The Book Was Better

Six exclusive invitations for a VIP experience on the London Eye go out. Five of them attend and all five are dead when the great wheel makes its way to the bottom. Is Eve the vicar -- the sixth invitee -- the mastermind behind the plot or just another victim? As Eve works with detectives to find out what links the six, she unburies secrets, while still trying to hide her own.  Whoa. This is one of the most intriguing plots and exquisitely written books I've read this year. My attention was grabbed from the first moment and my gears turned as I tried to connect the dots. Davis has a gift for description without over-doing it and intricately laced details that drive the narrative. While I had pieced together the basic gist of the mystery, there were even a few surprises waiting in the ending. The characters had depth, flaws and all, and the narrative style, despite going back and forth in time, was executed flawlessly.  One formatting note: I don't usually comment on format for...

When Adrienne and her young daughter dash out the door and speed away from her abusive husband, she has only one place to go: home. But home hasn't been a safe harbor for Adrienne in quite some time, so she's not sure if she'll be accepted by her callous mother. While her welcome is less-than-welcoming, her sweet five year-old is readily accepted and she's able to start building a life again -- until she runs into her former best friend. Simon is everything she remembered and more, but can they put their rift aside and reveal their long-harbored feelings? Or will the danger that still awaits Adrienne put an end to any happily-ever-afters?  As cliche as it might sound, this book spoke to me. From the spiritual questioning to the heart-breaking violence and strained relationships. The emotional depth and surprising heaviness were well balanced with moments of sweet tenderness and undercurrent of a classic romance. The writing was eloquent, well-paced, and page-turning.  C...

Ted and Jill are in trouble. A habit of overspending and some bad investments have put them in a pickle. How can they climb out of this hole and return to the life of luxury to which they’re accustomed? Simple. They’ll commit the perfect crime and reap the benefits. But as the investigators, their friends, and even their cleaning lady get suspicious, they have to decide if they can live with their lies. Terrible people doing terrible things. While I knew I likely wouldn’t be rooting for the main characters, I was hoping for some redeemable foils. But this read was filled with unlikable people. Even the lead investigator — who we could’ve cheered on — was underdeveloped and abrasive. In fact, only two of the “suspects” were developed really at all. While eloquently written, Freytag’s Pyramid was more of a flat line. Some events held promise, but ultimately resulted in no changes to the plot. The characters we started with were more or less unchanged in the unsatisfying ending. Mim’s rev...