jessica42980's reviews
629 reviews

**3.5 stars

I enjoyed Suzanne Redfearn's first book, Hush Little Baby, so I was excited and anxiously awaited her second book to be released.

I enjoyed that the chapters were short. That makes me feel I am reading the book quicker. It also makes it harder to put the book down when you see the next chapter is 1-4 pages!

I loved the premise of the book. I participated last year when there was voting for the name of the book and the cover.

I was pulled into the book from the beginning and found it hard to put down. However, I had to suspend my belief while reading the book. Faye, the mother, was not very likeable for me. She came into the whole experience with such naivete. I mean, not even have a lawyer look at the contract when you know nothing of Hollywood?

Parts of the book seemed to be extreme in the situations that happened. Yes, you have one child discovered, but then your middle child can also act? I found that hard to believe as well. Your boyfriend who works behind the camera ends up being a (**Spoiler** former child star?!?!)

Despite the issues I had with certain parts of the book I did enjoy it and would recommend it. It was hard to put down. Unlike some reviewers, I did not have an issue with Molly's lisp and the way it was put on paper. I LOVED Molly and and could see how America fell in love with her in this book.

I will continue to read Suzanne Redfearn's books and look forward to her next one being released.

I listened to the audio book version of The Devil’s Labyrinth by John Saul. I purchased it for $3.00 at my local used bookstore. You can’t really beat a $3.00 audiobook! The description of the book intrigued me. Exorcisms, but instead of driving out evil, evil is summoned!?!?!?

I did not really like the narrator’s voice, but I was able to get over that. The voice was hard to hear at times in my car. I have hearing issues. But his voice was also deep. It could have also been my car stereo as I listened to one disc in the house and did not have as many issues with hearing the disc. At times I had to rewind a track to listen again to what the narrator said.

The beginning of the book pulled me in with the two boys and the lizard. I did like the way the author brought that together towards the end of the book. I liked Ryan’s character. Overall, I was going to give the book three stars (3 stars is that the book is good- nothing particularity bad about it) UNTIL the end. I knew there were 99 tracks on each disc and it was on track 90 on the last disc and knew there was no way for the book to finish everything that had to be done. The book in fact was getting really good as it was reaching the climax….. and then it just stopped. Nothing….. No ending… No closure…. Really?!?!? I backed the tracks up several times to make sure I heard what I heard. When I say no closure I am not exaggerating. We don’t know if the villain is going to get caught or get away. What is going to happen to the Pope? What’s going to happen to Ryan and the other kids at St. Isaac’s? WHERE IS THE ENDING!?!?!? This sudden stop point ruined what was otherwise a good book for me.

The audiobook has a “bonus disc” which is an interview with John Saul. I was hoping there was something in that interview that gave some understanding to this sudden ending. There was not. Whenever the narrator asked a question to Saul he was very coy and basically saying read the book to find out. Or that he didn't want to give anything away. Ummm… This was disc 9 – so the interview came AFTER you finish the book. At least give me something!!!

I can not recommend this book at all. Stay away from it. Now, I would be willing to read or listen to another of his books in the future. But if he did the same with that book (whatever it may possibly be) as The Devil’s Labyrinth, I would not read a third by him.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a powerful book. I listened to the book in audio form which was the perfect choice. You get the reasons why Hannah committed suicide from her in her own voice. I found the choice of cassette tape very interesting and different!! I didn’t realize that teenagers knew what cassette tapes were!! (I may have missed the reason why cassette tapes were used as I was listening to this while I was driving in the car). The narrators who performed Clay and Hannah were PERFECT! They expressed all the emotion the characters had. You could really feel the torment Clay had as he listened to the tapes and wondered why he was sent them. The anguish and anger he felt towards the end. Hannah as well.

The whole story comes down to the ripple effect. And each story is connected to the other. Some of the reasons/stories were better than others. It was sad in some ways as you know from the beginning that Hannah did commit suicide. Her story comes in her own words, but you have to wonder how did no one see the signs that she showed of a girl in trouble. By the end of the book you can feel how much Clay has changed.

I recommend Thirteen Reasons Why and definitely recommend the audio form. Audio is the perfect medium for this book!

