The Spice Maker's Secret

The Spicemaker's Secret was published last month on January 3, 2024. It took me awhile to become interested in the story. As I was approaching my personal 50 page limit for a book to engage me or stop reading when suddenly the story grabbed me with full force. It is without question a heartwrenching story about love and betrayal.

The publisher's summary:

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Bindu is desperately lonely. Before her wedding, she was a highly sought-after cook and although she is not allowed into the kitchen in her new house, she can still taste chilli on her tongue and remember the feel of ground turmeric on her fingers. She finds solace in writing recipes and creating new spice mixes, hoping to pass them down to her unborn child. But when her jealous husband finds out, he confines Bindu to her room alone. As she goes into labour, Bindu is trapped and desperately afraid for her child’s life. Even a recipe cannot rescue her this time. Will she and her baby find a way to survive?

1990, London. Eve’s most treasured gift from her beloved adopted father was a hand-written Indian recipe book. Grieving his death, she begins to grind and mix the spices penned so carefully in the recipes. Do the crumbling pages hold the key to uncovering the secrets of her past?

Her father never spoke of her birth mother, finding it too painful to talk about his time in India. But now he’s gone, Eve is desperate to understand where she comes from. Will finding her birth family, lost for so long, help Eve to find her place in the world, or will it tear her apart?

The story is told in a dual timeline between Bindu in 1930s India and Eve in England in the 1990s. I could not see any connection between the two until close to the end of the novel. Most of the book was about Bindu with just two pages concerning Eve's mother inserted occasionally. I thought the Eve story was boring until the ending when the connection became clear.  

Bindu's challenges in life made her a compelling heroine. I could not help but root for her to have success in life. Life continued to knock her down but she always got up and kept going. She had incredible coping skills. Bindu's grandmother Ajii was equally heroic and at least half of the story was hers. Ajii was a lovable woman who bent over backwards to ensure that Bindu became successful when she grew up.  The villains in the story were Bindu and Ajii's landlord and his son. If you've ever had a landlord you know that they tend to cause whatever trouble they can for their tenants. I thought son Guru was the biggest villain because of his awful treatment of Bindu after their marriage. He was solicitous of her until the wedding. He then became an overbearing husband, which confused Bindu. She expected to be treated the same as she was before the marriage.

As I mentioned above, the story is told in a dual timeline. Most of the story was about Bindu and rightly so. She is the heroine. Bindu’s family is extremely poor and her mother dies giving birth to her. Consequently, the village that she has been raised in considers her to be bad luck. The villagers constantly whisper that she is the cause of both her parent's death which confirms that she is bad luck. Bindu is raised by her grandmother, Ajii, in a one room hut. Ajii is fiercely protective and loves Bindu wholeheartedly. She feels that Bindu is not bad luck at all and that the double crown she was born with confirms that assessment. I had to google double crowns. Apparently it refers to their being two whorls in the hair.  Bindu has many gifts, among them being the cooking skills that she learned from her grandmother who cooks for the big landowner in exchange for rent. Bindu's  dreams of being independent and going off to college are supported by Ajii but, of course, that are obstacles in the way.

I loved reading The Spice Maker's Secret. Historical fiction fans will enjoy it too.  I am rating it 4 out of 5 stars.

Public Anchovy #1

Public Anchovy #1 is the third book in the Deep Dish Mystery Series by Mindy Quigley. The series is set in a pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin owned by Delilah O’Leary. Her best friend Sonya Dokter is her sous chef and bartender Daniel, hostess Melody and dishwasher Rabbit round out the staff. Delilah’s elderly Aunt Biz, police detective Calvin Capone and her cat Butterball complete the regular characters in the series.

In this installment of the series Delilah is catering a Prohibition-themed fundraiser for the local library. She is hopeful that she will get some new catering gigs from the wealthy residents in attendance that will help her struggling restaurant get through the winter slow season. Pam Phillips, the hostess of the fundraiser, makes a last minute request for a new “free-form” pizza recipe for a last minute guest with many food allergies. Of course, it wouldn't be a cozy mystery unless one of the guests gets murdered during the bash. An elderly guest, Edgar Clemmons, falls down the stairs and dies. Did he trip or did someone help him fall? With a winter storm in full force all of the roads are blocked and Delilah, her staff, Capone and several guests are trapped in the Phillips mansion. They all must spend the night together until the roads are cleared the next day. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I am not sure what the reason was for giving the book its title. No anchovies were on the pizzas and I do not believe the deceased was public enemy number 1. He had several people who opposed him on the library board. He also uncovered a scam over forged rare books. Yes, forged books. It's a thing. I googled "forged books" and found several articles concerning this topic. In one CNBC news story art forgery expert Curtis Dowling stated that rare books are especially valuable collectors' items. They are also among the most frequently faked, and hardest to detect.

