I joined this group and then forgot to introduce myself -- isn't that just great! To say that my life is hectic would be a gross understatement. I'm in graduate school as a non-traditional student (older than most!). I work full-time and try to maintain a home. My son is grown and he often gives me titles of books to read. My best friend Mary gave me Jodi Picoult's name early in the summer. I purchased several of her books at the local Wal-Mart and set about reading The Pact. Once I buy a book, I read it even if I'm not particularly fond of it. In this case, if I'd stopped reading Ms. Picoult's books with The Pact, I would have missed some wonderful reading. I didn't like the book much because I do not like dealing with the issue of suicide. In my opinion, the killing is not quite clear -- murder or suicide. Anyways, I went on to read Keeping Faith, Picture Perfect, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, My Sister's Keeper and Vanishing Acts. Of course I didn't get any yard work done, but I did enjoy a lot of reading.