Review - Confessions of a Corporate Slut by Jacqueline Gum

Don't be put off by the title thinking it is all about sexual exploits on the job because it is not. Reading this book out and about has drawn quite a few looks, some tuts and even one or two whispers!

Meet Roberta our main character. We start with her picking up her life after her divorce causing Roberta to look over her life and how she got here(this is what the book is about, getting to this point). It is like meeting someone at a night out and them sitting telling you their life story. It is funny, easy going, sad, frustrating and just like sitting down with someone who has the gift of the gab and a good tale to spin.

The start of the book is a bare layout of Robertas life (early on with her family) but mostly focused on her marriage. It is at times hard going and frustrating to read, watching the change of a independant hard working confident women into " a corporate slut". How I grew to hate her husband with each passing page and tale. I was also very frustrated and annoyed at Roberta, allowing herself to get to that point and being treated like that. The sad thing is many many women will be able to identify with it, if not on a personal note then certainly knowing someone who is touched by this kind of life and treatment of their husband (and it is based on a true story).

I got totally drawn in and despite the hate of the husband and sheer annoyance at Roberta I really enjoyed this book. It is really easy to read and I tore through it within a day.

The is scope there for a second and I wonder if this may be on the cards, if it was I would get it! 4 out of 5 for me.

Review - Widows by Lynda LaPlante

Widows by Lynda La Plante

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Blurb from goodreads

Three thieves' widows decide to continue their late husbands' latest burglary . . .

My Review

When you read books like this you really wish there was a and a half rating as I dont think this merits a 3 but didn't want to give it a 2 either.

The book starts fabulously well with a great plot of the men doing a robbery and it going horrifically wrong. 2 and a half pages and I was hooked. However this is a classic example of something that starts so well that quickly goes downhill.

The plot is great that the widows take over where the husbands left off and take charge of the plan. However it started going wrong for my by the portrayal of the female characters. In a situation like that they would pull together and do what needs must and in some parts they do. However quite a lot through it they bicker, act childish and like drama queens and I felt it was a poor portrayal of women put into 'a mans situation'.

There was aspects of the book I liked and I am curious to find out how it pans out so if the second books comes along I would happily give it another go but I must say I was dissapointed by LaPlante this time as I felt the women were childish, spoilt and weak when they had the potential to be great. A reluctant 3 out of 5 for me.



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Review - Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Private by James Patterson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Blurb from goodreads

Former Marine and CIA agent Jack Morgan inherits his father's renowned security and detective business--along with a case load that tests him to the breaking point. Getting to the bottom of an NFL gambling scandal and an unsolved LAPD investigation into 18 school girl slayings would be enough. On top of all that, Morgan takes on solving the horrific murder of his best friend's wife.

As Morgan fights the urge to exact brutal revenge on that killer, he has to navigate a workplace imbroglio that could blow the roof off his elite agency. And it's an especially explosive situation . . . because the love affair is his own.

My review

As with all James Patterson the blurb from the back page draws you in and the story starts off well enough and grabs your attention. However there was so much going on and with so many characters it was hard to remember who was who and what their part was. It is fair to say it was busy, almost like 2 or 3 stories wrapped into one which isn't necessarily a bad thing but for me it was too much.

I found myself getting a bit lost and often wondering what the relevance was to what I had just read in relation to the story. A lot of the characters are quite unlikeable and even annoying to a point. Certainly not his best but a quick read none the less so a 3/5 for me.



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Review - Spiral by Koji Suzuki

Spiral by Koji Suzuki

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Blurb from Goodreads



In this award-winning sequel, the story we thought we knew in Ring (the original novel which inspired the blockbuster movie) is broken down and twisted into a new reality.







Ando, a medical doctor haunted by dreams of his drowned son, faces a choice at the end of Spiral more sinister than Asakawa s in Ring.



My review



This is the second book (follow on) from the Ring but can be read as a stand alone (which you might find you enjoy it more if you have nothing to compare it to).



I do hate when you expect so much from a book and don't really get it.



There is a bit of intrigue at the start about Andos childs death but we are soon put in the picture about it. And despite a few deaths with very small unique findings not a lot happens until we hit past page 70 and part two and even then it is only teasing/hinting at what is on the tape.



Then the story delves into DNA and Genetics which I have absolutely no interest in let alone the brain capacity to actually follow it. There are a few (small) moments in the book when you think actually this is interesting but it goes nowhere or is overshaddowed by the DNA coding.



I had really high hopes for this, firstly because I really liked the first book and second because I was told it was great, freaky and a spine chilling read. I would say boring, slow paced (certainly weird at times) and even the way it shaped up was random and just made little to no sense. Didn't really like it, didn't for the most part get why they took it in the direction they did which is why I have to give it 2 out of 5.



