Book: Somewhere Beyond The Sea

 Book: Somewhere Beyond The Sea

Author: TJ Klune

Pages: 416

This is my 157th read for the year

This is the story of Arthur Parnassus and the magical children he and Linus care for.  Arthur and Linus live with them on an island where they can raise the children away from prying eyes and judgement.  When Arthur is summoned to testify about his past, all eyes are now on him and the children.  Soon a memeber of the government is sent to the island to spend two weeks making sure the children are safe.  Arthur and Linus are sure that the government has an underlying agenda and they will do anything to make sure that the children can stay with them.

This was a pretty good book.  I have read several to Klune's books and I find him a wonderful writer.  I loved the prequel to this book - The House on the Cerulean Sea, and Under the Whisper door.  However - I have noted that each book gets a little more flowery than the next.  While this is not bad - it just isn't for me.  His whole book is agenda, and this is perrogative and I am glad there are people like him who stand up for those who need it.  It just felt like a lot in this novel.  The kids spoke way about what ages they were supposed to be by the end of the book.  

I know Klune is trying to make a point.  It was just too much of this book that i took away from the characters and the overall story.  Not nearly as good as the first book in this series.

Stars: 3

Book: Livid

 Book: Livid

Author: Patricia Cornwell

Pages: 368

This is my 156th read for the year

Kay Scarpetta returns as a key witness in a murder trial.  While this is going on, the sister of the judge, Annie - who is also a close friend of Scarpetta - is murdered.  Kay and her team are sent to investigate.  At first it looks like a home invasion, but upon further investigation something sinister seems to have happened to the judge's sister.  Another victim turns up and Kay feels that all of them are in danger if they don't capture this killer soon.

This book was not good.  I used to be a really big Patricia Cornwell fan.  I read all of her books. Scarpetta and Pete Marino were some of my favorite characters over the years.  A few years ago I read a Scarpetta novel and swore it would be my last.  Cornwell has made Scarpetta so out of touch with reality (probably due to Cornwell being so wealthy and famous) that the novels stopped being interesting to me.  However, I found this on for $4 at a used bookstore and figure I would give it a try.  The plot is boring.  She just rambles on and on about details that no one cares about unless you are a forensic pathologist (or really into the study of it) or a medical examiner.  She describes so many things that there was no actual story.  This was a book to nowhere.  I did not care what happened to any of the characters and the ending was a total let down.  I am now done.

Stars: 2

Book: The Family Experiment

 Book: The Family Experiment

Author: John Marrs

Pages: 384

This is my 155th read for the year

This is the story of a group of people who were chosen to raise a child in the Metaverse.  Each participant will help raise a virtual child for 9 months and the child will age from newborn to 18 years of age in that timeframe.  The winner in the end will get a hefty prize and also the chance to start their own family or keep their virtual child.  All other children will be erased.  As secrets of the contestants start to emerge, their lives being front and center 24 hours a day on television starts to take a toll.  The general public is not convinced that any of the contestants deserve to win.

This was a very interesting book.  I could not put it down because I was so interested in where the stories of the contestants were going.  Each chapter is a different couple (and the one single parent), and the book moves ahead in segments with those families as the virtual child ages.  As things unravel for most of the couples, I wanted to see wat the ending was going to be like.  The fault I have with it -and the reason I didn't give it 5 stars - is because it does my most hated thing.  It keeps the reader in the dark way more than necessary.  You get small snippets of each family but you are always left wanting more. I thought the whole idea was very clever.  And I did like the writing EXCEPT for the above mentioned.  He is a good writer otherwise.  The ending wasn't as strong as I was hoping it was going to be.  But I am glad I read it.

