First Lines Friday...

HIS GAZE OVER the majestic panorama of Manhattan, 218 feet below, was interrupted by the alarm.

He had never before heard the urgent electronic pulsing on the job.

He was familiar with the sound from training, while getting his Fall Protection Certificate, but never on shift. His level of skill and the sophistication of the million-dollar contraption beneath him were such that there had never been a reason for the high-pitched sound to fill the cab in which he sat.                        

                 ... The Watchmakers Hand by Jeffery Deaver

Welcome back Lincoln Rhyme! I originally met Lincoln Rhyme, quadriplegic detective, in The Bone Collector (I think a lot of people did). It was a great book and a great movie starring Denzel Washington as the man himself. This is a murder thriller set in New York City. This will be published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 28, 2023! So mark your calendars! I received an eBook Galley from G.P. Putnam's Sons to review and I am in the middle of The Watchmaker's Hand and really enjoying it! Watch for my review coming soon...

Memoir Monday and Food and the City by Ina Yalof

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes tour of New York City’s dynamic food culture, as told through the voices of the chefs, line cooks, restaurateurs, waiters, and street vendors who have made this industry their lives.

In Food and the City, Ina Yalof takes us on an insider’s journey into New York’s pulsating food scene alongside the men and women who call it home. Dominique Ansel declares what great good fortune led him to make the first cronut. Lenny Berk explains why Woody Allen’s mother would allow only him to slice her lox at Zabar’s. Ghaya Oliveira, who came to New York as a young Tunisian stockbroker, opens up about her hardscrabble yet swift trajectory from dishwasher to executive pastry chef at Daniel. Restaurateur Eddie Schoenfeld describes his journey from Nice Jewish Boy from Brooklyn to New York’s Indisputable Chinese Food Maven.

From old-schoolers such as David Fox, third-generation owner of Fox’s U-bet syrup, and the outspoken Upper West Side butcher “Schatzie,” to new kids on the block including Patrick Collins, sous chef at The Dutch, and Brooklyn artisan Lauren Clark of Sucre Mort Pralines, Food and the City is a fascinating oral history with an unforgettable gallery of New Yorkers who embody the heart and soul of a culinary metropolis.

I can't resist books about food. I love to read the behind the scenes books on chefs and cooks, and Food and the City looks to be a fascinating read. That the story here takes place throughout New York City just adds a touch of allure! On my TBR list! Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, May 2016.

In My Mailbox...

In My Mailbox... I've received some great eGalleys last week! And I decided I would join in on the fun sharing them with you and the other bloggers participating in Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly event for bloggers to share what books arrived in their mailboxes. Mailbox Monday was originally created by Marcia of To Be Continued and is now hosted by Vicki, Serena and Leslie at Mailbox Monday's own blog.

I think ghosts are a theme for me this week, with almost all the books here having some sort of ghost involved. All except for The Passenger, which is a thriller that involves a death, but no ghosts to speak of. ( I think) Here's what landed in my eReader this week...

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase... Ghosts are everywhere, not just the ghost of Momma in the woods, but ghosts of us too, what we used to be like in those long summers . . . Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family's country estate, where no two clocks read the same. Summers there are perfect, timeless. Not much ever happens. Until, of course, it does. 

More than three decades later, Lorna is determined to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she's drawn deeper into the overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface and Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor's labyrinthine history, overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.

Ahh, a ghost story in a country estate in London! Need I say more? I am so looking forward to diving into this one! (and actually I have!) Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and G.P. Putnam 's Sons.

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz... A blistering thriller about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

"In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it..."

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time. She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born. It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

I have been wanting to read this after all the great reviews for a long time! I kind of feel like I won the lottery here, but in all seriousness this sounds like a great read and Lisa Lutz has the talent to do it! Thank you to Simon & Schuster!

Fell side by M.R. Carey... From Kirkus Reviews: A woman in prison must fight violent inmates and suspicious ghosts to find some measure of redemption.

Jess Moulson wakes up in the hospital with no memory of where she is or what has happened. High on heroin, she started a fire that burned her own face beyond recognition, severely injured her addict boyfriend, and led to 10-year-old Alex Beech’s death by smoke inhalation. Jess is found guilty of Alex’s murder and sentenced to Fellside, a notorious women’s prison in the remote Yorkshire moors. Alex’s ghost visits her in prison, assuring her that she was not the one who hurt him and begging her to uncover the truth behind his murder. Soon Jess is projecting into “the Other World” with Alex while simultaneously navigating the very dangerous real world of Fellside.

You know, I love a good ghost story and the hook here for me was Alex's ghost coming back and visiting Jess in prison. I thought that was interesting. And I'm also interested in how well M.R. Carey handles Jess visiting "the other world", which I presume to be the place in-between life and death.  Thank you to Orbit Books!

Summer lost by Ally Condie... It's the first real summer since the devastating accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what's left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They're just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar. 

This was just a 6 chapter sampler released by the publisher, but it sounded like a wonderful "summer" read, and hints of a coming of age tale, so I happily downloaded the sample eGalley!  Thank you to Penguin Group, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Dutton Books for Young Readers.

That's my mailbox this past week, what kind of books arrived on your doorstep?! Hop on over to Mailbox Monday and check out what everyone found waiting for them!


