Jill Farrow is thrilled to find some sort of normalcy returning after her divorce. For her and her daughter Megan, things are looking up. Jill loves her job as a Physician, spending time with her active daughter Megan, and the new man in her life Sam.
Then one evening Jill’s world turns upside down when the daughter of her ex, shows up on her doorstep, with news that Jill’s ex is dead, even presumed murdered. Jill promises a very scared Abby that she will do everything she can to help find out what happened to Abby’s dad. What she starts to uncover just doesn’t add up.
Jill’s obsession with the mystery starts to take a toll on her relationship with her own daughter Megan, as well as Sam, but Jill can’t quit now…. and some people feel she is getting just a little too close to the truth for comfort…
This is my first Lisa Scottoline and I have to come out and say that it was not what I had hoped for. I liked Jill, but this was one of those reads where all the supporting characters never felt fully there to me. Her two ex step daughters Abby and the extremely ornery Victoria were just different and I never fully pictured what the looked like in my mind.
Sam was a back seat participant in the whole read and when he did have an opinion, it was small and did not matter to me one way or another. In the end, I truly did not feel like I connected with any part of the book. 12 CDS long it also felt just a little too drawn out.
I really wish I could say more positive things about this one but in the end I felt empty.
Nothing like a little clubbing in New York to change your forever.
Fifteen year old Clary was thrilled to get an evening at the happening club Pandemonium, hanging out with her best friend Simon. Dancing and a good time was definitely on the agenda… witnessing a murder was not. Yet Clary is unnerved when she witnesses three teenage boys commit a murder that no one seems to notice but her, and then the body disappears into the air without leaving behind even a trace of a struggle.
Into the air!
Shortly there after Clary takes a call from her mom telling her not to come home but to go anywhere else and then she hears her mom being attached. By the time she does arrive at the house it is ransacked and her mom is nowhere to be found.
Welcome to the world of the Shadowhunters, a group of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. When a Shadowhunter close to her own age named Jace comes to her rescue, things become interesting. Clary is introduced to a while new world she never knew existed…. one of fighting for justice, and filled with weapons… and apparently, good looking guys.
As Jace, as well as his close friends Alex and Isabelle, come to help Clary find out what happened to her mom, they all discover that Clary’s meet up with the Shadowhunters was less of a coincidence than one may think. Clary is connected to these people more than anyone had realized…
and that puts her in a dangerous position.
I believe there are 5 books out now of the 6 book series
Uber embarrassing confession. My good friend Amy gushed about this book years ago. She gushed so much I did what I usually do, I went out and bought the book. Then I did something else I usually do too…. I shelved it for a later day. Well… although it caught my eye through the years, I never pulled it off the shelf, then as more and more books came out in this series (5 now I believe…) I didn’t know if I wanted the commitment of a long running series.
A couple weeks ago when I needed a new book download for my IPOD I was excited to stumble through a list that had City Of Bones on it. Knowing I had a much greater chance of getting to this read on audio, I downloaded it.
City of Bones was pretty much what I expected, an interesting paranormal YA genre of these Shadowhunters who fight demons among us every day human types who really don’t have a clue of what is going on around us. The Shadowhunters use something they call “glitter” that makes us everyday humans not be able to see them as they truly are, but instead they blend right into wherever they are: an elderly gentleman making his way down a hospital corridor, a businessman walking hurriedly through the streets of New York… if you were wondering how Clary seen them… well, that I can’t give away.
While I found City of Bones to be interesting and well written, I don’t see myself diving into the rest of the series. It was good, but didnt hook me to the point I need to go and get the second book right now! (I don’t quite want to dig out the Spoiler page for this one but did anyone else get a Harry Potter vibe on this one? They are looking for the Mortal Cup…. there is a bad guy trying to get to the cup first named…. Voldermort, I mean named Valentine.)
