Review & Giveaway: 137. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern...

I was soooooooooooo excited at the opportunity to review Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, which has been showing up all over the blogosphere! 

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
ISBN-13: 9780385534635
Hardcover: 387 pages
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Doubleday

drey's thoughts:
Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus is fun and charming, with a dash of mystery. At its heart are two young people who've been set up as competitors in a game where there are few rules and only one winner. Their playing field is a mysterious circus that appears and disappears on an irregular schedule, filled with spectacular performances to thrill your senses.

The story started in spurts, which along with the short chapters confused me until I started getting the flow of it.  Eventually though, everything tied together nicely, and you really appreciate this enchanting masterpiece.

The cast of characters are varied and unique. I loved Celia, and wished for a better childhood for her. I didn't care for her father at all--what kind of (insert not-so-nice word here) would set his own daughter up for something like this? Marco is a bit more mysterious than Celia--we know nothing other than his selection, his learning magic, and his eventual job with the "proprietor" of the circus, Christopher Lefevre. He knows Celia the moment he meets her, though she has no idea that he's her competitor. I'm surprised he didn't take advantage of that knowledge, but that's the kind of guy he is. We can't have Celia falling for a jerk, after all...

I really enjoyed The Night Circus, and will probably re-read it if I can find the time--just to see if I'd missed anything in the original reading...

drey's rating: Excellent! The Night Circus is all it's cracked up to be, even though it took me a little while to get engrossed in it.

Have you read The Night Circus? What did you think? And if you haven't, c'mon and enter to win a copy!

Giveaway!
Thanks to the publisher, I have TWO copies of The Night Circus for you! This one's for US residents only (sorry!), no PO Boxes please. To enter, fill out the form below by October 16th. Good luck!




Some fun stuff:
Erin Morgenstern on facebook
A Wall Street Journal interview with Erin
Erin on NPR (along with an excerpt)

Review & Giveaway: 73. Twice a Spy by Keith Thomson...

I've been sitting on this for a while--had too many books to read lately (yeah, like that's a real problem!), but I finally picked it up and finished it...

Title: Twice a Spy
Author: Keith Thomson
ISBN-13: 9780385530798
Hardcover: 324 pages
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Doubleday

drey's thoughts:
Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a complicated spy-thriller when I read Twice a Spy, but I really didn't get into this convoluted story about a man and his father trying to stay a few steps ahead of their certain death long enough to find evidence of their innocence. Difficult enough to do when just about every agency is on your tail, almost impossible when the father is only periodically lucid due to Alzheimer's.

Twice a Spy is all action, from the first page to the last. It opens as they're on the run, and closes as they barely get done saving the world. And in between there are plot twists and betrayals to go with a (teeny) lil' bit of romance.

Of course, that doesn't matter if you're looking for an action-packed thrill-ride between the covers, because in that case Twice a Spy delivers.

drey's rating: Pick it up! Or win a copy... *grin*

Giveaway:
Thanks to the publisher, I have two copies of Twice a Spy for you, if you live in the US (no PO Boxes, please!). To enter, fill out the form below before 6pm CST June 19th. One entry per person (multiples will be disqualified). Good luck!

122. Blind Man's Alley by Justin Peacock...

Title: Blind Man's Alley
Author: Justin Peacock
ISBN-13: 9780385531061
Hardcover: 465 pages
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository

FTC Disclosure: My copy of Blind Man's Alley was provided by the publisher for this review. I am an affiliate at IndieBound, The Book Depository, and Amazon, and any purchases made by clicking on the cover or the links provided may result in monetary compensation.

drey's thoughts:
Justin Peacock's Blind Man's Alley is a legal thriller that will satisfy the legal-thriller fan... If you can make it through the first 20-30 pages, that is. I liked it, but thought it took a while to get up to cruising speed. 0-to-60 did not occur in 5.1 seconds here! Then again, good things come to those who wait. *grin*

Dustin Riley is a nice guy--as nice as a successful lawyer can be, anyway. He's on the up-and-coming path at work, with partnership just around the corner. He's just got to get through this libel lawsuit for their biggest client and he's a shoo-in. And for feel-good purposes, he's doing a pro-bono case to help some folks keep their home. Life is good.

