2018 Challenge - Book #100 - The Shadow of the Wind

Book 100!!  YES.  Total milestone.

Today's review is for

The Shadow of the Wind
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Pages: 487

Barcelona, 1945:  a young boy named Daniel visits a crypt that holds old and unusual books.  He picks up a book called "The Shadow of the Wind" by an author named Julian Carax.  He becomes infatuated with the book and wants to find other works by this author.  When he sets out to find them, he makes a shocking discovery - none exist.  Someone has been destroying them, and Daniel may have the last book in existence.  Daniel sets out on a quest to discover why, and over several years, it opens the door to Barcelona's darkest secrets.  Daniel soon discovers a past with Carax and the people around him that is full of murder and lost love.

This is one of the best books I have ever read.  I don't want to say too much about it, becuase I feel that this is a book you need to experience for yourself.  The writing is superb from the beginning.  The story is compelling with several twists and turns and also there is a back story of almost all of the characters.  You are easily sucked in to their lives - waiting to learn more.

This book is amazing.  I don't give a lot of books a 5 rating, but this one deserves it.  You must read this book - don't miss it.

Stars: 5

2018 Challenge - Book #99 - It Ends With Us

Number 99!

Today's review is for

It Ends With Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Pages: 384

This is the story of Lily.  She grew up in a home witnesses her father abusing her mother.  Her mother never left, and she never understood why.  Lily spent her whole life hating her father, and when he dies, she still can't find it in her heart to forgive him.

When she was a teenager, she met a boy named Atlas.  He was homeless - his mother and step father kicking him out of the house at age 18 because they couldn't get along.  He is staying at an abandoned house near Lily's and she invites him in one day to get a shower and a change of clothes.  Her kindness to him leads to a friendship that soon turns to love.  When Atlast announces that after he finishes high school, he is going into the Marines, Lily knows she will never see him again.

At age 25, Lily now lives in Boston and is trying to decide what she wants to do with her life.  She has always loved gardening and plants and wants to open her own floral shop.  One night, while she is on a roof contemplating her future, she meets Ryle - a handsome neurosurgeon.  They soon find themselves in a relationship that is moving faster than either of them ever expected. 

But their relationship soon takes a dark turn, and Lily has to make a choice.  Does she stay or does she break a cycle from her past?  Is she strong enough to make the hard choices when faced with an uncertain future?

This book was really really good.  At first I thought we were heading down a "50 shades of gray" trail (a book I will NEVER read), but I was wrong.  The writing was excellent and the story was powerful.  It was a very fast read and very hard to put down.  I stayed up late a few nights to finish this one.

I am happy I decided to read this book.  It is going on the list of a favorite for this year.

Stars:  4 1/2

2018 Challenge - Book #98 - Anasi Boys

Today's review is for

Anasi Boys
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 416

This is the story of Charlie Nancy.  The people close to him call him Fat Charlie.  He is an average guy who is engaged to an average girl, has an average job, and and average life.  His father passes away, and even though they aren't close, he attends the funeral.  During the funeral, he spends time with his father's old neighbor who tells him that his father was a god.  He also found out that he had a brother, Spider.

Soon, Spider shows up on Charlie's doorstep and Charlies life begins to fall apart.  He gets blamed a work for a crime he didn't commit.  His fiance starts to fall for Spider and forget about Charlie.  Spider starts to wear out his welcome, and Charlie learns that he and Spider have both inherited a bit of their father's godliness.  Charlie and Spider's dad is the trickster god named Anasi.  Charlie decides he needs to learn more about his father in hopes that helps him get rid of Spider.  Charlie - with the help of some of his father's old neighbors - delves into the world of the gods and that spins things out of control for both him and Spider.

This was a pretty good book.  I am a Neil Gaiman fan, and this book did not disappoint.  This book is supposed to come after his "American gods" book, but you don't need to read that in order to read this.  There is light comedy, horror, twists and turns, and general Gaiman great writing.  It book flows nicely and it was hard to put it down.  He weaves the characters together well, and it really made the story work.

I highly recommend this book.  You really cannot go wrong with anything by Neil Gaiman in my opinion, so check it out.

