Ladyslipper Book Reviews

I'm back

2011-11-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

Even though this blog has been silent for over a year, the length of time it took for me to afford a new computer since the other crashed, I am back to my old self. I am back to inserting my opinion of books upon the masses. Whether they like it or not. Yes, I have even gotten a little more outspoken since the last time I wrote. I am going to keep the same reporting for now until someone tells me that it isn't too terribly helpful. I like the way I report and do believe that I don't have to change it. So starting tomorrow, with a new book, I am ready and rearing to go. Oh by the way, besides having the best job in the world I now have a second best job. I work part time in a book store. Which was a dangerous thing for me to do since that whole paycheck goes to buying books from the store. I am sure they appreciate it alot but my bookshelfs don't. So wish me luck and I hope you actually read a book as a result of my opinion.

Fourteenth Cozy

2010-06-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Puzzle Lady vs. the Suduko Lady by Parnell Hall

Cozy type: #11 in the Puzzle Lady Mystery Series

What caught my attention about this series: Again a novel idea of the crime solver is a crossword puzzle lady

Tidbit from the book: Pyrrhic Theory: A victory gained at too great a cost.

www.parnellhall.com/

Twelveth and Thirteenth Cozy

2010-06-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Cozy type: Book 1 and 2 in the Deadly Past Mysteries by Marion Moore Hill. Deadly Will and Deadly Design.

What got me started with this author was her Scrappy Librarian series.

I got these books through ILL from my library.

I am again going to stray from the normal review. These two books were chock full of wonderful historical info from the early American Revolutionary time period. These books are the first 2 in a series centering around Millie Kirchner, a single Mom with a young boy Danny, who is working and trying to go to school to earn a degere in History. In Deadly Will, she finds out she is one of many relatives of Nathan Henry, who has bequeathed his legacy to his ancestors 200 years in the future. Out of 16 heirs, 10 show up in Philadelphia to claim a part of the money and a chance at a historical antique. In the span of the week they are to spend at Nathan Henry's house, heirs start getting bumped off, and panic arises.

Eleventh Cozy

2010-05-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Indigo as an Iris by Fran Stewart
Cozy Series: #5 in the Biscuit McKee Mysteries
Bought the book on Amazon and will donate it to my local library as no one seems to have a copy of it in the local area.
Why I choose this book: Again this is a series that I have sort of been following. Books are far between. This is the first one I actually bought.
Little Tidbit I learned from the book: A new concept - green cemeteries. The bodies are placed about three and a half feet deep in hand-dug graves. right among the trees. That way you don't have heavy equipment in there compacting the ground around the roots. It's all part of the natural cycle of life. The bodies feed the trees. There aren't any of those nasty chemicals that poison the soils in regular cemeteries. No caskets. The bodies are kept cold until burial and then wrapped in something of meaning, like a quilt, before burial.
Interesting paragraph from the book: Amazing Grace, as my father, a high-school music teacher, once explained to me, uses the pentatonic scale. It's a far older scale than the do-re-mi folderol. That's why the melody is so haunting. Maybe that's one of the reasons it's so overused at funerals. Just those five black keys, and all the pain, all the sorrow, all the anguish comes rolling out. Also all the hope and the wonder. Maybe not so overused at that.
My take on the book: Biscuit McKee is a librarian in a small town of Martinsville, Georgia. This book deals mostly with a case of mistaken identity involving a kidnapping with fatal results. With that as the main part of the story, a interesting family history and a side story of one lady, of the group of friends ,who decides to organize a cruise and gets a good deal on a group rate and invites close friends and relatives to go. We get letters going back and forth deciding if they can or not. On top of that, at the end of each paragraph, we have Biscuit and her cat Marmalade giving 5 things they are thankful for. Yes, the cat is reminiscent of Garfield, we can hear what he is thinking but no one else can. It's cute. I will be interested to see if more come about.
My rating on this book: Good read.
http://franstewart.com/

Tenth Cozy

2010-05-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: To Hell in a Handbasket by Beth Groundwater
Cozy Type: A Claire Hanover, Gift Basket Designer Mystery #2
I bought this book from Amazon and will donate it to my library since no one else seems to have it in the area.
Why I choose this book: Really, the idea that a basket designer solves murders is novel.
Tidbit of info from the book: This book is centered on skiing. What I didn't know is making a X with your skis is the universal call for help at ski areas. I also learned quite a few terms for different slopes and skiing methods. Which I can tell you won't do me any good, as you will never get me on a pair of skis.
Great paragraph: (Claire is walking on a trail in snowshoes.) A squirrel chittered at her from a tree. Claire looked up. She promptly stepped on the back of her forward snowshoe and did a face plant in a deep snowbank.
Pride goeth before a fall. (Heh, I thought it was funny enough to laugh)
My take on this book: Claire is on vacation with her husband and daughter, really with hopes to reconnect with her husband after the result of the murder in the first book. They decided to go to Breckenridge, CO and have her daughter's boyfriend meet them there. He brings his family, too. Only it becomes too apparent after the murder of the boyfriend's sister, that this family is connected to the Russian Mafia indirectly. Quickly Claire finds a witness to the murder and sadly he gets run over by a SVU right in front of her. I may have gotten a little confused at the end with who rats on whom and their plea deals.
Beth gives a couple of ideas for 3 different baskets in the course of the book but I somewhat would of expected maybe a little more hints at the end of the book. Just a thought.
My rating: A good read and hope she writes more. But it looks like she is starting a new series so I will check that one out. Rocky Mountain Adventure series starting with Deadly Currents, March 2011
http://bethgroundwater.com/Home.html

Ninth Cozy

2010-05-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: A Darker God by Barbara Cleverly
Cozy series: A Laetitia Talbot Mystery #3
Checked out of the public library
Why I picked this: it has to do with archaeology and I read her first 2
I am not going to give a favorite paragraph or tidbit from this book. My mind was overwhelmed by the full-bodied, rich-writing of this archaeology, historical mystery. These are very intense, well written and fact based novels, seemingly a cross between Elizabeth Peters and Agatha Christy. Laetitia Talbot is a young women, in the 1920's, striving to be recognized in a male dominated profession in which she is well suited and with a good head on her shoulders for. Being an archaeologist. In this third book, she has returned to her mentor, after going into the field, to rest and recover. He has translated a play of Agamennon while writing a biography of Alexander the Great. Laetitia is roped into helping with the play, only to be present when her mentor shows up dead in place of the prop she designed for the death scene. One of the actors of the play is a police detective on loan from Scotland Yard in Greece during a cultural exchange, so to speak. Anyway, he takes charge of the murder scene and accepts Laetitia's Help. The mentor's wife is on the scene and seemingly does not seem over upset of the death. But interestly, she shows up dead the next day. Lots of sexual intrigue in this book, too.
My rating: these are must read books

Eighth Cozy

2010-05-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Dark Alley by Evan Marshall
Cozy series: #3 in the Hidden Manhattan mysteries
What caught my attention: I started out with this author with his Jane Stuart series but when it appeared he was done with that, I picked up on this one.
I got this book through ILL with my library
Tidbit of Information: Mews is a street, usually private, lined with buildings that were originally stables but have been renovated as dwellings - apartments, condos, co-ops and townhouse - similar to courtyards.
Great paragraph from the book: A trash artist is heard to say: "I take what the world doesn't want and turn them into things of beauty...Most of the things we throw away should be used for something else. This would be a far more beautiful world if we did."
My take on the book: Our heroine of the story, Anna Winthrop, is a rich deb who decides that she is more interested in garbage than money. So she works her way up the ladder to become a NY Sanitation Supervisor. With her cop boyfriend, Santos, she solves this mystery of the death of one of her sanitation workers - in a mews. But he is only the beginning. Every time they turn around another body turns up in a mews or a courtyard. And they all feel something is significant with that. Lots of side stories kept the action going. I will continue to catch these books. Learn a lot about inner NY workings from these books.
My rating on this book: A should read. Next book City in Shadow Oct 2010
http://evan-marshall.com

Seventh Cozy

2010-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Wicked Craving by G A McKevett
Cozy series: okay technically not a cozy but... #15 in the Savannah Reid, Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency
What caught my attention: Another series I read faithfully. Savannah is saucy.
Checked out the public library
Great paragraph: (I actually have 2 quotes from the book that made me laugh) Dr Lui, the medical examiner, says at one point at a crime scene: "I can find one stray blond hair on a brunette victim or a single carpet fiber and match it to a killer's car trunk. I think I can find a dead woman on a beach."
And Savannah is heard to say: " The only way to lose a bunch of unwanted excess weight without starving to death is to get a divorce. And even then that takes six months here in California."
Tidbit of Information from the book: This series is based in San Carmelita, CA, home to one of 21 missions that had been built along the Pacific Coast by Franciscan friars, two hundred years ago, of adobe walls that have withstood earthquakes, fires and even a tidal wave.
My take on the book: I love the curvaceous detective and her eclectic crew. And in this one, her Granny comes to visit and helps. Which is a hoot. The wife of a diet therapist, who claims you could diet just listening to his tapes, turns up dead at the bottom of a cliff. All does not seem what it seems here and there are no shortage of suspects. Including allot of the doctor's patients who have been seduced. And we have the usual sexual tension between Savannah and Dirk, which we all wish gets satisfied soon. At least Granny hopes so. I will continue to gobble these up as they come along.
My rating: A should read
www.sonjamassie.com

Sixth Cozy

2010-05-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Unzipped by Lois Greiman
Cozy Type: Ex-Bartender/Shrink/Crimes Solver Mystery (My words)
What caught my eye about this book: Found out Lois Greiman was from North Dakota and the book synopsis sounded like a hoot.
I checked it out from my public library
Tidbit learned from the book: (Okay it is a little dumb but I had never thought about it before). Sweating like a pig is a misnomer because apparently pigs don't sweat.
Great paragraph from the book: (at the beginning of every chapter are clever little one-liners quoted by different characters in the book.) Here are a few:
Some people are street-smart, some people are book-smart but most people are just dumber than dirt.
There are none so troubled as one who thinks himself perfectly sane.
Chocolate may be cheaper than a psychologist but the latter doesn't generally adhere to you ass for the rest of your natural life.
Today's problems are yesterday's mistakes come back to bite you in the ass.
What I thought about the book: Chrissy McMullen, was we assume putting herself through college as a cocktail waitress/bartender and has now worked her way from Chicago to LA to start her psychotherapy business. One of her patients was a bad boy football star who has come to her for counseling supposedly for impotency. Apparently not the case when he dies in her office with a hard on sticking out of his pants. The police suspect her of the crime, of course, and she decides she needs to clear herself as a suspect. So off she goes to interview people who knew him, with the police detective, Rivera, not far behind. The relationship between two runs hot and cold as she constantly slaughters his name. Humorous, and of course they are interested in each other in the end. I am kind of iffy on whether to read more.
My rating: It was a good read.
www.loisgreiman.com

Fifth Cozy

2010-05-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert
Cozy type: by my calculations Book #18 in the China Bayles Herb Mysteries
Why I am reading this book: I have loved, loved, loved all the others and have to read this one
Had to send away to another library in the area to read it - I love Interlibrary Loan people!!!
Tidbit of info: Every one of Susan's books has great info about the herb the book represents. In this case holly. I had no idea holly was considered so magical. It has been said if holly is planted near a house that it is suppose to defend it from lightning and witchcraft. But in the same sense, holly sprigs have also been exchanged as tokens of friendship, offering a sincere wish that the recipient might enjoy a season free of bothersome bolts from the blue. Lots more can be learned at the beginning of every chapter in the book.
Great Paragraph: (Too many to choose from but I picked one that is also a wealth of info) ...I cam back and waited on two customers of my own (after being in Ruby's shop next door), which took a little time, because they wanted to find out about natural dyes, a fairly complex subject. I discouraged them from buying dried herbs, since from my experience, it's much better to work with fresh material you can grow or gather. I also suggested that if they wanted to try some easy vegetable dyes, they might experiment with onion skins and tea leaves for beige, coffee grounds for brown, red cabbage leaves for blue and purple, carrot tops and spinach leaves for green. Oh, and turmeric, a spice that makes a vibrant orange.
My take on the book: China Bayles runs a herb store, partners in a tea room, catering and a gourmet personal chef business in Pecan Springs, TX, plus she has a quaint little cottage in the back, amongst her herb gardens, that she rents out. One partner and best friend is Ruby who has a New Age store right next door to China. In this book, China's husbands' ex, and mother of his son, comes calling around Christmas time because she is supposedly in trouble. But what kind of trouble is not fully recognized until close friends and relatives start getting bumped off. Even though you are pretty sure through the book who the bad guy is, it is another great read.
My rating: All her books are must reads. Next one is Mourning Gloria (April 2011)
http://www.mysterypartners.com/China/, http://www.abouthyme.com/index.shtml, http://www.susanalbert.com/,

