Calliope

Review: The Long, Hot Texas Summer (McCabe Homecoming #2) by Cathy Gillen Thacker

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3 stars

Justin and Amanda are unexpectedly thrown together to start a ranch for boys with social service needs. As they work on the ranch, a spark develops, and they spend the rest of the book exploring their chemistry together. That, and working on getting the ranch ready to open on time.

This book was predictable and the characters were underdeveloped. But the plot was cute, Justin and Amanda were likeable (and beautiful, of course), and the writing was good.

All in all, The Long, Hot Summer isn’t really special in any way, but it is a cute, straightforward romance with the requisite three scenes of intimacy.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

–Calliope

Buy It Now The Long, Hot Texas Summer

Review: The Dinner by Herman Koch

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5

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The Dinner tells a tale of the dark side of normal. The book totally disturbed me, and I think it was supposed to.

You know how Hannibal Lector disturbed everyone, and no one would ever admit to admiring him, but you just know there are people out there admiring him? Well, Herman Koch made me stand in terrified awe of Paul and Claire Lohman, and their son Michel. And they admired each other for the same reasons I was freaked out.

Paul and his arrogant politician brother Serge, along with their wives, meet at dinner to discuss a crime their teenage sons committed together. One family wants to admit the guilt; the other wants to hide the crime. Instead of working out a solution among the four, Paul and Claire bully their way to protecting their son.

I couldn’t love this book because the nature of the crime and the coverup was too disturbing for me. But I appreciated the brilliance of the plot development, the psychological thrill ride, and the deliberate writing. So often Koch intimated something without spelling it out: instead of reading that the neighbor is a pedophile, we read that Michel and other boys often go to the single male neighbor’s house to sit on the sofa, drink Cokes, and listen to music together. Koch employed this technique often – and I appreciate the effort it takes to describe a situation so precisely that the hints and circumstance tell so very much more than a stark statement of fact.

If you like dark journeys into the disturbed corners of the human mind, join the Lohmans at The Dinner.

-Calliope

P.S. Remember to follow this blog and comment on the Giveaway post to be entered into our August giveaway of Pivot Point and The Sea of Tranquility.

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Review: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

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I’m not really a runner. I jog a mile here and there, but I do it because it’s healthy, not because I love it. And here I was reading a book about people who LOVE to run. They love to run so much that they run 20, 30, even 100 miles in a day.

The first half was a little boring. McDougall gave me some science and some anthropology and some history… but nothing exciting. I expected that from non-fiction, so I kept reading. And it got better.

I cried for the village that helped its runners along the mountains and canyons. I thirsted with the guy who gave away his last ounces of water to someone who needed it more. I whooped with the college girl who had so much fun running that her joy and her craft knew no bounds. I sighed in relief for the guy who finished 50 miles of cliff and canyon running in 12 hours — when only 2 years earlier he couldn’t run a mile without pain.

I said before that I don’t love running. But after reading Born to Run, I WANT to love running.

See you on the trails sometime!

–Calliope

Buy It Now Born To Run

Review: The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

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4 stars

After reading The Prince of Tides, I wanted more literature by Pat Conroy. Yes, I said literature. Because that’s how good Conroy’s writing is. He puts so much good stuff into a story that by the time you’ve wrapped your head around it all, he’s punched you in the gut with something unexpected. Conroy uses a lot of fancy vocabulary, so have a dictionary nearby. Sometimes my built in Kindle dictionary doesn’t even have the words he uses.

The Great Santini is about a military man whose ego is so huge that he lives to overshadow his military corps, his airplanes, and his family. He is a mean son of a gun, and his family loves him and hates him, knows him and knows nothing about him.

I’m not into military stories or historical novels, but this book held my interest anyway. There may have been more pages about the Marine Corps, but there was more substance about the lieutenant corporal’s family. They held together while I held my shoulders tense knowing there’d be some abuse in this book. Conroy also comments on coming of age, racism, classism, education, sports, poverty, and the fraudulence of southern charm.

I enjoyed The Great Santini. I didn’t love it as much as The Prince of Tides, but it’s an excellent study in the relationship between a father and son. Even if I did predict the ending. 😉

– Calliope

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Review: Geoducks Are for Lovers by Daisy Prescott

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So. This book made me laugh and made me cry… but not until 80% through. The characters were fleshed out and awesome… but they didn’t DO anything until 50% through. Daisy Prescott nailed the landscape in the Pacific Northwest setting… but repeated the same details in every chapter.

Maggie invites a group of friends to her island cottage home before they celebrate a big school reunion. Maggie is surprised when Gil – former best friend and crush – shows up. They spend their time together exploring whether they should start a relationship now, 20 years later.

Cute plot for a rom-com. But it took so very long to get to the plot that I just couldn’t enjoy the book. I was bored for the first half, waiting for something to happen. This was a 2-star book until the 3-star end.

-Calliope

Buy It Now Geoducks Are for Lovers

What Makes a Good Book Good

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I’ve been thinking about what makes a good book GOOD. I know, I know – developed characters, an even and forward-moving plot, a genre I like, good writing…. But there’s something else that’s not so objective.

I need the characters to be relatable. The plot has to be somewhat realistic (that’s over a 5 on the realism scale -yeah i made that up- where 1 is unrealistic and 10 is nonfiction). The book has to evoke emotions – make me laugh and cry. There have to be enough details that I can see what the characters see, but not so much detail that it bogs down the plot. Dialogue has to be natural, not contrived.

