The Vanishing Year - Kate Moretti (Review)

The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti
Genres: Mystery, Fiction
Publication date: September 27th 2016
Publisher: Atria Books
Format: paperback, 304 pages
How I got it: My public library
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5 
 
Zoe Whittaker is living a charmed life. She is the beautiful young wife to handsome, charming Wall Street tycoon Henry Whittaker. She is a member of Manhattan’s social elite. She is on the board of one of the city’s most prestigious philanthropic organizations. She has a perfect Tribeca penthouse in the city and a gorgeous lake house in the country. The finest wine, the most up-to-date fashion, and the most luxurious vacations are all at her fingertips.

What no one knows is that five years ago, Zoe’s life was in danger. Back then, Zoe wasn’t Zoe at all. Now her secrets are coming back to haunt her. As the past and present collide, Zoe must decide who she can trust before she—whoever she is—vanishes completely.

The Vanishing Year combines the classic sophistication of Ruth Rendell and A.S.A. Harrison with the thoroughly modern flair of Jessica Knoll. Told from the point-of-view of a heroine who is as relatable as she is enigmatic, The Vanishing Year is an unforgettable new novel by a rising star of the genre. 

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My thoughts:

This book follows Zoe who is married to a very rich man in New York.  Zoe meet Henry and got married quickly to him.  We don’t know much about Zoe in the beginning of the book, but as we get into reading we learn a lot more about Zoe.

Zoe is a complex character that the author did a great job creating.  I loved that we got bits and pieces of her past and what happened to get her to the point in her life that she is now.  Zoe has overcome a lot of diversity in her life and was able to pull herself together.  I loved how Zoe was somewhat naive, but also had street smarts mixed in.

The story itself does go off in a few directions, but it does follow a good path.  The author hits the reader with a lot of facts in the beginning and then we start to unravel the mystery.  The pace was perfect and I felt we were hit with the exact amount of information we needed at the right time.

Towards the end of the book the pace picks up significantly and it becomes harder to put the book down.  I wanted to know what was going to happen and what the end results would be.  The pace allowed me to read more during this time.

The author does an amazing job summing up the end of the book.  I felt complete when I finished this book and I didn’t have any lingering questions that I needed answers too.  I love when I know what the author was expecting for the reader to get out of the book.

My one complaint would have been I would have liked to get to know Henry a little more during the book.  If we could have gotten his perspective of what was going on I think it would have been interesting.

I would suggest this book as a nighttime read.  I could read a little bit each night and put the book down without missing a beat.  The book was easy to follow along with and it was easy to take a break from reading. 

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About the Author

Kate Moretti lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She’s worked in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years as a scientist, and has been an avid fiction reader her entire life.

She enjoys traveling and cooking, although with two kids, a day job, and writing, she doesn’t get to do those things as much as she’d like.

Her lifelong dream is to buy an old house with a secret passageway.

Author Links:
   

{Blog Tour} The Madonna of Notre Dame - Alexis Ragougneau (Review & Giveaway)

Alexis Ragougneau

on Tour September 12-21 with

The Madonna of Notre Dame

(thriller) 

 Release date: October 11, 2016 at New Vessel Press  

ISBN: 978-1-939931-39-3 210 pages  

Website Goodreads  

SYNOPSIS

Fifty thousand believers and photo-hungry tourists jam into Notre Dame Cathedral on August 15 to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. The next morning, a stunningly beautiful young woman clothed all in white kneels at prayer in a cathedral side chapel. But when an American tourist accidentally bumps against her, her body collapses. She has been murdered: the autopsy reveals disturbing details. Police investigators and priests search for the killer as they discover other truths about guilt and redemption in this soaring Paris refuge for the lost, the damned, and the saved. The suspect is a disturbed young man obsessed with the Virgin Mary who spends his days hallucinating in front of a Madonna. But someone else knows the true killer of the white-clad daughter of Algerian immigrants. This thrilling novel illuminates shadowy corners of the world’s most famous cathedral, shedding light on good and evil with suspense, compassion and wry humor. 

REVIEW

This book tells the story about a murder that occurred at Notre Dame the day after the Feast of the Assumption.  A young woman was discovered dead in the cathedral passageway, she had been previously seen the day before at the church and near the procession.   The young women was dressed inappropriately for church, but no one said anything to her because they were overlooking inappropriately dressed women nowadays they were more worried about shirtless people or attacks.

The ending of this book is AMAZING! It really tied everything up nicely and kept me on the edge of my toes right up until the end.  What is revealed is worth reading the entire book!

The story is told through multiple points of view up until the end of the book.  We get to hear from a priest who was there that day Father Kern, the lead investigator, and also the prosecutor of the case.   Each has their own agendas and thoughts about the case.   Father Kern is the one who just couldn’t believe that the young man they suspected of the murder could have possibly done it and starts to work on figuring out who really did it.  The case eventually gets dropped by the prosecution when the lead suspect dies.

