The Accident by Natalie Barelli

Book Description:

Published: January 21, 2019

Format: Audio/OverDrive

Stars: 3

If only she’d said no…

Katherine knew she’d had too many drinks, but they were only going a short distance. And as Eve pointed out, it was late, there was no traffic anyway…

Now, Katherine would do anything to turn back the clock. If anyone ever found out about the accident, it would ruin Katherine’s life. But no one needs to know because Eve was there too, and she’s going to help make it all go away.

Except something’s not quite right with Eve, and by the time Katherine realizes that…

It’s too late.

Review –

Arghh, when I started this I thought “oh no, how predictable, I know what’s going to happen here.”

So many red flags starting with a protagonist who can’t stop saying how brilliant she is and how clever and how everyone said so including her married boss, whom she is having an affair with (who of course is going to divorce his wife, not). Her mother is in an assisted living and sort of chokes on a bit of food . Why the woman is told her mother almost choked but didn’t is beyond me but this is the set up for her to meet Eve who has every women’s fiction sociopathic trait. The brilliant main character gets her a job for almost saving her mother then parties with her and allows this young woman to convince her she can drive drunk and on and on. The whole book is a spoiler. Its painful reading or listening. You know where its going , one misstep at a time.

Very disappointing for this Natalie Barelli fan.

The Fall of Crazy House(Crazy House #2) by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Book Description:

Published: April 8, 2019

Format: Audio/OverDrive

Escape is just the beginning.

Twin sisters Becca and Cassie barely got out of the Crazy House alive. Now they’re trained, skilled fighters who fear nothing–not even the all-powerful United regime.

Together, the sisters hold the key to defeating the despotic government and freeing the people of the former United States. But to win this war, will the girls have to become the very thing they hate?

In this gripping sequel to James Patterson’s YA blockbuster Crazy House, the world is about to get even crazier.

Review –

I had been looking forward to this book because the first one was so good, but this one is just plain bad!

It’s rushed and leaves many unanswered questions and the ending is horrible. Thank Heavens there is not a book three.

Don’t waste your time!

 

 

Rapture by Lucia Jordan

Book Description:

Published: May 5, 2015

When the stakes are high and things seem too good to be true, what do you believe in?

For Magnolia Burns, sculpture is her life. It’s her daily work, her greatest love, and her constant struggle. It may not be the easiest way to pay her bills, but sculpture is just about the only romance in her life. But when Front Street Gallery takes on a sexy new tenant—German painter and photographer Ranier Ferran— Magnolia’s whole life is about to be turned on its head.
Ranier is a perfectionist and a romantic. A late night rendezvous in his studio swiftly turns into a sensual exploration of each other’s desire, as Ranier learns every curve and contour of Magnolia’s beautiful body.

Now sculpture has some competition for her affections, and Ranier is about to show Magnolia the pleasure to be gained from giving up control.

Review –

This is another free digital book from Lucia Jordan and it did not leave me wanting to read the other three.

My main complaint with the story is the “instant sex”. There was no preliminary chemistry or build up  between Magnolia and Ranier, he just told her to take off her clothes, tied her to a table and had sex with her. Then he has the audacity to paint her like that and submit in an art contest. That’s where the book ends and that’s where my interest in the characters and plot ends too.

 

Speaking In Bones (Temperance Brennan #18) by Kathy Reichs

Book Description:

Published: July 21, 2015

For every case Temperance Brennan has solved, there remain innumerable unidentified bodies in her lab. Information on some of these is available online, where amateur sleuths sometimes take a stab at solving cases.

One day, Tempe gets a call from Hazel “Lucky” Strike, a web sleuth who believes she’s successfully connected a body in Tempe’s lab to a missing persons report on an eighteen-year-old named Cora Teague. Since the bones in her lab do seem to match Cora’s medical records, Tempe looks into the case, returning to the spot where the bones were originally found. What seems at first to be an isolated tragedy takes on a more sinister cast as Tempe uncovers two more sets of bones nearby.

