Category: First chapter

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a book that I’m reading for review. 

The explosive noise of the guns had set off a chain reaction, sheets of wet snow dropping from the limbs of the pine trees surrounding Jeremy Fisk. Even after the gunfire stopped, Fisk could hear limbs snapping, snow thudding to earth, a circular cataract expanding, fading away from him like ripples in a frigid pond.

And then the endless forest … went silent.

My God, thought Fisk. They’re all dead.

I was sent a copy of this book to review and I have to tell you … that intro definitely caught my eye! So far I’m only a couple of chapters in, but this book definitely has my attention for now!

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a book that I’m reading for review. 

There was definitely something moving between the trees. He’d been aware of it for a few moments now, a flitting movement he’d catch in the corner of his eye, weaving through the black tree trunks set vertical against the snow. At first he had dismissed it as the result of snow hypnosis from staring too long through the windscreen into the unrelenting down-draught of snowflakes.

I was sent the link to this book in Edelweiss from a publicist. It immediately caught my eye and I read most of it during Bout of Books. It’s really a good book. It releases in the US on February 18, so look for my review on or around that date!

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a book from my shelf that I’m currently reading for the TBR Challenge. 

As an American, Jean-Paul Lorimer was always annoyed or embarrassed, or both, every time he arrived at Vienna’s international airport. The first thing one saw when entering the terminal was a Starbucks kiosk.

The arrogance of Americans to sell coffee in Vienna! With such a lurid red neon sign!

This is a humongous chunkster (750 pages) that I wanted to get off of my shelf and get it out of the way first, ha! I will admit that the above excerpt does not do justice for getting a feel of the book. Because of that I will also leave you with the blurb from the back of the book:

An American diplomat’s wife is kidnapped in Argentina, and her husband murdered before her eyes. She is told her children will be next if she doesn’t tell the kidnappers where her brother is – a man who may know quite a bit about the burgeoning United Nations/Iraq oil-for-food scandal. There is an awful lot of money flying around, and an awful lot of hands are reaching up to grab it, and some of those hands don’t mind shedding as much blood as it takes – even if that blood comes from Charley Castillo…

I will say that I’m 300 pages into this book and enjoying it, but I don’t think it’s going to be a book that I can recommend to everyone. Can’t wait to see what everyone else is reading this week 🙂

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading – A Man of Indeterminate Value by Ron Felber

The Yellow cab slipped into a parking spot opposite St. Damian’s monastery on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Newark’s Central Ward. I felt remarkably well for a man who’d just been shot. “Hey, mister, you gonna be all right? You don’t look too good,” the Puerto Rican driver said. “Here,” I answered slipping him two $100s for the $60 fare, “you stick to driving. You never saw me.” “Si, senor, no veo nada,” he swore as I crossed the street holding my right hand over the crimson circle of blood expanding on my Tailored Image white shirt, from my left bicep, just above the heart. In my left hand, I clung to a leather briefcase filled with drugs, booze, even some papers.

I just started reading this last night and only got about 20 pages into it, but it’s definitely caught my interest so far!

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading –A Case of Redemption by Adam Mitzner

“Where should I start?”

This is what my clients would say, back when I had clients. And they’d say it with the utmost sincerity, as if they truly didn’t know how to explain the circumstances that gave rise to their seeking out a criminal defense lawyer who charged a thousand bucks an hour.

It wasn’t that they didn’t know when the facts concerning the crime began, but they wanted to emphasize that there was a context, a preface to all that followed. By indicating they didn’t know where to start, they were telling me that something came before they crossed the line into criminal conduct, and that was important, too.

So, where should I start?

I’ve only got about 100 pages to go before I finish this book and I am really enjoying this one. Look for my review later this week.

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading – Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel.

On the last ordinary day of her life before her family went off for the weekend, Abby made a real breakfast – French toast with maple syrup and bacon. It was penance, the least she could do, given how utterly delighted she was at the prospect of being left on her own for two whole days to do as she pleased. It would sicken her late, in the aftermath of what happened, that she could so covet the prospect of solitude, but in that last handful or ordinary hours, she was full of herself, her silly plans.

I started this book a few days ago and was immediately hooked from the first page. As I read more and more into the book I realize that things are not at all like they seem – and I am DYING to find out what exactly is going on with this family!

