No Man's Land by Eric L. Haney

No Man's Land by Eric L. Haney Mass Market Paperback: 298 pages Publisher: Berkley First Released: 2010

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Back Cover Description (slightly modified):
Kennesaw Tanner spent years defending his country from enemies around the globe, fighting a shadow war with no battlefields, no treaties, and no surrender...

Now, as a soldier of fortune, he spends his time in Savannah, Georgia, waiting for the next mission to come his way. He never has to wait long.

A military officer appears with an offer: Tanner is needed to locate and rescue the kidnapped heir of a powerful leader in Lebanon, whose alliance with the United States has made him a target for terrorists. A simple extraction job.

What Tanner doesn't know is that there are elements within the U.S. government who want him to fail, that the sands of political expediency are shifting against him, and that the job he's being paid to do may cost him more than he bargained for...

Eric L. Haney uses his 20-year Army career, including service as a combat Infantryman, a Ranger, and a Delta Force Operative, to create a suspenseful, realistic tale.


Review:
No Man's Land was a fast-paced and exciting military suspense novel. The world-building was excellent, and the details of the setting, various cultures, and actions (sailing, military, etc.) were realistic and brought the world alive in my imagination. I felt like the narrator was a real person telling me about events that had really happened. The characters were realistic and interesting. I wanted to know what happened next and had a hard time putting the book down.

It was clear from the character Kennesaw's actions that he didn't hold to any one religion but that he did believe in a god. So I was surprised when the book suddenly stopped the action to spend a page and a half stating Kennesaw's spiritual beliefs. They had no direct bearing on the story and could have been deleted without anyone noticing. I can only conclude that the author wanted to make a point by having his character do this, so I decided to mention the religious content as I do on more obviously religious novels.

Kennesaw states on page 97, "I believe that anyone who threatens his fellow man with the holy wrath of God, because other people fail to express the proselytizer's particular brand of religious propaganda, is nothing more than a moral terrorist." As for the other characters, the novel also had Muslims doing their ritual prayers and an American woman praying to an undefined "God."

[Note: I have a problem with Kennesaw's statement, by the way. Unless you have an unchanging God who has revealed absolute rules about right and wrong that flow from his very nature (as in, do not lie because he cannot lie), then you have no basis for right and wrong, good and evil beyond everyone's personal opinion. So, according to Kennesaw's belief system, why is it wrong to be a "moral terrorist" except for the fact that he doesn't like it?]

There was no sex. There was a minimal amount of cussing and swearing. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book as very well-written, fairly clean reading.


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
I sailed into Savannah on what turned out to be a high tide of rare good fortune. I hadn't planned to put in here, but then again, few of my schemes ever work out according to the original plot. It's much like the old saying in the army: "No plan survives contact with the enemy."

I had been slipping down the Atlantic coast with the vague idea of making my way to Belize and doing a little charter work. Cruising, fishing, diving, it didn't make much difference to me. Anything to put a few doubloons in the old treasure chest and keep body and soul joined as one. And Belize seemed a good backwater spot where a man could lay low for a while.

But a fast-moving storm had slammed out of the North Atlantic and into the Georgia Bight. My old boat, the Miss Rosalie, a fifty-six-foot former Dutch fishing vessel, had taken a pretty severe beating from the particularly nasty nor'easter, and we needed to make a run for the proverbial port in a storm.

The tides on the Georgia coast are the highest to be found between the Bay of Fundy and Argentina, and the currents of the Savannah River are notoriously swift and treacherous, but this time the forces of nature conspired in our favor, and we scudded upriver on the crest of a surging spring tide. And then, after making repairs, I'd found an old shrimp dock where the space was neither too expensive nor the neighbors too discerning, and tied Miss Rosalie down for a period of well-needed rest and recuperation.

All in all, it was a pretty good spot. The way the yachting crowd avoided the place you'd think it was a quarantine dock for transient syphilis cases, which suited me right to the ground. And before long I came to know and become accepted by the fishermen, shrimpers, tidewater bums, and other human and animal denizens that called this little portion of out-of-the way waterfront their home.

And the winner is...

It's time to pick a winner for the copy of Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma. Using a random number generator and numbering the entrants in the order I received them, the winner is:

Beck_a_tron

who entered through Twitter. Congratulations! I'll be contacting you for your address.

