Special Feature: The Lost Family by Jenna Blum

“Jenna Blum shines a powerful light on how the past swings back and how we must face it. The Lost Family is an extraordinary read, the kind of book that makes you sob and smile, the kind that gives you hope…. It is compassionate, masterful and disturbingly contemporary.”
—Tatiana de Rosnay, bestselling author of Sarah’s Key
This is high praise indeed from a very well known author! That’s what caught my eye with this one. I am a fan of Tatiana de Rosnay so seeing how much she recommended this novel made me in turn excited to read it. I am actually reviewing it next week, I made room for it in my review schedule as a matter of fact because it sounded like something that I would love.
Be on the look out for my upcoming review of this one, but in the mean time, enjoy this special feature!

 

The Lost Family is an amazing upcoming novel from Jenna Blum that explores themes of war, grief, family and the true love that we share. Listed as one of Oprah’s Favorite Women Writers and a New York Times Bestselling Author, Blum is a force. In The Lost Family, she crafts a beautiful ode to the survivors of the Jewish Holocaust and Nazi death camps, reminding us that life must go on despite immense pain, and that beauty still exists.

 

In 1965 Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha’s to savor its Brisket Bourguignon and admire its dashing owner and head chef Peter Rashkin. With his movie-star good looks and tragic past, Peter, a survivor of Auschwitz, is the most eligible bachelor in town. But Peter does not care for the many women who parade through the restaurant hoping to catch his eye. Running Masha’s consumes him, as does his terrible guilt over surviving the horrors of the Nazi death camp while his wife, Masha—the restaurant’s namesake—and two young daughters perished.
Then exquisitely beautiful June Bouquet, an up-and-coming young model, appears at the restaurant, piercing Peter’s guard. Though she is twenty years his junior, the two begin a passionate courtship. When June unexpectedly becomes pregnant, Peter proposes, hoping a new family will allow him to let go of the horror of the past.  But over the next two decades, the indelible sadness of those memories will overshadow Peter, June, and their daughter Elsbeth, transforming them in shocking, heartbreaking, and unexpected ways.
Spanning three cinematic decades, from the explosive 1960s and swinging 1970s to the glittering 1980s, Jenna Blum artfully brings to the page a husband devastated by a grief he cannot name, a frustrated wife struggling to compete with a ghost she cannot banish, and a daughter sensitive to the pain of both her own family and another lost before she was born.

About the Author

New York Times and internationally bestselling author of novels THOSE WHO SAVE US (Harcourt, 2004) and THE STORMCHASERS (Dutton, May 2010) and the novella “The Lucky One” in GRAND CENTRAL (Berkeley/Penguin, July 2014). One of Oprah’s Top 30 Women Writers. Novel THE LOST FAMILY forthcoming from Harper Collins JUNE 5, 2018!

Review: Dreams of Falling by Karen White

Many times I get review pitches months before the actual review posts. When I get the review pitch, sometimes the book sounds interesting at that time but when it comes time to pick it up to actually read it for review months later, it might not sound as interesting.

So how do I combat this? I trust the process. I have to believe that something about the book appealed to me at one time or another enough for me to agree to review it and even if I am not 100% in the mood to read it when it’s time—I need to trust that I had good judgment.

That’s kind of what happened with this book. I have had Karen White on my radar for years. I’ve seen a number of her novels and they all sound great—though I hadn’t read anything by her, I was eager to read one of her books when it came up for review. Continue reading “Review: Dreams of Falling by Karen White”

Review: The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable

Most people know who John F Kennedy was and can probably name a fact or two about him. President. First Catholic president. Assassinated president. Democrat. Bostonian. War hero. Hyannisport yachtsman. Rich Playboy. Womanizer.

I think it’s safe to say that he is one of the most recognizable presidents in modern memory. For me personally I am not a huge fan of the post war America time period but I was intrigued by this novel. Though I know quite a bit about JFK in a professional sense–I am more intrigued by his personal life than his politics.

When this book came up for review many many months ago, I was eager to read it mostly because it was a different period than I normally read but also because I was intrigued by his love life. Most Americans know of his alleged affair with Marilyn Monroe but who was this Alicia Darr person? I had no idea and was thus interested to learn something new.

While this is a fictionalized account of their relationship, it is rooted in real life.  Continue reading “Review: The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable”

Review: A Sin Such As This (Love Lies Beneath #2) by Ellen Hopkins

I’ve been curious about Ellen Hopkins for quite some time. Her books are always being checked out at my local high school library and I’ve seen a ton of students walking around with Crank in their backpack.

Many of her books are YA novels so I was curious to see what it is that so many teens love about her work. From the sound of it, she writes really really edgy stuff so needless to say I was intrigued. Reading for high school students is like pulling teeth so when they are eagerly awaiting the next Ellen Hopkins book in droves, clearly there is something interesting happening there.

When A Sin Such As This came across my desk for review, I jumped on it even though it was geared toward adults and it was the second in a series, I was curious to see what it was about her writing that made so many students want to read her books—is it content? Prose? What is it about this author that people love?

In this gripping follow-up to Love Lies Beneath, #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins’s “fabulous, sex-filled masterpiece of mystery and romance” (Library Journal, starred review), the honeymoon ends for Tara Lattimore when her husband’s ex-girlfriend is murdered, and she becomes a prime suspect. Continue reading “Review: A Sin Such As This (Love Lies Beneath #2) by Ellen Hopkins”

Review: Limelight (Penny Green #1) by Emily Organ

Like many other bibliophiles, I subscribe to BookBub. Basically every day I get an email telling me about all the great deals for ebooks in categories that I have selected. This service is free so if you like book and want to hear about good deals on ebooks, subscribe!

So in one of my emails last week there was a special ad feature at the bottom of the email that said ‘have you discovered Penny Green yet?’ with this great foggy London photo in the background.

And in my mind all I could hear was ‘no I have not discovered her yet!’. The first book in this series was on sale for $2.99 to buy or free if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. I was intrigued and had just come off reading a more sophisticated mystery so I was eager for something slightly on the lighter end of things.

I have not heard of this series at all or the author which made me a little nervous because what if I just wasted $2.99 on a book that was terrible?! But I was feeling brave and bought it (no I don’t have Kindle Unlimited….terrible I know).

The premise sounded interesting and I was eager to discover this new Penny Green!  Continue reading “Review: Limelight (Penny Green #1) by Emily Organ”