…passed away today; in 1930. It may have taken me much too long to discover him, but discover him I did. The world would not be right without Sherlock Holmes!
mystery
Mr. William W. Johnstone are you done turning in your grave?
I was so excited to see that my favorite author, who I had written to and had much communication, was having his family re-release all of his books.
I have all of these books, somewhere, but have rebought many on my Nook.
And whomever edited for ebook release needs to be shot.
I started reading Sweet Dreams, a book he wrote in the 80’s, and sent me an autographed copy of, and the spelling errors are horrible. I fear that the family is so intent on making money, that they are not paying attention to the quality of his work.
I was a 13 year old girl who read his books, and literally wrote him a letter. I received many letters back, and autographed books. But the fact that they would re-publish his work, so fast and haphazardly, is really sad.
He stopped writing the horror books I loved as a teen, and started writing westerns. But he always replied to my letters, and encouraged me to write, and never give up.
Good gracious, I would edit these ebooks for free rather than see the crap they are putting out.
Mr. Johnstone, thank you for being kind to a teenager, and encouraging me.
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Meet the Author – Frank Westworth!
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Bittersweet Dreams – VC Andrews
Okay, I have to say I got sucked into this book just like I would get sucked into any VC Andrews’ book when I started reading them 30+ years ago.
Mayfair Cummings is a 16 year old with an IQ that would make Albert Einstein jealous. She had the perfect family life, until her mother died from an aneurysm. Her father got remarried, and she suddenly had a step-mother and a step-sister.
I like to avoid spoilers, but this is the standard fare that you expect from VC Andrew novels. It is full of suspense, and I definitely had it read in record time.
Now; about the grammatical errors. There were a few, and they were too ridiculous to even ignore. Nothing frustrates me more than spelling and grammatical errors in a book I spent good money on.
I’m just going to give you one example, and it is a single sentence. Although I am not including the sentences before or after it, this sentence is not going to be misunderstood because you don’t have those sentences with it. This is a sentence that was meant to stand alone, and make sense.
Chapter 5, Page 81
I have this tendency to compare Julie to animals often.
That’s it. That one sentence. Maybe I am being too picky, but there are so many other correct ways that sentence could have been constructed. There are a few of these poorly written sentences throughout the story.
With all of that said, I will definitely be reading some more VC Andrew books that I have not read before.
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What I’m Reading
Okay, I know VC Andrews has been dead for about 3 decades now, and others write these books under her name. I have been looking for some old-school reads; i.e. The books I couldn’t get enough of as a teenager.
Yes, the storyline is the same as all the other storylines in all of her other books. It’s an okay read, but the grammatical errors are killing me. I’ll share some tomorrow.
I am going to be getting a bunch of the horror stories I read as a teenager as well. Meaning, everything William W. Johnstone wrote before he started writing westerns. His estate is releasing them in ebook form now, and I do not know at the moment where all of my original paperbacks are.
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Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries-John Taylor
This was my first attempt at an audio book. I will be honest right from the get-go in stating that if Benedict Cumberbatch was not the reader, I may not have made this purchase.
I am a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and all things Sherlock, so I was willing to see what author John Taylor would do with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.
There is a total of 4 stories included, and although they are not of the caliber of Doyle, I did like them.
I had the hardest time with the whole audiobook concept. For some reason, I had a very difficult time picturing the story in my mind as I listened. This is never an issue when I am physically reading a book.
Do you listen to audiobooks? I will definitely give more of them a try, but I was certainly expecting a better experience from it. How do you compare it to actually reading a story?
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The Last Anniversary – Liane Moriarty
I really enjoyed this book by Liane, and I believe it is her third story I have read. The first one I did not care for, the second one I loved, and I definitely liked this one.
I am still trying to get a feel for her style of writing, and it is not something I have been able to pinpoint yet. I do not get that familiar feeling I have from other authors who have multiple books that I have read. Her style of writing seems to change with each book, but I do not think it is done intentionally to help set the tone of the story.