"Fakers ply their trade by replicating the same sensations that anyone would perceive when walking into a used bookstore. It's one thing to make a book simply look old and weathered, a feat that can be accomplished with a little paint and an inscription dated back a century and a half. But it's necessary to fool all of the senses, especially touch and smell, to make the experienced collector accept a faked book as the genuine article."

I had never heard of this scam before. While I was reading, I was not sure whether it was plausible. My internet search was performed after I finished reading the book. Now I am wondering whether I missed clues in the storyline. 

The next book in the series, Sleep in Heavenly Pizza, will be published in October 2024. I cannot wait to read it as every book in this series has been fantastic.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book of the Month: January

The year started off with five fantastic reads:  Manner of Death, The Blue Monsoon, The Vintage Village Bake Off, The Waitress, and Her Every Fear. I read a whopping eighteen books due to being laid up with the flu for half the month. It wasn't all that hard to select a favorite though. Her Every Fear scared the daylights out of me and I have to pick it as my favorite book for January. The Waitress is a close second.

The story has a jaw dropping plot that turns into an awful tale of horror. The plot becomes more and more scary and disturbing as the story unravels and it kept me sitting on the edge of my seat. It also made me get up out of bed and check my door multiple times during the night that I finished reading the book. I can say so much more about why this book is good but basically it scared me to death. 

This book will make you second guess every odd sound you hear in your home and I believe that the "her" in the title "Her Every Fear" includes the reader.  Fans of psychological mysteries will love it.

Book Cover of the Month: January

This monthly post was begun in order to highlight the artists who design book covers but this month I came up short. I was unable to locate the name of the cover designer of this gorgeous book cover. I love this book cover, especially the birds flying in the air. I also love the rendition of the Alhambra in the foreground as well as the color palette that the cover designer used.  The small magenta area makes the illustration glow.  

The illustration of the Alhambra lets the reader know that the story is set in Granada, Spain. The use of the word "sepharad" in the title also gives the reader a clue to what the book is about. Sepharad refers to Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and, thus, you can tell that this is a historical fiction novel.

Hopefully next month I will be able to determine that name of the book cover designer and write a little bit about his or her background.

Stacking the Shelves #30

In the past 3 months I have been seeing ads for Steve Berry's new book The Atlas Maneuver which will be published in mid-February. A few days ago I pre-ordered a copy for the Kindle and cannot wait to read it. Berry is one of my favorite authors. He writes the Cotton Malone suspense thriller series.

In The Atlas Maneuver Cotton unravels a mystery from World War II involving a legendary lost treasure, worth billions, known as Yamashita’s Gold. Also part of the story is bitcoin, the CIA, the oldest bank in the world (Templars?) and a person from Malone's past who he would prefer to never see again.

Berry has written 25 novels and 18 of them feature Cotton Malone. Along with his wife, Berry founded History Matters, an organization dedicated to historical preservation. He serves as an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president.

I am expecting to be blown away by The Atlas Maneuver. All of his past stories were amazing and I expect nothing less from the new book.

A History of Modern Manga

A History of Modern Manga details the 71 year history of manga in Japan. Thanks to its double page spreads, it can be read in three different ways. If you read only the even numbered pages, you can follow the evolution of manga over seven decades. If you read only the odd numbered pages, you will find portraits of more than seventy artists who have made their mark on the history of Japanese comics. A third way to read this book is the traditional way where you can immerse yourself in the socioeconomic and cultural context of every year from 1952 through 2022. 

How did manga emerge? Amid reconstruction after World War II, Japan saw the emergence of modern manga, which quickly became a favorite pastime of its citizens. Over the decades, the art form bore witness to the anxieties and dreams of several generations of Japanese citizens, reflecting both dark and joyful experiences. Manga is also linked to the social, economic, political, and cultural evolution of Japan. Essential to the daily lives of its inhabitants and to its economy, manga is one of the drivers of the international development of one of the world’s largest economies. 

After I attempted to read the book in the traditional way, page by page, I got bogged down in all of the details, remembering nothing. I went back to the beginning and read the book via its even numbered pages and later via its odd numbered pages. This is really the only way to absorb all of the information in the book. 

