Don't judge a book by the job they do!
583323
The Truth about Porn Star Boyfriends will immediately take its place in my read again anytime shelf. That's how much I loved it.
Our heroes of the piece are sweet Savannah and swoony Ciro. On the surface, so different, especially when it comes to career choices, but, at heart, two people with so much love in their hearts that you would think being together would be easy. Ah, life...always messing us about.
Savannah needs to keep her life within specific boundaries while Ciro is all about pushing back those edges, except, now he really wants something so special that he holds things back.
This book is by turns funny, sweet, sexy and downright lovely. Beautifully written, as you would expect from Sunniva, its unusual subject matter is a perfect setting for a gorgeous twist on boy meets girl. xxx
1773566
I know it's an odd title; however, it's true. The book is full of surprising twists and turns. The concept and strategy of the book is fantastic. I would go another chapter or two and "oh!" I get it, but later realize I didn't get it and the whole expected ending changes. I have to admit this is the first mystery/suspense book in which I haven't been able to guess any part of the ending except that good will win in the end.

I have to agree with some of the other opinionated people in that he unnecessarily describes certain aspects of his job a little to much, but I found that a bit educational. That's a good thing for me.

I believe the main characters were not deeply developed to the reader on purpose as the main characters keep themselves private on-purpose until....I don't want to ruin anything for you.

Overall, loved the fact that I didn't guess the endings. Endings with an "s" is purposefully written. Hint hint and enjoy!
646341
Unless you are aware that the book itself IS a mystery, and read the crucial 2 questions on the backof the book and continually remind yourself of them, the first 3 quarters of the book seem like they're heading in the direction you want and expect them to...but if you're not alert and pondering, the end will grab you like a string...the persn you don't expect, the person who is accused of killing the person who you didn't expect...its all baffling for a traditional mystery, but it even has a happy ending to go along with it!
2584833
I can't believe anyone who'd call this book boring! What's not to like about this book? It's fascinating! I don't understand the one star review. Seriously. The author is a medical examiner, what do you expect from the book? Of course the myriad ways people died and the hundreds of cadavers and what happened to them. I don't understand one reviewer calling the author arrogant, I've read another book of the same subject, the author was so self-absorbed that it made the reading painful. This book is definitely not one of those.

I love her matter-of-fact tone of rendering the true stories. And you can't expect the author to paint a beautiful picture when the subject is about dead bodies, sometimes advanced decomposed bodies. I like that she doesn't hide the gory stuff. That's the real thing. I read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, It's a great book as well. But there was not as much detail as I'd like to know. Not enough gory stuff, so to speak. Thus I really like Judy Melinek's Working Stiff. Loving every minute of it, I can't put it down.

It's heart-wrenching to read about 9-11, I cried along with the author. It was a tough time for everyone.

All in all, I love the book. It's a fascinating read! I just hope people don't pick up a book with a topic like this, expecting there should be no gory stuff, and then come and give a review that it's too gory. That's what the job's about for goodness sake.
3008058
Doesn't follow book for the most part but it's very entertaining!
648128
This, along with 101 Ways to Kill Your Spouse and Not Get Caught, Bugger Picking for Fun and Profit, Roaches in History, and Surgery for Dummies, is one of the books you can't tell anybody you're reading--especially at work or parties.

Them:  "...So!  What have you been reading lately?"

You:  "Uh... a book on cadavers."

Them:  (swallowing martini olive, choking) "Come again?" (cough cough)

You:  "Um... well, it's funny...  It's a book on... bodies and... Who won the Booker Prize this year?"

Them:  "Uh..."

See?  Isn't that akward?  But I have a way around that for you.

First of all, tell people that you're reading a book that you can't tell anybody you're reading.  Of course, this works as a great introduction every time because they want to be one of the people you WOULD tell.  "Oh, so what is it?"  They say, acting all curious and broadminded.  "It's a book about CADAVERS!"  And say it grinning like your brain is the size of a martini olive and you're way too happy for your own good.

Kidding aside, I must say that I think this book is essential to anyone who is considering donating their body to science.  Do you know what that means--to donate to science?  That you will end up in an anotomy lab somewhere, with Kiefer Sutherland asking someone to paddle him back from the dead?

