Coming Undone – Lauren Dane

Lauren Dane
Coming Undone (Brown Siblings, Book 2)
Penguin Berkley Heat (US: 5th January 2010; CA: 12th January 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

This series is prime comfort material. The homey vibe hugs readers, but it’s more the warmth of heated floors than a campfire outdoors. In short, Coming Undone is cosy, but lacks spark. To elaborate:

You’d love to have these characters in your life. With their unconditional love and support, insatiable seksual appetites, unwavering hotness, and stubborn sincerity, they’d be the best friends you’ll ever have. But what we want in real life is not necessarily what we want from fiction. People read for many different reasons: Some read to escape, others to learn, others to think. Some enjoy reading about lives less hectic than their own. I like to read about characters who have bigger issues than I do – and this is why Coming Undone doesn’t suit me.

The characters’ histories are more intriguing than their present. The truly bad stuff is behind them; they’ve survived, and even thrived. Now, there’s only the THREAT/IDEA that what and whom they love most will be taken away – it doesn’t actually HAPPEN. And this troubles me because there’s great potential here for conflict to form a real page-turner. But that’s all it is: potential. The way things could’ve gone, but didn’t, would’ve made a much stronger, gripping story. Coming Undone certainly has a whimsical charm about it, but it could’ve been more.

SPOILERS AHEAD

January 2010 Releases

Done with December 2009 Releases? Then get ordering these January 2010 Releases. For titles even further into the future, check my Reading Wishlist. As always, this list doesn’t include everything, release dates may change, etc. US, Canada, UK and Australia represented.

[COVER ART] Coming Undone – Lauren Dane; & Carrie Ryan’s THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES

Cover art for Lauren Dane’s Coming Undone. Also, the summary for Carrie Ryan’s The Dead-Tossed Waves:

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known and, and all she needs for happiness. But life after the Return is never safe and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back. Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but, like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling. One night beyond the Barrier…One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry knows only one thing: if she has any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.

Coming Undone: Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
The Dead-Tossed Waves: Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)