book recommendation

Author interview: J.T. Ellison

~ SamanthaWho ~ 6 Comments

JT Ellison social media headshot

Today I’m sharing an interview with an author who is not only talented, but also incredibly warmhearted. I met J.T. Ellison a few months ago when I read her book, No One Knows, and am so excited to welcome her to Dream by Day! Her latest novel, Field of Graves, releases today and to celebrate, we’re bringing you all a Q&A!

For readers who aren’t familiar, can you tell us a bit about the LT. Jackson series and Field of Graves in particular?

Sure! Field of Graves is the perfect book to jump in with, because it’s the prequel to the series. Homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, with the help of her best friend, medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, is trying to stop a killer hell-bent on creating his own apocalypse. It’s set in Nashville and introduces all the characters in the books—most importantly, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin. It’s the story of how Taylor and Baldwin met, how the team came together, a true origin story.

Taylor Jackson is a fabulous character to write. She’s the warrior goddess of Nashville, half cop, half rock star, and my own personal Athena. Sam Owens is her best friend, the lodestone of the series, the conscience, so to speak. They’re quite a pair. Add in Baldwin, and all sorts of mayhem ensues.

Why did you decide to revisit this series?

FOG, as we call it, was my first full-length novel. I landed an awesome agent with it, but it didn’t sell, so I put it in a drawer and moved on to the next book in the series, which did sell, and kicked off my career. Last year, I revisited it and realized it wasn’t half bad. I did a full editorial on it, and my publisher snapped it up. I’m thrilled it’s finally coming out.

Are there any characters in Field of Graves that came more naturally to you than others?

You’d think I’d say Taylor, but she was actually the most elusive. It took me quite a while to wrap my head around her. She’s an iconic hero—she’s not born in blood like so many crime fiction characters. She’s smart and intense and sees the black and white in the world, so finding her shades of gray was a challenge. I love them all, though. Baldwin is one of the easier ones to write for me. He’s so self-contained but so internally open, I really connected with him.

I loved reading your recently published book, No One Knows, and was shocked by the plot twist. What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to stretch my wings, actually. I’d written eight Taylor books and three Sam books and I wanted to see if I could write a standalone. I had a crazy dream in which I lost my husband after a party at the Opryland Hotel, and Harlan Coben appeared in it and gave me career advice, and it all came together as No One Knows. Crazy, right?

You’re a well-established and bestselling author, do you have any advice for other writers?

Read everything, and write every day. It doesn’t matter if you have ten hours of uninterrupted time or 10 minutes, you simply must touch your story every day. This will help you develop a solid writing habit. While this is the best job on earth, it is still a job, and you have to show up for work every day.

Field of GravesWhat are you reading when you’re not writing these gripping novels?

Books to blurb, books for the show (A Word on Words, I’m the co-host) books you recommend… I’m currently in Victoria Schwab’s A GATHERING OF SHADOWS and DEEP WORK by Cal Newport. True confession, there are 640 books on my Goodreads TBR…. Yikes!

 Thanks so much for having me on the blog! This was fun!

Of course, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions, J.T.! I can’t wait to dive into Field of Graves and learn more about these badass characters!

 

About J.T. Ellison

New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison writes dark psychological thrillers starring Nashville Homicide Lt. Taylor Jackson and medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, and pens the Nicholas Drummond series with #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter. Cohost of the premier literary television show, A Word on Words, Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens. Follow J.T. on Facebook or Twitter @thrillerchick for more insight into her wicked imagination.

Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Sunday's on the phone to monday“An extrovert, friends with everybody and nobody at the same time.”

This is one of the lines that I marked with a post-it while reading Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly. In a book that has been described as a family love story, we are taken on a journey with the Simone family through the ups and downs of life and we see how loved ones move apart and come together during tough times.

Claudio and Mathilde find each other in New York City as newly minted adults and quickly discover that they each are just what the other one needs. The story follows them as they grow into a family of five with three daughters, Natasha, Lucy, and Carly. Soon they face mental and physical illnesses along with money troubles and I was touched by the gestures of familial love.

