In the Blink of an Eye

In the Blink of an Eye  💔💔💔💔
by Jesse Blackadder
Published March 2019 by St. Martin's Press 

In the blink of an eye is how long it can take to lose track of where your beautiful and smart 2 year old has wandered off to, and how long to realize that someone <spoiler alert> left the pool gate unlatched and your son is lying face down in the water.

This is a very sad (understatement) rendering of something that happens all too often, as the author knows all too well.  To watch this family, already with some rips in its seams, get completely shred to pieces is difficult  and emotional.  It's really well thought out and told.  I loved the epilogue.

My only complaints are these:  Telling the mother's  version of the story  in second person.  "You" did this and then "you" did that. Who is saying this and to whom?  Caught me off guard but I did get used to it.

1/2 star deducted.

Also there are paragraphs and paragraphs of incomplete sentences, which always throws off my rhythm until I see why it is so. For example, instead of someone saying, "I got up and I walked  to the kitchen," it would be more like "Got up.  Went to the kitchen.  Remembered something."  I mean, I write personal emails like that in the interest of time, but find it unprofessional otherwise.  Just my own opinion and personal preference.

Another 1/2 star deduction. 

Otherwise, let me say that I couldn't put this down.  I cared about the family and whether they would heal themselves as individuals and help each other to heal as a unit.  A big thank you to NetGalley and to Jordan Hanley of St Martin's Press.

The Kennedy Debutante - Review

The Kennedy Debutante   3.5 stars
by Kerri Maher
Published October 2 2018 by Berkley  Books

The Kennedy family makes for interesting story fodder, that's  for sure.  If nothing else, they provide a look into surviving multiple tragedies while maintaining a pretty charmed existence. Joe Sr. and Rose had nine children and tragedies befell five of them, six if you include Teddy's story that was mostly covered up.  Then there was John Jr. and his wife, and I'm purposely leaving out the other grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But it makes me wonder and marvel at their history.

I did not know much about the fourth oldest, Kathleen, aka Kick Kennedy, maybe the most tragic and short-lived of them.   Because the family was living in London during Joe's term as Ambassador, Kick's debut took place there.  These were her formative years and so she made her best friends and social connections in London.  She would always consider London her home, not America. Her true love was an English noble who would one day become Duke of Devonshire.  He was Protestant, which was a major issue with his family, with the Catholic church, and the Kennedys, especially Rose.  Most of the book delves into Kick's conflicted feelings about marrying for love or marrying to keep the peace in the two families.  I hope today religion isn't as big an issue, but I don't  know.

This kept me interested, even though it felt like a really long time before Kathleen and Billy finally found happiness.  Actually it was about 5 years, and then very short-lived because, again, tragedies ensue.  The author gives some additional history at the end, and then Google led me to reading about the Astors  and Fred Astaire's sister. Thanks  to  NetGalley and the publisher for this enjoyable preview copy.   

Night of Miracles - Review

Night of Miracles  🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Elizabeth Berg
Published November 13 2018 by Random House

Books that are very sweet or saccharine are usually a big turn off.  But when there is literally sugary sweetness, as in cookies and cakes, and lots of them, count me in.  And with this author,  I am 100% in, knowing it's going to be a moving experience, as it was.

Lucille, alone in life but never lonely with all her good friends, has opened her house to baking classes, so there is much to drool over while she describes her goodies. Ancillary characters either work  in or go to the local restaurant for breakfast -- some will order an Overnight French Toast which makes its own syrup.  Yes, lots of sweetness.

As in Arthur Truluv, the characters that Berg has created are people you would want to know.  My favorites were Iris, a recent divorcee from Boston, trying out small town Missouri for the first time, and Tiny, a thoughtful, kind taxi driver and friend to all.  Oh, and little Link, Lucille's precocious neighbor boy whose mother has cancer.  

I enjoyed this tremendously, through lots of tears (happy tears and sad too), and recommend to anyone, especially if you liked Arthur Truluv.  If Ms. Berg writes more of these small town tomes, count me in.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.  4.5 stars.

