Temple Secrets by Susan Gabriel (Unabridged Audio Version)

Every family has secrets, but the elite Temple family of Savannah has more than most. To maintain their influence, they've also been documenting the indiscretions of other prestigious southern families, dating as far back as the Civil War. When someone begins leaking these tantalizing tidbits to the newspaper, the entire city of Savannah, Georgia is rocking with secrets. 

The current keeper of the secrets and matriarch of the Temple clan is Iris, a woman of unpredictable gastrointestinal illnesses and an extra streak of meanness that even the ghosts in the Temple mansion avoid. When Iris unexpectedly dies, the consequences are far flung and significant, not only to her family--who get in line to inherit the historic family mansion--but to Savannah itself. 

At the heart of the story is Old Sally, an expert in Gullah folk magic, who some suspect cast a voodoo curse on Iris. At 100 years of age, Old Sally keeps a wise eye over the whole boisterous business of secrets and the settling of Iris's estate. 

 MY THOUGHTS:

This was not my first Susan Gabriel novel.  A few years ago I read and really enjoyed THE SECRET SENSE OF WILDFLOWER, a truly original southern story.  Though I did enjoy TEMPLE SECRETS and getting to know the Temple family members, I wasn't swept away like I'd hoped I would be. I loved the setting of Savannah, the implication of spirits hanging around the old historic Temple home and the deep family history. Gabriel did a great job of making you feel as if you were stepping into the past when entering the home. I did find the characters genuine and most of them likable.  Iris Temple was undoubtedly someone you wouldn't want to cross, therefore most of the other characters tip-toed around her out of fear.  

Though there was a lot of talk about the Book of Secrets, I found myself wondering if any of those secrets would be revealed and how they would affect the story. I was expecting big, earth-shattering secrets but very few ever materialized like I imagined they would. Unfortunately for me, the story never developed into the ghostly secret keeper that I wanted it to. 

The narration was also performed by Susan Gabriel and though she did a great job reading the story, I would have liked to have heard more of a variety of inflections with the characters. 

The bottom line for me is that I liked the charcters and setting but wish the story would have developed further. It's not a long book and I felt that just when it was getting started, it had ended and left me wanting more. 

TEMPLE SECRETS (Unabridged Audio Version)
Author: Susan Gabriel
Publisher: Wild Lily Arts
Published: April 7, 2015
Length: 9 hrs 18 mins
Source: Susan Gabriel, Author

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain (Unabridged Audio Version)

This is a story about family and the secrets that lie just beneath the surface.  Riley is twenty-seven and the youngest of three children in the MacPherson family. She has an older brother, Danny, whom she used to be close with when they were kids, and an even older sister, Lisa, who committed suicide when Riley was just two years old. She has virtually no memory of Lisa aside from a few photos and the violin that she played masterfully.

After losing her mother several years earlier, her father has now also passed, so Riley has returned to her childhood home in New Bern, North Carolina to settle his affairs. Danny is of no help since he's made it clear he doesn't want anything to do with the family home, its contents or even any memories, for that matter. Faced with this daunting task, Riley is anxious to get it sorted out as quickly as possible but along the way she uncovers information that makes her question everything she ever knew about her own family. The most shocking being that Lisa didn't commit suicide at all and that she may actually be alive and living under a different name.

MY THOUGHTS...

...On the Story: This is the second book of Diane Chamberlain's that I've read, the first being NECESSARY LIES last year, which captivated me. I can now say the same for THE SILENT SISTER. What I liked about this story is that it was not only about family, but it also held a mystery. Though Chamberlain clues the reader in to a point, there are still many things we learn the same time Riley does.  I felt it was a well thought out plot and one that was believable.  It was also very well paced and kept my attention all the way through. Like the story, the characters were real and believable as well. I felt connected to Riley with everything she was going through.  That being said, the only character I didn't fully connect with was her brother, Danny. For all his anger and resentment, I felt that the character could've been developed a bit more.  Even though parts of the story were told in flashbacks it wasn't overdone but necessary in order to reveal a major part of the story. (Over the last year or so I've grown tired of storylines traveling back and forth through time)

...On the Audio:  The narrator, Susan Bennett, did a great job interpreting the story. She also recently narrated  A LONG TIME GONE by Karen White. I recognized her voice immediately.  This audio was over 11 hours long but it seemed to go quickly probably because Ms. Bennett's voice was so easy to listen to.  Though I really enjoyed the audio, I think I would like the print version just as much.

