Picture Perfect

Cassie Barrett, a world-renowned anthropologist, wakes up in a graveyard and doesn't know who she is. Taken in for a few days by William Flying Horse, a Native American police officer, she waits for her life to re-appear. When Hollywood heartthrob Alex Rivers shows up to claim her as his wife, she is stunned but still doesn't remember anything.


After she returns to her fairytale existence as Alex Rivers' wife, fragments of memory come back but she senses there is a side to her husband that she can't remember. When she finds a positive pregnancy test hidden in her bathroom, dark memories return, allowing her to piece together her past. Frightened, she runs to the only person she trusts to keep her hidden: Will.

Jodi Picoult's story is a tapestry rich in detail and emotion, a beautifully written novel that will deeply reward, and perhaps inspire, its listeners.
 
My Feelings
 
Cassie seemed like such a sweet person along with being very smart. At least you would think that she would be very smart as her career would lead you to believe. But when it comes to love, Cassie is too trusting and too willing to care for others. By doing this she leaves herself to be hurt and tells herself that she caused it.
 
Sure sounds like the normal for any abused person, always thinking they caused it. Most of the time it wouldn't matter even if you did exactly what they wanted you to do, they would still have to bring out their aggresions on someone.
 
For her husband to be a movie star just makes it more difficult for her to get help. That also would seem close to real, many people would try to protect the star and cover things up for them.
Sometimes it takes a stranger to wake us up and make us see things for what they truly are.
 
I did enjoy the book and will read more of her books.

Family Skeleton

Synopsis




From childhood, Andre Carmichael suspected he had a twin, but his sister Sabrina consistently denied it. Then when Andre was 20, Sabrina told him she watched their abusive mother and older brother beat to death Andre’s three-year-old twin, Latanisha, and hide her body in a bedroom closet, where it remained for two decades. Family Skeleton meticulously profiles the players in this horrific drama, while telling the story of the secret's revelation, the grim family dynamics that drove both the savage killing and the cover-up, and Andre and Sabrina’s heroic attempts at healing.





My Thoughts
Unbelievable!
How shocking that people can treat their children this way. Even as the children turn into adults, the mind games and controlling continue.
My childhood was definately not perfect by any means, but nothing close to this either. Laws have changed to help children in these abusive homes but there are still alot of children that are missed.
It is very sad.
Sabrina and Andre were very strong to pull through this and not continue the abuse with their children. Kudos to both of them for the strength that they have.
I enjoy reading true stories even though they stay in my mind for days or sometimes weeks.

The Prodigal Wife

In Marcia Willett’s latest novel, Jolyon, who had been abandoned by his mother, Maria, is living at the Keep with his father and his stepmother Fliss. Now that Jolyon is a successful television presenter of gardening programs, the recently widowed Maria, lonely and impressed by her son’s fame, reappears and hopes to step back into his life. But Jolyon finds it difficult to trust his mother and forgive the hurt she had inflicted on him.




My Thoughts
I liked this novel. It has a lot of family drama but all families do have their share.
Some of the relationships within the family are irritating but I do suppose they could happen.
I think living in a house like the Keep would be fun. Not with the drama they had but with all the family coming to stay. The dinners and holidays would be the best.

Room

Synopsis


To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play.

My Thoughts
WOW
I read this on a trip to California for Thanksgiving. At first I didn't think I would like it but as I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I used my cell phone for light to read on the way home. I had to know the ending.
Things like this do happen, not exactly like this but close enough.
It is a heart breaking story but a must read by all means.

A Secret Kept

Synopsis




This stunning novel plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of a past secret to change everything in the present

My Thoughts
I enjoy reading her books. She makes you feel like you can really believe that its real.
Tatiana really brings her characters to life so you feel like you truly know what they are feeling.
I would mark this as a really good book.

Killer Takes All

Synopsis




When a friend is found brutally murdered in her new Orleans apartment, former homicide detective Stacy Killian has reason to believe her death is related to the cultish fantasy role-playing game White Rabbit. The game is dark, violent--and addictive



As a former member of the Dallas police force, Stacy was exposed to more than her share of the horrors of crime. Moving to New Orleans was her attempt to pursue a quieter life. But her friend's murder plunges her back into the role that she fled--especially after she meets Spencer Malone, the homicide detective assigned to the murder case. Stacy doubts the overconfident rookie is up to the task and vows to track down the killer herself.



Her investigation draws her into the privileged circle of White Rabbit's brilliant creator, Leo Noble., a man with many dark secrets in his past...a man whose life has the same frightening surreal quality of the game he invented.



As the bodies mount and the game is taken to the next level, Stacy and Spencer are forced to work together. Soon they are trapped in the terrifying world of a game gone made where Leo Noble and all the people around him are suspect, cryptic notes foretell the next victim and no one--no one--is safe.



Because White Rabbit is more than a game. It's more real than life and death. And anyone can die before the final moment when the game is over...and killer takes all.

My Thoughts
I found this story to be very interesting.
As always when you read about people who find out the person they think they can trust or help is the one causing all the problems, it is scary to say the least. Thank God it is fiction.
I haven't heard alot about these kinds of games so it was all new to me. I felt it was written well and will read more of her books.

Author Jill Churchill

Over the last few months, I have read all of the Jane Jeffrey Mysteries by Jill Churchill.
I found them to be very light and fun. There were a few areas that made me laugh out loud.
All of them are about Jane (a mother of 3-widowed) who continues to get involved with people who have been involved in murder.
Jane and her best friend seem to find the final clues to solve the murder as Jane helps her boyfriend who is a detective.
These stories are not in depth but light and fun to read.