The Better Liar, by Tanen Jones: Book Review📚

book cover

4.5/5

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery & Thrillers

Description

Leslie Flores is a woman like many others living in a nice suburban neighborhood, with her husband and one year-old little boy. She has spent the past year working, taking care of her family and caring for her dying father. Her sister, Robin, has long since exited the family. But, upon her father’s passing, she learns that her inheritance is dependent on finding and reuniting with her lost sister. Leslie has to find Robin to get the money she desperately needs to secure her future, but when she tracks down Robin, it’s too late. Robin is dead from a heroin overdose. No one has seen Robin for 10 years, so when Leslie has a random encounter with a young woman, with a strong resemblance to her lost sister, she strikes a bargain with this stranger. Pretend to be Robin for a week and receive half the money, it’s that easy.

It doesn’t take long for both women to realize that that other is not what they seem. Each has secrets that will alter the future, and the past.

The Better Liar is the debut novel from Tanen Jones, and I was shocked when I realized this fact. Jones is masterful in her ability to draw the reader into the character’s stories. I actually felt like I was in the room with these women, could smell the smoke from the cigarettes, and could not put the book down. Jones writes as if this was her fiftieth novel, not her first! I was genuinely surprised by the ending, and I love it when an author can do that😊

I highly recommend The Better Liar, by Tanen Jones

Watching Glass Shatter: A Book Review, A Conversation and Breaking News!

Welcome, to the Watching Glass Shatter Blog Tour!!

Today we celebrate the debut novel by James J. Cudney

Book Review

Watching Glass Shatter

James J. Cudney

4.5/5 stars

Most first time novelists will keep their story simple and the number of characters to a minimum, in order to manage the task of development and continuity within the narrative. This strategy makes perfect sense and has been successfully employed, many times, by young writers looking to produce a strong, first effort. Numerous moving parts can be difficult to pull off even for seasoned writers, so many debut novels will be lacking a particular depth, or breadth, within the story itself. James J. Cudney boldly ignored that safe path and crafted a story full of colorful, flawed and relatable people who have, not only their own demons to wrestle, but issues to resolve that affect the future of their entire family.

Watching Glass Shatter revolves around Olivia, the proper and controlling matriarch of the Glass family who, until the death of her husband, has been under the assumption that all was well with her five sons and their respective families. The sudden and unexpected death of the beloved Ben, husband and father of the Glass clan, throws the presumed perfect family into an uncertain future, one that neither the sons nor Olivia are prepared to handle. What will become of the family business and legacy? How will Olivia move on without her husband of 40 years? The reading of Ben’s will only presents more problems as two mysterious letters are bequeathed to Olivia, and she alone controls the power held within those pages, knowledge that will forever change the dynamics of the Glass family. She has some tough choices to make regarding the son Ben speaks of in those letters. Which of her 5 sons will have his world come crashing down?

Cudney weaves the story lines of these many characters together brilliantly. The first few chapters are a lot for the reader to absorb as each new family member is introduced, but soon you will find yourself wondering what will happen next to Olivia and her sons Caleb, Teddy, Ethan, Matthew and Zachary, as Cudney draws you further into the Glass family dynamics. The cliffhangers are well timed, as is the overall pace of the story. There is no dull moment, there are twists and turns and unexpected, even tragic, revelations.

Watching Glass Shatter is the first effort for James J. Cudney and his writing will only elevate as he evolves into a more seasoned story teller, and I can’t wait for his next publication. I highly recommend Watching Glass Shatter.

Book Purchase

Available in both electronic form (PDF, MOBI or ePub) and physical form
Buy @ Amazon

A Conversation with the Author

James was gracious enough to answer some questions that I had after finishing the book. I wanted more time with the Glass family, so much had happened and a few of the unresolved issues were niggling at my brain!

Q: Where did the inspiration come from for the characters in the Glass family?