Bring Me Back - Review

Bring Me Back  🌟🌟

by B. A. Paris
Published June 19 2018 by St. Martin's Press 

I have read all three of B A Paris'  books and find they follow a pretty similar pattern:  Intriguing start; slow, repetitious and annoying in the middle; and a surprising, out of left field ending.  At least she has had in all her efforts two-thirds of a good book in the making.  But to me that's not really enough.  When I read a chapter detailing events from one perspective,  and then the very same events are recounted from another perspective, the progress of the story stalls out and makes zero headway.  Even moreso when characters are on the unlikeable side.  My mind starts wandering...and wondering if I should finish.

I finish most things that I start, but here I admit to skimming some of the Russian doll rhetoric and much of the dialog.  The Layla and Ellen "transformations" were quite unbelievable in my opinion but I won't say any more than that.

An ARC  from NetGalley and the publisher.

Leave No Trace - Review

Leave No Trace  🌟🌟🌟
by Mindy Mejia
Published September 4th 2018 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

This was a comp copy from the publisher that I was thrilled to read since I enjoyed the author's first book so much.  She has a writing style that is easy to understand and get sucked into.  She also develops her stories slowly and methodically.  Unfortunately, this one moved too slowly in the beginning for me and became repetitive when Luke was in the care facility and acting out quite violently in his attempts to get back to his sick father somewhere in the wooded Boundary  Waters area of rural Minnesota. I guess I was hoping to know more about the father and son missing for ten years, and less about the young woman speech therapist, whose story did not seem credible.  The ending chapters tied it together, and even that had parts not entirely believable. 

 This took me a long time to finish so I wish it could give it a higher rating than 2.5 stars, so I'm  rounding up.   

Not Her Daughter - Review

Not Her Daughter   🌝🌝🌝🌛
by Rea Frey
Published by St Martin's Griffin August 21 2018

Has she been stolen...or rescued?

Amy has a five year old daughter, Emma, and the two of them are like oil and water in their very damaged relationship.  Amy is physically abusive because Emma is a contentious brat.  Emma is contentious because she knows her mother doesn't love her.  Nothing good can come from this continuing in the same manner.

Sarah is an innocent bystander, a successful business woman, who has witnessed  firsthand the awful parenting of Amy.  Having been abandoned by her own mother at the age of eight, she compares her own feelings with what she believes Emma is experiencing.  One night when Amy locks Emma out of the house with no dinner, Sarah takes Emma and thus starts a kidnapping investigation and a series of close calls for Sarah and Emma on he run.  Emma, of course, is now the perfect child being with someone who actually cares about her.  

I couldn't stop thinking about these people even after long stretches when I wasn't able to get back to my reading.  The author had me caring about what was going to ultimately happen.  Were Sarah and Emma perhaps too perfect together?  Maybe.  Was Amy the ultimate mother from hell with not a single redeeming quality and no regrets for her actions?  Hell yes!

Toward the middle and onward there were a few plot holes and I thought what happened in Chicago was not at all believable, but overall this made for an addictive read. 

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for my copy.  

Providence - Review

Providence  🌟🌟

by Caroline Kepnes  

Published June 19 2018 by Lenny

The first two books by this author, You and Hidden Bodies, were 4 star reads for me, and I thought them clever and sort of fun.  This book started out strong, has a good cover, and then instead of fun became just silly.

Childhood pals Jon and Chloe  are devastated when tragedy strikes -- Jon is kidnapped by a substitute teacher, held in a basement in an induced coma for four years, and then set free as an experiment of the sub teacher.  The experiment somehow gave Jon super powers which I won't go into, and I wish the author hadn't either.  There is also a good chunk of pages devoted to H.P. Lovecraft books and Lovecraft devotees.  I didn't know who he was before so had to look him up.  Monsters.  Imaginary places and made-up words no one can pronounce.   No thanks.  

By the end, the number of times that Chloe and Jon almost met up, or were in the same place without seeing it, or dialed each other and then hung up -- it became repetitive, drawn out and silly.  A disappointment to me.  I know Kepnes can write, though.  The chapters told by the detective were really quite good.  Maybe he should have a book of his own  

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Country Dark - Review

Country Dark    🌟🌟🌟🌟

by Chris Offutt

Published April 10 2018 by Grove Press

So much to love in these few pages, Tucker being the main thing. He's a Korean War veteran, hitching a ride home, saving a girl from being raped by her uncle and then marrying her, making a life for them and their children by boot legging.  The writing is spare but still manages descriptions that give you all the visuals you need to imagine their small house in backwoods Kentucky, the wooded setting, the ruts in the road leading through the hills, and all the struggles endured.  You see the good in Tucker as well as the bad.  The bad gets him into trouble, and the good saves his hide time and time again.  After all, he goes off only when he needs to protect himself or his loved ones.  I can't say I agree with some of the things he did  but he knew how to survive (in Korea, in prison, and in the hills) and did it well, better than most.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

