Saturday, September 27, 2014

Cure for the Common Break-up by Beth Kendrick

*** 3 stars

Fun and saucy read.  Might be my cure for my recent reading slump!  I'll definitely read more by Kendrick.  Delightful and fluffy fun.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

**** 4 stars

No disappointment here! Unlike some other recent buzzy books (We Were Liars, I'm looking at you), this book held up its promise.  A good and twisty tale that played fair; no cheats here! Really liked it; the construction of the book was interesting too, with sections told by three characters (none of which were the "good girl" and told "before" and "after".)

Get a solid recommendation from me; lots of fun to read.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Kept by James Scott

* 1 star

Another disappointment.  This was a book club choice and it started out with such an evocative image and strong language. The sense of mystery and doom was so well done.  But it devolved into a real mess and I lost interest about midway through. The theme suggested by the title was not well explored.  I would have liked to known more about why the "Kept" were kept, the motivations and psyche of the keeper, etc.  That would have been a much more interesting book.  It was also dark with little redemption that I could discern.  Probably would not have finished it if it weren't for book club.

Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little

** 2 stars

A current book with a lot of buzz; I really had high hopes for this book. It started out strong; I liked the structure where we heard from the main character and flipped back and forth to news articles, blog posts, etc.  But I ended up feeling less than convinced of the likelihood of some of the leaps in logic as the main character tried to solve the mystery.  Seemed like a lot of coincidences and vague hunches which paid off.  Also, turns out the mystery wasn't really that interesting.  So, meh.....

Saturday, September 6, 2014

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

** 2 stars

I had to slog through this one and considering how outstanding The Husband's Secret was, that's pretty disappointing.  I'm still not sure if this was silly chick lit or a legitimate family drama.  The essential conceit is pretty silly, that's for sure, but I think some of the points were played for drama.

I found I didn't really care what Alice forgot.  I found I was interested in some of Alice's story and the stories of her children and her sister but some of the other stuff was dull.  Glad I'm done with it; it was okay but it's a good reminder that sometimes there's a good reason why an author's breakout book isn't in their back list.