Then things slowly start getting complicated, and next thing you know his pro-bono client's on the hook for murder. And his boss is telling him to make a deal and close the case. But things aren't quite as they seem, and Dustin's curiosity gets him poking around things better left un-poked.

While Dustin's legal life is getting complicated, Candace Snow's gets downright loopy. She's the reporter being sued for libel. And she's adamant that not a single word she printed is untruth. So she sets out to prove her side of things, and she finds out that getting wrapped up with big-time property developers can have scary consequences.

The bad guys are bad, the good guys are good, and the lawyer makes his way from the fence to pick a side. When the pace picks up, you won't want to put this down. Promise.

drey's rating: 3/5 Good

Challenges: 100+, Pub

Giveaway!
Thanks to Doubleday, I have 2 copies of Blind Man's Alley for you, if you live in the US (no PO Boxes, please)! To enter, comment with your email address and tell me you want it. Do it before 6pm CST October 21st. That's it, good luck!

Extra entries:
+1 Tweet this giveaway, comment separately with your twitter status.
+1 FB share (www.facebook.com/dreyslibrary), comment separately with your FB name.
+1 List this on your blog sidebar, comment separately with your blog link.

89. Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich (& a giveaway!)...

Title: Rules of Betrayal (Jonathan Ransom #3)
Author: Christopher Reich
ISBN-13: 9780385531542
Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository

FTC Disclosure: My copy of Rules of Betrayal was provided by the publisher for this review. I am an affiliate at IndieBound, The Book Depository, and Amazon, and any purchases made by clicking on the cover or the links provided may result in monetary compensation.

drey's thoughts:
I wonder how it is that I've never read Christopher Reich before. Especially since I picked up Rules of Betrayal, whilst half-awake due to lack of sleep because my son's been up coughing for the last 4 nights, just to read a few chapters before I took a quick nap so I could get through the rest of the evening. And I could NOT put it down. So, thanks, Christopher--I'm now even more sleep-deprived than I was a few hours ago (no, I never made it to the nap).

In Rules of Betrayal, Jonathan Ransom is doing the do-gooder thing (to make up for the not-so-good things he's done in his past), treating the sick in Afghanistan, when he is kidnapped by a local warlord-slash-druglord-slash-all-'round-bad-guy. Not for money, oh no. But to heal his father, a top-of-everybody's-terrorist-list bad guy. Guess it runs in the family. However, through no fault of Jonathan's, bad guy's dad is offed while he's there. And he gets dragged heels kicking into the world of international espionage.

Not that he had much choice. Especially since the poor guy still loves his wife, an infamous spy herself. Never mind that he has no clue where she's at or what she's doing. Which is a good thing, since what she's doing is pretty dangerous, and a girl could get herself plenty hurt at it. Anyhoo.

The plot is tight with the usual cast of characters you'd expect in a spy thriller. Hero? Check. Lost love interest? Check. New girl interest? Check. Bad guys galore? Check. Some sort of weapon that could blow us all into a gajillion bits? Check. Double-crosses and twists and turns? Definitely. And, of course, spies galore. And while at times I could just imagine Matt Damon as Jonathan (who couldn't, after watching Damon in the Bourne movies?), I found that reading Mr. Reich is definitely less heavy on prose and more to the point than reading Mr. Van Lustbader. After all, who needs to wander all over Pakistan on a mule when you can just ride in a Humvee?

Thriller fans should pick this up. Or better yet, win it--read on!

drey's rating: 3.5/5 Very Good

Challenges: 100+, Pub

Giveaway!
Thanks to the awesome folks at Doubleday, I have two copies of Rules of Betrayal up for grabs, if you're a US resident (no PO Boxes, please!). To enter, comment and tell me you're a GFC follower--I'm shamelessly promoting my blog! Include an email address where you can be reached. +1 entry if you tweet (comment separately with the tweet link, please). +1 entry if you blog or link in your sidebar (comment separately with the link, please). Do it before 6:00pm CST August 18th. Good luck!