Book: Cradle and All

 Book: Cradle and All

Author: James Patterson

Pages: 286

This is my 115th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In Boston, 17 year old Kathleen is pregnant, but she swears she's a virgin.  In Ireland, another teenage girl, Colleen, discovers she is in the same impossible condition.  Cities all around the world are sddently overwhelmed by epidemics, droughts, faminse, floods, and worse.  As terrifying forces of light and darkness begin to gather, Kathleen and Colleen find themselves at the center of the final battle for a very sould of humanity.  Each of the girls must convince a young detective that she is the true mother of God - and that the other is carrying the devil. 

This book was good enough.  It is a very easy, very fast read - I read it in a day.  Lots of short chapters and half pages of text made that easy.  James Patterson is a commercial success, but a great writer?  Not sure about that.  The story was interesting.  Got a bit drawn out, even in its few pages, and got a bit boring, but does circle back to redeem itself at the end.  Left on a bit of cliff hanger, but this is an older book, so I don't see a sequel appearing.

Stars: 3

Book: Chosen Ones

 Book: Chosen Ones

Author: Veronica Roth

Pages: 432

This is my 114th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

15 years ago, 5 ordinary teenagers were signled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havor across North America.  He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice - catastrophic events known as Drains - leveled cities and claimed 1000s of lives.  Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him.  After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal - for everyone but them.  After all, what do you do when you're the most famous people on Earth, your only education was in magical destruction, and your purpose in life is now fulfilled?  Of the 5, Sloan has had the hardest time adjusting.  Everyone else blames the PTSD - and her huge attitude problem - but really, she's hiding secrets from there - secrets that keep her tied ot the past and alienate her from the oly 4 people in the world who understand her.  On the 10th anniversary of the Dark One's defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies.  When the others gather for the funderal, they discover the Dark One's ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold - bigger than the world itself.  And this time, fighting back might take more than Sloane has to give.  

This was an okay book.  I have read most of Veronica Roth's books, because I did like her Divergent series years ago.  However this one wasn't great.  It was a cool idea, but I felt like I was walking into a sequel instead of a stand alone.  We are past this big battle with a world ending deamon, and we are supposed to care about it?  I just could not get sucked in.  I walked away from the book a few times because it just did not hold my interest.  This is supposed to be an adult fantasy, but it is written as YA in my opinion.  Hard to like any of the characters - especially Sloane.  

Stars: 3

Book: End of Ever After: A Cinderella Retelling

 Book: End of Ever After: A Cinderella Retelling

Author: EL Tenenbaum

Pages: 310

This is my 113th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When the invitation to the prince's ball was put in her hands, Ella imagined a single night of wonder, a single night to escape her wretched life and be anyone else for awhile.  She never expected to turn the prince's head, she certainly never expected to run off with his heart.  Five years later, Ella looks back on her faerytale rise from soot stained cinderwench to the queen the people call CinderElla.  Ignored and humiliated much of her life, she could hardy believe her sudden good fortune.  Nor could she aniticpate what was to follow, not the lies, not the betrayal, not the truthof her handsome Prince Charming.  Ella is desperate to figure out how, despite her best intentions, everything went so horribly wrong.  And what, if anything, she can do to get back her ever after.  End of Ever After is the first in a five part companion series that rewrites the classic tales of happily ever after.

Terrible book.  Poorly written.   Read it because I had it in my kindle as a free book and it fit a challenge caterory I was trying to fill.

Stars: 2

Book: The Bielski Brothers

 Book: The Bielski Brothers

Author: Peter Duffy

Pages: 336

This is the 112th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

In 1941, 3 brothers witnessed their parents and 2 other silbings being led away to their eventual murders.  It was a grim scene that would, of course, be repeated endlessly throughout the war.  Instead of running or giving in to despair, these brothers - Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski - foughtback, waging a guerrilla war of wits against the Nazis.  By suing their intimate knowledge of the dense forest surrounding the Belarusan towns of Novogrudek and Lida, the Bielskis evaded the Nazis and established a hidden base camp, then set about convincing other Jews to join their ranks.  As more and more Jes arrived each day, a robust community began to merge, a "Jerusalem in the woods".  After 2 1/2 years in the woods, in July 1944, the Bielskis learned that the Germans, overrung by the Red Army, were retreating back toward Berlin.  More than 1000 Bielski Jews emerged - alive - on that final, triumphant exit from the woods.  