When 9-year-old Valerie Adler moved in across the street from 9-year-old Addie Downs, the two become inseparable friends. Addie, who has always been on the heavier side, does not make friends easy, unlike Valerie who’s fun personality, natural good looks, win her over many friends through the years. Val moves easily into the popular crowd where Addie, always insecure in her looks, waits by the wayside.
As the girls near graduation, a major incident shatters the girls friendship and they go their separate ways.
Some bonds can never be broken…
15 years later, a much thinner and self-assured Valerie still lives in the town she grew up in. She paints pictures for cards, works from her home and is very satisfied how her life has turned out. She knows Valerie has done well for herself as she sees her on TV as the weather girl. On the weekend of her class reunion, Addie of course skips out on the event and instead goes on yet another unfortunate date. Her 6th in recent months. Upon arriving back home, she soon after receives a knock on her door and opens it to find Valerie looks worse for the wear and blood on her coat…
“Something terrible has happened, and I need you help!”
Just a couple of weeks ago I reviewed another Jennifer Weiner audio book, Fly Away Home and I gushed about it. I was excited to jump into another read by her and I had this one in-house as well from a recent Barnes and Noble shopping spree. I listened to this with my son on the way to our cabin this past weekend and home. A 7 hour trip.
At first the book was sounding very good. The two best friends meeting again after all these years, Addie having turned her life around so she was no longer this shy overweight girl she once was, and of course there is the little fact that Valerie is covered in blood…
sounds like a good start to me!
But soon… things in the book start to fall apart for me. I cringe when I see how easily Valerie walks back into Addie’s life and takes over, making Addie an accomplice to her personal troubles, and it angered me how easily Addie herself fell into step in what was probably a comfortable spot for her…. following Valerie.
From there… the story gets a bit ridiculous. For those who may wish to read this I will skip the details but seriously I shook my head often throughout this listen going “WHAT? WHAT? Noooooo….” I never felt like I fully could imagine what these two main protagonists looked like – their characteristics are revealed slowly and late throughout the book. When they say Addie is heavy you picture overweight… when the book is almost at the end, it is revealed that after high school Addie had been around 350 pounds. “WHAT?” There were just a few parts that were so unrealistic.
Is the story all bad? No…. there were some good moments. Justin (my son) and I had a good time with the part where they make fun of a Minnesota man who drags out his words in a Minnesotan way.
“Awwwwwwesome. Vommmmit”
Justin and I said “awwwwwwesome” that was all last weekend and I am still doing it. 😀
I do have to say overall though, this audio was an unfortunate pastime. The ending was odd… Justin and I just looked at each other and were like “really?”
Now I know Jennifer Weiner can write and I know my thoughts on this book is just my opinion. I will definitely read her again as I know she has good ones out there. Best Friends Forever for me was a hit and a miss.
You would not recognize that Sylvia at 17 in Bohemian clothes and long flowing loose hair was the same Sylvia 38 years later who was a pressed suit wearing, hair dying, prim and proper politician’s wife. Life was a ritual of making her husbands schedule, getting his coffee and being by his side as the perfect cookie cutter political wife.
Then a very public scandal rips Sylivia’s marriage wide open and make’s her question everything she has become. Retreating to her mothers unoccupied seaside home, Sylvia works at distancing herself from the mess her life has become and creating a life she can move forward in.
Sylvia’s daughter Diane is dealing with her own marriage issues. Her husband Gary’s whiney nasally voice has trampled her last nerve. He wants nothing more than to stay at home and play games on his laptop while Diane thirsts for more… and more is what she finds in a man she works with at the hospital who seems to be everything that Gary is not.Lizzie, the youngest daughter has already led a troubled life. Having battled addictions already of drugs and alcohol at her young age, she fights to stay clean and sober, when a man comes along who seems to good to want someone the likes of her. Eventually, all three women wind up at the seaside home… each dealing with major curve balls in their life and trying to process through what the next step should be.
