Sunday, December 17, 2006

Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich

I am on some kind of pace or something cause I normally don't blog this much in a day. But I guess from time to time it will happen. :) This was a pretty good book. I enjoyed it but .. well you can read my review. :)

Alex and Sam are at it again in the second book in the series. Alex is Sam’s spotter in the last race in the season. Their friend Jefferson is gotten himself into some deep trouble and gets stuck in a race hauler. So Alex and Sam go to help him get out and when they do they also find a dead man. They have to figure how to get rid of a dead body but more than that try not to get in trouble for taking the hauler in the first place. Alex thinks that there is illegal technology being used and had to figure out what to do about it. Plus Alex knows that Sam cheated on her and needs to deal with that as well. Their friends in Miami help out and it is quite the fiasco but can they come out in one piece?

I have to say that I liked it but not as much as the first one in the series. A lot of it seemed far-fetched to me. I laughed quite a bit and the writing was just as good but there seemed a lot of obstacles in the way and I wasn’t sure if they would ever be able to solve all the problems.

It was really nice to have recurring characters as well as reading them back to back. I still really liked Alex and Sam. I was impressed with how well their whole relationship was dealt with and I can’t wait to see what happens next with those two. As always Felicia and Rosa cracked me up. Those two are a riot. I was really impressed with how well Janet Evanovich did with all the Nascar stuff she put in her book. Most of it is public knowledge really but it is nice to see that she pays attention to the littlest detail.

I do recommend this book because it is good just make sure that you read Metro Girl first because it will make more sense. I am a stickler for reading books in order as long as I know that they are in a series. Not more that I can say really except that I give it a review of 3/5. It was good, it kept my attention, but in the end a lot of the events weren’t all plausible to me. But I was impressed with how well she tied up most of the loose ends.

Well next on my list of books is The Secret Heiress by Judith Gould but I won't get to that till tomorrow. :) Good night all!

Classics Challenge

I am going to be doing this one too and four of these tie into my TBR Challenge too. :) But with the TBR Challenge those are on a whim so I am not sure I can even post them. lol Here is my classics:
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
Madame Bovary

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich

I loved this book! Here is my review:
Alexandria “Barney” Barnaby gets a call from her brother around 2am. Bill is calling to let her know that he is leaving town and to not go find him. But when Barney hears a woman scream in the background, she is determined to find out what is going on. So she takes some much needed vacation time and heads down to Miami. While looking for her brother at the docks where he works, she runs into famous NASCAR driver, Sam Hooker. Sam offers to help her find her brother since he has nothing else to do. Barney hesitates at first but then agrees since her brother Bill did take Sam’s boat. Little did they know the trouble that they were getting into could cost them their lives. Greed is a powerful motive and that is one that they have to combat and win in order to save not only Bill but also the woman he claims to love Maria. Will they succeed?

Janet Evanovich is one amazing author. This is the first of her books that I have ever read and there will be more to come. She is really able to capture her characters’ feelings and put them down into words. I was impressed with how clean this book was though I know it is a rarity. I was able to enjoy the book and the little hints of sexuality. The characters had feelings but there was some dishonesty. The other thing I liked about the characters came across as real people. I know some authors try but aren’t able to accomplish that but Janet Evanovich was very able to do that.

My favorite character is Alex aka Barney. She is headstrong and doesn’t know when to call it quits. Now sometimes that works out in her favor and other times it doesn’t work out as well. Yet she knew when she was over her head. Though that didn’t often stop her. I still liked her cause she was doing all that she knew to do so she could save her brother. The other character I really liked was Sam Hooker. I just love NASCAR but I really liked it that even though he was famous he could keep his head on his shoulders. That isn’t something that is easy to do when given the power that famous people have. But I felt bad for the guy cause he kept getting mobbed.
Metro Girl was really good and I especially enjoyed how Janet Evanovich put the title in the book. You’ll have to read it yourself to know how it is used. But it is worth the read and worth your time. I give this book a 5/5 cause I couldn’t put it down. I had to find out if Bill and Maria made it and if the bad guys got it in the end.

Now onto Motor Mouth by the same author. :)
Krista

Little Children by Tom Perotta

The ladies at the playground consider Todd “The Prom King”, but no one ever talks to him until Sarah shows up one day with her daughter Lucy. His wife Sarah produces documentaries and is jealous of the connection he has with their son Aaron. Sarah, on the other hand, was a feminist but is now in a traditional marriage to her husband Richard. Richard has secrets of his own that take him away from Sarah and Lucy. Mary Ann has to plan everything out right down to a scheduled time to have sex. But all of their worlds change when a convicted child molester moves into the neighborhood. They have to figure out how to deal with the issue without scaring their children. And two of the people listed above have an affair that goes too far.

When I first picked up this book somehow I thought it was a mystery. I don’t know why I thought that but oh well. I still have mixed feelings about this book even though I finished it yesterday. I felt sorry for all the spouses in this book. But I never felt they were really trying to do anything to keep their marriage intact. The sex got a little too blatant and normally I don't mind it if I can see it being realistic. Tom Perotta may be a fine writer but I didn’t really think so. The writing itself was fine but the characters came off a little too self-centered for me again.

The one that I felt sorry for the most was Kathy. She was trying to make money while her hubby Tom was working on passing his bar exam but she still feel left out. The poor dear really tried. I don’t agree with how some people treated the child molester. Now having said that, I don’t think they should be let back into society. Well, at least this one, but it is not an easy decision to make. If the person is not in public, don’t egg his house etc, just leave him be. Now if he/she is in public, then just stay near your kids so they can play. It’s just a tough call though I think a few neighbors took things too far with that situation.
I don’t recommend this book but I may try his book Election since they turned it into a movie. On the back of the book they compared him to Nicholas Hornby and if I had known that I probably wouldn’t have read it because that was another author I found only okay. So I give this book a 2/5.

Now onto something lighter I hope. lol I am going to start Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich. :)