For those who didn't win, you can always join in the fun by buying this book at your favorite bookstore!

Thicker Than Blood by C.J. Darlington

Thicker Than Blood by C.J. Darlington Trade Paperback: 376 pages Publisher: Tyndale First Released: 2009 Author Website Author on Twitter

Source: Review copy from the publisher

Back Cover Description:
Christy Williams never imagined that a stolen Hemingway first edition would lead her back to the sister she left fifteen years ago. But when things begin to unravel, she finds herself on May's ranch doorstep, fearing for her life.

After a bittersweet reunion, will the two discover that some hurts can't be healed, or is there a tie that's thicker than blood?


Review:
Thicker Than Blood was an enjoyable, fast-paced Christian fiction about reconciliation. The world-building was excellent, and the details about the antiquarian book selling trade and ranching (and everything else) brought the world alive in my imagination.

I liked that it wasn't typical Christian fiction in that Christy was introduced getting pulled over for drunk driving. At the beginning, among other things, she was often drunk, smoked, had slept with her past boyfriends, and had just broken up with an abusive boyfriend not interested in letting her go. And her life was about to hit rock bottom as her past caught up to her.

I was a disappointed, though, that the characters didn't feel entirely realistic. For example, we're told that Christy is 33 and has seen the worst of life. Yet during the confrontation that eventually led to her having to go to May's, she acted like an extremely naive 18-year-old. Once at May's, she was back to being cynical and worldly. Not to mention that both Hunter and Christy had every reason to hate the bad guy and both knew he wasn't trustworthy, yet Christy was shocked and surprised and Hunter initially completely taken in by what he did.

I also felt like we were only getting the surface thoughts of the characters; thoughts would pop up that the character apparently had been thinking all along, but the reader didn't know it.

Part of the reason I was disappointed, though, was that the rest of the book was so well written. The novel was actually very good for a debut.

The first two-thirds of the book didn't have much God-talk, but the end had more, including a preacher preaching in a church. Though none of the God-talk was condemning or "get your act together, horrible sinner!", I suspect the book may still exasperate non-Christians.

There was no explicit sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend the novel as well-written, clean reading.


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
Christy Williams didn’t see the cop until his red lights flashed in her rearview mirror. By then it was too late. He was tailing her, and she had no choice but to ease her Honda Accord onto the snowy shoulder of the freeway and let the cruiser slide in behind.

Jerking up the emergency brake, she threw herself back into her seat with a curse. She hadn’t been speeding. She was sure of it. Christy forced herself to focus on the cruiser, squinting to see past its blinding headlights. She could barely make out the cop’s silhouette behind the wheel. What was he doing?

At last the burly officer emerged from the patrol car, approaching slowly, his hand resting on his holster. Christy put down her window, and a blast of frigid night air hit her face and rolled across her lap.

“Turn the car off, ma’am.”

She did.

“I need your license, registration, and proof of insurance.”

“What’d I do?” She fumbled for the items, then handed them to the cop. The name tag opposite his badge read T. Jones.

Jones glanced at them with a smirk. He gave one back. “License. Not grocery card.”

Christy flushed as she flipped through her wallet again. Real smooth. She finally found her license and passed it to the cop. He took it with the other cards to his patrol car. What was this all about? Had she been swerving? She quickly crunched down on two fresh squares of peppermint Dentyne Ice. Deep breath now. Chew. It’s just a routine stop. My taillight’s probably out. No need to panic. He doesn’t know.

Without the engine on, the car turned cold fast. Christy zipped up her fleece jacket and checked the cop again. After a minute his door opened, and her pulse kicked up a notch. Please. Let this be nothing. She couldn’t face any more disappointment tonight.


Read the rest of chapter one.

Author Quirks: Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Next up is Cindy Martinusen-Coloma, author of Beautiful. I asked her:


What's a quirky or little-known fact about yourself, your writing, and/or one of your novels? (For example, you can tell us about a non-standard pet you have, an unusual way you do your writing, a strange real life incident that inspired a scene in one of your novels, or so on.)


Cindy Martinusen-Coloma's answer:

Some of my best ideas come while driving or in the shower. I often forget to put conditioner in my hair in the shower because my mind is usually coming up with some new plot twist or character development. I really need a waterproof laptop.

