Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Earlier this year, Amazon notified me that due to their disagreement over Vermont state laws, they were no longer accepting anyone from Vermont to be part of their Associate's program. They said the ban remains in effect until Vermont changes its laws. For me, this means I can no longer access image links through the Associate's program. They more recently sent an email saying that the code in the ads I've posted for the past number of years are not longer going to work unless I change them (more than 200) to include new Associate's links. As you can guess, since I cannot access Associate's, it seems pointless to have to alter the code on more than 200 pages. Their response to me was a general "whatever, do it or the links go away." I'm not doing it. If you look at old reviews next month, the Amazon links will unlikely work. I apologize for this. I will be looking to see if other booksellers like Barnes and Noble still work with Vermonters, but I

Release Date - September 15, 2015 Robert Dugoni Thomas & Mercer Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth First, sorry for the absence. My job kept me from being able to read anything. I'm hoping to now get back to my more usual routine, as not reading for a full week becomes a stressor in my eyes. Robert Dugoni blew me away with last year's My Sister's Grave . This was first in the Tracy Crosswhite series. I'm not going to go into that book, and if you missed it, Her Final Breath does stand by itself, though I highly recommend the first. Tracy Crosswhite is back, though her position within the police force is on shaky grounds due to her unwillingness to do as she's told. Tracy's good at following her gut, and usually her instincts are spot on. A number of recent murders are keeping police busy, and Tracy's convinced a case that was supposedly solved years ago was the first of the serial killer's work. If she's right, an innocent man is in

Release Date - April 2015 Gena Showalter HQN Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth He's been through jail and now all Jase Hollister wants is to live peacefully with his friends (once all foster brothers). He has no room in his life for women, especially not one very flirtatious woman and her quieter, very sexy sister. Brook Lynn Dillon is trying to keep her life together, but her older sister's partying and one-night-stand ways make that very tough. Brook's two jobs keep the bills paid, but when she loses one of them because of her sister's lack of work ethics, Brook is in a panic. Jase Hollister offers her the job she needs, but how can she work for a man who makes it clear he wants no woman in his life? The Closer You Come starts off the Original Heartbreaker series with a bang. I fell in love with Jase and his friends, and definitely loved the pairing of him and Brook Lynn. Both shelter their hearts, which makes it fun to see if they'll realize they

Book Release - April 2015 Kimberly McCreight Harper Book Review by Bob Walch When the body of a newborn is discovered in the woods fringing the campus of a local university, the residents of Ridgedale, New Jersey, are shocked but have plenty of opinions on how such a terrible event could happen. Although she has some serious misgivings about taking the assignment, feelance journalist Molly Sanderson agrees to cover the story for the local newspaper. Molly recently has lost a child herself and her investigation is going to resurrect some painful memories. As she begins questioning the authorities and local inhabitants of Ridgedale, Molly quickly discovers there are plenty of secrets behind the white picket fences of this idyllic community. Told from the perspectives of three very different women, the reader, along with Molly, will untangle the sad story of the infant’s death. Kimberley McCreight’s debut, Reconstructing Amelia , received a lot of critical ac

Release Date - June 14, 2015 Harper Lee Harper Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Like many, I have seen the publicity, followed the story, and I was going to read Go Set a Watchman despite what critics were saying. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird enough that I kept my high school copy. My teacher knows and, while I offered to pay for it, he said he was overjoyed that one student loved it so much they actually didn't want to return it. I still have my copy and reread it once a year. I cannot imagine anyone reading  Go Set a Watchman  first, but if you are planning to and somehow dodged having to read TKaM in high school, Watchman will stand alone. You really do need to read both books, however, to understand how much Lee's writing progressed from her first written book to the highly-praised prequel. Go Set a Watchman takes place after To Kill a Mockingbird , but it was apparently Harper Lee's first written book, though publishers rejected it, so she tucked it a

Release Date - April 21, 2015 Ania Ahlborn Gallery Books Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth It's the chance of a lifetime. Lucas Graham, a true crime author, receives a letter offering him an interview with the very reclusive Jeffrey Halcomb, a death row inmate who killed a woman and her unborn child. It's the chance Lucas needs to revive his stagnant career, and possibly win back the affections of his wife and daughter. There's one big catch though. Lucas must live in the home where the murder was committed. Plus, this all must happen within a specific period of time. Otherwise, Lucas loses out on his chance to be the only person to ever hear Jeffrey's side of the story. Within These Walls jumps around from news clippings regarding the murders and past residents of the home, to Lucas's and his daughter's experiences within the home, and to the past where readers learn about Jeffrey's upbringing and how he met the woman he would be accused of mu

Release Date - May 2015 Diane Stingley Alibi Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I admit to choosing The Case of the Invisible Dog because it was praised as being " sure to delight fans of Diane Mott Davidson ." I am a big fan of the Goldy Schulz series and enjoy anything that is similar in humor and tone. Tammy Norman is back in North Carolina after a failed attempt at a career in Hollywood. Finding a job she enjoys has been tough since her return, so she's intrigued when she spies an unusual ad in the paper. She applies and finds herself the assistant to Shirley Homes, a woman who believes she is the great-great-granddaughter of Sherlock Homes. The job is just as unusual as her new boss. For a number of days, Tammy's only job duties seem to be sitting around and keeping the office plant alive. It isn't until a client, Matt Peterman, shows up with an unbelievable claim that an invisible dog is keeping him up all night that Tammy finds herself heading

Release Date - David Cristofano Grand Central Publishing Release Date - March 2009 While I received this book years ago for review, I couldn't get into it back then. Years later, I pulled it back out to give it another shot, as I really do like the plot for The Girl She Used to Be . In the end, it's the characters I still struggled with. For two decades, Melody Grace McCartney's been on the run, part of the witness protection program. She and her parents witnessed a brutal murder, one committed by a mobster. While the mobster was able to find and eliminate her parents, Melody has remained out of his reach. Until now... Bored of her current living situation, Melody fakes a problem and readies herself for another change of location, name, and career. Before the move is finalized however, the mobster's son does find her and offers her a chance at a life she's never experienced, the chance to be herself. All she has to do is turn her back on the governmen

Release Date - July 7, 2015 Irene Hannon Revell Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Michael Hunter's come to Hope Harbor after the loss of his wife. When he arrives and finds the only hotel in town is shut down, he's at a loss. He never expects a local resident to take him in. Especially not after hearing she's been an unfriendly recluse for a number of years. He's just hear to deal with his tragic past, the last thing he needs is to find romance. Tracy Campbell meets Michael Hunter when he causes her to crash her bike. She's back in Hope Harbor to run her family's cranberry farm and a local charity. With her time spread thin, she never expects to get help from Michael, but he seems insistent on paying back the kindness he's received from the town's recluse, so Tracy lets him in. She refuses to let him into her heart, however. She's had her chance at love and failed miserably. It doesn't take long before Tracy and Michael realize there