Giveaway: White Picket Fences

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner Trade Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: WaterBrook Press First Released: 2009

I really enjoyed this novel, so I've agreed to hold a giveaway for one copy of White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner, which was provided by the publisher. You can learn more about the novel by reading my review.

Due to shipping costs, this contest is for USA and Canada residents only.

To enter the giveaway:

1) you can twitter me saying "@genrereviewer Enter me to win WHITE PICKET FENCES. Another novel by Susan Meissner is _________." (You need to fill in the name of another book by this author. Hint: Look at her website.)

OR

2) You can leave a comment to this post asking to be entered and giving the name of another book by this author.


The winner will be randomly selected. I'll announce the winner at noon (Central Time) on November 18, 2009 on this blog. If you entered using twitter, I'll send you a @ or DM telling you of your win and asking where to send the book. If you entered using the blog comments, you'll need to leave your e-mail address or check back to see if you won so you can e-mail me your shipping address. If the winner hasn't responded with a mailing address within four days, I reserve the right to pick a new winner.

I hope everyone has fun with this!

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner

White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner Trade Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: WaterBrook Press First Released: 2009 Author Website

Source: Review copy from publisher.

Back Cover Description (heavily modified):
The Janviers appear to have the ideal life--a beautiful home, great jobs, two wonderful kids. But even if you live behind a white picket fence, you have to deal with the fallout of living in a broken world.

When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands--in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm--and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life. But their own storybook lives are about to crumble.

Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, but Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project. Echoes from this past resonate in Chase and slowly bring back repressed memories from a house fire he survived as a child.

As her son begins to remember, Amanda wants to confront the truth no matter what it is. Her husband desperately wants to avoid delving into the one time he wasn't there to protect his son. And Chase suspects he was responsible for another child's death in that fire, but he has no one to talk to except Tally. Will the fire of the past tear the family apart or bring about a renewal in their lives?


Review:
White Picket Fences had realistic characters struggling in realistic ways with pain from their past. The author had a lovely way of showing nuances of the internal family relationships through their body language and actions. I came to care about all of the characters.

The author often described objects in an slightly anthropomorphic way (which I sometimes thought sounded a bit odd), but the vivid descriptions were clear and brought the world alive. The pacing was slower than normal, but I never lost interest in what was going on.

Though God was briefly mentioned in several scenes, he didn't play much of a role in the lives of anyone in the family. The novel was not preachy.

There was one "he cursed" but no other bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this book as well-written, clean reading with an astute portrayal of the complexity of human relationships.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The chilled air inside the Tucson funeral chapel suppressed the punishing heat outside. Amanda shivered as she took a seat on the cool metal chair. She leaned over and whispered to her husband in the chair next to her. “A sweater in Arizona in September?”

He nodded casually, apparently unfazed by the abrupt temperature change from scorching to polar. Neil had worn a suit, though she told him she didn’t think he had to, and she envied his long sleeves. He quietly cleared his throat, opened the program he’d been handed when they walked in, and began to read the obituary of the woman whose casket sat several feet away–the woman neither of them had ever met.

A generous waft of newly refrigerated air spilled from the vent above her head, and Amanda instinctively turned to her niece on her other side. The teenager’s arms were bare under a flamingo-hued halter dress. Amanda wondered if the foster mother had given Tally any advice at all on what she might want to wear to her grandmother’s funeral. Amanda again turned to her husband.

“I think we should’ve come yesterday.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Neil looked up from the program. “It wouldn’t have changed anything,” he replied gently. “Besides, we got here as quick as we could. It’s not your fault you didn’t know she was here. Your brother should’ve told you.”

Neil reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. Amanda looked down and noticed a thin line of wood stain under one of his fingernails, evidence that he had cleaned up from his latest woodworking project in a hurry. Neil turned back to the program, and Amanda looked over at her niece.

“You doing okay?” She hesitated, then placed an arm around Tally’s shoulders.

The girl flinched and glanced at Amanda’s arm before turning back to face the casket. The sixteen-year-old shrugged. “I didn’t really know my grandma.” The words were laced with casual regret, as if she knew people were supposed to know their grandparents, but what could she do about that now? Amanda intuitively pulled Tally closer. The girl stiffened at first and then relaxed, reminding Amanda that Tally barely knew her either.