There are some short stores that are good and some that are bad. They can leave you wanting more in a good way or in a bad way. They can be a complete story or frustrate you ad they leave you hanging. They can be a good introduction to a book. The Case of the Missing Bubblegum card was a complete short story. It is short- just 27 pages- but is completely satisfying. We are introduced to Jarvis Mann, a private investigator. A young man comes to him in search of his missing baseball card. Jarvis decided to help and the story is the search for the card with some unexpected results.

I got this short story on Amazon for free. I honestly did not have high expectations of the story (sometimes there is a reason why things are free….). I was surprised and highly enjoyed this short story and liked Jarvis Mann. It can definitely be read in one sitting.

I plan on checking out the next book in the series to see how a full length novel plays out. That next novel is Tracking a shadow. And if I like it I may check out the rest of the series.
I highly recommend this short story!!

Red Velvet Cupcake Murder was my first book by Joanne Fluke. I listened to the audiobook. When I picked it up at the library I did not realize it was part of a series. This is book 16 in the series and follows Hannah Swensen. It seems I didnt really need to have read the previous books to follow the story. Yes, I didn’t know back stories on the charters, but that didn’t really seem to hurt my reading if it.

There are not one, but two mysteries in the novel! One is what happened to Barbara Donnelly- was she pushed or did she jump? The second mystery involves a murder that happens a little later on in the book.

Maybe I didn’t “get” everything that happened in the book. I did not see the point of the “monster” that Barbara sees.

I loved Hannah’s cat!- the description of the cat reminded me of my own big boy Curry. The only thing was whenever the cat meowed- the narrator did it so loud it hurt my ears- OUCH!!! (I have hearing issued so it really hurt).

It was a good book, not the best and not the worst.

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Yik Yak, and ChatRoulette... (The last two I have never heard of until this book).... There are so many social media tools out there and it can be overwhelming. And it is overwhelming for Millennials and younger.

Donna Freitas interviews various college students all over the country to get their opinions on social media. Reading what they thought in their own words was something! I learned so much while reading The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. I realized how much I didn’t know was out there. That was a wake up call for me. I told my husband if we have children one day that he will have to stay up to date on all the social media tools that are out there. (He knew about the social media tools that I did not know about. He is much more familiar with all of that than I).

I found it hard to comprehend how much Millennials think about social media: What to post, who can see what they post (They make groups so they can decide what that group will or won’t see!), how many friends do I have and does so and so have more?. The number of friends is apparently very important too. And most importantly: Never post anything that could be considered bad or negative; that looks bad on your “online image”. You MUST appear happy. That was hard to believe how they feel everything has to be happy even if you aren’t. It was hard to comprehend what how much some think before they post. “If it won’t get a like then I won’t post it!”, Or if they post it and don’t get likes, they remove it! Some spend hours thinking about what they will post!! And they won’t post controversial as they could be looked upon as negative and they can’t have that.

I also found it interesting that college students in fraternities/sororites are monitored and if a post is/ or appears possibly negative for that fraternity/sorority, they will be forced to remove it.

Even before they are in college they think about what they post in case a college admissions person looks at their social media, which could affect their future enrollment. And college students are careful to what they post so they aren’t affected by future employment. (I do this myself- I also do not list where I work on my social media).

Also interesting was how often Millennials think about getting rid of social media- for a short amount of time or longer. Some can’t even put their phones down for two minutes, they have to constantly check their social media for that ever important post. It was interesting to learn how they feel that they must be available 24-7.

Granted, not every Millennial is like this. There are some Millennials that do not use social media at all. They are the minority.

As I read this book, it got me thinking about how I use social media, specifically Facebook. I hope to not use it as much in the future.

This was a good read and again, I learned so much. I recommend everyone to read The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. It could be an eye opening read.

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

The book was ok. Margaret was not likable at all to me. I did find parts of her war stories interesting. But it was the things she did that made me not like her. She was a nosy old lady who resorts to breaking and entering to satisfy her own curiosity. She causes far too much trouble.

I would not really recommend this book. The only reason I gave it three stars was the previously mentioned war stories.