Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Mystery/Thriller

Christine suffered from a traumatic accident many years ago and every time she wakes up in the morning, she can't remember the past. Her husband, Ben, needs to remind her every morning that they are married, that she has lost her memory, and tell her where things are in their house. After Ben goes to work, Christine gets a call from a Dr. Nash that claims to be her doctor, saying that he has an appointment with her that day and that her husband doesn't know about their sessions. Christine finds his name in her calendar and agrees to meet him. Dr. Nash provides Christine with a journal she had been writing in for the past week, which starts with "Don't trust Ben". The reader learns about Christine's past as she learns about it, with some fairly big shockers about how she came to be like she is and the significant events she's had in her life that she hasn't been able to remember.

This book hooks you on the first page, which is quite rare. It starts with Christine waking up and knowing as little about herself as the reader does. The reader learns everything as Christine learns it. A good portion of the novel is Christine's diary, which communicates what she has learned every day and the small memories she has.

The premise at first reminded me of the movie 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. That, however, is an up-beat story and this is a thriller that has the main character trying to figure out what is her real past and what are lies.

I simply could not put this book down. Watson keeps the pace up, with a perfect amount of suspense, yet he still gives away little pieces of Christine's past that keeps the reader engaged. By the end of the novel, I had a fairly good idea of what the twist was, but there were other plot twists that I didn't expect.

Buy this book

First Line: "The bedroom is strange."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

Lord John and the Private Matter

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction

This is the first book in Gabaldon's Lord John series. Lord John was a minor character in her Outlander series. Lord John is a major in the Royal service. While at a gentlemen's club, Lord John discovers his cousin's fiancee is poxed. Lord john sets out to discover if this is indeed true which takes him to brothels and other scandalous places.

In the meantime he is also charged out with finding out whether a recently deceased sergeant in his regiment was a traitor. The information the sergeant had was valuable and must be found before it is sold to England's enemies. As Lord John pursues vanishing footmen and women in green velvet dresses these two investigations slowly become intertwined.

Taking a minor character from one series and weaving a story around him was interesting. Lord John becomes more of person which is understandable. He is fastidious and his one line quips are pure gold. I enjoyed this fast engaging read

First Line: "It was the sort of thing one hopes momentarily that one has not really seen - because life would be so much more convenient if one hadn't"

Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Young Adult

This is a YA book that is a joy to read. Four friends, Carmen, Lena, Tibby and Bridget will be spending their first summer apart. Carmen buys a pair of pants and they fit each of them perfectly. The sisterhood of the travelling pants is born when the friends decide to share the pants during the summer.

Lena travels to Greece with her sister to visit her grandparents. She finds out that not every boy is shallow and some might actually be worthwhile. Carmen travels to South Carolina to visit her divorced father only to find out he is engaged and has a ready made family. Can she fit in? Bridget travels to soccer camp in Baja and falls in love with one of the counselors. Tibby, the only one to stay at home works for Wallman's and ends up meeting a 12 year old who has leukemia.

This book was engaging through the girls' trials and tribulations. A great coming-of-age story!

First Line: "Once upon a time there was a pair of pants."

Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Reunion

The Reunion by Sue Walker
Sick Shit

The Reunion is a thriller about a group of adolescents who are inmates at an 'avant-garde' psychiatric facility. The teens include: Danny, a charming rapist, Carrie, a drug addicted beauty, Lydia, an obese girl with a tendency to commit arson, Alex, a foul-mouthed and aggressive bully, Simon, who has an awful mother, Isabella, seemingly normal with a completely abnormal family., and Innes, the newest member.

The story revolves around the present day and the year 1977 when these teens were in 'The Unit'. In the present Isabella after many years tries to contact Innes. When Innes finally gets back to her she finds out she has committed suicide. While Innes is looking into the suicide she finds out that another member of the unit has also died. What is going on?

The Unit seemed to be a very loosely monitored group of very disturbed teens. Something must have happened and now the remaining members are either been driven to death or killing themselves.

This is a very dark story. The plot is great but Carrie who seemed to be such a part of the story was basically missing from the story. A good twisted mystery!

First Line: "Well, here we are again"

Rating:
(4.0/5)

Around the World in the Middle Seat

Around the World in the Middle Seat by Joyce Brooks
Non-Fiction

Joyce Brooks is a group tour leader. This book is a bunch of short stories about her travels. Some of the travel is in the US and some to very exotic locations. There is also a sort of guide on how to be a group leader (which I have absolutely no aspirations for).

From toilets to gypsies and bad situations, Joyce survives it all.

This is not the best written book but as a travelogue there were some interesting trips.

First Line: "Have you ever been trapped in the middle seat in coach for fourteen hours?"

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Enemy Women

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles
Historical Fiction

For three years the American Civil War has been raging. Judge Marquis Colley of southern Missouri has managed to maintain neutrality but he is finally arrested by Union soldiers. The Union soldiers stole their livestock and tried to burn the house down. His eldest daughter, Adair, age 18 and her two sisters Savannah and Mary decide to go to Iron Mountain to get their father back.

