best friends forever

best friends forever
jennifer weiner
fiction/chick lit
atria books
published 2009

Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were eight when they first met and decided to be best friends forever. But, in the wake of tragedy and betrayal during their teenage years, everything changed. Val went on to fame and fortune. Addie stayed behind in their small Midwestern town. Destiny, however, had more in store for these two. And when, twenty-five years later, Val shows up at Addie’s front door with blood on her coat and terror on her face, it is the beginning of a wild adventure for two women joined by love and history who find strength together that they could not find alone.

I had a hard time with this book.  I didn't like it until nearly the end.

The story has been told time and time again.  Two little girls become best friends until one grows into a beautiful, thin cheerleader and the other doesn't.  But this one starts out a little differently when the popular beauty Val comes to Addie after getting her revenge at their high school reunion.

It had lots of promise, but it was just so out there.  Valerie was just this side of delusional.  She's constantly bowling right over Addie and just as when they were kids Addie finds herself just going along with whatever Val wants.  I didn't like Val, not really ever.  She never changes, never grows.  Never sincerely apologizes to Addie for the way she treated her, how she betrayed her, abandoned her.

There were interesting characters throughout.  I ached for Addie's family.  Her broken parents who despite the trials they've endured loved each other and their children deeply.  Jon, the golden son who loses himself.  The born again, the reverend, the cop & the jock.  Everyone had a story, but we were meant to care more about Val & Addie and I just couldn't do it.

daring to dream

daring to dream
dream trilogy #1
nora roberts
romance
severn house
published 1998

Margo, Kate and Laura were brought up like sisters amidst the peerless grandeur of Templeton House. But it was Margo whose dreams first took her far away . . .
Margo Sullivan had everything a young woman could ask for. But while growing up along the rocky cliffs of Monterey, she couldn't help but dream of bigger things. The daughter of the Templeton's stern Irish housekeeper, Margo had been treated like a member of the family. Deep down, she knew that money could not but the thing she craved most -- her mother's acceptance.
Maybe things would be different if she could be sweet like Laura -- or had Kate's shrewd head for business. But all Margo knew how to do was be Margo, and that meant doing things her own way -- no matter what the consequences . . . 

There is not much more to this than a fluffy, fun romance novel.  Like the Born in trilogy.  Though I do like the characters, the story, the idea of the trilogy, what I always liked best about this trilogy is the setting.  Monterey/Big Sur is where I spent much of my childhood so it's fun to picture Pretenses on Cannery Row nestled along the touristy shops I grew up with.

darkest mercy

darkest mercy
wicked lovely #5
melissa marr
ya/fantasy/horror
harpercollins
published 2011

The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey. 

Aislinn tends to the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life. 

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the Faery Courts, and in the final conflict, some will win . . . and some will lose everything.

It seems impossible that so much happened in such a short book.  This felt like it should have been epic, like Game of Thrones size epic, but it wasn't.  And yet, still, I'm reeling still from everything that happened.

I've never been a fan of Keenan.  Well, not with Keenan being with Aislinn, but after the first book I didn't really like Keenan at all.  Here I found him to be more true.  He wasn't what he thought he should be he was what he was meant to be, maybe?

Except for the fae in Faerie we get closure from just about everyone.  We lose a few I wish didn't have to go, but it is war.  It did feel a little too tidy at the end and I thought with a laugh that Marr really did get things just this side of convenient, but it's ok.

This was a great ending to a brilliant series.  Finally finishing this I can say that while I did like Carnival of Souls it hasn't grabbed me the way Wicked Lovely did.  Nonetheless, these are books I can see myself picking up again in a year or so.  Definitely worth it!

learning to swim

learning to swim
troy chance #1
sara j. henry
fiction/mystery/suspense
crown
published 2011

"If I'd blinked, I would have missed it. But I didn't, and I saw something fall from the rear deck of the opposite ferry: a small, wide-eyed human face, in one tiny frozen moment, as it plummeted toward the water."
When she witnesses a small child tumbling from a ferry into Lake Champlain, Troy Chance dives in without thinking. Harrowing moments later, she bobs to the surface, pulling a terrified little boy with her. As the ferry disappears into the distance, she begins a bone-chilling swim nearly a mile to shore towing a tiny passenger.

Surprisingly, he speaks only French. He'll acknowledge that his name is Paul; otherwise, he's resolutely mute.

