Book 20 - Picture Perfect (Jodi Picoult)

PICTURE PERFECT - Jodi Picoult


Yet another triumph from JP. I pick up her books now with a certain degree of trepidation, I am concerned that I perhaps won't like the story, or I will somehow feel disappointed at the end because I have enjoyed her other novels so much.

I am pleased to say that this has not been the case (thus far, I still have two or three to go before I have read her complete collection to date) and Picture Perfect is a poignant and moving story telling the tale of difficult childhoods and domestic abuse, centring around the main character of Cassie and her husband, Alex. Cassie finds herself injured and suffering memory loss in a cemetery one evening and is rescued by a police officer.

The story unfolds as she gradually regains her memories and remembers exactly what happened leading up to her accident, and the twists and turns that follow as she tries to piece her life back together in the aftermath of her discovery.

While Picture Perfect is not my favourite JP novel, it is certainly well written and enjoyable, and everything I have come to expect from her work.

Book 19 - Nothing Left to Want (Kathleen McKenna)

NOTHING LEFT TO WANT - Kathleen McKenna

I will start by saying I had never heard of Casey Johnson until reading this book. I have since done some 'Googling' and found out some more information, but up until that point she was an entirely unknown entity despite clearly being infamous in NYC.

Nothing Left to Want is about the true life and death of American billionaire heiress and socialite Casey Johnson, although in the book she is called Carey Kelleher. While I did pity Carey to a point, as she came across as someone who had only ever wanted to be loved and was repeatedly let down by her family and friends, I really did struggle to care all that much about her because she was essentially a "poor little rich girl", starving at a banquet.

The story was brilliantly told by McKenna and it is an intriguing insight in to the lives of the super rich and their apparent inability to care about anything besides money and themselves. While this story has an unfortunate and tragic end for carey after her death (from natural causes), I do have to reserve my compassion for those who have to deal with genuine adversity, and not their own self destructive behaviour because mummy and daddy didn't love them enough. An insightful and interesting read.

Book 18 - Hooking Up (Jessica L. Degarmo)

HOOKING UP - Jessica L. Degarmo 

The book is about a young woman named Caitlin who, after the break-up of her long term relationship, decides to take the advice of a friend and have a 'hook up' to get over her ex boyfriend, except she manages to hook up with a man who wants a relationship, and so the story surrounds their fledgling relationship and the difficulties both of them face in allowing themselves to love after being hurt in the past.

I have to admit, that while I enjoyed this book as a light-hearted easy read, I did find the characters to be lacking depth. I would have liked to have had more interaction between the two main characters, more of their story told instead of just Caitlin's internal struggles. Perhaps a little more romance? Overall though, a pleasant story.