Summary:
EJ Ferris is a mall cop now, but she's a former Air Force investigative officer who was injured in the line of duty. She took the mall cop job while she hunts down a position in whatever police department will take her, though with a bum knee, the hunt is not going well. During her morning patrol through the throngs of early-morning mall walkers, she finds a dead man in a boutique's display window. The investigating detective from the Vernonville PD hardly gives her the time of day, even though EJ's done some questioning already and just wants to help in any way she can. The detective dismisses her, showing just how highly he regards mall cops. Even though the detective explicitly orders EJ to stay out of the way, she can't fight her investigatory nature, and after two more bodies are found, she devotes her time to finding out who the killer is.
Thoughts:
Really well written. DiSilverio is great at spinning the story so you can't quite put all of the story together until the very end. I had suspicions throughout, but there was always a new clue that could distract from one suspect and bring up two more. There were enough curiosities that the murders could be connected, but then again, they could not be. EJ is a really strong character, too, great at solving the little dilemmas that come to a mall cop's attention, and smart enough to find the loose ends of the murder plots to tie up neatly. And since this is the first in a series, it has just enough loose ends that it leaves you wanting more, and soon! I'll definitely be continuing on with this series. Yes please.
Book 27 of 50
Pages: 288
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Absolutely. Especially if you've ever worked retail, and particularly at a mall.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
The Bling Ring (Nancy Jo Sales)
Summary:
A non-fiction narrative of the breaking-and-entering crime spree plaguing celebs from 2008 to 2009. It discusses the time line and the accomplices through interviews with the culprits themselves. Sales previously wrote an article about the crime ring, dubbed "The Bling Ring" by TMZ and the media, and then expanded on that for this book. The book discusses the curiosity and expectations teens and young adults are beginning to have about celebrities and becoming one themselves. This book is the basis for the movie of the same name produced by Sofia Ford Coppola.
Thoughts:
This could not possibly be drier. The way that Sales lays out the conversations with the Bling Ring suspects is bland, and she hops from interview to introspection to interview with little to no segues, sometimes within the same chapter. I was curious about the book because I heard about the movie and heard there was a book about it, and of course I'm going to read the book first. The book took me far too long to read, because the writing was lacking in any emotion or interest. The subject matter is really quite interesting. A bunch of teenagers broke into celebrity homes and stole clothes, purses, cash, even intimate items and a hand gun. It really could have been a more intriguing book, if only it were written with a better narrative style. I was happy to be done with it.
Book 26 of 50
Pages: 288
Genre: non-fiction
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Meh, it's borderline readable.
A non-fiction narrative of the breaking-and-entering crime spree plaguing celebs from 2008 to 2009. It discusses the time line and the accomplices through interviews with the culprits themselves. Sales previously wrote an article about the crime ring, dubbed "The Bling Ring" by TMZ and the media, and then expanded on that for this book. The book discusses the curiosity and expectations teens and young adults are beginning to have about celebrities and becoming one themselves. This book is the basis for the movie of the same name produced by Sofia Ford Coppola.
Thoughts:
This could not possibly be drier. The way that Sales lays out the conversations with the Bling Ring suspects is bland, and she hops from interview to introspection to interview with little to no segues, sometimes within the same chapter. I was curious about the book because I heard about the movie and heard there was a book about it, and of course I'm going to read the book first. The book took me far too long to read, because the writing was lacking in any emotion or interest. The subject matter is really quite interesting. A bunch of teenagers broke into celebrity homes and stole clothes, purses, cash, even intimate items and a hand gun. It really could have been a more intriguing book, if only it were written with a better narrative style. I was happy to be done with it.
Book 26 of 50
Pages: 288
Genre: non-fiction
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Meh, it's borderline readable.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Heartburn (Nora Ephron)
Summary:
Rachel is a successful food writer, a published cookbook author, and seven months pregnant with her second child. She's blindsided when her husband, Mark, tells her that he's in love with someone else, and he's not going to leave the other woman. What follows is the breaking down of a marriage, the realizations of when he was cheating, and where, and who knew it was going on before Rachel did. Rachel tries to see the bright side of all of it, but who wants to be a pregnant woman going through a divorce?
Thoughts:
This was really difficult to read. Not only because of the subject matter, but because it was so dryly written. I loved Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. They're go-to romantic comedy gold for me, and When Harry Met Sally... is another great movie. I knew Nora Ephron could write great things, and I was looking forward to reading something from her. I was sadly disappointed. The book took me nearly two weeks to wade through. That's an EPIC amount of time for something that is literally 178 pages. 178 pages. I could've read it in the space of a few hours if I'd put my mind to it. Particularly because it talks through 15 different recipes. But it was so damn dismal. I had to force myself to get through it. Now granted, this book was published in 1983, so its references were bound to be stale. But the whole thing was completely depressing, and Rachel was so downtrodden through the whole ordeal. Rachel was also very stereotypically Jewish and wore her religion like a banner on her chest throughout. I understand that Jewish people are sometimes like that, and I don't have a problem with it by any means, as they have every right to proclaim their religious affiliation. But it did make it all the more difficult to relate to Rachel. (A side note: I'm a Presbyterian, a protestant. I have no problems with religion. If Rachel was stereotypically Presbyterian or Catholic or Baptist or Lutheran or Atheist or anything else, I'd probably still be put off by it. It just irks when people exaggerate such things that don't have much other reason to exist within a book. I find it boring and unnecessary.) The cover carries with it three quotes from the Chicago Tribune, The NY Times Book Review, and Harper's Bazaar, all singing the book's praises, of course. But I disagree with all three. The Tribune wrote at the time, "Funny and touching... proof that writing well is the best revenge." I didn't laugh. I just hurt for the poor woman. Sure, I hated the cheating husband, but it's not hard to do that when he's, y'know. A cheating husband. The Times wrote, "Great fun... Though Heartburn bristles ferociously with wit, it's not lacking in soul." It wasn't fun. It wasn't witty. It was depressing. And Harper's Bazaar. "Nora Ephron's first novel is warm, witty, and wise." Nope, nope, nope. It was almost clinical, and cynical, and sad. I hate to say it, but it just broke the heart the whole way through. The only light-hearted bit was at the end where there was a pie thrown in Mark's face. I might've laughed if not for the reason why she felt the need to throw the pie, and the fact that a page and a half later, Rachel talks about when they were expecting their first child, and Mark used to sing her to sleep and sing her awake and how sweet it used to be, and all I felt was sad for her that her husband was a complete bastard. Completely depressing. COMPLETELY.
Book 25 of 50
Pages: 178
Genre: fiction
Grade: D-
Would I Recommend?: Wanna be depressed? Then read this. Want to smile and remember Nora Ephron's great work? Watch When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. They'll make you smile far more than this ever will.
Rachel is a successful food writer, a published cookbook author, and seven months pregnant with her second child. She's blindsided when her husband, Mark, tells her that he's in love with someone else, and he's not going to leave the other woman. What follows is the breaking down of a marriage, the realizations of when he was cheating, and where, and who knew it was going on before Rachel did. Rachel tries to see the bright side of all of it, but who wants to be a pregnant woman going through a divorce?
Thoughts:
This was really difficult to read. Not only because of the subject matter, but because it was so dryly written. I loved Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. They're go-to romantic comedy gold for me, and When Harry Met Sally... is another great movie. I knew Nora Ephron could write great things, and I was looking forward to reading something from her. I was sadly disappointed. The book took me nearly two weeks to wade through. That's an EPIC amount of time for something that is literally 178 pages. 178 pages. I could've read it in the space of a few hours if I'd put my mind to it. Particularly because it talks through 15 different recipes. But it was so damn dismal. I had to force myself to get through it. Now granted, this book was published in 1983, so its references were bound to be stale. But the whole thing was completely depressing, and Rachel was so downtrodden through the whole ordeal. Rachel was also very stereotypically Jewish and wore her religion like a banner on her chest throughout. I understand that Jewish people are sometimes like that, and I don't have a problem with it by any means, as they have every right to proclaim their religious affiliation. But it did make it all the more difficult to relate to Rachel. (A side note: I'm a Presbyterian, a protestant. I have no problems with religion. If Rachel was stereotypically Presbyterian or Catholic or Baptist or Lutheran or Atheist or anything else, I'd probably still be put off by it. It just irks when people exaggerate such things that don't have much other reason to exist within a book. I find it boring and unnecessary.) The cover carries with it three quotes from the Chicago Tribune, The NY Times Book Review, and Harper's Bazaar, all singing the book's praises, of course. But I disagree with all three. The Tribune wrote at the time, "Funny and touching... proof that writing well is the best revenge." I didn't laugh. I just hurt for the poor woman. Sure, I hated the cheating husband, but it's not hard to do that when he's, y'know. A cheating husband. The Times wrote, "Great fun... Though Heartburn bristles ferociously with wit, it's not lacking in soul." It wasn't fun. It wasn't witty. It was depressing. And Harper's Bazaar. "Nora Ephron's first novel is warm, witty, and wise." Nope, nope, nope. It was almost clinical, and cynical, and sad. I hate to say it, but it just broke the heart the whole way through. The only light-hearted bit was at the end where there was a pie thrown in Mark's face. I might've laughed if not for the reason why she felt the need to throw the pie, and the fact that a page and a half later, Rachel talks about when they were expecting their first child, and Mark used to sing her to sleep and sing her awake and how sweet it used to be, and all I felt was sad for her that her husband was a complete bastard. Completely depressing. COMPLETELY.
Book 25 of 50
Pages: 178
Genre: fiction
Grade: D-
Would I Recommend?: Wanna be depressed? Then read this. Want to smile and remember Nora Ephron's great work? Watch When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. They'll make you smile far more than this ever will.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Notorious Nineteen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
It's slow again at the bond office, until Stephanie lands a particularly strange skip. A guy was about to go to jail for embezzling millions from an old folks' home when he mysteriously disappears from the hospital treating him for an appendectomy. Steph is charged with finding him, but succeeds in finding that he was in far deeper than anyone knew. Steph has to find the skip, and figure out what's really going on, before someone winds up dead. Oh, and in the meantime, Stephanie is dealing with the idea of actually settling down and the thought of marriage. The first one went south quick, but with the two hunks she's got in her life, maybe she'll actually do okay with it this time around...
Thoughts:
Really good. The tension in the Morelli vs. Ranger conundrum Stephanie is dealing with, and has been for most of the series, is really starting to come to a head. The mystery bits and the romance bits have really evened out, to the point that I've just sat here for several minutes pondering the mashed adjective that would best describe these books. (Romanstery? Mystermance? I didn't get too far.) I've appreciated that the skips Steph has to chase don't seem to get old. Evanovich has found the exact right formula for formula-breaking. She never ceases to make me wonder what exactly Steph is going to have to deal with next. I have found so many times that the mystery stuff becomes a by-rote mechanism with so many other series, where Evanovich is making things interesting and engaging her readers at every turn, which is absolutely not easy to do when you're already eighteen books into a series, twenty-two if you count the "Between the Numbers" books as well. In finishing this installment of the Plum series, I've actually gone and caught up to the rest of the world. It's been worth the time and effort of it. Truly. It's taken me nearly a year and a half to best the series, (One for the Money's post went up 5/20/12, though I'd finished it some time in April), but keep in mind that I've read thirty-eight other books between the Plum installments. I don't regret reading a single word of it, either. Stephanie Plum drew me into her crazy, car-exploding, felon-chasing, hot-man-filled world, and I'd like to stay please. Now I just have to wait with the masses for the next book to come along. But don't you worry. Once it's out, I'll be all over it! Keep your eyes peeled in November, friends.
Book 24 of 50
Pages: 322
Genre: mystery with a side of romance
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Read the rest first.
It's slow again at the bond office, until Stephanie lands a particularly strange skip. A guy was about to go to jail for embezzling millions from an old folks' home when he mysteriously disappears from the hospital treating him for an appendectomy. Steph is charged with finding him, but succeeds in finding that he was in far deeper than anyone knew. Steph has to find the skip, and figure out what's really going on, before someone winds up dead. Oh, and in the meantime, Stephanie is dealing with the idea of actually settling down and the thought of marriage. The first one went south quick, but with the two hunks she's got in her life, maybe she'll actually do okay with it this time around...
Thoughts:
Really good. The tension in the Morelli vs. Ranger conundrum Stephanie is dealing with, and has been for most of the series, is really starting to come to a head. The mystery bits and the romance bits have really evened out, to the point that I've just sat here for several minutes pondering the mashed adjective that would best describe these books. (Romanstery? Mystermance? I didn't get too far.) I've appreciated that the skips Steph has to chase don't seem to get old. Evanovich has found the exact right formula for formula-breaking. She never ceases to make me wonder what exactly Steph is going to have to deal with next. I have found so many times that the mystery stuff becomes a by-rote mechanism with so many other series, where Evanovich is making things interesting and engaging her readers at every turn, which is absolutely not easy to do when you're already eighteen books into a series, twenty-two if you count the "Between the Numbers" books as well. In finishing this installment of the Plum series, I've actually gone and caught up to the rest of the world. It's been worth the time and effort of it. Truly. It's taken me nearly a year and a half to best the series, (One for the Money's post went up 5/20/12, though I'd finished it some time in April), but keep in mind that I've read thirty-eight other books between the Plum installments. I don't regret reading a single word of it, either. Stephanie Plum drew me into her crazy, car-exploding, felon-chasing, hot-man-filled world, and I'd like to stay please. Now I just have to wait with the masses for the next book to come along. But don't you worry. Once it's out, I'll be all over it! Keep your eyes peeled in November, friends.
Book 24 of 50
Pages: 322
Genre: mystery with a side of romance
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Read the rest first.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
No Man of Mine (Rachel Gibson)
Summary:
Sam LeClaire is one of the Seattle Chinooks' bruisers with the body of Adonis. Autumn Haven is a red-headed spitfire event planner who also happens to be Sam's ex-wife. They met in Vegas and drunkly tied the knot after only knowing each other a few days and despite their hasty divorce, they will always be tied together by their son, Connor, the product of that crazy vacation. Autumn hates violence and hockey and Sam's penchant for being the neglectful father. Sam can't remember what he saw in the tiny woman who isn't his type at all. As Sam realizes he's getting older, he also realizes that he hasn't been very good to Connor, and now he's in the fight of his life- fighting to be the best father to his son.
Thoughts:
Predictable. Sadly so. At least there wasn't a big scary life-altering secret that could potentially come out as there was previously. (One was that the team owner was sleeping with a player, one was that a reporter was sleeping with a player, one was that the assistant was sleeping with a player, and one was that the ex-fiance of the owner was sleeping with a player.) And at least the player, Sam in this case, didn't retire after finally confessing his undying love. There IS a marriage proposal, though, and it also starts with a wedding of one of the previous couples. I swear, not a single woman who gets involved with the Chinook organization can help herself when it comes to the players on the team. One way or another, she's going to hook up with a player, even if it could cost her (or the chosen player) could lose her job. This couple, however, didn't have that terror hanging over them. They just had Connor, who might get confused, holding them apart. This was almost the most believable story line from this series, though it was still a little lame. I've wondered at times why I keep reading this series, but the answer becomes clear almost immediately. There's not a whole lot of fictional books that are written about a hockey team. So I push on and deal with it. Sadly.
