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: 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: We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Format: e-book
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary:  Cadence Eastman comes from a wealthy family.  She spends her summers on her family's private island off of the Cape with her cousins Mirren and Johnny, and Gat, who is the son of one of her aunt's boyfriends.  When Cadence is 15, there's a terrible fire on the island.  Cadence returns the island when she's 17 and tries to piece together the events of the fire.  The story flips back and forth between the summers when Cadence is 15 and 17.

Review:  It turns out this is a Young Adult (YA) novel.  Who knew?  This book is also positioned as a suspense novel but I don't think I'd characterize it as that myself.  I'd say this is a coming-of-age novel.  Anyway, this book is great if only for the ending alone.  I almost don't want to say too much here at the risk of giving away the book, so just trust me on this one.

Time to write: 1:34

Book review: The Accident

Title: The Accident

Author: Chris Pavone

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Format: Kindle

Summary:  A mysterious yet explosive manuscript has landed on the desk of literary agent Isabel Reed.  If she's going to publish it she needs to survive first.  Every time another person gets a copy of the manuscript they end up dead.

Review: I have grown to love reading via Kindle but one of the downsides is the inability to quickly go back and re-read segments and this is one of those books that I needed to go back pretty often and try and remember what is happening.  Many of the characters were very mysterious and unidentified at times, so it was sometimes difficult (for me) to figure out which character was speaking (the perspective kept shifting amongst different characters).  Also, I'm not generally a huge fan of "there's a massive global conspiracy of the top business leaders and government leaders of the world."  It's not that I don't think there are conspiracies, I just find it tiresome at times. This is a good suspense novel and I'd recommend it as a beach read (even though summer is over).  The door was left open for a sequel, we'll see what happens with that. Despite this seemingly negative (or lukewarm) review, I'd consider reading the sequel.

Time to write: 5:30

Book Review: Dark Places

Title: Dark Places
Author: Gillian Flynn
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: To say that Libby Day's had a rough life would be an understatement.  Her two sisters and mom were killed in the famous "Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas."  Libby's brother was convicted for the murders, largely because of Libby's testimony.  Twenty-five years later Libby is broke and running out of ways to to profit from her infamous family and her troubled upbringing.  When Libby is approached by The Kill Club (a group obsessed with notorious crimes), she sees a way to continue to profit from her family's demise.  Her investigation uncovers long buried secrets that force her to face what really happened that day.

Review: For those that don't know, Gillian Flynn is the author of Gone Girl.  Dark Places is one of her earlier books.  If you read Gone Girl, you know how dark it is, and I'd been told that her other books were also dark.  I listened to this book on CD and I kept thinking, "huh, I don't find this book that dark.  I wonder what that says about me."  This was a great book.  It doesn't go into it specifically, but the amateur psychologist in me would say that Libby's trauma stunted her emotional development at the age of seven, when her family was killed.  You can feel sorry for her early losses, but trust me, she's no saint.  There's great buildup in this book to find out what really happened that night.

The main reason I didn't give this book the full five stars is I just didn't buy the explanation for the killing.  I couldn't suspend disbelief, it was all too..coincidental.  I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just leave it at that.

Time to write: 6:46

Book review: First Frost

Title: First Frost
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: October is always a strange time of year for the Waverly women.  It has to do with their strange apple tree that blooms with the first frost.  But this October in particular feels particularly strange.  The Waverly women are notorious in their town in North Carolina for possessing special gifts.   This October is a particularly difficult one for sisters Sydney and Claire, and Sydney's teenage daughter, Bay, all for different reasons.  Will their families survive this year's first frost?

Review: This book was perfectly pleasant.  And as I think of the next two reviews that I have to write about books that were much more intense than this, I sort of wish I had this as a palate cleanser between the two.  While this book was perfectly pleasant, I wouldn't say it was fantastic, thus the reason for the three stars.

When I finish a book I try to put the shell of the review together and at the very least indicate my initial rating.  I'm sticking with the three stars, although I'm tempted to go 3.5 to compromise between the me that first wrote three stars and the present me that's leaning towards four.   But I'm going to stick with my three stars.  If you're looking for something light, or a palate cleanser, this is a good choice.

Time to write: 4:11

Book review: Annihilation

Title: Annihilation
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: Area X has been unreachable to most for a long time.  There have been eleven previous expeditions to Area X and many of them did not end well for one reason or another.  This book is about the twelfth expedition, lead by a psychologist.  She is accompanied by three other women: a biologist (the narrator), a surveyor and an anthropologist.  What secrets are these women hiding?  What will these women find?

