Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Hello everyone.

I hope you are well. Many of us are enjoying some "inside" time. If you can get a free moment from the craziness of a house full of kids,  perhaps you can grab a book. I'm sure your book stockpile exceeds your supply of toilet paper.  Maybe you could knock a few novels off your tbr.

When I read about the book Saint X I was interested. This story sounded like a thriller plucked from the newspaper headlines. This is not the case. This book certainly isn't a thriller and is barely a mystery. The point is to discover who killed a teenager at a vacation island location but the book ends up as a discussion of grief. If you want a thought provoking story about how people handle all kinds of loss, without getting terribly depressing then Saint X is for you. The writing is engrossing, and descriptive without repeating itself, the author moves the story along, not lingering too long on any topic. I really appreciated the writing style. This book was really good, my problem is with myself and not the book. I thought I was reading a thriller and kept expecting the story to race to a heart pounding conclusion, which it never did. Again, a strong, well written, interesting read but not a thriller or suspenseful mystery.

Take care!

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Hello everyone.

Have you ever gone to one of those old roadside motels? No? Me either. Hubby always wants to stay at them, referring to them as "mom and pop" places instead of something corporate owned. I agree it is a lovely idea, but I can't get the picture out of my head of sagging mattresses, rusty, dirty bathrooms, and bugs. Yes, I've seen those things in big chain hotels.  I don't know, maybe one day.

I recently read The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. I couldn't wait for this to be released. A haunted old motel, what is not to like?  For me, it wasn't all pleasant. In this story, a young woman, Viv, works at the motel in 1982 and goes missing. In 2017, Viv's niece who is obsessed with the story of her aunt's disappearance, also works at Sun Down so she can investigate what happened years ago.  It's an interesting premise but for me, the ghost story takes a back seat to the mystery that both girls are trying to solve. Timelines that shift are often an excellent way to tell a story and I love when they come together in the end but in this case everything just gets too jumbled, the story isn't clean enough. The ghost story could be expanded on and much scarier and the mystery could be much less. In fact, I correctly guessed the answer to the mystery after the first few pages of the book.

If you love Simone St. James, read this, by all means, you might love it as so many people do.  If she is a new author for you, I suggest Broken Girls, a great ghost story. Even though The Sun Down Motel wasn't my favorite, I'll be in line to purchase the next St. James novel.

Sorry All

It's been a long time since my last post. Sadly, I've been in the hospital for the last three weeks. Just home now, but super weak. Trying to build strength to walk and go back to my normal life. It's going to take a bit of time and a lot of effort.

I didn't want you to think I had forgot about you or the great stories on the market right now, because that is just not the case.

Hope you are safe and happy.