"Accused" by Lisa Scottoline (Updated)

I liked Accused by Lisa Scottoline because it is about Mary, a criminal lawyer who tries to get a case reopened because the sister of the victim believes the wrong guy was convicted for the murder.  It also includes the subplot of her personal life which includes her engagement to her live-in boyfriend and her lack of excitement.  Who the real killer is was a well kept secret and I liked how things were wrapped up at the end.

It's a good read if you don't need a lot of action to hold your attention and find crime investigations interesting.  I liked the interaction between the lawyers in this book and the Christian overtones with the accused and his mother.  I recommend it.  I think it is one of Lisa Scottoline's more believable novels.
(Karen's review 1-3

-13, 4 stars)

Accused by Lisa Scottoline is about a 13-yr-old girl who hires two lawyers to get the man who was found guilty of killing her sister out of prison because she thinks somebody else did it and he is innocent.  Her parents don't want this and it becomes a test of wills.  It's a good book but doesn't have enough action for me to give it 5 stars so it gets 4.
(Gerard's review 12-11-13, 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!

"Fifteen Minutes" by Karen Kingsbury

It's always good to start off the year with a good book and Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury fits the bill. This is a great takeoff on American Idol and how one young boy deals with fame and fortune.  I really cared about the characters and got into it right away.  This book shows that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be.  If you want a good read to kick start 2014, this is it.
(Gerard's review, 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!

Our Favorite Reads For 2013

 Happy New Year!  Does anyone really care what our favorite reads were  for 2013?  Oh well, here they are whether you care or not.  Between the two of us, we read over 200 books last year so please do not think that these few are the only ones we liked.  We chose these as our favorites, but it wasn't easy.


Since I didn't read too many non-fiction books, I didn't make a separate list of them like Gerard did.


If you want to see our review of any of our favorites, just enter the title (or author) in the search box at the top left.

Books we both liked from 2013:

Champion by Marie Lu
The Program by Suzanne Young
In the After by Demitri Lunetta
The Blood of Lambs--A Former Terrorist's Memoir of Death and Redemption by Kamal Saleem (non-fiction)
Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Suspect by Robert Crais
Dinner With the Smileys by Sarah Smiley (non-fiction)

Have you read any of these? If not, hope you will this year. Happy Reading!

"League of Denial" by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru--Must Read for NFL Fans

League of Denial by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru tells the story about the lasting effects that constantly getting hit in the head have on NFL players and how the NFL continues to ignore this problem.  The best parts of this book are the ones that center on specific players.

Being a diehard NFL fan, I knew this stuff but this book gives great background on why these players took their own lives in some cases.  I waited a long time to read this book, but it was worth the wait!  If you love football, you should read this book.  You might get a new outlook next time you see a player get knocked out!  
(Gerard's review, 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!

"Never Fade" by Alexandra Bracken

Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken is the sequel to The Darkest Minds which we both liked a lot.  First off, this book has way too much dirty language which I did not appreciate and took away my enjoyment of the book.  As for the plot, I was totally confused at the start and stayed that way until about page 150.  After that, this book was more like The Darkest Minds with plenty of action and surprises.  I never knew what was coming next!  The ending is very good and left me looking forward to the third book to see how it all plays out.

I give it 4 stars.  I would have given it 5 stars except the dirty language really bothered me.
(Gerard'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!