Interestingly, I've seen this book listed as 'Riley MacPherson, Book 1' which would indicate the beginning of a series, so I'll be watching for information on that. Diane Chamberlain has become an author that I automatically put on my TBR list. Her stories have deep Southern roots, interesting family dynamics and usually include some sort of mystery or buried secrets, which are very enticing to me. The bottom line is I would recommend this book in either format and I also think it would be a good selection for book club.      

THE SILENT SISTER (Unabridged Audio Version)
Author: Diane Chamberlain
Narrator:  Susan Bennett
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Published: Oct 7, 2014
Series:  Riley MacPherson Book 1
Length: 11hrs 39mins

A Long Time Gone by Karen White (Unabridged Audio Version)

A LONG TIME GONE is the multi-generational story of the Walker women of Indian Mound, Mississippi. This sweeping and emotional story focuses on Vivien, Carol Lynne, and Adelaide Walker, who each grew up in a different time but faced many of the same obstacles in life. Their story is steeped in rich history that is plagued by deep family secrets and is told in the first person by each of these troubled women. Vivien in current day, and Carol Lynne and Adelaide from the past.

After being gone from home for several years, Vivien returns to her family home in Indian Mound to try to piece back together a life that has not worked out for her, no matter how far she tried to run. Coming off a painful divorce and having nothing to show for the years she's been gone, she is reluctant and nervous to face the people she hurt when she left without ever looking back. She's especially not looking forward to seeing her mother, Carol Lynne, who was rarely around while Vivien was growing up, causing deep hurt and resentment in Vivien's soul.   Carol Lynne's story is told through diary entries and follows her life as she drifted from place to place from the sixties until the early 2000's when she finally returned home for good. Her's is a sad and lonely story that desperately needs to be told before its too late. Adelaide's story is the most riveting and emotional story of all and begins in the 1920's.

Vivien arrives home to see the sheriff and a few other people gathered in the back yard where a downed cypress tree lies and crime scene tape has cordoned off the area.  As she approaches she sees a shallow grave containing skeletal remains. Suddenly her arrival home is not the only news of the day. The mystery of whose remains they are and who buried them there is what drives this intricately woven novel.

My Thoughts On the Story:

It didn't take me long to get caught up in the story since Vivien's return coincided with the discovery of the body buried in the yard.  The awkwardness of her return is present but takes a back seat to the mystery of the identity of the bones and how they ended up there.  Vivien and her family assure the Sheriff they will do all they can to help shed light on who it might be by revisiting family history.

My favorite character was Adelaide with her innocence and hope for a beautiful future in a troubling time, yet White doesn't actually reveal who Adelaide actually is until much later in the book. The Walker women all have one thing in common, or at least they think they do. Each of them believes their mothers abandoned them, either by choice or circumstance. In Vivien's case this fact has had a huge impact on her life and the choices she's made. Because of that, she comes across as a hard person to get to know but once she let her guard down, I really liked her. My least favorite character was Carol Lynne, though she is the most misunderstood out of all of the Walker women.

The story was very well-plotted, though at times I wished it would pick up a bit. But even with that said, I never got bored with it. There are many different stories being told from different times but each one is easy to follow and none of them get overshadowed. They are all very relevant and important to the main plot.  If you don't mind the time-jumping you will probably really like this book because the characters are so well connected to each other. Vivien is who keeps the connection strong and has the most to gain from digging into her family's history and that's why its such a well-rounded story, though its not my favorite Karen White novel.

My Thoughts On the Audio Performance:

There are three different narrators in this audio and they all did a fine job. At first I felt Vivien sounded a little flat but as I continued to listen, I gained an appreciation of the different people's voices she also interpreted while telling Vivien's story, both female and male, and I think she did an outstanding job. I believe hers was the most difficult of the three. The narrator of Adelaide also did several different characters and did them all very well. Carol Lynne's story, being told through diary entries was the most straight-forward and I felt her lazy and laid back way of talking slowed the story down a bit. The bottom line is that I'm glad I chose to listen to this book and I would recommend it highly as your next audio.

