Book: Cackle

 Book: Cackle

Author: Rachel Harrison

Pages: 304

This is my 115th read for the year

This is the story of Annie.  After almost 10 years with her boyfriend, he breaks up with her.  She decides to start over fresh and takes a teaching job in a small town outside of Manhattan. She meets a woman named Sophie whom she likes immediately.  Sophie takes a special interest in Annie and teaches her to stop apologize and start living for herself.  The towns people, though, seem afraid of Sophie.  She never pays for anything and they always give her what she wants.  Annie is trying to figure out who Sophie is while also trying to figure out who she is.

This book was fine.  I listened to it, and I really didn't care for the narrator.  Not sure that would have changed my feelings much about this simply written novel, but it might have.  It is an easy, quick read overall and not well written, but entertaining enough.  Annie was annoying and I never really cared for her.  I would think this was more YA than a thriller genre that it is listed as.  Not scary at all.

Stars: 3

Book: The Boy From The Woods

 Book: The Boy From The Woods:

Author: Harlen Coben

Pages: 416

This is our 114th read for the year

This is the story of Wilde.  30 years ago he was found in the woods - living feral with no memory of how he got there and where he was from.  After a lifetime of foster care, and armed services, he has moved himself back into the woods in a small trailer he can move anytime he wants.  He works closely with a lawyer named Hester, and she needs his help to find a missing teenager named Naomi.  Her father and the police think she has just run away.  Wilde feels differently, and he knows in order to find her he is going to have to question people in the community he tried so hard to stay away from.

This was an okay book.  This is my first Coben novel.  Writing is just so so.  The story is a quick, easy read - which is great for summer.  I was mildly curious about how it was going to end, but really never cared for many of the characters.  Wilde's back story remained just that.  I am not sure why this was the "Draw" to the book because it was barely discussed.  I thought it was going to be more about finding out who he was, or tying the current mystery to his past but nope.  And the ending was okay - not that shocking.  

Stars: 3

Book: Just After Sunset

 Book: Just After Sunset

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 555

This is my 113th read for the year

This is a book of short stories.  Here is what Amazon has to say about it:

Who but Stephen King would turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love?  A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well.  Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle, begun to reduce bad cholesterol, might take its rider on a captivating and terrifying journey.  Set on a remote key in Florida, "The Gingerbread Girl" is a riveting tale featuring a young woman as vulnerable - and resourceful.  In "Ayana" a blind girl works a miracle with a kiss and a touch of her hand.  In one of the longer stories here "N" is a psychiatric patietn's irrational thinking might create an apocalyptic threat in the Maine countryside - or keep the world from falling victim to it.

This was a great book.  If you follow my blog at all, you will know I am not a big fan of books full of short stories.  I need some substance.  But this one was really good.  I loved almost every story.  None were terribly short, and I think that helped.  The stories reach out and grab you and ended well.  Glad I read this one.

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Waltham Murders

 Book: The Waltham Murders

Author: Susan Zalkind

Pages: 343

This is my 112th read for the year

This is a non-fiction book about 3 men that were killed on September 11, 2011 in Waltham, MA.  The author, who was friends with one of the men, spent the next 10 years trying to figure out what happened to her friend and the other men.  A story that barely made the news because the men were known weed sellers, Zalkind set out for closure.  When the Boston Marathon bombings happened a few years later, new leads came to light but still Zalkind did not find out who killed her friend.

This book was just so-so.  I was interested in it because we don't live far from Waltham and I have never heard for these murders.  We had just moved to the area late 2011, and so I had no idea this happened.  The book was a little dull.  There was a lot of side information and stories that just did not move the story along.  Too wordy even for a short book.

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Stars: 2

 

Book: Just For The Summer

 Book: Just For The Summer

Author: Abby Jimenez

Pages: 424

This is my 111th read for the year

This is the story of Emma and Justin.  Justin writes a Reddit peace on how he is cursed in love.  Every woman he dates ends up leaving him and finding true love with the next guy she dates.  Emma reads his Reddit post and reaches out to him because she has the same problem.  Emma is a traveling nurse, and Justin convinces her to come to Minnesota to meet him in person and go on 4 dates to try and break their curse.  The quick fling just for the summer suddenly becomes anything but.  As Emma and Justin start to fall for each other, their current circumstances get in the way of them being truly happy.  

This was a pretty good book.  I don't read a lot of romance novels- they aren't my thing.  But in the summer, I tend to read a few because it feels like the right time of year for something light and fun.  This novel has a lot of ups and downs.  It is pretty well written, and I only rolled my eyes a few times.  I was almost sure that the author was not going to follow the usual romance novel path, and I appreciated that.  A little less Hallmark movie and actual story and good characters in this one.  Bravo. I really liked Justin. Emma ran a close second.  The twist at the end with Emma's mother wasn't something I really saw coming, and while it seemed a little too convenient to twist the story, it didn't bother me much.  

If you are a fan of beach reads and romance - check this one out.

Stars: 4

Book: Wild

 Book: Wild

Author: Cheryl Strayed

Pages: 338

This is my 110th read for the year

This is the story of the author's journey to find herself.  4 years after her mother died, with her marriage falling apart, Cheryl decides she is going to hike 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.  She has no hiking experience, but feels with her equipment and strong will, she can do it.  She heads out alone and this book covers her journey over several months and all the people she meets along the way.

This book was just meh.  I wanted to like it more.  I was intrigued by the story of a young woman who decided to hike this trail alone.  But Cheryl went woefully unpreprared.  She had no idea what she was doing and she is lucky she didn't get herself killed.  The back story throughout the book got tedious and overly done.  There was almost as much of her past as their was of her hike, and while I understand this was intentional, the back story dragged quite a bit.  We also hear way too much about her feet.  I wasn't a big fan of Cheryl either.  I felt for her - her mother died when she was only 22 and she had quite a tramatic childhood.  But she imploded as a young adult - got into some heavy drug use and cheating on her husband.  

I was hoping for more, but didn't get it.  Although - the last line of this book was actually a good one. 

"It was my life - like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me.

How wild it was, to let it be.”

Stars: 2.5

Book: Jurassic Park

 Book: Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Pages: 466

This is my 109th read for the year

This is the story of dinosaurs brought back to life.  A wealthy man has figured it out and has decided to develop a theme park with newly created dinosaurs.  He invites two archeologists and a mathematician to Isla Nublar to see the park first hand before it opens to the public.  However, a greedy employee wants to smuggle dinosaur DNA off the island for a large sum and when he shuts down the power to the island, the dinosaurs are not longer behind electrified fenses.  The wealthy man's two grandchildren are also on the island to test the park, and when their lives and everyone's lives are in danger, the group must work together to get the power back on and leave the island.

This was a great book.  I have seen the movie a lot of times, but never actually read the book.  There were some differences from movie to book, but not a ton.  It is a well written book and a good read.  Crichton was a doctor, so there is research talk and medical jargon throughout the book, but it wasn't overly done.  I will be anxious to read the next one.  

Stars: 4.5