Book 23 of 50
Pages: 384
Genre: Romance
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Meh. There's better ones in the series.
Sam LeClaire is one of the Seattle Chinooks' bruisers with the body of Adonis. Autumn Haven is a red-headed spitfire event planner who also happens to be Sam's ex-wife. They met in Vegas and drunkly tied the knot after only knowing each other a few days and despite their hasty divorce, they will always be tied together by their son, Connor, the product of that crazy vacation. Autumn hates violence and hockey and Sam's penchant for being the neglectful father. Sam can't remember what he saw in the tiny woman who isn't his type at all. As Sam realizes he's getting older, he also realizes that he hasn't been very good to Connor, and now he's in the fight of his life- fighting to be the best father to his son.
Thoughts:
Predictable. Sadly so. At least there wasn't a big scary life-altering secret that could potentially come out as there was previously. (One was that the team owner was sleeping with a player, one was that a reporter was sleeping with a player, one was that the assistant was sleeping with a player, and one was that the ex-fiance of the owner was sleeping with a player.) And at least the player, Sam in this case, didn't retire after finally confessing his undying love. There IS a marriage proposal, though, and it also starts with a wedding of one of the previous couples. I swear, not a single woman who gets involved with the Chinook organization can help herself when it comes to the players on the team. One way or another, she's going to hook up with a player, even if it could cost her (or the chosen player) could lose her job. This couple, however, didn't have that terror hanging over them. They just had Connor, who might get confused, holding them apart. This was almost the most believable story line from this series, though it was still a little lame. I've wondered at times why I keep reading this series, but the answer becomes clear almost immediately. There's not a whole lot of fictional books that are written about a hockey team. So I push on and deal with it. Sadly.
Book 23 of 50
Pages: 384
Genre: Romance
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Meh. There's better ones in the series.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Explosive Eighteen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Stephanie has just gotten back from a trip to Hawaii. Most people would be relaxed and content after a trip like that. But Stephanie is stuck in anxiety mode. She won't say what happened, but there's a tan line on her left ring finger, and she's not saying why. What's worse, the man that was sitting next to her on the first leg of her journey home winds up dead in an airport trash can, and she's being stalked by several people out to find what he was carrying back to New Jersey with him, a photo that she happens to have thrown out as soon as she got back home. She doesn't know who the person in the photograph is, and can only describe him as a cross between Tom Cruise and Ashton Kutcher. Lula has gone crazy and fallen for the biggest idiot (who also happens to be an FTA) and expects everyone to be okay with that. Joyce Barnhardt, Steph's nemesis who sometimes plays bounty hunter when she feels like it, has gone on the lamb too, but decides her best course of action would be to crash at Stephanie's place. Because that makes sense. Oh, and Morelli and Ranger are not really happy with her. For similar but opposite reasons. If only she could make up her mind...
Thoughts:
The way Ms. E left Seventeen, I couldn't help myself, and had to continue straight on to Eighteen. It did not disappoint. The tension between Steph and her guys is evident from the word go with this one, and watching her dodge all the questions about what happened in Hawaii is fun. I did feel a little like I was missing something when I first started into this one, and ran to Evanovich's website to see if there was a "Between the Numbers" book I had missed, but unless there's a short story or novella floating around that's unlisted on the site, there isn't anything. The whole story comes out as the book unfolds, but there's a few chapters where you're just as curious and confused as Stephanie's family and friends. It seems as though our girl Steph is starting to think about growing up and picking one man to be with. We'll see... Also, with finishing this book, I'm one book away from being completely caught up to this series. I'm going to have to find something else to read now! Horrors!
Book 22 of 50
Pages: 352
Genre: Mystery with romantical bits
Grade: A- for the ambiguity at the beginning.
Would I Recommend?:
Stephanie has just gotten back from a trip to Hawaii. Most people would be relaxed and content after a trip like that. But Stephanie is stuck in anxiety mode. She won't say what happened, but there's a tan line on her left ring finger, and she's not saying why. What's worse, the man that was sitting next to her on the first leg of her journey home winds up dead in an airport trash can, and she's being stalked by several people out to find what he was carrying back to New Jersey with him, a photo that she happens to have thrown out as soon as she got back home. She doesn't know who the person in the photograph is, and can only describe him as a cross between Tom Cruise and Ashton Kutcher. Lula has gone crazy and fallen for the biggest idiot (who also happens to be an FTA) and expects everyone to be okay with that. Joyce Barnhardt, Steph's nemesis who sometimes plays bounty hunter when she feels like it, has gone on the lamb too, but decides her best course of action would be to crash at Stephanie's place. Because that makes sense. Oh, and Morelli and Ranger are not really happy with her. For similar but opposite reasons. If only she could make up her mind...
Thoughts:
The way Ms. E left Seventeen, I couldn't help myself, and had to continue straight on to Eighteen. It did not disappoint. The tension between Steph and her guys is evident from the word go with this one, and watching her dodge all the questions about what happened in Hawaii is fun. I did feel a little like I was missing something when I first started into this one, and ran to Evanovich's website to see if there was a "Between the Numbers" book I had missed, but unless there's a short story or novella floating around that's unlisted on the site, there isn't anything. The whole story comes out as the book unfolds, but there's a few chapters where you're just as curious and confused as Stephanie's family and friends. It seems as though our girl Steph is starting to think about growing up and picking one man to be with. We'll see... Also, with finishing this book, I'm one book away from being completely caught up to this series. I'm going to have to find something else to read now! Horrors!
Book 22 of 50
Pages: 352
Genre: Mystery with romantical bits
Grade: A- for the ambiguity at the beginning.
Would I Recommend?:
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Smokin' Seventeen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
The bonds office is in desperate need of being rebuilt, and Vinnie is working on it. But there's a minor problem. Bodies keep showing up on the empty lot. Stephanie wants nothing to do with it, but of course Vinnie expects her to figure it out. Morelli's on the case, but it gets much worse when one of the bodies shows up with Stephanie's name attached. Ranger's keeping an eye on the situation too, since he runs security for the bond office. Stephanie is no closer to figuring out which of her two men she loves best, and since she can't make up her mind, her mother decides that a third, more stable option might be best. Dave graduated with Steph, was the star quarterback, and can cook like a dream. Too bad he won't leave her alone. Stephanie's got to figure out who is dumping the bodies, and who she loves best, before she goes crazy.
Thoughts:
The series had gotten into a bit of a lull in the overarching storyline for Stephanie, but this one really starts ramping it back up again. Evanovich's brilliance is nothing new to these eyes, but when she does so well, it's a joy to see. Steph has several steamy scenes with each of her menfolk, and you just can't help but love them both just as much as she does. The body dumping plot is exactly what Steph needs to distract her from her romantic dilemma. And Lula, as always, is spectacularly ridiculous. Just put the weapons away, Lula, and you'll be just fine.
Book 21 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery and romance in equal parts this time around
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Only if you've read the previous 16 books. If you haven't already, what the heck are you waiting for!? Get on it!
The bonds office is in desperate need of being rebuilt, and Vinnie is working on it. But there's a minor problem. Bodies keep showing up on the empty lot. Stephanie wants nothing to do with it, but of course Vinnie expects her to figure it out. Morelli's on the case, but it gets much worse when one of the bodies shows up with Stephanie's name attached. Ranger's keeping an eye on the situation too, since he runs security for the bond office. Stephanie is no closer to figuring out which of her two men she loves best, and since she can't make up her mind, her mother decides that a third, more stable option might be best. Dave graduated with Steph, was the star quarterback, and can cook like a dream. Too bad he won't leave her alone. Stephanie's got to figure out who is dumping the bodies, and who she loves best, before she goes crazy.
Thoughts:
The series had gotten into a bit of a lull in the overarching storyline for Stephanie, but this one really starts ramping it back up again. Evanovich's brilliance is nothing new to these eyes, but when she does so well, it's a joy to see. Steph has several steamy scenes with each of her menfolk, and you just can't help but love them both just as much as she does. The body dumping plot is exactly what Steph needs to distract her from her romantic dilemma. And Lula, as always, is spectacularly ridiculous. Just put the weapons away, Lula, and you'll be just fine.
Book 21 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery and romance in equal parts this time around
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Only if you've read the previous 16 books. If you haven't already, what the heck are you waiting for!? Get on it!
Saturday, June 29, 2013
1st to Die (James Patterson)
Summary:
Lindsey is a homicide detective in California who just got assigned the case of a double murder, a husband and wife on their wedding night, in their honeymoon suite, no less. It's brutal, and there's defilement and Lindsey has to fight to keep herself together. Cindy is a young reporter, trying to make it to feature writer. Claire is the city medical examiner, stuck at the bottom of the totem pole in her field. Jill is the assistant district attorney with nerves of steel. These four women band together to solve the Bride and Groom murders, of which two more cases come along, through sharing information and doing the big research outside their usual jurisdictions. Lindsey also has to deal with the added stress of having a seriously debilitating disease ravaging her body. Will they be able to find the deranged murderer before he kills another set of newlyweds before they get the chance to start their lives?
Thoughts:
Really, really good. This really held my attention. I listened as I drove to and from work for a few weeks, (my ride is maybe 10 minutes on a bad day) and there were a few days where I almost was late for work because I didn't want to get out of the car. The story is gripping, and the characters are really well fleshed-out. It makes total sense that this story is fantastic. It's James Effing Patterson. That said, I was riveted, and I'm definitely going to keep going with the series.
Book 20 of 50
Pages: 488, read as an audio book.
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Totally. It's Patterson. He's been a best-selling author for years for a good reason, people.
Lindsey is a homicide detective in California who just got assigned the case of a double murder, a husband and wife on their wedding night, in their honeymoon suite, no less. It's brutal, and there's defilement and Lindsey has to fight to keep herself together. Cindy is a young reporter, trying to make it to feature writer. Claire is the city medical examiner, stuck at the bottom of the totem pole in her field. Jill is the assistant district attorney with nerves of steel. These four women band together to solve the Bride and Groom murders, of which two more cases come along, through sharing information and doing the big research outside their usual jurisdictions. Lindsey also has to deal with the added stress of having a seriously debilitating disease ravaging her body. Will they be able to find the deranged murderer before he kills another set of newlyweds before they get the chance to start their lives?
Thoughts:
Really, really good. This really held my attention. I listened as I drove to and from work for a few weeks, (my ride is maybe 10 minutes on a bad day) and there were a few days where I almost was late for work because I didn't want to get out of the car. The story is gripping, and the characters are really well fleshed-out. It makes total sense that this story is fantastic. It's James Effing Patterson. That said, I was riveted, and I'm definitely going to keep going with the series.
Book 20 of 50
Pages: 488, read as an audio book.
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Totally. It's Patterson. He's been a best-selling author for years for a good reason, people.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Bridesmaid Lotto (Rachel Astor)
Summary:
Everyone who knows Josie is telling her that she should enter the Bridesmaid Lotto. The lotto is a contest that gives four women the chance to be a bridesmaid to a well-known celebrity whose hunky future brother-in-law the movie star has just announced that he's single and looking to settle down with the right girl. Josie thinks the whole thing is a ridiculous idea and refuses to enter, though she's always had a crush on the movie star brother-in-law. When the winners are announced, Josie wins a spot in the bridal party, thanks to her overbearing, meddling mother who wants nothing more than to marry Josie off and have more grandchildren in the family. Josie has to deal with her fellow bridesmaids as they get ready for the big day. Rebecca is a snobbish, little-known model, Bobbi-Lynn is a sweet but talkative girl-from-the-sticks, but thankfully Jennifer is a normal IT chick. Josie is all the more anxious about the whole predicament thanks to her incurable klutziness. She even keeps what she calls her "Disaster Diary," filling it with her embarrassing moments, to keep herself grounded as she spends more and more time with New York's "glitterati." Her best work friend makes her his newest styling project, making sure she looks presentable at all the necessary functions, and her long time friend and roommate is completely supportive, despite desperately wanting to win the contest herself. But how will she ever get the hunky movie star to fall for her?
Thoughts:
A tip for those wanting to self-publish: PROOFREAD YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I wanted to pull out a red pen on this book. Thankfully it was on my Kindle so I could resist the urge. One of the worst offenses was when she spelled the movie star's name (Jake Hall) with a 1. It was at the end of an exclamatory sentence, so it turned out to be "Jake Hal1!" I can't even do that when I'm TRYING to do it! If you want to really be respected in the literary world, even in the cheesy realms of romance novels, you absolutely must edit your work. Don't just read it a couple of times yourself. Have a friend proofread it. Step back from your work and read it 3 months down the road, after you've forgotten what you were intending. There were so many is/if/in/us errors, and the "Jake and me" vs. "Jake and I" issues, it was truly distracting. Now, don't get me wrong. The story idea is pretty fun, especially for a romance/chick lit type of book. And it reads VERY quickly. I think I managed the whole thing in a matter of four or five hours at most. But the characters are walking cliches, the plot has more holes than a Dunkin Donuts, and the writing is atrocious. Astor is clearly Mary-Sue-ing her way through this series. Come now, Miss Astor. After clearly stating in your Amazon author bio that at least one of Josie's Disaster Diary entries from each of the three books in the series are real instances from your past, you can't think that you'll hide the fact that your childhood nickname was most likely "Rachel Astor the Disaster." They say right what you know, sure, but at least make it a little less obvious. Please, Miss Astor, stop while you're behind. Thankfully, I downloaded the Kindle version when it was on a free promotion, which looks like it might be a constant thing, as the book was still listed as free the last time I checked, but no guarantees. At least I didn't spend any money on this crap.
Book 19 of 50
Pages: 230, read as an e-book
Genre: Romance/chick lit
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Meh. If you have absolutely nothing else better to read, the book is on free download, and you're not a grammar Nazi, then sure. Otherwise, find something else better that's also free at the moment. I'm sure there's plenty!
Everyone who knows Josie is telling her that she should enter the Bridesmaid Lotto. The lotto is a contest that gives four women the chance to be a bridesmaid to a well-known celebrity whose hunky future brother-in-law the movie star has just announced that he's single and looking to settle down with the right girl. Josie thinks the whole thing is a ridiculous idea and refuses to enter, though she's always had a crush on the movie star brother-in-law. When the winners are announced, Josie wins a spot in the bridal party, thanks to her overbearing, meddling mother who wants nothing more than to marry Josie off and have more grandchildren in the family. Josie has to deal with her fellow bridesmaids as they get ready for the big day. Rebecca is a snobbish, little-known model, Bobbi-Lynn is a sweet but talkative girl-from-the-sticks, but thankfully Jennifer is a normal IT chick. Josie is all the more anxious about the whole predicament thanks to her incurable klutziness. She even keeps what she calls her "Disaster Diary," filling it with her embarrassing moments, to keep herself grounded as she spends more and more time with New York's "glitterati." Her best work friend makes her his newest styling project, making sure she looks presentable at all the necessary functions, and her long time friend and roommate is completely supportive, despite desperately wanting to win the contest herself. But how will she ever get the hunky movie star to fall for her?