“…Mathilde had probably seen his face more times in his life than he had. Wasn’t that something?”

Sundays on the phone to mondayI almost felt like I was reading a series of poems. This was a very unique writing style, which at times felt quirky, but also felt choppy during others. Although the style is different from books I typically read, it was a nice change of pace.

The One That Got Away by Leigh Himes

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The One That Got Away by Leigh HimesI spent the past weekend down in the California sun with The One That Got Away, Leigh Himes’ debut novel. This was the perfect poolside read and is a great choice as we head into the summer months! In a similar tone as Freaky Friday staring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis (anyone else a fan of the movie?), The One That Got Away is a story of a switched identity and an alternate reality.

Abbey is an overworked and under-appreciated mother of two, publicist, and wife managing a limited household budget. When Abbey sees a picture in a magazine of a man she had once met, she wonders what her life would be like if she had said yes to a date with this now rich and successful man. Abbey then takes a tumble down the Nordstrom escalator and is shocked to wake up in a warped reality where she is married to this man rather than her husband…

I really enjoyed seeing Abbey’s character grow throughout the story as she realizes that the high society life may not be everything that she believed it to be. Additionally, Himes has created charming illustrations of pudgy babies and domestic life, and although these may not be glamorous, the scenes are touching and sweet.

The One That Got Away by Leigh Himes 1I really enjoyed The One That Got Away and I definitely recommend it for the upcoming summer months!

Must-reads for Memorial Day Weekend

~ SamanthaWho ~ 4 Comments

Memorial Day Weekend readsWhether you’re heading out for a beach getaway this Memorial Day or enjoying a stay-cation buried under the covers, I’ve got a list of great reads for the holiday weekend!

Eligible

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is a modern remaking of the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, with a play on the hit reality TV show The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. A bit cheesy and slightly raunchy, the comical tone of this book is completely entertaining and I was amused by the outlandish characters and their bizarre behavior. Filled with delightful surprises, this is a definitely a fun read!

I Let You Go

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh is one of the rare mystery novels that I want to re-read because the plot twist is absolutely fantastic and I really connected with the characters. The story begins on a rainy afternoon when a woman is walking her young son home from school. When he runs ahead to get out of the cold, a car hits him out of nowhere. The child dies on impact and the car speeds off without a trace. Right from the start, with this dark and eerie prologue, this book consumed me and I can tell you that that the plot twist is EXCELLENT.

A Hundred Summers

I’m a huge fan of Beatriz Williams and am constantly recommending her books to friends and family. This is a book that I recommend to both my bookworm friends and self-proclaimed non-reader friends and they have all loved it! A Hundred Summers begins when Lily Dane leaves New York City and comes face to face with her ex-best friend, Budgie, and ex-fiancé Nick in Seaview, Rhode Island. The story switches between 1938 and 1931 as we try to discover how Lily’s world turned upside down. I adored these characters and I hope you do too!

Big Little Lies

Liane Moriarty writes wonderful stories that combine the lightness of a beach read with the twists and turns of a gripping story. Her novel, Big Little Lies, follows three women whose children attend the same school. As readers we learn from interview clips that something bad happened at a school event and I couldn’t put the book down until I found out what it was. Catch up on this one before the new HBO series based on the book airs staring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, and Alexander Skarsgård!

The One That Got Away

I just started this debut novel by Leigh Himes and I’m totally hooked by the fast pace and engaging characters. With a similar tone as Freaky Friday (anyone else a fan of the Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis movie?), the story is one of a switched identity. When Abbey wakes up from a fall down the Nordstrom escalator, she finds that she is married to a man who isn’t her husband. Abbey is overworked and underappreciated as she juggles parenting her children, managing their house budget, and handling her job. In this alternative world, Abbey is the wife of a successful congressional candidate, a man who she had met and turned down years before, and now she realizes the life she may have had if she had chosen differently….