Fourth Cozy

2010-05-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Title: Dead Air by Mary Kennedy
Cozy Type: A Talk Radio Mystery #1
Checked out of the public library
Why I picked this book: I actually thought the catch phrase on the front cover is what hooked me. "How's she going to talk her way out of this one?"
Tidbit of Info from this book: There were a few interesting ones that I would have liked to include but the one that I thought was amusing even if it may not be true. She writes: It is a standing joke in Hollywood that whenever actors want to beef up their resume, they use Matlock as a credit because they figure no one will ever check.
Great paragraph: (Okay a long one but cute). Pugsley( her pug dog) guided us through the last stretch of the evening's walk, and we headed for home after he enjoyed a long, leisurely sniff at a neighbor's bougainvillea bush. A dog behaviorist appeared on my radio show last month, and he explained that a dog sniffs a bush or tree the way you and I read the newspaper. It's endlessly fascinating to him. Who would think so much drama could be found on the base of a tree trunk or a lamppost? Love, hate, revenge, betrayal, all the makings of a Shakespearean play sitting withing sniffing distance of Pugsley's shiny black nose.
It's his way of scoping out the local news. Who's been on his home turf? Are they fearful? Friendly? Aggressive? Apparently dogs can tell all this from one sniff. .."Remember, it's only a walk around the block to you, but it's the highlight of your dog's day."
What I thought of the book: Maggie Walsh is a recent transplant from New York to sunny Cypress Grove, Fla. And she is the host of a radio talk show called On the Couch with Maggie Walsh, after being a psychologist in NY. She decides to have a New Age prophet on the show, Guru Sanjay Gingli, and soon realizes that he is a con artist. And apparently in more ways than one. That night after the show, he turns up dead. And her roommate was in the area when it happened. Maggie, with the help of her actress mom Lola, decides they need to prove that there are many people who had gotten cheated by the Guru in the span of his life and they all had motive to murder, as far as Maggie is concerned. The anecdotes about her mother's acting career are amusing and the story quite entertaining. Unfortunately, Maggie ends up with the hots for the police detective in the end.
My rating: Should read and will read future ones. Reel Murder in June 2010
http://www.marykennedy.net/

Third Cozy

2010-05-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

Title: Chill Before Serving by Cynthia Lawrence
Cozy Type: States a Mystery for Food Lovers
Checked out from public library
What grabbed my attention in this book is of course the cozy type and the wine bottle on the label
Great paragraph: I actually hate to say it but there weren't any that jumped out at me.
Little Tidbit of info: Vitamins and herbal remedies aren't considered drugs so they are not regulated by the FDA but yet if taken in large doses, they can have severe effects on you and can react to medicines you are taking.
What I thought of the book: Catherine Deean works as a caterer in the restaurant business, with her partner Nick in LA. Cat and Nick recently hired a new chef that comes with baggage. Mainly he has been accused of murder. But it soon becomes evident that the past murder and the ones that happen later are not directed at the chef but something else. And that is what Cat tries to prove. In this cozy, she becomes involved with the newspaper journalist, who she has known for a long time. Someone different for a change.
My rating: It was a good read.

Second Cozy

2010-05-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Title: Raining Cats and Dogs by Blaize Clement
Cozy type: Dixie Hemingway Pet Sitter Series #5
Checked out from the public library
One of many great paragraphs from the book: (I kind of related to this paragraph and that is why I picked it) I was the only woman in the entire world who didn't have a list of friends she could call for an impromptu dinner. The only woman in the entire world who couldn't drop in a good friend and eat with chop sticks from cute little take out boxes like people on TV do. The only woman in the entire world who couldn't pick up spur-of-the-moment deli stuff to share with a close friend. Clever finger foods. Stuffed grape leaves. Delish spring rolls. At least cheese fries. It was flat depressing.
Interesting little tidbit from the book but I had many to choose from: A bloom of microscopic algae, red tide's technical name is Karenia Brevis,but by any name, it's nasty stuff that causes respiratory irritation and watery eyes for people and pets.My thoughts on the book: Dixie is a former cop, a result of her husband and daughter being killed, is now is a petsitter. While she solves mysteries. In this one, her supposed best friend's husband gets kidnapped and Maureen, her best friend, just wants to pay the ransom and get her husband back. She convinces Dixie to make the drop. But things don't end up so well. On top of that, she is tending her pets through fascinating problems and meets a young girl at the vet who catches her eye and a neighbor lady's. The young girl volunteers to help the neighbor with training a guide dog and ends up disappearing. And of course we have the ongoing relationship Dixie has with a homicide cop. It was a very enjoyable read and I am still a big fan of these books.
My Rating: Should read
Website: http://www.blaizeclement.com/

First Cozy

2010-05-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

Title: Cook the Books by Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant
Cozy series: #5 in the Gourmet Girl
Checked out from public library.
Great paragraph: I checked another blog that I was nuts about, Chef's Widow, where the CW (as she refers to herself and to other women involved with rarely seen chefs) chronicles life with her chef and their two children. She's posted great videos of her kids and pictures of her few-and-far-between dates with her husband and she wrote honest, raw, sometimes painful accounts of her life.
Tidbit of info: The previous paragraph is from the book and real. The website is http://www.chefswidow.com/
About the book: Chloe's boyfriend, Josh, has left his chef position, when his restaurant closes, and decides to move to Hawaii to be a personal chef. Chloe is beside herself as she feels she cannot follow him and he won't stay for her. So she finally moves on with her life and answers a ad on Craigslist for a asst writer for a cookbook. She gets an immediate call after submitting her resume and gets hired. Her job is to take all the misc scraps of info and manage to put a book together for the son of a famous chef. A whole lot of pressure going on there. Death comes when she is asks to find certain recipes, from her ex-boyfriend of all people. But when she finds out how to get them from his friend, he turns up dead in a mysterious fire. And then the same thing almost happens to her best friend, she realizes she has to solve the case. Good unexpected ending and with good vibes for the future books.
My rating: Should read
Side note: Recipe for Baked Tomato Nests in the back of the book sounded really yummy.
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/conantparkmysteries/home

Better than Twilight

2010-05-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

So here is the last book from April before I launch the cozy month of May. Catchy, heh. Talking about the title, this had the ring of Twilight in it but it is not about vampires. Even better.
Title of the book: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
Checked it out of my library.
What caught my attention about the book: YA Twilight-like book featuring a new kid in town, who appears different, and the referring to past and present, down south.
Great paragraph from the book: (The two main characters go to the library to research)
The library itself was beautiful. I had spent so many hours in it as a kid. I'd inherited my mother's belief that a library was sort of a temple....this particular library was one the few buildings that had survived Sherman's March and the Great Burning...It smelled like again wood, creosote, plastic book covers and old paper. Old paper, which my mom used to say was the smell of time itself.
Tidbit if info: (There were actually a lot of tidbits to choose from) Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR, is where you have to prove you were related to an actual patriot from the American revolution to be eligible for membership. Sisters of the Confederacy, lesser cousin of the DAR, you have to prove your southern Civil War roots.
About the book: Lena has moved to Gaitlin, SC, to stay with her eccentric uncle at Ravenwood, after her parents die. Ravenwood has sort of a scary past and has been around as one of the founding families of town. Ethan senses her discomfort and befriends her as if fate. What is interesting is the unraveling of the power of Lena and her coming into her being "claimed" on her 16Th birthday as a Dark or Light Caster, like a witch. Ethan comes along for this eye opening experience and falls for Lena hard. Good story of good versus evil with some school bullying thrown in. This story was much move believable in relation to Twilight in that sense.
Rating: It is most definitely a must read. Loved it!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrVl6pq1gNE

Website: http://beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

Next book out Oct 2010: Beautiful Darkness

Another St. Just mystery

2010-04-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Title of the book: Death at the Alma Mater by G M Malliet
Checked it out of the public library
What caught my attention: First I like this series and have read the previous ones and second I am waiting to see where the relationship between Inspector St. Just and Portia is going.
Great paragraph from the book: St. Just greeted Malenfant (the coroner) as he emerged from the tent and asked, "Time of death?"

Malefant gazed iconically at his old friend for a long moment before speaking.

"Always the same with you, isn't it?" he said, removing the latex gloves. "No matter how long since we've seen each other. Just, 'time of death?' he wants to know." Malefant, despite his years in England, remained thoroughly French in manner and habit, the more so when agitated. "You may have observed," he continued, "that my holiday at present lacks certain... amenities. For one thing, it is not taking place in France. Puzzlingly, I remain here, in my summer holiday costume, miles from the beach." (Malefant was called in because the coroner on call was sick and he hadn't left town yet.)

Tidbit of info: Lighting up, in scullers terms, is the time at shen the sun sets to 94 degrees below the zenith.
Thoughts on the book: I will definitely continue to read the future books, as the relationship with Portia and St; Just is heating up rather nicely. I really like the humor in these books but I also found the interrogation of the suspects a little slow. This books finds itself at one of the Cambridge colleges where Portia is finishing her thesis. On this particular weekend, alumni of this college are invited back in order to solicit money from them to cover the upkeep of the school, which they all seemed to realize why they were asked back. There is a underlining conflict between some of the alumni, where a gentleman and his current wife are attending along with his ex-wife which proves to be interesting especially when the ex-wife turns up dead. The events leading to her death turn out to be surprising in the end.

My rating: Should read.

http://gmmalliet.weebly.com/

Evolution here

2010-04-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

Yes, that is the name of the game. Evolution. And this blog is going to evolve. Or expand. Which ever way you want to think about it. So here is the scoop. I am formatting the blog a newer way and focusing on why I picked the book, where I got it, a paragraph that caught my attention, a tidbit I learned and of course what I thought about it and my rating. I am also going to try to help myself whittle down my TBR piles so I have come up with theme months. For this month, April, I have only a few books left to read before I start this May's which will be cozies. I have a lot of them.
First post - new theme:
Title of the book: False Mermaid by Erin Hart
Caught my attention: American Pathologist trying to solve sister's murder between Ireland and Minnesota.
How I got it: Public library
Great Paragraph from the book: Fortunately Roisin had fallen in love with the sound of the fiddle, just as her father had with all its shades and feelings. No amount of technical ability could substitute for that. She had become a hunter of those quicksilver flashes of genius that enters the soul and came out the fingers - the enchantment. All he (her father) could do was to show her his own way of recognizing those rare moments, how to receive them when they came. ( from scene in Ireland during a fiddle contest and the father is a friend of the main character)
Tidbit learned from book: Proserpinaca is semi-aquatic and called mermaid weed - which means the lower part grows under water, the upper parts in air. Floerkia, false mermaid, grows in seeps and marshes and other wet places but isn't semi-aquatic, but looks quite similar to mermaid weed.
Thoughts on the book: It is kind of a psychological thriller having to do with a five year old murder of the main character's sister, supposedly caused by the husband but couldn't be pinned to him. So he moves on, gets another wife and we look to see if it will happen again. There is a really interesting twist in the plot when the pieces of evidence start coming out from strange places.
Rating: Must read.
I would like to hear your thoughts on my new blogging, if you would be so kind. Thanks!!!

Lonely Hearts Club

2010-04-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Okay so I am not a die hard Beatles fan that I would name my child after a song but that's what the parents in this did. All their kids. But the one this story is about is Penny Lane Bloom. This young adult book by Elizabeth Eulberg was really fun to read and I kind of sympathized with the main character. I, too, felt that the guys in my high school were too lame to date and awkward. Maybe that's why I dated guys from other schools. But Penny went so far as to start a club for girls who are going to wait till after high school to date. It proves to be so popular that the school administration feels threatened. But that was not the purpose of the group. It proves to be a very effective support group for all types of girls through all sorts of life experiences. I found refreshing was these girls were able to overcome the peer group issue and not have to worry about what other girls would say if you did something different. Ultimately, Penny does find that the boy that is the closest to her was the one. Anyone should read this book. http://www.elizabetheulberg.com/
Also this week I read the second book in the series by Carolyn Haines. Sarah Booth Delaney, in Buried Bones, was more on top of her game on her second real case. This one involving a artist slash writer who decides to write a tell all with a cowriter who really wasn't experienced. With the help of her great-granny's nanny's ghost, she solves the case of who done it for the sake of a girl friend of the deceased. I am really liking these books more and will be talking about how you should read the series with me. And the ending was to die for with the hunk. Yeah!!!
Next post will include my new style of reviewing and a monthly theme, mostly for my disapline.

