Body Double, by Tess Gerritsen ****

Pregnant women play key roles in this bone-chilling fourth novel in Gerritsen's edgy, suspenseful series of thrillers featuring Boston Medical Examiner Maura Isles and Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli. Both of the usually gritty crime fighters are uncharacteristically vulnerable. Rizzoli is carrying her first child, and Isles—divorced and alone at age 40 and suddenly, unsettlingly aware of her biological clock—is experiencing decidedly unspiritual feelings for her priest. As the novel begins, Isles—an adopted child who never knew the identity of her birth parents—is confronted by the corpse of a murdered woman who is apparently her identical twin. Another detective, Rick Ballard, comes forward to say that he knew the victim and is certain her killer is a powerful pharmaceutical baron known to have stalked her. Isles falls for the handsome Ballard, but she isn't convinced by his theory, and she launches an investigation into her sister's past, following the trail to a state correctional facility and a schizophrenic inmate who may be her mother. This opens the cobwebbed pages of a nightmarish family album and leads Isles to a remote cabin in Maine where the long-dead body of a pregnant woman is discovered buried in the woods. The killer, Isles discovers, has been murdering pregnant women for decades, making periodic sweeps of the country. Meanwhile, brief scenes chronicle the diabolical kidnapping of an affluent pregnant housewife who is kept buried in a crude coffin. An electric series of startling twists, the revelation of ghoulishly practical motives and a nail-biting finale make this Gerritsen's best to date. 

I'm reading this series out of order, but that doesn't seem to hurt the main story lines.  

Like the others that I've ready by Tess Gerritsen, this was another straight forward mysteries.  They aren't incredibly deep, and I suspect that anybody who tried very hard could probably solve the mystery without too much trouble before it's spelled out for them.  They work for me, though.  I like to read for an hour or two each evening as a means to relax and let all the thoughts from the day go.  This series as fit the bill for that almost perfectly.

I will say that this one was maybe my least favourite of the series so far, in that so much has been happening to Maura and/or Jane (the two main characters in the series) that I'm already having to suspend some serious disbelief while reading them.  However, I do enjoy them.  I whipped through this one in a couple of evenings.

The Sinner, by Tess Gerritsen ****

I feel like I've started and stopped reading a number of books lately, and if I don't get past the first chapter, I haven't been writing about them here.  (It might be my mood that's the problem, not the books.)  Regardless, I was happy when I found a bunch of Tess Gerritsen books for $5 a pop.  I  knew they'd hold my attention, so I snapped them all up.    I just realized that I'm almost finished the third in the pile and haven't written anything about them here, so here goes:

Tess Gerritsen's The Sinner:

A grisly murder at a convent baffles Medical Examiner Maura Isles and Det. Jane Rizzoli at the start of this assured, richly shaded seventh novel from bestseller Gerritsen (The Apprentice; The Surgeon, etc.). The popular duo are called to Boston's Graystones Abbey when two nuns are discovered in an abandoned chapel, one dead and the other near death, both brutally bludgeoned. Red herrings are everywhere: Isles's discovery that one of the murdered nuns had recently given birth (followed shortly by the discovery of the baby's body in a pond near the convent); the murder of a homeless derelict with her face and extremities removed by her killer; and the lurking menace of a multinational chemical company. Complicating matters further is the sudden arrival of Isles's ex-husband, Victor, a celebrity humanitarian with his own suspicious connection to the case, and Rizzoli's old flame, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, who's responsible for the baby now growing in Rizzoli's belly. The investigation is rather low-key, but Gerritsen gives atmospheric depth to her tale with descriptions of snowbound Boston and an exotic past tragedy. Isles's pleasantly bitchy coldness ("Go ahead and pass me, idiots. I've met too many drivers like you on my slab") gives a welcome edge to the proceedings, and the struggles of both Isles and Rizzoli to balance their tough professional acts with romantic drama are satisfyingly gritty.

Good Book.  It was nothing heavy, but an entertaining, quick read.

