Anybody out there? by Marian Keyes

I've read some of Keyes' books before  and I've always enjoyed them. Anybody out there? is the 4th installment of the Walsh family books. Each book focuses on one of the sisters and this time the main character is Anna who is described as a wreck. She is mentally and physically broken and back living with her parents. She desperately wants to go back to New York, to her husband and her job.  Since she is recovering from a horrible acr accident she is forced to stay at home for quite a while. She gets annoyed by her parents and her sister Helen who announces she is going to be private investigator. Everyone tells her to keep resting but she leaves for New York as soon as she was able. All she cares is her husband.

When Anna gets to their apartment in NY she realizes her husband isn't at home. She goes to work earlier than she is supposed to as she just can't stay alone in that empty apartment. Every morning she sends an email to her husband Aidan and listens to his voicemail message. Until around page 200 you won't know what happened to Aidan since it takes that long for Anna to admit it. As a reader it is obvious long before this reveal but it doesn't mean it's any less heartbreaking.

Throughout the book Anna keeps looking for her husband, unsure of where he is. She goes to desperate measures just to make sure he is okay. She meets people who can talk with spirits and gets to know other people in her situation. I don't believe in spirits so a lot of time I just wondered how naive Anna is. But maybe if I were in her shoes I'd do the same thing, chase the impossible.

The books is almost 600 pages long but it is a very quick read. The story sucked me in even though I remembered I've read it before years ago. All the new people Anna meets are interesting to me and even the emails between Anna and her family keep me entertained. Especially her mother sending constant updates about a woman who forces her dog to pee and poop on their yard. Why would she do that? Does she hate someone from the Welsh family? There are times when Walsh's get on my nerver but what family wouldn't. I'm still not sure if all those emails from Helen bout her P.I. jobs were supposed to be true or did she just use her imagination since they were rather movie like at times. I mean what kind of a fresh P.I. with no expertise would get mixed up with the mafia?

Over all I enjoyed the book and will most likely keep reading Keyes' books if I stumble upon them. They are great for fluffy reading when you just need to relax. Especially during there hot summer days when your thoughts seem to slow. They are interesting and funny and sad and usually leave you with a good feeling. Even something as heartbreaking as Anna's journey ended nicely and was handled well. Definitely worth a read if all you want is a feel good book.

The Killing Edge by Heather Graham

This is one of those books I'm not sure where I got them from. Don't think I've read anything from Graham but this claims she is a bestseller. After 10 first pages I already disagreed with it.

The killing edge starts with teens party gone horribly wrong. All but 4 kids got brutally murdered in their sleep and the only reason why these 3 survived was because girl named Chloe happened to wake up and save them. Book fast forwards 10 years and we find out police thinks they solved the case by finding a dead killer with a suicide note.

10 years after a swimsuit model disappears and Chloe who is now psychologist spesialiced in trauma victims is worried the killer is targeting modeling agency. Then she sees the girl's ghost and decides to investigate the case herself. Conviently enough her friend, one of the 3 survivors, is a model there so she has way to insert herself to the agency. At the same time private investigator appears and after a while they work together to find the murderer.

From the beginning the author makes it clear that Chloe has build a wall around her and doesn't let anyone in. Of course meeting this private investigator, Luke, makes her feel things she didn't think was possible. Same happens to Luke and I suffered through horrible "will they, won't they" routine for a while. I say horrible because there was no build up it was literally just either Chloe or Luke thinking "I can't like that person, I'm so closed up, I can't, I have suffered in my life, why do I want them" all the time until inevitable happened. I was not surprised to find out you can buy this book from harlequin site because the so called romance reminded me of those books. Sex scenes were even worse, I'm just happy they weren't long or I'd skipped a lot of reading.

