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After fleeing the small tourist town of her birth ten years ago, Georgia Chambers swore she'd never return to Apalachicola, Florida.  The 35-year-old has made a life for herself as an antiques expert in New Orleans, where no one knows about her wild child youth or the estranged family members she left behind.  Her past comes calling, though, when a customer brings Georgia an heirloom teacup with a unique pattern she knows she's seen before.  Although the bee motif doesn't appear in any antiques catalogs, Georgia recognizes it instantly—her mother owns a matching piece.  The item has always been shrouded in mystery and suddenly, Georgia is intent on finding out why.  Since "Birdie" no longer speaks, Georgia can't exactly call her mother up on the phone.  As much as she hates to admit it, a trip to Florida is the only way she can get the answers she needs.

To Georgia's surprise, her client—a handsome New York City real estate developer named James Graf—insists on coming along to investigate the history of his teacup.  Irritated, Georgia vows to make the road trip as quick as possible.  Of course, fate has other plans.  

As Georgia hunts for her mother's missing piece of china, she unintentionally uncovers a dark secret from her family's past.  Although she's warned to leave well enough alone, Georgia won't stop until she gets the answers she seeks, even if it means shattering her mother's fragile psyche and breaking the already-frail bonds that still tie her to her family.  When the shocking truth finally comes to light, Georgia will have to decide what to do with the newfound knowledge that could forever change everything, for all of them. 

I've long been a fan of Karen White's Southern novels, but some of them definitely appeal more than others.  Although it is compelling, Flight Patterns falls into the latter camp.  Since I know nothing about beekeeping or antique china, I found those aspects of the story intriguing.  The characters less so.  They are sympathetic certainly, but I didn't feel a strong connection to any of them.  Plot wise, the novel kept my attention, even though certain aspects of it seem contrived and far-fetched.  I appreciate, though, the story's themes of forgiveness and redemption and the fact that Georgia's life doesn't wrap up in a perfect, unrealistic way.  Overall, then, I liked Flight Patterns, but I didn't love it. 

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of other Southern novels by Karen White; also of books by Joshilyn Jackson and Dorothea Benton Frank, although theirs tend to be more R-rated than White's)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence, scenes of peril, and innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Flight Patterns from Costco with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

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Drawn together while studying at Cambridge University, Americans Polly Bailey and Liv Dahl become friends.  They're both enamored of Nick Frey, a 24-year-old grad student in paleobiology.  The trio bond over a shared job, which entails helping a blind professor sort the papers of her novelist mother.  When Nick suddenly vanishes, however, it throws the friends' cozy relationship into a tailspin.  What happened to the charismatic Brit?  

When D.I. Morris Keene and his partner, DS Chloe Frohmann, start digging into Nick's strange disappearance, a tangle of secrets about all of the students start coming to light.  And they aren't the only ones with something to hide.  Gretchen Paul, the blind professor, will make startling discoveries about her own past, which will irrevocably change her future.  As the detectives strive to sort it all out, all the players will realize how little anyone can ever really know another.

I'm not sure what to say about The Whole World, the first installment in the Keene and Frohmann series by Emily Winslow.  It's a strange novel, in many ways.  The characters are almost wholly unlikable, the story plods along very slowly, and when plot "twists" do come, they seem outrageously far-fetched.  Unfocused and dull, The Whole World is just an odd, odd book.  I finished it, but I'm not really sure why I bothered.  

(Readalikes:  Hm, nothing is coming to mind.  You?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I (regrettably) bought a (cheap) copy of The Whole World from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

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Haley Wyatt is preparing to say goodbye to Grisa, her beloved 100-year-old great-grandmother, when a phone call from Germany rocks both of their worlds.  A relative informs them that a body has been found in an old, walled-in room in Baumdorf.  The remains have been identified as those of Ulrich Krauss, Haley's great-grandfather.  Grisa, who thought her husband abandoned her, has always told her family he died in World War II.  Both Haley and Grisa are shocked by the truth—Ulrich Krauss was murdered.  Desperate to honor the man she has been decrying for almost a century, Grisa begs Haley to travel to Germany in her stead and find out what really happened to Ulrich.

Almost from the moment she steps on German soil, Haley feels as if someone is watching her.  Even with handsome Joshua Davison—an old friend of her brother's—by her side, she can't shake the sinister feeling.  The more she learns about Ulrich Krauss' disappearance, the more certain Haley feels.  Someone doesn't want her digging into the past.  That someone will go to great lengths to stop her from finding out who killed her great-grandfather.  The closer she comes to discovering the reason behind his death, the more dangerous her trip to Germany becomes.  Can Haley find what she's looking for before it's too late?  Or will she be the next victim of a killer determined to keep the secrets of the past from ever coming to light?

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for violence and scenes of peril

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Desperate for a new start away from her controlling husband, Daphne Marist applies for her dream job as a live-in archivist for her favorite novelist—and gets it.  Not only does she know nothing about how to actually perform her duties, but she's also presenting herself with a false name and credentials that do not belong to her.  Sure she can fake it well enough to fool her elderly employer, Daphne heads to the Catskills with her six-month-old daughter, Chloe, in tow.  Waiting for her is a beautiful stone mansion surrounded by a lush landscape that makes the whole scene seem like something out of a fairy tale.  The lovely refuge is exactly what Daphne needs, even if the insane asylum that lurks behind the home sends shivers down her spine.  

As Daphne starts organizing papers for Schuyler Bennett, she becomes immersed in the author's story, especially her connection with the asylum.  In doing so, she's trying to forget her own troubles, the reason why she fled her home in the first place.  Yes, Daphne was diagnosed with Postpartum Mood Disorder after Chloe's birth and yes, it made her forgetful, clingy, even obsessive.  It didn't, however, make her a danger to her infant daughter.  No matter what, Daphne refuses to believe her husband's accusations—she would never hurt Chloe.  Never.  She doesn't know how to interpret the disturbing memory fragments tormenting her mind, but they can't be what they seem to be.  They can't be evidence that she put her own child at risk.  That would be impossible, wouldn't it? 

The longer Daphne is in the Catskills, the more she comes to realize that something did happen before she left.  Something awful.  It's up to her to mine her troubling memory for the truth before she finds herself the newest resident in an asylum that is conveniently close to her new home ...

Just in time for Mother's Day comes a heartwarming novel about the joys of motherhood ... oh, wait,  this is not that book!  As is indicated by its title, The Other Mother—the newest Gothic thriller by Carol Goodman—is indeed about motherhood.  It's about all the uncertainty, guilt, anxiety, fear, and fierce, mind-warping love that comes along with bearing a child, especially for the first time.  While all of those emotions are perfectly natural, this wouldn't be a Goodman book if those feelings weren't twisted into something decidedly more sinister than just a new mother's paranoia.  Goodman uses these heightened emotions to create a story that is chilling and can't-look-away compelling.  It's the kind of novel that keeps the reader constantly off-kilter, never knowing what is real and what isn't.  In doing so, however, the plot gets confusing and a bit contrived.  Still, it's a tense, twisty thriller that will keep you engrossed until the very end.  The Other Mother isn't my favorite novel by this author, but it's definitely another enthralling story that kept me turning pages long past bedtime.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a bit of Remember Mia by Alexandra Burt)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a half dozen or so F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of The Other Mother from the generous folks at HarperCollins.  Thank you!