What Happened - Review

What Happened  🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Hillary Clinton
Published September 12 2017 by Simon & Schuster

Great book on audio, narrated by HRC herself.  Following are just some notes I made while listening to her tell me What Happened.  Not really a review, just a few thoughts and lots of quotes (actually more than a few as I got a little carried away, sorry!):

In the days following the 11-8-16 election, what I call "The end of the world as we know it," dozens of women apologized to Hillary for not voting. A woman forced her daughter to come over in a restaurant and apologize for not voting.  Hillary wanted to throttle her, or at least say, geez ya just have to vote!  But she did neither, composed and polite as she is. 

....

Her marriage really does sound solid although maybe unusual.  I think they're best friends and good for each other.  I am always wondering about that.  Almost died laughing after learning that they actually watch the Good Wife together!  Can you say... irony?

....

"I did my best 

It wasn't much

I couldn't feel

So I tried to touch.

I've told the truth

I didn't come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue 

But Hallelujah  

"I'm not giving up and neither should  you."

Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, Saturday Night Live  Nov. 2016.  

....

"I thought I'd  be a damn good President," a quote from HRC.  😭

....

HRC on Women's reproductive rights:

Texas has Defunded Planned Parenthood and refused to expand Medicaid, and maternal fatalities doubled between 2010 and 2014. Six hundred  women have died in TX, not from abortions, but from trying to give birth.  The number of teenagers having abortions actually increased when support for family planning was cut -- in one county up 190% between 2012 and 2014.

....

"Well-behaved women seldom make history."  Laurel Thatcher Ullrich

....

" When any barrier falls in America for anyone, it clears the way for everyone." HRC  

....

Those damn emails!  They occupied so much time during the election  and they do so in this book too.  Glad she explained the whole thing so well - I wish everyone would read at least that part as it's  well worth it.

....

Those damn Russians.  If you make it through  the email part, hold on to your seat because next:  The Russians are coming!  All I kept thinking was "What a freaking $h*itstorm!"  Lots of people to blame all around for doing essentially NOTHING once the extent of the Russian interference became common knowledge.

....

I thought this a very worthwhile way to spend my time. 

Eagle & Crane - Review

Eagle & Crane A Novel 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
by Suzanne Rindell
Published July 3 2018 by G. P. Putnam's Sons

I love this author and this book was a fantastic read.  I'll read anything she writes after The Other Typist, which had me bewitched but also bewildered.  Eagle and Crane fortunately skips the bewilderment and goes straight to endearment and heartbreak.  

Two boys, one a Japanese American, the other white, grow up on the same section of farmland in pre - World War II California.  Their common age and venue make friends out of them despite their families' histories.  Eventually they join a flying circus together and spend some time away from home learning to be stunt men and pilots.  Their friendship hits some bumps but nothing like when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the war and internment camps are in their backyard.  Oh, and there is also a young woman involved.

To avoid spoilers I'll simply say that the ending has some nice twists, one you might see coming or not, which is always a good thing.  The characters and the story, adventures and history galore, will stay with me for a long time to come.  

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

The Last Cruise

By Kate Christensen 
Published July 10 2018 by Doubleday 
🌟🌟🌟⭐

3.5 stars rounded up.

If you have no desire at all to ever embark on a cruise ship, this book will reaffirm that notion.  If you have cruised and want to go again, you may change your mind after reading this book.  I am firmly in the first category since I suffer from motion sickness.  Now I also suffer from fear of being stranded in the middle of the ocean with no power, no crew, diminishing food supply, and a chance of rain.  For these passengers on the final voyage of The Isabella, at least there was plenty of wine and whiskey.  

The Isabella is being decommissioned or whatever you call it, and this one last voyage from California to Hawaii will be reminiscent of the good old days, in both music and food.  We get to know the musical quartet, from Israel, and one of the chefs, Hungarian, plus a couple of the passengers, Valerie and Christine.  The crew has discovered that they're  all being fired by the cruiseline once in Hawaii, and it's  not going over well.  Valerie is there to write about the dynamics of a crew made up of diverse cultures and their treatment by corporate, and then her story turns into something much larger in scale when the crew quits.  Christine is the light of their cruiseship lives, but she doesn't know if her own life, her marriage to a farmer, is what she wants.

