So I started reading Janet Evanovich's One for the Money, from her Stephanie Plum series, and realized about half way through that I really didn't like it. Plus it was due back to the library, so I returned it. Unfinished. I'm awful. I know. Oh well.
What I did end up reading was Orson Scott Card's Homebody. I've read a couple of his Ender's series, and loved them. So when I saw Homebody at Half-Price Books, I had to get it and see what Mr. Card could do outside of spaceships and aliens. What he does when Ender isn't involved is not as good. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it's a little cheesy. I however enjoy a liberal spreading of cheese from time to time.
Here's the basic gist of the book: The main character, Don Lark, flips houses for a living. If you can call it living. Since his wife and daughter died in a drunken car accident, he hasn't really been living much. He's emotionally wrecked and put his energies into his job to get by. This book takes up when he comes across an old North Carolina mansion from the 1800's and decides to buy and flip it. Along the way, he falls for the realtor, meets the crazy old ladies who live next door, discovers a squatter living in the attic, and deals with a small issue of blackmail. Nothing is really going the way he likes his jobs to go. Mainly because the house is alive.
The story itself is pretty predictable, you're basically one step ahead at all times. Also, it's so heavily focused on Don's miserable feelings on the front end, that no action really happens until the back end. I kept wondering when anything was going to happen, and once it started I wondered how he could resolve it with so few pages left! But he did, and it was enjoyable, albeit very cheesy. I actually liked the characters, and I liked the whole Monster House kind of feel to it. So if you're looking for a book that has a little mystery, a little thrill, and a lot of emotional baggage, then try this one out.
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