Month: February 2010

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother’s “overbearing behavior.” When Randall decides that he’s had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: “Be grateful for all I’ve done for you or leave.” Lena, realizing that money can’t solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter.

It didn’t take many pages into this book to realize who Randall was and what he represented.  He was that guy that thinks that money is happiness and if you are his wife – you had just better smile and remember who brings in the paycheck.

(Pause here while I throw up)

When Lena leaves it all I am totally in a “You go girl!” mood.  Randall turned my stomach.  What I had thought was going to be a lighthearted fun book turned out to have more depth than I had anticipated.  Lena’s journey (and why not?  She had the money to do it!)  As Lena find that she does have self worth I found myself liking her more and more.

I enjoyed this book with its message of it is never too late.  I am a firm believer in a woman’s ability to take care of herself  and Lena, much like Tina Turner, learns in this book that there is a whole world waiting out there that does not require living under anyone’s thumb.

Jacqueline describes herself as an avid reader and lover of books, excellent cook, aspiring photographer (all the photos on this site were taken by Jacqueline) and world traveler. She lives in Northern California and, though she loves that city and all the friends she has there, she takes frequent breaks to fly off to foreign destinations.

Searching for Tina Turner, her first novel, was published by Grand Central Publishing in January 2010 — and, as you can imagine, she is thrilled!

MY AMAZON REVIEW

My review copy came from Hachette Book Group

What price will people pay to hold their homes and dreams together?

When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they’re hoping their grand renovation project can rescue their troubled marriage. Instead, they discover that years ago their home was the scene of a terrible crime—and the revelation tips the balance of their precarious union.

When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate, now alone, is forced to confront her home’s dangerous past. Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof. This man’s family also disintegrated here, as the result of one brief act of rage that may haunt him—and this house—for years to come.

I was hooked to this book by the cover at first sight…. and the title with the eerie letters reflecting in the water.  When I read what the book was about I was sold out interested.  A mystery!  A murder mystery!  A ghost story even!  Yet who are the ghosts in this ghost story?  Lingering pasts of Stuart and Kate…. dashed hops and dreams, ghosts of a marriage they once had – or dreamed they had?  Possibly.  Not the ghosts I had envisioned, but ghosts all the same.

The prologue was a bit much for me and if the book would have been based off those first few eighteen pages I probably would not have been able to finish the book.  The character of Claire I found to be extremely unlikable and desensitized.  My stomach actually lurched at what the book described.

and then we move on to 2005… and with the story of Stuart and Kate comes a sigh of relief from me.  I like them.  I like Kate’s dreams for the house and I can relate to that.  As Kate remodels and remodels I start to wonder what is she really trying to fix?  As Valerie Laken brings the pieces of this story as well as the characters together for a story that kept me turning the pages.

And really – what home, what person, doesn’t have a few ghosts?

About Valerie

Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Valerie Laken has lived and worked in Moscow, Russia; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Krakow, Poland; Madison, Wisconsin; Iowa City, Iowa; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received an MA in Slavic Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.

Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, the Chicago Tribune, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Antioch Review, and Meridian. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories.

Her first novel, Dream House, was inspired by her own experience buying and remodeling a home in which a murder had occurred.

Laken has taught at the University of Michigan and Carthage College, and is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she teaches creative writing.

Visit Valerie Laken’s website.

My Amazon Review

I received my review copy from TLC book Tours