The blog of author Stacy Kingsley

Book Review - THE HERD by Andrea Bartz

7/30/2020

The Herd by Andrea Bartz left a lot to be desired. The novel follows two sisters, Hana and Katie, as they struggle to figure out what happened to their friend, Elenore. They attempt to do this while keeping their own secrets, and while trying to work together around things that are hard for them.

Let's start with the characters. None of them were likeable. Katie seemed whiny and continually complained about why she could not write a book she had been working on. It became dull. Hana and her best friend, Mikki, seemed all over the place, and they were not interesting. They too continued to continually discuss something that they couldn't talk about. Elenore, before she disappears, was also a little to pretentious, and she had zero reasons for some of it. There is a moment, when the book starts off, and there is graffiti in the "bathroom." The graffiti says "Ugly Cunts" and Elenore hates the words, but it is never explained why she hates it so vehemently. This is just one of the things in the books that seemed unrealistic and unnecessary.

The secrets that everyone is keeping never seem to be that drastic, or really that interesting. In fact, Katie's secret was borderline boring. I wanted something juicy, and I got a rotten peach. Then, when I found out the secret Hana and Mikki were keeping, I felt the same. And then at the end of the book, when everything had been settled and figured out, I was done. I feel like I read this book for no reason, and I am upset that all of the positive reviews led me to waste my money on it.

I honestly hate giving bad reviews, especially when a book sounds so amazing, like this one did. However, I hated that I spent my money on this. I don't recommend this novel. It was not as well-developed as I thought it would be.

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Book Review - THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn

12/1/2019

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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn will feel familiar when you start it, especially if you read The Girl on the Train, which this can be compared to. It is not like Gone Girl, which I will admit I totally hated.

Anna Fox is a former child psychiatrist who is now an agoraphobic who can't leave her house without passing out. If you know nothing about agoraphobia it is the fear of open spaces, or spaces you can't control and is often brought on by trauma or anxiety. Her and her husband, Ed, and daughter, Olivia, have separated, possibly due to the agoraphobia, possibly due to other reasons. When the Russell's move in across the street Anna finds herself drawn to the family, especially the teenage son, Ethan, and the wife, Jane. However, nothing is as it seems with the family, and once Anna hears a scream and believes that she sees Jane murdered things go sideways. Anna finds that no one believes her, and due to her condition and her reliance on both alcohol and prescription drugs she starts to not believe herself.

The story has two twists in it. One did surprise me and I was a little shocked, because I should have seen it coming, the other was foreshadowed and I could have guessed if I wasn't so into the story. The story itself was slow at times, and the pacing could have been a little faster. There were times when I felt so bogged down in Anna's feelings and life that I wanted to skip it and get to the story. I also wish that the author had focused a little more on the other characters on the street that Anna watched.

My biggest issue with this novel was with Anna herself. She continually repeated in the novel that she knew she shouldn't be drinking while she was taking her prescription meds, but she continually did just that. I would have liked a character who wasn't drunk all of the time, and I feel that she could have been seen as unstable just with her misuse of the prescription drugs that she was prescribed for her agoraphobia issues. I feel that the alcoholic female lead who isn't going to be believed has been a little over done at this point. There are other ways to create a believable unstable character without the use of booze or meds.

My other issue was with the character of Alister Russell. He was portrayed as a hard ass man who was overprotective of his family, but neither he nor Jane were developed enough to really add to the story. When you have important main characters in a novel they need to serve a purpose, and I feel that neither Jane, who we see little of, and Alister, who we see only when he is angry, aren't used to their full advantages.

I do recommend this, it wasn't bad, and I didn't hate it as much as I did Gone Girl, nor did I dislike it as much as I did The Woman on the Train. Plus, it looks as if a movie is coming and I find it is always a good idea to read the book before watching the movie.

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Book Review - THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND by Karen Hamilton

11/11/2019

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The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton was not the perfect book. Revolving around main character, Juliette, who is trying to win back her ex-boyfriend, Nate, this is a novel that is trying way too hard to be interesting and the next Gone Girl.

