REVIEW: Bob Goes to Jail by Rob Sedgwick

Title: Bob Goes to Jail
Author: Rob Sedgwick
Narrator: Roger Wayne
Publisher: HighBridge Audio
Publication Date: July 2021
Genre: Memoir
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Rob Sedgwick was born into one of America’s oldest families and Manhattan royalty. His sister is Kyra Sedgwick, the actress; his brother is painter Nikko Sedgwick; his brother-in-law is movie star Kevin Bacon, and his stepfather was renowned art dealer Ben Heller, who pioneered the careers of Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko. So, to say Rob has struggled to stand out in a family of big personalities is a huge understatement. In his hilarious and touching memoir, Bob Goes to Jail, Rob relates his journey from lost little boy to hapless criminal with such honesty and heart that you can't help but root for him.

In Bob Goes to Jail, Sedgwick recounts how the DEA and the NYPD mistook him for a drug lord and arrested him. When his lawyer told him to get a steady job to show he was a contributing member of society, Sedgwick got a role playing a drug lord on One Life to Live.

Bob Goes to Jail is the story of a New York socialite with a price on his head from the Mexican mob. It's the story of a Hollywood actor who did New York soap operas because his parole wouldn't let him leave the isle of Manhattan. Full of self-examination, biting comedy, absurd situations, and very human feeling, Bob Goes to Jail is more than the memoir of a man: it is the story of the search for love, the yearning for acceptance, and the struggle to find oneself.

My Thoughts: Note from the publisher: Rob Sedgwick's memoir Bob Goes to Jail is one degree from Kevin Bacon.

Honestly, the fact that Kevin Bacon is Rob Sedgwick’s brother-in-law should be irrelevant, but the author went way out of his way to keep reminding me of it. This story, though entertaining and humorous in many ways just didn’t deliver. I found the telling to be a disorganized mind salad, the telling jumping all over the place between the past and the present. I had a difficult time finding the author relatable or empathetic. He comes across as a typical spoiled rich kid whose life is filled with the glitz and glamor most of us can only dream about. Instead of applying himself to be a productive member of society, he decides to allow his grandparent’s luxury apartment to be used as the main front of his drug operation. Getting busted and facing serious prison time was the best thing that could have happened to him.

I also didn’t like that he so glibly talks about strong arming his girlfriend to get an abortion and when she refuses, he takes off, virtually abandoning her or how many bedrooms his stepfather’s townhouse has. It began to sound like he was boasting and gloating, which was a real turn-off for me.

A major saving grace that kept me going with this story was the brilliant audio narration by Roger Wayne. His performance made Rob Sedgwick a bit more likable. I will happily listen to other audiobooks he narrates.

My Final Verdict: On the bright side, the author has turned his life around, gotten sober and is working on being a productive member of society, but the journey getting there isn’t something to be celebrated. Readers who enjoy memoirs and biographies may find this entertaining, but I don’t recommend it. I give the author points for the love he has for his dog.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Bob Goes to Jail from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author: Betty Smith
Narrator: Kate Burton
Publisher: Caedmon
Publication Date: December 2004
Genre: General Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century.

From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often-harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty.

Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.

My Thoughts: Originally published in 1943, this novel is an American classic coming of age story that follows Francine Nolan and her life in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn with her parents, Katie and Johnny and little brother, Neely. Francie has a vivid imagination, loves to read and thinks she will be a writer when she grows up. Francie and her family also live in abject poverty, barely making enough money to survive on.

The author does an excellent job of illustrating early twentieth century Brooklyn for the reader, which is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The adoration Francie feels for her father and her non-judgmental assessment of his drinking and lack of monetary success was sharply demonstrated throughout the book, as well as Francie’s realization that her mother cares more for her brother than for her. As we watch Francie grow, begin school, begin working and experience her first heartbreak, my admiration of her grew.

