"Accidents Happen" by Louise Millar (GIVEAWAY)

A Thriller For You by a new author

Accidents Happen by Louise Millar is about a mother who is determined to keep her son, Jack, and her safe using extreme measures. But, is it enough? This book kept my interest throughout with very good writing and a twist at the end. Great book, I enjoyed it!  Give this new author a try.
(Gerard's review, 5+ stars)

If you reside in the U.S.A. and would like this book, just leave a comment saying so with an email address so we can contact you for an address. (The Winner is Susan, I just flipped a coin Thursday night.)

(We got a free copy to review for no compensation. This did not affect my review in any way.)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"The Dinner" by Herman Koch

The Dinner by Herman Koch is about two married couples who get together to discuss a horrible crime their sons committed. In my opinion, it starts slow but once it focused on the main story, it took off. I loved the ending and thought it was a good read, not great so give it four stars.
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"January First" by Michael Schofield (UPDATED)

Gerard's Favorite of the Month, possible the year!

January First by Michael Schofield tells the true and ongoing story of Janni Schofield who has Schizophrenia. It is told by her dad, Michael. This is a fantastic read! You talk about a page turner—I really had a hard time putting this down. You will not read many books like this! Good luck, Janni, I'm praying for you and your family. This is a must read!
(Gerard's review, rating 5++ stars)

January First by Michael Schofield is the true story of his daughter’s descent into madness and his struggle to save her.  At just three years old, his daughter, Janni had hallucinations and symptoms of Schizophrenia, although it took several years for the official diagnosis.  He shares his heart-wrenching story of how he and his wife were actually afraid of their sweet little girl because of her violent outbursts.  She would hit her parents, her dog and often tried to hit her younger brother.  Reading this, I felt sorry for Janni, her parents, her teachers and her brother.  It is a very sad story of a family who fought so hard to be a normal family, but couldn’t.  The husband and wife both love Janni very much but often found themselves disagreeing as to how best to help her.  Fortunately, it seems they found some hope at the end of the tunnel.  If you want to read an inspiring story of parents who don’t give up through difficult times, I recommend this book to you.   Wow!
(Karen's review)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins is Fantastic!

WOW! "Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins is a fantastic read! Tony Connor and Vanessa each have their own demons to deal with. They all wind up at Aspen Springs, a place that helps teens deal with their issues. How they deal with them and their own stories is just remarkable! To say I enjoyed this book would be putting it mildly. I LOVED "Impulse"!

Although it is over 600 pages, it is in verse and I was so caught up in it that it did not seem that long. This is for sure going to be my favorite read this month and will be in my 12 favorites for 2012. This is one you will not soon forget--what an ending! I highly recommend it! (Gerard's Review:  My rating: 5 of 5 stars)


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We are donating 50 cents to KIVA this month to help the poor change their lives for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs.

"The One Percenters" by John Podgursky

The Once Percenters by John Podgursky is a psychological thriller that contains rough language that I didn't appreciate reading. However, that aside, the story itself is really good! Edward Caine creates his own little world and tells a fantastic tale that kept me reading for sure. The ending was a shocker to me! This is a good read if you can get past the bad language.
(Gerard's review)

(John Posgursky is a new author who requested a review and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book.  I like horror and this certainly could be classed as such.  I would have given it 5 stars on Amazon if it wasn't for all the profanity.)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Iron House" by John Hart

Iron House by John Hart is a well-written novel that is a combination of suspense, mystery, drama and love.  It is about two brothers who lived at an orphanage called “Iron House” until one was adopted by a senator and his wife (Julian), and the other took off on his own to protect his brother (Michael).  Michael grew up tough and got into organized crime, but when he fell in love with Elena and wanted to leave to go straight.  Giving up killing though wasn’t easy, especially when they didn’t want to let him go. 

This psychological thriller just kept getting better and better as the plot thickened.  The author did an amazing job getting the reader to actually like Michael and pull for him even though he killed seven people before lunch!  Iron House is riveting and definitely a page-turner.  I loved the insight into the mob and the depth of the characters.  Iron House deals with issues of family, love, betrayal, mental illness, crime, abuse and secrets.  I think this book would be an excellent choice for a book club and highly recommend it if you like a good thriller! 