Thoughts:
A tip for those wanting to self-publish: PROOFREAD YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I wanted to pull out a red pen on this book. Thankfully it was on my Kindle so I could resist the urge. One of the worst offenses was when she spelled the movie star's name (Jake Hall) with a 1. It was at the end of an exclamatory sentence, so it turned out to be "Jake Hal1!" I can't even do that when I'm TRYING to do it! If you want to really be respected in the literary world, even in the cheesy realms of romance novels, you absolutely must edit your work. Don't just read it a couple of times yourself. Have a friend proofread it. Step back from your work and read it 3 months down the road, after you've forgotten what you were intending. There were so many is/if/in/us errors, and the "Jake and me" vs. "Jake and I" issues, it was truly distracting. Now, don't get me wrong. The story idea is pretty fun, especially for a romance/chick lit type of book. And it reads VERY quickly. I think I managed the whole thing in a matter of four or five hours at most. But the characters are walking cliches, the plot has more holes than a Dunkin Donuts, and the writing is atrocious. Astor is clearly Mary-Sue-ing her way through this series. Come now, Miss Astor. After clearly stating in your Amazon author bio that at least one of Josie's Disaster Diary entries from each of the three books in the series are real instances from your past, you can't think that you'll hide the fact that your childhood nickname was most likely "Rachel Astor the Disaster." They say right what you know, sure, but at least make it a little less obvious. Please, Miss Astor, stop while you're behind. Thankfully, I downloaded the Kindle version when it was on a free promotion, which looks like it might be a constant thing, as the book was still listed as free the last time I checked, but no guarantees. At least I didn't spend any money on this crap.
Book 19 of 50
Pages: 230, read as an e-book
Genre: Romance/chick lit
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Meh. If you have absolutely nothing else better to read, the book is on free download, and you're not a grammar Nazi, then sure. Otherwise, find something else better that's also free at the moment. I'm sure there's plenty!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Knit One, Kill Two (Maggie Sefton)
Summary:
Kelly Flynn's aunt Helen was just murdered in her home in Colorado. They have the man in custody, a vagrant with a history of violence. But Kelly's not convinced. She finds out from Helen's attorney that she took out a mortgage on her home to get $20,000 for some mysterious reason, and the investigating officer tells her that Helen was found with a broken knitting needle on the ground nearby, and her knitting was nowhere to be found. Helen lived in a cottage next to what used to be her family home with her long-deceased husband, which has been refurbished into a cafe in one half of the house, and a yarn shop in the other half. Now Kelly has to figure out how best to handle Helen's home, so she can get back to her life in DC. But she can't even consider leaving until she finds out why Helen needed all that money, and who really killed her, and all Helen's friends from the yarn shop have vowed to help.
Thoughts:
I wanted so much to like this. I really did. But it just didn't do it. When reading a mystery novel, one expects most of the plot to be devoted to following the main character in her hunt to solve the mystery. Sure, you see Kelly finding out lots about her aunt that she never knew. But so much time is spent talking about Kelly's fear of knitting (because she'll get bored/it won't come out nice/but she doesn't know how) and the amateur sleuthing takes a backseat to how luscious the yarns feel and how soft and colorful and if I had to read one more word about the kaleidoscope of colors in the yarn store, I think I would've screamed. There was obviously something that would have happened with the only guy in the book that's Kelly's age, but he's almost nonexistent for most of the book, except when he shows up to flirt with her a little. The book really deals more with Kelly's insecurities and her decisions of what to do about Helen's house and her making friends with Helen's old friends from the knitting shop than with the murder itself. And when the murder is finally solved, the book ends right there. Barely any epilogue of "I'm staying in Colorado." Just "let's go sit on the porch so I can digest this." As I said, I wanted to like this book. I wanted to love it, really. But I just couldn't get past the droning nature of the book. It went on and on about nothing at all, and didn't get interesting (and start really solving the murder) until the last 75 pages or so. I can understand some of the character development with the knit shop ladies, but the book really delves farther into them than it does into the murder, and when it's a murder mystery, that's really not okay.
Book 18 of 50
Pages: 273
Genre: Mystery
Grade: D+
Would I Recommend?: Not really, sadly...
Kelly Flynn's aunt Helen was just murdered in her home in Colorado. They have the man in custody, a vagrant with a history of violence. But Kelly's not convinced. She finds out from Helen's attorney that she took out a mortgage on her home to get $20,000 for some mysterious reason, and the investigating officer tells her that Helen was found with a broken knitting needle on the ground nearby, and her knitting was nowhere to be found. Helen lived in a cottage next to what used to be her family home with her long-deceased husband, which has been refurbished into a cafe in one half of the house, and a yarn shop in the other half. Now Kelly has to figure out how best to handle Helen's home, so she can get back to her life in DC. But she can't even consider leaving until she finds out why Helen needed all that money, and who really killed her, and all Helen's friends from the yarn shop have vowed to help.
Thoughts:
I wanted so much to like this. I really did. But it just didn't do it. When reading a mystery novel, one expects most of the plot to be devoted to following the main character in her hunt to solve the mystery. Sure, you see Kelly finding out lots about her aunt that she never knew. But so much time is spent talking about Kelly's fear of knitting (because she'll get bored/it won't come out nice/but she doesn't know how) and the amateur sleuthing takes a backseat to how luscious the yarns feel and how soft and colorful and if I had to read one more word about the kaleidoscope of colors in the yarn store, I think I would've screamed. There was obviously something that would have happened with the only guy in the book that's Kelly's age, but he's almost nonexistent for most of the book, except when he shows up to flirt with her a little. The book really deals more with Kelly's insecurities and her decisions of what to do about Helen's house and her making friends with Helen's old friends from the knitting shop than with the murder itself. And when the murder is finally solved, the book ends right there. Barely any epilogue of "I'm staying in Colorado." Just "let's go sit on the porch so I can digest this." As I said, I wanted to like this book. I wanted to love it, really. But I just couldn't get past the droning nature of the book. It went on and on about nothing at all, and didn't get interesting (and start really solving the murder) until the last 75 pages or so. I can understand some of the character development with the knit shop ladies, but the book really delves farther into them than it does into the murder, and when it's a murder mystery, that's really not okay.
Book 18 of 50
Pages: 273
Genre: Mystery
Grade: D+
Would I Recommend?: Not really, sadly...
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Murder for Choir (Joelle Charbonneau)
Summary:
Paige Marshall is an opera singer by trade, and very good at what she does, if only she could land herself another job. Between opera gigs, Paige has accepted a position at North Shore High, as the director of their top glee club, Music in Motion. During their summer choir camp, which is a week-long gearing-up for the choir members and directors where they start learning basic choreography and music for the season, one of the rival glee clubs' directors is murdered, and one of Paige's students is arrested for the crime. She can't believe that the boy did it and takes it upon herself to start her own investigation, which leads her to becoming the killer's next target.
Thoughts:
Solid plot, fun characters, and a light-hearted writing style come together in this first book of a new series, both for me and for the world at large. Charbonneau started the series last year, and has gotten two books into it so far, and I'm hoping she'll have plenty more where this came from. (After a quick web search, she's already through with the second revision of the third in the series. Awesome!) Paige is a strong character, with plenty of spunk and a great personality. The cop is hunky (as usual in these books!) and the friends are great characters too! I won't lie, I called the murderer early, as well as a few other plot details, but there were plenty that were a surprise too. My other half actually stumbled upon the series on a visit to Barnes and Noble recently, and I couldn't deny getting the first in the series. My lack of restraint payed off. I'll definitely be looking into more from this author. She's got a fun voice, and can spin the story just right, so that you don't care that you've figured it out already. It's fun to see all the in-betweens. So getting my hands on other stuff from Charbonneau. Try not to hate me for it!
Book 17 of 50
Pages:
Genre: Mystery/romance/chick lit with a dash of comedy for good luck!
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Heck yes. Jump in while it's still young, and we can enjoy it together!
Paige Marshall is an opera singer by trade, and very good at what she does, if only she could land herself another job. Between opera gigs, Paige has accepted a position at North Shore High, as the director of their top glee club, Music in Motion. During their summer choir camp, which is a week-long gearing-up for the choir members and directors where they start learning basic choreography and music for the season, one of the rival glee clubs' directors is murdered, and one of Paige's students is arrested for the crime. She can't believe that the boy did it and takes it upon herself to start her own investigation, which leads her to becoming the killer's next target.
Thoughts:
Solid plot, fun characters, and a light-hearted writing style come together in this first book of a new series, both for me and for the world at large. Charbonneau started the series last year, and has gotten two books into it so far, and I'm hoping she'll have plenty more where this came from. (After a quick web search, she's already through with the second revision of the third in the series. Awesome!) Paige is a strong character, with plenty of spunk and a great personality. The cop is hunky (as usual in these books!) and the friends are great characters too! I won't lie, I called the murderer early, as well as a few other plot details, but there were plenty that were a surprise too. My other half actually stumbled upon the series on a visit to Barnes and Noble recently, and I couldn't deny getting the first in the series. My lack of restraint payed off. I'll definitely be looking into more from this author. She's got a fun voice, and can spin the story just right, so that you don't care that you've figured it out already. It's fun to see all the in-betweens. So getting my hands on other stuff from Charbonneau. Try not to hate me for it!
Book 17 of 50
Pages:
Genre: Mystery/romance/chick lit with a dash of comedy for good luck!
Grade: A
Would I Recommend?: Heck yes. Jump in while it's still young, and we can enjoy it together!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Spying in High Heels (Gemma Halliday)
Summary:
Childrens' shoe designer Madison Springer is late. Her boyfriend, Richard Howe the lawyer, is avoiding her phone calls and Maddie is late. Her last attempt at talking through the situation with Richard begins and ends with him having a meeting with a very dressed-down, un-Richard-looking guy and then immediately cancelling his lunch date with Maddie. Several days later, she still hasn't spoken to him, and winds up searching Richard's empty apartment. Mr. Un-Richard shows up, does a search of his own, and leaves with nothing. Only after Maddie runs into him again does she find out that Mr. Un-Richard is Jack Ramirez, hunky cop in charge of Richard's case, and that Richard was probably involved in some creative accounting, and possibly a couple of murders. Maddie can't believe that Richard is involved with any of that and sets out to prove that he's not who Ramirez thinks Richard is. The only trouble is, Maddie doesn't really know much about Richard, and Ramirez is a total stud muffin. Will Maddie be able to keep her head straight, while trying to get the courage to find out if she's actually pregnant?
Thoughts:
Ramirez is delicious. Maddie is fun, though a little scatterbrained and naive. The book follows Maddie as she finds out exactly how little she knows about Richard, and while it's slightly depressing for Maddie herself, her life is the train wreck you can't look away from. Halliday writes it in a way that you can't help but feel for Maddie as her world crumbles around her. Granted, I guessed as much on a lot of the outcomes of the story, but the story was engaging enough that it didn't bother me to know exactly who the killer was, or how the Richard situation was going to play out. It's a series that I'll be delving into more, as soon as I can get my hands on the books, that's for sure.
Book 16 of 50
Pages: 250, read as an e-book
Genre: Mystery, comedy, and romance, in nearly equal parts
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: YES. It's fun, funny, and it sucks you into Madison's world pretty darn easily.
Childrens' shoe designer Madison Springer is late. Her boyfriend, Richard Howe the lawyer, is avoiding her phone calls and Maddie is late. Her last attempt at talking through the situation with Richard begins and ends with him having a meeting with a very dressed-down, un-Richard-looking guy and then immediately cancelling his lunch date with Maddie. Several days later, she still hasn't spoken to him, and winds up searching Richard's empty apartment. Mr. Un-Richard shows up, does a search of his own, and leaves with nothing. Only after Maddie runs into him again does she find out that Mr. Un-Richard is Jack Ramirez, hunky cop in charge of Richard's case, and that Richard was probably involved in some creative accounting, and possibly a couple of murders. Maddie can't believe that Richard is involved with any of that and sets out to prove that he's not who Ramirez thinks Richard is. The only trouble is, Maddie doesn't really know much about Richard, and Ramirez is a total stud muffin. Will Maddie be able to keep her head straight, while trying to get the courage to find out if she's actually pregnant?
Thoughts:
Ramirez is delicious. Maddie is fun, though a little scatterbrained and naive. The book follows Maddie as she finds out exactly how little she knows about Richard, and while it's slightly depressing for Maddie herself, her life is the train wreck you can't look away from. Halliday writes it in a way that you can't help but feel for Maddie as her world crumbles around her. Granted, I guessed as much on a lot of the outcomes of the story, but the story was engaging enough that it didn't bother me to know exactly who the killer was, or how the Richard situation was going to play out. It's a series that I'll be delving into more, as soon as I can get my hands on the books, that's for sure.
Book 16 of 50
Pages: 250, read as an e-book
Genre: Mystery, comedy, and romance, in nearly equal parts
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: YES. It's fun, funny, and it sucks you into Madison's world pretty darn easily.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
California Schemin' (Kate George)
Summary:
Bree McGowan wants nothing more than to have a relaxing vacation away from her native Vermont, and take a few photos of a bridge over a Californian river while her boyfriend does some masonry for a client. But her hopes are dashed when she sees a woman fall off the bridge into the river. From there, she gets wrapped up in the investigation of the whole thing, despite seeing nothing but a falling body, despite flying home to Vermont, despite all the effort made to keep her safe and sound. She wants nothing to do with the case, and yet she keeps getting dragged into it. What's a girl got to do to keep herself out of trouble?
Thoughts:
I found this through one of the Free Kindle Book search sites, the ones that troll through Amazon's site to pull out all the current free downloads. I didn't have high expectations, since several of the Kindle books I've picked up have been fairly mediocre. That said, this one is not bad. There were a few holes in the story (how does Bree suddenly know the vic's name, without showing her hunting for the info?), and there were some gaps in the narrative. But the story itself is solid. You hate to love one of the bad guys, but he turns out to be such an interesting character! Around every corner, I kept wanting Bree to just suck it up and call the cops, but she kept getting into another scrape, and had no chance to do it. You couldn't help but feel bad for Bree. All she wanted was to be back home in Vermont. And when she finally gets there, trouble still follows her. The girl's got it pretty rough. I can't say for sure if I liked the book enough to read more. I'm curious to see what happens with Bree and the eventual love interest, but some of the scenes feel herky-jerky, and not fully complete. I do appreciate, though, that Bree's trying NOT to be involved in the investigation for once, instead of most nosy-neighbor main characters in mystery series. It's hard to really know all that's going on, though, when we only hear about Bree having looked up the victim's information, not actually see her reading a news article about her or something. More show, less tell.
Book 15 of 50
Pages: 252, read as an e-book.
Genre: mystery
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Yeah, it's not bad. I might look into the first (and third) of the series.
Bree McGowan wants nothing more than to have a relaxing vacation away from her native Vermont, and take a few photos of a bridge over a Californian river while her boyfriend does some masonry for a client. But her hopes are dashed when she sees a woman fall off the bridge into the river. From there, she gets wrapped up in the investigation of the whole thing, despite seeing nothing but a falling body, despite flying home to Vermont, despite all the effort made to keep her safe and sound. She wants nothing to do with the case, and yet she keeps getting dragged into it. What's a girl got to do to keep herself out of trouble?
