RATING – Page 18 – Tales of a Book Addict

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, D, Fiction, RATING, Read in 2016

Review: The Dead Place by Rebecca Drake

June 8, 2016June 8, 2016 Tara

The Dead Place
by Rebecca Drake

Pages: 359

Read: June 4-8, 2016

Rating: 3/5

Source: Paperbackswap

Blurb: The first victim is found floating in a creek – naked, beautiful, brutally garroted. Lily Slocum was a college student with everything to live for and nothing to fear … until a madman made her his obsession…

At first glance, a quiet campus town like Wickfield seems like the ideal place for Kate Corbin to start over after a traumatic attack. But when another young girl disappears on her way to class, Kate’s fear resurfaces in earnest. She’s right to be afraid. Behind Wickfield’s picture-perfect facade, a nightmare is unfolding … and it’s about to strike chillingly close to home…

A serial killer is on the loose … ruthless, twisted, and lethally smart. Now, locked in a desperate race against time, Kate’s only chance of stopping a madman’s grisly game is to venture deeper into a diabolical web where no one is who they seem to be … and the smallest mistake could be her last…

Review: My thoughts on this book are going to be difficult to explain. First off, it’s not a bad book. However, I can’t really say that I enjoyed it all that much. It was just an “eh” read for me.

You see, I couldn’t stand the main character – Kate. I understood that she had been through a traumatic experience (rape), but at the same time, she was also losing her grip on reality completely. And yet she fought the idea of therapy/medication to help her function properly. She made wild accusations and did incredibly stupid things throughout this book. It’s precisely because of her behavior that I just couldn’t stomach much more of her. And then at the end it was like nothing had ever happened – everything was all hunky dory! I don’t know … her character just didn’t work for me…

There were a lot (and I mean a lot) of really stupid grammatical errors that should have been caught before publication. This also didn’t help my opinion of this book.

The plot didn’t seem very interesting to me – I’m pretty sure I could have read something along these same lines somewhere along the way in the last 10+ years that I’ve been reading thrillers. So there wasn’t anything “new” … no great twist, no surprises. It was (and I hate to use this word in reviews) predictable.

So bottom line … not a terrible book, but definitely forgettable.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, RATING, Read in 2016

Review: Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo

June 1, 2016 Tara

Pray for Silence
by Linda Castillo

Pages: 322

Read: May 28 – 31, 2016

Rating: 4/5

Source: Paperbackswap

Blurb: The Planks moved from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to the small Amish community of Painters Mill hoping to resume the comforts of the Plain Life in Ohio. Less than one year later, the family of seven is found dead – slaughtered on their own farm.

Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. But when the diary belonging to the rebellious teenager Mary Plank turns up, Kate is surprised to find a murder suspect: the charismatic stranger who stole Mary’s heart. Then there’s Mary’s brother, Aaron, who’s been shunned by his family and the rest of the Amish community.

Formerly Amish herself, Kate becomes immersed in the case, and as her obsession grows, so does her resolve to bring the killer to justice – even if it means putting herself in to the line of fire…

Review: I read the first book in this series back in March and just absolutely fell in love with it. So I was more than anxious to read the second one. What’s surprising is that I didn’t follow my normal routine and wait 3 years before reading the second book in a series. Thank goodness I didn’t, because this was another great book!

Just a warning – this book is really gruesome. It’s pretty graphic in places. But that sure didn’t stop me from reading and enjoying it.

I did enjoy this book, but I will admit that I think the first book was better than this one. I felt like Kate made some stupid decisions based on her emotions that the case brought forward from her past. I could understand why she did those things, but it didn’t make it any smarter.

Overall, a good book that I enjoyed and I definitely recommend it.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, RATING, Read in 2016, SERIES, Stone Barrington, U-V-W

Review: Swimming to Catalina by Stuart Woods

May 27, 2016 Tara

Swimming to Catalina
by Stuart Woods

Pages: 391

Read: May 24 – 27, 2016

Rating: 3/5

Source: Paperbackswap

Blurb: Stone Barrington thought he’d heard the last of former girlfriend Arrington after she’d left him to marry Vance Calder, Hollywood’s hottest star. The last thing Stone expected was a desperate call from Calder. Arrington has vanished, and her new fiancé wants Stone to come to L.A. and find her.

