What I Read This Month #5: May

I’m still doing pretty well with these book review posts, aren’t I?! I’m pretty impressed with myself for remembering to do them, and sometimes, like today, on the first day on the month too! Anyway, quick life update….although there isn’t much to update on. I’ve had a normal week at work, went to the optician’s yesterday and have an updated prescription for my contact lenses and will be ordering some new glasses off the internet. I don’t ever wear glasses, I just need a pair for those just in case times, so I’m getting some really cheap ones, like really cheap, as in £6. I’m going back home today because my mum and sister have gone to London to see Green Day (Beth has been obsessed with them for years) and my mum clearly doesn’t trust my dad to look after the animals! Also Ben has to install some new television thing for my dad…I don’t know what!

So here we go with this month’s books – I haven’t done too badly again. Ben has been reading too this month (unusual for him!), so I’ve had a chance to read too, yay!

Two Little Girls In Blue by Mary Higgins Clark – 8/10 – And another murder mystery detective style book, they seem to be my favourite at the moment. Two little twin girls are kidnapped while being babysat and a ransom is demanded. The money is eventually raised and they believe their little girls will be returned. After a long period of money being handed over and locations confirmed while the police try to catch them, only one twin is returned and a note left saying the other died in an accident. I won’t be ruining it by telling you that she is still alive, as this is narrated to you all along, but it’s whether the family and police will believe the other little girl who communicates telepathically with her seriously ill twin to get her back. It’s full of suspense – your view of the kidnappers changes multiple times through the book – are they truly evil, forced into the situation, confused…

Style Yourself – 6/10 – Not exactly much of a book, but I did read it this month! It’s basically a guide by style experts and bloggers on how to style yourself with guides for particular items, remixes, etc. An interesting read for anyone interested in style, but not the best book ever.

The Rainbow Virus by Dennis Meredith – 7/10 – This was an interesting read. Several people turn up at hospital with their skins turned red, blue or green. There seems to be nothing else wrong with them, except the changed colour of their skin. It emerges that this is the work of an evil/not evil (your decision!) scientist who has infected them with a virus which is disguised from the immune system, meaning that if he could develop further viruses in this way, it could be far more dangerous. It is a race against time to catch the genius before he is able to release such a virus and infect the world. A fast paced thriller that was very enjoyable, although it did deflate a little at the end. I would have liked to see a bit more from the perspective of people living with the colour changed skins though, as this was only skimmed across, and the parts that were discussed were very interesting. How would the world react to it in reality?

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf – 8/10 – I enjoyed this book quite a lot. A young woman is released from prison; the details of her crime only unfold throughout the book, but we know that it has something to do with the murder of an infant. The story is told through several points of view, including the young woman, her sister, a girl who was at school with them, and an apparently unrelated woman who becomes entangled in the story. The perspectives eventually all merge to reveal the truth of what happened. The young woman and her sister are particularly interesting characters – I started off disliking one and liking the other, feeling sorry for one and not the other, but they completely swapped in my judgement, meaning that I ended up feeling so confused in how I felt about the characters! The twist was brilliant, I think. Definitely a good read.

Inferno by Dan Brown – 7.5/10 – Everyone will have read this this month! I won’t bother going into details about the plot (because it’s difficult to with Dan Brown without giving it away and you probably already know it!). To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the others in the Robert Langdon series. I did enjoy it still, but there wasn’t enough of the codebreaking sort of stuff and too much running around trying to get away from people; I thought the balance was just a bit wrong. But then again, the codebreaking stuff is the main thing I like about these books, whereas others might enjoy them for the shooting and face paced chases! It had a good moral story behind it though and definitely made you think.

Safe House by Chris Ewan – 7.5/10 – This is the book Ben read, so I read it too so I could talk to him about it 😀 Another kidnap mystery type book (yep, again!), a man on the Isle of Man is involved in a motorbike incident and comes round asking where the woman that was with him has gone. Everyone denies knowledge of her being there, and puts it down to the fact that her description is similar to his sister who has recently died. It’s another face paced book with interesting relationships, who can you trust? I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Let me know what you’ve been reading recently! I’ve still got plenty to go on my list since I bought a load in a couple of Kindle sales recently, but I’d like some recommendations. If you’d like to see what I’m currently reading (and can’t wait for each month’s review!) follow me on Goodreads here.

Love,