33. The Survivor's Club - J. Carson Black

read on my iPhone
2013 Thomas & Mercer
364 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished 5/7/15
Goodreads rating: 3.54
My rating: 4
Setting: mostly in Tucson, AZ, with a little outside LA

My comments:  Plot, characters, setting.  It's the setting that was most wonderful for me in this fairly grizzly mystery - in and around and south of the streets and mountains I know so well - from the Rincon foothills of Tucson to Patagonia and Nogales, even the lonely close-to-the-border ghosts towns where I snooped when I first arrived in this city-in-the-desert. (I never realized the danger I might be in until a few years later, but that's another story!)  The protagonist is okay, quite smart and real, making occasional choices that might be a bit questionable, which makes her even more believable.  The plot, although interesting, is difficult to totally believe, since I don't think Ms. Black ever really gave enough information about why this family did what they did - all as adult siblings. I can understand one of them, and maybe two, but I needed more proof as to how the other two might have been motivated to participate in some of the things they took part in.  All in all I enjoyed its many facets, its many personalities, and its many stops along the route!

Goodreads synopsis: Detective Tess McCrae investigates a grisly crime scene in the ghost town of Credo, Arizona. The evidence suggests a cartel drug hit. But Tess, with a nearly faultless photographic memory, sees what others might miss: this is no drug killing. Someone went to gruesome lengths to cover their tracks.
          The killer’s trail leads from Tucson to California — from anti-government squatters to the heights of wealthy society. As Tess follows the trail of gore and betrayal, perfect and indelible in her memory, she uncovers far more than one man’s murder and solves much more than one isolated crime.

MOVIE - Fifty Shades of Grey

R (1:50)

Wide release 2/13/2015

Viewed date at Roadhouse on opening day 2/13/2015

RT Critic: 27   Audience:   53

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson

Focus Featires
Contemporary Seattle

Based on the book by E. L. James

Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Marcia Gay Harden

My comments:  Yes, I went to see it on opening day.  And yes, I liked it.  I was really curious to see how they'd handle all the x-rated scenes from the book - which was a good half of it - in an R-rated movie. In my very own, personal opinion, the movie worked really well.  Sure, there were things from the book that were missing, but the sex scenes were really well done and titillating enough to make me giggle. The book was pretty poorly written, but the movie was quite well done.  Yes, others disagree with me, but it really worked for me and I enjoyed it.  The leads were terrific.  However, other than perhaps Marcia Gay Harden as Christian's mom and definitely Max Martini as Taylor, I didn't like any of the people cast as the supporting actors.  None of them worked for me. So, all in all, the movie was ten times better than the book, but I'm glad I read the book first.

RT Summary:E.L. James' kinky best-seller gets the big screen treatment with this Universal Pictures/Focus Features co-production. The steamy tale details a masochistic relationship between a college student and a businessman, whose desires for extreme intimacy pen from secrets in his past. 

5. We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

Read on my iPhone

2014 Delacorte Press

228 pgs.

Genre/Audience

Finished 1/11/15

Goodreads rating:  3.89

My rating:  (3) Liked it  

Setting:  A contemporary private island off the coast of Massachusetts, near Martha's Vineyard

1st sentence/s: 
      "Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family.
        No one is a criminal
        No one is an addict.
        No one is a failure.
        The Sinclairs are athletic, tall, and handsome.  We are old-money Democrats.  Our smiles are wide, our chins square, and our tennis serves aggressive."

My comments:  I honestly don't know exactly how I feel about this book, so for right now, until I mull it over for awhile, I'll stick with the fact that I liked it.  I loved the suspense, I loved that no matter what my guesses were, I was incorrect.  I like the way the story was put together.  I liked that I could understand the Sinclair family enough that I had instant disdain for them.  I didn't hate it...I didn't love it.  It was, however, a darn good (quick) read.

Becky's review from Becky's Book Reviews

Goodreads book summary:  A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
           We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 
          Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

2. - Fifty Shades of Grey - E. L. James

Fifty Shades #1

2011, Vintage Books

510 pgs.

X-rated Adult Erotica

Finished 1/6/2015

Goodreads rating: 3.70

My rating:   (3) Liked it  

Setting:  contemporary Washington State (including Seattle)

1st sentence/s:  "I scowl with frustration at myself in the mirror.  Damn my hair -- it just won't behave, and damn Katherine Kavanaugh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal."

My comments:  There have been many negative reviews by people that consider this book horrible because of all the erotica and sexual content.  Well....the genre is erotica, so if you don't like erotica and read it anyway, of course you're not going to like it.  Me?  I liked it.  The characters were interesting, thought-provoking (I might even read the second in the series to see if more is revealed about Christian's hangups) and ..... fun.  Neither were entirely believable, but that's okay in this story, for me.  Ana's innocence and inexperience, at 21--- not believable.  Oh well.  The humor that appears in the many emails that go back and forth between them is clesver.  My biggest complaint?  Ms. James used the word "clamber" dozens and dozens of times. THAT'S what drove ME crazy! (The movie is coming out next month, the trailer enticed me to read the book before seeing the movie - and yes, I'm going to see it!)

Goodreads book summary:  When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.
           Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.
          Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.
          This book is intended for mature audiences.

46. The Beach House - Jane Green

Audio read by Cassandra Campbell
Penguin Audio, 2008
9 unabridged cds
11 hours
352 pgs.
Rating:  4

Setting:  Nantucket

One-sentence summary:  A small cast of characters rent rooms in Nan Powell's "Windemere" one summer, creating a family of sorts:  Daniel, newly divorced and just out-of-the-closet; Daff and her13-year-old daughter, Jess, who is trying to deal with her parents' divorce; Michael, Nan's son, home to Nantucket from NYC and a troublesome affair with his boss.

This is a feel-good book with a happy ending.  Everyone needs one of these once in awhile, and it was read so beautifully that I looked forward to just listening to the words wrapping around me.  Cassandra Campbell has a lovely voice and puts just enough special inflection and personality into the voice of each character that you can tell them apart instantly.

You really get to know the characters, including the exes and dead .  Green makes sure we get a sampling of every part of life and death, joy and sadness, euphoria and misery, uncertainty and despair.  Yup, she's wrapped it all up in this one story.  It was a good "listen."