The Husband by Dean Koontz

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill? 

We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way. 

If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation…until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there’s no other experience quite like it.

This is the first Koontz book I have read, and second time I have tried to read this particular book - the first time I only got a few chapters in before something else caught my attention, and now a few years later I was ready to try again. 

I'm so undecided about how I feel now I have finished this novel. I liked the story line and the pace of the book with its plot twists and turns, I think it was Koontz's writing style that has confused me. He was very detailed with his descriptions, but I felt maybe too much so. When he was describing a scene of thought of the character there was so many unnecessary words that I tended to skip over half of them until I got just enough detail that I needed to keep going on to the next paragraph.

I also didn't really enjoy the way the dialogue between characters was written, and preferred to read the inner thinking instead.

Overall I enjoyed the story but probably won't be in a hurry to read another Koontz book.

My Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson

Who were the greatest loves of your life? The ones that awakened every sense? The ones that you still dream about from time to time, fantasise about? The ones that you could encounter after years of absence and still get a tingle in the pit of your stomach? Did you appreciate that distinct buzz of a special love at the time you had it in your life, or is the memory perhaps sweeter than the reality?

A woman, on the eve of her fiftieth birthday, reflects on one hundred moments from a lifetime's sensual adventures. After the love, hatred and despair are done with, the great and trivial acts of her bodily life reveal an imperfect, yet whole self. By turns humorous, sharp, haunting and wise, this is an original and exhilarating novel from one of Australia's premier writers.
Lyrical and exquisite, My Hundred Lovers captures the sheer wonder of life, desire and love.

I loved the idea of this book, what a fantastic way to remember various parts of your life, like random snapshots of yourself shown haphazardly in no real order.

It was a sensory experience reading this "That afternoon in the small bedroom the light was blue. The curtains were cream and blew softly in the wind. There was a cry, far off, almost out of earshot. There was a man in my bed and I did not know how he got there." and we were shown a glimpse in to the life that belonged to Deborah, a normal 'young girl' who wasn't shown how to value herself other than through her body. 

It is a work of fiction but Johnson writes so honestly and with so much personality that for the first part of the book I thought it was a memoir - It felt like I was reading her private diary, lyrical and poetically written mini memories, sometime sweet, sometimes surprisingly bitter. 

A book most would enjoy and gain something from on an individual level, especially if you like looking in through the window into other peoples lives.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

Enter Simon Parker. (No, really, Simon, please enter.) When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has, well, mixed results. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick…

In her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at first sight.

This book  definitely had its funny moments and plenty of witty banter.

The main characters, Simon and Caroline, were a lot of fun, but at times I found parts of the book a little immature - like it didn't know whether to be a young adult book or an adult 'romance' novel. But it was refreshing that the main characters didn't have major 'issues' and dark pasts like some books from the same genre, it made it feel a little more realistic.

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

“Sometimes life is a series of obstacles, a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, she realizes suddenly, it is simply a matter of blind faith.” 

In 1916 French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything - her family, reputation and life - in the hope of seeing her true love one last time.

Nearly a century later and Sophie's portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting's dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened...

In The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for the thing they love most - whatever the cost.

This is the second book I have read by Jojo Moyes and she is fast becomming one of my favourite authors - I will definitely be tracking down more too!

 The characters were vivid, real and loveable, and their stories were mesmerising - I usually find it hard to read war stories but i devoured this one. I kept moving at a fast enough pace and while at parts it was graphic, I didn't find it too overwhelming.

This story shows that true love conquers all and can overcome all barriers in the end - a perfect love story.

The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen

In 2000, Daniel Suelo left his life savings-all thirty dollars of it-in a phone booth. He has lived without money-and with a newfound sense of freedom and security-ever since.

The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn't pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs-for shelter, food, and warmth-but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement. In retracing the surprising path and guiding philosophy that led Suelo into this way of life, Sundeen raises provocative and riveting questions about the decisions we all make, by default or by design, about how we live-and how we might live better.

This was such an intriguing book and it gave me lots of interesting points to think about, many of those I will try and implement in my every day life (although maybe not as extreme as Suelo).

I found Sundeen's way of presenting this story factual and not overdramatised, but very thoroughly researched, so I felt I was getting the full story. 

What a fascinating life - I would love to meet Suelo one day. If only everyone could read this book and see how many little changes could make an overall difference our world might stand a better chance for future generations.

Bared to You (Crossfire #1) by Sylvia Day

“He was the kind of guy that made a woman want to rip his shirt open and watch the buttons scatter along with her inhibitions.” 

Gideon Cross came into my life like lightning in the darkness…
He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily…

Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private wounds…and desires.The bonds of his love transformed me, even as i prayed that the torment of our pasts didn't tear us apart...

Yes this book is very similar to Fifty Shades of Grey, really it's just without the BDSM.

At least in this series the main heroine isn't as frustrating and annoying as Anastasia. Eva has a bit of backbone and isn't afraid to speak her mind, and while both Eva and Gideon have their messed up issues, they are at least a bit more reserved and mature about it, making it easier to read.

I really liked the banter between Eva and her best friend Cary, which was humorous and realistic.

I will definitely be reading the next instalment of the Crossfire series, but might have a break in between books and read something with a bit more of a substantial plot to keep me sane. 

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes

Paddy de Courcy is Ireland's debonair politician, the "John F. Kennedy Jr. of Dublin." His charm and charisma have taken hold of the country and the tabloids, not to mention our four heroines: Lola, Grace, Marnie, and Alicia. But though Paddy's winning smile is fooling Irish minds, the broken hearts he's left in his past offer a far more truthful look into his character.

Narrated in turn by each woman, This Charming Man explores how their love for this one man has shaped their lives. But in true Marian Keyes fashion, this is more than a story of four love affairs. It's a testament to the strength women find in themselves through work, friendship, and family, no matter what demons may be haunting their lives. Depression, self-doubt, domestic abuse—each of these women has seen tough times in life, and it's through Keyes's wonderful storytelling ability that these subjects are approached with the appropriate tone and candor. Her deft touch provides a gripping story and, ultimately, a redemptive ending.

I am a massive fan of Marian Keyes and believe she can do no wrong (absolute favourite is Last Chance Saloon), so it was hard to write this review objectively. 

Keyes humour and clever writing are still there in her characters, and there were times when it had me laughing out aloud (particularly when Chloe and the gang were around!) but for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I don't think this is the best book Keyes has written. 

I found Marnie painful to read at times, and while I have never had close contact with someone who has experienced both Alcoholism and physical abuse, I think that this might have been an accurate insight in to how this might be to have to try and live with someone afflicted with this.

The story also gave very graphic descriptions of the physical and emotional violence, showing the depth of the womens' pain as well as their individual strengths.

Lola's journal writing style took a little while to get used to, but once I did, I didn't even notice that sometime sentences were missing all their fillers. She cracked me up, especially when her Trannies (I mean Cross-dressers!) were around! 

If you are a fan you know you'l have to read it, so hurry up and go get it!