Review: Fiendish Deeds (The Joy of Spooking, Book One) by P.J. Bracegirdle

I received this book for review a while ago and thought it would be perfect in every way for a Halloween post. Happy Halloween everyone!!

Joy Wells lives in the crumbling town of Spooking with her parents and her younger brother, Byron. Spooking lies high on a hill overlooking the city of Darlington. The town has seen better days, most of the homes are uninhabited or need major repair. The shops on Main Street are all closed. The few kids that live in Spooking are bussed down to Darlington to go to school.

Darlington, down the hill from Spooking, is a perfect and unimaginative place. The houses are all alike and the people are all strangely cheerful. At school, the kids from Spooking are picked on and called "Spookys". They, in turn, despise the stuck up Darlington kids and call them "Darlings".

Joy is a smart and imaginative young girl with a pet frog who thinks he's a dog (he barks!). She loves to read the spine-tingling tales of her favorite author, E.A. Peugeot. Peugeot mysteriously disappeared years ago and was never heard from again but there is speculation that his stories might leave clues to what happened to him. In Joy's favorite story, "The Bawl of the Bog Fiend," the hero of the story is attacked by the monster in a bog that sounds very like Spooking's own bog which lies at the bottom of the hill. Joy is convinced the author actually wrote the story about Spooking.

Unfortunately, Darlington has plans for that bog. The greedy Mayor MacBrayne and his right hand man, the evil Mr. Phipps, have decided that the bog is the perfect place to build a water park. Joy is determined to do whatever is necessary to stop the destruction of one of her favorite places. She and her brother have some hair-raising experiences in her quest and a big adventure on Halloween night.

P.J. Bracegirdle (his real name!) has written an imaginative and exciting tale and filled it with characters both endearing and dastardly. It is a perfect story for everyone from eight to eighty and beyond! I'm looking forward to the further adventures of Joy, Byron and the town of Spooking. Book Two will be published in the summer of 2009.

Visit the author's spooky website here. (You can send a free Halloween e-card!)

Fiendish Deeds is published by Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 978-1-4169-3416-5

Order Fiendish Deeds (Joy of Spooking, Book One) from Amazon

Review: The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

" A needle is such a small, brittle thing. It is easily broken. It can hold but one fragile thread. But if the needle is sharp, it can pierce the coarsest cloth. Ply the needle in and out of a canvas and with a great length of thread one can make a sail to move a ship across the ocean. In such a way can a sharp gossipy tongue, with the thinnest thread of rumor, stitch together a story to flap in the breeze. Hoist that story upon the pillar of superstitious belief and a whole town can be pulled along with the wind of fear."

Massachusetts, 1690. In a society of fiercely Puritan people every misfortune is attributed to the will of God. Crops failing, fires, storms, sickness, all portents from God meant to punish. Such an atmosphere made the perfect setting for a group of silly girls to instigate a mass hysteria, claiming to be the victims of spells put upon them by fellow neighbors and residents of surrounding towns.

One of those accused of witchcraft was Martha Carrier. This is her story and that of her family. When the smallpox came to their home town of Billerica, Martha, her husband Thomas and children fled to the home of her Mother in Andover. When people subsequently came down with the smallpox in Andover, suspicion was thrown on the Carrier family. It did not help that Martha was a feisty woman who said what she thought and confronted her neighbors when disputes arose. Women at the time were supposed to be quiet and subservient to men, so she and her family did not make many friends.

The narrative is told through the eyes of Martha's daughter, Sarah, who is nine years old when the book opens. Since Martha does not have an affectionate nature, Sarah doesn't realize, until it is too late, how great her love for her Mother is and that strength of character might be more important than affection. Through one selfless and heroic act Martha sacrifices herself to save her children and in doing so teaches them the importance of faith in oneself and the power of family.

