Yep, I’m still around. Just not reading much apart from my son’s children’s books. Or if I am reading, I’m not finishing the books because I just can’t seem to get into them. I recently gave Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic and Baby a try, and gave up a third of the way in. Something about Rebecca Bloomwood’s immaturity and stupidity just made me really irritated with her, despite having enjoyed her character in the other Shopaholic books. This time around, I became really annoyed that here she was, into the 5th book in this series, and she’s STILL financially irresponsible, selfish, and just plain stupid. And, oh yeah… it all turns out well because she’s got this rich husband who cleans up her messes, or she gets some grand idea to turn everything around. No thanks, I’m not buying it anymore. How much longer can Kinsella keep going with this character?

Initially, I thought I’d like this book because Rebecca is going through the same life changes I’ve recently gone through. She’s having a baby (my little boy is almost 11 months old) and she’s moving to a new house (I recently sold my house and am moving to a new one in a couple of weeks). But, unlike Becky, I didn’t manage to buy my dream house by promising to give the owner my expensive suede boots. I think that was the point I rolled my eyes and said, “This is so stupid.”

So I gave up on it. Who knows, maybe the book redeems itself in the last half, but I didn’t care to stick around and find out.

My first exposure to Dean Koontz was with his more recent novels, The Good Guy and The Husband. Both of which I liked. Then I read Sole Survivor, which started out well enough and then fell apart with the twisted fantasy turn it took at the end of the novel. I figured I’d give Koontz another try, so I went to the library and took out The Face. I read the first half of the book and knew I was going to abandon it. I could see the hokey coming a mile away. My husband, who reads so much and sooooo quickly, had run out of his own library books to read, and picked up The Face to read (which he did, quickly), and when I mentioned that I might abandon the book because I wasn’t enjoying it, he pretty much agreed it would be a good idea.

Basically, the novel is about Ethan Truman, your every day good guy, who just happens to be the personal director of security for the most famous actor on the planet (Channing Manheim, also known as “the Face”).  Channing has been getting some disturbing packages in the mail from what can only be described as a crazy anarchist bent on destroying “The Face”and his family simply because he can. Ethan needs to find this person and protect The Face and his family.

Okay, so far, not so bad. But, like Sole Survivor, eventually, a weird fantastical element works its way in and… I just don’t buy it and I just didn’t like it. I suppose if you’re looking for a story about a good guy and a meek kid having to outrun a sadistic anarchist, and you appreciate the idea of guardian angels (literally) looking over you, this is your book. Just wasn’t mine. So I gave it up.