Thank you, Cindy Martinusen-Coloma, for sharing your quirks.

The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale

The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale Hardback: 368 pages Publisher: Viking First Released: 2010

Source: Review copy from publisher.

Back Cover Description:
It is 1752. Winter is approaching, and two secrets--an unwanted pregnancy and a theft--drive seventeen-year-old Agnes Trussel to run away from her home in rural Sussex. Lost and frightened as night descends on the menacing streets of London, she is drawn to a curious sign depicting a man holding a star. It is the home of Mr. J. Blacklock, a brooding fireworks maker who is grieving for his recently deceased wife. He hires Agnes as his apprentice, and as she learns to make rockets, portfires, and fiery rain, she slowly gains the laconic Blacklock's trust. He initiates her into his peculiar art and sparks in her a shared obsession for creating the most spectacular fireworks the world has ever seen.

But her condition is becoming harder to conceal, and through it all, the clock is ticking--for Agnes's secret will not stay hidden forever. Soon she meets Cornelius Soul, seller of gunpowder, and she conceives of a plan that could save her. But why does Blacklock so vehemently disapprove of Mr. Soul? And what is Blacklock hiding from her? Could he be on the brink of a discovery that will change pyrotechny forever? A summer storm is brewing--but Agnes has no idea that her mysterious mentor has been watching her and hatching plans of his own.

The Book of Fires vividly evokes a dark bygone world and paints a portrait of 1750s London that is unforgettable, from the grimy streets to the inner workings of a household where little is as it seems. Beautifully written, complex, and layered, The Book of Fires is a captivating debut of fireworks, redemption, and the strange alchemy that will forever change the fortunes of a young woman once bound for ruin.


Review:
The Book of Fires is a richly detail historical set in England in 1752-53. It's clear that the author did her research, and the details of 18th century life and firework making brought the world alive in my imagination. However, at times this turned into a very pleasant "how they did it" historical lesson that didn't move the plot forward and so slowed the pace. History-lovers won't care, but others might find these spots boring.

I didn't particularly like the characters, but they were complex. I felt sympathy for Agnes. I did want to know what happened to the characters, and what happened was well-written, interesting, and not always expected.

The novel was written in present tense ("I see" vs "I saw"). Actually, the first chapter jumped around between tenses ("I see" to "I saw" to "I am seeing"), and there were so many "is" and "am" used (partly due to a number of passive sentences) that I found it distracting. However, in chapter two, these problems quickly disappeared and the story settled down into a very readable present tense.

One nit-pick: The author used a lot of "I see that" and even a number of "I smell" and "I hear" that could have been cut without harming the sentence. At the beginning, there were sometimes so many of these "I see that" used that I felt like Agnes thought I was a blind traveling companion rather than feeling immersed in her viewpoint. Again, this problem (mostly) disappeared as the book went on.

There was a rape scene--only a paragraph long and not graphic. There was a minor amount of cursing and swearing. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those interested in learning more about fireworks and 18th century London life in the form of an interesting 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
There is a regular rasp of a blade on a stone as he sharpens the knives. The blade makes a shuddery, tight noise that I feel in my teeth. It's November, and today is the day that we kill the pig.

I am inside the house, bending over the hearth. I lay pieces of dry elm and bark over the embers and they begin to kindle as the fire takes. A warm fungus smell rises up and the logs bubble juices and resin. The fed flames spit and crackle, colored jets hissing out wet. A column of thick smoke pours rapidly up the chimney and out into the sky like a gray liquid into milk. I hang the bellows from the strap and straighten up. Fire makes me feel good. Burning things into ash and nothingness makes my purpose seem clearer.

When I stand back, I see that the kitchen is full of smoke. My mother is busy and short of breath, flustering between the trestles and the fireside, two blotches of color rising on her cheekbones. This fire must be a roasting blaze, one of the hottest of the year. It has to heat the biggest pots brimful with boiling water to scald the pigskin, and later will simmer the barley and puddings, fatty blood and grain packed into the washed guts, moving cleanly around in the cauldron of water. I go to the door and step out into the yard to fetch more wood.

