Daddy's Gone A Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark

Published by: Simon & Schuster

Our source: Complimentary copy from the publisher

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

When the family-owned furniture firm, including the mansion where priceless antiques are kept, explodes into flames in the middle of the night, Kate must escape to save her life. But the suspicious circumstances point to her involvement. Was the explosion set deliberately? Why was Kate, a gorgeous CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, on the premises at that hour? And why was Gus, a retired and trusted employee, with her?

Now Gus is dead and Kate lies in the hospital gravely injured. Hannah, Kate’s sister and a rising fashion designer, must discover what drew them there and what dangerous secrets lies hidden in the ashes.

Our thoughts:

I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Higgins Clark at a book signing at Book Expo America, and what a pleasure it was. She is beautiful, sophisticated and sincere. After many years of reading her books, it was a high point for me to finally be meeting her. It's too bad there was a long line of other people also wishing for their moment with her because she is definitely someone I would love to sit and chat with over a cup of tea.

I hurried home to read her book, Daddy's Gone A Hunting, and thought it was marvelous. An explosion at the Connelly family owned furniture company left the buildings destroyed, a disgruntled employee dead and Kate Connelly in a coma - all of the makings for a mystery which Mary Higgins Clark elegantly weaves. Packed with mystery and suspense, this story keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.  

We would recommend this to:

Mystery fans

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

From Nazi-occupied Poland to a Chicago courtroom, Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek. Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Ben Solomon, is convinced he is right. Solomon urges attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that Otto Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has he accused the right man? 

Our thoughts:

We would recommend this to:

WWII enthusiests, fans of historical fiction

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Leah McMahon is back in Sultry Springs, Texas to help her dad recover from surgery. But there's a new sheriff in town and he's none other than Colton Bea, the wild-as-weeds boy who stole her heart a decade earlier. Colt's a changed man now, and the feelings between these high school sweethearts are stronger than ever. But Leah's got a secret so devastating that he may never forgive her. Can she find a way to earn absolution and build a future with the sultry man she's loved half her life?

Our thoughts:

 

I loved this! It was equal parts sweet and sexy and fun. Even though my experience with Texas is limited to a one-weekend trip, I get totally sucked into the atmosphere and drama of small-town Sultry Springs and I love every minute of it.

 

I'm a sucker for love stories - and this one is awesome. Beckett mixes in just enough fairytale to make it totally believable and totally swoon-worthy at the same time.

 

This is the third in the series, but you don't have to read the other two to appreciate this one. Each of the three focuses on a different couple and a different love story. (Although if you do read them in order, you get the benefit of revisiting the characters to find out where they are in life.)

 

We would recommend this to:

Romance fans, people who grew up in a small town, people who believe in second chances, and anyone looking for a great beach read.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat? How do companies pave the way for dishonesty? Does collaboration make us more honest or less so? Does religion improve our honesty? Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere.  None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. 

In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards.

Our thoughts:

I got hooked on Ariely’s take on the human irrationality during his appearances on NPR. He was always so funny and entertaining that when I ran across his first book on audiobook, I snapped it up immediately.  His books are actually narrated by Simon Jones – not himself – which through me at first because I was expecting the voice from the radio, but Jones is fantastic.

Like all of Ariely’s other books, I really, really enjoyed this one. His humor and fun spirit come through even when he is not the narrator and makes what could be a dry topic – behavioral economics – thoroughly enjoyable.  I did feel like he rehashed a bunch of experiments from his earlier books here, but there was enough new content to keep me interested.

We would recommend this to:

Anyone in business, people who like to people watch and non-fiction fans.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

If your dreams pull you in one direction and your heart in another, which should you follow? This is the question that haunts Kate Meadows, a world champion athlete whose eight-year-old daughter Sophie is battling a recurrence of childhood leukemia just as Kate is about to compete for her last chance at an Olympic gold medal. 

For years, Kate has sacrificed everything for her family and watched her best friend and closest rival, Zoe Castle, conquer the world stage. Kate has never won gold and will have to go through Zoe—who has everything to lose—to get it. Now her child is facing a life-threatening illness, and the stakes are higher than ever. How can she do what is right for her daughter without abandoning all of her dreams?

Our thoughts:

This was my first Chris Cleave novel and its made me a fan.  While watching the Olympics, I don't usually think about the private lives of the athletes but it's something the book has you consider. 

In Gold, Kate and Jack Meadows are juggling training for positions on the Olympic team while caring for their seriously ill child.  Its a page turner and you get pulled in by the adrenaline of each race and the choices people make to achieve victory. The book deals with a lot of moral issues and portrays a true test of love and friendship.  I loved this book and can't wait to read more of Cleave's books.

We would recommend this to:

Book clubs, fans of contemporary fiction

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

On November 5, 1942, a U.S. cargo plane on a routine flight slammed into the Greenland ice cap. Four days later, a B-17 on the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on the B-17 survived. The U.S. military launched a second daring rescue operation, but the Grumman Duck amphibious plane sent to find the men flew into a severe storm and vanished.

Frozen in Time places us at the center of a group of valiant airmen fighting to stay alive through 148 days of a brutal Arctic winter by sheltering from subzero temperatures and vicious blizzards in the tail section of the broken B-17 until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen attempts to bring them to safety.

In present-day Greenland, Zuckoff joins the U.S. Coast Guard and North South Polar—a company led by the indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza, who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight—on a dangerous expedition to recover the remains of the lost plane’s crew.

Our thoughts:

Our thoughts:

Frozen In Time drew me in immediately. You know going in that the plane will crash and the story’s writing gives clues of the outcome, but I still found it unnerving when it happened and couldn’t wait to find out what was coming next. The story toggles back and forth from the original crash to the present-day hunt for the plane and despite being 70 years apart, I was struck by how similar the challenges were for both.

This was very similar to Zuckoff’s last book, Lost in Shangri-La, which I had also read. Swap the tropical habitat for snow and it’s practically the same story – with the exception of the fact that Zuckoff is a character in the story this time around. He tells the reader early on in the book that he helped fund the 2012 expedition – a fact that I worried would cloud how he presented the rest of the story – but the writing remained true to style. If anything, I think he downplayed the importance his contributions made to the effort.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Lost in Shangri-La, fans of military history, World War II buffs and anyone who wants a real-life adventure.