The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

Publisher: Atria Books
Publish Date: December 29, 2009
Format: Audio
Discs: 10
A mesmerizing thriller – told in reverse The 13^th Hour is the story of a man given the chance to go back in time in one-hour increments to prevent a vicious crime from destroying his life.  Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia.  He knows she’s dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range.  The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car.  Nick is confused, grief-stricken – “and completely innocent.”

At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question” “If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?”  He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours.  With each hour that Nick travels back, he finds more clues to the identity of Julia’s real killer, but he also discovers that his actions in the past may have unexpected repercussions in the future.

In his race against time to save the woman he loves most in the world, Nick will find that friends become enemies, old loyalties are tested and Julia’s murder is part of a larger scheme that has its roots in greed and vengeance.  Nick has the ability to Save Julia, the chance to put his own world in balance, but he is venturing down a precarious route.  If he doesn’t set things right by the thirteenth hour, his desperate attempts to save Julia’s life may lead to a far greater catastrophe than he could have ever imagined.

My Thoughts

Well-written with a great concept.  The story is told in reverse, which  thought was great, although 13 hours was a bit too much - it got a little repetitive towards the end.  I loved the characters - especially Nick and Julia, very likable.

As the novel progressed I found that it got frustrating.  Frustrating in a sense that every hour Nick went back he would muck something up, but in the end everything had a way of working itself out.  What I love about suspense - thriller novels is the ending is never predictable!  Great read and highly recommend.  I listened to this on Audio and absolutely loved the narration. 

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak

Publisher: Knopf Books
Publish Date: March 14, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 552
ISBN: 978 0375831003

It is 1939.  Nazi Germany.  The country is holding its breath.  Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books.  With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbours during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

My Thoughts

I really wanted to love it, I really did, but the fact of the matter is, I didn't.  Which sucks because everyone else loved it and I feel like I missed something.  The story itself felt like a whole bunch of short stories made up and thrown together to make a 550 page book.  The writing style was very hard to get used to, and even after finishing I still didn't like it, although some sentences were beautifully constructed and thought provoking.  Mark Zusak is a very talented writer, there is no doubt about that.  This book just simply wasn't for me.

When I finally finished (this is not a quick read) I felt relieved and glad to be done.  I will say this though, the last 80 pages 100 percent redeemed this book for me!  I appreciated the heartbreak and lose that had been building up the entire novel and finally there was an amazing conclusion.  This was a very tough book to review, as are all fence sitting books for me, I don't want to rip it apart, but I can't give it a glowing review.  It just is what it is.  4 stars because of the last chapter, other than that it was just a 3 star book to me.

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Publisher: Other Press

Publish Date: January 31, 2012

Format: download library

Pages: 325

ISBN: - 

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of.  Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decided to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

My Thoughts:

This one was tough for me.  Did I like it? Yes.  Did I hate it? No.  But I didn't love it.  I felt that the description of the novel was a bit deceiving.  Reading the synopsis made me think it was more of a mystery and that Julia sets out to find what happened to her father.  Yes, she does set out to Burma to find out the truth, but she then finds a local, U Ba and he starts telling her the story of her father.  It was mostly just about his love story with Mi Mi that he is recalling.  Right at the very end U Ba was all, oh by the way this is what happened to your father.  It was very much a love story first and foremost.  Now as for a realistic love story...no way.  Very much a fairy tale.  Only in your wildest dreams does love like that exist.

Overall the story was beautifully told, and the writing was wonderful and flowed together very well.  This was a tough one to rate as it had highs and lows. 

This was a Book Club pick collectively chosen by the group.

My Rating: «««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Publish Date: September 10, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 312
ISBN: 978-0316243919

Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes.  Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her.  But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

My Thoughts

I thought this novel was amazing from start to finish.  Beautifully written and researched, it is a heart wrenching story of a remarkable woman.  Based on true events, it is a very dark and gloomy novel which left my heart feeling heavy.  Told with such detail, such as the detailed life of 19th century Iceland was wonderful and the symbolic ravens that seemed to   always be coming back, gave me chills.

It is unlike anything I have read in quite sometime and although the outcome is well known, it was deeply moving.  Agnes has always been branded as evil, and Kent did an amazing job at telling a different side of the story, although much of the novel is fiction, based on true events, it still portrayed a non well known view of Agnes.  It's been a few days since I have finished and the characters are still with me.  I haven't been haunted by a novel in awhile, simply amazing.

My Rating: «««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Crown Publishing
Publish Date: May 5, 2009
Format: download library
Pages: -
ISBN: -

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.”  As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their farmhouse into the freezing January snow.  She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived – and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother Ben, was the killer.  Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives of the dregs of a trust fund created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes.  When they locate Libby and pump her for details – proof they hope may free Ben – Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history.  For a fee, she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985.  The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members – including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town.  Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started – on the run from a killer.