Thoughts:
I found this through one of the Free Kindle Book search sites, the ones that troll through Amazon's site to pull out all the current free downloads. I didn't have high expectations, since several of the Kindle books I've picked up have been fairly mediocre. That said, this one is not bad. There were a few holes in the story (how does Bree suddenly know the vic's name, without showing her hunting for the info?), and there were some gaps in the narrative. But the story itself is solid. You hate to love one of the bad guys, but he turns out to be such an interesting character! Around every corner, I kept wanting Bree to just suck it up and call the cops, but she kept getting into another scrape, and had no chance to do it. You couldn't help but feel bad for Bree. All she wanted was to be back home in Vermont. And when she finally gets there, trouble still follows her. The girl's got it pretty rough. I can't say for sure if I liked the book enough to read more. I'm curious to see what happens with Bree and the eventual love interest, but some of the scenes feel herky-jerky, and not fully complete. I do appreciate, though, that Bree's trying NOT to be involved in the investigation for once, instead of most nosy-neighbor main characters in mystery series. It's hard to really know all that's going on, though, when we only hear about Bree having looked up the victim's information, not actually see her reading a news article about her or something. More show, less tell.
Book 15 of 50
Pages: 252, read as an e-book.
Genre: mystery
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Yeah, it's not bad. I might look into the first (and third) of the series.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Wicked Business (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Lizzy Tucker is a cupcake baker. That's all she wants to be. But Diesel, a magically inclined guy who says Lizzy's got a gift, keeps drawing her into his adventures, because she's one of two people in the world that can find magical objects. This time around, he's after another of the seven stones linked to the seven deadly sins. This time, they're after the Lust stone, and they need to find it before Diesel's handsome-but-creepy cousin, Wulf, gets it first. Add to the mix a cast of nuts: Glo is Lizzy's friend and a wannabe witch still looking for love; Hatchet is a medieval cosplaying weirdo Wulf recruited only because he's the OTHER magical object finder; Anarchy is the legitimately insane woman with no help finding the stone except to follow any clues she can find. Happy hunting, Lizzy and Diesel!
Thoughts:
Not bad. Solid story, some good twists at the end. And I'm digging Anarchy's addition to the series. She's made things crazier than ever. I will say, Glo still reads like Lula from the Numbers series. Hatchet drives me nuts, in a scared for the other characters kind of way. I'm fairly sure he's not going anywhere, but he's really not a nice person... Then again, that just means he's written well. Which I completely expect from Ms. Evanovich at this point. And boy, is she good at the sexual tension business. Lizzy and Diesel WANT to hook up, but they can't, for magical reasons. But they think about it real hard. Overall, not a bad addition to the series. I'm looking forward to more from this pair, but that could just be because I really like Diesel.
Book 14 of 50
Pages: 308
Genre: mystery, fantasy, and a touch of romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Yup. Read the Plum between the numbers books first, or at the very least "Wicked Appetite" and you'll be caught up.
Lizzy Tucker is a cupcake baker. That's all she wants to be. But Diesel, a magically inclined guy who says Lizzy's got a gift, keeps drawing her into his adventures, because she's one of two people in the world that can find magical objects. This time around, he's after another of the seven stones linked to the seven deadly sins. This time, they're after the Lust stone, and they need to find it before Diesel's handsome-but-creepy cousin, Wulf, gets it first. Add to the mix a cast of nuts: Glo is Lizzy's friend and a wannabe witch still looking for love; Hatchet is a medieval cosplaying weirdo Wulf recruited only because he's the OTHER magical object finder; Anarchy is the legitimately insane woman with no help finding the stone except to follow any clues she can find. Happy hunting, Lizzy and Diesel!
Thoughts:
Not bad. Solid story, some good twists at the end. And I'm digging Anarchy's addition to the series. She's made things crazier than ever. I will say, Glo still reads like Lula from the Numbers series. Hatchet drives me nuts, in a scared for the other characters kind of way. I'm fairly sure he's not going anywhere, but he's really not a nice person... Then again, that just means he's written well. Which I completely expect from Ms. Evanovich at this point. And boy, is she good at the sexual tension business. Lizzy and Diesel WANT to hook up, but they can't, for magical reasons. But they think about it real hard. Overall, not a bad addition to the series. I'm looking forward to more from this pair, but that could just be because I really like Diesel.
Book 14 of 50
Pages: 308
Genre: mystery, fantasy, and a touch of romance
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Yup. Read the Plum between the numbers books first, or at the very least "Wicked Appetite" and you'll be caught up.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Simply Irresistible (Rachel Gibson)
Summary:
Seven years ago, southern girl Georgeanne Howard ran out of her wedding to hockey mogul Virgil Duffy, and coerced new team captain John Kowalsky to give her a ride to anywhere-but-there. They had a crazy night together, but Georgeanne hasn't seen him since he dropped her off at the airport the next morning, with the intent of her flying home to Texas. Georgeanne stayed in Seattle instead, and is now co-owner of a great catering business. John winds up at one of her events, and is shocked to see her still in town. He's even more shocked to find out that he's got a six-year-old daughter he never knew about. How could Georgeanne keep something like that from him? Will he be able to keep Lexie in his life now that he's found her?
Thoughts:
Holy crap. The idea of the story isn't bad, but the writing kinda is. How Gibson wound up getting a series out of this book is beyond me. The story is stilted and uneven, and if only John and Georgeanne sat down to have a civil conversation, most of their troubles would have been solved in a matter of minutes. Instead, we spend the entire book seeing Georgeanne whine about John never loving her, and John whining about losing his job over Georgeanne, and later Lexie. And the time frame of the book is fairly epic, too. We first see 1976, with Georgeanne as a seven year old who overhears her grandmother being told that she has a "brain dysfunction" and that Georgeanne should just go to charm school because there's nothing else she will ever be good at. Then we jump to 1989, where Georgeanne has done just that and almost marries a creepy old man. And finally we wind up in 1996, where we find out Georgeanne has a kid and a career. She's angst-ridden because of her shitty childhood, and the fact that she kept her child's existence a secret from her father, and all she does is whine about it all. Oh, and she "falls in love" with John immediately. Love at first sight and all. Yeah. Fall for some guy that treats you like crap, and sleeps with you with every intention of never seeing you again. Honestly, of the three Gibson books I've read, this is the worst, which makes sense since it's the first one, but it's flat-out horrible. Oh, and all of the leading men have been team captains, and all of them have retired at the end of the book. Sorry, but that's not actually how it goes. Most teams don't have a different captain every year, though a couple teams have bucked that tradition in the past. But each of the guys in the leading roles have been spoken of as though they'd been captains for years. There must be a bunch of Seattle Chinooks teams in Gibson's world. Also, this book paints Virgil Duffy as a hard sonovabitch, married to an older (read: not twenty-something) woman, but the fourth in the series sees Duffy as a kinder man who takes care of his young (twenty-something) wife for a couple years before he passes away. Pick one, Gibson. Yet somehow, Gibson gets herself a series, and things get better as she goes, thankfully. But boy, I'm not looking forward to reading the second and third books in the series (I've already read four and five, not knowing any better until it was too late.) if they're somewhere in quality between this and "True Love and Other Disasters." A girl can hope, though, right? Oh, and PS, the hockey element is damn near nonexistent in this book. Disappointing.
Book 13 of 50
Pages: 375
Genre: romance
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Meh. There are better ones in the series, and they're obviously not heavy on continuity, so...
Seven years ago, southern girl Georgeanne Howard ran out of her wedding to hockey mogul Virgil Duffy, and coerced new team captain John Kowalsky to give her a ride to anywhere-but-there. They had a crazy night together, but Georgeanne hasn't seen him since he dropped her off at the airport the next morning, with the intent of her flying home to Texas. Georgeanne stayed in Seattle instead, and is now co-owner of a great catering business. John winds up at one of her events, and is shocked to see her still in town. He's even more shocked to find out that he's got a six-year-old daughter he never knew about. How could Georgeanne keep something like that from him? Will he be able to keep Lexie in his life now that he's found her?
Thoughts:
Holy crap. The idea of the story isn't bad, but the writing kinda is. How Gibson wound up getting a series out of this book is beyond me. The story is stilted and uneven, and if only John and Georgeanne sat down to have a civil conversation, most of their troubles would have been solved in a matter of minutes. Instead, we spend the entire book seeing Georgeanne whine about John never loving her, and John whining about losing his job over Georgeanne, and later Lexie. And the time frame of the book is fairly epic, too. We first see 1976, with Georgeanne as a seven year old who overhears her grandmother being told that she has a "brain dysfunction" and that Georgeanne should just go to charm school because there's nothing else she will ever be good at. Then we jump to 1989, where Georgeanne has done just that and almost marries a creepy old man. And finally we wind up in 1996, where we find out Georgeanne has a kid and a career. She's angst-ridden because of her shitty childhood, and the fact that she kept her child's existence a secret from her father, and all she does is whine about it all. Oh, and she "falls in love" with John immediately. Love at first sight and all. Yeah. Fall for some guy that treats you like crap, and sleeps with you with every intention of never seeing you again. Honestly, of the three Gibson books I've read, this is the worst, which makes sense since it's the first one, but it's flat-out horrible. Oh, and all of the leading men have been team captains, and all of them have retired at the end of the book. Sorry, but that's not actually how it goes. Most teams don't have a different captain every year, though a couple teams have bucked that tradition in the past. But each of the guys in the leading roles have been spoken of as though they'd been captains for years. There must be a bunch of Seattle Chinooks teams in Gibson's world. Also, this book paints Virgil Duffy as a hard sonovabitch, married to an older (read: not twenty-something) woman, but the fourth in the series sees Duffy as a kinder man who takes care of his young (twenty-something) wife for a couple years before he passes away. Pick one, Gibson. Yet somehow, Gibson gets herself a series, and things get better as she goes, thankfully. But boy, I'm not looking forward to reading the second and third books in the series (I've already read four and five, not knowing any better until it was too late.) if they're somewhere in quality between this and "True Love and Other Disasters." A girl can hope, though, right? Oh, and PS, the hockey element is damn near nonexistent in this book. Disappointing.
Book 13 of 50
Pages: 375
Genre: romance
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Meh. There are better ones in the series, and they're obviously not heavy on continuity, so...
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Sizzling Sixteen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Vinnie Plum, Stephanie's jerk second cousin who runs the bail bonds office she works out of, has gone and gotten himself in debt up to his eyeballs with some bad people. And then he's kidnapped. Stephanie and the gang have to try to get Vinnie back alive and in one piece so they can pull the bond office out of the hole he's dug for them. Meanwhile, Steph and Morelli are in their off-again phase, and she's feeling herself tugged toward Ranger, and she's trying her damnedest not to succumb to his immeasurable talents in the bedroom. Oh boy.
Thoughts:
Really good, as is the norm for Ms. E. Of course, you're constantly wanting to kick Vinnie in the ass for being so completely stupid, but that's no different from usual. And of course, the ladies of the bond office are getting themselves into more trouble than they can really handle, but again, it's kind of the norm. And Lula never ceases to elicit at least one good giggle every book, if not more. It usually comes from her sneeze-fart-"Oh, excuse me." combos, and I will never say no to that. There's just something about a good fart joke, y'know? Ah, but I've digressed yet again. Sixteen is just one more in the now very long list of fantastic books in the series. Including the betweens, we've rounded ourselves out to a solid twenty books, with another three to go for me. I can't imagine what I'm going to do once I've finished this series. It's going to take something really special to take Evanovich's place in my constant book rotation. We'll have to wait and see, won't we?
Book 12 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Start from the top and work your way through the series. You won't be sorry. I promise.
Vinnie Plum, Stephanie's jerk second cousin who runs the bail bonds office she works out of, has gone and gotten himself in debt up to his eyeballs with some bad people. And then he's kidnapped. Stephanie and the gang have to try to get Vinnie back alive and in one piece so they can pull the bond office out of the hole he's dug for them. Meanwhile, Steph and Morelli are in their off-again phase, and she's feeling herself tugged toward Ranger, and she's trying her damnedest not to succumb to his immeasurable talents in the bedroom. Oh boy.
Thoughts:
Really good, as is the norm for Ms. E. Of course, you're constantly wanting to kick Vinnie in the ass for being so completely stupid, but that's no different from usual. And of course, the ladies of the bond office are getting themselves into more trouble than they can really handle, but again, it's kind of the norm. And Lula never ceases to elicit at least one good giggle every book, if not more. It usually comes from her sneeze-fart-"Oh, excuse me." combos, and I will never say no to that. There's just something about a good fart joke, y'know? Ah, but I've digressed yet again. Sixteen is just one more in the now very long list of fantastic books in the series. Including the betweens, we've rounded ourselves out to a solid twenty books, with another three to go for me. I can't imagine what I'm going to do once I've finished this series. It's going to take something really special to take Evanovich's place in my constant book rotation. We'll have to wait and see, won't we?
Book 12 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Start from the top and work your way through the series. You won't be sorry. I promise.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
The Real Macaw (Donna Andrews)
First, let me apologize for my lateness in posting this one. I'll do better next week, I promise!
On to the book!
Summary:
Meg and Michael are kept running with their two boisterous twin boys, only a few months old now. And of course, because Meg doesn't have nearly enough to do with a set of screaming twins, her father, grandfather, and brother decide to make her house the base of operations for a clandestine clearing of the town animal shelter. Dozens of cats, dogs, and even a bad-mouthed macaw have invaded her living room after the shelter announced euthanizations due to a lack of town funds. The animal rights group, led by the men in Meg's family, couldn't let such a thing stand, and take advantage of Meg's inability to say no YET again. Oh, and someone from the group gets murdered on his way to the pick-up site. Oops. And to top it all off, there's scandal brewing in Town Hall and Meg, the nosy woman she is, has to get to the bottom of it.
Thoughts:
Standard practice in the Meg Langslow book series. Meg's family find something to involve themselves in, they use her space to lead the revolution (not their own, because that would be far too considerate), and then someone gets killed in relation to whatever project this happens to be. The more I read the Langslow books, the more I think that she's a huge pushover. Sure, she gets things done, and they're usually good for a laugh. But Meg's always having people invade her space to do something that she doesn't much care about. I don't like that her family doesn't seem to have any respect for her or her new family, and does whatever it is that they want. But as I said, these are usually good for a laugh and a cringe and a "thank GOD my family isn't like that."
Book 11 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, why not.
Meg and Michael are kept running with their two boisterous twin boys, only a few months old now. And of course, because Meg doesn't have nearly enough to do with a set of screaming twins, her father, grandfather, and brother decide to make her house the base of operations for a clandestine clearing of the town animal shelter. Dozens of cats, dogs, and even a bad-mouthed macaw have invaded her living room after the shelter announced euthanizations due to a lack of town funds. The animal rights group, led by the men in Meg's family, couldn't let such a thing stand, and take advantage of Meg's inability to say no YET again. Oh, and someone from the group gets murdered on his way to the pick-up site. Oops. And to top it all off, there's scandal brewing in Town Hall and Meg, the nosy woman she is, has to get to the bottom of it.