Read the rest of chapter one.

Arabella by Georgette Heyer

Arabella by Georgette Heyer Trade Paperback: 314 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca First Released: 1949, 2009

Source: Review copy from publisher

Book Description from Publisher Website:
Georgette Heyer had a handful of unforgettable heroines, of which Arabella is one of the most engaging.

Daughter of a modest country clergyman, Arabella Tallant is on her way to London when her carriage breaks down outside the hunting lodge of the wealthy Mr. Robert Beaumaris. Her pride stung when she overhears a remark of her host's, Arabella pretends to be an heiress, a pretense that deeply amuses the jaded Beau. To counter her white lie, Beaumaris launches her into high society and thereby subjects her to all kinds of fortune hunters and other embarrassments.

When compassionate Arabella rescues such unfortunate creatures as a mistreated chimney sweep and a mixed-breed mongrel, she foists them upon Beaumaris, who finds he rather enjoys the role of rescuer and is soon given the opportunity to prove his worth in the person of Arabella's impetuous young brother...


Review:
Arabella is an enjoyable Regency romance. The book had similarities to Frederica: a charming heroine whose open innocence induces a jaded rich and popular fellow to think of others beyond himself. I liked Frederica a little better, but I certainly enjoyed Arabella, too.

The characters were engaging. Their antics were amusing, and the romance was delightful and built slowly. The historical information was interesting and skillfully woven into the action of the story. The pacing was excellent.

A large number of characters were introduced at the beginning, but their relationships to each other were clear and I was able to quickly sort them all out. Also, there were a small number of French words used. I don't know French, but I had no trouble following what was going on.

There was a very minor amount of swearing. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this novel as well-written, clean fun.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The schoolroom in the parsonage at Heythram was not a large apartment, but on a bleak January day, in a household where the consumption of coals was a consideration, this was not felt by its occupants to be a disadvantage. Quite a modest fire in the high, barred grate made it unnecessary for all but one of the four young ladies present to huddle shawls round their shoulders. But Elizabeth, the youngest of the Reverend Henry Tallant's handsome daughters, was suffering from the ear-ache, and, besides stuffing a roasted onion into the afflicted orifice, had swathed her head and neck in an old Cashmere shawl. She lay curled up on an aged sofa, with her head on a worn red cushion, and from time to time uttered a long-suffering sigh, to which none of her sisters paid any heed. Betsy was known to be sickly. It was thought that the climate of Yorkshire did not agree with her constitution, and since she spent the greater part of the winter suffering from a variety of minor ills her delicacy was regarded by all but her Mama as a commonplace.

There were abundant signs, littered over the table in the centre of the room, that the young ladies had retired to this cosy, shabby apartment to hem shirts, but only one of them, the eldest, was thus engaged. In a chair on one side of the fireplace, Miss Margaret Tallent, a buxom fifteen-year-old, was devouring the serial story in a bound volume of The Ladies' Monthly Museum, with her fingers stuffed in her ears, and seated opposite to Miss Arabella, her stitchery lying neglected on the table before her, sat Miss Sophia, reading aloud from another volume of this instructive periodical.

Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh

Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh Trade Paperback: 374 pages Publisher: Multnomah First Released: 2009 Author Website

Source: Review copy from publisher.

Back Cover Description:
They say you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl.

This girl begs to differ.

Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She’s even “engaged to be engaged” to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.

Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s.

Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe’s rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can’t she stay on task? With the Lord’s help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.


Review:
Leaving Carolina is a humorous (almost "chick-lit") Christian romance novel. The pacing was excellent, and I enjoyed the story so much that I didn't want to put the book down. The world-building was also excellent with details about the place and people's jobs bringing the world alive in my imagination.

The characters' relationships with each other were realistic and something I think many readers could relate to as was the core situation/problems of the book (is looking good to others worth living with secret guilt? is making peace with those that hurt you worth the potential pain?).

