The Good House by Ann Leary

The Good House by Ann Leary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Tara Smith for recommending this audiobook, narrated by Mary Beth Hurt. Hildy Good is a life long resident of quaint Wendover. Hildy happens to be a pretty successful real estate broker, is divorced and an alcoholic who will not recognize she is one. It was interesting reading all the ways Hildy gave herself to drink and how often she had to drink but always hiding it because her daughters sent her to recovery. I loved Frank her life long friend and sometimes interest--but Hildy can be nasty & she was nasty to Frankie too often for me. I am not a fan of the unreliable narrator and Hildy was the perfect unreliable narrator for most of this story---and for the few times she was not drinking I did like her.

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The Ursulina (Shelby Lake, #2) by Brian Freeman

The Ursulina by Brian Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Awesomely narrated once again by January LaVoy (loved The Deep Deep Snow); Rebecca Colder is a detective in a town that seems to be VERY backward and hates most of the women ---men want the jobs in the mine and hate the women who take those jobs from them. The same happens with Rebecca, as the only woman on the police force but I did not like her allowing the officers to annoy her, grope her, and demean her (she had people who would believe her). Also, as the story unfolded with Rebecca's marriage to Ricky torpedoing--how could everyone see what a loser he was and Rebecca did not? I am not a fan of UNRELIABLE NARRATORS and I was becoming convinced Rebecca was unreliable in almost every facet of her life. Why would she not tell Brian who was an Ursulina hunter that she saw it when she was 10 yrs old? Why would she take Ricky's awful abuse and not let the law/Daryl put him in jail. Why would she not admit while questioning with Daryl she was in full blown labor?!? Don't get me wrong I loved the book; just not a fan of Rebecca and now I am back to listening to The Deep Deep Cold AGAIN and love Shelby's POV!

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Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a part of the #yearofya twitter chat on trends in YA and this book did not disappoint. Loved the cover! Told from Jule's POV who I did not like at all- she was an unreliable narrator (once again, I do not like these kinds of characters) who finds her parents murdered when she is 7- she begins a life of being a genuine fraud and oh is she the best! The book goes in reverse chronological order as she tells of her many outfits, hairdos, and details the places where she finds her marks and sets to work. I really like Imogen and wished she had never crossed paths with Jules. She was rich, loved animals, loved her parents but did not like school or who she was and so ditches life and goes on the run with none other than Jules, who has been asked by Imogen's mom to find her and bring her home---so not happening! Loved Lockhart's writing, her characters were well drawn, and the jet setting places were so interesting. The ending is pure Jules "4 passports, 4 driver's licenses, 3 wigs, several thousand dollars in cash & a credit card belonging to Forrest Smith-Martin that would do for buying plane tickets." Jules was moving on.

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This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis

This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh boy, I could not put this book down, Sasha Stone is not someone I never want to know- she is the unreliable narrator dealing with some major problems (sister absorbed in womb, mental illness, bad girl) and as she spirals out of control, I kept turning those pages but boy did I dislike Sasha Stone as each chapter got darker and darker and more mysterious. Sasha is the one in control from page one, don't let her convince you of anything less- she does not love anyone but herself, even though she may have the perfect boyfriend, a few girlfriends, supportive mom and dad- this psychological thriller is controlled by Sasha and her belief she has her sister's heart and her sister loves having sex with bad boy Isaac and Sasha wants to get her control of her body and self back. Boy did I feel sorry for the men in her life, but the girls did not fair well at all either (especially in the cardiac hospital) Sasha just kept spinning and striking out in her world- read this book to find out who wins, good girl Sasha or bad girl Sasha?

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Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I listened to this book as part of the 2017 HUB Reading Challenge for awesome audiobooks. Barrett Wilbert Weed did a spectacular job of narrating all the girls voices, the guys in the band and all of the British accents were perfect. But that is all I can say- performance great but I HATED the story! The main character, Lydia is an unreliable narrator - she kept saying she was going to the police about band boy, Rupert P being tied up in the chair in their room - but she never does and her reasoning was just so awful- meant to be funny but just weak excuses to me. All of her friends were not really her friends and as they get deeper and deeper into the Rupert P mishap, things just keep getting more and more ridiculous. So I was not a fan of these fan girls, not a fan of the story but I did like the narrator's performance.

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