Bookends About The Virgin Cure

Title: The Virgin Cure
Author: Ami McKay
Source: from publisher for TLC book tour
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: This was well written, with such attention to historical detail I felt it could actually have happened but I just didn’t feel a connection to the main character.

Moth is a young girl living in the slums of lower Manhattan until her own mother sells her as a servant. When she tries to escape and finds her mother gone, few options are left to her. Moth is forced choose between returning to the abusive woman who bought her; returning to her old life; or living a life of comparative luxury as a prostitute. With the help of a caring, female doctor named Dr. Sadie, Moth must decide what is most important to her and what she’s willing to sacrifice to survive.

Soundbites: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

Title: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Author: Lilian Jackson Braun
Narrator: George Guidall
Rating (Story): ★★☆☆☆
Rating (Narration):★★★★☆

Although I started listening to the Cat Who series with The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards is actually the first in this series of cozy mysteries. The narration was just as good as in the other book. Sadly, I couldn’t say the same for the story itself.

Bookends About Jane Eyre

Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: The plot was a little boring and unbelievable but the writing was so gorgeous I didn’t even mind!

Today I’m going to be sharing with you the goodreads summary of the book because I think it does a great job explaining not just the action of the plot, but the character development that is the most exciting part of the story. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity.  She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman’s passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed.

Soundbites: The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

Title: The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
Author: Lilian Jackson Braun
Narrator: George Guidall
Rating (Story): ★★★☆☆
Rating (Narration):★★★★☆

Like Tom Clancy, Lilian Jackson Braun is an author I rely on to basically write the same book over and over. It’s like comfort food for the brain 🙂 And as such, it made for nice easy listening. This was an adorable, cozy mystery. The plot is fairly simple and it lacked the Agatha Christie sense of challenging you to solve the crime. Instead you sit back and join our main character as the mystery unfolds, often helped along by his cat, Koko.

Bookends About Water for Elephants

Title: Water for Elephants
Author: Sara Gruen
Source: library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: The characters were fascinating and their personal stories were moving, but the main character didn’t do much to advance the plot.

Left penniless after his parents’ death, Jacob Jankowski quickly fell in love with the two stars of the circus: the beautiful performer Marlena and the elephant Rosie. However, Marelena is already married and her husband is sometimes completely brutish to her and the circus animals. With the circus owner on his side, her husband is very dangerous and Jacob will have a hard time escaping with his life and those he loves.

Cold Killing Giveaway

Title: Cold Killing
Author: Luke Delaney
Source: from publisher for review
Review Summary: The fascinating premise and great reviews this debut novel already has are what drew me to it, but despite (or because of) the superb writing, I couldn’t make it past some of the more graphic scenes.

The bad guy in cold killing must be a true psychopath. He hunts his victims cleverly and with an unfortunate knowledge of forensics. He selects unrelated victims, kills them in different ways, and leaves no trace of himself behind. It will take someone like D.I. Sean Corrigan, with a dark past and a resulting affinity for the dark side of human nature to even identify the existence of such a killer. Then he’ll still need to find him…