Twisted Palace (Book 3) by Erin Watt

Twisted Palace by Erin Watt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one was definitely all kinds of twisted, which I guess seems appropriate now that I consider the title. I still really love these, while on some level kind of hating them. It's difficult to explain, but the drama and storylines definitely suck you in. It's just, once you are actually there, you aren't always sure you want to be.

It's rare for me to feel so conflicted about how I feel about a book/series. I would not recommend this to everyone, but I know some people whom I believe will definitely get a kick out of this. Some of the shock value wore off in this book, so it's probably my least favorite of the 3, even though I rated them all the same.

I do want to read the next two, but since they aren't yet available on audio, I suspect I'll stall. From my understanding, the series kind of wraps up with this book, and the next two books follow a different brother. That one actually happens to be my favorite brother (Easton), so I'll definitely read them once they become available on audio.

Book 98 read in 2018

Pages: 370

The Illegal by Lawrence Hill

Lawrence Hill is a fine writer, however, this is not one of his better works.  It is the story of an exceptional runner, Keita Ali, who is from a fictitious country that seems to almost breed exceptional runners.  His father is an investigative journalist (oh, and he is a also a character from another of Hill's works, but there is no reason for this recycled character, for there is no thread between the books).  The father is brutally murdered by the evil rulers of the fictitious country because of some secret investigation he was involved in.  Keita is forced to flee the nation before the cardboard cutout evil rulers get their hands on him.  There is no explanation as to why they are so interested in the Ali family.  Keita flees to a neighboring nation, where he is befriended by an odd assortment of characters who provide him with shelter, decent food and health care, and help him to enter one race after another in order to earn his way to clearing his father's tarnished name.  I kept hoping something would evolve, which would answer some of my questions, and most especially the largest one, which was why I kept reading.  But I did, if for no other reason than to warn unsuspecting readers who might be familiar with the author not to bother with this book.
400 pages