Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Confessions of a Murder Suspect

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

 

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: 1) She was the last person to see her parents alive. 2) The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. 3) She can't trust anyone--maybe not even herself. Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous-and revealing-game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of?  (description from Amazon.com)

 

Okay, so I'm going to be brutally honest here.  I kind of hated this book. All around.  Yup.

 

Although I thought this was a clever premise and I went into reading with sort of high hopes, from about three chapters in I just wanted this book to be done already. Tandy is supposed to be cold and emotionless and yes, that comes across just fine.  It made me not connect with her or the other characters at all and then, then... then there were the moments when she obnoxiously addressed the reader directly. 

 

Dear Reader... I'm going to be really condescending and tell you that I can't reveal everything to you right now because, *gasp* otherwise, why on Earth would you finish reading the book??

 

Sorry. That got a little mean. I suppose I was struggling my way through the book, hating the voice, but still persisting until the big reveal.  I won't ruin it for any of you that may want to read this book, but I will tell you that I basically ranted to my husband for like 45 minutes about what a cop-out it was.  What a waste of time it was for me to read the book only to find out...

 

I had a raging ball of hate for James Patterson inside of me.  Not good.  So... well, there it is.  I didn't like it and I won't be reading the other books in the series.  I hope that you Patterson fans out there don't let me influence you, but...

 

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my library

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DNF: Chime

Chime

by Franny Billingsley

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know. (description from Amazon.com)

This book got such great reviews that it literally pained me that I could not get all the way through it.  I read more than half, hated every minute of it, skipped a chunk and finished the end...just to know what happened.  This was one of those books that just bothered me, deep in my core. It was by no means bad...but I just grit my teeth everytime I picked it up.  I hated how Briony referred to herself in whiny third person all the time! Hated.  Even the plot, which had sounded right up my alley, couldn't get me past that...ugh.

Now, there have been plenty of people out there who loved this book, so please...do not let me sway you from reading it.  Check out the reviews on the web and decide for yourself!