The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton

2010-04-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Father Steve Sibille finds himself in a little church in Grand Prairie, LA and seeming to questioning his faith. To get the congregation involved in the community, he comes up with the concept of a rabbit festival to draw them together. With the help of the previous vicar's illegitimate daughter and a priest that quits the faith as a result of his struggle with homosexuality, he inspires his flock to plan the celebration and the fundraisers beforehand. On top of this, a pentecostal minister arrives in town, with family in tow, to set up shop with a new church just down the road. The one-uppance between the two is amusing and I thought the struggle of Father Steve to be endearing. The ending is a shock and not quite what I expected. It was a nice read for you to try. http://kenwheaton.wordpress.com/

Accidentally Demonic

2010-04-19T12:02:00.001-07:00

I was so excited when I found a copy of this book at the library. I have read all the other Dakota Cassidy's Accidental series and I think this, unfortunately, will be her last one. In this book, the person who has the accident is Wanda's sister, Wanda being one of the accidentals from one of the first three books. Casey accidentally gets demon blood spilled on her in a nightclub, by a vampire of all people. She was there as a kind of buffer for a pair of rich sisters, who have a penchant for getting into trouble, when they are drinking. After the blood gets spilled, she wrecks havoc on some paparazzi, and then the cops, which lands her in jail and calling her sister for help. Wanda and her friends try to help her deal with the transformation along with the hunky vampire. But of course nothing is as it truly seems. And there is the battle to be won. I have truly enjoyed these books and feel sad that they are coming to an end. You absolutely should read all of these books. http://www.dakotacassidy.com/

Stray Affections

2010-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here was a wonderful spiritual book by Charlene Baumbich. It proved to be a very relaxing book for me to read over the weekend. The book centers around Cassandra Higgins, who seems to have the perfect life. Every year she goes to the Collectors Convention to pick up unique animal knick-knacks with her friend. But this year she has to go by herself, which proves to be difficult. What she discovers is a wondrous snow globe with a girl and three dogs. After she buys the snow globe she is accidentally bashed by a women with a large purse, not once by twice and then gets her wallet stolen. Once home, she peers into the snow globe only to have the girl and dogs disappear right before her eyes. So starts her struggle with old wounds from her childhood and the magic that comes from above to steer her in the right direction. Truly a story of reading more into a persons words than what they really meant. It was a warm, good read and fulfilling. http://www.dontmissyourlife.com/index.html

A Nantucket Love Story

2010-04-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is the sub line on a really sweet Christian romance book I just finished called The Seaside Letters by Denise Hunter. And there are others, I see, and will find. Anyway, in this one, it is a very interesting situation that exists for this couple. Sabrina is new to Nantucket after a lousy end to a engagement six days before the wedding. The groom was now in love with her cousin, of all things. So she escapes to the honeymoon spot, in Nantucket, and then decides to start over there. She starts waitressing and meets Tucker. But you see she is burnt bad and is not looking for relationship. But he is smitten. He eavesdrops on a conversation she has with a coworker about a local website to chat in and finds her there two days later and lo, they start a cyber friendship. He knows who she is, she knows who he is but she doesn't know he knows who she is. Confused? They do this for a while until he wants to trick her into admitting she is who she is. It is a fascinating process that he goes through to try to get her to reveal herself in person. With a little twist in the story, which I won't tell. This was a good read. Try it out. http://www.denisehunterbooks.com/

Never Say Sty

2010-04-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

Does the title give you a hint? You probably could guess that this book has to do with swine. In fact it centers on pot-bellied pigs. In this newest book in the Kendra Ballatyne Pet-Sitter series by Linda O Johnston, we get little tidbits of info about pot-bellied pigs. Kendra is now doing pretty good in her life, with doing legal work primarily for pet issues and pet-sitting for her favorite pets and now being a producer of a animal reality show stemming from a dispute with a animal trainer for movie roles. So the show is sold, funded by a hunky guy who owns a large pet shop enterprise and whom Kendra falls for, and the judges are picked. However after the initial taping, one of the judges gets murdered. So we find ourselves following Kendra figuring out if it was show related or something in his past that caused it. I will admit that this book did not give as much info on pot-bellied pigs as her previous books with their critters but still I learned something. And that is what I like to have happen. Learn something and be entertained and use my imagination and fantasize. The end was logical but wasn't easily figured out. I give it a should read. http://lindaojohnston.com/

100 posts

2010-04-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have done my 100th post. Wahoo! Who would have thunk. I am so tickled at my doing this blog and being able to give someone, anyone, a small glimpse at books they may never of known existed or give them incentive to try something different. I do have a varied sense of what I read. I took a survey the other day about book covers and yes, they do influence the reason I will choose a book. So if the book looks good on the outside, I check out the blurb about it. Then if that sounds good too, I will put in on my list. That's where my Amazon wish list comes in handy. I have 5 different wish lists: to keep track of what I want to read, what I would buy, what is coming soon and old books to find at some time. Plus gift ideas for family and friends. My family can be rest assured that they will get books for their birthdays and Christmas, whether they want them or not. But they usually do. So I will continue forth with my next book review. Hope you will like it.

The Bad Book Affair by Ian Sansom

2010-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

This book consisted of mostly a jolly banter between the main character, Israel Armstrong, a little Jewish guy who runs the local mobile library in northern Ireland, and Ted, his driver. The book centers around a goth looking girl, the daughter of a politician in running, who comes to the library and requests a Under the Shelve book. That's what the books are called that are not recommended for reading under the age of 18. The one she asks for is American Pastoral and Israel doesn't have a problem lending it to her as she seems very mature. Of course it gets around that he did and unfortunately the girl comes up missing and people try to pin her checking out the book on the reason why she is. During all this Israel is struggling in his life as he is creeping up on thirty, just lost his girlfriend and lives in a henhouse of all places. This is book number 4 in the series and may be losing steam, I think. It was a good read though. http://www.iansansom.net/

Butter Safe than Sorry

2010-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

So continues the hilarious exploits of Magdalena Yoder, Mennonite descent innkeeper now married to a Jewish doctor, and her four year old son, Jacob. Another series I have followed from the beginning from Tamar Myers. In this one, she is at the bank with her son when 3 Amish men come in to rob the place. Only they did not fit the typical Amish profile but were wearing disguises, which Jacob picked right up on. Observant like his Mom. The robbers don't get away with anything, thanks to Mags and her son but then the events turn to the worse with her sons life in danger. The bank teller gets murdered for a strange reason as well as a local seamstress, for another strange reason. But all will be clear when you figure out who the culprit is. It was a quirky tale involving her guests at the inn and with kind of a sad ending, I thought. I recommend reading the series and this was a good read. http://www.tamarmyers.com/index.html

Easter Weekend reading

2010-04-05T08:46:00.001-07:00

Sorry to do this but this will be a catchup blog of what was read over the weekend. 3 books. Imagine that. Even though I still wonder some times why I am doing this. Do I have more followers yet? Nyet. I, unfortunately have many friends who don't read and are not interested in this blog. And the ones who do read books read different ones than I do usually. But not all. I guess I will have to bribe the ones who are my sisters, in chick lit and cozies, so they will subscribe. Chocolate anyone?

I will start with the book I liked the most. Tragedy at Two by Ann Purser. This is the recent books in the Lois Meade series. Lois has a house cleaning service in rural England. Her past time is helping the local inspector, who is enamored with her even though she is married, with murders especially ones that affect her family. In this story, the murdered victim is her daughters partner/boyfriend. What's interesting is all the twists and turns she goes through to finally solve this mystery involving gypsies. This is a should read. http://www.annpurser.com/

The next one I read was a new find called Them Bones, a Sarah Booth Delaney Series #1, by Carolyn Haines. Sarah is a southern belle in Mississippi who is broke and is danger of losing her family home. So she is desperate to make some money. So she kidnaps someones' dog and holds them for ransom. Only it doesn't quite end up the way you would expect. First it works but I think only because the person who's dog she kidnaps ask her to do the money drop. How fortuitous for her. This leads to a series of "jobs" she gets asked to do finding people and such. And all this while she has a ghost of her great grandmother's nanny goading her along. It was quite a cute read and I think I will continue in the series. http://www.carolynhaines.com/

And lastly I read the second book in the Chet and Bernie series, books by Spencer Quinn. What is different about his book is that you get the story from the standpoint of the dog, Chet, who helps his owner Bernie with his private investigating job. I will tell you it does get a little strange when Chet's mind wanders, as you would suspect a dogs does. But it is interesting to suspose what the dog is thinking and catches. In this book, they are hired to be bodyguards for a dog, registered for a fancy dog show, that got death threats. Of course they are thinking this was the easiest money they will make. But the dog turns up missing right away and the owner turns up dead. But not for the reasons you think, especially knowing it is a dog eat dog world. Sorry, had to put that in. So these are nice reads and I am checking them out at the library. Check out the dog's blog. http://www.chetthedog.com/?tag=spencer-quinn

Tips from Tulip Christian Mystery series

2010-03-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon a quite good, cute mystery series of 3 books by Mindy Starns Clark. And I got them all read this weekend. She calls them the Tips From Tulip series and can also be referred to as the Smart Chick series. So these delightful cozies center around Jo Tulip, who comes from a rich family but likes the mundane life she leads doing a newspaper column started by her grandmother. Kind of like a Hints by Heloise column. The titles of the books are: The Trouble With Tulip, Blind Dates Can Be Murder and Elementary My Dear Watkins. What is most interesting is how well Jo deals with tramatic experiences in her life while in the process of solving crimes. Not just murders. So during the course of the books she gets left at the altar by a man paid by her parents, almost loses her newspaper column due to newer technology, goes on a blind date which the guy has an asthma attack and dies and finds herself avoiding a killer who wants her dead for her money. That she doesn't have yet. All of this while she discovering her soul mate is the boy who lives next door and has been her best friend forever. Too top all of this, there really is a Tips for Tulip. http://wwwtipsfromtulipcom.blogspot.com/ I put these books up the upper limits of should reads. Wish there were more. http://www.mindystarnsclark.com/

Unhallowed Ground by Heather Graham

2010-03-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

I am fast becoming a big Heather Graham fan. In one of her most recent books, Unhallowed Ground, we find another paranormal type romance. But yet it isn't. Eeehhhh. This book takes place in St. Augustine Fla and centers around Sarah, who is a historian working as a docent at a museum while she is busy renovating an old historic house that she has always loved. Now the house has a morbid past, with being a mortuary a time or two with the morticians hiding bodies in the walls to reuse the fancy coffins and having a voodoo witch supposedly living there also. What starts the story out is missing girls, and when they are eventually found, drained of blood. Of course you think vampires but not the case. Where the romance in the story is between Sarah and Caleb, who is a private investigator who is a little psychic. He has come down to Fla to find a missing girl from a year ago and to help search for the recent one. And he keeps finding bodies as he is sort of drawn to them. Like he was to Sarah's house. And on top of that we have a mystery with a relative of Caleb's that is associated with the house. Fab book I didn't want to put down and y'all must read it. http://www.eheathergraham.com/

Here Lies Arthur

2010-03-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Okay so I like to read young adult books. And this was a pretty good version by Philip Reeve, of Arthur from the viewpoint of a young girl, rescued by Myrddin(Merlin), after a raid on a farm by Arthur and his men. In this version Arthur is portrayed, not like the good person from the Disney Sword in the Stone, which is one of my favorite movies, but more realistic and truer to the times. The girl is disguised as a boy, for safety reasons, and follows along with Myrddin until she starts to become obviously a girl to some people. Then he conveniently gets her into Geneviere's ladies and takes a step more into the background. So we watch her evolve from the boy, to a girl, and even back to a boy, for the sake of opportunity to ride into battle. Good descriptions of battles and mentalities without getting overly descriptive. But what is fascinating is the ability of Myrddin to weave the actual events in Arthur's life and twist them into a fabulous tale to tell around the fireplace with magical results. I heartily recommend that you should read this version. http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/

The Lost Enchantress

2010-03-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

This book was right up my alley. It is a paranormal romance by Patricia Coughlin. Yes, I did feel it a rather typical story of this type. You know that one I mean. The woman is just learning how powerful she is or that in fact she has powers. But yet doesn't really believe it or come to terms with it. And then there is the guy who is magically linked to her in some way. So in this story, Eve knew she had something but denied it. Ignored it. Until she happened upon an auction and was intensely drawn to a necklace with an hourglass pendant. Come to find out she was destined to find that and get it no matter what. In comes the guy who is the bidder against her. And we find out he figures in as having been cursed by the pendant and needs to get uncursed. And she can do it with the power she apparently has but doesn't know how to use. But he does and proceeds to instruct her. I really liked this story and enjoyed it very much. Of course, a happy ending and think you should read it.

Shades of Grey

2010-03-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

The first in the new Dulcie Schwartz mystery series in which the ghost of her dead cat helps her out. Sort of. Really more like guides her around things. It all starts off with her coming home to find her temporary roommate stabbed and the dead cat warning her not to go in. But she does anyway, of course, while thinking she is going crazy. What is interesting is how the whole story with the death and computer hacking at her work and at the university, where she is trying to finish her thesis, all ties in well together. Lots of clues and her research on her topic provide a good story line and a good read. I would probably read more of these books if they came to the library. http://www.cleasimon.com/

Spinning Forward

2010-03-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

An interesting novel written by Terri Dulong. What drew me to the book is it had to do with knitting, of course. And the fact it was a "starting over" chicklit. So the story goes, Sydney Webster' husband has died in a car crash and has left her up the creek due to his gambling debts. She had had no clue to their finances. Upon being evicted from her home, she goes to stay with a dear friend in Cedar Key, Fla. Alison owns a bed and breakfast and has an inviting addition called the Tree House, which she offers to Sydney. Once Sydney gets a grip, she finds a job as a waitress and stumbles into an opportunity to open a knitting/spinning store, which she applies calls Spinning Forward. What was different about this story is Sydney spins animal fur, like from cats and dogs, so you can knit things with it. But where the story gets intriguing is that the birth mother she just decided to start looking for, is there in Cedar Key. A rather standoffish woman, that takes a long time to win over, and then to find out she is dying. That was the hankie part. So Sydney starts a new business, finds her mother, loses her, and finds out she can love again at 50, once she lets herself go emotionally. A real feel good story and you should read it. http://www.terridulong.com/

Bay City Paranormal Investigation revisited

2010-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to continue with this series of books, which I read the first book a week or two ago, by Ally Blue. Why, I am not totally sure, but the concept of being like Ghosthunters really drew me in. So I have now completed reading the next four books in the series and have mixed feelings. Most of the books only really center on the paranormal event of a portal from another dimension. And gay guy sex. I now know way too much about having gay guy sex. I feel like kind of a voyeur. At least by the fifth book, she stopped describing the sex acts in great detail and there was a little more story. So I can tell you the paranormal part is a little on the lean side but if you are into guy sex, this is a good set of books to read. That's all I am going to say.
Well, on to the next book.

