Saying Goodbye to Warsaw by Michael Cargill

The main characters in Saying Goodbye to Warsaw by Michael Cargill are Abigail (“Abbie), her brother Leo and her mom Chana.

“Like any girl who is loved by her family, Abigail Nussbaum loves to chase butterflies, enjoys lying on her back looking for shapes in the clouds, and happily teaches young children to make daisy chains.

In the eyes of certain people, however, Abigail has committed a heinous crime. The year is 1940; the place is Poland; Abigail happens to be Jewish.

Along with half a million other Jews, Abigail and her family are evicted from their home and forced to live in the bombed out ruins of Warsaw, the Polish capital.

Although a handful decide to fight back, is the uprising strong enough to save Abigail’s spirit?” Goodreads.com

Saying Goodbye to Warsaw is an inspiring book. It sounds weird to say that about a book with such a horrible subject matter. The main two themes that run throughout the book are if you don’t like something fight to change it and find something positive about your current situation.

Often times, the main characters, like other Jews during 1940, had little or no food, lived in filth and were afraid of the German soldiers. Leo joins a revolutionary party to fight the Germans. He also finds a way to provide food for his family. Chana, who is hopeless of her current situation becomes determined to do something productive and helps out in the underground soup kitchens that provide the majority of her family’s food. Abbie, find children to entertain and teach at the orphanage.

The book is not all inspiring because of the Nazi’s. I am not one to cry at books but fair warning, a box of tissues should probably be nearby. I found myself cheering for the characters and shedding tears throughout the book.

The ending is well throughout and matches with the theme of the book. However, I would have liked the ending of the book to gone a different way. I don’t want to say too much about why because I feel it may give away too much of the book. I say read the book and then let me know if you agree. Most reviews I have seen so far agree with this.

Saying Goodbye to Warsaw is an amazing book that should be read by all. It has made me favorite book of 2013 list.

Designed for Perfection by Elle Davis

When the topic first came up about reading Designed for Perfection, I was a little hesitant due my thinking it would be about a bunch of high school kids and their love story. Wow, was I ever wrong. I am so glad, I had the opportunity to read this book.

Designed for perfection is about not typical high school students. They had a little help from their parents in changing their DNA. The kids are the “perfect” students, athletes and models. Most people think having the “perfect” body, life and everything you wanted would make you happy, but does it really? What happens when you go through life without anything to challenge you?  In this book, you will find out…

The Designer, as the modified kids are called, are contracting a virus that is killing them. This is  story about Cat McCullough (Cat), her sister Claire, Ronan and the rest of the Designers. Cat and Claire are orphaned when Cat is in high school due to a boating accident. The Designers are abducted by supposedly the government to conduct testing on them and to eliminate them.

I like that the kids still went through the same trials and tribulations that most kids go through. Often times, in our society, we focus too much on being perfect and not enough on enjoying life. The cover of magazines at the checkout line and covered with diets and works out. The tabloids make fun of people’s bodies about being too thin or too fat. As a society, are we really heading in the direction of genetically altering our children while still in the uterus so they can be what our society dictates? It is scary to think about. If someone does think about genetically altering embryos, they should read this book first.

The book does have some romance it in but it is not overly done. I am excited to read the next books in the series.

Bloom by Martin Kee

Bloom by Martin Kee is an unusual book. It is a book about two parallel universes that eventually become one.

“Tennyson Middlebrook never considered himself a storyteller. The fairy tales he invented for his childhood friend Allison were only meant as a distraction from their troubled lives. For Tennyson, the stories were a whim, meant only to offer comfort in a bleak time of mass extinction and despair. The characters in his stories never even had names… But Lil’it is real, if not quite human. She is feh, a non-person, existing in a fractured world of hoarded knowledge where the simple act of writing is a crime punishable by death. At best she is property; at worst she is an exotic commodity, something to be sold off to rich, superstitious lords and bankers who would use her organs as aphrodisiacs. She lives in a cage, kept as a pet, her saliva a pathogen used to concoct potions. But when she is sold to the prince of a kingdom as a plaything, she discovers her world is much bigger, more dangerous, and far more terrifying than she had ever imagined from inside the safety of her prison. Tennyson’s world has been afflicted by bloom, a parasitic fungus striking down the very people who might be able to stop it. For a disease that feeds on information, the minds and memories of humanity are the perfect food. As bloom scatters the remains of his species, Tennyson becomes separated from Allison. When he learns that she may still be alive, he must decide how far he is willing to go to see the end of the world with the only woman he ever loved… even if she has no memory of him.” http://www.extaordinaryreads.com.

