brooke_review's reviews
1223 reviews

Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

3.0

Didn't really go deep enough for me.
There were also several instances where you thought the story was going to go one way, but it took a different direction ... for the worse.
However, it was entertaining enough in its own way - its fault is that it could have been better.

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg

3.0

This story was a bit odd, and upon completion, I still was not exactly sure as to what had transpired. I also found the author's writing style to be a bit difficult to comprehend - I found myself rereading several sentences/paragraphs, grasping for understanding.
Other than that, it was an interesting enough read.

The Girls by Lori Lansens

4.0

Interesting and lyrical, this story gives the reader insight into what it would be like to have never truly had a second to yourself in your entire life. The descriptions of life as a conjoined twin captivated me. A fault would be that while beautifully written, some of the passages not directly related to the girls' "situation," were a little long and superfluous.

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

2.0

I am about halfway through this book, and am almost finding it intolerable. Why would the author waste such a huge part of the novel on the topic of researching for a book? Talk about boring! We want to know the story of Callie and what happened to her baby, but it seems that the main character can't even get close to figuring it out, so our odds of gaining insight are probably not that good. Also, it doesn't seem believable that the main character was ever friends with any of the other characters mentioned. It all feels forced. The only parts that have even been mildly entertaining are the pieces from the main character's memoir where we learn about her childhood.

Upon finishing the book, it let me down, as expected. The "mystery" just didn't live up to the hype.

Precious and Fragile Things by Megan Hart

3.0

I really liked this book at the beginning. I really wanted to like it more as the story progressed, but the problem that I encountered with this novel is that the story did not really go anywhere. We basically lived through the months in the cabin with Gilly and Todd ... it was boring in that cabin for them, and it was just as boring for us. I know that we were supposed to focus on the relationship between the two characters, but it wasn't quite believable. I am not sure of how I felt about their revelations either. And don't get me started on the ending - tragic, disturbing, and off-putting - which I am sure is what the author wanted, yet it didn't quite match the tone of the rest of the book.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

4.0

I found this novel to be rich and oddly comforting. It helps instill a belief that even when life ends so ugly and in tragedy, there might be something more beautiful waiting for us on the other side - that those who die, never really leave us. My main fault with the book is the part in which Susie "uses" Ruth's body to meet with Ray again - it was a little too far-out-there for me and didn't exactly jibe with the rest of the novel.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

4.0

I enjoyed this book, as I do with all of Jodi Picoult's novels. The one thing that bugged me is that none of the people close to Jacob wanted to take a hint & realize that he was trying to them that he actually didn't have anything to do with Jess's death. It is almost as if they never considered that, "hey, maybe he DIDN'T do it." No other possible explanation was allowed to be explored. I also had a bit of a problem with the ending, as it wasn't clear as to how it all turned out.

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

4.0

Kristin Hannah has a way of immersing the reader into the lives of her characters. Night Road does just that. The reader is taken on an engrossing, captivating journey along with the characters as they live through the twists and turns that life entails. The characters are painted true-to-life and practically leap off the page. I found myself crying more than once as I read this heart-wrenching novel.

The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein

4.0

I gave this book 4 stars, mainly because I appreciated the way the author exposed simple human truths throughout the story. It is as if the author rawly exposed us for who we really are. It was interesting to find out how all of the characters were going to be connected - you really have no idea where the story is going as you read it. Characters are thrown at you, and you find out how they are joined chapters later. That being said, it was also sometimes difficult to keep track of all the characters because there were so many. Lastly, the novel didn't really focus on "missing children" in the typical sense of the phrase, as you are led to believe it will from the book description.

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

3.0

Interesting enough, but nothing spectacular.