Happy reading... Suzanne

The Sunday Salon and You Gotta Have Heart... or 3 Books that Have a Heart (in their title)

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week bloggers from all over the internet get together virtually in a large gathering place called The Sunday Salon and talk books!  And The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, in which more bloggers share their bookish news!!

 My biggest bookish news this week is that it's my Blogiversary! 

7 years ago on February 18th I posted my first post on Chick with Books! It was a review for Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, one of my favorite books still to this day! I didn't know where I was going to go with the blog, I just wanted to talk books! But in the 7 years I've been book blogging, I have met so many wonderful readers, bloggers, authors, publishing reps and all around great people! I've read so many great books and shared them all with YOU! Thank you for sticking around and taking this journey with me! As a thank you, I've got a little giveaway going on! Want to pick out a book from Chick with Books? One lucky winner is going to get to pick out any one book that I reviewed or highlighted on Chick with Books from the last 7 years! Enter HERE! Don't be shy!

And on to some new books I've spotted this week... 

It's still February, and so there still is a little romance in the air. Or at least our hearts are still going pitter patter. Well, here are 3 books that have heart...or at least heart in the title.

The Heart by Maylis De Kerangal... Just before dawn on a Sunday morning, three teenage boys go surfing. Returning home, exhausted, the driver lets the car drift off the road into a tree. Two of the boys are wearing seat belts; one is sent through the windshield. He is declared brain-dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. His heart is still beating.

The Heart takes place over the twenty-four hours surrounding a fatal accident and a resulting heart transplant as life is taken from a young man and given to a woman close to death. In gorgeous, ruminative prose it examines the deepest feelings of everyone involved--grieving parents, hardworking doctors and nurses--as they navigate decisions of life and death. As stylistically audacious as it is emotionally explosive, Maylis de Kerangal's The Heart has mesmerized readers in France, where it has been hailed as the breakthrough work of a new literary star.

Finally translated from the French to English, and just released here in the States, The Heart has won praise and accolades already in France, and seems to be following the same path here. I've read that it's beautiful and thought provoking. On my TBR list.

Your Heart is a Muscle The Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa.. On a rainy, cold day in November, young Victor--a nomadic, scrappy teenager who's run away from home--sets out to join the throng of WTO demonstrators determined to shut down the city. With the proceeds, he plans to buy a plane ticket and leave Seattle forever, but it quickly becomes clear that the history-making 50,000 anti-globalization protestors--from anarchists to environmentalists to teamsters--are testing the patience of the police, and what started out as a peaceful protest is threatening to erupt into violence.

Over the course of one life-altering afternoon, the fates of seven people will change forever: foremost among them police Chief Bishop, the estranged father Victor hasn't seen in three years, two protesters struggling to stay true to their non-violent principles as the day descends into chaos, two police officers in the street, and the coolly elegant financial minister from Sri Lanka whose life, as well as his country's fate, hinges on getting through the angry crowd, out of jail, and to his meeting with the President of the United States. When Chief Bishop reluctantly unleashes tear gas on the unsuspecting crowd, it seems his hopes for reconciliation with his son, as well as the future of his city, are in serious peril. In this raw and breathtaking novel, Yapa marries a deep rage with a deep humanity. In doing so he casts an unflinching eye on the nature and limits of compassion, and the heartbreaking difference between what is right and what is possible.  

I've seen this book EVERYwhere, and with reviews ranging from "powerful & ambitious" to "a symphony of a novel". This looks like a "borrow from the library book" for me because it just isn't quite what I'd look for in a read, but I am curious enough to want to read it.This book was released in January of this year.


Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway... Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but  their lives have followed completely different paths.

Married to a wonderful man and a mother to two strong-minded teens, Rachel hasn’t returned to her childhood home since being kicked out by her strict father after an act of careless teenage rebellion. Drew, her younger sister, followed her passion for music but takes side jobs to make ends meet and longs for the stability that has always eluded her. Both sisters recall how close they were, but the distance between them seems more than they can bridge. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian becomes enraged. In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book—which tells the tale of real-life female samurai Tomoe Gozen, an epic saga of love, loss, and conflict during twelfth-century Japan—reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.

Sisters of Heart and Snow by Margaret Dilloway has 2 things right off the bat that call my name- it's about 2 estranged sisters (I generally love reading about the complex relationships between sisters) and there is a Japanese sword on the cover (I love reading stories taking place in Japan or with Japanese folklore) This seems to have a quiet fanfare, with wonderful reviews. In particular most reviews note what a great job Margaret Dilloway does weaving the stories of the past and the present together. On my TBR list and will be released April 7th, 2016 by G.P. Putnam's and Sons.

Weekly Wrap-up...


Mon. Feb. 15th... Memoir Monday (Between You & Me by Mary Norris)
Tues. Feb. 16th... Review of the movie, Love Between the Covers
Wed. Feb. 17th... It's Twenty Questions! Get to know me a little better!
Thurs. Feb. 18th... My Blogiversary and GIVEAWAY!
Fri. Feb. 19th... The Passing of Harper Lee and some interesting links
Sat. Feb. 20th... Review of The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

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Looks like a busy week now that I've written it all down! How was YOUR week?! And what great books did you find that made your heart go pitter patter or at least made you take it home with you?!
Share your finds in the comments! I love hearing about books that caught your eye! AND Don't forget to enter the giveaway! I can't wait to see what book someone chooses!

More reading and books next week! In the meantime...

Happy reading... Suzanne