Based on this opening – would you keep reading? It sure caught my interest quickly 🙂

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading.

Breaking into an astronaut’s home took time. There were research and preparation to account for. An assassination plan in case the subject failed my testing. And even establishing a schedule and behavioral pattern for each astronaut could take weeks.

My investigation of Robert Jeffrey Meehan, Ph.D., was no exception.

It had taken five visits to his apartment building, logging his routine and determining his usual bedtime, before I felt comfortable enough to pick the lock on his door the first time.

Now I stood at the foot of his bed…….

I stopped in the middle of a sentence because I felt like this is where you really get a feel for the opening few chapters. And let me tell you, I think the main character in this book (Lela White) is absolutely insane – breaking into homes …. assassination plans …. standing at the foot of someone’s bed … while they sleep! Yeah, she’s nuts! But I will admit that for some reason I keep reading and reading this book, I have to know exactly what is the matter with Lela.

So would you keep reading this one?

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading. My review will be posted on Feb. 21st, so I hope you will come back and check out what my final thoughts were.

He is flying.

Is this how I will remember him? As I watch him lying vanquished, defeated by the one thing even he could not outmaneuver, I understand that I will have to choose my memories carefully now. There are simply too many. Faded newspaper articles, more medals and trophies than I know what to do with; personal letters from presidents, kings, dictators. Books, movies, plays about him and his accomplishments; schools and institutions proudly bearing his name.

Tearstained photographs of a child with blond curls, blue eyes, and a deep cleft in his chin. Smudged copies of letters to other women, tucked away in my purse.

I stir in my seat, trying not to disturb him; I need him to sleep, to restore, because of all the things I have to say to him later, and we’re running out of time. I feel it in my very bones, this ebbing of our tide, and there’s nothing I can do about it and I’m no longer content simply to watch it, watch him rush away from me, leaving me alone, not knowing, never knowing. My hands clenched, my jaw so rigid it aches, I lean forward as if I could will the plane to fly faster.

Wow. I shared just about the whole first page to Melanie Benjamin’s The Aviator Wife. And that beginning is just so stunning for me. I don’t think I have read a beginning quite as powerful as that one in quite some time.

All I can say is … wow.

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Today I’m featuring a review book that I am currently reading. My review will be posted on Feb. 26th, so I hope you will come back and check out what my final thoughts were.

The flame stood out like a beacon of light in a sea of darkness. It was probably the most famous flame in the world, for it honored the grave of President John F. Kennedy.

It was November 22, 2063, exactly one hundred years to the day since President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The grave of JFK was mobbed with tourists on that bright, sunny fall day, all eager to see the martyred president’s final resting place. One tourist had a small radio playing softly in the background. Suddenly, a news broadcast came on.

Another historical fiction for me this week – I must be on a historical fiction kick! Either way, I am obsessed with all things Kennedy. So when I was pitched this book I immediately jumped on the opportunity. Going into it I had a feeling that it would be like Stephen King’s recent 11/22/63 – which I actually DNF’d. However, so far this book has been a much better fit for me. I’m about 100 pages into it and thoroughly enjoying it. Besides, with an intro like that, doesn’t it make you want to find out what happens on that news broadcast?

Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts this meme.

Wow, I haven’t participated in one of these since October! Whew! Time sure does fly by quickly. Anyway, I’m going to share the intro to a review book I’m reading right now.

A great pounding at the door startled the chambermaid bending to light the morning hearth. Jerking upright, Lucy Campion swore softly as a bit of hot beeswax stung her wrist. Slapping the taper on the mantel, she sneaked a glance over her shoulder. She could hear Bessie and Cook rattling pots in the kitchen, but the rest of the magistrate’s household was still. Her muttered oath had not carried. Though theirs was not a stringent Puritan family, the magistrate frowned on ill language, and Lucy always took care not to annoy him.

I’m almost 100 pages into this book (publish date: April 23, 2013) and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I haven’t really gotten to the “murder mystery” part of the book yet, but Ms. Calkins is doing a great job setting the scene and I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the book unfold.

How about you – what are you reading this week? Jump on in and share the first bit of what you’re reading 🙂