The Lonely Hearts Hotel - Heather O'Neill

This book started out okay for me and then just went real downhill. The dialogue, that seemed whimsical and airy when the two main characters, Rose and Pierot, were children gave a really nice distance from the harsh reality of the terrible orphanage life they entered into upon birth. That they had each other and made a bond and a fr.iendship of art and music was really lovely.

But then in The Lonely Hearts Hotel, as children do, the characters got older, and their world got harsher. And Rose, she becomes harsher too. Only Pierot seems somehow outside of the circumstances he has found himself in, except he's not. And neither, even though we've rooted for them since their infanthood, can seem to escape the lives their origins have destined for them. 

Is Rose a model of a strong independent woman, making her way through a traditionally male world? Or is she a vengeful spirit raging against the inequities of her station and sex? Is Pierot a hopelessly romantic artist, or is he a deadbeat addict with no sense of how to be an adult? It doesn't really matter, because in the end, they don't seem to care either. 

At the end of 450 pages I found I did not care about the people I had started rooting for in the beginning of the book. And not even in a literary, "oh I totally understand the tragic transformation that befell these humans that could not shake their demons" way. Which is what I THINK was intended. 

The writing was very reminiscent of the style of Jeffrey Archer in the Clifton Chronicles which I did not enjoy. So if you liked that writing style, you will likely enjoy this book. It just wasn't for me.

2.5/5 Stars. 

Best Kept Secret - Jeffrey Archer (Clifton Chronicles #3)

I initially purchased the first three Clifton Chronicles during a crazy Kindle deal. I think the idea was to give away the first three and then get people hooked enough they'd have to purchase the follow-ons. However, if I hadn't gotten the first three together, it's unlikely I would have read past the first uneven installment. (You can read my review of the first book here). 

Best Kept Secret was another disappointment. The story is at least better written than the first book, but the plot meanders and the point of view conveniently and sporadically bounces around to the point where I didn't really care about any of the characters anymore. Additionally, the author leaves each book with a major cliffhanger which is irritating and a blatant trick to get someone to read the next installment. 

At the beginning of this book, we are left with the solution to the last book's cliffhanger, namely, would Giles Barrington or Harry Clifton be named the rightful heir to the Barrington name, lands, and title. Turns out it's Giles who is granted all that stuff (which is the best way to preserve everyone's happiness in the book). And Harry and Emma, although not sure if they are actually half-siblings, get married anyway and decide not to have any more children. They set out to adopt Emma's other half-sister, the baby who showed up at the end of the second book to wreak havoc and an early demise to Emma and Giles' father. 

So Emma and Harry move on to get married and raise their slightly ill-behaved child, Sebastian. Eventually Sebastian becomes a teenager who gets in trouble at boarding school and tries to escape punishment by agreeing to travel to Argentina on an errand for his friend's father. 

In the midst of this, Giles marries a terrible woman then divorces her after his mother leaves them nothing in her will due to the wife's terribleness. There is a will contest and everyone is sad, but it's all glossed over so much there's no real tension there. A villainy villain named Major Alex Fisher is thrown in the mix to try to take down Barrington's shipping company from the inside. 

The Clifton Chronicle villains are all bad all the time with no redeeming qualities and the heroes always triumph. It may be entertaining, but it's not great reading.

2.5/5 Stars. 

Blood Work - Michael Connelly

Terry McCaleb is a medically retired FBI agent whose prior job hunting down serial killers in California somehow put too much of a strain on his heart. Following retirement and a heart transplant, Terry seeks to live on his boat, fix it up and then sail off into the sunset touring islands, or well something. But this is disrupted when the sister of the woman whose heart now resides in Terry's chest shows up and asks for his help in catching her sister's killer.

The details of Terry's investigation are interesting and his motivation is clear. Some of his actions are a bit bizarre but for the most part he follows along regular procedures to find the things the original police officers missed. Along the way he alienates his cardiologist and falls a little to conveniently in love with the sister (his heart's sister? too sappy). 

