Half Bad - Sally Green

Title: Half Bad (Half-Life #1)
Author: Sally Green
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 380
Date read: January, 2017

Sixteen-year-old Nathan lives in a cage: beaten, shackled, trained to kill. In a modern-day England where two warring factions of witches live amongst humans, Nathan is an abomination, the illegitimate son of the world's most terrifying and violent witch, Marcus. Nathan's only hope for survival is to escape his captors, track down Marcus, and receive the three gifts that will bring him into his own magical powers—before it's too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?


I think, possibly, my expectations were too high. I liked it well enough, and found myself nicely entertained, but I never really got interested in Nathan's plight, and though Sally Green used too much of the book to define the universe and set the stage for the next book, and too little on the actual plot.

So though very little was actually resolved in this book, I'm in no rush to run out and pick up the next one. But I do understand the high ratings it has received - it was good... just not for me.

Truly, Madly, Guilty - Liane Moriarty

Title: Truly, Madly, Guilty
Author: Liane Moriarty
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 415
Date read: January, 2017

Despite their differences, Erika and Clementine have been best friends since they were children. So when Erika needs help, Clementine should be the obvious person to turn to. Or so you'd think.

For Clementine, as a mother of a two desperately trying to practise for the audition of a lifetime, the last thing she needs is Erika asking for something, again.

But the barbecue should be the perfect way to forget their problems for a while. Especially when their hosts, Vid and Tiffany, are only too happy to distract them.

Which is how it all spirals out of control...


I approached this book with very high expectations, as I've loved everything else I've read by Liane Moriarty. Unfortunately, it couldn't live up to those expectations at all. Liane Moriarty used much the same tactic of foreshadowing/hinting/secrecy as in "Big Little Lies", but whereas I loved it in BLL, it just didn't work at all here, and instead came across as being rather silly. (I think the difference is that in BLL the surprise came later chronologically, whereas here, it was danced around as something that happened in the past - which just made me roll my eyes and want to yell at Moriarty to just reveal it already!)

So why still 3 stars? Despite my annoyance at her ridiculous use of foreshadowing, I do enjoy Liane Moriarty's writing style, and the pages almost turned themselves. I liked that the characters were generally nice to one another, and I liked that people talked things through, instead of letting misunderstandings and lack of communication ruin their lives. It made for a refreshing change :)