Switched

Goodreads Summary:
When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth. With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of.

My Review:
When I started reading this earlier today I didn't think I was going to finish it. Actually I found the first 50 pages a little boring and moving quite slowly. I decided I would give it a few more pages before abandoning it...and that's all it took to hook me. I just couldn't put it down once I got past a certain point. This book is the first one I can fairly say was exactly like Twilight but with trolls (albeit pretty ones) rather than vampires.

The book begins with Wendy, a six year old, dissatisfied by her birthday party so much that her mother tries to kill her...literally attacks her with a butcher knife. As the story progresses an elusive boy at school, Finn, turns out to be the one there to take her to her other life, the life of a troll where it turns out the whole society is awaiting her arrival. She turns out to be a very special girl...
4/5 stars

The Dead Man: Hell in Heaven

Goodreads Summary:
Third book in the series about Matt Cahill, a man who'd died, but didn't, now wandering the country looking for answers. He sees the evil in people that others don't, possibly infected by Mr. Dark, the entity that he alone sees, that takes great delight in taunting him.

My Review:
This is book #3 in the series and I loved it just as much as the first two. The main character, Matt Cahill, is finally fully realizing that he is dead and he's taking on the role of saving the world quite well. In fact, he glories in the power a little bit in this installment and the result of that is endearing and funny. I love this character because he never seems to realize quite how good he is, and watching him struggle in an effort to do the right thing makes for great entertainment. How these authors created such a likable, out to save the world, good-natured character who also happens to be going down on women, whether in remembrances of things past, or in the present, in almost every book I'll never know. It does make it interesting and I'll admit it's done well. It's smoothly weaved in without mushy or overly sexual scenes. What can I say, these boys know how to write!

So Matt finds himself in a town called Heaven in this installment. It's exactly what it sounds like as it's the last stop for many. Matt is stuck in the middle of a feud that he must fix before he can continue on his mission of scouring the country to find the people who can shed light on who he is and his greater purpose. Once again, between a cyst filled evil, intestine leaking woman, and men fighting with animistic-type power, there are more than a few bodies left in Matt's wake, which after all, is why we're reading this to begin with. It's graphic in a good way and has just enough adult humor to make it a perfect mix and a perfect supernatural thriller in this reader's opinion.
4/5 stars

The Truth About Dating

Goodreads Summary:
Lifelong introvert Quinn Malone was sick of spending her evenings at home, doing crossword puzzles and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs. Successful, smart, and funny, 38-year old Quinn embarks on a quest to find a man, using blind dates, speed, and internet dating to get things moving. Quinn overcomes her shyness to suffer through dates that are so bad, they're funny (see the chapter on hunchbacks). With the help of good friends, she successfully transitions through the seven stages of dating: excitement (I've still got it!); infatuation (he makes me feel beautiful); disappointment (he looks nothing like his online photo); anger (why is he online if he's married?); fatigue (I can't bear the thought of another date); depression (I'm going to grow old and die alone); and acceptance (dating: it is what it is). Through the triumphs and heartbreaks of dating, and of life in general, Quinn uncovers the resilient, dynamic person she's always been. The question is, has Mr. Right been waiting in the wings all along?

My Review:
I can't even say how much I loved this book. I got it through Booklending.com and wasn't in the mood to read it really and then I read the first paragraph...and couldn't stop until I'd read the last. It was funny and so truthful. Actually I thought it was a true story until about halfway through and if you told me it was true I'd believe you.

The main character, Quinn Malone, is bound and determined to find a man she can marry and have kids with because her biological clock is ticking. She's 38 when the story opens. It follows her through speed dating, online dating, and all of the nightmares a woman or man has to go through in the messiness that is dating in your 30's or 40's in this day and age. It's utterly entertaining and painfully true.

What makes this story so unique, in my opinion, is the fact that Quinn is intelligent, educated, and totally down to earth. She isn't looking for someone to take care of her, but someone that shares her hobbies and likes that she can genuinely love. When she finds men that might be good marriage material, but that she knows deep down she wouldn't be truly happy with or love, she passes. I think that's what makes this character so endearing, she is searching more for true love than anything else and her support staff of friends makes for an entertaining and fun read.
4/5 stars

The Dead Man: Ring of Knives

Goodreads Summary:
BOOK #2 in the THE DEAD MAN, the new monthly action/horror series that readers and book critics alike are already hailing as "an epic tale" that compares to the best of Stephen King and Dean Koontz...