So much going on here yet I had no problem keeping up with all the names and places.  The ending might make you angry or sad or confused, depending on how you take it.  My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.   

Love and Ruin - Review

Love and Ruin by Paula McClain

Published May 1 2018 by Ballantine Books

🌟  🌟  🌟  

3.5 stars.

At nearly 400 pages, I'm afraid this felt long-ish to me.  Not a fan of war stories except WW2, I probably should have skimmed  through the Spanish Civil War and the Finnish Russian war in the first half of the book.  I probably did skim the parts on Ernest Hemingway's second marriage to Paula, who he is leaving for our narrator, Martha Gellhorn.  No matter how romantic the adventures of Ernest and Martha may have been, I am not a fan of serial cheaters being seriously considered as husband material.  You know what they say:   "If he cheats WITH you, he will cheat ON you."  I couldn't buy Ernest as a romantic, knowing how many wives he ultimately had.  He actually was a little boy in need of constant attention and reassurance.  He was brash and brazen.  Sound like anyone else you know?  Yuk.

What kept me reading was that ultimately I came to like Martha for her independent thinking and having goals of her own, other than that of being his wife.  Also the fact that they were both writers working on different material, their struggles described in great detail, and the many different homes they had, was all interesting to me.   Then WW2 hit closer to home at about 75% in, and the ending was sad but a fine depiction of a woman with ambition, spirit, and intelligence.  The author had a great admiration for this woman, which is evident in the story telling.  

My thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine Books.

Every Note Played - Review

Every Note Played🎵🎵🎵🎵
by Lisa Genova
Published March 20 2018 by Scout Press

4+ stars.  I am a huge Lisa Genova fan, having read and loved every one of her books now (Still Alice is still my favorite).  I always learn so much in her books, and each is about a different disease or condition that someone outside of the medical community like me may not have heard much about--as in Still Alice and Love Anthony, or were completely unaware of-1as in The O'Briens and Left Neglected).  

One of my Utah cousins, when we first found each other 13 years ago as a result of our genealogical research, told me at that time that his wife had ALS, which I had only heard of as Lou Gehrigs disease, and I knew only that it was very bad.  My cousin gave me periodic updates on her deterioration (I never met her),  until death finally freed her from her misery. What I remember most is when she could no longer swallow.  How can your body fail you like that and yet you're still hanging on?  But it wasn't long after that.

In Every Last Note, Richard had been a famous classical pianist before ALS struck.  He was divorced and living alone when he lost the use of one arm and then the other.  Then one leg; then both.  His ex-wife didn't want to do it, but offered up her home, formerly his home,  where she would take care of him along with the home health aides Richard was already paying for.  Genova always gives us the big picture, not only how a disease strikes the victim but also the affects on the caregivers.  She makes us think about our resilience, adaptability, our ability to forgive, and how to move on.  The ending was a tear jerker but I can't see how it could go any other way.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.  

American By Day - Review

American By Day   🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

by Derek B. Miller

Published April 3 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  

Oh, Derek B. Miller, it's good to know you've still got it, that incredible ability to take serious, tough topics like suicide, cancer, depression,  grief and loneliness, politics and prejudice, and put  them into a story that is deep, yes, but lots of fun too.  Loved it!

I adored Norwegian By Night, so this sequel had a lot of expectations to live up to; and it managed to make me feel happy, sad, and even a little more intelligent because Miller's writing covers some heavy topics that make you really think.  These are all the same feelings I had with NBN, so this book met and surpassed my expectations.

We get to know Sigrid Odegard much better here, and the New York sheriff Irving Wylie who is trying to help her find her brother is a wonderful character.  Miller creates lonely, quirky souls who worm their way into your very heart.  

In this town in upstate New York, an African American boy named Jeffrey was shot by a policeman who believed Jeffrey's toy gun was real.  The cop was exonerated.  His Aunt Lydia is dating Sigrid's  brother Marcus, and Lydia is soon found dead outside a construction site, having fallen 6 floors.  Whether she was pushed by Marcus, now missing, and if there was any connection between the two deaths is what Sheriff Wylie wants to know; and Sigrid intends to find her brother before the authorities do.  She is much more wiley than Sheriff Wylie, but quite a pair they do make.  The ending might make you cry.