I loved the character development that the author was able to achieve throughout the book.  I loved Father Kern as a character.  The author did a great job creating a backstory for Father Kern as well as showing that he can have flaws as a priest.  The disease that Father Kern has was also very interesting to learn about and helped build him up in my eyes as more of a loner and someone who might not have had a lot of friends in the past to confide in making it hard for him to truly trust anyone.   I also liked the man who gave Father Kern some helpful tips and also saved his life.  He was a complete side character, but in my mind changed pivotal points of the story.

The author did an amazing job creating suspense within the book.  From the first suspect that they choice I wasn’t sure it was him and I was already leaning towards Father Kern’s opinion and felt like he couldn’t have done it, but then who.  The author did a great job circling back to the keys being left unattended and also timing of the events so it left a lot of people who could have been involved.   Also, I wasn’t sure where the lead detective’s loyalties where, because he just didn’t seem interested or was he more interested and not showing it.  I had a lot of questions.

I really enjoyed how the author created the chapters out of days of the week.  It really helped to put a timeframe on the events occurring.  It also showed how quickly this whole situation was resolved.  

One thing I didn’t love was the one side story that was being told throughout the book about the army gentleman.   I am not 100% sure if I missed the connection, but I didn’t really feel like that helped the story being told.  I felt more like that was a story within itself and hard to make a connection with.

I would suggest this book as a weekend or beach read.  It has a lot of action and brings up a lot of questions so it was hard to put down.  I wanted to know what was going to happen in the end.  The ending of the book is really good it keeps you on your toes the whole time.   

I received a copy of this book from France Book Tours for the purpose of providing an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating: 4/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexis Ragougneau is a playwright and The Madonna of Notre Dame is his first novel. He has worked in Notre Dame Cathedral helping monitor tourist crowds and knows well its infinite secrets and the forgotten souls who linger in its darkest corners.

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Buy the book: on Amazon

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You can enter the global giveaway here or on any other book blogs participating in this tour. Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook, they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour: tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open to US residents: 1 winner will receive a copy of this book  

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CLICK ON THE BANNER TO READ REVIEWS AND AN EXCERPT

 

The American Girl - Kate Horsley (Review)

The American Girl by Kate Horsley
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Publication date: August 2nd 2016
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Format: paperback, 423 pages
How I got it: The Fantastic Flying Book Club for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5
 
On a quiet summer morning seventeen-year-old American exchange student Quinn Perkins stumbles out of the woods near the small French town of St. Roch, barefoot, bloodied, and unable to say what has happened to her.

Quinn's appearance creates a stir, especially since her host family, the Blavettes, has mysteriously disappeared. Now the media, and everyone in the idyllic village, are wondering if the American girl has anything to do with the missing family.

A Boston reporter named Molly Swift travels to St. Roch, prepared to do anything to learn the truth and score the ultimate scoop. After Quinn is arrested and a trial by media ensues, she finds an unlikely ally in the young journalist. Molly unravels the disturbing secrets of the town's past in an effort to clear Quinn's name, but even she is forced to admit that the American girl makes a compelling suspect.

Is Quinn truly an innocent abroad, or is she a cunning, diabolical killer intent on getting away with murder?

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My thoughts:

I haven't read a mystery book in a little while that had a large amount of suspense so I figured I would give The American Girl a shot after the synopsis left me with a lot of questions on what is exactly going on.   After reading the first few chapters I had even more and more questions on what was going on and who was Quinn really.   The beginning of the book is very captivating and leaves you with a lot of questions.   By reading the first 50 pages I knew this was a book that I wasn't going to be able to put down for to long.

The author did an amazing job developing the suspense in the book.  I felt like I didn't want to stop reading the book at night because I just wanted to know what really happened to Quinn and what happened to her host family the Blavettes.  

Quinn was a very complex character that the author developed.  She was originally presented I felt as a little sheltered and more innocent then she really was.  I felt like the author set her up as someone who just lost their mother and felt abandoned in her life.  As we read further in the book I felt like my whole opinion of Quinn changed and I completely misjudged her.  Quinn was my favorite character in the book.  I think her blog entries make her the most interesting, she is completely deceptive and like two different people throughout the story.  I do question if she really ever lost her memory and feel I could make a big argument that she knew what was going on the whole time.

The author also did a great job describing the scenes of what was going on around the characters.  The book is told through the eyes of Molly in the present and some blog entries of Quinn in the past.  The author uses a lot of descriptions of the scenes to bring the characters to life.   Once Quinn begins to spin out of control the scenes become so elaborate and I felt like they were spinning along right with her. 

I liked Molly as a character, but I sort of got over her about halfway through the book.  She just couldn't keep it together and wasn't really filling in all of the gaps that I wanted her to do.  The blog entries from Quinn really made the book for me.  Molly seemed like she was trying at some points and at other points she was just not putting things together for the reader.  I felt like she just wasn't good at investigating.

Things I didn't love about the book were there are portions of the story that I felt like just dragged on.  I had the urge to skip pages while reading to figure out what was going to happen next.  The author left a lot of clues and built up a lot of suspense in her writing, but as a reader I wanted to know what happened sooner.   I feel like if I get to the point of wanting to skip over pages the story is dragging on to long. 

