April Books

A LESSON IN SECRETS/Jacqueline Winspear/B+
In the summer of 1932, Maisie accepts an undercover assignment from the British Secret Service at a college founded by those seeking peace. When the founder is murdered in his office, Maisie is not content to sit back and wait for results. Was he killed for his political positions, considering the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, or are there more personal motives at stake? Maisie is always a gentle, peaceful read even when the world is in chaos.

THE PRICE/Alexandra Sokoloff/A-
I loved Sokoloff's first novel, the ghost story The Harrowing, some years ago. But I was not ready to tackle her second novel until now. There aren't a lot of subject matters that I turn away from, but the story of a child dying from cancer and her parents' desperate (supernatural) attempts to save her life were too much for a mom who had just walked through a year of cancer treatment with my own son. Finally the time was right, and ironically we've since moved to Boston where the book is set. This is more a good/evil story than a ghost story, but Sokoloff nails the atmosphere inside hospitals, where one feels that the veil between worlds is sometimes perilously thin. Creepy.

BRAIN ON FIRE/Susannah Cahalan/A
A memoir of a lost month of madness. Cahalan was a journalist when she began to experience severe mood swings, hallucinations, and seizures that defied medical explanation. Her descent was startlingly swift and eventually landed her in a catatonic state in a NYC hospital. She pieces together her family's and her doctors' attempts to find a diagnosis and continues with the long months of rehabilitation both physically and socially. Frightening and beautiful at the same time, reinforcing the fact that what we know about our bodies and minds is so much smaller than what we don't know.

THE CONSTANT LOVERS/Chris Nickson/B
Richard of Nottingham is Constable of Leeds in 1732, and one summer morning he is summoned to the body of a young, beautiful woman who is at first unclaimed. Richard is thoughtful character, committed to his family and his city, and he dislikes the investigation that takes him into upper class society and their strained personal relationships. An easy, satisfying historical mystery.

THE HUMAN DIVISION/John Scalzi/A-
Oh, how I adore John Scalzi's Old Man's War universe. The Human Division has just been published in hardback, but originally appeared this year as weekly digital stories, each one complete in its own right but all combining to paint the picture of a universe on the brink of war and so many groups working secretly that no one knows who is doing what or whom to trust. If you're a sci-fi fan, start with Old Man's War, read the sequels, and then dive into The Human Division.

A STUDY IN SHERLOCK/ed. Laurie R. King and Les Klinger/B+
A collection of stories by mystery writers influenced by the immortal Sherlock Holmes. From contemporary pastiches to historical reimaginings, it's a fun read. I've seen some pure Holmesian fans disappointed that it's not more specific to the Holmes canon, but I liked the cleverness of the different approaches.


GRAVE MERCY/Robin LaFevers/A
A wonderful historical YA novel with elements of fantasy. Ismae Rienne is rescued from a dismal home and brought to an unusual abbey on the coast of Brittany in the late 15th century. The sisters of this convent serve one of the old gods, Mortain, the God of Death, and each sister is trained as an assassin in Mortain's service. Ismae despises men, but she is forced to work closely with Gavriel Duval to protect Brittany's young duchess rom the French who would overrun her domain to the men who wish to marry her and make the duchy their own. Absolutely brilliant.

UNSPOKEN/Sarah Rees Brennan/A
I've followed Rees Brennan on Twitter for a long time and she's made me laugh in so many ways that I knew I would love Unspoken, the first in the Lynburn Legacy series. I saved it, though, until I felt I really needed it and that was the weekend of the Boston bombings and manhunt. I tore through it in one day, and did indeed laugh as well as cry. Kami Glass is 17 and determined to uncover the secrets of the Lynburn family who have just returned to the English town that was once their fiefdom. She also has a voice in her head, a boy named Jared who has been her friend all her life. What happens when Jared becomes flesh and bone, and someone wants to kill her?

THE SECRET KEEPER/Kate Morton/B+
Morton writes family epics, in which someone in the present usually is attempting to uncover secrets in the past, and The Secret Keeper is no different. At the age of 16, Laurel Nicholson witnessed a crime that she's never talked about to anyone. Now fifty years later, her mother is dying and Laurel finds that the past must be understood for everyone to be at peace in the present. The real strength of the novel is in the WWII storyline and the young women and men who are trying to hold on to each other and their futures through war and personal trauma.