The Reversal, by Michael Connelly ****

Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. 

Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

I think I've got a new author on my list of favourites.  I've known about Michael Connelly for some time, but hadn't read his books until this year.  While I enjoyed 'The Lincoln Lawyer', I think The Reversal was even better.

It's a mystery and a legal thriller, all wrapped into one. It was maybe a little bit procedural, but I think court stories have to be by nature.  I thought it was a highly entertaining, easy read, and I'm definitely going to go looking for the next in the series.

The Surgeon, by Tess Gerritsen ****

A serial killer is on the loose in Boston. The victims are killed in a particularly nasty way: cut with a scalpel on the stomach, the intestines and uterus removed, and then the throat slashed. The killer obviously has medical knowledge and has been dubbed "the Surgeon" by the media. Detective Thomas Moore and his partner Rizzoli of the Boston Homicide Unit have discovered something that makes this case even more chilling. Years ago in Savannah a serial killer murdered in exactly the same way. He was finally stopped by his last victim who shot him as he tried to cut her. That last victim is Dr Catherine Cordell, who now works as a cardiac surgeon at one of Boston's prestigious hospitals. As the murders continue, it becomes obvious that the killer is drawing closer and closer to Dr Cordell, who is becoming so frightened that she is virtually unable to function. But she is the only person who can help the police catch this copycat killer. Or is it a copycat? To complicate matters even further, Detective Moore, often referred to as Saint Thomas as he continues to mourn the loss of his wife, is getting emotionally involved with the doctor.

This book has languished at the back of my closet, unread for months.  I thought that it was a mystery-romance, heavier on the romance, so I was in no rush to read it.  The reason why I picked it up is because I just saw the show "Rizzolli and Isles" for the first time and quite liked it - and apparently the show is based on the series of books that started with this one.

This was a good, somewhat procedural, mystery novel.  I whipped through it in a couple of hours.  There were no big surprises, and I felt almost no connection to the main characters.  However, it was an easy, entertaining read.

Book of Negros, by Lawrence Hill ****

This novel is published as Someone Knows My Name in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and appears in Canada as The Book of Negroes in Canada.

Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle - a string of slaves - Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic "Book of Negroes". This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own. Aminata's eventual return to Sierra Leone - passing ships carrying thousands of slaves bound for America - is an engrossing account of an obscure but important chapter in history that saw 1,200 former slaves embark on a harrowing back-to-Africa odyssey.

This one took me a couple of weeks to work through.  It was a good story, though, telling the life story of a woman (girl) who is stolen from her African village at 11 and taken to the States to be a slave.  It held my attention throughout  - at time disturbing, but never too graphic.  The first half reminded me quite a bit of the book "Sacajawea" by A Waldo, which I read many, many years ago.

Secret Daughter, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda****

On the eve of the monsoons, in a remote Indian village, Kavita gives birth to Asha. But in a culture that favours sons, the only way for Kavita to save her newborn daughter's life is to give her away. It is a decision that will haunt her and her husband for the rest of their lives, even after the arrival of their cherished son. Halfway around the globe, Somer, an American doctor, decides to adopt a child after making the wrenching discovery that she will never have one of her own. When she and her husband Krishnan see a photo of baby Asha from a Mumbai orphanage, they are overwhelmed with emotion for her. Somer knows life will change with the adoption, but is convinced that the love they already feel will overcome all obstacles. Interweaving the stories of Kavita, Somer, and Asha, "Secret Daughter" poignantly explores issues of culture and belonging. Moving between two worlds and two families, one struggling to survive in the fetid slums of Mumbai, the other grappling to forge a cohesive family despite their diverging cultural identities, this powerful debut novel marks the arrival of a fresh talent poised for great success.