Thoughts:
Standard practice in the Meg Langslow book series. Meg's family find something to involve themselves in, they use her space to lead the revolution (not their own, because that would be far too considerate), and then someone gets killed in relation to whatever project this happens to be. The more I read the Langslow books, the more I think that she's a huge pushover. Sure, she gets things done, and they're usually good for a laugh. But Meg's always having people invade her space to do something that she doesn't much care about. I don't like that her family doesn't seem to have any respect for her or her new family, and does whatever it is that they want. But as I said, these are usually good for a laugh and a cringe and a "thank GOD my family isn't like that."
Book 11 of 50
Pages: 320
Genre: mystery
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, why not.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
You Wish (Mandy Hubbard)
Summary:
Social Outcast By Choice Kayla is the type of girl that "doesn't care" what everyone thinks of her, and wears that attitude on her untrendy sleeve. She works so hard at being not-cool that she has one friend in her whole school, and even Nicole is pulling away. Nicole has gotten control of her horrible acne and is dressing more on trend, and even started dating Ben, the boy that Kayla's crazy about (unknowingly, of course, because Kayla can't be bothered to share the fact with her best and only friend). On Kayla's sixteenth birthday, her workaholic event planner mother throws her a bubblegum-and-rainbows style sweet sixteen party (something she'd been begging NOT to have for weeks), only to fill the guest list with clients and people Kayla hardly knows. When in comes time for the cake, Kayla wishes for her birthday wish to come true because "they never freakin' do!" Over the next two weeks, Kayla has to fight off past birthday wishes like a lifetime supply of gumballs, a real-live My Little Pony, and huge boobs, among other things. She realizes quickly that things could go horribly wrong quickly, too, when she remembers that last year her wish was to kiss Ben. She'll do anything she can to stop that from happening, so she doesn't lose her only friend left.
Thoughts:
Kayla has a completely absent father (left them for Italy years ago) and a mother who's never there. But she also has a serious attitude problem, and is so wrapped up in not being a sheep that just goes with the crowd that she's turned herself into a person that no one WANTS to like. She's snide, and she's a little bit rude, and she's entitled. I didn't like the girl for most of the book, and was reveling in her getting what she deserved by having to deal with all the ridiculousness brought on her by the silly wishes. I didn't like antagonistic Janae, the most popular girl in school, any more than I liked Kayla, but when writing a book, I would think the idea should be that your readers root for your protagonist. I simply couldn't care. The book was a mere 284 pages, but it felt like I was slogging through the first two hundred or so. I just didn't care, and nothing that bratty Kayla came out with in pursuit of fixing her imploding life was making me feel anything but annoyance at the girl. She didn't even have more than a five-minute-long conversation with her best friend until the last twenty pages or so and by that point, so much damage had been done that Kayla had to fight to get Nicole to even look at her, let alone speak to her. I'd been looking forward to reading this since the day I spotted it in the bookstore, but it was completely not worth my months-long wait to get it into my hands. Not worth it at all.
Book 10 of 50
Pages: 284
Genre: teenlit, with not much else.
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Only if you're really into stupid teenagers being their entitled selves. Don't bother otherwise.
Social Outcast By Choice Kayla is the type of girl that "doesn't care" what everyone thinks of her, and wears that attitude on her untrendy sleeve. She works so hard at being not-cool that she has one friend in her whole school, and even Nicole is pulling away. Nicole has gotten control of her horrible acne and is dressing more on trend, and even started dating Ben, the boy that Kayla's crazy about (unknowingly, of course, because Kayla can't be bothered to share the fact with her best and only friend). On Kayla's sixteenth birthday, her workaholic event planner mother throws her a bubblegum-and-rainbows style sweet sixteen party (something she'd been begging NOT to have for weeks), only to fill the guest list with clients and people Kayla hardly knows. When in comes time for the cake, Kayla wishes for her birthday wish to come true because "they never freakin' do!" Over the next two weeks, Kayla has to fight off past birthday wishes like a lifetime supply of gumballs, a real-live My Little Pony, and huge boobs, among other things. She realizes quickly that things could go horribly wrong quickly, too, when she remembers that last year her wish was to kiss Ben. She'll do anything she can to stop that from happening, so she doesn't lose her only friend left.
Thoughts:
Kayla has a completely absent father (left them for Italy years ago) and a mother who's never there. But she also has a serious attitude problem, and is so wrapped up in not being a sheep that just goes with the crowd that she's turned herself into a person that no one WANTS to like. She's snide, and she's a little bit rude, and she's entitled. I didn't like the girl for most of the book, and was reveling in her getting what she deserved by having to deal with all the ridiculousness brought on her by the silly wishes. I didn't like antagonistic Janae, the most popular girl in school, any more than I liked Kayla, but when writing a book, I would think the idea should be that your readers root for your protagonist. I simply couldn't care. The book was a mere 284 pages, but it felt like I was slogging through the first two hundred or so. I just didn't care, and nothing that bratty Kayla came out with in pursuit of fixing her imploding life was making me feel anything but annoyance at the girl. She didn't even have more than a five-minute-long conversation with her best friend until the last twenty pages or so and by that point, so much damage had been done that Kayla had to fight to get Nicole to even look at her, let alone speak to her. I'd been looking forward to reading this since the day I spotted it in the bookstore, but it was completely not worth my months-long wait to get it into my hands. Not worth it at all.
Book 10 of 50
Pages: 284
Genre: teenlit, with not much else.
Grade: C-
Would I Recommend?: Only if you're really into stupid teenagers being their entitled selves. Don't bother otherwise.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The Quick and the Thread (Amanda Lee)
Summary:
Marcy is a former accountant whose best friend and college roommate convinces her to move to the quaint little town of Tullulah Falls, Oregan to open an embroidery store, something she's always wanted to do. The evening of her grand opening party, the former renter of the space where her store now stands drunkenly confronts her and tries to tell her something. Marcy avoids the man, and he winds up dead in her storeroom. The book follows as she learns just how small town politics work, and uncovers more than just a murder. Oh, and there's a couple good looking men trying to catch her eye, of course.
Thoughts:
Pretty standard for a murder mystery, complete with hunky cop. The book's fairly well-written, though I did guess correctly who was involved in the plot midway through. A few times I wanted to thump the main character in the head for letting herself get wrapped up in the situation, but there's just about always things like that. Oh, but the most bothersome bit for me was all the classic 50's and 60's movie references. I get that the character is into the classics, but you don't have to imagine yourself in Casablana or Breakfast at Tiffany's every single chapter. A few references are fine. Tons and tons are overkill. But I'm not the author, so what do I know. I'm thinking I'll give the series a try, though. The characters, for the most part, were believable and interesting enough that I'll give the next book in the series a try, and determine from there.
Book 9 of 50
Pages: 313
Genre: mystery
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, why not? It was pretty solid.
Marcy is a former accountant whose best friend and college roommate convinces her to move to the quaint little town of Tullulah Falls, Oregan to open an embroidery store, something she's always wanted to do. The evening of her grand opening party, the former renter of the space where her store now stands drunkenly confronts her and tries to tell her something. Marcy avoids the man, and he winds up dead in her storeroom. The book follows as she learns just how small town politics work, and uncovers more than just a murder. Oh, and there's a couple good looking men trying to catch her eye, of course.
Thoughts:
Pretty standard for a murder mystery, complete with hunky cop. The book's fairly well-written, though I did guess correctly who was involved in the plot midway through. A few times I wanted to thump the main character in the head for letting herself get wrapped up in the situation, but there's just about always things like that. Oh, but the most bothersome bit for me was all the classic 50's and 60's movie references. I get that the character is into the classics, but you don't have to imagine yourself in Casablana or Breakfast at Tiffany's every single chapter. A few references are fine. Tons and tons are overkill. But I'm not the author, so what do I know. I'm thinking I'll give the series a try, though. The characters, for the most part, were believable and interesting enough that I'll give the next book in the series a try, and determine from there.
Book 9 of 50
Pages: 313
Genre: mystery
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Sure, why not? It was pretty solid.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Wicked Appetite (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Lizzy is a cupcake baker in Salem, Massachusetts. Diesel is, well, Diesel. Operating in the same world as the holiday Plum series, Diesel is an Unmentionable, a human being who has some sort of magical powers. Diesel can unlock any door, and is apparently great in bed. He tells Lizzy that she's an Unmentionable too, someone who can identify mystical objects just by touching them. Diesel asks Lizzy to help him find a Stone that harnesses one of the seven deadly sins before his evil cousin, Wulf, finds it. Rounding out the cast of this new(ish) series is Glo, a wannabe witch who is far better at bungling spells than actually casting them, the object of a botched spell, Shirley, who speaks only in gobbledegook for most of the book (with laugh-out-loud-funny results!), Cat 7136, a shelter cat who seems to be Lizzy's Great Aunt Ophelia's cat, and Carl the monkey, whose antics can be seen first in Plum Spooky and who is really fond of flipping people off.
Thoughts:
It's nice to see Evanovich branching out a bit. Though, like Metro Girl, this book feels very much like Plum Lite. Lizzy is a different woman for sure, but it still feels a little like a Plum, especially with the added bonus of Diesel and Carl. I won't lie, though, it was nice to have some more Diesel, because he's just a fun character. It's interesting to see Stephanie Plum's fantasy-based world extended northward to Salem, for sure. Diesel does make references to his past in Trenton a few times, especially with respect to Carl. This book definitely had me giggling quite a bit. Particularly when spells start going wrong with Shirley and she tries in vain to get her point across. It's pretty spectacular. It even had Hubby laughing when I read it aloud, and he has just about the driest sense of humor I've ever come across. Another fun one from Ms. Evanovich. Approved! I'll be moving on to Wicked Business soon, too. Woo hoo!
Book 8 of 50
Pages: 313
Genre: Mystery with a hint of fantasy and a tiny bit of romance. TINY bit.
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure. I do recommend reading Plum Spooky before, at least, to get the full appreciation of Carl (and Diesel), but it's not entirely necessary.
Lizzy is a cupcake baker in Salem, Massachusetts. Diesel is, well, Diesel. Operating in the same world as the holiday Plum series, Diesel is an Unmentionable, a human being who has some sort of magical powers. Diesel can unlock any door, and is apparently great in bed. He tells Lizzy that she's an Unmentionable too, someone who can identify mystical objects just by touching them. Diesel asks Lizzy to help him find a Stone that harnesses one of the seven deadly sins before his evil cousin, Wulf, finds it. Rounding out the cast of this new(ish) series is Glo, a wannabe witch who is far better at bungling spells than actually casting them, the object of a botched spell, Shirley, who speaks only in gobbledegook for most of the book (with laugh-out-loud-funny results!), Cat 7136, a shelter cat who seems to be Lizzy's Great Aunt Ophelia's cat, and Carl the monkey, whose antics can be seen first in Plum Spooky and who is really fond of flipping people off.
Thoughts:
It's nice to see Evanovich branching out a bit. Though, like Metro Girl, this book feels very much like Plum Lite. Lizzy is a different woman for sure, but it still feels a little like a Plum, especially with the added bonus of Diesel and Carl. I won't lie, though, it was nice to have some more Diesel, because he's just a fun character. It's interesting to see Stephanie Plum's fantasy-based world extended northward to Salem, for sure. Diesel does make references to his past in Trenton a few times, especially with respect to Carl. This book definitely had me giggling quite a bit. Particularly when spells start going wrong with Shirley and she tries in vain to get her point across. It's pretty spectacular. It even had Hubby laughing when I read it aloud, and he has just about the driest sense of humor I've ever come across. Another fun one from Ms. Evanovich. Approved! I'll be moving on to Wicked Business soon, too. Woo hoo!
Book 8 of 50
Pages: 313
Genre: Mystery with a hint of fantasy and a tiny bit of romance. TINY bit.
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure. I do recommend reading Plum Spooky before, at least, to get the full appreciation of Carl (and Diesel), but it's not entirely necessary.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Body Check (Deirdre Martin)
Summary:
Janna MacNeil is the new publicist for the New York Blades, a hockey team filled to bursting with bad boys who have no qualms about tainting hockey's greatest prize, the Stanley Cup, to a strip club with them. Janna is hired to clean up after this and countless other messes. Ty Gallagher is the captain of the Blades, and has a stubborn streak wider than most. Janna needs to wrangle Ty and the rest of the Blades while they make another run for the Cup under the watchful eye of the Blades' parent company Kidco. Can Janna manage to get Ty and the Blades to play by Kidco's rules?
Thoughts:
I'm a big hockey fan. It's semi-recent, but I'm very enthusiastic about it nonetheless. When I found out there were a couple of romance series out there that were hockey-related, I was looking forward to getting into them. I started the Rachel Gibson series a while ago, and not in the right order (which I hate doing), and then found that Deirdre Martin has one too. I jumped right into getting the first of the Martin series, and was really excited. Note the word "was." It started out pretty okay, though you could see Janna was going to hook up with Ty from a mile away. But I pushed on. And then the first seduction scene started happening, and I thought, "No! This is too soon! It reads like a daydream! What are you doing?" But by that point, they were already doing it on the kitchen floor. Seriously, people? You know each other a month, and you're down and dirty on the floor? Seriously?? I tried to like the book. I WANTED to like it. The hockey talk reads like a fan wrote it, thank God. But the pacing was just WRONG. There's a quote on the front of the book from a Millie Criswell, who seems to have her own bestseller called "Mad about Mia," who is quoted as saying "Fun, fast-paced and sexy... a dazzling debut." Okay, I get the sexy, thanks to the overabundance of sex throughout. The fun is stretching it a bit. Janna agonizes about the relationship and that they need to keep it secret or she'll get fired. She agonizes about her best friend almost being raped by one of the players on the team. She agonizes about the asshole guy she works with who nearly forces her out of the job. She agonizes about not being good enough to actually HAVE her job in the first place. She agonizes about falling for Ty and him not returning her feelings. Oh, and there's hockey. I don't see the agonizing and whining as being "fun," but maybe Millie likes her main characters to constantly be in agony. The "fast-paced" part is completely accurate, though. It was so fast, that I didn't realize until at least two-thirds of the way through the book that we were looking at months and months of time between page 1 and page 325, not just a few weeks. Because Martin only notes the passage of time when she feels like it. She hardly shows that it's gone from October to December until suddenly there's a Christmas party. And a mere fifty pages later, it's suddenly April. And then it's June. Where has the time gone? I have no idea how long these two were actually together before they inevitably broke up (because every "good" romance novel has a break-up) and then finally get back together. And while the story is written from Janna's and Ty's point of view, you never get to really see what Ty's thinking because he fights his feelings at every turn. So the ending, which I won't be horrible and spoil, comes so out of left field, that you can't believe it's happened, and then there they are with the happily ever after. Since this is obviously a first novel for Martin, (I say obviously because the amateurish plot line screams "new writer!") I'm tempted to find book two, in the hopes that maybe she's gotten better. But it's hard to get myself around to the idea. This one was just HORRIBLY paced, and when something throws your mind out of the plot like this writing did, it's tough to get into reading more. Fingers crossed, Ms. Martin. You get one more shot.
Book 7 of 50
Pages: 325
Genre: romance, with a lot of hockey
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Meh. It's better hockey than the Gibson series, but far worse romance... Which is more important?
