Review: This is Where I Leave You By: Jonathan Tropper

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Judd Foxman's father has died and has made the request that his family sit the full seven day shiva, honoring this request shouldn't be wrong, it should be easy to have everyone under the same roof for seven days and seven nights....
Judd has found his boss and wife in his bed and now finds out that she is pregnant. Wendy Foxman looks to have the life, married to a broker who seems to ignore her and the children and finds she still misses the day before with a boy she knew years ago. Phillip Foxman, the baby of the family showing up late, no one ever knowing where or what he has been up to or what he'll bring with him. Paul Foxman, the oldest son, the responsible one, the one who stayed home, ran the store, who in one night had his chance of pro baseball ruined by an incident he blames on Judd. Along with their mother Hillary, a famous writer of childrearing, who seems to has lost all sense of reining in her own (reminds me of the saying, those who can, do - those who can't, teach) who has a few of her own secrets brought out to the table.
There is supposed to humor here and at times I find that self-deprecation humor that is humorous - and what couldn't be more funny than sitting shiva, stuck with your family... but this isn't like that. From accusations and nasty comments of dead babies, to more or less dealing with a self absorbed main character, unlikable characters and situations page after page. Don't look for insight, or funny humor - this is more like a Jerry Springer documentary and you got caught being in the audience.

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Review: Love Energy By: David Kulp & Jack Moon

Love Energy by David Kulp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

***** This is a First Reads, Thank You Goodreads ****

A perfect book to either begin or reintroduce yourself into energy work. Offering basic introduction, explanation, and exercises to practice, this is the book to keep as a refresher.
I love that the authors explain the ease of energy work, the basis of it, different types, and how to do the work in easy exercises. Love energy is the greatest that we can send forth, not just to heal ourselves, but others - this is the book to begin the journey on the lesson.

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Review: Vintage By: Susan Gloss

Vintage by Susan Gloss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

***** This is A First Reads, Thank You Goodreads ****

The story of women come alive through the vintage items at Hourglass Vintage. Violet Turner, the owner, who lovingly cares for each item, learns the history, and passes the story to the new buyer, has a story of her her own that is unfolding. April Morgan, the teenager, who tried to return the vintage wedding gown and became an intern working for Violet, as her pregnancy progressed so did her fears. Amithi Singh, whose life of being a good mother and wife was never treated with respect, a daughter now married with non traditional views and a husband who admits to betraying her for most of their marriage, finds herself and her talent for sewing useful at the Hourglass Vintage shop.
Although these three women are highlighted, there are more that are used as secondary characters that almost stand out even more brilliantly - especially, Betsy Barrett. (Now on a personal note, Betsy reminds me of my grandmother and her character is endearing in that way to me as the reader) I found the book to be something nice to dip your feet into when you want to find Spring after the harsh Winter and light chick lit.

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Review: High Fidelity By: Nick Hornby

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rob is dealing with a crisis. He has reached the point that being 35 almost 36 looking at his life and what he has done and what has mattered is made up into compilation tapes. Running a record store that is going under, losing his latest girl Laura, and finding that he has to pay people he barely knows to come out to hang for his birthday - well, the insight comes and goes.
Rob's character is makes no apologizes for how he feels, he simply does feel the way he does. His life is filled with lists and songs, with memories and regrets, with anger, a lot of anger. He is a boy that soon wakes to find the world has grown up without him and he is lost, he is fearful. At times I really disliked him for these reasons and other times I felt the author's boldness to portray someone so real to be fresh and as a reader you want the "underdog" to win. This is not a light read, filled with heavy emotions, a depth to the interactions within and without the characters.

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Review: How To Be Good By: Nick Hornby

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Katie Carr thought her life was okay, that despite her flaws, she was a good person - yes, she didn't spend quite enough time with her children - yes, she found her husband distasteful and asked for a divorce - yes, she had an affair -- but she was a doctor, she provided the money for the house, she did good, didn't she?
Katie's husband David has undergone some kind of religious conversion, moved his guru into their home, has become the world's kindest calmest man from being the world's angriest, and finds he has plans to save the homeless beginning with them living in their spare room. Just as she watches the competition between her daughter to be good, to do good, better than her son - just as everything she question's about how she does as a person, Katie wonders just what does it take to be good.
Laughter and insight are found within the pages of this book, the crisis and building, the questions of life and love that can only be answered by the individual. Written in Katie's voice, a wonderful internal battle ensues that the reader is privy to - afterall she is a good person, she is a doctor. Sometimes this book was hard to read, too raw, too real in the demise, in the relationships, but isn't that what the author does best... make us think, deliver us, and have us pondering long after the last page --- that's what makes you coming back for more.

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Review: The Absence of Mercy By: John Burley

The Absence of Mercy: A Novel by John Burley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A small town finds itself slowly terrorized with bizarre and twisted deaths of some of it's residents. Dr. Ben Stevenson, the town's medical examiner, is central to the story and to the unraveling of the darkness that has crept into town.
The book begins with the boy in black and from that moment on I could not put this thriller down. At times I felt horrified and devoured the pages knowing that I had to reach the end in order to find some rest, some ending to what was occurring. And what I was left with was a chilling sensation, a need to discuss this (so please choose this for book club, you will want to talk about this one!!), and a new author that I am looking forward to experiencing another book from.
A great quote that the title comes from, "In fact, it was as if the conscience - the ability to care about right and wrong - were automatically absent from the brain. The same was true for the absence of mercy - not because mercy was something such individuals chose to withhold, but because it was a faculty they simply did not possess."
Sometimes fiction is too close to truth and that is where the horror lies - this is that book.

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Review: The Fault In Our Stars By: John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hazel Grace Lancaster has been battling cancer for the past few years, it has become almost a part of her - the chemo puffed face, the oxygen tank she wheels about, the group she has to go to.. even her favorite book is about a girl who has cancer but decides to fight for another disease. It is in group that she meets the very handsome, Augustus Waters. Augustus, who once played basketball until cancer took his leg - Augustus, who seems to like her and get closer to her unlike anyone else.
This is a book about life - all that life contains - love, pain, betrayal, humor, death. There is nothing held back from the reader falling for these characters (including the secondary), and nothing held back from the author about the real rawness of life.
This is the book that will have you laugh and cry, that will break your heart and give you hope.

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