Review: Time of My Life - Allison Winn Scotch

After years of doubt creeping up on her, Jillian Westfield finally takes a moment to ponder what her life has become. She’s a suburban mom with an eighteen-month-old daughter and a husband whose successful career has him constantly traveling. To make matters worse she learns that the boyfriend she left seven years ago, Jack, is about to get married.

Jillian agonizes with the possibility that even though things are rosy on the surface, she isn’t happy. Then one morning Jillian wakes up to a whole new life… seven years in the past. She’s still living with Jack and working at a top ad agency with her life on the fast track. Now armed with what she knows happens up to seven years in the future she has a chance to turn the “what ifs” into reality.

Once I read a few books in the same genre close together or in a row I kind of get the feeling that the stories are all the same with just different characters. Recently that has been the case for me with most of the chick lit I’ve read but Time of My Life just broke that mold.

Who hasn’t wondered “what if”? I know I’ve thought about it a lot. Sometimes I feel I want to go back to the day I met my husband and sometimes I want to go all the way back to my first day in a new high school. But just like Jillian I would have to know then what I know now. Hmmm, how would my life be different???

This was a great read. It took some tough decision making to get Jillian where she ended up at the end of the book but the story had impressive originality. My only wish for the book was that the characters had a little more depth. The kind of depth that leaves you thinking about them long after you are done reading. I recommend this for all chick lit fans.

Review: Time of My Life - Allison Winn Scotch

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-time-of-my-life-allison-winn.html

Review: Dog on It by Spencer Quinn

K-9 school dropout Chet and his owner Bernie make up the Little Detective Agency. Hired by Cynthia Chambliss, their next case is to find her teenage daughter, Madison.
When Madison shows up a few hours later it seems as if their job was done but suddenly Madison turns up missing again and this time she doesn’t return.

Chet and Bernie are on the job and the clues lead them from a high school drug dealer all the way to a group of Russians who have a tie to Madison’s father and his failing business. Throw in dog-napping, a reporter, bikers and a just-in-time save from doggy heaven and you have the beginnings of a great adventure.

I’m most definitely a cat person but found myself in love with Chet from the first chapter. The entire story is told from his point of view and even though he doesn’t understand things like insurance, divorce or the real meaning of the saying “crazy like a fox” he is able to help Bernie solve their cases.

The writing is faced paced and I found myself laughing, cringing and nail biting while I zoomed through the story with a pounding heart. This is the first book in the Chet and Bernie Mystery series and Chet sets up great cliff hangers. He hints at the real reason for his K-9 school dropout and a mysterious finding by his groomer and I can’t wait for the next book. You don’t have to be a dog lover for this one but it’s a must read for all animal and mystery lovers.

Review: Dog on It by Spencer Quinn

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-dog-on-it-by-spencer-quinn.html

Review: Steve Martin - The Magic Years by Morris Walker

The author, Morris Walker, is a long time friend of Steve Martin and in this book he shares their history growing up as young pranksters in Southern California. From terrorizing neighbors with a fake hand, to conning a group of remote control air plane enthusiasts with a wood and paper plane the stories range from hilarious to ho-hum.

I’ve always loved Steve Martin because he reminds me of my Dad. They are both slim, tall and wacky so I picked up the book thinking it would be a lot of fun. I did learn some fascinating things about Martin such as the fact that he was born in Waco, TX (I lived there for a year so it’s interesting to me LOL) and he worked at Disneyland for a time at when he was young but was hoping for much more from the book.

The author seems a bit of a hanger-on building on the glory days in junior and high school than a true life long friend. The book reads a little like he’s somewhat bitter that Martin made it and he didn’t since he’s in the entertainment industry also. Another thing that bothered me is that a lot of their shared stories as young boys/men are recounted and then compared to movies that Martin made or comedy routines that developed yet in each and every instance he claims to not be implying that he should get any credit for Martin’s work. Well than why bother mentioning or comparing it?

Overall I enjoyed what I learned about Martin and would recommend this as a library read if you’re a Martin fan.

Review: Steve Martin - The Magic Years by Morris Walker

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-steve-martin-magic-years-by.html

Review: Compulsion by Jennifer Chase

Emily Stone works hard at keeping her identity a secret. She is a one-woman task force who uses sophisticated equipment to track down some of the most dangerous child abductors and killers. Once she tracks the evil men down she documents her finds and anonymously emails the information to the police.

When a serial killer pops up in her own small town she takes it upon her self to hunt down the killer. But somehow the killer is on to her and she becomes the hunted.

Compulsion starts out strong and I was eagerly turning the pages but about half-way through the book loses steam and starts to get a little weird. Chase throws in some clues that are meant to throw you off as to who the killer is but it doesn’t seem to do anything other than muddy the story up. The climax was actually sort of anti-climactic but the ending pulls everything together again and it turns out pretty good. I feel that with just a little more tweaking this could have been a great book but I still recommend it for all suspense and thriller lovers.

Review: Compulsion by Jennifer Chase

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-compulsion-by-jennifer-chase.html

Review: Darling Jim by Christian Moerk

Product Description:

When two sisters and their aunt are found dead in their suburban Dublin home, it seems that the secret behind their untimely demise will never be known. But then Niall, a young mailman, finds a mysterious diary in the post office’s dead-letter bin. From beyond the grave, Fiona Walsh shares the most tragic love story he’s ever heard—and her tale has only just begun.

Niall soon becomes enveloped by the mystery surrounding itinerant storyteller Jim, who traveled through Ireland enrapturing audiences and wooing women with his macabre mythic narratives. Captivated by Jim, townspeople across Ireland thought it must be a sad coincidence that horrific murders trailed him wherever he went—and they failed to connect that the young female victims, who were smitten by the newest bad boy in town, bore an all too frightening similarity to the victims in Jim’s own fictional plots.

The Walsh sisters, fiercely loyal to one another, were not immune to “darling” Jim’s powers of seduction, but found themselves in harm’s way when they began to uncover his treacherous past. Niall must now continue his dangerous hunt for the truth—and for the vanished third sister—while there’s still time. And in the woods, the wolves from Jim’s stories begin to gather.

My Review:

I was mesmerized by this book from the first chapter. The story is told mostly by the sisters diaries so you get a feel for the big picture but you can’t really tell what’s going on until the very end.

Moerk writes beautifully and weaves a story that flows from page to page. Interwoven with the diaries is the story told by Jim as he’s enthralling the town. I found myself sucked in to both the diaries and the story surrounding the death of the sisters and aunt. I didn’t want to put the book down and stayed thinking about it long after the last page was read. The book comes to an amazing end that was not at all surprising but still satisfying. I highly recommend this to all suspense lovers.

Review: Darling Jim by Christian Moerk

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-darling-jim-by-christian-moerk.html