Rating so far 4/5, current events, 441 pages

When I was offered the chance to read this book for the TLC book tour I jumped at the chance.  I follow the news fairly voraciously (at least I did before Gage was born) and I was interested in the four stories this book covers: Martha Stewart, Scooter Libby, Barry Bonds, Bernie Madoff.  I knew the most about Libby and Madoff.  I am embarrassed to say that I am only halfway through the book, so I will write about the first two cases today and you can come back on Friday for the last two and my final thoughts.

To lie, or not to lie, that is the question.  In my humble opinion, which is also the law of the land, it is illegal to lie to the police or government officials.  Stewart, a Pulitzer Prize winner, argues that these high-profile cases show how morally corrupt we’ve become.  In so many instances the lying and cover-up is so much worse than the crime.

Martha Stewart was and is a successful businesswoman.  She was and is a woman who lied and to presecutors and got an assistant to erase an incriminating email.  She was first investigated for insider trading, but they couldn’t prove that.  Had she not lied she never would have gone to prison, end of story.  I am not a Martha fan, don’t watch her show or read her books or magazines, but I have purchased her products and liked them very much.  Only now I’d think twice.  Not only is she not a very nice person, but to maintain that you are innocent against clear facts otherwise is insulting to my intelligence.

The Scooter Libby case is one that I was the most familiar with and so I was surprised that of all the myriad of people involved in this story he was the one I felt the most sympathy for, maybe because he got thrown to the wolves.  The case stemmed from a Novak article that gave the name of a CIA agent (Valerie Plame).  This is illegal.  He had two sources who in the course of the investigation outed themselves, Richard Armitage and Karl Rove.  They broke the law.  What happened to them?  Nothing.  President Bush said he would fire anyone who leaked information and even when Karl Rove admitted he was one of the leakers, President Bush kept him in the White House.  I remember being disgusted by it at the time and still am.  So, if these were the main culprits why did Libby get in trouble?  Because he lied to investigators.  Or at the very least has a very, very bad memory which is hard to believe of someone of his success.  The rule breakers got away with it, but the liar did not.

I have taken two main points from the first half of the book.  This book is for detail oriented readers and will appeal to them best.  There are lots of details and they sometimes repeat themselves a few times in a few different recollections. The second and most sad for me is that people don’t seem to be swayed by the truth.  Do they like the fact that you bake a pretty cake on tv?  Then you are being railroaded.   Are you a Republican or Democrat?  Because whatever I’m not is wrong 100% of the time.  Both of these drive me crazy.  You are allowed to still like a person if they broke the law, but please don’t make excuses for them.

Part 2 reviewed here.

This book was sent to by the publisher for this book tour.

James’ Tour Stops

Wednesday, May 11th: Take Me Away

Thursday, May 12th: Laura’s Reviews

Tuesday, May 17th: Power and Control

Tuesday, May 17th: Marathon Pundit

Wednesday, May 18th: Man of La Book

Wednesday, May 25th: Stacy’s Books

Wednesday, June 1st: Bibliophiliac

Monday, June 13th: Lisa Graas

Tuesday, June 14th: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

Wednesday, June 15th: Deep Muck Big Rake

Finished 4-14-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 318 pages, pub. 2001

There were worse reasons to keep a person hostage.  You keep someone always for what he or she is worth to you, for what you can trade her for, money or freedom or somebody else you want more.  Any person can be a kind of trading chip when you find a way to hold her.  So to hold someone for song, because the thing longed for was the sound of her voice, wasn’t it all the same?  The terrorists, having no chance to get what they came for, decided to take something else instead, something that they never in their lives knew they wanted until they crouched in the low, dark shaft of the air-conditioning vents: opera.  They decided to take that very thing for which Mr. Hosokawa lived.

Chapter 3

Terrorists of an unnamed South American country invade a party held at the home of the vice-president so they can kidnap the president.  Only the president did not attend and the terrorists are left with a house full of hostages and no way out.  There were too many hostages so they let all of the women go, save one, the world renown soprano Roxane Coss.  Now they are left with 59 men and one women and little chance of success.  When the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, the line between hostage and terrorist is blurred.

All of the men, terrorists included, fall in love with Roxane and her golden voice.  She sings every day for the house.  Mr. Hosokawa feels responsible since the party was held in his honor and he requested Roxane even though they had never met.  Since this house is full of important men, from all over the world, it is Mr. Hosokawa’s translator, Gen, who becomes the most important person in the house.  He spends his days having conversations for people and becomes indispensable to the terrorists as they negotiate with the Red Cross.

There are lots of characters in the house and it was confusing at first.  Actually I tried to listen to the audio, but then switched to paper and had better luck keeping everyone straight.  Each character had an important role in the house, but that didn’t mean I really cared about the characters, at least at first.  It is a slow read until the last third.  They were held hostage for so long with nothing happening except the forming of relationships that it took me a while to really get engaged in the story.  I was actually ready for it to be over and them, wham, the end comes and it was poignant, shocking in its speed and left me considering, even the day after.  I loved it.  For me, the ending saved the book from an average rating. 