Juliette gets a job as a flight attendant to be close to her ex, Nate, who is a pilot. She has a plan, and she must stick to the plan, otherwise she might not get Nate back. The problem, Nate doesn't want her back, because she is totally psycho.

The characters are not delightful at all. I hated everyone, and those who were even a little developed were not interesting or fulfilling characters. Juliette, or Lily, or Elizabeth, is a narcissist, and nothing she does is reasonable. She is a boring stalker, who doesn't develop any characteristics to recommend her as a character to read this book. There was nothing to make her interesting as a main character, and I was actually bored with her obsession and the reasons for this obsession didn't seem like big enough reasons for her to do everything she has done. There were scenes involving her that didn't make me feel sorry or anything for her. In the beginning we learn that she is with her younger brother, Will, when he drowns in an accident, but this doesn't really get expressed later in the story. When she tells another character about it, it doesn't make any sense why she is telling the story, and there are no reasons for it to be expressed. We also don't get to learn enough about her relationship with her mother, or her aunt Barbara. Nothing is delved into, it is all just surface.

Other characters who could have used more and more interesting development were Nate, the love of Juliette's life, Bella, and Amy... especially Amy, who started out as an interesting friend, and could have been a more interesting character if she had been explored a little more. None of the characters had any redeeming values that made me want to read this book, or care about what happened to them.

I wish I hadn't spent the money on this novel. I usually don't post a review if I hate a book, but this one made me mad. I didn't find any reason to finish it, and wish I hadn't wasted the time. I know there are people who will love this book, just like people loved Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, but I dislike books like this. I want at least one character to root for or enjoy. I want one character who isn't a despicable human being.

I don't recommend this novel, for anyone.

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Book Review - YOU WERE ALWAYS MINE by Nicole Baart

10/28/2019

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You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart is about a woman who learns that life can change in mere moments when she learns of her husband's death. Evan and Jessica Chamberlain have been separated for a few months, leaving her life with her two sons in turmoil. Things get worse when Evan is found dead, and the questions keep piling up and keep Jessica awake at night. Everything seems to revolve around their adopted son, Gabriel. Gabe's mother wanted a closed adoption, and Jessica was fine with that, but when she stumbles upon clues that things weren't as they seemed, she becomes suspicious that Evan's death was not an accident at all.

I actually quite enjoyed this novel. This is the first book I've read by Nicole Baart, and I might in fact try to find another by her to see if her books stack up to this one. There are some issues with this book, but the characters were interesting, and Jessica was realistic in her grief. I thought how she went from day to day and through each step felt true to what someone does go through. Trying to pull herself together enough to deal with her children and continue to take care of life as things come and go.

When Jessica finds that a lot of things were not as she thought they were she realizes how much she wanted Evan back, and how little she knew about what he was trying to do. In the end Jessica learns that those who she trusted were the ones who betrayed her, and that her husband was doing more good, even though he was keeping some serious secrets from her..

The family dynamic was interesting, yet is was clear that the family loved each other. The ending wasn't quite what I expected, but I did in fact see it coming, in some of the ways that it did. One of the characters I thought suspiciously about from early on in the novel.

It was not a bad novel at all, and I thought it was a good read. It was an interesting book, with a lot of secrets to figure out. I'd recommend it to people who enjoy Jodi Picoult, as this did seem a little along the lines of the few books of hers that I have read.

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Book Review of THE OTHER SISTER by Dianne Dixon

7/29/2019

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The Other Sister by Dianne Dixon was a quick read, but it was also an unsatisfying read. I read this over a few hours, and was incredibly disappointed that I wasted my time with this novel.

The plot of the book sounded interesting. Morgan and Ali are fraternal twins. Morgan feels Ali has had all of the luck and that maybe, just maybe, life would be better for her if Ali never existed. The end of the synopsis adds, "As their lives spin toward something neither one of them can control, a terrifying crime reveals how those who know us best can destroy....or save us." This made the book sound like a crime thriller, which it was not. It wasn't a domestic thriller either. I don't think this book knew what it wanted to be.

The character of Morgan was an annoying and underdeveloped character. She had only part of her own self in this story, and most of the time she spent was feeling angry or jealous of her fraternal twin, Ali. Part of this is understandable. Ali is engaged to and eventually marries a man named Matt. This man met Morgan first, and he was interested in her, until he met her sister, Ali, then he fell in love quite quickly. Morgan feels like this sums up her life with Ali as her sister. Everyone loves her Ali and Morgan is always second best.