My Thoughts

Oi! Where to even begin...my head is still spinning.  Dark places is set between present day and 1985 when it (no spoilers) all went down and is told from three main points of view; Libby Day, Ben Day and Patty Day, which a I always enjoy - lets you get inside everyone's head.

When I first started reading I wasn't sure I was going to like it.  I was such a fan of Gone Girl and had set Gillian Flynn on a pedestal for mystery writing I just wasn't sure it was going to live up to my expectations.  Once I started really getting into the story and trying to figure out the "who done it" is when I really started to enjoy the novel.  It is very dark, twisted and horrifying, one of those novel you want to hate for it's content but you just can't help but love it.  This book is disturbingly awesome and clever, pure magic.

I would have given it a 5 star rating had I not been able to piece together the ending before the end.  But overall a great read! 

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Consequences by Penelope Lively

Publisher: Viking Adult
Publish Date: May 31 2007
Format: Audio Book
Discs: 7
ISBN:978 1400105021

Consequences is a love-story-times-three that opens in the eve of the Second World War, with a chance meeting in St. James Park, London.  Wholly in love, Lorna and Matt leave the city for a cottage in a rural Somerset village.  Their intimate life together is shattered when the war begins and by Matt’s tragic death in action.

Twenty years later, their daughter, Molly, happens upon a forgotten newspaper – a seemingly small moment that leads to her first job and, eventually, a pregnancy by a wealthy man who wants to marry her but whom she does not love.  But it is her own daughter, Ruth, who begins the journey that will take her back to 1941 – and a redefinition of herself and of love.

My Thoughts

Well, it was ok, nothing special and will I most likely forget what even happened.  I listened to this on Audio and maybe it was the narration, but I found it to be quite boring at times.  I did however enjoyed the story of Lorna and Matt and if it was an entire novel about them I maybe would have enjoyed it more. 

I found the characters flat and uneventful and the entire novel was full of run on sentences and felt (to me) that it was written by an armature. Big events that happened throughout the novel such as deaths, births, marriages, illnesses were mentioned as just a blimp in everyday life, I wish there had been more detail with some of these happenings.  I felt that each story line was very rushed and much was over looked.

Buy the last disc I was just down right bored and just finishing to finish.  I found the character of Ruth mind-numbing and could care less for her story.  Her big "journey" back to 1941 was useless and uneventful.  Maybe I was being too generous giving this 3 stars, but I liked the overall concept of the story, maybe just not the execution, and especially not the narrator.  This was my first Penelope Lively...maybe I will try another at some point so she can redeem herself.

My Rating: «««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publish Date: January 1, 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 369
ISBN: 978-0143124542

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life – steady boyfriend, close family – who has never been further afield than their tiny village.  She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident.  Will has always lived a huge life – big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel – and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy – but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her that she expected.  When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

My Thoughts

First off, I would like to agree with all the other reviews out there - this is not a love story nor is it romantic, but it is a story filled with love, a story of heart break and how far you will go for someone else's happiness.  

Louisa Clark is ordinary in every sense.  She lives an ordinary life, has no ambition to greater herself and is satisfied with just existing.  It isn't until she meets Will Traynor that I actually started to enjoy her character.  Yes, there are times I felt for her - she had a very unsupportive family and because of that I did not enjoy any of her families characters, they just fell flat to me.  As always, I don't want to give away any plot information - I feel that everyone should read it for themselves.

Very thought provoking, wonderfully written, and filled with so much emotion it left my head spinning.  A must read book for every one out there.  So why not 5 stars?  As much as I liked the book it wasn't one that I fell in love with, needing to re-read it the moment I finished.  This was my first novel by Jojo Moyes and am looking forward to reading more of her work.

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publish Date: January 25, 2012
Format: Audio
Discs: 10
ISBN: 978 1611139921

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty is a powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardship and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family.  Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb – spirited, sassy and on the cusp of womanhood – is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it’s there.  Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager.  But it is Jenny, Mosey’s strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women’s shared past – and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

My Thoughts

I really really enjoyed this novel.  It was my first from Joshilyn Jackson and I can't wait to read more of what she has to offer.  It was just such a beautiful all round story with such likable characters.  It was heartfelt and humorous and not at all as predictable as I assumed it would be.  Yes, some was easy to foresee, but for the most part I was very anxious to find out were the plot was going.  Jackson did a wonderful job of telling the story, past and present through all 3 characters.  I like when you get all the characters perspective, not just 1.

All in all, it was a fantastic read (or in my case listen) and recommend it.    

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.