REVIEW for False Convictions

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending this book to me!

TITLE: False Convictions

AUTHOR: Tim Green

GENRE: Thriller

RATING: 4 Stars




I am a big fan of Tim Green - this guy knows how to write a thriller and False Convictions rates right up there. Green has brought back Cassey Jordan and she is a delightful mixture of sarcasm and idealism - she is fighting for the underprivileged and is approached by Robert Graham - he has lots of money and is asking Jordan to investigate a murder which happened in 1989 and where Dwayne Hubbard was jailed. Although she has her reservations, she agrees.

As she digs deeper and deeper into the old case, she realizes that perhaps Hubbard was falsely accused. At the same time, journalist Jacke Carlson is invetigating Graham and asks Jordan for help. While Jordan tries to save the life of an innocent man, she is wondering more and more why Graham would be so interested and involved in such a case - all the while being pushed by Carlson. Carlson and Jordan actually are a good couple - they are interesting and i found myself involved in their theories and investigation.

There are lots of twists and the plot moves at a great clip - which, to me, is incredibly important in a thriller. Some of the events felt a tad contrived, but I didn't really care because I was so heavily invested in the storyline.

From the first sentence, you can feel as though nobody is truly who they appear to be and Graham, while I could not get a handle on completely, I kind of knew had some deep dark secrets.

This is a wonderful thriller - I won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say it was perfect.

REVIEW for The Life of Glass

Thank you to HarperCollins Teen for sending me this great, great read!!

TITLE: The Life of Glass

AUTHOR: Jillian Cantor

GENRE: YA

RATING: 5 Stars




I have said this many times over the course of my reviews, but YA are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful selection of top quality authors writing books aimed at them. When I was younger, we certainly did not have the wide selection and the quality that is found in today's YA books. I particularly enjoy the fact that both publisheres and authors do not shy away from writing books on difficult subjects - while doing it in a honest and compassionate manner - I certainly could have used a book such as The Life Of Glass when I was 14! This book touches on a subject matter that is extremely close to my heart.

Reading this book brought back alot of memories for me and I could feel Melissa's pain and at times, her complete feeling of disconnect from the world (a necessary move in order NOT to feel all the pain inside). Melissa is smart and has been dealt a huge blow -at a very young age - and is trying to cope and "deal" in the only way she feels she can - by reading her dad's journals. However, as with all things in life - there is a reason behind her dad's death - and Melissa will slowly, but surely learn her life lessons (those that life is teaching her and those that her dad wants her to know).

This book could easily have been just an average book, which eventually ends up in "sugar land" with everybody living happily ever after without a care in the world - but thankfully, the author's wonderful quality of writing and obvious love for her characters AND her storyline made this book, instead, a true gem.

I loved reading this book - it is a mature, sensitive look at grief and at how we go on after we have been ripped apart. But more importantly, it inspires us to "forge ahead" and to believe!

I LOVED, LOVED this one (sniff! sniff!).

REVIEW for He Crashed so I Crashed Him Back

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending me this book!

TITLE: He Crashed me So I Crashed Him Back

AUTHOR: Mark Bechtel

GENRE: Memoir/Sports

RATING: 3 Stars

First of all, I have to say how much I loved the title of this book! I felt as though the author was sticking out his tongue at someone and saying "la, la, la, la,la, la".

This book is actually a very thorough and informative look at one of the world's biggest attractions (for men at least) - Nascar racing!!! Yes, for all of you women who loose your men to the TV set every weekend, you can read up on how and when this race actually began.

Living in Montreal, where the Grand Prix is such a big deal, I have always been a little curious at the whole "race car" fascination. To me, its just a bunch of noisy cars going round and round and round. But, yet, the birth of Nascar in 1979 was quite interesting. I think what I liked the best was how all the players such as Bobbie and Donnie Allison and Richrad and Kyle Petty actually contributed to the importance of that first race - while keeping their own little personality traits and defaults alive and well. This obviously is where the title of the book comes from.

This is not a read for everybody. But, if you are interested in how things start and seem to take on a momentum of their own, this book is an interesting read.

Why do I think this one will be bought mainly by men? or for men?

REVIEW for Lunch in Paris

Thank you to Hachette Books for sending this book to me!







TITLE: Lunch In Paris

AUTHOR: Elizabeth Bard

GENRE: Memoir

RATING: 3 Stars


I am a little picky about memoirs set in Paris - being a French Quebecer - basically, Quebec French and Paris French are world's apart, but yet, we are constantly being compared anyway! which makes me NOT really want to read about all things French. However, this book had such a cute and fun premise that I thought "what the heck".

First of all I have to say that I thought this book dragged A LOT! From the first pages where our author explains to us how she met her husband - there are pages and pages of information that frankly, I could have done without. Although I have to admit that some of the stories were cute and it was interesting to me how Americans have this love affair with Paris - and it was obvious that the author was desperately trying to incorporate herself in the French world - which, trust me, is not all that its cracked up to be.

The writing was partly interesting and partly slowwwwww. I got through the book, mainly because I was looking forward to reading the "cute" parts of the book - otherwise not so much.

REVIEW for Just Call me Rita

Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of her book!

