The Weight of Silence Heather Gudenkauf

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am giving this book three stars, however, i don't know if I really liked. Confused, me too. I liked the book in the moment, it was an enjoyable read that held my interest, but it won't stand the test of time. Ask me how I feel about it in a week and I will probably be indifferent or won't even remember it.
My biggest criticism of this book is that nothing about it stands out as being memorable, the characters are blah, the story line should be exciting, but its blah, the writing is blah.... You get the point.
Set in North East Iowa, The Weight of Silence tells the story of Callie and Petra, 7 year old best friends, who are discovered missing in the early morning hours of a hot August day. Callie, a selective mute, and Petra are gone with no signs of a struggle and no evidence of foul play, they could have just wondered off into the woods to play together. The investigation is led by Loras Louis, the deputy sheriff, who use to be Callie's mother's (Antonia)boyfriend. Told through the perspectives of various characters in alternating chapters, Callie, Griff (Callie's alcoholic father) Antonia, Deputy Louis, Ben (Callie's teenage brother) and Martin (Petra's father), the story can become a bit repetitive and full of back story that does not add much to the story other than to illustrate Deputy Louis's conflict of interest and introduce a suspect of or two.
I don't think that the author had a plan for this novel, as the ending was really far fetched and we lack motive for many of the characters. And the police work - ewwwww.
Living in Iowa and traveling through the location of the novel frequently I will have to say that the author captured the area well, her descriptions of the bluffs and forests rang true.
This is an enjoyable light read that you will probably quickly forget.



View all my reviews

The One & Only Emily Giffin

The One and Only by Emily Giffin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Shea Rigsby needs therapy. I usually enjoy Emily Giffin's flawed but relate able characters, but Shea Rigsby is just plain yucky. Obsessed with Walker football her entire life, Shea spent her childhood volunteering to help Coach Clive Carr, father of her best friend & good family friend, attends college at Walker while working for the football team and eventually lands a full job in the athletic department. Shea's constant hero worship of Coach Carr, her propensity to only date Walker football players and her constant need to spew football facts, make Shea and very unlikable character and to top it all off is her somewhat incestuous relationship.
Giffin seems to be all over the place in this book, tackling a number of issues - which distracted from the main storyline and made most of the book seem like needless filler. Giffin's treatment of the NCAA investigation against Walker was the most off putting, mainly because we see it through the naive, hero worshiping eyes of Shea Rigsby.
While this novel is a quick summer read,it left me with a dirty feeling. After finishing, even the title seems a bit creepy! This isn't Giffin's best effort by a long shot!



View all my reviews

ARC Review One Plus One Jojo Moyes

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jess, a young single mother, Nicky, her goth step son, Tanzie, her math whiz daughter and Norman their large drooling shaggy dog need to get to a maths competition that could win Tanzie enough money to attend a prestigious private school. However, like everything in their lives this trip is a struggle. A few miles into the trip the cops pull the family over for driving an unlicensed car with no insurance. Just as things could not get worse Ed, a wealthy techie who has hired Jess as his cleaning lady arrives on the scene. Facing his own problems, he volunteers to drive the whole family to the math competition.
The trip is chaos, full of car sickness, Facebook hacking, food poisoning, bad food and crappy hotels and numerous mishaps - but you cannot help rooting for this little family and for Jess and Ed as they break down their walls and open themselves up to new possibilities. Prepare to laugh and cry this is one of the best books of summer 2014!



View all my reviews

The Last Letter from your Lover Jojo Moyes

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review

This novel was a let down after reading Me Before You and it struggled to gain my full attention as I slogged through it. Split into two books, the first set in the 1960's and the second sent during the present day the novel explores the relationship between Jennifer and Boot, and wealthy housewife and and alcoholic foreign corespondent.
Jennifer Stirling is a wealthy socialite who appears to have it all, when she meets Boot during a dinner party he is at to interview her husband, its not love at first site. However, once he convinces her to give him a second chance the two embark on a passionate love affair. Injured in a severe car accident, Jennifer awakes remembering nothing of her affair with Boot, slowly recalling details of the affair and uncovering his identity.
Ellie Haworth, is a young journalist with career that is quickly falling apart, when she discovers a letter to Jennifer from Boot in a stack of papers in her newspapers archives. Driven to uncover the identity of the two people in the letter and what happened to them, Ellie sets of on a mission that changes her relationships and revives her career.
The first book, is far to long and confusing bouncing back and forth between Jennifer before the car accident and after, often times I had to double check several times to verify what year each chapter was taking place, considerably slowing down my pace and causing me to quickly loose interest in the stereotypical, vapid characters. I didn't like them and I didn't care about them. I didn't not find the love affair or the circumstances around it believable and many of the incidences to convenient.
The second book was much more enjoyable with a story line that was easier to follow and a bit more compelling. However, Moyes novel began to become more stereotypical and formulaic as it progressed leaving me longing for a lot more that it delivered.



View all my reviews