Tanya

This was a fun book, reminiscent of the One Minute Mysteries or Encyclopedia Brown books, but for adults. The individual cases were easily read in one sitting (sometimes two or three cases, though I wouldn't recommend reading a dozen in a row like I did - it becomes a bit fatiguing. There were two “detectives” in these stories, one a reporter for the local newspaper and the other a sandwich shop clerk. I'm not sure I enjoyed having two detectives in one book, especially when their case distribution wasn't even. I liked the characterization of the reporter - trying to be a good journalist when he has a sensationalist editor - but the sandwich shop clerk character was a bit overdone. Also odd was that the finale case, which was at least two or three times as long as the other cases (in other words not “super quick”), had completely different characters. Although it could have done with a bit more editing it was an enjoyable read and I'd pick up another book like this from Mr. Stanek again.

I'm obviously in the minority with this rating but I absolutely hated this book.

First, when you compare something to The Talented Mr Ripley, you're basically giving away the plot from the get-go. For readers like me, who loved that book, it might not make a difference because we'll read it anyway, but then you need to write a book that stands up to the original. Unfortunately, for me, this one was not successful in that regard.

Louise, the “Ripley” character in this book, is not only obnoxiously unlikable but isn't at all sympathetic. She leaves home for unknown reasons and refuses to go back for unknown reasons, so she does whatever is necessary to stay in NYC, despite seeming to hate her life there. She meets Lavinia, a spoiled rich girl who seems to have endless amounts of money and no adult supervision or responsibilities. Fine - that's easy enough to believe. All of the characters, however, seem to live in this pseudo-Gastsby-esque world of drugs, drinking, and parties without any explanation as to why they are doing what they do. There's no motivation given for these characters, just their endless whirl of parties and operas and new dresses and expensive drinks. Everyone says they hate their parents but no reason is given for hating their parents. Everyone says they hate their friends but no reason is given for hating their friends. As a reader you're forced to take everything at face value but it's hard to do when you don't trust any of them and you hate all of them. At the end I found myself not caring much about what happened to anyone. Live...die...move to California and live on a commune...I did not care one whit.

The writing style made it difficult to read as well. It was a slowly paced book that consisted almost entirely of one drug-fueled outing after another (again, think Gatsby here), but with nothing interesting happening or substantive character development occurring in between, so the book dragged on endlessly. However, the narrative was almost entirely Louise's thoughts in a stream-of-consciousness form and it was frenzied in style, with endless run on sentences and abrupt changes in topic. It was just a deeply uncomfortable book to read without a clear reason to be that way. It took too much work and didn't feel worth it in the end.

The only interesting thing happening in this book is the author's use of social media to keep the plot moving, but in the end it wasn't enough to rescue this book from itself. It was an ambitious novel that just fell short for me.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.)

I love Bohjalian's storytelling and this book was no different. It tells the story of family struggling to keep themselves together after the unexpected disappearance of the mother, who was a sleepwalker and who left their house one night and never returned. While the police attempt to locate her, the eldest daughter takes over her role as caretaker of the family, cooking, cleaning, and trying to keep her father and younger sister from feeling the loss quite as much. While the father turns to alcohol the sisters each investigate the disappearance of their mother on their own, leading to some startling discoveries.

Bohjalian's writing is gorgeous and the voices of the girls are both very authentic and believable, especially that of Lianna. This book is billed as a thriller but in reality it's a slow burn. The book was believable and the insight into life as and with a parasomniac was fascinating. I liked that the characters were written as real people who had a sleeping disorder rather than their entire existence being about their disorder. I didn't at all see the ending coming which was also a nice change of pace - nothing felt forced and all the details leading up to the end were dropped into the story with such subtly that you don't even notice them until the story comes together at the end.

