Booksparks 2014 Summer Reading Challenge - Paul Hoppe's The Curse of Van Gogh

In The Curse of Van Gogh, Tyler Sears, an art thief who has been recently released from federal prison, is trying to turn his life around, when he is blackmailed into doing one more heist. This last job is grander than any of Sear's previous jobs and involves stealing several of the most valuable paintings from a tightly guarded exhibit in Washington D.C.. Sears has strong misgivings, but as a powerful mobster is threatening the lives of his family, he is compelled to follow through with the crime.

With author Paul Hoppe's snappy prose and compelling plot, the novel gets off to a strong start. I bought into the premise and I wanted to see how Sears was going to pull off the seemingly impossible heist. Hoppe has a nice way of doling out small bits of information to keep the reader wanting more.

Unfortunately, the story begins to fall apart mid-way through. Hoppe has plotted a lot of action, but I didn't feel like much of it was plausible. For example, Sears is on parole, but he seems to be able to easily travel throughout the United States without really worrying about his parole officer. He has an easy time obtaining a impressive arsenal of high tech weapons and gadgets. A lot happens in the story and some of it happens too easily.

The action is not balanced by character development. I require character development to enjoy a story. There is a good set up for emotion and drama, especially with Sears trying to protect a mentally unstable brother and flighty mother. This could have led to some really wonderful moments in the story, but they were never developed. Instead, Sears is given a fast-tracked romantic relationship which didn't fit with the story. I kept thinking that less would have been more with this story.

I didn't completely dislike Hoppe's debut novel, I was just left feeling like it was a draft, rather than a completed story. I was left wanting more, left seeing potential that wasn't developed. I thought that the reference to the title was interesting. I'm not sure if Hoppe made it up or if the "Van Gogh Curse" is a known thing, but I liked the extra drama that it brought to the heist and I found it to be entertaining.

The Curse of Van Gogh is in the same vein of a Dan Brown novel and would probably appeal to fans of action-thrillers.

Booksparks 2014 Summer Reading Challenge - Kris Radish's Gravel on the Side of the Road

I enjoy non-fiction personal short stories and after several weeks of reading Young Adult Fiction, I was excited to see something a little more my speed in the Book Sparks Summer Reading Challenge line-up.

I'd never heard of Kris Radish, but after reading her collection, Gravel on the Side of the Road, I'm left feeling impressed with the life that she has been leading. It seems like Radish has done it all. She has worked as a war journalist, she survived a harrowing plane crash landing and an equally harrowing white water rafting journey, she has reported from murder scenes...she has a wealth of experiences make her intriguing.

However, the best stories in this collection come from quieter moments, like when she writes about helping her daughter shop for a prom dress or helping her children cope with their father, her ex-husband, imminent death. It's in these moments, that Radish's experiences become more universal. I became less amazed at all that she has experienced, as I could begin to see her experiences in my own and in people that I know. This is the magic in Radish's writing.

An interesting aspect of this collection is something that Radish addresses in her forward, the quality of her writing. The collection is not arranged chronologically by event or order in which she wrote it and the writing spans her entire career. From a craft perspective, I found this very interesting, as it is easy to see the growth in Radish's writing, in particular, I can see her "writers voice" emerging. It makes for an occasionally uneven read and had I not read the forward, I probably wouldn't have been so forgiving with this review. Some of the stories have a style that's fussy and overdone, which I felt must have been earlier pieces. The strongest pieces are the ones where Radish has a direct tone and cuts to the core of the story. When she was direct with her writing, she was often her most venerable, not hiding behind the flowery prose. I really connected with these stories.

This is a strong collection from an apt writer. Radish's stories are engaging and run the gamut of emotions. I felt exhausted just reading about all that she has accomplished in her life and if anything, I was left feeling motivated to raise the bar in my own life.

Book Review- JoJo Moyes' One Plus One

I first discovered JoJo Moyes last year, when I read her smash hit, Me Before You. I really enjoyed Me Before You and was very excited to read all of her other novels, of which there are many. I've recently joined the review site NetGalley and I was very excited when Viking Press accepted my request to review Moyne's latest novel, One Plus One. Thanks Viking!

Jess is a twenty-something single mom trying to hold it together by working odd-jobs in a seaside resort town in England. Her estranged husband has depression issues and cannot support his children. Jess can barely make ends meet. She has informally adopted, Nick, a child from her husband's former relationship with a drug addict. As an outcast teenager, Nick is routinely beat up by kids in the neighborhood for being different. Her preteen daughter, Tanzie is a socially awkward math wiz, whose teachers have pushed to have her enter a math competition in Scotland. If she wins the competition, there is a huge cash prize which would allow her to attend a fancy private school and change the future for the entire family.

The problem is, they have no way to get to Scotland. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, the family embarks on a crazy road trip, driven by Ed, an owner of one of the luxury houses that Jess cleans. They look at Ed's life and imagine that his money makes him live carefree. What they don't realize is that he is under investigation for insider trading and is about to lose it all.

I loved this story. It's funny, heartfelt and poignant. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Little Miss Sunshine, with the quirky family on an unexpected journey. The plot is solid and entertaining, but what Moyes really hits the mark with is her creation of characters that are endearing. Each of the main characters affected me and I really cared about their fates in the story. This novel really got under my skin in a good way. Although plenty of terrible things happen, the overriding emotion that I was left with was one of joy.

One small thing that I noticed, and I can't confirm this without the author or publisher chiming in, is I think some small things were changed for an American audience. My husband is British and one of the funny things that my mother-in-law pointed out when I visited (and when she visits America) is how American TJ Maxx stores are TK Maxx in the UK. In the book, the stores are called TJ. Also, a character refers to potato chips as chips, rather than crisps. They are such minor things, but they popped out at me enough for me to stop and point it out to my husband.

That was a minor nit, because I really loved the story and Moyes is a fantastic writer. As soon as I finished One Plus One, I went to Amazon and purchased a load of her books for my Kindle. I can't get enough.

I highly, highly recommend One Plus One and Moyes as an author to check out.