REVIEW: Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry

*Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for a review*

Expected publication: March 27, 2018

Publisher's Summary:
Rain is a young woman trying to rebuild herself after years of drug addiction and abuse. Ten years ago, at age sixteen, she gave up her baby after the father, her first love, dies in Iraq. Now, three years clean and on the way to a job interview, Rain borrows a pair of reading glasses from an old lady on a Brooklyn train. The lenses are cracked and through the crack she catches a glimpse of a little boy running and screaming. The boy looks so much like Rain’s dead lover. Like their son must look now. 

Rain realizes that the glasses give her quick glimpses of her lost son, Dylan, who needs her to find him. Dylan is important to our damaged, hopeless world. But he’s in terrible trouble because evil creatures - the Shadow People - are trying to corrupt and destroy him. If Dylan dies, then hope dies. 

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Where should I start?  I was hooked from the first word.  Rain's is a compelling story that had me on the edge of my seat the entire read.  This novel has on the components of a chilling yet fascinating read. Rain is a dynamic character whose vulnerabilities make her intriguing and reader's can't help but be entranced by her journey. Maberry does what he does best, write with purpose that is both satisfying for those wanting creative, well developed characterization, action, an interesting plot and enough creepy horror elements to have you sleeping with the lights on and checking all nooks and crannies for any number of evil creatures!

I read in chunks and with the lights on to savor the experience and soothe my overactive imagination.  Maberry remains one of my absolute favorite authors. I devour everything he publishes and pine until I have another fix!

Final rating: ALL THE STARS!!!!!!

REVIEW: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter, who has been adopted by an American couple from California.

Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea as well as strict Akha traditions and superstitions. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever this way for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.

Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

This is the defining moment of Li-yan's life. While she attempts to adhere to tradition and some semblance of 'normal' happiness, fate intervenes and leads her on a dynamic journey beyond her village and into the modern world.  Her narrative is intertwined with vignettes regarding the adolescence of her daughter and the beautifully written way in which tea binds them together.

I was mesmerized by the story, especially the harshness of the traditional rituals observed by the Akha and Li-yan's slow metamorphosis as she attempts to honor her origins but embrace the modern world and many of its practices. This is a compelling story not only of culture but of love, family, identity and responsibility.

While the ending is beautiful and more than fulfilling, I found myself not wanting the story of these two women to end.  I wholeheartedly recommend the audio as narrated by Ruthie Ann Miles and Kimiko Glenn. Their performances are truly engaging.

Final rating: 5 out of 5 stars