Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Every once in a while I stumble across a book that I cannot put down, even after I'm done reading it.  Dark Places is one of these books.  It is such a page-turner that I finished it in only a couple of days.  It went everywhere with me and whenever I had a minute of downtime, I had my nose in its pages.  I can't quite put my finger on why, but there's something about this book that really makes me want to sit and think.  It's a psychological mystery.  It has honest, grainy human emotions and it looks so deeply into Libby Day's tainted soul that the reader can't help but root for her.  She's so pathetic and yet compelling at the same time.  It's hard to explain.  Maybe it's like when you were a child and went to the sketchy part of town for the first time.  There were homeless people in various states of griminess (yes, I probably made up that word) and as an adult, we know better than to stare at the worst of them.  But, as a child, it's mesmerizing and no matter how many times your mom yanks on your hand or knocks you on the back of your head, you just can't stop staring.  I think that's kind of what it's like when I read this book. 

SPOIILER ALERT*********SPOILER ALERT**********SPOILER ALERT**********

Flynn is a master at creating people and relationships.  Libby and Ben.  Ben and Diondra, both in the past and the present.  Ben and Patty Day.  Patty and Diane.  Krissi and Ben in the past.  Krissi and Libby in the present.  Runner.  Ben and Trey with Diondra.  Libby is a pathetic character, in the beginning of the book.  She is a manipulative, lying, stealing woman who never got over the violent loss of her family.  She witnessed something so horrible that the country seemed to rush to her aid, but rather than being helped to heal, she found herself manipulated by a political agenda then left alone to "deal" and "move on".  Sure, she received therapy, but her aunt had to drive her far for it, so it was only natural that she eventually stop going.  Her Aunt Diane lived in a trailer.  She worked as a doctor's receptionist.  Libby's childhood went from dismal (on the farm) to depressed (with her Aunt Diane) to pathetic (in her adulthood).  She had obvious issues with anger, depression, and trust.  But then again, who wouldn't, in her situation?  How could she have grown up, set goals, overcome small obstacles like the SAT's, when her psyche was trying to deal with her witnessing the murder of everyone she loved and the world was telling her that the murderer is her one surviving family member? 

I love stories with twists.  This book is full of 'em.  I loved how Flynn revealed present and past stories simultaneously, so you constantly wondered what actually happened and whether or not Libby was safe in the present.  I loved how there are so many different things going on and in the end, Flynn manages to tie everything in together.  The Angel of Debt and Patty and Debby.  Diondra and Michelle.  Ben and his choice of inaction.  This makes me wonder if he would have stopped Diondra if Libby and Michelle had been in each other's places that night.  Libby and her choice to flee the house.  Krissi and all her lies.  She was only a little girl who wanted to brag about her high school boyfriend.  When it got her her parent's attention, she embellished.  When her parents told other people, she was stuck.  Her friends then got caught up in the excitement of it all and it was too late.  The stones against Ben were piling up and it's our privelage as readers to get to follow along as Libby digs through the rubble.       

The Child Thief by Brom

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief--and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is "not" Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is "always" more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries--one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book an entire galaxy full of stars...out of 5 stars.

In case you can't tell by the rating, I absolutely ADORE this book.  It has everything that I could ever have wanted in a book.  And, the ironic thing is that I bought this at least a year ago and it's been sitting on my shelf, collecting dust with all my other cast-off's from college.  I only got it because there was a bogo ("buy one, get one") half off sale and it was my second choice that day.  Can you imagine?!  I almost didn't get it and I probably never would have read it if I didn't pick it up that day.  Oh, the horror of thinking that I would have missed out on this treasure!