Author: Jennifer Weiner
I think somewhere along the line of mountains of books and authors I enjoy, I forgot how much I enjoyed Jennifer Weiner (pronounced Why-ner). Listening to this audio just reminded me that she is not an author to miss.
Usually when a book has several strong protagonists, I usually find myself favoring a story line and going with that. That is mainly because when you split the top billing character, many times they lack depth and development.
In Fly Away Home, I have to say I enjoyed all three-story lines. Sylvia’s story was painful and honest and I loved how she handled herself, even allowed herself to change out of that stiff molding she had placed herself in. Diane’s story also felt real and captivated me wondering what she would ultimately do, and Lizzie, who never really seemed to live up to anyone’s expectations suddenly finds her own worth.
Really, Fly Away Home is an impressive heartwarming read that does not end with everything tied up in a neat little bow. Instead it feels real that some questions remain to be answered – and some choices, are still being processed through. Yet I was satisfied with the way it all ended.
I recommend Fly Away Home as an excellent summer read or listen.
Jenny Lawson, AKA The Blogress, shares what it was like growing up in a highly function dysfunctional home in Texas. Her father, a Taxidermist likes to stuff all sorts of animals, never passes by a road kill he can not think of a use for as well as raise a few animals of their own…. like chickens…. and goats….
From the school days, to her 15 year marriage to her patient but continuously confused husband, Victor, Lets Pretend This Never Happened is told in witty “this is what happened” chapters.
I mainly listened to this because Jenny Lawson is a Blogger and that is “Whoop worthy”. Although I admit, I was not familiar with her blog, I am almost always up for something that makes me laugh and occasionally makes pop come out my nose. Seriously, who would pass that up? 😛
After seeing a couple of reviews on this one, I decided I wanted to go with the audio version because I thought the book would come across better and because Jenny Lawson (author) was narrating this herself and that is usually pretty cool or AWESOME with a capital A. Or both. Yes, in this case both.
Jenny Lawson is an Awesome with a capital “A” narrator. She really does bring each story to life with her “yes this really happened” attitude. I enjoyed her telling of each story and her over use of the word “Ya’ all”, which makes me want to use it when talking with friends and when writing reviews… I have to be careful not to do that for the next couple of weeks until this gets out of my head so tell me if you see me using it.
There is no question that Jenny is funny and I am a big fan of dry humor and funny scenario’s. Some of the early childhood stories involving dead animal flesh, extremities, and other levels of “YUCK” were not my favorites of the audio. When Jenny gets more into her discussions with her husband Victor, I think those where the chapters I enjoyed the most. Victor’s bewildered “Seriously, what were you thinking?” to Jenny’s “Oh, but this will work and we should definitely patent this idea before it is stolen” counter is at times HILARIOUS.
Some of my favorite book/audio moments are:
Post it note argument with Victor.
The GPS – why do they give street names? Land marks would be so much easier “Turn left at that blue house where you once seen that bum passed out in the ditch”
The taxidermy Alligator on the airplane, (I laughed several times out loud when Jenny gave the Alligator a voice with a thick accent and had it talking to a much embarrassed and annoyed Victor.)
There are a couple of chapters that are pretty real too, so it is not all fun and games, Jenny’s attempts to carry a baby to term are heart wrenching, and when she openly speaks on her illness as well.
While Amazon says this is a good one to read if you are fans of Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, I would say that Jenny Lawson’s crude language is far more frequent than Tina Fey’s was and if you are considering listening to this on audio you are going to overdose on the “F” bomb as well as a few other words. Did the language go to a point that it bothered me personally? Yes. I do not read Jenny’s blog so I am sure this is just the way she rolls, which is fine, but for me personally, I think it could have been just as good and maybe even better without all the language.
Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen now takes a realistic look at her 60th year in this memoir. Within, she talks of the past (growing up, parents, boys, dating, marriage, children..), the present (the importance of friends, not getting so worked up anymore, faith, loss) and the future (decluttering life, enjoying the moments…)
Anna talks to you in her memoir like she is talking to a friend hashing over the good, the bad, and the ugly while sitting in a sunny chair on her porch sitting ice-cold tea and the sampling of the occasional short bread.
I have not read a lot of Anna Quindlen. In fact, off-hand, I think other than this one, I have only read Every Last One (which is freaking me out now, as I just tried to search my blog for this review and can not find it. I know I listened to it on audio and now wonder if I forgot to review it last year. :shock:) However, I know Anna Quindlen can write, and I know her name as an author upon hearing it.
While I am no where hear the 60th birthday mark, I was still intrigued by a life memoir by a woman who is known for writing about realistic life opportunities in ways that make you think and care. I knew that writing a non fiction for Anna, would be an honest, even if it was brutally so, look at the life lessons she has carried.
I for one felt I too would get something out of listening to this book.
I used to think that surrounding myself with trusting girlfriends was just my own personal way of dealing with so much loss in my life. I like, and need “Go To Girls”. Listening to Anna, I am realizing that my need to hang out with my friends is not a unique thing, but really – a girl thing. As Anna points out, as we get older our girlfriends become all the more important to talk about everything, and to talk about nothing. I like that.
From dating to marrying to children of our own, Anna Quindlen covers all the topics with a matter of fact and confident tone. I enjoyed listening to her life lessons, smiling and laughing at times.
All in all, this book is not just for nearing or over that 60 years old mark. It is a read for any woman who feels they have lived much, but have more left to do. 😀
When Cassie called Lia, crying, begging for her to help… to talk to her, to be there for her…. Lia should have picked up the phone.
But…
she didn’t.
And not Cassie is dead and Lia is left with the “should have” and the “could have” of a moment in time that may have changed everything.
Then again…
maybe not.
After all, Cassie and Lia were once very close…. each of them part of the “Winter Girls”, each competing to be the thinnest… the smallest girl in school… in their town… everywhere. And really, would picking up the phone that night have helped Cassie? Or for that matter, have helped Lia?
Now Lia finds herself in a world where her parents watch her like a hawk… trying to get her to eat, trying to help her… but when Lia looks in the mirror she sees only the yellowness of oozy fat beneath her skin….
UGLY. FAT. HORRIBLE. DISGUSTING.
And so, Lia watched everything she eats….
6 almonds….. 42 calories
toast with no butter…. 120 calories
half an apple… 50 calories…
The goal… 500 calories a day… Or…. is that too much?
FAT. STUPID. LAZY. UGLY.
Her family begs her to gain weight…. but at 18 years old, Lia cant stand how being 97 pounds feels…. why do they continue to try to make her fat? Trying to make her eat like the gluttons they are? Do they not know that she will run on the treadmill for fours hours later, getting rid of it… all of it until that scale creeps down…. triumphantly to 90, then 87, then 85, then 83…. and then….
“The number doesn’t matter. If I got down to 070.00, I’d want to be 065.00. If I weight 010.00, I wouldn’t be happy until I got down to 005.00. The only number that would ever be enough is 0. Zero pounds, zero life, size zero, double-zero, zero point. Zero in tennis is love. I finally get it.” ― Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson has done it again. Seriously! When I read SPEAK (a banned book by the way!) I was blown away by the powerful and brave topic of a teenager being raped at a party, and afraid to talk about it. Now, in Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson tackles another tough and heartbreaking topic, Anorexia.
Told in the voice of Lia, we are taken completely inside the mind of a young girl who feels she in always fat, even though everyone, EVERYONE (parents, doctors, counselors….)are telling her differently. As Lia fights to stay thinner and thinner, you experience with her hallucinations, lack of energy, the inability to get warm, and embarrassment from her siblings at her thinness.
I highly recommend you listen to this one on audio (yes, even those of you new to audio) – do yourself a favor as Jeannie Stith does an emotionally charged narration of this book… from the voices within Lia’s own mind, to the people that surround Lia’s small world. Listening to this one was a real treat.