Secret Daughter is a story that mostly revolves around three women - an Indian woman who has to give up her daughter, an American Woman who adopts her daughter from India and the baby who is born in India, raised in America and goes back to get to know her family and the culture.  (Her father immigrated from India to America before she was born.)  This was not a gripping story that I struggled to put down, but I thought it was a good solid book.  I liked the descriptions of India and its culture, and I thought the author did a good job of describing the difficulties between mother and child... or really, the difficulties for anybody trying to keep their family together. I enjoyed it.

Rainwater, by Sandra Brown ****

Ella Barron is determined that even the ravages of the Dust Bowl will not affect the well-ordered life she has built for herself and her special child, Solly, who lives in a world of his own that even she can’t enter. Aware that he evokes pity and distrust, Ella holds herself aloof from her small community, but her new boarder, David Rainwater, comes into her life— and changes it forever. As economic desperation creates bitter social unrest in the town and surrounding farms, Ella finds herself relying on Mr. Rainwater’s soft-spoken advice and the steely resolve of his convictions. But tensions escalate in the summer heat, until one violent night everything they believe in will be put to the ultimate test.

This was not your typical Sandra Brown novel. The focus was about the difficulties of the times, not the romance between the two main characters. Actually, I was still wondering if she'd have them get together well into the book. I found it reminiscent of Bridges of Madison County, or a Nicholas Sparks novel... not what you'd call great literature, but a quick easy read. I liked it. It was a welcome change, and I hope she writes more like this.

The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly ****

Veteran bestseller Connelly enters the crowded legal thriller field with flash and panache. Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller regularly represents lowlifes, but he's no slickster trolling for loopholes in the ethics laws. He's haunted by how he mishandled the case of (probably innocent) Jesus Menendez, and, though twice divorced, he's on good terms with his ex-wives; one of them manages his office, and the other, an ambitious assistant DA, occasionally tumbles back into bed with him. When Mickey signs on to defend young real estate agent Louis Roulet against charges of assault, he can't help seeing dollar signs: Roulet's imperious mother will spend any amount to prove her beloved son's innocence. But probing the details of the case, Mickey and private investigator Raul Levin dig up a far darker picture of Roulet's personality and his past. Levin's murder and a new connection to the Menendez case make Mickey wonder if he's in over his head, and his defense of Roulet becomes a question of morality as well as a test of his own survival. After Connelly spends the book's first half involving the reader in Mickey's complex world, he thrusts his hero in the middle of two high-stakes duels, against the state and his own client, for heart-stopping twists and topflight storytelling.

This was one of the best mysteries that I've read yet.  It had all sorts of twists and turns, and took me off guard numerous times.  Very well written.

Mistress of Nothing, by Kate Pullinger ****

Lady Duff Gordon is the toast of Victorian London society. But when her debilitating tuberculosis means exile, she and her devoted lady's maid, Sally, set sail for Egypt. It is Sally who describes, with a mixture of wonder and trepidation, the odd menage (marshalled by the resourceful Omar) that travels down the Nile to a new life in Luxor. When Lady Duff Gordon undoes her stays and takes to native dress, throwing herself into weekly salons, language lessons and excursions to the tombs, Sally too adapts to a new world, which affords her heady and heartfelt freedoms never known before. But freedom is a luxury that a maid can ill-afford, and when Sally grasps more than her status entitles her to, she is brutally reminded that she is mistress of nothing.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It's a winner of the Canadian Governor General Literary Award, which is two sided sword. While the award usually indicates that the book is well written, I've found books by Canadian authors to be typically very dark. This one wasn't. It was moody but not depressing as it talked about the difficulty of being a lower class female (ie - a maid) during the Victorian times and described the characters' time in Egypt. It also had a great description of the Egyptian setting and culture without distracting from the story.

The Weight of Silence, by Heather Gudenkauf ****

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.
Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

To be perfectly honest, the only reason why I bought this book was because Amazon kept recommending it to me. For almost a year, it seemed like almost every time I ordered a book, Amazon would come back and say if I liked that one, I'd like this one too. I don't normally like stories about missing children - I find them too disturbing - but this one was good.