Anyway, perhaps I should get to the point and tell you why I love it, hmm?  Well, its storyline is very loosely based on the classic story of Peter Pan (which, by the way, if you've ever read the original version is much different than the Disney-fied version).  I wasn't a huge fan of Peter Pan (either the Disney or the original), so I wasn't too keen on reading this book, which may be why I let it sit on my shelf for so long.  Peter, a hybrid human/faerie (and no I'm not spelling faerie incorrectly) creature who is forever stuck in the face, body, and impulses of a pre-teenage boy.  He lives in a magical place that is enchanting and scary all at the same time.  He comes to our reality to "steal children," that are part of the dregs of society.  These kids are homeless, runaways, thieves, abused...you name it, they've experienced it.  All except love, that is.  So, Peter befriends them by eliminating the source of their stresses (usually a drug dealer or abusive parent) and plays with them until he gains their trust.  He becomes the new "adult" in their life that they think will take care of them.  Why?  Well, because if we were to let all pre-adolescent children run loose, they would seek order and find someone to lead and take care of them the way a parent does.  They seek acceptance and approval.  Come to think of it, most of us adults have never outgrown that. 

**SPOILER ALERT ******** SPOILER ALERT********SPOILER ALERT**

After Peter gains their trust and convinces them that he's the best big brother in the world, he tells them that there's a place they can go to that is everything a child could ever want.  He speaks of fighting monsters, playing with other kids, staying up all night...and the older ones listen with a skeptical ear while the younger ones completely buy into it.  He then takes them into the "mist," which is aptly named.  He leads and they follow.  If they stray, then they get lost and die.  Before entering the mist Peter doesn't tell them that.  He doesn't tell them that he needs to concentrate on a very thin thread of gold that is the path and if he is distracted then they will both be lost and die.  He also doesn't tell them that the reason they die is because there are things in the mist that will kill the living.  Things like monsters, angry ghosts, sirens...basically, it's the stuff that monsters have nightmares about.  Peter doesn't tell them any of that.  He just asks them to say, "I go willingly," and then he expects them to follow.  He loses a lot of the kids that way.  Then, he has a moment of remorse, and he's back out in the world, looking for more lost, starving, miserable children. 

But, you may wonder, why does Peter work so hard to "steal" these children if he's going to let them get lost in the mist?  Well, Peter is bewitched (although some may call it love) by Modron, a.k.a. the Lady.  He met her when he was very young (6ish I believe) and she showed him kindness because Peter reminded her of her lost son Mabon.  She asks her nephew Ulfger to take Peter outside to play and they end up skirmishing and Peter bites off one of Ulfger's ears.  Since Ulfger is royalty, he has his guards hunt Peter for the next many years (time is strange).  The Lady created the mist to keep Avalon (that's the name of the magical island) hidden.  Peter is forced into the mist one day and he finds that tiny gold thread that allows him to know the path.  He wanders around reality and is horrified at the carnage that humans are capable of.  He stumbles onto a farm.  There are men who have killed the locals and have trapped all the children so that they could enslave them or kill them.  Peter rescues the children and sees the potential they have as warriers.  He sees in them a strength and hardness that only comes from experiencing horror.  All the children grow up way too fast, and that's the theme of the book.  Bodies and hearts of children with the minds and convictions of adults. 

These little warriors become Peter's devils and they make a place for themselves in Avalon.  At some point, the Lady lifts the mists and the humans openly come and worship her.  Then, a few ships arrive and appear to settle in although their version of the story is that they were only refilling their supplies.  The Lady sends some of her guard to ask the ships to leave but when the humans see the mythological creatures approaching them they panic and attack.  The kill several of them on sight.  Then Avalon is thrown in to war.  The Lady's brother, the Horned One, unites all of Avalon and attacks the men.  They attack back with their cannons and gun powdered weapons.  The Horned One dies along with most of the devils and Avalon retreats.  The Lady puts up the mist and goes into depression.  Peter spends the next 300 or so years bringing more children from reality and training them to be warriors.  In the meantime, they struggle to survive on berries while running from the more dangerous creatures of the island.  The humans either go crazy or develop warts, pox scabs, and become covered in scales, which makes them even less approachable to the island's inhabitants.  The Lady, in true royalty fashion, goes into hiding and it is up to Ulfger, who turns out to be crazy, himself, to defend and lead Avalon. 

