Tantalize

Tantalize by Cynthia Smith

No way! I am NOT getting sucked into another vampire series! Luckily, this one wasn’t able to pull me in. The story moved at a snail’s pace and the characters were very one dimensional. There was very little emotion and definitely no passion. And the ending was atrocious!  
I love the word tantalize, though. I think I will use this word all day today…

Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Amy and Nick are married for five years, they have recently moved from New York to the Midwest. Suddenly Amy disappears. Was she kidnapped? Or killed by her husband?  

I had heard mixed reviews from friends on this one. For me, personally, I was on the edge of like/hate.

First issue for me was that it wasn’t hard to guess what’s happening. I had a few different ideas, but I definitely wasn’t shocked by the twist in the middle.

Second issue was that the story moves very slowly for the first half. It was a struggle to stay engaged.

Third issue is the ending. Horrible ending. I won’t give anything away…but I was very disappointed.
The wrap up is just completely unbelievable.

Aside from those issue I still enjoyed the writing, Flynn kept me engaged, so I couldn’t come down firmly on the hate side.

The Great Influenza

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry

 

Amazon Description:

 

“At the height of WWI, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research and now revised to reflect the growing danger of the avian flu, The Great Influenza is ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, which provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. John M. Barry has written a new afterword for this edition that brings us up to speed on the terrible threat of the avian flu and suggest ways in which we might head off another flu pandemic.”

 

My Thoughts:

 

First, this book scared the bejeebies out of me!! Barry presents extensive research on influenza. The extent that an outbreak of influenza could affect the world is staggering and terrifying.

Overall, this book could have been edited better, but I learned a lot (maybe too much!) and would recommend to others.

 

The Principal's Office

The Principal’s Office by Jasmine Haynes

Blah. I like some of Haynes’ steamy novels, but not this one. I didn’t find it to be romantic, or particularly steamy. The intimacy was very clinical and non-emotional, along with weak characters.  

I was also very annoyed by the custody situation portrayed. If I could be judgmental for a moment…I hate it when parents treat children like animals. When adults can’t get along, taking it out on the children by moving them back and forth with no regard for their feelings. That situation made me sad. Probably part of the reason I disliked the female character.

The Color of Water

The Color of Water by James McBride

McBride has written a moving tribute to his mother. He tells her story while also detailing his own journey. His Mother, Ruth, is a white Jewish woman who made choices in her life to cut ties with those holding her back and live her life to her own standards. James is one of her eleven children. He shares his experiences of growing up poor and bi-racial and how he overcame obstacles to find success.

Two things about this book really touched me. The first is the relationship of a Mother to her child. There is nothing more special in life than that bond. I hope I can pass onto my own children the strength of character that Ruth did for James.

Also, being bi-racial can be a hard path. I could relate to James’ experience.

Beautifully told.

Townie

Townie by Andre Dubus III

Amazon Description:

“After their parents divorced in the 1970s, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their overworked mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and everyday violence. Nearby, his father, an eminent author, taught on a college campus and took the kids out on Sundays. The clash between town and gown, between the hard drinking, drugging, and fighting of "townies" and the ambitions of students debating books and ideas, couldn’t have been more stark. In this unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Dubus shows us how he escaped the cycle of violence and found empathy in channeling the stories of others—bridging, in the process, the rift between his father and himself.”

 My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this memoir. The fear and insecurity a child feels when they cannot count on their parent(s) is something that not everyone understands. Dubus puts those complex feelings into words. He is a natural storyteller and I recommend to all the memoir readers out there!

Lover Unleashed

Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward

My vampire groupie days continue…this is the next installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I’m still digging these vampires. In this story, Payne finds her mate. I did enjoy Payne’s story, but the best thing about this one was that Vishious got more of his own story. As I mentioned before, I felt his story wasn’t given justice, so Ward makes up for that here. 

On to the next!