Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #87

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller, which I borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning:  Highgate, London, November 1985

This morning I found a black-and-white photograph of my father at the back of the bureau drawer.  He didn't look like a liar.  My mother, Ute, had removed the other pictures of him from the albums she kept on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, and shuffled around all the remaining family and baby snapshots to fill in the gaps.  The framed picture of their wedding, which used to sit on the mantelpiece, had gone too.

 

*********************
Page 56:  "When I had finished the tea, she guided me back to my classroom, her hand on my shoulder, both caressing and propelling me forward.  She took Mr. Harding aside and had a whispered exchange with him; his expression moved from boredom to shock to a crinkled face of sympathy when he glanced at me, waiting at the front of the class."

*********************   

My thoughts: I can't help but embrace this young narrator, who is experiencing the break up of her family.  I am interested in knowing more about her and her situation.

**********************

 

From Goodreads:  Peggy Hillcoat is eight years old when her survivalist father, James, takes her from their home in London to a remote hut in the woods and tells her that the rest of the world has been destroyed. Deep in the wilderness, Peggy and James make a life for themselves. They repair the hut, bathe in water from the river, hunt and gather food in the summers and almost starve in the harsh winters. They mark their days only by the sun and the seasons.

When Peggy finds a pair of boots in the forest and begins a search for their owner, she unwittingly begins to unravel the series of events that brought her to the woods and, in doing so, discovers the strength she needs to go back to the home and mother she thought she’d lost.

After Peggy's return to civilization, her mother learns the truth of her escape, of what happened to James on the last night out in the woods, and of the secret that Peggy has carried with her ever since.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #87 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

 

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday: Twain's End

  

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Today I'm featuring Twain's End by Lynn Cullen, author of Mrs. Poe.

  

Publisher:  Gallery Books

Publication Date:  October 13, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  From the bestselling and highly acclaimed author of the “page-turning tale” (Library Journal, starred review) Mrs. Poe comes a fictionalized imagining of the personal life of America’s most iconic writer: Mark Twain.

In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both. He proceeded to write a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, calling Isabel “a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator, a filthy-minded and salacious slut pining for seduction.” Twain and his daughter, Clara Clemens, then slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family. How did Lyon go from being the beloved secretary who ran Twain’s life to a woman he was determined to destroy?

In Twain’s End, Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Twain, Lyon, and Ashcroft, as well as the little-known love triangle between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy, and Anne’s husband, John Macy, which comes to light during their visit to Twain’s Connecticut home in 1909. Add to the party a furious Clara Clemens, smarting from her own failed love affair, and carefully kept veneers shatter.

Based on Isabel Lyon’s extant diary, Twain’s writings and letters, and events in Twain’s boyhood that may have altered his ability to love, Twain’s End explores this real-life tale of doomed love.

 

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: Twain's End was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #114

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I'm reading, which I borrowed from the library . . .

 

Goodreads Page 

PART ONE

New Year's Eve

CHAPTER 1

Halfway up the steps the judge stopped to grab the handrail.  It was a silver metal handrail, stainless steel and so cold that if there had been any moisture on his skin it would have bound him immediately.  But he had no moisture, not on his skin or even in his mouth.  He felt dry, but not merely the midwinter dry from low humidity and blasting steam pipes.  He felt desiccated, as if he could collapse into dust and blow away.

He took a deep breath, worked his free hand under his topcoat and between the two flaps of his scarf.  His heart gave one more of those crazy thumps, then steadied.  He slid his other hand up the rail, gripped tight, and pulled himself up and out of the subway. station.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The opening has me curious about the judge--is he just feeling the effects of a long and stressful day, or is something more serious going on?

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #114 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #86

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Descent by Tim Johnston, a thriller that I borrowed from the library. 

 

Beginning:  THE LIFE BEFORE

Her name was Caitlin, she was eighteen, and her own heart would sometimes wake her--flying away in that dream-race where finish lines grew farther away not nearer, where knees turned to taffy, or feet to stones.  Lurching awake under the sheets, her chest squeezed in phantom arms, she'd lie there gasping, her eyes open to the dark.

 

*********************
Page 56:  "He stepped between the rockers and turned to face the men.  A tall, lean young man in a black leather coat and crisp white shirt.  Dark hair stashed behind his ears and a small tuft of beard clinging to the underside of his lower lip."

*********************   

My thoughts: What is causing Caitlin to awaken with a fright?  This ominous beginning has piqued my curiosity about the story to unfold.

**********************

From Goodreads:  The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college. For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic, as suddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines or seen on TV.

As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life?

Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #86 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

Waiting on Wednesday: Woman with a Secret

  

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Today I'm featuring Woman with a Secret by Sophie Hannah, which will be released in August.

