WHERE SHE WENT (Gayle Forman) - September 25/14

This somewhat underwhelming followup to If I Stay follows Adam, who is now a rock star, as he reconnects with Mia and attempts to find out why she broke up with him. Most of the book revolves around Adam's miserable rock-star existence and the mystery of why Mia ended the relationship is a mystery that isn't terribly interesting. But it's always readable and I enjoyed the Adam/Mia stuff. (The happy ending was nice, too.) **1/2 out of ****

KISS THE GIRLS (James Patterson) - September 18/14

A mild improvement over Along Came a Spider, I guess, Kiss the Girls tells a relatively interesting story with a number of unexpected twists. Cross remains a compelling protagonist and the introduction of Kate (and the two psychopaths) works well. But it's too long; there are too many portions here that drag. **1/2 out of ****

WILD (Cheryl Strayed) - September 4/14

I'm conflicted about this one. There were a lot of stretches here I really enjoyed, but there were probably more that I found tedious and padded-out. The book feels about twice as long as it probably should be, and I was never quite able to keep track of the various folks Cheryl met on the trail. But there are a few surprisingly engrossing sequences here, including Cheryl's encounter with two dangerous rednecks. But in the end, Wild is just too long for its own good. ** out of ****