Topic: Book Review Corner Volume 8

[bestofour]

I read Dead Wake and hate to say I enjoyed it due to the subject but I was eager to pick it back up when I had to put it down.  It's about the Lusitania. 

Now I'm reading What Alice Forgot and so far I really like it.

[bestofour]

Salt to the Sea.  Best book I've read in a long, long time.

[bayou girl]

I've been reading paranormal stuff lately.  The latest was Dark Rites by Heather Graham.  it is the latest in her FBI Krewe of Hunters series.  It is pretty good.  I finished it in one day.  I also read Julie Garwood's latest police procedural  "Wired" which is an FBI set as well, but with a different spin.  It was also a winner.

I read something more profound recently, and though "i need to put that on ssh" but i'll be if I can remember what it was!

[bestofour]

Have you read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent?  Based on a true story.   Sooooo good.

[bayou girl]

no.  i'll have to put that on hold tomorrow. 

i was farther behind on heather graham than i thought.  right after dark rites, i got wicked deeds.  it is the same fbi paranormal suspense as the others, but this one focuses on edgar allen poe.  it was pretty good!

i am not reading back, but i think the one i wanted you to read was "chickens in the road".  it is a biography and i'll have to get the author's name tomorrow at work. it is pretty good.

[bestofour]

I'll see if my library has it.  Author Suzanne McMinn.

I used to read Poe all the time.  Have you read Mrs. Poe?  I enjoyed it. 

[bestofour]

My library doesn't have it. 

[bayou girl]

well that stinks.  There is another one, I can't remember the name, but I will find out next weekend.  Maybe they'll have it.

[bestofour]

Right now I'm reading The Misremembered Man

[bestofour]

Last month my book club read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld which is said to be an updated Pride and Prejudice.  Well it's trash.  None of us enjoyed it and a few, me included, didn't even finish it.  It got great reviews on Goodreads and I don't know what those people were thinking.

This month we're reading American's First Daughter which is supposed to be historic fiction but all the history  must be in the first 2 chapters because I'm on chapter 15 and from chapter 3 until now it's about a made up love story that gets sillier and sillier.  May not finish this one either.

[bayou girl]

sheri, america's first daughter has been doing a lot of business at the library, but is not making the wait lists. it is more a "oh, that looks interesting, maybe i'll read it" book.  it didn't look interesting to me though.

lately, i've been reading paranormal suspense, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance, not to mention the paranormal romantic suspense.  that sounds silly but it's "light" reading that grabs me but doesn't leave me feeling worse for the reading of it.  that said, tomorrow i will pick up the latest irene hannon christian suspense. i can't remember the name, but i've been waiting a while...

[bestofour]

I got to chapter 28 on that book and just can’t take it anymore.  If her heart flutters and she almost swoons one more time I think I’ll just push her on over.

[bayou girl]

I got to chapter 28 on that book and just can’t take it anymore.  If her heart flutters and she almost swoons one more time I think I’ll just push her on over.

i'll remember that whenever a customer asks me about it

[bestofour]

I've moved on to Wolf Hollow.  So far so good. 

[bayou girl]

sheri, how was wolf hollow?  i read 2 newish books this weekend. both fiction, not "high end" stuff.  One was Darynda Jones's "Eleventh Grave" in the Moonlight (it's part of a series, if you are interested, you want to start at the beginning) and the other was Heather Graham's "A Dangerous Game".

the 11th grave was pretty much what i expected, ended almost in a cliched way, but, it was well written and a definite page turner, after the 4th or 5th page.  she got off to a slow start with this one.

A dangerous game was a lot better, a page turner from the beginning.  and while it was a mystery/suspense, it had a good plot, a couple of good red herrings, and ended in a interesting way. And, it was the first of her books that hasn't had a paranormal twist in a long time.

[bestofour]

Wolf Hollow was ok.  I gave it a 3 on Goodreads because it's well written but seems like the time period is wrong.  It's predictable and the main child character was caught in lie after lie and was never corrected by her parents.  That really bothered me.  Most in my book club agreed it was ok to read once but we wouldn't recommend it to an adult or a teenager.

I very much like suspense.  I'll look for those two.  Thanks.  Is Dangerous Games a series too?

This month we're reading News of the World by Paulette Jiles.  I haven't started it yet. 

[bayou girl]

A dangerous game is a spin off of the "Krewe of Hunters" series.  It stands alone, but if you start with the beginning of the series, it is a great series.  And very apt for those of us who believe in ghosts

[bestofour]

Thanks Jif.

[bestofour]

Finished News of the World which was about a man taking a girl who had been taken captive by the Indians back to her white family.  Was good.  Mentioned in the back of the book was The Captured A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Plains by Scott Zesch.  Johnny picked it up for me and it's very good.  I like true stuff.  It's graphic in parts but the facts are sometimes graphic.  It was written because the author was curious as to why many abducted by Indians didn't want to return home when given the chance and would often escape their white families and try to get back to their adopted tribe.  I had no idea the Texas plains were inhabited by so many Germans.

[bestofour]

Johnny picked up my book for me yesterday Gentlemen in Moscow.  I've heard it's good.

[bayou girl]

i read christine feehan's newest called judgement road.  i've at least liked, if not loved all her books.  that one just was not up to par.  she always has a good paranormal twist of some kind belonging to the main male/female characters.  this time, not so much. it was hinted at, but... she missed the mark.  and it is sad because it is a spin off of another very good series.  i'm reading one of her older books now, the scarletti curse. i'm having mixed emotions on it as well.  she has several very good series of books.  but i'm with holding judgement on judgement road and the torpedo ink series.  the next one has to be better or i'm done with that series. at least she has enough back stuff to keep me busy.

[bestofour]

Have you read anything by Michael Connelly?  I just put The Late Night on hold.  It's the first of a series about a woman detective in NYC.

[bayou girl]

I haven't, but he's on my list of "possibles" for when I run out of other things.  I did finish Irene Hannon's "Dangerous Illusions".  It is christian romantic suspense. more on the suspense than on the christian or the romance. it was good, and i didn't quite see the end coming the way it did.

[bestofour]

Actually the book by Michael Connell was The Late Shift - not The Late Night.  I didn't like it.  The woman detective was put on the last shift because she complained about being sexually harassed by her Lieutenant but throughout the book she used her sexually to get favors from other policeman and evidently the writer thought that wasn't an issue.  She also lived on a beach in a tent which seems totally unrealistic to me.  She kept her work clothes in her locker at work and changed in the work bathroom. 

I finished Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf and really liked it.  Also read Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern which was just ok. 

[bayou girl]

I haven't read anything of interest (at least not worth sharing in a while. I hope some of my requests start coming in!