I finished Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark, for my twins prompt. Steve and Margaret Frawley return to their new house after a night out on the town to discover that their three-year-old twins, Kelly and Kathy, have been kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding an $8 million ransom. As the executives at the company where Steve works debate paying the ransom, the three kidnappers, Lucas, Clint, and Clint's unstable girlfriend, Angie, wait for instructions from the plot's mastermind, who identifies himself only as the Pied Piper. Steve's company agrees to pay the ransom, but the Pied Piper's plan goes awry when Angie decides she wants to keep Kathy and shoots Lucas, leaving a fake suicide note claiming he accidentally killed Kathy. Although she is grateful to be reunited with Kelly, Margaret can't accept the loss of Kathy and clings to Kelly's assertion that she is in psychic communication with her twin.
I really enjoyed this book, at some parts it was hard for me to read just because it involves children but the way that Clark did it was amazing. I didn't think that the twin connection was so strong but I guess it could be. I definitely recommend this book. I would like to read more from her.
I also read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for my library/bookstore prompt. Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.
When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.
I read this book once in high school and the importance didn't really hit me again until I read it as an adult. I see this in society now days. I think reading is so looked down on and a lost art with some people. Most people are more interested in their phones to see what's going on in the world. I definitely think all students and adults should have to read this at some point in their lives. I think it puts a lot of things in perspective.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan was read for my suggested by another person doing the challenge prompt. Nick frequents New York's indie rock scene nursing a broken heart. Norah is questioning all of her assumptions about the world. They have nothing in common except for their taste in music, until a chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show and ends up becoming a first date that could change both their lives.
I wont lie I watched the movie before I even knew that there was a book. I loved the movie and the book did not disappoint at all. Even though it was written by two different authors it flowed together like one. I do wonder why it took me so long to read it.
Helter-Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi was read for my song lyrics prompt. In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually tied the Tate-LeBianca murders to Charles Manson, a would-be pop singer of small talent living in the desert with his "family" of devoted young women and men. What was his hold over them? And what was the motivation behind such savagery? In the public imagination, over time, the case assumed the proportions of myth. The murders marked the end of the sixties and became an immediate symbol of the dark underside of that era.
Vincent Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, and this book is his enthralling account of how he built his case from what a defense attorney dismissed as only "two fingerprints and Vince Bugliosi." The meticulous detective work with which the story begins, the prosecutor's view of a complex murder trial, the reconstruction of the philosophy Manson inculcated in his fervent followers... these elements make for a true crime classic. Helter Skelter is not merely a spellbinding murder case and courtroom drama but also, in the words of The New Republic, a "social document of rare importance."
OMG is all I can say after reading this book! It was absolutely amazing. It did take me a little longer to read it than any other book that I have read, but the details and the way that he wrote it made up for it. I want to own this book in my personal library just so I can read it again someday. I didn't know a lot about what Manson has done over the years and sure didn't know about the family. I know that most people say that he is a terrible person and for all rights he is but I kind of want to know so much more about him after reading this book. I know that he is dead now but his legacy will definitely live on forever. I want to read the other books that are about him too. I sound like a fangirl lol
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was read for my time of day prompt. The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
I was a little worried going into this one as its not my normal genre, but I actually liked it a lot. I liked how it went back and forth and the storyline was so good. I didn't really care for the father or the guardian of the boy, but I guess you aren't supposed to like every character.
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman was read for my set on a different planet prompt.This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.The year is 2575, and two rival mega corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
Lets just say that I was scared to start this one because I do not read Sci-Fi at all, but I was actually surprised to find that I liked the book a lot so much that I will be reading the second book in the series to fit another prompt. I liked how it was wrote not quite like a regular book at all, but through emails and chats. I am glad that I gave this book a chance and read it.
I started February out reading and finishing...
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult was chose for my problem facing society today prompt.In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five....In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.
Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens -- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. For them, the lines between truth and fiction, right and wrong, insider and outsider have been obscured forever. Josie Cormier, the teenage daughter of the judge sitting on the case, could be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened in front of her own eyes. And as the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show, destroying the closest of friendships and families.
This book really hit me hard with all the school shootings that have happened lately. I grew up in a small town and still live in that small town, went to the same school for 14 years and even went back to teach at that school once I graduated. I wont lie and say that nothing changes but it did, kids are different these days and they are definitely more mean to each other, and with all the technology that they have surrounding them is not helping. I really enjoyed this book because you got to see what happened and what lead up to what happened, you got to see it from everyone's point of view that was involved. As I was reading it and the further that I got, I started to realized that some things weren't adding up and I by the end of the book it made more sense. This was my first Picoult book but I think I would like to read more from her. I have Columbine as one of my prompts too I am interested in reading it too.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie was read for my musical or stage play prompt. Ten guilty strangers are trapped on an island. One by one they are accused of murder; one by one they start to die. In this superlative mystery comedy statuettes of little soldier boys on the mantel of a house on an island off the coast of Devon fall to the floor and break one by one as those in the house succumb to a diabolical avenger. A nursery rhyme tells how each of the ten “soldiers” met his death until there were none. Eight guests who have never met each other or their apparently absent host and hostess are lured to the island and, along with the two house servants, marooned. A mysterious voice accuses each of having gotten away with murder and then one drops dead - poisoned. One down and nine to go!
I tried to read this book before but I couldn't get into it at all but this time around I couldn't put it down. I really liked her writing style and am glad that I have two more of her books on my reading challenge list. I read a book last year called Ten and it reminded me of Christie's book for sure, it was just an updated version for kids today. I was kind of confused at the end but then I kept reading and it all made sense.
The Downfall of a Good Girl by Kimberly Lang, this was read for my author with the same first or last name as you prompt.Southern debutante Vivienne LaBlanc can't believe bad-boy rock star Connor Mansfield is back in town for the New Orleans annual Saints and Sinners pageant. He has a reputation as wicked as his devilish smile, and Vivi has no intention of becoming one of his latest groupies!He once crushed her high school heart, so playing the saint to Connor's sinner should be easy. But how can Vivi get those less than angelic thoughts out of her head—especially when Connor's so good at tempting her to be bad?
This was a cute book and a refresher for me after reading so many heavy books. I use to read Harlequin romance all the time so it was nice to go back not where it all started but close.
I am getting ready to read The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter for my book meant to read in 2017 prompt.