No, sweetie.  That means that your dead butt may wind up in a GM lab somewhere duct taped to the driver's seat as a crash test dummy.  (This is no big deal if you are from Memphis, as here you can't tell from someone's driving whether or not they're dead, and if you're not sure, cadavers drive better than Memphians.  If you see Elvis, then don't worry about it, he's in both catagories, depending on who you ask.)

Or you may have a finger or two sent to a window manufacturer to test out the damage they do when they accidentally slip.  But don't sweat it--you won't feel a thing!  You will, however, save lives.  Did you know for every crash test cadaver donated 64 lives were saved?

Then there's the whole history of the cadaver, which, from what I understand, has been around a while.  But what have people done with them?  What will they do with them in the future?  How did they tell if they were really dead, and what about that Body Farm we keep reading about in forensic novels? Did you know that there's a move in Europe to compost people?  (It's a cheap way to turn grandma into a rutabaga).  Or how about being processed to remove all your water, so all that remains is that little pile of dust preachers keep telling you is worth less than a buck so better get your life right with God right now, cause you ain't worth nuttin' dead.  (That's not true either--you can be sold after you die--more than once).  And what about those poor anatomist in the day of witchunts?  (Did they turn into Newts?)

And what about leaving a request for those left behind?  What makes the best sense for them regarding your remains?  Certainly not getting your skull and using it in Hamlet.  (Requested by an actor--for real).

And I have to say, Mary Roach simply has the most wicked sense of humor I've seen in many, many years, Right. Where. you! don't. Expect it.  It truly was terribly funny.

So if you're on a plane and don't want to converse, or you want people to leave you alone at work, or just are plain old fashioned non-conformist, read this book.  It is one of most educating books I ever read and damn funny to boot. (I never thought I would say this, but I actually want to hang out with a Roach).

Also makes a great present to mother-in-laws.  Highlight sections and wrap it in butcher paper, hun.  Give the old gal a start.  Who needs another pair of slippers?
36423
Not 1 star, not 2 star, not 3, not 4 star, but 5 star book.
2869679
This book is not for the faint of heart. It breaks rules that we thought we knew.
403144
I have read many of the reviews and find that the many readers who are avid Harry Potter fans have given the book 5 stars simply because it's Harry Potter.  Others have given it a less than stellar reviews because they think Harry is being to grumpy or they think it's too long.  I admit, when I first read the book I fell into the latter category.  Now I fall into a third category: those who have taken the time to re-read it, and reviewed it based on it's merit.  When I re-read OotP, I gained a whole new perspective on the book.
  Firstly I would like to address the issue of Harry being too grumpy.  Guess what?  After all the trials and tribulations Harry has been through and then to be suddenly cut off from all information and treated as a helpless child, you would be a sourpuss too!  And let's not forget that Harry is only 15!  If he were to be the perfect little gentleman and rise above it all....well, that would be just plain unrealistic.  It's called teenage angst, people!
  Others complain that there are too many useless sub-plots.  I disagree with this claim (with one exception).  The sub-plots give us a glimpse of Harry, Ron and Hermione's underlying personalities.  Hermione is obviously maturing much faster than the boys.  Harry is getting a chip on his shoulder where he believes the world's fate is resting.  And Ron has some serious self-doubts that have risen to the surface prominently in this book.  All the other sub-plots served a specific purpose to either tie things up in this particular story, or to further an on-going plot.  The only grip I would have is with Grawp, Hagrid's giant brother.  Unless he factors heavily in the next couple books, his sub-story was useless.  Sure, he shows up at the right time to distract the centaurs, but that could have been handled differently.
  As for the length, can you say that after all the trials that the dreadful Delores Umbridge put the school-kids through, you werne't ecstatic when she received her come-upins?  Would you have been so delighted if it had only been a couple of chapters of torment?  Don't think so.  Personally, I began to hate her as much, if not more than Voldemort.  Guess it goes to show you that you don't have to be bad to be evil.
  I thoroughly recommend this book, but read it twice.  Anticipation kills the appreciation the first time through.  I only gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because it does not quite measure up with the previous ones.  Prisoner of Azkahban was by far the best with Goblet of Fire trailing close behind.  Philosopher's stone would be third best followed in succession by Order of the Pheonix and Chamber of Secrets.
177406
I purchased this book series on a whim (partially because it was cheap), mostly because I had some travel planned and needed something to read.  After reading the first few pages I left it alone because I was sidetracked by work and another novel.  It sat in my queue for about 2-3 months before I decided to pick it back up... and I don't think I put it down much after that!  A great read!  The story combines great word craft and really interesting characters in a very unusual (and well disguised) situation... and then move the story along with a series of jarring plot twists.  Buy this book, read it and try to tell me you didn't really enjoy it!
3898971
I love it when I pick up a book and don't realize that two hours have gone by! That is what this book did! It keeps the readers attention and moves at a decent pace.  All in all, an excellent read!
3246635
At least one time in the book, the author makes the reader suspect every character!  I do not recommend books to friends very often, but this one is making the rounds at work!  And everyone is saying the same thing....everyone could be the suspect!
441475
I thought this book and the sequel were great. I could not put them down!
I am going to complain about the title and cover. They just don't match the intensity of the story that is told! It makes it seem like a some trashy novel, but then you read the summary and can see that it might not be so.
56280
Such a great book! I'm not a big reader but it's so captivating! Don't expect to read it without turning into a blubbering mess!
3979611
Is my mistake that I trusted the reviews? That, on itself, is not a mistake. It is a mistake however not knowing what type of book you're reading that has been rated so highly. It's like watching a movie. If a horror movie gets 5 stars you should not expect to see an Oscar-worthy or a Fellini film, right? So the question here is, what type of book is this?