It becomes aparent that Peter loves the children and he mourns the loss of each one, although there are so many that he often can't remember their names.  However, he does whatever he thinks is best for the Lady, which means that he sends the children out knowing that they have a very slim chance of making it back to their refuge.  One of the children, Nick, points it out to Peter that he has given so many lives to the Lady and that she has stolen Peter's soul.  Nick asks Peter, "how many more lives?"  And that haunts Peter, making him feel ashamed of his choices.  At the end of the book, good prevails.  The bad guys die, the Lady lives, the one bad guy who had a good heart gets away, and Cricket (Nick's friend) sees the truth about Peter.  Peter sees the truth about the Lady and he truely begins to mourn his lost children.  He turns his back on her and goes to fulfill a promise he made to Nick.  He chooses to keep his word rather than live and die only for the Lady. 

Peter and Nick are the main characters so of course they have the most character development, but there is enough about the other characters that each of them developes a soul and makes a bond with the reader.  The Captain, whom Peter fears more than anything else on the island, just wants to go home and spend time with his family.  The other lost children seek Peter's approval and desperately try to prove themselves worthy of his attention.  Ulfger, even in his madness, is a sympathetic character who's got some serious Daddy issues.  The Lady, her sister the Witch...they all have very humanistic characteristics that make them seem vulnerable and terrible at the same time. 

My favorite thing about this story is that at different parts of the book, I found myself rooting for different characters.  Sometimes I wanted Nick to win.  Other times, I wanted Peter to win.  Sometimes it was the Lady.  Sometimes Tanngnost was a savior, at others he was the reason everything goes to Hell.  I felt equal parts bad and abhorrance for the Captain and Danny.  The same with Sekeu.  Brom is a brilliant writer.  His fictional world is so unreal, yet very real.  The danger, the rewards, and the hope are so strongly woven into every page of the book.  This is definitely a page-turner.  It's a, "let's order out for dinner so that I can spend more time reading," kind of book.  It reminds you of that moment when you grew up.  It reminds you how poignant it can be to finally find a friend who is loyal and true to you.  It reminds you that the lines between good and evil are not always clearly defined.  It reminds you to look under your bed for monsters before you go to sleep at night. 

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Be careful what you wish for. A small town librarian lives a quiet life without much excitement. One day, she mutters an idle wish and, while standing in her house, is struck by lightning. But instead of ending her life, this cataclysmic event sparks it into a new beginning.

She goes in search of Lazarus Jones, a fellow survivor who was struck dead, then simply got up and walked away. Perhaps this stranger who has seen death face to face can teach her to live without fear. When she finds him, he is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets--what turned one to ice and the other to fire.  (from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book.  I downloaded/borrowed it from the library but I didn't realize how captivating this storyline would be.  Alice Hoffman is a writing genius and after finishing this book I found myself immediately scouring amazon.com to find another book by her.  So far, I've been able to resist purchasing anything (mainly because it's approaching midnight and my judgment at this time of night is not always very sound). 

It starts off with a little girl who loves fairy tales.  Tragedy strikes her family and she is guilt-ridden for the rest of her childhood and young adulthood.  Her guilt goes so deep that she doesn't allow herself any pleasure or happiness, even with her grandmother.  It's almost as if she sees herself in the third person and her descriptions of events in her life are objective and almost scientific.  She doesn't seem to realize that some of the people she worked so hard to stay detached from were simultaneously trying to get closer to her.  She cared for her grandmother's health when she got sick.  She moved in and did all the cleaning, cooking, and caring for her grandmother because she felt it was her duty.  In return, her grandmother loved her.  Her grandmother thought she did it because she loved her.  Likewise, when Ned, the narrator's brother, returns to the narrator's life, she remains distant and cold.  Hence, the title of the book and the narrator's identification with the ice maidens in fairy tales. 

