Broke down and read it - Gone Girl

Ever since the much hyped book, "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn came out, I have been resisting reading it. For the past year, I have heard both good and bad reviews on this book.  One day it was returned to the library and I started to skim it and decided to give in and read it.

My ridiculously short synopsis:  On their 5th wedding anniversary, Nick's wife, Amy, disappears.  It looks like there was a violent struggle...or was there? Told from both Nick and Amy's points of view, follow the investigation and see if you can figure out what happened.

Here are my thoughts on the book.

1. There were so many twists in this book that I started to feel a little car sick.  Every time I thought I had figured out what actually happened, the author would throw in a new twist. I was totally prepared to hate this book but the twists had me needing to read on to find out what REALLY happened. Positive!
2. I disliked every single character in this book.  There was not a single person that I felt sympathy for. Nick and Amy, the "happily" married couple, to Amy's psychologist-author parents, I felt that each character deserved the horrible things that happened to them.  Not only would I not want to be related to any of these people, I wouldn't want to live in the same town.  It was the first time I've ever read a book where I wasn't rooting for anyone except for KARMA! Negative.
3. The ending left a LOT to be desired. There was absolutely NO closure.  No one was punished - legally.  There was no satisfactory payoff at the end.  Maybe the author is planning a sequel?  All I know is I feel cheated. Negative.

I don't want to spoil the book for those who would like to read it, so I will not give more details on the story.  I did enjoy this book and will recommend it even though I didn't like any of the characters. The story did keep me interested, right up until the end.

Thanks for reading.

Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay - read it!

I received a copy of The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.

This was one of the most gut wrenching books I have ever read. The characters in the book were very realistic and relatable.  There were times when teen man-whore, Drew, made me laugh out loud.  We all know that one guy or girl who is an over the top flirt, yet really has a heart of gold.  That, to me was Drew.  While he wasn't the "lead male character", he was the one that I understood the most.

Josh, the main male character, is an emancipated teenager whose tragic story is spelled out for you early in the book. His actions throughout the story are based on the fact that he has lost everyone whom he loved.

The main female character, Nastya, is the new student at school.  She wants everyone to leave her alone and dresses in a provocative way to try to scare everyone away. She also does not talk.  Her story comes out little by little to the reader but is not revealed in full to the other characters until the very end. She has been traumatized and has pushed everyone away.  That's until she meets Josh.

This is a truly touching story about two damaged individuals developing a life saving relationship.

Thanks for reading.

Title release date: June 4, 2013

Find it at Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble or your local independent book store.