I enjoyed that the romance went a bit more like they do in real life with several reasonable misunderstandings followed by straightening things out as the two got to know each other. I also liked that they didn't kiss at their first impulse but that tensions were left to simmer for a bit.

The novel was written in first person present tense ("I run" versus "I ran"), but I didn't even realize this until the last few pages of the novel. So either I'm getting used to present tense or present tense done well doesn't bother me or first person combined with present tense can work well. ;)

The characters weren't super-spiritual or morally squeaky-clean, but God does have an impact on their lives. The novel wasn't preachy. I don't recall any cussing or swearing, and there was no sex. Overall, I'd highly recommend this novel as well-written, clean fun.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
Family is rarely convenient. Case in point: Uncle Obadiah Horace Pickwick. Despite his summons to discuss his will, likely brought on by hospitalization for chest pains, I won’t be flying to Pickwick, North Carolina. As I explained to his ancient attorney before he put me on hold, as much as I like my uncle, I can’t get out from under my work load on such short notice.

Of course, neither am I ready to return to the town I escaped twelve years ago.

Staring at the phone on my desk, I will Artemis Bleeker to return to the line, but the music continues to drone from the speakerphone. Whine, whine. “Oh ma darlin’…” Groan, groan. “You left me standin’ here…” Wah, wah. “Left me starin’ after you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I flop back in my chair. “Cry me a river.”

“Well, ma dear”—the nasal voice drops several octaves—“I’m back.”

I roll my eyes. “Nice lyrics.”

“What’d ya say, Piper?”

It’s him! I grab the receiver. “Mr. Bleeker—”

“You’re no longer a little girl, Piper Pickwick. Do address me by ma first name.”

As he had asked me to do when I took his call, after which I politely informed him I had dropped the “Pick” part of my name. Though he spluttered over my “butcherin’ ” of the family name, I didn’t defend myself. But had I, my defense would have been based more on the Pickwicks’ scandalous reputation than on the nursery rhyme alliteration that plagued me through my school years.

Piper Wick clears her throat. “Thank you, Artemis. I’ll try to remember that. So you said the doctors are running more tests to determine the cause of Uncle Obe’s chest pains.”

“They are, but your uncle is certain it’s heart failure. And a man knows his own body. Um-hmm.”

“But so far the tests have come back negative.”

“These things can be elusive.”


Read the rest of chapter one.

Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker & Ian Holt

Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker & Ian Holt Hardback: 432 pages Publisher: Dutton First Released: 2009

Source: Unrequested review copy from publisher.

Back Cover Description:
Family secrets, unfinished business, and an evil unlike any the world has known.

Twenty-five years have passed since the band of heroes destroyed Dracula at his castle in Transylvania. Since then, Jonathan and Mina Harker have raised their son Quincey into a fine, if at times naive, young man, even while their once happy marriage disintegrated. Dr. Seward, the brilliant physician, is plagued by drug abuse and mania. Arthur Holmwood, the brave and dashing fiance to Lucy, is now full of anger and regret. And Van Helsing, leader of the brave band, is a sickly old man.

When Quincey leaves law school to pursue his dream of acting, he stumbles upon a troubled production of the play Dracula. This play, with its oddly familiar characters and directed by one Bram Stoker, plunges the young man into the world of his parents' terrible secrets, but before he can confront them he meets evil that rocks him to his core. One by one, the band of heroes that defeated Dracula is being hunted down. Could it be that Dracula somehow survived and is seeking revenge all these years later? Or is another far more sinister villain at work who will put anyone associated with Dracula, including Quincey, in grave danger?


Review:
Dracula The Un-Dead is a historical horror novel set in 1912 in France and England. It is a "sequel" to the original Dracula novel written by Bram Stoker. Overall, I enjoyed this fast-paced novel and thought it well-written. The world-building was excellent with historical details that brought the novel alive in my imagination.

If you don't know anything about the original Dracula, a short summary of what happened in that book is given in the form of a letter at the beginning of this one. There were notes from the authors at the back describing where and why they decided to depart from the way things were in the original story. I've never read the original Dracula and never watched the movies, but fans of the original book seem to be reacting badly to the changes made.