Janna MacNeil is the new publicist for the New York Blades, a hockey team filled to bursting with bad boys who have no qualms about tainting hockey's greatest prize, the Stanley Cup, to a strip club with them. Janna is hired to clean up after this and countless other messes. Ty Gallagher is the captain of the Blades, and has a stubborn streak wider than most. Janna needs to wrangle Ty and the rest of the Blades while they make another run for the Cup under the watchful eye of the Blades' parent company Kidco. Can Janna manage to get Ty and the Blades to play by Kidco's rules?
Thoughts:
I'm a big hockey fan. It's semi-recent, but I'm very enthusiastic about it nonetheless. When I found out there were a couple of romance series out there that were hockey-related, I was looking forward to getting into them. I started the Rachel Gibson series a while ago, and not in the right order (which I hate doing), and then found that Deirdre Martin has one too. I jumped right into getting the first of the Martin series, and was really excited. Note the word "was." It started out pretty okay, though you could see Janna was going to hook up with Ty from a mile away. But I pushed on. And then the first seduction scene started happening, and I thought, "No! This is too soon! It reads like a daydream! What are you doing?" But by that point, they were already doing it on the kitchen floor. Seriously, people? You know each other a month, and you're down and dirty on the floor? Seriously?? I tried to like the book. I WANTED to like it. The hockey talk reads like a fan wrote it, thank God. But the pacing was just WRONG. There's a quote on the front of the book from a Millie Criswell, who seems to have her own bestseller called "Mad about Mia," who is quoted as saying "Fun, fast-paced and sexy... a dazzling debut." Okay, I get the sexy, thanks to the overabundance of sex throughout. The fun is stretching it a bit. Janna agonizes about the relationship and that they need to keep it secret or she'll get fired. She agonizes about her best friend almost being raped by one of the players on the team. She agonizes about the asshole guy she works with who nearly forces her out of the job. She agonizes about not being good enough to actually HAVE her job in the first place. She agonizes about falling for Ty and him not returning her feelings. Oh, and there's hockey. I don't see the agonizing and whining as being "fun," but maybe Millie likes her main characters to constantly be in agony. The "fast-paced" part is completely accurate, though. It was so fast, that I didn't realize until at least two-thirds of the way through the book that we were looking at months and months of time between page 1 and page 325, not just a few weeks. Because Martin only notes the passage of time when she feels like it. She hardly shows that it's gone from October to December until suddenly there's a Christmas party. And a mere fifty pages later, it's suddenly April. And then it's June. Where has the time gone? I have no idea how long these two were actually together before they inevitably broke up (because every "good" romance novel has a break-up) and then finally get back together. And while the story is written from Janna's and Ty's point of view, you never get to really see what Ty's thinking because he fights his feelings at every turn. So the ending, which I won't be horrible and spoil, comes so out of left field, that you can't believe it's happened, and then there they are with the happily ever after. Since this is obviously a first novel for Martin, (I say obviously because the amateurish plot line screams "new writer!") I'm tempted to find book two, in the hopes that maybe she's gotten better. But it's hard to get myself around to the idea. This one was just HORRIBLY paced, and when something throws your mind out of the plot like this writing did, it's tough to get into reading more. Fingers crossed, Ms. Martin. You get one more shot.
Book 7 of 50
Pages: 325
Genre: romance, with a lot of hockey
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Meh. It's better hockey than the Gibson series, but far worse romance... Which is more important?
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Alfred Kropp: The Thirteenth Skull (Rick Yancey)
Summary:
Alfred Kropp is the descendant of Lancelot. Yes, that one. He's got a whole lot of money thanks to his late father. He's the Beloved of the Archangel, Michael. Oh, and his blood can heal anyone on Earth, except for himself. In the third book of the Kropp saga, Alfred has more people after him than ever before. There's the son of the man he killed so the man wouldn't kill him. There's the man that wants him only for his magical heal-everything blood. And there's the Company, who wants him to give back the Seal of Solomon, which he kept himself so no one else could use it. He faces betrayal at every turn, and in the places he least expects it. Will he survive, or will any of these murderous foes kill him? Again. (Yup, he's already died once.)
Thoughts:
Not bad, though it's getting a little more predictable. I think my least favorite part is the fact that Yancey has used the countdown clock as his vehicle for drama at least twice now, drawing out the endings of the last two books for an extra 5 pages both times (I read the first so long ago that I don't remember if it used this "plot device" as well) to draw out the conclusion of the story. It just feels like he's padding the page count more than anything else. If it weren't for this countdown, I think the page count would've been more like 292 or 293ish, rather than its stated 297. That doesn't even count the extra two to three pages he soaks up in having a blank page around the "change of scenery" type pages. Kropp goes from Knoxville, TN, to Helena, MO and there's just a page that says "Helena, Montana" with a blank page after it, and then the next is the beginning of the new chapter. Lazy padding of a book, Mr. Yancey. But I digress. I enjoyed the story, though not as much as the first two. It's a good, action-packed book geared mostly to a teenaged boy. (Kropp is 16.) It's just a little disturbing, though, that at sixteen, Kropp has become comfortable with the idea of killing someone. He does it with little remorse in the midst of this book, and it just about glosses over the fact that someone just died. Kropp's adrenaline is pumping too hard for him to feel anything, it seems, and then he never really goes back to the fact that he just killed the guy except to say that his replacement in the squad of people that are after him looks exactly like the murdered guy. Seriously disappointing. He's killed at least two people now, if not more that I can't recall, and he seems to only really feel bad about the first guy he had to off, and only because he was an Arthurian knight's descendant. Not really something you want a teenage boy to get used to, you know?
Book 6 of 50
Pages: 297 padded pages
Genre: Teen lit, action, and fantasy
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Good for a fanciful story, and lots of action, but the previous two were far better.
Alfred Kropp is the descendant of Lancelot. Yes, that one. He's got a whole lot of money thanks to his late father. He's the Beloved of the Archangel, Michael. Oh, and his blood can heal anyone on Earth, except for himself. In the third book of the Kropp saga, Alfred has more people after him than ever before. There's the son of the man he killed so the man wouldn't kill him. There's the man that wants him only for his magical heal-everything blood. And there's the Company, who wants him to give back the Seal of Solomon, which he kept himself so no one else could use it. He faces betrayal at every turn, and in the places he least expects it. Will he survive, or will any of these murderous foes kill him? Again. (Yup, he's already died once.)
Thoughts:
Not bad, though it's getting a little more predictable. I think my least favorite part is the fact that Yancey has used the countdown clock as his vehicle for drama at least twice now, drawing out the endings of the last two books for an extra 5 pages both times (I read the first so long ago that I don't remember if it used this "plot device" as well) to draw out the conclusion of the story. It just feels like he's padding the page count more than anything else. If it weren't for this countdown, I think the page count would've been more like 292 or 293ish, rather than its stated 297. That doesn't even count the extra two to three pages he soaks up in having a blank page around the "change of scenery" type pages. Kropp goes from Knoxville, TN, to Helena, MO and there's just a page that says "Helena, Montana" with a blank page after it, and then the next is the beginning of the new chapter. Lazy padding of a book, Mr. Yancey. But I digress. I enjoyed the story, though not as much as the first two. It's a good, action-packed book geared mostly to a teenaged boy. (Kropp is 16.) It's just a little disturbing, though, that at sixteen, Kropp has become comfortable with the idea of killing someone. He does it with little remorse in the midst of this book, and it just about glosses over the fact that someone just died. Kropp's adrenaline is pumping too hard for him to feel anything, it seems, and then he never really goes back to the fact that he just killed the guy except to say that his replacement in the squad of people that are after him looks exactly like the murdered guy. Seriously disappointing. He's killed at least two people now, if not more that I can't recall, and he seems to only really feel bad about the first guy he had to off, and only because he was an Arthurian knight's descendant. Not really something you want a teenage boy to get used to, you know?
Book 6 of 50
Pages: 297 padded pages
Genre: Teen lit, action, and fantasy
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Good for a fanciful story, and lots of action, but the previous two were far better.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter not-so-extraordinaire, gets wrapped up into yet another murder investigation when Lula rushes into the bail bonds office exclaiming about having seen a man's head getting chopped off. She won't speak to any other cop but Joe Morelli, Steph's on-again-off-again honey, and forced Steph to call him, even though they were in the off-again stage. Turns out, the dead guy is the current Emeril/Guy Fieri/Gordon Ramsey-type in town for a big barbecue contest in Trenton. Lula decides that she's going to be the best person to try and find the guys that did it because she was an eyewitness, and the best way to do that is to enter the barbecue contest, and Stephanie has to help her. Oh, and Lula can't cook. Meanwhile, Ranger, the hottie that always has his eye on Stephanie, is having trouble at his super-high-tech security company, and wants Stephanie to help find where things are going wrong. Will Steph manage to juggle murder, barbecue, and Ranger, all at the same time? She usually does.
Thoughts:
Another fun one from Evanovich, as usual. She really has the right kind of voice for Stephanie, Lula, and most of her Jersey characters. There are very few times that she builds a character that doesn't read exactly the way he or she should. She's got the voice, the action, everything is perfectly built, and the story is always a fun time. I'll be sad to see the end of the series. Only a couple more books in this series.
Book 5 of 50
Pages: 352
Genre: Mystery, comedy, with a little romance.
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Yup, but start from the beginning. It's good for you.
Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter not-so-extraordinaire, gets wrapped up into yet another murder investigation when Lula rushes into the bail bonds office exclaiming about having seen a man's head getting chopped off. She won't speak to any other cop but Joe Morelli, Steph's on-again-off-again honey, and forced Steph to call him, even though they were in the off-again stage. Turns out, the dead guy is the current Emeril/Guy Fieri/Gordon Ramsey-type in town for a big barbecue contest in Trenton. Lula decides that she's going to be the best person to try and find the guys that did it because she was an eyewitness, and the best way to do that is to enter the barbecue contest, and Stephanie has to help her. Oh, and Lula can't cook. Meanwhile, Ranger, the hottie that always has his eye on Stephanie, is having trouble at his super-high-tech security company, and wants Stephanie to help find where things are going wrong. Will Steph manage to juggle murder, barbecue, and Ranger, all at the same time? She usually does.
Thoughts:
Another fun one from Evanovich, as usual. She really has the right kind of voice for Stephanie, Lula, and most of her Jersey characters. There are very few times that she builds a character that doesn't read exactly the way he or she should. She's got the voice, the action, everything is perfectly built, and the story is always a fun time. I'll be sad to see the end of the series. Only a couple more books in this series.
Book 5 of 50
Pages: 352
Genre: Mystery, comedy, with a little romance.
Grade: A-/B+
Would I Recommend?: Yup, but start from the beginning. It's good for you.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
True Love and Other Disasters (Rachel Gibson)
Summary:
Faith Duffy just lost her husband. Her eighty-one year old husband. And she's thirty. Yup. She's a former stripper turned Playboy centerfold, and suddenly, she's the owner of a NHL hockey team, thanks to Virgil, her dearly departed hubby. Here's the thing... She knows nothing about hockey. She wants to sell the team to her stepson, but Landon is such a prick, she can't stomach handing the team over to him, so now she's got to learn everything about hockey so she doesn't screw up the Chinooks. Tyson Savage (said "sah-vahge" for some dumb reason) is the Chinooks' new captain, only on the team for a little while after their last captain got into a horrific car crash and can no longer play. Ty is the kind of guy that always looks pissed off. He and Faith have to spend some extra time together thanks to a stupid ad campaign that he hates that puts the new captain and the new owner right in the center of the media storm. The trouble comes when they start spending more time together outside the arena...
Thoughts:
Not too bad. As a hockey fan who's still learning things, this was good. This is book four of a series that I've already read book five of- whoops!- and I enjoyed that one. I'm trying to get my hands on book one, but it's apparently lost in the mail. Lucky me. Most of the time, I loved the book. It's a little bit funny, and a lot of romantic tension, but there was one thing that really bugged me, nit-picky as it is. Gibson called the timed sections of the hockey game "frames." They're called periods, lady. As far as I can remember, she called it a period once. In three hundred and sixty-eight pages of story, she used the correct word ONCE. If you're going to write a book about hockey, that's something you should be damn sure to get right. If you Google "hockey frames," you get a bunch of ads for photo frames. Not talk about what happened in a frame of hockey. Nope. Ah, but here I go rambling again. The book is a light read, and other than the stupid "frame" business, it got most of the stuff about hockey right. Book five (Nothing But Trouble) is what helped me really get into hockey because it let me into the world a little more than just watching a game does, and this one is very similar in that respect. Sure, it's a cheesy romance novel. Expect the standard plot you find in every other romance. But the hockey elements make it more interesting. So if you're into hockey, or if you're trying to be for the benefit of a friend or significant other, read the series. It'll help your understanding more than you realize. I speak from experience.
Book 4 of 50
Pages: 368
Genre: Romance, plus hockey!
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure! Especially if you're a hockey fan.
Faith Duffy just lost her husband. Her eighty-one year old husband. And she's thirty. Yup. She's a former stripper turned Playboy centerfold, and suddenly, she's the owner of a NHL hockey team, thanks to Virgil, her dearly departed hubby. Here's the thing... She knows nothing about hockey. She wants to sell the team to her stepson, but Landon is such a prick, she can't stomach handing the team over to him, so now she's got to learn everything about hockey so she doesn't screw up the Chinooks. Tyson Savage (said "sah-vahge" for some dumb reason) is the Chinooks' new captain, only on the team for a little while after their last captain got into a horrific car crash and can no longer play. Ty is the kind of guy that always looks pissed off. He and Faith have to spend some extra time together thanks to a stupid ad campaign that he hates that puts the new captain and the new owner right in the center of the media storm. The trouble comes when they start spending more time together outside the arena...
Thoughts:
Not too bad. As a hockey fan who's still learning things, this was good. This is book four of a series that I've already read book five of- whoops!- and I enjoyed that one. I'm trying to get my hands on book one, but it's apparently lost in the mail. Lucky me. Most of the time, I loved the book. It's a little bit funny, and a lot of romantic tension, but there was one thing that really bugged me, nit-picky as it is. Gibson called the timed sections of the hockey game "frames." They're called periods, lady. As far as I can remember, she called it a period once. In three hundred and sixty-eight pages of story, she used the correct word ONCE. If you're going to write a book about hockey, that's something you should be damn sure to get right. If you Google "hockey frames," you get a bunch of ads for photo frames. Not talk about what happened in a frame of hockey. Nope. Ah, but here I go rambling again. The book is a light read, and other than the stupid "frame" business, it got most of the stuff about hockey right. Book five (Nothing But Trouble) is what helped me really get into hockey because it let me into the world a little more than just watching a game does, and this one is very similar in that respect. Sure, it's a cheesy romance novel. Expect the standard plot you find in every other romance. But the hockey elements make it more interesting. So if you're into hockey, or if you're trying to be for the benefit of a friend or significant other, read the series. It'll help your understanding more than you realize. I speak from experience.
Book 4 of 50
Pages: 368
Genre: Romance, plus hockey!
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure! Especially if you're a hockey fan.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Metro Girl (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Alexandra Barnaby, known to her family and close friends as Barney, is a former grease-monkey, raised in her father's garage in Baltimore. Now she's an insurance adjuster whose brother calls her from Miami in the middle of the night to say that he'll be away for a while, and don't worry. She flies down to Miami, worried sick, and finds herself wrapped up in a fight to the death over Cuban gold and a Russian bomb. Will she be able to save her brother's life?
