She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb

Synopsis:

Meet Dolores Price. She's 13, wise-mouthed but wounded, having bid her childhood goodbye. Stranded in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the Mallomars, potato chips, and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally orbits into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before she really goes under.

Don’t be turned off by the length of this novel. It is long for a reason. It takes us through the hectic journey of Dolores Price’s life starting as a child and leaving off in her thirties.

Nothing seems to ever go right for Dolores. She has been through hell and back. Though broken, there is still a source of strength within her that keeps her pushing even when she wants to just give up.

This book can be taken two ways. It can bee seen as a really sad story of a girl that had too much on her plate and learned to never trust people. Or, it can be seen as a story that reminds you that true love and passion can conquer all. Sometimes forgiveness needs to be given, and sometimes you must just let time heal some deep wounds.

There is never a perfect answer for difficult situations, and for most of Dolores’s life, she probably made all of the wrong decisions, but she was able to come of it kicking and screaming in the end.

I really enjoyed this book. It was deep at times, and it was shallow at times. Dolores’s wit and sarcasm made her an interesting character to read, but also allows the reader to form a connection with her right away. It tells a complete story, but it also leaves Dolores’s ending up to the reader.

I would highly recommend this book.

5/5 stars

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Hope To Die by James Patterson

Synopsis:

Detective Alex Cross is being stalked by a psychotic genius, forced to play the deadliest game of his career. Cross's family--his loving wife Bree, the wise and lively Nana Mama, and his precious children--have been ripped away. Terrified and desperate, Cross must give this mad man what he wants if he has any chance of saving the most important people in his life. The stakes have never been higher: What will Cross sacrifice to save the ones he loves?

Hope to Die brings readers the conclusion to the story that began in Cross My Heart. It is a crazy and emotional run and has one of the most disturbing antagonists in the whole series to date.

Can there really be a perfect criminal? Or can one man withstand trying tests to take him down in the end?

That is Cross’s mission, and he learns a lot about himself and his family along the way.

I must say, with every book I read in this series, I just like Bree more and more as a character, and this one didn’t let me down there. She gets stronger and more integral to the series with every book, and she is definitely one of my favorite characters overall from this series.

Hope to Die is a page turner, and I don’t think anyone will be let down by the awesome ending.

Somehow I ended up reading this book before Cross My Heart. It made a lot more sense once I went back and read that one. Goes to show, you should never skip a book in a series.

4.5/5 stars

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Cross My Heart by James Patterson

Synopsis:

Detective Alex Cross is a family man at heart--nothing matters more to him than his children, his grandmother, and his wife Bree. His love of his family is his anchor, and gives him the strength to confront evil in his work. One man knows this deeply, and uses Alex's strength as a weapon against him. When the ones Cross loves are in danger, he will do anything to protect them. If he does anything to protect them, they will die.

Alex Cross’s family is always in danger. He is a well known man in the criminal circuit because he solves the majority of his cases.

This book takes it a step further. His family is actually taken away from him and he doesn’t know how to get them back. It seems that any action will cause their death. Being a family man, this is the worst reality he could ever imagine facing.

This novel brings us two cases – Alex’s family being taken and “massage” parlors being shot up and babies being kidnapped.

We meet two very different psychopaths. One is cold blooded and very intelligent. He is the one taking Cross’s life away from him. The other is a heartbreaking tale of a rotten childhood.

I wish the second case had been explored more. It seemed that after the reveal happened, the storyline was just dropped and never returned to it. I wanted to know more about the man.

Overall, this was a pretty fast paced book. But, it took me a bit of time to get through it. I accidentally read Hope To Die before this one, so I knew how everything turned out before it happened. If I didn’t it would have made this much more of a thriller for me, but it was still a page turner.

3.5/5 Stars

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