Did Not Finish: Mistress by James Patterson and David Ellis

Title: Mistress
Author: James Patterson and David Ellis
Rating: 1/5
Book: N/A
Pages: N/A
Total Pages: 18,907 pages
Version: Book
Next up: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I couldn’t get into this book. After two days of reading it and not being able to read more than a page or two before losing interest, I decided to add this book to my “did not finish” pile.

As with Patterson’s co-authored books, you can tell that Patterson did not write this book and instead, it was written by Ellis and I think it was the writing style that I didn’t like. It just seemed like the narrator was just letting off a constant stream of consciousness and not making any sort of point. Basically, when I was reading, it felt like I was reading something along the lines of: “I went to the store, then I got on my bike and drove down the road doing 60 miles/hour. Then I got off my bike and went into the library and checked out a book and then I got back on my bike and started to drive again only this time I was doing 70 miles/hour and SQUIRREL!!!! Then I kept driving and I stopped at another store….” etc.

I’m disappointed in this one because it actually sounded like a great premise for a book.

About the Book:

Ben isn’t like most people. Unable to control his thoughts, he’s a man consumed by his obsessions: cars, tennis, marathons, trains, yachts-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have.

When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben’s infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life.

But Ben quickly discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a dangerous double life. To her family, she’s a sweet Midwestern girl who helped her brother get clean. But in the political world of Washington DC, she’s a manipulative go-getter who uses her sexual prowess to get what she wants.

And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana’s illicit affairs.

 

No. 47 for 2013

Title: The Longest Ride
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Rating: 5/5
Book: 47/50
Pages: 398 pgs
Total Pages: 18,907 pages
Version: Book
Next up: Mistress by James Patterson and David Ellis

At first I didn’t think that I was going to like this book as the story jumped between characters and also involved flashbacks with Ira. However, when Luke was introduced to the story, I was a goner. I couldn’t put the book down.

This books is a typical Nicholas Sparks book but it is definitely worth the read! I’d love to see a follow up story to Luke and Sophia.

About the Book:

Ira Levinson is in trouble. At ninety-one years old, in poor health and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash. Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together – how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can’t possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local rodeo, a Wake Forest College senior’s life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death – loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans — a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he’s keeping doesn’t destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

No. 46 for 2013

Title: Forever, Interrupted
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating: 4/5
Book: 46/50
Pages: 352 pgs
Total Pages: 18,509 pages
Version: Book
Next up: The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

I saw this book at the bookstore and I really wanted to read it. While I’m glad that I didn’t buy the book and instead got it from the library, I found myself really enjoying the book. At first I wasn’t really fond of the linear story line where the author flips from past to present but once I got used to it I was fine. This was a great book about a whirlwind romance that ends just as fast and abruptly as it started. I would definitely recommend this one.

About The Book:

Elsie Porter is an average twentysomething and yet what happens to her is anything but ordinary. On a rainy New Year’s Day, she heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn’t expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Ben cannot even wait twenty-four hours before asking to see her again. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they’ve eloped.

Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. Elsie hears the sirens outside her apartment, but by the time she gets downstairs, he has already been whisked off to the emergency room. At the hospital, she must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met—and who doesn’t even know Elsie exists.

No. 45 for 2013

Title: The Never List
Author: Koethi Zan
Rating: 4/5
Book: 45/50
Pages: 303 pgs
Total Pages: 18,157 pages
Version: Book
Next up: Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid

While I really did enjoy this book, Always Watching didn’t grip me as much as Still Missing and Never Knowing did. There were parts of this book that seemed to drag on a bit and some that seemed a little unnecessary to the story but overall, it was a good read and I would recommend it to others.

About The Book:

For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the “Never List”: a list of actions to be avoided, for safety’s sake, at all costs. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism.

Ten years later, at thirty-one, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life, living as a virtual recluse under a new name, unable to come to grips with the fact that Jennifer didn’t make it out of that cellar. Now, her abductor is up for parole and Sarah can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends from jail.

Finally, Sarah decides to confront her phobias and the other survivors—who hold their own deep grudges against her. When she goes on a cross-country chase that takes her into the perverse world of BDSM, secret cults, and the arcane study of torture, she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.

No. 44 for 2013

Title: Always Watching
Author: Chevy Stevens
Rating: 4/5
Book: 44/50
Pages: 338 pgs
Total Pages: 17,854 pages
Version: Book
Next up: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

While I really did enjoy this book, Always Watching didn’t grip me as much as Still Missing and Never Knowing did. There were parts of this book that seemed to drag on a bit and some that seemed a little unnecessary to the story but overall, it was a good read and I would recommend it to others.

About The Book:

She helps people put their demons to rest.

But she has a few of her own…

In the lockdown ward of a psychiatric hospital, Dr. Nadine Lavoie is in her element. She has the tools to help people, and she has the desire—healing broken families is what she lives for. But Nadine doesn’t want to look too closely at her own past because there are whole chunks of her life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her recurrent claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway who has been on the streets for seven years.

When a distraught woman, Heather Simeon, is brought into the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels with her own life. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her traumatic childhood, and the damage that began when she and her brother were brought by their mother to a remote commune on Vancouver Island. What happened to Nadine? Why was their family destroyed? And why does the name Aaron Quinn, the group’s leader, bring complex feelings of terror to Nadine even today?

And then, the unthinkable happens, and Nadine realizes that danger is closer to home than she ever imagined. She has no choice but to face what terrifies her the most…and fight back.

Sometimes you can leave the past, but you can never escape.

No. 43 for 2013

Title: The City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Rating: 4/5
Book: 43/50
Pages: 485 pgs
Total Pages: 17,516 pages
Version: Book
Next up: Always Watching by Chevy Stevens

August 2013 Review

I am doing a re-read of this book as I want to read the other books in the series and as I have read this book two years ago, I need to refresh myself as to what happened. Also, I have plans to see the movie in the theater which is another reason I am doing the re-read.

Same review applies as below.

July 2011 Review

There were things that I did and did not like about this book.

I did like the character, Jace. He’s complicated. He has angst and he’s a pretty cool character.

Clary…..she kind of reminds me of Bella Swan but I’m not going to pass judgment until I read book two.

The writing was what irked me the most. I know the author is a fan fiction writer and it is my opinion that you can tell. The writing, at times, felt like nothing more than glorified fan fiction.

About The Book:

When Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club  in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder. Much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with odd markings. This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons-and keeping the odd werewolves and vampires in line. It’s also her first meeting with gorgeous, golden-haired jace. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in an ordinary mundane like Clary? And how did she suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…..