Review: The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

With 85 percent or more of the books I read being mysteries of some sort (including suspense/thrillers/romantic suspense) or comics related (comic books/comic strips/graphic novels), every now and then I take a chance on something different.

And Abbi Waxman's debut novel, The Garden of Small Beginnings, is different. Words like "funny," "original," "poignant," and "quirky" are being used in advance reviews of the book. And they're all accurate. The book is that good -- and "good" isn't enough of a superlative for a book where the characters feel so real that the reader can feel the pain Lilian Girvan lives with since the death of her husband or laugh out loud with complete abandon at some of the all-too-real conversations and situations between Lilian and the family and friends in her life. I'm kind of partial to describing The Garden of Small Beginnings as "magnificently fantastic."

Synopsis: Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years—ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she’s just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed.

At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks—like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently, being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty, literally. Wallowing around in compost on a Saturday morning can’t be much worse than wallowing around in pajamas and self-pity.

After recruiting her kids and insanely supportive sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles botanical garden feeling out of her element. But what she’ll soon discover—with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners—is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not…

I found it extremely difficult to put The Garden of Small Beginnings aside once I started reading. It will be the perfect read at the beach or on a rainy weekend afternoon or anytime the reader can block out a few hours for some reading enjoyment. Highly recommended!

(While writing this review I read on-line that Publishers Weekly announced recently that Waxman's second novel, A Variety of Tremendous Things, will be published by Berkley in 2018. That seems like a very long time to wait . . ..)

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Cranked (The Rose Garden Arena Incident Book 6) by Michael Hiebert

Cranked covers the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday leading up to Dakota Shane's Saturday evening concert at Portland's Rose Garden Arena.

I admit I've been loving this series. I've been taking the information provided and piecing it together, and have made my guesses as to several of the mysteries weaving their way through this series. (No spoilers ahead, just asking some questions.)

Who are the four women who die? One of them is already known, a second is pretty obvious after reading this installment, and the other two I'm just speculating.

Who is the shooter? This is the one that I'm taking the wildest guess on. It's not exactly an obvious person, yet I'm going to go out on a limb and say the person I'm thinking of also plays another role -- also unrevealed at this point -- and is central to all of the mysteries surrounding Dakota Shane.

Will Reggie survive and reunite with his friend Marshall and his aunt and uncle? This one is tough. Readers know that Reggie is between the proverbial rock and hard place. If there's one character in this book that I think deserves a miracle, its Reggie.

I read a lot of mysteries, and I enjoy playing armchair detective. Michael Hiebert is an author who keeps me guessing. I don't have everything figured out yet, and I'm 99.999% sure that I could be wrong about everything I think is right.

Highly recommended!

Release date: March 26, 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Some Small Magic by Billy Coffey

Mattingly, Virginia, can be a very dark place yet it is also a place where the light is given a chance to shine. In Billy Coffey's latest Mattingly novel, "Some Small Magic," the light comes from two of the town's misfits: Abel Shifflett, a middle school student whose small stature and brittle bones makes him a target for the school bully, and Dumb Willie, the 22-year-old man whose parents are abusive, cold, and indifferent to him and who may or may not be responsible for why Willie is the man he is today.

Synopsis: She whispers, “I’m supposed to take you home.”

“Not yet,” Abel says. “Please, just not yet.”

All Abel wants is a little bit of magic in his life. Enough money so his mom doesn’t cry at night. Healing for his broken body. And maybe a few answers about his past.

When Abel discovers letters to him from the dad he believed dead, he wonders if magic has come to the hills of Mattingly, Virginia, after all. But not everything is as it seems.

With a lot of questions and a little bit of hope, Abel decides to run away to find the truth. But danger follows him from the moment he jumps his first boxcar, forcing Abel to rely upon his simpleminded friend Willie—a man wanted for murder who knows more about truth than most—and a beautiful young woman who was already on the train. From Appalachia to the Tennessee wilds and through the Carolina mountains, the name of a single small town beckons: Fairhope. That is where Abel believes his magic lays. But will it be the sort that will bring a broken boy healing? And is that the magic that will one day lead him home?

Life in Mattingly is raw and exposed even when its citizens try to keep things hidden. Yet it’s when the flaws – the ugliness . . . the infection, so to speak – is revealed that healing begins for all involved. Coffey’s prose is painstakingly slow at times as he delves into his characters’ lives and discovers nuances that are hidden in depths far below the surface. At the same time, however, mining those depths to reveal secrets also allows for the beauty – the magic – to be revealed as well.

I don’t know that I’d want to live in Mattingly, but I appreciate the opportunity to visit every chance I get. Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

Authors must hate it when readers compare their current book to the one(s) that came before. It's got to be, at worst, like comparing one child to another or, at best, choosing between three or four favorite flavors of ice cream. You recognize the differences -- the strengths -- each one has and love each of them because of those differences.

Last year, I had the opportunity to read Jeff Zentner's first novel, The Serpent King, and said in my comments (posted to NetGalley and Goodreads) that, "Zentner's novel is a mix all the things that life brings: friendship, love, dreams, tears, the ordinary, and much more . . . all wrapped up in a bundle of hope. I cannot wait to see what Jeff Zentner writes next." Having now read his next book, I am definitely not disappointed.

Synopsis: Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. But now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation.

Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a “goodbye day” together to share their memories and say a proper farewell.

Soon the other families are asking for their own goodbye day with Carver—but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these Goodbye Days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?