Thoughts:
This book SCREAMS Janet Evanovich. Barney reads very much like Stephanie Plum, to the point that I had to remind myself every few pages that this was Metro Girl not Plum Fourteen-and-Three-Quarters. Her partner in finding her brother is Sam Hooker, a horndog racecar driver that feels very much like a young Joe Morelli. She even has a heavyset sidekick type called Rosa who is so Lula-esque, it's hard to read Rosa as "gutsy-but-nuts Hispanic lady" and not "gutsy-but-nuts black lady." It's a fun read, don't get me wrong. But I've read better from Ms. E, and I'm a little disappointed in the not-really-different-ness of this. This is one of those books that you read when you've got nothing else left. Onward and upward, I hope.
Book 3 of 50
Pages: 296
Genre: Chicklit with a dash of mystery and a dollop of comedy
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Meh. You've got better choices.
Alexandra Barnaby, known to her family and close friends as Barney, is a former grease-monkey, raised in her father's garage in Baltimore. Now she's an insurance adjuster whose brother calls her from Miami in the middle of the night to say that he'll be away for a while, and don't worry. She flies down to Miami, worried sick, and finds herself wrapped up in a fight to the death over Cuban gold and a Russian bomb. Will she be able to save her brother's life?
Thoughts:
This book SCREAMS Janet Evanovich. Barney reads very much like Stephanie Plum, to the point that I had to remind myself every few pages that this was Metro Girl not Plum Fourteen-and-Three-Quarters. Her partner in finding her brother is Sam Hooker, a horndog racecar driver that feels very much like a young Joe Morelli. She even has a heavyset sidekick type called Rosa who is so Lula-esque, it's hard to read Rosa as "gutsy-but-nuts Hispanic lady" and not "gutsy-but-nuts black lady." It's a fun read, don't get me wrong. But I've read better from Ms. E, and I'm a little disappointed in the not-really-different-ness of this. This is one of those books that you read when you've got nothing else left. Onward and upward, I hope.
Book 3 of 50
Pages: 296
Genre: Chicklit with a dash of mystery and a dollop of comedy
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: Meh. You've got better choices.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Down the Darkest Road (Tami Hoag)
Summary:
The year is 1990. The Lawton family has been through hell. Elder sister Leslie was kidnapped, and never found. Father Lance couldn't handle the anguish that his daughter's kidnapping brought him and his family, and he drove himself off a bridge. Mother Lauren drinks too much and has become completely obsessed with the prime suspect in the case, Roland Ballencoa, and wants to see him brought to justice by any means possible. Younger sister Leah cuts herself to get rid of the pain of dealing with her family's issues. Lauren and Leah move out of their old town, where everything reminds them of Leslie and Lance. They move into Oak Knoll, and in the first outing in their new town, Lauren sees Ballencoa driving by. Lauren fears that he's stalking them again, and she won't stand for that. She'll do anything to keep her other daughter safe and get justice for Leslie. Anything.
Thoughts:
What a dark, dark book. This book was a gift from someone, and I didn't know what to expect. It's pretty brutal at some points. As the reader, you see through the eyes of both the remaining Lawtons, as well as those of the several cops involved in the case, a friend of Lauren's, and worst of all, Ballencoa. Ballencoa's gross thoughts and actions made me recoil in disgust. Leah's heartbreaking self-doubt made me want to hug her. And I wanted to shake some sense into Lauren so badly. All this tells me it was extremely well-written. That said, it dragged. Sure, the characters were really well-developed. The setting of 1990 made things really interesting, since today's DNA capabilities weren't available to them then. The prose was good, and the story was engaging. But it took me a month and a half to finally get through the book. I don't know if I was just discomforted by the subject matter in its entirety, or if it was that all the characters had serious mental issues that was hard to swallow, or that it just didn't engage me as much as it should have. It was a good book. It just took me forever.
Book 2 of 50
Pages: 484
Genre: Mystery, thriller
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure, but make sure you're giving yourself plenty of time for it. Not recommended for teens or younger!
The year is 1990. The Lawton family has been through hell. Elder sister Leslie was kidnapped, and never found. Father Lance couldn't handle the anguish that his daughter's kidnapping brought him and his family, and he drove himself off a bridge. Mother Lauren drinks too much and has become completely obsessed with the prime suspect in the case, Roland Ballencoa, and wants to see him brought to justice by any means possible. Younger sister Leah cuts herself to get rid of the pain of dealing with her family's issues. Lauren and Leah move out of their old town, where everything reminds them of Leslie and Lance. They move into Oak Knoll, and in the first outing in their new town, Lauren sees Ballencoa driving by. Lauren fears that he's stalking them again, and she won't stand for that. She'll do anything to keep her other daughter safe and get justice for Leslie. Anything.
Thoughts:
What a dark, dark book. This book was a gift from someone, and I didn't know what to expect. It's pretty brutal at some points. As the reader, you see through the eyes of both the remaining Lawtons, as well as those of the several cops involved in the case, a friend of Lauren's, and worst of all, Ballencoa. Ballencoa's gross thoughts and actions made me recoil in disgust. Leah's heartbreaking self-doubt made me want to hug her. And I wanted to shake some sense into Lauren so badly. All this tells me it was extremely well-written. That said, it dragged. Sure, the characters were really well-developed. The setting of 1990 made things really interesting, since today's DNA capabilities weren't available to them then. The prose was good, and the story was engaging. But it took me a month and a half to finally get through the book. I don't know if I was just discomforted by the subject matter in its entirety, or if it was that all the characters had serious mental issues that was hard to swallow, or that it just didn't engage me as much as it should have. It was a good book. It just took me forever.
Book 2 of 50
Pages: 484
Genre: Mystery, thriller
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure, but make sure you're giving yourself plenty of time for it. Not recommended for teens or younger!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Plum Spooky (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Diesel is back in another Between-the-Numbers Stephanie Plum book. This time around, Diesel is after a pretty scary guy named Wulf, who happens to be hanging out with Stephanie's most wanted FTA, a guy named Munch. Steph and Diesel have to slog around in the Pine Barrens in an effort to find these two men. Along the way, Munch's boss gets killed, the boss's estranged sister gets kidnapped, and there's monkeys galore. All in a day's work for Ms. Stephanie Plum.
Thoughts:
Not bad, though the previous Between-the-Numbers books were much more related to the holidays their titles suggested. This one was neither set near Halloween, nor related to it in any way. That part was a little disappointing. But that aside, I really enjoy the Diesel character, so these "between" books are always fun for me. (It seems, though, this might be the last of them, which is a bit disappointing.) Upon doing a little belated research, it seems that Diesel shows up in another series by Ms. Evanovich, which I will be all over as soon as I get my hands on them. (Wicked Appetite and Wicked Business are the novels, and there are two graphic novels as well.) In this particular "between" book, Diesel actually meets Ranger, something that I don't believe happened in any of the previous editions. I'm fairly sure he's never met Morelli, either. It makes Diesel seem a little more "real" and a little less "magical crazy guy that only flits through for a couple days and then disappears leaving everyone forever changed." All in all, not a bad book to start the year with. Onward!
Book 1 of 50 for 2013
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery, comedy
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure, but only if you've been keeping up with the Plum series. If not, start from the beginning and get yourself hooked properly!
Diesel is back in another Between-the-Numbers Stephanie Plum book. This time around, Diesel is after a pretty scary guy named Wulf, who happens to be hanging out with Stephanie's most wanted FTA, a guy named Munch. Steph and Diesel have to slog around in the Pine Barrens in an effort to find these two men. Along the way, Munch's boss gets killed, the boss's estranged sister gets kidnapped, and there's monkeys galore. All in a day's work for Ms. Stephanie Plum.
Thoughts:
Not bad, though the previous Between-the-Numbers books were much more related to the holidays their titles suggested. This one was neither set near Halloween, nor related to it in any way. That part was a little disappointing. But that aside, I really enjoy the Diesel character, so these "between" books are always fun for me. (It seems, though, this might be the last of them, which is a bit disappointing.) Upon doing a little belated research, it seems that Diesel shows up in another series by Ms. Evanovich, which I will be all over as soon as I get my hands on them. (Wicked Appetite and Wicked Business are the novels, and there are two graphic novels as well.) In this particular "between" book, Diesel actually meets Ranger, something that I don't believe happened in any of the previous editions. I'm fairly sure he's never met Morelli, either. It makes Diesel seem a little more "real" and a little less "magical crazy guy that only flits through for a couple days and then disappears leaving everyone forever changed." All in all, not a bad book to start the year with. Onward!
Book 1 of 50 for 2013
Pages: 320
Genre: Mystery, comedy
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Sure, but only if you've been keeping up with the Plum series. If not, start from the beginning and get yourself hooked properly!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Build a Man (Talli Roland)
Summary:
Serenity is an American in London for the first time. She found a job at a Botox clinic, and started hooking up with the doctor. She moved in with Peter, and has been living with him for nearly all of her stay in London so far. She's a budding writer, hoping to get into the world of tabloid writing. Yes, really. She pitches story after Botox-related story to the London tabloids she adores, getting shot down every single time. But when Jeremy walks into the office for a complete overhaul, she knows this is her time. She sends a pitch about a man going under the knife to every tabloid she can think of, including the Daily Planet (yup, Roland ripped off Superman's day job and made it a tabloid), the biggest, raunchiest tabloid paper of them all. She lands the column, writing for free in the hopes that she'll get the staff job that's opening up at the Planet. If she does a great job with her column, called Build a Man (shocker!), the job is hers. But she can't tell Jeremy she's writing the story, nor Peter, and she'll be writing under a pseudonym so she's not found out. Piece of cake!
Thoughts:
Ugh. Seriously. UGH. This book is not worth the download time, let alone the price it might cost you. (A measly 99 cents for the Kindle as of this writing. I downloaded it when it was free, thank God.) As a product of the Fan Fiction world, I've read some roiling piles of crap before. This is one of them. One of the terms from that world that has stuck with me is the "Mary Sue." A Mary Sue is a character that is very much like the author, and she's thrown into a fandom world like the Potter series or the Lord of the Rings series, and she's paired with the most attractive of the series' characters, as though Harry Potter would turn up his nose at Ginny Weasley in favor of Mary Sue Smith, an American transfer student that showed up in the middle of fifth year. Why, of course! (The male equivalent was "Gary Stew/Stu," if I recall correctly.) I bring all this up because the Serenity character is so very much a Mary Sue, she's even NAMED horribly. Serenity is one of those names that you only WISH you could have, because it's so pretty and wonderful... So very Mary-Sue-ish. Oh, and the worst part is that when I checked the Amazon website to see exactly how many crappy pages this sad, slow, horrible death of a book were, I read the words that confirmed my Mary Sue suspicions in the "From the Author" section: "This novel holds a special place in my heart, since the main character, Serenity, experiences many of the same feelings I did when I first moved to England from Canada. Everything seemed so different and strange, yet exciting -- a whole new world of potential opening up. Like Serenity, I also worked as a receptionist in a place where London's wealthy women flocked for Botox, and I couldn't help being shocked at the amount of money they shelled out each visit." She openly admits to the Mary-Sue-dom of the story, and is completely unapologetic about it, even going on to say that she identifies with the character's feelings. Hello!! You wrote the damn thing! Of course you identify with it! This book is entirely predictable. Of course she's going to get the guy in the end. She's the book heroine. It doesn't matter that she wrote a story about him without his knowledge, or that she made him a laughing stock, or that because he went under the knife, (despite having serious reservations on the day of the surgery) he wound up having some brain damage. None of that matters, because they love each other and love will out in the end. Oh yes. That she lied to him through most of their existence together is no big deal, right? Ugh. And somehow, this book actually got a sequel. So not even bothering! DO NOT waste your time on this pile of horse manure unless you're only out for annoying protagonists who wound up getting a happy ending, no matter how horrible a person she is, or if you're looking for the stupidest, most predictable plot line that hundreds of romance writers have followed for decades. SKIP IT!
Book 57 of 70
Pages: 308, read as an e-book
Genre: chick lit, romance
Grade: F-
Would I Recommend?: No. Don't even waste the download time when the book is free. Seriously. Don't bother.
Serenity is an American in London for the first time. She found a job at a Botox clinic, and started hooking up with the doctor. She moved in with Peter, and has been living with him for nearly all of her stay in London so far. She's a budding writer, hoping to get into the world of tabloid writing. Yes, really. She pitches story after Botox-related story to the London tabloids she adores, getting shot down every single time. But when Jeremy walks into the office for a complete overhaul, she knows this is her time. She sends a pitch about a man going under the knife to every tabloid she can think of, including the Daily Planet (yup, Roland ripped off Superman's day job and made it a tabloid), the biggest, raunchiest tabloid paper of them all. She lands the column, writing for free in the hopes that she'll get the staff job that's opening up at the Planet. If she does a great job with her column, called Build a Man (shocker!), the job is hers. But she can't tell Jeremy she's writing the story, nor Peter, and she'll be writing under a pseudonym so she's not found out. Piece of cake!
Thoughts:
Ugh. Seriously. UGH. This book is not worth the download time, let alone the price it might cost you. (A measly 99 cents for the Kindle as of this writing. I downloaded it when it was free, thank God.) As a product of the Fan Fiction world, I've read some roiling piles of crap before. This is one of them. One of the terms from that world that has stuck with me is the "Mary Sue." A Mary Sue is a character that is very much like the author, and she's thrown into a fandom world like the Potter series or the Lord of the Rings series, and she's paired with the most attractive of the series' characters, as though Harry Potter would turn up his nose at Ginny Weasley in favor of Mary Sue Smith, an American transfer student that showed up in the middle of fifth year. Why, of course! (The male equivalent was "Gary Stew/Stu," if I recall correctly.) I bring all this up because the Serenity character is so very much a Mary Sue, she's even NAMED horribly. Serenity is one of those names that you only WISH you could have, because it's so pretty and wonderful... So very Mary-Sue-ish. Oh, and the worst part is that when I checked the Amazon website to see exactly how many crappy pages this sad, slow, horrible death of a book were, I read the words that confirmed my Mary Sue suspicions in the "From the Author" section: "This novel holds a special place in my heart, since the main character, Serenity, experiences many of the same feelings I did when I first moved to England from Canada. Everything seemed so different and strange, yet exciting -- a whole new world of potential opening up. Like Serenity, I also worked as a receptionist in a place where London's wealthy women flocked for Botox, and I couldn't help being shocked at the amount of money they shelled out each visit." She openly admits to the Mary-Sue-dom of the story, and is completely unapologetic about it, even going on to say that she identifies with the character's feelings. Hello!! You wrote the damn thing! Of course you identify with it! This book is entirely predictable. Of course she's going to get the guy in the end. She's the book heroine. It doesn't matter that she wrote a story about him without his knowledge, or that she made him a laughing stock, or that because he went under the knife, (despite having serious reservations on the day of the surgery) he wound up having some brain damage. None of that matters, because they love each other and love will out in the end. Oh yes. That she lied to him through most of their existence together is no big deal, right? Ugh. And somehow, this book actually got a sequel. So not even bothering! DO NOT waste your time on this pile of horse manure unless you're only out for annoying protagonists who wound up getting a happy ending, no matter how horrible a person she is, or if you're looking for the stupidest, most predictable plot line that hundreds of romance writers have followed for decades. SKIP IT!
