Book review: Under the Influence

Title: Under the Influence
Author: Joyce Maynard
Rating: 4 out 5 stars

Summary:  Helen is facing a lonely life after her drinking led to the end of her marriage and losing custody of her young son Ollie.  Her visitations with Ollie are awkward and she makes ends meet as a school photographer and waitressing at catered events.

When Helen meets Ava and Swift Havilland, she falls under their spell.  They're wealthy philanthropists with a seemingly perfect marriage and glamorous life.  They take her under their wing and welcome her and Ollie into their well-connected world.  Ava and Swift's generosity includes offering to help Helen regain custody of Ollie.  

But then Ollie is a witness in an accident involving Swift and his son and Helen begins to see the Havillands for what they really are and finds herself at a turning point.  

Review:  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I love a good story about addicts.  The title's a play on words and the recovery part is more of a sub-story, although it's the circumstances of Helen's sobriety that led to the friendship between her and Ava.  I'm not sure if I've read Maynard's other work before (although I'm reading another one right now), but I like it.  There's something clearly more sinister going on but Helen is blinded by Ava and Swift's money and attention, that she chooses to ignore what's right in front of her.  She was, as the book states, under the influence.  It takes her son being used as a pawn for Helen to wise up and see the truth.  Good summer read!

Time to write: 4:46.  

Book review: The Royal We

Title:  The Royal We

Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Format: ebook

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:  American Bex Porter's life is changed forever when she goes overseas to Oxford for school and meets Nick, the heir to the British Throne.  Years later, on the eve of their wedding, Bex reflects on their love story and if past transgressions can be forgiven in time for one of the most anticipated events of the century.

Review:  This book, written by the Fug Girls, is pure, amazing fluff.  Like light, airy cotton candy.  If you ever wondered what Princess Kate's life was like as she met Prince William, this is the escape for you.  Sure, Kate is made an American and Pippa is a twin instead of a younger sister, but we all know what this book is about.  If anything, it makes Kate a little more interesting.  Kate is such a perfect princess, sometimes I want to see her break out of her shell a bit.

Time to write: 2:29

Book review: What She Knew

Title: What She Knew
Author: Gilly MacMillan
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: Rachel Jenner is walking in a park with her 8-year-old son Ben when he asks to run ahead.  It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties are sent out and Rachel, already feeling insecure after her recent divorce, starts to feel herself coming undone.  As hours and then days pass with no sign of Ben, everyone becomes a suspect, from Rachel's perfect sister to her newly married ex-husband.  Public scrutiny on Rachel also begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.

As Rachel begins her own investigation, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite what she imagined it to be and it's anonymous strangers she should be fearing but those she trusts the most. (Source: Amazon)    

Review:  If you're looking for a good beach read as we head into summer, check this one out.  Similar to The Rocks, I listened to this on audiobook but I think this book would be an even better read (than listen).  Plus I'm always partial to characters named Rachel, even if they spell it differently than me.

Time to write: 3:00

Book review: The Rocks

Title: The Rocks
Author: Peter Nichols
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary:  Set against beautiful Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, this book opens with a confrontation and a secret: what was the mysterious and catastrophic event that drove apart newlyweds Lulu and Gerald in 1948 and resulted in them never speaking again, despite living on the same small island for the next sixty years?  And how did their history shape the friendship of their unrelated children decades later?  The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery then moves backward in time to unravel what really happened so many years ago. (Source: Amazon). 

Review: To be fair this book should probably be given four stars but I don't recommend the audiobook format.  This book starts in the present time and then continues to move back in time.  I kept wanting to re-read the beginning once I became more familiar with the characters.  I enjoyed the characters and the story, but the number of peripheral characters made it too hard for me to remember who they were without the luxury of being able to go back and read.  Still, I would recommend this as a good beach read for the summer.

Time to write: 5:33

Book review: The Dead Will Tell

Title: The Dead Will Tell
Author: Linda Castillo
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: Many years ago a terrible tragedy happened at the Hochstetler farm.  The deaths that happened went unsolved for many years.  One night years later Police Chief Kate Burkholder is called to an apparent suicide in her small town in Amish country.  The suicide turns out to be murder and when more people start dying, Kate has to figure out the link between all of them and go back to that tragedy so many nights ago before somebody else dies.

Review: As you know, I get backlogged on these reviews.  When I came upon this one, I couldn't remember what this book was about.  At all.  I suppose that I could have dropped my rating down to two stars, but it's not that it was bad, it just wasn't memorable.  But not all books can be memorable.  This is a good beach or vacation read.  It was your typical murder mystery story.  I liked that the main character was a woman and a Chief of Police at that.  She has relationship issues (what Chief of Police doesn't?).  Her boyfriend has his own baggage (what boyfriend of a Chief of Police who's also a state agent doesn't?).  The story was suspenseful and I didn't quite know where it was going.   It certainly painted an interesting image of the Amish.

Time to write: 5:40

Book review: The Vacationers

Title: The Vacationers
Author: Emma Straub
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: The Post family heads from Manhattan to Mallorca, Spain for a 2-week vacation.  The intent of the trip was multi-faceted: spend time together as a family before Sylvia headed off to college, celebrate Franny and Jim's 35th wedding anniversary and to see their son that lives in Florida.  They're also joined by Franny's best friend Charles and his husband Lawrence. But it's going to be a long two weeks.  Jim was just let go from his job for having an affair with a much younger employee.  Franny and Jim's son is a bit under water and needs to ask his folks for money.  Lawrence and Charles are trying to adopt a baby.

Rating:  This book will not change your life but it is a good summer read. There isn't a lot of depth to any of the characters, but the two weeks the family spends together passes quickly enough.  So why not a higher rating? It was good, not great.  Everything just turned out too perfectly.  I know that's the point with a summer read, but I guess I don't like books that end neatly.  Sometimes it's hard to get into too many specifics without giving away the book, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Book review: The Rosie Project

Title: The Rosie Project
Author: Graeme Simsion
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: Don Tillman is a Genetics Professor.  While he's brilliant, his social skills are a bit lacking.  Example: He's created a questionnaire that he's titled The Wife Project.  The questionnaire is designed to help him identify his perfect mate and weed out women with undesirable qualities.  Enter Rosie.  She's looking for her father and seeks Don's help to help her identify him.  Rosie doesn't fit Don's profile of the perfect mate at all, yet he can't get her off of his mind.  Maybe love isn't as simple as answering all the questions correctly on a survey?

Review:  This is a great beach read, especially for rom com lovers.  I waffled between three and four stars and finally landed on the four.  It was amusing more than funny (at least to me, maybe I don't get Australian humor?), but it's still cute.  It's obvious where the story is going and at times it feels like the author dragged out the ending a bit, but still a light easy read for the summer and it's fun to see Graeme's transformation.  He tries really hard to be aware of social cues, but it's hard for him.