Girl Unknown (Book Review)

Title: Girl Unknown
Author: Karen Perry
Publication: Henry Holt & Co., hardcover, 2018
Genre: Suspense

Plot: David and Caroline Connolly are an ordinary couple in Dublin with two children when their lives suddenly go wrong. One minute, David is expecting a big promotion at the university where he has taught history for many years and Caroline is doing well in a new job covering for someone on maternity leave. It's true there has been a slight rift in their marriage but they agreed not to let their children, teen Robbie and 11-year-old Holly, know anything was wrong as they work past it. Then everything changes when David is approached by a lovely blonde student who says he is her father. It is unclear exactly what Zoe wants but her every existence is an immediate threat to the Connolly family . . .

Audience: Fans of psychological suspense; authors such as Clare Mackintosh, S. J. Watson, and Emma Healey

Quote: "Explores emotional danger with relentless, surgical accuracy," bestselling author Tana French

My Impressions: This was a fast paced novel full of believable (if unlikable) characters and told in alternating chapters from David's and from Caroline's points of view. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the author is really a male/female team. I was reminded, however, of something my sister said recently when I had recommended a book to her - that she really doesn't enjoy reading novels where the characters do such stupid things. There were certainly a number of poor choices made by a variety of characters. David is not a very nice guy but even he does not deserve the downward spiral Zoe brings in her wake to his family. While some aspects of the story were predictable (and I wished for more of a sense of place for Dublin) there were enough twists and surprises to keep me entertained - and the light on until the wee hours.

Source: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and TLC Book Tours for review purposes. You can visit other stops on the tour and read the reviews below:

Tuesday, February 6th: Tina Says…

Thursday, February 8th: Write – Read – Life

Friday, February 9th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, February 12th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Wednesday, February 14th: Instagram: @ACaffeinatedBibliophile

Friday, February 16th: Into the Hall of Books

Friday, February 16th: Not in Jersey

Tuesday, February 20th: Novel Gossip

Wednesday, February 21st: Sweet Southern Home

Thursday, February 22nd: What Is That Book About

Monday, February 26th: Helen’s Book Blog

Tuesday, February 27th: Instagram: @hollyslittlebookreviews

Thursday, March 1st: Dreams, Etc.

Friday, March 2nd: A Bookworm’s World

Monday, March 5th: The Ludic Reader

TBD: 5 Minutes For Books

Look for Her (Book Review)

Title: Look for Her
Author: Emily Winslow
Publication: William Morrow, paperback, 2018
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Cambridge, England, and environs

Plot: Lilling might seem like an idyllic English village, but it’s home to a dark history. In 1976, a teenage girl named Annalise Wood disappeared, and though her body was later discovered, the culprit was never found. Decades later, Annalise maintains a perverse kind of celebrity, and is still the focus of grief, speculation, and for one young woman, a disturbing, escalating jealousy.

A Piece of the World (Book Review)

Title: A Piece of the World
Author: Christina Baker Kline
Publication: William Morrow, Trade Paperback, 2018 (originally published 2017)
Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: From the New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.

“Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden.”

To Christina Olson, the entire world is her family farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. The only daughter in a family of sons, Christina is tied to her home by health and circumstance, and seems destined for a small life. Instead, she becomes Andrew Wyeth’s first great inspiration, and the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World.

As she did in Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction to vividly reimagine a real moment in history. A Piece of the World is a powerful story of the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, her complicated relationship to her family and inheritance, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.

Audience: Fans of historical fiction, books set in New England; those who look at a painting and wonder about the people in it.

My Impressions: This is the third book by Kline I have read, and by far the best; I was completely captivated from beginning to end, and couldn’t wait to recommend it to my younger sister (can there be greater praise?). The author answers questions the rest of us had never gotten around to articulating but yes, now we realize we too wanted to know more about Christina and her world. Kline creates quiet characters whose personalities are larger than life as their strength is revealed.

The story moves back and forth from the past to the then-present in a way that is logical instead of jarring, as the author reveals family conflict and secrets. Christina’s story is sad and painful, and Cushing, Maine is not really the kind of place one wants to visit, but when she leaves briefly it is startling to realize she has never been farther from home than one ill-omened medical visit to Rockland. Fortunately, a kind train conductor makes sure that Christina and her brother get the most out of their first train trip when they travel to see a friend in Boston. There are many little details that show how difficult life was in rural Maine and that Christina was separated from the world not simply by a mysterious illness that crippled her but also physical isolation and parents who actively prevented her from expanding her horizons.  In Orphan Train, I much preferred the historical story to the present but here the timeline is all in the past, albeit at various times during Christina's life.

Purchase Links: Harper Collins Barnes & Noble Amazon IndieBound

Other: This paperback edition includes a color reproduction of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World, along with a Q&A with bestselling author Kristin Hannah that would be suitable for book groups, also a bonus short story, “Stranded in Ice” about Christina’s unpleasant father.

Source: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and TLC Book Tours for review purposes.  You can visit other stops on the tour and read the reviews below:

Thursday, February 1st: Dwell in Possibility

Monday, February 5th: Instagram: @a_tad_bit_bookish

Wednesday, February 7th: BookNAround

Friday, February 9th: Peppermint PhD

Monday, February 12th: Openly Bookish

Wednesday, February 14th: Life By Kristen

Thursday, February 15th: Man of La Book

Monday, February 19th: Book by Book

Tuesday, February 20th: Rockin’ and Reviewing

Wednesday, February 21st: Instagram: @Novelmombooks

Friday, February 23rd: Instagram: @jackiereadsbooks

Sunday, February 25th: Instagram: @lavieestbooks

Monday, February 26th: Time 2 Read

Wednesday, February 28, 2018 Caryn, The Book Whisperer

TBD: Stranded in Chaos

TBD: 5 Minutes For Books