Troy assumes that Paul's frantic parents will be in touch with the police or the press. But what follows is a shocking and deafening silence. And Troy, a freelance writer, finds herself as fiercely determined to protect Paul as she is to find out what happened to him.  She'll need skill and courage to survive and protect her charge and herself.  

Troy Chance is a very intriguing character.  I'm not sure that I really liked her, could see myself as friends with her and I definitely can't say that I understood her, but she was very interesting to read about.

The story is really slow, but it is so well written that I didn't mind.  I was wrapped up in Troy's life.  Trying to figure her out, trying to make sense of the strange and sometimes awkward decisions she made.  I could understand her fierce love for the boy she saves and I loved how self aware she is.  Recognizing her faults and when she's gone too far.

The story itself is a bit predictable.  Nonetheless, I was interested enough to continue to go back to it!

12th of never

12th of never
women's murder club #12
james patterson & maxine paetro
fiction/mystery
little brown & co.
published 2013

Lindsay Boxer's beautiful baby is born! But after only a week at home with her new daughter, Lindsay is forced to return to work to face two of the biggest cases of her career.

A rising star football player for the San Francisco 49ers is the prime suspect in a grisly murder. At the same time, Lindsay is confronted with the strangest story she's ever heard: An eccentric English professor has been having vivid nightmares about a violent murder and he's convinced is real. Lindsay doesn't believe him, but then a shooting is called in-and it fits the professor's description to the last detail.

Lindsay doesn't have much time to stop a terrifying future from unfolding. But all the crimes in the world seem like nothing when Lindsay is suddenly faced with the possibility of the most devastating loss of her life.

This was the biggest mess of a WMC book ever.

There was so much going on that I forgot about certain parts.  Nothing felt completely fleshed out and nothing was interesting because it was all over the freaking place.

We start out with Lindsay going into labor and of course she can't just have a normal delivery *eyeroll*.  Then there's a case of a woman getting shot in her car, a man who can predict future murders, a serial killer who wants to take Lindsay to the bodies he's buried, Lindsay's baby possibly being ill, Richie & Cindy's relationship woes, Claire's job misfortune, the kidnapping/murder case that Yuki is trying.

They just tried to shove too many things into one book and then rushed the ending after dragging everything out for the entire book.  It was, by far, the worst WMC book I've ever read.

And while I'm on the subject....how does Yuki still have a job?  Has she ever won a trial?  Can she maybe take a case to trial that has been resolved?  Where there's evidence besides circumstantial hearsay?

The most interesting part of the book was the professor who could predict the future.  And that was resolved in two lines at the end as an afterthought and it still doesn't make sense.

Ugh.  Worst.  Book.  Ever.

the warlock

the warlock
the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #5
michael scott
ya/historical fiction/fantasy
delacorte
published 2011

In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning.

With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places.

Ok.  First of all there are too many characters.  Let's make a list, shall we?

1. Sophie
2. Josh
3. Nicholas
4. Perenelle
5. Scatty
6. Joan of Arc
7. St. Germain
8. John Dee
9. Isis
10. Osiris
11. Tsagaglalal <---which a="" be="" li="" name="" really="" shouldn="" t="">
12. Virginia Dare
13. Mars
14. Odin
15. Hel
16. Palamedes
17. Shakespeare
18. Niten
19. Prometheus
20. Abraham
21. Machiavelli
22. Billy the Kid
23. Mars Ultor
24. Black Hawk
25. Zephaniah

25.  I'm sure I'm missing someone.  While it's true that we only might see a brief glimpse at a few of these, most of them have some history we have to learn about.

And it is so goddamn boring.

Can we just be done already?  Can we just kill off John Dee and Josh and be done with it?  Maybe?  Yes?

The only person I really care about at all is Machiavelli.  I liked him from the beginning and was kind of bummed that he was evil, but he's evil in a subtle way.  I like Scatty & Joan of Arc too I suppose, but they're getting the raw end of the deal.

The four main characters, Josh, Sophie, Nicholas & Perenelle are my least favorite.  How does that happen?  

good in bed

good in bed
cannie shapiro #1
jennifer weiner
fiction/chick lit/romance
washington square press
published 2002

For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She's even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.

But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.

There are times when a review of a book does not need to be detailed and pondered upon.  This is one of those times.

I loved it.  You should read it.  Go now.