So after all of that complaining, I really did like this story. I promise! I did have the initial problem of keeping all of the characters straight, because there were several, and they all seemed to be introduced very quickly, and very briefly. This does seem to be her method-of-operation when it comes to writing.
A small island with a small population and a big mystery seem to be the only thing keeping some of the characters going. Introduce a new person to the mix, and see what begins to happen. It seems that everyone knows everybody else, and there are some long-stretched ties connecting basically every single resident to everyone else. It can make things familiar, and also very interesting. You would think in this type of environment there would be no secrets. It seems as if every resident has secrets falling out of their ears, they have so many.
Without giving away any spoilers, this is definitely a book full of suspense, mystery, laughs, and some romance. It is a page turner, and I think you will be glad to have read it!
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Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty
Wow! Just wow! I absolutely loved this story, and was much happier with this one than I was with “The Husband’s Secret”.
I read it every available moment I could. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about when the next time would be that I could read it. At first I was a bit put-off by the way the story was constructed; going back 6 months prior to the main event that the story was revolved around. I could see very quickly, though, that it worked brilliantly for this story. I do not think it would have read as well as it did if it was written from a different viewpoint.
You quickly become attached to the main characters here, and there are a few of them.
Jane is new to the small town and a single mother to her son, Ziggy. One to move every 6 months, Jane is hoping she has found a place where she can stay on a more permanent basis.
Celeste and her husband Perry are extremely wealthy, but Celeste seems to be embarrassed by it as much as Perry is proud of it. He does not flaunt it, and he is generous, almost to a fault.
Madeline and Ed have a great marriage and the usual issues of raising her teenage daughter from her previous marriage. Her ex-husband Nathan is now married to Bonnie, and they have a young daughter together. The fact that her youngest will be in kindergarten with Nathan and Bonnie’s youngest seems to only be an issue with Madeline.
I try to not give away spoilers, so you will have to read this book yourself to find out what happens to all of these fascinating people. You will not be disappointed!
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The husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty
This is one of the two Liane Moriarty books I purchased recently at Barnes and Noble. I had never read her stories before, so I was taking a chance buying two.
It certainly did not disappoint, but I have to say, it took several chapters into the story before I really felt a vested interest in the characters and what was going on with them. I think the thing I disliked the most is that each chapter focused on one family, of many that were intertwined. And it rotated as such. Chapter 1 was about family A, chapter 2 was family B, and chapter 3 was family C. Then chapter 4 went back to family A, and the entire story was plotted out in this manner.
Cecilia discovers a letter her husband wrote with instructions to only be opened upon his death. It took her a few chapters to get there, but she did indeed read it. What that letter contained was something that affected more than just her husband and herself. Cecilia does not know if she can bear the weight of carrying this secret.
Tess and Will have the marriage everyone admires, and she is comfortable in her life. Until she gets told something that damages the life she thought she had.
Rachel cannot let go of the fact that whomever murdered her 17 year-old daughter, so many years ago, has never been caught. She finds what she feels is evidence enough to convict the person she has suspected for the past 28 years.
As the characters deal with their own families and issues, the story comes together in a way you do not expect, and you will not want to put this one down until you have it finished!
Have you read this already?
What did you think of it?
You can read more about Liane and her stories here: Liane Moriarty Website
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Catacomb: An Asylum Novel – Madeleine Roux
Book 3 in the Asylum series, this installment was as enjoyable as the first two. You can find my review of Asylum here: https://booksandopinions.com/2015/03/01/asylum-madeleine-roux/
My review of Sanctum can be seen here: https://booksandopinions.com/2015/03/10/sanctum-madeleine-roux/
I apologize for the links not working as they normally do; I need to investigate why my website is having a bad day.
This story picked up with Dan, Abby, and Jordan making one last summer trip before they all head their separate ways for college. It seems as if once again, the troubles they found at Brookline are still following them and not ready to let them live in peace.
If you haven’t read these stories yet, I think they are a great story that is easy to read with lots of action, suspense, and some pretty creepy photographs scattered throughout.
I would love to hear what you thought of any (or all) of them if you have had the chance to read them!
booksandopinions.com 