Book: Under Story

 Book: Under Story

Author: Chloe Benjamin

Pages: 512

This is my 262nd read this year

What Amazon Says:

At the edge of the world, biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from everything she's ever known.  For 10 hours a day, 6 days per week, she works as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, an isolated research base in Antarctica.  She tells no one that before she arrived, she was a renowned young scientist with a promising career and a family.  But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can't escape her past.  When a strange light appears across the ice - and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo - her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind.  Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive.  And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine.  Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them - to turn back the clock and live their story a second time? 

Man I REALLY wanted to love this one.  I had 2 long car rides this week and this one I decided to listen to to pass the time.  It started out great.  I was fully invested in the characters and their story and tragedy, and even the indepth science of what Laurel studied.  But then the part of the book related to the Arc completely lost me.  There are so many illogical holes.  I had more and more questions and the book progressed, none that ever got answered and so much that really didn't make any sense.  I KNOW this is in the sci fi vain - all for it.  Here for it.  But this was....something else.  The build up was crazy toward the end wondering where this was going to end up, and then it was rushed.

Stars: 3

Book: I'm A Therapist and my Patient is the Next School Shooter

 Book: I'm A Therapist and my Patient is the Next School Shooter

Author: Dr. Harper

Pages: 170

This is my 261st book for the year

What Amazon Says:

I've seen it all - a boy who planned to be the next school shooter.  A patient with OCD whose loved ones really did suffer every time he missed a ritual.  A choir boy who claimed he was being molested - not by a priest - but by God Himself.  A patient with PTSD who gave me nightmares.  A husband and a wife who accued each other of abuse, and only one of them was telling the truth.  And how could I ever forget, Patient #220.  The problem is, my patients have a habit of dying.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm the common denominator.  Or maybe that's just the cost of taking on exceptionally broken clients.  Either way, I'll never stop trying to help.

I picked his book up when it was recommended to fill a book challenge category, and full disclosure - I thought it was non-fiction.  It is not.  It is a ficiton book written like a non-fiction, which could also be fun, but this book was just terrible.  Poorly written and just overly bad.

Stars: 1 

Book: Head Cases

 Book: Head Cases

Author: John McMahon

Pages: 368

This is my 260th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles.  He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved 7 year old daughter Camila.  Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unif, the FBI's hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.  When DNA links a muderder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action.  A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner.  And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsepts of a killer.  Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent.  Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer's identity.  But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families - before it's too late?

This book was just okay.  I had a hard time getting through it because it didn't really hold my attention.  Not that well written.  

Stars: 2.5 

Book: Xmen Animated Series

 Book: Xmen Animated Series

Author: Ralph Macchio

Pages: 200

This is my 259th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Exploding from your TV screen.  The iconic X-Men: The Animated Series thrilled fans in the 1990s and defined the X-Men for an entire generation.  And their small-screen adventures, inspired by the X-Men's classic storylines, were adapted into comic-book form as well.  

Stars: 3

The Bone Door

 Book: The Bone Door

Author: Frances White

Pages: 528

This is my 258th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When Hop awakens in an ancient labyrinth, he has no memory of his life, or how he got here.  He does not recognise the mysterious girl trapped with him.  And he certainly cannot indentify the shadoyw figure stalking him, whispering terrible things.  But there is one thing he is certain of: He must escape.  The only way out of the labyrinth is through The Bone Door.  But it lies behind a series of locked doors hidden across an array of strange realms.  To open the way, Hop must complete impossible tasks before his time runs out. As Hop travels deeper into the maze, he discovers that he and his companions may be more connected to the place and its horrors than hecould ever imagine. Unless Hop is able to unravel the true mystery of the labyrinth, and his own role within it, the Bone Door and any hope of escape will be lost forever.

This was an interesting book.  I read her other one - the Voyage of the Damned, and it was great, so I was looking forward to this.  I didn't like it as much as her other, but this one was still good.  It got a little convoluted for me near the end, but it wrapped up nicely.  Or....interestingly might be the more appropriate word for this ending.  

Stars: 4 

Book: Rebecca

 Book: Rebecca

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Pages: 448

This is my 256th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In Monte Carlo, our unnamed heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage.  Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck.  It is only when they arrive at Manderley, huer husband's cavernous estate on the Cornish coast, that she realizes how vast a shadow his late wife, Rebecca, will cast over their lives - introducting a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their love from beyond the grave.

I picked this one up to fill a challenge about a gothic romance novel.  How I missed this one long ago, I will never know.  I enjoyed it.  Reading classics is not my favorite, but I am glad I read this one.  It was a bit long winded and our unnamed heroine was a bit too much like a child at times.  But overall - it kept my interest.  I had no idea where this thing was going, and was a bit surprised with the reveal of Rebecca.  Ended with a gasp from me for sure.  

Stars: 4 

Book: W0rldtr33 Vol 2

 Book: W0rldtr33 Vol. 2 

Author: James Tynion

Pages:

This is my 255th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

With the press of a button, Gabriel winter changed the world.  As his closest friends reckon with the consequences, Special Agent Siobhan Silk must unravel what set all of this in motion 25 years ago in Palo Alto - and attempt to uncover the origin of PH34R.

Second installment in the W0RLDTR33 series did not disappoint.  Continuing to enjoy the series - and looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Stars: 4.