As time passes, the narrator finds that relationships are much more complicated than fairy tales lead you to believe.  Almost unknowingly, she makes friends and becomes closer with her family.  She adopts pets and finds herself worrying about their welfare.  She starts to care about people.  She becomes involved in other people's secrets.  She tugs you along in her journey of self-realization.  By the end of the book I found myself so entranced that I was sad there wasn't any more to read.  It's one of those books where you get to know the characters and care about them and when it's over, you almost find yourself wondering about them.  The words that aren't said, the meaning between the lines on the pages, are what define a character.  A good character is multi-faceted and has lots of layers.  It's someone that you feel like you know, not just as a character in a book, but as a real person.  How likely is it that I will ever know an actual lightning-strike survivor?  Probably not very.  But, Hoffman has weaved a story here that makes you feel like you know the narrator, her friends, and her family.  What is logical, what is fantasy, what is the difference between probability and absolutes?  Hoffman can make you think that up is down and right is left.  I can't wait to re-read this again and see if there's anything I missed the first time around.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice is twenty-nine. She is whimsical, optimistic and adores sleep, chocolate, her ramshackle new house and her wonderful husband Nick. What's more, she's looking forward to the birth of the 'Sultana' - her first baby.

But now Alice has slipped and hit her head in her step-aerobics class and everyone's telling her she's misplaced the last ten years of her life.

In fact, it would seem that Alice is actually thirty-nine and now she loves schedules, expensive lingerie, caffeine and manicures. She has three children and the honeymoon is well and truly over for her and Nick. In fact, he looks at her like she's his worst enemy. What's more, her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her either. And who is this 'Gina'everyone is so carefully trying not to mention?

Alice isn't sure that she likes life ten years on. Every photo is another memory she doesn't have and nothing makes sense. Just how much can happen in a decade? Has she really lost her lovely husband for ever?

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

This is one of those books that has been sitting on my kindle for a while, just waiting patiently for me to remember I ever downloaded it.  I was initially intrigued by the mystery that surrounds amnesia.  I thought this book would be a good foray into the "what-if"'s of the world.  What if I lost large chunks (or, for that matter small chunks) of time?  What if I woke up one day and didn't recognize the people who are living in my house with me?  What if, in the future, I find that I'm a completely different person than the one I am today?  What if my mistakes are so irreparable that they damage myself and my entire family for many years to come? 

This story isn't so much about changing one's past as it is about the importance of constant self-reflection.  The Alice that the readers get to know and love is the one from the past.  She thinks she's still twenty-something years old.  She wakes up in her almost-forty-year-old body and finds that her future self is a bit of a pain.  There are things she's told she does on a regular basis that she never would have dreamed she would be capable of.  The reader joins Alice as the rediscovers herself. 

I was immediately caught up in Alice's amazement.  She learned that relationships fade if you don't make a conscious effort.  She found that it's not as easy to forgive past hurts once they have a chance to fester and boil up inside.  She discovers that being a mother is as much about consistency and schedules as it is about listening to your children and treating each of them as a special human being. 

I thought this book was easy to read, hard to put down, and very charming.  It wasn't a change-your-life kind of book, but it was very heart-warming.  I finished this book in about 2 days.  During that time I didn't laugh out loud, I didn't cry, and I didn't want to put it down.  While I'm sure there are more thought-provoking books out there, I enjoyed this one for the simplistic writing style and easy to follow storyline. 

The characters were portrayed realistically.  Memory is a funny thing; when a big event happens, each person who is present may have a different memory of it.  One person may remember the sounds of the cars passing on the street, another may remember the color of the decor in hospital room, yet another may remember the kindness of a stranger.  There is no omniscient third party voice who narrates real life.  That's what I loved about this book.  Each segment is told from another person's perspective.  You see the same events from different eyes and you find yourself not wondering who's perspective is the "right" one but rather what each person will do with the situation, given their perspective of it.  I strongly believe that each person does the best that he can with the situation that he's in.  It may not be the "right" or the "wrong" course of action, but it is the best that he can think of at the time. 

Breathless by Dean Koontz

#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz delivers a thrilling novel of suspense and adventure, as the lives of strangers converge around a mystery unfolding high in the Colorado mountains—and the balance of the world begins to tilt….

In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light…and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to make their approach.

A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring all the forces of a government in peril to her door.

At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness…In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable…On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder…Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek toward his destiny…

In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless, fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the moment between one turn of the world and the next, across the border between knowing and mystery. It is a journey that will leave all who take it Breathless. 

