Not Your Average Mystery

My rating: 5/5

Review: When I first started reading this book, I didn't really think that I would be teary eyed by the end. It was just another great mystery story to me. Let me just tell you right now, it is not just another great mystery story. The twists and turns don't really get going good until you get closer to the end, but there are so many of them that your mind will reel. There's also a lesson or two to be learned, as it always seems to be with Coben's books. Supposed facts can be deceiving, just as lies can end up being truths. Compassion is something we all need at one time or another. Also, bad things can happen even with the best intentions. I'm sure there are one or two I'm leaving out, but I think you get the idea. Great book, great mystery, fabulous ending. I'll be reading every Harlan Coben book I can get my hands on from here on out. That is, as soon as I get through the next four books I have stacked up on my end table.

Book Description: From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive 17-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst. Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate-and nationally televised-sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined. In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben's trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can't trust her own instincts about this story-or the motives of the people around her.

A Gaurdian Falls

My Rating: 3/5

Review: This was my ninth Goodreads win, so I am very appreciative of that. Unfortunately, the book wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. I like the concept of it very much, but the writing style was very frustrating to me at times. I don't like it when names are repeated over and over within a couple of paragraphs, and the dialogue did not flow well at all. When there are only two characters talking, there should be no need to constantly remind the reader who is speaking. The action sequences were done very well for the most part, however, and the ending was very good. I was just intrigued enough to wonder what will happen next.

Book Description: Imagine a moment of unseen intervention on your behalf. What would you do if you discovered invisible beings surrounding you? What if you were the key to their survival? SON OF EDEN introduces a world where unseen beings really do exist, love has no limits, and the realization of one’s self worth is pivotal. Tormented by sadness over her mother’s death, Emily Wallace wonders if life really has any purpose. Her question is answered when she meets Alexander. After transgressing the laws of his kind, Alexander reveals his true nature to Emily and the two find life without one another is not an option. But, forming such a cosmically unique relationship comes with a price. It becomes apparent that some will stop at nothing to ensure an ancient prophecy surrounding these two is never fulfilled. Is the Opposition motivated by knowledge of Alexander’s true identity? Or, are they more concerned with who Emily is destined to become?

Over the Rainbow

My Rating: 4/5

Review: My seven-year-old son and I read this together, and both of us thought it was weird but fun. It is very different from the movie, and I am quite surprised that someone like Tim Burton hasn't gotten a hold of it and given it a more accurate adaptation. Of course the biggest difference that everyone knows about by now is the fact that the slippers given to Dorothy were silver instead of ruby. Dorothy has a much bigger adventure on the written page than the silver screen. So many different beings to meet, three witches to have dealings with instead of two, and many many more intriguing things. There were just enough similarities to the movie that I think my son will get a kick out of watching it. He has also agreed to continue with the series, so that should be fun.

Book Description: Santore's version of the L. Frank Baum fantasy is highly visual yet faithful to the original story. Never before have the Land of the Munchkins been more enchanting, the forest of Oz more foreboding, or the Emerald City more magnificent. Santore's journey through Oz is a journey of color and beauty as well as one of excitment and adventure.