Review: Angela Sloan by James Whorton

 
Title Angela Sloan by James Whorton
Publisher: Free Press
Published: August 2, 2011
ISBN: 9781451624403
Pages: 224

For Angela Sloan, life is a never-ending CIA mission.  Rescued by CIA agent Ray Sloan after her parents' murder during a rebellion in Congo, Angela learns from day one how to start crafting a new identity.  Ray gets assigned to teach at the CIA training academy and spend his spare time training Angela on how to maintain one's cover and how to use others to supply information and goods that further the mission.  Other than Ray's drinking himself into a stupor and refusing to discuss the past, life is going swimmingly until Ray gets involved the Watergate break-in.  First they hide out under new identities at a hotel hoping to avoid repercussions of the event.  When it becomes clear that the situation is even more volatile than he planned for, Ray leaves Angela to the next phase of their mission which is rendezvousing when the coast is clear.
    Angela is left to fend for herself and figure out the rendezvous point while avoiding any agents sent to look for her.  She gets the first kink in her plan when the waitress from the Chinese restaurant she bought her fake ids from sneaks into her car for a free ride.  Starting to feel comradery and responsibility for Betty, Angela circles to reconnect when they part ways.  This leads to her bumping into Marilyn, a CIA agent sent to recover her and Ray.  While running away from Marilyn, the two girls fall in with some hippies who are about everything except peace, love, and sunshine.  Angela has to use all her lessons in spying to reach the rendezvous point while worrying constantly about Ray.
  Having read books from the 70s, the book seemed really 70s with all the agitating and mysterious movements in the background.  This book was somewhat confusing to follow.  There were so many twists regarding every body's identity and Angela's suspicion of every one's intention toward her.  Add in all the confusion about Ray's past and Angela's origin and it can get a bit crowded.  Even though Angela tried to come across as an agent on a mission, a good portion of the book is spent exposing her naivete and the preposterous situation Ray leaves her in.  Once you read the book and see where he's coming from, you understand what he did even if you don't agree with the method.  Some of the characters are really wacky, but I guess it wouldn't be an interesting book if everyone was normal.  Having read books from the 70s, the book seemed really jam packed with the zany characters that always fill stories from the 70s.

**This book was provided by the publisher Free Press in exchange for my honest opinion.**

Review: Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

 

Title: Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Publisher:The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House
Published: May 25, 2011
ASIN: B0052U59F4

    When Anastasia Steele agrees to interview industrialist Christian Grey, she does not expect to have her life turned upside down.  She feels intense attraction to Christian but tries to ignore it since he couldn't be attracted to her, could he? Christian tracks her down making it more than clear that the feeling is mutual.  Yet Christian starts to withdraw from her with warnings of his dark proclivities.  Add to that Anastasia's best friend Katherine can't stand Christian and some competition from some of Anastasia's male friends Anastasia recoils at first but is drawn in by her increasingly intense relationship with Christian. When Anastasia realizes the depths of Christian's secret world, she attempts to find a way to please Christian while still maintaining her sense of self. 

  The cover is so innocent looking, but don't be fooled. This is erotica; there a several explicit sex scenes including BDSM, so if that's not your kind of party avoid this book.  E. L. James did a great job giving life to her characters.  I didn't agree with everything they did, but their actions seemed true to them.  It was fun to spend the whole book wondering will he? will she? Luckily, this is to be a trilogy, so we get to see whether Christian and Anastasia are able to maintain their connection.

**This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.                                     **

Check out my interview with E.L. James below the jump.