In her debut novel, Kathleen Kent explores one of the darkest periods of American history and takes the reader into the realms of her own family legend. Ms. Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier and grew up hearing the stories of her ancestors. She has presented us with a rich and historically accurate tale that, in my opinion, is one of the best books of the year. She is currently working on a prequel, the story of Thomas Carrier before he came to Massachusetts.

Yesterday I was fortunate to be included in a Blog Talk Radio Interview with Kathleen Kent. It was a fascinating and absorbing half hour. You can listen to the complete interview by clicking the link above or the play button in the post below.

Visit the website here.

The Heretic's Daughter is published by Little Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-02448-8

Order The Heretic's Daughter from Amazon

Kathleen Kent Interview

Review: Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby (plus GIVEAWAY!)

What could drive a brilliant young man to leave college eight days before graduation, without his degree, and return to his hometown to work in the family Mortuary business?

Being a genius is a difficult thing. For Theodore Mead Fegley, it has brought him nothing but grief. He started high school at the age of twelve, finished in three years, and started college at the age of fifteen. He has always been younger and smaller than everyone else. And, of course, the victim of taunts, ridicule and pranks for his entire school career. He is thrilled to go to college, where he thinks he will be among equals, learned individuals who will value his intellect. Poor kid, how wrong he is.

To facilitate the brand new start Theodore feels he is getting with college, he starts to go by his middle name, Mead. Unfortunately, the very first day he is reminded, yet again, that he is different from everyone else and does not fit in. Girls are too old for him, he is too young for drinking and partying, he has little in common with other young men on campus. His life is lonely and friendless. His only real friend, his cousin Percy, is off pursuing his dream of baseball glory. Percy sends a constant stream of postcards to Mead, letting him know what is going on in his life. But since Mead has no friends he doesn't really know how to BE one, so he never responds to Percy's postcards.

Mead excels at mathematics and spends his college career working on solving the Riemann Hypothesis, a 150 year old mathematical theory. When Herman, a wealthy and attractive fellow math student, befriends Mead it seems a little strange to him that this guy would want to spend time with him. But Herman offers to help Mead on the Riemann Hypothesis so, against his better judgement, Mead allows himself to go along with Herman's schemes. The results will force Mead to change, come to some important realizations about life and to see his parents and family through new eyes.

With Life After Genius, M. Ann Jacoby has written a wonderful story about the process of growing up. It is not enough to be smart, maturity lies in the ability to put aside your selfish concerns and do what is better for others, both people you love and people you may not like very much. She reminds us all about the discomforts of our school days when all we wanted was to be included, be liked, be part of the "in" crowd. You will fall in love with Mead Fegley, a sweet and awkward boy who learns the most important part of being a man.

If you would like to win a copy of Life After Genius, please leave a comment here with a short note about why you would like to read this book. You will receive two additional entries if you blog about this contest and link back here. One winner will be drawn at random. Contest will run through 11:59 pm eastern time on November 8. Winner must have a mailing address in the US or Canada (no PO Boxes). Make sure you leave an email address if you do not have an ID that contains contact information!

Many, many thanks to Miriam Parker at Hachette Book Group for including me in the Early Birds Blog Tour for this book and for providing the copy for the giveaway!!

Visit M. Ann Jacoby's website here.

Order Life After Genius from Amazon

Big Giveaway: Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse-and none too happy about it. And they've had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ. Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees-a favorite pastime of Apollo's-is sapping their vital reserves of strength.

Soon, what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills. Two perplexed humans, Alice and Neil, who are caught in the crossfire, must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed-but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?

Thanks once again to Valerie at Hachette Book Group for allowing me to give away five copies of Marie Phillips' fabulous new book, Gods Behaving Badly!!

To enter just leave a comment here. For an additional four entries blog about this contest and link back here. If you don't have a blog, email four friends and cc me on the emails (click on the "contact me" link in the upper left corner).

