You've Been Warned by James Patterson

You've been Warned - (courtesy of Little Brown)

Paranoia or threat, dream or reality --James Patterson's latest thriller draws the reader in with its unique plot. Unfortunately, the novel doesn't deliver an ending.

Kristin Burns is a twenty-something New Yorker, striving to become an art photographer, while holding down a day job as a nanny to two adorable kids with a stereotypical, uncaring and unpleasant step-mom. The reader meets her in the middle of a dream, a fearsome dream involving three deaths and one near-death. When she comes across the same scene the next morning on the way to work, the line between dream and reality becomes even murkier.

Naughty and Nice

The bright spots in Kristin's life are her photography (she's never far from her camera), her two daytime wards--the Turnbull kids, and her stockbroker boyfriend. Did I mention that her boyfriend, Michael, is married--to her employer? Of course, everyone's got a secret or two and Kristin is no exception. But the line between passion and obsession is a very fine one and that's the space that Patterson's latest novel seeks to explore
Read more at Suite101: Patterson's You've Been Warned: The Latest Thriller from America's Best-Selling Crime Author http://www.suite101.com/content/pattersons-youve-been-warned-a33463#ixzz1HWkzlAQr

You've been Warned - (courtesy of Little Brown)

Paranoia or threat, dream or reality --James Patterson's latest thriller draws the reader in with its unique plot. Unfortunately, the novel doesn't deliver an ending.

Kristin Burns is a twenty-something New Yorker, striving to become an art photographer, while holding down a day job as a nanny to two adorable kids with a stereotypical, uncaring and unpleasant step-mom. The reader meets her in the middle of a dream, a fearsome dream involving three deaths and one near-death. When she comes across the same scene the next morning on the way to work, the line between dream and reality becomes even murkier.

Naughty and Nice

The bright spots in Kristin's life are her photography (she's never far from her camera), her two daytime wards--the Turnbull kids, and her stockbroker boyfriend. Did I mention that her boyfriend, Michael, is married--to her employer? Of course, everyone's got a secret or two and Kristin is no exception. But the line between passion and obsession is a very fine one and that's the space that Patterson's latest novel seeks to explore
Read more at Suite101: Patterson's You've Been Warned: The Latest Thriller from America's Best-Selling Crime Author http://www.suite101.com/content/pattersons-youve-been-warned-a33463#ixzz1HWkzlAQr

You've been nice, very nice.

Kristin Burns has lived her life by the philosophy "Don't think, just shoot" – pictures, that is.  Struggling to make ends meet, she works full-time as the nanny for the fabulously wealthy Turnbull family, looking after their two wonderful children and waiting for her glamorous life as a New York photographer to begin. When her photographs are considered by an elite Manhattan art gallery, it seems she might finally get the chance that will start her career.

You've been naughty, very naughty.

But Kristin has a major distraction: forbidden love. The man of her dreams is almost hers for keeps.  Breathless with an inexhaustible passion and the excitement of being within reach of her goals, Kristen ignores all signs of catastrophe brewing.

Now you've been warned.

Fear exists for a reason. And Kristin can only dismiss the warnings for so long. Searching desperately for the truth through the lens of her camera, she can only hope that it's not too late. This novel of psychological suspense is a stunning new achievement for thriller master James Patterson, "one of the bestselling writers in history" (New York Sun).
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Amy's Review:This book was a good book.  It reminded me a bit of the movie the Sixth Sense because she was seeing dead people.  It definately kept my curiousity and kept me reading because I wanted to see what happened and whose hand was sticking out of the fourth body bag in her dream.  I would recommend this book.

"True Colors" by Kristin Hannah

True Colors

• 

Overview

True Colors is New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah's most provocative, compelling, and heart-wrenching story yet. With the luminous writing and unforgettable characters that are her trademarks, she tells the story of three sisters whose once-solid world is broken apart by jealousy, betrayal, and the kind of passion that rarely comes along.

The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother's death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.

Winona, the oldest, needs her father's approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn't have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she's determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him.

Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain.

Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town. . . .

In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.

With breathtaking pace and penetrating emotional insight, True Colors is an unforgettable novel about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption---and ultimately, what it means to be a family.

Amy's Review:

This book was hard for me to put down.  I guess I am a sucker for women who run ranches in novels and a good love story with a happy ending. 

Seriously, this book made me think a little about people, first impressions, how quick people are to judge someone and how hard it is to change a person's mind after it is made up.  I guess I believe in second chances and that every one out there has some good in them somewhere.  In some people we just have to look a little harder and maybe a little deaper.  I am glad that Winona realized her mistake and did what she could do to fix it.  I wish it would have happened sooner that it did but none the less it is better late than never.  I feel for Noah and Vivi Ann.  If I was in Vivi Ann's position I am not sure I would have been able to go through all of that.  I guess you don't know what you are made of until you are put to the test. 

All in all I liked the book.  It was a good read and a page turner for me.  I had a hard time putting it down.  However since it is a novel I did expect a happy ending and I got one.  Good things come to those who wait!

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

The Host
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been  invaded by a
species that take over the minds of their human hosts while  leaving
their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.
     
Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's
body, knew  about the challenges of living inside a human: the
overwhelming emotions, the  too vivid memories. But there was one
difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the  former tenant of her body
refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
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Amy's review:
Once again I did not read the preview about this book or google it to see what it was about.  I read it after I read the "Twilight" Series.  I'll write a seperate review on the "Twilight" series.
The first 100 pages of this book were hard for me.  I am not good with science fiction.  My husband is but I am not. I don't do Aliens or scary movies or anything that is related to that.  Once I got through the first 100 pages of this book my curiosity got the best of me.  I wanted to see what would happen plus I am a sucker for a good love story!  In the beginning of the book I struggled with the concept with two beings occupying the same body.  I couldn't wrap my brain around that concept.  It was too far out there.  I am not entirely sure why I perserved with this book other than I did and I am glad I did because I loved it and it was something totally out of my box.  If I would have read the inside jacket on this book, I am not sure I would have taken it home and read it.  I think reading and liking the "Twilight" series helped me with this.  I would recommend this book to anyone.  I am excited to see the movie when it comes out.

