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
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Better than Twilight
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!
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
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Another St. Just mystery
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.
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
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!!!
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!!!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Lonely Hearts Club
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.
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.
Monday, April 19, 2010
The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton
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
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/
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