Contest will run through November 10 at 11:59 pm eastern time and winners will be drawn at random. You must have either a US or Canada mailing address, no P.O. Boxes (they ship UPS). ***A note to "Anonymous" participants. You MUST leave me your email address. If you do not you will not be counted and you will have ZERO chance of winning. If I can't contact you, how can I tell you that you won?***

Good luck everyone!

Sunday Salon: A Pair of Moose!

Today was a beautiful sixty degree day. It was probably the last really warm day we will have up here in the North East until spring. So we went out for a walk in the woods. Guess what we saw?

Here they are, a pair of moose! Looked like a male and a female. They were HUGE! They just looked at us for a while, then went on their way. I was glad that I had the camera.


It rained very hard here last night, so the water was really running. Here's a stream we crossed. I love this season, everything outside is just beautiful!




So, I am a bit over halfway done with Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby. My review will be up on Wednesday, October 29 as part of the blog tour for Hachette Book Group (I'm hoping to have a giveaway, too, so be sure to check back on the 29th!).

Also on Wednesday the 29th I will be participating in a interview hosted by Hachette's amazing Miriam Parker. She will be interviewing Kathleen Kent, author of The Heretic's Daughter. The interview will be at 1:00 pm eastern time and you can listen here, live or at your convenience later. I'll be posting the interview here, too.

Hope you all had a wonderful late fall weekend!!

Review: The Victoria Vanishes: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler

Something terrible is happening in the old pubs of London. Women are being gently killed in the middle of crowded and noisy nightspots. The first couple of deaths are not tied together right away. But then the similarities are noticed by Arthur Bryant of the Peculiar Crimes Unit and the hunt for a murderer begins.

Bryant and his partner, John May, are an unusual pair. They are in their eighties and have been solving London's oddest crimes for years. They are an anachronism, solving cases the old fashioned way (with Sherlock Holmes-like detection) rather than with modern technology. The Home Office has been trying to close their unit for years.

While walking home from a gathering, Bryant sees what turns out to be one of the victims leaving a pub, The Victoria Cross. When they later go back to investigate, there is no pub there. The property in question is now a grocery, the Victoria Cross has not existed for eighty years. This does not bode well for Bryant's employment status, the Home Office will definitely use his apparent hallucination as a reason to disband the unit. The case must be solved satisfactorily to preserve the PCU.

The entire team at the PCU is quirky and interesting. They work together well despite their totally divergent personalities. There is a creative mystery that has a satisfying resolution.

Embedded in the narrative is a lovely homage to the classic old London pubs, which are fast disappearing due to high property values and development schemes.

"The pubs of London are taken almost completely for granted by those who drink in them. Every single one has a unique and extraordinary history...these places hold the key to our past, and therefore present. They're and unappreciated indication of who we are, and a sign of all we've lost and remember fondly."

This is the sixth, and I think final, entry into the Bryant & May mystery series. I'll be going back to read the first five, this last one peaked my interest. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the adventures of these unusual detectives.

My thanks to the Library Thing Early Reviewers program for sending me this book!

The Victoria Vanishes is published by Bantam Dell. ISBN 978-0-553-80502-4

Order The Victoria Vanishes from Amazon

Winners of Hollywood Crows

Many thanks to all of you for entering my first Hachette Book Group giveaway for five copies of Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh. Here are the winners:

Wendy at Literary Feline

Anita at i loves to read

Wrighty at Wrighty's Reads

Tamara at Books by TJBaff

A Real Librarian at Confessions of a Real Librarian

I emailed all the winners today. Once I receive responses from everyone, I'll send your addresses to Hachette and they will send the book out, probably early next week. If you won and haven't emailed me yet, please do so!

Heaps of thanks to Valerie Russo from Hachette for allowing me to do this giveaway!

Just a note for future giveaways (and I have several coming up, including five copies of Dewey, the Library Cat Who Changed the World starting Nov. 3 for the Book Giveaway Carnival!). If you enter under anonymous, you MUST leave me your email address. I cannot contact you without it and if you don't leave it you have Zero chance of winning! I hate to have to skip people!