Review: Then She Was Gone

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow! Just wow! My worst fear come to life! Laurel's 15-year-old daughter goes missing and for years nobody knows what has happened to her, and the police chalk it up as "she has run away." Due to this traumatic loss, Laurel's family falls apart, and they each move on in their own directions. Eventually, Laurel meets a new love interest of her own and begins to start her life over as well. This new man has a young daughter that looks an awful lot like her missing daughter and things just aren't adding up with what she is being told about his ex....or him. As the pieces all begin to fall into place you will be filled with all kinds of mixed emotions and will not be able to turn the pages fast enough to find out what happened to Laurel's daughter, Ellie!

This is definitely a page-turning thriller of a book that will keep you on your toes. I did enjoy this creepy book although some of it was a wee bit predictable. I do have some other of Lisa Jewell books on my TBR list, I may just have to add some more.

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Review: Blunt Force

Blunt Force by Lynda La Plante
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really love a good murder mystery and this certainly was that. When a famous agent to the stars turns up murdered, and not only murdered but his insides totally cut out, it has a small-time police agency scrambling to find out whodunit. The main characters were really well developed and I did not have a hard time following along with them even with not having read the first five books in this series.

There is an awful lot of detail in this storyline, at times maybe too much. I found that it drug on in parts and sometimes I wondered where it was going. There is also a side story that seems to tie into the previous books that followers of the series would enjoy (I would assume). The victim's ex-wife is quite the character, you gotta love her and her shenanigans. Throughout the whole book, everyone seems to be a suspect right up until the very end. However, I did not like how Jane's boss did not trust Jane's instincts but that she went with them anyway to find the answers and solve the crime.

And I have to say that the dog Toots, a long-haired Dachshund, had my heart from the very beginning! Being a foster for DREAM Dachshunds, and having a long-haired Doxie of our own, Toots can come live with us any day!

Overall it was a good read, a little difficult at times, but if you like lots and lots of details and a good murder mystery you should give this one a try.

I received this book from BookishFirst.

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Review: LEGO Still Life with Bricks: The Art of Everyday Play

LEGO Still Life with Bricks: The Art of Everyday Play by Lydia Ortiz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting and creative display of the non-typical use of Legos. I spent quite a bit of time looking at each page just marveling at the concepts and precision of each Lego, even though it wasn't used to build as they usually are. I really enjoyed the growing plant photos, I think those were my favorite, but there were a few that I didn't quite know what they were. But overall, this was a very well thought out and entertaining book.

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

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Review: Fruit Rot

Fruit Rot by James R. Gapinski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What would you do if you woke up to find a fruit tree in your front yard that wasn't there the day before and when you ate the fruit something fantastic happened to change your life for the better? But that second bite...

This was quite an entertaining quirky little book that has you wondering what will happen next the entire time, making for a very, very quick and easy read with an ending that you never see coming.

I really can't say too much about this book without giving it away so I would say just read it to find out for yourself. You'll be glad you did.

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you.

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This was my #Bookstagram photo for this book. I thought it was totally appropriate for the story and fit for the cover as well. Luckily we had a pear on hand too. You can see the post here: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFACGerAFZD/

Review: The Wrong Kind of Woman

The Wrong Kind of Woman by Sarah McCraw Crow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it either. It is set in late 1970 at the tail end of the Vietnam War. Women’s liberation groups are popping up across the country and students are starting to activate for change for coed campuses. Virginia is kind of stuck in the middle of being a housewife and a working woman when her husband suddenly dies while hanging Christmas lights on the front porch. She is faced with trying to find her place and figure out who she is and how to move forward because she doesn't quite fit in with either group, the working or the housewives.
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This story takes place at Clarendon College, which is an all men’s school in a small town in which they just started accepting a small number of women "exchange students," and have a few women professors know as The Gang of Four. The story is told from a few points of view, Virginia, her daughter, and a male student of Clarendon College showing all sides -- that of an older woman, a younger girl, and a man attending college.
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Again, I liked the book and found the subject matter interesting as I didn't realize that this all happened only 50 years ago, which really isn't that long ago for women's liberation. I couldn't really connect with the characters that much. I don't know if they were unlikeable, unrelatable, or there just wasn't that much detail on them. And a lot of the storyline seemed very surface to me as if a lot of details were missing. But overall, I did enjoy the story, what it represented, and found the subject matter interesting.
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I received this book as an uncorrected proof in a Goodreads Giveaway.

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Review: Corrupted Humours, A Novel

Corrupted Humours, A Novel by Donald Friedman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A psychiatrist goes into the hospital for a routine gastric procedure, as men do at a certain age, however, he never makes it out of the operating room due to the fact that he explodes on the operating table. Got your attention, right? This would make for a very interesting story, and I think that it is if you can read between the lines of all the mumbo jumbo that is not needed and just read the nitty-gritty of the storyline. There is so much in this book that just doesn't make sense or just does not need to be there, but if you can get past that, the story is great.
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This book is unique in the fact that the main character is a reporter and while he is researching the explosion and what happened, he is also writing a novel based on the characters and fact-findings of what he thinks happened. We are reading his novel every other chapter in this book sometimes making it confusing as to if it was his novel or what had happened.
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I did not understand the connection of some of the characters in the book and was not sure of their purpose at all. The writing style was very confusing and, honestly, sometimes a little over my head. And I've said this once, and I'll say it 100 more times, I do not understand the non-use of quotations marks! Why do authors not use quotation marks when there is a lot of dialog in a book? For that alone, it knocked a star off.
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I liked the premise of this booked and I really wished I would've liked it more, but it just did not do it for me, unfortunately.
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I received this book from BookishFirst.

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