Book 57 of 70
Pages: 308, read as an e-book
Genre: chick lit, romance
Grade: F-
Would I Recommend?: No. Don't even waste the download time when the book is free. Seriously. Don't bother.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
When Girlfriends Break Hearts (Savannah Page)
A quick note to those few readers that I've got:
First, thanks! I appreciate you checking out the blog! I've noticed that there tends to be a lot of traffic on Saturdays, so going forward, please keep an eye out for posts on SATURDAYS at 12pm Eastern Standard Time. (That's -5 hours from GMT, for anyone who doesn't know.) This will be the final Sunday post. Thanks for your time, and for reading this silly little blog!
On to the good stuff!
Summary:
Sophie's whole world crumbles one day when she finds out that her boyfriend of several years cheated on her. What's worse, he cheated with one of her dearest friends. The boyfriend breaks up with her saying that he just doesn't love her anymore. She can't except that, and presses for a real answer, and learns of the affair. Worse than the affair itself is that another dear friend knew the whole time and kept the secret because she was closer to the cheater friend than Sophie. Sophie has to deal with her crumbling world, and get over her heartbreak over two friends' deceptions.
Thoughts:
Not great. It's all about a woman's bond with her dearest friends, and comes around to the female version of "bros before hos." Sophie has to get herself to a place where she can accept that the affair happened, and try to mend herself enough that she might be able to mend fences with the friends that hurt her so deeply. She couldn't care less about the boyfriend. It's her besties that hurt her more for lying about the whole thing. She's stuck in a bitter, unforgiving place. If I were in her shoes, I'd probably be stuck for a lot longer than she was, but I've been known to hold grudges for a very, very long time. If the writing were a little better, I wouldn't have minded the story so much. But it's not great. It's boring, and the story drags. I have a very hard time putting a book down for good without finishing it, and I plodded through this one, but it was a chore. Reading to me is a release, a joyful and happy experience where I get to see more of the world around me, and not just the tiny little corner that I know. This book made reading feel like a homework assignment. Not worth the several weeks this took me to finish it, or even the thirty seconds of download time it took me to get the book. (I downloaded it when it was free, as it still is as of this writing.)
Book 56 of 70
Pages: 251 read as an e-book
Genre: chicklit
Grade: D-
Would I Recommend?: Bland. Don't bother.
Sophie's whole world crumbles one day when she finds out that her boyfriend of several years cheated on her. What's worse, he cheated with one of her dearest friends. The boyfriend breaks up with her saying that he just doesn't love her anymore. She can't except that, and presses for a real answer, and learns of the affair. Worse than the affair itself is that another dear friend knew the whole time and kept the secret because she was closer to the cheater friend than Sophie. Sophie has to deal with her crumbling world, and get over her heartbreak over two friends' deceptions.
Thoughts:
Not great. It's all about a woman's bond with her dearest friends, and comes around to the female version of "bros before hos." Sophie has to get herself to a place where she can accept that the affair happened, and try to mend herself enough that she might be able to mend fences with the friends that hurt her so deeply. She couldn't care less about the boyfriend. It's her besties that hurt her more for lying about the whole thing. She's stuck in a bitter, unforgiving place. If I were in her shoes, I'd probably be stuck for a lot longer than she was, but I've been known to hold grudges for a very, very long time. If the writing were a little better, I wouldn't have minded the story so much. But it's not great. It's boring, and the story drags. I have a very hard time putting a book down for good without finishing it, and I plodded through this one, but it was a chore. Reading to me is a release, a joyful and happy experience where I get to see more of the world around me, and not just the tiny little corner that I know. This book made reading feel like a homework assignment. Not worth the several weeks this took me to finish it, or even the thirty seconds of download time it took me to get the book. (I downloaded it when it was free, as it still is as of this writing.)
Book 56 of 70
Pages: 251 read as an e-book
Genre: chicklit
Grade: D-
Would I Recommend?: Bland. Don't bother.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
The Abundance of Katherines (John Green)
Summary:
Colin is a new high school graduate with an obsession with anagrams and girls named Katherine. His first girlfriend was Katherine, then his second happened to be Katherine too. And every girl afterward, too, right up to his nineteenth Katherine. Each one of them broke up with him, and after the nineteenth break-up, he feels he's doomed to repeat the same mistake forever. His plump Middle-eastern best friend Hassan decides that they are going to spend the summer doing something not depressing, and going on a road trip. They wind up in a town called Gutshot. They meet a cute girl named Lindsey, her boyfriend Colin (The Other Colin, or TOC for short), and her mom, Hollis. They wind up staying in Gutshot for the summer, helping Hollis out in their little general store, and interviewing the townspeople about the world of Gutshot, and Colin decides to work out a mathematical equation for how long his relationships went on with all the Katherines. His singular focus is admirable to a point, but becomes sadly over-obsessed. Will he ever get over Katherine XIX, and be able to move on?
Thoughts:
Not the best John Green book I've read. I've become fairly enamored with his writing, to be sure, but this was not his best. The main character is annoying about his obsession, and while reading, I just wanted to smack him upside the head most of the time. Sure, the kid's brilliant. He's got a thing for anagrams, and he was a child prodigy. Great. So you're a smart kid. That doesn't mean you have to obsess over the littlest things. But that's how Green wrote him, and it wound up working. But the book dragged for far too long before we get to the good plot bits inside. I trudged through this one far more than I did with either Will Grayson, Will Grayson or The Fault in Our Stars. I'm disappointed, but not every book by a favored author can be fabulous. Just most of them. Oh, and one other minor, nitpicking thing that drove me completely mad. The physical inside the book was annoying. I don't know if it was Green's decision, the publisher, or a little of both, but there were page numbers only on the right side pages, which wound up being the odd numbers. This would have been fine for the most part, but the book dragged, and I kept wanting to know how much more until the end. What made it especially difficult was when the first page of a new chapter fell on an odd page. There were no page numbers on the page because the top of the page was an attractive, wide open space. Looks nice, but if you're only numbering every other page to begin with, this makes it hard to find a page or keep track of anything. As I said, nitpicky, but damn, I couldn't stand it.
Book 55 of 70
Pages: 215, 228 if you count the appendix
Genre: teen lit, romance
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Read the other two Green books I mentioned above over this one. I was disappointed. But if you're being a completionist about Green's work, I have read far worse books, so it's not completely unreadable.
Colin is a new high school graduate with an obsession with anagrams and girls named Katherine. His first girlfriend was Katherine, then his second happened to be Katherine too. And every girl afterward, too, right up to his nineteenth Katherine. Each one of them broke up with him, and after the nineteenth break-up, he feels he's doomed to repeat the same mistake forever. His plump Middle-eastern best friend Hassan decides that they are going to spend the summer doing something not depressing, and going on a road trip. They wind up in a town called Gutshot. They meet a cute girl named Lindsey, her boyfriend Colin (The Other Colin, or TOC for short), and her mom, Hollis. They wind up staying in Gutshot for the summer, helping Hollis out in their little general store, and interviewing the townspeople about the world of Gutshot, and Colin decides to work out a mathematical equation for how long his relationships went on with all the Katherines. His singular focus is admirable to a point, but becomes sadly over-obsessed. Will he ever get over Katherine XIX, and be able to move on?
Thoughts:
Not the best John Green book I've read. I've become fairly enamored with his writing, to be sure, but this was not his best. The main character is annoying about his obsession, and while reading, I just wanted to smack him upside the head most of the time. Sure, the kid's brilliant. He's got a thing for anagrams, and he was a child prodigy. Great. So you're a smart kid. That doesn't mean you have to obsess over the littlest things. But that's how Green wrote him, and it wound up working. But the book dragged for far too long before we get to the good plot bits inside. I trudged through this one far more than I did with either Will Grayson, Will Grayson or The Fault in Our Stars. I'm disappointed, but not every book by a favored author can be fabulous. Just most of them. Oh, and one other minor, nitpicking thing that drove me completely mad. The physical inside the book was annoying. I don't know if it was Green's decision, the publisher, or a little of both, but there were page numbers only on the right side pages, which wound up being the odd numbers. This would have been fine for the most part, but the book dragged, and I kept wanting to know how much more until the end. What made it especially difficult was when the first page of a new chapter fell on an odd page. There were no page numbers on the page because the top of the page was an attractive, wide open space. Looks nice, but if you're only numbering every other page to begin with, this makes it hard to find a page or keep track of anything. As I said, nitpicky, but damn, I couldn't stand it.
Book 55 of 70
Pages: 215, 228 if you count the appendix
Genre: teen lit, romance
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Read the other two Green books I mentioned above over this one. I was disappointed. But if you're being a completionist about Green's work, I have read far worse books, so it's not completely unreadable.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Fearless Fourteen (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
One of Joe Morelli's distant cousins(of which there are seemingly thousands), Loretta, is a bondee that Stephanie's got to pick up. Thanks to Stephanie's good nature, she agrees to take care of Loretta's teenaged son until she gets out of jail. The only trouble is that Loretta's got no cash and can't bond herself out. Then, when she finally is out, Loretta gets herself kidnapped. Loretta's big brother, Dom, is slightly unhinged, and thinks that Loretta's kid is the product of Loretta and Morelli himself, and doesn't like that his nephew is staying in the home of a cop that used to be a total womanizer. Meanwhile, Ranger asks Stephanie to help him out on a private protection thing with him, for a crazy has-been singer named Brenda, who decides she wants to go into reality TV as a bounty hunter, following Stephanie's every move. Also, Morelli's house keeps getting broken into thanks to news that there might be buried treasure in or around it. Just another regular week in downtown Trenton through the eyes of Stephanie Plum.
Thoughts:
Completely silly as always. It was another fun one. The reappearance of Mooner (the stoner dude that Steph went to school with, and who still hasn't grown up, probably because of the stonerdom) is always a fun time, and the teenager, who calls himself Zook, is a pip too. But as I've been saying from early on with this series, you really need to start from the beginning. There's just too much going on to jump in halfway. Or, in this case, six books from the most recent, including the one Between-the-Numbers edition. The series is fun, and engaging, and I love getting my hands on another of these books, because I know it's going to be lots of fun, even if I do sail through them like they're children's books!
Book 54 of 70
Pages: 310
Genre: Mystery, romance, and we'll add comedy to this one...
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: Start from the beginning, and the ridiculous fun in this book will make all the more sense.
One of Joe Morelli's distant cousins(of which there are seemingly thousands), Loretta, is a bondee that Stephanie's got to pick up. Thanks to Stephanie's good nature, she agrees to take care of Loretta's teenaged son until she gets out of jail. The only trouble is that Loretta's got no cash and can't bond herself out. Then, when she finally is out, Loretta gets herself kidnapped. Loretta's big brother, Dom, is slightly unhinged, and thinks that Loretta's kid is the product of Loretta and Morelli himself, and doesn't like that his nephew is staying in the home of a cop that used to be a total womanizer. Meanwhile, Ranger asks Stephanie to help him out on a private protection thing with him, for a crazy has-been singer named Brenda, who decides she wants to go into reality TV as a bounty hunter, following Stephanie's every move. Also, Morelli's house keeps getting broken into thanks to news that there might be buried treasure in or around it. Just another regular week in downtown Trenton through the eyes of Stephanie Plum.
Thoughts:
Completely silly as always. It was another fun one. The reappearance of Mooner (the stoner dude that Steph went to school with, and who still hasn't grown up, probably because of the stonerdom) is always a fun time, and the teenager, who calls himself Zook, is a pip too. But as I've been saying from early on with this series, you really need to start from the beginning. There's just too much going on to jump in halfway. Or, in this case, six books from the most recent, including the one Between-the-Numbers edition. The series is fun, and engaging, and I love getting my hands on another of these books, because I know it's going to be lots of fun, even if I do sail through them like they're children's books!
Book 54 of 70
Pages: 310
Genre: Mystery, romance, and we'll add comedy to this one...
Grade: A-
Would I Recommend?: Start from the beginning, and the ridiculous fun in this book will make all the more sense.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Plum Lucky (Janet Evanovich)
Summary:
Another Between-the-Numbers book in the Stephanie Plum series. This comes between Thirteen and Fourteen, and it's the St. Patrick's Day book. Diesel appears again as Stephanie is completely out of the holiday spirit. Grandma Mazur gets her hands on a duffel bag that was left on the sidewalk by a short guy wearing green. Of course that means he was a leprechaun and she found the pot of gold. Stephanie finds all this out the hard way, when the little guy comes after her, wanting his money back. He's stolen it from a mobster who wants it back in a bad way. Grandma Mazur, being the crazy grandma she is, has taken the cash to Atlantic City, where she's playing the slots and gambling it all away. Stephanie takes Lula and Connie with her to AC to try to get Grandma Mazur and the money back before anybody gets hurt.
Thoughts:
With Stephanie, if you put together Lula the ex-hooker, Connie the busty no-nonsense bond office assistant, and Grandma Mazur the old lady who thinks she's a teenager, all hell is going to break loose, and hilarity will ensue. Evanovich really knows what will make the most ridiculous thing happen, and goes out of her way to make it so. As always with the Between-the-Numbers books, this one is centered around Diesel, a magical-ish guy who kinda has a thing about Steph, rather than being completely in line with the rest of the Numbers. No matter what, though, this is a fun time, and if you're in the series, don't miss the Betweens, because they're just as much fun as the regular books, if not more.
Book 53 of 70
Pages: 256
Genre: Mystery, comedy
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Only if you're reading the Plum series. But heck yes.
Another Between-the-Numbers book in the Stephanie Plum series. This comes between Thirteen and Fourteen, and it's the St. Patrick's Day book. Diesel appears again as Stephanie is completely out of the holiday spirit. Grandma Mazur gets her hands on a duffel bag that was left on the sidewalk by a short guy wearing green. Of course that means he was a leprechaun and she found the pot of gold. Stephanie finds all this out the hard way, when the little guy comes after her, wanting his money back. He's stolen it from a mobster who wants it back in a bad way. Grandma Mazur, being the crazy grandma she is, has taken the cash to Atlantic City, where she's playing the slots and gambling it all away. Stephanie takes Lula and Connie with her to AC to try to get Grandma Mazur and the money back before anybody gets hurt.
Thoughts:
With Stephanie, if you put together Lula the ex-hooker, Connie the busty no-nonsense bond office assistant, and Grandma Mazur the old lady who thinks she's a teenager, all hell is going to break loose, and hilarity will ensue. Evanovich really knows what will make the most ridiculous thing happen, and goes out of her way to make it so. As always with the Between-the-Numbers books, this one is centered around Diesel, a magical-ish guy who kinda has a thing about Steph, rather than being completely in line with the rest of the Numbers. No matter what, though, this is a fun time, and if you're in the series, don't miss the Betweens, because they're just as much fun as the regular books, if not more.
Book 53 of 70
Pages: 256
Genre: Mystery, comedy
Grade: B+
Would I Recommend?: Only if you're reading the Plum series. But heck yes.
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