At Home on Ladybug Farm

2010-03-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

A very cute story from Donna Ball following the first book, A Year on Ladybug Farm, which I devoured too. Three women, retired from their busy lives and jobs, are now going into year 2 on the gorgeous sounding, farmstead in Shenandoah Valley, VA. With the help of a orphaned teenage boy and one of the women's daughters, they have many new fun ventures, and adventures, into renovating the farm and making it self sufficient. It is a encouraging story of making dreams come true. I was rolling on the floor, reading the scene of the Easter dinner with the pastor, when the daughter decided to spring her new idea for the farm: 144 baby chicks, with some escaping and visiting the set table. And additionally, when they decide to sand the wood floors. It is definitely a fun read, watching unexplored talents coming through and having opportunities of showing off the ones they have. Reading about the different eras in the history of the house and helping explain the interesting treasures they find in the walls and barn. I think you should read these books and hope another is on its way. http://www.donnaaball.net/

Pirate Latitudes

2010-03-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

This is a book published posthumously from Michael Crichton. I was more impressed with this one that it didn't come off, like Timeline, as a definitely gonna be a movie book. This book has a lot more historical info intertwined with the story. More lively and colorful character development. I learned a lot about the times and a feel for the politics. The book centers on the ambitious privateer/pirate attack on a Spanish fort/outpost, that has a treasure laden galleon sitting in their harbor, by Charles Hunter and his eclectic crew. The fort is considered impregnable, which proves to be wrong, and the whole idea a folly by most pirates standards. It has a Pirates of the Caribbean feel, which may be why he did not submit it for publishing before. I have loved all the books I have read by Crichton and regret there will be no more. He is a 'should read all his books' author.
PS - I am now working on past seasons of Bones so reading is still a little behind. And I will warn you, Ghost Whisperer is next.

Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder

2010-03-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

The second book in the Opal, the glass magician, series after Storm Glass. I had read her Study series, which I will admit I liked better, and can't wait for the next one. In this book, the sea glass actually played a small role. When Opal is at the coast awaiting training a new set of orb glass blowers, one of the Stormdancers, who capture the storms in the orbs, finds a bunch of sea glass on the shore. She is a beachcomber extrodinaire and gets mezmerized by the sea glass that apparently has magic in it. Opal is the only one who can diffuse the volatile glass before it gets out of hand. In this book, she is a one of a kind magician, in many aspects with glass and blood magic. Everyone who finds out about her, wants her. I did get a little frustrated at her trust issues as I guess you were suppose to. You were mislead to believe she had her act together but makes many mistakes which causes lots of action. The ending very well leads into the next book. This was a good read. http://www.mariavsnyder.com/

The Girl on Legare Street

2010-03-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

I am most definitely hooked on this suspenseful, supernatural series by Karen White. I had loved The House on Tradd Street and just devoured The Girl on Legare Street. Melanie, or Mellie if you want to get on her bad side, is a realtor relocated back to the Charleston, SC area. She is in the process of renovating a historic house, left to her by a brief acquaintance, when she finds herself unwillingly drawn into helping her mother do the same to her childhood home. Her mother, with the same hereditary psychic ability as Melanie, had mysteriously left 30 some years ago to pursue a career in opera singing. But Melanie is reluctant to help her mother, as she still hurts from the rejection she experienced long ago. As the renovation starts, the ghosts come out of the woodwork. One protective and one vengeful. The key to the puzzle, so to speak, is the front window of the house which has a deceiving design in it, depending at what time of day you look at it. What lightens up the story is the unlikely romance Melanie has with an author named Jack, who knows her secrets and tortures her emotionally, constantly. I vote that this is an absolutely have to read. Not a dull moment in the book. http://www.karen-white.com/
I have not been reading much for the last couple of days. I checked out a couple of seasons worth of NCIS from our public library and am catching up on episodes that I missed.

Hush, hush

2010-02-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

So I came across a very enticing young adult book called Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. In this day and age of everyone writing about vampires and such, it was a pleasant surprise to find a book somewhat reminding of one of my favorite TV shows, Supernatural. It has to do with fallen angels and how they can redeem themselves. This is a pretty engrossing book about a high school teenager named Nora Grey. Nora is sort of a loaner, keeping to herself and really having only one best friend. Vee. Where she usually gets to sit with Vee in all her classes, biology proves to be her undoing when the teacher decides on a new seating arragnement. Nora is then teamed up with a dark and brooding boy, who proves to be an enigma. Her homework: to write a biography of him. And of course he does not want to supply information readily. The story has lots of intense breath-holding scenes in which scary things happen to her or do they really? This is definitely a should read and will recommend my library to buy it. I was able to borrow from an out of state library.

Killer Crab Cakes

2010-02-24T10:11:00.000-08:00

Newest book in the Fresh Baked Mystery series by Livia J Washburn. I have read all the other books in the series and keep up to date. What was different in this book was that Phyllis, and her retired school teacher friends, go to the Texas Coast to watch over her cousin's bed and breakfast while she is gone. More of a vacation than work, really. I wasn't for sure who it was until over half way but was a little put off with who the chief of police tried to blame who did it. The evidence was almost too slim. But the chief of police and his daughter, also on the force, were receptive to perceptions from Phyllis and her friends. Usually they aren't. Interesting setting of the story and also recipes at the end that sounded delish. But I think it works better when Phyllis' son, who is a law enforcement officer, can contribute. Another good read series. I think I am beginning to like her literary series more, which I mentioned last week. More places to go and things to learn. http://www.liviawashburn.com/

Ellie Engleman, Dog Walker Mysteries

2010-02-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Oh boy I found another new cozy series I like. The first book, Hounding the Pavement by Judi McCoy, was cute and different. What I thought was a little bit hard to believe was how she just all of a sudden can talk to dogs. And they talk back. Ellie is newly divorced from a jerk who ran her life and one of the first things she does is get a dog, because she couldn't have one with the ex. But this isn't just any dog. It is her old dog reincarnated. Because of her newly found talent with communicating with dogs, she decides to become a dog walker. In New York City. Don't envy her that. Well, one morning she goes to pick up one of her first clients, only to find the dog's owner dead and the dog gone. She does help solve the case, and puts herself in danger. The means of death is a new one. But you have to read it to find out. And maybe the other thing that was cliche was that she falls for the homicide detective. Otherwise a good read and worth continuing to catch future books. http://www.judimccoy.com/

The Mirror and the Mask

2010-02-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

Another Jane Lawless mystery, set in Minneapolis, MN, written by Ellen Hart. I have read all the books in this series and really like them. Jane is a restaurant owner/ amateur detective. Her father is a well known lawyer and her best friend commands the repertory theatre. In this twisty-turny, missing-person story, we meet Annie Archer who has come to town to find her step-father. She walks into Jane's restaurant, looking for a job and Jane ends up volunteering herself, and her private detective friend Nolan, to help her find him. Only Annie doesn't always confide in all the details correctly. While Annie goes off on her own agenda, Jane locates the step-father. Lots of interesting details about him unfold and right off the bat, his wife gets murdered. On top of her kind of walking into the solution of who did it, Jane loses her girl friend lover and Cordelia, her best friend, gets her niece back. That was a nice touch. Ellen Hart also has the Sophie Greenway culinary series, which equally are should reads. http://www.ellenhart.com/

Another Lois Battle Book

2010-02-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

I really liked Bed and Breakfast that I decided to try another Lois Battle book from the library. This one had another catchy name, The Florabama Ladies Auxiliary and Sewing Circle. The whole story hinges on the closing of a women's personal garment factory called Cherished Lady. The whole crew of sewers comes to work one day only to find the factory will be closing and moving it operations out of the country. So this leaves many displaced women with no other skills than sewing looking for a new jobs. The local college gets funding for a displaced homemakers program to help give the women an education to work their up in life. That's where our main character comes in: Bonnie Duke Cullman, a in-the-process-of getting-a divorce middle aged woman who didn't have much skills herself before she started this new job in a new town. Bonnie helps the women get interested in taking classes and starting a support group that ultimately becomes the sewing circle of the title. Loosely. I did have a few comments taken from the book I want to remember and will find them and put them in. The women evolve and move on and tragedy does strike. This was a good read but not as good as bed and breakfast.

Witch and Wizard

2010-02-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued by this title and the fact the James Patterson wrote it. It was overall a good story about a brother and a sister that find out they have magical powers, at the moment they get hauled off by the New Order, because they were probably not going to conform to the new regime. So we go with them on their journey into prison, with other troublemaking kids, watch them gradually get stronger and wiser, break out and become legendary. To be continued. This is definitely geared more towards young adults and kids, with the short chapters and mentality. I would say it was a nice read for me.

Huckleberry Finished

2010-02-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Second book in the Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour Mysteries by Livia J Washburn, a should read series. Personally accompanying a group, with a literary angle towards Mark Twain, Delilah becomes involved in a murder on a riverboat of one of her group. Between falling for a Mark Twain impersonator and helping solve a year old murder, she gets tangled up in figuring who killed who and who did what. Very twisty turny. I love these literary tour books and the historical info just enhances it in many ways. I am now in awe of all the interesting sayings of Mark Twain, such as 'Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities: truth isn't' and 'Let us endeavor so to live that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry'. And a side mention that kind of added to the book, a Ghost Hunters episode that I caught this week was set at Mark Twain's house in Connecticut, where one of his daughters supposed died and still haunts. http://www.liviawashburn.com/

Ghost a la Mode: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery

2010-02-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

I really, really liked this cozy mystery but will admit I thought that the name of the ghost, Granny Apples, was a little corny. This is a first in a new paranormal series from Sue Ann Jaffarian starring Emma Reynolds Whitecastle, a somewhat trophy wife going through a divorce, who recently discovered she is a little clairvoyant. Her great-great-great grandmother, Ish Reynolds, visits her, not too long after her best friend visits a psychic, and asks for Emma's help to clear her good name because she had been unrightfully hung for killing her husband. In the process of solving this over 100 yr old mystery, she uncovers a newly hatched gold mine plot and nearly gets killed. I liked the unfolding of the relationship with the current owner of the land, where the gold is supposedly, of Emma and Phil and the discovering of her abilities in strange places. There will be more in this series and I say you should read them. I know I will. http://www.sueannjaffarian.com/

Bay City Paranormal Investigations series

2010-02-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

This series, by Ally Blue, starts with the book I just finished, Oleander House. Reminiscent of the Ghosthunter series on SYFY, in which I am a big fan. Sam Raintree is new joining this team as they investigate a old house in Mississippi. This book was a blend of intence paranormal events and a gay guy relationship, which I have not read many off. Sam hadn't mentioned he was gay when he joined the team but after he continually looks longingly at the head guy, who is married and yet he has gay tendencies and denies it, the fellow team members roll with it when discovered. The ghost hunting is fascinating and a little scary at the same time, especially since deaths are involved. I am looking forward to reading the rest of what has been written, 6 more, and will let you know. These are a good read I think. http://www.allyblue.com/home.html

A drunkard's path

2010-02-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

The name of the book by Clare O'Donohue which is also the name of a particular quilt. Yes another quilting mystery. Nell Fitzgerald is living with her grandmother and decides to take an art class taught by a re known artist, as she likes to paint on her quilts. Only it ends up with dead women showing up in the river, one being a student learning right along side of Nell. Nell again figures out whodunit, which I admit I was one the fence on who for a long time, while trying to tread lightly on her new relationship with the police chief. At the same time, her grandmother is becoming involved with the re known artist, an interesting development, while Nell is worried about her grandmother being hurt by him being one of the suspects in the murders. My new tidbit I learned from the book is: Trapunto creates raised areas in your quilt by using cording or small amounts of batting pushed in from the back, which apparently looks harder than it is to do. Another will and should read series and am looking forward to more. http://www.clareodonohue.com/

Read books that come to mind and must mention

2010-02-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a few books that I recently read that have stuck with me, good or bad.

Bed and Breakfast by Lois Battle. Good read published a few years past. I related to it a little due to the ex military factor and the stresses of moving.

Catered Birthday Party by Isis Crawford. It was a nice read but a birthday party for a dog that the owner didn't even like, was a little disturbing, especially when the owner gets poisoned at the party.

Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter by Lisa Patton. A should read, quite cute, about a southern belle who gets talked into moving to Vermont by her husband and setting up a bed and breakfast. The heroine overcomes lots of life changes and makes it through it all as a trooper.

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant. A should read, another 'about Jane Austin' book. A teenager has to read Pride and Prejudice for class and acquires Jane Austin with the book. She talks to her in her head. So goes her life with Jane giving advice and comments.

Madrigal: A novel of Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera by Jennifer Linforth. A should read, taking off where the Phantom of the Opera left off and did a 'what if this happened' kind of book. I was entranced with it.

Grave Secret, a Harper Connelly book by Charlaine Harris. A should read, about Harper who can tell you about buried bodies and how they died. And fresh ones too. They tell her their secrets. This is the 4th book so far and I have liked them just as much as the Sookie Stackhouse vampire books, which I have read all and love them.

13 1/2 by Nevada Barr. A must read. A big departure from her Anna Pigeon national park mysteries. This is a psychological type thriller and mixes in a little "real murders". I was kept on the edge of my chair right up to the unexpected ending.

Enough for now. Need to read.

