Cult Insanity

This is Irene Spencer's second book about being married to a LeBaron brother (after the first, Shattered Dreams).

I have to say, this was basically just add-on info about the LeBaron family and how nutty they were. I don't think it added too much to my knowledge of these kooks, especially after reading her first book. It was kind of like the movies Flags of our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima. Two sides of the same coin, but with the same perspective both times.

For a polygamy book, pretty dull (although full of murder and crazy religion).

2 Archangel Nephis out of 5.

Secrets of a Lady

I could write a whole lot about how lame this book is, but instead I will just say, don't waste your time. It had the potential to be everything I love in a book - a saucy tale of intrigue taking place over the London landscape during the Georgian period. Instead I got a cheesy and silly, convoluted tale with really lame characters. I think Snidely Whiplash may have actually been there. I have blocked out the rest.

2 super secret spy wives out of 5.

Lost Boy

There's not too much to say about this book that I can recall, unfortunately.

I remember that I wanted to read this because a) I have a thing for the polygamists and how nutty they are; and b) because most books out there are from the women's perspective.

Vaguely, I recall that it mostly just reiterated what other books on the subject have said - how Warren Jeffs and debatably his dad had changed something that, while not healthy, was not completely messed up, to a place of total and blind control.

Other than that, I can't remember too much. I take that as meaning I was underwhelmed. 2.5 Mormons of the marryin' kind out of 5.

Cracked Up to Be

Ah, teen fiction. You are my proverbial golden calf. I worship secretly at your alter. Nothing entertains me more than drama written about the lives of 17 year olds (also, I am now addicted to Veronica Mars).

This book is one taken from the much heralded "Sarah Dessan" shelf - a former high achiever who has experienced some past trauma and is working through her issues through the usual new boyfriend/new best friend/drinking inappropriately/secret new hobby.

It reads much like a Sarah Dessan in that it is real and rings true. Courtney Summers (a Canadian), doesn't quite get to the level of Dessan at her best, but I think her future books might show more of an individual voice and hit that really excellent level.

Totally worth an afternoon in the sun (which is the conditions in which I read it, poolside in Radium). 3.5 tortured teenage souls out of 5.

Dark Places

Again, I am way behind and having difficulty remembering. This will hopefully diminish as we get chronologically closer to present day in my reviews.

That said, I do remember that I really enjoy Gillian Flynn. I find it's hard to get hands on books that are well written but don't shy away from difficult issues. You either get decently written books that glaze over unpleasantness, or trashy books that write the stuff for shock value. Obviously there are exceptions to this in really good literature, but in modern fiction it seems to be a rarity.

This book comes from the perspective of the only survivor of a farmhouse family massacre, other than her brother who is doing time for the killings. Her testimony as a child is what put her brother away for life, but as the book continues it becomes clear that her memories perhaps shouldn't be trusted.

I think what makes this book (and Flynn's last) stand out is that the protagonists are both fairly unlikable people. Underemployed, emotionally stunted and in the case of this book, extremely grumpy.

A bit disturbing, but I think that was warranted by the subject matter - 3.5 alcoholic deadbeat dads out of 5.