KidnappingTag Archives

Book Review: The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker

The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker

  • Method of Obtaining: I received an advance copy from the publisher.
  • Published by:  Atria Books
  • Release Date:  9.13.2011
        

Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be.  They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, who they love more than anything.  Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn’t last – that the life they created was destined to be disrupted.  And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard.

The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago.

As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden.  But they will also have a chance to discover that it’s not too late to have the family they’ve dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom.

Lyrical, wise, and witty, The Winters in Bloom is Lisa Tucker’s most optimistic work to date.  This enchanting, life-affirming story will charm readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.

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My Review:

When I picked up The Winters in Bloom by Lisa Tucker I was definitely in the mood for some family drama reading. I got chills with the opening section and felt immediately connected to this small, 5-year old child named Michael. Then, he was whisked away and the story began to unfold.

The Winters in Bloom is a novel that explores not only the disappearance of Michael, but the past histories of his parents. Both are overly cautious for reasons of their own. For David Winter, it was tragedy of one kind, and for Kyra, tragedy of another. And both their pasts intersect in a twisting, winding turn of events that had me guessing until the end of the book.

While I enjoyed very much the “unputdownable” nature of The Winters in Bloom, I do have a bone to pick with it, however. The introduction of the book gave me this awesome, fantastic character in Michael and, aside from a few moments here and there throughout the story, there really wasn’t much more time spent with him. As a result, what time there was spent with him seemed a bit gimmicky – like he was fairly one-dimensional and, as a result, the end of the book came off as a bit fake. I wanted to feel a powerful emotion of some sort when I got to the ending pages, but instead, I found myself speeding up my reading just because I wanted to finish and had lost that momentum of caring about Michael after the big reveal of who did it happened.

With that said, the rest of the book leading up to the reveal? Kept me guessing and was highly entertaining.

Check out what these bloggers had to say!

Teresa’s Reading Corner | Romancing the Book | That’s What She Read

 

 

 

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Lydia
19 May, 2013
Contemporary, Mystery, reviews
0 comments
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Book Review: Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates

Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates

  • Method of Obtaining: I received my copy from the publisher.
  • Published by: Mysterious Press
  • Release Date:  1/8/2013
        

Dinah Whitcomb seemingly has everything. A loving and successful husband, and a smart, precocious young son named Robbie. One day, their worlds are shattered when Dinah is attacked and Robbie is taken in a mall parking lot. Dinah, injured, attempts to follow, but is run over by the kidnapper’s van, mangling her body nearly beyond repair.

The kidnapper, a part-time Preacher named Chester Cash, calls himself Daddy Love, as he has abducted, tortured, and raped several young boys into being his lover and as well as his ‘son’. He confines Robbie in a device called an Wooden Maiden, in essence a small coffin, and renamed him ‘Gideon’. Daddy Love slowly brainwashes ‘Gideon’ into believing that he is Daddy Love’s real son, and any time the boy resists or rebels it is met with punishment beyond his wildest nightmares.

As Dinah recovers from her wounds, her world and her marriage struggle to exist every day. Though it seems hopeless, she keeps a flicker of hope alive that her son is still alive.

As Robbie grows older, he becomes more aware of just how monstrous Daddy Love truly is. Though as a small boy he as terrified of what might happen if he disobeyed Daddy Love, Robbie begins to realize that the longer he stays in the home of this demon, the greater chance he’ll end up like Daddy Love’s other ‘sons’ who were never heard from again. Somewhere within this tortured young boy lies a spark of rebellion…and soon he sees just what lengths he must go to in order to have any chance at survival.

Reason for Reading:
  • It’s written by Joyce Carol Oates and I figured it was time I read something written by her.

I also recommend:

My Review:

In the interest of full disclosure, I really had to work myself up to reading Daddy Love by Joyce Carol Oates. What finally tipped me over the edge into trying it was (definitely not the few reviews I read) the smaller size of the book.

I’ve tried to read Joyce Carol Oates before. I failed at reading Blonde and, although I’d heard her writing is exquisite, I struggled with getting myself to a place where I could try again. So when I saw she had written a book that was less than 300 pages I thought… here we go, and picked it up. Then I put it down when I saw what it was about. Then I picked it up again because.. “never judge a book by its cover” right? You get the picture.

So, contrary to what many reviews say, this book is not entirely from the perspective of “Daddy Love,” nor does it gratuitously detail obscene and horrible acts committed. Rather, it’s the story of desperation, resilience, depravity, and how all three of those things come together to show that sometimes the “happy ending” involves some not so happy results.

