The Murderer’s Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman

Blurb:

A brilliant, deeply dedicated psychologist, Grace Blades has a gift for treating troubled souls and tormented psyches—perhaps because she bears her own invisible scars: Only five years old when she witnessed her parents' death in a bloody murder-suicide, Grace took refuge in her fierce intellect and found comfort in the loving couple who adopted her. But even as an adult with an accomplished professional life, Grace still has a dark, secret side. When her two worlds shockingly converge, Grace's harrowing past returns with a vengeance.

Both Grace and her newest patient are stunned when they recognize each other from a recent encounter. Haunted by his bleak past, mild-mannered Andrew Toner is desperate for Grace's renowned therapeutic expertise and more than willing to ignore their connection. And while Grace is tempted to explore his case, which seems to eerily echo her grim early years, she refuses—a decision she regrets when a homicide detective appears on her doorstep.

An evil she thought she'd outrun has reared its head again, but Grace fears that a police inquiry will expose her double life. Launching her own personal investigation leads her to a murderously manipulative foe, one whose warped craving for power forces Grace back into the chaos and madness she'd long ago fled.

About the Author:

Jonathan Kellerman is one of the world’s most popular authors. He has brought his expertise as a clinical psychologist to three dozen New York Times-bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, and True Detectives. With his wife, novelist Faye Kellerman, he also co-authored the bestsellers Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. He is the author of numerous essays, short stories, scientific articles, two children’s books, and three volumes of psychology, as well as the lavishly illustrated With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony Awards, and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York City. Their four children include the novelists Jesse Kellerman and Aliza Kellerman.

Review by Rochelle:

I have been a long-time fan of Jonathan Kellerman. His books always keep me guessing and burning through the pages whether I’m reading a true whodunit or a Columbo-style mystery where we know who but not how or why. The Murderer’s daughter is a little of both. There’s some deep psychopathy going on in The Murderer’s Daughter—characters who have suffered major trauma in childhood and have dealt with it in very different ways. Sometimes, I wish I lived in a house instead of an apartment, as I like to read late at night and my outbursts must surely disturb my neighbors. I yelled a lot while I read The Murderer’s Daughter.  My neighbors heard a lot of “Oh my God!” “Oh no!” and “I can’t believe it!” I also missed a deadline or two reading all night when I should have put the book down and gone to sleep.

The reason I’m only giving The Murderer’s Daughter four roses is that it was full of comma splices. I realize the copy I read was an advanced review copy from Balantine that I received through Net Galley, but it seems many of today’s editors don’t know what a comma splice is. You’d think people working in New York for a major publisher would be able to afford to keep current with their subscription to The Chicago Manual of Style and look up such basic grammar issues. And one would think that someone Mr. Kellerman’s age would have learned about comma splices in elementary school back when they still taught grammar in all eight grades. Sorry for the rant, but the plethora of comma splices in modern fiction is one of my pet peeves.

Heat Rating:  R

Length: 385 Pages

Prices:

Hardcover: $19.01

Paperback: $20.21

Digital: $13.99

Audible: $26.95

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Murderers-Daughter-Novel-Jonathan-Kellerman/dp/0345545311/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446238123&sr=8-1&keywords=the+murderer

Author Web Site: http://www.jonathankellerman.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonathanKellerman

Author Amazon Page:

http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Kellerman/e/B00MB9JKC2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Thanks for visiting. Donna, Julie, & Rochelle

See You in the Morning by A. T. Weaver

Blurb:

Jake wonders if he'll ever find a long-term, loving relationship like his parents have. After all, same-sex marriage is just a pipe-dream.

Then he meets Dave. From the first kiss, they know they belong together. For over fifty years they're together, living their happily ever after in spite of bigotry.

They raise four wonderful children, always counting on the promise they give each other every night—"see you in the morning."

