September

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: A well written, compelling story. Interesting twist on 9/11. I couldn't put the book down. I can hardly wait to get this author's next work.

Rating:
Summary: 1 star is being generous......
Review: I cannot believe this book ever got published. The more I sunk into the ridiculous, melodramatic, cliche-driven, unbelievably silly plot, the more I wondered who in the world wrote this tripe. So I look on the back jacket. Isn't this the woman that had the affair with the wealthy NYC man that eventually won custody of her twins? And who went on various national TV shows airing footage of the custody transfer where she screamed and hollered and wailed and scared the fool out of her daughters? Then I understood the melodrama.
The main character of this silly book is a 58 year old widowed socialite in NYC who's experiencing the horror of 9-11 and the loss of her son, who worked in one of the towers. The name dropping is nauseating. Citing all of the outrageous examples of "give me a break" moments from this book would make anyone's eyes lodge firmly and permanently into the tops of their heads. And the dialogue is more pretentious than the most over-the-top Miss Manners column.
In a nutshell: This drop dead gorgeous 58 year old pampered, multi-millionaire socialite had an affair with a Pakistani diplomat which produced her son that just perished in the 9-11 attack. So the CIA sends the socialite to save the free world. The heroine actually meets with the CIA, interrupts career spies, and presents them with "her plan". If you're not laughing in disbelief yet, consider this passage: "Marielle knew the clock was running and at stake was the survival of the Western world."

Yes, and the future of the western world lies in the hands of this socialite, who is sent to a special ops training facility where she single handedly out performs career military soldiers, while bantering with hardened superiors such ignorant things as, "This is a one-man job......" But before leaving the training facility, she gets the opportunity to use her newfound martial arts training to knock an Israeli black belt out cold, before saying, "Thank you for all you've taught me, I'll do you all proud....."

There is nothing original in this book.


Rating:
Summary: Might be the worst book I ever read!
Review: I do not read and then review books for Amazon to make an author or their publishers squirm. Rather I am an avid reader who enjoys the time I spend reading and then reviewing books as a way of suggesting them to others. For the most part my reviews have always been rather positive. And while I don't often speak poorly of a book, September by Bridget Marks, is most likely a book I shouldn't have taken off the library shelf and read.

Here I must interject two comments I made about September by Bridget Marks. One comment was I thought I would title this book for the review. "Move over Danielle Steel - you have competition," but even Steel has written some enjoyable books. And then the other night I told my husband that this author made Jackie Collins look like Joseph Conrad. And believe me I have enjoyed Both Ms. Steel's books and Ms. Collins books at times, but I think you get my drift.

The book begins on the morning of September 11th when a woman hears about a plane hitting the twin towers. But this is no ordinary woman. She is a socialite with friends in high place, the mother-in-law of a Lord and the mother of a precious son who works in the towers. She knows everybody who is anybody and everybody knows this woman whom the author compares to Grace Kelly. Now the author begins naming names of her
"friends" adn I began to wonder who were real people and who were made up by the author.

At first the woman thinks, like many of us did, that this was a small incident but quickly the woman, as we did too, realizes this is very serious. Commandeering a police car and policeman she manages to call Mayor Rudy Guiliani who instructs the policeman to take her downtown to look for her son amidst the total chaos. If you're already shaking your head at how preposterous the author set up this scene, just wait, it gets better and better. On her way downtown the woman is hit by debris and taken to St. Vincent hospital where she begins to lose consciousness and in a series of flashbacks relives her affair with a Pakistani man who turns out to be a terrorist. This leads one to question why her daughter is described as fair like her parents and the son is dark and swarthy. The plot sickens. As the days go by the woman regains her strength, befriends the Muslim nurse who is taking care of her, learns of her son's fate and buries him. And then in a real coup d'etat moment of the book she decides to extract revenge against the man who was her lover and manages to contact her in NY. After 30 odd years of never writing, phoning or seeing her, her pakastani lover writes to her in NY begging her to join him at his compound in the middle east. A compound where terroritsts are trained for future missions. And suddenly this is just the opportunity she need to gain revenge. The woman she is off and running to the arms of her lover but it isn't quite as simple as that.

As the book went from bad to worse, the writing isn't much better than the plot, I kept wondering why I felt compelled to read on and why I just didn't throw this book against the wall. But read on I did and disgustedly finished this book.

In the end I agree with the reviewer who said not to read this book. To my mind this book was a travesty about a very serious subject. The main character was unlike anybody I could even imagine -- a 57 year socialite who can't even shop at a supermarket without her maid, convinces the CIA and FBI that she can train for 2 weeks and kill the man who may have planned 9/11? I'm afraid to say that this author and whoever published this book must think readers are idiots to buy into this premise. Thanks goodness I didn't spend money on this book but borrowed it from the library. My final words -- don't waste your time with what somebody is passing off as a book. Believe me you have better things to do with your time and money!












Rating:
Summary: Romantic, sexy, inspiring and brainy.
Review: I loved this book! I like to read women's fiction but often am left feeling a little silly at how just plain dumb the women can be!
Not here: Bridget Marks has crafted a heroine that all women can be inspired by. I will be first in line to buy a ticket when this wonderful story is snapped up by Hollywood and made into a movie. Looking forward to reading a sequel, as I could not put this volume down.

Rating:
Summary: a gripping novel that is a must read!!
Review: I loved this book. It goy my attention from the first page and held it in a tight grip untill the very last word. Marielle was an uplifting and inspiring character and I felt like I was with her all through her journey. Thank you Bridget Marks for writing this novel,i can't wait for your next one. Linda Ellerbee hit it right on the nose when she said "September is more than a novel."

Rating:
Summary: I do NOT recommend this book
Review: I was attracted to this book by the post 9/11 plot device, but was completely turned off by it. It is poorly written with very little character development. It requires you to suspend belief at many points (failure to monitor e-mails, performance at a military training course, etc.). Nearly every Arab character is a terrorist. Christian values are exalted over other religious beliefs. In this book, Iraq has WMD and is actively involved in planning a major terrorist activity -- clearly proven untrue. Finally, the use of a lot of real characters (NY Mayor Rudy Guiliani and others) mixed in with the fictional ones could mislead the unsophisticated reader and makes me wonder how much the political views of the author were influential in shaping the plot. I don't think we need more literature that foments anti-Arab sentiments.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: My wife bought the book, as I am recovering from surgery. I started reading "September" and simply could not put it down. What a love story! Just may be the best book I've read all year!

Rating:
Summary: For her first work it is well written with a great plot
Review: This book was highly recommended by a good friend of mine who's read it and loved the book. I could'nt put the book down and read it every chance I got. I really loved this book. Not only was it well written but the story line felt so real and leaves you on the edge of your seat with every page you turn. I was very surprised that this was a first time author and I honestly had the feeling that this was the author's 3rd or 4th book. I take my hat off to you Bridget Marks and I really hope that your working on your next book because I'll be one of the first to buy it.