If you loved the 'band of heroes' from the first book, then I can see why you wouldn't like this novel. The heroes weren't portrayed very nicely (Seward was a morphine addict, Jack was an alcoholic and frequented prostitutes, Mina was sexual unsatisfiable and loved Dracula, Arthur wanted to die, etc.), and they don't have happy fates in this novel.

I never really liked the main characters enough to bond with them or care if they died, which decreased the tension a little. I did think they were interesting and complex characters, though, and I understood the authors were trying to show the toll their adventure had taken on them.

Semi-spoiler paragraph: At the beginning, it was stated that all vampires are evil. Near the end, however, several vampires stated they weren't really evil--that God, not the devil, created vampires, and that each vampire chose whether to be good or evil. Dracula thinks he's a totally misunderstood good guy. I'm not certain if the reader was supposed to trust this "revelation," especially since these characters were seeking to justify their evil actions.

There was slightly explicit sex in the book (including adultery, rape and lesbian sex). The violence and gore were much more explicit and there was a lot of it. God was treated as a real being (for the most part), though believing in him didn't seem to do anyone any good. There was a minor amount of bad language. Overall, I think anyone who hasn't read the original, who likes modern vampire novels, and who doesn't mind gore will probably enjoy this one.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
Oceans of Love, Lucy.

The inscription was the only thing Dr. Jack Seward could focus on as he felt the darkness overtake him. In the darkness was peace, with no harsh light to illuminate the tattered remains of his life. For years, he had devoted himself to fighting back the darkness. Now he simply embraced it.

Only at night could Seward find peace with the memory of Lucy. In his dreams, he still felt her warm embrace. For a fleeting moment, he could go back to London, to a happier era, when he found meaning through his place in the world and his research. This was the life he had wished to share with Lucy.

The early morning din of milk wagons, fishmongers' carts, and other merchant vehicles rattling hurriedly across the cobblestone streets of Paris intruded on Seward's dream and thrust him back into the harsh present. Seward forced his eyes open. They stung worse than fresh iodine on an open wound. As the cracked ceiling of the stale Parisian flophouse room he had been renting came into focus, he reflected on how much his life had changed. It saddened him to see all the muscle tone he had lost. His bicep sagged, resembling one of those hand-sewn muslin tea bags after it had just been removed from a teapot. The veins on his arm were like rivers on a tattered map. He was a shadow of his former self.

Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo

Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo Trade Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing First Released: 2009

Source: review copy from publisher

Back Cover Description (from publisher website):
Gabriella always loved the picture of her mother kneeling in front of a bed of roses, smiling, beautiful and impossibly happy. But then she learns that her late mother hated gardening; that she no longer wanted the house in the Hollywood hills, the successful movie producer husband, and possibly, her only daughter. When Gabriella discovers a journal--a book that begins as a new mother's letters to her baby girl, but becomes a secret diary--the final entry leaves one question unanswered: the night her mother died, was she returning to Colombia to end an affair, or was she abandoning her family for good?


Review:
Tell Me Something True is a well-written and compelling novel with complex characters and a realistic plot. The novel was set in Cali, Colombia, and the details about the culture and city brought the scenes alive in my imagination. I read late into the night to discover what happened next. But it's a difficult novel to describe. The closest I can get is that it's about learning there are real, life-changing consequences to your actions and just because you think you can get away with something, you might be wrong and maybe you shouldn't do it.

The book was written with two main, alternating viewpoints: Gabriella's third person, present tense viewpoint and her mother's diary written in first person, past tense. I barely noticed the use of present tense, perhaps helped by the chapters being short and alternated with those in past tense.

I didn't really like Gabrielle or approve of her choices. She's self-centered, drinks socially at parties until she's drunk, occasionally uses drugs, purposely dresses provocatively, casually sleeps with her boyfriends, and so on. The other characters also had a tendency to do selfish things and try to justify them to themselves and to others. Still, I felt sympathy for the pain they were going through, and I could understand why Gabrielle and Angel were drawn to each other.

The ending was a bit sad but realistic.

