Dead Behind the Eyes
Brock Car, 2014
Prairie Wind Publishing
300 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780983676164
Summary
Max Riley is a charismatic CEO of a large corporation headquartered in Denver. Everyone loves him. Well, not everyone. When he is found dead on the corporate jet en route to Omaha we discover Max has more than a few enemies.
Max’s family hires private investigator Claudia Sullivan to assist the police in their investigation. She digs deep into the cast of suspects to uncover what might drive them to murder while unraveling how a person’s past shapes their future.
Filled with sexual tension and erotic encounters, Dead Behind the Eyes examines the power of the human sex drive and the toxic waste it can spill on innocent victims.
As much a whydunit as a whodunit, Dead Behind the Eyes weaves a patchwork of compelling stories and relatable characters that explore why some of us are strengthened by adversity while others fold. Readers will question how well any of us really know those we hold close. (From the publisher.)
Watch the book video.
Author Bio
• Birth—October 20, 1949
• Where—Omaha, Nebraska, USA
• Education—B.S., University of Kansas
• Currently—North Hutchinson Island (Ft. Pierce) Florida, and Omaha, Nebraska
Brock Car was communications director for a telecommunications corporation prior to establishing her own marketing firm. She has written for periodicals and literary journals and covered murder trials and police investigations. Brock divides her time between Omaha and Hutchinson Island, Florida where she swims with the manatees and walks the beaches daily. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
The Omaha author has written a dandy mystery about an executive who boards a plane from Denver to Omaha only to be murdered inflight. Private investigator Claudia Sullivan finds plenty of secrets and suspects in her search for the truth.
Omaha World Herald
Ordinary people caught at their worst...I dare you to guess who did it.
Alex Kava - New York Times Bestselling Author of Maggie O'Dell series
...A wonderful message that what seems so perfect may not be as perfect as it seems. This is a book I couldn't let go. I hope there will be more books to follow. I want more. To me that is the sign of a good book.
Gayle's Reviews
Dead Behind The Eyes isn't bogged down with mindless conversation to bulk up the story. Instead, readers are thrown straight into the middle of characters' lives and the nitty-gritty of what we all want to know. A great read from a promising new writer. I quite enjoyed it.
UK Girl -Relaxing Reading
A worthy and exciting read which weaves together the central theme and a host of other topics...the whodunit genre at its best.
Babus Ahmed's Reviews
Psychological Mystery that Delivers! I bought this book with the expectation of reading a psychological mystery with focus on motive. Dead Behind the Eyes delivered! I can’t get the characters and their stories out of my mind. They have stayed with me for weeks — the mark of a good book. Brock Car has written a multi-layered yet tight story with well developed characters you come to understand and care about. I hope there will be a follow-up novel soon. I look forward to seeing which fork in the road Claudia chooses. A great read—summer or winter! (5/5 Stars).
DBWojo33 - Amazon customer Review
Real people, real relationships and there's murder. Dead Behind the Eyes' true to life characters kept me going from first page to last. I felt I had met these people—or at least people just like them—along my life's journey. While the intriguing cover suggests a murder mystery, that's almost secondary to the overriding theme of real people and their relationships. That said, I had no clue as to "whodunnit."
Christopher Alan - Amazon customer Review
Discussion Questions
1. Did Trish's commitment to her marriage make her appear strong or weak? Did your opinion change by the end of the book?
2. After learning about Leah's history did you find her to be a more sympathetic character?
3. Do you know a man like Max? Do you like him? Can you understand his actions?
4. Characters are sometimes revealed to be other than they appear. Which characters were "what you see is what you get"? How likely are we to really know another person?
5. Is there an absolute deal-breaker that would cause you to end a relationship? Has that changed over the years?
6. What are your thoughts on allowing non-Native Americans adopt Native American children?
7. Do you think Claudia is empathetic or guilt driven? Trusting or gullible?
8. Were you surprised by Max's response to the pilots when he was caught in a compromising position?
9 Do you agree that women of a certain age share Ruth's super power?
10. At the end of the book Claudia has some big decisions to make. How would you advise her? Could you take your own advice?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Fireflies at Twilight: Letters from Pat Adams
Pat Adams, (Cate Adams, Carole Milks Turner, eds.) 2014
First Person Productions
163 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780984727650
Summary
Fireflies at Twilight: Letters from Pat Adams tells a story through family and friends' letters and emails.
