The BookFetish Blog

Well, this is disappointing. I went to check my links to my review of other Chevy Stevens’ books, and I realized I’ve failed to review a few of them!  But you can see from my reviews of  Still Missing  and Never Knowing  that I am a big fan of Stevens. In fact, she has become my favorite thriller author, and she’s back with another winner in Never Let You Go: A Novel.

“Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life.

Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it’s her ex-husband, even though he claims he’s a different person. But has he really changed? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?

With Never Let You Go, Chevy Stevens delivers a chilling, twisting thriller that crackles with suspense as it explores the darkest heart of love and obsession.”

There is always some delicious twist in Stevens’ novels, and this one is no exception.  Lindsey has made a new life for herself, but it is hard to escape the demons of the past. Andrew’s release from prison throws all that is good in Lindsey’s world into question.

Stevens gives us a number of characters with slightly creepy aspects, or hints of an unsavory backstory, that when the twist hits, it hits hard.  I actually stopped reading at that point and tweeted out a “WOW!” about it.

I won’t say any more than that plot-wise,  because I don’t want to spoil anyone. This is one book that keep you turning the page, wondering what will happen next, and if there is going to be a truly happy ending.   There are times the tension and suspense practically leap from the book. I read this one fast, because I just had to know how things turned out. And one of the most satisfying things in thrillers for me is not seeing everything coming.  If you like this genre, this, like all of Chevy Stevens’ books,  is a MUST READ.

I like wandering through the woods and doing some light hiking, but I have absolutely no desire to camp out anywhere that doesn’t involve a cabin, a bed, and a hot shower. So it may surprise people that I thoroughly enjoyed a memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail. But I did!

Appalachian Odyssey is the memoir of Jeffrey Ryan who, with his friend, Wayne,   section hiked the Appalachian Trail over the course of 28  years. For those unfamiliar,  the AT  is a total of about 2500 miles and stretches from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mount Katahdin, Maine. While Ryan had previously through-hiked (completing the trail in one effort over several months) the Pacific Crest Trail, he and Wayne took long weekends and a few weeks at a time to hike the AT in sections.

Each phase of the book correlates to the section of trail hiked, with maps showing the ascent and descent and camp sites, and I found that interesting because it provided a good perspective on how important planning the number of miles per day would be.  There are plenty of pictures of the scenery, but what I enjoyed most was the clear enthusiasm Ryan has for hiking and  being out in nature.  Even at the frustrating times, when the weather was atrocious and his body was rebelling and his mind was telling him to give up the trail, Ryan’s love of the trail comes through.

Not everything goes smoothly on the trail. The weather doesn’t always cooperate, and sometimes nature gets the better of you (I learned how destructive porcupines can be to vehicles in this book) but sometimes, everything goes just right.  It’s the authenticity of the good and the bad that made me enjoy the book. And unlike Wild, I have respect for Ryan and  his story. He takes care to talk about the importance of being prepared for a big hike, with the right equipment and  preparation. This isn’t something you just “wing” and hope that strangers will help you out when you need it.  He’s a life-long hiker who  plans  to have the right gear, food, and supplies. Sure things don’t work out perfectly all the time, but it isn’t due to carelessness.

At the same time, when Ryan wrote about the scenery he encountered, the  restorative, simple times he and Wayne just hung out at a camp site, or the euphoria he felt on the trail, I felt it, too. Because of this book, I have a new appreciation for hikers/campers.   I understand more about the pace on the trail and the respect of your companions and the trails themselves. I learned some new pieces of trail etiquette, and a lot about the importance of the right equipment.  I can certainly begin to understand how something like hiking the AT appeals to some people.

While Appalachian Odyssey didn’t make me want to take up section hiking the Appalachian Trail, it did make me want to get out and explore more in day hikes.  To take more time to remember how restorative time in nature can be, and to take time out to appreciate this glorious world around us.

I hope you’ll do yourself a favor and check out this one.

Today in the Meredith Schorr re-release, we are celebrating How Do You Know?

My review and your buying options are below. Enjoy!

I like some Chick Lit, or lighter women’s fiction. It’s usually an entertaining read, and sometimes you gain some insight from the story. In my experience, though, once you pass a certain age, a lot of this genre begins to lose it’s appeal because you’ve been through the twenty-something angst and your issues and concerns are different now. Or you’ve figured out that you’re not like all the chick lit heroines who find their perfect guy by the time they are thirty, or even thirty five. You just want to read about someone more like YOU and it’s harder to find in the genre than the younger heroines. That’s why, for me, Meredith Schorr’s new release, How Do You Know? is a fitting read.

