Review: The Heart to Kill

The Heart to Kill by Dorothy Place
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story.... these characters... it's a journey, that's for certain. For me it was the characters that made it so I'll focus there. As has happened from time to time, I don't fall in line with the norm so it didn't come as a surprise to me when I loathed some of the characters I feel like I was supposed to love and adored those that were written not so lovable.

Let's start with our protagonist. Sarah Wesser, jelly spined law student desperate for daddy's approval (even though daddy is a tyrant and a bully), returns home to her small town of Eight Mile Junction. She has been turned down for an internship that daddy all but arranged for her and starts working for the law firm who is defending the best friend she's blown off for the past few years, JoBeth. See, JoBeth hasn't been important to Sarah lately but now she's the key to a job so here we are.

JoBeth is the one character I can't come down on one side or the other on. She's a small town girl who only ever wanted to be a small town girl. She married her high school sweetheart, had a couple of kids and the rest is a small town happy ending. Only not for JoBeth. No, JoBeth killed those little darlings after Prince Charming dumped her, setting the stage for her old pal, Sarah, to ride in on daddy's coat tails and save her.

JoBeth's lawyers, John-Two and Al, both are firmly entrenched in the good ol boys club. John-Two is a chauvinistic blow hard who has no idea he's a chauvinistic blow hard. He serves his purpose in the story though.

Al is the brooding, handsome, mystery man. He bored me.

Now, all of that sounds like maybe I didn't love the book but you'd be wrong! I really did. I loved finding out the small town secrets and uncovering betrayal. My emotions swayed from sympathy to horror at the intricate story and I was invested in the outcome. I look forward to reading more of Dorothy Place's work.

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Review: Nothing Is Predictable

Nothing Is Predictable by Adalina Mae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Normally, I probably wouldn't have picked up this book because the 'I am woman, hear me roar' theme isn't what I usually spend my time reading. Not reading this would have been a mistake, though. That first page, whoa! I was glad to get the conclusion to that scene pretty early on in the book because I really couldn't concentrate while that question was in the back of my mind.

This is a quick read with plenty of gut punches thrown in to keep things in turmoil. This isn't a story simply about an incredibly strong woman paving her own way, overcoming tragic circumstances, and succeeding without help from any man. Zara does all of that, yes, but she also tried desperately to lean on men along the way. It wasn't her fault they all let her down, were weak, and failed her. The story is as realistic and heartbreaking as it is life-affirming and inspiring. The words Go, Zara! are printed many times but only about half as many as I found myself saying them in my own head.

I enjoyed reading about the Lebanese culture and all of Zara's travels around the world. An ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse world is portrayed truthfully without the author coming down on any one side definitively. The issue of religious differences in a relationship were handled realistically and in a mature manner, even by immature characters.

Zara is Lebanese American and one of the biggest conflicts I felt in this book was of her straddling the two cultures. Mainly she lives in the U.S. and assimilated quite well yet she felt very comfortable and familiar when she was in Lebanon. I kept feeling like she would eventually latch on to one firmly and distance herself from the other but that didn't happen. After thinking about it, I think that, too, is realistic and I only felt the need for Zara to attach to one because I've never known the struggle of being of two cultures. Nothing is Predictable made me yearn for some more cultural diversity in my life and that is truly something no other book has done for me.

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Review: Our Kind of Traitor - ARC

Our Kind of Traitor - ARC by John le Carré
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This was my first spy thriller novel by this author. It was SO hard for me to get into it. I was confused about who was talking, the first person/third person switching made me crazy. This type of writing works for some people, it's just not my style. I chose not to finish it. That's not to say others wouldn't find it worth the time to make it to the end. I think the author is a talented writer, I'm just not the reader he is writing for.

I received this as an advance uncorrected proof that I won in a Goodreads giveaway.

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