Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes - Diane Chamberlain

The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes
Mira (January 1, 2008)
528 Pages
$13.95 (paperback)
Amazon


This is an example of a book I bought because I loved the cover...I'd just found Whistling in the Dark which I specifically went to find and was in the C's looking for another book when I saw CeeCee Wilkes (it had a nice 'face-out' placement--I only know it's called that because Hope Tarr told me a while back ;)) Anyway, I'd loved the Whistling cover and CeeCee had another adorable red headed girl on the cover, so....

I didn't even really read the back of the book...and I'm actually rather glad because it tells some things that don't happen until a good while into the book or even the end (but do actually let you have an idea of what the book is about).

If you want to read it like I did, having no idea what it's about (but knowing that I'm assuing you it's a very good book), here's the little subtitle from the cover: 'She lived a lie to keep her daughter' and my rating of B+.

If you'd like to know a little bit more about the book, then....

CeeCee Wilkes is a sixteen year old working in a diner when she meets grad student Tim Gleason. He convinces her to help him kidnap the governor's wife, but when things go terribly wrong, CeeCee is left with a baby and a secret to live for the rest of her life....or so she thinks.

(You can go BN.com and read their summary if you want, but I don't like it since it's rather spoilery)

A lot of reviews compare this book to the authors other books or say whether its similar to her other works or not....but I haven't read anything else by Chamberlain so I can't speak to that.

8/10



PhotobucketMiddle America Saturday Night ~ Kane
I Fought the Law ~ The Clash
Travellin' Soldier ~ Dixie Chicks

Whistling In the Dark- Lesley Kagen

Whistling In the Dark
NAL Trade (May 1, 2007)
320 Pages
$13.95 (paperback)
Amazon


Before he dies (not of natural causes), Sally O'Malley's father makes her make him some promises; and she's a girl who doesn't break promies. Not even when her mother ends up in the hospital, she and her little sister are left in the care of their drunken step-father and absentee older sister, or when there's a murderer on the loose.

And that murderer is after the girls. At least that's what Sally has decided in her over active ten-year-old imagination. That's right, the main character is a ten-year-old....in 1959. With an overactive imagination....and the murderer of two neighborhood girls out there.

It all adds up to a very intriguing story told from the point of view of a lovable main character. Though darker than I had thought it was going to be (the 'murderer' bit was mentioned on the back of the book but....) it was a great book....The fact that it was darker than I expected could be because I originally saw the cover on TeensReadToo and originally thought it was going to be a YA book, though.

My only real problem with it was the bad language used by the characters, the girls specifically. The author herself was 10 in 1959 and everything else is written to fit the time period (enough that there were a few references I wasn't sure I completely got) but the children in the book swore a lot ('hell', 'f***', 'damn', probably others) and it through me off because it didn't seem to fit....and didn't seem entirely necessary. (I know there were serious things happening in the book, but the cursing didn't seem to happen at those times...or be because of that). Maybe I'm putting too much onto this, but it bothered me.

7 (but if the language doesn't bother you like it did me, make it maybe and 8

Photobucket~*~
coming soon
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