In a town where the sharks drive Bentleys and no one can be trusted, Stone soon discovers he’s drowning in a sea of empty clues that take him from Bel Air to Malibu to Rodeo Drive. Running out of time and leads, he needs to keep his head above water and find Arrington fast, or end up swimming with the fishes himself.

Review: This is the 4th in the Stone Barrington series. I’m not entirely sure why I keep coming back to these books, but I do. You see, Stone’s character irritates me. It seems to me he does nothing but jump into bed with every woman who crosses his path (two in this book alone…). I just don’t like that trait. I will say, though, that this particular installment didn’t have nearly as much sex as the previous book, Dead in the Water. This book dialed it back a notch and left me wanting to actually continue on with this series.

I personally felt like the storyline of this book was especially good. I found it much more interesting than the first three books. It was a fast paced book that I read in a few days’ time. I think what keeps drawing me to this series is really that they’re just fun, fast reads.

Overall, not a bad book and I look forward to continuing on with this series after this one.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, RATING, Read in 2016, Review Book, S

Review: Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

May 24, 2016 Tara

Pretty Girls
by Karin Slaughter

Pages: 573

Read: May 15 – 23, 2016

Rating: 5/5

Source: Publicist for Review

Blurb: It’s been more than twenty years since Claire and Lydia last spoke. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire; Lydia, a single mother dating an ex-con, struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the disappearance of their sister Julia two decades earlier – and the shocking murder of Claire’s husband brings the horror and heartbreak of the past roaring back into their lives.

The vanishing of a teenage girl and the killing of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: What could connect them? As they form a wary truce, the surviving sisters unearth the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago … and find the astonishing truth where they least expected it.

Review: Oh for the love of everything holy, this book is one hell of a ride! I read Julia’s story, Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes last year and loved it. So when I was given the opportunity to read this one, I knew I had to know what happened to Julia!

Let me just preface this with the fact that this book is gruesome. I mean, gruesome. It’s not for the faint of heart. That being said, I loved every deliciously disgusting moment of it! It sucked me in and spit me back out at the end. It was one heck of a ride. And can I just say that I was chugging along nicely and about the halfway mark the reader is thrown a curve ball that I never saw coming and hit me like a Mack truck. From that moment on I had to know what happened. I had to know how this ended up. It was just that good!

The characters are enjoyable, and some of them will surprise you in the end. You see a lot of growth in them throughout the book. You see a family torn apart come together. You see what a madman can do to one family. The plot is so intricate it’s amazing. Everything is woven together so perfectly. One little thing mentioned could mean something big later on in the book. It’s not a book to skim through, it’s one to devour. It’s just such a great book I don’t know how much more gushing I can possibly do.

This book will definitely be one of the best ones I read all year long. It was that good in my opinion.

Read. This. Book. Now!

**I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions expressed are my own.

4/5, AUTHOR, Author Debut, Book Review, C, Fiction, Rachel Knight, RATING, Read in 2016, SERIES

Review: Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark

May 19, 2016 Tara

Guilt by Association
by Marcia Clark

Pages: 397

Read: May 4 – 14, 2016

Rating: 4/5

Source: Purchased new

Blurb: Los Angeles DA Rachel Knight is a tenacious, wisecracking, and fiercely intelligent prosecutor in the city’s most elite division. When her colleague Jake is found dead at a grisly crime scene, Rachel is shaken to the core. She must take over his toughest case: the assault on a young woman from a prominent family.

But Rachel can’t stop herself from also digging deeper into Jake’s death, a decision that will have her risking her reputation – and her life – to find the truth.

Thoughts: I first read Marcia Clark when I read The Competition a couple of years ago. That was in 2014 – why on earth did I wait two years before picking up the first Rachel Knight book?! I wish I had a decent answer for that question. But I don’t.