Pat lived the last 15 years of her life with cancer and its repercussions. However, she was more annoyed and irritated than ever stopped or labeled by the disease. The entries instead highlight her daily life on a farm in southern Wisconsin, her appreciation of the natural world, and her courage and vivacity to live fully each day.
Pat’s writing include her quiet thoughts during winter hibernation in a drafty farmhouse, a raw intimate love letter to her husband before her first surgery; her frank yet kind advice to her daughters about employment and empowerment; a description of a winter outing to a nearby bison farm; summer observances in her travel journal of turtles and loons in Upper Peninsula, Michigan; and her lively commentary about her beloved Book Babes group.
Pat's story is not as much about the art of dying as it is about the art of living in the present, with messages of humor and hope in how the human spirit remains undaunted. One reader says: "Pat's letters are filled with thoughts of life—advice for her children, shared memories with friends and family—and always a reminder that her love for them will never change, that there is no force powerful enough to diminish the bonds they share." (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 20, 1951
• Rasied—Footville, Wisconsin, USA
• Death—March 14, 2011
• Where—New Glarus, Wisconsin
• Education—University of Wisconsn-Madison
Patsy Ann Adams was born in 1951 in Stoughton, Wisconsin, and grew up in Footville, Wisconsin, where she attended Orfordville's Parkview High School. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was employed at the New Glarus Elementary School near her rural home for 14 years.
Pat worked with special needs children in the New Glarus school system, starting as an aide to one young boy whom she accompanied all day. She went on to help with special needs children in mainstream and special education classrooms.
Pat loved her home on her husband’s family’s working dairy farm. A lover of all living things, she raised her own pigs, poultry, and vegetables, as well as flowers, dogs, cats, and kids—her own and others. "Half the kids in town knew her as 'Mama Pat,'" says her daughter Cate. She kept her four children—Sam, Cate, Norah, and Dan—involved in after-school activities from sports to music lessons, and attended every concert, recital and sports event.
Pat was an active community member and activist. She became a Girl Scout leader when her oldest daughter Cate joined in third grade and for fifteen years led the New Glarus area Girl Scouts, until her younger daughter Norah graduated from high school. Pat became involved in the teachers' union as her school’s representative for a number of years and served as the union’s president.
Pat always loved travel, including yearly summer vacations at a cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which typically included an assortment of visiting family, friends, and pets, and trips that took her farther afield, including Ecuador and California.
Through her letters and emails, Pat kept in touch with family and friends near and far throughout the hectic family years and the more peaceful "empty nest" stage that preceded her death in March 2011.
Book Reviews
Deftly compiled and co-edited by Cate Adams and Carole Milks Turner, Fireflies at Twilight: Letters from Pat Adams is a compelling and personal read. The candor is consistently impressive. The observations unusually insightful. Informative, intensely personal, thoughtful and thought-provoking...an extraordinary and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library American Biography collections.
Midwest Book Review
[The authors] have turned Pat Adams from an unknown entity into someone who feels like a "dear, trusted friend." ... I didn't want this book to end, for with its ending came a sense of a visit with a close friend coming to a close before you are ready for it to do so. Fireflies at Twilight gives readers a certain peace and calm that is all to rare in today's hectic world. Pat Adams knew how to find beauty and peace and joy in the simple things of life—and how to share that with those she loved most.
Story Circle Book Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever faced a serious illness or helped a friend or family member through a serious illness? What did you learn from the experience?
2. Pat found a lot of comfort in gardening, nature, pets, her children, friendships and books. She mentioned books coming in the mail, trips to the library, etc. What are some things (including books) that give you comfort?