If you like Bohjalian I'd recommend this book.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

I cannot say enough good things about this book! It tells the story of A., who inherits a mansion from his American cousin and decides to take up residence there with his friend in order to solve the mystery of his cousins mysterious suicide. The story is told through varied media forms - letters, transcripts, closed circuit cameras, etc. The story twists and turns as clues are discovered that lead to the grand finale. Oh, did I mention the book involves a secret society and ancient artifacts? So much fun!

I'm not entirely sure where to start with this review, because I almost didn't finish the book. At 240 pages it was a quick read, which was an incredibly good thing. Had it taken more than two or three hours to read this book, I would have put it down. I was looking forward to a sweet, touching book about women supporting each other through their friendships, and instead I got a ridiculous, scrambled book about women acting like mean middle school girls.

The characters were flat, cardboard people that Siddons apparently couldn't be bothered to develop. Until one of the characters began acting erratic and a major life event was revealed about halfway through the book, I honestly kept confusing two of the characters because there was so little depth to either of their characters. What Siddons did reveal about their personalities through their behaviors was so hateful and mean that I couldn't imagine she was writing about characters she liked. Grown women were catty, sarcastic, and downright cruel and bullying to one another. Apparently this was because some of them were “going through things.” I didn't find this in the least bit believable.

The writing was painfully simple and uninspired. These women were vacationing on a beautiful semi-private island off the coast of South Carolina and Siddons spent more time describing the decor of the house and the details of their food than the supposedly beautiful locale. The story itself was jumbled and made no sense. The women spend most of their trip bitching, sniping, and being generally unfriendly to the new wife and eventually even to each other. Accusations of assault, sabotage, and affairs abound, and in the end...well, the ending came out of no where and made absolutely no sense. When the bomb was dropped regarding a major event in the life of one of the women...I hardly paused in my reading. There was so little build up to the announcement that I couldn't bring myself to care. That, to me, is the sign of an unsuccessful book.

(I received a copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing in exchange for an honest review.)

Susan Randy Meyer's newest novel, The Comfort of Lies, revolves around the conception, birth, and adoption of a little girl, and the effect this has on the women it impacts.

Though the heart of the story is the drama that unfolds around the discovery of a child that was the product of an affair, the real power of The Comfort of Lies is its examination of motherhood as portrayed by the three female protagonists. Is Tia's decision to give her daughter up for adoption because of the pain she felt at her lover's abandonment a commendable sacrifice or selfish? Does Caroline's honest assessment of her unhappiness in motherhood make her a bad mother, and is this compounded by the fact that her child is adopted? Is Juliette's connection to this child legitimate, and to what extent should she expect involvement in the life of the child her husband abandoned? These questions are left up to the reader to answer, though Meyers paints a sympathetic view of all of the characters, sometimes to a fault.

The writing was unremarkable and the story felt predictable, both in the resolution and the behavior of the characters. Not a single character was well-developed or particularly likable and, despite Meyers' attempts to make these women seem strong, the most important decisions in their lives are heavily influenced, albeit sometimes indirectly, by the men in their lives.

Overall, I found the realistic portrayal of infidelity and motherhood compelling enough to finish the novel, but I didn't feel much sympathy for or interest in the characters themselves. I'd recommend this book to someone who enjoys family dramas, perhaps, but not to someone looking for a book that packs a strong emotional punch.

I'm glad this is not the first book by Jen Lancaster that I read or else I might have decided that she's an awful human being that I never wanted to read a book by again. That being said, I have read a much later book of hers and she's much different in that one, so I'm looking forward to reading about her transformation from a snobby, rude person to the kind person she was in her later books.

All of that aside, I did mostly enjoy this story of Lancaster having a high paying job in the financial market that she lost post-9/11 and how she and her husband Fletcher learned to live like most of the rest of the world. Her realizations at the end of it that her relationship with her husband, her dogs, and the little things like functioning air conditioning are what really make us happy, not her $700 highlights and constant Nieman Marcus shoe department shopping trips.

