Book: You Killed Me First

 Book: You Killed Me First

Author: Jon Marrs

Pages: 399

This is my 106th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

It's 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare.  Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire.  As the smoke thickens, panic sets in - she's moments away from being engulfed in flames.  How did it come to this?  Rewind 11 months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-siffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv nd her flawless family move into their street.  The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret - and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polish exteriors.  As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites.  Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn - But who will it be?

This was an interesting book.  I have read a lot of Marrs books, and I always enjoy them.  I hated most of the characters in this book - he wrote some of them over the top.  Was it on purpose?  There were a lot of twist - a few I did not see coming, which was a plus.  The ending was wild.  Overall, I was glad I read it.

Stars: 4

Book: Shakespeare for Squirrels

 Book: Shakespeare for Squirrels

Author: Christopher Moore

Pages: 288

This is my 105th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Set adrift by his pirate crew, Pocket of Dog Snogging - last seen in The Serpent of Venice - washes up on the sun-bleached shores of Greece, where he hopes to dazzle the Duke with his comedic brilliance and become his trusted fool.  But the island is in turmoil.  Egus, the Duke's minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her.  The Duke decrees that if, by the time of the wedding, Hermia still refuses to marry Lysander, she shall be executed - or consigned to a nunnery.  Pocket, being Pocket, cannot help but point out that this decree is complete bollocks, and that the Duke is an egregious weasel for having even suggested it.  Irritated by the fool's impudence, the Duke orders his death.  With the Duke's guards in pursuit, Pocket makes a daring escape.  He soon stumbles into the wooded realm of the fairy king Oberson, who, as luck would have it, IS short a fool.  His hester Robin Goodfellow - the mischievous sprite better known as Puck - was found dead.  Murdered.  Oberon makes Pocket an offer he can't refuse: he will make Pocket his foold and hae his death sentence lifted if Pocket finds out who killed Robin Goodfellow.  But as anyone who is even vaguely aware of the Bard's most performed play ever will know, nearly every character has a motive for wanting the mischievous sprite dead.  With too many suspects and too little time, Pocket must work his own kind of magic to find the truth, save his neck, and ensure that all ends well. 

Stars: 4 

Book: The Let Them Theory

 Book: The Let Them Theory

Author: Mel Robbins

Pages: 336

This is my 104th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

This was an okay book.  I liked a lot of it, but it just left too many unanswered questions.  The fantas part of this novel was choppy.  Some of the characters were really horrible - I do not like to read about domestic violence.  I was curious about where it was going, but I just don't think the plot pulled itself all the way together - even with the ending where she tried.

This book could have been an article.  Or an email.

Stars: 2

Book: The Lost Bookshop

 Book: The Lost Bookshop

Author: Evie Woods

Pages: 448

This is my 103rd book for the year

What Amazon Says:

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.  For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.  But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books.  And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder - where nothing is as it seems.

This was an okay book.  I liked a lot of it, but it just left too many unanswered questions.  The fantasy part of this novel was choppy.  Some of the characters were really horrible - I do not like to read about domestic violence.  I was curious about where it was going, but I just don't think the plot pulled itself all the way together - even with the ending where she tried.

Stars: 3

Book: Patient Zero

 Book: Patient Zero

Author: Jonathan Maberry

Pages: 432

This is my 102nd read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either soething wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills - and there is nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills.  And that's both a good, and a bad thing.  It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle.  This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short.  It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies.  The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

This book was long.  And very technical.  I had it as a free Amazon first reads, and it was a bit too technical in the military and war categories for my taste.  And it was just an okay zombie story with just okay characters.

Stars: 3

Book: The Cartographers

 Book: The Cartographers

Author: Pen Shephard

Pages: 400

This is my 101st read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Neil Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography.  Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell's personal hero.  But she hasn't seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.  But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the NY Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can't resist investigating.  To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable, and also exceedingly rare.  In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence - because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one - along with anyone who gets in the way.  But why?  To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret, and discover the true power that lies in maps.

Stars: 3.5

Book: The Husbands

 Book: The Husbands

Author: Holly Gramazio

Pages: 352

This is my 100th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael.  There's only one problem - she's not married.  She's never seen this man before in her life.  But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they've been together for years.  As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can't remember meeting, Michale goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears.  In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her.  Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the questions:  If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you've taken the right path?  When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

That was an interesting enough book.  I picked it up at a used bookstore - drawn in by the blurb on the back.  It starts out strong - as she tries to figure it out.  And holds it together when she meets another person like her.  But then it got a bit tedious, and I did not like the ending at all.  

Stars: 3