I don’t want to give the impression that the first two-third of the book was completely boring, it wasn’t, bit it made me take my time and sometimes I got impatient.  The opera played a  huge part in the story.  It was used to inspire, to heal, and to comfort and I think music lovers will appreciate the story.

This is from my personal library chosen by Golda and Heather.  Here’s what Heather had to say…”I’m reading this right now, and it ’s great so far.”

Finished 4-6-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 304 pages, pub. 2011

Three generations of women living together could be a reason to celebrate and appreciate, but not in Joanie’s house.  She’s recently divorced with a teenage daughter and a judgemental mother forced to live with her because of the recession.  Joanie is  the glue and that’s not saying much since she and her mother spend ample time not speaking to each other.  She is struggling with a new job and a daughter with pink hair.  Oh yeah, and her ex-husband is expecting a baby with his much younger girlfriend. 

Mary Margaret was the kind of friend she laughed and gossiped and drank with, though.  She wouldn’t be interested in Joanie’s doubts about herself.  You had different friends for different facets of your life, Joanie supposed.  There were friends you talked to and friends you listened to.  It was a rare friendship that combined both.

page 13

Caroline is your typical teen, struggling with popularity, unrequited love, trying drugs and, yes, serving said drugs to her grandmother.  She was my favorite character.

There was something sobering about being listened to and treated with respect by an adult.  But it reminded Caroline of something she didn’t really want to know: She was a small actor in a big world of many people.  Her own worldview-dominated by herself and her misery and her inadequacies and her crazy family-wasn’t the way other people viewed life.  She might be smaller and less significant than she ever wanted to know.

page 215

Ivy is easy to dislike.  She is prejudiced, judgemental, and a cold fish.  She doesn’t even bother calling her granddaughter by her name, preferring to refer to her as the girl.  I spent most of the time really disliking her, but I won’t tell you if she redeems herself, you’ll have to read it to find out.

Suddenly, Ivy missed the company of someone who had known her for years.  Who had seen her hair grow gray, then white.  Who had watched her middle thicken, and her shoes turn lower and stockier.  Someone who knew who she used to be and how she’d come to be what she was.  Someone who knew she  hadn’t started out like this; she had once been someone else, someone vibrant and energetic.

page 106

This is an easy to read book about people who you’ll recognize.  Although it dealt with weighty issues, it never became a heavy book.  It managed to maintain its light feel while still touching you.  My only disappointment was that the end seemed to just peter out.  It really needed more of a conclusion, or if you are going by the title, a breakthrough.  It was still a very enjoyable book.

This was graciously sent to be by PR by the Book

Finished 3-17-11, rating 4/5, romance, 379 pages, pub. 2011

Book 9 in the Francesca Cahill series  (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6) (Book 7) (Book 8)

“You are assuming that our relationship was founded on love.”  He stared.  “Let me offer some advice-you do not want to have this discussion with me.”

No one could miss the warning in  is tone.  Her heart with more alarm, more fear.  “I never meant to stand you up!”

His gaze finally flickered.  “It is for the best.”

She cried out “What?  I love you.  Missing my wedding was not for the best!”

“Good day, Francesca.”  He sat abruptly down, pulling a folder forward.

Chapter 4

Francesca Cahill, blueblood and sleuth, is lured away on her wedding day by someone intent on destroying her relationship with finance, Calder Hart.  She was told she’d finally find her portrait, a nude, but she escaped without it and in 1902 New York City society a nude portrait would ruin her and devastate her family.  When Calder realizes that she left him at the altar his pride is hurt and he thinks she has had second thoughts.  These insecurities feed into his fear that she will always love his brother best and he ends their engagement.

Francesca is a great character, full of smarts and spunk and loyalty.  Calder is a great hero, dark, flawed, and dangerous.  I love the two of them together although his reaction after being jilted at the altar felt like I’d read it before in the series.  A couple can only go back and forth so long before something’s got to give.  I was worried that the whole story would feel done already, but the story recovered and took off.  Rick, Francesca’s good friend and Calder’s half-brother, is police commissioner and the three of them race to find Francesca’s portrait before it becomes public.  It seems like more people know of its existence than should.

It was nice to have the gang all back for this one even if none of them were really a focus like they’ve been in past books.  It was nice to see Francesca’s brother, Evan, start to admit his feelings for the poor widow and mother, Maggie and confront his ex-mistress.  This was a good contribution to the series, but not my favorite.

This is from my personal library.

Finished 2-25-11, rating 4/5, mystery, 341 pages, pub. 2010

She had to get out.  She realized that the hum of the motor must be from the freezer she’d seen earlier, which meant the power was back on.  She twisted her head back and forth and commanded the rest of her body to move.  Her legs still felt leaden, like metal drums filled to the brim, but she was able to move one of her arms-the right one.  She flexed her right hand slowly open and closed.

