Rebecca

This book really is a murder and romantic mystery rolled into one novel. I did enjoy the story however I can not say that it is a masterpiece, like I heard this book being described. To me the plot moved slow and the pages were described with vivid descriptions that left confusing sentences. But the author is very effective in creating a plot of a classical murder/romantic tale. The characters to me are very complex which keeps a dark psychological twist causing tension throughout the story.

The plot starts with the young girl who is the narrator of the novel, which her name remains unknown throughout the entirety of the book. She is a companion to a wealthy lady where she meets in the dining room of a hotel, the rich widower Maxim de Winter a man who is twice her age. He is taking some time off after the apparent suicide of his wife. They fall in love and after a whirlwind romance, they get married.

After their honeymoon they return to Maxim's family estate, Manderley. She is all to soon faced with the burden of living there, the mansion that is haunted by the powerful presence of his first wife, Rebecca. This is where she finds it incapable of understanding her husband's past, especially as she gets no direct answers from him. She finds herself living in Rebecca's shadow and haunted by the mystery of the woman's death. She is and always will be the SECOND Mrs. DeWinter, something the sinister housekeeper, Ms. Danvers, will not let her forget. Through a series of disastrous events, the second Mrs. de Winters learns the truth about Rebecca's death.

Great! 4 out of 5

Body of Lies..

I think Jess gets a bit of credit for picking this book out for me. I love reading about terrorism and the military and things of this nature. This book, which by the way is about to come to the theater starring Russell Crow and Leonardi DiCaprio, was an excellent story. The main plot of the story details an elaborite plan that I feel I could've thought of I were in the CIA!! I like to think of things I would do to find the "bad guys" if I were in the CIA or in some sort of intelligence field. But to be honest, I've never even come close to thinking of some of these ideas that the group in this book came up with. It opens your eyes to a whole new way of thinking and collecting intelligence and flushing out the enemies from hiding. I think this guy, the one who Leonardo will be playing has the perfect job if you weren't married. You have the chance to protect your country, find and kill the bad guys, and have access to all sorts of crazy information. And you get to actually come up with some of the plans that will bring about a much safer country. Maybe one day I'll work for the CIA. Anyway, back to the book.....I was drawn in from the beginning and was still left wanting the story to continue once the book was over, even though the book came to a great ending. I liked it. Interesting characters who some you respect and others you don't. It makes me wonder if a liberal wrote this book b/c I ended up respecting the people you would think I wouldn't.

I'll give it 4 out of 5 again. Most likely I'll never give anything less than that b/c if it's worse than that, I'll just put the book down.

Great! 4 out of 5

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Ok, I stole this review from my own blog, it's from a couple of months ago:

This was such a good book! I was on my way to Maryland for a week of training for work and I had actually just started reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which I still haven't finished!), but the hard back version is so big that I didn't want to lug it around with me. So, I stopped by a bookstore in the Atlanta airport to find something to read on my trip. (Paid way too much for it since I bought it in an airport, buy from Amazon or Half.com!!!) I was first attracted by the cover and once I read the summary, I was sold. I mean ghosts, mysteries, gothic suspense, come on!

I thought the book was so well written and I really loved the main character Margaret. The main characters are such lovers of books that you really feel like kindred spirits. I guess that is also why I love the Twilight Series so much.

The story is about Margaret who is asked to write the life story of a famous author, Vida Winter. This is an especially exciting task because Vida has made up numerous stories about her life and no one knows the real version or who she really is. Her story is filled with mystery and Margaret has her own secret that draws her even more into Vida's world!

Here is an excerpt from Barnes and Noble that I really love:
"The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life."

The language in the book is good and there isn't much sexual content, a few hintings here and there, but pretty clean overall. 4 out of 5 from me!