My Final Verdict: Overall, this was a story that I enjoyed quite a bit, but I didn’t love it. The majority of the story depicts the struggle to live and survive in a world marked by hardship, poverty and the first world war looming on the horizon. I enjoyed the author’s ability to bring Brooklyn to life with such skill that the reader feels transported there. I recommend this story to all readers for the lessons we need to learn about appreciating every opportunity we are blessed with as so many people, then and now, have it so much harder.

REVIEW: Beautiful Maids All in a Row by Jennifer Harlow

Title: Beautiful Maids All in a Row (Iris Ballard #1)
Author: Jennifer Harlow
Publisher: Random House Publishing
Publication Date: October 2016
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN

Description: Dr. Iris Ballard’s glory days are behind her, so when Luke Hudson, her former FBI partner and onetime lover, asks for help constructing a psychological profile of an elusive serial killer who murders single mothers and dumps their bodies in the woods, Iris turns him away. She just wants to be left alone with her infomercials, her German Shepherd, and her vodka. That is, until she gets a peek at the case files.

The media has dubbed him “the Woodsman.” But after Iris learns the sickening details held back from the press, and as she sets foot onto the scene of his latest crime, she assembles a portrait of a more complicated, enigmatic, meticulous man. Control is his motivation. He thrives on it. Soon he even tries to manipulate the investigation by contacting Iris, hoping to rattle the woman he considers an intellectual equal.

The game is on. Iris thinks she has a read on her target, enough to push his buttons, to make him lose control. But when the Woodsman gains the upper hand, Iris faces the most painful reckoning of all—with her own violent past.

My Thoughts: Beautiful Maids All in a Row by new to me author Jennifer Harlow introduces the reader to Iris Ballard, a former FBI profiler who now lives in self-isolation after her husband was murdered by a serial killer she helped arrest and who nearly killed her as well. The reader is also introduced to Iris’s former partner, Luke Hudson, who has contacted Iris to ask her for her assistance with another serial killer, The Woodsman.

This story moves at a pretty brisk pace while still allowing the reader to keep up with the details. I really liked Iris and felt equal parts empathy and admiration for this character and everything she has gone through. Her humanity is displayed very clearly for the reader to get an excellent idea of the anguish Iris has endured and the fallout she still lives with. Honestly, it was quite inspiring that she could get out of bed and form coherent sentences after witnessing her husband’s murder and her near death from the encounter. Iris is certainly not a fragile flower. She has a lot of thorns and isn’t afraid to speak her mind regardless of protocol or politics.

Luke is her mirror opposite. He is a by the book FBI agent. He and Iris have a lot of unresolved issues and she doesn’t react well when he shows up in her life again. I really enjoyed the chemistry he and Iris share and hope this continues into the next books.

This story is tightly woven with a lot of suspense and anticipation. Iris is very talented at her ability to profile her suspect. The villain in this story adds another dimension to the story as well. I found it very interesting that Iris shows no fear in her encounters with him which makes the reader wonder if Iris is deliberately provoking him because she, herself, has a death wish. This behavior by Iris heightens the tension sending the reader to the edge of their seat. At any rate, reckless or not, Iris’s behavior comes across as realistic and believable for the situations she is in.

My Final Verdict: This is the first book in a series and as of the writing of this review, there are only two books published, the last one in November 2017. I am unable to determine if this series will continue beyond the second book but I hope so. This story does a very good job of exploring what living with trauma looks like and how one woman can fight her demons and get past it to stop a maniacal killer. Readers who like their stories tense, where good wins over evil are in for a treat with this story.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Beautiful Maids All in a Row from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Title: Whisper Network
Author: Chandler Baker
Narrator: Almarie Guerra
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: July 2019
Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Women’s Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, swept under the rug, hidden away by those in charge.

But the world has changed, and the women are watching this promotion differently. This time, when they find out Ames is making an inappropriate move on a colleague, they aren’t willing to let it go. This time, they’ve decided enough is enough.

Sloane and her colleagues’ decision to take a stand sets in motion a catastrophic shift in the office. Lies will be uncovered. Secrets will be exposed. And not everyone will survive. All of their lives—as women, colleagues, mothers, wives, friends, even adversaries—will change dramatically as a result.

