The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe is a book that might make some people uncomfortable, and to that I say, read it anyway. The story revolves around Bunny and Michael. Bunny is over six foot tall, and may have been since she was in sixth grade. Michael is gay, and comes from a destructive family where he feels like an outlier. Over the years Bunny and Michael become friends, only after she finds him smoking in a corner of her backyard. Their bond seems tenuous at first, but then later it seems that they are important to each other, and maybe they can save one another.

Throughout the book I will admit that there are few characters to like. Bunny is an oblivious princess who is doted on by her alcoholic father. Micheal lives with his Aunt Deedee and his homophobic cousin, Jason. Bunny doesn't know where she should be and due to her size she feels like a monster, with nothing to recommend her to the opposite sex. Michael is so afraid of people finding out that he is gay that he meets men secretly, and only after he finds them on Craigslist and Grindr. These two don't seem like a likely couple to be friends, but it does end up working.

I was disappointed a little in this book because there were no characters that I felt I bonded with. Michael is the narrator of the story, but I didn't feel close to him, partly because he didn't let anyone feel close to him. After a tragedy occurs, I felt that the reader lost Bunny, as she was and could have been a more interesting type. I wanted to know more about the relationships and that information seemed to be lacking. We never really got to know Michael's sister Gabby, nor did we get to the crux of who Bunny's mother was. After the big tragedy in this book, we don't even get to know that family and the relationships there. I wanted more so that I could feel.

I will be honest, at the end of the book I feel more should have been done about Bunny and her well-being. I feel that Michael built this little, happy box for himself, but then he didn't care when Bunny showed back up. I would have liked a little more from him in the end, after he learned what he needed to learn.

This novel spanned several years, and I feel that maybe it could have been shortened. We didn't really need the exposition about how Michael did in college, and who he dated, since the story wasn't really about that. Yes, his sexuality was important, and how he got from the beginning to the end was important, but the story was about Bunny and Michael, not solely Michael.

In the end, I would say that I did enjoy this book, and for me it was a fast read. I would recommend it as a view into a world we don't often take a look into. It may be hard, and it may make some people uncomfortable, and I can't speak towards the realism of how a young gay person might act, as Michael doesn't only put himself in danger, but he sleeps with older men, who are technically abusers due to his age. However, I would probably read another book from the LGBTQIA+ community, I'd just choose something with fewer perverts.

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy sounded like an interesting book. A young woman, Edie, acts as a body for those who want to connect with their lost loved ones. She takes a pill and for a short amount of time, she lets the spirit of the dead she is connecting with to inhabit her body. She doesn't know what goes on in these meetings because when someone takes over her body, they take over. She ends up meeting Patrick Braddock and channels his wife, Sylvia. After this she can't seem to get Sylvia out of her mind.

Question - Have you ever read a book, and you kept thinking something was about to happen, and then you finish it and nothing has happened? This was how I felt after reading this book. A lot happened, but nothing really happened. I'll explain below.

1 - A dead body is found. The body is named "Hopeful Doe" and she has been murdered. Edie and a few of her coworkers follow the case. They find out who the girl is, but nothing happens. It seemed to be put into the book as an afterthought. In fact, everything seemed to be put in here as an afterthought.

2 - Edie has a deep dark secret, but one we find out what it is, it isn't deep or dark. Also, the writing was frustrating as she was telling the story of this "deep, dark secret." It took forever and she never once said, "this is what I did when I was 12, I just had this problem and my parents didn't know what to do."

3 - Edie has a dead sister we never learn anything about.

4 - Patrick is one of the most boring men I've ever read about in a book. I don't even remember what he looks like, or how he was described in the book. He has almost no personality. I mean, if he is there to reconnect with his dead life, I wanted more from him about how he loved her, or how he hated her, or anything. Even in the end he was so totally boring.

5 - So much happens, then it ends and is never discussed again. One body, Ana, quits and we don't know what she is going to do. We learn who the killer of "Hopeful Doe" is, but this is anti-climactic. Edie has another secret at the end of the book, but again, we don't have any reason to care.

None of the characters are developed. None of the characters have anything interesting about them. We don't get all of the details. The author tried to do too much in one book and it wasn't successful.

Now, I want to say this was also a debut book. I don't know if this author will develop better stories in the future, so I am not going to say I will never read her again. I'd be interested to see what her next book is about. I thought the premise of this was interesting, just not well executed. I'd skip this book and wait to see what she has next.

Unlike some other popular authors, Jonathan Kellerman has yet to disappoint me. The Museum of Desire is another in the Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis series and it may have been the most interesting yet.

The story revolves around an interesting cast of characters. It begins with.... MURDER.... but of course it does. If it didn't begin with murder then maybe people like me wouldn't keep reading. The murder this novel begins with is unsettling, and even Alex is unsure what to say about it. Through trials and tests Alex and Milo attempt to figure out what is going on, why these people were killed, and who the killers are. There is a lot going on in this book. One thing I did enjoy was we did get to see a little more of Robin in this novel, and she is the reason the case comes to a head.

I'd love to say more about this book, but I feel I would give too much away, so I'm just going to copy the synopsis here:

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis has solved a lot of murder cases. On many of them--the ones he calls "different"--he taps the brain of brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. But neither Alex nor Milo are prepared for what they find on an early morning call to a deserted mansion in Bel Air. This one's beyond different. This is predation, premeditation, and cruelty on a whole new level.

Four people have been slaughtered and left displayed bizarrely and horrifically in a stretch limousine. Confounding the investigation, none of the victims seems to have any connection to any other, and a variety of methods have been used to dispatch them. As Alex and Milo make their way through blind alleys and mazes baited with misdirection, they encounter a crime so vicious that it stretches the definitions of evil.

This is it, this is all I can say.

There were almost no likeable characters in this movie, and every person in this movie is very Los Angeles. What I read were posh people, privileged and spoiled teens, people who used to be someone and think they still are. The only real person, the only person I didn't dislike was a nun. I think that might be the point of this novel, that in certain circles people are just total jerks. This gives a look into parts of Los Angeles I saw when I lived in California. There are people who think that just because you aren't wearing the most recent designer you are less than the toilet paper stuck on the back of their shoe when they walk out of that high end bathroom.

As I said before one thing I enjoyed was that there was more Robin. I do wish that we could see Alex do more of his actual job and a little less policing, since he doesn't belong doing some of the things he is doing anyway. I'd like to see him work with some of the kids and go back to basics.

I am pleased that I have yet to get tired of this series. There have been quite a few series that I have gotten sick of and couldn't read anymore, but the Alex Delaware series is still pretty great. If you haven't read any of the books in this series you should, and if you have, don't miss this one.