I found the Glossary at the beginning of the book helpful. Thirty words are translated from Japanese into English. A few of them are josei, manga for adult women, and shojo, manga for female teens aged twelve to eighteen. A partial history of Japan follows the Glossary before delving into the subject matter of the book.

The book is hardcover with color on each page. It would make a lovely coffee table book that guests in your home will want to take a look at every time they visit. I enjoyed reading it but note that it is probably best to read it in small doses because of it's comprehensive nature. 

5 out of 5 stars.

Open Borders

Open Borders the Science and Ethics of Immigration was written by Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In his first graphic novel, he makes a bold case for unrestricted immigration providing the reader with plenty of information on the topic.

The publisher's summary:

American policy-makers have long been locked in a heated battle over whether, how many, and what kind of immigrants to allow to live and work in the country. Those in favor of welcoming more immigrants often cite humanitarian reasons, while those in favor of more restrictive laws argue the need to protect native citizens.

But economist Bryan Caplan adds a new, compelling perspective to the immigration debate: He argues that opening all borders could eliminate absolute poverty worldwide and usher in a booming worldwide economy―greatly benefiting humanity.

With a clear and conversational tone, exhaustive research, and vibrant illustrations by Zach Weinersmith, Open Borders makes the case for unrestricted immigration easy to follow and hard to deny.

The book was entertaining and informative. Before reading this novel I had no idea that there was an economic factor to immigration. The author writes to the layperson so you don't need to know much about economics in order to understand what he is saying. What Caplan says about the economics is that people who emigrate will get jobs and pay taxes. Their children will be well educated and contribute to society. He believes that this is a win win for everyone even if it costs you something up front when they first arrive.

Some of the author's arguments seemed preachy. In the middle of my read, I realized that he has footnotes at the back of the book for every argument that he makes. However, there is no notation on the page advising that these notes exist or where he obtained his facts.  I ended up re-reading the book in order to get his, and my own, facts straight. His data comes from good sources and his arguments for open borders are compelling. Caplan mainly argues that low-skilled immigrants should be allowed unrestricted entry into the U. S.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Waitress

OMG! This book is fantastic! I just finished reading it and had to write a review immediately. The Waitress is one of the best, if not the best, psychological thriller I have ever read. With a twisty ending, I was totally surprised when the reveal was made on the last page.

The publisher's summary:

Anne Marie’s life isn’t easy. She’s a single mom in a dead-end waitressing job with a beater car and bills to pay. Adding to the pressure, her teenage son, Dave, is out of control, and no matter what she does, Anne Marie can’t seem to get through to him.

Then, out of the blue, Dave completely changes. He’s kind, he’s thoughtful, he helps out around the house and looks after his mom. Anne Marie can’t believe her luck.

Until she discovers the reason for her son’s sudden transformation – he’s done something really awful and he’s terrified he’ll be caught. Even worse, someone out there knows about it and they’re blackmailing him.

Anne Marie is desperate to protect her son and knows she has to somehow stop the blackmailer. But how?

As she considers her choices, Anne Marie realizes she may be taking the first steps on a path that will lead her straight to the gates of hell.

How far is she willing to go to save her only child?

As I was reading, I wondered why the book title was about Anne Marie. After all, most of the story was about her son's bad choices. However, Anne Marie was spending all her time trying to fix the problems that Dave brought to her. There were so many and, one by one, she addressed them wholeheartedly. She was trying to prevent her son from becoming like his evil father. 

While there were several hit and run car accidents that Dave was involved with, what forced Dave into good behavior was the blackmailed threats left in their doorstep. These threats are what Anne Marie feels she must address in order to protect him. In this sense, the blackmail was more important to the plot than the accidents. As the story advanced it was apparent that Anne Marie was just as messed up as Dave. She believed that his behavior was inherited from his father. Anne Marie had issues of her own that Dave most likely picked up from being raised by her.

The writing was  suspenseful and I was blown away by the ending. It was a shocker that I did not see coming. In fact, I reread the last 3 pages three times in order to confirm what I thought that I had read because it was so unexpected. 

The Waitress is a must read. 5 out of 5 stars.

One Day Gone

One Day Gone is the first book in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series by Luana Ehrlich. She also writes the Titus Ray Mystery Series and I read several books in that series last year. This month I needed to find a book with the number one in the title for the Clock Reading Challenge and One Day Gone was my pick. It is a gripping page turner that had me hooked from the first page. 

