Review: The Gingerbread Girl

The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have loved reading Stephen King's book since jr. high and well into my adulthood, I still enjoy reading his books. This book was a short story of his and I found that this one reminded me of a couple of other books of his that I read. Maybe this one was an inspiration to him to write the ones that were big sellers, and made into movies.

The story had a good plot, kept me intrigued, but it was short, and fairly predictable. I still enjoyed listening to this as it was only out as an audio book, but while I was listening to it, I got housework done and it made the time go by faster.

Emily, the main character is battling her own demons after her daughter dies of SIDS. She takes up running as a way to escape. Her husband, is battling his own demon's and like any family that has to deal with a loss of their child, there is some tension, blame, guilt, and sometimes the marriage just doesn't recover. Same is true how this story starts out. Emily finally gets away from everyone and everything with the hopes of finding herself again. She calls her dad and he tells her to go to his li'l shack by the beach.

Once Emily arrives at the li'l cottage, things start changing for the her and the story picks up there in the true Stephen King fashion. I can't really tell you much more than I already have as I would be giving away everything.

If you have a couple hours to help kill time, then this is the audio for you to listen to as it's just about two hours. One thing I will say is that the actress Mare Whitingham is the narrator, and with her one tone voice does bring Emily to life as she is feeling after the loss of her daughter.

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Review: Fairest

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you haven’t read the Lunar Chronicles, then you’re missing out! This has been a YA series taking the reading nation by storm!

This installment, some people might overlook it due to the fact it is counted as a novella, but please don’t miss this one. Fairest tells the backstory of Queen Levana, one of the meanest, self-centered, horrible, greedy, crazy, psycho bitch, and feared queen, and why she is the way she is.

Scared for live by her older sister, Levana has always had to use her “glamour” to hid her scars. Here the author did a great job on not dragging the poor pity party out so long. She longs for someone to love her for who she is, but is so afraid to show her true self. When she loves someone and he can’t love her back because he’s still in love with his dead wife and mother of his child.
One of the things the Ms. Meyer did with this story, is she made her feel the pain, longing to be loved, the fear, the hunger, the power, which Levana wants. She actually makes you feel sorry for Levana, and then slowly introduces you to why she changed and became the most feared queen on Luna. The writing of this book, didn’t take away from the villain we’ve all grown to despise in the series, but she showed us that Levana was a good person, at one time, and how, one night she started changing and why she became who she is. Yet, in the series, you still won’t like her, which I feel, Levana is the perfect villain and fits the stories so well, without her, the story is just another story. But with this book, you are allowed to see all the layers of her, without losing seeing her true colors.

This is a book you can read at any part of the series, which I do hope people do read this book, as it gives you some insight to the Queen.



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Review: Jeopardy in July

Jeopardy in July by Barbara Venkataraman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First off I want to thank the author for allowing me to read this next installment of Jamie Quinn’s mysteries. I’ve read this series since the first book and with each new book, I see the growth, determination, friendships, of each of the character’s that are being developed into realistic people that everyone can connect to.

Jamie Quinn is a divorce lawyer that seems to stumble upon murders without any help. When she goes to the retirement home to meet a new client that is wanting to divorce his wife after 50 plus years of marriage, Jamie is stuck down as she’s waiting in the waiting room and see’s the EMT’s take away a resident, this doesn’t set off any alarms in Jamie’s head until her friend informs her that the man on the stretcher was her new client.

But something isn’t right in all of this. Jamie returns to her office and ponders if she really wants to be a divorce lawyer when a gentleman comes in and talks to Jamie about a painting that his dad had left him and his sister. They have the Certificate of Authenticity but the painting is a forgery. Jamie gets caught up in tracking down what is going on when the clues lead back to the retirement home and more residents are dropping off like flies. With the help of her friends, Jamie gets to the bottom of things, which helps her keep her mind off of her current problems. She has a boyfriend that would rather go play with wombats and drop dead mice from the sky to get rid of tree snakes; her dad’s visa is messed up and is still in Nicaragua, her best friend Gracie is dating a guy from the State Attorney’s office, and Mr. Paw’s her mom’s cat is still very much demanding. Maybe it’s time that Jamie starting thinking about her and what will make her happy with her dream job.

If you haven’t read any of the Jamie Quinn books, I highly suggest you do. This is the fifth book in the series and with each book, they only get better. One thing that I like about these books is the author describes the scenes to where the reader feels like they are actually there watching it all play out in living color. The characters are coming into their own personalities; the mysteries are good, just when you think you know who it is, BAM! You’re slapped with the realization that you’re wrong. There’s some twist and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, plenty of comedy among the characters and a feeling that will leave you happy.



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