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Blue Monday (Frieda Klein, #1)
Blue Monday (Frieda Klein, #1)
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I probably would have given this book 5 stars if I would have read it first. I would recommend that anyone who is interested in reading these books would start here with Blue Monday. I read [b:Tuesday's Gone|13613568|Tuesday's Gone (Frieda Klein, #2)|Nicci French|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1335652266s/13613568.jpg|19213552] first, so when I was reading this book, I just wanted to get to the end since I knew what was coming.
Freida Klein is a psychotherapist in London. Her main focus is to help her patients. She is also a very private person and letting people into her life is very difficult for her. She has a boyfriend who hasn't even been to her apartment.
When Freida agrees to take on Alan Dekker as a patient, he tells her about dreams and fantasies he has been having that are keeping him awake at night and affecting his relationship with his wife and work colleagues. The dream involves a small boy with bright red hair, that Alan is imagining as his son. He and his wife have been unable to have children, so this thought has consumed him. It gives him terrible anxiety as if the boy should be with them.
So, it becomes very strange a few days after Freida takes Alan on, that a boy matching the boy that Alan is describing goes missing. Freida feels inclined to take this information to the police. The discoveries that come from that inquiry will uncover a whole lot of things no one saw coming.
This book is really good. It will leave you on the edge of your seat. Can't wait for the next book in the series.
  
H(
Haunted (Harrison Investigation, #1)
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I picked up Haunted after I had finished [b:The Seance|959245|The Seance (Harrison Investigation, #5)|Heather Graham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255876724s/959245.jpg|944150], and I was unaware that they both feature Adam and Harrison Investigations. I'm all set to read [b:The Vision|731809|The Vision (Harrison Investigation, #3)|Heather Graham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177781638s/731809.jpg|717999] that I just picked up from the library. Even though I've completely juggled around the order of when they were written, it's lucky for me that they are standalones. In the prologue it gave background information about Adam's son, Josh, who was mentioned just briefly in The Seance, and he plays a big part in this book, so I was happy to find out all that information before I get to next book that features Harrison Investigations.

Now to get to the main story in Haunted...
Even though with the way Darcy was written you would think she was a Mary-Sue, she wasn't and I liked her just fine. Now Matt on the other hand, well he was a jerk, plain and simple. I never could like him much and that detracted a lot from the book. It seems that Heather Graham must make the male lead a hard-core skeptic that just will not believe (until the end of course) in anything paranormal and thinks the female lead is crazy or delusional or something. It would be nice if it was reversed or if maybe, just maybe, the hero is open-minded enough to say, well maybe there is 'something' out there that cannot be proven. *gasp* Is that even possible? Can a hero ever truly be open-minded? Not in these books. He has to be so narrow-minded that his thought-blocks must fit neatly into their right-shaped holes (e.g. triangle block into triangle hole, etc.).

I really enjoyed the whole Darcy/Josh/Adam/Ghost hunting thing. I thought the author did a good job describing how Darcy went about finding out about the ghosts and that's what made this book good. I really did like Darcy a lot and she was a sympathetic character who stood up for herself and acted like an adult with poise and class (unlike some other character I could mention). The mystery did keep me guessing because I was never quite sure who the ghost was or what had happened, although I had narrowed down who was behind everything to two people, leaning more on the actual culprit (yay me!), for lack of suspects. So overall, the mystery was very good, though I wish Ms. Graham would bring in more people so it isn't as easy to figure out. All in all, not as good as The Seance, but a good and entertaining read.

3.5 stars

I forgot to mention that there were tons of editing problems, which seem to be a mainstay in H.G.'s books. Once Clint's name is changed to Cliff and Josh was referred to as Matt, plus numerous other things that cropped up everywhere.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Modern Lovers in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
Modern Lovers
Modern Lovers
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Zoe, Andrew, and Elizabeth have been friends since their college days at Oberlin. Back then, they were part of a band with their fourth friend, Lydia. Now the first three are nearing fifty, living in the same New York suburban neighborhood. Zoe resides with her wife, Jane, and their daughter Ruby. Meanwhile, Andrew and Elizabeth, now married, have a teenage son, Harry. The friends have been together through thick and thin, but things are starting to get a bit more difficult as they face the trials of aging. Zoe isn't sure if her marriage is going to hold, while Elizabeth is struggling with issues of her own. And Andrew, well, is Andrew going through some sort of midlife crisis? The three friends must confront their past (and some well-kept secrets) as well as deal with their future, including their growing (and rapidly maturing) offspring.

I wasn't one of those who adored Straub's previous novel, [b:The Vacationers|18641982|The Vacationers|Emma Straub|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386629708s/18641982.jpg|26440459], though I liked it, but this one sounded interesting and worth a try. And, in its defense, it was. It receives bonus points immediately for having lesbian characters who are simply part of the fabric of the novel (what, lesbians simply living regular life? surely not!). Straub's characters are crisp and well-defined. They are also a bit "New Yorky" and fall into that bucket that I so often find of whiny, self-involved New Yorkers. Andrew, in particular, though I suppose that is perhaps the entire point of Andrew. Still, overall, I found the book witty and wise. The younger protagonists--Ruby and Harry--in particular, offer fresh and fun voices. They are teenagers, after all: they are allowed to be self-involved! This was a quick read; it's engaging, fun, and occasionally sweet, even if it causes you to roll your eyes from time to time. 3.5 stars overall.

I received a copy of this novel from Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available for publication everywhere on 5/31/2016.
  
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