Happy reading! xoxo

The 100 Year Miracle by Ashley Ream

~ SamanthaWho ~ 4 Comments

The 100 Year MiracleI’ve been reading at a faster pace this year than I ever have before so needless to say, I’ve read quite a few books so far in 2016. The 100 Year Miracle by Ashley Ream is one of the best books on that list! Set in the Pacific Northwest, a place I call home, I am particularly drawn to this story that centers around a mystical glow that appears off the coast of Washington state.

Once in every 100 years, a bay around an island off the coast of Washington glows green for six days. The sea creatures causing the dazzling glow are a mystery, but are believed to cause hallucinations, ease pain, and connect people to the spirit world by the Olloo’et tribe. For Dr. Rachel Bell, these sea creatures, known as Artemia lucis, represent a possible solution for her terrible pain and suffering. When her team of researchers goes to Olloo’et Bay to study the creatures, she will do anything to prove her theory as the clock winds down….

Elsewhere on the island, Tilda and Harry, a divorced couple, come back together as Harry faces the final stages of his debilitating disease. They must come to terms with a horrible accident that rocked their family years ago and learn how to finally move on just as the green glow appears outside of their windows.

The 100 Year Miracle Not only is the idea behind the story really interesting, the characters are humorous and endearing as well. In particular, Rachel’s abrupt and forthright manner (which broke many common social courtesies) and Harry’s charming and gruff wit were quite entertaining.

I find a story to be compelling when it not only urges me want to read, but inspires me to write as well, which The 100 Year Miracle did for me. I definitely recommend this one!

Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica

~ SamanthaWho ~ 2 Comments

Dream by Day book review of Don't You Cry by Mary KubicaToday I’m sharing my review of Don’t You Cry, the newest psychological mystery novel by Mary Kubica, the bestselling author of The Good Girl. I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview Mary about her books and writing practices, which you can see here!

Don’t You Cry begins when Quinn realizes that her roommate, Esther Vaughn, has disappeared from their apartment in Chicago one night. With no word from Esther, Quinn scrambles to find a trace of her. Instead of finding Esther, Quinn rifles through her room and finds many clues that indicate that she may not know best friend as well as she thought she had…

In a small town outside of the city, a mysterious woman appears who strongly resembles Esther. Alex Gallo, an intelligent and lonely guy, lives in the town and quickly becomes infatuated by the woman. The more obsessed he gets, the more he realizes that she may be more dangerous that he could have imagined.

Dream by Day book review of Don't You Cry by Mary KubicaThroughout the story, each character’s perspective is quite straightforward as though they are writing in a journal or talking directly to the reader. There was a lot of transparency in their thoughts so we really got a sense of how they were feeling.

Don’t You Cry really picked up for me in the last 50 pages and had me staying up late into the night. Happy reading!

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

~ SamanthaWho ~ 6 Comments

Sleeping GiantsI think that it’s good to go outside of your reading comfort zone every once in a while in order to dip your toes into the water of another genre. That’s what reading Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, a science fiction novel, was like for me.

The story begins when Rose, a young child, is riding her bike one evening and falls into a square shaped hole in the earth. She wakes up in the palm of a giant metal hand. As an adult, Rose becomes the physicist that leads the team researching the huge mysterious hand, where it came from, and whether there are other artifacts out there. The more the team learns about the hand, the more they question what the artifact means for humanity.

The story is made up entirely of interviews, journal entries, and news clippings. I thought this was an interesting approach to writing and although I felt oddly disconnected as a reader I didn’t dislike it. The same mysterious figure conducts each interview during the book and I felt quite curious about the character. We don’t know much about him besides the fact that he’s got powerful connections and is a bit of a bully. There were a lot of political components to Sleeping Giants as well, both within the United States and between the governments of countries across the globe.

Sleeping Giants On a disappointing note, the flow of the plot seemed a bit scattered to me and it was a bit challenging to keep up with the timing. I thought some of the plot decisions (don’t worry, no spoilers here!) were random and unnecessary as well.

Although Sleeping Giants wasn’t my favorite read, I enjoyed the tone and the idea behind the plot. I also enjoyed reading a book outside of my typically preferred genres to mix things up!

Now it’s your turn! Do you typically stick to one genre while reading?

