The Alphabet Book Challenge: A

 

The Alphabet Book Challenge:  A

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to check out books from the library. I decided to search for book authors alphabetically. I would make a day of picking out the right book and treating myself to a coffee while I read. 

The first two books I picked were "Her Name Was Rose" by Claire Allan and "Silence Is A Sense" by Layla Alammar. Both books passed the blurb test, the first line, the first paragraph, and the first page test. 

I started with Her Name Was Rose. The story had a good idea: A mousy, neurotic woman witnesses a woman get hit by a car. She finds out the woman's name and stalks her social network sites, reading about her former perfect life. The woman applies for the dead woman's former job. She freshens up her look and tries to be more like the woman who died. Before you know it, the husband comes along, and one thing leads to another. But everything is not as perfect as the woman imagined. In fact, it appears the wife was killed, but who killed her? 

It was a good idea, an intriguing mystery, but ... okay ... it was repetitive. It was so repetitive that I found myself skipping entire pages. I skimmed through two-thirds of the book, reading enough to get the story and glossing over all of the main character's issues that had been pounded in. 

Overall score. One and a half stars.

Book two: Silence Is A Sense. The main character is a female refugee who has survived horrible traumas to get to where she feels is a safe place in England. Because of her past, she doesn't speak. She sequesters herself in a flat and watches her neighbors' lives while writing a newspaper column. She does her best to stay detached, but gradually, she gets to know and be involved in the lives around her. But all is not safe in her little bubble. Racism is alive and well. A violent act occurs, and her world is shattered again. She thought she was in a safe place. 

The author did a great job of getting into the character's head. The story was beautifully crafted and believable, and the prose and descriptions were fantastic. I felt like I was there with her.

Overall score: Five stars.

 


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