This book really hits the ground running. It sucked me in almost immediately and I found myself reading 50 pages in the blink of an eye. It was a really fun, interesting book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really like Rachel’s character. She’s so down-to-earth and relatable. Rachel and Bailey are like two peas in a pod – they just mesh together so well as partners.

Being a backlist book, there’s not much I can say about this one that you haven’t read before. So – if you haven’t read anything by Marcia Clark yet, definitely give her a try! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I highly recommend this one!

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, F, RATING, Read in 2016, Review Book

Review: Dark Angel by Ron Felber

May 6, 2016 Tara

Dark Angel
by Ron Felber

Pages: 316

Read: April 29 – May 4, 2016

Rating: 3/5

Source: Publicist for review

Blurb: Set on Princeton University Campus in a world where money is measured in billions and success by the control one wields over entire nations, readers will encounter a Nazi geneticist, a renegade CIA operative, a trans-human serial killer, and a Hollywood starlet as deadly as she is beautiful; all gathered together for a horrifying project: the creation of the Fourth Reich.

Review: When I was first pitched this book I was first really excited and then kind of unsure. Excited because I have read and enjoyed the earlier Jack Madson books, A Man of Indeterminate Value and The Kafka Society, and was really looking forward to the final book in the trilogy. Unsure because the description didn’t necessarily grab my attention. But I prefer closure when reading series books, so I took a chance on this one.

Overall I’m a little unsure how to approach this review. The book, while not bad in any way, shape, or form, was not what I felt like was a good fit for me as a reader. I found a lot of the subject matter nearly impossible to follow. I have a history degree and have a pretty good background in the historical aspects of the Hitler era. However, science is not my strong suit at all, and I struggled with a lot of the science aspects involved in this book. I found myself completely skipping over entire sections because it was almost incomprehensible for me and honestly, just not all that interesting to me.

There were a lot of good aspects to the book that kept me reading, though. Jack’s character is a tough one to describe. He has a lot of problems, but he also has a lot of heart. So while his constant drug and alcohol use is not a positive character trait, his dedication to justice makes me keep reading. He’s also given a love interest which adds another positive aspect to his character in this book – underneath everything, he’s got a big heart.

The book moves at a great pace, and honestly if it weren’t for the science aspects that I struggled with so much, this book would have been really great. However, if you’re a science and history junkie, I think you’ll enjoy this book. There’s definitely an audience out there for this book, unfortunately it just isn’t really me. However, I am glad that I read it and finished out the trilogy. (Although I felt like the ending kind of left it open for more Jack Madson…)

Bottom Line: A decent book, one with a character who may be flawed, but is a good man underneath all his issues, but I just didn’t feel like I was the target audience for this one.

**I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions expressed are my own.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2016, Review Book

Review: The Girl From Home by Adam Mitzner

April 11, 2016April 10, 2016 Tara

The Girl From Home
by Adam Mitzner

Pages: 321

Read: April 1 – 11, 2016

Rating: 4/5

Source: Publicist for review

Blurb: Jonathan Caine is a true master of the universe – a currency wizard with a trophy wife, a penthouse condo with a view of the Statue of Liberty, and the desire for more -when his world comes crashing down. In the midst of this spiral, Jonathan returns to his hometown to care for his ailing father and attend his twenty-fifth high-school reunion, where he becomes reacquainted with former prom queen Jacqueline Williams. Back in the day, Jackie didn’t even know Jonathan existed, but now she is intrigued by the man he has become. Yet their budding relationship has problems, not the least of which is that Jackie doesn’t know the full truth about Jonathan, and she’s married to a jealous and abusive man. Jonathan is determined to learn from his mistakes, but is he capable of complete transformation? Or will a shocking temptation test his desire for redemption beyond anything he could have imagined?

