Teaser Tuesday (17)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week my teaser is from a memoir, a genre The Coffee Pot has had yet to see! :) I'm also including two teasers, something else that has never happened at The Coffee Pot. New month, new stuff. Good. Good.





It Rains In February: A Wife's Memoir of Love and Loss
Leila Summers





Teaser 1:
Kindle Location 129-30

I linger, desperately wanting to stay in a moment where other possibilities exist, other outcomes. To pause here, or rewind back to any day besides this one, a day before you met her. A time when you were still in love with me.

Teaser 2:
Kindle Location 362-64

It was almost as if you lacked the filters that most of us keep in place for our own protection. Instead, you took the whole lot in and this resulted in your viewing the world on some days as a beautiful and mystifying place, and on others, as a rotting and vile hell full of misery and danger.

Should Be Reading @ Wordpress

Grave Situation

Halifax cop Allan Stanton is a troubled homicide detective who has lost everything, including his family and his sense of justice.

When he finally decides to leave the force and start over, he's assigned a string of murders that all bear the signs of a serial killer collecting trophies.

As Stanton unravels each grisly crime scene, the mounting evidence points uncomfortably close to him, forcing him to confront a past he'd rather forget--and a dangerous future when the killer targets Stanton himself.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Alex MacLean's murder mystery, Grave Situation, will have readers frantically flipping pages, taking mental notes for possible suspects, and give them a little trouble sleeping. This is definitely a novel for all murder mystery fans (who don't have a weak stomach.) 

Allan Stanton is a homicide detective in Halifax, NS and after his last case goes cold, Allan's ready to think about leaving his career behind. Especially since it does nothing but tax his life, his job being the main cause of his wife and son leaving him. But then the signs of a serial killer emerge and Allan must focus on catching a killer once again. 

Allan is a wonderful character. He's the cop who chose the profession to help others as much as he can. He treats his cases like people, not forgetting that victims lay at the heart of everything he does. Readers can connect with Allan, perhaps, not based on his career but on his emotions. 

As one of the narrators, Allan is honest with the readers, letting them in on exactly what he's thinking and why it matters. It creates a great bond between the reader and Allan. It's because of that bond, readers want him to catch the killer and put the pieces of his own life back together. 

The supporting cast of characters mesh with Allan so well that the book almost becomes a reality-recorded movie, which makes the plot MacLean weaves absolutely believable. The plot is a perfect arc with build-up, set-backs, multiple climactic points, convergence of sub-plots, and a conclusion that will surprise every reader. (Seriously.)

And the thing is, the giant circle the plot makes is totally understandable. It seems like a news story you could have read about the biggest city near you.  (You'll know what I mean...)

The thing I loved most about this novel was the way it was written. MacLean does a fantastic job at writing the novel in such a way that the reader learns something about being a homicide detective. He is thorough when describing the steps taken by Allan. Not to mention all of the follow up procedures and autopsies. He even goes into great detail about profiling a psychopath! MacLean really brings the reader into the story by using this technique almost making the reader an actual character. 

Grave Situation

on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups

Ethereal (Celestra #1)

"Sixteen-year-old, Skyla Messenger is a dead girl walking. 

When her newly remarried mother moves the family to Paragon Island, to a house that is rumored to be haunted, Skyla finds refuge in Logan Oliver, a boy who shares her unique ability to read minds.

Skyla discovers Logan holds the answers to the questions she’s been looking for, but Logan’s reluctance to give her the knowledge she desires leaves her believing Logan has a few secrets of his own. 

Skyla’s bloodlines may just be connected to the most powerful angelic beings that roam the earth, and the more she knows, the more danger she seems to be in. 

Suddenly an entire faction of earthbound angels wants her dead, at least she still has Logan, or does she?" - Goodreads Blurb

*May Contain Spoilers*

Addison Moore creates a world where angels walk the earth in her novel, Ethereal, the first in the Celestra series. As a young adult novel, this book surprised me. (Who am I trying to kid? I love YA!) Overall, I think this novel was a great read. I had a few problems here and there, but for the most part I definitely recommend it. After all, I've already purchased the second one. 

Skyla is the main character who discovers she is an angel and that her life may be leading to danger. I liked Skyla for the most part, but I feel Moore could have dove deeper with Skyla so that readers would form a better connection with her. She's a cranky teenager who hates her new step-father, misses her (deceased) father, doesn't exactly like her new siblings, doesn't understand her mother, and has crushes on two gorgeous guys. She also doesn't seem to have a filter between her brain and mouth, which admittedly makes for some pretty funny situations. 

I just wanted her to have more depth. She seems to have a flip-flop personality, obviously not knowing what she really wants. But she is a teenage character, so what more can we expect? I'm looking forward to her growing as an angel in the next installments in the series. 

The plot line, I must say, was well planned out, with only a few minor hiccups. But I did feel like Moore rushed through the novel. Because of that, the novel was never idling, however it did create confusion in a few spots. I would find myself asking "What?!" out loud, only to return to the previous page to re-read it and work it out in my head so that the flow made sense. My only suggestions when picking up this novel: read slow and have a few hours of free time ahead of you. :) Happy Reading!

Ethereal 

on Amazon

rating: 3/5 cups

Wrap Up: June

For any of you who missed a few of the great reviews in June, here's a list of everything that was read here at The Coffee Pot. :)