"If only you had listened to us,” they tell us on page one of Chandler Baker's Whisper Network, “none of this would have happened."

My Thoughts: Four women, all with different lives and backgrounds but share the common thread of working for the same company and having been subjected to varying degrees of sexual harassment, abuse or assault by the company’s general counsel, who is now the front-runner to fill the slot of CEO. It goes without saying that if this should happen, their lives will become more of a nightmare with this man at the helm.

Does this scenario sound familiar? It should be as the news is filled with these types of stories that cross numerous levels of the corporate world. This sinister behavior doesn’t recognize social, gender, race or affluence barriers. Nobody is off limits and in this case when the perpetrator is allowed to continually victimize those less powerful than he is, something has to give and it does. The women file a lawsuit, he takes a header off the eighteenth-floor balcony and now the women find themselves under investigation by the police, their company and facing a countersuit. Was his death a suicide? An accident or a murder? The death doesn’t come as a surprise as the reader is given that information right away, but the rest of the book took forever to come full circle. In fairness, I think I would not have felt this if I had not chosen the audiobook. I liked the narrator’s performance and understood the need for the pacing that was done, but it started to drive me batty. Though I acknowledge I lack patience, the author does a very good job of providing numerous details to the reader and then bringing it all together full circle at the end.

My Final Verdict: Overall, the story was well told, gripping and suspenseful. I had a lot of empathy for the women, some more than others and thought the villain was portrayed accurately, with the right amount of charm and likability to gain the women’s trust. I felt their actions were all believable and logical and had to pick my jaw up off the floor several times. I recommend this book to fans of mysteries, thrillers, suspense and women’s fiction.

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

REVIEW: Zeus by Kamery Solomon

Title: Zeus (The God Chronicles #1)
Author: Kamery Solomon
Publisher: Starlight Run Productions
Publication Date: February 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance / New Adult / Urban Fantasy
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN

Description: Sometimes, even the gods can't change their fate...

Vegas is not where Karly had imagined herself to be at this point in her life. She was supposed to be living in California, soaking up the sun and enjoying the life of an artist. Instead, she's just moving out of her parent's house and going to a school that could loosely be called her second choice. When she meets Zeus Drakos, owner of the new hit casino and resort in town, he seems just like every other jerk guy out there. How was she supposed to know who he really was?

My Thoughts: Decent story that took me ages to finally get around to, but I’m glad I did. As a fan of Greek mythology, I enjoyed this alternate take on the lives and activities of Zeus and his fellow gods and goddesses. This is the first book of the series and focuses on Zeus and his punishment for divorcing Hera. He’s stripped of his powers by the Fates and sent to live on Earth for nine years, to Las Vegas of all places. There he will remain until a mortal woman falls in love with him and he falls in love with her. Should be a piece of cake, right? I mean, he is Zeus, after all, and his prowess with the mortal ladies and his legions of offspring are well known to those who have read any Greek mythology.

It's not going to be as easy as Zeus assumes. Firstly, the woman he has his sights on thinks he’s a grade A pig and makes no bones about it when she meets him the first time at his Vegas resort, Tartarus (insert eye roll here, I know, but it really works). Secondly, his father Kronos manages to break out of his prison and is determined to destroy Mount Olympus this time and keep Zeus stuck on Earth. You remember Kronos right? He swallowed his children to include Zeus, Poseidon and Hades and if he hadn’t been stopped the first time would have likely destroyed all of humanity. Excellent villain casting here as he is a truly despicable character.

Though this book is quite predictable from the true identities of certain characters that Karly meets to her discovering the truth of who Zeus really is to the epic battle back on Olympus, it does prove to be entertaining. The author takes a few liberties with which I was OK.

My Final Verdict: Overall, this book is a good start to a series that consists of five books. I am unable to determine if this is a series that should be read in order, but if you are like me, you will want to read them in order to ensure any past references are not confusing. I recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance and fantasy genres.