Review: The Stand-in

The Stand-in by Lauren Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Unlikable characters and unlikely scenarios are on the menu in this unremarkable rom-com. The premise has been done to death—pretend to be his girlfriend for a “meet-the-parents”. Author Lauren Campbell then adds chaos in the form of identical twins; friends who are, at best, “quirky”; and a toothless chihuahua who attacks for fun. The result is messy and uninviting, which is unfortunate, as Campbell’s writing itself is incredibly engaging. Her humor is dark, sharp and cleaving, but it is wasted on shallow characters and an inane plot. That snarky wit is further diluted with adolescent jokes that just stopped being funny around the age of 12 (fart jokes and crude sexual innuendo). The final nail in the coffin was a gratuitous sex scene that was awkward and pivoted on frat boy humor that simply didn’t work.

I would love to see this author really dig in, hire a new editor and write some serious fiction. She definitely has the chops for it!

3 stars for the writing alone.

View all my reviews

Review: One By One

One By One by Freida McFadden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really need to learn not to rely strictly on reviews for recommendations, as it seems more and more often I find myself at odds with the majority. This supposed “thriller” demonstrates my point beautifully. While most of those who reviewed the book found it to be “captivating”, I found it to be tedious and redundant, populated with characters whom I disliked from the very beginning. The story was short on detail, save the three or four specifics that were repeated ad nauseam—Claire is unhappy, Claire loves her children, Michelle is a cold fish, Warner is handsome. Over. And over. And over.

Three stars for effort and the fact that it was mercifully short.

View all my reviews

Review: The Best of Friends

The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have mentioned this before, but with age has come an increased sensitivity to all things “heart-wrenching”. I even now cry during Hallmark commercials, and Lifetime movies are simply out of the question. Why, then, knowing the premise of this book did I pick it up? As an overly-sensitive, menopausal mother of three, I am cursing myself; as a book-lover with an appreciation for the art of writing, I’m so glad I did.

The story is of three teenage boys, longtime friends and sons of three women who had grown up together and were thrilled that their kids were following in their footsteps. There’s Sawyer, the epitome of the “dumb jock”; Jacob, the even-keeled smart kid; and Caleb, the dark horse with a temper that mirrors that of his abusive father. When a night together results in one of the boys dead, another in a vegetative state and the third nearly catatonic, one mother will stop at nothing to find out the truth about what happened. As the story unravels, the emotional rollercoaster roars through hairpin turns and stomach-churning drops, leaving plenty of tears in its wake.

Had I know how deeply this book would affect me, I honestly may have thought twice about picking it up and giving it a go. As a mother, this will live with me for quite some time; likewise as a reader, as it’s well-constructed, with diverse characters who all have their own crosses to bear—a novel that hit with a one-two punch in the final chapters that, while not completely unexpected, left me feeling spent. Any book that can be the catalyst for that type of reaction on both fronts is deserving of the stars.

If you have the chops for this kind of turmoil and angst, I would highly recommend diving in. If, however, you are like me and prefer something without the triggers of domestic abuse and child mortality that result in a tsunami of tears, I would think twice.

View all my reviews

Review: Love Your Life

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am a mad Sophie Kinsella fan for those days when I’m in need of a light read and a smile. Love Your Life, however, was a profound disappointment, failing to deliver either an engaging read or a single smile. The characters were unlikable, the plot was stale and the humor which I usually find so endearing in a Kinsella novel was simply nonexistent. I think if this had been was any other writer, I would have shelved it as a DNF after the first fifty or so pages when I had still failed to invest in any aspect of the writing. From the very beginning, it struck me as cliche and trite (two 30 something’s meeting while on a writers’ retreat in Italy, falling victim to the romance of the location and, once removed from the Italian landscape finding the bright spotlight of reality far too revealing of flaws and blemishes they had overlooked), and the plot just never transcended that first impression. By the end, it was all too “kumbaya”, even for Kinsella.

Giving this three stars when it should probably be two—with credit for the minor characters, who were far more interesting than those around whom the story revolves. There is definitely a problem when the dog (Harold) is the most entertaining thing about the story. I so hope this is a one off and Kinsella once again finds her footing.

View all my reviews

Review: Dear Child

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

While many folks appear to have really enjoyed this one, I found it to be, at best, as tedious as wading through molasses. The melodramatic prose left me feeling ankle-deep in over-indulgent text that transformed one paragraph of “story” into an entire chapter of blather. By the time I turned the final page, I didn’t give a damn about a single character and found myself scanning back, sure I had missed something, ruing the hours it took me to read this as time that would have been better spent doing just about anything else. So it’s not amateur writing and author Romy Hausmann can certainly turn a phrase—I only wish those “phrases” weren’t mini-excursions that required more stamina than this old gal could muster.

View all my reviews

Review: Earthlings

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m a rabid proponent of artistic freedom and will defend the artist’s right to create his version of his craft at all costs, provided no one is being abused, violated or exploited in the process. I don’t have to agree with the vision to appreciate or accept the product produced. It is with that mindset that I offer three faintly shining stars (actually 2.5, rounded up) to Earthlings. I respect Sayaka Murata and her artistic endeavors, but for me, this read as nothing more than a series of strung together scenes designed to shock the reader, each increasingly bizarre and off beat, difficult to read and certainly disturbing. The themes of asexuality, pedophilia, the sanctity of marriage and mental illness are all on parade here, addressed with a detachment that is as chilling as the subjects themselves. There is, however, no value in the treatment of these societal taboos. Instead, they are used much like jump-scares in horror films—a cheap trick to elicit a visceral reaction, void of any additional intent or deeper meaning. I was reminded of Sick Bastards by Matt Shaw, though Shaw’s work carried just beneath the surface some semblance of a plot that unfolded as the story progressed, while Murata’s “story” lacked this basic component. The fragile thread that functioned in lieu of a plot was loosely twisted, then stretched to the point of being almost nonexistent. That sometimes invisible thread of continuity would surface then disappear, used by this author in an attempt to stitch together a haphazardly constructed train of thought that went off the rails more often than it stayed on track.

Overall, three stars for originality and for Murata’s courage in staying true to her vision. This just wasn’t the book for me.

View all my reviews

Review: Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Things I wish I had known BEFORE I paid for this:

1. The characters are in their late 30s, going on 15.
2. There’s something out there called “fan fic”.
3. “Fan fic” has its own language, a full set of acronyms, and needs its own dictionary.
3b. This book does not have a glossary nor a dictionary addendum.
4. Costumed cosplay is something adults aspire to.
5. Grown adults write stories featuring well-known serial television characters and get off on making these stories explicit.
6. The story of Aeneas.
7. That a self-proclaimed, heretofore unknown “fat girl” super fan who enjoys rocks can snag an A-list actor from the most popular series on television.
8. That the word “round”, when used ad nauseam, can provoke in me mega-hostility.
9. That an author can find a publisher even when she embraces a double standard of the concept of “beauty”, creates shallow characters, and refuses to use a thesaurus for alternatives to the word “round”
10. That Amazon probably won’t refund my money.

Unless you’re under 21, enjoy cringe-worthy sex scenes, and are familiar with fan fic and all that entails, I would skip this one altogether.

View all my reviews