and Sheilah’s dramatic transformation in London.

**********

I just knew I needed to read this book when I saw it and I was lucky to get the chance to listen to the audiobook. I watched a movie about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham years ago with Gregory Peck in the title role. Can't remember much about it, but I was thrilled to get to read a book about the couple.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is forever linked with his wife Zelda, but the last years of his life were he involved with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham. It was not an easy romance, especially for Sheilah who discovered that Scott was a very nice man, as long as he did not drink. But, now and then he would go on a bender and he turned into a very nasty version of himself. I had before I read this book just finished a book about Ernest Hemingway and I can tell you. They may be great writers, but they were hell to live with.

As for the book, it's marvelous, read it or listen to it. I enjoyed it immensely and I loved getting to know more about Sheilah Graham, how she pretty much invented herself. And who doesn't love an epic love story?

#BookReview Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons @WriteAngie @bookouture

Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eeeny meeny, miney, moe. Who lives, who dies only I know.

When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl. Gordon has a chequered past, but who would want him dead?

As the investigation gets underway, Gordon’s son is involved in a horrific car crash which leaves him fighting for his life. Kim's sure this was no accident.

Then the body of a woman is found dead in suspicious circumstances and Kim makes a disturbing link between the victims and Russells Hall Hospital. The same hospital where Gordon worked.

With Kim and her team still grieving the loss of one of their own, they’re at their weakest and facing one of the most dangerous serial killers they’ve ever encountered. Everything is on the line. Can Kim keep her squad together and find the killer before he claims his next victim?

The killer is picking off his victims at a terrifying pace, and he’s not finished yet.

*********

FATAL PROMISE is book nine in the Kim Stone series and I've read every single one of them. The D.I. Kim Stone series is a great crime series and I'm always thrilled when I get a new copy to read. I like the characters so much, and the cases are always so good. However, it's hard to write a review without spoiling too much, both for those that have never read the series, or just this book. So, I will try to be as vague as possible. Kim and her colleagues had to deal with a tragic loss in the last book and now they have to deal with it at work. This part of the book is something that I both enjoyed and felt sad about reading. I think, however, that this new move will be interesting in future books.

As for the case, very interesting, especially since it was hard to figure out who was behind it all, and why. Just the kind of case I love to read about. The book's pace was fast and I enjoyed reading it immensely. This is one of the strongest books in the series, but then again, that's hardly a surprise since Marsons knows how to write an engaging crime novel. Now I want the next book.

I want to thank Bookouture for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!