It's Tuesday, which can only mean one thing ... it's time for my favorite weekly meme!  The Top Ten Tuesday topic du jour is a book cover freebie.  Freebies often stump me, but with this one, I knew right away that I wanted to feature bookish book covers.  After all, there's nothing I love more than a lovely cover showcasing my favorite hobby in all its beautiful, cozy, whimsical glory.  I'll get to some favorites in a moment ... but first, I urge you to join in the TTT fun by visiting That Artsy Reader Girl, skimming a few guidelines, making your own list, then clicking around the book blogosphere to check out other bloggers' posts.  It's a good time, I promise.

Without further ado, here we go with my Top Ten Favorite Bookish Book Covers:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Twins are rare enough, but 11-year-old Minni King and her sister, Keira, are more unusual still.  Children of a Black mother and a white father, Minnie's skin matches her dad's while Keira's is the same shade as their mom's.  Their parents have always assured them that what matters most is that they're all part of the strong, tight-knit King Family, but that doesn't mean their unique family doesn't attract plenty of stares and ignorant comments from people in their mostly white Pacific Northwest community.  

When the girls' overbearing grandmother calls, insisting Minni and Keira come stay with her in Raleigh, North Carolina, in order to compete in the Miss Black Pearl contest, Keira's over the moon.  She's vivacious and gorgeous, the perfect candidate for a beauty pageant scholarship competition.  Shy and awkward, not to mention pale as milk, Minni can't think of anything more horrifying than being gawked at while prancing around a stage in a fussy dress and high heels.  Unable to talk her way out of going, Minni vows to face her fate with courage—the way her hero, Martin Luther King, always did.  

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

To the FTC, with love:  I received a free audiobook of The Other Half of My Heart through a promotion at Audible.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

1939—Aspiring artist Anna Dale is thrilled when her sketch wins a federal contest designed to install colorful murals on the walls of post offices throughout the United States.  Unexpectedly, the 22-year-old is assigned to paint in the tiny Southern town of Edenton.  With the recent death of her mother, Anna has nothing to keep her in New Jersey, so she settles down in the North Carolina town, determined to do her best to immortalize its virtues in her mural.  While some of the townsfolk welcome her with open arms, others look askance at her city airs, her unconventional ideas, and the fact that she bested Edenton's resident artist in the contest.  When a shocking turn of events shows Anna just how deep some people's resentment lies, she's forced to decide if completing the mural is really worth the risk.

2018—In jail for a crime she didn't commit, 22-year-old Morgan Christopher is surprised when she receives a visit from two women she doesn't know.  When they offer her a job restoring an old painting, at the bequest of a well-known artist who has recently died, Morgan's shocked.  Especially when she learns the task comes with a generous payout and immediate release from incarceration.  Morgan can't say no.  Although she knows nothing about art restoration and can't fathom why a famous painter would want her for the job, Morgan vows to do the best she can.  When she sees the painting—an old mural that was never installed at the Edenton, North Carolina, post office like it should have been—she's intrigued by the artist's odd renderings of the town.  Was Anna Dale insane?  Why did she paint such weird motifs?  The more Morgan works on the painting, the more she has to know: What happened to Anna Dale, a talented painter who was never heard from again after she left Edenton?

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain combines some intriguing elements—small-town secrets, a mysterious painting, and an impossible task assigned to an improbable underdog—to create an engrossing, entertaining mystery that I quite enjoyed.  Anna and Morgan are likable characters, both of whom are sympathetic and admirable.  Although I know little about painting, it was interesting to learn about the restoration process.  I also enjoyed the pacing of this story, which kept me engrossed and guessing.  The Big Reveal at the end of the book didn't surprise me at all, however, but that's okay because it felt so right.  With all of these winning elements, Big Lies in a Small Town is engaging, compelling, and enjoyable. I'll definitely be checking out Chamberlain's backlist now.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a little of The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

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

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Big Lies in a Small Town from the generous folks at St. Martin's Press via those at NetGalley.  Thank you!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

As an aspiring journalist, 16-year-old Nathalie Baudin is thrilled to be writing a column for Le Petite Journal.  Even if the editor, an old family friend, hired her only as a favor to her unemployed mother and away-at-sea father.  Even if she has to dress as a boy to do her reporting.  Even if the job means spending her days studying corpses at Paris' public morgue.  Despite her unladylike interest in the macabre, she's as horrified as everyone else when a serial killer begins preying on the city's young women.  She's even more aghast when, while viewing the victims' bodies at the morgue, she begins having nauseating visions of them being brutalized.  Most confusing of all, the scenes are from the perspective of the killer.  Why is she having these strange visions?  What could they possibly mean?  

Soon Nathalie realizes that her gruesome waking dreams are a weird gift that could help the police find the killer who has been dubbed "The Dark Artist."  But that means opening herself to more violent visions, which leave her frightened and disgusted.  Is it worth her sanity to encourage the blood-soaked visions?  As Nathalie searches for answers, she stumbles across shocking secrets about her family and herself.  Her sleuthing soon attracts the attention of the murderer.  With a killer on her own tail, she must find answers—and fast—before she becomes the next corpse lying on a slab for all of Paris to view. 

Spectacle, a debut novel by Jodie Lynn Zdrok, has an intriguing premise and a creepy, atmospheric Jack the Ripper feel.  While neither of these elements is all that original, the combination presents a compelling jumping-off point.  Unfortunately, the story Zdrok spins from it is slow, with a lot of meandering around before it gets anywhere.  The tale gets repetitious and dull, making its 368 pages feel like double that.  Add in a lot of bloody, gory scenes, some of which made me feel physically ill, and Spectacle became a tough tale to get through.  I did become invested enough in the story to finish it, but in the end, I just didn't find the book all that enjoyable or satisfying.  Needless to say, I won't be bothering with the sequel, Sensational, which comes out in February.

I should mention that I listened to Spectacle as an audiobook—my first one ever.  The narrator, Laurie Catherine Winkel, is okay.  Her narration is a little stiff, with her French sounding more natural than her English.  My daughter says she sounds like the Google Translate voice.  I don't know if listening to Spectacle as opposed to reading it altered my experience with the book or not.  I think I would have felt the same way, no matter what, but I'm still a noob when it comes to audiobooks, so who knows?

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of the Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting [The Body Finder; Desires of the Dead; The Last Echo; and Dead Silence] as well as various books about Jack the Ripper)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language; violence; disturbing subject matter; and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I received a free finished audio copy of Spectacle as part of a promotion offered by Audible.