Jeff Zentner does not write books that are necessarily easy to read. He asks questions that don't have pat answers, if there are answers at all. He writes characters that leap off the page and into our heads and hearts, characters who somehow are all the more real because we each know people who share similar traits. Because of this, it is easy to find yourself laughing along with the antics of Carver, Mars, Eli, and Blake one minute and crying over how unfair it is that three teens died with only memories left behind for friends and family.

I have no idea what Mr. Zentner has planned next for readers, but I plan to be there -- ready to read -- when it's published. Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from Crown Books for Young Readers through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Review: Ready to Fumble by Christy Barritt

What a dilemma! Gabby St. Claire or Joey Darling? I'll take both, please!

Christy Barritt's new series introduces Joey Darling, an actress who is being manipulated into taking on her most famous role -- TV P.I. Raven Remington -- in order to solve a murder. As with the Squeaky Clean Mysteries, the Worst Detective Ever debut, Ready to Fumble, features a mix of fun, mystery, and even a little romance.

Joey Darling is in Nags Head, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to find out why her father disappeared. Sure, she told him she never wanted to see him again, but she didn't mean it. So with her life at an all-time low, she's heads away from Hollywood, rents a place, takes a job as a cosmetologist, and starts digging into her dad's disappearance. However, before she makes any headway, a "client" comes into the salon where she's working and hires Joey to find a missing boyfriend.

Along the way Joey gets help from next door neighbor Zane Oakley and Nags Harbor Police Detective Jackson Sullivan. Both come across as potential romantic partners, but one is more than willing to help with her investigation and the other is more than willing to discourage those pursuits.

Only five weeks until Reign of Error -- Book 2 in "The Worst Detective Ever Mystery Series" is released. I can't wait!

Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 Stars

Review: Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse

Cecilia Vinesse's debut novel for young adults, Seven Days of You, is the kind of book that reminds a person why God doesn't allow do-overs. Nobody in their right mind would really want to relive the angst and heartbreak that comes with being a teen.

Teens are often reminded that the high school years are the best of their lives, but they can also be messy with friendships that start and end over stupid stuff, or romantic relationships that make the average daytime or nighttime drama pale in comparison.

On top of all this, Vinesse adds another wrinkle: Living in a foreign country and getting ready to head home.

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Sophia has seven days left as a student at the international school in Tokyo, Japan, before she moves back to the States with her family. One week to say good-bye to her friends, school, and–after a lifetime of moving around the globe–the closest thing to home she’s ever known. Sophia intends to make the most of every karaoke- and konbini-filled second. Until Jamie Foster-Collins reappears after three years away and ruins everything.

Jamie and Sophia have a history of heartbreak; one that Sophia thought was far behind her. She just wants to spend her remaining time with her wild best friend Mika and her eternal crush David. But as the week counts down, the relationships she thought were so stable begin to crash around her, and Sophia and Jamie forge a last-minute connection neither of them anticipated. When Sophia’s with Jamie, it’s as though she is seeing Tokyo again for the first time. Can their seven short days of Tokyo adventures end in anything but good-bye?

There is a part of me that feels like Sophia and her friends are a little too self-involved to be taken seriously as characters (and, seriously, do all YA writers think that teens use profanity?). The other part of me was pleased that what could have been a boring travelogue of Tokyo was instead a glimpse into the city from the characters who love living there.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (bumped up to 4 Stars on Goodreads)

I received a copy of the book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Still Life by Dani Pettrey

It isn't often that the second book in a series exceeds my expectations. However, the second book in Dani Pettrey's Chesapeake Valor series is as good, and maybe even better, than the first.

Cold Shot, the first book in the series, introduced Griffin, Finley, Parker, Avery, Declan, Tanner, Kate, and Luke (who is missing and presumed dead by all except for Kate). The second book, Still Life, picks up nine months after the end of Book 1 and, except for brief explanations for why some of the friends have moved into different work positions, gets right into the action.

Synopsis: Blacklisted in the photography business over a controversial shot, Avery Tate answered an ad for a crime scene photographer. She expected to be laughed at, but crime scene analyst Parker Mitchell hired her outright--and changed her life. But six months ago, when her feelings for Parker became too strong, she left his employ to sort out her heart.

Now, for the first time, Avery is facing the world that rejected her to attend the gallery opening of a photography exhibit and support her best friend, who modeled for the show. But the only image of her friend is a chilling photo of her posing as if dead--and the photographer insists he didn't take the shot. Worse, her friend can't be found. She immediately calls Parker for help. As Avery, Parker, and his friends in law enforcement dig into the mystery, they find themselves face-to-face with a relentless and deadly threat.

The search for Avery's friend, Skylar Pierce, is as creepy as it is thrilling. Is Skylar dead? What had she been up to in the days leading up to the gallery exhibit? Did she cross the wrong people? Why can't Parker and Avery find her? Since I'm trying to keep this review spoiler free, I'm not answering any questions, but I highly encourage readers to pick up a copy of the book and read it. (For the male reading population who wouldn't ordinarily pick up a romantic suspense novel, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how little of the book focuses on the "will they or won't they get together" romance aspect.)

As with the first book, there is a subplot dealing with human trafficking that I expect will pay off in the fourth -- and final??? -- book in the Chesapeake Valor series. In the meantime, I am eagerly awaiting the third book, Blind Spot, which is set to be released in October 2017.

Highly recommended, with a suggestion for the author and publisher: How about spinning a Charm City Investigations mystery series out of this series? Author Pettrey has created characters who work well together and have experience in several different law enforcement areas. A series of mysteries featuring these friends seems like a logical thing to do.

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy of the book from Bethany House Publishers through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.