Jennifer Lane Books Blog

Today I have the pleasure of hosting excellent author BECK ANDERSON! Her new release The Jeweler is zipping up the charts just as good things are happening for her debut novel Fix You . Love that cover! Available HERE I'll share my review of The Jeweler , followed by an interview with Beck. But first I want to alert you to a super generous giveaway Beck is hosting: win a Kindle Fire! a Rafflecopter giveaway Beck is also giving away an ebook of The Jeweler to one lucky commenter for this blog post. Please leave your email address in your comment. The Jeweler by Beck Anderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Intriguing Plot, Quirky Characters I loved Beck Anderson's debut novel Fix You , so I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her second novel, The Jeweler . When I heard about the clever plot, I was even more excited. Fender Barnes is a cynical jeweler who regards his eager, love-struck, engagement-ring-buying customer Brad with disdain. Love isn't re...

Hard Time by Cara McKenna My rating: 4 of 5 stars Hot for Prisoner Since Shawshank Redemption and the time I met hero Michael Scofield from the TV show Prison Break, I've been fascinated by prison stories. While this novel captured some of the thrill of a forbidden prison romance, Eric Collier is no Michael Scofield. Annie Goodhouse is woman in her mid-twenties who recently moved from her hometown of Charleston to a town near Detroit. There are two reasons for her move: 1) a new job as a librarian in Michigan and 2) an ex-boyfriend who abused her in South Carolina. "I'd needed a change of scenery. A place with snowy winters, where the men spoke in honest, sharp-edged Northern accents, incapable of glazing their empty promises in sweet Southern honey." One day a week, librarian Annie teaches and mentors at a local prison. There she meets tall, handsome, and quiet inmate Eric. When she helps him with his learning disability, he practices how to write better ...

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Development of a Criminal...The Development of a Good Man? What a fascinating psychological study! This epic story begins when Theo Decker is 13 years old and ends when he's twice that age. Wow, does the author torture him in this story. What does not kill us, makes us stronger? I'm not so sure that's true in this case. Tragic events weaken Theo and it's unclear if he will ever regain his strength. Theo lives with his mother in New York City after his alcoholic father abandoned them. His beautiful, fun mother has to take him to a late morning disciplinary meeting at school, so they stop in an art museum on the way. Then a terrorist's bomb explodes. The blast rips Theo's life apart when it kills his mother. In the ensuing surreal melee, a dying man insists Theo take "The Goldfinch": a famous painting. The painting haunts Theo for the rest of the story just like the story has haunted me....