Escapism at its Finest

This weekend I found myself exhausted (very typical) and in no mood to try and just cheerfully motor through it. Thus I employed my favorite avoidance tactics and, the net result of same, is two book reviews for you lovely people. Aren't you glad I was avoiding things?

First up, Morrigan's Cross, book one in Nora Roberts' new "Circle Trillogy". I was looking forward to this as it's a new series set in Ireland and to combine Ireland with Nora is generally a recipe for wonderful reading. Not so this go-round, it seems. Honestly, once I read the premise (which of course I didn't do until I had paid my money and was home already - because usually seeing that it's a new release of hers is enough for me to know I'm going to like it), I was already skeptical. Vampires. Bleh. I'm so tired of vampires. Plus, seriously, the whole idea just seemed 1) overdone and 2) if she had to do it, more suited to something for Eve Dallas to undertake (though of course then you couldn't have the time travel in it.) Oh, did I mention there's time travel? Yeah. Vampires AND time travel. Oh and witches. Witches in the "way-too-much-information-to-get-the-point-across" way like in her whole witch trillogy. Throw in rampant predictability and voila! you have her new novel.

Normally I don't mind the predictability (they all have some aspect of it) and normally I don't mind that you read about a character, get the mental image (because she really is very good at painting people into realistic pictures) and then all of the sudden you realize that she's exactly the same character as in novel X, except this time she's the same down to the tattoo and swinging hair and mannerisms. Just with a different name. Oh, and almost all of the six major characters have that same striking resembalance. Though I guess it's good they're not all from the same other novel. And seriously, if one of the women changes her name after she marries who it's clear she's going to end up with, her last name will rhyme with her first name. Sometimes in real life you can't escape that, but you'd think an author could avoid the singsong.

I was about 100 pages in when I started looking toward the end wondering how much longer I had before I was finished with the drivel. It kills me to type that, normally I'm a big fan of Roberts, but...wow. This sucked. Half a star out of five (and only because I just can't bring myself to give it no stars, out of deference for the body of work that Roberts has produced that doesn't suck. But I don't think I'll be buying the other two in the series.)

Since it seemed to be a weekend for predictability, I sat down with James Patterson's 4th of July. This is the 4th (wow, seriously!?) in the series of the women's murder club (I think that's what they call themselves) books. I loved First to Die. Thought 2nd Chance was pretty good. 3rd Degree was disappointing, but still an ok read. And so I dragged my feet on reading 4th of July because I didn't know where it was going after some of the things that happened in the 3rd one. In 4th of July, you find Lt. Boxer on trial for shooting perps who fired on her and her partner first, subsequently on vacation at her sister's house and investigating a series of homicides in that town that tie back to one of her first unsolved cases. Patterson does manage to stay on track with his twists and turns and while I had picked out one of the bad guys, the other two threw me (one because he did a really good job at faking you out and the other because he basically introduced the character and that was almost the last you heard of that person until you find out that they're involved. Which seems a little cheap - why would you suspect someone if all you ever know about them consumes one of the notorious Patterson 2 page chapters?)

Can I just add here that the 2 page chapter drives me insane? I know they're supposed to make the book feel fast paced, but honestly, if I'm angling for an extra 10 or 15 minutes reading, my usual tactic is to show Tim the page where I am and ask to finish the chapter. When you can clearly see that the chapter ends 1/2 way down the page opposite where the chapter clearly started, this doesn't work and you have to try and angle for "Just 3 more chapters" which is akin to a normal chapter in a regular, non-ADD book.

The other thing that bugged me was that he goes to the trouble of introducing you to this pet pig and makes a big deal about how pet pigs are great watch animals...and so you're all primed for a fantastic scene involving the pig saving the day and then you get nothing. Nada. Zip. So then all your thoughts about fun puns involving "Saving my bacon" and so forth...useless. Seemed a little mean, all things considered. Anyway, 4th of July was better than 3rd Degree and right back up to the brimming recommendation of "pretty good" that 2nd Chance got. So I might actually read the 5th Horseman (already been out a long time) - if I can get around to getting a library card (cause honestly, Lindsay is such a whiner that I grow tired of her as the major character. Be. Decisive. Woman!). 1.5 stars out of 5.