Novels Now

You are browsing the archives of 2008 May.

In the summer of her 18th year, Kim Larsen disappears without a trace - leaving behind friends and family who are bewildered and hurting. This is not an unusual story. It is a story we see every day in America - the young women filled with potential disappearing into the darkness of uncertainty. Many are never found. Many are found murdered or raped. It is an old story. Stewart O’Nan, with his refined and elegant prose, takes this story and makes it unforgettable.

The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner
First in a Trilogy
Pages: 435
First Published: May 27, 2008
Genre: YA fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
These are the last words I will write..
Comments: Wow, this was an amazing book. There are so many layers to the story that I find it difficult to attempt to summarize but attempt I will. The [...]

Matt Rogers
218 pages
Zondervan Publishers
From the Publisher:
On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. Following that horrendous event, VA Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, Where is God in all of this?The cliché-ridden, [...]

Songs for the Missing
By Stewart O’Nan
Completed May 25, 2008

I cannot imagine one of my sons disappearing into thin air. The panic, the fear, the anger, the questions – it would be all too much to bear. In Songs for the Missing, Stewart O’Nan tackled this topic head on, and after finishing this page-turner (I finished [...]

Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen
By Susan Gregg Gilmore
Completed May 24, 2008

Looking for a light but entertaining poolside read this summer? If so, then I would recommend Susan Gregg Gilmore’s debut novel, Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen.
It’s the story of Catherine Grace Cline, the preacher’s daughter, of Ringgold, Ga. Catherine Grace had [...]

Reviews of books published in 2007 can now be found here:
http://1morechapter.com/novelsnow/2007-reviews/
Check them out!

The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone
Pages: 342
Finished: May 17, 2008
First Published: Jan. 2008
Genre: historical fiction, forensic mystery
Rating: 3.5/5
Reason for Reading: Received a review copy from Random House Canada.
First sentence:
For days, clouds had hung over the frigid city, promising snow; an ephemeral late winter veneer of white, but the temperature had suddenly risen and a [...]

Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri
333 pages
Jhumpa Lahiri’s first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize. After writing a full-length novel (The Namesake), Lahiri has returned with a second short story collection. Unaccustomed Earth is comprised of 5 short stories and a novella. And it is absolutely fabulous.
Most of the stories are set in [...]

First Sentence: Brother Gruffyd’s old heart trembled with excitement.
When I first entered my name for a chance to read and review The Arthurian Omen through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program, I had certain expectations for this book. As the reviews began to trickle in, I did my best not to pay too close [...]

First Sentence: Somewhere in her heart, Danielle Montgomery knew this was wrong, and her guilt had a face.
Detective Rebecca Montgomery is hanging by a thread emotionally and career wise. Her sister’s disappearance and the lack of progress in the investigation have the grieving San Antonio detective on edge. Her coworkers are tired [...]

Glimpses of shared humanity make it so hard to kill others. -From Laughing Without An Accent, page 219-
And if it’s one thing I hope we Iranians have imparted, it is the closeness of extended family, not because we all get along perfectly, but because we know that we all benefit emotionally from maintaining those ties. [...]

The Space Between Before and After by Jean Reynolds Page
Contemporary Fiction
2008 Avon (HarperCollins)
Quit on 5/12/08
Rating: DNF
Product Description

Forty-two and divorced, Holli Templeton has just begun to realize the pleasures of owning her life for the first time. But the experience is short-lived. Her son Conner has unexpectedly fled college in Rhode Island and moved to Texas [...]

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman
Mystery/Thriller
2008 Ballantine Books
Finished on 5/7/08
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)
Product Description
Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more harrowing and suspenseful manhunt than the modern Sherlock Holmes of the [...]

The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell
Pages: 304
Finished: May 13, 2008
First Published: April 2008
Genre: literary fiction
Rating: 4/5
Reason for Reading: received this ARC.
First sentence:
Alone in the doctor’s office, Sweeney’s eyes lingered on the final panel and, once again, he found himself feeling something close to sympathy for the cartoon strongman, exiled and adrift, the world town down in [...]

James Keeper is comfortable with his life. He works in a salvage yard with his childhood friend, he just bought a house with his girlfriend, and things are going well. He has a little regret over his ex-wife but, for the most part, he has moved on. At least he thought he had until he [...]

Summer Blowout by Claire Cook
Contemporary Fiction
2008 Voice (Hyperion)
Finished on 5/2/08
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
ARC - Due out on June 3rd
Book Description
Bella Shaughnessy is addicted to lipstick with names like My Chihuahua Bites and Kiss My Lips, an occupational hazard, since she works as a stylist and makeup artist for her family’s small chain of beauty salons [...]

Skeletons at the Feast
By Chris Bohjalian
Completed May 12, 2008
Many books have explored the exodus of Europeans and Jews who fled the approaching German army during World War II. In Skeletons at the Feast, Chris Bohjalian examined another type of evacuation – this time of a Prussian family trying to stay steps ahead of the vengeful [...]

Andrew Davidson
465 page
While driving in his car after binging on cocaine and bourbon, the narrator of The Gargoyle sees a vision of flaming arrows and swerving to avoid them, gets into a horrific car crash that results in him being severely burned. This would be a terrible fate for any person but the narrator had [...]

The winner of The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber, chosen using random.org, is Devourer of Books! Congrats, and I’ll be contacting you by email for your mailing address. Thanks to all who entered, and be on the lookout in a month or so for another giveaway!

Chaz Wilmot is (by choice) an unsuccessful painter doing primarily commercial work. He obviously has more talent than what he’s using, and this fact is a constant source of frustration for his ex-wife and others around him. As part of a medical study, Chaz starts taking Salvinorin A, a drug being tested for its effects [...]