Relentless - Clair Poulson

This novel is a good and simple, although at some parts it was difficult and exasperating, too. Here's an author with a powerful story to tell, superb timing, a great plot, authentic background, and likable, believable characters who could have easily turned a "good" book into a "fantastic" book by paying better attention to basic writing technique. Far too many times the reader must re-read sections to discover who thought or said something. Poulson does not stick to one point-of-view through an entire scene, which leaves the reader confused. In fact, the author seems confused as to what actually constitutes a complete scene.

He also leaves you hanging, and not the good kind. He gets you involved in one of the characters/hostages life and how much the main character Erica cares for him and then all of a sudden the little boy is gone from the story. You have to use your imagination to fill this in. He has too many side stories that get you lost from the main point of view and the main plot of the story. It was a fast read, but a bit difficult at times.


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Cocktails for Three

Madeleine Wickham is most famously known for her Shopaholic series which she wrote under the pen name as, Sophie Kinsella. She carries the same type of humor through this book as she did the Shopaholic series, except for this one has many sad moments that I wasn't expecting from this type of book. It begins with 3 women who work in different departments at the Londoner but meet at the beginning of each month to tell tales and share cocktails. Maggie, the soon to be mom and current editor; Roxanne, the freelance review writer who is the mistress to a man who is having an affair; and Candice, the naive, sweet, innocent writer who tries to help everyone in life... and ends up, well I'll let you figure that out. I enjoyed the book but wish it had a "prequel" so to speak. The beginning feels as though you have missed the first book and/or starting to read right in the middle of one. This plotline is not very well established and I for one feel that she could have made a whole series and should have done so, instead of cramming it all into one book, without many details. But all in all it was a good read, not as fuuny or witty as her other books, this one has a more serious tone to it.

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