An ebook from NetGalley and the publisher.

The Perfect Mother - A Review

The Perfect Mother  🌝🌝🌝🌜
by Aimee Molloy
Published May 1 2018 by Harper

A story bound to confuse even the sharpest reader for a little while, based on the mystery introduced in Chapter One. You'll follow a Mommy group, called the May Mothers because they are all due in May, as these progressive over-achievers share their pregnancy stories on line and then birthing sagas in person.  Five or six weeks into their momhood they decide it's time finally for a lady's night out at a local bar, a break from the craziness, and it goes horribly wrong when one of their babies is kidnapped while mommies are cavorting and getting drunk.  The police follow their leads, which I honestly could not follow at all, while the moms form their own theories and red herrings.  All the while they are bombarded with emails on where their kiddies are supposed to be in their development, which wore thin on me, probably because I have never given birth myself.  In the end I solved the crime just before the author revealed it, so the conclusion made perfect sense and wrapped up nicely, IMO.

It was a good read for me, and most likely readers who are mothers will have even more enthusiasm for the lactation and lack of sleep stories.

I just won a printed book from Book Riot (which hasn't yet arrived) and the audio version through Libro.fm, so I listened to this as soon as it was available.

Educated - Review

Educated    🌟🌟🌟1/2
by Tara Westover
Published 20 Feb 2018 by Random House 

I can't  help but admire and respect everything Tara Westover has been through in her difficult life.  I am so grateful to have received a copy of Educated from NetGalley and Random House so I could join my book - loving friends on the bandwagon for this book.  I am there, but sort of on the ledge, one foot on and one foot unsure of where to land.

The book felt repetitive and on the long side; and I know that some things that happened to her happened repeatedly, which is what made her early life so awful, so I should appreciate the many recounts and not be critical.   Also, I should judge memoirs differently than the novels I usually read, where one can wish for a certain outcome, a happy ending or some resolution.   Here I tried to hold a different mindset; but like in most nonfiction, my mind wanted it to wrap up quicker than it did.

What Tara endured and how she overcame it was incredible, unbelievable, although I do not doubt her account. Some of it was hard to read and some hard to fathom.  A psycho brother who wished her dead.  A bipolar father who forced the children to work for him under deplorable, dangerous conditions.  Difficult to understand how she would keep going back to her family for acceptance and validation, even after successfully turning her life around with an education any scholar would aspire to, and after that family spread vicious lies about her.  Even an educated person may need to learn how to permanently say goodbye to people who are bad news.  I fear her story is far from over.  

Watch Me - Review

Watch Me  🌟🌟⭐

by Jody Gehrman

Published January 23rd 2018 by St  Martin's Griffin

Reading about Sam stalking Kate, his college writing instructor, I couldn't help but be reminded of Joe stalking Beck in You, a book I liked a lot.  Both books have unlikeable characters who are emotionally needy, and the males are creepy and disturbing.  My comparisons were endless.  Of course, You came first and created quite a sensation -- a stalker with a sense of humor; a killer who was at times sympathetic.  Sam has few good qualities.   Sam is smart and Kate is certain he could someday become an accomplished writer.  His character, a sociopath, provides the tension but also incredulity.   Kate at age 38 acts like a 20 year old school girl rather than the adult. Very frustrating.  

Like I said in my review of You, I'm usually able to enjoy reading about a variety of disturbed people as long as it's also an intriguing story. And I guess therein lies my problem.   Maybe Watch Me isn't trying to emulate You, and I hope it isn't, and maybe my comparisons are unfair or obtuse. These are simply my reactions.  2.5 stars, an OK read.

I received a free copy from St. Martin's Press Publicity through NetGalley.

Missing Isaac - Review

Missing Isaac  👍👍👍
by Valerie Fraser Luesse 
Published January 2 2018 by Fleming H Revell Company

This was a win from LibraryThing.com for my honest (albeit late) review.  Missing Isaac takes place in Glory, Alabama, during the mid 1960s when the country was exploding with racial strife, war protests, and political assassinations.  Glory seems gloriously untouched by most of this news, which  may be what I  felt was missing from a book that is tagged as historical fiction (as well as Christian fiction). 