(Karen’s Review)

 

What a GREAT book to start August with!  The plot in this book is so good that what I thought I knew I wasn't even close, and the last chapters have some major twists and turns!  Has a really happy ending too!  For sure to make my top ten books of the year!!  It goes without saying that this book is a double WOW!  I highly recommend it

(Gerard’s Review)

We both think this is John Hart's best book yet and would like to see it made into a movie.

Check out our teaser from this book.

 

We got a free copy from the publisher to review this book but it in no way influenced our reviews.  We both LOVED IT and think you would too! 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Check out our other book reviews of books by John Hart.

You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Miles From Ordinary" by Carol Lynch Williams

I read The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams and liked it so decided to also read Miles From Ordinary by her. I liked The Chosen One better, but this one isn't all bad. Miles From Ordinary is about Lacey, a young teen girl who has to deal with her mom who has mental problems. All seems well one day as they both have new jobs to go to. When Lacey is done with her job and goes to meet up with her mom, she finds that her mom is missing. I read this book in one day—it's a quick read.  
(Gerard's review)


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help our charity of the month just by leaving a comment on any of our blogs! We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month. The charity for this month is at the top of our blog.

"Therapy" by Sebastian Fitzek

Wow, how crazy!  That’s all I could say when I finished reading Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek.  It is such a wild story that held my attention all the way through to the end.  It is a psychological thriller mystery that is baffling and kept me guessing.  It’s the story about a 12-yr-old girl who is missing and her father’s quest to find out what happened to her.  I don’t want to say any more about it and ruin it for you.  This is one you’ll have to read for yourself!  It’s a quick read because it’s so hard to put down! 

(Karen's review)

Gerard's review:
I read this whole book and I'm still not sure of what I read.  What I do know is that this book is a real page turner!  It is the story of a psychiatrist who thinks his daughter is missing.  It's been four years, then he begins seeing Anna Glass and this book really takes off.  If you want a great read, one that you will remember, this is it.  I liked it a lot!  I'm curious to see what others think of it.

Thanks to Everything Distils Into Reading
 for recommending this book on Teaser Tuesday.  Click the link if you want to find out more details about the story.
 
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? You can help Canine Lifeline (a dog rescue organization that saved our dog, Abby) by leaving a comment on any of our blogs in March. We will donate 50 cents per comment at the end of the month.

"Dogwood" by Chris Fabry

Dogwood by Chris Fabry is a short novel that I found a bit hard to follow at first.  It got off to kind of a slow start but takes some unexpected turns along the way that made for interesting reading.  It’s about Will who is in love with a girl from high school that he decides is worth waiting for, even though it means being an ex-con and returning to his small hometown in West Virginia which doesn’t want him back.

This book is about illusions.  Things are not what they seem.  I’m glad I finished it because it did get good at the end and was hard to put down; however, overall, I really didn’t care much for this one.  I’d be curious to hear what others think of it.  It’s not your usual crime mystery or romance, that’s for sure!   Discussion questions are included--could be a book club read.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle was a very interesting but also disturbing memoir about a very strange mother and an alcoholic father raising a family of four and barely scraping by needlessly. Jeannette tells about her childhood from a child's point of view and does an excellent job of communicating the feelings she had towards her parents and their situation. Her dad was a very smart man, but drunk a lot which caused him to have difficulty holding a job and neglected his children. He'd talk about big plans, but did little in handling everyday problems.

The mother was selfish, thinking mostly of just herself, choosing to live in poverty instead of selling land she inherited. She'd rather see her children go without food that get a job. Her priorities were all mixed up.

This was a sad book from the standpoint of the parents being so pathetic. It seemed as though the kids had more sense than they did. Reading her story made me even more grateful for the parents I had and I couldn't help but think that could have very well have been the life my foster sisters and brother may have had if my parents hadn't taken them in. It is disturbing to me that kids actually live in conditions such as in this book.

The author shares many unusual experiences which made for a very interesting book.
(Karen's review 8/10/08)