Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

Known to Evil by Walter Mosley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I didn't like this as well as some of his earlier ones. Just average.



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Review: Faking It

Faking It by Jennifer Crusie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Faking It is a fun summer read. From Gwen, the bored matriarch, to Nadine, the career shopping granddaughter, the Goodnights all have their quirks. Tilda is the daughter that keeps everything pulled together at her own expense. Her exploits range from painting murals styled on the old masters to keep the family afloat to stealing faked art work that was accidentally sold to keep the family name out of the newspapers. Her adventures are hilarious and keep you turning the pages with delight. This enjoyable summer read is mired in the art world and keeps you laughing with all the antics of the Goodnight family. This story may be fluffy but is well written and keeps you enthralled with all the twists and turns of a light suspenseful mystery. Enjoy! (And let's hope for a sequel!)Jennifer Crusie



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Review: The Last Song

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had stayed away from Nicholas Sparks for a few years. I left like he had gotten into a romance/cry through the last few chapters kind of rut. I decided to give him another chance and I am glad I did. This book does have a tale of young love but it is intertwined with a parent/child love and a "coming of age" story. Yes, I did cry through the last few chapters but the story was so meaningful in a personal way that it didn't feel trite. If you haven't tried Nicholas Sparks in a while, try him again with The Last Song. I enjoyed it and maybe you will too.



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Review: White Apples

White Apples by Jonathan Carroll

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book! Vincent is a character that I didn't really like at the beginning of the story. He is a smooth operator with the women - but he really seems to love them all in the moment. Vincent is divorced with two children. He left his wife for his great love Isabelle. Isabelle disappears soon after Vincent leaves his wife and he is bewildered. The story is woven around Vincent losing his life and coming back. Then he is reunited with Isabelle and things just get more and more surreal.

This author is compared with Phillip K. Dick and Neil Gaiman. If you like science fiction on the very edge of believability, you will enjoy Carroll. I will definitely be looking up more of Jonathan Carroll's work.

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Review: Somebody Else's Daughter

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First, I would like to say that I think Elizabeth Brundage is an excellent writer. The story was riveting and I was thoroughly engrossed. I could hardly put it down.

Now my complaint - I had a problem with the beginning and ending of the story. At the beginning, I was very confused about which child was the adopted girl. I think so many characters were introduced so quickly that it took me a bit of time to figure them all out. Also, the story ended very quickly. I didn't think that Willa would have gone with Heath after what he had done to her. I also didn't think that Jack and Nate would have found her so quickly. After such a riveting tale, the ending seemed implausible. When a story ends so quickly, I tend to think the editor said, "shorten the book by fifteen pages".

All in all, Brundage's excellent writing overcomes the small shortfalls of the storyline. I definitely recommend this book.



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The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

The Story Sisters: A Novel by Alice Hoffman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Story Sisters was so dark that I considered putting it down. Alice Hoffman is such an excellent writer that I was transfixed as much as I was repulsed.

The three Story sisters are so close that they invent their own world as youngsters. They have their own language and their mother feels quite left out. After a tragic event effects Elv and Claire as young girls, they grow inseparable and the third sister, Meg, feels more and more left out. Elv and Claire tell no one what happened and Elv's sense of reality blurs. Claire feels responsible but keeps Elv's secret. Elv looks for relief from her pain in sex and drugs and spirals out of control.

As you read the story, you realize that things are often not what they seem. The kid you see on the street corner, the kid that alienates himself from his family, the anti-social kid on the playground may have a reason for having changed so drastically from the kid he was a few years before. This is a difficult story to read but worth sticking with it until the end.

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The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book is about four Chinese women that have immigrated to America. The four women get together to share stories and to play mah jong. These women each have daughters and they share the complexities of raising children in America with Chinese family respect and morality. The daughters conversely have to fit into the American lifestyle and not offend their parents at home.

I enjoyed this story. It was well written and explained some of the struggles of immigrants fitting into the American culture.



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Mathilda Savitch by Victor Ladato

Mathida Savitch by Victor Lodato

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is funny to say that I liked the book but it really left me unsettled. I am still debating about how to describe it.



I think most of us have a little Mathilda Savitch in us. Mathilda constantly has lots of thoughts running through her mind. The difference between her and us is that Mathilda's thoughts come out through her mouth and most of us keep them inside. Mathilda's thoughts grow and expand until they get away from her with their largeness and she doesn't recognize them anymore.



