Dark Places/Gillian Flynn/349 pgs

This book from Gillian Flynn was published before Gone Girl but I've just now got around to checking it out. When the main character, Libby, was seven her mother and two older sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas home. Libby managed to escape. Her teenage brother was convicted of the crime, largely on Libby's eyewitness testimony.

Fast forward 25 years. Libby is now a very messed up adult. She's not the most likable of characters, but I found myself mostly sympathetic toward her anyway, given what her life had been like. She answers a curiosity seeker's letter and thus heads down a twisting path to discover/remember what really happened on that terrible night.

I found the mystery interesting, though occasionally unbelievable. I also liked that the ending was at least somewhat optimistic. Flynn knows how to write deeply flawed characters that pull you in.

Warning: the description of the murders is graphic and there is a scene involving animal abuse that I had to entirely skip over.

Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Houses/ Nicole Curtis/ 239 pages

Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Houses written by Nicole Curtis follows her life from a high school graduation to the present and how it led to rehabbing and her own television show. Nicole left Michigan for Tampa Florida with her then boyfriend.  Working double jobs, waitressing double shifts, she bought her first house.  Before the birth of her first child she relocated back home to Michigan.  After some time bartending, and cleaning apartments and selling real estate she used her saving to buy a run down home to restore.   She was discovered and offered a television show, Rehab Addict on HGTV.  While Nicole's houses are loving restored, her life is one of chaos, often brought on by her own decisions.  The reader will find that even a TV star can have the same problems that normal people encounter.  It was interesting read in which the author revealed what she wanted revealed.  If your looking for a book that follows the ins and outs of creating a TV show, this book only glosses over that aspect of Nicole's life.