"Before I Go To Sleep" by S. J. Watson

Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson is No. 2 on Parade Magazine Books Of The Year!  (No. 1 is Faith which I read and loved.)  Amazon.com gives this book rave reviews and it is going to be made into a movie!  I'm here to tell you that this book lives up to the hype and more!  I am not sure I'll read another book that I was so into as I was this one.  I read it in two days.  It has a fantastic plot which makes it a real page turner.  I did not want to put it down and the ending is very good too!  No, make that great!  Read both "Faith" and "Before I Go To Sleep"--you will be glad you did!  I know I am. (Gerard's Review)

Karen's review:
Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson started off slow to me, then got creepy and then a bit confusing.  It is about Chrissy, a woman who has a strange kind of amnesia.  When she sleeps, she forgets everything but when she is awake, she can function normally except for remembering her past or even what happened the day before.  It is written from her perspective and her doctor advised her to keep a secret journal and write in it each day before going to sleep what happened that day and what things she was able to remember or things she learned about.  That way she could read it the next day to refresh her memory.  I thought this book moved kind of slow for about the first 90 pages, but then things picked up.  I was completely wrong in what I thought about things.  The happy ending was a bit like a fairy tale but I'm glad I stuck with it and finished it.  It's a good read, an unusual story line.   I liked Iron House better.


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.

"Middle School--The WORST Years of My Life" by James Patterson

What a gem of a small book this is for kids!  Middle School--The WORST Years of My Life by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts tells the story of a young sixth grade boy.  It is a good story about how he deals with his classmates, family, grades and other school stuff, all with the help of his friend, Leo.  It is funny, including drawings by cartoonist and illustrator, Laura Park.  With school starting soon, it's a good time to give this a try.  I'm glad I did!

Here's a little teaser from it for you:   I decided that every rule in the Hills Village Middle School Code of Conduct should be worth a certain number of points, depending on how hard it was to break. (from p. 50)

(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.

"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.

Tuesday Teasers: "Iron House" and "Before I Go To Sleep"

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 and author, too, so that other TT participants can  add the book to their TBR  Lists  if they  like your teaser.   

Karen's:

Now here he was, in love with a woman who thought she knew him, but did not.  Michael was trying to change, but killing was easy.  And quitting was hard.

From page 9 of Iron House by John Hart.

Gerard's:

There, beneath my name, in blue ink and capital letters, are three words.

DON'T TRUST BEN.

From page 43 of Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson.

YOU CAN HELP FOR FREE:  KIVA is having giving away free trials this week.  This is a site that lists lots of people worldwide who need some help for specific things.  You choose who to loan $25 and when/if you get paid back, you can re-loan it . . . or not.  Use this link to go and pick someone to lend the $25 to: KIVA free trial link: http://kiva.org/invitedby/karen7242 (If just 5 people try this out using the above link, I'll get a KIVA t-shirt.)

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.

Comment For Charity in August: Heifer International

Last month, we had 175 comments which wasn't enough for donating to get a goat for a community through Heifer International.  Therefore, since the goat was the top vote getter, we will continue with the same charity for this month and donate 50 cents per comment received during July and August.  Thanks to everyone who commented on our blogs during July and hope you will continue to visit us and comment in August so we can get that goat!