Series Sunday: The Trial

(Women's Murder Club #15.5) 

Series Sunday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Revision. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Read an installment of a series.
• Share your review/recommendation below.
• Include the title, author and series name.

"Kingfisher was worse than all of them put together." ~ pg. 54

My Series Sunday pick is The Trial, #15.5 book in the Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson. Kingfisher is on trial for murder. Yet he still brings terror to the lawyers, judges, jurors and police involved with his case. How is he calling the shots and making moves under heavy surveillance? Surely there is more to the story than meets the readers' eye.

I have to give it to James Patterson. He's a literary genius, really. He has truly mastered the art of writing, selling and marketing bestsellers. Much respect to his methods. Hence the reason I am currently taking his MasterClass. The Trial, like other BookSHOTS, are necessary to read. If you are not up-to-date on the series, they can be read as a standalone; however, they cannot be skipped when reading the series. Sounds confusing but I find it true. Bookhearts, you will miss something if you read WMC #15 and #16 without reading this #15.5 BookSHOT. And for this reason alone, it was worth reading. Never mind that it held my attention and kept me guessing until the last page. The Trial is a fictional courtroom shocker.

Title: The Trial

Author: James Patterson

Published: July 2016

Pages: 140

Edition: BookSHOT

Challenge: Keeping Up With Patterson

Rating: ♥♥♥

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday is a bookish meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Revision. I encourage all of my fellow book bloggers and bookhearts to play along.

• Grab your current read(s).
• Share the first line(s).
• Include the title and author.

"One day, I was minding everyone's business, scrolling through my Facebook news feed when I saw a picture of someone's dead grandma being prepared for burial. I gasped and then immediately got mad. Who does that?"

~ I'm Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi

 

Here Comes the Sun

"The realization burned her stomach and spread across the width of her belly like the pressure of a child about to be born." ~ pg. 203

Thandi is a young smart teenager with a family looking out for her bright future. Her older sister Margot works overtime at a hotel resort, stashing away her earnings (regular salary and cash from extracurricular activities with male guests). Thandi's mom peddles overpriced souvenirs to cruise ship passengers and tourists to Montego Bay. Despite her family bending over backward to put Thandi through school, she just wants to be an independent woman and pursue her interest in art.

The island of River Bank is full of diverse residents: ambitious, lazy, loyal, betrayers, straight, gay, determined and unfocused. Here Comes the Sun is the story of their self-discovery.

Most of my bookhearts rated Here Comes the Sun four and five stars. So of course, I knew this was a good read. And it started off as such. The characters were passionate about their beliefs and firm in their actions. I liked the strong females until...I didn't anymore. The same beliefs and actions that the characters were so steadfast in, made my eyes roll. Where is the growth? The maturity? The progression? Then I realized it made the book all the more realistic because some people in life really don't mature for the better. As readers, we don't always get the ending we wish for.

I still recommend Here Comes the Sun but there is no rush in reading it.

Title: Here Comes the Sun
Author: Nicole Dennis-Benn
Published: July 2016
Pages: 349
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: ♥♥♡

 

#KillYourTBR2016 November

• In the Unlikely Event ~ I bought this book when it first released because I was so excited about Judy Blume returning with a new adult novel. I read the first chapter but put it down because it was too much hype online for me to read it objectively. I am picking it up again this month.
• Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl ~ I read this book twice when I was back in school yet I cannot remember the details. With Election Day coming up, I figured this is the perfect political memoir for me to re-read.

Readers are great writers! November is the ideal month to start writing your own novel and to read books you cannot remember having read or started/never finished. If you are interested in joining this challenge with me, visit Bookish for the deets. Share your progress using #KillYourTBR2016 and #NaNoWriMo2016 on social media. 

 

Solemn

"Their antidote to mourning, hunger, heartache, dispossession, reposession, a white: it was the same. Treat it like it isn't there." ~ pg. 47

Solemn Redvine is a girl who lives in a Mississippi trailer park. She senses that a nearby baby may be her half sibling—evidence of an affair between her father and a married woman who lives in their trailer park. Solemn witnesses one tragic incident and it forever changes her life.

I really wanted to like Solemn. I was so impressed with and enjoyed the author's previous book, Upstate. But I could not even finish this book. The writing was scattered. The plot was sketchy at best. It was hard to follow let alone get into. Pass on Solemn, bookhearts.

Title: Solemn
Author: Kalisha Buckhanon
Published: May 2016
Pages: 296
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: ♡

NaNoWriMo, Precision Revision & MasterClass

Dear Bookheart,

You have a novel inside of you. I am sure of it! You may not know the details such as names of characters, the setting or the ending. But do me a favor. Sit down right now and write your first line. Then commit to writing at least one (1) paragraph every day. Not a huge task, right?

I just want you to get this novel on paper and out to the world. We need your story! And I would absolutely love to read and review it. Toni Morrison once said, "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." So start now. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) begins today.

Write a novel in a month!

Track your progress.

Get pep talks and support.

Meet fellow writers online and in person.

I will be your personal cheerleader and copyeditor! Send an email to editor AT LiteraryMarie DOT com for a quote on proofreading, editing and critique services. Mention NaNoWriMo for a discount. You just write; let me worry about the technical stuff. Choose Precision Revision for your literary needs.

While you are writing your novel this month, I am taking the James Patterson Writing MasterClass. I'll post my progress throughout the month if you promise to keep me updated on your writing. Great authors like Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes had the same 24 hours in a day that you do. It can be done! No more excuses. Take advantage of the NaNoWriMo support system and my expertise. Remember, there is a novel inside of you. Write your {next} story!

 

One

"United in blood and bone."

I do not hand out five hearts reviews all silly willy nilly. I am stingy with my hearts! But I am not hesitant to give excellent reviews where they are rightfully due. The hardcover novel, One, is deserving.

Grace and Tippi are two sisters with two hearts, two lives, four arms but one body. Yes, Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins. They have defied the odds of survival for sixteen years. But time is running out. Something is happening to their joined body and they can't stop it. The girls try to hide the truth and trust each other to make an impossible choice.

The author chose beautiful prose to tell the story of Grace and Tippi. I cannot imagine it being told any other style. My only complaint is I wish the story was told in the point of view of both twins instead of one. Wayment...it just hit me that would defeat the purpose of the title. See! I am still thinking of this book. It was simply damn-near-perfectly written.

Title: One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Published: September 2015
Pages: 400
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♡