Review: This book started off really creepy and is the first in a trilogy.  Despite the three star rating, I liked this book a lot.  However, I had some issues with the story development, which are difficult to share because I don't want to give away too much, so I'll try to be as vague as possible.  For one, I was disappointed by the lack of character depth for most of the characters, although you get a lot of the narrator's back story.  I like knowing what makes the characters tick.  Two, because the story focuses so much on the narrator, some of the creepiness disappeared for me.  Yet I'm still intrigued enough to read the next one. 

Time to write: 4:38

Title: The Girl on the Train

Title: The Girl on the Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary: Rachel commutes back and forth to London each day on the train. Her ride takes her past her old house where her ex-husband lives with his new wife and baby.  Rachel lost her job but rides the train anyways.  She also has a minor drinking problem.  Anna is the new wife and is tired of Rachel's drunk phone calls and late night stalking.

Rachel likes to make up stories about the people who live in the houses that are on the train line.  One woman in particular is Jess, who lives a few houses over from Rachel's old house. One day Rachel sees Jess with a man that isn't her husband.  These women's lives begin to intersect when Jess (real name, Megan) disappears.

Review: This was a great book.  I had my suspicions on certain characters but Rachel's alcoholism added a sad but great element to the story.  Rachel knew that there was more that met the eye to what was going on but she couldn't remember anything because of her blackouts.  None of these characters are what they seem, which makes the book so great.

Time to write: 4:04

Book Review: Catching Air

Title: Catching Air
Author: Sarah Pekkanan
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: Kira Danner is looking for a new start.  Frustrated and unhappy with her law career, she happily quits when Rand, her husband Peter's brother, asks if they want to join them in Vermont to start a B&B with Rand and his wife Alyssa.  Peter and Rand aren't very close, so the request is surprising, but this might be what the brothers need to start over.  The B&B gets busy fast, so they end up hiring Dawn, a mysterious stranger with secrets. 

Review:  This book is fluff in a good way, but not a great way.  At the risk of giving the ending away, what I liked is I wasn't 100% positive that everything was going to work out in the end.  I'm disappointed to say that it did.  Bor-ing.  It is wrapped up in a pretty little bow and that just isn't very interesting.

Book review: Winter People

Title: Winter People
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: Ruthie Washburne is concerned when her mom suddenly disappears.  Ruthie and her mom live in West Hall, Vermont.  Ruthie and her little sister discover secrets as they search for their mom.  West Hall was also home to Sara Harrison Shea, whose death in 1908 is still talked about.  Townspeople said the ghost of Sara used to wander the town after dark.

Review:  Admittedly, this book took me a while to get into.  I'm not into monsters, but apparently I don't mind spells.  Once I got into this book, I loved it.  The back and forth between Sara's story and the present time was easy to keep track of (key for me since by the end of the day my brain is fried).  It was kind of creepy and scary and you really didn't know how it was going to end.  The ending left you hanging a bit, which I both love and loathe since I'm dying to know what was on the other side of the door.  But that's what so great about endings like that--it leaves it up to your imagination. This is a great book for Halloween or just the upcoming winter.  Nothing says winter like Vermont and nothing says Halloween like spells.

Book review: A Circle of Wives

Title: A Circle of Wives
Author: Alice LaPlante
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary:  Dr. John Taylor, a successful plastic surgeon, is discovered dead in a hotel room.  The autopsy reveals his death wasn't accidental.  His funeral brings together his three wives.  Not his two exes and a current wife--his three current wives.  It turns out that he was a bigamist.  Stranger still, his first wife knew about and encouraged the two additional marriages.  Needless to say, several people have motives for why they'd be angry enough to kill Dr. Taylor.

Rating: This book was intended to be sort of a palate cleanser for me.  It seems like my last few reads have been on the intense and/or serious side, and I wanted a break from that.  This was seemingly a good choice for that, but it was like I was expecting a mango sorbet but got lemon sorbet instead.  It's fine, it's just not what I really, really wanted.  There wasn't a lot of depth to the characters.  I had a hard time keeping the wives straight, too.  Also, the detective was the usual cliche--are detectives ever happy people?  I'd like to see a book about a happy go lucky detective with a happy home life.  Is that too much to ask?