Stars: 4

Book: Sleeping Beauties

 Book: Sleeping Beauties

Author: Stephen King and Owen King

Pages: 720

This is my 154th book for the year

This is the story of a future that women go to sleep and are shrouded in a gauze that acts like a cocoon.  A woman named Eve Black comes on the scene in a small town to confront some men who are treating a young woman badly.  She is arrested and soon it becomes apparent that she can sleep and wake unlike every other woman in the world.  Eve asks to be safe and if it happens, the women will all soon wake and be fine.  But if she dies - they all die.  Some of the men try to disturb the sleeping women, but it is met with violent consequences and then the women just fall back to sleep.  Many women do everything they can to stay awake - not knowing what will happen to them when they fall asleep.  Some men want to keep the women safe.  Others just want to kill Eve.  In a now all male world - violence abounds.

This was a pretty good book.  It is long.  I started to want to get to the end with about 200 pages left.  It started out strong and I was anxious to see where it was going as the women started to fall asleep.  It was an interesting concept - especially with what happened when you woke the women, but it then didn't turn into a "zombie" situation - the women just went back to sleep.  The world of the sleeping women was interesting, but the story of the remaining men became a bit of a slog. I did struggle a bit about Eve's part in all of it - I think it wasn't well explained.  If only the women of this town had fallen asleep - not the entire world - she would have fit better in my opinion.

Stars: 4

Book: Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect

 Book: Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect

Author: Benjamin Stevenson

Pages: 336

This is my 153rd read for the year

Here is what Amazon says about the book (because I am lazy today)

When the Australian Myster Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Dawin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book.  Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other.  Obviously, that didn't pan out.  But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives.  Together, we should know how to solve a crime.  Of course, we should also know how to commit one.  How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?

This was a pretty good book.  I read the author's first book and enjoyed it, so when I found this at a used bookstore I picked it up and glad I did.  It isn't terrific writing, but clever enough.  I love how he starts his book with a lot of "rules" I agree with regarding mysteries. (like not keeping the reader in the dark for no reason).  It gets a little convoluted in the near end, but wraps up nicely.  It is a light little read and I am glad I picked it up.

Stars: 4

Book: Quidditch Through The Ages

 Book: Quidditch Through The Ages

Author: JK Rowling

Pages: 51

This is my 152nd read for the year

From Amazon:

If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the Bludgers came into existence, or why the Wigtown Wanderers have pictures of meat cleavers on their robs, you need Quiddith Through The Ages.  The invaluable volume is consulted by young Quidditch fans on an almost daily basis.

I read this book to fullfill an alphabet challege (needed a Q!).  It short and a bit of a manual, but had a few chuckle parts as you would imagine where Quidditch is concerned.  Took me all of an hour to read it, but it always amazes me of an author's imagination of an enitre world leading to little novelettes.

Stars: 3.5

Book: Within Arm's Reach

 Book: Within Arm's Reach

Author: Ann Napolitano

Pages: 352

This is my 151st read for the year

This is the story of a large Irish American family.  The matriarch has had a small accident and all the family gathers to find out what to do about it.  There are 6 siblings and their various children and significant others who all have an opinion.  Beyond that, we learn about several members of the family - Louis who was first on the scene of the accident and a son-in-law;  His wife Kelly who cannot figure out why Louis has taken to sleeping in the den; Kelly and Louis' two children Lila (a medical student) and Gracie who has found herself pregnant and alone.  As they navigate their lives and care for their mother - they recount the grief from her long life that made her the person she is now.

This book was just eh.  I have readh Hello Beautiful and Dear Edward and was excited to find this novel by Napolitano.  But it just wasn't nearly as good as those two.  I did read the Author's note and so glad I did because this was actually one of her first novels back at the beginning of her career that really didn't take off, and so now it makes more sense.  The writing wasn't good.  I hated every single character.  The matriarch's children are all awful and self centered.  Lily and Gracie are no better.  Neither are any of the cousins that made a debut in this book.  IT is clear that no one likes anyone else and it just went.....nowhere.  And then it ended on a cliff hanger to leave it up to the the reader to decide what came next.  Hard no.

Stars: 2