(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Stay-at-home mom Jenny Lipkin is doing just fine, thank you very much.  She's left behind her career as a magazine editor to raise her daughters, 2-year-old Betty and baby Rose.  So what if her Park Slope apartment's about the size of a Twinkie?  Or if her husband doesn't make enough money to afford one of the fancy new strollers all the other moms are sporting?  So, Jenny's not as svelte or skilled as the other women around her.  So what?  She's happy enough.  Isn't she?  Actually, she's tottering on the brink of insanity.  She loves her kids, but they're sucking all the life out of her.  She loves being at home, but it's making her crazy.  She loves her life, but it's not turning out quite the way she's planned.  And then there's the unrelenting heat; it's boiling her brain.  That, combined with new-mommy sleep deprivation, is enough to make Jenny want to crawl into her bed (baby spit-up spattered sheets, be darned) and never, ever come out.

Then, her husband bails.  Harry's disappearance isn't even all that unusual—he's a gambler, who goes on frequent binges—but it's enough to put Jenny over the edge.  Especially when weeks roll by with no word from him.  Numbed by anger, fear and desperation, she makes a shocking decision, one that will change her life forever—just not in the way she thinks.

With help from a very unlikely source, Jenny looks at her life in a whole new light.  As she changes her attitude and approach, she finds herself starting to become the woman she's always wanted to be.  But a little attitude can go a long way and when Jenny crosses a line she swore she never would, it's time to step back and ask herself the tough questions:  Who is she, really?  What does she truly want?  How much is she willing to sacrifice to finally find happiness?

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn, but the novel surprised me.  In a very good way.  From the first sentence of her story, Jenny proves herself to be the kind of honest, self-deprecating character with whom any woman can relate.  She's funny and sympathetic and so real, you just want to reach out and hug her.  Even when she messes up big time, you feel for the girl.  This is a character-driven novel and Jenny Lipkin's more than strong enough to carry it.  The book's got some annoying typos/copy-editing errors, but overall, I ended up really enjoying The Mermaid of Brooklyn.  It's a fierce, empowering read, a perfect novel to savor during the long, lazy days of summer.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:  B+

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for strong language and sexual innuendo/content

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of The Mermaid of Brooklyn from the generous folks at Simon and Schuster via those at BookSparks PR.  Thank you!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for Dead Silence, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier Body Finder novels.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

With her unique ability to match a victim's "echo" to the "imprint" carried by the person responsible for his/her death, Violet Ambrose has never felt particularly normal.  But now that she carries her own imprint, she feels like even more of a freak.  It doesn't help that the imprint is a haunting music box tune that trills through her head constantly.  The music invades her dreams, her every thought, and each breath she dares to take.  It's making her crazy.  Maybe literally so.  She's popping pills to help her sleep, but that means revealing her weakness to the last person she trusts with her feelings—Dr. Lee.  But, if she doesn't take the medication, she can't function.  And she has to function in order to help the special investigative team of which she's a part.  She has no choice.  If she doesn't do what her superiors need her to do, her loved ones will be punished.  There's no way Violet will allow that to happen.  

When Violet is drawn to a beautiful, lakeside estate where a family has been brutally murdered, she finds herself entangled in the mysterious crime.  As detectives question one of her classmates, Violet gets the distinct impression that the police have the wrong guy.  The only way to clear her friend's name is to find the person who's truly responsible for the family's grisly deaths.  But, once again, that puts Violet in the path of a killer.  And this one is like none other she's encountered so far.  

As if tracking a madman isn't enough of a strain on Violet's fragile psyche, she's also got boy trouble.  Her heart's torn between warm, comfortable Jay and the daring, dangerous Rafe.  And then there's her grandmother's journals, which are giving Violet a disturbing peek into just how far and wide her superiors' influence really goes.  And, of course, there's the whole trying-to-have-a-normal-senior-year-in-high-school thing which, frankly, isn't going so well.  Can Violet sort out all her problems before it's too late?  Or is this mesmerizing new killer the one who will finally best the indomitable Violet Ambrose?   

When I finished the first book in the Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting, I was practically salivating for the next installment.  And, you know what?  It just wasn't that drool-worthy.  In fact, none of the other novels in the series have impressed me nearly as much as the first did.  The series— which I had very high hopes for after the first book—kind of dwindled into a been-there-done-that-not-too-thrilled-about-doing-it-again thing.  The plots got generic, the writing clumsy, and the characters remained pretty static.  I still love the whole imprint/echo idea, but the originality of that premise just didn't pan out in the rest of the books.  That being said, there are definitely things I enjoyed about Dead Silence: it's fast-paced; the subplot about Violet's grandmother's journals adds depth to the overall story; as does our heroine's internal struggle with her own guilt over causing someone's death.  And yet, the love triangle is annoying; the characters act way too mature for their age; the male main characters have no personality; and some of the story elements are so far-fetched it's ridiculous.  So, yeah.  Although I begged God for a sequel to The Body Finder, three books later I'm not all that sorry the series is ending.  I've been over it for awhile now.       

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Body Finder series [The Body Finder; Desires of the Dead; and The Last Echo]; also the Wake series [Wake; Fade; Gone] by Lisa McMann)

Grade:  B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for strong language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder invectives), violence/gore, sexual innuendo and the depiction of illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of Dead Silence from the generous folks at HarperTeen.  Thank you!  

After the catastrophic events of Kristallnacht, Berlin's remaining Jewish residents knows they can never be too cautious.  With tensions between them and the Nazis running so high, a single misstep can mean a bullet in the head.  Or, worse, a one-way trip to a concentration camp.  Simon Horowitz is a wealthy Jewish banker whose position has made him exempt from registering his religious preference with the government.  But, in November of 1939, his luck runs out.  SS officers forcibly remove him from his bank, evict his family from their home, and steal priceless family antiques—including a 1742 Guarneri del Gesú violin.  Even as Simon withers away in Dachau, he can't stop thinking about the remarkable instrument in the hands of the heartless Nazis.  

Seventy years later, 14-year-old Daniel Horowitz is tiring of life as a violin prodigy.  He's sick of attending a special school, spending hours practicing and not being allowed to play baseball with his friends for fear of injury to his hands.  Even though he's just won a prestigious international competition, David's ready to quit music altogether.  His family's musical legacy be darned, he just wants to be a normal kid. 

When Maestro Rafael Gomez—a world-renowned conductor—hears Daniel play, he's blown away by the boy's talent.  With some instruction, Rafael knows the teenager can become one of the greatest violinists the world has ever known.  The only problem is convincing Daniel to continue playing.  Not an easy task.  When Rafael discovers the Horowitz Family once owned a precious Guarneri, he sees a brilliant solution to his problem.  If Rafael can find the lost violin, perhaps he can not just right a decades-old wrong, but also entice young Daniel to re-enter the musical world.

As the Maestro digs into the history of the priceless Guarneri, he's floored by everything he learns about the treasured violin and its indomitable owners.  It's an incredible tale about family, faith, and the enduring power of music.  The Maestro knows he can negotiate a happy ending to the tale, but only if he's willing to sacrifice his own career.  How much will redemption cost them all?  And is it worth the enormous price?

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas, is a sweeping, impressive debut.  A little too ambitious, maybe, but still, it's a vivid, engrossing read.  Although I would have liked the narration to be a bit more intimate (I never felt really, really connected to the characters, especially the contemporary ones), I ended up enjoying the story quite a lot.  The Keeper of Secrets isn't a perfect book, but it's definitely a compelling one.