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

~ SamanthaWho ~ 10 Comments

I Let You GoThere aren’t many mystery novels that I want to re-read. For me, mystery books typically warrant a one-time read because the case has been solved. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh is one of the rare mystery novels that I want to re-read because the plot twist was that good and I connected with the characters that much.

The story begins on a rainy afternoon when a woman is walking her young son home from school. When he runs ahead to get out of the cold a car hits him out of nowhere. The child dies on impact and the car speeds off without a trace. Right from the start, with this dark and eerie prologue, this book consumed me.

There has been a lot of hype about a major plot twist in I Let You Go and to be honest I was a bit skeptical because many mystery books boast the same thing. I was VERY mistaken because when I got to the plot twist, I instantly thought OH MY GOSH WHAT WHAT OH WOW or something along those lines because I was so shocked!

I Let You Go The book was gripping and I really felt for the protagonist, Jenna Gray, and the pain she suffered from the accident. She is one of those characters that I found myself rooting for and I felt generally upset when she faced trouble.

I have heard from some readers that the beginning of this book is slow moving. I didn’t feel this way, but if you start the book and find yourself thinking that it’s too slow, I hope you’ll keep reading! It’s worth it.

I Let You Go is definitely going on my top pick recommendations list! Beware, some portions of the story are dark, but I believe that these contributed to the overall emotional aspect of the book and made it all that much more touching in the end.

I Let You Go What about you all? Do any of you re-read mystery novels?

 

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

~ SamanthaWho ~ 7 Comments

The Nest There has been a lot of hype around Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel, The Nest, lately. With a gorgeous cover and a description boasting the scandalous affairs of a New York family, I’m not too surprised.

This book is a family drama examining the lives of the Plumbs. The four Plumb siblings are set to receive an inheritance, which they call “the nest”, when the youngest of the siblings, Melody, turns 40 on her upcoming birthday. When the eldest brother, Leo, causes a terrible accident, that trust fund is suddenly at risk. With the inheritance serving as a safety net, the siblings have each gotten into various messes and are depending on that money.

The Nest is a well-written book with complex characters and relationships. The story illustrates the ways that the characters transform, which I enjoyed. The book is told from many points of view including those of the four siblings and the people that they come into contact with. I counted at least 10 throughout the book, but despite the shifts in perspective the story flowed nicely. I particularly liked the portions of the book from Melody’s perspective because they were authentic and I could actually feel the anxiety and pressure she felt to be the perfect mother to her daughters.

The NestI liked this book. The reason why I didn’t love this book is because I didn’t especially connect with the characters. I felt for and was intrigued by them, but that was it. All in all, I do recommend this book as a good read, especially for those who enjoy a fast paced family drama.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

~ SamanthaWho ~ 7 Comments

EligibleEligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is a remaking of the classic Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a story that I LOVE. Along with being a modernized version of the classic story, there is a play on the hit reality TV show The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which is called Eligible in this book. I didn’t know what to expect with this one and I can happily say that I really enjoyed it!

Eligible mirrors the original Pride and Prejudice pretty well and stays true to the characters’ personalities, even using the same names to avoid confusion. It was a bit raunchy at times in a comical way, which I enjoyed and I was amused by the outlandish characters and their bizarre behavior. Filled with delightful surprises that I didn’t see coming (but were quite obvious after the fact) this is a fun read!

Some areas of the book were cheesy and a bit unrealistic as the plot was translated into the 21st century, but that’s to be expected with a retelling like this. For example, some portions of Darcy’s dialogue, which I really liked, seemed a bit too proper to flow naturally in a conversation today. Darcy can do no wrong in my mind though so it didn’t detract from the overall story for me.

While reading I was very aware of the narrator, which isn’t always the case when I read a story from the third person point of view. This is also how I felt throughout the original Pride and Prejudice though so the tone here matched nicely.

Eligible I definitely recommend reading the original Pride and Prejudice, or at least becoming familiar with the story, beforehand so that Eligible can have more meaning. I sped through this one and would happily recommend it to a friend!

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld releases on April 19, 2016.