Icebreaker

 

I went into Icecbreaker blind. I just saw it at a second hand store for a couple bucks and knew it was popular. This is not the normal type of book I read at all. 

Anastasia is annoying. She clearly cannot recognize abuse or that she is being treated like a doormat by her skating partner Aaron. 

Nate is the captain of the hockey team and comes off as perfectly understanding women. Which seems far from true. I don't remember a single guy from college that understood women. 

The book was way too long. The story could have been told in half the amount of pages. I can understand a spicy scene but at least half the story was various spicy scenes. It felt like I was just reading a smut book. I kept waiting for the story to start but it never really started. It was not even until I got to almost 3/4th of the book that Nate even started skating with Anastasia like the back of the book mentioned. It was the last 3/4ths of the book was the strongest part of the story. I will not be continuing the series. 

The Last One at the Wedding

 

I randomly choose The Last One at the Wedding from the eBooks the library had available. 

It is rare that I read a mystery novel with a man as the main character that does not involve a lot of action and intense moments of physical activity. The Last One at the Wedding had none of that. 

Frank is obsessed with his job and keeping his record at his job pristine. He is so obsessed with his job he does not really even know those around him. So it is a surprise to him when his daughter calls to inform him she is getting married. Suddenly whisked into the world of the ultra wealthy Frank is soon not sure what is going on, who to trust, or even if he can trust his own eyes. 

The story was ok, the writing was consistent but slow in parts. Very little in the mystery and more about a man reaching retirement age soon with no purpose in life. 

The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

 

Even though I like watching true crime I rarely read about it. However after learning about the Franke family I knew I wanted to hear more and learn how neighbors did not know what what was going on with those poor children. The House of my Mother gave some insight into how horribly those poor children were treated while keeping some boundaries to protect the minors. 

I never ever question the narrative being told in true stories. It is not my place to judge how someone interprets what has happened to them in their life. Instead I critique the way they present their account. 

Shari clearly has major psychological issues from her upbringing and that comes across in the story in a way that makes you feel for her. At times I was frustrated with lots of happenings in Shari's life and other times I was sad hearing how help was denied to all the children. 

It was a really easy read, the story just flowed with a simple way of writing. It did not drag or go into overly abusive situations just told a bigger picture of what it had been like living with someone like Ruby. 

The Perfect Divorce

 

The Perfect Divorce is the sequel to The Perfect Marriage and I was thrilled learning their was a sequel. 

Even though Sarah Morgan is a person who appears cold and heartless I really like her. She is constant, nothing comes out of play with Sarah which I enjoy. I imagine writing a character with narcissistic traits would be complicated but Mrs. Rose is amazing at it. The new part of Sarah that appears is the loving mother side. It was an interesting aspect to add onto the depth of Sarah. 

Bob was a blundering fool and reminded me far too much of Adam who also had issues. I wish a different approach to Bob had been taken but it does make sense that Sarah has a specific type of man she likes to be with. 

The writing style is not my favorite. I prefer one point of view and not jumping between many different points of view. At least they were consistent with giving all the characters adequate page time. The ending acknowledgements was not what I expected so that was a fun add on. 

The God of the Woods

 

 

The God of the Woods was Barnes and Nobles number one ranked mystery last year. God of Disaster is more along the lines of what it should have been titled. 

Beyond the premise I liked nothing about the story. The whole thing was a hot mess. I only kept reading because it was ranked so highly. 

The story jumps around between characters, years, months, and was a jumbled mess. I cared about none of the characters. The only saving grace was with so much confusion I at least did not figure the majority of the mystery. 

Guess I can say I finally read a highly popular book when it was popular. 

First Lie Wins

 

I have been on the libraries waiting list for awhile so when First Lie Wins was available on my tablet I quickly downloaded it. 

While I read the story fairly quickly I am still not sure if I actually enjoyed the book. The more I think about the plot the more I realized it was all over the place. At the start of the story was a big mystery that was never answered which drives me crazy usually but the story spiderwebbed and the new mysteries brought up where answered. 

The writing just seemed all over the place. Alex the main character was at least consistent with her thoughts and behavior. 

The Writing Retreat

 

The Writing Retreat was one of a handful of options available at a small airport I got stranded at. Desperate for something to do I bought the book. I ended up leaving the book at another airport for someone else to find.

Alex wants to be a writer but with her stubborn writers block and her job demanding more of her then she wants to give writing has been put on the back burner. All that changes when her favorite author holds a contest for female writers. Four writers will get to visit the elusive author and attend her writing workshop. Excited Alex can hardly wait to win. However once she arrives things are not what she thought they would be at all. 

I figured out the whole mystery. Around chapter three I had it all figured out. If I had anything else to read I would not have finished the book.