The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine

Batuk is a fifteen-year-old girl living in a brothel on Common Street in Mumbai, India.  The bright points in her life are her best friend, Puneet, a male prostitute living a few “nests” down from her in the same brothel, and a notebook which she keeps hidden away in a slit in her thin mattress. Her vivid imagination and knack for storytelling lead her to paint a world of cheerful descriptions of the ragged and decrepit room that she describes as an elaborately painted and decorated nest or cage and the sexual acts that she is forced to endure is misleadingly called making sweet cakes.  Over the course of the novel Batuk tells the story of how she was sold by her father  into prostitution as a nine-year-old to pay off unspecified family debts.
The proprietor of the brothel, Mamaki Briilla, drops a pencil and instead of returning it Batuk steals and hides it so that she can recount her early life, and the last day that she saw the family and the father she still misses after six years. Batuk is an emerging beauty and after one of her “customers” noticing this suggest her for a position outside the brothel walls, but is she better off facing a new situation or staying with the horror that she already knows?
James Levine does an amazing job getting us into the head of Batuk.  Though she has grown up with a family and has had to face the betrayal of those closest to her she tries to make the best of it and always see the beauty in the life despite her horrific circumstances.  Batuk weaves a world of beauty and exquisite stories out of the every day tragedy that is her life.  She creates a world that you want to believe in for her sake though it makes the crushing reality that she faces that much more difficult and painful to witness. The subject matter is dark and movingly in contrast to the light and engaging way that Batuk presents her narrative.
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Amy's Review:
If I had read the back of the book or googled this book on the internet and read some of the reviews about it, I am not sure I would have read it.  However I did read the book cover to cover and I had to read it in spurts.  The first 100 pages kept my curiosity and helped me keep going.  I was wondering the whole time what was going to happen next and what would happen to Batuk.  I had hopes that it was going to be one of those stories that started with tragedy and ends with a remarkable turnaround.  My hopes were dashed when I got to the end of the book.  I described this book to my fellow book club members as "graphic" because I couldn't think of a better word to describe it. Mostly I was speechless while I was reading the book.   Most of them didn't understand what I meant by graphic.  They were thinking of blood and gore.  We have 7 members in our book club and to my knowledge I am the only one that has read the book cover to cover.  In a way I am wishing that I hadn't read the book.  Specific scenes and the nature of those scenes linger in my mind.  In the last 100 pages  towards the end their is a scene that takes place in a hotel penthouse that has me realing. The violence reaches out and grabs you and doesn't let go.  It lingers long after you have returned the book to the library or to the shelf of your own private collection.  If I think too much about it, it makes me cry and to be come a hermit and not watch the news or read the newspapers because I know this stuff happens on a daily basis around the world.  I do have to say that I am glad though that someone had the courage in the book to defend Batuk and take matters into their own hands.  The book did wake me up to a sad reality though.  This does happen and it happens more than we know it does.  One of my fellow book club members pointed out that this happens at the Superbowl in whatever city it happens to be in.  High Rollers pay lots of money for child prostitutes to be present while watching the game.  When she told me that I got a sick feeling in my stomach.  I just can't wrap my head around how someone can do the things they do to an innocent child that doesn't know any better.  Being a mother of two my protective instincts kick into high gear when I read stuff like this and hear real life stories about the things that happen to kids. I also cannot understand how someone can sell their child for money.  Wouldn't the guilt just eat them alive?  And why in the word did you bring that child into this world if you were just going to end up discarding them like you do a shirt that is too small?After some thought and typing this review I would recommend this book to someone that has the stomach to read the details of child prostitution.  I would be curious to what they would say about this book.  If nothing else this book opens your eyes to something that happens every day, every hour and every minute whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
Below is what a fellow book club member said:
I read it too Amy.  Sadly, that is the difference between our world we live in, and the
world that people from other countries live in.  Family does not mean the
same thing to them as it does to us. Our children are the most valuable and
precious things in our lives.  But to someone such as Batuk's parents,
serviving means sacrificing what you have to, to do so. 
Below is what another fellow book club member said about this book:About the book, I wanted
to say that I didn't think the overall product made it worth the detailed
graphics. I am always open about reading anything and I'm glad I read it just
because — BUT it was so graphic, hard to imagine this stuff goes on — and of course
it does.

While I Am Falling by Laura Moriarty

In While I'm Falling, Laura Moriarty presents a compelling depiction of how one young woman's life changes when her family breaks up for good.

Ever since her parents announced that they're getting divorced, Veronica has been falling. Hard. A junior in college, she has fallen in love. She has fallen behind in her difficult coursework. She hates her job as counselor at the dorm, and she longs for the home that no longer exists. When an attempt to escape the pressure, combined with bad luck, lands her in a terrifying situation, a shaken Veronica calls her mother for help--only to find her former foundation too preoccupied to offer any assistance at all.

But Veronica only gets to feel hurt for so long. Her mother shows up at the dorm with a surprising request--and with the elderly family dog in tow. Boyfriend complications ensue, along with her father's sudden interest in dating. Veronica soon finds herself with a new set of problems, and new questions about love and independence.

Darkly humorous, beautifully written, and filled with crystalline observations about how families fall apart, While I'm Falling takes a deep look at the relationship between a daughter and a mother when one is trying to grow up and the other is trying to stay afloat.

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Amy's Review:

This was the book that we read for February and it was just okay for me.  I had higher hopes for it based on the description that I read above.  I will say that it did keep my curiosity.  I was constantly wondering what would happen next and how things would unfold.  I kept wondering what would happen to her and to her mom.  I was disappointed in the ending.  I expected learn more about what happened with Veronica and I didn't.  I suspected while reading the book that Veronica's mother would end up doing something with the school and I am happy that we found out at the end of the book.  Overall this book was a fairly easy read.