NetGalley Member

I just started reading The Weight of Blood.

I have just started reading The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh. I am having a hard time getting into the book. The characters are only mildy interesting but I can't figure out the plot. So far, I find this book boring enough to put me to sleep. Since I received a free copy of the ebook from NetGalley in return for my review, I will finish reading it so check back in a few days to find out what I think about this one.

The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit

I received a free copy this Kindle book from NetGalley in return for an honest, unbiased review. I finished reading the book some weeks back but procrastinated on writing a review. I just don't like having to write a bad review. Even though this novel had some good points, on the whole the style of writing was such a turn off that I found it difficult to read past the first chapter. The following is the review I posted on NetGalley and Amazon.com. I was very excited to see this book come out and could hardly wait to read it. I have read a lot about the Manhattan Project as well as the scientists and military officers involved. There is only a dearth of information about their wives, children, and the living conditions at Los Alamos so this book sounded. The book is written in first person plural. Throughout the book, the characters are referenced as “we” or “some of us”. Although some may find this entertaining, it began to wear very thin with me before I completed the first chapter. To say I was disappointed in this book would be an understatement. The book does provide a fairly good overview of life in Los Alamos but next to nothing about specific individuals. Unfortunately, this along with the execution left me cold. I am sure there were a considerable number of very nice women who did their best to cope with all of the challenges living at Los Alamos threw at them as well as the war rationing. Grouped together with one voice, the wives came across as self-centered, arrogant, catty, and petty. The book made these wives sound like the kind of women you hope you don’t end up working with, living next door to, or belonging to the same organization with. In other words, these wives came across as the type of women who give women a bad name. The wives complained that “those women” who were considered favorites had a bath tub while all they had was a stall shower lined with zinc. The wives begrudged the other women being able to soak in a tub. They complained about the WAC’s having both shower stalls and bath tubs. The wives complained that the WACs who assigned housing and maid service had favorites who received better, larger housing and more frequent maid service. They “did not like taking orders from girls in khaki”. They complained about the limited water supply, the quality of food in the commissary, and the WACs who worked there being rude. They complained that some got to go into town more frequently. They held parties and gossiped about the other wives and their husbands co-workers. They expressed jealousy over what others had or other husband’s positions. The wives were asked to work and some tried it but found it to be too much of a hassle for too little money so stopped. Nothing seemed good enough for these women and a large part of the book seemed like a “pity party”. As I read through the first few pages, I kept hoping that Tarashea Nesbit would change voice and start telling the story of some of the wives individually. This never happened so as it was, the book ended up just glossing over the lives of these women and provided even less information about the children. I became very annoyed with her choice of voice by the time I finished the first chapter. I was afraid that I might end up throwing my Kindle across the room if I continued to read it. Outside of the use of first person plural narrative, the book is generally well written. I am sure Ms. Nesbit put a lot of effort into writing this book. I just wish she had chosen a different narrative technique to tell her story. The narrative annoyed me so much that if was all I could do to finish reading it. If I hadn’t felt an obligation to read the book and provide a review, I doubt that I would have read more than the first few pages. It is obvious the book was well researched and that Ms. Nesbit has a talent for writing. I am; therefore, sadden to have to write a less than glowing review. Unfortunately, I just didn’t like the writing style Ms. Nesbit used. I am sorry to say that I could not recommend this book. I would not be surprised if many of those who pick this book up without any knowledge of how it is written will end up putting it down in disgust after only a few pages.

The Candidate by Daniel Pembrey

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you have two or three hours and would like an enjoyably way to fill the time, I whole heartedly recommend you open your Kindle and read The Candidate by Daniel Pembrey.

This past New Year’s Day turned out to be cold (for Florida), dark, rainy, and dreary so I decided to curl up in my favorite lounge chair with two of my dogs and my cat for a quite afternoon of reading.  I am so glad that I decided to read The Candidate.  After just a few paragraphs, I found the work to be so engrossing that I was able to ignore the animals vying for my attention.

The Candidate by Daniel Pembrey is a fast-paced novella suspense/thriller for Kindle.  Daniel Pembrey manages to keep the tension building to a totally unforeseen and very surprising climax, which you must read the book to discover for yourself. 

In the first few pages, Daniel Pembrey starts setting the stage for his tension building story in much the same way as some of my favorite mystery writers and film noir classics begin.  The protagonist, Nick Thorneycraft, wakes up in his apartment on Sunday morning with a hangover, a pair of women’s knickers on the floor, a couple of blond hairs on the side of the bed he normally doesn’t sleep on, and no memory of the previous evening.  To make matters worse, he finds a mark on his neck he initially believes to be a love bite until his landlord, a retired pharmacist, mentions that it looks like he had a topical treatment applied to the area.

