Thursday, January 16, 2020

(2) quick reviews - The Guardians; John Grisham and Surfside Sisters; Nancy Thayer


TITLE: The Guardians
AUTHOR:  John Grisham
PUBLISHER: Random House Audio
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: GA and FL
FORMAT: audio
RATING: - 4/5


Quincy Miller is a black man who has spent over 20 years in prison for killing a Florida lawyer. The lawyer was shot dead in his office and there were no clues. It's a crime Quincy professes his innocence to but, he once was a client of the deceased lawyer.

Cullen Post is a burnt out lawyer and former priest who now works for an organization called Guardian Ministries, a group whose mission is to help individuals unjustly sentenced by proving their innocence. It sounds simple but, there are powerful people who do not way to see Quincy Miller freed.

The story reemphasizes the need for prison reform and how easy it can be to blame a crime on a black man in a town full of mostly white people and jurors.  I really enjoyed the narration (read by: Michael Beck), the short chapters and the story overall, even though a few parts seemed to be a bit overdone.




TITLE: Surfside Sisters
AUTHOR:  Nancy Thayer
PUBLISHER: Brillance Audio
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING: Nantucket Island, MA
FORMAT: audio
RATING: - 4/5

Keely and Isabelle have been best fiends since grade school on Nantucket Island. Although Isabelle's family was wealthy and traveled places Keely could only dream about, the two girls were inseparable.  Both had dreams of becoming successful authors but their lives took different paths. Each envied the other for different reasons and eventually their friendship became strained and cause them to drift apart.
Of course as with all terrific beach reads, this story has a happy ending. 

I needed a lighter read and this once fit the bill. There is a little bit of everything here: female friendship, mother and daughter relationships, career, family and even a bit of romance. This one made for a quick and enjoyable audio experience (read by Cassandra Campbell).

10 comments:

  1. Surfside Sisters sounds like a great beach read.

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  2. I haven’t read any Grisham for a long while, this sounds inspiring by a Just Mercy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

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  3. Grisham is an excellent writer and I have thoroughly enjoyed every book of his that I've ever read. My favorite is The Painted House. And yet I never think to read him. I believe it is just because he is so familiar to me - we grew up in the same place - and in a way reading him seems almost like reading myself.

    On the other hand, I've never read Thayer. Perhaps I should.

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  4. I liked The Guardians as well and am glad that Grisham is tackling important issues through his widely-read books. Have you read Grey Moutain (about coal mining)? It's one of my favorites of his.

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  5. Perhaps it is time for me to revisit John Grisham.

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  6. I've never read anything by Thayer, but I enjoy Cassandra Campbell, so I may have to get this one on audio.

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  7. I haven't read any of Grisham's newer stuff.
    The Thayer book sounds pretty good. Fits my mood these days.

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  8. I haven't read a Grisham in years. This one looks good and the Thayer one too. Sometimes I need to know going in that I'm going to get a happy ending :)

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