I can't say much about the plot without giving it away, but I will say it was a new take on this sort of story. The focus is more on Callie and her family than it is on Petra.   For Callie, the question is more about what led to her disappearance than where she was, and for Petra the question was where she'd gone.  Actually, I was almost finished the book before I understood what was going on with Petra. It's more Callie's story, but Petra is an integral part that helps tie everything up at the end. Good book.

The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks ****

After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph -- his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the woman in the photograph out of his mind and he sets out on a journey across the country to find her. But Thibault is caught off guard by the strong attraction he feels for the woman he encounters in North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother -- and he keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate love affair, his secret soon threatens to tear them apart -- destroying not only their love, but also their lives.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.

First, a tangent: You know what I would really like to see in a book? I'd like to see the main character have a dog that isn't so darned perfect. Maybe he's got no recall, or jumps like a pogo stick any time somebody new comes through the door. Maybe she stands on the back deck and barks like a fiend when a leaf so much as drops. Either way, I'd like to see a dog that - despite their owner's attempts to train them - can really be a pain in the ass. Show me a book with a dog like that, and I'll show you a book with some credibility.

Back to the book - I think it's generally accepted that Nicholas Sparks is escapism. His work isn't deep, but it's entertaining and makes you feel good in the end. This was exactly that. A quick easy read that took little to no thought, during or after I was reading it. I enjoyed it, but I generally prefer books with a little more substance... or dogs that get into the kitchen garbage.

Arranged, by Catherine Mckenzie ****

Anne Blythe is lucky. She’s got a brand new book contract, a great newspaper job and a steadfast best friend, and she can land just about any man she sets her sights on—and the ones that appeal are typically tall, dark and handsome. Problem is, the men she chooses never last. Shortly after yet another relationship goes down in flames, Anne comes across a card for what she believes is a dating service, and pockets it just in case. If she’s so unlucky in love, maybe she could use a little assistance. Then her best friend announces she’s engaged, and envy gets the better of Anne. Now’s the time, she decides, to give the service a try—and she is shocked to discover that what the company specializes in are exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriages. After learning of the company’s success rate, however, she overcomes her reluctance and signs on. After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world, and she’s not done so well selecting a mate on her own. So why not use a professional service that claims it can produce the perfect match?
Some time later, Anne is travelling to a Mexican resort, where in one short weekend she will meet and marry Jack, the man they have chosen for her. And against all odds, it seems to be working out, until Anne learns that Jack and the company who arranged their marriage are not what they seem at all.

There's a quote on the front cover of this book that says "Just when you think you've got Arranged figured out, time and again, Catherine McKenzie delivers the flawless, unexpected twist that keeps you glued to the book." That, and the description on the back of the book lead me to believe that there was going to be some mystery. I bought this book because I thought it was going to be a thriller of sorts. It wasn't.

This was a very predictable, formulated love story. It wasn't a bad book - I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It was probably the perfect intellectual level for my anesthesia brain - but I felt like there was some false advertising in the description.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak ****

Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesel's story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.

This is an excellent book. It's a story narrated by Death, who tells about a young girl who is left with a German foster family during WWII. Her communist parents are unable to care for her and her brother, and her brother dies en route to the foster family's home. Her foster family teaches her to read and embraces her in their life as they live through air raids, food rationing and hiding a Jew in their basement. Every chapter is a little story of its own - very well done, and not nearly as dark as you'd expect.

The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton ****

Like Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved classic The Secret Garden, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden takes root in your imagination and grows into something enchanting--from a little girl with no memories left alone on a ship to Australia, to a fog-soaked London river bend where orphans comfort themselves with stories of Jack the Ripper, to a Cornish sea heaving against wind-whipped cliffs, crowned by an airless manor house where an overgrown hedge maze ends in the walled garden of a cottage left to rot. This hidden bit of earth revives barren hearts, while the mysterious Authoress's fairy tales (every bit as magical and sinister as Grimm's) whisper truths and ignite the imaginary lives of children. As Morton draws you through a thicket of secrets that spans generations, her story could cross into fairy tale territory if her characters weren't clothed in such complex flesh, their judgment blurred by the heady stench of emotions (envy, lust, pride, love) that furtively flourished in the glasshouse of Edwardian society. While most ache for a spotless mind's eternal sunshine, the Authoress meets the past as "a cruel mistress with whom we must all learn to dance," and her stories gift children with this vital muscle memory. --Mari Malcolm --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

