"Just Take My Heart" by Mary Higgins Clark

WOW! Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark is full of suspense and true-to-life characters. It’s a murder mystery because although the husband, Greg Aldrich, is on trial for killing his wife, Natalie, he claims he didn’t do it. It is a high profile case that is discussed every evening on the show, “Courtside” which is hosted by Greg’s best friend.


Emily, the prosecuting attorney, goes after a conviction even though she has some doubt about the defendant’s guilt. She has a soft spot for him when she sees his mother-in-law and his daughter and discovers there may be some tampering of the evidence in her case. As if that’s not enough, Emily is in danger herself when a serial killer moves in next door to her and stalks her. Emily’s husband was killed in Iraq and she never remarried so lives alone with her dog, Bess. I found parts even humorous when the serial killer loved to watch the show, “Fugitive Hunt” to see if he was featured.


I loved how Emily discovers the truth and the surprise twist at the end, although the ending seemed very abrupt. There is so much more I’d like to say, but don’t want to ruin it for you. Most of the book focuses on the trial and is not gory. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense and murder mysteries.

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Teaser Tuesdays--3 Books We Are Reading

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for fun! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser. 

Click the links below for our reviews.
Karen's:

The loss of her only child, Natalie Raines, had left her more bewildered than bitter.  How could he do that to her? was the question she asked herself over and over again during the day, and haunted her at night.

From pg. 21 of Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

She ate tuna from the can for supper, barely tasting it. There were no shades at the windows, and she felt exposed to whatever or whoever might be lurking in the woods.

From pg. 102 of The Secret Life CeeCee Wilkes (click link to read my Book Club post) Here's my review of the whole book

Here's Gerard's:

The death of Tommy Braham was the only thing that still weighed on her. She needed to talk to a lawyer about how to handle things with the county, but she wasn't going to fight them.

From pg. 288 of Broken by Karin Slaughter

Willie Mays--The Life The Legend by James S. Hirsch

I wanted a baseball book to get me into the 2010 season coming up.  This did it!  I found out lots of interesting facts about Willie Mays that I didn’t know before.  Always a plus for me.  Willie Mays--The Life The Legend had good movement, never got tired of reading it!
(Gerard's review 3/2/10)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Book Club Read: "The Secret Life Of CeeCee Wilkes" Chapters 1-10

As part of the book club over at Book Beginnings and Bookends here are my thoughts on the first 10 chapters of The Secret Life Of CeeCee Wilkes.

I think I have the relationship of the people figured out.  CeeCee is the mother of Corinne, a teacher with phobias, who is engaged to the news reporter, CeeCee's mother died but wrote letters to her daughter with advice and encouraging words to open at different dates so it would be like she was still around for her daughter.  I liked that idea a lot!  So many times I wish my mom were still alive so I could talk to her about things.  


CeeCee got herself into a very bad situation already.  I think Tim is just using her and will be surprised if he bothers getting back with her at all.  I think the waitress who warned her that Tim was "dangerous" knew what she was talking about and CeeCee should have been more careful about going with him.  The fact that he's also so much older should have been a red flag for her not to get involved with this guy.  


I like this books so far because it goes quick and I am anxious to see what will happen next and what other bad decisions CeeCee will make.  I hope she comes to her senses and can get out of the mess she is in, but I have a feeling it will take the whole book for her to do that.  She is not very bright.  Too bad she took her mom's advice about making decisions with her heart and jumping right in without weighing the pros and cons, but did not follow her mother's advice about not trusting boys and not having sex at 16. 

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

"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult

In The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Chris & Emily grew up together and then became lovers (although Emily really didn’t want to marry Chris ). She became pregnant but didn’t tell anyone. Went for an abortion but changed her mind. The jail time and trial was very interesting and I liked the parents perspective—seeing their kids as perfect.  I liked the attorney very much too.  Great book about young love.
(Karen's review 9/06)

The Pact was the first book either of us read by Jodi Picoult and we loved it!  She is an amazing writer who can really hold your attention and keep you interested right from the start.  Her books go quick because they are so good, you can't put them down!  This one keeps you wondering if Chris is really guilty or not.  
(Gerard's review 9/06)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?