  

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date:  August 4, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  She's a wife.

She's a mother.

She isn't who you think she is.

Nicki Clements has secrets, just like anybody else—secrets she keeps from her children, from her husband, from everyone who knows her. Secrets she shares with only one person: A stranger she's never seen. A person whose voice she's never heard.

And then Nicki is arrested for murder. The murder of a man she doesn't know.

As a pair of husband-and-wife detectives investigate her every word, and as the media circle like sharks, all Nicki's secrets are laid bare—illusions and deceptions that she has kept up for years. And even the truth might not be enough to save her. For although Nicki isn't guilty of homicide, she's far from innocent. . . .

 

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: Woman with a Secret was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #113

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I'm reading, which I borrowed from the library . . .

 

Goodreads Page  

Part One

One

Eve

I have the dog to thank.  If it wasn't for him I might still be there and none of this would have happened.  That may sound strange given that the place teems with life.  But it's a hurried life that doesn't veer off its chosen track: cyclists in streaks of neon, joggers chasing personal bests, harried parents tailing their offspring.  Not a chance they would have spotted me twenty or so meters away, hidden in dense woodland.  I was easy to miss, which was the point after all.

"It's immaterial now."  This is the echo of my mum's voice from years back.  She wasn't a fan of my hypothetical musings.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The opening hints at a mystery and drew me in completely.  Subsequent chapters--told in the voices of Eve and Melody, both victims of brutal attacks, and DI Victoria Rutter, the lead investigator of the crimes--raise many questions, and nothing is as it seems to appear on the surface.  This fine-tuned suspenseful tale set in London has me feverishly turning the pages to reveal the perpetrator and motive.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #113 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #85

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes, the first book in a new British crime series, and borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning:

Day One

Thursday 1 November 2012

09:41

DISPATCH LOG 1101-0132

• CALLER STATES SHE HAS FOUND HER FRIEND COVERED IN BLOOD NOT MOVING NOT BREATHING
• AMBULANCE ALREADY DISPATCHED -- REF 01-914
• CALLER IS FELICITY MAITLAND, HERMITAGE FARM, CEMETERY LANE MORDEN -- OCCUPATION FARM OWNER
• INJURED PARTY IDENTIFIED AS POLLY LUCAS, FAMILY FRIEND OF CALLER  

 

*********************
Page 56:  "As soon as it was all over, Lou whispered to Andy, 'I really need a drink.'"

*********************   

My thoughts:  The story jumps off the page within the first few lines, immersing the reader in the crime scene from the very start.  Who is the victim?  Who is her friend?  Who is to blame?

**********************

From Goodreads: Two women share one fate.

A suspected murder at an English Farm. A reported suicide at a local quarry.

Can DCI Louisa Smith and her team gather the evidence and discover a link between them, a link which sealed their fate one cold night, Under a Silent Moon?

A tense, compelling and unsettling novel mystery brimming with source material and evidence set over just six days, Under a Silent Moon will keep you gripped until the very last page and asks:

Can you connect the clues and name the Killer?

In the crisp, early hours of an autumn morning, the police are called to investigate two deaths. The first is a suspected murder at a farm on the outskirts of a small village. A beautiful young woman has been found dead, her cottage drenched with blood. The second is a reported suicide at a nearby quarry. A car with a woman's body inside was found at the bottom of the pit.

As DCI Louisa Smith and her team gather evidence, they discover a shocking link between the two cases and the two deaths-a bond that sealed their terrible fates one cold night, under a silent moon.

In this first entry in a compelling new detective series, Elizabeth Haynes interweaves fictional primary source materials-police reports, phone messages, interviews-and multiple character viewpoints to create a sexy, edgy, and compulsively readable tale of murder, mystery, and unsettling suspense.

 

 

 Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #85 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

 

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Last September

  

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Today I'm featuring The Last September by Nina de Gramont, which will be released in September.

  

Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Publication Date:  September 15, 2015

From barnesandnoble.com:  Brett had been in love with Charlie from the day she laid eyes on him in college. When Charlie is found murdered, Brett is devastated. But, if she is honest with herself, their marriage had been hanging by a thread for quite some time.

Though all clues point to Charlie’s brother Eli, who’s been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years, any number of people might have been driven to slit the throat of Charlie Moss—a handsome, charismatic man who unwittingly damaged almost every life he touched. Now, looking back on their lives together, Brett is determined to understand how such a tragedy could have happened—and whether she was somehow complicit.

Set against the desolate autumn beauty of Cape Cod, The Last September is a riveting emotional puzzle. Award-winning author Nina de Gramont is at the top of her game as she takes readers inside the psyche of a woman facing down the meaning of love and loyalty. 