 The two stories as standalone stories are incredible. The author is very descriptive and has an incredible imagination in terms of creatures that were added into the book.

 Martin Kee switches between characters in the story each chapter. He does a good job of indicating who the main characters are in each chapter. Without this information, the book would have been difficult to follow.

 However, I felt the book lost itself when the two stories were trying to be merged together into one. There was so much going on in each story that I think each one could have been a book by itself. I feel like the author had two good ideas  for books and could not figure out which one to follow.

I was a little disheartened by the ending of the story. I felt the book just ended without following through on all of the thoughts. I may just be hung up on the fact that I did not like how the two stories came together. It was more like fantasy meets sci-fi, which is hard to do.

I felt this book had much more potential that what was actually achieved of it. I am happy I read it but it will not be a book I recommend to my friend or that I read again.

Broken Cogs by S L Koch

Broken Cogs by S L Koch is about a salesmen, Harrison, who finds his friends mysteriously dying. The more friends that die the more promotions for Harrison and his secretary. Coincidence or maybe is the statement, ‘you can never escape your past’ coming into play? That’s for you to find out in this gruesome tale of murder and love. I would like to share more of the story, but that would take away from the fun of reading the book.

When I first read the author’s description of the book, I was taken back a little. I was not sure that I wanted to read the book. Based on the description the book appeared to be more horrific than expected. I decided I was up for the challenge. Don’t get me wrong, the book does have some gruesome parts in it, that you need to have a strong stomach to read.  It also, has some NC 17 parts as well.

I am, also, not a huge fan of love stories intermixed with murder mysteries. I often times find that the love story over powers the mystery. I was pleasantly surprised, that the love story was subtle and relevant to the story.

I found myself struggling a bit to get past the first 20 pages of the book. Once I reached page 30, I did not want to put the book down. I found myself chuckling, cringing at the victim’s pain and the hair on the back of my neck standing throughout different intervals of the book.

S L Koch, is wonderful at using subtle foreboding hints. He also uses metaphors in a manner that is not overdone. Generally, each chapter, leaves you with a little or large cliff hanger to entice you to keep turning the pages.

I am looking forward to reading more books by S L Koch. Keep an eye out for more of his books on my blog.

Empty Mansions by Bill Deedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. is the biography of Huguette Clark, the daughter of multi millionaire W. A. Clark. W.A. Clark was an ingenious man, who made his fortune by mining for copper at the start of the telephone boom. He attended school to learn to mine after he purchased the mines. He was always ensure that he was educated enough to continue growing his fortune and changing with the times.

Huguette became a recluse after the passing of her mother. She was never photographed after 1920. She had multiple homes worth millions each. The majority of the home, she never lived in. later in life, she was taken to Beth Israel, for cancer treatment. She never checked herself out of the hospital. Instead, she insisted on living at the hospital until she passed away. While she was there she had few visitors.  

The Clarks were very generous people, always helping out those in need. Sometimes, Huguette, was too generous and he lawyers would often times remind her of this. People, would have the audacity to attempt to take advantage of her kind heart. At one point of her life, Beth Israel Medical Center, attempted to swindle over 100 million dollars out of her to keep the hospital open.

I generally am not mesmerized by a biography, especially that of an extremely wealthy individual. I found Empty Mansions to be a quick read that held my attention. The introduction was decent. I found myself struggling to get passed the first two or three chapters. Once, I did pass the chapters, I was sucked in for the remaining of the book.

I enjoyed the fact that part of the book was written by her cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr. I also, enjoyed the personal items that were included in the book such as letter and telegraphs she wrote and pictures of dolls she collected.  These touches, allowed the reader to connect with Huguette Clark on a personal level. It may be just the archaeologist in me, but this was my favorite part of the book.

I feel this is a book to add to everyone’s bookshelf. The book not only teaches you about Huguette Clark as a person but also provides life lessons.

                                                                                                                                                              

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P.D. Viner

Generally, when I finish a book, I know immediately that I liked the book or was not a fan. I do not think I have found a book, that I have not at least appreciated. So needless to say, I at least appreciated the book for what is was. When I finished, The Last Winter of Dani Lancing, I sat for a few moments pondering about my reaction to the book. of course, knowing that the publisher and other potential reads would want to know my thoughts of this book. I think I have come to the conclusion, I need to read the book again to determine my level of liking the book.