I did really enjoy the ending of the book.  It took a turn I didn't completely see coming as Molly really changed as a character in my mind from the beginning of the book till the end of the book.   Also, I just loved how the ending was nicely tied in a bow for the reader.  

I would suggest this as a weekend read or a great book to bring along on vacation.  I felt like I needed longer reading periods to sit down and read this book because there was just so much going on and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. 
 
I was received a copy of this book from The Fantastic Flying Book Club for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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About the Author

I'm a writer living in Manchester with my artist husband, John, a small person called Violet and a ghost called Ron.

The Monster’s Wife , my first novel, was a rewriting of Frankenstein told from the perspective of the girl Victor Frankenstein transformed into a Bride for his monster. I wrote most of the novel on the tiny island in the Scottish Orkneys on which it's set and it was shortlisted for the Scottish First Book of the Year Award.

My second novel, The American Girl , tells the story of and American exchange student who stumbles out of the woods near the small French town of St. Roch, barefoot, bloodied, and unable to say what has happened to her. I also wrote this partly on the hoof, in the various locations in the South of France mentioned in the book.

Before I became a writer, I had a lot of jobs, from babysitter and box-assembler to librarian and teacher. I teach photography with my husband and travel as often as possible, often wearing an elaborate disguise.

Author Links:

   

{Blog Tour} Game of Fear - Gledé Browne Kabongo (Reivew & Giveaway)

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for:  Game of Fear by Gledé Browne Kabongo. This tour will run from May 23rd to June 3rd.   Check out the tour schedule.

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Game of Fear
by Gledé Browne Kabongo
Genre: YA Thriller
Pages: 251
Release Date: February 24th 2016

Summary from Goodreads:

A desperate act, an explosive secret, and a diabolical enemy—all part of a treacherous game, with no limits.

Overachieving good girl Abbie Cooper has her future all planned out. As senior year at her elite private school kicks off, she has one simple goal: get into the Ivy League. But at St. Matthews Academy, nothing is ever simple. The pressure is overwhelming, the secrets are dirty, and the games are wicked. Abbie has a dirty secret—one that could destroy her chances of getting admitted into Princeton, and the lives of those closest to her. 

One morning, she discovers a note in her locker with the warning, “I know what you did”. Then a photo arrives in the mail. It captures her most shameful deed—the shocking blunder she can never erase, in glorious detail. Someone is out to ruin her, but who and why? The answer lies with the sender of the photo, a mysterious girl known only as The Avenger. For a price, she assures Abbie her secret will remain safe. There’s only one problem: The Avenger may not exist at all. If Abbie doesn’t uncover her true identity before acceptance decisions are made, it’s game over…

 

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Review

This books follows Abbie as she is a high school senior who is getting ready to apply to college.  She comes off as the good girl who works hard at school and tries to stay put together.  She has a very strong group of friends containing Callie and Francis.   Abbie also has a new love interest in the school bad boy Christian who has dated everyone.  Abbie has a very strong personality and is very opinionated. 

I love Abbie as a character.  The first chapter shows one side of Abbie and then we get dropped into a whole different Abbie.  When a tragic life event occurs people start to spiral out of the control and sometimes even the best people can pickup a bad habit.  Abbie needs to lean on her friends during difficult times and it really shows she can always count on them when a crisis hits.  I love the friendship the girls have and the author did a great job with these friends.  They were each a little bit different, but their personalities blended perfectly together.  They also each had their individual goals, which is important not to get stuck in group thought.

The author did an amazing job with the suspense in the book, which made me want to keep reading and not put it down.   The author leaves us breadcrumbs that we need to follow to get the bigger picture.  She does a great job with leading the reader on, but you really need to be questioning everything at the same time.  I love a book where you don't 100% know what is going on and where the book is going.  Also, I really enjoyed when Abbie would be reexplaining something that previously in the book the author did a great job not repeating herself and just alluding to what was explained.  I felt like this helped keep the book moving in the right direction. 

The ending of this book is AMAZING! I would have never put it all together, but once it comes out it makes complete sense! I think there are a few parts towards the end of the book though that could be cut down to make it read a little faster.  

I would suggest this as a weekend read or vacation read.  I felt it was difficult to pick up and put down because it was so fast paced and you wanted to piece everything together and figure out what was really going on. 
 

I received a copy of this book from YA Bound Book Tours for an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating 4/5 

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About the Author

Gledé Browne Kabongo writes intense psychological thrillers—unflinching tales of deception, secrecy, danger and family. She is the Amazon Bestselling Author of Game of Fear, Mark of Deceit (Eye of Fear Anthology), Swan Deception, and Conspiracy of Silence. Her love affair with books began as a young girl growing up in the Caribbean, where her town library overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. She was trading books and discussing them with neighbors before Book Clubs became popular. 

She holds both an M.S. and B.A. in communications, and worked as a freelance news reporter right out of college. After she abandoned the dream of winning the Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for the Boston Globe, she jumped into marketing management for over a decade. Gledé lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Author Links:

   

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