Then there was another noise-from far above this time.  Footsteps.  And next a door opening.  Terror flooded her body, like a warm liquid oozing through her.

The killer was coming to get her

Prologue

Lake is waist deep in a nasty custody battle for her kids who are away at camp for the summer when she decides to have a little fun for the first time since her divorce and have a one night stand.  The only problem is that while Lake dozed on his terrace someone came into the apartment and murdered him.  Since he was a doctor at the fertility clinic she was working at the police asked a lot of questions.  And this was before the late night phone calls and her suspicions about the fertility clinic came up.

This was fast paced and had so many angles that is was a fun thrill ride for me.  There was more than one crime Lake was in the middle of with suspects to spare.  I will say the one part that was hard for me to read was when Smokey the cat was targeted.  It was very upsetting for me and for Lake!  Lake was a good character and I liked her, but the other characters could have been more fully flushed out. 

This was a great book if you want a fast and entertaining read, especially one that brings New York City to life.  The allegations involving the fertility clinic are timely and scary.  If you are currently involved with fertility clinics you may want to skip this one for now. 

I love Kate White’s Bailey Weggins series and this was a great first stand alone thriller.  She really captures living and working in NYC as well as anyone.  The end did feel a bit rushed, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

This book was from my personal library and I read this for the TLC Book Tour.  Other stops on the tour…

Tuesday, February 1st: Colloquium
Wednesday, February 2nd: It’s All About Books
Monday, February 7th: Reviews from the Heart
Tuesday, February 8th: Teresa’s Reading Corner
Monday, February 14th: Sara’s Organized Chaos
Wednesday, February 16th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Monday, February 21st: Life In Review
Tuesday, February 22nd: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Wednesday, February 23rd: After ‘I Do’
Thursday, February 24th: Rundpinne
Monday, February 28th: Life in the Thumb
Tuesday, March 1st: Alison’s Book Marks

Finished 1-1-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 166 pages, pub. 2010

“So she sent it off with a hope and a prayer that the snow globe will work a holiday  miracle for someone new.”  He cocked an eyebrow.  Would you say you qualify?”

No boyfriend, no job?  “I’d say I’m overqualified.”  Kiley looked at the little globe sitting on its ornate base.  Costly as it was, she was sure it was underpriced.  Even if it had gone for a small fortune at some fancy auction house it probably would have been underpriced.  It symbolized hope, and how did you put a price tag on hope?

Chapter 1

Kiley walks into an antique shop when on vacation with her girlfriends and walks out the proud owner of a magical snow globe.  This snow globe has been passed down from one generation to the next by its maker so that they would see their future.  Kiley shakes it and sees a toy store with a man standing at the door.  When she tracks down the toy store there is, in fact, a man there, and a good-looking one at that.   Kiley gave it to Suzanne next who did not believe in the miracle snow globe until the wife and mother not only got a miracle but she learned a little about herself on the process.  Last of the friends to receive the globe was Allison and she was a believer until months went by with nothing to show for it.

I thought Kiley and Suzanne’s stories were great.  All three of the friends was expertly drawn for the reader, surprising in such a short book.  I was entertained and drawn in for the few hours I sat down with this one.  Only Allison’s story left me unimpressed.  For some reason I just couldn’t make myself care about it.

I accepted this from the publicist because I loved the cover.  It is actually more pretty when it’s in your hands and if you combine that with its sweet story you have a perfect gift.  It doesn’t have to be Christmas.  As long as there is snow outside I think this would be a great gift.  I”m not a big reader of Christmas fiction, but this one convinced me that I will definitely be reading Sheila Roberts again.

Finished 12-12-10, rating 4/5, mystery, pub. 2004

They both pulled out their notepads.  Regan wrote across the top of the paper, “Murder List” and underlined the words twice.  Underneath she wrote, “People I Want Dead.”  Now what?  Stalling for time, she tapped her pen against the folder until the man in front of her turned and frowned.

Chapter 10

Regan is a successful hotel heiress with three older brothers and two very best friends, all hot, of course.  She is leading a charmed life until one silly exercise while helping a friend turns into a nightmare.  She makes her Murder List and then the people on it start showing up dead and she is put under police protection.  Enter the very sexy detective assigned to her, Alec, who can’t believe his good luck in guarding someone like Regan.

I liked this book a lot because it was fun and entertaining.  I finished the last page satisfied.  The chracters were likeable and each had their own story.  I wouldn’t mind reading more about each of the brothers.  The two best friends too could use their own stories.

It is only now that I’m typing this that I realize there were quite a few aspects that could have been better.  I wish we’d spent a little more time in the mind of the killer and the execution of the list was not exactly edge of your seat entertainment.  So, if you are looking for a light read with some mystery and romance this is a good one.  Anything more and you may want to skip it.

This is from my personal library.