The story involved mostly of Chloe and the rest of the survivors with Luke pretending to belong in the fashion industry. A lot of it happened in the agency or the island most of the shoots seemed to go on. I can't say I came to care about the secondary characters, even Chloe's over protective uncle seemed really one dimensional. The killer/killers were your average "I'm helping this world by getting rid of these people" kind of murderers . I guess I have read too many books and seen too many horror movies to really be affected how brutal those killing were supposed to be. Making religion as the reason is boring and overused for me so I didn't care for too much for the motive at the end.

The plot was still okay, I never guess who the murderer is and it took me a while to figure the person out. I kind of accepted Chloe seeing ghosts that help her as a plot device even though I do not believe in ghosts myself. Without them I guess the book would have been even more bland. There was alot of rituals and mysticism thrown in. Cults seem to be popular theme in crime novels and this really wasn't a great example for corporating them in a fascinating story.

Over all it was a fast albeit awkward read that I won't be going through again. The writing just didn't hook me in and didn't feel like bestseller level to me at all. I guess I'm really not the audience for her even if I am a fan of thrillers. I much read my Agatha Christie books over and over again.

Nanny Returns by Nicola Kraus & Emma Mclaughlin

This book is a sequal to Nanny diaries so if you haven't read the first book or don't want spoilers this is your warning. I will try to avoid bigger spoilers.

The writers of these books are both former nannies and they satirize upper class Manhattan society as seen through the eyes of the nannies. Apparently some of the people in the books like the employer is modelled after some real people these women met. If that's true Im' glad I'll never get to see that society as it just sounds like hell.

I haven't read the first book I've only seen the movie and while reading Nanny returns I realized there are some differences. So if I ever find the first book I will probably buy it. In Nanny diaries Nan is employed by Mrs. X due to a misunderstanding where Mrs. X thought Nan said she was nanny instead her name being Nan. Nan ends up looking after little Grayer who hates her at first because anyone he loves just leaves him. Of course Nan can't be a nanny for him for the rest of her life so by end of the first book she's not working for Mrs. X anymore and feels guilty over abandoning Grayer .

Nanny returns is set 12 years after where Nan married the Harward Hottie ( HH ) from the first book and she is back in New York after moving around all those years. The couple buys a home they start renovating while Nan tries to set up her consulting business when HH gets send overseas thanks to his job for UN. This leave Nan renovating the house alone, working at a school where no adult seems to care for the kids and having Grayer back in her life when he drunkenly stumbles at her doorstep one night.

From that night on Nan is sucked in the X family's drama and it is just quite unpleasant to read. Between the bratty rebellious Grayer and the teachers and parents at school I didn't know which person I'd want to slap first to get some sense into them. Grayer is mad at Nan for leaving him even though it wasn't her choice. She feels guilty still 12 years later so during this book she does whatever she can to please the boy while he keeps disrespecting her. It was really difficult to relate to Nan. She is also strained with her husband because HH wants kids, Nan doesn't feel ready and they can only talk rarely because UN business is very hush hush.

Throughtout the story Nan acts as a mom to Grayer and his little brother Stilton who sees his big brother as his role model. She tries to help them and be there for them when the boys parents are going through a vicious divorce. Making it even worse it seems like neither of the parents truly want the kids so at times they'd be sleeping on the streets if it weren't for Nan. The whole thing about rich people not caring for their kids is awful in this book. Never understood why they would have children in the first place. Even at work at the school Nan only meets parents who care more about their reputation and vacations than the health of their kids. So yeah, very frustrating to read. There wasn't a lot of bright points at all, it seemed like one misery lead to another one with very brief happy breaks. Of course the end had some sunny moments so you feel like maybe there's hope everything turns for the better but who knows. The only person I really cared for was Stilton as it was heartbreaking to think he might grow up just like Grayer, hating all the adults for leaving them and thinking he can only trust himself at 16 years old.

I was disappointed in Nanny returns honestly because I really loved Nan and HH in the movie and I figured a sequal would show them together. But instead the husband was barely in the book as he didn't come back until the very end. It was all about drama and it made the book very tiring to read. I was constantly hoping for a punching bag so I can vent my anger towards these people that weren't even real. At the end I am happy I read it but I doubt I will read it again.