This was a good book.  It was a bit dry, but otherwise well written.  This book is on the Rory Gilmore endless reading challenge, so that is why I picked it up.  I like a good non-fiction book, and what these brothers were able to do was miraculous.  I also enjoyed that the author included pictures of the brothers and other key players in this story.  Love putting faces to names.

Stars: 3.5 

Book: Pursued: The Story of Stalking, Memory and Madness

 Book: Pursued: The Story of Stalking, Memory, and Madness

Author: Corey Mead

Pages: 283

This is my 111th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

From 1977 to 1981, Ruth Finley, an ordinary wife and mother from Kansas, was tormented by an elusive maniac known as the Poet. The police, already on edge from BTK's reign of terror, spent years searching for the stalker.  Meanwhile, his cryptic letters in rhymed verse grew more disturbing and violent, spilling into deeds like stabbing and kidnapping.  In this propulsive nonfiction account, as Ruth is surveilled from all sides, her nightmare takes a chiling turn: The Stalkier is no stranger at all.  It's someone the police have been close to for years, someone nearer to home than Ruth dared to admit.  The revelation recasts what seemed like a cruel twistof fate as something far more disturbing. 

This book was okay.  It is one of my Kindle free reads I am trying to work through.  It is non-fiction - on of my favorite genres - but this one was a bit dry.  I kind of figured it out right before the "twist" was revealed, but it was a bit of a surprise and I was curious to figure out how it took the police so long to figure it out.  Glad I read it because I do love true crime, but I wish it was just a little bit better written.

Stars: 3

Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl 4: The Gate of the Feral Gods

 Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl 4: The Gate of the Feral Gods

Author: Matt Dinniman

Pages: 608

This is my 110th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galazy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, that there's only one thing they can count on apart from each other: they never know what's coming next.  And this floor is no exception.  A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes.  A castle made of sand.  A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines.  A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.  It was supposed to be easy.  One bubble.  Four castles.  15 days.  Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.  Here's the thing.  I's never easy.  Going it alone is not an option this time, so Carl and his team must rely on the help of the low-leve, I can't believe these idiots-are-still-alive cralwers trapped in the bubble wiht them.  But can they be trusted?  Welcome, Crawlers.  Welcome to the 5th floor of the dungon.

Another great installment in the Carl world.  These books are fun and entertaining and huge tomes all in one.  I continue to listen to them because the narrator is fantastic.  If you enjoy audiobooks - highly recommend these for that.  The books are well written and there are a lot of likable characters.  The AI is hysterical.  As is the cat and Carl.  Even though this is a Dungeons and Dragons type of trope - something I never learned about or know anything about - they are not hard to follow.  After the first book, you get the idea, and then those parts of the books (loot boxes, rewards, etc) all become something you look forward to.  It is just a really fun series and after 4 books, I am obsessed.

Stars: 5

Book: Win

 Book: Win

Author: Harlen Corben

Pages: 384

This is my 109th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Over 20 years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin or monhts, Patricia escaped, but so did her captors - and the items stolen from her family were never recovered.  Until now.  On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3.  For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead - not only on Patricia's kidnapping, but also on another FBI cold case - with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.  Windsor Horne Lockwood III - or Win, as his few friends call him - doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up with a dead man.  But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an acto fo domestic terrorism - and that the conspirators may still be at large.  The 2 cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has 3 things the FBI doesn't; a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune: and his own unique brand of justice.

I am slowly working through a back log of books on my shelves, and this one has been sititng there for awhile.  I have read a couple of Harlen Corben books, and I like them okay.  But to me, they aren't great.  They are easy reads, but his chracters are not likable to me.  Win, especially turned me off right from the beginning.  It was almost like reading more later Patricia Cornwell books where she also makes her main characters so rich that they are not relateable let alone likeable.  Because the Win character struck a negative cord with me from the beginning, I could not turn this story around in my mind.  It was an interesting enough murder mystery, but not enough to redeem the characters as a whole.

Stars: 2.5