This is a book about a religious group of Midwestern whose lives seems a little bit too simple, where everybody is either great, beautiful and smart...or bad, insensitive and awful. Life is just not like that. Characters are shallow, there are not complexities and there is certainly not much of a plot.

The main character is a basketball coach. A man. The author might know something about hoops but believe me, she does not have any idea how any men I've been around in 35 years (me being one of them) thinks or speaks. Her descriptions of him, the way he speaks, etc. are wishful views from a woman or completely stereotypical (e.g. drinking beer after or before anything).

Even worse, in my humble opinion, the author intends to convey through the characters what is right and what is wrong. Black or white. And all associated with God. God and the religious message is everywhere (the main character looks for his faith -or lack thereof- during the whole book) and seems to be, in the context of this book at least, the solution for everything. Writing about God, religion or religious people can be done well and interestingly, making it...literature; this book looks like religious propaganda, at least to me anyway.

And I am also truly surprised to see the author constantly  writing the important lines in bold (you don't need to do that if you write well!) and there is plenty, but plenty of clich lines. Even cheesy to be honest and more precise.

Now again, my mistake was not knowing what type of book I was buying. If you are a religious and simple person (a truly blessing I would honestly say! -and not punch intended) and see life in very small range of grays you might enjoy this book. Otherwise I can bet you, you will not. Regardless, happy readings!
650294
A surprise of a story.  From the very opening words you know you are reading something that does not fit the normal pulp crime genre.  Don't let the cover fool you.  It is done this way to stylishly represent a bygone era in pulp crime novels.  But this is no pulp crime story and the cover looks nothing like the lead character in the book who experiences brainquakes. The protagonist is a bag man for the mob...the guy who picks up and delivers the days profits from gambling and other illegal activities.  A qualification for this job is utmost trust and a look and lifestyle that does not attract attention.  I will not give away any of the plot as it should continually unfold for the reader.  But if you are tired of the formula crime story where a flawed but honest cop tracks down a really flawed baddie, this book is for you.  Samuel Fuller tells a helluva story!
411028
I thought this was a very good book and i didn't expect it to end the way it did! I was completely caught off guard with it and was surprised! Was a very interesting read and would gladly read more of this authors work! I'll be subscribing to their website and everything just to keep up with them.

I do recommend this to people that might want to read it if the plot of the book interests you! I don't think you'll be disappointed!