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

I used to love Dean Koontz.  Sadly, I think that either I grew up or his writing got old because every book I pick up by him just has a, "eh," reaction from me after I finish reading it.  Brethless is no different.  Now, don't get me wrong...it's a great little book if you've got some time to spare and you want something entertaining and simple.  It lays everything right out in front of you on a shiny platter with a big red bow on top.  This is perfect if your brain is tired from working all day and you want to pick up something that will do the thinking for you.  As far as I can tell there are  no deeper meanings or thought-provoking twists that need to be dissected in a book club. 

I enjoyed the characters and I thought the Bigger guy (Tom Bigger) was a nice little nod to society's homeless population.  I especially enjoyed Merlin, the Irish Wolfhound.  Koontz gave him humanistic traits but still kept him dog-like.  I thought the underlying theme of order and chaos were nicely done.  I liked that everyone was realistic, but I didn't like that everyone was able to accurately read other peoples' intentions.  Non-verbal communication is often misinterpreted in real life and it's a little disappointing that everyone in Koontz' books always come across as experts in social cues.  If someone feels anxious, the other characters know about it just by looking at his face.  Simple and straight-forward, sure, but that's not always what I want from a book.

All in all, I thought this book was a good choice for summer vacation.  It's perfect for lazing around by the pool or while you eat lunch.  It's not the kind of book that will change your life or that you'll even remember reading in six months, but it is a little fun and it will help you pass the time while you wait for the next Twi/Potter/Games trilogy to be made. 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again",
With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house's current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca. (from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 1 out of 5 stars.

I picked up this book at the library because I mistakenly thought it was a ghost story.  It wasn't, but that wasn't really a big deal to me.  It's a classic gothic novel and many people consider it to be a must-read, but I just didn't care for it.  The protagonist, unnamed narrator, the second Mrs. de Winter, is so co-dependent and weak that it's painful to read.  Sure, ok, so she was born and bred poor and her highest aspiration in life prior to meeting Maxim de Winter was to be a whipping boy, er, I mean "lady's companion".  But c'mon she should have some backbone.  Everyone gets irritated and pissed off once in a while.  Why doesn't she?  Probably because she's too busy being a sniveling idiot.  By the way, why doesn't she have a name?  In my opinion, it makes her seem even more insignificant as a person.  I'm going to refer to her as no-name lame from now on.  That's what we called one of our cats before she ran away.

No-name lame also has no personality and her only hobbies (as far as I can tell) are sketching and taking long walks.  Her sketches are apparently as unremarkable as the rest of her.  Why does Maxim ask her to marry him?  Maybe because he's a dirty old man?  Haha, no, I'm joking, there's nothing in the storyline that even hints at that.  In fact, the ending will reveal some very sordid details about Rebecca (his deceased ex) that would have made 1930's society ladies feel faint.  For all intents and purposes, Maxim seems to be a decent guy.  He treats no-name lame well and tries to encourage her to find her own voice.  Except for a couple of times where he called her unintelligent and ignorant (but, I mean, really, who wouldn't??), Maxim is portrayed as a nice, although aloof husband. 

Ah, which brings me to Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper.  This lady is like a bag of trail mix:  you scoop out a handful and although you can't exactly see or taste the nuts, you know they're there.  Mrs. Danvers is the typical evil villain and very consistent in her hatred of no-name lame.  No-name lame, however, seems to be too self-absorbed in her feelings of worthlessness to notice, or remember, Mrs. Danvers' hatred, although Mrs. Danvers does her best to remind her with snide and condescending comments.  I just couldn't get over the fact that a housekeeper was treating the lady of the house the way that Mrs. Danvers did.  Mrs. Danvers may have been nuts, but No-name lame should have gotten rid of her instead of cowering around and hiding from her. 

I don't like weak characters.  I didn't like that No-name lame was so desperate for her husband's approval.  I didn't like that she acted like a child.  I didn't like that she was too dumb to put any thought into her actions.  I didn't like that she had no idea how to act as a lady of a large estate like Manderly AND that she didn't bother to find out how.  Having no interests not only makes someone boring, it makes a character flat.  I honestly don't know why this book is so famous.  The only thing I liked about it was its ending and how it ties into the beginning without going into any details.  It left a sense of intrigue and made me wonder how the characters got from the ending of the book to the beginning of it and I thought that was nicely done. 