Review by Rochelle:

I stopped reviewing gay books awhile ago, because I’m not fond of erotica and I really don’t like BDS&M regardless of the gender of the participants. It seemed to me that was all I found in so-called gay romance. But when I read the blurb and excerpt for See You in the Morning while I was putting together the Marketing for Romance Writers’ Newsletter, it sounded different. It sounded like a real romance.

And that’s exactly what See You in the Morning is—an old-fashioned, sweet romance. Jake and Dave meet in a bar, decide it’s too noisy, and go out for pizza. They sit talking late into the night and exchange phone numbers. Jake’s amazed when Dave calls him that night and asks him to go hiking the next day. Before he hangs up, he says, “See you in the morning.” After that, they’re practically inseparable and they never part or go to sleep without saying, “See you in the morning.”

Jake’s family is open-minded, loving, and accepting. His uncle is gay and has been with one partner for years. Dave’s amazed at his welcome. Not five minutes inside the door the first time, Jake’s dad has him on a ladder placing the angel atop the family Christmas tree, and in the morning there are gifts from the family as well as Jake.

The story is told in flashbacks as Jake goes through family photos after Dave’s funeral. I smiled, frowned, laughed and cried as I sat with Jake while he reminisced about their fifty-plus-year life together, and the wonderful love they shared with each other, Jake’s family, and eventually, their children. Whether you’re a fan of gay books or not, I highly recommend See You in the Morning. It’s inspirational.

Length:  338 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $18.27

Digital:  $5.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/See-You-Morning-T-Weaver-ebook/dp/B00IS2XTJG/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438370118&sr=1-5&keywords=see+you+in+the+morning

Thanks for visiting. Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

If Only by Norma Budden

Blurb:

While still in high school, Demi gave birth to a baby girl and, feeling she had no other options, put her up for adoption. Having moved on with her life—gotten married and having had two other children—16 years later, Demi Glenn suddenly cannot get her firstborn daughter out of her mind. After hiring two private detectives but getting no solid information to go on, Demi turns to the one man who will not come back empty-handed, who will not give up until he finds the answers—David Alexander, a married father of two daughters—the father of the baby she had given up so long ago who had no idea he had sired a child as a teen. Together, will they be able to find their daughter without their families being torn apart or will fate intervene, upsetting their lives in a way they'd never dreamed in the pursuit of finding the daughter they can no longer live without?

Review by Rochelle Weber:

Demi Glenn has recurring nightmares that her firstborn child, born while she was a teen and put up for adoption, is in danger. She sees someone sinister chasing her daughter down a beach. She hires two different private detectives, neither of whom can find the child. Desperate, she turns to the one PI she knows will not stop until he finds the girl—David Alexander—her high school sweetheart, and the baby’s father. Both are married with children and neither has told their families about the baby. How could David tell his family? Demi never told him about the baby.

Their child, Renee, has never felt quite comfortable with her parents. They have different interests, and as an only child, she’s lonely. She’s often wondered if she could be adopted, but her mother swears she’s not. Still, that vague discomfort is always there. But, she’s looking forward to the future. Her best friend/boyfriend is leaving for college, and her parents are allowing her to go live with her Aunt in Alberta to be close to him. She can’t wait to start this next adventure in her life.

I never figured out when, where or how Renee was in danger aside from her adoptive parents finding out her birth parents were looking for her and trying to keep her from finding out she was adopted or from meeting them. I spent much of If Only waiting for Renee to be in danger, but it never really happened, and I felt a bit cheated.

There is a mystery here with elements of the paranormal as Demi, David, and Renee all reach out to each other in their dreams. And there’s a bit of a chase scene at the end, but again—I never felt Renee was in danger of anything but being prevented from meeting Demi and David. There is danger, but it’s not directed toward Renee. Just don’t look for the scene that seems to keep recurring in Demi’s dreams. You won’t find it. If you read If Only without the expectation of anyone chasing Renee down a beach or anywhere else, you’ll enjoy it.