I'm back and my sincere apologies

2010-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

As you can see, my last posting was Nov 11. Now almost 3 months later, I am back in the saddle and you are probably wondering if I fell off the face of the earth. Actually, it sometimes feels like it. Somewhere just after the 11th, I went through a few interesting events in my life and kind of let this blog go by the wayside, which I regret. I have missed it tremendously. I have not stopped reading, my escape mechanism really, but couldn't seem to be able to put my thoughts into words for a while, while in the process of changing some medications and overcoming some stresses. And I can say, I am a better person for the experiences. I am determined to have a better year than last and made out some very interesting New Years resolutions and so far I am not doing too bad in that regard. Now comes the decision as to if I just want to let you know what I have read in the past, OMG, 3 months or just let it go and move on. I may mention a few titles in the next few posts that I totally recommend reading but otherwise, I am moving on. So be ready for my next book read in the next day or two. And have a good one!!!!

Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery

2009-11-11T11:56:00.000-08:00

I am a scrapbooker in my heart and have horded thousands of photographs and materials for scrapbooking but I just have not gotten fully into it. So consequently I was drawn to these books out of maybe guilt? This book, Cut, Crop & Die, is the second in a series starting with Paper, Scissors, Death the first. Joanna Campbell-Slan created a really warm cozy about a scrapbooker designer who finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time situations. Kiki is helping out at a special cropping event when one of the attendees has a severe allergic reaction to something she ate. When the women goes to inject herself with her epi pen, she discovers the pen is empty and doesn't make it. All in all a suspicious death but not surprising when Kiki finds out what a menace the victim was. With the tying in of wonderful scrapbooking info and the obsession of her mother in law to get rid of her moles, these are wonderful cozies. And little interesting romances thrown in. These are should reads and I will continue to seek them for inspiration as they come out. Photo, Snap, Shot in the next book which I will be looking forward to. http://www.joannacampbellslan.com/

St Just Mysteries

2009-11-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry I got a little behind on my reviews so I will be playing catchup now. I just got done reading the first two books in the St Just series by G.M. Malliet, Death of a Cozy Writer and Death of a Lit Chick. Our mystery solver in this series is a DCI Arthur St Just, a likable widower who seems like an easy going guy. In Death of a Cozy Writer, Sir Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk is the guy who gets stabbed, preceded by his son who got whacked, and really no one is sorry to see the man dead. He was a vengeful writer of Agatha Christie like mysteries and toyed mercifully with his family for rights to his fortune when he dies. And so he does. There unfortunately are too many suspects available at the time of death, including his new trophy wife. In Death of a Lit Chick, St Just finds himself sent off to attend a writers conference, staying at Edinburgh's Dalmorton Castle, to talk about police procedures. The victim in this one is a chick lit writer newbie who had taken the writing world by storm and left many upset people in her wake. Not a nice person outwardly and again with many suspects around to pick from. St just evens meets a writer who leaves him breathless and we will see where that leads. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and will seek out the next, Death at the Alma Mater. These are should reads and will written. http://gmmalliet.weebly.com/

Caroline Burnes Familiar series

2009-11-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have to admit once I found out about these books about a year ago, I absolutely devoured this entertaining series. These books are about a black cat detective named Familiar. Familiar has a girlfriend, Clotilde, and a place to call home with Eleanor but he pretty much does what he wants and goes where he wants to help anybody out. This is one smart cat that has a very interesting way of getting his point across and humans believe it all. It seems in every book and adventure, and he has many, it only takes one or two astonishing acts upon Familiar's part, for humans to be convinced this is one intelligent cat and one to be obeyed. He is a swift, sly, crafty, matchmaking cat, (I could keep going with the adjectives), that always get his man. There are 19 Fear Familiar books written by Caroline Burnes, a pseudonym used by Carolyn Haines. I just completed Familiar Vows, #18, and again I chuckled out loud many times at the dynamics of this cat. In this one, a photographer accidentally takes a picture of a person in witness protection and that picture is unfortunately broadcast on the news from a gallery display. The photographer then becomes the hunted and needs Familiar's help, and the hunky ex Us Marshall named Lucas, to stay alive while trying to help the person in the witness protection program stay alive. http://www.carolynhaines.com/ Unfortunately, there really is not a Familiar website. Library book. You really should read these.

Avian cozy mysteries

2009-10-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

I totally enjoy the avian cozy mystery series by Donna Andrews. Every book has a different type of bird in it and you learn little tidbits of info about those birds. Her newest one, Swan for the Money, is a hoot. By the way, the swans in this one are black and very intimidating as they are big birds and actually able to do some serious damage when provoked. But the part that was the hoot was the black and white, fainting goats ( supposedly there is such a thing). Just the thought has me snickering imagining them being startled and falling over in a faint. I know, I'm bad. In this book, Meg's parents have developed a new hobby: growing and showing champion roses. Who would of thought the whole business was so complicated. Meg gets roped into being the organizer for the rose show to be held on the grounds of a very strange, monochromatic woman's estate. Everything on the property is black and/or white, inside the house and out, to the point of being truly and obscenely obsessive. So we have a delightfully funny story about a rose show, a dog napping, attempts on the strange woman's' life with one fatality (case of mistaken identity?), guys showing up in the middle of the night to take animals and Meg wondering if she is pregnant but afraid to buy a pregnancy kit from the local drug store because the word would hit the town and she would be deluged with calls. These are should reads, people. http://www.donnaandrews.com/ Library book

Witchy good read

2009-10-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

I backtracked on a series that I read the third book in a few weeks ago. The light, witchy fun chic-lit book called Sorcery and the Single Girl by Mindy Klasky is the second. In this one, Jane the librarian, newly developed witch, has to prove her metal to the area coven. She will have to prove herself to them that she is worthy of joining their ranks, by completing a task thought up by the coven. Jane brings a valuable copy of the Illustrated History of Witches, specific to that area, with a citrine stone binding it to the Coven Mother as a gift. It is then she learns she will be given the honor of setting the cornerstone for their new building to protect the coven. She practices and practices with her familiar and her warder, even with a distraction of a hunky british guy and some supposed help from one of the coven members. She quickly learns who is actually helping her and who is hindering her, which proves to be suspenseful and funny. At the end when she does her thing and finds out if she is in or not, is entertaining and surprising. This was another good read and I am now in search of the first! http://www.mindyklasky.com/ Library book

Another smart one

2009-10-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Oh, you think I am so smart, don't you? I have been reading books about smart girls, that's why. Another one involving sisters called The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire Lazebnick. What's interesting is that you start reading this story about two sisters, Ava is a lawyer and dresses frumpy and Lauren is a fashion diva and works as a clothes buyer. At the end, you have to really start wondering which one is classified as the smart one and which is the pretty one because it is sort of like they switch roles. So the facts are, Lauren is a over the top spender, on clothes, of course. Their mother has to do chemo for a small breast lump. Lauren is the one that takes the mom to chemo and meets a guy there that is also taking his mother for chemo. Humm, kind of a morbid relationship and probably is doomed. The next fact is Lauren finds a contract that had been signed by her parents about Ava, when she was a young girl, supposedly bonding her to a friends son for marriage. She calls the son and sets her sister up with her intended, which I think was a hilarious relationship from the start. So with all the matchmaking going on, it is with wonder that you find out how they end up happy. This was a good read. http://clairelazebnik.com/ Library book

Smart girls think twice

2009-10-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Or in this case, the smart girl got the hunk. And what a hunk. A ex-extreme sport junkie. Another opposites attract. In this book, Smart Girls Think Twice by Cathie Linz, Emma decides to make good use of her time back in Rock Creek, due to her two sisters getting married two weeks apart, and publish a sociology study pertaining to why people are congregating to small towns. One of the first people she decides to interview is Jake, who is bar tending at Nick's while trying to find his birth mother. Secretly. Jake had had a epiphany when he was seriously hurt in a rock climbing accident in which his best friend dies. He disappears off the extreme sport scene to show up in Rock creek, supposedly looking for a place to put a resort in. So sets the story of Emma wanting yummy Jake and Jake finding it hot that a smart girl wants him. Good love scenes. A good hot read.

Unquiet Spirit

2009-10-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Nathanial Gye is a lecturer in parapsychology at Beaufort College and sort of moonlights as a paranormal investigator. Whether he wants to or not. This is the third in a series of books by Derek Wilson. Tripletree introduces the character and Nature of Rare Things is the second. Both I will have to find to read. When a professor is strangely killed while investigating a paranormal incident at St. Thomas' College in Cambridge, Nat is called in to put the spirit to rest, so to speak. The so-called spirit is of a demented student that apparently died of a drug overdose 10 years ago and is purported to be haunting his old room since then. Through a very twisting and turning investigation, he discovers more than he bargained for when figuring if it was murder or an accident. This was a very well written and gripping story and I really liked it. It is definitely a must read. And hopefully there will be more. http://www.derekwilson.com/ Library book

Hot Flash

2009-10-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Okay so I read another foodie romance. I can't help myself. This one didn't so much talk about her job as she talked about her stage in life. In Hot Flash by Kathy Carmichael, Jill is a single mom just turned forty and working as a sous chef for a hotel restaurant. And she seems to be going through premenopausal symptoms, which she finds incredibly hard to believe. The beginning of each chapter starts with a letter she has just received in response to a survey she sent out to couples she saw in the anniversaries section of her newspaper. She wanted to know the secret to having a long and happy marriage. She gets some surprising answers but the one that seems to appeal to her are the ones that state the husband is either a traveling salesman and is gone a lot or the ones who are sports widows. So Jill decides to find a traveling salesmen and crashes the conventions at the hotel. After many debacles, the guy that is ultimately right for her is right under her nose but she fights it. It was a nice lighthearted read and funny. http://www.kathycarmichael.com/ Library book

Accidental Bestseller

2009-10-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

Truly the title says it all. Wendy Max wrote a book about 4 authors who write a book together about 4 authors. supposedly loosely based on their own lives, and then the book hits the bestseller list. It wasn't expected. So the story mostly centers around Kendall, who is majorly dumped upon all at once, with not winning a coveted author award, finding out her publisher doesn't want her anymore and then to come home and figure out her husband is cheating on her. She finally leaves the house, after wallowing in self pity for days and takes off to a cabin in the North Carolina mountains. There she discovers a yen for DIY and seeks the local Home Depot and meets a handy hunky guy to help her get started. Anyway, with a deadline for her book looming, which she already has gotten an advance for and spent, she interestingly get the assistance of her writing friends to help write her book. The book quickly comes together and is sent off to the asst editor of the bitchy editor to review. She loves it and has to jump hoops to get it noticed. The book ends with their lives unfolding in ways they never imagined and pretty much a happy ending all around. This is a book everyone should read. Library book

Another foodie romance

2009-10-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

All of these culinary romances are making me hungry. Another delicious romance I just finished is With a Twist by Deirdre Martin. I found out later it is sort of a sequel to Just a Taste, which I will now have to find. These books feature Vivi and Natalie, migrated Parisians, now working in Brooklyn. In this book, Natalie has decided to leave her half sister's bistro and venture out into Manhattan to be a restaurant manager. Lovesick Quinn, a newspaper reporter married to the job, persuades her to work at his parents Irish pub until such time as she can actually find someone to hire her as a restaurant manager. And so starts the relationship that proves to be very volatile. In pursuit of his great story, involving the Irish mob, he stumbles along believing his life is the job and women come second best. Of course for this story to work out right, he has to learn the error of his ways. It is quite amusing the interaction between Natalie and Quinn, French and Irish. With some suspense thrown in, the story moves along well and I feel was a good read. http://www.deirdremartin.com/ Library book

Lost Recipe for Happiness

2009-10-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so I am learning since I have been on a diet that I have been gravitating towards books that have to do with food. I discovered a delicious romance called the Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal. What drew me to the book was first it was about food and second it had ghosts. This is a story about Elena, who is lovingly haunted by ghosts of her family who died in a car accident that she survived only to be scarred for life. After she recovered, she moves on with her life to attend culinary school and to cook in a lot of different facets of the culinary industry. The story starts as she is fired by her chef partner Dmitri, who didn't like the fact she hogged the limelight in a recent restaurant review. As she leaves the establishment, the owner catches up with her and offers her a position as a executive chef in a new restaurant he is opening. She jumps at the chance and again moves on with her life. This is a heartwarming love story between two people who have been burned from bad relationships, that finally happens when both accept closure on their pasts. It is a very moving story that keeps you interested through the whole book. And even throws in a nicely written gay relationship between two of Elena's friends, too. I really like books that are constantly evolving and moving along. This is a should read. http://www.barbaraoneal.com/ Library book

Prince Harming Syndrome

2009-10-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have always known that my relationships have always been a little off and now I know why. Because I pick the wrong guys to go out with. And so does my daughter. That's one of many eye opening revelations that I learned in reading The Prince Harming Syndrome: Break Bad Relationship Patterns for Good - 5 Essentials for Finding True Love by Karen Salmansohn. This was my first how to book that I have read that spells out what is wrong with the men I pick and why I picked them. It gave me insightful information on what I really should be looking for in a guy and important questions I should be asking them and myself about where relationships fit into our lives. Karen uses Aristotle's teachings, amongst others, to prove that there is a way to meet the right kind of guy, soul mate, for you and to boost your self esteem in the process. This book opened an line of communication between my generation and my daughters' to show that we all suffer from the same issue, except for a lucky few. Lack of true love. So even if you are in your prime and a little past, there is valuable information that you can glean from this book to give you a goal of a growing and nurturing life with your Prince Charming. This is a must read if you need good advice on the subject and will be donating my copy to my university library for all college girls to read . http://notsalmon.com/

Salt and Silver

2009-10-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

I was attracted to this book because the thought that mere mortals could unwittingly open up a door to hell in the basement of a diner, by accident, was different. In a weird kind of way. But Salt and Silver by Anna Katherine is definitely different. Allie and her two friends get drunk and start spewing magic words to get wishes granted and wake up to find a doorway where there wasn't one before. Only this doorway lets in demons and such into this world and hotty demon hunter Ryan, showing up the day the door opened, sits outside it killing what ever comes through, be it vampire, demon or werewolf. The story starts after this has been going on for 5-6 years and everything is working well. And then one day the door disappears and others start opening in new places. That gets everyone in a uproar and it is decided that a small group of hunters, and Allie, have to go through a door into hell to find out how to stop them. They travel through nine different hells or dimensions and overcome many obstacles, to ultimately find out that someone has taken the door. I liked the story, a good read, and the sexual tension is hot. http://annakatherine.com/ Library book

Knit the Season

2009-10-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Oh, I am now in the mood for seasonal books with the cold weather finally coming. And I read a really good one over the weekend. I received a ARC of Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs, fourth in the series of the Friday Night Knitting Club. I have read all the books so far and they are all keepers. I especially liked this one, centering on Dakota, and the countless memories of her mother and her learning things about her she didn't know. When her Mom's passing left her co-owner of a yarn store, Dakota is at odds over the running of the store and her desire to because a pastry chef. But she is able to find the best of both worlds and learns a lot along the way. Between all the events happening to the Friday Night knitters, from weddings, job offers, and secrets ultimately shared, we find a very thoughtful, warm story about family and friends. A great way to get into the Christmas season. This book invoked the all important needs for family, following your dream and keeping the traditions going. All Kate Jacobs Friday Night Knitters books are must reads! Knit the Season comes out on Nov 3 along with the pbk of Knit Two also being available. http://www.katejacobs.com/ Amazon has it at 34%, off for 16.47, preorder price right now at http://www.amazon.com/Knit-Season-Friday-Knitting-Novels/dp/0399156380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254759796&sr=8-1. I am a sucker for a good deal on books. Gave ARC to girlfriend to read.

