Turning Angel. Finished 1-24-18, rating 3/5, thriller, 644 pages, pub. 2005

Penn Cage books # 2 (1-The Quiet Game)

After winning the most dangerous case of his career, prosecutor Penn Cage decides to remain in his Southern hometown to raise his young daughter in a safe haven. But nowhere is truly safe — not from long-buried secrets, or murder….When the nude body of prep school student Kate Townsend is found near the Mississippi River, Penn’s best friend, Drew Elliott, is desperate for his counsel. An esteemed family physician, Drew makes a shocking confession that could put him on death row. Penn will do all he can to exonerate Drew, but in a town where the gaze of a landmark cemetery statue — the Turning Angel — never looks away, Penn finds himself caught on the jagged edge of blackmail, betrayal, and deadly violence.    from Goodreads

It’s been five years since we met Penn Cage and he’s settled back in his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi with his daughter and his parents.  He’s a prosecutor turned best selling author, but when his best friend is accused of murder he must step back into his lawyer role.  But his friend, a respected doctor, is accused of having an affair with a 17 year old golden girl and Penn knows innocence will be a hard sell.

Greg Iles knows how to tell a story, but geez, this one felt like he was working through some serious mid- life issues.  Penn’s best friend, 40ish, had a wife and small child and decided to embark on a sexual relationship with a 17 year old.  He also allowed her to go to notorious drug dealers to score drugs for his wife because she was an addict.  Oh, and she was valedictorian, cheerleader, two-sport starter, headed to Harvard in the fall and was into kinky sex with lots of partners, but ‘fell in love’ with Drew with her mother’s consent.  Okay.  So, after you swallow all of the justifications for sex with a minor BY HER DOCTOR, you must then come to terms with Penn’s high school babysitter being in love with him and he quite liking it.  He called her at all hours, at one point sat and scrolled through porn with her at a hotel in the middle of the night.  She, of course, came on to him, but he resisted…for a short time at least.

Anywho, the town was full of hot high school girls lusting after respected middle aged men (there were more) and it felt icky, like some sort of sick middle aged fantasy.  Iles is a skilled thriller writer and I like Penn and his family but this one did take the shine off a bit.  And I’m not even going to get into the drugs and those liberal Yankees.

Now that I’ve got all that off my chest you may wonder how I rated it a 3.  Well, Iles is good and I read over 600 pages of a book that make me roll my eyes more than once.  I’m just hoping that Penn can come to his senses in the next book.

Heat Wave. Finished 1-19-18, rating 3/5, fiction, pub. 2009

Unabridged audio read by Johnny Heller

Nikki Heat series book 1

New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy.
   Mystery sensation Richard Castle introduces his newest character, NYPD homicide detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, and professional, Nikki carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. She’s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York’s Finest. Pulitzer Prize winner Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. But his wisecracking and meddling aren’t Nikki’s only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.
   Castle, the hit ABC television series, premiered in March 2009. The main character, Richard Castle, is the bestselling mystery author of the critically acclaimed Derrick Storm novels. The hard-nosed but sexy Detective Kate Beckett, with whom Castle is paired up, provided the inspiration for Nikki Heat.    from Goodreads

I’ll keep this one short and sweet.  If you, like me, loved the TV show Castle (2009-2016) then you will most likely enjoy this mystery written by the fictional hero of the series, Richard Castle.  The mystery was good, but I had the most fun picturing the beloved cast as I listened.  It was perfect car listening since it was easy to follow along but also entertaining.  I see the series continues and while it wouldn’t be my first choice I’m not against giving book 2 a listen someday.

  Miss seeing these two onscreen together.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. Finished 1-6-18, 4.25/5, YA, pub, 2017

Unabridged audio read by Kyla Garcia. 9 hours 41 minutes.

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?     from Goodreads

I don’t read a lot of YA books, but last year The Hate U Give ended up being a favorite and this one, a National Book Award for Young People Finalist, also satisfied my desire to learn about American lives so different from my own.  Julia, a Mexican-American teen in Chicago, lost her sister to a freak accident and she struggles in the aftermath.  Her sister was the perfect one, going to community college while living at home, and when she died Julia’s mother lost it.  Julia is trying to understand her older sister after the fact and it leads her to surprising answers.

Julia is a teenager with some issues and she was trying at times, yet she did grow on me.  I had sympathy for her cockroach infested apartment (been there and it was disgusting) and her embarrassment over being poor when she met a boy she was interested in, but it wasn’t until she was sent back to her family in Mexico for a visit that I began to really root for her.  Julia is a memorable teen and I have high hopes for her future as a writer and for a relationship with Connor, her first love 🙂  I wouldn’t mind a follow up book at all!

This is an immigrant story, Julia’s parents are undocumented and used a coyote to cross the border, a mystery when she discovers her perfect sister had a secret, and a coming of age story with a heroine full of angst and mental health issues.  This really is a relatively quick read that delves into many issues that will keep you engaged.  I really liked this one.