Nick, a 35-year old executive headhunter, is still within the six-month probationary period with a Luxembourg firm that provides payment processing systems to banks and other institutions.  In the short period of time he has been with this firm, he has had the need for tight security drummed into his head.  The events of the previous night begin to raise his concerns over the possibility of a potential security breach.

Claire, a beautiful blonde and Nick’s ex-girl friend, works for an executive search firm in London.  She was instrumental in helping Nick to get the job as well as encouraging him to take the position.  Given that Nick has had only limited HR experience since he had only worked as a sports writer and temp recruiter; he doesn’t appear to be a likely candidate for the position he holds.  This made me wonder how he got the position unless there was considerable intervention by influential individual(s) and/or there was an ulterior motive.

Even so, Nick has been tasked with finding a candidate to fill the extremely important position of head of the newly created Russia and Eastern European (REE) branch of the firm.  This position is tied to a potentially lucrative buyout of the firm by Xanant, a Russian state-owned payment processing company looking at moving into the Western European market.  Nick’s coworkers who have been with the firm long enough to have stock options would be in line to make a tidy profit if the buyout goes through.

When Nick arrived at his office later that Sunday, his boss asked him to follow-up on Yekaterina (Kate) Novakovich’s LinkedIn Curriculum Vitae.  Kate turns out to be a blonde Russian beauty with a doctorate from Harvard who is currently working for one of Moscow’s largest banks.  Nick, however, gets a feeling of vague familiarity when he viewed her LinkedIn photo.  This starts to make him suspicious of her and to think she might be the women he was out with the night before.

When Nick sends Kate an e-mail regarding the position, he gets a very rapid response.  Kate tells Nick she wants to apply for the position, has had several offers, and would like to be interviewed as soon as possible.  After Nick speaks with his supervisor, he gets back with Kate and sets the interviews up for the next day.  Although Kate appears to have bulletproof credentials, it appears to Nick that her selection for the REE position is being inexplicably rushed through without a background check.

The events unfold against a backdrop of political unrest in Russia associated with an upcoming presidential election and financial scandals linked to President Igor Strokan, who is running for re-election.  With hints that Igor Strokan’s offshore funds were managed through banking interests in Luxembourg including the possibility that Nick’s firm could have been involved along with the possibility that the firm may be bought out by the Russians, Nick finds himself in a whirlpool of intrigue and a heap of trouble as he tries to sort out what happened during his missing hours and find out the identity of the women he was with. 

The ending comes hurdling toward you like a run away freight train and then abruptly halts as if the train slammed into a wall.  I was left with many questions and a desire for more of a resolution.

With all of the interesting characters, the side plots, fast paced action, and misdirection, there just too much happening and not enough pages in a novella to fully develop all of it.  This novella cries out to become a novel. 

I believe that Daniel Pembrey is going to be one of those writers we hear a lot of good things about.  I look forward to reading other works by him.



Beware of the Protein Box!

Starbucks In the Morning

If you are like me, you end up rushing around in the morning trying to get to work on time.  Most days, I don't have time to fix breakfast for myself; even though, I find the time to feed my cat and four dogs. 

Lately, I have started stopping at Starbucks for more than just a hit of caffeine.  I found that they offer a great little breakfast box.  By fast food standards, it is probably the healthiest choice out there.  Their little Protein Box contains three apple slices, approximately 15 grapes, a small slice of cheese cut across making two triangle shaped pieces, a small piece of muesli bread, a hard boiled egg, and a small package of honey peanut butter - all of this abundance of food for just $4.95.

Despite the fact that the cost for this product seems excessive, I found that it did fill my need for a healthy breakfast so frequently went through the drive-thru on my way to work to purchased it along with my morning coffee.  Until a couple of weeks ago, I really enjoyed the Protein Box.  Ever since, I have been a little leery of buying one.  This is because, the box I purchased that day had rotten grapes and almost rotten apple slices.  

I used the drive-thru so didn't notice the rotten fruit until I got to my office.  I couldn't go back and exchange the box for a fresh one and given the condition of the fruit, I was afraid to eat the egg.  This left only the bread.  At $4.95 for approximately an ounce of bread, I think this may have been the most expensive piece of bread I have ever eaten!

In case you are wondering, I notified the store manager on my next visit but there wasn’t anything he could do as I had thrown out the box instead of bringing it back.  I then sent an e-mail to Starbucks' corporate office.  I did get an acknowledgement that the e-mail was received along with a note stating that due to volume, it would take some time before they got back with me if they could provide an answer to my inquiry.

If you decide to purchase a Starbucks Protein Box, make sure you not only check the sell by date but also look very closely at the contents.  The box I bought containing rotten fruit was within the sell by date so just checking that would not have prevented me from getting spoiled food.

I have so little time in a day to deal with such annoyances!