Matthew Cahill is an ordinary man leading a simple life until a shocking accident changes everything. Now he can see a nightmarish netherworld that nobody else does. Now for him each day is a journey into a dark world he knows nothing about, a quest for the answers to who he is and what he has become...and a fight to save us, and his soul, from the clutches of pure evil.

RING OF KNIVES

Matt believes a madman may hold the secret to defeating Mr. Dark, the horrific jester with the rotting touch. But to reach him, Matt must infiltrate a lunatic asylum, where he is soon caught up in a spiral of bloodshed and madness. His only chance of escaping with his life and sanity intact is to face the unspeakable terror that awaits him deep in the asylum's fog-shrouded woods...within the Ring of Knives.

My Review:
This was an excellent book. Literally breathtaking. Book 2 branches over into the supernatural more than the first one, but it's done in an interesting and believable way...if the idea of walking death can be believable. However, I think in this novel it is, although I'm still uncertain if the main character, Matt Cahill, has figured out yet whether he's good or evil. It's clear from the reader's point of view which one he is.

This story is about a man in search of his own identity. He went through a near death (and possibly just death) experience in the first book and he's trying to figure out exactly who he is and what his purpose is in this second book. This leads him on a search to an insane asylum where he wishes to interview a man who went through the same thing that he did in hopes of unraveling this mystery.

This series is a must read for anyone interested in mysteries, thrillers, or horror. The main character is trying to save the world and himself, one decaying corpse at a time, who could ask for more?
4/5 stars

You Can't Stop Me

Goodreads Summary:
From "New York Times"-bestselling author Collins and his writing partner on the bestselling CSI novelizations comes a page-turning, serial-killer thriller with a unique twist--the plot unfolds through the lens of America's hottest reality TV show. Original.

My Review:
This was a really good mystery. I liked how he used a TV reality show for the basis of the novel, but turned it into something good. Sheriff Harrow lost his wife and child to a murderer many years ago and now this serial killer seems to be back killing others. Harrow works on a reality show that tracks down killers and he recruits the best of the best in forensics, chemistry, computer science, etc. and with this crack team he turns this season's show into a search for the murderer of his own family and the families of many others who died at the killer's hand. It's a page turner, yet it's fun and light. I would recommend this book.
3/5 stars

Reunion

Goodreads Summary:
Twenty years after surviving a school shooting Tanner Khan and his fellow classmates reluctantly agree to hold a reunion. Although they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, they come back to their hometown and reunite in the defunct school building. Old flames are rekindled, fears are ignited, and their lives are about to explode in a whirlwind of memories, haunted by the spirit of David Ray, the troubled teen who killed many of the students.

Once they're inside the school, they discover that a dark entity has joined them. It has come to collect a debt long overdue and someone has to pay. Will Tanner and his classmates overcome their fears, putting the pieces of their lives back together, or will they be consumed by their worst nightmare? Find out in this suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you guessing and engaged with a lovable cast of characters.

My Review
This was an interesting read and very unique. Quite unlike any book I have ever read. It was a supernatural thriller that also had several romantic subplots.

This book is about a school shooting and the survivors who are still trying to piece their lives together. Years later they meet at a class reunion and realize the horror has just begun.
4/5 stars

Sold

Goodreads Summary:
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.

An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt—then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.

Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words— Simply to endure is to triumph—and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision—will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?

Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.

My Review:
This is the story of a 13-year old poor girl from Nepal who lives in a hut. Her and her mother are making due, but her stepfather gambles away the little money they have. He finally decides to send her off to make money cleaning houses in the city. This is what the girl, Lakshmi, and her mother believe and they have heard wonderful stories of the riches to be made and seen the benefit of those living close by who've done the same thing. However, the stepfather knows he's selling her off into prostitution.

What makes this story so powerful is the ignorance and innocence of Lakshmi. The reader sees everything from her perspective, almost like a diary. The story is written as a long string of vignettes. It is haunting and brings to life the reality of children sold into prostitution. The author visited this area and did extensive research before writing this book, which is what makes it so powerful and realistic.
4/5 stars