Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Book Reviews…I love reading book reviews! I especially appreciate ones without a synopsis of the book (I can read the back of the book if I want that info!), and certainly NO spoilers! Nothing makes me more stabby then book reviews that blows the endings! I just want to know if the reader loved it or hated it. I don’t want a 6th grade Book Report if you know what I mean! LOL! This month I managed to finish 6 books, with lots of duds for sure. 🙁 Read my book reviews and see if anything strikes your fancy…
ATOMIC CITY GIRLS BY- JANET BEARD—First up was Atomic City Girls. I tried, I mean really tried, to like this one. I LOVE the topic and in fact read many books about Oak Ridge, TN and the women who worked tirelessly on a project that they knew nothing about (the atom bomb), just that it would “change the direction of the war.” I personally can’t imagine sitting on these stools all day, pushing buttons and changing dials and have NO idea why I was even doing it! BUT this fictional account just didn’t grab my attention. I picked it up numerous times over the month of March and nope…just couldn’t find myself caring about any of the characters. While I didn’t ultimately finish this one, I read enough to know that I would only give it 1 star. If you want to read about this topic, I highly recommend The Girls of Atomic City- The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
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DEFENDING JACOB BY- WILLIAM LANDAY—Next up was a book that a friend of mine kept raving about. She said is was meaty and engaging and brought up a number of ethical issues. “Defending Jacob” is a simple concept…teen boy is killed, Assistant DA’s son is suspected of committing the crime. How far, as a mother or father, are you willing to go for your child? It was a slow but steady read…a bit slogged down with verabatim narration of court room transcripts, and an ending some may not find satisfactory. I actually liked the ending, I thought it was fitting. If you like court room dramas (aka John Grishom) you are likely to like this one. I give it 3 1/2 stars
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ONE TRUE LOVES BY- TAYLOR JENKINS REID—After the heaviness of Defending Jacob, I wanted something a little lighter. “One True Loves” looked like it would fit the bill. I had added this one to my “want to read” list on Goodreads a long time ago and by the time I got around to requesting and receiving it from the library, I had long since forgotten what it was even supposed to be about. I went into this one totally blind. Turns out its all about Emma and Jessie. High school sweethearts who travel the world and eventually get married. One year later Jessie dies in a helicopter crash. Emma is crushed but goes on to eventually get engaged to Sam. Then BAM…Jessie is back from the dead. Who will Emma chose?? (By the way, no spoilers there, all that is from the back of the book! LOL!). I have mixed feelings on this one. It has solid writing, I liked the characters fine, but I don’t know, something about the story just felt off to me. I really wan’t sure who she was going to choose and honestly, I found I didn’t really care. Either guy would have been fine with me. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it….2 1/2 stars
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THE DRY BY-JANE HARPER — I threw “The Dry” on my “To Read”, list months ago. When I needed to bolster my amazon order (to be eligible for a few “add on’s”, I randomly chose this book. Like with “One True Loves”, I went in blind, not remembering at all what the story line was. I figure that if I cared enough to put it on my list in the first place, I must have thought the description interesting enough when I first came across it. Turns out this book’s central character, Aaron, has gone back to the town he’s from to attend a funeral…his former best friend and his family are dead. It is suggested that it’s a murder, suicide situation. But is it? Aaron attempts to figure out the truth and at the same time solve a 20+ year old mystery of a local girl who drowned. The book is told in both present time with random snippets of the past woven into each chapter. I found this story to be slow with far too much pointless, (cliche!) filler. Between the stereo-typical, small town paranoia, several long time bullies, far too many drunks and a gambler, it’s like the author simply got bored of her own story and just threw in the usual cast of characters found in any given mystery. I had high hopes for this one…it’s critically acclaimed and won several awards…but nope…it wasn’t for me. ZERO STARS
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ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD BY: Caroline Angell– Totally different style from what I’ve been reading, All the time in the World is NOT a mystery or thriller. Funny how I thought this book was going to be fluff and light. Turns out it was full of depth and characters I ended up feeling so connected with. I didn’t want it to end. It focuses on Charlotte, a classically trained music composer who has detoured from her musical world, becoming a nanny for a couple in New York. We find out on the very first page that the mother of the two little boys she watches, dies. The book is told in both present and past time, interspersed throughout each chapter, I think it was a wise style choice for this book. The heaviness of the AFTER is lightened up with the happy BEFORE. At times this was challenging to read. There were many parts that were sad, but at the same time it felt real and it was interesting to see how each character worked through their grief while still finding moments to smile about. Having been a nanny (many years ago!), I can easily understand how connected Charlotte felt with this family. That connection can be real and deep. While I would have loved a few more chapters or an epilogue at the end, you know, to wrap a few loose ends up, but all in all the ending was pleasant and fitting, not forced. I’m surprised but pleased to give this one 5 stars
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MANHATTAN LOCKDOWN By: Paul Batista
Sometimes I find myself really going out on a limb and reaching for something totally different. At the library recently I saw this book on display and decided to take a chance. Probably twice or three times a year I find myself reading something that falls into, what I call, the Towering Inferno category. Towering Inferno is one of my favorite “disaster” movies of all time and every once in a while I find a book that seems like it would make for a good disaster movie. Turns out Manhattan Lockdown was a big fat…disaster and not in a good way! Here’s the plot boiled down for you…terrorists pull off several attacks in New York. Manhattan gets locked down completely. A whole bunch of bad people get killed. Mayor and police chief get away with murder (literally). Book ends with a plane being blown up. Yes, it was that abrupt of an ending. sigh. What a waste. I had high hopes but nope. Zero stars for sure!
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Well, this month had only one real standout, “All the Time in the World”, and several total losers. I was hoping for more that would be worth recommending, but this month just wasn’t meant to be. Hopefully April will be loaded with 5 star reads!
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