But you know what it really is? The book has to make me want to invest in it. I’ve got to be drawn in and live the story I’m reading. I want that book to speak to me!

Since having a kindle and putting quite a few free-or-on-sale books on there, I’ve experienced some books that just aren’t good. I’m either bored with the characters or driven crazy with unnecessary details. Sometimes the plot seems to be going absolutely nowhere– because it isn’t. And sometimes the characters are so contrived, I find my eyebrows raised… page after page after page. Why do I put myself through it?!

The most recent failure was Coffee Beans and Blue Jeans. Or Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans. I struggled to 20% and just couldn’t go any further. If you’ve read it and enjoyed it, please let me know what its redeeming qualities are. Maybe it deserves a second chance. Or maybe it doesn’t!

I have 700 books on my kindle, all unread and waiting for me. I’d like to find one that moves me rather than struggle through one that frustrates me.

So…. Hello, “Geoducks Are for Lovers.” I’ll let you know how it is in a future review. If I finish it. 😉

-Calliope

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Review (Another Look): The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

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Clio wrote a great review of this novella on July 16… So this will be brief.

Mary Ann Rivers writes so the reader is in the story with the characters. I felt part of the book – and I think that’s one sign of successful writing.

For one, I thought I would be freaked out reading about a librarian meeting a stranger in the park every Wednesday for a make-out session. But I wasn’t. Mary Ann Rivers wrote in the apprehension as well as the excitement (and the relief when the Wednesday guy turned out to be nice and normal), and I felt it right along with Carrie.

In this age of the Internet and texting, sometimes it’s easier to show our real selves to a stranger instead of a friend. That’s what Carrie and Brian did. They spilled their guts in instant messages, and got to know each other better than if they had gone on a month’s worth of coffee dates. Awesomely, I got to know Carrie and Brian, too, and I got to see how perfect they were for each other.

You know the feeling you get when you first start dating someone? Like there’s no one else to think about? Like no one else in the world exists? Rivers did an amazing job using the precise words and manner to give me that novel feeling of beautiful isolation. Brian and Carrie were in their own little world, until they were ready to face the world together.

Rivers has a talent for immersing the reader in her story. I look forward to more by her.

Netgalley provided me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

–Calliope

Buy It Now The Story Guy (Novella)

Review: Love, Technically by Lynne Silver

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This novella was a quick, easy mid-week read.

I loved the fresh, early-20s characters of Michelle and Noah. The tech-y office setting reminded me of my first corporate job after college – making friends, going to happy hour, figuring out whom to call at the Help Desk. And who can’t resist a juicy office romance where gossip and rumors abound?

But the writing seemed amateurish, the dialogue unnatural, and the comedic timing was off. In addition, the timing of the epilogue — taking place three years after the last chapter — was awkward.

Love, Technically is a cute, fun romance. A few more chapters and a little more editing would make fine improvements.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

-Calliope

Buy It Now Love, Technically

Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

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4 stars

Tell the Wolves I’m Home is about two teenage sisters navigating through their grief after their uncle’s death. A portrait he painted of them is both their preparation for his death and their therapy as they mourn.

The author did a wonderful job getting me to believe June’s life. Reading this book put me right there with her, back at 14 years old, watching drama club rehearsals and not knowing how to relate to boys. I felt like June was a girl I knew, someone I went to school with and hung out with on half-days, sketching or writing poetry in a notebook, trying to figure out how to express ourselves in a grown-up world.

I felt June’s confusion and sadness, her frustration with her sister, her search for an identity. The writing was so authentic, the emotional part of the story was very believable.

A few particulars in the story tripped me up. A 13-year old traveling from Westchester to Manhattan alone, or befriending a virtual stranger so quickly, or driving many miles in the middle of the night without a license seems too far-fetched. Maybe it’s because though I grew up in the same decades June did, I didn’t live in Westchester. I don’t know, but some actions just didn’t ring true.

It was those little implausible details that prevented me from being totally immersed in the story. As soon as I was about to lose myself in it, something unrealistic would jolt me out of the magic.

Still… I laughed and I cried – a sure sign of a good book. The sister relationship was written flawlessly. The expressions of sadness and love were perfectly conveyed. The writing flowed, and the dialogue was natural. The ending … just beautiful. I recommend!

-Calliope

Buy It Now Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Review: Material Girl (The Fancy Lives of the Lear Sisters) by Julia London

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Robin Lear is a successful businesswoman at her father’s giant freight corporation. Or so she thinks. Once she meets Jake — the guy renovating her new house — she realizes she’s little more than an arrogant, spoiled child who can’t see outside her fancy bubble. When Robin’s feelings for Jake begin to deepen, she knows she must shed her material girl image and find her real self, the self she can share forevermore with a man like Jake.

This is a fun romance with a happily-ever-after ending. I enjoyed reading about Robin’s material girl lifestyle: her jetsetting weekend trips, designer bags, expensive taste in wine. But I really loved watching her fall out of love with her fancy life and fall in love with Jake and his family. Jake is a little bit sappy, but strong when it counts most: vying against slick corporate Evan who chases Robin like he’s trying to win a carnival prize.

London did a great job endearing me to the main characters. She fleshed out the ancillary characters enough to make me want to read about Robin’s sisters and estranged parents in the next two books of the Lear Sisters trilogy. And best of all, London told a great love story, rife with ups and downs, arguments and make-ups, picnics and unmet expectations, and misunderstandings and kisses.

-Calliope

Buy It Now Material Girl (The Fancy Lives of the Lear Sisters)