Length:  202 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $9.99

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/If-Only-Norma-Budden/dp/1507870930/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427823069&sr=8-1&keywords=If+Only+%2B+Norma+Budden

Thanks for visiting. Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

The Pursuit of Lucy Banning by Olivia Newport

Blurb: 

She has a secret to keep. But will she give her heart away?
Lucy Banning may live on the exclusive Prairie Avenue among Chicago's rich and famous, but her heart lies elsewhere. Expected to marry an up-and-coming banker from a respected family, Lucy fears she will be forced to abandon her charity work and squeeze herself into the mold of the well-dressed wife who spends most of her time and money redecorating. 

When she meets Will, an unconventional young architect who is working on plans for the upcoming 1893 World's Fair, Lucy imagines a life lived on her own terms. Can she break away from her family's expectations? And will she ever be loved for who she truly is?

Get swept away into the lavish world of Chicago's high society as Olivia Newport brings to life an age of glitz and grandeur, stark social contrasts, and one woman who dares to cross class lines for what she believes.

Donna's Review:

Goodness, but I seem to be in the habit of reading books that I have a hard time rating. The  Pursuit of Lucy Banning by Olivia Newport was another such book. I liked most of it, but there were parts I did not. Hmmmm........

The story takes place among Chicago’s elite families at the time of the World’s Fair of 1893, which is an interesting premise. Lucy Banning is a likeable character despite her family’s wealth. The author does a good job showing the disparity between the rich and the poor without being preachy. Lucy’s struggle to find her own way, even as her parents have chosen another for her, is engaging.  Her efforts to help the new servant Charlotte Farrow with a particularly difficult situation are well done by Newport. Those struggles were some of the best of the book in my opinion, and there are times I could not put the book down.

Now, this is not a book that dwells much on the male point of view. I always find such books lacking, but I understand there are authors who prefer to write that way and readers who do not care. However, as is usually the case in such books, Will Edwards seems too good to be true, and the relationship between he and Lucy comes too easy. They just, quite simply, like each other, and the only thing keeping them apart are external forces. Internal forces of any kind do not exist in the relationship in any great way. He does at one point state he thinks she has too much money and he cannot pull her from the life she is use to, but no great struggle is presented in that regard in any meaningful way.

I also found the character of Daniel Jules thinly drawn. He seems to be a cardboard villain with no redeeming qualities and there is no explanation given for his actions at any point other than the fact he is just plain mean and perhaps psychotic. Granted, it can be difficult to give depth to villains, however, his resolution (which I will not state because I don’t want to spoil the story) seems overly simplistic to me, and Lucy’s reaction to it is also too good to be true.  (I can’t say more without giving the story away.)

I also had issues with Charlotte Farrow and her placing her infant son in a carpetbag at the beginning of the story. There is simply no way the child would have kept quiet, nor would a woman believe she could even do that to begin with for any length of time. Babies that young have to be feed every few hours, so having the child eat all night and stay awake in order to sleep all day while Charlotte worked is not realistic. Not to mention the danger of suffocation in a carpetbag while being unsupervised for hours on end.

While Newport’s sentence structure and style were simple yet readable, she oftentimes slips into “telling” rather than “showing,” and her settings were weak. I very much wanted to feel as if I was in Chicago in the 1890s, but I did not.

Overall, though, this was still an enjoyable read. The plot clips along. The characters of Lucy Banning and Charlotte Farrow truly carry this story. If you are looking for clean women’s fiction, then this is a book you will enjoy. If you are looking for gut-wrenching romance, this is not it.

I will add that it appears this is Newport’s first book, and there is enough good going on that I will not hesitate to read the next in this series, as well as some of her latest works. I have stated before how quickly authors can grow from the first to subsequent books.

3 1/2 Roses for this one!

Length:  304 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $12.00

Digital:  $5.99

Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Banning-Novel-Avenue-Dreams-ebook/dp/B0073UPR6C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425558785&sr=8-1&keywords=lucy+banning+newport

Thanks for visiting, Rose, Julie, Donna, & Rochelle