Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Phantom Prey

Read May 2010 * * * * 1/2

“A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood on the walls, no body – and her college-age daughter missing. She’s always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call them – Goths? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that awful music, so attracted to death. And now this. But the police can’t find the girl, alive or dead, and the widow truly panics. There’s someone she knows, a surgeon named Weather Davenport, whose husband is a big deal with the police, and she implores Weather to get her husband directly involved. Lucas gets in only reluctantly – but then when a second Goth is slashed to death in Minneapolis, he starts working it hard. The clues don’t seem to add up, though. And then there’s the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing: Who is she? Where does she come from and, more important, where does she vanish to? And why does Lucas keep getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here… something very, very bad indeed?”

Brianna's Review: I thought this was a pretty good book. Took me a few chapters to get what was going on but once I was in I couldn't set it down. The author did a great job with his creativity with one character in particular. I haven't read a mystery in a while and I am happy that I read this one.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Best Friends Forever

Read May 2010 * * * * *

“Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That’s what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they’re both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school’s scapegoat.

Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents’ house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She’s just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. “Something horrible has happened,” Val tells Addie, “and you’re the only one who can help.” Best Friends Forever is a grand, hilarious, edge-of-your-seat adventure; a story about betrayal and loyalty, family history and small-town secrets. It’s about living through tragedy, finding love where you least expect it, and the ties that keep best friends together.”

Brianna's Review: I loved this book. Very nice light read, excellent for the summer and sitting out in the sun. I enjoyed her writing and never wanted to set it down. I instantly fell inlove with the characters. I liked this book from first page all the way through to the last. Looking forward to reading more of her books.

Monday, May 17, 2010

The Almost Moon

Read May 2010

My Rating: 2 / 5


"For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined.

Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced audiobook explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold has.”

Brianna's Review: I was very disappointed with this book. The only good thing I can say is that I was never bored. The book is over a span of 24 hours, and she is constantly moving from past to present, leaving you confused. She also has way too many characters, whether it's her daughter, friend, neighbour, etc. It took me till the end of the book to remember which character was which. The actual story itself I was also disappointed in. I mean in the first chapter the main character does something completely crazy and you think that by the end of the book you will find out what her reasons were to lead her to doing what she did, and you never really find that out. The end of the book also leaves you with no answers. I loved the Lovely Bones, and Lucky which are her two other books, so I was definatley disappointed in this book.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Gargoyle

Read May 2010

My Rating 2/5


“On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuriesconfine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man’s disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.”


Brianna says: This book was different, I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it either. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to anyone unless they had nothing else to read. One thing I did like about this book is how the author wrote it as someone telling a story.