The publisher's summary:

Mylas Grey is a private investigator but don’t call him a private detective. That title belongs to his father—not to him. Mylas is the Chief Investigator for Senator Davis Allen, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His job is to do background investigations for the President’s judicial nominees, and that’s the only kind of investigation he’s interested in doing.

But then Lizzie, the Senator’s daughter, goes missing from her campus apartment. And suddenly, just like that, Mylas finds himself back in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri, investigating her disappearance as if he were a run-of-the-mill private detective. Lizzie has a reputation for doing the unexpected, and she could have just left town for a few days without telling anyone. On the other hand, she could have done something stupid and gotten herself into serious trouble.

When Mylas meets a beautiful photographer at his brother’s church, and she offers to help him find Lizzie, he finds himself getting a little distracted from the investigation—well, maybe more than a little distracted. As Mylas is forced to spend time in his hometown, he begins to question his career choice, his rejection of Christianity, and his failed personal relationships.

Solving the mystery of Lizzie’s disappearance isn’t easy. It gets even more complicated when Mylas learns Lizzie was researching an article for her campus newspaper about a judge with a secret past. Is the judge connected to Lizzie’s disappearance? Did Lizzie’s boyfriend play a role? What about Lizzie’s roommate?

I loved this story! As I mentioned above, I was hooked from the first page. The story is more than a suspense novel. It is also Christian fiction which I was not expecting. It began as any other suspense thriller would. More than halfway into the story Mylas meets a woman he likes at his brother’s church and this is the point where faith issues become prominent. After Lizzy is found, the remaining two chapters are devoted to Mylas' faith journey. The blending of the mystery and faith seemed awkward because there was no mention of faith until the story was moving along at a fairly fast pace. It was surprising that the plot included it. The mystery of  Lizzy's whereabouts as well as what she was up to was a wild ride and made the book worth reading. 

4 out of 5 stars.

Where the Body Was

I was excited when I found out Net Galley would provide me with a copy of this comic. Author Ed Brubaker writes awesome stories and this one is no different. The story takes place in Summer 1984 in an abandoned boarding house on Pelican Road that junkies have taken over. 

The story opens with an introduction to the boarding house. We meet the couple who were the original owners as well as their neighbors. After they pass on the boarding house falls into disrepair and junkies and other criminals move in. A girl who thinks she is a superhero, wearing a mask and a cape, has a crush on Palmer who is doing drugs with a woman he is sleeping with, Toni. In order to get cash for their fix, the couple burglarize homes. She threatens him with going to the cops if he doesn’t stop. Palmer tells everyone that he is a cop and flashes a badge at anyone whose behavior he does not like. Despite this, I found him to be a sympathetic character. Another character that I liked was Ranko. He is a homeless man who sees everything happens on the street even though no one sees him.

There were alot of characters introduced in the beginning and I didn't even try to remember who was who. I knew I would get them straight during my read which I did. Each of these characters get to narrate their own chapters and the reader begins to see the well crafted plot through their eyes. The body was not introduced in the book until the halfway point. 

Normally I would complain about this but the story was so absorbing that I didn't even notice its absence. 

Where the Body Was is an entertaining mystery that satisfies. Comic fans will want to read this one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Letters of Wisdom

I was surprised when I opened up my Net Galley app a few days ago and found a new book by Wanda Brunstetter. I was even more surprised that it is part the Friendship Letters series which I thought was just a duology. Letters of Comfort and Letters of Trust were both published last year and I loved reading them.  The new book will be published on February 29, 2024.

The publisher's summary:

Friendship Letters Series — Doretta Schwartz has always enjoyed writing letters and feels her letters can be a bit of a ministry to her friends. In this series, exchanging letters that contain open and honest feelings and struggles helps Doretta and two of her best friends through the darkest challenges of their lives.

 

Letters and Prayers Between Friends Become a Balm for Healing

 

Irma Miller thought having a family of her own would bring her joy and a sense of accomplishment, but she struggles with memories of the abuse she suffered as a child at the hand of her stepfather. When she becomes physically and emotionally abusive to her own children, she reaches out to her friend Doretta for prayer and wisdom. But Irma may find herself at an even darker emotional place before she will admit she needs professional help to heal the past traumas. Will Doretta’s letters of wisdom help Irma and her family, or will too much be broken to ever be repaired?

 

Find out in the third book of The Friendship Letters series by New York Times Bestselling Author Wanda E. Brunstetter.