Giveaway: Beautiful

Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma Trade Paperback: 270 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson First Released: 2009

I really enjoyed Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma, so I decided to give away my review copy. 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 "Hi @genrereviewer. Enter me to win BEAUTIFUL. Another novel by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma is _________." (You need to fill in the name of another book by this author. Hint: Look at this 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. Please also leave some way for me to contact you--or follow this blog so you can see the winner announcement.


The winner will be randomly selected. I'll announce the winner at noon (Central Time) on January 30, 2010 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!

Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma Trade Paperback: 270 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson First Released: 2009 Author's Website Author on Twitter

Source: Review copy from publisher through the author's blog tour invitation.

Back Cover Description:
Her friends once thought she was perfect. Now she must face the mirror--and herself--to discover what true beauty is.

Ellie Summerfield has everything a girl could want--she's beautiful, she's Senior Class President, has a calendar full of social engagements, volunteer commitments, and church activities. In short, she's perfect, according to most of the students at West Redding High School. But something is bothering Ellie, like a loose string on a dress she can feel but can't see. Does she really love her boyfriend, Ryan? Who are her true friends? And is she really happy in her picture-perfect life?

Then in the course of a few minutes, the loose string in Ellie's life completely unravels. Forever changed, she must face herself as she discovers what it really means to be beautiful.


Review:
Beautiful is a young adult novel that has some romance. Adults will also enjoy this story. The novel asks the question, "Where does a person's worth come from? What happens when you peel back the trappings of a person's life and expose what's left?"

While mainly about Ellie, the story also revolved around her sister, Megan. Ellie and Megan appear to be exact opposites. Both are forced to face the core of who they are in a way neither expected. (I normally don't like back cover descriptions that refuse to say what the pivotal, life-changing moment is in the story, but the author handled this surprise so well that I'm not even going to hint.)

I cared about the characters. They were complex and faced realistic, tough struggles. I was left feeling like these characters really existed somewhere and had lived through this. The pacing was very good, and I had a hard time putting the book down because I wanted to know what happened next. The wording used in the story seemed a bit formal compared to what I'm used to in YA novels, but it fit Ellie.

I wouldn't really call this a Christian novel as there was very little "God talk," but God was mentioned here and there. In fact, I felt it could have used a bit more explanation. It was clear why Ellie began to doubt that God cared about or even paid attention to the details in each person's life, but I didn't quite follow why she changed her stance to what it was on page 258. Anyway, I think most Christians and non-Christians would enjoy the book.

There was no sex. There was minimal bad language of the "she cursed" style. While many of the teen characters drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, and smoked pot, Ellie didn't drink or do drugs. Overall, I'd recommend this novel as well-written, clean reading.


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 OUTSIDER
The Anonymous Blog about Life at West Redding High
Oct 17

Why would you ever want to be like Ellie Summerfield? Because she's popular, pretty, and--what are other P words?--how about punctual, prudish, pre-law (perhaps), perky, practical...All I have to say is: predictable! How does Ryan Blasin stand someone so--this is the exact word for Ellie Summerfield--perfect. Wanna bet she'll be back to school after her grandfather's funeral today? Just watch and see.

***

People were staring at Ellie as she turned the combination on her locker. She looked down and cringed. She'd meant to change from the black skirt and blouse into jeans, but the compulsion to get away had made her forget. Was that why they were staring?

"Who comes back to school after a funeral?" Vanessa opened her locker beside Ellie's.

"A person who has a calculus test sixth period and a student council meeting after school."

And a person who needs to escape her family for the rest of the day.

Ellie stared into the abyss of her locker. She really needed to reorganize. Papers stuck out from the tops of books. Her planner was missing from where it usually resided for quick reference.

"You are mistaken, Miss Summerfield. No one comes back to school after a funeral. A funeral is a free pass out of everything."

"Not everything," Ellie said and recognized how lame her defense sounded. She moved her chem book in front of her history book. She liked to keep them in the order of her classes.

"Did your sister come back to school? Of course not, and you know I never side with the sister from the dark side. Either you're more obsessive-compulsive than usual or... Oh, please do not tell me that you are organizing your locker--again. Take a peek into the world of the normal teenage life."

Vanessa flung one arm toward her open locker, which overflowed with everything from papers and books to nail polish and some sort of leftover food item that Ellie didn't care to see more of.