Most Wanted by Lisa Scottoline

What They Say....Lisa Scottoline delivers another searing, powerful blockbuster novel that explores hot-button issues within the framework of an intricately plotted thriller. When a woman and her husband, desperate for a baby, find themselves unable to conceive, they decide to take further steps. Since it is the husband who is infertile, the heroine decides to use a donor. And all seems to be well. Three months pass and she is happily pregnant. But a shocking revelation occurs when she discovers that a man arrested for a series of brutal murders is her donor - the biological father of the child she is carrying. Delving deeper to uncover the truth, the heroine must face her worst fears, and confront a terrifying truth. Most Wanted is sure to be Lisa Scottoline's most discussed, bestselling novel yet.

What I Say....I've never read a Lisa Scottoline book before, although I've seen them over the years, so I was excited to get an ARC of Most Wanted from St. Martin's Press.

This book started off with a bang,  Christine and Marcus have finally gotten pregnant via sperm donor after years of trying.  They seem to have the perfect marriage and the perfect life.  

But then Christine catches a glimpse of a serial killer being arrested on the news and immediately is able to identify that this is her sperm donor.  This didn't feel really believable - I mean, I can see pictures online all day long and never be able to match it to a person standing in front of me.  (sometimes I think I have that disease that Brad Pitt has, that makes it impossible for him to remember faces).  

So this immediate recognition seemed a little far fetched for me.  Christine's husband, Marcus, doesn't initially believe her, but as they make some calls to reassure her, it suddenly begins to seem that this might be a possibility.  

This was another moment where things got unbelievable.   Suddenly, the grade school special ed teacher decides to go to the prison, and pretends to be a freelance writer who wants to write this serial killer's story.

Of course, he proclaims his innocence and asks for her help in clearing his name.  And she decides for the sake of her unborn child, that she wants to help.  So now she finds him a local lawyer, pays for this lawyer, and then begins to work for the lawyer, becoming a detective, even after a neighbor is murdered, and things become increasingly dangerous.  

It was a pretty fast paced book, and it wrapped up with a nice ending.  I struggled a little bit with the believability factor, but I've read some other reviews that said this wasn't her best, so I think I'll try her again in the future.

Current Goodreads Rating 3.60

Some Women by Emily Liebert

What They Say.....An engrossing novel that examines the intricacies of marriage, friendship, and the power of unexpected connections…

Annabel Ford has everything under control, devoting her time to her twin boys and keeping her household running smoothly. But when her husband of a decade announces that he’s leaving, she’s blind-sided. And suddenly her world begins to unravel.
Piper Whitley has always done her best to balance it all—raising her daughter Fern by herself while advancing her career as a crime reporter. Only now that she’s finally met the man of her dreams, Fern’s absentee father shows up, throwing everything into a tailspin.
Married to the heir of a thriving media conglomerate, Mackenzie Mead has many reasons to count her blessings. But with an imperious mother-in-law—who’s also her boss—and a husband with whom she can no longer seem to connect, something has to give.
On the surface, these three women may not have much in common, but just when they each need someone to lean on, their lives are thrust together, forming unlikely friendships that help each woman navigate her new reality.


What I Say....A story of three women who shouldn't have much in common, but discover that their lives are a lot more similar than they could have imagined.

I started off hating Annabel.  Mega loathed.  She's the mom that we all know, miserable with her life, so starts trying to make everyone around her miserable too.  She and her husband went to wedding and the next morning she immediately wants him to get up and start doing chores, rather than enjoying a lazy Sunday morning without their twins.  I seriously would have walked out on her too.  I cannot stand being around miserable people.

Most women like this in real life, become more miserable after a divorce, but Annabel realizes that she owns some of her behavior, and finds herself caring a little less about perfection and a lot more about just surviving each day.

Piper's story was a little more bland.  Honestly, her dentist boyfriend seemed a little too perfect.  I kept waiting for it to be revealed that he had another wife, a gambling problem, a venereal disease.  I mean it, he was TOO perfect.   When her ex popped back up, I couldn't believe that this would even be an issue for her.

And McKenzie is sad because she wants a baby and can't get pregnant.  But it doesn't seem like her husband is that interested in a baby or her.  But still his plot twist lacked motivation.

The story was pretty predictable, but still enjoyable.  It was a gentle way to pass a weekend.  The women develop strong friendships and begin to believe in themselves.

Of note, the word "smirk" was way overused in this book - 12 times!!  To me, someone who is smirking is being a jerk.  They have probably done or said something irritating and are now "smirking".  You know the phrase, "wipe that smirk off your face."?  Ugh. I hate that word.  But that's my personal rant - you can always tell a rant is coming when the sentence starts, "Of note....".  

Current Goodreads Rating 3.68

Fellside by M.R. Carey

What They Say.....The unmissable and highly original new thriller from the author of the international phenomenon The Girl with all the Gifts.
Fellside is a maximum security prison on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. It's not the kind of place you'd want to end up. But it's where Jess Moulston could be spending the rest of her life.

