House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Guilty Pleasure

Told in true Picoult fashion, alternating chapters by each of the main characters and extensive research into the subject matter - Asperger's syndrome.

I was drawn to the entire Hunt family and while the ending was a little disappointing I still thoroughly enjoyed this story and the depiction of the criminal justice system.

It's not my favorite Picoult novel, but a good one, as always.

Quotes:  "When someone dies, it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out.  You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all the nerves are still a little raw."

"Rest easy, real mothers.  The very fact that you worry about being a good mom means that you already are one."

Cross Fire  -   James Patterson
                 Guilty Pleasure

  This is what James Patterson does best , the Alex Cross series.

Alex is getting married and his nemesis, Kyle Craig is back. If you have read other Alex Cross books,  you will know that Kyle Craig is one sick, twisted bad guy!!!!!

This time Kyle had some major plastic surgery done and looks like an FBI agent and is actually helping Alex solve a series of killings.   Lots of twist and turns in the true Patterson way which makes for an entertaining read. 



                 
    

      

Help for the Haunted   -    John Searles
                  new  author

There was a lot of hype about this book being a terrifying ghost story, an edge-of -your-seat thriller.  A book that you would be afraid to read alone.  Boy, was I disappointed!!!!  I was not disappointed in the book, it was still a good read, but because of what I was expecting so I did not enjoy it as much as I though I would.

                          So the book is really about a young girl who witness the murder of her parents. Parents who help people who feel they are haunted by lost souls. Her mother has a bit of the gift and her father plays the crowds because of that gift.  In her quest to discover who murdered her parents and why they were killed, she discovers a family secret. 

The Circus in Winter  -  Cathy Day
         Debut Novel

Okay, normally I love books with elephants in them but this book was a little depressing.  Yes, there was a lovely elephant names Ceasar but the people were not very nice to him. So that made it hard for me to read.
"                        This story was written in the form of short stories with a common theme of the circus. The author had a wonderful way of piecing them all together which made it seem like a well written novel. I enjoyed the descriptive scenes of the circus and meeting all of the lonely, depressed and sometimes drunk people. One man's epitaph read " May all your days be circus days ".  In my opinion, that is not necessarily all good thing.

I did like the quote from Ollie the Clown who says "I just can't be funny any more, I might as well get married".  Now that is funny!!!!