New Blog at http://DreamWorldBooks.com/

Going forward, I will no longer be using WordPress as my blog host. Please come read my reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com/!

Thanks and have a wonderful day!

The Cradle Robbers by Ayelet Waldman

This particular book didn’t entertain me much, and I was severely disappointed enough to the point where I have decided I will no longer continue on with the series after the next one (since I already own it).

Waldman’s The Cradle Robbers had Juliet investigating a case involving an infant disappearing while its mother was still in prison. The story and the mystery itself was just boring and uninteresting, and there were not enough characters and suspects in the book to make it fun to solve. The book had zero suspense and even no humor this time around. I spent more time being appalled at how disgusting Juliet was throughout the book versus anything directly involving the plot.

The first chapter reveals to us how Juliet has not replaced a bed mattress that comes with their new house, and how their infant daughter has red spots all over her body due to the disease-ridden, bug-infested bed. Instead of being able to relate to Juliet as a mother myself, I found her habits disgustingly lazy. Other low points in the book featured how Juliet decided to let her infant sleep in poopy diapers, as well as recycling old milk bottles lying around the house. I may not be the most pristine, cleanest person on the planet, but even I wouldn’t stoop that low with taking care of my own son’s health.

I also felt very sorry for Juliet’s husband Peter, who works so hard to please her throughout the book between cooking dinner and taking care of the three children while Juliet gallivants around California working a case she is not getting paid to do. I strongly disagree with Juliet and her idiotic friends when they discuss how marriage, mothering, and sex just cannot simultaneously work together. Of course it can! You just need to have energy and not be so lazy! I’m lazy and I can get it done!

I only finished this book because it was short and I have one more after this to go in the series. I plan on not pursuing any future installments. Boooo!

Scared Stiff by Ramsey Campbell

This book was absolutely terrible and I couldn’t finish it. Ramsey Campbell’s Scared Stiff is a compilation of short stories he wrote that combine elements of horror and sex.

The book is prefaced by an introduction by Clive Barker, which will give the impression that great reading is ahead. The writer’s grammar style is archaic and doesn’t flow, making it hard to follow.

The first story entitled “Dolls” is about a coven of witches that engage in ritualistic orgies, and are inadvertently involved in the church. It was boring and unoriginal. I didn’t feel that beginning the book with a story rich in religious undertones was a great way to grab a common audience.

Best of luck to the person that decides to read this book.

Aphrodite by Russell Andrews

Wow, this book was definitely one of those “hidden-gem” books that sat on my bookshelf for way too long before I decided to read it.

Russell Andrews’ Aphrodite is a cleverly written suspense novel that combines stem-cell research, the pharmaceutical industry, and conspiracy involving the government wanting to keep it all a secret. At the novel’s beginning, we are introduced to a few characters of vastly different personas and a brief background on each before they are murdered. Readers are let on to a mysterious entity called Aphrodite, which we learn is what is causing people to be killed.

Into the story walks hard-core detective Justin Westwood, who flees with the witness of one of the murders now that the government wants to permanently silence them with their knowledge of Aphrodite.

This book was written extremely well because it was VERY suspenseful and kept me on my toes. I couldn’t put it down and read it in a matter of hours. Westwood’s character was clever and straight to the point, which enhanced the action in the book. There was no fluff to letting bad guys live; they were simply killed by Westwood because they were bad, evil people. After readers get to know Susanna’s character at the beginning of the book and the mystery around William Miller, we are immediately hooked and intrigued for the novel’s remainder.

Other highlights of the book for me were relating to Wallace Crabbe’s frustration at details being overlooked by companies and people in general in this day and age. I also found Andrews’ conspiracy theory about the government and pharmaceuticals absolutely brilliant. An entire chapter was dedicated to this breakdown at the end of the book, and I devoured that chapter like none other.

I have put Andrews’ other two books following this novel on my wish list, all featuring Justin Westwood. Great reading, I highly recommend!

Penthouse Unleashed: Sex Tips by The Editors of Penthouse Magazine

Penthouse Unleased: Sex Tips is an erotic compilation of letters to Penthouse Magazine by readers and fans. The book is broken down into several chapters headlining a specific sexual topic, with the beginning prelude to each chapter containing love, relationship, and sex advice from Dr. Judy, a certified psychologist and sex therapist. Dr. Judy’s advice is extremely helpful and interesting, and of course the letters from readers that follow are highly erotic and explicit. This book is not for someone looking for an innocent, romantic read, but for someone intent on improving their sexual knowledge and expertise. I highly recommend this novel for lovers of erotica!

