DAMAGED, Book Review and Giveaway

REVIEW

Lawyer Kate Lange is tortured by the guilt of her sister’s death and because she is daughter of a con man. The guilt is something she lives with everyday of her life and she keeps these secrets from those in her life. Her former fiancé, Ethan Drake, a police detective, finds out her secrets and ends their relationship because she kept these things from him. However, Kate’s life is about to change. She purchases a home in her old neighborhood and takes on a new job with a prominent law firm in hopes of making a name for herself.

After four months of being handed one family law case after another, Kate insists that she be given a litigation matter. However, the managing partner, Randall Barrett, insists she take on another family law matter because she still has a lot to prove. The family law issue involves a grandmother seeking to gain custody of her teenage granddaughter whose mother is a prominent criminal judge. She tells the grandmother that the case will not hold and offers some advice to the grandmother on how to proceed. Kate conscience starts to get the better of her but before she can intervene, the granddaughter is viciously murdered. She also receives a litigation case that involves a company that makes surgical products made of cadaver tissue where she finds some inconsistencies regarding tissue samples received by her client from a tissue harvesting company. When she starts asking questions, the founding partner for the firm, John Lyons, urges the client to settle the case and takes her off of it.

Kate starts to feel guilty for not being able to help the grandmother with her family law issue, for being called out by Lyons, for having something to prove to Barrett, and for feeling that she needs to do something to advocate for the slain girl, Kate starts to investigate. Her instincts lead her in the right direction but put her in the middle of a legal conspiracy and Halifax’s serial killer, the Body Butcher. She tries to seek the assistance of Ethan, her former fiancé and the lead detective on the serial killer case, but he tells her to keep her distance and let the police do their jobs.

Randall Barrett and Ethan Drake have bad history between them but after Kate disappears, they must work together to find her. With several young women having already been brutally killed and dismembered by the Body Butcher, Kate must fight for her life after she discovers a dangerous plot and a brutal killer’s connection. Kate is about to be the next victim and every second counts.

Pamela Callow’s thriller, DAMAGED, is a one you will not want to put down and I guarantee you will be squirming to find out what happens next. After reading DAMAGED, you will be eager to read Callow’s next novel, INDEFENSIBLE, where the fearless Kate Lange returns for another criminal scandal.

GIVEAWAY

To enter to win a copy of DAMAGED, please leave a comment telling what was the last thriller you read and by which author.

For two additional entries,

• Become a follower of this blog and then, leave a comment saying you are following.

• You can tweet this giveaway to OhBoy_Boys and then leave comment saying that tweeted.

This Giveaway will end Friday, July 2, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. so get your entry in by then.

The Winner will be chosen by Random.org. I will post the Winner here and email the winner directly. You will then have 48 hours to claim your Prize. U.S. and Canadian addresses only (No P.O. Boxes please).

THE LIES WE TOLD Giveaway Winner

The winner was generated via Random.org and is commenter # 15 told us her favorite author and novel was:

Loved The Daughters of Boston series by Julie Lessman - karenk

Congrats. I will send you an email. You will have until Monday at noon to get back to me.  If I do not hear from you, I will have to pick a new winner.  Thanks everyone else who participated.

The next review and giveaway will be up Monday morning and it will be for Pamela Callow’s DAMAGED.

Grown Ups Movie

I have been looking forward to watching “Grown Ups” and it hits theaters today. One of the main reasons I am excited about this movie is because I am a mother to boys and I understand all too well that boys will be boys and some longer than others.

Grown Ups stars a great group of funny guys: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. It is about five old friends who are former teammates who reunite to honor the passing of their childhood basketball coach.

Their wives, played by Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, and their children are in tow to celebrate a Fourth of July holiday together at the same lake house where they celebrated their championship many years prior. The guys pick up right where they left off and find out that growing older really does not mean growing up.



What movies you are looking forward to this summer?

DAMAGED, by Pamela Callow

Author Pamela Callow introduces us to struggling, 30-something lawyer, Kate Lange, who has just landed herself a dream job at one of Halifax’s top law firms. Thrilled with her new position at Lyon McGrath Barrett, she is assigned a new client where is a grandmother seeking custody of her disobedient teenage granddaughter whom she suspects is using drugs and hanging out with the wrong people. Kate wants to notify Child Protection but the Grandmother asks her not to because her mother is an ambitious criminal court judge hoping for a position in the Supreme Court. Three days later, the granddaughter is found brutally murdered and dismembered and Kate finds herself overwhelmed with guilt and wanting answers.

