Moonlight In Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles

Y'all this was a home run for me! I was so pleasantly surprised with Moonlight In Odessa. Whenever I pick up a debut book from a new author, I get a little nervous about what I might be getting myself into. And this was Janet Skeslien Charles' first novel. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I had received Moonlight in Odessa close to the time it was published in September of last year from Bloomsbury USA and just now got around to reading it. I know, somebody slap my hands!

But seriously, I would so recommend this to all of you! It was a very intriguing storyline and some of it I completely related to being as how I myself met my husband through an online dating service called Christian Cafe. Now I wasn't a foreigner looking for a VISA, but the long distance relationship part and inner conversations of trusting someone new was definitely familiar! I just fell in love with Daria, a woman in the Ukraine who is struggling to make her mark in an oppressive country and yet to not lose hope that love was out there waiting for her. She had so many internal struggles and I found myself empathizing with her and cheering her on through her long journey from Russia into America. And I do hope that this second novel she's writing is a sequel that picks up right where she left off with Daria in America, because I felt like it was just getting really good and so badly want to know what's happened with her since!

Overall, a great read and one I highly recommend! I will for sure be keeping Janet on my radar in the future! And thank you to Bloomsbury USA for the free copy!

Description: Odessa, Ukraine, is the humour capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it’s Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmon’s advances by recruiting her neighbour, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria’s job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes “socials” where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it’s not exactly what she thought it would be…

A wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don’t acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism, Moonlight in Odessa is a novel about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Absolutely!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

If you plan on reading The Passage and don't want the plot spoiled for you, I wouldn't continue reading this review.

I feel like the only way I can give a thorough explanation of why I disliked The Passage so much, is to be specific on why I had such issues with it. And unfortunately, contrary to popular opinion out there, I am definitely NOT a fan.

The first 100 pages or so of this book completely sucked me in and I was all on board with the premise, thinking that it would be good for me to get outside of my comfort zone and enjoy an intriguing science fiction/thriller once in a while. And just when I was getting attached to all the different characters and able to keep track of who was who - the author then kills everyone off!!!! Are you kidding me?! This is at like 300 or so pages in and he just starts from scratch and fast forwards a hundred years after the virus disaster breaks out! THEN I got to spend the next hundred pages or so trying to relearn new characters, NEW SLANG AND LANGUAGE (which kinda pissed me off - I mean "Flyers!" seriously?) and figure out what the crap is happening now. It moved so ridiculously slow in some places and then the momentum took off in others. Which thankfully, it did get pretty exciting at times and that kept me going, but really my main motivation in finishing the book was having some closure at the end by finding out how it all wraps up. And all I could keep thinking as I'm plowing through all 800 some pages is - 'Man, he should have broke this up into a 3 part series!" Finally around 1am, sometime last week, I'm nearing the last 50 pages and thinking, 'This is it, it's all coming down to this' - and then I come to realize, IT'S THE END OF PART 1!!!! WHAT?! I mean are you kidding me? I was so frustrated, cause after all that I didn't have hardly any closure.

And just a little side note, I know most people are thinking of these creatures as vampires, but really I would liken them more to an enlarged, scaly bat. They can't speak at all and instead make clicking noises in their throat and hunt in packs of three, which is more animalistic than human. The only 'vampirish' characteristic about them is that they can't survive in daylight and feast on humans.

Description: "It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction. (From the Publisher, Random House)

Even though my review is less than flattering, I do really want to thank Random House Publishing for sending me a copy to review!

So in closing - in MY opinion, this is not the Great Summer Read of 2010 (as it has been proclaimed to be), but I do think it would make for a much more fascinating movie being as how I could watch in two hours what took me two months to get through, not to mention I've heard the rights have been sold to Ridley Scott's production company.

For more flattering reviews, please visit Charlotte's Web of Books, Hey Lady or Book Chatter. I love these ladies and highly value their reviews, so I was a bit surprised we felt so differently about the book. But just so you don't think I'm crazy, you can also visit Devourer of Books or visit Goodreads.com.

My rating: *

Recommend: I've heard that this book is likened to The Stand by Stephen King (which I've never read) so if you're a fan of The Stand, than you might enjoy this as well. Otherwise - don't waste your energy on the book and just wait for the movie, it will save you A LOT of time!!

Slower than Molasses

Must. Finish. Strong.

This book is killing me people but I'm compelled to finish it. Lord help me, of course it has to be 770 pages long. I honestly thought this would be a serious page turner, but its just bad. AND it's an ARC. I feel horrible that a less than flattering review is coming, but seriously its taken up two months of my reading time.

I only got a hundred or so pages left, so I hope to finish real soon!!

Anyone else read this?

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was our April/May Book Club pick. Most everyone in our book club seemed to really enjoy it and rated either 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads.com, but as good as it was it was also extremely intense and at times very hard to stomach. It is definitely for an adult audience and I wouldn't recommend reading it at night when you're home alone! The paperback came in at close to 650 pages and it wasn't until page 200 that it started to grab me. There was a lot of setup and honestly I was grateful for the two separate story lines, because the half concerning Mikael Blomkvist's libel conviction was seriously too boring and informational for me. I just couldn't get into the whole Wennerstrom side of things.

I'm on the fence about reading the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's the 2nd book of the 3 part trilogy and even reading the prologue and part of Chapter 1 from the end of TGWTDT, I could tell its going to definitely be another one that's hard to stomach. Apparently, they've made a movie on TGWTDT and its coming soon to theatres, but again I just don't think I could see it. Some people like that whole Hanibal Lector suspense thing, but I'm just not one of them. Still, a very captivating and intriguing read, but not my first pick for an enjoying read.

Description: An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pieced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Rating: ****

Recommend: Not for the faint of heart. There is some intense sexual brutality that is hard to get out your head. Yeesh!