3. How do you think writing helped Pat? Do you journal on a regular basis?
4. Do you correspond via handwritten letters or postcards with anyone? What does a handwritten note tell about the author (rather than a typed one), such as mood or state of mind?
5. New York Times bestselling author Michael Perry said about Pat and the book: "First, just write it all down. You never know what a legacy it might become." Do you cherish and save handwritten items? Why/Why not?
6. Do you think that the schools should continue to teach writing? Why/Why not?
7. How does grief play a part in Pat’s life? For example, a month before Pat died, she was buying books online and had a friend check out a stack of books from her local library. On the other hand Pat takes care of "her business," and even writes her own obituary.
8. Pat writes about her grown children: "…I imagined a rotating visit plan with my chicks. They could each stay a month (or more) at a time. Not practical, but delightful to imagine. I do miss them when they are far away—always want them close. They help me in so many ways."
How does each child in his and her own way help and sustain their mother?
9. In a letter to a friend, Pat writes:
I love having girlfriends (like you) around me—so natural, comfortable. In my younger days, I dreamed of a community of women and children, with the men living on the next piece of land. Made good sense to me.
Pat was born in 1951, and therefore grew up during the '60’s and '70s. How does this impact her attitudes toward friendship, feminism, culture, music, and relationships?
10. There is much in the media these days about death and dying, prolonging life through medical interventions vs. receiving palliative care only. Pat and her family courageously made a commitment to keep her at home and bring hospice in to help her during her final months. How would you approach the dying process if you had a terminal illness?
(Questions issued by the editors, Cathy Gorey, and Marilyn Christensen.)
Parisian Promises
Cecilia Velastegui, 2012
Libros Publishing
274 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780985176914
Summary
Paris, 1973: in the midst of a turbulent period of student unrest, political protest and terrorist threats, Monica, a naive and idealistic American college student, arrives in Paris eager to lie out her rose-colored dreams.
Along with her three friends, Monica soon discovers a Paris not pictured in guidebooks or dreamy black-and-white photographs: a place both seductive and dangerous.
The young women, who each dreamed of a coup de foudre-love at first sight-instead find themselves in a complex tangle of temptation, sex, love, and betrayal In a city famed for its beauty—and the dark enticements of Montmatre and the Latin Quarter—the friends soon lose sight of their moral compasses, and discover the seamy side of their Parisian adventure.
Monica's passionate involvement with two men puts her in grave danger. Drawn to Christophe, and idealistic young aristocrat, she’s also completely in the sway of Jean-Michel, a radical South American whose charisma and elan camouflage his despicable modus operandi. Her best friend Lola, who idolizes the life of Parisian courtesan La Belle Otero, seems consumed by sex and frivolity—but may also be Monica's greatest protector.
Monica's Paris education, both sexual and intellectual, leads her on a perilous journey—embroiled with ETA terrorists, implicated in a crime, psychologically tortured, and endangering not only herself but everyone she knows and loves. Monica's decisions impact everyone from her American friends to her elderly landlady, a former French Resistance fighter who sees her own sensuous youth reflected in the current-day struggles.
Velastegui spins a provocative and mesmerizing tale about the loss of innocence, the allure of desire, the power of both betrayal and redemption, and the danger in romanticizing the most loved and iconic of cities: Paris. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Ecuador
• Raised—California, USA, and France
• Education—University of Southern California
• Currently—lives in Monarch Beach, California
Cecilia Velastegui was born in Ecuador and raised in California and France. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California and speaks four languages. She has traveled to more than sixty countries, and serves on the board of directors of several educational and cultural institutions.
Work and recognition
Cecilia continues to garner praise for her psychological thrillers with historical intrigue. She was awarded first place by the International Latino Book Awards for her novels Missing in Machu Picchu (2013) and Traces of Bliss (2014) Gathering the Indigo Maidens (2011) was a finalist for the Mariposa Award. The Association of American Publishers and the Las Comadres international organization have selected her novels for the National Latino Book Club.
Velastegui is an accomplished public speaker and has participated as a panelist at the 2013 Literary Orange, has been a moderator at the 2013 Big Orange Book Festival, has lectured at numerous locations, and has performed at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the country’s largest book festival.
