Sing Roses For Me by Ben Marney

Here's the blurb from Goodreads

A tragic love story methodically woven around a fallen country music star, a beautiful dancer, a 13 year old child genius and a powerful, psychopathic judge. 

A friend pulls out a Ouija board and asks you to play. It's just a game, right? But when the Ouija board reveals a secret you've never disclosed, then "the spirit" asks you to warn his living sister that she is about to be murdered. What would you do? This is the scenario that tragically entangles the lives of Max Allen, Carla Cecil and Bradford Doss. 

Max is a disgraced fallen country music star trying to survive his ignominy by escaping to the islands to find a new direction and purpose for his life. In the islands, he meets and falls in love with, Michelle, a beautiful cruise ship dancer. Bradford Doss, is a revered Texas State Court Judge. He is also a serial murderer. Carla Cecil, is a child genius. At 13 she is the youngest person to ever attend Rice University, the spirit's living sister and tragically... the judges next prey.

So not my cup of tea. First, the timeline is a mess. You can't gauge what is happening when in comparison to what happens to the other characters. Also, it jumps from character narratives, so you can be seeing a scene in the present from a point of view and the next chapter you are seeing events in another place, another point in the timeline, and another narrator. And it can go from 100 to 0 as far as excitement goes really quick. Literally jump from a close murder scene to a peaceful beach in the caribbean and you have no idea how it is all related.

Second, it takes at least half the book to reach the moment told in the blurb. I spent half the book waiting for the board to come out, and after it did I was too tired of the rest of the things to take much of the excitement in. All the messy timeline made it very unsurprising when things finally started happening, and as we knew what was happening from moment one (they hide nothing in the mess) there are no surprises left. 

Three, I found it slightly disturbing that most of the relationships in the book (healthy and unhealthy both) were between a young attractive woman and an older man. Like in one of those the male met the girl as a child, time skip, she is barely legal and he's in love with her, though he's about 8 to 10 years older. Of course, relationship ensues. Max, same story, but he's in his late 40's and she's in her early 20's. I just think it's icky that it's EVERY relationship that's actually portrayed in the book. 

Based on the blurb, it had serious potential. I'm kind of sad of how it actually went. 

The Body in the Backyard by Hollis Shiloh

Here's the summary from Goodreads

Clarence Collin is pushing up daisies—in Abe's bed of zinnias! 

When the caustic critic of a TV gardening show winds up murdered in Abe's well-groomed backyard, both Abe and his hunky-but-irritating neighbor Gregory might be on the suspect list. 

Abe starts amateur sleuthing in self-defense...and to spend time with Gregory. When the two green thumbs look into their neighborhood's dirty little secrets, who knows what they'll dig up? 

An interesting change from the author, it is quite enjoyable. Abe isn't the regular criminal hero, being not young (I'm guessing in his 40's, but the author never says), very nervous, not always logical and cool and not very brave. That makes him more likeable, in my opinion. His ex cheated on him, and they got divorced, which also means his self esteem isn't much (which is one of the things I like so much about Hollis's books, that not all of the characters are confident badasses).  His detective partner, Gregory, is also a very human character, with flaws, strong points, obsessions.... I like him. 
The mystery itself is not evident, and you get to suspect everyone before you get to the criminal. Well written, quite enjoyable, and it leaves you guessing everytime you let the book go. 

If Hollis Shiloh ever decides to write mystery again, count me in!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review

All for the game trilogy by Nora Sakavic

Here's the summary of the first book (the foxhole court) from Goodreads

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He's short, he's fast, he's got a ton of potential—and he's the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil's not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil's new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can't walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he's finally found someone and something worth fighting for. 

I feel very confused. Loke, the writing is bad, there are so many things that just simply do not happen in real life, and sometimes the characters just seem just so exagerated it makes you wonder why you even like the book at all. However, the plot is very exciting, so you can't help yourself from reading like a maniac because you just need to know.

I have issues on the fact that Nora has no idea of how drugs work, how professional sports work, and didn't bother explaining her invented sport (exy) until the end of the second book (where she wrote the rules almost like an afterthought). I mean, even if you write a book about a well known sport, you should assume that at least some of your readers don't know the rules well, and so you must explain them. Even more important if the sport is something you made up yourself. Also, you shold take into account no kind of sports team allow their players to play either drunk or drugged, let alone have their coach turn a blind eye to their getting drunk or drugged. Also, mixing antipsicotics with alcohol is a bad idea. In fact, mixing any kind of drug with alcohol is a bad idea. And shouldn't the same courts who decided to drug Andrew have told him so?

As for the level of unreal some of the things... jusy don't add up. Either they don't really happen that way in real life (like using a trigger of a horrid memory as a way to calm down) or they're just too random to make sense and leave you feeling like ummm.... ok?

And yet, it was such an exciting series, and such an emotional roller coaster, I can't even say I won't ever read them again. In fact, between my ridiculous academic load I still managed to finish this three books in about a week and a half.

I really have plenty of things against this books, but can't bring myself to dislike them... but the fact that it was exciting still doesn't make them good! I'm so conflicted I can't even say if I recommend them or not, so do as you please with this ones.

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

Here's the summary from Goodreads

She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.

Now, she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.

When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.

Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.

I really like the way Stephenie Meyer writes, and I've liked both the Twilight saga and The Host (sue me). So, of course I had to read her newest book. And this suspense book deviates from her previous dabs with the supernatural because there is no supernatural. In this book we have a regular girl with a nondescript appearance (as told by herself) who happens to be a genius. She was part of a hush hush part of the government, who decided to eliminate her and her mentor because they know something someone doesn't want them to know. 
She's been on the run for years, taking many preventions from being killed and living in total paranoia. Then she receives an email from a member of the department where she worked, where he claims they need her, because only she can stop a massive world-scale crisis from happening. And one of the causes is a common school teacher, called Daniel, whom she has to interrogate. And things happen, I'm not spoiling anything, but it's really exciting. 
First, I love that the lead is an ethnically ambiguous girl with no physical prowess, whose ultimate weapon is her brain. And that the romantic interest is like "Okay, she's leagues smarter than I am, and that's really cool". I could do with more of that. Also, her general self doesn't change when she falls in love. If anything, I find her panic upon the idea of love and feelings to be quite refreshing, and that the romantic interest is the one who gushes the poetic romantic stuff. Yes, the guy is the romantic one, and I love that. Also, he cooks. Give him a medal, please. 
Added to a refreshing couple you have conspiracies, the general mystery of not knowing what's going on but the nagging need of finding out, general adventure and fear, and guns and fire and poisons. 

In conclusion, this book successfully managed to keep me awake making theories of what happens next, and that level of attachment with a story is what I look for in a book to make it a 5 star read. I really recommend this book, you'll likely not regret it.