DELIA'S SHADOW/Jamie Lee Moyer/A-
This is where I say "Neener, neener, neener"--because this book won't be released until September. I read an ARC thanks to my agent who also represents Moyer (actually, I snatched it out of the hands of my daughter when Tamar attempted to give it to her first.) Delia's Shadow is a ghost story and mystery and a historical, wrapped up with a gift for atmosphere and setting that I'm jealous of. Delia returns to San Francisco a decade after the Great Quake, pursued by a ghost who clearly wants something from her. Delia has always been able to see the dead, but this ghost is particularly powerful. When Delia meets a police detective hunting a killer who appears to have returned to the city after more than twenty years, Delia realizes her ghost may be the only thing that will keep them all alive. Put this on your list for the fall--I'll be sure to remind you!

For Laura -

My apologies to Laura for hacking her blog and Facebook accounts…

Today, May 14, 2013, is the debut of Laura Andersen’s first book, The Boleyn King. This book is the first in a trilogy published by Random House. In the last few months, The Boleyn King was selected to be in the Random House Reader’s Circle, received outstanding reviews from authors and professional publications, returned to press for a second printing, had rights sold in a foreign country, and was prepared for distribution by well-known national retailers. It has been an amazing journey, and I am intrigued to see where it goes from here.

For Laura’s close friend’s this journey started 10 years ago with a challenge in a Park City, Utah restaurant.  For me, this journey started over 26 years ago in high school with a date to a basketball game. Since that time, I have watched Laura experience a rollercoaster of emotions on the path to becoming an author. Among the most telling experience for me was 20 years ago when we lived in Seattle, WA. I returned home from a long business trip to find Laura’s thoughts and emotions humming with excitement for characters that had quite literally come to life for her. It is fascinating to know that these characters are not in The Boleyn King, but continue to live and evolve in Laura’s imagination waiting for their time to be shared.

I find selfish pride in the belief (correct or not) that I was present when Laura’s first inspirations for The Boleyn King were stirred at sites such as Hampton Court Palace and The Tower of London. However, all credit goes to Laura and her unrelenting determination to be good and be successful. I lack the ability to describe for Laura’s friends and readers the extent of rejection she agonizingly endured and the many, many hours late at night she spent drafting and re-drafting, editing and re-editing.

My lasting pride – and happiness – comes from being Laura Andersen’s husband. Congratulations to Laura on this remarkable achievement! May there be many more days like this one.

Also, my sincere thanks to Laura’s friends, family, agent, editors, publicist, artistic team, reviewers and soon-to-be fans!

Chris Andersen 

Babies and Mothers

Once upon a time I was not a mother. And then one day I was. It's been not quite half my lifetime, thank goodness, though that day seems to close in faster every year: I was 24 the day I became a mother; that child will be 20 this summer. 

Isn't he adorable? We were celebrating his feet that day, since Matt spent nearly all of his first year of life in double casts and had surgery at 9 months to correct club feet. 

And then one day, nearly 3 years later, there were two. 

A second boy, just like I knew it would be. Jake was no less adorable than Matt, though rather plumper and with less hair for a longer time.

Then came the girl. In such a rush to get here that I never got an epidural. It's a good thing Emma is a laid-back teenager, because I've already endured all the pain I care to have from her.

First daughter, first granddaughter, spoiled-sweet. Less likely these days to chew on plastic parrots.

But three was not the right number for us. Someone critical was missing. A boy who wouldn't mind (too much) having a big sister who bossed him around and two big brothers to worship. 

And how's that for a great ending to a Mother's Day post--my mom and Spencer more than eleven years ago :)

This is an odd Mother's Day for me, because I'm away from my kids preparing for the launch event of my debut novel. The book-as-child metaphor is not uncommon, and considering that I sold this novel at auction on the same day my oldest son graduated from high school, it's a metaphor I've pondered. 

And decided it's not for me. 