Mathilda is living in a house with her Ma and Da. Mithilda's sister died the previous year and we learn more about her sister's death as the story unfolds. Her parents are so grief stricken that they don't really seem to realize that Mathilda is still living in the same house with them. The more they ignore Mathilda, the more she acts out to get their attention.



As Mathilda investigates the circumstances of her sister's death, she tries to make sense of it. Each bit of information she gleans from her sister's room helps her understand her sister, her parents and herself better. Each step is painful and takes her further from her childhood into an adult world that she is really not ready to enter.



If you are looking for an enjoyable weekend read that will leave you uplifted and peaceful at the end, this book is not it. Mathilda takes us on an interesting journey but all loose ends are not tied up in a neat little package at the end of the story. (Sounds a little like real life, doesn't it?) On the other hand, Mathilda is an unforgetable character, the writing is excellent, and I would definitely recommend it.



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A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mark Haddon has a talent for writing about topics from an unusual point of view. In A Spot of Bother, Haddon takes a rather difficult topic - mental health - and discusses how it affects an entire family with empathy and humor.

George Hall is going crazy and trying to do it with dignity. George really does not want to be much of a bother to anyone. When a small spot appears on his hip, he goes off to visit the doctor without telling his wife. The doctor diagnosis is eczema but George obsesses about the spot and is convinced that he has cancer and the cancer is rapidly spreading to other parts of his body. George is polite to a fault and really doesn't want to worry anyone. George begins to have trouble coping and his family slowly realizes that there is something not quite right about George lately.

Throw in George's daughter's upcoming marriage to an unsuitable bridegroom, his son's homosexuality, and his wife's affair - George handles it all by avoiding the issues at hand. Things soon tumble into a mess and are sorted out again with humor and aplomb.

Mark Haddon writes about topics that touch all of our families and does it with humor and kindness without losing sight of the seriousness of the subject matter. Hats off to Haddon for a great story.

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Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Odd Thomas is definitely added to my list of favorite characters. He is a very unusual guy. Start with his quirky sense of humor. Add in his ability to see ghosts and that he has a ghost dog as a companion. Finally, who can resist a quirky character with supernatural abilities that saves the world from certain destruction?

Odd Thomas had an unusual start to life when his parents named him Todd but a mistake on the birth certificate pronounced him as Odd. His parents never bothered to change it and he has been Odd ever since. Odd is a fry cook that drifts from one job to another as the need arises. Odd Hours finds him working for an OCD millionaire in a beach front mansion. Odd takes a walk on a pier and meets a mysterious girl and somehow gets entangled in a murderous plot to take over the world. As you think the story gets a little predictable, an unimagined twist takes over and leaves you gasping to see what will happen next.

Dean Koontz has created a memorable character in Odd Thomas. Although I started with the fourth Odd novel, I am sure I will go back and read the other three. Dean Koontz leaves you wanting more.


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Dedication by Emma McLaughlin

Dedication by Emma McLaughlin


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I listened to this audio book on the way to and from work. I have to say - don't bother unless you have nothing else to do. When the story begins, you really have a lot of emphathy for the main character - Kate. She was dumped by her boyfriend in her senior year of high school. The boyfriend leaves town without telling her that he is leaving, and subsequently becomes a famous rock star. Kate needs to resolve her feelings for him. The storyline goes down from there.

I don't want to give away too much of the storyline but Kate strays so far from the way she feels about him and what he did to her emotionally that I was really disappointed in the turn the story takes. Save this book for snow days when you have run out of reading material, or hurricane days as we have in the south.

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Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you need a quick read with a good storyline, pick up a Sophie Kinsella. Although I liked the book, Remember Me? did not have all the humor that the Shopaholic books contained. As the story begins, Lexi Smart is out clubbing with her friends. The next thing you know she is in the hospital three years later and has no idea what has happened in her life since that night three years ago. She doesn't remember marrying a multimillionaire. She doesn't remember becoming the boss of the company that she works for. She doesn't remember attending her father's funeral.

I won't spoil the story for you but take my word for it - the subjects covered are a little heavier than her previous books.

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Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

I kept looking for the humor but this book was just down right depressing. There is a glimmer of hope in the end but not enough to redeem the whole book. This girl had a train wreck of a life.

Emma by Jane Austen

This isn't our "official" choice but since we are both reading it at the same time, I thought I would add it to the blog. Anyone else like to join us?