Pete McLean is the only child of a wealthy widowed farm wife, with Isaac being their black hired man and closest thing to best friend.  His grandfather Daddy Ballard is now his father figure.  Isaac goes missing following a card game and Pete takes it hard, but his efforts to find out what happened (since the authorities aren't doing anything) are eventually forbidden for his own safety.  After that it's up to Daddy Ballard to put his money to good use in trying to find Isaac.

 

The beginning of the book had me absorbed in the richly visual descriptions of the area, where the hired black folk and the poor live in harmony with the Ballard/McLean family on land owned by Daddy Ballard.  There are a couple of bad characters thrown into the mix.   As it progressed, I enjoyed Pete gaining a new unlikely friend named Dovey, and their relationship is sweet (but not overly so).  The main characters are all really nice people, and niceness can wear thin on me, but they were also likeable and interesting if not somewhat unbelievable.

I did not know this was Christian fiction going into it, but it actually was pretty good.  I liked it overall, but the first half grabbed me more than the second.  My main complaint would be that the Ballard money was the solution to almost every obstacle that presented itself, which seemed like an easy out whenever the plot thickened. Marginal thumbs up.

The Flight Attendant - Review

The Flight Attendant  🌟🌟🌟🌟
By Chris Bohjalian 
Published March 13 2018 by Doubleday

Another addictive read from the talented Chris Bohjalian, and again, it's like none of his other books.  I would classify this one as an international spy thriller, but that doesn't become obvious until later.  At first it rivaled The Girl on the Train for most outlandish female alcoholic, only this time it's the girl on the plane.

Cassie seems to live a charmed jet-setting life as a flight attendant, getting her pick of international flights like Rome, Berlin, or Dubai, with NYC her home base.  Actually, though, she is quite a mess, picking up strange fellows at every hotel, and drinking until she either passes out or blacks out (there is a difference).  This is what ultimately gets her into trouble while in Dubai, and the trouble follows her home and everywhere else she ventures.  Despite the seriousness of her situation, she continues to act like a crazy teenager set loose for the first time in the big city.

Addictive, like I said, and very suspenseful.  I read it in two days time.  There's a great twist at the end that I never saw coming, and then the Epilogue, for me, seemed somewhat far fetched.  But who knows, maybe these things are more common than we know.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

White Houses - Review

White Houses   🌝🌝🌝🌛

by Amy Bloom

Published Feb 3 2018 by Random House

This is a love story, one not like any romance I have ever read where my eyes roll at the sugary sweet dialog.  Amy Bloom writes of love as if it's a part of the most beautiful birds, flowers, and sunsets found in nature.  I found her descriptions just breathtaking. 

This is a forbidden love between the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt  and a female journalist known as Hick.  To read the author's  take on their relationship, their intimate moments, you understand it fully even though Bloom took their intimacy just to the brink, allowing the readers their imaginings.

Being a fan of Eleanor and Franklin, the book held many points of historical interest to me and the writing is superb; but something in the presentation failed to engage me 100%.  The chapters count off the days following FDR's death, with mostly flashbacks to old times filling the pages.  Ultimately, the women go their separate ways but remain close friends.   I was glad to learn the details of this relationship, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.   

The Last Ballad - Review

The Last Ballad  🌟🌟🌟
by Wiley Cash
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This would be my least favorite book from the Wiley Cash repertoire. I adored his others. I set this aside before after only one chapter, thinking I'd finish it another day. That day came when my book club made it our March selection. Then during this attempt at it, I swore at the 50% mark I could go no further. But for the sake of my book club, I skimmed a couple of chapters and it picked up again with about 150 pages remaining. Thankfully, those final pages were (for me) the best of the entire book, go figure. Action packed, emotional, and nicely wrapped up.

What I didn't love was that the chapters jumped around from new character to new character, and also from past to present. Just as I felt a rhythm in my reading, someone I never heard of would show up, interrupting the flow. This is something I find jarring in any book, and as I get older it becomes more difficult to adjust to. Also problematic is that I didn't particularly care for Ella May, the heroine of the book. I should have felt more empathy for her and her situation, I know. But instead, I felt Cash gave us someone emotionally distant and rather cold. She seemed to glide much too easily from struggling single working mother to activist, without a sense of any inner struggles or conflicted feelings.

