Book Review: Paris for one - J. Moyes

A romantic short story set in Paris. An English woman that let herself go "wild" after being let down by her boyfriend, a French writer recovering from a broken heart. The plot is absolutely obvious, almost banal, the story is cheesy at times and all is very un-original: Paris, unsure of himself writer that has to work as waiter to survive, English girl with un-trustable boyfriend, chance encounter.
And yet it is a very short story so it is pleasant and ok to spend half an hour before bedtime or waiting at the doctor reading.
The great thing about these Quick read books it that they hopefully attract to the world of fiction also people that would not normally pick up a book. They are easy, quick, nice reads for everyone!
Of course is not comparable at all to the Moyes' book I loved before - The last letter from your lover.

Overall rating: 6    Plot: 4   Writing style: 6    Cover:  6

Title:Paris for one
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Penguin Quick Reads
Pages: 112
Publication year: 2015


Plot: 
Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She has never even been on a weekend away with her boyfriend. Everyone knows she is just not the adventurous type.
But, when her boyfriend doesn't turn up for their romantic mini-break, Nell has the chance to prove everyone wrong.
Alone in Paris, Nell meets the mysterious moped-riding Fabien and his group of carefree friends. Could this turn out to be the most adventurous weekend of her life?

The Author:

Jojo Moyes is a novelist and a journalist. Her novels include the bestsellers The Girl You Left Behind, The One Plus One, Me Before You and After You. Her novels have been translated into over 40 languages and have hit the Number 1 spot in 10 countries. She is one of the few authors to have had three novels on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time.

Me Before You has now sold over 8 million copies worldwide and Jojo adapted the novel into a screenplay, of which the major film production, starring Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), was released in summer 2016. Jojo lives in Essex with her husband and their three children.

Book Review - Chaos - P Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta book 24)

I honestly have to admit that I keep reading the Scarpetta serie just out of a nostalgic attachment to the characters. I have started to read Patricia Cornwell's books as a teenager and loved them and about 20 years and 24 books later, I am so accustomed to the Chief, Benton, Marino and Lucy's every gesture and word that I could close my eyes and second guess them.

Unfortunately though I am not enjoying these latest books at all. Nothing really happens and they all go around and around the same topics (Carrie, the FBI, Marino's behaviours, Lucy's issues) over and over again. All of them have clearly dysfunctional relationships where there is a lot of untold and mysterious conversions where they cannot tell each other half of the stuff that it is happening as "top secret". So basically man and wife, aunt and niece talk in half phrases, start conversions which don't take them anywhere, It is frankly quite boring and frustrating to read their conversations nowadays!

Particularly in this latest book, really nothing of any notice happens apart from a lot of sweat and talk about the extreme weather and the uncomfortable clothes.

With all the nostalgic love I have for the series' character, I could have saved myself a couple of evenings and read something better I am afraid.... And yet I know that I will very likely buy and read the next chapter of their adventures... call me masochist! 

Overall rating: 4    Plot: 4   Writing style: 6    Cover:  4

Title:Chaos
Author: Patricia Cornwell
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 400
Publication year: 2016


Plot: 

On a summer evening in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her investigative partner Pete Marino respond to a call about a dead cyclist. It appears that a young woman has been attacked with almost superhuman force. Marino and Scarpetta’s FBI agent husband receive suspicious calls, allegedly from Interpol. But why would an elite international police agency be interested in the case? The calls are linked to anonymous cyberbully Tailend Charlie, who has been harassing Scarpetta for over a week. But even her tech-savvy niece Lucy can’t trace the person behind them. A second death, hundreds of miles south, shocks Scarpetta to her core – suddenly she is confronting something far more dangerous than she could ever imagine. Because when the residue in the victim’s wound is analysed, the results show a material that doesn’t exist on earth…

The Author:
Patricia Cornwell is a contemporary American crime writer. She is widely known for writing a popular series of novels featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. Her books have sold more than 100 million copies. She was born in Miami, Florida in 1956. She sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working as a computer analyst at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. Postmortem, was the first bona fide forensic thriller. It paved the way for an explosion of entertainment featuring in all things forensic across film, television and literature.