The Abandoned by Amanda Stevens

There are rules for dealing with ghosts. Too bad Ree Hutchins doesn't know them.

When her favorite patient at a private mental hospital passes away, psychology student Ree Hutchins mourns the elderly woman's death. But more unsettling is her growing suspicion that something unnatural is shadowing her. Amateur ghost hunter Hayden Priest believes Ree is being haunted. Even Amelia Gray, known in Charleston as The Graveyard Queen, senses a gathering darkness. Driven by a force she doesn't understand, Ree is compelled to uncover an old secret and put abandoned souls to rest—before she is locked away forever....

This is the prequel to the new Graveyard Queen series. It doesn't have much to do with the first book, The Restorer, but it was a nice quick read. It was only 64 pages on my e reader, so there isn't much character development, but still entertaining.

3 stars

A House Divided by Deborah LeBlanc

Keith Lafleur, Louisiana's largest and greediest building contractor, thinks he's cut the deal of a lifetime. The huge old two-story clapboard house is his for the taking as long as he can move it to a new location. Its too big to move as is, but Lafleur's solution is simple:divide it in half. He has no idea, though, that by splitting the house he'll be dividing a family.....one long dead.

Not for anyone with a weak stomach. Some parts made me a little nauseous, but a good enough story. Not creepy or anything even though I think it was meant to be, but it was fun to read. I was hoping for more of the Louisiana flavor, but that is the one thing I did find it lacking. However the character to Tawana makes it all worth while.

3 stars

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

From the acclaimed author of Knockemstiff —called “powerful, remarkable, exceptional” by the Los Angeles Times —comes a dark and riveting vision of America that delivers literary excitement in the highest degree. In The Devil All the Time , Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic over­tones of Flannery O’Connor at her most haunting. Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right. Donald Ray Pollock braids his plot lines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

Well I wasn't deeply moved and didn't think it was all that taut. The novel is very noir/pulp fiction, and reminded me a little of Yellow Medicine by Anthony Neil Smith, just without the edge. It was a fast read and tied up into a neat little bow at the end, but it was a little too neat for my taste. If I was to recommend this or Yellow Medicine for this type of book, Medicine would still win.

3 stars

Dismembered by Susan D. Mustafa and Sue Israel

The shocking true story of serial killer Sean Gillis, a nerdy, nonthreatening, Star Trek fan from Baton Rouge, who killed over 9 women. He chose his victim's carefully: made sure they were of slight stature so he could control them, after his first kill went for prostitutes, drug addicts and alcoholics, women who he felt wouldn't be missed. After he killed them by putting a zip tie around their necks after getting them in his car with the promise of money for sex, he went to work on them. Cutting of legs, heads, etc and having sex with the body parts, before he disposed of them and went on with his life. When finally caught, he would tell the police a story that shocked the most seasoned veteran, saying he was "pure evil", the whole time with a smile on his face.

Quick fast read. Wasn't that disturbing to me, but I can see where it would bother people, it gets pretty graphic. This guy was one sick puppy. The writing at the beginning made me feel like I was reading a high school students paper, but it got much better about halfway through and was much easier to read.

3 stars

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town of Crosby, Maine, and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty.



I am not too sure how I feel about this book. Some of the stories made absolutely no sense to me or had no resolution or little details and I kept waiting for the characters to pop up again but they never did. I liked Olive a lot; she reminded me of myself. It also made me take a step back and look at the way I treat my parents now that I am older. That is the part that resonated with me the most. The way we behave and act toward our parents may seem like no big deal to us and we see nothing wrong with it, but it affects them deeply, and hurts them. I kind of felt like crap when I finished reading it, but it was interesting enough to hold my attention on vacation which is a feat.



3 stars

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

The story of 3 generations of the Kelleher family and the drama that unfolds at the family beach house in Maine one summer. There is Alice, the matriarch, who is still suffering over the death of her husband 10 years earlier and for which she blames her daughter, and the tragic death of her sister at the Coconut Grove when she was young for which she blames herself. Then there is Kathleen, Alice's oldest daughter, the one Alice blames for her husbands death. Kathleen is a recovering alcoholic who lives with her boyfriend on a worm farm in California. She always swore she would never return to that beach in Maine, but circumstances beyond her control make her go back on the proclamation much to her dismay. Finally there is Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, who's in her 30's, just broke up with her loser boyfriend, and found out she is pregnant with his child. On the sidelines is Ann Marie, wife to Kathleen's brother, who just won a dollhouse competition (she's in her 50's) and thinks it is her sole purpose to care for Alice, much to Alice's chagrin. These women converge at the house in Maine one summer to confront their demons, come to terms with each of their deep secrets, and try not to kill each other.

