Tag: Books

Book Tour, Family, Fantasy, Historical, Mythology, Partners In Crime

Circle of Nine: The Novella Collection by Valerie Biel

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Virtual Book Tour October 27 – December 31

Description

Return to the Celtic magic that began with the suspenseful, award-winning novel Circle of Nine – Beltany.

Descended from a legendary Celtic tribe that guards the secrets of the ancient stone circles, the Quinn women have a great responsibility to protect their pagan rituals and way of life. As members of the formidable Circle of Nine, they celebrate the holidays of the year from Yule to Samhain, keeping the traditions of the Tuatha de Danann alive through the centuries against insurmountable odds. We first met these women in Circle of Nine – Beltany, and now a set of three novellas reveals more of their engaging stories.

In Bressa’s Banishment the power struggle between Father Banan and village healer Bressa Gormley unfolds amidst accusations of treachery, heresy, and murder. Can the Circle protect their trusted healer and the path of the Tuatha against a growing religious fervor?

Dervla’s Destiny brings us to medieval Ireland where the beloved character Dervla Quinn learns of her gifts and fights tremendous loss, betrayal, and violence, all the while never giving up on finding the love she deserves.

In Phoebe’s Mission, when an evil force on a quest for ultimate power threatens the Circle of Nine, Phoebe Quinn must leave Ireland for the first time and travel to the United States to protect their way of life. Along the way, she meets the handsome Macklin Scott, taking her mission, and possibly her future, on a far different course than expected.

My Thoughts

The Novella Collection provides a fascinating backstory for the characters we first met in Beltany. The Quinn heritage, awash in Irish folklore, comes to life through Bressa, Dervla, and Phoebe. The injustice of the historic times in which the women lived will make your blood boil, but the golden thread holding it all together is the heritage and the importance of what the Quinn family guards.

Dervla’s story is especially violent and upsetting, as she comes very close to sexual assault.

The author continues to build the world of the Quinns with beautiful descriptive narrative, engaging characters, and lovely language.

Author Bio

Valerie Biel writes award-winning books for middle grade to adult audiences–stories inspired by her travels and her insatiable curiosity. Her young adult fantasy series, Circle of Nine, was inspired by the myth and magic of Ireland’s ancient stone circles. She’s also the author of HAVEN, a contemporary middle grade novel, and BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATE, a mystery suspense story. She’s a founding member of the Blackbird Writers & a member of Sisters in Crime & the Wisconsin Writers Association. When she’s away from the computer, she’s likely wrangling her overgrown garden, reading multiple books per week, or traveling the world–often on trips for the The World Orphan Fund charity she and her husband run. She calls a (tiny) portion of her family’s century-old Wisconsin farm home, but regularly dreams of finding a cozy cottage on the Irish coast where she can write and write.

Catch Up With Valerie Biel:

ValerieBiel.com
Valerie’s Substack Newsletter
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads – @valerie_biel
BookBub – @ValerieBiel
Instagram – @valeriebielauthor
Threads – @valeriebielauthor
X – @ValerieBiel
Facebook – @ValerieBielBooks
YouTube – @ValerieBielAuthor
Pinterest – @ValerieBiel

Historical, Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Uncategorized

The Death of Clara Willenheim by Charlotte Lesemann

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Surrounded by family secrets, suspicious deaths, and her own repressed memories, fifteen year-old Clara Willenheim lives as a prisoner in her ancestral estate in 1860s Bavaria. Her only chance of escape is to journey through the castle’s secret passages, unraveling her family’s dark history and its place at the center of a vast web of crime. Driven by the capricious and vengeful ghost of her long-dead aunt, Clara opens doors that threaten powerful enemies, a place where she’s forced to choose between righting past wrongs or losing her own life.

A historical Gothic mystery brimming with suspense and plot twists, The Death of Clara Willenheim is layered in rich, period detail. The novel explores the cost of selflessness and the struggle to choose between justice and vengeance. But at its heart, it’s a story about how, when one part of ourselves dies, something greater can rise in its place.

My Thoughts

If you’re looking for a modern book written in the style of traditional gothics, this is your book. The language is complex, florid at times, and beautifully descriptive which will appeal to readers who truly love language, albeit very dark. The author has a solid grasp of descriptive narrative bolstered by a suspenseful and horrifying story with a satisfying resolution.

The first chapter skillfully set the stage for the suffocating, dangerous narrative which followed. There’s a lot in this story that will make a person with claustrophobia cringe. Which brings me to my only issue with this book – lack of trigger warnings in the description. While gothics traditionally hint at truly terrible things that occur to the heroine, the truly terrible things here – child molestation and trafficking – are topics that I typically avoid in the books I select. Taking my personal reaction to that out of the mix, I am left with a favorable review because the story is very well-written and the plot convincingly dark.

Publication Date: October 29, 2024
Published By: The Gothic Literary Society
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy

British, Cozy, Mystery

Madrigals and Mayhem by Elizabeth Penney

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

In Madrigals and Mayhem, the fourth in Elizabeth Penney’s charming Cambridge Bookshop series, Molly Kimball finds that even the holidays can come with a healthy dose of mystery.

Molly is eager to experience her first English Christmas with family and friends now that she’s adjusted to her move to Cambridge and her restoration of her family’s ancestral bookshop, Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios. When local toyshop Pemberly’s Emporium reopens, Molly is excited to meet the new owner, Charlotte Pemberly, who is determined to make the toy store a success after unexpectedly becoming her grandfather Arthur’s sole heir.