When tragedy strikes and Morgan feels that her sister has abandoned her, things begin to change. This is really where the story got dull. In the beginning it seemed like it would be a story of revenge or of sisters who eventually learn to love each other, despite the terrible things one sister has done. Then it acted as if it was going to be a thriller or mystery, as Matt left and was discovered the next day looking beaten and abused, by Morgan. Then it changed again after the tragedy happens and Ali has several decisions to make. It never really makes up its mind what genre it wants to be, or what story it wants to tell. Instead it tried to accomplish too much and became very dull.

In the end several things happened, and a few of them didn't seem at all realistic, or even true to the story. The crime committed seemed to be put into the novel only to force something bad to happen to a character, and for another to discover what everyone would eventually know before she breaks her silence. It also made several of the female characters look dumb, like they all only cared about one thing, money, not love, or their children, or even what was going on in their marriages.

Of course, there is a lot of stuff around the husbands, and the secrets every is keeping, some of which are really stupid.

So, after stating all of this, would I recommend this book? No. Nope. Zero percent. Skip it, this is one book that is just too frustrating to read.

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Book Review - THE ROANOKE GIRLS by

5/8/2019

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The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel is about a young girl, Lane, who has to move in with grandparents she never knew, and a wild cousin, Allegra. The reason for this is her mother's death, and her mother seems to have had a complicated relationship with her parents. Lane, has also had a complicated relationship with her mother, often feeling as if her mother did not, nor has ever, loved her. When there she falls in love, and learns of a dark family secret. Years later when Allegra disappears, Lane returns to Roanoke house to search for her, or clues as to why she might have left. While there she learns that the family she left behind continued to be as screwed up as they were the one summer she was there.

*Spoilers*
First, let me state that if you have any issues with sexual misconduct, molestation, rape, incest, any deviation in a person's sexual life, you should not read this book. Also, this book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I thought this would be more of a domestic noir, but it wasn't quite that either.

Lane finds out that her grandfather has been having sex with Allegra, and this is why she left when she was sixteen. The reader is also given the stories of the rest of the Roanoke family. Yates (the grandfather) has had sex with his sisters, his niece/daughter (who he is unable to consummate the relationship with due to an accident), his wife (who bore him three daughters), and two of his three daughters, as one died in infancy. Allegra was left behind when her mother ran away, and when she reached the age of fourteen Yates started having sex with her as well. He claims that the females of the family all wanted to do it, and from the stories told most of them entered into the sexual relationship willingly, and continued because there was something about Yates that drew them to him.

I was disturbed by this novel, as in the fourth chapter (or about there) it went straight to incest between Yancy and his sister, Jane. I didn't expect to read a story about continual, generational incest, otherwise I would not have picked up this book. I am really not interested in reading about incest, which is why I stopped reading the Game of Thrones novels.

The story itself was frustrating as Lane was not a likeable character, nor was she reliable narrator, always going between anger, and pretty much nothing else, it was always anger. It bothered me as there didn't feel like there was any relief for the reader.

The story was predictable, and the ending was a little obvious, as there was some foreshadowing to what might have to happen for Allegra to leave Roanoke. It was at times a very interesting story, but then at times it was predictable what the characters were all going to do.

I found the incest to be a little overwhelming, and the grandmother's attitude was a little off and off putting. I wouldn't have minded if there were more signs of what Allegra wanted, or why Lane didn't try to stay and help her, or find help. The family issues were all huge and yet, in the story, they all seemed so small.

I don't know if I would recommend it or not, it wasn't anything like something I have read before. So I guess that is a good point, and the reason I was stuck between 3 and 4 starts.

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Book Review - THE HERD by Andrea Bartz

Book Review - THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn

Book Review - THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND by Karen Hamilton

Book Review - YOU WERE ALWAYS MINE by Nicole Baart

Book Review of THE OTHER SISTER by Dianne Dixon

Book Review - THE ROANOKE GIRLS by

Stacy Kingsley

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