I think the description of this book is deceiving. It's not the "Secret Garden, and it's not about fairy tails. Fairy tails are discussed in the story, but not part of the plot. Based on the description, I expected another "Secret Garden"; maybe a little "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe"... that was my own assumption, but I think I was a little disappointed when it was proven wrong.

This book is a mystery about how a little girl wound up on a ship across the world by herself. She ends up in Australia with amnesia (which is never really explained) and doesn't know who she is or where she came from. She's adopted by a family and grows up to live what seems like a fairly normal life. The story begins when her granddaughter discovers some of her history, and heads to England to find out the rest. There are flashbacks between the granddaughter, the child who was abandoned and her parents. The book wasn't an easy read, but it was enjoyable. I think the closer I got to the end and started finding answers, the more I liked it. That said, it was also a bit of a relief when I was finally done. (I'm normally a quick reader, and it took me three weeks to get through it.)

Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan ****

I know, I haven't posted anything here for a long time. That's mostly because I got away from reading for a while, and didn't have anything to report. I'm back at it, though, and on a mission to find the next great book.

One thing I'm going to change, though, is all the links to Amazon.ca and Amazon.com. I figure that if you're here, you must be somewhat intelligent and computer savvy, so you can track them down on your own.

So... Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. Good book.

In 1946, Laura McAllan, a college-educated Memphis schoolteacher, becomes a reluctant farmer's wife when her husband, Henry, buys a farm on the Mississippi Delta, a farm she aptly nicknames Mudbound. Laura has difficulty adjusting to life without electricity, indoor plumbing, readily accessible medical care for her two children and, worst of all, life with her live-in misogynous, racist, father-in-law. Her days become easier after Florence, the wife of Hap Jackson, one of their black tenants, becomes more important to Laura as companion than as hired help. Catastrophe is inevitable when two young WWII veterans, Henry's brother, Jamie, and the Jacksons' son, Ronsel, arrive, both battling nightmares from horrors they've seen, and both unable to bow to Mississippi rules after eye-opening years in Europe. Jordan convincingly inhabits each of her narrators, though some descriptive passages can be overly florid, and the denouement is a bit maudlin. But these are minor blemishes on a superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism. (Mar.)

I liked it. It wasn't a book that kept me up at night, but it was a well-written, enjoyable story. I rooted for some of the characters and hated some of the others. I know you're supposed to hate the father-in-law, but I also found myself oozing with serious dislike for the husband. Who does that to a woman? Buy a farm and inform the wifey she's giving up everything she knows to live in horrid conditions and tolerate her jackass of a father-in-law It made me happy that I was born in modern day times.

One point, though: I almost wish the author had written a book to focus more on Jamie and Ronsel. I'd have liked to read more about their stories.

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay ****

Sarah's Key: A Novel

Description:

De Rosnay's U.S. debut fictionalizes the 1942 Paris roundups and deportations, in which thousands of Jewish families were arrested, held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver outside the city, then transported to Auschwitz. Forty-five-year-old Julia Jarmond, American by birth, moved to Paris when she was 20 and is married to the arrogant, unfaithful Bertrand Tézac, with whom she has an 11-year-old daughter. Julia writes for an American magazine and her editor assigns her to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vél' d'Hiv' roundups. Julia soon learns that the apartment she and Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand's family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers—especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive—the more she uncovers about Bertrand's family, about France and, finally, herself. Already translated into 15 languages, the novel is De Rosnay's 10th (but her first written in English, her first language). It beautifully conveys Julia's conflicting loyalties, and makes Sarah's trials so riveting, her innocence so absorbing, that the book is hard to put down.