Daddy Love is told from a few different viewpoints. The viewpoint of Dinah, the mother of young Robbie; the viewpoint of “Daddy Love,” the man who abducts Robbie, the viewpoint of “Gideon,” the young Robbie renamed. Dinah made me feel complete and total despair; Daddy Love made me feel like I needed to shower – repeatedly; Gideon made me weep. This book reminded me quite a bit of Emma Donoghue’s Room. I had to guard myself emotionally a few times. Was it worth it? Honestly, I don’t know how to say it was other than to say that everything is written for a purpose. With the horrors that happen today we struggle to figure out why someone would do the things they do and who better than the authors to give us a glimpse into the mind of just one person in order to allow us to understand how that person was molded.

I was blown away by the quality of writing here. There’s a reason Joyce Carol Oates has the place she holds in the literary world. Daddy Love was a thought-provoking, bone-chilling novel that I’ll be thinking about in the days and months to come.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

A Bookish Libraria | The Eclectic Reader| Lazy Reading Nook

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Lydia
2 January, 2013
Contemporary, Horror, reviews, Social Issues, Suspense/Thriller
2 comments
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Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

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Reason for Reading:
  • The reviews got me on this one – as well as the description.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame that she maintains he deserved.

It would appear that I am to be the first to write a book on Gillespie. Who, if not me, was dealt that hand?

Back in 1888, the young, art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter, she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes – leading to a notorious criminal trial – the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery and deception.

My Review:

Gillespie and I is one of those rare books where all those raving reviews? They are spot on.

There are so many things I want to praise about this book. So let’s start with the title – it’s perfect. It’s eye-catching, it inspires curiosity, and it’s quirky enough to be completely unique.

Then there’s the cover – perfectly fitting the story, and – frankly, it’s gorgeous. The color palette, the arrangement of symbols, it’s all just plain perfect.

Now.. the insides of this beautiful book..

So many twists and turns, y’all. I loved, loved, loved where this story took me. Instead of a cliche love story, I got a fascinating mystery that involved absolutely no love story at all and it was so incredibly perfect. The style of narration kept me on the edge of my seat, and the twists – I’m not even joking I shivered right now because they are so delicious.

I’m not much of a mystery lover, but I’ll tell you right now – this is a book that would have me converting to reading the mystery genre full-time if more were like it.

About the Author

For more reviews on Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, please follow the book tour.

 

 

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Lydia
15 February, 2012
Historical, Mystery, reviews
4 comments
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You Are My Only by Beth Kephart

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Reason for Reading:
  • This book is getting a lot of buzz in the book blogging community.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Emmy Rane is married at nineteen, a mother by twenty. Trapped in a life with a husband she no longer loves, Baby is her only joy. Then one sunny day in September, Emmy takes a few fateful steps away from her baby and returns to find her missing. All that is left behind is a yellow sock.

Fourteen years later, Sophie, a homeschooled, reclusive teenage girl is forced to move frequently and abruptly from place to place, perpetually running from what her mother calls the “No Good.” One afternoon, Sophie breaks the rules, ventures out, and meets Joey and his two aunts. It is this loving family that gives Sophie the courage to look into her past. What she discovers changes her world forever. . . .

My Review:

I’ll be honest, it took me a good 30 minutes or so of reading to really start getting into this story.  The alternating narratives, the thought process of Emmy, the strange events (and you cannot help but know they are connected), took every minute of that time and really got my mind working.

Once I got everything straight, I began to see just where the beauty of this book lay.  While I understood the outcome early on, this is more the story of getting to that point.  That journey is so beautifully written that I could not help but feel as if I was not only acquainted with Emmy and Sophie – but that I was intimately involved with them – like they were sisters.  I felt their pain, I felt their fear, and it was, quite frankly, more than a little scary.

I understand why this book is getting the buzz it’s getting in the book blogging community.  It’s a subtle, straight-to-the-heart, story that has left me thinking about it days afterward.

Check out these reviews!

There’s a Book

Linus’s Blanket


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Lydia
6 November, 2011
Contemporary, reviews
4 comments
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The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates

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Reason for Reading:
  • I hear so much amazing stuff about Joyce Carol Oates, and I had planned to do some scary reading this month so… tada!

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

 

The trusting Marissa happily went to a secluded basement with the older girls, pleased to be included, and is convinced that the world has ended and that they are the last survivors. Remaining an unaware hostage for days, she grows weaker on a sparse diet as Judah prepares her for sacrifice.

