Saturday, May 22, 2021

Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman


In Good Eggs, by Rebecca Hardiman, Millie Gogarty is an irrepressible old woman with a bit of a shoplifting habit. It's no big deal, she thinks. How could anyone get angry with a sweet, little old lady? Except that they do and her son Kevin is especially exasperated with her. He is ready to have her committed to a home, but settles for a home companion for a bit instead. Kevin's family life isn't exactly going well, either. His teen daughter, Aideen, is emotional and destructive and beyond their help so he sends her to her own home away from home- boarding school. This doesn't not make Aideen happy at all. To make matters worse for Kevin, he is feeling frustrated with his joblessness and his wife's neglect. We all know the solution to those two problems: an affair. Disasters ensue and two of these three main characters go missing, somewhere far abroad.

This book was cute, Millie was a doll and I felt sympathy for the the teenaged angst Aideen experiences, but Kevin was kind of pathetic. The other side characters had almost no development and weighed the story down. The pacing was a little slow and I often fell asleep after only a few pages at night, causing me to take much longer to complete this book than usual. I was extremely frustrated with the ending. It felt like it showed up out of no where and provided very few answers. I'm sad that I didn't like this book more because sweet, old Millie deserved better.
 

In Her Eyes by Sarah Alderson


A home invasion is a terrifying prospect. When Ava's opulent home is the target and her daughter is gravely injured, she doesn't know what to do. Why would someone want to hurt her family? And why is her husband sitting in a jail cell? Those are the questions to ask in Sarah Alderson's In Her Eyes.

Ava's life is good, but she tries to be humble about it. Her husband is hugely successful in his career, she has a brand new car and a fancy house, she takes her daughters on pricey shopping trips, but she doesn't rub anyone's nose in it. Life isn't perfect- her step-son is a mess, and her marriage... well, it could be a lot better. Then, suddenly, everything is lost- her home, her husband, and possibly even her daughter. And the threat isn't over yet. Someone is still searching for something and they'll do anything to get it.

This book was... okay. It kept me turning the pages, but I didn't love it and I wasn't thoroughly satisfied with the ending. The characters were interesting, but not very likable. The plot is full of twists and turns, but the solutions to them aren't all that believable.