Benny and Shrimp

2009-10-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

Bennie and Shrimp, real name Desiree, is a captivating Swedish import by Katarina Mazetti. This is a story about two emotionally deficient people who meet in a cemetery, visiting their loved ones final resting place. Each one is from a vastly different walk of life and all it takes is a friendly smile to open the lines of communication. So what happens when you take a dairy farmer (mommas boy type), missing 3 fingers from a saw accident at an early age and combine it with a rather drab looking librarian, (recently widowed), who have really nothing in common except they both feel empty? You get a very hilariously funny story of the trials and expectations of two people who desperately want someone in their lives but not necessarily each other. You should read this book amd decide is it love or lust? Donated this book sent by publisher to review to university library

The Man Who Loved Books too Much

2009-10-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

I am finally coming up in the world. I am getting Advance Reading Copies to review. I feel so special. So my first one I really wanted to read was one where Allison Hoover Bartlett gives you an insightful glimpse into the world of rare book collecting. In this world of e-technology, people seem to have gotten away from the bonding experience of holding a first edition of a old rare book and stroking it's spine, wondering where this book has been and who has touched it. Though you hear about all the glamorous thefts of priceless artifacts and paintings, you never really hear about old and fragile books that have been easily stolen and disappearing only to possibly showing up on Ebay for sale as there is no real means of tracking them. But there are people in this world who obsess about obtaining books through many illegal means, such as the ones used by the one this book is based, John Charles Gilkey. Allison shows you the workings of Gilkey's mind and his rational for stealing rare books for his amusement. She takes you through the many facets of rare book collecting, book fairs and exclusive rare books stores and introduces you to the many challenges of this collecting business. Because to some it is and to some it is a passion to possess these rare tomes. And on the other side you meet a special book dealer named Ken Sanders, who seeks justice for the victims of book theft and spends much of his time tracking down Gilkey, as a "bibliodick" for an organization of book sellers. To think it all starts with the delivery, to the author, of a 400 year old book supposedly not returned to a library on time and so it was pawned off from generation to generation, partly I'm sure of fear of the fines involved. This is a must read for sure!

Bookbinder cozy

2009-10-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

I just zipped through a really good cozy, about a rare book restorer, called Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery by Kate Carlisle. First in a series, it had a very good story line and I admit, if the cozies have to do with books, I pretty much already like them. Anyway, Brooklyn, (cool name), is a relatively new bookbinder of rare books. She had been a apprentice/partner with Abraham Karastovsky, until she decided she was ready to go out on her own. During a showing of some book restorations that her mentor had completed, she finds him dying from a apparent homicide and hears his last cryptic words of "Remember the Devil". He had been in the process of restoring a copy of Goethe's Faust and now it rests in Brooklyn's' hands to finish the supposedly cursed book. She meets some interesting characters along the way, including a sexy British security agent, has some funny, outlandish family and friends and again stumbles across another dead bookbinder. Obviously not a safe occupation. I did figure out whodunit early on but it was a very rousing tale. It is definitely a should read. http://www.katecarlisle.com/ Purchased book and donated to city library

Another great Dan Brown

2009-09-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

This book is one of those instances in which I really regretted reading reviews before reading the book. There were such mixed ones that I read, I wasn't sure about how I was going to like it. But I can assuredly say I loved The Lost Symbol. It was every bit as good as The Da Vinci Code. I am delighted with the my education of the mystical aspects of our national capitol and the religious undertones that came out in this book. The storyline flowed well, entrancing and gripping me to not want to put the book down. I found I was carrying the book everywhere with me so I read as much as I could because I wanted to see what happened next, so compelling. So Robert Langdon finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time as a result of a tattooed madman. He gets corralled by the CIA to save the world, thinks he dies but survives and ultimately becomes the only person who is not a Mason to know the secrets of the group. He becomes instrumental in the solving of a mystical quest involving the Masons and the Lost Word. Another symbolism clue hunt with a really unexpected ending. I would like to share a small excerpt that really made me chuckle, though. 'Langdon had once agreed to take care of Solomon's hundred-fifty-pound mastiff, Hercules, during Solomon's travels. While at Langdon's home, the dog apparently had become homesick for his favorite leather chew and had located a worthy substitute in Langdon's study - an original vellum, hand-calligraphed, illuminated Bible from the 1600s. Somehow "bad dog" didn't quite seem adequate.' This book is an absolutely must read. http://www.danbrown.com/#/home Cool website, too. Library book

Jane Austen rewritten

2009-09-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

I was intrigued by this book by something that was written on the back cover in the synopsis. "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read." Up until this point, I had not ever read Pride and Prejudice due to the fact I was told it was long, boring but famous love story. I may not have to now since I read this. What I am sure is that this version was probably much more livelier than the original. So you have the basic story by Jane Austen but with the Bennett Sisters butt-kicking, zombie killers trained in the arts in China, not Japan. What was comical is the fact that if you ventured outside the house, you were pretty sure you would run into a group of zombies. And depending how quick you were, they would have you for lunch, eating the delish part first, your brain. Even going out in daylight was usually impossible. But be sure you are with one of the Bennett sisters, or Mr Darcy and one of the few other characters who were trained in the ruthless killing of zombies if you expected to survive. Seth Grahame-Smith is the revision-er and I give this a good read rating. Library book

New blog name

2009-09-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just so you know that I was never really satisfied with my blog name from day one so I finally came up with a suitable name for my blog, I think. Of course I am willing to listen to the peanut gallery but I think this one is the keeper. I would really like to know if someone else has this, as I googled and nothing came up.

Evil at Heart

2009-09-25T07:26:00.001-07:00

Now, psychological thrillers are really not my forte usually, but this series by Chelsea Cain is gripping. This one had a additional level of mystery with it as far as the killings were concerned. But it also takes a look at the issue of sensationalizing gruesome things like serial killers in the media to the point of being obsessive. This story about Gretchen, the beautiful, dangerously smart serial killer and her stalking of the police detective, Archie, is riveting to the point that I felt glued to the book. He has been technically hiding out in a psych ward to get over his painkiller drug addiction and haunting of the torture he endured by Gretchen. But when she escapes from the prison, he knows deep down that he needs to help find and kill this savage killer. But she is one sick puppy and has been keeping watch over him all along with the help of her twisted minions. This book was a roller coaster and kept me clutching the book, not wanting to put it down. And even though there were a few sickening parts, as there should be, they were not to much over the top. This is a must read and of course there will be more since she is still out there waiting. http://www.chelseacain.com/ Library book

Lost Hours

2009-09-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

I would have to say I would give Lost Hours by Karen White a 2 hankie rating. I cried twice, towards the end. This book was a haunting, moving story rooted in the deep south during racial prejudice times of the 30's. What starts out as a sisterhood with 3 girls, one black, and the terrible secret that they carried with them until they died. The sad part is they all were deeply affected for different reasons because the whole story hadn't been really sorted out and each felt a guilt that they really didn't have to carry. So fast forward to present day, as the last of the three finally wants closure, she unknowingly admits the granddaughter of one of the other women into her life, and with her help, is able to find closure and understanding and forgiveness. The grand daughter is searching for a kind of closure of her own, as she is a equestrian mangled by a fall from a horse and feels afraid to get back on the horse, so to speak. So this hunt for answers gives her purpose and in the end a whole new perspective on life. It is a must read. http://www.karen-white.com/ Library book

Cats and Quilts

2009-09-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Cat, The Quilt and The Corpse by Leann Sweeney is the first book in a new cozy series starring Jillian Hart, a recent widow who moved to Mercy, S. C. to move on with her life. She makes her living making quilts, mostly for cats, and they sound very inventive. And she owns 3 cats, all who were rescue finds and each has their own funny personality. All named for wines. One of her cats gets catnapped right out of her house and she is frantic to find it, putting up signs only to find that they were immediately ripped down due to a city ordinance. Up until this point she has mostly kept to herself but the need to find her cat puts her out there and she seems overly eager to make friends. And desperate that they like her. After finding out about a man who collects cats, she decides to pay him a visit only to find him brutally stabbed in his kitchen. It was a very cute story with some good twists and cheered her messed up romance with the alarm guy. I expect that the rivalry between her and the lady coroner over the guy will continue as the coroner is a beauty pageant nutcase. I did feel the heroine was a little insecure with her need to be liked by everyone but it was a good light quick read. http://www.leannsweeney.com/ Purchased book and donated to city library

Pet Psychic calling

2009-09-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

So a truly unique cozy mystery series, written by Joyce and Jim Lavene, involves a pet psychic named Mary Catherine. She is a 50 something woman, married 4 times with 4 husbands who died, while married to her, in bizarre ways. She has inherited a house from an aunt, who supposedly had the same ability as her, and moves in, remodeling it into a free vet clinic and apartment upstairs for her. And on top of that, she does a radio program, going out nation wide, on her pet psychic ability and answers questions about people's pets. She gets involved into a murder because of a turtle who calls to her and tells her he is hurt and she responds to find a dead body. The whole thing ends up involving things close to home and she finds kinship with a down and out detective turned PI, who supposedly has some psychic power but thinks he is nuts. Actually a lot of her answers that involved common sense, not really psychic power. It was a very cute story and a good quick read. I checked it out of the library, which is good as I probably would not have read it otherwise. www.joyceandjimlavene.com/. Library book

Spartan Gold

2009-09-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Clive Cussler has started a exciting new series. Spartan Gold features his new heroes Remi and Sam Fargo. Though it wasn't as good as his Dirk Pitt books, this was a very good treasure hunting adventure reminiscent of National Treasure as far as clues taking them to another place for another clue. But these clues were complex riddles written by Napoleon himself. The amount of clues and places they had to go was maybe a bit much, but the book was very riveting with the Indiana Jones type - Macgyer style of seeking the lost treasure. It all was very interesting how the whole story was intertwined through history starting with Xerxes I and his plundering and how Napoleon stumbles upon the treasure by accident. There are even little side finds that make the story entertaining. And of course we have the bad guy, who in this case figured he was a direct decedent of Xerxes and everything rightfully belonged to him. This book is a should read and I will catch the next book when it comes out but like I said, I prefer the Dirk Pitt books more. Library book

2009-09-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today's Topic: Share your goals for your blog one year from now AND say what you love best about your blog, each in 50 words or less.

One year from now I hope to …

have improved my blogging skills,
have knocked done my TBR list alot,
have at least 25 people following my blog, and
have satisfied publishers that I am a sincere reviewer!

I love that my blog …

as it gives me an outlet to express my impression of books I like to read,
it connects with other people who feel the same way I do about books,
gives people a small insight into a book they might not have read otherwise, and
actually keeps me a little saner.

Cedar Cove revelations

2009-09-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

Having lived on Whidbey Island, WA, for a few years, I can relate to the homey, small town atmosphere in the Cedar Cove books by Debbie Macomber. I love these books. I read 8 Sandpiper and 92 Pacific Blvd and am still feeling the goodness and love from these should reads. Yes, they are definitely feel good, happily ever after type love stories, without the steamy sex scenes, but have a little mystery and turmoil mixed in. In each book, you get a taste of the residents with the emphasis on the character that lives at the house in the title. That person is usually in a struggle over their love life and/or life choices. Debbie has a way that you can step into the book and read it without feeling that you need to really go back and read the ones before. But it is a good idea. I have read all of this series and will continue to do so as I do love the story lines and can easily get drawn into the ambiance of Cedar Cove. Oh and I bought her new Cook Book, too. Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove Cookbook. Yummy!!!http://www.debbiemacomber.com/ Purchased these books and then donated them to city library, except for the cookbook. Mine!