On the way there Adair is arrested as a spy and put into a female prison. Major Neumann is charged with interrogating her and getting her confession. Adair refuses to confess something she did not do and the Major and Adair fall in love.

Major Neumann is transferred and before leaving engineers Adair's escape with the promise of seeing her after the war. The remainder of the story is their torturous and treacherous path back home and to each other.

I enjoyed this story and especially the letters at the beginning of each chapter. This is a story about the people who happen to be in the path of war.

First Line: "It was the third year of the war and by now there was hardly anybody left in the country except the women and the children"

Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Constant Princess

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Historical Fiction

Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. At a very young age she is betrothed to Prince Arthur, son of Henry VII of England. She has been raised to become first Princess of Wales and then Queen of England. She must learn new ways and customs as she travels to England to marry. He father-in-law to be is a tyrant and Arthur is little more than a boy.

After she marries she adapts and eventually a passionate love develops between her and Arthur. She is devastated when Arthur dies far too prematurely. Bearing in mind her constant upbringing of that to be Queen of England she becomes determined to marry Arthur's spoiled brother, Henry. With no help from her parents and unable to return home due to her dowry which is in question she manipulates and maneuvers herself to be Queen.

I found this book fascinating. Instead of covering the years with Henry so speedily, I wish Gregory had written it as a sequel.

First Line: "There was a scream, and then the loud roar of fire enveloping silken hangings, then a mounting crescendo of shouts of panic that spread and spread from one tent to another as flames ran too, leaping from one silk standard to another, running up guy ropes and bursting through muslin doors."

Rating:
(4.0/5)

The Fashion Disaster that Changed My Life by Lauren Myracle

The Fashion Disaster that Changed My Life by Lauren Myracle
Teen

On the first day of seventh grade, Allie walks in to her homeroom with her mom's underwear static clung to her pants. Mortified, she stuffs them in her backpack but not before Jeremy, the most undesirable guy in the class, starts making fun of her. Surprisingly, the popular girls have her back.

As Allie gets more attention from the popular girls, her real friends Kathy and Meghan start to wonder what's going on with her, if they aren't a little jealous. The result is a typical unpopular girl becomes popular, realizes the errors on her way and falls from grace story. It's still quite cute though. I wouldn't mind reading more about Allie and Meghan.

First Line: "Why does everything in my life have to go so wrong!?"

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
Historical Mystery

This is Gabaldon's first novel in the Lord John series, who was also in the Outlander series as a minor character. Lord John Grey is an officer of the army in 1757 and is appointed to investigate a fellow serviceman's death, whom was suspected of being a traitor. Grey investigates this mystery while also trying to determine if the man betrothed to his niece is poxed. These investigations take him to the bawdy houses of London where the two items he's investigating start to merge in to one investigation.

I remember John Grey from the Outlander series (after I did a bit of research online) and I remembered him being a wussy character without much backbone. That wasn't the case here, which didn't sit right with me. You can't portray a character one way in one of your series and a completely different way in another series. Grey was much more enjoyable in this novel than he was in the Outlander series because he went about things independently and didn't come off as cowardly.

This story is pretty complex. I was interested in figuring out who had done what, however it then took Gabaldon about 50 pages to explain the mystery. Surely things are a bit too complex if it takes you that long to explain?

Those are two minor complaints for this book, which is interesting.

First Line: "It was the sort of thing one hopes momentarily that one has not really seen - because life would be so much more convenient if one hadn't."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Science Fiction

A classic science fiction novel written in 1898 (yes, that long ago!) sees martians from Mars lands in Horsell Commons in London. People surround the cylinder, curious to find out what it is and what is inside. The narrator (of whom we never learn his name) is one of the group, witnessing a brown tentacled octopus-like being come out of the cylinder. Then, the martian uses a heat ray to kill the majority of the crowd. The narrator barely escapes.

More cylinders land on Earth and the martians start building 3-pronged machines. This raises the martians high in the air, allowing them to use their heat ray more widely. They also have a black inky-like material that kills all humans on contact. The narrator has some close run ins with these martians, including being stuck in a home for 11 days because another cylinder landed outside the home and trapped him there. At the end, you know what's going to happen, but this books takes you on a journey to get there.

Parts of this book were captivating and parts were fall-asleep boring. I don't think I've ever read a book that fluctuated between the two many times. Whenever the narrator was in trouble, that's when the story got interesting. Was he going to survive? Were the martians going to find and kill him? I also enjoyed reading about how the martians were different from humans. However, there were a few chapters that followed the narrator's brother, which I found rather pointless.

It was interesting to read a science fiction book that was written so long ago. I'm not sure I would recommend it though. It waxed and waned too much for me.

First Line: "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water."

Rating:
(3/5)