REVIEW: Six Years by Harlan Coben

Title: Six Years
Author: Harlan Coben
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: March 2013
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Harlan Coben, the master of domestic suspense, returns with a standalone thriller in the vein of #1 bestsellers Hold Tight, Caught and Stay Close that explores the depth and passion of a lost love . . . and the secrets and lies at its heart.

Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.

But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for . . . but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for more than a decade, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life—a time he has never gotten over—is turned completely inside out.

As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart—and who lied to him—soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on carefully constructed fiction.

Harlan Coben once again delivers a shocking page-turner that deftly explores the power of past love and the secrets and lies that such love can hide.

My Thoughts: With Harlan Coben, I know I am going to get a story that’s hard to put down and draws me in, trying to guess what is going to happen next. The bad news is I’m usually wrong. The good news is I’m usually wrong. Just when you think you know what’s coming next, you get thrown for a loop with a twist you never saw coming. I love that. This book doesn’t disappoint in that area, either.

First of all, Jake was a great character, very well written, very easy to relate to and quick to like. I felt for him and the heartbreak he has been living with and admired him for trying to move on with his life after the woman he has always loved married another man. He definitely goes down the rabbit hole when he sees an obituary in the paper for the man that Natalie married. Against his better judgment, he decides to go to the funeral to get a glimpse of her. Imagine his surprise and mine, when he gets to the funeral to learn that the mourning widow is not the woman he once loved!

This story takes the reader on a roller-coaster of intrigue, mystery, lies and cover-ups as Jake begins to research to find the truth, which puts Jake’s life in danger from unknown parties. I felt like Jake can’t trust anyone. He is being lied to by people he has known for years and he has nowhere to turn for help.

My Final Verdict: Readers looking for a nail-biter of a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat will devour this one. The characters are very developed and easy to relate to. Readers who want stories with characters they feel deep empathy and compassion for will lose themselves in this story worrying about Jake and cheering him on. Readers who love to immerse themselves into stories that take them out of their minds and the distractions of daily life should give this one a shot. Well done, Mr. Coben, I look forward to more from you.

REVIEW: Mid-Life Ex-Wife by Stella Grey

Title: Mid-Life Ex-Wife
Author: Stella Grey
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: May 2017
Genre: Memoir / Non-Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Nora Ephron meets Bridget Jones's Diary in Guardian columnist Stella Grey’s heartrendingly honest, witty memoir about her online odyssey to find real love in a virtual world.

Singers may croon about love being lovelier the second time around, but it can also be far more complicated. When Stella Grey’s husband leaves her for another woman, she fears she'll be unhappy and alone for the rest of her life. But daytime vodka-drinking and ice-cream are only short-term consolations. Realizing that she needs to take her future into her own hands, Stella dives into the world of online dating. What follow are 693 days of hilarious, depressing, and baffling encounters that unfold both in person and online. Stella quickly discovers that the more perfect a man appears on her screen, the warier she should be. It's a game of chance, with some players perfectly willing to lie to get what they want, whether that’s a lifetime of love or a very brief encounter.

Amid flirty emails, Skype chats, and awkward small talk over glasses of bad wine (which may or may not lead to awkward sex), Stella struggles to remain optimistic. To succeed, does she have to redefine the kind of man she’s looking for—or change the kind of woman she is? Funny, raw, and heartwarming, this book is a brutally honest account of the world of online dating—a world which so many of us are a part of, no matter our age—drawn from Stella’s hugely popular Guardian column, “Mid-life Ex-Wife” (and expanded with new material) about her search for a second chance at love.

My Thoughts: First time reading any of this author’s work and I absolutely loved it. I’m usually not drawn to non-fiction, though I do enjoy watching documentaries.

This author does a brilliant job of illustrating her experiences with on-line dating so vividly, I honestly felt like I was sitting next to her in a coffee-shop, having a chat with my friend, listening to her as she tells me about the wanker she met for drinks on Friday. It was wonderful as with each date, I was completely drawn in with sympathy, empathy, outrage on her behalf, laughter and tears.

Though this author isn’t the only one to experience the fun as well as the horrors of on-line dating, she takes it one step further and journals nearly 2 years of her experiences, offering sage and logical advice she learned the hard way. This book was a very fast read and I found it hard to put down.

My Final Verdict: Told entirely from the author’s point of view, each encounter offers a no-holds-barred honesty and some tongue-in-cheek humor that gives the reader a very enlightened impression of what finding “the one” online can be like. This book is a must-read for anyone looking for their happily ever after, especially if they are considering going on-line to find them.

REVIEW: Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

Title: Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum #23)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: November 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: In the heart of Trenton, N.J., a killer is out to make sure someone gets his just desserts.

Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an eighteen-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body—frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans.

As fate would have it, Stephanie’s mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who’s putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business. It’s going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It’s also going to be hard to explain to Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger, late nights with Lula and Randy Briggs—who are naked and afraid—and late nights keeping tabs on Grandma Mazur and her new fella. Stephanie Plum has a lot on her plate, but for a girl who claims to have “virtually no marketable skills,” these are the kinds of sweet assignments she does best.

My Thoughts: Another installment of Stephanie Plum and company and this series has run its course for me in terms of story-lines and character growth and development. I don’t see much more for Stephanie in terms of career opportunities or her relationships. What keeps me coming back is the mindless fluff this series provides for me. Hours of entertainment whereby I can enjoy a laugh out loud story without worrying about the details or if the story-line remains consistently accurate to the rest of the series.

I also keep coming back for Ranger, of course. Why he keeps coming back is beyond me, but I am glad he does. He has no problem conveying to Stephanie that he wants her in his bed, but for the umpteenth time, Stephanie manages to avoid temptation. I honestly don’t know why she puts up a fight. Joe Morelli is a decent guy, but their entire relationship has become boring to me. I know he loves her, but sometimes he comes across as a little condescending when he’s interacting with her. We all know Stephanie is a hot mess and the fact that she is still alive is beyond miraculous, but if I could see Joe, I suspect he is eye rolling to the extreme and, God Forbid, patting her on the head like she’s some precocious child that we tolerate because she’s adorable. Ranger is there for her. He lets her crash at his place when it isn’t safe for her at her own, he doesn’t mind when she wears his t-shirts or uses his shower gel, and he looks out for her, literally. He has her wired with GPS in just about every place you can think of. OK, that sounds a little stalkerish and is probably illegal to track someone’s whereabouts without their permission, but come on, she needs a freaking babysitter!

I also come back for Grandma Mazur. She can always be counted on to keep Stephanie and her mother on their toes. Their problem is they underestimate her so when she does something zany, they freak out. Honestly, they should be expecting the unexpected where Grandma Mazur is concerned. At least that way, they won’t be shocked or upset when she pulls one of her stunts.

I enjoyed the addition of Randy Briggs in this installment. He is usually a reprehensible character and that hasn’t changed really, but his interaction with Lula in their quest to become movie stars was highly entertaining.

My Final Verdict: If you are deep into this series, character growth and fresh storylines are expected and should be the rule. The storyline for this installment was pretty interesting with Stephanie helping Ranger, which also helps herself. As we find out, the ice-cream business can be pretty cut-throat. Fans of the series should enjoy the interesting plot, but don’t expect anything else new in terms of any resolutions to Stephanie’s same old, same old situation.