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich

Mercury in Retrograde is chick-lit in all its glory, with close glimpses inside the life of socialites and fashion designers. The novel is incredibly short under 300 pages, making the novel a fast and fun read, but also not lasting long enough for readers who truly enjoy the chick-lit genre.

This book is very light and enjoyable once you get used to the cadence of the author’s style. It was heavy for me personally at first, only because I do not keep up with socialite and fashionistas in general, so I stumbled for a bit over all the slang and pop-culture related to these worlds. However, if you are a reader of Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar for instance, you’ll have no problem relating to the characters of these women and the novel’s content.

I felt that the author, Paula Froelich, had a GREAT sense of humor, especially when writing about Penelope’s experience working in television media. Because of this, I felt the author could really have expanded the book, and gone into more detail between having the characters get better revenge and falling in love or dating.

The novel was also incredibly predictable. Before we were officially given the facts, readers knew who Lipstick’s stalker was, as well as what Penelope’s love-interest Thomas was really doing every night after work.

All things considering, this book WAS very fun and enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing a better book produced by Froelich in the future!

A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight

Susan Straight’s A Million Nightingales is about young teen Moinette, who survives the Antebellum era of the old South. Enslaved, she is sent from one plantation to another throughout the book. I decided to quit reading this book about halfway through because it simply couldn’t keep my attention.

Compared to other well-written novels of the same time period such as Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and numerous works by Toni Morrison, this book just wasn’t too great. The story of the “slave-girl” has already been mastered by the aforementioned authors, and this one didn’t even come close to being as exciting or remotely interesting.

I didn’t like the writing style, which was super simplified so we could better hear and understand Moinette. I understand literature is an art-form, and the style was intentionally harder to drudge through, but it was just too non-descriptive and bland. I also understand that readers are expected to use our imaginations to “feel” the novel, but it was boring. The pictures being painted of Moinette’s experience are fuzzy and not colorful enough to have kept me hooked until the end.

I will be curious to see what other readers think of this novel. I felt it was disappointing and a waste of time.

Symphony by Jude Morgan

Wow…this book was so difficult to endure, and as hard as I tried to truck along to finish it, I had to quit at page 134.

The premise surrounds the lives of infamous composer Hector Berlioz and the love of his life, actress Harriet Smithson. Anyone who takes the team to learn about this doomed couple would be instantly piqued at the historical fiction fabricated around their relationship or love-affair, if you can call it that. The story is extremely intriguing, but the style of the book is not enjoyable at all. The feel of the novel is so detached, and for a current novel published in 2006, it has the feel of a forgotten classic that sometimes you have to read as a college or school project. The language is hard to follow, and it’s nearly impossible to stay interested.

The book is a total of 374 pages, and by the time I got to my stopping point at page 134, we still hadn’t reached the part where Harriet and Hector know of each other’s existence. I don’t think the biography portion, 90% about Harriet at this point, is really going to impact the remainder of the book. It’s so boring that although I absolutely LOVE the idea of reading about Hector and Harriet, I’m just so against quitting this book and throwing it aside.

I honestly hope future readers get more out of this novel than me, and can enlighten me with a better journal entry. Best of luck to the person that takes this book on next.

Cancer Vixen by Marisa Acocella Marchetto

I bet this book really is entertaining and endearing to women who have or have had breast cancer, but I simply couldn’t get into it. People may read my opinion and say I’m heartless, but this book is just too depressing for someone without cancer. I had no desire to read it at all. I’m also against modern medicine and think chemotherapy is propaganda in a country that focuses on maximizing profits for some corporations due to specific government ties. I have nothing negative to say about the author, but I just simply wasn’t interested in this book after the first few pages. Best of luck to the next reader!

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

This book was absolutely amazing and I had a difficult time putting it down for ANYTHING! I started it on a Friday and finished it the next Tuesday, and got angry when my day got too busy to read it!

Regarding the book specifically, I found it incredibly magical and engaging. It was fairly funny with a couple laugh-out-loud parts, and I loved all the characters. I fell in love with Ed because that’s exactly the sort of guy I would be interested in, and I thought it incredibly ballsy and fairytale-ish of Lara to ask him on a date just out of the blue for Sadie’s sake!

I did enjoy reading about Lara’s experiences as a headhunter. I’m currently in a position where I have recently began dealing with recruiters and headhunters again after a 3-year slump, and it was refreshing and uplifting to get more insight into their jobs. I have to keep telling myself, I AM THE TALENT and COMPANIES NEED ME!

I was totally unprepared for the last portion of the book with the twist concerning Sadie’s lost love. I don’t know if I can think up another adjective that can describe how wonderful this book was as an experience for me!

It was a fun ride all the way through, and I highly recommend it. I loved the Shopaholic series, and found this just as enjoyable, if not more.