A LONG TIME GONE (Unabridged Audio Version)
Author: Karen White
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: June 2014
Length: 17 hrs 3 mins

 

Audio Review: The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers

THE COMFORT OF LIES is the story of three very different women who most likely would never have met had it not been for one man.  Five years ago Juliette's professor husband, Nathan, had a year long affair with Tia, one of his students. The affair ended abruptly when Tia announced she was pregnant. Tia, young and naive, did not expect Nathan's response of simply walking away from the relationship and never looking back. Caroline and her husband, Peter, adopted their daughter, Savannah, loved her as their own, yet they each had different ideas about family and the roles each should play in raising their daughter.

Five years after giving her baby up for adoption, Tia decided that Nathan should know he has a daughter, so she sent a picture that the adopted mother had sent to her along with a letter. But Nathan's wife intercepted the envelope and was shocked to learn the news of a child from his affair. The actions that Juliet takes after learning this information changes all of their lives forever. Even young Savannah has to learn some hard truths about her parentage.  

My Thoughts:

Having read and loved Meyers' first novel, THE MURDERER'S DAUGHTERS, I was very excited to read this second book. There are so many jagged edges in the storyline that kept my emotions tense. I kept putting myself into the shoes of each of these women and would try to imagine how I would feel if it were happening to me. It would be terrible to discover that your husband had a year long affair, but then to find out five years later that the affair resulted in a child would be devastating, to say the least. If I had an adopted child, I would be terrified if I thought the biological parents wanted her back. And for Tia, the pain of having to give up a baby that you conceived out of love, would be absolutely heartbreaking.

I felt connected to each of the characters, however, Caroline was my most difficult. Though she agreed to adopt a child with her husband, she would often put her job first, which, even as a non-parent, I couldn't possibly relate to. There would be no job that would rival my daughter, adopted or not. But I suppose that's part of what made this story so believable. The characters and their flaws were realistic. Another interesting thing about these complex characters is that each represents a different class of society.

Though I can't say I loved this book as much as I loved THE MURDERER'S DAUGHTERS, I still enjoyed it very much. I think it would be a terrific book club selection giving all of the different points of view the story offers. I'm sure it would prompt a lively discussion.

I chose to listen to this book on audio and I'm happy with that choice. I enjoyed Amy McFadden's performance and felt she did a great job distinguishing between the varying  characters. If you're looking for a engaging audio for your commute, you won't be disappointed with THE COMFORT OF LIES.

THE COMFORT OF LIES (Unabridged Audio Version)
Author: Randy Susan Meyer
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: February 2013
Length: 10 hrs 47 mins
Reccomend? Yes

Review: The Violets of March by Sarah Jio

THE VIOLETS OF MARCH is my second Sarah Jio novel, although it was actually her debut. The first one I read, BLACKBERRY WINTER, completely won me over so it wasn't a hard decision to read this one next.

About the Book:

After having a such a successful life in her twenties, both professionally and personally, now in her thirties Emily has found herself in a much different place.  Her career as a best-selling author seems to be at a standstill and her marriage to Jake, the seemingly perfect husband, is now over. Her best friend is worried about her so when Emily's elder great-aunt Bea invites her to Bainbridge Island for a long overdue visit, she encourages Emily to go hoping it will give her some clarity and closure and help her to move forward with her life.

Once she arrives at the Island, many old memories rush to her of summers spent there as a child. She doesn't know why her family stopped going there when she was a teenager and she is met only with silence and evasiveness when she tries to find out.

When she discovers a red velvet diary in the room she is staying in at Bea's house, she is at first reluctant to read it for fear of intruding on someone's privacy, but her curiosity gets the better of her and she begins to read. The diary is dated 1943 and although the names are different, the people are amazingly familiar to her. It is impossible for her to stop reading, especially when the person who left it for her urges her to read it completely.

Emily settles into life on the island and runs into people from her past life that she hasn't seen in years. Though she feels excited and surprised, it is also a bit overwhelming. When she meets Jack, the grandson of a neighbor who lives down the beach, Emily is overcome with confusion. Why does she feel she is betraying a marriage that is already broken?

Eventually, the diary takes on a life of its own and the lines between Emily's life and the diary are blurred and impossible to separate.  The secrets of her family's past, and the story written in the diary are heading right into Emily's life and she rushes to figure it all out so that she can make the decisions for her own future.

My Thoughts:

There are a couple things right off the bat that I liked about this book even before I read it: The beautiful cover! The story within a story concept and the location of Bainbridge Island, near Seattle. As a Seattlean, Jio incorporates so much of the city into her books that it actually becomes a its own character.  She is turning me into a Seattle-lover! I would love to visit there one day to see for myself how beautiful it is.

