Secrets to the Grave (Oak Knoll Series #2) by Tami Hoag

Synopsis :

Marissa Fordham is dead, but her daughter is found at the crime scene, injured but alive. Now sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and child advocate Anne Leone begin to peel back the layers of Marissa's life. 

And the shocking truth they discover puts them directly in the sights of a killer with a stunning secret to keep; because Marissa Fordham never existed...


This is what I say :

I was so excited to read this particular title as I really enjoyed the first book in this Oak Knoll Series by Tami Hoag, Deeper Than The Dead which I read in December last year.  

While this review is only done in February, I actually read Secrets to the Grave in January.  Like the first book, I read this as an e-book.

I would also like to share that while this is the second book in the series, the stories are actually stand-alone and not connected.  What connects are just the characters which I have kinda grown to appreciate.  Anne who was a school teacher and whom I didn't really quite like becomes more likable in this book and so is Tony.  I am still not so partial to Vince, the profiler from FBI who has a bullet in his head.

The story itself is quite thrilling too and again, I was determined to succeed in guessing who the killer was or who the killers were....*hint* there could be more than one killer?  I am not saying... taking that secret with me.  You just have to read it yourself to find out!

Next is book three entitled Down the Darkest Road and yes, I read that already.  

Review coming up real soon! 

A Modern Fairy Tale by Jane Green

Synopsis :

Introducing A Modern Fairy Tale: William, Kate and Three Generations of Royal Love, written by New York Times bestselling author Jane Green. 

This ebook tells the story of how Prince William and Kate Middleton grew up, fell in love, and got engaged. This unique storytelling experience offers details about a modern young prince and his captivating bride, and their upcoming wedding. 

The ebook also delves into the history of William's parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and his grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, their love stories and their historic weddings.


This is what I say :

This is a ebook that took me half a day to read.

It's extremely easy to read but very shallow as in not in-depth but quite refreshing as an opportunity to kill some time that I happen to have.

It's accompanied by some rather nice photos too of the three couples featured in the book.

There's even a link to an introductory video but I didn't watch it.

With this real life love story, here's a belated wishes to everyone, a very Happy Valentine's Day... to you hugs and kisses from me.

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy

Synopsis :

In the Irish town of Schancarrig, the young people carve their initials--and those of their loves-into the copper beech tree in front of the schoolhouse. But not even Father Gunn, the parish priest, who knows most of what goes on behind Shancarrig's closed doors, or Dr. Jims, the village doctor, who knows all the rest, realizes that not everything in the placid village is what it seems.

Under Junior Assistant Mistress Maddy Ross's careful gaze the children play, but out of school Maddy's gaze lingers where it shouldn't.  

Maura Brennan, a bundle of fun from the rough end of town, plays with her pals : Leap year baby Eddie Barton, the apple of his mother's eye, and Nessa Ryan, who little realises as she carves his name at the roots of the copper beech on the very last day of school, that she;ll get a lot more from one of her schoolmates than her first shy kiss.

This is what I  say :

I always felt there's something special about the way Maeve Binchy writes.  She has this unique style that's really comforting to read.

A couple of her books that I have read and this one included, doesn't really have a plot. It's just stories of some characters but the way Maeve Binchy wrote about them, even the most simple characters became exciting.

Reading The Copper Beech is like having a glimpse into the lives of a group of people.  They wasn't any particular storyline but the story is the lives of these people and how they come together and Maeve is just so talented in linking them seamlessly.

This is the fourth title by Maeve Binchy that I read and I am really loving what she wrote all over again and if given a chance would want to get hold of a few of her titles.

I read this in December as part of my reading marathon and I think it took me about a week to complete The Copper Beech.

Happy Chinese New Year 2019

It's Chinese New Year in 2 days' time... more than anything, I am looking forward to the nine days' break that comes with it!

I shall certainly be looking forward to the family bonding, getting together with friends and relatives but I certainly do not look forward to the overeating.

I hope I shall have a bit of time for some reading too but I quite doubt it with assignments due in March and final exam in April not to mention a couple of series over Netflix that I wanted to watch.

Anyhow here's wishing one and all....

A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS 

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2019

MAY IT BE A GREAT YEAR FOR YOU AND FOR ME

MAY YOUR LIFE AND PIGGY BANK BE FILLED 

TILL FAT FAT LIKE THE PIGGY

BLESSINGS TO ALL

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Synopsis :

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.

Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

This is what I say :

Never Let Me Go is a rather unsettling book.  I didn't know what to expect when I picked it from my shelf months ago.   It became my 'traffic light' book, you know, books that I read while waiting for the traffic to turn from red to green and it certainly took me a long time to complete this...months actually but I have read a few books this way so I know it's achievable.

Normally, I would select a title that's light and easy to read and easy to put down too, something does doesn't need me to think but just to keep me company like the Stephanie Plum Series.  However this time round, I might have made a mistake in selecting Never Let Me Go.

.The story is from a perspective of a girl called Kathy and her coming of age in a boarding school with children of similar fate as her.  What fate, you ask?  Well, set in a dystopian society, these children were 'breed' as clones for their organs for their original human beings.  It is a fate that they accepted and never rebel against.  Such is the society and acceptance of the society.

The story really explores the thoughts and emotions of the characters and involves a lot of soul searching.  It would be more appropriate if it was read in a more conducive manner (certainly not in a car in front of a traffic!) to get the best of of it.

It can be thought provoking and sad if one really gets into the characters.  There's actually a movie adaptation for this book and for someone who don't like movie adaptation, I think I would prefer to watch this story rather than to read it.

I like the book but not the environment where I read it.  I certainly didn't do the book justice.

Death In Holy Orders by P.D. James

Synopsis :

On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. 

Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful–and the frightened. 

And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder. . . . 

This is what I say :


This is one of title from my Reading Marathon and yes, this was read in December last year around Christmas time.  I can't really tell how long it took me as I was reading this at the same time as a few other titles but if memory serves me right, I started this much earlier but only was serious about it right around the holiday season.

Like most P.D. James's title, it's an investigative novels and this time round, the investigation took the detectives to a small theological college in a village somewhere in the UK.

LIke most of P.D. James's title, it wasn't very thrilling but rather mellow but I do enjoy the writing as it reminded me a bit of Agatha Christie's style but different.

I think this is the third or forth title by this author that I have read over the years and I have a couple more of her books so it's a slow and steady read as well.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Synopsis :

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice" of Kinnakee, Kansas. She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. 

Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. 

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer. 

This is what I say :

My interest in titles by Gillian Flynn peaked towards early this year with the netflix series 'Sharp Objects'   While I had a difficult time watching it as a series, I have a feeling I would enjoy it as a book.  Such, when I had a chance to do a book exchange recently, I selected Dark Places as I feel it would be similar feel as Sharp Objects.

I love this book.  It's the first of my reading marathon last year and I brought it with me during my trip to the capital city.  It took me two weeks to complete this book as I am super tied up with other stuff as well.

For a title, it's a good start.

It is a dark interesting thriller and just builds up where suspense is concern and while the ending is quite unexpected, I guess it was time to end and ends it the author did. 

My favourite character's Ben and not Libby but I felt adult Ben didn't get much attention from the author and I kinda wish he did but I guess too much attention on him would be dangerous as his silence in the wh0le matter is imperative for the development of this story as he does know what happened.

I was surprised to note that there's actually a movie adaptation which stars Charlize Theron as Libby.  I watched part of the thriller and while Charlize is a great actress, I can't really see her as Libby.  

You can be sure I will be on a lookout for other titles by Gillian Flynn from now onwards.  Any specific titles you can recommend?