First Born by Will Dean

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a great day.

I've mentioned way too many times that my sisters are triplets.  You know what would have been nice growing up? A brother, especially one with hot, available friends.  Now that I'm more...ahem...mature, hot is a man that is comfortable in his skin.  Someone who can buy female hygiene products without the least bit of embarrassment.  A man who despite his size and dominance is so sweet with a little dog.  When you're a teen though, the male ideal is somewhat different. While my knees are not happy for maturity, my opinion of men is far better.  Anyway, I was left without a beloved brother and instead got three bratty sisters.  They all have similar personalities, but two look nearly identical.  Yes, they look "different" to me (read that sarcastically), but a stranger would think they are twins. I think they were one egg that split, and the other triplet was her own egg, or quite possibly had her own twin that she no doubt strangled in a game of umbilical cord jump rope, just so she could have all the attention. Did you know that twins occur naturally in one in 250 pregnancies, but triplets are only one in 10,000.  Figures, one simple brother, was that too much to ask? No, I had to have the one chance in 10,000 to get Satan's spawn for siblings (joking, don't write me).  

I recently read First Born by Will Dean.  This is the story of twins, Molly and Katie Raven.  Katie has been found dead in her apartment in NYC where she lives far away from her family in England.  When twin, Molly, discovers that Katie has been murdered she vows to find out who killed the sister she loved so much.  Molly finds that Katie's life was much different than she thought, despite being a college student, she was into things that seem to be much darker.  As with most fiction, you must accept things that aren't likely or practical, but it is fiction, a story, an escape from the everyday. 

This psychological thriller is an easy, quick read.  The fast pacing is full of twists that you'll never see coming.  For thriller readers, this has everything including loads of suspense and constant questions that need urgent answers.  The author supplies answers and an ending that will leave you smiling and satisfied.  Get some snacks and a big cup of coffee, once you start reading First Born, you won't stop.

If only my sisters were as clever as this book. I can hear the phone calls now!

With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a fantastic day.

Ever watch any of those old shows on MTV?  I know, it's ancient and not really my thing either, but have you seen those programs that used to show lots of college kids on Spring Break in Florida?  Inevitably, they would show some guy, that obviously was on his 5th case of beer for the afternoon, run off the diving board and do a big old belly flop.  (I could picture my brother-in-law doing that in his younger days, even without the beer.) It is not just a run of the mill belly flop either, this guy would really think he could fly, with body perpendicular to the water, arms extended no doubt thinking if he flapped those arms he would take off like big bird.  The pain of hearing the water slap into his body was terrible.  He appears from the water bright red from the impact but with the drunken grin of someone proud of himself and still being cheered on by a crowd.  There are books like that, only I'm not cheering.  By the way, my dad was the king of the cannonball.  If you announced that you didn't want to get wet he would get a running start and launch a super soaker cannonball in your direction.  He wouldn't be red when he broke the surface of the water, but he would be smiling, just like Spring-breakers.

I recently read With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson.  I have read books from her before and enjoyed them, Mother May I comes to mind.  She hasn't disappointed me.  Further, I often read thrillers from William Morris publishing first. They have always been excellent, which I credit them working with good authors and having great editors.  Both my bubbles were burst with this book.

With My Little Eye is about an actress, Meribel Mills, who keeps getting strange and threatening letters from a fan.  They are written in fruit-scented marker and get progressively more worrisome.  Meribel goes to the police, but they are little help.  Meribel has a young daughter, Honor, to deal with who is autistic but brilliant.  To keep them safe, Meribel moves from Los Angeles to Atlanta, ready to start her new life.  Sadly, the letters, along with postmarks follow her.  There are several other characters and they each have their own stories, some as interesting of a thriller as the main plot of the book. Making an appearance are; Cooper the helpful neighbor, Addie his ex-girlfriend, Shelia who is Addie's daughter and Honors friend, Meribel's ex-husband and a homeless girl.  The reader can suspect any of them as the mysterious stalker.

Where do I begin?  It takes too long in the beginning to start making the reader consider which one of the characters is the stalker. The pacing is too slow.  Next the book falls apart for me on page 260. When I've paid for this book AND invested my time then something absolutely ridiculous happens leaving all the head shaking questions unanswered...well that just ticks me off.  When it happens when I've read 80 percent of the book, I'm really mad.  If you're going to make me very angry, do it early on so I can move on to the other gazillion books I have sitting here begging for me to read them.  This late in the story "reveal" just feeds into an ending I might have liked but now I feel resentful toward.  Having this come from an author I enjoy and look forward to reading, makes disappointment extra brutal.

I'm giving up on reading for the day.  Wonder if MTV still exists.