Review: It was the pitch of this book that really brought me back to my blog. Having been given the opportunity to read Mr. Mitzner’s previous two books (A Case of Redemption and Losing Faith) I knew that I would not want to miss this one, so I accepted it for review and decided to come back to my blog 🙂

So what did I think about this book? Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, having absolutely no background in the financial world, I did have a little bit of trouble keeping up with what Jonathan was doing in the beginning. I’m sure Mr. Mitzner did a lot of research to get it all right, but I was just a tad bit confused at times with the different aspects of that whole storyline.

At first I didn’t like Jonathan’s character. In the beginning he’s just too superficial and completely obsessed with money. It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. And his wife, Natasha – she was even worse! Yuck! But as the book goes on and Jonathan comes home to take care of his father we definitely see a change in Jonathan’s character. Thankfully it’s a change for the better.

As the story progresses, we see Jonathan and Jackie reacquaint and you have to wonder how this is all going to turn out. The reader is given the sense that it’s definitely not going to work out as well as one would hope. And sure enough, that prediction is true. But it’s what happens in the last 20 or so pages that was really surprising to me. A twist came that I wasn’t expecting and that honestly, kind of upset me until the very last two pages when I realized exactly what was going on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s just one more reason why I love Mr. Mitzner’s books so much. They are such fun, enjoyable reads! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

5/5, AUTHOR, Author Debut, Book Review, Fiction, H, RATING, Read in 2015

2015.32 REVIEW – The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

September 28, 2015September 27, 2015 Tara

The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins

Copyright: 2015
Pages: 316
Rating: 5/5
Read: Sept. 13-20, 2015
Challenge: No Challenge
Yearly count: 32
Format: Print
Source: Cruise Ship Library
Series: N/A

Blurb: Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens.

She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses, “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see: she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Review: When this one first came out it had so much buzz surrounding it. But I was intrigued. I wanted to read it so badly. But I usually end up hating buzz books. So I chose to hold off and let the buzz die off a little bit. When I went on my cruise recently, I finished the only two books I took with me. On the last night of the cruise, I decided I’d pop into the cruise ship’s library and see what they had. And I saw this book. I got so excited I nearly knocked my husband down to get to it. So I made a little trade with one of the books I had finished for this one.

I started reading this one on my plane ride home. I read 100 pages. Actually, I should say I flew through 100 pages, because that’s more accurate. What I really found about this book was that it was an addictive read.

Another thing that I found was that the characters are horrible. Actually, they’re probably a bit beyond horrible, they’re that bad.

I wanted to slap Rachel upside her head on more than one occasion. I could hardly tolerate her near the end – either make the change in life you need to or stop whining about it and deal with what you’ve gotten yourself into. I had very little sympathy for her. Anna irritated me to no end. She was too proud of herself for breaking up a marriage – not something that’s really brag-worthy in my opinion. Then you had Megan, Scott and Tom. They were all screwed up too. Every single person in this book was screwed up to the max, to be completely honest. It was just a little over the top in places, and I hated every single one of them. But yet, I kept reading. I had to know what really happened. It really was an addictive read.

I don’t know why I loved this one so much. It was irritating to me in so many places. I hated the characters. Yet I loved it. It’s such a strange thing to try to describe. But definitely a book I’d recommend.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, J, RATING, Read in 2015

2015.31 REVIEW – Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

September 25, 2015September 19, 2015 Tara

Blackberry Winter
by Sarah Jio

Copyright: 2012
Pages: 286
Rating: 4/5
Read: Sept. 7-10, 2015
Challenge: No Challenge
Yearly count: 31
Format: Print
Source: Purchased New
Series: N/A

Blurb: Seattle, 1933. Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, good night and reluctantly leaves for work. She hates the night shift, but it’s the only way she can earn enough to keep destitution at bay. In the morning – even though it’s the second of May – a heavy snow is falling. Vera rushes to wake Daniel, but his bed is empty. His teddy bear lies outside in the snow.

Seattle, present day. One the second of May, Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge awakens to another late-season snow-storm. Assigned to cover this “blackberry winter” and its predecessor decades earlier, Claire learns of Daniel’s unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth – only to discover that she and Vera are linked in unexpected ways.

