Book Review: No One Lives Twice by Julie Moffett

No One Lives Twiceby Julie Moffett

Genre: Romance, Suspense
Pages: 295
Acquired: 7/16/10
Book of Your Shelf? No
Why I have it: NetGalley
Series: No

Lexi Carmichael is a geek, a computer geek to be specific, and works for the NSA. She has no love life to speak of, and doesn't find herself to be very appealing to men. But now her best friend Basia has disappeared and men seem to be lining up to help find her.

I loved the action in this story. It was fast paced and exciting. It was great to see a bunch of computer geeks in action to save the day. In fact, the computer geeks were my favorite part...except for Lexi. Now since Lexi is our main character, that poses quite a predicament. Lexi is just a little too depressing. She complains about her lack of love life, her lack of taste in clothes, and about anyone who tries to help her. She gets a bit annoying at times just because she is always talking herself down.

The action, on the other hand, is fantastic. There are so many twists and turns subtly worked into the story, and they kept me guessing up until the very end.

3/5

Book Review: Last Snow by Eric Van Lustbader

Last Snow by Eric Van Lustbader
Genre: Crime/Political Suspense
Pages: 414
Acquired: 2/27/2010
Book of Your Shelf? Yes
Why I have/read it: Contest Winning
Series: Jack McClure (2)

Special advisor to the President, Jack McClure, finds himself in Moscow with the president and his family working on an important treaty when word comes that a senator has died in Capri. Strange thing is, this senator was supposed to be in the Ukraine. Sensing something is wrong, the president sends Jack McClure off to investigate. Before he can leave, a strange run in with a Russian woman named Annika stirs the pot and gives him a partner. Throw in the first daughter, Alli, deciding to tag along as well, and you have quite a mixed up group.

Jack just didn't seem to do much for me. Perhaps it was the magical way his dyslexia gave him special thinking powers (not sure if that's possible or not, but it seemed an easy way out). Or perhaps how he always just seemed to get lucky. He really didn't seem to be making any headway on his own. It was all the work of Annika and Alli until the final mystery which he pulls a solution out of thin air.

Annika is hard to describe. I didnt seem to get to know her very well at all. And what I did get to know about her always seemed to be changing.

Alli was by far my favorite character. SHe was stronger than she thought she was. After being through a traumtic kidnapping (the first book) she has a lot of emotional baggage that she is working through throughout the entire story. I couldn't help but admire her tenacity as she tried to find herself again.

The story itself was decent, but there was so much going on behind the scenes that without many strokes of luck our characters would have been dead several times over. I'm still trying to figure out how the ending really was the best solution to anything. I'm all for the surprise twist to keep the reader guessing, but there were a few too many this time.

3/5