TITLE: Rita's Diary

GENRE: Chick Lit (sort of)

RATING: 3 Stars

I really did not know what to expect when I received a copy of this book. I have to say that the cover was a bit of a turn off - I am not sure if it was supposed to be sexy, but it was more creepy than anything else.

As I started reading this "diary" type book, I immediately realized that this is not for the faint of heart - i.e. this diary is explicit in almost every way and I can see how it could be taken as offensive to some people, however, since it takes a lot to offend or shock me, I decided to continue reading it.

Amazingly, I was kind of entertained by this book. The entries are all written in the 1980's and while I was in my twenties by then, reading some of this stuff did bring up some memories (albeit, mine were on the mild side) of what it was like to live in that decade.

Truly, the 80's was the decade of the decadent, the self-indulged and the "me, me, me" and as you read the entries in this book, you will, no doubt, remember how liberating and crazy it actually was to be hip and young during that period.

Someone once told me that the 80's was the decade of excess and certainly, this is true for the main character in this book.

This girl did it all and was not afraid to tell us about it! Some of it seemed somewhat gratuitous to me and a little pushed for the sake of "shock value", but I gotta say that overall, I actually thought this book was a great stroll through memory lane and through a decade that I am happy I don't have to live through again (but it was fun to remember it a little).

REVIEW for Spin

I am thrilled to have been asked to be part of the blog tour for this book! Not only is the author Canadian - she is actually from Montreal and works at McGill University!

TITLE: Spin

AUTHOR: Catherine McKenzie

http://catherinemckenzie.com/

GENRE: Fiction

RATING: 3.5 Stars

http://browseinside.harpercollins.ca/index.aspx?isbn13=9781554687589

Spin was a very interesting read for me. I am not a huge fan of contemporary women's fiction - as I much prefer chick lit. Somehow though Spin found itself squarely in the middle of both descriptions in my opinion. Not "chiklitty" enough for me, but not all that contemporary "fictionny" either.

The book opens with the main character finally getting a chance at her dream job - working for her favorite music magazine - so...... what does she do? gets talked into going drinking the night before the big interview. While I realize that this event sets the tone for the entire novel, I felt myself completely disinterested in Katie after that. Although this would be something one of my chick lit characters would do, there would be alot more silly humor surrounding it which would have made it, somehow for me, more acceptable. Nonetheless, I did continue reading the book as I really liked the style of writing, if not the main character.

As it turns out, Katie does not, of course, get the job, but she does get an opportunity to "write" about the big "it" girl of the moment who is heading for rehab. So, of course, Katie manages to get into the rehab to spy on the girl and report back. I also had some problems with this - using the rehab as a premise to "spy" on someone. So, I was having some serious problems with the premise of this novel!!!

However, as I kept reading, I discovered quite a few things. One of them being that the author treats addiction/recovery and rehab with utmost respect. It is not being dissed, but rather, she describes and talks alot about addiction and why and how it affects people. I was starting to sit up and take notice now - and....surprisingly, the main character actually shows some backbone AND some personal integrity as the book progresses.

By the middle of the book, I was completely hooked! The writing is great and the storyline is fulfilling and touching. I am so happy that I continued reading this one.

Its still not chick litty enough for me, but I got to say that I thoroughly did enjoy reading it.

Here are the tour dates for this blog tour:

I will be doing a blog tour from January 11th to February 19th, 2010
I will be guest blogging on the following sites:
January 12, 2010: Peeking Between the Pages
January 15, 2010: Serendipitous Readings
January 22, 2010: The Book Chick
January 26, 2010: A Bookworm’s World
January 28, 2010: Pencil-Pushers and Ink-Splotches
February 2, 2010: Cindy’s Love of Books
February 4, 2010: Bookshipper
February 16, 2010: Imago Books Fantasy Realm
February 19, 2010: Guest on #Litchat on Twitter @4-5 p.m.

REVIEW for This Charming Man

Thank you goes out to Penguin Book Club.ca for sending me a copy of this book!

TITLE: This Charming Man

AUTHOR: Marian Keyes

GENRE: Chick Lit

RATING: 3 Stars

Marion Keyes has been writing about women and love for quite so time and it is obvious that she has her pulse on what make women tick. In This Charming Man, Keyes once again manages to bring us a story of 4 women who embark on a story of self discovery and growth by dating and having a relatinship with the wrong man. Unfortunately or fortunately, broken relationships often help a woman grow and discover more of what she is looking for (or not looking for).

In this novel, we find 4 women who have all dated this apparently suave and fast talking man - while his public image may be pure, these women truly know what kind of man he really is. What i liked about this novel is that although 4 women have dated this man, they are all very different and yet, very similar at the same time. Although they have all had bad experiences with him, somehow each of their experiences is directly tied to him - but also to their own flaws as well as their expectations and dreams.

The novel is all very well tied together in that these women all made me root for them, at the same time being quite conscious of the fact that each has somehow needed this broken relationship to make themselves richer in the end. One of the things that I don't like about Keyes novels is that they are generally too long and this one is no exception.

I did enjoy this novel, although I thought that the story could have been told in a shorter version of the book.

Overall a good read, but not the strongest Keyes book.