Pamela Callow’s spine-tingling thrilled DAMAGED (MIRA Books, June 2010) comes out this later this month, but next week, exclusively for readers of this blog, I will post an in-depth review of Kate Lange’s career-making case that leads Kate to a conspiracy that rocks the biomedical research field and puts her in the middle of a deadly investigation.

Visit http://www.pamcallow.com/books.html for an exclusive sneak peek of the first five chapters.



My review we be up Monday, June 28 and you will have until Friday, July 2 at 11:59. Become a follower of this blog so that you are able to see updates for reviews and giveaway posts and opinion posts through Blogger or Google Reader. You still have until tomorrow midnight to enter the giveaway for Diane Chamberlain’s THE LIES WE TOLD.  This will be the last giveaway posted at my personal blog.From now on, all reviews will be posted here. I will, however, let you know there that new reviews are posted.

Wordless Wednesday - Tranquility

Diane Chamberlain Book Review and Giveaway

BOOK REVIEW

Maya and Rebecca Ward are sisters who share many secrets. They both have medical degrees and they both share the memory of their parents’ brutal murder. The Lies We Told reveals that all people have secrets and some secrets are those that we don’t even tell the ones closest to us because of the pain that those secrets hold. Diane Chamberlain’s latest novel reveals the complicated nature of the relationship that sisters have and the secrets that they keep; secrets that will either bind them together or tear them apart.

Maya was fourteen and Rebecca eighteen when they witnessed their parents’ brutal murders. As a result of that tragedy, Maya becomes timid and cautious and Rebecca a risk taker. After a devastating hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca and Maya’s husband, Adam, urge Maya to join them in the relief effort with Doctors International Disaster Aid (DIDA). To please her husband, Maya agrees. Maya is on a helicopter transport to a nearby hospital when the helicopter crashes into powerful floodwaters and there appear to be no survivors. After a two week attempt to locate any survivors, Rebecca and Adam must accept that Maya is gone. As time passes, they turn to one another for comfort and then find themselves romantically attached. Meanwhile, miles from civilization, Maya is alive. She is rescued by strangers whom she is sure is not sure she can trust. She struggles to make her way home not realizing that her life is forever changed.

Diane Chamberlain writes in the first chapter that every family has a story filled with secrets unknown to outsiders. In addition, each member of the family holds their own secrets. The problem with secrets is that they are “the lies we tell others” and “we tell ourselves.” We all keep secrets for several different reasons. One is to protect ourselves and the other is to protect the ones we love. The problem with secrets is that they have a way of coming out and usually when we least expect them to and Chamberlain reveals that we can never really hide from those secrets because they continue to tear us apart inside. She describes the memory of Maya and Rebecca’s parents’ death as “unfinished business” because there was a lot “left unsaid between” them. The circumstances of that murder unfold when Maya and Rebecca are forced that accept what has happened; Rebecca believing that Maya is forever lost, and Maya seeing life in a way she never anticipated.


You can read an excerpt from the book at Diane Chamberlain’s website.



Diane Chamberlain’s The Lies We Told is available through, Amazon, Indie Bound and most book stores including Barnes and Noble.

MY THOUGHTS

The Lies We Told is an amazing story about two sisters, who as different as they are, are bond by the witnessing the murder of their parents. Diane Chamberlain reveals bits and pieces of the events that led to the murder of the girls’ parents with each sister carrying around a burden of guilt and personal blame and you will never be able to guess what those secrets are. Moreover, the ending is a shocker but you have to read the book to find out. Diane Chamberlain has become a must read author for me and I am sure you will be hooked by just picking up one of her books. The Lies We Told does not disappoint.
GIVEAWAY

To enter to win a copy of The Lies We Told, please leave a comment letting me know who your favorite fiction author is and your favorite novel by that author. (My favorite is “Black River” by Dean Koontz.) Please leave me an email address so that I am able to contact you. For an additional entry, you can tweet this giveaway to OhBoy_Boys.

This Giveaway will end Friday, June 25, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. so get your entry in by then.


The Winner will be chosen by Random.org. I will post the Winner here and I will you email directly. You will then have 48 hours to claim your Prize. U.S. and Canadian addresses only.

If you want to enter this giveaway, please do so here.

Logo/Images Courtesy of 2010 © Diane Chamberlain, YouTube.com