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.