Stars:  4 1/2

2018 Challenge - Book #97 - Irish Ghost and Hauntings

Today's reivew is not for a recommended book.  IT is for a book that my eldest daughter picked up while we were in Ireland a few weeks ago.  I read it thinking it looked interesting.

Irish Ghost and Hauntings
Author: Michael Scott
Pages: 280

This is a compostition of Ghost stories and folk tales from Ireland.  They span from around the year 1000AD to present time.  There are a lot of stories about banshees, mermaids, witches, and more. 

I would like to say more, but there isn't much I can say.  Each story is very different, but they aren't that good.  They are random, not really scary, and many just....end.  They don't wrap up many of the stories.  Many of the stories left me for wanting more. 

There were a few that were good.  Not enough to make this book recommendable, but I enjoyed some.  It was a quick read - finished it in 2 days.  But that is about where the positives end.

Stars:  2

2018 Challenge - Book #96 - The Sometimes Sisters

Today's review is for

The Sometimes Sisters
Author: Carolyn Brown
Pages: 309

This is the story of three sisters who grew apart as they got older.  The oldest is a half sister and has always felt like the outsider.  During the summer months, they all came to their grandmother's lakeside resort as children.  Now, their grandmother has passed away and in her will, she has asked the three sisters to come back and help at the lake house.  Over the years, secrets have built up between the sisters that drove them apart, but now that they are back together, they hope that they can share and become close once again.

I actually can't really write any more else about this book becuase it was terrible.  IT wasn't well written, and the story lines were beyond cheesy.  I barely could finish it - not even sure why I did.

Steer clear of this one.

Stars:  1

2018 Challenge - Book #95 - Dead Wake - The Last Crossing of the Lusitana

Today's review is for

Dead Wake - The Last Crossing of the Lusitana
Author: Erik Larson
Pages: 450

On May 1, 1915, the Lusitana sailed from New York bound for Liverpool.  It has almost 2000 passengers on board.  Germany had declared the seas around Britain part of the war zone, but the boat went on its course anyway.  What the captain and passengers didn't know was that a German U-boat would be waiting for them when they got into the waters around Ireland and their fate would be sealed. 

This story tells the stories of some of the survivors, and goes back and forth between the passengers on board of the Lusitana and Walther Schweiger who was on the U-boat that would eventually sink the Lusitana killing 1200 people (many women and children).  The story recounts the time on the ship, and then what happened in the aftermath of the disaster. 

I enjoyed this book.  The Lusitana has come up in a historical fiction book I have read in the past, so I have been intrigued about what happened to the ship.  I have to admit that I was more drawn to the story of the passengers on board the Lusitana than the second half of this story which is about the U-boat leading up to it destroying the ship.  But I understand that one lead to the other, so it is a necessary part of the story.

The author ends the book with telling us what happened to some of the survivors of the boat, and also the captian of the U-boat.  It is definitely worth the read, and you can't help but feeling that this loss of 1200 lives could have been completely avoided on a lot of levels. 

Stars: 4 1/2

2018 Challenge - Book #94 - An Innocent Client

Today's review is for

An Innocent Client
Author: Scott Pratt
Pages: 372

Joe Dillard, a defense attorney, has spent his years as a lawyer defending the worst criminals.  He isn't well liked among the police and the judges but someone has to defend these people.  Joe is ready to get out of being a lawyer when a woman approaches him about a case.  A preacher has been killed and a young lady that works for her has been charged.  She gives Joe an offer he can't refuse if he promised to set her free.

Joe is also dealing with a sister who has lived a life of drug abuse and ended up in jail.  Due to a childhood trauma that Joe witnessed happening to her, she has never fully recovered.  Joe offers to take her in and try to get her help, but his sister isn't interested in making amends.  Having his sister in jail is just adding more fewel to the lawyers on the other side of the table.  And Joe isn't sure he can prove his client is inocent.

This was a good book.  It was recommended by one of the (many) book pages I follow and got over 11,000 Amazon reviews, so I had to check it out.  It is an easy read, and the characters are well developed.  The book held my interest the entire time.  Even though some of the story "twists" weren't necessary shocking, the author did a good job keeping the story flowing smoothly.

I understand there are many more books in this series about Joe Dillard, and I think I am going to keep reading them.  If you like crime novels, this is a good one to check out.

Stars:  4