Velastegui is known as the Fabulous Fableist for her bilingual children’s fables. Her fable about the newest mammal in the Western Hemisphere, Olinguito Speaks Up (2013) was awarded first place by the International Latino Book Awards and was featured at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. Lalo Loves to Help and Howl of the Mission Owl debuted at the Los Angeles Zoo and the Orange County Children’s Book Festival.
Velastegui lives with her family in Monarch Beach, California. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The year is 1973; the place is Paris. Four young women get lost in misadventures, danger, and fulfillment in a comedic, romantic mystery.... The deftly constructed story line moves these intellectually and sensually driven females...from seamy arrondissements to lush villas. Velastegui builds her characters with nuanced layers.... [Her] multilingual twists of words, her skillfully textured plot, and her ability to convey the pleasures and perils of love make Parisian Promises a novel to remember.... Velastegui is a writer whose work merits wider recognition (Five Stars).
Foreword Reviews
Award-winning author Cecilia Velastegui turns her attention in her latest novel to the years shortly after the Paris student riots of 1968.... Velastegui spins a disturbing tale of abuse, shattered dreams, and the loss of innocence. The author's greatest strength, however, lies in her ability to create memorable characters.... [Her] cross-cultural background, along with her extensive travels, aid Velastegui in making the worldviews of her principal characters and the atmosphere of life in Paris during the 1970s very realistic. (Recommended Level.)
US Review of Books
Discussion Questions
1. In Parisian Promises the reader is led to ruminate about famous love stories, from Elizabeth and Darcy to Abélard and Eloise to Romeo and Juliette. What are the main characteristics of these stories that have made them moving, intriguing and memorable?
2. Since a memorable love story must have an element of high risk, who faced the highest risk and what was the greatest danger in Parisian Promisess?
3. What was the magnetic pull that Jean-Michel had over Monica? Due to Monica’s naïveté, was predestined to simultaneously fall in love with more than one man?
4. In what ways is Monica’s romantic involvement with Jean-Michel destined for disappointment?
5. American college students flock to France for their study abroad year. Did Monica and her room mates have unrealistic expectations for their year in Paris? How did their expectations lead them into their respective complications during their year abroad? Would these types of rose-colored dreams occur today, or are they representative of a more innocent era?
6. What did you know about the 1968 student unrest in Paris? How did this book teach you about, or change your impression of, this important chapter in French history?
7. Parisian Promises contains three interweaving story lines about three historical characters. Are there any redeeming qualities to the 19th century courtesan, La Belle Otero? What traits did French author, George Sand, display that would be admirable for a contemporary reader? Were the personal sacrifices made by the lovelorn Ecuadorian wife, Isabel Casamayor de Godin, worth her journey down the dangerous Amazon River?
8. In what ways is Madame Caron de Pichet’s apartment a character all its own? What Parisian landmarks served as elements of danger?
9. French author, Patrick Modiano is famous for his portrayal of a grey, grim Paris of the Occupation. How does Velástegui depict Paris in the 1970’s from the perspective of foreigners that flocked to the city?
10. What are the major themes of Parisian Promises?
11. How do you imagine what happens after the end of the novel? What do you think Monica’s life will be like living with a Christophe’s domineering mother? What truths do you think she’ll learn about herself?
12. Why do modern readers enjoy historical novels? How and when can a powerful piece of fiction be a history lesson?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Perfect Mother
Nina Darnton, 2014
Penguin/Plume
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780142196731
Summary
When a beloved daughter acts against her privileged upbringing, her devoted mother’s worst fears play out, as their American family is pulled into the international spotlight.
Inspired by the infamous Amanda Knox case, and reminiscent of William Landay’s Defending Jacob, novelist Nina Darnton examines the complex questions of how well do we know our children—and how far would we go to protect them—in the riveting novel The Perfect Mother.