Michael Zarkades was a busy man. His job as a lawyer kept him at the office late at night, and back again early in the morning. His wife Jolene handled everything else, groceries, home upkeep, the needs of their two children, Betsy (12) and Lu Lu (4), bill paying, carpooling, and a pilot for the National Guards. Their lives went 100 miles and hour – in opposite directions.
With a marriage already on the rocks, the news of Jolene’s deployment could not have been worse timing. Michael had just taken on a tough case. Betsy was practicing (and very well I might add) at being the “oh poor me” teenager, Lu Lu valued all her mommy time.
With Jolene gone for what looks like will be a year, Michael gets a full dose of what it is like to try to manage career and family. When the unthinkable happens, this family with all of its frayed ends, will need to use everything they have to pull it together…. or unravel forever.
I have dabbled a bit through the years in Kristin Hannah’s books and have enjoyed what I have read. Home Front was one that was introduced to me by a friend, and I was due for another audio so really, why not?
The narration was done by Maggi-Meg Reed and at first I could not get over how much she sounded like Kathleen Turner, A very strong, self-assured, sometimes over dramatic voice that at first bothered me, as it felt too strong for Jolene… and then later in the audio, I decided it was perfect for Jolene… in fact the parts where she reads the overly spoiled and whiny Betsy actually cracked me up. (Even though seriously if there was ever a character I wanted to slap and tell her to grow up, it is Betsy).
The story told here is interesting as usually when we think of someone going off to war, it is the husband, or the son. Kristin Hannah twists that up with the “what if instead it was a woman, and not just a woman, but a married woman with two small children. What if it was the man left at home to handle things?
Jolele’s time away is riddled with her seeing war first hand, yet trying to make her family believe through the occasional phone call or email that she is in a safe zone, mostly flying around VPI’s. While you see all that Jolene is hiding, you see Michael go from angry at his wife, to coming to more of an understanding of how serious where she is can be.
It’s hard to say much here without giving away major plot points so I will just say that Kristin Hannah does a fine job of surprising the reader of what will happen next. The easy answers, are not what we find here, but in the end, I think we can make peace with the way it is.
While come parts of this book/audio felt unnecessarily drawn out, in the end, I liked it.
On a chilly November evening in Oslo Norway, the snow if falling. It is the first snowfall of the season. When Jonas awakens in the night he discovers that his mother is gone, and in the yard a snowman has appeared, eerily facing the home instead of the street… and oddly wearing his mother’s scarf around its thick white neck.
Police Investigator Harry Hole is called to the scene of the crime and as the pieces start to fall where they may – Harry starts to see a pattern… many women throughout a series of years that have gone missing, on the first snowfall of a year. When a letter addressed to him arrives all mysterious and creepy, Harry starts to see that he too is becoming a part of the killers master plan…
It looks like The Snowman may be a movie some day...
Jo Nesbo is an author I have heard much about. I liked the titles and covers of his books and have felt for some time now that getting a Nesbo book under my belt was a must do.
Having now done that, I think I can check Nesbo off my “to do” list and move on.
What I liked about the book: I can understand the fanship that has been created around Nesbo’s books. He is well written, and the storyline is dark, yet fascinating. The crime itself is well thought out and detailed so you can not only understand how Harry picks up on the clues and moves forward, but you can also understand how the killer thinks as well. Well yes, CREEPY, it is also very well-developed both factual and fictionally. The narration by Robin Sachs is melt in your mind fantastic!
What I didn’t like about the book: Harry Hole (oh don’t even get me started on his name...) is in my humble and honest opinion… disgusting. The language in the book at times made me cringe, even more so, the actions and descriptions of the many sexual acts that Harry is involved in made me come close to shutting off the audio many times and making an understandably DNF (Did Not Finish) claim to the book and move on.