Review: I purchased this one new a few years ago and let it linger on my shelves for far too long. I picked it up to take on my vacation because it was a little shorter than most of the books I read. I am thoroughly glad that I did get to read this one, because I ended up loving it!

I was immediately taken with Vera and Claire. Their stories were so intriguing from the beginning that I wanted to know what happened with both of them. The pain that Vera went through losing Daniel just absolutely broke my heart. And then learning of Claire’s own loss was even more painful. As a mother to two healthy, vibrant children, I can’t even imagine the loss of one.

Overall, this is a book that I really enjoyed and am glad that I finally read. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Jio in the future. Highly recommended to anyone who loves a good story. This one has a bit of romance, mystery, and history. It is well written and I found it to be a joy to read. I couldn’t wait to get to the end just so I could find out what happened to little Daniel. And when it was finally revealed it was a shock as to how it all came full circle for Claire. Just a lovely book that I thoroughly enjoyed!

4/5, AUTHOR, B, Book Review, Fiction, PICT Book Tours, RATING, Read in 2015, Review Book

2015.30 REVIEW – Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 Tara

Everything She Forgot
by Lisa Ballantyne

Copyright: 2015
Pages: 409
Rating: 4/5
Read: Sept. 2-7, 2015
Challenge: No Challenge
Yearly count: 30
Format: Print
Source: PICT Book Tour
Series: N/A

Synopsis:

Driving home, Margaret Holloway is rear-ended and trapped in the wreckage of her car. Just as she begins to panic, a stranger pulls her free and disappears. Though she escapes with minor injuries, Margaret feels that something’s wrong. Flashbacks to the crash are dredging up lost associations from her childhood. And somehow, Margaret knows that it’s got something to do with the man who saved her life. As Margaret uncovers a mystery with chilling implications for her family and her very identity, Everything She Forgot winds through a riveting dual narrative and asks the question: How far would you go to hide the truth-from yourself?

Review:

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review as part of a Partners in Crime Book Tour. The thoughts below are my own.

Once, her mother had taken her hand and smoothed it, saying, ‘Some things are best forgotten,’ and so she had forgotten almost everything. (p. 115)

That quote that I included above, “Some things are best forgotten,” is really the heart and soul of this book. As I was reading and watching everything unfold in front of my eyes, it really got me thinking about just how impressive the human mind truly is. What our minds can do with memories is shockingly unreal to be honest.

This was my first time reading a book by Ms. Ballantyne; but it certainly won’t be my last. I took this one on my recent vacation and I loved every page of it. It was easy to read in bits and pieces without getting lost. It kept my interest – in fact, at one point I wanted to just sit in the room and finish the book … not enjoy vacation! Oops!!

This isn’t a fast-paced thriller. Instead it’s a very intricate tale where the story is laid bare little by little. I loved getting to know Maggie, Big George, and even Angus (who was not my favorite character … I had a lot of issues with him after what he let happen to his poor cow). And as I said earlier, it really is interesting to see what the human mind is capable of.

This was a really enjoyable read, I loved watching Maggie’s memories come back to her bit by bit. And the way it all came full circle at the end was nice. Overall, a book that I would definitely recommend!

Book Details:

Genre: Suspense
Published by: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Number of Pages: 432
ISBN: 0062391488 (13: 978-0062391483)
Purchase Links:

Critical Praise:

“Ballantyne’s effortless prose took me across the Atlantic and didn’t let me return until its surprising and satisfying conclusion. A tight story that comes full circle and keeps you reading.” — Bryan Reardon, author of Finding Jake

Author Bio:

Lisa Ballantyne was born in Armadale, West Lothian, Scotland and studied English Literature at University of St Andrews.

She lived and worked in China for many years and started writing seriously while she was there. Before being published, Lisa was short-listed for the Dundee International Book Prize.

Her debut novel, The Guilty One was translated into over 25 languages, long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and short-listed for an Edgar Allan Poe Award. The Guilty One was also the Autumn 2012 Richard and Judy Book-club Winner. She lives in Glasgow.