REVIEW: Irreparable Harm by Melissa F. Miller

Title: Irreparable Harm (Sasha McCandless #1)
Author: Melissa F. Miller
Publisher: Brown Street Books
Publication Date: April 2011
Genre: Legal Thriller
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: A skillfully woven plot, surprising twists, and a cracking pace keep readers turning the pages in this gripping legal thriller from a USA Today Bestseller. Downloaded by more than one million readers!

Attorney Sasha McCandless has one goal: Make partner at the best firm in town. Then a plum assignment plunges her into a world of deceit and danger.

When a commercial flight crashes, killing everyone on board, she's tapped to defend the airline. It's her big chance ... high-stakes litigation for an important client. But, as she digs into the evidence, people close to the case start dying.

She discovers the crash was intentional, caused by a smartphone app capable of overriding the cockpit controls. But she's not sure who she can trust with the horrifying truth. She teams up with a federal air marshal, and they race to prevent another airline disaster.

Soon, Sasha finds herself with a brand-new life goal: Stop a madman before he kills her.

My Thoughts: Irreparable Harm was an enjoyable and fast paced legal thriller featuring a likable protagonist in Sasha McCandless, a bright lawyer who is working to defend an airline from the lawsuits that will be coming after one of their planes appear to malfunction and crash into a mountain, killing everyone on board. What starts as a routine query into the employment of one of the passengers quickly escalates into murder to cover up the crash and these people have no problem adding a lawyer to the dead. Sasha has no idea who she can trust when she discovers the crash was deliberately orchestrated.

I liked Sasha and thought she handled herself well throughout the story, though there were some issues with the story. The build-up and tension in the story starts out well and really drew me into the story. The characters were easy to relate to and root for. My issues with the story were due to the rushed feeling of the story’s ending. I was frustrated that after the initial buildup of tension and intrigue in the first 2/3 of the book, everything Sasha and Leo go through to stay alive and figure out this mess, the story gets wrapped up in a matter of a few pages. In addition, there was some eye-rolling on my part at the apparent ease that she takes out professional assassins with her bare hands, as well as disarming a federal air marshal. I felt the author was excessively repetitive in mentioning Sasha’s Krav Maga training, so much I was starting to wonder if this was a novel or an advertisement for a class.

My Final Verdict: I enjoyed the story but I hope that Sasha and Leo grow as characters in the rest of the series and the stories have more focus and relevance.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Irreparable Harm from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Sycamore Row by John Grisham

Title: Sycamore Row (Jake Brigance #2)
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: October 2013
Genre: General Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier.

The second will raises far more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly? And what does it all have to do with a piece of land once known as Sycamore Row?

My Thoughts: With Sycamore Row, the very talented John Grisham takes us back to Clanton, Mississippi and back to Jake Brigance and other much-loved characters in Clanton that left a large imprint from A Time to Kill. A few years have passed, and Jake is still struggling to make his law firm a success and dealing with the fallout of having his home torched and trying to settle the insurance claim. He doesn’t give much thought to the suicide of a wealthy man, though everyone is talking about it.

Two days after the suicide, Jake receives a letter from Seth Hubbard requesting he probate his new will, which cuts out his children and grandchildren and leaves 90% of his over $20 million estate to his black housekeeper, Lettie Lang. His letter tells Jake that there will be a fight contesting the new will and insists that Jake needs to fight to uphold the new will. Having never met Seth Hubbard before, Jake is shocked and secretly pleased that he was chosen by Mr. Hubbard to probate his will and so begins a very complex story.

Throughout this book, I, along with all the residents of Ford County, wondered why Seth Hubbard would bequeath such a substantial sum to Lettie. It’s Jake’s job to prove Seth was of sound mind and the new will is valid. Though the story is quite drawn out in the build-up, the results were significant in their impact as Jake utilizes Harry Rex Vonner and Lucien Wilbanks and their extensive skills and knowledge to build his case.

I really enjoyed this story and reuniting with the residents of Clanton again felt like a family gathering. John Grisham does an excellent job of portraying characters that are multi-dimensional but so easy to relate to and care about.

My Final Verdict: I didn’t think this book was as intense as A Time to Kill, but still delivers an interesting story with some very emotional moments that Grisham is known for. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy relationship driven stories featuring characters that leave a lasting impression.

REVIEW: Miss Wrong and Mr. Right by Robert Bryndza

Title: Miss Wrong and Mr. Right
Author: Robert Bryndza
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: May 2015
Genre: Chick-Lit
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: ‘This is men,’ said Gran. ‘When they vant you, but you don’t vant them, they stay. But let them know you vant them, they no longer need you, and they go! It’s like that movie, Nanny McPhee.’

Natalie Love has worked hard to have it all. She runs a successful London theatre that's about to host one of Hollywood's leading stars, Ryan Harrison. She’s pretty sure she’s found her man in yoga boyfriend Benjamin, despite his annoying habit of saying Namaste! every time he speaks. And her eccentric, glamorous Hungarian Gran is always on hand to offer sage advice and steaming bowls of goulash.

Life in the bright lights of London has always been Natalie's escape from her chaotic country family in rural Devon and Jamie, the childhood sweetheart she left at the altar fifteen years ago. Until he turns up at her theatre door...

Jamie is in town producing a West End show and with rivalry suddenly clouding old feelings, this isn’t quite the reunion Natalie was expecting.

Will Benjamin prove to be Natalie’s perfect match? With Ryan turning her head, Natalie is more confused than ever. And what about Jamie – could he be her second chance at first love?

Charming, hilarious, and totally unputdownable, Miss Wrong and Mr. Right will put a huge smile on your face and keep you guessing who Natalie’s ‘Mr. Right’ is until the very last page.

My Thoughts: First of all, I must ask how I have missed not reading this author before?! This book was so entertaining and fun to read from the beginning when we first meet Natalie after she has left Jamie, literally at the altar to the end when fifteen years later, we get to see Jamie come back into her life and wonder if he really is her Mr. Right or if she should keep running. Perhaps her soul mate is her yoga boyfriend, Benjamin, who says “Namaste!” in every sentence and during sex or Hollywood heartthrob, Ryan Harrison, who Natalie has hired to perform in her theater’s production of Macbeth.

This book is full of interesting characters, some more likable than others, of course, but all with personalities that draw the reader in further to the story. Natalie’s Hungarian grandmother was a hoot, and I will never think of bunions again without thinking about Sophia Loren’s toe. Natalie’s best friend Sharon and her teenage-like crush on Ryan and the calendar she has still makes me giggle.

Benjamin and Tuppence were less than likable and gave me near migraines with the intense eye rolling their presence caused but I found myself curious as to what they would do next and what would happen as a result.

I really liked both Ryan and Jamie and thought they were down to earth characters who were decent people. I enjoyed meeting the rest of Natalie’s family and her theater mates as well.

My Final Verdict: This book delivers on every angle, comedy, drama, heartbreak filled with characters and situations any reader can relate to and enjoy. Give this one a look and you will be wondering, like me, what took you so long to find this author. I am looking forward to jumping into his other books.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Miss Wrong and Mr. Right from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.