A Book Review: The Sun Down Motel

 

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I did a search looking for haunted house books because I was in the mood for some ghosties. The Sun Down Motel popped up right away. I was intrigued because I also have a thing for old motels, abandoned motor courts, and the like.  Also, the book is set in upstate New York,  the area in which I live. I also happened to live in upstate NY in 1982, which is the year the protagonist’s aunt vanished.

I wasn’t expecting another The Shining (the only book I’ve ever read that scared the daylights out of me in broad daylight),  but based on the hype I expected a lot more than was delivered.

First of all, the book switched back and forth between 1982 and “the present”, muddling the story. The characters were interchangeable. Only the names changed. I kept having to stop and figure out in whose point of view/which year I was reading. The only distinct and memorable character was the motel itself. Needless to say, the motel was the only character even approaching likability.

I was also highly offended by the constant litany that 1982 was a different time and young women didn’t need to be as careful as “in the present.” I was a young single woman in 1982 in upstate New York. The time wasn’t that different. At least, not enough to use it as a justification for carelessness.

The story is billed as a mystery.  Nope. Suspenseful. What? I put the book down for days at a time because I simply didn’t care about the story.

My take? Don’t bother.

 

Book Review-Karen Robards: Obsession

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Imagine waking up, going to brush your teeth, and not recognizing the face in the mirror. Your hair is auburn, not the blond now adorning your head. What happened to the gap between your teeth? There’s an expensive ring on your finger you “know” you bought with an inheritance, but it’s not your taste. And that tattoo near your private parts? You have a phobia of needles, so how did that happen?

And you have a headache so bad it feels as if your skull is about to shatter.

Welcome to Obsession.

As usual, Robards’ careful attention to detail help establish the atmosphere of the story (although I think she messed up on the moon phases in this one).

No one is who they seems, except the bad guy. He’s bad.

Interesting twists.10

From page one, this book is full of violence, so if you’re squeamish, I’d avoid it.

 

Thursday Though-Self Help: The Organized Mind

The Organized Mind is another book that came highly recommended  but I could not finish. I may have read it years ago. Everything I read as I delved into it sounded familiar. On the other hand, so many of these books aimed at executives rehash the same processes, the same systems, and the same theories. I don’t know if I was bored or disgusted.

News flash: not everyone’s mind works like the author’s.

More breaking news: crap rolls downhill. What about the person to whom all your crap gets delegated?

Unless a full time homemaker  blogs about it, no one ever talks about who does the grocery shopping or scrubs the toilets.

Life is full of more details than your in box.

 

 

 

 

Book Review-Linda Howard: Kill and Tell

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Kill and Tell by Linda Howard was a little difficult to get into. The first time I read the book I didn’t much care for the heroine–I thought she was unfeeling. She so unlike me, I had a difficult time relating. The hero, IMHO, was a jerk. Let’s just say the characters improved the second time I read the book, and continue to improve with each re-reading.

Why, you may ask, did I revisit the story?

  • Vietnam Vets
  • Political corruption light
  • Black Ops light
  • Family
  • New Orleans (even though most of the story takes place in Ohio)
  • Great first kiss/seduction scene

Of all of the above listed things, the last one was the clincher.  Picture a rainy, steamy, sultry New Orleans night, sitting on a balcony in the French Quarter, sipping red wine, eating cookies with white chocolate chunks, and listening to bluesy jazz being played in the distance. A perfect recipe.

Oh. My.

 

 

Thursday Thought-Self Help: Crucial Conversations

A success coach suggested I read  Crucial Conversation as a way of improving my verbal communication with various factions in my life.

So many people rave about the book. I couldn’t get past chapter three.

Sometimes I feel like there’s a secret society of people who can read books of this ilk and actually understand them. My brain isn’t wired to do that. I’m a smart woman, but I frequently have a problem with abstracts. So many self-help books deal in abstracts that I end up feeling not smart when I try to force myself to read them.

There are just certain kinds of things my brain refuses to deal with. Too bad when I try to explain this to some people, I’m not understood.

One specific “crucial conversation” that went no where.