Now Face To Face by Karleen Koen

A bride at fifteen, widowed at the tender age of twenty, Barbara, Countess Devane, embarks for colonial Virginia financially ruined by the death of her husband in scandalous circumstances. Dressed in mourning as is proper for a woman, she is patronizingly described as a “fragile black butterfly,” but the fragility is deceiving. She makes a place for herself in the new world, takes lovers and friends across political divides, and questions the established traditions of slavery. Facing enemies she never suspected, she must return to England and deal face to face with the problems created by her husband, who haunts her even in death. Back in London, she quickly finds herself pulled into Jacobite plotting, and the treachery of powerful men suddenly threatens her family, her friends—and a new love.

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 0.5 out of 5 stars

Yes, that's right, this book got half a star from me, and I'm thinking even that much is a big gesture of generosity on my part.  This book was a drag.  Literally.  It went on and on with the same storyline elements.  Yeah, ok, we get it...Barbara is multi-talented and everyone loves her.  Can we move on with the story now?  No?  Well, then...that's how you end up earning half a star from me. 

This is the sequel to Through A Glass Darkly.  It picks up a little after the first book ended and the first few chapters move at a snail's pace.  Barbara is in colonial Virginia, learning how to plant tobacco.  She's trying to make a life for herself and all the men are in love with her (surprise, surprise) and all the women are jealous.  There's virtually nothing interesting going on in Virginia.  Oh, smugglers, right. Woohoo.  Then.....



*************************************SPOILER ALERT****************************



**************STOP READING THIS IF YOU PLAN TO READ THE BOOK **************


Hyacinth gets kidnapped and I think that finally the book will begin to pick up.  But I was wrong.  His disappearance is sad and Barbara moves all mountains and oceans to find him (because, in case you didn't get it in the last 1000+ pages, Barbara does everything perfectly and everyone loves her).  That's about it.  Barbara and her maid go back to England when she receives a letter informing her that Walpole didn't do everything he could to reduce her deceased husband's debt and she goes back home to investigate.  There's a lot of mutinous talk and boring plotting that amounts to nothing.  The rest of the book just drones on and on about how Walpole sucks...oh, and don't forget that Barbara is perfect and everyone loves her. 

Anyway, there are some deaths, some loss, and some of the side characters start to get real depth, but overall this book was just plain boring.  I kept telling myself that the book would get more interesting as the pages turned, but I was a liar. 

Through A Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

Karleen Koen's sweeping saga contains unforgettable characters consumed with passion: the extraordinarily beautiful fifteen-year-old noblewoman, Barbara Alderley; the man she adores, the wickedly handsome Roger MontGeoffry; her grandmother, the duchess, who rules the family with cunning and wit; and her mother, the ineffably cruel, self-centered and licentious Diana. Like no other work, Through a Glass Darkly is infused with intrigue, sweetened by romance and awash in the black ink of betrayal.

(from goodreads.com)

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Normally, I don't bother with romance novels.  The plots are usually too cookie-cutter for me.  There's a lot of love, lust, hurt, then resolution and everyone lives happily ever after.  blah blah blah.  This book, however, was a free download on my kindle and it had some decent reviews so I decided to give it a try.  The characters were interesting and the storyline was not dull.  The main character (Barbara) is a child (and yes, I say child even though she gets married) of 15.  She has a soft spot for her grandmother and young children.  Her grandmother and all the children in the story are very endearing.  Koen does a good job making you like the Duchess and her grandchildren.  My favorite part of the story was when a shocking turn of events sweeps through the family and reminds the reader of the cruel hardships and lack of proper medical healthcare that were rampant in that time of our history. 

Contrasting the beloved relationships between the children and their grandmother is the sadistic relationship the children have with their mother, Diana.  The author does her darndest to make you bleieve Diana is evil and to be feared.  She manipulates and bullies people into doing what she wants.  She is the perfect "bad guy" until you meet Phillipe. 