Weekend light reading

2009-09-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

I hate to say this but there was another one that I started reading and it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be and I couldn't get into it. I feel bad that I decided to not finish it because it was losing me but that is the way I felt about Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. This one had been a 'if you liked that one, you probably would like this one' type book and I checked it out of the library, so no great loss. Again I got halfway through it and it wasn't keeping me. The story starts with the conception of a baby from the day 1 and goes from there. I think it was difficult because the main character is a fetus. I didn't finish it, so it is a don't bother. But my weekend did get better. I read Magic and the Modern Girl by Mindy Klasky and I am hooked. It is actually, I think, 3rd in a series, and I will have to backtrack the first two, (OCD) to read. The main character is a librarian, yes I gravitate to those books since I work in a library, and she is a newly unveiled witch. Her mom and grandmother have powers, too, but not as much as Jane has. I felt this book was very modern witchy and fun, with the exception of maybe her creation of a anima, kind of like bringing a doll to life thing. It seems when she was doing the spell, her mind was drifting and the purpose of her anima gets blurred and whacked out of proportion. The final showdown with the anima is a little strange but interesting. The love life issues were breath-holding and the storyline was quite good, with some historical info on the DC area thrown in. It is a should read and I will read more. http://www.mindyklasky.com/ The other book was a sure thing. I read the next in the Shenandoah Album books by Emilie Richards. These books to me are a good down home, snug in my bed, warm feeling reads. This one, Lovers Knot, takes the reporter from the last book and delves into her traumatic life. She is carjacked, while at a pharmacy getting medicine, and shot twice. She recovers only to decide that her life will never be the same. Her relationship with her husband is strained so she plans to take a timeout at her husbands' grandmothers house up in Toms River, that had been left to him along with a quilt. The quilt unravels a very interesting mystery surrounding the Shenandoah National Park and the removal of people for the building of the park. Again this is another flip the house book, a happy ending book and a very interesting historical mystery of sorts. I will continue to read the series and recommend as a must read. http://emilierichards.com/ All library books

Fun suggestion from J. Kaye's Book Blog

2009-09-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

J. Kaye got this idea from psychoticstate.blogspot.com and I thought it would be fun to fill out.

1. What author do you own the most books by? The only author I own all the books from is my good friend Janet Spaeth.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? The Thurber Carnival by James Thurber (I have 2 copies)

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Ethan Gage from William Dietrich's books.

4. What book have you read more than any other? The bible.

5. What was your favorite book when you were 10 years old? The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer.

6. What is the worst book you've read in the past year? That How to Buy the Love of Reading didn't impress me too much.

7. What is the best book you've read in the past year? So far it was is the Dakota Cipher by William Dietrich.

8. If you could tell everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

9. What is the most difficult book you've ever read? The Lord of the Rings

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Russians?

11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer? Chaucer, if I had to choose.

12. Austen or Eliot? AUSTEN!!

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? My friends can't figure why I haven't read the Stephanie Plum books.

14. What is your favorite novel? Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

15. What is your favorite play? Mousetrap by Agatha Christie

16. Poem? The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

17. Essay? Don't have the first clue.

18. Short Story? The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

19. Nonfiction? the Don't Know Much About Series by Kenneth C. Davis

20. Graphic Novel? No idea

21. Science Fiction? I would say a toss-up between Robert Silverberg, Andre Norton and Terry Brooks

22. Who is your favorite writer? Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, and many more.

23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Stephenie Meyer. Really I can't imagine the pull these books have. I wasn't impressed with either the books or the movie.

24. What are you reading right now? Sparta Gold by Clive Cussler

25. Best memoir? The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

26. Best history? Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough.

27. Best mystery or noir? Anything by Agatha Christie or Rex Stout.

A cozy here, a cozy there

2009-09-11T08:36:00.001-07:00

I bet you were beginning to wonder what happened to me. Long story short, I got a flu bug and have been indisposed for while but I am up and running now. So on to my reading escapades during my illness. So I started the book 'How to Buy a Love of Reading' on Thursday last week. On Friday night, halfway through the book, I closed it and decided that the book was no way turning out to be what I thought it would be and that I couldn't read anymore. From what I did read, it was not that interesting. Having to do with a high school girl with emotional issues, whose parents want to buy her her own book, written by an obscure author, for her 16Th birthday. She has a friend who is a boy that apparently is a hunk, she's overweight, he is a druggie, alcoholic. I have to say, don't bother. I don't feel that way too often. But I will say I might have been the process of getting sick and the book didn't help. So to make me feel happy during my sickness, I read a bunch of cozies. Comfort food for my brain. I am sorry to say I will not go into great detail over them but will give a one line comment of each book and impression. First book was 'Sew Deadly' by Elizabeth Lynn Casey. http://elizabethlynncasey.com/blog/. Very sweet book about the new librarian, from the north, in a small town in the south and her initiation into local society. New series that I will now follow and was a should read. Second book was a second in a new series by Mary Stanton, 'Angel's Advocate'. Brianna inherits her uncles law firm, whose major clients are dead and sent to the wrong great beyond. This was just as good as the first and entertaining. A definite must read and a keeper. http://www.marystanton.com/ Third one was another second in a series, by Julie Hyzy called 'Hail to the Chef'. I especially loved this books' insight into the workings of the chef for the president. Great story and premise and a must read and another keeper. http://www.juliehyzy.com/ Fourth book was the fifth in a series that I faithfully follow. The Haunted Bookshop mystery, 'The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion' by Cleo Coyle writing as Alice Kimberly. Imagine owning a bookstore where a private detective was murdered and having his ghost as a cohort in detection. This was a ghost story inside a ghost story and great to read. I think I read this all in one day because I didn't want to put it down. Love the series and must read all. http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/cleos_haunted_bookshop.cfm And lastly I read one that borderlines cozy. 'Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" by Suzann Ledbetter, an author that I have read other mysteries by, came up with a cute one about a private investigator who meets up with a short lady burglar who only needs cash to cover her mom's medicare bills, above and beyond her many grooming jobs. The interaction was lovable and storyline was fun. I rounded out my week very well and I am satisfied with this should read. http://www.suzannledbetter.com/ Okay folks I am back to my list and reading 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum'. So far so good. Will let you know. I am thinking of doing author weeks, where all the books I read are from a specific author. And leaving my weekends to cozies since I have many to polish off. And I have the privilege of being sent some ARC's to review which are on my next weeks list of books to read. Have a good one!!! All these books were purchased and then donated to my city library

Austenland

2009-09-03T07:06:00.001-07:00

I thought it was a cute idea. A place where you can go and pretend you are in Regency England during the Jane Austin period for three weeks and really get into the time. That is what the book 'Austenland' by Shannon Hale is about. Of course our main character's name is Jane and she gets the opportunity to go to said place as a gift from a deceased great aunt, who understand the concept that Jane was looking for her Mr. Darcy who looks like Colin Firth. Going there was like being in a play and really wasn't a set up place, which is what you are hoping is suppose to happen. The book was light and cute, definitely being able to go for teenagers on up to read. Definitely a nice summer read. http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html Library book

A magicians world

2009-09-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

If you have read Maria Snyder's Study series, you have to read her Glass series. Book one in the series, Storm Glass, took a plot line from the Study books and came up with a wonderful, enchanting and mystical story centering around Opal. Opal is a student at Magician's Keep, is mostly a family taught glassmaker and trying to learn what her magical powers ultimately will be. She starts off a little bit on the insecure side, thinking she is only a 'One Trick Wonder' but we soon find out she is capable of many tricks. Her first mission is to find out why the Stormdancer's orbs are shattering. With forensic type thinking she deduces the formula for the melt and what is wrong with it. The glass making procedures in this book are extremely fascinating. And I especially loved the insight of storms and their emotional aspects that was described. Opal finds love in a round about way, perfects her craft and then learns shockingly she can be a either a valuable tool or a terrible weapon. The imagery in this book was good and again I loved the story as I did with Maria's previous books. There may have been a part towards the end dealing with the key that I had to reread a couple of times and then still didn't quite get it (yes it was a small detail but got to me anyway) but otherwise this book is a must read. I can't wait to read her next one, 'Sea Glass'. http://www.mariavsnyder.com/ Purchased book and then donated to university library

Flip that house

2009-08-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that the "in" thing, to write your book about, is flipping houses? It just seemed to me that that was in a lot of the books I have been reading. Hummm, a subconscious thing maybe because I would love to flip houses and I gravitate towards those kinds of books. Okay, so I just finishing a really, really good book called Fixer Upper, yupp the title tells you everything, by Mary Kay Andrews. This is a must read. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about Dempsey Killebrew, love the name, and her lot in life. She was a lawyer and a lobbyist in Washington that gets suckered by her boss to be the scapegoat for a scandal involving buying a senator. Anyway, after being disgraced and fired, she escapes to Guthrie, Georgia, to fix up a house that just happened to have been left to her dad from a distant relative. The house, which once sounded fab, is a mess and Dempsey has her hands full doing most the renovation herself with the help of many of the town's helpful good looking men. Yeah, she has them lined up at the door. In amongst this restoration, she is trying to clear herself of the charges with the scandal, helping the FBI nail her boss and the senator. I particularly liked the interaction between Dempsey and the agents. Very funny. She makes many very interesting friends along the way, with most of the town of Guthrie being a distant relative in one way or another. I have read other Mary Kay Andrews books and highly recommend them. www.marykayandrews.com/ Library book

Stealing WIth Style

2009-08-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

So I just finished Stealing with Style by Emyl Jenkins, which turned out to be a very fascinating book of tidbits of info. It is a mystery of sorts with the main character, named Sterling Glass, Glass being her married name but decided to keep it after the divorce. In fact Sterling is her third name, her first being Clara Elizabeth. Anyway, she is an antiques appraiser. And she writes a column on antiques for the paper, so the beginning of every chapter is a question and answer from each column and I learned a lot about antiques. The book is mostly about some antiques that are being smuggled out of old people houses by caregivers and then put up for auction. It is a very complicated scheme and the story was well written. I really liked the flow of the story with the influx of historical tidbits of knowledge. Sterling is drawn into this as an expert on antiques and helps solve breaking into the theft ring. With an interesting side story about old molds of Art Deco figurines that had been smuggled out of Germany in the war and now have surfaced. All were intertwined skillfully and proved to be a very engrossing book. It is a should read. I will now have to find her latest, The Big Steal. http://sterlingglassmysteries.com/

Quickie backread

2009-08-25T07:01:00.001-07:00

So if you may remember the beginning of August I read a book called Fat Chance by Rhonda Pollero and had then realized that she had written 2 books before in the series. Well, over the weekend I read the first two books: Knock off and Knock 'em Dead. This series is about 'Finley Anderson Tanner (F.A.T.), a 29-year-old West Palm Beach paralegal whose designer name-dropping prattle and discount shopaholicism obscure her smarts'. Yes, you do get a little sick of her details of the shopping hunt and her deals she makes. But it is funny. The first mystery dealt with a case that was pawned off on her by a senior partner thinking the client was bonkers, trying to get someone to listen about her husband's supposed accident. Only through long investigation do we find he was murdered along with other jurors who sat on the same trial. Along the way she is helped by a private PI who she instantly has the hots for. But she has a pilot boyfriend who is safe. Anyway, it was a pretty good read and so was the next one, that dealt with one of her friends being set up for a murder through a dating service. Okay the penis in the box was a little overboard but it is amusing that she is a regular yo-yo with the law firm. Constantly getting let go and coming back. She has a tendency for getting into trouble and coming in late. Like I said these books are a good read, with the shopping details a little old after a while. I will watch for future books.

Magical Sugar Maple

2009-08-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have really gotten into this new series by Barbara Bretton. The first book, Casting Spells, sets up the scene. A little town, hamlet more like, tucked between two mountains in NW Vermont. It will remind you of Old Salem a little. Anyway, the villagers in this town are all magical beings - vampires, werewolves, witches, fae, silkies, and the list goes on. Chloe, our heroine of our story, is the mayor and half sorceress and protector of the town. She also owns the knitting store in town called Sticks and Strings, where your yarn never gets tangled. In this first book, you get introduced to Luke, a human law enforcement agent investigating the drowning of his friend. It a really interesting tale of how he solves the crime, with Chloe's help and falls in love with her and stays on a police chief. It is a very fun read and a keeper. So I was looking forward to her next one , Laced with Magic, with equal hunger and wasn't let down. Again a very fun read and a keeper. In this one Luke's ex wife shows up in town with delusions of seeing their dead daughter but it was really a diversion on a much larger scale from the fiend who gets dispersed in the first book. A Bad Fae. The story flows well and is very entertaining. Only one disturbing love scene during a earthquake like scene but heh, the whole book leaves you smiling while turning pages. These books are must reads and I hope Barbara keeps them coming.

Another knit lit book

2009-08-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

So I have now finished the second Sweetgum Ladies Knit Lit 'Knit for Love' by Beth Pattillo. A book I recommended for the library to get since they had the first one. I do that alot. Recommend that they continue on with series. And they usually listen. This is story about a group of women, all ages, who get together to talk books and knit. This new year, it comes with a theme - Great Love Stories in Literature and pairing them with specific stitches. What's interesting about this book is how you end up comparing the lives of the women to the characters in the books they read. So each woman has a troubled love life and they all don't really get worked out, just like in the books but the story of their trials and tribulations is enthralling. You really should read these if you are into lite women's fiction. I wish there were more talk about the knitting part but the character study was just right. But I would said the most enticing part is about Eugenie and her recent marriage to the town preacher, who she had fallen for 40 years ago and just recently reunited with. I felt for her that she thought she had to defend her right to be married to him. Like she wasn't good enough for him in the congregation's eyes.