 

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Last September was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #112

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I'm listening to (it's read by the author), which I borrowed from the library . . .

  

Goodreads Page

Chapter One

This will be a good weekend for reading. I picked up a dozen of Vernie Crabtree’s killer chocolate chip cookies at the French Club bake sale yesterday. (I don’t know what she puts in them, but they’re chewy and crispy at the same time.) Those, a pot of coffee, and a good book are all I will need for the rainy weekend rolling in. It’s early September in our mountains, so it’s warm during the day, but tonight will bring a cool mist to remind us that fall is right around the corner.

The Wise County Bookmobile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to me. When I see it lumbering down the mountain road like a tank, then turning wide and easing onto Shawnee Avenue, I flag it down like an old friend. I’ve waited on this corner every Friday since I can remember. The Bookmobile is just a government truck, but to me it’s a glittering royal coach delivering stories and knowledge and life itself. I even love the smell of books. People have often told me that one of their strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother’s house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count on the Bookmobile.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

The narrator's love of books, coffee, and baked goods drew me right in.  Her main character's name (Ave Maria Mulligan) and description of Iva Lou Wade, the bookmobile librarian, sealed the deal.  This is a fun-filled, entertaining yarn.

A movie based on this novel and directed by author Adriana Trigiani is coming out in October, and will star Judith Ivey, Ashley Judd, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jane Krakowski.  Can't wait!

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #112 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #84

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton, a psychological thriller that I borrowed from the library. 

 

 

 

Beginning:

 

Prologue   

Seattle, Washington  Six Year Earlier

Her name had been out of the headlines so long that he was sure no one was searching for her when he fit the key into the lock for the last time.

One   

San Francisco, California    Tuesday Before Thanksgiving

Tuesdays are always a test, and getting to his office is the hard part, but twenty-two-year-old Reeve LeClaire has never told her psychiatrist about her route.  It begins with a short walk to the Ferry Building, where she routinely orders a hot chocolate and carries it outside, sipping its sweetness while watching the ferries emerge from the fog.

 

 

*********************
Page 56:  "Reeve studies the tall young man, wondering—as she often does when meeting someone new—whether he knows who she is and what happened to her."

*********************   

My thoughts:  I've been reading a lot of suspense novels lately because they fit nicely into my summer reading plan to tackle as many novels as possible during the hazy, hot, and humid weather.  This one has me turning the pages at a feverish pace, and it was a nice surprise to discover that it's the first installment of the Reeve LeClaire series.  The second book, What Doesn't Kill Her, which was published on June 30th, is also on my summer reading list.

**********************

From Goodreads:  In many ways, Reeve LeClaire looks like a typical twenty-two year old girl. She’s finally landed her own apartment, she waitresses to pay the bills, and she wishes she wasn’t so nervous around new people. She thinks of herself as agile, not skittish. As serious, not grim. But Reeve is anything but normal.

Ten years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive. After a lucky escape, she’s spent the last six years trying to rebuild her life, a recovery thanks in large part to her indispensable therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner. But when he asks her to help another girl rescued from a similar situation, Reeve realizes she may not simply need to mentor this young victim—she may be the only one who can protect her from a cunning predator who is still out there, watching every move.

From the author of the #1 non-fiction bestseller Perfect Victim: The True Story of the Girl in the Box comes a novel that draws you into a chilling and engrossing world. With masterful plot twists and shifting points of view that make it as irresistible as Gone Girl, Carla Norton's The Edge of Normal is a stunning debut thriller.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #84 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

Waiting on Wednesday: Coming of Age at the End of Days

  

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.  It's a great way to share information about forthcoming books with other readers.  Today I'm featuring Coming of Age at the End of Days by Alice LaPlante, which will be released early next month.

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

Publication Date:  August 4, 2015 

From barnesandnoble.com:  Alice LaPlante's acclaimed psychological thrillers are distinguished by their stunning synthesis of family drama and engrossing suspense. Her new novel is an affecting foray deeper into the creases of family life—and the light-and-dark battle of faith—as LaPlante delves into the barbed psyche of a teenager whose misguided convictions bear irrevocable consequences.

Never one to conform, Anna always had trouble fitting in. Earnest and willful, as a young girl she quickly learned how to hide her quirks from her parents and friends. But when, at sixteen, a sudden melancholia takes hold of her life, she loses her sense of self and purpose. Then the Goldschmidts move in next door. They're active members of a religious cult, and Anna is awestruck by both their son, Lars, and their fervent violent prophecies for the Tribulation at the End of Days. Within months, Anna's life—her family, her home, her very identity—will undergo profound changes. But when her new-found beliefs threaten to push her over the edge, she must find her way back to center with the help of unlikely friends. An intimate story of destruction and renewal, New York Times bestselling author LaPlante delivers a haunting exploration of family legacies, devotion, and tangled relationships.

