Readers Digest Select Editions #4

There was an old Woman

by: Hallie Ephron

When her mom falls ill and is hospitalized, Evie Ferrante returns to her childhood home to help out. What she discovers is shocking. The house is in total disrepair, filled with junk, unopened mail, and, strangely, a new flat-screen TV. Searching for answers, Evie turns to Mina, the feisty nonagenarian next door. Together, the two dig for clues and uncover disturbing evidence that all is not well in Higgs Point, New York.

I had to look up this word, I had no idea what it meant.

(nonagenarian: a person who is from 90-99 years old.)

 I loved the Title of this book, it just sounded so creepy!! Well, the book was good, but not nearly what I was hoping for. I figured out what was going on pretty quick into the book, so the mystery wasn't that mysterious. I found myself skimming over paragraphs to get to the next part, so it had a hard time really holding my full attention. I liked the characters, the plot line was good, but I think it could have really been developed into more. So, all in all, just an OK book.

3 out of 5 rating.

Readers Digest Select Editions #3

Suspect

by: Robert Crais

LAPD cop Scott James has never recovered from the horrific night his partner was killed and he nearly died. He's unfit for duty-until he meets his new parter. Maggie, a valiant military dog, isn't doing well either ager losing her handler to a sniper in Afghanistan. Scott and Maggie have a lot in common. And they are each other's last chance.

There wasn't too much that was original in this story. Cop gets hurt, loses his partner, crime doesn't get solved. Months later he gets back on active duty and tries to solve the crime. Yeah, I've read it before. But the one thing different about this story was the addition of the dog Maggie as his new partner. Reading about how Maggie lost her first partner in Afghanistan and how she suffered from it was really touching. I love reading about how loyal a dog can be. So, while the story was otherwise just ok, I loved the story of Scott and Maggie.  Wasn't a book I was trying to rush through to find out the ending.

3 out of 5 rating.

Readers Digest Select Editions book #2

Blackberry Winter

By: Sarah Jio

A May snowstorm doesn't look like much of a story for journalist Claire Aldridge. But things have not been going well for her lately, and maybe there's something in it to get her back on her feet. Like the disappearance of a young boy on just such a story night 80 years ago. Where did he go? Why did it happen? Solving the mystery from the past could be the key to solving her problems in the present.

My review:

I read this book in one day. Not that it was the greatest book I've ever read, but the whole mother/child thing really hits home with me. The book is written back and forth between two women, Vera-the mom from the 1930's whose 3 year old son goes missing, and Claire-the journalist from now who finds the story and starts to investigate it. Claires marriage is struggling after her 8 month miscarriage, which also pulled me in. A mother losing a child in any way tugs at my heart. The whole book I just wanted to know what had happened to this little boy. The story was good, you really get the feel of the characters and I just kept on reading until 1 am in the morning when I finished. I would like to look for other books by this author. It was a fast, easy read but one that kept my attention through the whole book.

4 out of 5 rating.

Readers Digest Select Editions

For as long as I can remember, my mom has gotten these readers digest every other month. It is a great way to read books you might not have read otherwise, and find new authors. Each book contains 4 books, all in condensed version. I have read a regular book once and the condensed version, and I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Each book  usually contains a love story, a human interest story, a mystery of some kind and then some kind of a crime novel. My mom and dad get them, read them and then pass them on to me. Last year I had a yard sale and seriously had over a 100 readers digest books to sell. :) I love them. So, my next 4 reviews will probably be about these 4 books, unless I take a break to read a different book in-between, which is not unusual, since I never know what kind of book is going to be calling out to me next.

After reading my last 2 reviews, I decided that I will start with the book description that accompanies each book, and then I will give my own opinion. I have discovered that I have a hard time putting into words what each book is about. 

1/25/14

Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

by: Mary Simses

Ellen Bradford has come to the small town of Beacon, Maine, to fulfill her grandmother's dying wish to deliver a letter to the man she loved so long ago. Ellen plans to return to Manhattan where she belongs as soon as she finds him. Except that one thing after another seems to conspire to keep her up there, learning more about her grandmother, and ultimately, herself.

My Review:

Ok, this book totally fell flat for me. I usually love these kinds of stories. People going off and finding out something about themselves that they never knew before. In this case, Ellen almost drowns at the beginning of the book and is rescued by a handsome guy, and she starts questioning her engagement to her fiance Hayden.  There wasn't much about this book that drew me in. The characters weren't developed well, I didn't come to know them and love them like I wanted too. The author rushed through the story and didn't delve into so many things that she could have. I was pretty disappointed.  It had the potential to be such a sweet love story, but its like the author was too busy trying to just write the thing instead of putting life into it. There is rarely ever a book I wish I hadn't read, I love to read all books and then move on, and once in a while you will get a book that will stay with you forever.

But this was not that book. If someone gives it to you or its free on Kindle, go ahead and spend a day reading it, but don't rush out to buy it.

my rating 2.5 out 5.

Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children

It took me a few minutes to decide to even buy this book. I couldn't decide if it sounded like a good read, or just plain weird. I finally decided to pick it up and give it a try after reading some good reviews on it.
The main character of this book is Jacob. He grew up listening to his grandfather talk about an orphanage he was sent to as a child, his family was Jewish and his parents sent him away to try to save him. He tells Jacob these incredible stories about the other children in the orphanage and even has weird photographs of them all. A girl levitating. An invisible boy. As he gets older he believes that his grandpa is just making this all up, and that none of it is true. When he is 16 his grandpa dies in a terrible way, and Jacob see's something that he doesn't know if its real. His grandpas last words send him to the island where the orphanage is. Jacob had found a letter from the head of the orphanage, Miss Peregrine, that is only 15 years old. He is wondering if anyone from the orphanage is still alive.  When him and his dad get to the island, Jacob goes looking for the orphanage and finds that it is completely destroyed, and that it was destroyed by a bomb during WWII in Septmeber of 1940, his grandpa was the only one who made it out alive. But Jacob is wondering how Miss Peregrine had sent a letter to his grandpa just 15 years before.
I don't want to give too much of the book away, I really enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book, but the last 1/4 wasn't as good. I didn't like quite how much fantasy it turned into. There is a sequel to it called Hollow City, and I haven't decided yet if I will read it. I am sure eventually I will, but its not one of those books that you are running out to buy as soon as you finish the first one. The cool thing about this book is that it is full of the strangest pictures, and they are all real.
There was quite a bit of swearing in this book, but never the "F" word, so I have to rate it a mild PG-13 because of that. I give it rating of 3 out of 5.

Flowers for Algernon

This is a book about 32 year old mentally retarded Charlie Gordon. He has always wanted to be smart. So he is chosen to be the first human to be given a scientific experiment brain surgery to see if they can increase his IQ. The experiment has first been done on a mouse named Algernon with amazing results. So Charlie gets the surgery and his IQ starts to increase rapidly. The whole book is written in the form of Charlie writing in his journal and you can see his progression even through his spelling and how he talks. But as he gets smarter he starts to see that the people he thought were his friends aren't. It is very sad to see him start to realize how people really treated him. And even though he is getting smarter, soon he is smarter than the doctors he is working with, he is still very stunted emotionally. Then Algernon starts to fail, and everyone wonders if the same thing will happen to Charlie. 

I really enjoyed this book, even though a lot if it made me very sad. It was written in 1959 so I was surprised that it is still a pretty popular book. There is some talk of sex and mature stuff, because Charlie is coming to learn about that kind of stuff. I would rate it a mild pg-13. It is a pretty easy and fast read and I give it 3.5 rating out of 5.