I had a really hard time giving this book a rating. I wasn't rushing home to read it, but once I picked up reading it I didn't want to put it down. Every character in this entire book is self absorbed and insufferable. Alice is a tyrant, and knowing the truth of what happened that night at the Grove didn't make me change my opinion of her. It was sad and tragic, but her actions through the whole book could not make me pity her. Kathleen, who is 59, needs to grow up and get over herself, however out of all of them she is the one I liked the most and that isn't saying much. Ann Marie is just incredibly bizarre and reminded me of a Stepford wife with a savior complex. Then there is Maggie. I think she may have been the absolute worst character in my opinion. The things she did to spy on her boyfriend, the whining, her complete dependence on a guy who doesn't care for her and is obviously an asshole and the way she pines away for him made me sick.

However, there were parts that had me cracking up out loud. If you have read it or plan to read it, remember the Canadians. Just thinking about that part makes me smirk even now that I've finished it. The story of Alice's sisters death was one of the most tragic things I've read and made me pity her, until the next time she opened her mouth that is. No one really ends up with any redeeming qualities. I wish Alive would have told her family the story if her sisters death; I think that would have made for good reading. I'm really on the fence with this one and the more I think about the less I'm decided.

3 stars


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The I-5 Killer by Ann Rule

Randy Woodfield had an athletic career ahead of him, with his good looks had his choice of any woman he wanted. But it was never enough for Randy. He started out in high school and college being arrested and most times not for indecent exposure. He got a rush from the looks on women's faces when he exposed himself to them. Not being able to hold a job, he started robbing commercial businesses. After a stint in prison for robbery, he got out and his urges got even darker. He cruised the I-5 highway, from California to Oregon, raping, sodomizing, robbing and terrorizing women, eventually leading him to murder.

Fast read. It was pretty interesting, kind of crazy how much mayhem he could cause in one day. If you have read Ann Rule before, this is just like the others, just a different story.

3 stars

I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

The third installment in the John Wayne Cleaver trilogy, John is searching for the monster he spoke to on the phone, sure that she is going to come after him. When bodies start showing up in his town again he thinks at first that it must be her; that she gave in to his taunting. But the more he looks at the bodies when they arrive at his family mortuary, the more he thinks this is something else. Could 2 monsters have come to town? And can he stop them both before its too late?

I loved this trilogy, I really did, but this last book was a letdown. I thought the ending was a bit of a cop out. Without going into detail, I thought the ending was pretty sad, and not in the weepy way. It was still a good, fast read, but I wish Wells wouldn't have stopped at 3 books and kept exploring the character of John. There was a lot of potential there, a little Dexter in training if you will. But the ending was just like, oh well, this is only a trilogy so let's make this happen to tie it all up.

3 stars

The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman

Private investigator Tess Monaghan is on bed rest due to her pregnancy. With nothing to do during her long hours sitting on her back porch, she has taken to watching all of the dog walkers in the park. One in particular catches her attention, a girl in a green raincoat walking an Italian Greyhound in a matching green rain coat. They are there every day at the same time, except for the Sunday Tess sees the little dog running through the park in his coat, leash attached, and the girl is nowhere to be found. She enlists the help of friends to try to find out what happened to the woman, getting involved in something that she never expected.

Yes, it is Rear Window basically. Its a nice short read, and there is a bit of a twist at the end, but nothing spectacular. Still, if you are looking for an enjoyable quick read, I would check it out.