When she then learns that the area is known as a viewing point for a famous unexplained light phenomenon with significance for a local cult, Tempe’s suspicious turn to murder by ritual sacrifice—a theory thrown into question when Hazel herself turns up dead.

Still reeling from her mother’s diagnosis and the shock of Andrew Ryan’s potentially life-changing  proposal, Tempe races to solve the murders before the body count climbs further.

Review –

Although I enjoyed the book, I was expecting better.

I thought Ryan’s proposal would have more importance in the story than it did. I know Tempe loves him and yes, he has hurt her more than once, but I still believe she wants a life with him. Maybe marriage is not the answer, right now, and that’s exactly what happens at the end of the book. Tempe and Ryan are looking at condos in Quebec and moving in together at Tempe’s suggestion. To see how it goes. I think she’s afraid of giving up her independence by marrying  or even moving in with him. She’s not happy about having to sell her condo and I think in future books we’ll find her content to continue status quo.

The hunt for the identity of the bones in the story was good and with the several twists turns made for enjoyable reading, but it wasn’t the kind that you couldn’t put down and sometimes was a bit on the dry side.

But I’m glad I read/listened to it and look forward to the next one.

 

Murder of an Angel (Confessions #4) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Book Description:

Published: October 26, 2015

In the dramatic conclusion of the bestselling Confessions series, Tandy Angel’s next murder case could be her own!

Tandy Angel is losing her mind—or so she thinks. Even as she’s forced to fight for the family company, she’s imagining new dangers in every shadow. And as her detective prowess is called into question and her paranoia builds, she has to face the very real possibility that the stalker she’s convinced will take her life could be all in her head—or the very real danger that finally brings her down.

Review –

I had looked forward to this book for a long time and I’m sad to say it was very disappointing.

I think the author, James Patterson, was too busy with other projects to give this concluding installment of the Confessions series his full attention and do it justice.

We knew the identity of the “bad guy” from the get go and their was no mystery or depth to the characters this time. Instead, everything seemed rushed and the total outcome was underwhelming.

I’m glad I read it but I hate that there are still questions without answers and that it ended with a semi cliff-hanger (not really) but there are things said that could have led to another installment.

Maybe Maxine Paetro  should have done the majority of the writing  and gone on to write #5 and give it a proper conclusion.

What about it, Ms. Paetro?

Naked: The Blackstone Affair, Book 1 by Raine Miller

Book Description:

Published: August 25, 2012

Brynne Bennett is living the good life. An American art student at the University of London and part-time photographic model, she’s putting her life back on track with school and lots of hard work. When ultra successful London businessman, Ethan Blackstone, buys her nude portrait, he isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer. He wants Brynne in his bed and makes plans to keep her there no matter what. His dominant nature captivates and ensnares despite the demons she carries inside her. But there are secrets in this relationship. Huge ones. Can Ethan free Brynne from the past that has marked her? Will Brynne let him or will the specters tormenting her resurface to destroy them both…

Review –

The narrator of this audio book really ruined this book for me because her portrayal of Ethan Blackstone was so poor. almost laughable. He reminded me of a watered down version of the American character, Gideon Cross (pant, pant) of the Crossfire series, and I just couldn’t get invested in the story so I will never know what past Brynne is running from and why an ultra successful busiest man would work for her father and  lie to her. Also, a lot of the explicit sex seemed just thrown in and not really a necessary part of the story line.

Adult.

 

Host by Robin Cook

Book Description:

Published: October 20, 2015

Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at South Carolina’s Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, her neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death.

Devastated by Carl’s condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there’s more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon—including her initially reluctant lab partner, Michael Pender—to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice.

What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the Mason-Dixon Medical Center, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained anesthetic complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illness in the wake of routine hospital admissions.

When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they know they’re into something bigger than either of them anticipated. They soon enter a desperate race against time for answers before shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals, can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.

Review –

I was disappointed in this latest release by author Robin Cook because the subject matter was nothing new. In fact, I’ve read the same story line in a couple of other books in the not too distant past.

It was a good read and I’m glad to have read it but I felt like I was reading a re-run instead of a new release. Just saying!