It's a place where even the walls whisper.

And one voice belongs to a little boy with a message for Jess.

Will she listen?

What I Say....I never did read The Girl With All the Gifts, even though I wanted to and everyone raved about it.  So I was really excited to get an ARC of Fellside by M.R. Carey.

It was a really unusual story.  Jess is a junkie, addicted to heroin and a bad boyfriend.  She has a passing relationship with the little boy upstairs, she feels vaguely sorry for him, although he probably has more reason to feel sorry for her.

One day, Jess wakes up in the hospital, recovering from burns and not much memory of what has happened to her.  As she pieces things together, she finds that she is going to trial for purposefully setting a fire in her apartment building, which ultimately led to the little boy dying.

Jess wants to pay for her sin, so refuses to defend herself, she just wants to die.  She goes on a hunger strike and brings herself to the brink of death, but then has a visit from the little boy who she thinks she killed, and he wants her help to find the real killer.

The rest of the book is set in a women's prison (not my favorite setting) and many parts of it were reminiscent of "Orange is the New Black" without the funny bits.  There are judgmental nurses, corrupt guards and inmates running drug rings.  All of their lives overlap with each others, even when they don't want to be involved.

Towards the second half of the book, it almost read like a fever dream.  The little boy evolves into something else, Jess continues to try to do the right thing, although her life is continually in danger. 

It was an extremely different read, not my normal cup of tea, but it stays with you.

Weekly Book Haul.....April 24, 2016

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea, Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews, The Sunday Salon is a new facebook group I've joined and Monday Mailbox is hosted by Marcia to be Continued.

My Facebook page reminded me early this week that I hadn't posted in a while.  I missed last weeks blog entry and I've been reading like a fiend, but not writing my reviews (Sunday goals).  My only excuse is that spring in Arizona is not something to be wasted.  The days are sunny and high 70's, low 80's and you just want to be outside doing things before someone turns the oven on and 105 is a normal day.

I've been hiking and going to the gym faithfully, and I'm down 16# in two months.  But my motivation has been waning and I've just wanted to sleep in, rather than getting up at 415am to get to the gym before work.  I know most people prefer to go after work, but honestly, I am so deep to my core lazy, that if I don't get up and get it done, it won't happen.  Then I'll come home after work, after NOT having gone to the gym and I'll sit on the couch and berate myself all night for being so lazy, so fat, for not being able to keep a resolution.  Ugh.  The voice in my head is my own worst enemy.  If someone could bottle motivation and sell it in pill form, they would be kazillionaires.

I've had some really good reading but haven't been requesting a bunch because I'm still so far behind on my TBR list.  But I've continued my winning streak and gotten a few adds from some old faves.

The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews......Some people stay all summer

long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Some people come only for the weekends-and it's something they look forward to all week long. When Riley Griggs is waiting for her husband to arrive at the ferry one Friday afternoon, she is instead served with papers informing her that her island home is being foreclosed. To make matters worse, her husband is nowhere to be found. She turns to her island friends for help and support, but each of them has their own secrets and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens. Cocktail parties and crab boil aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.

Extreme Prey by John Sanford.....The extraordinary new Lucas Davenport

thriller from #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner John Sandford.
 
After the events in Gathering Prey, Lucas Davenport finds himself in a very unusual situation—no longer employed by the Minnesota BCA. His friend the governor is just cranking up a presidential campaign, though, and he invites Lucas to come along as part of his campaign staff. “Should be fun!” he says, and it kind of is—until they find they have a shadow: an armed man intent on killing the governor . . . and anyone who gets in the way.

The One You Really Want by Jill Mansell

What They Say.....When it comes to love, never say never.

When Nancy discovers the expensive jewelry her husband’s been buying isn’t for her, she decamps from the Scottish countryside to her best friend Carmen’s posh Chelsea town house to sort things out.

Nancy finds herself in a surprising new world, where rock stars are nicer than you thought, social workers are not necessarily to be trusted, and the filthy rich are folks with problems just like you. Everybody falls in love with the wrong people, and the path to true love twists and turns before you discover who you really want.

What I Say....When I started this book, I was a little worried because I didn't really care about Nancy or her cheating husband, but once she got to London, the story got good!

Carmen is sad widow who is working at a homeless shelter, pretending to be poor.  When her friend Nancy comes to stay with her after catching her husband cheating, it starts a chain reaction which quickly fills Nancy's townhouse.  Soon her brother-in-law Rennie has also moved in indefinitely along with Nancy's mom, who takes care of all of them. 

Add in a hot neighbor with a meddling teenaged daughter and suddenly there are romantic triangles everywhere!

The book got really good because there were misunderstandings were everywhere!  People were constantly getting huffy or overhearing the wrong things.  

I really, really liked this book.  I stayed up until after midnight finishing it, just hoping the right people would find their way to each other.  

I've never read Jill Mansell before, but I'll be looking for her now!