The Last Time They Met - review

This book took a little getting into, I was confused for the first 15 pages or so, but then it gets really interesting. When Linda and Thomas meet at a book conference and you learn about their past. It is sad to learn that they met in high school and were involved in a bad car accident and that, also family, pulls them apart. Years later they meet again in Africa, of all places, and though both of them were married at that time, they have an affair and realize that they still love each other and have since they met in high school. I really liked reading about their thoughts and how their encounters go. I thought the ending was the BEST part of the book ,even though I always want a happy ending. It was such a dark twist to the story that it totally took me, and I bet you, by surprise. You find out that Linda actually died in the car crash back when they were teenagers and Thomas has been so upset about it that he has been imagining all that you have read, his life with Linda in it. I think that losing the love of his life at a young age and then having his young daughter drown was just to much for him. He tried moving on with his life after Linda and married and had a daughter, but then he loses the daughter in a tragic boating incident and she drowns, it is just to much to handle.

I did like this book, though it was not what I was hoping for, a good romance with a happy ending. Maybe next time. What did you think???

Mad River Road - review

My June 15th book pick was the mystery Mad River Road by Joy Fielding. In a word - "eh". For me, this book was neither intriguing or believable, two things I think a good mystery should be. I could never really get into the characters and thought that their choices in the book were not things that a normal, intelligent person would do! I mean, jumping into a car and going on a road trip with a guy you met YESTERDAY? And that's just one example.

I know Darci didn't like this book, either, and it's a shame, because I've read other Joy Fielding books and they're not all like this. Maybe this one was just a fluke. Did anyone else read it (I know you have it, Mom!), and what did you think?

I really like the mystery genre and I'd like to choose another mystery book at some point. Whatever it is I hope it's not as much of a smeller that this one was!

Water for Elephants - review

This was a VERY different book for me. It was the first time that I can remember ever reading a book that was from a man's side. It is about how Jacob lost everything and didn't know what to do and how he ended up working in the circus. The circus is a harsh and crude world and I expected alot of that to come out in the book and it did. I did like that it was written when Jacob was in his 90's and how he was remembering the years he was in the circus and all the things that happened there that he has never told anyone about.

I felt really bad for Jacob because here he is in a nursing home and his children did not come and see him and they didn't seem like that even cared too. He hated being there and wished that he could be somewhere else. He would fall asleep and go back to the years he was in the circus and how he met his wife and all the obstacles that they had to overcome to be together. She was married when they met and had a CRAZY husband who eventually hit her and she said that was it and she was leaving him. I have to really admire that because so many women do not leave when their husbands hit them, I sure would!!!

I really liked the ending, I thought that it was just the perfect thing that he met up with the owner of the circus that was going on next to his nursing home and that man let him stay on and sell tickets. Jacob was meant to be at the circus and to get out of the nursing home and spend his last days somewhere where he wants.

This isn't a book that I would read again, but it was different and interesting all the same. What did you think of it??

The Host - review

Both Erin and I had loved the Twilight Series and knew that we would like Stephanie Meyers new book. The Host is an Adult Fiction, where the Twilight series was for Young Adults, so it was not as easy of a read, plus it is Science Fiction. Everyone and their mother was reading this book and people had a hard time with it for the first 120 pages or so because it was an overload of information. Once I got past that part I couldn't put it down and read it in 2 days, which is crazy because it is a thick book and I have a toddler!!! It is action packed, there is always something going on. The characters were well evolved, you really thought that you knew them. You even started to like the "alien" Wanda and wanted her to win as much as you wanted Melanie to win. I can always tell if a book is going to be one of my favorites because the minute I finish it I want to read it again and that is how I felt with The Host.

Change of Heart - review

I have been trying to get Darci to read Jodi Picoult forever. I lent her my copy of "The Pact" which she promptly gave back to me and said that she couldn't get into it. So it was fitting that the first Picoult book that she read (and finished!) was called "Change of Heart". I think she liked it, didn't you, Darc?

I had read a few Jodi Picoult books before this one, and she stayed with her typical "ripped - from - the - headlines" / "hot - button - issue" main plot. This time she was dealing with the death penalty and more specifically the rights of those inmates on death row. She really did a good job of getting you to see the world from Shay's point of view. He's not a character that you would normally feel like identifying with, since he was convicted of murder, but you really do feel for him and what he's going through. I also really liked the romance storyline for Maggie. As a parent, it was hard to think that a mother could be presented with the type of choice that Mrs. Nealon was presented with in the book - what would you do? What a difficult choice to try to honor your one child that was taken from you in a horrific way, or to try to save your other child that is here with you now.

I really liked this book and still love Jodi Picoults style of writing. She writes a gripping novel that keeps you interested from the start.