Review: Groundswell by Katie Lee

  

Title: Groundswell by Katie Lee
Publisher: Free Press
Published: June 21, 2011
ISBN: 9781439183595
Pages: 240

From Amazon:
   . . .
Sometimes the biggest ripples come from the smallest events. Like the day that Emma Guthrie walks into world-famous movie star Garrett Walker’s trailer. When she steps through the door, she’s a novice PA who’s just dropped out of college after losing her scholarship. When she walks out, she’s on her way to becoming Mrs. Emma Walker—wife of an A-list actor. Soon, Emma has made the transition from nobody to red-carpet royalty, trading jeans and flip-flops for closets full of Chanel and Birkin bags, swishing past velvet ropes to attend every lavish party and charity gala on both coasts. With her husband’s encouragement, Emma pens a screenplay based on her life, Fame Tax, which becomes a blockbuster sensation. Through it all, Garrett is her ally and her mentor . . . until their relationship is thrown into question by an incriminating text message that Emma discovers on Garrett’s phone the night of the Met Costume Institute Gala.
Devastated by her husband’s infidelity and hounded mercilessly by the paparazzi, Emma must flee New York City to get away from it all and clear her head. Her destination? A sleepy coastal town in Mexico where no one recognizes her and there is nothing but unspoiled beaches for miles. Here, she meets Ben, a gorgeous, California-born surf instructor, who teaches her about the healing powers of surfing, shows her the joys of the simple life, and ultimately opens her up to the possibility of love........


Groundswell is a great read for the beach or train, plane or car ride.  It's a quick, enjoyable read.  The only downside is that most of the novel talks about her life just before and during her marriage.  It would have been great for her period of self-discovery in Mexico was longer.  All in all, Emma was a realistic character; we were there with her every step of the way..  Cookbooks aren't the only thing Katie Lee can write.

Review & Giveaway: The Long Drive Home by Will Allison

 
Title: The Long Drive Home by Will Allison
Publisher: Free Press
Published: May 17, 2011
ISBN: 9781416543039
Pages: 224

From the jacket:
Life can change in an instant because of one small mistake. For Glen Bauer, all it takes is a quick jerk of the steering wheel, intended to scare a reckless driver. But the reckless driver is killed, and just like that, Glen's placid suburban existence begins to unravel. When Glen realizes no one else saw the accident, he impulsively lies about what happened--to the police, to his wife, even to his six-year-old daughter, Sara, who was in the backseat at the time of the crash. But a tenacious detective thinks Sara might have seen more than she knows, or more than her parents will let her tell. And when Glen tries to prevent the detective from interrogating Sara, he finds himself in a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game that could end in a lawsuit or prison. What he doesn't see coming is the reaction of his wife, Liz--a panicked plan that threatens to tear their family apart in the name of saving it. But what if the accident wasn't really Glen's fault? What if someone else were to blame for the turn his life has taken? It's a question Glen can't let go of. And as he struggles to understand the extent of his own guilt, he finds himself on yet another collision course, different in kind but with the potential to be equally devastating.


  O, what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive! 


    For a small book, Long Drive Home packs quite a wallop.  Two hundred plus pages of emotional turmoil.  Glen Bauer, our protagonists, deals with all the stages of grief -- guilt, anger, denial, bargaining,and  acceptance.


   While I understand that Glen was probably traumatized by the accident, some of his actions made no sense.  He lied to cover his actions but seemed unable to fully complete the ruse of his innocence.  He claims to want to protect his daughter and his family from harm yet seems utterly unable to follow through on these intentions.  He constantly seems to either blame everyone else or put himself in precarious situations.  He performs a heroic action and an equally reckless action as if to "good" deeds to contract his "bad" deed.


   As someone from the Tri-State area (New York/New Jersey/ Connecticut), I can totally understand how road rage works.  I can totally understand Glen's "not on my lawn" reaction to the reckless driving of the teenager in the car.  Most times I encourage the person who is driving to ignore bad driving unless one is put in physical danger.  The fact that Glen essentially played chicken with another driver, particularly a reckless one, gives an idea of his personality.


  All that being said, Will Allison writes marvelously and is willing to go "there".  Glen is able to evaluate whether the victim's race and expensive car played some part in his actions. Did  his earlier altercation carry into the accident?  We feel every ounce of turmoil Glen suffers for the year depicted in the novel.  This book was like a contemporary version of Edgar Allen Poe's Telltale Heart.  The novel includes an excerpt of his previous book What You Have Left.  I will definitely be looking for the full novel.

*This book was offered by the publisher Free Press in exchange for my honest opinion.                  *


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