Finally when the killer is found, it's the killer's own motivations, having to do with an old grudge which don't really make sense. I liked how they figured out who the killer was, but the overall connection that is drawn is just a little too much (as is the final confrontation). 

Overall it was a good book to cleanse with after coming off some heavier stuff. This is a good pick for a beach bag or lake house. There is apparently a movie associated with this book starring Clint Eastwood that I'm interested in watching. I'll post an update with my thoughts on the movie adaptation. 

UPDATE: I've watched the Clint Eastwood flick. Interestingly in the acknowledgements to the book, Connelly thanks Eastwood for reading the book and giving him advice, so maybe Eastwood had this in mind from the very beginning. A couple things changed from the book, Graciela (the sister) is a waitress and not a nurse as in the book (this was a bigger plot point in the book but not necessary for the movie adaptation), the killer's catchphrase shifted from "take the cannoli" to "Happy Valentine's Day" which actually fit more into the motivations of the killer, and finally, well the killer was changed so that was kind of huge. It affected the entire ending. I can't say it was worse. Some elements were changed to be more ridiculous, and some of the changes actually were better than the book. So it's a mixed bag folks. Also, Clint Eastwood is too old for this romance stuff. Jeff Daniels was great though. Best character in the movie. 

2.5/5 Stars for this book. 

All I Did Was Ask - Terry Gross

This review is all my fault. I saw All I did was Ask was $1.99 on the Kindle store and I bought it without thinking. I love Fresh Air. I love the interviews and the questions. I love Terry Gross. So I bought the book without looking at the description. 

What I was expecting - Terry's life story, kind of like Bossy Pants, but less funny (because - Tina Fey). With probably anecdotes of interviews or favorite excerpts. 

What the book is - excerpts. All excerpts, with maybe a couple lines detailing her own thoughts on the interaction. 

So, this review is my fault. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. And I was disappointed. Because as much as I love listening to the interviews on the show, I don't really want to read them in a book. There's a lot of the flavor that is missing in just reading the interviews - things that make the audio so compelling. 

So I had high hopes for this book that were partly my own fault for not reading the description better, and then partly because these interviews are meant for radio and they're presented here in text, and something about it just doesn't work.

2.5/5 Stars.

The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

I think halfway through this book I was kind of done with Lora Blacklock. She was irritating and a bit hysterical in parts. Should I give her a break because at the very beginning of the book she is the victim of a home invasion? Maybe, but I don't want to. I had to spend too much time with her and her false equivalencies to give her that big of a break.

So let's start at the beginning. Lora - "Lo" - as she repeatedly tells us to call her is the victim of a home invasion. Her stuff is stolen, her flat vandalized, and she's confronted out of sleep by a masked man wearing latex gloves as he burgles through her things. She's terrified, and finally frees herself after he locks her in a bathroom. Normally she'd have time to relax and cope with her resulting PTSD symptoms, but she works for a travel magazine, Velocity, and is scheduled to go on the maiden voyage of an ultra-boutique cruise-liner to see the Northern Lights in the Norwegian Fjords. 

This would be all well and good if Lo wasn't a completely horrible journalist. Home invasion aside, she gets burgled on Friday and is supposed to leave Sunday. She hasn't done any advanced work prior to then and gets on board without any clue on how she is actually going to be doing her job.

She arrives on ship and immediately makes contact with a woman in the cabin next door. The Women in Cabin 10. That first night she hears a scream, and then a large splash. She goes to investigate and is immediately thought crazy by the security officer on board. Oh, because she's seriously irritating and whiny. She keeps saying she knows what the woman in the cabin has gone through (being murdered) because she too was a victim of violence (being burgled). Puh-lease. It wouldn't be so bad, but eventually she just keeps repeating it and lamenting that no one is taking her seriously. 

Eventually everyone on board becomes a suspect. I irritatingly figured out the who-done-it long before Lo so an entire section of the book was me yelling at her to get a move on. 

Ultimately the book was entertaining, but Lo just a tad too unlikeable to warrant a good review, although Imogene Church's narration was good, and her horrible Brooklyn accent was entertaining. I liked In a Dark Dark Wood much better (you can read that review here).

2.5/5 Stars.