Why I didn’t turn it off: Unfortunately for me, and probably a win for Nesbo, is that if you could take out all the language and crap that made me want to vomit, the story line is a good one. While this book as a whole did not appeal to me, I can see why it does appeal to others. Nesbo can write great characters (ummm… not in their character itself, but as characters….) and great realistic descriptions.
Will I read Nesbo again? Most likely no, while I did enjoy the writing, he would have to change into a completely different format for me to even consider cracking open one of his books or pushing play without cringing on an audio player.
I had heard a murmur that these books were a bit like Stieg Larsson’s writing (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), which I had only read one of his books but did not finish the series, I personally feel this book is darker and cruder that Stieg Larson ever was.
Ok, I will quit beating a dead horse…. errr, snowman here.
Now… just because I love doing Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking, and I also love tying food into books I read… I am adding a simple recipe, but one that I would totally use if my book club was going to read this book (and I assure you, they are not!) as a group..
Beat cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Gradually add the sugar, beating until blended. Gently fold in whipped topping.
Place half of cake cubes in a large glass bowl; top with half of cheese mixture. Spread half of cherry filling over cheese mixture. Repeat layers with remaining cake cubes, cheese mixture, and cherry filling. Cover and chill.
*Not my recipe, this is from a favorite recipe site: My Recipes.com
Nell Channing finally did what was long over due. She found a way to escape her abusive marriage. Feeling free for the first time since she can remember, she changes her look, and finds herself stepping off a ferry on to a quaint place called Three Sisters Island. Nell was drawn to the stories around the island, the folklore that said the island was created by ancient witches in 1692 and still to this day carried the magic of years gone by.
Nell felt like she had found a home in this touristy island, and quickly secured a job at the local Book Store, Cafe Books, owned by the mysterious, Mia Devlin. Mia had many island rumors circling around herself as well.. she owned the beautiful house on the cliff that could be seen from the ferry and was believed to have powers handed down from the generations of powerful women of the island before her.
And then there is Ripley, sister to the handsome sheriff, Zak. Ripley, as Mia knows, is the second of the”three sisters” on the island that still carry magical powers, yet as much as Mia embraces her powers, Ripley rejects them, hates that this is a gift handed down to her from the island, and does everything she can to deny it.
But Mia, and with her pulse on the island itself is well aware of the power the island has given her. She is also well aware that the island is called Three Sisters Island, and to complete the circle, there is to be a third. Mia has a strong feeling the third part of the sisterhood just came to the island in the form of a small woman who is currently in her employment and seems to be running from something. And that something, seems to be coming towards the island like a dark cloud that Mia can see and feel clearly, and she knows it will take the power of three to ensure the survival of all involved.
The audio was FANTASTIC!
Two things are true: 1. This is not your typical Nora Roberts book. 2. This is one on my all time favorite reads.
I first read Dance Upon The Air in August of 2001. I know this for a fact because it was the first book our book club read together and because the book touched me so much that it graces my book shelf in triplicate, so I can always have a spare to give out to someone.
I LOVE books that have to do with strong, independent women, and if these women have powers… all the better. Dance Upon The Air covers all this well, I often refer to this book as paranormal, before paranormal was cool.
There is so much I love about this book and the two that follow it, Heaven and Earth, and then Face The Fire – all written in typical Nora Roberts fashion with her trilogies, each book features one of the three women. All equally awesome – which is rare in trilogies.
I have wanted to read this one again for a long time, but as book lovers know – its hard to get back to the ones you have read before when so many awesome reads are waiting to still be read…
I think I have found the secret to the re-read, try it in a different format. In this case, I listened to this book on audio and I am so over the top thrilled that I did. It is narrated beautifully by Sandra Burr and I cant even tell you how relieved I was that this older read was delightful as well in audio.
Do yourself a favor and give this book (or audio) a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and this is definitely a do not judge a book by its author. (and yes, watch this weekend for a post on that!)
Book Journey 