My books are my books. I love them. I work hard on them. I'm nervous about them going into the world and what sort of reception they will have. What if people are mean to my books? What if they  make my characters cry or feel self-conscious? What if they sink without a trace? 

But they are only books. 

If I could have been only one or the other for the entirety of my life--writer or mom--I'd choose mom without a blink, without a heartbeat, without hesitation. 

And that makes my books all the sweeter, because my children are proud of me. 

Best Books of the First Quarter

Because let's face it . . . three months [whoops, make that four months now!] have gone by and what are the chances I'm going to catch up with all my book reviews? So I will cheat a bit and simply give you my favorite books from January, February, and March.

LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS/Thomas Costain

A history of the family that ruled England from the mid-12th century to the death of Richard III on Bosworth Field in 1485. Infant rulers, crazy kings, ambitious queen mothers, beautiful royalty and secret weddings and enough conspiracy for twenty Bond films–not to mention the Wars of the Roses–this was a great, readable history of a fascinating royal family.


FLAME OF SEVENWATERS/Juliet Marillier

Marillier is easily one of my favorite fantasy writers, particularly her Sevenwaters books set in Ireland in about the 6th century. Maeve was badly burned as a child at Sevenwaters and, after ten years away, has come home somewhat against her will. But men are vanishing in the forest, victims of the Fey prince who wants his son to come home to the Otherworld--a son who is now married to Maeve's sister. Maeve must put aside her doubts about her own abilities to protect her brother and her family. Start with DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST if you're looking for a good epic historical fantasy.


THRONE OF GLASS/Sarah Maass

Wonderful YA debut fantasy about an assassin who is plucked from prison to compete in a tournament to the death in which the winner will become the personal assassin to the king. The same king who imprisoned her. But what does Celaena have to lose? The crown prince provokes her at every turn, the captain of the guard trains her for the competition, but the true danger lies in the underground maze of the castle where something evil has been unleashed. In a kingdom that denies magic, how is Celaena to win?


SPEAKING FROM AMONG THE BONES/Alan Bradley

I adore Bradley's pre-teen sleuth, Flavia de Luce, who uses her unique mind to solve local crimes in 1950's England. This particular crime involves a lost saint beneath the church and a relic that could be the key to restoring her family's fortune--or at least ensuring that they don't have to sell their home. As the youngest sister, Flavia has dreams of being the hero. But then, in one innocent paragraph at the end of this novel, everything changes. Start with SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE to fully enjoy Flavia de Luce and her chemistry-sharpened wit tempered by a child's not always clear understanding.


FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY/Margot Livesey

A re-telling of JANE EYRE, Gemma Hardy is orphaned at a young age in Iceland and brought by her Scots uncle to live with his family. The basic structure is the same: unloved orphan, nasty aunt and cousins, unpleasant school, a job teaching a young girl in a remote manor (this time in the Orkneys), and an older and rather embittered man. But Livesey creates her own characters and world and so I never felt as though I could entirely trust what would happen next.


QUIET/Susan Cain

The subtitle is "The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking". Read it if you're an introvert. Read it if someone you love is an introvert. Read it simply to understand a section of the populace that is, by definition, quiet and thus often overlooked. I knew I loved this book from the front, where the author quotes Gandhi: "There's a word for those who are locked in their own minds: Thinkers."


ZOE'S TALE/John Scalzi

Scalzi continues to write stories set in the universe of OLD MAN'S WAR, but this is perhaps my favorite. It retells the events of book three in the cycle, THE LAST COLONY, from the POV of Zoe, adopted daughter to the colony leaders John and Jane Sagan. Considering that Zoe played a vital role in the resolution of THE LAST COLONY, it was particularly good to see how all that came about. But most affecting was Zoe herself--an intelligent teenager with attitude and friends and courage and grief.


CLOCKWORK PRINCESS/Cassandra Clare

I couldn't leave out the conclusion to Clare's The Infernal Devices series. The Shadowhunters of Victorian London are in grave danger from Mortmain and his clockwork automatons. Tessa Gray is the object of Mortmain's plots, but her largest grief is her love for best friends Will and Jem. Can she give up one for the other? What would she do to save either or both of them? And how will her own life as an immortal affect her decisions? Begin with CLOCKWORK ANGEL, continue with CLOCKWORK PRINCE, and read on to this book and its unique and heartbreaking and powerful conclusion.