She's NQR

2009-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

That's part of the description on the back of the book is about my next title - Land of a Hundred Wonders by Lesley Kagen. How it really reads is 'Brain Damaged after a tragic car accident that took both her parents, Gibby is now NQR (Not Quite Right), a real challenge for a fledgling newspaper reporter...' I found this story had a touch of everything - romance, mystery, laughs, crying, revelations, racism and mysticism. Gibby lives with her Grandfather since the accident, living with memory losses and a tendency to cuss up a blue streak without her knowing it. She stumbles across a body of someone transpiring to be the next governor of Kentucky, and doesn't tell anyone because she wants to figure out who did it before she does, with the help of her handy book, The Importance of Perception in Meticulous Investigation. Told you she is a little off. In the meantime she is slowly remembering things, becoming enlightened as she goes along, as well as is believing that some day she will be Quite Right. She is a very lovably character and it is truly interesting watching the story unfold. By the way, Land of a Hundred Wonders is a antique store/fortune telling parlor with 100 signs that line the front of the house that relay deep thoughts like: Wonder #15 - The highway of life hardly ever takes you to where you're heading. It's a cute should read. www.lesleykagen.com/

Rocking birthday weekend

2009-08-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, it was my birthday today and I am extremely happy to admit that this one was the best I have had in 20 years. I am humbled and deeply moved at the same time. I love my friends and co-workers for there gifts and goodwishes.
Soooo I also read 2 really, really good books. The first one I knew without a glance that I would love it as I have loved everything else she wrote. I am talking about Kiss and Hell by Dakota Cassidy. This is a must read. She is fresh, contemporary and out there. The story is: Delaney can see dead people and has a demon for a BFF. She equates herself to the Ghostwhisperer. But she wasn't always that way. Only after her boyfriend freakishly dies and unknown to her, he has signed a deal with the devil, does she disperse his body parts for transplants. That messes up the devil's deal and she starts seeing ghosts. 15 years later, Clyde shows up, a heart recipient from the boyfriend, on a mission from the devil. To get Delaney to hell but he shouldn't have been down there to begin with and Delaney figures it out. It has style it has flare and it has many laughs. Another great one, Dakota!! www.dakotacassidy.com/
And then to top off the weekend I read 'A Little Light Magic' by Joy Nash. A very good fun romance that I totally enjoyed. Tori inherits a house in Atlantic City and decided to make it into a New Age shop. In walks Nick the contractor who is so opposite that the sparks fly. The story was attention keeping and I read it in one day. Good flow, good hot love scenes and good chemistry. And some family values thrown in with of course the usually misunderstandings that weren't done stupidly. That makes a difference to me. Conflicts that are ridiculously done. Another must read and I liked it a-lot. www.joynash.com/

Part two quilting

2009-08-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

So I finally finish the second book in the Shenandoah Album series by Emilie Richards, Endless Chain. Again a long book but this one doesn't seem to be centered around the quilting like the last. This centered around a refugee from Guatemala, Elisa, who shows up in Toms Brook as a result a sort of a coup in her country. Her mother had originally been from there and so she felt she would be safe. The main story is about her and her waiting for her brother who escaped the country about the same time but they got seperated. In the process, she falls in love with the pastor of the church, Sam, where she works as a sexton. At the same time, she is working at a nursing home where interestingly her grandmother is. There is racial unrest around the church due to its mission for the Latino children in a old Civil War house, who you learn was in the Underground railroad. This is another nice read and will continue on with the series.
I also had started to read Norse Code and gave up about half way through as I was getting confused with all the history and characters. Too much information to process and I actually didn't like the story, when I thought I might. The author really didn't prove to me that Odin myths would work in today's society. So I rated it a don't bother.

Weird book weekend

2009-08-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

That's what I am calling it and sticking to it. The word that came to me over the first book was freaky. I read 'Hothouse Flower and the 9 Plants of Desire' by Margot Berwin. Of course the whole book centers around plants. A newly divorced babe moves into a newly renovated apartment in NY and decides she wants foliage for it. She finds it first, at a outdoor vendor, in the way of a Bird of Paradise plant. Hard to grow, I would have thought. But from there she moves up to a $200 chinese windmill palm tree, imagine it, with a croton thrown in and a mild interest in the plant guy. In amongst this action, she wonders into a laundramat with a dash of rainforest thrown in and meets Armand. He explains the 9 plants of deasire and how they affect your life. While shes proving herself worthy of learning about the 9 plants, the outdoor plant vendor swoops in and steals the 9 plants from the laundramat, because he knows the value of the plants. From there, Lila, the babe, gets drawn into an over the border adventure searching for replacements for the plants and finds a hunk, while trying to evade the outdoor vendor badguy. I say it was a nice, bizaare read. After that one, I went onto another strange book called 'Embrace the Grim Reaper' by Judy Clemens. In this one, the women is a victim of a tragic car accident that took the life of her husband and newborn child. The car company representatives are in a tizzy over it and trying to sweep it under the rug. Casey decides she has had enough and hitchhikes it out of town to get lost. She ends up in a small midwestern town of Clymer, which is dying due to the closing of a appliance factory. She gets drawn into a recent death of an ex employee who supposedly committed suicide but no one thinks she would do it. Through lots of twists and turns she solves the mystery with the help of her co hort - Death. Yes, the Grim Reaper himself is helping her solve the crime. He is a somewhat likeable character that shows up at odd times and offers quips to make her think. I gather this is a series but was a little disturbed by how this book ended. I won't give it away. I would recommend this book as a should read, more for the entertainment value with the Grim Reaper. www.judyclemens.com/

Cold Case Mystery

2009-08-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

I noticed that quite a few of the last few mysteries were ones that included cold case mysteries. I mean 'Black Hills' had a cold case murder that affected that was perpetrated by the serial killer. 'The House on Tradd Street' was another one. The one I just finished was 'Death Books a Return: A Scrappy Librarian Mystery' by Marion Moore Hill. It is apparently the second book in the series, again something unknown to me at the time I looked at this book. I may have to find the first one because this one was pretty good. The murder was a ethnic one set in 1959 and our heroine, a librarian named Juanita, decided to write up kind of a history of her town. Specifically this murder that had been swept under the carpet. It took a lot of poking and persistence on her part talking to both the African Americans and the white folks involved. A pretty good account of life and times back then. She had to carefully sift through all the information that she picked up until she figured out who did it. All on her own. And then it was almost too late but she held up under the pressure. Even after being badly tousled on a carnival ride, ending up in the hospital. This is a nice read. Got it from the library. Marion Moore Hill also writes another series that I will also check into. Check her website out. www.marionmoorehill.com/.

Cougar country

2009-08-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

I just finished Black Hills by Nora Roberts and have mixed reviews about it. It is a Nora Roberts. Guaranteed a good read. What I liked about it first was I anticipated it be more about the Black hills. But that is where it was set, not much there. First and foremost it is a love story about Lil and Coop, who meet up in the first part and become friends as kids. Second part they are 10 years older and realized they have always loved each other and they make out right before each goes on their merry way to chosen professions. Third part is when it gets a little more interesting, 10 years later. They have grown apart and have got a lot of hurt to deal with. Lil now has a wildlife refuge for cats and other local critters and been there, done that around the world to different refuges. Coop was a cop in NY until him and his partner get shot and then he goes into PI work. They find themselves both back in SD. There is a psycho serial killer that has it in for Lil apparently, and he 'hunts' her. Coop is her protector and together they solve the crime. Lots of turmoil with emotions. It was drawn out a little more than I would have thought needed. But it was very enjoyable. It is a should read. I was the first person to check this book out from the library due to reserving it with anticipation. Good thing because I doubt I would have bought it.

Shoppers book

2009-08-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

I figured out that quite a few of the books I read mention shopping and brand names. Ever since Devil Wears Prada which I read the book then watched the movie and the book is 10 times better. Meryl Strep should have been bitchy-er. Well, Fat Chance by Rhonda Pellero is a fun summer shopping mystery. In this book, first for me from this author, Finlay Tanner finds herself the new owner of a cottage on a swanky beach road, thanks to her mom and deceased step-dad. What she was prepared for was #1, that it was trashed and listed for demo and #2, finding a skeleton in her closet. Finlay is a paralegal who shops for brand names systematically, on sale and on ebay. It seems to be the matter of the hunt with her. Anyway, through doing her job, gutting and renovating the house and taking night classes to get up on the new criminal laws due to being assigned to a new criminal lawyer partner, she tries to solve the case of the skeleton. This book talks about great friends, lots of sexual tension, and makes you want to run out and go shopping. I wasn't aware until after I started that there 2 books ahead of this one. So now I will have to backtrack on those but I am looking forward to waiting for the next one. It's a nice read. http://www.rhondapollero.com/

Jane Austen fans

2009-08-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Any Jane Austen fan would appreciate this book. In 'Jane Austen Ruined my Life' by Beth Pattilo, we find a English professor specializing in Jane Austen, Emma Grant, yes named after Emma, feeling that Jane Austen was wrong with the happily ever after thought. So after ditching her cheating husband and losing her job because of her lying personal assistant, who is the one the husband was cheating with, she sets out on an adventure locating lost Jane Austen letters. She goes to England, where she is set upon tasks by a group called the Formidables, people who have been hiding the letters from prying eyes. These tasks take her to Jane Austen places and shows her a side of Jane Austen she never knew. The point being to find if she is worthy of viewing the letters. The story is quite good, kept you involved and I learned a lot about Jane Austen. It inspires you to read or reread her books. This author has also written the Sweetgum Knit Lit Society books which I also highly recommend. www.bethpattillo.com

Funny mysteries

2009-07-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read Laura Levine Jaine Austin's mysteries, you are missing out on very funny books. Jaine Austen, supposedly no relation, is a freelance writer, mostly writing ads for customers. (And they are very funny.) Anyway, she finds herself thrust into situations that drag her into solving them, like a friend getting killed with a thighmaster. I got turned onto these books by an independent book seller and she was right about them. So I have read them all and just finished her lastest, Killer Cruise. On this one she is approached to get a free cruise in exchange for teaching a class on writing memoirs because the previous author couldn't make it. So off she goes, with her cat stowing away in the suitcase. Only about 5 people sign up for the class including a couple renewing their vows only to get into a fight over their memories of their first date. An on board escort gets ice picked and she is going to figure out who did it. With many trips to the 24 hr buffet for food for the cat and stealing sand out of the on-board sand box, she spends most of her time evading the on board sculptor who can sculpt out of anything - including jello. These are should read books for a good laugh.

I see dead people.

2009-07-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I just finished a I see dead people book. And I loved it. It is a must read I feel. The House on Tradd Street by Karen White is a story about a realtor who gets invited to a old victorian house that she is supposedly going to list. The elderly gentleman who greets her mystifies her with questions and then sends her on her way. He passes 2 days later and leaves her his house and estate on the condition she live there for 1 year and renovate it while solving the reason why his mother left him mysteriously. The book has lots of suspense, a little romance, interesting ghosts, reconnection with family and a lively treasure hunt. There are lots of old family secrets from hers and the old mans family to uncover that are intertwined. http://www.karen-white.com/

Good garbage?

2009-07-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Evil Justice by Evan marshall is the second in a series of cozies named the Hidden Manhattan Mysteries. I started with this author, who is a literary agent, with his Jane Stuart mysteries. His new series has the solver as a sanitation supervisor named Anna Winthrop. Anna has worked her way up the ladder to sup and has found herself solving crimes. The story centers around a serial killer called the Ankh killer, who carves an ankh on the chest of his victims. It even had a blackmail scam, underground exploring and a socialite doing community service. This was a nice read. It may be a little farfetched with the sanitation worker aspect but the story is good and different. It had more than one mystery going on but tied it all in well. It even had a cliffhanger that gets left open to be continued I'm sure in a future book. http://www.evan-marshall.com/

A Diary

2009-07-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

I know in a previous post I mentioned I was done with diaries but this one caught my attention. To explain that, I should say I am mostly a visual book picker. I am attracted by cover pictures, then titles and then synopsis of the story. I am usually not persuaded by reviews. I usually don't read a best seller or if I do it was because I found out about it before it was out for sale and before it made the best seller list. I anticipate books. Look forward to them from reading about them ahead of time, not by what a reviewer said about them. So why I do I go through all the trouble of reviewing them myself? Do I really think someone will read a book because I said it was good? Doubt it. We all have different tastes and read books for different reasons. But at least books make me feel things that I have recently discovered I enjoy expressing through this blog. Why I am doing this. A wonderful novelty. Now I will let you in on another new thing for me. A rating system I finally figured out. In order of how good I think a book is: #1 - Absolutely have to read, #2 - must read, #3 - should read, #4 nice read. #5 - don't really bother.
So I read 'A Diary' by Eileen Goudge and was very impressed. I would rate it a should read. This is the first of her books I read. I was intrigued by the idea of discovering this diary while cleaning out their parents house by two daughters while their mother lies dying. This book actually brought a tear to my eye at one point. Hard to do. This book drew me into the story of their mother back in the 50's when she was finding herself and who she should marry. For love or for security. It is a dilemma that I have been to myself. Marrying someone that you know will be a good provider and a safe bet that you love but are not in love with, against someone who brings out the passion in you but may not be a good prospect for a future. Which do you choose. In the 50's, what your mother told you to do? You have to read the book to find out which she chooses. www.eileengoudge.com/