The seemingly inevitable fate of Marissa becomes ever more terrifying as Judah relishes her power, leading to unbearable tension with a shocking conclusion.


My Review:

So this collection of short stories.. it packs a mean punch.  I mean right out of the gate, Joyce Carol Oates slams her readers with a story about “innocent” young girls and the horrific acts they can commit.  Seriously, people, I have goosebumps just thinking about the story and it’s been a few weeks since I read it.

One after another, each story hits where you least expect to be hit.  From showing the darker side of charity, the immense pain of loneliness, the all-too-human fears we face in moments when we should be thinking of other things, it’s all contained within this book.

I’ve only recently become a fan of short stories – I’ve come to appreciate them for how quickly I can become immersed in the story and also appreciate just how much of a workout my imagination gets from the (sometimes abrupt) endings.  I’m positive I’ll be checking out more of Joyce Carol Oates books, just because I have a think for powerhouse female writers – but I will say this…

The last story in this book I couldn’t read all the way through.  I was just too grossed out, and for that I blame my active imagination – although the story was pretty damn twisted.

If you want the perfect Halloween read, look no further.  This book will take you beyond paranormal and sometimes silly scary stories into the very corrupt and twisted mind of some very “normal” people.

Check out these reviews!

Book Goggles


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Lydia
30 October, 2011
Horror, reviews, Short Stories
3 comments
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Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

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 Reason for Reading:

  • After seeing numerous comparisons to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird I decided I needed to check this one out.

I also  recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

 In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they’ve buried and ignored for decades.

My Review:

I’m always a bit hesitant when books are compared to some classics that just.. are incomparable – but in the case of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, I can see why the classic Harper Lee story is brought to mind.  What Tom Franklin has done with the story of Larry and Silas “32″ is nothing short of horrifying and heart-aching.

From the first few sentences I was immediately hooked by Larry – by his character, by sorrow for him even though I wasn’t aware of what exactly he had done, or not done, and I was struck by how unfairly life had been treating him.  With chickens, a tractor, a sick mother and a few other tools Tom Franklin manages to infuse into Larry the type of character of a man who has been beaten down by life and the people around him – all through no fault of his own.  Think being naive is harmless?  Not for Larry Ott.

Then Silas “32″ Jones comes on the scene.  This is, again, one of those stories where the “twist” isn’t the main point of the story – it’s very easy to spot from afar, but it doesn’t matter, because there is more meat to the story then the twist.

This is a fascinating story about what happens if the tables were turned, how the South treats one man over the other, had he been in the same position, how the power rests in the hands of the most unlikely person and how restitution can begin to be made.

Check these reviews!

Books and Movies

Wordsmithonia

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Lydia
17 September, 2011
Historical, reviews, Social Issues
5 comments
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Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon

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Reason(s) for Reading:
  • The eyes on the cover.  They begged me to. And they promised mystery.

Summary from Goodreads:

On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn’t fear the dark and doesn’t have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam’s hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all.

My Review:

Hello creepy fairy story.

This book is a thriller, no doubt about it.  It had all the elements of a creepy, spine-tingling terror, mixed with dark fantasy, mixed with just… strange family stuff that makes up the perfect page-turner.

Don’t Breathe a Word alternates between Lisa, 15 years before the present time, and Phoebe, in present time.  Lisa and Phoebe have a connection in that Phoebe had heard about Lisa’s disappearance and visited the house where Lisa lived, and while she was there she glimpsed Sam, her current partner.

Phoebe’s been through her tough knocks, but that’s nothing compared to the family that Sam comes from.  Filled with strange characters from Evie to his Aunt Hazel and his own parents, this story went from dark and spooky to incredibly creepy and twisted in a hurry.

I have one real complaint however, and it tends to be a common complaint with these types of books.  The climax is carefully worked toward in the first 75% of the book and it felt like the last 25% was just a haphazard rush of trying to spring the “TADA” on the reader all at once.  There was so much happening, so much that didn’t make a lot of sense and I’d have to go back and read it two or three times to understand the impact it was supposed to have.  I’m still not quite clear on a few things as well, which makes the resolution difficult.  I just would have hoped for a more clear explanation, or the same care taken to give it as was taken to build the story up to it.

I’m definitely interested in checking out more of Jennifer McMahon’s books, however.  I love getting caught up in a thriller and am always on the lookout for authors who craft an interesting story.

About the Author

For more reviews on Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon, please follow the book tour.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from TLC Book Tours. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Lydia
24 May, 2011
reviews, Social Issues, Suspense/Thriller
6 comments
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