52 Weeks 52 Books: Week Ending March 25, 2013
Two books I
was really looking forward to reading, but didn't quite live up to
expectations. DENTING THE BOSCH (don't you just love that title?),
seemed like the perfect weekend read, but the characters seemed like
they should have been pulled from the fifties--kind of Donna Reed-like
cluelessness--and it was hard to find sympathy for them. And I had
been really looking forward to DARK TIDE after reading and loving INTO
THE DARKEST CORNER, but even though I kind of felt the suspense, the resolution
was weak and incomplete--at least for me. If anyone else reads either
of these, I'd love to know what you thought! ~ Katherine
DENTING THE BOSCH by Teresa Link
Adele, Maggie and Sylvia are the best friends living in an affluent area in Southern California and spend much of their
time together. It's mostly a happy and comfortable life,
especially for Adele, who considers her friends the one bright spot in
her recent and much regretted move from New York. Things change with infidelity and the recession and the women’s lives
begin to fall apart at the same time: Syl’s husband leaves her, Adelle’s
husband decides he wants to live separate lives, and Maggie runs away
from financial reality and focuses on a man from her past. Following the "denting of the bosch," they all work on rebuilding their lives.
DARK TIDE by Elizabeth Haynes
Genevieve has finally achieved her dream of saving up enough to leave her busy and stressful life in London and change directions, to purchase a houseboat away from the bustling city. She loves working on her new floating home and her friendly neighbors. But the night of her
boat-warming party, Genevieve finds a body in the water next to her boat, and she
recognizes the victim. Because hardly anyone knows about her past as a dancer at a private members'
club in London where she and her dead friend worked, she doesn't want to admit she knows her.
But Genevieve begins to receive strange calls and
lurking visitors, and can't reach the one person who links the present danger with the club. And she can't reach the one person who may have put her in this danger, who also happens to be the man she loves.
2 comments:
I have three to comment on this week.
The Weaver and the Factory Maid
By Deborah Grabien
When Ringan Laine, British folk musician, becomes the owner of a restored eighteenth-century cottage, he discovers right away that the cottage and the ancient barn on Ringan's property are haunted. Ringan and his longtime lover Penny, researching the identity of their unwanted tenants, learn that they were a young couple, victims of a famous double murder in the year 1817-their story the subject of a song that is a staple in Ringan's repertoire. And they must stage a full-scale musical exorcism to lay the ghostly couple to rest. The Weaver and the Factory Maid is only the first in what promises to be an exciting new mystery series featuring the ghosts of characters in folk ballads.
The Weaver and the Factory Maid is an interesting take on a ghost story but I forced myself to finish it. I didn't "bond" with the characters and I thought the musical exorcism was really silly. There are several more in the series each ghost story built around an old English ballad.
Optical Delusions in Deadwood
By Ann Charles
Someone is spreading rumors around Deadwood that Violet Parker likes to chat with dead folks. With her reputation endangered, her bank account on the verge of extinction, and her career at risk of going up in flames, Violet is desperate. When the opportunity to sell another vintage home materializes, she grabs it, even though this "haunted" house was recently the stage for a two-act, murder-suicide tragedy. Ghost or no ghost, Violet knows this can't be as bad as the last house of horrors she tried to sell, but sexy Doc Nyce has serious doubts. Her only hope of hanging on to her job is to prove that the so-called, ghostly sightings are merely the eccentric owner's optical delusions. But someone-or something-in the house wants Violet stopped...dead.
Second in the series. This book was just as enjoyable as the first book. Violet gets herself into some crazy situations but holds her own. I'm looking forward to reading book three.
Too Big to Miss
By Sue Ann Jaffarian
Too big to miss--that's Odelia Grey. A never-married, middle-aged, plus-sized woman who makes no excuses for her weight, she's not super woman just a mere mortal standing on the precipice of menopause, trying to cruise in an ill-fitting bra. She struggles with her relationships, her crazy family, and her crazier boss. And then there''s her knack for being in close proximity to dead people . . . . When her close friend Sophie London commits suicide in front of an online web-cam by putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger, Odelia's life is changed forever. Sophie, a plus-sized activist and inspiration to imperfect women, is the last person anyone would ever have expected to end her own life. Suspecting foul play, Odelia is determined to get to the bottom of her friend's death. Odelia's search for the truth takes her from southern California strip malls to the world of live web-cam porn to the ritzy enclave of Corona del Mar.
This was one of those books that I finished but wasn't sure I liked it. Then I found myself thinking about the characters and realized it had something to make me care what happens next. I think part of it is I can relate to Odelia. She's not model-perfect as many leading female characters are portrayed. I'll be reading the next in the series and looking forward to Odelia's character development.
Final Theory by Mark Alpert
What if there a theory to explain how everything in the universe worked? Einstein was working on this theory till the day he died. What if he found it but decided against publishing it? David Swift will have to find the theory and decide what to do with it. But he has to do it quick because some people will do anything, kill anyone to get their hands on it.
I enjoyed this fast paced book -Jaclyn
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