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: Coming of Age at the End of Days was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #111

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I'm reading, which I borrowed from the library . . .

  

Goodreads Page

Introduction

Wrong Is Right

I've always loved independent women, outspoken women, eccentric women, funny women, flawed women.  When someone says about a woman, "I'm sorry, that's just wrong," I tend to think she must be doing something right.  Take Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor in chief of Vogue.  Vreeland was many things, but a classic beauty wasn't one of them.  Her mother called her "my ugly little monster."  Guess what?  That didn't get in her way.  Vreeland paraded around with a head of glossy pitch-black hair until the day she died, at age eight-five.  She defied every rule of aging gracefully.  She thrived in the big-time world of Beauty, yet was not enslaved by it.  Diana conjured a world where "you've gotta have style.  It helps you get down the stairs.  It helps you get up in the morning.  It's a way of life.  Without it you're nobody."

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

I've always admired Diane Keaton for her unique style and presence.  I've read a few chapters, and I am enjoying her insights and outlook on beauty, life, and getting older.

 

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #111 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #83

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Mary Higgins Clark's latest suspense novel, which I picked up from the library yesterday and will be reading over the weekend.

 

Beginning:  Thirty-year-old Elaine Marsha Harmon walked briskly from her apartment of East Thirty-Second Street in Manhattan to her job as an assistant interior decorator fifteen blocks away in the Flatiron Building at Twenty-Third Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

*********************
Page 56:  "The friends he had carefully chosen years ago completely accepted him for what they thought he was, a rather shy man, a widower who loved sailing."

*********************   

My thoughts:  I'm an avid MHC fan, and always await her next novel.  Her stories are usually set in New York City and/or New Jersey, and I enjoy the references to places I've visited.  The Flatiron Building is a famous NYC landmark that houses the offices of Macmillan Publishers, which I have visited several times.

From Goodreads:  As the sole assistant to a famous upscale interior designer, Lane Harmon, mother to five-year-old Katie, is accustomed to visiting opulent homes around the tri-state area. A born optimist, Lane finds the glimpse into these gilded worlds fascinating, and loves the reward of exceeding the expectations of their often-demanding owners. When she is called to assist in redecorating a modest townhouse in Bergen County, she knows the job is unusual. Then she learns the home belongs to the wife of a notorious and disgraced financier named Parker Bennett.

Parker Bennett has been missing for two years. He dropped out of sight just before it was discovered that the $5 billion dollars in the fund he had been managing had vanished. Bennett had gone out on his sailboat in the Caribbean. Was it suicide or had he staged his disappearance? The scandal around his name has not died down. His clients and the federal government all want to trace the money and find Bennett if he is still alive.

Lane is surprised to find herself moved by Mrs. Bennett’s calm dignity and apparently sincere belief in her husband’s innocence. Gradually, Lane finds herself drawn to Mark, the Bennetts’ son, who is similarly determined to prove that his father is not guilty. Lane doesn’t know that the closer she gets to the Bennetts, the more she puts her life―and her daughter’s life―in jeopardy.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #83 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Other Daughter

  

 

 Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature of the Breaking the Spine blog.

July is here . . . and I'm back from my mini-break with a suggestion for summer reading . . .

  

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press

Publication Date:  July 21, 2015

From Goodreads:  Raised in a poor yet genteel household, Rachel Woodley is working in France as a governess when she receives news that her mother has died, suddenly. Grief-stricken, she returns to the small town in England where she was raised to clear out the cottage...and finds a cutting from a London society magazine, with a photograph of her supposedly deceased father dated all of three month before. He's an earl, respected and influential, and he is standing with another daughter-his legitimate daughter. Which makes Rachel...not legitimate. Everything she thought she knew about herself and her past-even her very name-is a lie.

Still reeling from the death of her mother, and furious at this betrayal, Rachel sets herself up in London under a new identity. There she insinuates herself into the party-going crowd of Bright Young Things, with a steely determination to unveil her father's perfidy and bring his-and her half-sister's-charmed world crashing down. Very soon, however, Rachel faces two unexpected snags: she finds she genuinely likes her half-sister, Olivia, whose situation isn't as simple it appears; and she might just be falling for her sister's fiancé...

From Lauren Willig, author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Ashford Affair, comes The Other Daughter, a page-turner full of deceit, passion, and revenge.

 

Which book are you waiting for?

...Will you add this one to your list of must-reads?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Other Daughter was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution.  (Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged.)