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Review - Royal Flush by Lynda LaPlante

Royal Flush by Lynda La Plante

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Blurb from goodreads

High adventure, furious plotting, blackmail and betrayal...'The Colonel' is rumoured to have masterminded several of the most successful robberies in the UK over the last forty years. But who is he? Edward de Jersey, now a wealthy man, owns a very successful racing yard and stud farm and his pride and joy is his horse, Royal Flush, who he has always dreamed will one day win the Derby. But de Jersey's luck runs out when his trusted financial advisor invests his fortune in a fledgling internet company which goes bust, leaving de Jersey with no capital and mounting debts. In danger of losing everything, De Jersey resurrects his criminal past, turning to the internet to find a team of specialists who will help him pull off the most audacious heist in history.

My Review

The book starts by introducing us to Edward de Jersey (the main character) at the Royal Ascot and builds up our character who loves, lives and breaths for his horses. He has a huge racing yard and stud farm which houses his prized horse Royal Flush. In one fail swoop Edwards world is threatened when he faces financial ruin and everything he has achieved he is about to loose. There is nothing else for it but to go back to his criminal roots for one last job to get back in the black.

I didn't think I was going to like this book too much as there is quite a bit of focus on the horse aspect of it but once it got going I loved it. I felt it lagged a wee bit but picked up and became a page turner.

Once it got to a quarter to the end and the big finale had happened I thought it had nowhere else to go but I loved it right up to the last line. Really good read 4/5 for me.



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Review - Fallen Angel by Maggie Wilson

Fallen Angel by Maggie Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Blurb from goodreads

Sister Cate Carter has been working at Westwood General Hospital for many years and always loved her job. Until the world according to Cate came crashing down when two detectives marched on to her ward. Ward 73 gave them cause for suspicion, more and more deaths were occurring with no reasonable explanation of why. This had happened before, not at Westwood General, not recently, but it had happened. David Waters, a name very well known in the medical world, was being brought up again. David was responsible for the deaths of seven patients, at least that s all they could get him for. He claimed he just wanted to put his patients out of their misery. Is this a copy-cat murderer? Or is there really another David Waters killing their patients and getting away with it?

My review

The book kicks off fairly quickly, going over the murders years ago of David Waters and then to present day. Someone strikes at Westwood General and takes patients down with no apparent link in how they choose or when they will attack again. DS Charlie Hammond is on the case and conducting interviews and making the lives hell of the staff trying to find his killer.

I liked the pace, it wasn't rushing to the end whilst not keeping you hanging around forever. I didn't like the detectives switching from inappropriate behaviour towards the object of his affections during such a massive scaled investiagtion, to hardcore cop. And his arrogance irritated me but then there where sides to his character I could tolerate and almost like. The same goes for Sister Carter, sometimes she seemed like someone you could relate to then she would behave in a way that had the character been infront of you, you would have been hard pushed not to have slapped her.

The story is told simplistically enough that even if you have no medical background or knowledge you can follow it perfectly well as the author takes you through the explanations in plain english. I got a little confused right at the end and had to re read it to see what had happened but it had a very good twist and I will be looking out for no.2, 4/5 for me.



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Review - The Forbidden Vampire, The Inception book 1 by William Wdowiasz

The Forbidden Vampire: The Inception, Book I by William Wdowiasz

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I received a complimentary copy of (The Forbidden Vampire, The inception book 1 by William Wdowiasz) as a member of the

Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com

to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.

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My review



I received this book from Dorrance books at http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dor... http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/fovainb...


Forbidden a vampire concieved from a woman and the Devil. A woman trying to hide her child from its "father"



The story starts with a brief description of Forbiddens conception and subsequent life into hiding. We are introduced to Richie and a brief history before he meets Gloria (and the names of the rivers and places he passes to find her, it gets a bit repetitive) and the story takes off from there.



The lingo when Richie talks really annoyed me, ending sentences with Yo, dude and man frequently, I found this fairly irksome and quite off putting! The book dabbles with many issues, satanism, virgin birth, Jesus and visions.



The story itself would have worked in that the vampire creation is a new and fresh idea but there was just too much of everything thrown in. Jumping back and forth from past to present, from one set of characters to several others, it was almost like 3 stories thrown into one there was so much going on.



By the end of the book I hated (yes a very strong word) Richie, an annoying ignorant idiot. I was delighted to get finished with this book and unless I am stuck with nothing to read and the second book came along free I won't be reading it. 1/5 for me (this is only the 2nd ever book to get such a rating) and the one is purely for the very small part I actually liked.



You can buy this book by using the direct link at the top of the page (next to the blurb) or go directly to the site http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dor...



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