Category: 2 1/2 Stars or Less

Sarah’s Sin, by Tami Hoag

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Cover ImageFinished 10-29-08, rating 2/5, romance, pub. 1991

Dr. Matt Thorne recuperates from his injuries at his sister’s quaint inn in small town Minnesota.  While there a local Amish woman cares for him and sparks fly between Matt and Sarah.  She is a widow, not well educated, but loves to read and learn.  Matt is a big town doctor who charms women into his bed without much effort.  What will happen when they fall in love and Sarah has to choose between her family and Matt?

I found this romance tedious and very predictable.  It was full of the cliches that riddle bad romances – she walks in on him naked, he walks in on her naked, she needs to shave him because he is too weak to do so…  The book is only 246 pages and it did not really get interesting until the 200 mark.  She could have done so much more with the Amish aspect, but it came too late in the book.

I have read almost all of Hoag’s mysteries and enjoyed them all, but the two romances I’ve read have not been good.  So, even if you like her mysteries I caution you to not waste your time on the romances she wrote early in her career.  She’s gotten so much better since then.

I Married A Communist, by Philip Roth

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Finished 10-8-08, rating 2.5, fiction, pub. 1999

Nathan Zuckerman, the narrator from American Pastoral, is back and this time he is tackling the McCarthy era.  Nathan reconnects with his high school English teacher, Murray Ringold, after many years and the two reminisce  about that turbulent time in their lives.  Murray’s brother, Ira, was a famous radio actor back in the day and took Nathan under his wing.    Now that Ira is dead Nathan gets to find out everything he had not known about his mentor when he was younger.

Ira was a Jewish communist and marries a beautiful actress in hopes of living the American dream.  He had money, a beautiful wife, an expensive home, fans who loved him, and hopes for a child one day.  Instead he was thrust into an unsatisfying marriage that came with a troubled and spiteful step daughter.  When the marriage went south, his wife fingered him as a communist.

I really didn’t like this book much.  It lacked a story I cared about it.  I wasn’t drawn to the characters.  It made some fine points about that period in American history, but I found myself skimming paragraphs at a time.  I much preferred American Pastoral.  The next book for the class is The Human Stain.

Play Dirty, by Sandra Brown

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Cover ImageFinished audio 9-5-08, rating 2.5/5, fiction, pub. 2007

Millionaire and wheelchair bound Foster Speakman hires disgraced, fresh out of prison, ex-NFL star, Griff Burkett to ‘make his wife wife pregnant the old fashioned way’.  Laura, the wife, goes along with the plan and meets Griff monthly at a rented house to do the deed.  Laura loves her husband and her job at the Speakman’s airline.  Griff wastes no time in falling in love with Laura.  Griff also has a detective following him around trying to put him back in prison. 

This is the first Sandra Brown book that I have not liked.  None of the three main characters were appealing, even if she tried to make it so by the end, and the weak plot was very predictable.  I was listening to this in the car and in the time it took me to drive from one block to the next Griff and Laura were in love.  I thought I’d missed a cd or something, but no, it happened just as quick as that. 

If this had been the first Sandra Brown book I’d read I would not read another, but since I usually love her books I will put this in the miss column and consider it an anomaly.  Don’t bother with this one, choose another Brown book if you are a fan.

Shameless, by Tori Carrington

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Book CoverFinished 9-5-08, rating 1/5, romance?,  pub. 2008

“In this day and age, is it bad for a woman to yearn for some good, hot, anonymous sex?”  –opening line of the book

Um…I picked this Harlequin Blaze #377 up because I love the Sophie Metropolis series by this husband/wife writing team and was curious about their romances, they’ve written over 35.  So, as you can see from the opening line, the plot is thin.  Nina has two hot partners who also happen to be friends.  Nina has a problem confusing sex with love, so one of the guys suggests a night of anonymous sex with one of them.  She won’t know which because she will be blindfolded.

I’ve already given this more time than it deserves.  I’m sure people read the Harlequin Blaze series because they want sex, but I felt gross reading it.  But I do recommend the Sophie Metropolis series, it’s quite good.

Dear John, by Norma Betz

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Finished 7-18-08, rating 2/5, fiction, pub. 2008

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this free reviewer copy with the understanding that I would review it here.  I agreed because the story sounded interesting.  Susanna must go and take care of her deceased aunt’s estate and in the process learns a lot about herself through the letters she finds written by her ancestor, Abigail Adams.  She is joined on this journey by her best companion, her dog Quincy.  I love dogs and genealogy and thought this book would be right up my alley.  It was not.

I loved the idea of the story, but the execution wasn’t good.  My first problem came early on when I found the first notation to refer to the chapter notes at the end of the book.  There were many and they stopped the story and were totally unnecessary.  I’ve never seen it in fiction and there is a good reason why.  The clunky language was the main problem of the book.  The language was stilted and although the characters were fine, their language made them pretty boring. 

There were a few bright spots.  I loved Quincy and his relationship with Susanna.  Also, if you are interested in Abigail Adams you will probably like this better than I did.  It is filled with Abigail letters that I found myself skimming, but someone else may find very interesting.

This is her first book and she used an alternative publishing source, Authorhouse.  If you are interested in self-publishing your own book and would like me to send you this copy so that you can see the quality, leave and comment and I’ll get it to you.