Barbara has a girl-hood crush on a man (Roger) who's something like 3 decades older than her and her family arranges for her to marry him, which she does.  She gets the man of her dreams and he gets her grandmother's prime real estate in London.  They travel to France and she does some growing up.  He starts to fall in love with her and she's sickeningly puppy-love-struck for him but their adventures in married life are not quite what one would expect.  Roger is your typical historical romance novel hero.  He's occassionally a jerk but the heroine always forgives him because he swoops in and saves the day or buys her expensive presents.  See, the thing about Roger, though, is that he's hiding a very dark secret that, when it gets revealed, devastates Barbara and smashes her expectations to smitherines.  This revelation was very well-written and leaves the book with a cliff-hanger that tempts me to buy the sequel, Now Face To Face.    

In a nutshell, this book is about a girl who grows up to realize the world isn't what she expected it to be.  I thought it was an "ok" read.  I wasn't overly disappointed when it ended but, like I said, the cilff-hanging ending makes me want to read the sequel just so I can find out what happens.  I may borrow it from the library because I just don't think I can convince myself that it might be worth money to read another one of these long-winded tales.  Oh, did I mention it's more than 700 pages long?  No?  Well, it is.  I've been known to enjoy long books because I hate when a good story ends but another 700 pages of this stuff?  Meh, guess we'll wait and see if the next post I make is about the sequel. 

 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart—he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone—but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

(from goodreads.com)

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

I absolutely LOVED this book.  There is no part of it that I can say anything negative about.  The plot was complicated yet simple and it reached out and grabbed ahold of me from the first page.  I have always adored fairy tales (in fact, my college honors thesis was based on fairy tales and urban legends) and that is what initially drew me to this book.  Eowyn Ivey does a marvelous job painting a world where the lines between reality and fantasy are so blurred that you often find yourself wondering if a fantastical element could be possible in reality.  The characters are also very well thought out.  They are each strong yet vulnerable, sympathetic yet aggravating, and very true-to-life. 

The story takes place in the wilderness of Alaska in the 1920s.  A middle-aged couple seeks adventure and independence on a farm in the middle of nowhere.  The town is so small it doesn't even have a doctor.  That first year is rough for the couple and things start to look very bleak.  Then, the couple makes a snow child (a child-sized version of a snowman) and voila!  The author begins to weave the classic fairy tale into her plot.  Without even realizing it, you find youself hoping that the snow child is a real child that the couple can care for and keep safe.  She comes and goes as she pleases and her innocent facade holds many secrets that the reader can't wait to have revealed. 

My favorite thing about it is that the author meanders through time at her own pace.  Sometimes she spends several pages focused on the span of single day, then she'll skip over an entire year in a sentence.  She shows the characters growing older and wiser.  She shows the goodness in each person that we all secretly wish for in our own reality.  She reveals that bad decisions don't define a person.  It is possible to betray someone in the heat of the moment then regret it and make amends through a heartfelt act.  It is possible to hurt someone over and over again and still have them look at you with love in their eyes.  It is possible to love someone and let them go without knowing when, or even if, they will return to you. 

How subtle is it to fall in love?  When does a child become a woman or a man?  Is it when they kill their first hunt?  Is it when they share a first kiss?  Is it when they risk their own physical health to be near the person they love? 

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars

Two weeks ago I would have told you that there was no way in hell I'd ever rate a Jodi Picoult book less than 4 stars...then I read House Rules.  It's not only that I'm disappointed; I feel betrayed.  The reason is this:  I bought this book wanting to read something that will broaden my perspective and twist my heart until it hurts, which is something that Jodi Picoult has always done in her stories.  I expected to laugh and cry and want to share this book with all of my friends.  What I got, instead, was something that seemed like Jodi Picoult wrote half of then handed to a fanfic writer with zero publishing experience to finish up for her.  It felt sloppy and after the first several chapters it was predictable. 