There was some Spanish used in the novel, but either it was translated or a simple word or phrase that was easy to figure out from context and which wasn't critical to understanding what was going on. There was a minor amount of bad language. The sex (pretty much all of it outside of marriage) was not graphic/explicit. Overall, I'd recommend this well-written, fairly clean novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
The air feels sweet and moist and just the slightest bit warm when you get off the 9 p.m. flight to Cali. It clings to your skin, but in the faintest, most tenuous way, like the sheerest of gauze blouses touching but not touching your arms as you breathe. When Gabriella tries to explain the sensation to her friends, they just don't get it.

"How can you feel or smell any air," they always ask, "if you arrive into an airport terminal?"

"It's not a real terminal," she is forever responding. And it isn't, to her at least. It's a building with open windows and no air-conditioning, and if it's raining, drops of water sweep in, like mist, and it makes her feel as though she's arrived somewhere real and tangible and alive, so far from a carpeted airport terminal you feel like you're in another world.

Her friends from up there never come down here. They're afraid of getting killed, or worse.

"I don't know what's wrong with these people," she complained to her father as he watched her pack the night before. "It's extraordinary, really. They go to Singapore, to Turkey, to Peru! But Colombia is too dangerous."

Her father didn't say anything, because he's as guilty as they are, absent from her trips for over a decade.


Read more of chapter one.

The Vault by Peter Lovesey

No Cover Available

The Vault by Peter Lovesey Hardback: 332 pages Publisher: Soho Press First Released: 1999

Source: Bought from my library's book sale

Back Cover Description (modified):
Bath is a town layered in history: Roman, Medieval, Georgian. Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is a buff, old-fashioned policeman. When he is presented with a skeletal hand, found in the vault under the Pump Room where a church graveyard used to be, he assumes it is merely of archaeological interest. But when the bones prove to be modern, Diamond must dig further. His inquiries cross those of a visiting American academic in pursuit of the diary of Mary Shelley, whose Frankenstein was written in the house that used to stand over the vault (before the house was demolished so the Pump room could be expanded). And now unknown paintings--illustrations for Frankenstein--are showing up on the market. Can Frankenstein have anything to do with a modern murder...or murders?


Review:
The Vault was an enjoyable, but not really memorable, mystery set in the 1990's in Bath, England. The main character, Peter Diamond, was interesting, but a bit bluntly rude and overbearing when dealing with people. I did enjoy his low-key humor and word-play jokes, though.

Peter Diamond was neither exceptionally smart or stupid. The reader always had more information than Peter Diamond, so we had the satisfaction of feeling smarter than him because we could figure out parts of the mystery before he did. However, he made good use of the missing information the moment he got it. Since he was the boss of the investigation and knew all the information, he had his turn at looking smart in front of his peers.

The pacing was very good, and the details about the town and history of Bath were interesting. There was a minor amount of swearing and some British cussing. There was no sex. Overall, I'd rate this book as enjoyable, fairly clean fun.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from Chapter One
Some weird objects are handed in a Bath Police Station.

WPC Enid Kelly, on desk duty this afternoon, sneaked a look at the Asian man who had brought in a pizza box. She was sure of one thing: it didn't contain a pizza. She just hoped it wasn't a snake. She had a dread of snakes. "How can I help you, sir?"

The man had the black tie and white shirt of a security guard. He lifted the box up to the protective glass partition.

No airholes. Officers on duty learn to watch out for any container with holes punched in the top. But there was a bulge. Something bulkier than a pizza had been stuffed inside. Bulkier than two pizzas.

"This I am finding at Romans Baths."

"What is it?"

The man glanced at the other people in the waiting areas as if they might not wish to hear. Leaning closer to the glass, he said, "Can I pass through?"

"Just a moment."

Enid Kelly turned for support to the sergeant filling in a form at the desk behind her. He came to the glass.

"What have you got here, sir?"

"Some person's hand, I am thinking."

"A hand?"

"A hand I said."

"It was in this box?"

"No, no, no. My lunch was in box. Tomato and mushroom pizza. This was best thing I could find to carry hand in."

"Let's see." The sergeant unfastened the security panel and the box was passed through. It felt too heavy to be a hand. But how can you tell how much a hand weighs on it's own?