Mini-reviews: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen and The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I use Grammarly's plagiarism checker because plagiarism is one of those "ism"s that is just not cool. Ever.

- - -

It's the end of the week and I thought I would post mini-reviews of some of the books I read this year but never got to reviewing! One thing these mini-reviews have in common is that they are of books by amazingtastic authors: J.K.Rowling, Sarah Dessen and Donna Tartt!

Publication date: April 30th, 2013

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Stars: 4.5/5

Links: Amazon|Goodreads

Source: Bought

A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

REVIEW

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (also known as J.K.Rowling) made me feel all warm and happy inside; a feeling I haven't gotten since I finished reading the final Potter book. I must warn you though, that the similarities between The Cuckoo's Calling and Harry Potter end here. JKR couldn't have deviated more from her previous genre of choice. From The Cuckoo's Calling, you cannot expect magic, beasts and other curious creatures or even a "muggle" reference.

What you do get, though, is a solid murder mystery, JKR's inimitable style of writing, well-fleshed out characters, accents and quirks. What makes it a worthy series to invest in is that the main character Cormoran Strike is worth rooting for. He has good sense, is not flashy but still has an interesting past! I'm already waiting for the next Cormoran Strike novel and I'm so glad JKR is not done writing! She does it like no one else!

Publication date: June 4th, 2013

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Stars: 3/5

Links: Amazon|Goodreads

Source: Bought

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.

REVIEW

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. It is not a comfort read like Just Listen was, nor does it shine like The Truth About Forever. It didn't provoke me enough like Dreamland. On the other hand, it wasn't that bad either. I found the family dynamics heartbreakingly charming at times, despite the presence of discord. When it comes to the elements of a typical Dessen novel, it has it all: the Dessen Girl, the locale and this time the (not-so) Dessen boy.

However, the formula started to feel a bit worn out. While it is a quick, breezy read, and I'll always love Sarah Dessen and her books, this one didn't work for me.


Publication date: April 13th, 2004

Publisher: Vintage

Stars: 3.5/5

Links: Amazon|Goodreads

Source: Bought

Richard Papen arrived at Hampden College in New England and was quickly seduced by an elite group of five students, all Greek scholars, all worldly, self-assured, and, at first glance, all highly unapproachable. As Richard is drawn into their inner circle, he learns a terrifying secret that binds them to one another...a secret about an incident in the woods in the dead of night where an ancient rite was brought to brutal life...and led to a gruesome death. And that was just the beginning...

REVIEW

The Secret History in five words: sex, money, youth, scandal and the not-so-perfect crime. Once I started reading the book, I could not stop. At times, I could barely breathe for the fear of making the events set in motion in the book even worse. The is a nail-biting at-the-edge-of-your-seat novel about an outsider who befriends these rich, seemingly untouchable Greek students in a private college. There's lust, hate, fear and enough paranoia to go around. If you're a fan of rich-kids-in-prep-school novels, this is one of those; only it's much darker and set in college.

- - -

This post is sponsored by Grammarly. All opinions expressed in the mini-reviews are my own.