While on her way home one evening Zoe spots an add in the local paper with her photo and a website - www.FindTheOne.com. Sure it must be someone who simply looks like her she blows it off as a coincidence until she sees more photos with the same website. These women she has seen before, however. They've been in the news, victims of violent crimes. Worried about her safety and that of her family, she contacts the police. Detective Kelly Swift, assigned to the pickpocket case of one woman that later turned out to be murdered, believes her and works to unmask whomever is behind these ads.

This book is an entertaining read, full of twists and turns, and is told from multiple perspectives. My main issue with the book happened after I had read it and set it aside. It takes a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief in order to accept the basic premise of this book. It's well written, though, and worth the time if you're a fan of psychological suspense novels.

Laurel Muir returns to Chateau du Cigne Noir, an atmospheric old B&B to reunite with some old friends she hasn't seen in a decade. The friends hope to reconnect after their last visit ended in tragedy when one of them fell from a balcony and is now wheel-chair bound. When one of them is murdered they all again fall under suspicion by the local police and must figure out who the killer is before they strike again.

This book is almost written like a cozy mystery, except that it's much heavier and darker. The characters are complex and well developed, and I really enjoyed a rather accurate portrayal of the various intricacies in a group of female friends. There was a hint of Agatha Christie in the small cast of characters and the remote “country house” of sorts. What I thought was going to develop into a full-blown romantic story line kept itself cool until the end, which I appreciate. I settled on a killer several times and was proved wrong in the end. This is the first book I've read by this author and I'm definitely going to find another one to read soon.

This book was a roller coaster ride for me, starting out strong and then proceeding to go all over the place before ending at a bit of a low point. I didn't feel any connection to the characters and much of the plot felt contrived. I kept guessing what was going on just before our protagonist did which got frustrating after a while - I found myself yelling “GET ON WITH IT ALREADY” several times as she proceeded to stay in the dark about several obvious clues. This was made all the more frustrating because we're told over and over again that she's a fantastic detective, except she's slow to figure out what's going on and does several stupid things that end up hindering her own investigation. The flashbacks to her childhood were strangely intrusive in the beginning, though they became less so as the novel progressed, and I did end up liking her in the end. By then, however, it was too late to salvage the disinterest I felt toward her as a character and the ending was so unbelievable that I was just glad the book was over.

(Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

This book was odd but interesting. I enjoy David Gran's writing quite a bit and he has a knack for finding odd but relatable - in a REALLY far out sort of way - to write about. The story I found the most interesting was the one that opened the book, about a Sherlock Holmes scholar who ends up becoming obsessed about a few particular missing manuscripts and then dies under strange circumstances.

My one complaint is that the book is billed as “true crime” even though not all of the writing focuses on crime (or obsession as the subtitle would have you believe). There are a dozen pages or so that go on about giant squids. Interesting, I guess, but not true crime. The book is much better approached as a collection of David Gran essays rather than having much to do with one another.

“If he told the best stories, dished the most delicious gossip, dropped the grandest of names. Then, perhaps. Then. Would he truly belong?”

Benjamin's latest novel gives readers a peek into the glamorous life of the high society Manhattan “Swans” - socialites like Gloria Guinness, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, and Pamela Churchill - as well as detailing the relationship between rising author Truman Capote and darling of the social scene Babe Paley.

I was struck by how simultaneously over-confident and approval-seeking Capote was. Here he was - a talented writer, adored by the best of Manhattan society, and yet he was almost crippled with a fear that he didn't really fit in with the people with whom he socialized. Though, to be fair, with the exception of Babe, the Swans did often seem to treat him almost as a pet - something to be trotted out as party entertainment or to prove their literary and intellectual weight. Why, though, would he betray Babe the way he did? Theirs seemed like a genuine relationship - as much in love with each other (maybe more?) as they were with their partners. They led emotionally isolated lives and found solace in each other's company. Did he think people wouldn't know to whom he referred in his writing? Did he expect she'd forgive him as she'd forgiven his other missteps in their relationship? Was the whole relationship a way for him to gain entry into their lives just for writing fodder? I wonder if Capote even knew the answers to these questions, since he was so far under the influence of alcohol and drugs at that point in his life. Capote's emotional crash at the end of the book is almost physically painful to read.