This book is really two stories in one. The first story is about a young Jewish girl (Sarah) in Paris whose family was killed during the WWII. It gives a fictional but very disturbing account of how Sarah and her family are rounded up, left for days to wonder and worry and then separated and shipped off individually to be killed in the gas chambers. This part of the book is horrifying and disturbing. I hated every page of it, because it upset me so much; but that was the author's intension, no doubt; and very well done. (So well done that I had to set the book aside for a few days to take a break, and read something completely different.)

The second storyline in the book is about a journalist who discovers Sarah's story 60 years later, and how she's affected. This part of the book doesn't hit home nearly as much. I could probably have taken or left it; but I suspect that the author used the journalist, her research and her reactions to deliver Sarah's story so that she could break it up and make it easier to take. Otherwise, I think the book would have been too upsetting for most to read.

I'm torn on this one. It was a well written book on a subject about which we should all be more aware. However, I can honestly say that I didn't like it. Not because of the writing style, or character representation: I didn't like it because I don't like to read about others' suffering. I don't know how anybody could not be horribly disturbed while reading this book. Job well done on that front by the author... I just think of books like this as more of an obligation than entertainment.

Free to a Good Home, by Eve Marie Mont ****

Free To A Good Home

Description:

Noelle Ryan works as a veterinary technician at a New England animal shelter, helping pets find homes. If only it were as easy to find one for herself. After discovering she can't have children-and watching her marriage fall apart after a shocking revelation by her husband-she feels as sad and lost as the strays she rescues.

She can't seem to get over her ex, Jay. Unfortunately, all Jay wants from her is a huge favor: serving as caretaker for his elderly mother, who blames Noelle for the breakup. While Jay heads off to Atlanta to live the life of a bachelor, Noelle is left only with her Great Dane, Zeke, to comfort her. But when a carefree musician named Jasper tugs at her heartstrings, giving her a second chance at life- and at love- Noelle comes to realize that home is truly where the heart is.

OK, let's be honest here: This book is fluff with very little substance. I bought it because the photographer who did the cover shot has a blog that I love, and the dog in the picture is hers. (I can't post a link to Erin Vey's blog right now because it's been infected with malware - but you should really Google her or look her up on Facebook.) I wasn't in any sort of hurry to read it until I started reading Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay. That book was so heavy and disturbing that I had to take a break and went looking for something a lot lighter... this was the perfect contrast, and I breezed through it in a night.

For some reason this book had the same appeal to me as Twilight did (except for the lack of vampires, condescending hero and twit of a heroine); so if you liked Twilight, I think you'll like this one too. Suffice to say, it's a sweet love story. He treats her well. She's got a brain in her head. They both make mistakes, which they work through; and then they fall in love.

If only it were that easy in real life.

The Neighbor, by Lisa Gardner ****

The Neighbor, by Lisa Gardner

Description:

A young mother, blond and pretty, vanishes from her South Boston home, leaving behind only one witness—her four-year-old daughter—and one suspect—her handsome, secretive husband.

From the moment Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Joneses’ snug little bungalow, instinct tells her that something is seriously off with the wholesome image the couple has worked so hard to create.

With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and a media firestorm building, D.D. must decide whether Jason Jones is hiding his guilt—or just trying to hide. But first she must stand between a potential killer and his next victim—an innocent child who may have seen too much.

I enjoyed this one. It's actually the latest in a series about a female Police Sergeant, but the first that I've read by this author. I didn't know going in what it would be - I thought it might end up being a mystery/romance of sorts - but it very much isn't a romance book.

The main character, the police sergeant, seemed more like a supporting role to me. I thought the suspect was a bigger part in the story, and was well presented. He came off as a bit of a jerk (thus, he was the suspect) but he also had a lot of relate-able characteristics that made me like him. On the flip side, I wasn't a huge fan of the police sergeant; even at the end of the book. This may or may not have been the author's intension. She wasn't poorly written, she just came off as a bit of a bitch to me. Either way, her part was so small that she didn't detract from the story.