From the publisher’s summary:

What if you were approaching the end of your thirties and all of the life milestones you took for granted in your youth suddenly seemed out of reach? On the eve of her 39th birthday, Maggie Piper doesn’t look, act, or feel much different than she did at 29, but with her 40th birthday speeding towards her like a freight train, she wonders if she should. The fear of a slowing metabolism, wrinkling of her skin, and the ticking of her biological clock leaves Maggie torn between a desire to settle down like most of her similarly-aged peers and concern that all is not perfect in her existing relationship. When a spontaneous request for a temporary “break” from her live-in boyfriend results in a “break-up”, Maggie finds herself single once again and only twelve months from the big 4.0. In the profound yet bumpy year that follows, Maggie will learn, sometimes painfully, that life doesn’t always happen on a schedule, there are no deadlines in love, and age really is just a number.

One of the most frequent conversations my girl friends and I have about relationships is about the “spark”. We all recognize that the initial electricity fades a bit, or morphs into something more solid and stronger as a real relationship grows. But we’re all so inundated with drama from the Real Housewives of insert-city-here, and Sex and the City re-runs, and The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and every romantic comedy ever that sometimes it’s hard to believe that a lack of drama is not a lack of passion. It’s that very dilemma that sets up How Do You Know?.

What Schorr does really well in this story is show how no relationship is perfect. No one ever really knows what is going on behind closed doors. That sometimes, a fear of rejection can be paralyzing in moving forward in a relationship- or even starting to move forward at all. That indeed, the grass is not always greener anywhere else.

Schorr also provides dynamic characters who do what the best of friends are supposed to do: Support you, but challenge you, too. Maggie’s friends are able to hold a mirror to her, force her to answer some tough questions about her perceptions and decisions.

But the thing I LOVED about this book is Schorr’s premise that age really is just a number. It’s something I’m trying to remind myself of as I choke on saying my age out loud. Because the premise of the book hits close to home. I always thought my life was going to turn out a particular way. I’d get married at a certain age, have kids at a certain age. And it hasn’t happened. My life is so very different from many of my peers, and it is sometimes a challenge being completely content in what is, overall, a pretty awesome life, even if it doesn’t conform to what nearly every pop culture and societal conception says it should be at this age.

Real characters, real emotions, real dilemmas. Schorr continues to deliver authenticity while at the same time telling an entertaining story.

Here’s how you can get your own copy of How Do You Know?

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Today, in celebration of the re-release of Meredith Schorr’s books, I’m pleased to share A State of Jane. You can read my review and see links to get the book yourself at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy!

Meet Jane Frank. It’s been a year since her last (and only) long term relationship, and with reality looming large in the form of the LSAT, Jane decides it’s been far too long since she’s been kissed and that she’s ready to meet the man of her dreams. Meredith Schorr’s A State of Jane takes us through Jane’s adventures in dating. As she grows more frustrated with the online dating scene and the way men tend to flake out for no reason, Jane decides to take her friend Andrew’s advice about dating, and this is where our story really takes off.

Much the way she did in Just Friends With Benefits, Meredith Schorr gives us an all-too-recognizable heroine. OK, I’ve never gotten up to some of Jane’s antics, but there have been times when I’ve certainly wanted to. Certainly, navigating the dating terrain is not easy, and Schorr captures that feeling of “I don’t know why it went wrong” so perfectly. Of course, as interested but objective observers in Jane’s life, we can see the mistakes she’s making… which makes an interesting point about not being able to discern our own dating foibles, but I digress.

I confess that at times I got really frustrated with Jane. I can’t explain too much of why here, or else it would spoil the story, so I’ll say this about it: I didn’t like the way Jane treated people sometimes. For a few pages there, I frankly didn’t like Jane. However, Jane’s behavior is an integral part of her journey and she had to go through this stage to grow into her true self. That being said, I still wanted to shake her, and which made me again appreciate the authenticity of the friendships Meredith includes in her stories.

We tell our friends we want them to be honest with us. But sometimes, when they are, no matter how lovingly the message is delivered, we just don’t want to hear it. So in A State of Jane I thought the confrontations between Jane and her friends and the conflicts in their relationships were portrayed authentically. It is often the people we love the most who are also the people we hurt the most.

And the final thing I really liked about A State of Jane is the way that it ends. No spoilers here, but I felt the ending was perfect.

Chick lit fans- and fans of Just Friends With Benefits– will really enjoy A State of Jane.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Get your copy:

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo