Silver Tears (Faye's Revenge #2) by Camilla Lackberg

 

Synopsis :

She's had to fight for it every step of the way, but Faye finally has the life she believes she deserves: she is rich, the business she built has become a global brand, and she has carefully hidden away her small family in Italy, where Jack, her ex-husband, can no longer harm them. She even has the wherewithal to occasionally turn a business trip to Rome into a steamy tryst. 

But when several major investors--women Faye had trusted implicitly--suddenly sell off their shares in the company, and the police officer who helped search for her daughter discovers the dark secret of Faye's childhood, and she learns that Jack is no longer locked behind bars, Faye has no choice but to return to Stockholm. Not only does she have to fight again to keep her family safe, but now, at long last, she is forced to face the truth about her past.

In this bold, mesmerizing story of seduction, deceit, and female power, a woman's secret cannot stay buried forever. 

This is what I say :

Silver Tears is the second book in a two book series.  You can check out out what I said about the first book, The Golden Cage here.

I must confess that I quick/fast read Silver Tears as I just wanted to see how the story progress and ends.  I got tired of how trashy Camilia Lackberg writes in these two books.  Totally very different from the earlier titles that I read.   If I had started with these two titles in reading what she road, I would not have read the Erika and Patrik Series which were very good.

Sliver Tears ended with a potential  for book 3 but I think we should all just leave Faye alone to get on with her life.  Even if there's a third book, I dont think I would be keen to read it.

Traveling in August 2022

I will be travelling again the next couple of days.

This would be the 4th trip that I am making this year. The first two trips were personal travel and the third trip was work related which I shared about here.

These are all travel to the capital city although I was at different part of the city each time.

This time round, it's yet another personal travel to meet up with a family member and I am looking forward to the quality time together as well places we have planned to visit.

I haven't decide which book i will bring along with me. As usual, I will bring a title. There are times when I would have selected a title by now but there are times when it will be a last minute selection. this time round, it seems that it will be a last minute selection.  Let's just wait and see.

The Golden Cage (Faye's Revenge #1) by Camilla Lackberg

 

Synopsis :

Faye has loved Jack since they were students at business school. Jack, the perpetual golden boy, grew up wealthy, unlike Faye, who has worked hard to bury a dark past. When Jack needs help launching a new company, Faye leaves school to support him, waitressing by day and working as his strategist by night. With the business soaring, Faye and Jack have a baby, and Faye finds herself at home, caring for their daughter, wealthier than she ever imagined, but more and more removed from the excitement of the business world. And none of the perks of wealth make up for the fact that Jack has begun to treat her coldly, undermining her intelligence and forgetting all she sacrificed for his success. 

When Faye discovers that he's having an affair, the polished facade of their life cracks wide open. Faye is alone, emotionally shattered, and financially devastated--but hell hath no fury like a woman with a violent past bent on vengeance. Jack is about to get exactly what he deserves--and so much more. 

In this splashy, electrifying story of sex, betrayal, and secrets, a woman's revenge is a brutal but beautiful thing. 

This is what I say :

Camilla Lackberg to me, is one great author. I like the way she writes and also the plot and storyline were always unique and different.  I especially loved the Fjallbacka Series that features husband and wife, Patrik and Erica.  I have read all the titles in that series and you can check out my review in my previous posts (just go to List of Authors page, click C and look for Camilla Lackberg and the revews on the Fjallbacka Series would be there)

However, The Golden Cage is very different from The Fjallbacka Series.  While Erica might be nice and kind and helpful and all things nice, Faye is the total opposite.  I wasn't really expecting that when I started this title.  The Golden Cage was also more 'trashy' in everything possible and there's a few x-rated scene.  Again, wasn't expecting that.

However, as I read along, I was guessing how the storyline would progress and I am happy to share that I wasn't wrong.  It went exactly the route I predicted it.

Honestly, I dont like it as much as the Fjallbacka Series but I was quite happy to read The Golden Cage just to read and experience the way Camilla Lackberg write.

Books two is entitled Silver Tears.  I will certainly check it out.

True Blue by David Baldacci

 

Synopsis :

Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything: her badge, her career, her freedom--and spent two years in prison. Now she's back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. Even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: a vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.

Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets.

Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn . . . into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.

This is what I say :

I just finished reading True Blue. It's one of the few copies of David Baldacci titles that's been on my shelf for years.  

While I really like The Camel Club Series by David Baldacci, I quite like his other stand alone titles or other titles that features other characters too.  

True Blue isn't too bad.  The characters were not too likable but then they are not too unlikable as well.  The plot and storyline wasn't that original and unique but they are not too bad either.  Compared to some of the author's title, this rank quite in the middle of likability factor.  

Basically it's just a so- so title and I am glad it's not off my TBR shelf.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Synopsis :

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place

This is what I say :

I have started to pick up reading again.  I have not entirely stopped but I have slowed down considerably.  However, towards mid of last month, my reading pattern evolved again and here I am trying to catch up on my reading.

I got to know of The Midnight Library from someone's inta-story.  I searched for it and managed to get a pdf copy and here I am, completing it just a week into reading.  It's quite a short book with less than 300 pages long but the content is rather captivating.

Nora Seed had the opportunity to try out her many lives.  This brings much interesting thoughts as in would I want to try out my many other lives that I might have lived based on the decisions I made throughout my life time.  Small decisions big decisions are all decisions that can just affect the road of life that we are on. 

 The Midnight Library is not a self help book.  I am not sure what genre would I call it but I certainly enjoyed it.  As such, I do recommend it.

Would you want to have your own Midnight Library?

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

 

Synopsis :

The Harmony Silk Factory traces the story of textile merchant Johnny Lim, a Chinese peasant living in British Malaya in the first half of the twentieth century. Johnny's factory is the most impressive structure in the region, and to the inhabitants of the Kinta Valley Johnny is a hero—a Communist who fought the Japanese when they invaded, ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of his people. But to his son, Jasper, Johnny is a crook and a collaborator who betrayed the very people he pretended to serve, and the Harmony Silk Factory is merely a front for his father's illegal businesses. This debut novel from Tash Aw gives us an exquisitely written look into another culture at a moment of crisis.

The Harmony Silk Factory won the 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award and also made it to the 2005 Man Booker longlist

This is what I say :

The Harmony Silk Factory has been sitting on my shelf for years.  I always wanted to save such titles for when I am really, really free to read but then it's been saved for far too long.  Having heard a lot about this title and this author, I always have been rather intrigued by how the story would be like.

Finally, a few months ago, I decided to pay The Harmony Silk Factory a visit.  That visit took over a few months.  

"How was it?" you might ask.

Honestly, I left The Harmony Silk Factory as perplexed as when I first visited it.  The story was narrated from three perspectives.  Each perspective left me as confused as the next one. I wasn't really sure what to make out of it.

I am sure it's well written.  Perhaps I am too impatient to wanting to complete it rather quickly and thus wasn't able to fully appreciate what it has to offer.

At the end of the day, there's no different if I visited or not, The  Harmony Silk Factory at all.  

Work Travel #1 May 2022

 

A hangout place called Pokok

I just want to have it on record that I traveled for work for the first time in years recently.  It was a 5 days trip that brought me to new places in Klang Valley.  At the same time, I was able to visit my old hunting ground in PJ so it was a good trip.

While I was there, I visited a place called Mahsa Avenue for the well-known hangout Pokok but at the same time, I found a little bookshop selling pre-loved books that totally does not have any one manning the shop.

Located on level 2 of Urban Living in Mahsa Avenue, the shop is operated by PJ Preloved House, they termed it a self-service preloved bookshop and it opens from 10 am to 9 pm.

Each book is only RM5.00. What you do, is you go in, browse through their collection of novels, etc, choose the books that you want, and payment is cashless, either via e-wallet or bank transfer.  The instructions are very clear.  

I went in, browsed through but I couldn't find any titles to bring home with me.  I would want to go again in future.