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing, is about Dani Lancing, who goes missing after Christmas break while in college. Twenty years, after her death, the case is still unsolved, her parents are divorced and her mom is a wreck. Her dad sees Dani’s spirit and converses with her as if she is still alive.

Dani falls into hard times due to experimenting with drugs during her first year of college. Her father is the only one in her family that finds out about this.

The author uses flash backs in the book. However, the flashbacks are not in sequential order and often times become confusing. The author does list, at the start of the chapter, the date, the event is occurring. I found myself often times referring back to previous chapters to determine how the events were falling into place. For the longest part of the book, I thought the spirit of Dani was the real person. I feel, I may have missed some subtle hints, eluding to her being a spirit.

I feel the book has potential but needs some more work. I felt the ending was very drawn out. I think it could have either had more action or took up less of the book. The book is supposed to be a murder mystery, but the end seemed like people were sitting around talking about how the crime occurred. Much of the forensics was lacking detail. In one part of the book, the character mentions that the body was washed. The forensics team, should have been able to determine that the body was washed.

I would like to hear feedback from others, on your thoughts of the book.

The Cult of Me by Michael Brookes

The Cult of Me, by Michael Brookes, is about a man, who can control others thoughts. He find out he has this ability when men try to kidnap his mom from their home. He ends up killing one of the men, which in turn saves both himself and his mom.

He then spends the majority of his life, honing in on his mind controlling skills. After his mom passes away, he ends up homeless due to blowing through his inheritance. He passes the time on the streets by finding two people a day that he judges. He enters their mind to determine their “sins”  and punishes them according. He finally becomes bored of being on the street. He kills five men on the street, two of them being police officers. He allows himself to be captured, so he can continue his “fun” in jail. Jail ends up not being what he expected.

The storyline of The Cult of Me is creepy and innovative. Most of the times, when books are centered around serial killers, it is the same story just done in a little bit different way. The story line is generally, murders have been committed. We are given little clues and it is up to the police or FBI to determine, who did it. In this case, we know right away, who the murders is and why. We then sit back and watch the authorities slowly unravel how the murders are being carried out. I have never come across a book that uses mind control as the mode of killing.

The book uses flashbacks to explain how he developed his skills and offers an insight into the main character’s present day actions. This is a very useful tool; allowing more character development.

The author is able to add to the creepiness of the book by writing in the first person. Many serial killer books are written in third person omission. The reader is sharing the serial killers thoughts and plans as they are occurring. A twist is thrown into the book, while in jail. I was not expecting the twist but it was a well played.

It is mentioned,  people have a fear of  not make an impact on the world. I think this is an underlying if not predominant fear in most people.

The Cult of Me is a book that makes you look at the world a little different. It instills or surfaces some underlying fears in everyone. It is a serial killer book with a twist and a very unexpected ending. I would have to say, this is a page turner. It caught my attention from the first chapter.

Noah’s Rainy Day by Sandra Brannan

Noah’s Rainy Day is an amazing and well written book. I was intrigue by this book once I read the summary. This was the first book I have read by Sandra Brannan. Noah’s Rainy Day is the fourth book in the Liv series. Even though, I had not read the first three books, I was able to follow the characters.
Noah is a 12 year old boy with cerebral palsy. Although, Noah is not able to speak or use his appendages, his mind is fully functioning. His beloved Aunt Liv, is an FBI Agent, who Noah likes to help solve cases. When Little Max is kidnapped his father, Maximillian Bennett Williams, III, request Liv to be on the case even though she is three weeks out of graduation from Quantico.
My favorite relationships is that of Noah and his sister Emma and Noah and his Aunt Liv. Noah’s and Emma, can communicate using a five finger system, where each finger and knuckle represents a different letter. It was amazing to see how two kids found a way to communicate without using verbal queues.
During the earlier part of the book, when it was eluded to who kidnapped little Max, I felt too much was given away. However, the reasoning behind this made sense near the end of the book. Noah solves the case of missing Little Max before the FBI. He is so adamant about sharing the location of the boy and making sure the boy is safe, he goes to extreme measures to get his families attention.

Noah’s Rainy Day was so well written, I could understand and empathize with Noah’s frustration when he had solved the case but no one was understanding what he was trying to say. I felt myself yelling, in my head, in frustration at his family to understand Noah. I think, most avid readers have had this experience at least once when reading a book.

The book was action packed. I could not put the book down. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the Liv Series. A very well written book, that everyone should read.