TLC Book Tours: The Map of True Places

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

Psychotherapist Zee Finch is dealt a blow when one of her patients, a troubled bipolar housewife named Lilly, leaps off a bridge to her death. The tragedy brings up memories of Zee’s own mother’s suicide, prompting her to go see her father, Finch, in Salem. She is startled to find Finch’s Parkinson’s disease is much more advanced than she’d been led to believe, and that he has kicked his partner, Melville, out of the house. Zee decides to take a leave of absence from her practice to care for Finch, a move that puts a strain on her engagement to Michael, one of her mentor’s closest friends. As her relationship with Michael comes to an end, Zee tries to puzzle out what caused Finch to abruptly break up with his beloved Melville. She also tries to make sense of Lilly’s death, unaware that the dangerous man Lilly was involved with now wants to exact revenge on her. Like her hit debut, The Lace Reader (2008), Barry’s second novel features an involving, intricately woven story and vivid descriptions of historic Salem. --Kristine Huntley -- from Amazon* 

I read The Lace Reader quite awhile ago and at the time I remember enjoying it, but I kind of forgot about it.  I was excited to get the opportunity to read her second book.  


Like her previous novel, I felt that this book started out slowly for me but once it got going the twists and turns hooked me.  I love how Ms. Barry always incorporates a mystical theme in her books and I enjoy the background of Salem quite a bit.  I've always been intrigued by Salem, so I love to read about it.  I also love the characters she creates, they are so vivid in my mind when I'm reading.  

Another aspect of this book that interested me was Finch's Parkinson's disease.  I find books that address different medical conditions to be really interesting and also so heartbreaking because they make you think of a disease in a different way than you normally may have.


Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Barry's lovely way of writing and the intricate stories she weaves.

Brunonia Barry's website, blog, facebook, twitter. 


Thanks to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to host a stop on this tour. TLC provided the book for my review.  Check out this site to see the rest of the stops.


P.S. If the formatting is kind of funky, I apologize!  I cannot get Blogger to cooperate lately.

February Books

Hold Still by Nina LaCour (February 3, 2011)

Beautiful book.  Caitlin was such a great character to read about, I felt her sadness and then I felt her happiness and guilt for being happy.  I loved her tree house and really appreciated her parents.  They gave her space, and in the end it worked out for them all.  Great story.

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova (February 4, 2011)

This was a good book, though not as good as Still Alice.  I had a hard time imagining what it would be like to live with Left Neglect.  I couldn't imagine not seeing the left, but she wasn't blind her brain wasn't acknowledging left.  It was so strange to me to find out that this actually existed.  

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (February 15, 2011)
I loved this book, though I hated her father.  Ugh, I wanted to slap him.  I loved the trip to China the most because her mother was free there.  Great book overall.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (February 17, 2011)
I love this series and I appreciated that this was a companion to the first book.  We got into the story many years later with Mary's daughter Gabry and this book did not disappoint.  I'm thinking I will be purchasing these books because there is a third one coming out next month!


Trapped by Michael Northrop (February 18, 2011)
This book was chilling.  I heard about this book awhile back but didn't want to be reading about people being stranded in a blizzard when we were having our own blizzards daily.  Today, the weather decided to go up to 47 degrees (yesterday 54).  Even better, I could see the grass so I decided I could handle the story.  I couldn't imagine those kids handling the weather - 18 feet of snow, trapped in a school.  The only negative thing about this book is that it ended so quickly.  What happened?  We only really know about Scotty's immediate outcome, but what about everyone else.  I was so mad when I turned that last page!