A midnight phone call shatters Jennifer Lewis’s carefully orchestrated life. Her daughter, Emma, who’s studying abroad in Spain, has been arrested after the brutal murder of another student. Jennifer rushes to her side, certain the arrest is a terrible mistake and determined to do whatever necessary to bring Emma home.
As details of the crime emerge, an examination of Emma’s lifestyle reveals risqué photos and a drug-dealing boyfriend. The police formally charge Emma and the press leaps on the story, drawing its own conclusions. One by one, Emma’s defense team, her father, and finally even Jennifer begin to question her innocence. How well did she truly know her daughter? Was Emma capable of doing the unthinkable? Can Jennifer shake off her doubts and stand by her daughter?
The Perfect Mother is a darkly imaginative thriller that probes the dark side of parenthood and the complicated bond between mothers and daughters. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 23, 1943
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.F.A., Columbia University;
M.S. New School for Social Research
• Currently—lives in New York City and New Paltz, New York
A journalist for thirty years, Nina Darnton wrote her first novel, An African Affair, in 2011 and never looked back. “After all those years struggling to get it right, it’s a great liberation to be able to make it up,” she says. Her second novel, The Perfect Mother was published in 2014.
As a journalist, Nina has written extensively for the New York Times, mostly about the arts. She wrote the “At the Movies” Column, and frequent celebrity profiles for the "Arts and Leisure" section as well as movie reviews, Sunday book reviews and longer articles for the Times Sunday Magazine. She has also published in Elle, More, Mirabella, Family Circle, House and Garden and Travel, and Leisure.
She was chief movie writer for the New York Post and a fashion reporter at Newsweek, travelling to London, Paris and Milan twice a year to cover the shows. She was also a contributor to National Public Radio and an essayist for the McNeill-Lehrer News Hour on public television.
With her husband, she has lived and worked in Nigeria, Kenya, Poland, Spain and England and used those experiences and some of those settings in each of her novels: the first takes place in Lagos, Nigeria, the second in Seville, Spain. She continues to travel frequently.
Nina has a BA from the University of Wisconsin with a major in Comparative Literature. She also has an MS in Psychology with a specialty in Child Development from the New School of Social Research and an MFA in Acting from Columbia University.
Nina is married to the journalist and novelist John Darnton. They have three children and four grandchildren and live in New York City and New Paltz, New York. (From the publisher .)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Nina on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Bringing real events to a suspenseful story, this book will fascinate readers. With a plot hinging on the relationship between a mother and daughter, and exactly how much of a child’s accomplishments a mother can and will take credit for, the twists and turns of the tale are memorable....A fictionalized tale reminding one quickly of the Amanda Knox case, this is a fast-paced thriller.
Suspense Magazine
Journalist Darnton’s second novel...fails to live up to its dramatic premise. Jennifer Lewis is compelled to travel from Philadelphia to Spain because her 20-year-old daughter, Emma...has been arrested in connection to another student’s murder..... Because Jennifer and Emma are two-dimensional, their choices and their conflicts are, oddly, both baffling and predictable.
Publishers Weekly
In this fictionalized account of the Amanda Knox case, journalist Darnton asks the question any parent would dread: Is my child capable of murder?... Jennifer considers other aspects of her daughter’s past...that reveal more than she can admit about her daughter and herself. A fast-paced thriller with the kind of emotional impact that transcends a simple whodunit.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think Jennifer is a perfect mother? Does she think so? Do her children?
2. How do society and the media encourage women to strive for the chimera of being “perfect” mothers? How would you define a good mother?
3. Is there a difference between unconditional love and blind faith in your child? What is unconditional love and is it really ever possible?
4. What is a mother’s responsibility in the face of a possible serious crime by her child? What would you do?
5. Jennifer has given up her career to raise her children. Her own self worth is tied up in her children’s success. How much does this affect her refusal to see any flaws in Emma? In her marriage? In herself?
6. Jennifer is learning that she never knew her daughter as well as she thought she did. Do any of us really know our children when they are adults? Do they know us? Do they want to?
7. There are multiple versions of what happened to the murdered Spanish student. By the end of the book, whose story do you believe? Do you think the whole story still hasn’t come out? What does Jennifer finally believe?