Personally, I don't know anyone who has been clinically diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (AS). I bought this book because I was interested in the storyline and I wanted to learn more about AS.  Although I have no direct experience with AS, I feel as though Jodi Picoult did a good job introducing it to the readers.  For majority of the book I felt sympathy for Jacob and his family as they struggled with his predicament.  However, there's a point in the book where you realize that there are no hidden layers to the story and what you see is what you get (so to speak).  They repeat the same phrases over and over, pretending that it's sufficient evidence to send Jacob to prison for murder, when it's painfully obvious to the reader that Jacob's communication problems are causing this predicament and his family (who supposedly has had to deal with this for decades) just doesn't know how to ask him the right questions to get the truth.  This is one of the things I found hard to stomach:  if his mother and brother have had to translate Jacob's nonsensical verbage to the world for his entire life then why didn't they realize that he was trying to say something other than what they were interpreting?  It was obvious to the reader that he had something to say and Jodi Picoult's usual method of delivering storyline twists was sadly watered down and fell very flat when Jacob's truth did finally come out.

Jodi Picoult's way of capturing an audience's attention is, thankfully, still amazing.  Even though I grumbled and griped underneath my breath, I still genuinely wanted to keep reading.  The way she creates sympathetic characters with very human traits and down-right likeable-ness is one of the things I love about her.  Unfortunately, in this book, that's about all I loved.  I must say one last thing about the ending....it sucked.  All that build up and then it just ends.  No real resolution, no telling what happens next, if they all live happily ever after or if they all die in a tsunami.  It just ends. 

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers--with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including--perhaps--their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

(from goodreads.com)

I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars

I have neither read nor seen the Time Traveler's Wife and my opinion on that storyline has nothing to do with why I chose to read this book. 

This book was a little slow in the beginning.  It took me a few days to get through the first few chapters, which I admit is mostly due to lack of sleep, but once I got past those first fifty pages or so, it was smooth sailing.  It has everything that I enjoy in a story:  suspense, drama, human emotions, some strange details that are so unrealistic they become believable in a fictional world, and a good, old fashioned ghost.  I love the way the author weaves shiny strings of hope into the dismal lives of her characters so that by the end of the book you don't know who you're rooting for anymore.

The twins are a fantastic example of spoiled, sheltered girls.  They begin the story as typical American post-teenagers who are pathetically dependant on each other and their parents.  They have no concept of the future and have made no plans for themselves beyond breakfast and a morning television show.  They are the same in appearance yet different in demeanor and personality and as the story unfolds, it is easy to find oneself charmed by both girls. 

A maternal aunt bequeaths her fortune to the girls with the condition that they live in her apartment for a year before they sell it (if they choose to sell it) so off they go to London to experience new adventures in Highgate Cemetary.  The people they meet are unusual, to say the least.  They develop relationships and each girl begins to mature in her own way.  The author cleverly displays different types of intimate relationships and it is easy to find yourself drawing comparisons between lovers, siblings, parents, and friends.  I also enjoyed the way the author used humor to lighten the mood before adding a sinister note that makes you feel uneasy without being able to pinpoint why. 

Overall, I thought it was very well written and I was happily drawn in by the characters and storyline.  The only negative comments I have are that the beginning was a bit slow and the ending was a tad bit disappointing, but those things barely account for much when you consider the thorough enjoyment I derived from this fictional world of fantastical people.

Hello and Welcome!

Hello!  Welcome to my new blog!  Thanks for stopping by and reading some of my ramblings.  I hope you enjoy my musings and that you find out about books that you might want to read for yourselves.  As all grand ideas start, I've got a ton of things that I want to do with this blog and I just hope that my schedule and reliance on my techie-brother will be sufficient for me to bring some of these ideas into fruition.  Mainly, I want to do book reviews.  I will read whatever catches my eye in a book store, library, or thrift store then I'll come online and blog about it for you (and also for me since I've gotten so lax about reading that I find I'm re-buying and reading the same books because I simply forget about them after the first go-around).  Anywhoo, I've got an awesome friend who is also an avid reader and I'd like for her to chime in her opinion whenever she can.  Somewhere way down the line, I'd like to add a sort of book club kind of thing where I pose questions to go along with certain chapters of books and some of you can comment with your own opinions so that we can read together!  I'd also like to do book giveaways and some other fun stuff but that, too, remains to be seen!  SO that's my plan in a nutshell.  I hope you check back soon to see what's going on in the Buk Cafe