As for the book, I really liked Emily right away. All of the characters were original and very believable to me. Bea was a prickly character but I liked her and it was obvious she only wanted the best for Emily. In my opinion, the story-telling in this debut was done well and kept moving at a good pace that kept my attention and even had me guessing.  The diary story was fascinating and I liked the way Jio weaved it into the present. It felt like I was in the room with Emily as she read it. I love stories taking place during that era so its easy for me to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed THE VIOLETS OF MARCH. My only problem is to figure out which Sarah Jio book to read next.

THE VIOLETS OF MARCH
Author: Sarah Jio
Publisher: Plume
Published:  April 2011
Length: 304 pp
Source: Purchased

Review: The River Witch by Kimberly Brock

One of the first things that caught my attention about this book was the title. THE RIVER WITCH. That is a great title. When I first noticed this book going around the blogs, my curiosity was piqued right away. As a lover of Southern Gothic Fiction, I simply couldn't pass it up.

What the Book is About: (No Spoilers)


Twenty-four year old Roslyn Byrne has hit rock bottom physically, mentally and professionally. Living through a car crash that left her body mangled, a miscarriage of a child she hadn't planned on but now can't seem to let go of, and her professional ballet career in ruins, time is the only medicine left to heal her body, heart, and spirit. So much of the recent past is still a nightmarish blur to Roslyn so she decides to turn to her roots and beliefs of her late grandmother for help in getting her mind and body strong again.

Roslyn  rents a house on Manny's Island, Georgia from the Trezevant family for the summer. Along with the house, comes stories of the family, their ancestors, and tales of hoodoo spells and conjure women, but that doesn't deter Roslyn, it draws her nearer to it, and to the mystical, healing music she remembered from her grandmother when she was just a girl.

As Roslyn begins to settle in to her summer hideaway, she meets Demascus, the daughter of the man who used to live in the house. The two become reluctant friends and soon Roslyn develops a protectiveness over the girl who grows pumpkins in the river bank so close to where the alligators live. Alligators that Demascus believes Roslyn has summoned. Rumors about Roslyn are rampant in the small island community but she faces them head on along with her own demons.

My Thoughts

This book is full of mystique and peculiar customs that is the perfect backdrop for this story that I found very original. Through Kimberly Brock's lyrical prose, I painted a vivid picture in my mind of Manny's Island and the house on the canal.  I could even hear the howling mating sounds of the alligators that kept Roslyn up at night.

The characters of this novel have a mystery about them as well. These are people who don't live in the hustle -bustle of the modern world. I had the feeling of being transported back to a time when people had a connection to the land they lived and worked on. Demascus' father was the most mysterious of all. He was a complex man, hard to figure out, yet something about him makes you want to keep trying.  Demascus was a wonderful character, reminding me so much of another little girl named Scout, that we all know and love.

I really enjoyed this book and the idea of the hoodoo charms and spells of the conjure women. I was impressed with how Ms. Brock wrote a story set in modern day but made it feel like a trip back in time to another place. I was captivated by that. This is a true Southern Gothic story that will stay with me for some time. In my opinion, there aren't enough of these types of books and I will be anxiously waiting for Kimberly Brock's next release. THE RIVER WITCH is a perfect example of why I am so fond of Southern Fiction.

THE RIVER WITCH
Author: Kimberly Brock (@Kimberlydbrock)
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Published: April 2012
Length: 246 pp

Teaser Tuesday: The River Witch by Kimberly Brock

Teaser Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Its a great way to get inside of some new-to-you books. Anyone can participate. Here are the guidelines:

• Grab the book you're currently reading
• Let it fall open to a random page
• Choose two sentences to share
• List the title, author, and page number (or location) that you took your teasers from
• Please do not include any spoilers in your teasers

My teasers are from THE RIVER WITCH, the debut novel by Kimberly Brock. I like to call it 'mystical Southern Fiction'. I've only just begun reading it, but already I'm completely drawn into the story and it's characters. Here are my teasers . . . 

Magic, like glitter, like dust, could slip right through your fingers.  Before you knew it, a wonder could mix with the plain old earth beneath your feet until you could no longer tell the difference at all. ~ Kindle Edition Location 746

That is just a sampling of the beautiful writing within the pages of this book. I am really looking forward to the rest of this story. To learn more about this talented writer, visit her website and follow her on Twitter @kimberlybrock