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.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
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.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Hacking Harvard (Robin Wasserman)
Summary:
Three sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys are the kings of pranks, or "hacks" as they call them. They are all about making a statement by pointing out the flaws in the system. And when Max, the obnoxious troublemaker of the bunch, decides to make a bet behind Eric's and Schwartz's backs, they run with it, even though they think the idea of betting over something is abhorrent. The bet: Get the biggest slacker they can find accepted into Harvard. Along the way, they run into a few obstacles, like a pretty girl that might get hurt because of the bet, a guy that's blackmailing them into helping him too, and a bully who doesn't even remember his prey. The whole idea is that you don't have to be brilliant... You just need a plan.
Thoughts:
Just in time for those crazed about college application deadlines! The basic message of the book is a good one. You just need a plan. The way the boys go about getting their plan accomplished is rather unfortunate, though some bits were rather ingenious. The story in general is not a bad one. But it is certainly not one teens should read and think "Hey, this is totally okay." There's some romance in there, and there's some intrigue. But more than anything, it's a fun little coming-of-age story that was at least amusing enough to keep my attention. Though there were certainly plenty of times where I wanted to slap the boys upside their heads. Definitely an interesting story for teens, though maybe not until after they're out of the hunt for a college?
Book 52 of 70
Pages: 320
Genre: teen lit, some romance
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fantastic. Read it if you've got the time and inclination...
Three sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys are the kings of pranks, or "hacks" as they call them. They are all about making a statement by pointing out the flaws in the system. And when Max, the obnoxious troublemaker of the bunch, decides to make a bet behind Eric's and Schwartz's backs, they run with it, even though they think the idea of betting over something is abhorrent. The bet: Get the biggest slacker they can find accepted into Harvard. Along the way, they run into a few obstacles, like a pretty girl that might get hurt because of the bet, a guy that's blackmailing them into helping him too, and a bully who doesn't even remember his prey. The whole idea is that you don't have to be brilliant... You just need a plan.
Thoughts:
Just in time for those crazed about college application deadlines! The basic message of the book is a good one. You just need a plan. The way the boys go about getting their plan accomplished is rather unfortunate, though some bits were rather ingenious. The story in general is not a bad one. But it is certainly not one teens should read and think "Hey, this is totally okay." There's some romance in there, and there's some intrigue. But more than anything, it's a fun little coming-of-age story that was at least amusing enough to keep my attention. Though there were certainly plenty of times where I wanted to slap the boys upside their heads. Definitely an interesting story for teens, though maybe not until after they're out of the hunt for a college?
Book 52 of 70
Pages: 320
Genre: teen lit, some romance
Grade: B-/C+
Would I Recommend?: It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fantastic. Read it if you've got the time and inclination...
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Charming the Prince (Teresa Medeiros)
Summary:
Set in fourteenth century England, Lord Bannor is a fierce warrior, one of the King's best fighters against France in the war, with a brood of children that could fill a modern-day American football team, with room to spare, who needs a wife to help him tame his wild children but who won't make him want to have any more. Willow is a young woman thrust into a very Cinderella-type situation when her father marries a wicked wretch of a woman who expects Willow to do the child-rearing at the tender age of six, who wants nothing more to get away from her vicious step-siblings and children altogether. Lord Bannor's second-in-command in war, who has become his steward during peace, is enlisted to find Bannor a wife. Hollis, the steward, sees a kind, fish-wife looking girl across a field and thinks he's found the perfect woman in Willow, until she drops the apples out of her skirts and shakes out her beautiful hair. But by then it's too late, and they've already struck a deal. Neither Bannor nor Willow is happy with the new situation, and they feud for weeks. Will Bannor ever get Willow to agree to stay his wife in happiness?
Thoughts:
The beginning few chapters stink. It's not engaging, or all that interesting. No one can say what they mean or discover what their purposes are with each other. But then the feud between Bannor (and his men) and Willow (and Bannor's children) begins, and it gets more interesting. Willow starts as a character that is so stuck in her meekness and civility that she can't tell her stepmother how wicked she is or her father what a disappointment he is, and winds up being able to speak her mind and fight for herself. Bannor starts as your classic warrior type, and grows to show his soft side, and learns how to love as he should. Not a horrible book by the end. At the least, it becomes more engaging. The first third of the novel is spent developing everyone, with very little action going on except blustering on Bannor's part, and wallowing on Willow's. The end winds up being worth some of the beginning, though definitely could have used a less cliched ending.
Book 51 of 70
Pages: 352
Genre: romance, historical fiction (of sorts?)
Grade: B-
Would I Recommend?: Eh, if you like period pieces and want something easy to read, this is an okay one for you.
Set in fourteenth century England, Lord Bannor is a fierce warrior, one of the King's best fighters against France in the war, with a brood of children that could fill a modern-day American football team, with room to spare, who needs a wife to help him tame his wild children but who won't make him want to have any more. Willow is a young woman thrust into a very Cinderella-type situation when her father marries a wicked wretch of a woman who expects Willow to do the child-rearing at the tender age of six, who wants nothing more to get away from her vicious step-siblings and children altogether. Lord Bannor's second-in-command in war, who has become his steward during peace, is enlisted to find Bannor a wife. Hollis, the steward, sees a kind, fish-wife looking girl across a field and thinks he's found the perfect woman in Willow, until she drops the apples out of her skirts and shakes out her beautiful hair. But by then it's too late, and they've already struck a deal. Neither Bannor nor Willow is happy with the new situation, and they feud for weeks. Will Bannor ever get Willow to agree to stay his wife in happiness?
Thoughts:
The beginning few chapters stink. It's not engaging, or all that interesting. No one can say what they mean or discover what their purposes are with each other. But then the feud between Bannor (and his men) and Willow (and Bannor's children) begins, and it gets more interesting. Willow starts as a character that is so stuck in her meekness and civility that she can't tell her stepmother how wicked she is or her father what a disappointment he is, and winds up being able to speak her mind and fight for herself. Bannor starts as your classic warrior type, and grows to show his soft side, and learns how to love as he should. Not a horrible book by the end. At the least, it becomes more engaging. The first third of the novel is spent developing everyone, with very little action going on except blustering on Bannor's part, and wallowing on Willow's. The end winds up being worth some of the beginning, though definitely could have used a less cliched ending.
Book 51 of 70
Pages: 352
Genre: romance, historical fiction (of sorts?)
Grade: B-
Would I Recommend?: Eh, if you like period pieces and want something easy to read, this is an okay one for you.
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