Day: April 17, 2008

The Third Heiress, by Brenda Joyce

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Cover ImageFinished 4-12-08, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 1999

 Jill is a lonely woman who meets the man of her dreams and he asks her to marry him.  Ecstatic, Jill is unprepared for him to have second thoughts and the worst happens.  Hal dies because of Jill.  Jill flies his body back to London to his super wealthy  family and is greeted with disdain.

So, begins the mystery of what Hal had meant with his last words whispered to Jill.  She is obsessed with finding the truth and finds an ally in Hal’s cousin, Alex.  She packs up her life in New York to move to London to uncover secrets Hal’s family would rather leave buried.  Alex is the hero or the villain and Hal turns out to be no prince charming.  The pages turned fast because I wanted to know what was what.

I love Brenda Joyce, which should be evident by now since this is her third book I’ve read this year.  To me this felt like a departure for her and not her best work.  It was a bit disjointed, but with that being said I really did enjoy it.  The mystery will keep you reading even if you think you’ve got it figured out because there are so many little questions you need answered.  This is more mystery than romance, but if you are open to that I think you’ll like it.

The Greatest Miracle In The World, by Og Mandino

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Cover ImageFinished 4-3-08, rating 2.5/5, fiction, pub. 1983

This was my first and most probably my last Og Mandino book.  It was sweet, preachy, and a little dated.  I think the sentiment was good and did enjoy Chapter 9, The God Memorandum.  The problem was the eight chapters leading up to it were not my cup of tea.  The story was that Og met God in the flesh and God gave him a memo to print for the world.

The four laws of happiness and success according to God?  1. Count your blessings.  2. Proclaim your rarity.  3. Go another mile.  4. Use wisely your power of choice.  These are rules to live by, but it was one chapter.  The only thing that kept me reading to Chapter 9?  The book is only 98 pages.

I finished this on our layover at JFK on the way to Italy.  I left it on a chair, so I have passed on the God Memorandum to someone bored at the airport and now to you.