As usual, regardless of whether I loved or hated the characters, Benjamin absolutely brought these women (and their men) to life in a big way. Their habits, their personality tics, the things you loved and hated about these women were entirely believable. Notable was how these wealthy women, removed from the reader by more than 50 years, are worried about the same things women today worry about - their marriages, their careers (or lack of), how good of a parent they have been, and how to age gracefully. Benjamin writes:

“Yet at night, they took off their diamonds and went to empty beds resigned to the fact that they were just women, after all. Women with a shelf life.”

Unsurprisingly, Benjamin has crafted another amazing book, bringing another vibrant woman from history to life as a fully fleshed-out, complex character. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction or Truman Capote's writing.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.)

Despite somehow having managed to read the first book and now the latest book in this series, I'm loving it. Bowen paints a lovely (and fairly realistic) picture of the time period and I am enjoying seeing Georgie become more self-assured and confident in her abilities. The portrayal of the Crown Prince and the horrid Mrs. Simpson was fantastic and I very much enjoyed meeting the new characters. I also am looking forward to seeing her relationship with Darcy progress. I can't wait for the next book (while I go back and play catch up with the series!).

(Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

“If she never tells him, he will never really know them.”

Amaranth has taken her daughters and run - run from a man with fifty wives, a man who believes he is God, a man who has done unspeakable things to their daughter. When she stops, she must decide where her future lies in the now strange world in which she finds herself.

The picture painted by two sisters, bound together by a thin strip of white fabric, is a powerful image, and an appropriate opening to this novel. Written in an unusual writing style, the strong emotions felt by these characters was very vividly portrayed. The novel occasionally tended toward the sensationalist and at times felt overdone, but even those scenes packed a sincere emotional punch.

While Amity is excited by this world in which her path is not mapped out for her, Sorrow cannot accept a world in which she is not special or chosen by God for important work. Their conflict with each other, with their mother, and with the larger world is a striking one, and the reader can feel the sadness and the anger these two girls feel as they try to find their place.

I found the ending disappointing, but I'm not sure why. Was I hoping for a more solid resolution or simply a different end? I'm not sure. Overall, I'd say that the book was good, but not great, and I don't think I'd be giving it glowing recommendations to my friends.

“Was sorrow, in the end, a private thing? A closed container? Something that, like a bucket of water, could be borne only on a single pair of shoulders?”

The village of Bishop's Lacey is preparing to open the tomb of it's patron saint, St. Tancred, on the five-hundredth anniversary of the saints death. Flavia de Luce is excited to take a peak inside, as she does love a dead body. However, when the body of the church's organist, Mr. Collicut, is found inside, the town is thrown into a tizzy. Who would want to kill an organist, and why hide him in the saint's tomb? Flavia decides to investigate and what she learns is a surprise to everyone.

This book proved to be more complex in plot that previous installments, with more oddball characters, more seemingly unrelated clues, and more plot twists. However, in the last third of the novel, the story came together and clues that were seemingly throwaways or misleading came together in spectacular fashion. This book also deepened the ever present financial situation the de Luce family is embroiled in, as well as worked in some emotional developments in Flavia's relationship with her older sisters Daphne and Ophelia. And, while I didn't need the push, the jaw-dropping cliffhanger Bradley included in the novel's final page has guaranteed that I'll be gobbling up book six in the series as soon as it hits the shelves.

This book was so bad I'm at a loss for words. The characters were poorly developed and little better than stereotypes, the plot was a jumbled mess, and the ending was nonsensical. I was tempted to abandon this book half way through and, in retrospect, I wish I had.

(I was given a copy of this book from Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review.)