Day 25: Favorite Book I Read in School

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Read this in my Victorian novels class in college and fell in love with Trollope's detailed portraits of clerical life and society. Funny, sharp, opinionated characters in this satire of church politics. If you want to wallow in a big, fat Victorian novel, Trollope is a good place to start.


Day 26: A Book that Changed My Opinion on Something

How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

This didn't so much change an opinion as bestow one on me. A most decided opinion about the wonders of the Irish religious houses in the Middle Ages who nearly singlehandedly preserved what we retain of Western civilization by copying manuscripts that were rapidly being destroyed on the continent. If you have the slightest interest in books or history, run to read this one.


Day 27: The Most Surprising Plot Twist

Seriously? A question designed to ruin a book's experience for someone who hasn't read it? I guess I'll mention a classic:  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. And that's all I have to say on the matter.


Day 28: Favorite Title

 Angus, Thongs, and Full-Front Snogging by Louise Rennison

A sort of YA Bridget Jones' Diary, this book has lines so funny that, while listening on audiobook in the car, I very nearly crashed because I couldn't see through the tears of hysterical laughter streaming down my face.


Day 29: A Book Everyone Hates But I Like

I'm pretty sure we covered this one with Twilight :)


Day 30: Favorite Book

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

I find it most difficult to explain the books that mean the most to me, because they become more than a story happening somewhere else--they become entwined with my own experiences and emotions. The story of a failed first contact mission to an alien planet in the mid-21st century, The Sparrow is dark and tragic and beautiful and full of love for God and His creations and the nature of faith and despair. It's not for everyone. But it is for me, from the very first page and the chilling foreboding of the single line: "They meant no harm."

Thank you for those who followed along and endured the fitful nature of my postings. And a great thanks for Dolorosa on Live Journal, where I found the 30 Day Book Meme. If you want to see the topics in one place, here's the link. 

30 Days of Books

Day 21: Favorite Book from my Childhood

Young Childhood: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

I checked these out of the library over and over. I loved how Mrs. Piggle Wiggle solved the problems of difficult children with creativity and humor. With her upside down house and love of children, she was a woman I always wanted to meet.

Slightly Older Childhood: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

This puzzle mystery was my 6th-grade obsession. To this day I can tell you where it was located in my elementary school library. It's about a dead man, a will, an apartment building full of suspects and/or possible heirs, a mad bomber, and an amazing protagonist named Turtle. Love, love, love this book. And it holds up well as an adult.



Day 22: Book I'm Currently Reading

Check the side of my blog :) I always read more than one book at a time. I just started last night Delia's Shadow by Jamie Lee Moyer, a ghost story/mystery/historical set in San Francisco in 1915. Atmospheric and lovely . . . but you can't read it until October. (I got an advanced copy from my agent, who is also Jamie's agent.)



Day 23: My Guilty Pleasure

Trashy magazines

People, Entertainment Weekly (which are more downmarket rather than truly trashy . . . when I'm really tired and traveling, you may find me with a copy of Us.)



Day 24: A Book I Wish More People Would Read

The Bible

Not for spiritual reasons, but simply to have a cultural reference that is fast disappearing in today's society. So much of western literature has roots in the stories of the Bible. And for the sake of extraordinary language, read the King James version. It was written just after Shakespeare's day and the poetry is exquisite.

Earth Day! Or as we say in our house--Happy Anniversary :)

Is anyone surprised that I'm posting this after April 22? Didn't think so. The title, at least, was composed on that day. Just consider me your own personal excuse for lowering the bar of expectations :)

But, late or not, how could I not post these pictures of such an adorably young couple? (Why yes, we did get married when we were twelve. (Not really. We were twenty-three.))

Twenty-one years it's been. Hard to believe, except for that almost-20-year-old son in college and three teens or almost teens at home. I don't feel that old . . . but that's the best thing about being married to a boy I met when I was seventeen–he remembers all those years. His view of me (I hope) is softened by the memories of youth and sweetened by shared experience.

And my view of him? Well, reader, I married him. And haven't wished it undone once.