A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion

A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up because of my love for narrative true stories. I found the writing to be mediocre, sometimes so condensed and recited, it was like reading a fifth grade book report. Sometimes the narrative showed true imagination, characterization and I was able to get lost in it a time or two. The POV was confused at times. It was disappointing because of the way the story was setup, you knew exactly what was going to happen next (because you'd been told 25 pages before that it was going to happen). I assume this author wrote the story with the assumption that anyone who read it would already be familiar with the story. I think it would have been a better book if he had made the assumption that the reader had no idea of the true life story.

Overall, a fast read that wrapped up neatly. Any liberties taken by the author were well done and fit in with the characters portrayed by facts.

Synopsis: Based on a real case whose lurid details scandalized Americans in 1927 and sold millions of newspapers, acclaimed novelist Ron Hansen's latest work is a tour de force of erotic tension and looming violence.

Trapped in a loveless marriage, Ruth Snyder is a voluptuous, reckless, and altogether irresistible woman who wishes not only to escape her husband but that he die - and the sooner the better. No less miserable in his own tedious marriage is Judd Gray, a dapper corset-and-brassiere salesman who travels the Northeast peddling his wares. He meets Ruth in a Manhattan diner, and soon they are conducting a white-hot affair involving hotel rooms, secret letters, clandestine travels, and above all, Ruth's increasing insistence that Judd kill her husband. Could he do it? Would he?

What follows is a thrilling exposition of a murder plan, a police investigation, the lovers' attempt to escape prosecution, and a final reckoning for both of them that lays bare the horror and sorrow of what they have done.

And One Last Thing

And One Last Thing ... by Molly Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A cute read. The story definitely improved once the romance side got going. Great male lead - wish there had been more of him in the book. Smart humor. Very contemporary.

Synopsis:

"If Singletree’s only florist didn’t deliver her posies half-drunk, I might still be married to that floor-licking, scum-sucking, receptionist-nailing hack-accountant, Mike Terwilliger."

Lacey Terwilliger’s shock and humiliation over her husband’s philandering prompt her to add some bonus material to Mike’s company newsletter: stunning Technicolor descriptions of the special brand of "administrative support" his receptionist gives him. The detailed mass e-mail to Mike’s family, friends, and clients blows up in her face, and before one can say "instant urban legend," Lacey has become the pariah of her small Kentucky town, a media punch line, and the defendant in Mike’s defamation lawsuit.

Her seemingly perfect life up in flames, Lacey retreats to her family’s lakeside cabin, only to encounter an aggravating neighbor named Monroe. A hunky crime novelist with a low tolerance for drama, Monroe is not thrilled about a newly divorced woman moving in next door. But with time, beer, and a screen door to the nose, a cautious friendship develops into something infinitely more satisfying.

Lacey has to make a decision about her long-term living arrangements, though. Should she take a job writing caustic divorce newsletters for paying clients, or move on with her own life, pursuing more literary aspirations? Can she find happiness with a man who tells her what he thinks and not what she wants to hear? And will she ever be able to resist saying one . . . last . . . thing?


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