8. Do you see parallels in this story with the true story of Amanda Knox? What is your opinion of that case? Do you think she is guilty? Why do we care?
9. Do you like Mark’s character and role in the story? What responsibility does he bear for Emma’s problems? What responsibility does he bear for his marital problems?
10. What do you think of the relationship between Jennifer and Roberto? Did you hope they would stay together or did you want to see Jennifer go back to Mark and her family?
11. What is your prediction of what will happen next in this family? What will become of Emma? Will Mark and Jennifer stay together?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Passion Thief
Anne McCarthy Strauss, 2014
Booktrope
331 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781620155943
Summary
The tumble between the sheets can get a little stale and infrequent in some marriages. At least that’s what Betty Boomer tells herself at night, while Stan, her husband of two decades, snores upright on the couch.
Emboldened by too much Chardonnay, she searches the Internet for her college boyfriend Michael, the proverbial one who got away. Memories of their youthful passion reignite a lust Betty thought had dried up long ago.
Michael responds to Betty’s cyber message, and temptation calls this globe-trotting freelance journalist. While Stan’s idea of excitement is staying up past ten o’clock on a Saturday night, Michael has evolved into a flashy Las Vegas casino manager with three ex-wives. Which man offers stimulation and which one brings monotony coupled with reliability is vividly clear.
Written with the yearning and struggle many women feel, Betty Boomer is not alone when she asks, “Is this all I need or should I take another shot at passion?” Author Anne McCarthy Strauss brings us her latest women’s fiction coupled with a large dose of romantic comedy and a dozen long-stemmed roses. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Anne McCarthy Strauss is a writer of women's fiction. In 2013, Booktrope published her first novel, A Medical Affair, the story of a doctor who violates a sacred trust by having an affair with one of his patients. The Passion Thief, released in 2014, is a story about the one who got away. Strauss injects humor into the tragic situation of a woman torn between a boring marriage and her still-exciting first love. She keeps you guessing until the book's extraordinary ending.
Anne lives in upstate New York with her husband and their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. She has written for both consumer and trade magazines including Old House Journal, Waterfront Home & Design, Design Trade Magazine, Design New England, Distinction, Log Home Design Ideas and Florida Design Review. She has been a regular contributor to both Martha's Vineyard Magazine and Vineyard Style.
She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). Anne is hard at work on her next novel. When not writing, she's likely to be crafting, swimming, or walking her dogs. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Anne on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Anne McCarthy Strauss has written a truly unique story about an unhappy marriage. She finds humor in an otherwise heartbreaking situation. I actually found myself laughing out loud at many points, despite the serious subject matter. The Passion Thief’s many unexpected twists and turns keep the reader guessing how protagonist Betty Boomer’s situation will be resolved until the book’s extraordinary ending.
Patricia Mann, Author of “Is This All There?
Discussion Questions
1. Unfortunately, many marriages grow less exciting as the years pass by. If a woman is driven to the point of seeking attention from someone other than her husband, do you think she would be more likely to reignite an old flame or light a new one? What is the reasoning behind your thought?
2. Betty Boomer has many choices in dealing with her stale marriage. She can:
- Stay with her boring but reliable husband.
- Run off with her college boyfriend.
- Find a new man.
- Leave her husband Stan and start a new life on her own.
—What do you think she should do? What would you do?
3. As the book progresses, Betty develops an increasing dependency on alcohol. How do you think she should address the problem? Or should she simply ignore it?
4. Betty and her husband Stan have very mismatched sex drives. This causes problems in their marriage which they essentially choose to ignore. What do you think they should do to attempt to resolve this problem?
5. We know Betty is unhappy in her marriage. Both she and Stan have diversion in their careers, but it’s not enough for Betty. Do you think Stan is actively unhappy in the marriage as well?
6. Do you think Betty’s friendship with Gin has a positive or negative effect on her lifestyle? Why or why not?
7. Who or what do you think the title "The Passion Thief" refers to?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)