The Author’s Toolkit, by Mary Embree

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Finished 6-18-08, non-fiction, rating 1.5/5, pub. 2000

This is a slight book that claims it is “a step-by-step guide to writing a book”, however if that is what you are looking for then this is not the book for you.  This is a book for someone who have zero knowledge of how a book gets published.  This is not a book to help you through the process of writing a book.  The second chapter on Researching is full of obvious suggestions like; use the internet, libraries, encyclopedias, almanacs, magazines, dictionaries, etc.  So, if you do not realize that the internet is there to help you, this is the book for you.

I could go on about some of the nuggets of wisdom contained in this book (“write from the heart” “show don’t tell”  or on letters to publishers “the print should be sharp and dark enough to read easily”), but I won’t.  The only chapter I found of any interest was Chapter 6 about Copyrights.  Also, I see that there is a revised edition that has 60 more pages.  I cannot say that I have any hope these extra pages will be helpful, but it’s possible.  Since I have nothing else to add except more complaints I think I’ll stop here.  If you are serious about writing and publishing a book, read Stephen King’s On Writing or even Walter Mosely’s This Year You Write Your Novel.

Magic, by Tami Hoag

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Cover ImageFinished 5-26-08, rating 2.5/5, romance, pub. 1990

Rachel has come home for the first time in five years to take of her mother, Addie, who is sick with Alzheimer’s disease.  She finds that Bryan is already living in the house, looking for ghosts.  Sparks fly and within 12 hours they are in love.  Although the focus is the love story, the relationship between Rachel and Addie is the most interesting.  There is a mystery thrown in, but not one that really mattered. 

 I started reading this a few months ago and completely lost interest, but for whatever reason decided I would finish it.  This book is sickeningly sweet, and not in a good way.  It seemed to repeat the same thoughts and feelings without much new to add.  I really enjoy Tami Hoag’s mysteries, but this is the first and maybe last of her romances I will read (unless of course I have another one hiding in that huge stack of books in my kitchen).

Gangsters and Goodfellas:The Mob, Witness Protection & Life on the Run by Henry Hill

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Book CoverFinished 5-4-08, rating 2.5/5, non-fiction, pub. 2004

The bestselling book Wiseguys and the movie Goodfellas was based on the life of ex-mobster Henry Hill.  This book is about his life, how he got caught, the witness protection program, his addictions and where he is now. 

I don’t like mob movies.  I know I’ve seen Goodfellas, but I’ve washed away the memories.  I know with the success of the Sopranos people seem to know more about the mob than they used to, but I’ve never seen it.  So, I actually learned quite a bit about the mob and what goes on and I did find it interesting.  I was more interested in his witness protection experience.  He admits to jerking around the Marshals and being a pain to the men protecting him.  After reading WITSEC I found his attitude a little disheartening, but I guess that’s because I sympathize with the law.

Hill seems to have built a life by people rewarding him for all the bad things he’s done.  The government still pays him to consult or something which I find maddening as a tax payer.  Judgment aside the book was entertaining.  It reads like he is sitting in front of you telling his story, sometimes straightforward and sometimes in circles.  If you are at all interested in this stuff you will probably like this book, but even if you find it a little repulsive you will not be bored.  Hill seems like quite a character.

The Metamorphosis & Other Stories by Franz Kafka

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The Metamorphosis - Franz KafkaThe Metamorposis. Finished 4-25-08, rating 2.5/5, fiction short stories, B&N edition 1996

Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a bizarre tale full of dark humor that sometimes had us laughing out loud.  Gregor is turned into an insect and forced to live out his days at the mercy of his horrified family. Jason was hoping for a little more closure I think.  I remember reading it in college and not liking it then and nothing this time changed my opinion.  Jason and I read this and a few of the others out loud to each other and were ambivalent.

There were a few stories in this collection that I enjoyed.  I enjoyed The Stoker, which I understand is the first chapter of his book Amerika.  A sixteen year old, Karl, made his way to Ellis Island and somehow managed to befriend a ship stoker who had grievances with authority.  Karl tried to aid him, but only managed to find himself the beneficiary of some very good luck.  I can see this as the beginning of an interesting novel.

We both enjoyed A Hunger Artist and I thought In the Penal Colony was very good.  These two stories had different things to say about death which I found thought provoking.  Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse People was enjoyable if a bit too long.  Before the Law was also interesting.

The rest of them I would have been happy to have not read at all.  The Judgement neither of us liked, although it was the one that led to the most discussion after.  The Country Doctor, An Old Leaf, and A Message From the Emperor were a waste of my time.

Chain Letter 2: The Ancient Evil, by Christopher Pike

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Cover ImageFinished 4-13-08, rating 2/5, YA, pub. 1992

This may seem like an odd book to review, but I read it on the airplane so here goes.

This book picks up a few months after Chain Letter ends.  Neil is dead and everyone believes that he was the Caretaker-the evil behind the letters they had all received.  The book begins as Fran receives a letter telling her she must drown her new puppy or she will be killed.  She ignores the letter and is beheaded.  Allison and Tony lose faith in each other and one falls prey to an evil force.

I remember reading the first book, Chain Letter when I was in eighth grade and loving it.  Christopher Pike was always a reading staple of mine, but this was not enjoyable.  The main themes of this were satanic worship and evil coming to life, which are not topics I find fun.