The answers to the mystery weren't entirely a surprise, but I didn't think it was too, too predictable (keep in mind that I make little to no effort to figure things out as I read, and even I figured some of it out) but it was a good, entertaining read. I'll definitely pick up others from the series before too long.

But Inside I'm Screaming, by Elizabeth Flock ****

But Inside I'm Screaming, by Elizabeth Flock

Description:

While breaking the news of Princess Diana's death to millions, reporter Isabel Murphy unravels on live television. Coming back down to earth at a psychiatric hospital, Isabel begins the painful process of recovering the life everyone thought she had.

Refusing to co-operate with her doctors, Isabel finds it hard to believe that she belongs at Three Winds with schizophrenic Lark and Peter, the silent little boy. It will take drastic measures to convince Isabel that she can be helped and that she must confront her past, in order to ensure her future.

I liked this book. It's about a woman who, like so many, has tried to present a front of the perfect life to the world. The book starts out as she's breaking down on live television, and quickly jumps to her arrival at the mental facility. It's a little hard to get into in the beginning, but as you learn more about Isabel, you can't help but to care.

Every few chapters flash back to times in Isabel's life that are difficult. You start to get an understanding of what she's been dealing with as her mom criticizes her for being a quitter while taking her to be admitted into the mental hospital. Then there are flashbacks to times that tell about her demanding job, difficult family and abusive husband. The author doesn't really go into detail about the problems she's had, but touches on them enough that you see how they would weigh her down. The more you read about them, the more you emphasize with Isabel and want to see her succeed. I thought it was well done.

Smash Cut, by Sandra Brown ****

Smash Cut: A Novel

Description:

When millionaire Paul Wheeler is murdered, his family retains renowned lawyer Derek Mitchell to defend the victim’s nephew Creighton— although the police have not charged the young man with the crime. Wheeler’s mistress, Julie Rutledge, who is also a suspect, believes that Creighton is the killer, despite his rock-solid alibi, and she’ll do almost anything in her quest to prove his guilt—even ruin Derek’s career. But the more Derek learns of Creighton’s darker side, especially his bizarre fascination with movie murders, the more he comes to believe Julie is right. The clock ticks down to a shocking ending as Derek and Julie join forces to find the truth. Has Creighton begun reenacting cinema’s goriest scenes? And who will be his unwilling costars? They won’t know until the final SMASH CUT.

I feel the need to remind you before writing this review that until a year or so ago, I read almost exclusively women's lit like this. Sandra Brown used to be a favorite author of mine, until I started expanding my horizons. Then, when I started to learn how many other great books there are out there, woman's lit lost its appeal. There are many authors whose books I don't even try to read anymore. There are some whose books I've tried to read and failed miserably. Sandra Brown's last few books, in my opinion, have not been nearly as good as some of her earlier works. I wasn't sure if that's because my tastes are changing, or if the quality of her work has diminished, so I was hesitated before reading this one too. I'm really glad that I picked it up.

This book isn't a whodoneit mystery; it's more about how the main characters are going to get out of their current pickle. And of course, because it's women's lit, they swap spit and do the horizontal mambo a few times. For me, though, the appeal of this book was the mystery... what's the bad guy going to do next and how are they going to catch him.

I'm admittedly a mystery writer's dream. I just follow the story and make little to no effort in solving the mystery before the author spells it out for me. As such, I didn't foresee the twist at the end. That's a given; but I think it will be a surprise for most... I don't think it's integral to the story, per say, but it's a surprise.

Overall, I liked the book. I liked that the focus was more on the mystery and the villain than it was on the romance. I think it was a good page turning mystery. And I think it's worth saying that this is the first book I've read that that has ever made me gasp out loud. That almost made it worth reading all on its own. (It happened somewhere in the middle... I won't say where, because I don't want to ruin the surprise.)