3 stars

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

Deep in the Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest– nearly one million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. Even in this modern age, much of it remains undiscovered and uncharted. From the heart of this old forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she can give no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past. . . . Until recently, Dr. Julia Cates was one of the preeminent child psychiatrists in the country, but a scandal shattered her confidence, ruined her career, and made her a media target. When she gets a desperate call from her estranged sister, Ellie, a police chief in their small western Washington hometown, she jumps at the chance to escape. In Rain Valley, nothing much ever happens–until a girl emerges from the deep woods and walks into town. She is a victim unlike any Julia has ever seen: a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation. When word spreads of the “wild child” and the infamous doctor who is treating her, the media descend on Julia and once again her competence is challenged. State and federal authorities want to lock the girl away in an institution until an identification can be made. But to Julia, who has come to doubt her own ability, nothing is more important than saving the girl she now calls Alice. To heal this child, Julia will have to understand that she cannot work alone and must look to others–the people in the town she left long ago, the sister she barely knows, and Dr. Max Cerrasin, a handsome, private man with secrets of his own. Then a shocking revelation forces Julia to risk everything to discover the truth about Alice. The ordeal that follows will test the limits of Julia’s faith, forgiveness, and love, as she struggles to ascertain where Alice ultimately belongs. In her most ambitious novel to date, Kristin Hannah delivers an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the mysterious places in the heart where love lies waiting.

Took me an incredibly long time to read even though it's not that long. I keep not being impressed by her books but I keep reading them. The whole interaction with Alice and trying to get her to speak kept reminding me of the old Tarzan movies my dad made me watch. I think that was the reason I had such a hard time finishing it.

3 stars

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Evangeline was sent to St. Rose convent at the age of 12 by her father after her mother was kidnapped and murdered. She has led a quiet life inside the cloister, not questioning anything she has ever been told. When she receives a letter asking for access to the convent's archives from an art historian, she at once refuses, writing out the convent's usual response to such requests. But something about this one strikes her as odd; the man is looking for lost correspondence between the former abbess of St. Rose and Abigail Rockefeller in the 1940's, right before the original convent burned to the ground. In their search for the letters, Evangeline realizes that nothing in her life is as it seems and that she is a small piece of a greater puzzle. A group of angelologists, who's sole purpose is to hide the lyre of Orpheus from the Nephilim, a group of men who were born to human and angels and posses both powers. The Nephilim are intent on getting the lyre so they can release their ancestors, The Watchers, from a cave where they have been chained for centuries for disobedience. Also after the lyre is Percival Grigori, a descendant of The Watchers, the man who hired the art historian and someone with a connection to the whole mystery that is almost as deep as Sr. Evangeline's, who is slowly dying from a medical condition only the lyre can help stop.

I didn't like this too much. Some parts I loved, but the story as a whole was long, drawn out, and a bit of a DaVinci Code knock off. If I wouldn't have been house sitting and had been at home with something else to read I wouldn't have even finished it.

3 stars

Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid by Dr. Denis Leary

Leary explains to all who read his book why other countries hate Americans, how people are raising their kids wrong, and how relationships work all from personal experience. From Michael Vick to how men interact with other men and the women in their life to America's fascination with train wrecks like Brittany Spears and Lindsey Lohan to his own version of the 10 Commandments that somehow end up including Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston, Leary is on a major tirade interspersed with hilarious stories from his childhood, his marriage to his wife Ann, and a lot of things I think a lot of people feel but would never say aloud.

Funny enough, laugh out loud funny sometimes, but I wouldn't buy it. Get it from your library instead.

3 stars

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Dorian Gray is a young man so obsessed with his own youth and good looks that after a painting of him is done, makes a pact with the devil. The pact is that Gray gives his soul, and he stays young forever, his portrait aging.

I think if I could have focused on this more I would have enjoyed it better. Lord Henry is so very winded at times and goes on and on, but what he says is very interesting. I just couldn't focus on it enough to enjoy it.

3 stars

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

George and Lenny are childhood friends going through California doing work on ranch's to make some money. George is the brains of the pair, quick thinking, always looking out for Lenny, who has the mind of a child. When they go to work at their most recent ranch, George warns Lenny not to get into any trouble, to stay quiet and just do his work. George has painted a picture for he and Lenny: a ranch of their own, with chickens and pigs, alfalfa and rabbits that Lenny will be in charge of caring for. But the ranch owners son hones in on Lenny's lack of wits right off and seems to have it out for him, then there is the ranch owners young wife, who seems to hang around all the men and try to stir up trouble. Lenny tries to do what George asks of him, but things get out of control for him, and George has to make the ultimate decision on what do do about Lenny.
How depressing!! I am sure every one has read this book but me. I loved what a great amazing story East of Eden was, so I thought I would try this one out too. I felt sorry for Lenny, he didn't know any better, but I can see why George felt he had to do something before things got any worse, but I never thought he would do what he did. Lots of symbolism here, but I won't go into it in case someone hasn't read it. Strange book...

3 stars