 

I love Wanda Brunstetter's books. When I obtained the book I deliberately read slowly because I knew that it would be done in a flash and I wanted to savor every word. I loved reading about all that baking that the female characters were doing and wish they were baking for me! The topic of the story is child abuse, both physical and emotional. The author stated at the end of the story that she was a victim of child abuse as was her husband. I did not see that coming. She seems so well adjusted because she pumps out multiple books each year.  

As for our main character Irma, she suffered severe physical and emotional abuse from her stepfather and she began behaving the same way toward her own children.  She was not aware that abuse can be handed down the generations if the victims don't receive counseling. As the story continued, Irma became more and more abusive to her kids. I could tell that this was where the story was going and that the author was going to be sympathetic to her. However, I felt that her kids were brats just as she accused them of being. They never did what they were told and even caused accidents among themselves. 

The letters between Irma and her friends Doretta and Eleanor are a source of healing for her. They address her current struggles and past traumas. The Scripture references given to her were spot on and I must admit that the ones concerning anger touched my own heart.

The advanced review copy (ARC) that I read had three mistakes. Doretta was referred to as Irma in these places. It was easy to figure this out though. As this is an ARC errors are to be expected.  I am sure that they will be corrected before publication.  

5 out of 5 stars.

Ancestry Standards for Data Integrity

I was lucky to receive an advanced review copy of this book through Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club. It was published last year and is more a booklet than a book. With just 53 pages, the author gives the reader the nuts and bolts of online geneology. 

I have been using the ancestry.com website for my own research and I am happy to say that, according to the author's tips, I covered all my bases well. This book is basically a primer on how to accurately do online geneological research. Elcik gives tips on what you should do to ensure the accuracy of your research as well as what not to do. As such, this book is a must read for anyone just starting out looking into their family tree. With the book being so short, I don't want to give details on what those tips are.  Let me just say that I wish I had this resource when I started out with my research.

5 out of 5 stars.

South of Sepharad

Thanks to the Early Reviewer's Club at Librarything I was able to obtain an advanced review copy of South of Sepharad. The book is scheduled to be published on February 20, 2024 and it is a historical fiction account of the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492. 

The publisher's summary:  

GRANADA, SPAIN, 1492. Vidal ha-Rofeh is a Jewish physician devoted to his faith, his family, and his patients. When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand conquer Granada they sign the Alhambra Decree, an edict ordering all Jews convert to Catholicism or depart Spain in three months' time under penalty of death.

Against his wife's belief that converting is safer than exile, Vidal insists they flee. Unwillingly leaving behind their oldest daughter with her Catholic husband, Vidal's family joins a caravan of 200 Jews journeying to start their lives anew across the sea in Fez. On the caravan, Vidal struggles to balance his physician duties of caring for the sick while struggling to mend strained relationships with his family. At the same time, his daughter back home finds herself exposed to the Spanish Inquisition living as a converso in a Christian empire.

Presenting readers with a painful but important part of Jewish history, South of Sepharad is a heroic, heart-breaking story of a father who holds tightly to his faith, his family, and his integrity all while confronting the grief of the past and the harsh realities of forced exile.

When I saw this debut novel as an Early Reviewer's choice, I knew I needed to read it. The book covers a part of history that I don't know much about and the setting provided many important details concerning life during this time period. The reader learns about the details of Jewish life and culture including the rituals of Shabbat as well as the restrictions placed upon them. The fragrance of the Granada lemon groves, it's grand architecture and foods are frequently mentioned also.

I learned alot about the history surrounding the Alhambra Decree, commonly called the Edict of Expulsion, including how it was enacted, communicated, and enforced. I thought it was odd that a notice about the edict was nailed to synagogue doors but how else would the notice be communicated in the 1490s? I was shocked that the Jews were only given three months to leave. That's not alot of time to plan. The rabbi organized the departure of approximately 200 families and they left Granada within a month. Their caravan walked slowly to the port city of Malaga where they hoped to get a boat that would take them to the African coast.

As far as the characters are concerned, I felt that Vidal was a weak man. He put his job before his family. While his principles ended up saving his family it was disheartening to always read that he would give his time and money to his patients even though his family was adversely affected by it. His wife should have been in charge. However, Vidal's actions were a tool that helped to explain the difficulty that the Jews had to deal with. As the time for departure approached, Vidal's interactions with his patients explained many of the circumstances that the Jews found themselves in. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.