These are solely my opinions, and unpopular ones at that, given the high ratings on goodreads. So if you are one who doesn't mind time shifts and changing points of view from too many characters to count, go for it. Especially if you're already a Cash fan, you owe it to yourself to give it a try

Alternate Side - Review

Alternate Side    🌟🌟🌟

by Anna Quindlen  

Expected publication March 20 2018 by Random House

This will be a difficult review, because I love every one of Anna Quindlen's  books -- but I didn't love this one.  She writes about New York life and motherhood, neither of which have anything to do with me, yet I still find her stories and her storytelling flawless. 

However, I almost didn't finish this book because at first it was all about a parking lot on a dead end street.  And a husband who was obsessed with renting a spot and proud as a peacock when his wish was granted.  While I was struggling to maintain interest, a LOT  of neighbors in this upper middle class community were introduced, but most of their names escaped me as I was only half paying attention.

I did stick with it and was glad to know more about the characters and less about the parking lot finally, but I couldn't help wishing I'd chosen an alternate book to read.  There was a sorry incident in the parking lot (there we are again) that pretty much changed everything and everyone in some sad ways, but that wasn't enough to make me fully invested in the outcome.

An ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

The Boat Runner - Review

The Boat Runner 🌟🌟🌟🌟

by Devin Murphy  

Published September 2017 by Harper Perennial  

Jacob Koopman comes of age when the Nazis come to Holland, Rotterdam is flooded, and his brother is lost.  Soon he will lose others and be taken under his Uncle Martin's  wing, something both educational and dangerous.  Martin has to be my favorite character, after Jacob.  He runs his boat  through the North Sea to help the Germans, but with friends like Martin, the Germans won't  know what hit them.  A ruthless plotter against the enemy, his teachings and love for Jacob ultimately  help Jacob to not only survive but to help others survive as well.

My first WWII book from the Dutch perspective and it's  a good one.  I heartily recommend.  

The Fourth Monkey - Review

The Fourth Monkey  🌟🌟🌟🌟 1/2 stars

by J. D. Barker

Published June 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Reading this, I was surprised at myself and how much I enjoyed it as a thriller, which actually bordered on horror at times, in my opinion.  I usually can't take extremely graphic descriptions of pain, torture, and lopped off body parts; so, although I flinched and cringed a few times, I still eagerly read on.  Why was that, what made this more readable?

First, there is my curiosity about serial killers and what in their childhoods turns them into monsters.  Check that off the list -- the killer himself has written his own autobiography of sorts in the form of a "Diary", and those thus - named chapters alternate with the cops' stories while trying to find the killer's latest victim.  This portrayed a deranged set of parents knowingly raising their kid to become  a very damaged individual, and it was disturbing.  Also outrageous at times.

Second would be the cops involved, their close relationships, their humorous banter, and their commitment to find the abducted girl before it's too late.  The lead police officer Sam Porter is a great character and one I look forward to revisiting in the next book of this series.  He was only beginning to be drawn here so I'd  love to see more of him.

And then there's the setting - Chicago!  I always love any story set in good ole Chicago, even if this author does seem to think my collar county Northwest of the city is considered "Downstate."  Thinking J.D. surely doesn't know Chicago very well, I looked up his biography; and he actually used to live in my town as a child.  Small world.  But still I disagree (as do many in Illinois) over what constitutes Downstate.

Optioned for both TV and film rights, I think this would make a fabulous movie from an author with tremendous talent.  Watch out, Stephen King.  

Let Me Lie -Review

Let Me Lie  🌝🌝🌝🌛

by Clare Mackintosh  

Expected Publication March 8, 2018

3.5 stars  

A year after her mother and father have both committed suicide, first her father, then her mother, both jumping off the same spot into high tide, Anne is still reeling over how much she misses them and how her life has changed.  On the anniversary of her mother's death, she receives an anonymous note making her think perhaps her parents were murdered, and then mysterious warnings that maybe she herself is in danger.  She solicits help from the local police, a retiree who should just pass it off to a detective taking special interest in her case.

If ever a book was built on lies, and there are so many such books these days, this one has lies from beginning to end.  So many lies... and twists!  I do love twists.  Some I saw coming, others not at all.  Some were a bit out of left field.  And the rotating points of view make the suspense build to the point where it took everything I had to refrain from reading ahead.   Overall it's  a read you can immerse yourself in and forget your own troubles for a bit.  Believe me, Anne's are worse than yours.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.