Review: A World I Never Made by James LePore

Courtesy of FSB Associates

Author's Website
Immediately upon viewing the body, Pat Nolan knows that the dead girl in the Paris morgue is not his daughter yet he identifies her as Megan. Alerted by her suicide note Pat knows that for some reason Megan wants the world to believe she’s dead and she wants Pat to find her.

With only one lead to go on Pat visits a friend of Megan’s but as he’s leaving he is ambushed by two gun wielding bad guys. Pat’s quick reaction along with the help of the Paris police detective who was following him, Catherine Laurence, one would be murderer is dead and one escapes with a serious bump on his head. When Catherine learns who sent the bad guys she knows Pat and Megan are in deep trouble and she vows to help.

After the opening chapters when Pat identifies Megan’s body the book jumps back 11 months and begins Megan’s story. The rest of the chapters alternate between the two stories leading up to the final few chapters and all of them are intense. Each time it changes I want to flip ahead to find out what happens but I actually like the way this was done. It was a different twist to the suspense thriller formula.

The characters were so endearing that they stayed with me long after I finished the book. I thought that the love affair that developed between Pat and Catherine was amazingly well written and tender. It was hard to believe that it was written by a man. This is a great read and I highly recommend it for suspense lovers.

Review: A World I Never Made by James LePore

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/05/review-world-i-never-made-by-james.html

Review: Honeymoon by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

The beautiful Nora Sinclair has had no luck with men. First her first husband dies in a medical mix-up then her fiancé Connor has a heart attack in his forties. But don’t feel sorry for Nora yet… she murdered both of them and has her next victim in her sights, her husband Jeffery. Yes, you read that right. She was planning a wedding while she was already married. She is a cold blooded murderer who has the grieving act down pat.

Just after Connor’s murder Nora transfers a large amount of money out of his bank account to her bank in the Cayman Islands. This immediately raises a red flag and FBI agent John O’Hara is sent in undercover. He plays up to Nora’s greed as an insurance agent investigating a potential $1.9 million payout if the autopsy proves Connor died of natural causes.

As the investigation proceeds John and Nora get closer and John puts his career on the line when he falls under the black widow’s spell. Will he become the next victim or will he find the proof her needs to put her away before she rides off into the sunset a very rich woman?

Just like the collaboration of Sail, Patterson and Roughan reveal the bad guy (or in this case girl) right up front. We quickly learn about Nora’s evil ways but the delicious part of the book is how she gets away with it and the anticipation of finding out whether or not she gets caught. And still the ending was a surprise and not what I expected.

My review is based on the audio book and again there are two narrators. The female characters are read by Hope Davis and the males are read by Campbell Scott. I wish every audio book I listened to was done in this same way. All these Patterson audio books with two narrators are spoiling other audio books for me. LOL Needless to say, I recommend this one for all suspense lovers.

Review: Honeymoon by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/05/review-honeymoon-by-james-patterson.html

Review: Three bags Full by Leonie Swann

One morning a flock of sheep wakes to find their shepherd, George, with a spade stuck in his belly. In that instant they make the decision to find his killer no matter what. They begin by going over what they know so far relying on Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in their town of Glennkill, Mopple the Whale (he’s a sheep too) who has the best memory and Othello, the black ram who knows about the zoo and the world (author's words, not mine).

They carefully watch everyone who comes and goes while pretending to just be harmless sheep grazing the day away. As they follow the clues their suspect list includes the butcher, the priest, the religious fanatic Beth and Gabriel, another shepherd with a flock of sheep that snubs George’s flock. You can bet that even though some of them are not the brightest sheep in the world they work together and eventually find the true killer.

Oh boy, where to begin on this one?? The first few times I picked up the book I passed right out and I wasn't even counting the sheep. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was my book club selection and we met on Sunday afternoon I wouldn’t have made it past page 50. It finally picked up the pace almost halfway through and the last half somewhat made up for the beginning.

I think that part of the reason I disliked the beginning so much is that the book was originally written in German and translated to English and it didn’t flow well. The writing was a bit off and sometimes I’d have to read the same sentence or paragraph over again for me to get the meaning.

As far as positives I loved the way the sheep were smart but still did normal sheep things like getting into the forbidden vegetable garden and lusting after tomatoes at a picnic. I also loved the way the sheep revealed the killer but overall the story ending itself was pretty bad. I’m putting this one in the do not recommend column.

Review: Three bags Full by Leonie Swann

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/05/review-three-bags-full-by-leonie-swann.html

Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Author's Website

When a long hidden piece of history is discovered in the basement of Seattle’s Panama Hotel, Chinese American Henry Lee is overcome with memories of 1942. During World War II Henry was a small boy attending an all white private school on a scholarship. There he meets another scholarship student named Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American.

Over time and a shared love of Jazz, Henry and Keiko fall in love but Henry is too shy to reveal his feelings. Before Henry works up the courage to take things further Keiko and her family is sent to an internment camp. Initially Keiko is where Henry can visit her but she’s soon moved to a camp in Idaho where Henry risks the wrath of his father to visit Keiko one last time.

Oh how I loved this book. It was an amazing tale of friendship and a long lost love. I fell in love with Henry and Keiko from the minute they were introduced. The ups and downs Henry went through at school and at home with his family were heart breaking. Every time I thought things would work out for him something negative would happen and I felt my heart wrench with emotion.

Towards the end of the book I was anticipating the conclusion so much that I wanted to cheat and just skip to the last chapter to see if everything works out for Henry. I loved that the book was told by alternating from 1942 to 1986. It just heightens the anticipation because you get bits and pieces of the story but not the whole picture until the very end. Needless to say this is a must read!

Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/03/review-hotel-on-corner-of-bitter-and.html

Review: Dramarama by E. Lockhart

At the tail end of her junior year in high school Sarah Paulson auditions for Wildewood Academy for the Performing Arts Summer Institute program (Drama Camp) and gets accepted. During the audition she meets Douglas Howard, Jr. otherwise known as Demi. Demi then dubs the name Sarah too boring and christens her Sadye and soon the two outcasts become inseparable friends.

Off to Wildewood the pair goes where they are quickly caught up in the dance, voice and acting classes while rehearsing for the end of summer stage shows. As Demi’s star begins to soar Sadye has to come to terms with the fact that her talent doesn’t hold up when compared to the more experienced students at Wildewood. Things get even worse for her as the bond with Demi starts to weaken when he sheds his reserved exterior and no longer has to hide his gay lifestyle from others.

Sadye’s unhappiness begins to show in the way she begins to question her teachers and in the way she treats her new friends. Soon her behavior threatens her friendship with Demi and her enrollment at Wildewood but can she reign it in before it’s too late?

The title, the cover and the product description led me to believe this would be one cute book but I was really disappointed. Dramarama had little drama and lots of nagging. Sadye doesn’t endear herself to readers with all the complaining. She’s in drama camp and she’s there to learn yet she has the nerve to confront her instructions one of whom is a Broadway director? Can you say improbable?

Another annoying thing is the fact that for a YA novel there is some questionable content about sex (nothing graphic but it still surprised me) and teen drinking. It was discussed nonchalantly. Typically when I see those subjects in teen books readers get the sense that the characters understand sex and drinking is taboo at their age not something cool to do.

Overall I say pass on this one unless you’re a huge theater fan. I think all the references to Broadway shows and the camp life would override the Sadye’s personality.

Review: Dramarama by E. Lockhart

https://www.readingwithmonie.com/2009/05/review-dramarama-by-e-lockhart.html