Advertising executive by day.
Book worm by night.
Mother 100% of the time.
Seriously? Seriously. SERIOUSLY?
Perhaps all the hype spoiled it for me or my expectations going in were just too high; not sure. I thought the writing was very erratic and the characters are either bipolar, or the author didn't really know them before sitting down to write their story (I suspect the latter). If I take it at face value, it was a relatively entertaining and easy read. I will probably read the next two books in the trilogy, just to see what happens and hope that perhaps the character development gets better, but my expectations aren't very high. For all the talk about this book, ultimately I was kind of disappointed.
As is sometimes the case with thrillers that have a slow build, the last 100 pages made this book worthwhile reading. Evertyhing leading up to that was kind of a yawn. I may have liked it less simply because it's a similar story to my favorite movie of all time (Memento) and the first Dean Koontz novel I ever read (False Memory). Pretty hard to live up to either of those. Yes, I did figure out the ending before it happened; but no, not quite as soon as I thought I would have. But, selfishly, I attribute that to the fact that I wasn't really engaged by the story and therefore didn't really care whodunit.
This book reminded me A LOT of the movie "Beaches" with Bette Midler (which I loved, by the way). Made me cry (although that's not really all that hard to do). It started out as 3 stars, but I changed it to 4 once I got so emotionally involved. With that said, though, I don't want to read books like this very often; they turn me into a puddle which isn't all that attractive and, frankly, is a little exhausting.
This was pretty darn good. Definitely going to read the next one when it's out on paperback.
Very interesting topic. Not a lot of plot; more character study.
Really should be 3.5 stars.
It was fine. Easy read. I can often get sucked into young adult literature with no problem, but this was a tad too young for me I think. Certainly more suited to my 13-year old.
Good. Kept me engaged. A little wordy and jumpy at times.
Really, 3.5 stars. For me, the story itself rates 4 stars, but the superfluous chatter throughout makes it 3 stars. I found myself skimming more often than I would like, but the engaging plotline captured me regardless.
It was OK. I prefer a good dose of scandal in my historical fiction selections and this was really more of a romance.
Meh.
I think I'm probably supposed to like this book. It's "real" and a lot of it is geographicall based in areas I actually know (which was intriguing at first). Unfortunately, I found it to be pretty much a yawn. Not so bad that I couldn't keep reading it (hence two stars instead of one), but definitely not a book that I couldn't wait to get back to. I found pretty much all of the characters unpleasant and unrelatable -- Patty is incredibly selfish, Walter is a pushover, Richard is a narcisisst, Connie is appallingly damaged, Joey is totally screwed up and Jenna was a complete bitch. The relationship between Connie and Joey -- from beginning to end -- was particularly distasteful to me. The only people I kind of liked were Jonathan and Jessica and that's probably because almost none of the story was about either of them. There have been several instances where I'm able to enjoy the story and the plot, even if the characters aren't likable. This was not one of those times. If nothing else, I realize that even though my family is dysfunctional like most familie are (which I knew before reading this book), at least we're not as screwed up as this family is.
Entertaining. If I could go with 3.5 stars, I would, but it leans toward the 4 (versus the 3) so that's what I went with. If you like legal thrillers, it's a good one. I think I still like Grisham better, but this would probably be a close second. I might even venture to say that Connelly has a little bit better overall character development (at least in this one book that I've read), but I feel like there's more plot/suspense/angst in Grisham books (generally speaking).
Amazingly easy read and, while the "story" is a bit cheesy, incredibly useful insight. I've passed this along to others in my company that I think could benefit from the advice, and I gave a copy to my sister as part of her graduation present. Especially recommended for anyone who is just starting out in business.
Cannot wait for the sequel.