A: “Completely made up as I am an only child…I am detail oriented, so I just kept pushing myself to think of relatable people we all knew on some level.”

I then began asking very specific questions to which James answered quite honestly.

I wanted to know more about the contents of the second letter and its impact on the other family members.

Will the Glass men resolve their problems or will they go off course again?

Has Olivia really changed her controlling ways or does she fall back into her old habits?

And, so many more! I can’t include them here as they are huge spoiler alerts and I am not going to ruin the story for anyone! However, I did mange to get some news out of him that he will allow me to share now, with you!

BREAKING NEWS:

James will be publishing a sequel to Watching Glass Shatter!!! The timeline will be announce in early 2018!

Now we will all get to see what happens to the Glass family, thank you James!!

Be sure to follow James on the rest of his blog tour by clicking here for daily post updates.

More fun ways to support James!

Giveaways

Jina @ Author Inspiration is hosting a GIVEAWAY for a free e-copy of the book. Feel free to share her post; you can see the guidelines and enter here.
I will announce a Goodreads Giveaway free signed physical copy available for entry from 11/10 thru 11/30.

Goodreads Debut Author Award Nominations (By 11/5)

If you want to vote for Watching Glass Shatter in the Goodreads Choice 2017 Book Awards, the book is eligible for many categories, including as a write-in vote for ‘Debut Goodreads Author.’ You can vote here for Round 1 by 11/5 by scrolling to the bottom and entering in Watching Glass Shatter, then clicking Submit.

Favorite Character Poll

Enter the poll to choose your favorite character thru 11/20. You can choose from all the major family members or submit your own write-in vote.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Subscribe to my newsletter to receive special content and plans for 2018.

I am sure you will all join me in congratulating James on this tremendous accomplishment!

Have You Read Jay’s Novel Yet?

Our very own James J. Cudney has written his debut novel, “Watching Glass Shatter”. The moment I read the synopsis, I knew I had to get involved!

From Jay’s website: This is my truth now

Book Summary

A contemporary fiction novel focusing on a New England family’s drama set in current times. The wealthy Glass family has lost its patriarch, Benjamin Glass, sooner than expected. Benjamin’s widow, Olivia, and her 5 sons each react to his death in their own way while preparing for the reading of his will. But it is Olivia who receives a very unexpected confession from her late husband about one of their sons that could shatter the whole family.

Prior to revealing the secret to her children, Olivia needs to figure out which boy Ben is referring to in the confession he left her in his will. While the family attorney is searching for the mysterious Rowena Hector whom Ben says holds the answers, Olivia asks her sons to each spend a week with her as she isn’t ready to let go of the past. But when Olivia visits her sons, she quickly learns that each one has been keeping his own secret from her.

Olivia never expected her remaining years would be so complex and life altering, but she will not rest until she is able to bring her family back together after Ben’s untimely death. Will she be able to fix them or will the whole family implode? We all need family. We all want to fit in. We’re a mix of quirky fun!

I knew this was going to be good, but I didn’t realize how much I would be drawn into the story from the first chapter! Jay is clearly a talented story teller and, while my version was purchased before further editing, I am confident that any literary alterations will only enhance an already superior body of work.

Jay will be starting a blog tour to promote his novel and I am honored to say the Invisible No More will his first stop! I want to encourage you all to read “Watching Glass Shatter” before he kicks off the tour so we can all talk about the story, appreciate his interviews and we can all say “we knew him when”!

I purchased his ebook from Amazon, it is currently only available in this format. I don’t own a Kindle but Amazon has a free Kindle reader app which can be downloaded so you can start enjoying the story right away! It was easy to install and worked great, I am now reading his novel on my iPad.

Here is the link to purchase the book: Watching Glass Shatter

I will be posting a full review prior to the blog tour kick off, the schedule is below.

You are going to be hearing a lot about this next month, so why not get a head start and see what all the (much deserved) hype is all about!

Invisible-No-More