Arthur’s new wife Althea Winters and her unpleasant family loathe Charlotte for inheriting what they believe was theirs and have set their sights on a valuable Madame Alexander doll that’s gone missing. When Althea’s grandson is poisoned by cakes from Tea & Crumpets, Charlotte becomes the top suspect. Molly believes Charlotte was the intended victim and investigates the Pemberly’s home, only to discover that Arthur had been murdered.

To get closer to this treacherous family, Molly and her boyfriend Kieran go undercover by volunteering to act and sing for a madrigal dinner directed by Althea and her daughter at St. Hildegard’s College. Molly must help her new friend clear her name while searching for the missing doll and wrangling her own family during the chaotic holiday festivities at the bookshop.

My Thoughts

Fans of cozy mysteries will thoroughly enjoy this delightful series set in a 700-year-old bookshop in Cambridge. Similar in some ways to Paige Shelton’s Scottish Bookshop mysteries (attractive, young American woman transplanted into a UK bookshop gets involved in solving mysteries) but different enough that readers will be captivated by the warm relationships that form the bones of this series.

The story in this fourth entry features a serial poisoner and a lost Madame Alexander doll worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is set in the toy shop of everyone’s dreams at the most magical time of the year (Christmas), and moves at a quick pace but keeps the readers interest easily. The murderer was fairly easy to guess, but the story threads were clever enough to keep me engrossed in the story.

While this is the fourth in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone, although I have recommended the first three in the past. They are quick, enjoyable reads for wintry afternoons.

Publication Date: November 26, 2024
Published By: St. Martin’s Press: Minotaur Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy

Summer Reading

More Summer Reading Recommendations!

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

A few weeks ago, I asked Rochester’s Mayor, Malik Evans, and members of his Senior Management team to share their reading recommendations for the summer. There are some good ones here, folks!

Recommended by Mayor Evans

The Little Book of Aliens by Adam Frank
Delve into the science behind the search for life outside of Earth.

Recommended by Executive Assistant Daniella Veras

Atomic Habits by James Clear
This comprehensive guide will help you change your habits and improve your life.

Sh*t You Need to Know That Nobody Bothered to Tell You: A Perpetual Guide to Life for Everyone by Clark Merrill  
A very easy practical guide with advice about life’s situations like what do say at a funeral, what to say at a wedding, how to order wine at a restaurant, and more.

Recommended by Me!

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
Savor this tale of a bereaved musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction.

Recommended by Corporation Counsel Patrick Beath

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
A sweeping novel of one American family from the colonial slave-trade to the modern era.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Follow the story of a seemingly perfect couple and how the change in the new millennium.

Recommended by Commissioner of Finance Kim D. Jones

Begin Again by Eddie Glaude Jr.
Explores the aftermath of the Blacks Lives Matter movement though the experiences of author James Baldwin in the post-Civil Rights days.

Recommended by Police Chief David Smith

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Recognized as one of the most influential books of the past 50 years, this explores the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, his unlikely presidency, and his cabinet of former political foes.

Recommended by Nancy Johns Price

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant  
Explores the critical art of rethinking and learning to question your opinions.

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin
Master your mental strength—revolutionary new strategies that work for everyone from homemakers to soldiers and teachers to CEOs.

Recommended by Department of Human Resources Commissioner Dr. Rose M. Nichols

Disruptive Thinking by T.D. Jakes
Think differently and find the courage to challenge the status quo with this mindset-shifting guide to meaningful change.  

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
In 1972,workers in Pottstown PA discovered a skeleton as they dug the foundations for a new development. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the neighborhood.

Recommended by Special Assistant to the Mayor John Brach

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
This groundbreaking tour of the human mind explains the two systems that drive the way we think.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
The story of a solitary green notebook that brings together six strangers and leads to unexpected friendship, and even love. I wrote about this back in 2020, just before the world imploded.

Recommended by Director of the Office of Management & Budget Suzanne Warren

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.

The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon
A pulse-pounding psychological thriller about a serial killer narrated by those closest to him: his 13-year-old daughter, his girlfriend—and the one victim he has spared.

Recommended by Fire Chief Stefano Napolitano

Wisdom of the Bullfrog by Admiral William H. McRaven
This short, inspirational book of advice and leadership lessons that Admiral McRaven collected over his four decades as a Navy SEAL will fascinate readers.

Recommended by Chief Legislative Coordinator & Liaison to City Council Josanne Reeves

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides  
A shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband–and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Being Henry by Henry Winkler
From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole.

Recommended by Commissioner of Recreation & Human Services Dr. Shirley Green

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.

Recommended by Director of Communications Barbara Pierce

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt  
A charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

Books About Books, British, Historical, Makes You Think, Reading, Women

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London. 

London, 1944. Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London, Clara has created the country’s only underground library, built over the tracks in the unused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here, a whole community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theatre offering shelter, solace, and protection from the bombs that fall above.

Along with her glamorous best friend and library assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war rages on, the women’s determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it seems it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

My Thoughts

This delightful book will give you ALL the feelings. Part romance, part mystery, part feel-good story, it’s got everything. Character development is nicely done, and paired with a sometimes startling and lovely descriptive narrative.

The importance of books is underscored here in a more serious side to the story. History has shown us that, in wartime, libraries and books are often one of the first targets for destruction. Books are dangerous to fascists, despots, and tyrants because they contain ideas and stories of the good and the different and the beauty in the human race, which is a threat to those who wish to conquer.

For the people in this story, books were a lifeline to a country and lifestyle they hoped would not be destroyed, and one they desperately wanted back.

A beautiful reminder of the power of story.

Published By: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 21, 2023
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy