Duet for three hands, by Tess Thompson

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Tess Thompson

It’s late 1920s when Nathaniel, a virtuoso pianist with limited social skills, is delighting his audience, not knowing that some hours later his life would change drastically: in the after-party he would meet his future wife, Frances Bellmont, and his career as one of the best piano concertists would fade away.

The other part of the story is set at the Bellmonts’. Whitmore Bellmont, Frances’ little brother, is a talented boy on the art of drawing who is in love with the maid’s daughter, Jesselle, a black young girl who has been taught by Mrs. Clare Bellmont all the school subjects she couldn’t have learned otherwise because of the color of her skin. The relationship between Whitmore and Jesselle must be kept secret, as well as the lessons Mrs. Bellmont schedule every day for Jesselle, because the society of their time would raise Cain if they knew.

Finally, there is a young widow called Lydia, who eventually would know the rest of the characters, when she decides to leave the farm she has always lived in, in order to master the piano.

Tess Thompson, one of my favourite romance authors, has surprised us, her fans, by writing a historical fiction novel this time based on the life of her great-grandmother, which has been a pleasure to read.

From several points of view, the story shows a portrait of that time, regarding human rights, education, arts, and the beginning of the movie industry, with a wealthy southern family in the center. Every one of the characters has a unique voice and, even when each one has their own conflicts to solve, all of them converge throughout the narration, interconnected in the overall story.

However, my favourite has been Nathaniel; I felt really sorry for him when he had to stop playing music and give up his fascinating career as a concertist only to be stuck in a marriage where love was absent. I also enjoyed Jesselle’s story; a girl divided between two worlds, fighting for growing up and make her dreams come true, with her only two weapons against the world: her love for Whitmore and her will to learn.

With the issues it addresses and the charming characters the novel has, I think most readers will be captivated by Duet for three hands as much as I was.

Duet for Three Hands, by Tess Thopmson
Published by Booktrope, 384 pages

Book on Amazon.com
Book on Goodreads
Tess Thompson’s web

New books – June 2015

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Ashley Farley, Bee Ridgway, Celeste Ng, Gillian Flynn, Jodi Picoult, S.J. Watson, Sadie Jones, Sarah Hall, Tess Thompson

It’s time to show you my new books!

There has been a book fair here in my hometown a couple of weeks ago, so I had the perfect excuse to buy here and there and, besides, I have received a few books from publishers and from a giveaway I won.

Here you go:

The outcast and The river of no return were the books I purchased in the Book Fair.

Back in April I participated in Dewey’s 24 hours readathon and, as always, since I’m kind of an addict to the mini-challenges, I participated in many of them and I won the one hosted by Darren. The prize was £15 to spend in The Book Depository, and I choose Everything I never told you, Leaving time and Sharp objects. I still can’t believe how cheap books are in that web!

And finally, I received Second life (which I have already finished) and The wolf border from Harper. I’ll review them soon, because they are for sale this month.

I also have a couple of new ebooks:

Her sister’s shoes (Ashley Farley): I’m participaing in a book tour of this book, I think it’s my kind of read.

Duet for three hands (Tess Thompson): I was browsing on Amazon Spain but this book wasn’t available in my country so I contacted the author and she kindly sent me a copy! You know she is one of my favourite romance authors, and I really wanted to read this one – I have already started it!

So that was it!

You see I have plenty of books to enjoy after I finish my exams next week 😀

Tea and Primroses, by Tess Thompson

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Tess Thompson

Tea and primroses is the second book in The Legley Bay collection, and I enjoyed it much more than Caramel and Magnolias!

You know how much I like novels with family secrets, when the characters find out something about the past that could never have imagined, and it somehow changes their present lives for the better. This book has it all, and even more: it has a beautiful love story that touched me.

The story begins with the death of Constance in an accident; she was a popular author who had a simple life in a house on the coast. Constance had lost her husband time ago and had an only daughter, Sutton, who is now devastated, not only for Constance’s death, but also because the police think it has been a murder.

Sutton has grown up with Declan, Constance’s housemaid and best friend’s son, and the friendship between each other turned to love when they become teenagers; eventually their ways got separated but, fortunately, the funeral has reunited them again. Sutton has never stopped loving him, and her mother, in her will, encourages her to come back to him because she knew Declan is her only love. Together, they find a manuscript where Constance tells them a story about her they never had a clue about.

And what a beautiful and sad story! I felt myself as a part of it from the beginning because it is so intense. Constance talks about her as a girl who finds love through her will to become a writer, but because of the circumstances she has to let it go and live her life without him; she would never forget about what she once had, but would also learn that it will never come back, so she has to look forward. How hard would that be? Constance, as a writer, knows how to express in words what feelings claim, so that the reader can feel it too.

The part set in the present time, with Sutton and Declan, is also very sweet. They had missed each other so much, but they are afraid of not being able to make their relationship work again; after all, it was years ago when they were together.

All I can say is that this is my favourite of Tess Thompson’s novels so far. It has everything I need in a story, and I liked the way she has written it, with a normal narration for the present time, and excerpts of Constance’s manuscript to tell her own part, which really touched my heart.

Book on amazon.com ♦ Book on Goodreads

Tea and Primroses

Tess Thompson

Booktrope

250 pages

Keep calm and read in English: 6/20

Caramel and Magnolias, by Tess Thompson

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Tess Thompson

This is the third book by Tess Thompson I read, and all I have to say is that she has another fan here. I will always remember her with affection because Riversong (review) was one of the first books I read in English, and I first participated in a book tour with a promotional post about Caramel and Magnolias, which I was confused with, because I thought I was getting a copy for review instead of showing an excerpt on my blog – my English was so basic by then 😉 – so I finally entered a giveaway and won a digital copy. And after all these adventures, today you can read my review!

The story begins when a teenage girl disappears. The owner of an adoption agency might be involved in the case, and this is the man Cleo Tanner contacts in order to help her best friend, Sylvia, to have a baby; a dream Sylvia thought she would never achieve.

In this novel, some of the characters have a painful past behind them. Cleo, for a start, hasn’t dated anybody since her boyfriend died in an accident time ago. Sylvia is desperate to get her baby, and she ends up destroying her marriage because of her obsession – she will have a happy ending, though. Nick (ohh Nick, how I loved this character!), Sylvia and Cleo’s friend, has been secretly in love with a woman for years, poor man! And Peter, the detective who works in the case of the missing girl, has trouble with commitment at relationships because his parents’ marriage didn’t work.

So we have a group of characters who have to deal with their past as well as their present situation, and an interesting plot about the probably illegal activities the adoption agency is carrying out, which makes the book very fun. I also liked the secondary characters; I would have happily read more about them in this book, especially about Peter’s brother and mother.

The suspense is intriguing and the romance is sweet, so both aspects make Caramel and Magnolias an enjoyable reading you will have a good time with.

PS: today I was supposed to review Tea and Primroses, the next book in this series, but I had a problem with the ARC I got and I started it late – I’m reading it at the moment and I will review it next week. Anyway, I’m happy I read Caramel first, because I have found some of the characters in the second book, and it’s better if you already know them, I think. Hope Tess doesn’t mind!

PS2: Here you can read Allison’s review.

Book on Amazon.com ♦ Book on Goodreads

Tess Thompson on Facebook

Tess Thompson on Twitter

Riverstar, by Tess Thompson

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Tess Thompson

This is the third book on the River Valley series, whose first book, Riversong, was a novel that I enjoyed a lot. All these books have the same location in common – River Valley, a fictional town in Oregon – and different main characters that have been introduced but not developed in the previous books.

In Riverstar the main character is a woman called Bella who works as a professional makeup artist for a film producer, and they are going to shoot the next film in River Valley, where Bella’s brother lives. There she meets Ben, her ex-boyfriend, and they both feel they are still in love with each other, so they decide to give their relationship another try. But just then, an actress of the film Bella is working in is found murdered and Ben is the main suspect. While he is in prison, Bella will have to investigate on her own in order to find the real murderer and prove Ben’s innocence.

This is an easy read in which the bulk of the story deals with the criminal investigation. Bella gets help from her brother and friends, who are characters that we already know from the previous books, but I must confess that I guessed who was the killer from the beginning so at the end of the novel, when I saw I was right, I felt a little bit disappointed since the story didn’t have any major surprises for me, and neither did I find Bella and Ben as attractive and well developed as the characters of Riversong.

It isn’t a bad story – in fact I read it in less than two days because I got hooked on the investigation, which in the end included drugs and blackmailing – but it’s just that I would have liked more intensity regarding the characters and their relationship.

Links:

• My review of Riversong is here.
• You can watch an interview to the author here, in which she talks about all her novels, specially the River Valley series.
• Book on Amazon ♦ Book on Goodreads
• Tess Thompson on Facebook
• Riversong is free for a few days on Amazon: click here.

Keep calm and read 20 books in English: 14/20

IMM – 3

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Eowyn Ivey, Jo Baker, Lori Nelson Spielman, Tess Thompson, William E. Thomas

Today I want to show you the new books I have on my shelves and in my kindle. I have already read some of them so I will review them very soon.

The snow child (Eowyn Ivey): I borrowed it from the public library of my hometown and I just loved it. In fact, I feel sad everytime I think I have to take it back there and it won’t be with me anymore!

The picture book (Jo Baker): I didn’t know anything about this book, but I saw it in a book shop and I thought it looked great, so I purchased it. I just had a whim! 😀

Pegasus falling and It never was you (William E. Thomas): I won the second one in a giveaway organized by Lucy, and they sent me also Pegasus falling because it is the first in the series, so I can’t be happier!

Riverstar (Tess Thompson): I contacted with the author throught facebook and she and her editor sent me Riverstar, the third on the River Valley series. I will review it soon because I have read it during my holiday.

The life list (Nori Nelson Spielman): this is the book I’m currently reading and well, all I can say is that I don’t want it to end (which might happen this evening).

***************

As you see, they are really promising books. Hope you are also enjoying your readings!

Riversong, by Tess Thompson

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Tess Thompson

I picked up this book because I needed something easy and happy to read during the exam period. I read the first pages and I knew it was what I was looking for, and I also have to say romance is one of my favorite genres.

In the prologue we meet Lee Tucker, an eighteen-year-old girl who is looking forward to the end of the summer to leave her little village in Oregon and her alcoholic mother and go to the city to study art.

Just in the next chapter sixteen years has passed, Lee is pregnant and her husband has committed suicide: he had a debt to the mafia and he couldn’t pay it back, so he decided to shoot himself before the gangs killed him. Now they are threatening Lee, so she decides to escape to her village and try to get money by fixing and selling her mother’s house, and thereby pay off the debt and live in peace again.

Her mother passed away years ago and back in the village an old lady neighbor helps Lee with the house. She also finds a job in a restaurant as an agent when she is asked to develop a viability study for the place, Lee being free to choose the design and the staff and to change everything she thinks should be improved so that people come. But there is one thing she is sure that must stay: the band that plays every Friday night and Tommy, their Mexican singer.

Lee doesn’t want to endanger her new friends, so she keeps to herself the reason why she has come back and tries not to think so much about the time when she has to leave the village and say goodbye to them.

The story is simple and from the beginning the reader expects a happy end, and that is exactly what you find when you finish the book; perhaps is too happy, but well, it wasn’t a problem for me because I liked the rest: the food is served in the restaurant now, the staff trying to become smarter because is part of the changes, Tommy’s riverside garden, Tommy himself… (Did I mention Tommy?).

I found little mistakes – apart from the excessively happy ending – in some phrases written in Spanish, but nevertheless the meaning was perfectly understandable.

A good reading if you are looking for romance with entertaining characters and an idyllic location.

My Spanish review here

Caramel and magnolias goes to…

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Tess Thompson

Allison

Congratulations, Allison!

I hope you like the book! And please, tell us what happens after that excerpt 🙂

Caramel and Magnolias: Promotional event and Giveaway

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Tess Thompson

I started reading Riversong by Tess Thompson a few days ago and I was looking for more information about the author when I saw this blog tour event, so I decided to apply for this kind of activity for my first time.

I have to say that I’m really enjoying Riversong and I expect Caramel and Magnolias is also a good read. I leave all the information about the book, the author and the giveaway:

Caramel and Magnolias:

• Title: Caramel and Magnolias
• Author: Tess Thompson
• Release date: February 1, 2013
• Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction; Contemporary Romance
• Age Group: Adult
• Buy Links: http://www.amazon.com; http://www.barnesandnoble.com; http://www.itunes.com

Bestselling author Tess Thompson, whose debut novel Riversong touched the hearts of readers worldwide, delivers a captivating and suspenseful tale of the possibilities that await us in life and in love – if we can find the courage to get off the sidelines.

Crushed by a broken heart, ten years ago Cleo Tanner walked away from her acting dreams and now leads a quiet, secluded life in Seattle. Sylvia, her best friend from college, is trapped in a loveless marriage, distraught by her desire to have a child – until an adoption agency owner in relentless pursuit of Cleo offers to help.

Just as Sylvia begins to experience a love so profound that only a mother can feel, a detective approaches Cleo with disturbing questions about the adoption agency. Determined to protect her friend, Cleo jumps into a dangerous investigation that forces her to confront the ghosts of her past.

A toast to friendship, motherhood, mended hearts and new beginnings, Caramel and Magnolias reminds us it’s never too late to reawaken the heart.

Excerpt from Caramel and Magnolias:

When she opened the door of her bathroom, he was there, perched on the edge of the bed, still fully clothed. His eyes lingered on her face before moving down the length of her body. “You look amazing in that robe,” he said. “Truly.”

He stood, coming towards her, holding her gaze in his. She leaned against the wall, letting herself melt into his chocolate eyes, until he reached for her and pulled her into his arms.

“It’s you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. He smelled so good. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel his mouth on hers.

Then he kissed her, gently at first and then harder, pushing her against the wall. “You’re unbelievable,” he said, kissing her neck and pulling gently on the lobe of her ear with his mouth, which made her shudder. Then he was back at her mouth, kissing her hard again until their breath was ragged.

She buried her fingers in his hair, pressing against his body as his hands seemed to move all over her at once. He caressed the sides of her thighs and her backside, and then he reached under her robe to graze her breasts with his thumbs. She quivered and moaned softly against his mouth.

“Are we moving too fast?” He pulled back.

“No,” she whispered, fumbling with the top button of his shirt. “Not fast enough.”

Hummm, don’t you want to know what happens next? 😉

About the author, Tess Thompson:

Tess Thompson is a novelist and playwright with a BFA in Drama from the University of Southern California. In 2011, she released her first novel, Riversong, which subsequently became a bestseller.

Like her main character in Caramel and Magnolias, Tess is from a small town in Southern Oregon. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington with her two young daughters, Emerson and Ella, and their puppy Patches. She is inspired daily by the view of the Cascade Mountains from her home office window.

Author social media links:

• www.tesswrites.com
• @tesswrites
• Facebook Tess Thompson

 Giveaway:

You can win an ebook copy of Caramel and magnolias in epub, mobi or pdf format. The copy will be sent from the publisher and it is open international.

Since this is the first giveaway I organize, it will be very easy to enter: just leave a comment on this post saying you want to win Caramel and Magnolias. Everyone will be assigned one number.

It is open until February 17th at midnight (Spain time). On February 18th I will write a post with the numbers and the winner, who will be chosen randomly, and he or she shall send me his/her email before 23rd of February.

If you have any doubt, please, feel free to ask in a comment or by email.

¡Good luck!

IMM – 1

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Gabrielle Wills, Paul Pilkington, Tess Thompson

I love reading IMMs on the blogs, taking a look at the books they are planning to read and seeing my list becoming eternal, so I have decided to do the same in my blog 😉 .

I’m starting little by little, so today I will show you three ebooks I have in my kindle since a few weeks ago:

The one you love (Paul Pilkington): this novel has very good reviews and also very bad ones, but I wanted to give it a try since the synopsis caught my attention. The book was for a few days for free in amazon, also here in Spain. And today I have seen it is for free again, so you have no excuses!

The summer before the storm (Gabrielle Wills): this is also a book I saw in amazon and I thought it could be interesting: I love Canadian stories! I contacted with the author in order to ask her if she would be interested in providing a few copies to organize a joint reading in my Spanish blog, and she agreed! She is very kind and I’m looking forward to knowing what happened that summer when WWI begun. I will tell you soon.

Riversong (Tess Thompson): this is the book I’m currently reading. It was for free in amazon some weeks ago, and I saw it had a very high score, so I also wanted to give it a chance. The beginning is being shocking because the main character seems to be in trouble, but I can’t say anything else; just that I have applied for a blog tour and the next post will be referred to Tess Thompson 😉 .

As you see, amazon is a great source of readings if you want to learn a language; you have to spend some time searching for stories that might suit you, but it is cheap (or free!) and fast once you have decided, and the kindle dictionary helps you a lot when you are reading!