Bone Thief by Thomas O'Callaghan

#1 Lt. Driscoll
Copyright:2006
Publisher: Pinnacle
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 377
Challenges: 1st in a series, New author, Mystery and Suspense, Buy 1 book and read it
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
When a woman's body is found without a head, feet, hands, or even any bones, the police know there is a madman on the loose.  Lt. Driscoll is in charge of the investigation and he has a sick feeling this is the first of many.  When the second body is found, he knows they are dealing with a serial killer.

What kind of sick individual removes all the bones from a body and then leaves the on display?  How is this guy picking his women.  At first there doesn't appear to be any link between the woman.  That is, until Moira involves herself on the case.  Moira is a teenager who is a wiz with computers and she takes it upon herself to do some digging and provide Driscoll with the info.Driscoll knows this isn't right but isn't too sure he has a say in the matter, Moira seems to do what she wants.

Driscoll is trying to solve this horrendous case while also dealing with some of his own personal issues.  His daughter was killed several years ago in a car accident that left his wife in a coma.  He is starting to have feelings for his partner, something his partner ready accepts, but fees like that would be cheating on his wife.
Along with solving the case of the bone thief, Driscoll also has to come to terms with the personal issues.


My Thoughts:
I didn't love this book, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was a pretty good story all around.  I liked Driscoll even though he had his own faults.  He is human after-all.  I liked Moira too, what a spunky character.  

In this book we know who the bone thief is and we get parts of the story from his point of view.  Part of his story takes most of the book to come out.  We know he had a bad childhood, until he was adopted anyway. But it isn't until the very end that we get a full picture and we learn what really happened.

There is a second book in the series and I'm definitely going to check it out.  I think this one was a good start to the series and I did like it, definitely worth my time reading.  

First Family by David Baldacci

#4 King and Maxwell series
Copyright: 2009
Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: Mystery and Suspense, Audio book
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description: 
Sean and Michelle are on their way to meet with a new client. It's the sister-in-law to the wife of the President and Michelle is interested in how Sean knows the two families.  When they get there, they find that things aren't as expected.  Sean goes around back and Michelle stays in front where she is soon in a gun fight with two men who are wearing what appear to be military grade body armor.   They go inside to find the wife dead, the Husband hurt, two of the kids ok, and the oldest daughter missing.

Since this is a kidnapping and the family has a strong tie to the first family, the FBI and secrete service are involved.  However, the first wife hires Sean and Michelle to figure out what's going on.

While trying to wade through the lies and red tape on the kidnapping and murder, Michelle has some a family emergency.  Her Mom has been murdered.   Michelle goes home to be with her family and look into the murder, as well as face her past.   She calls in the one guy she trusts to help her out, Sean.


My Thoughts: 
I thought this was an excellent follow-up to Simple Genius.  One of the things I loved about Simple Genius was that we had the one, main, murder mystery as well as a secondary story revolving around Michelle.  What I love is that the secondary story didn't end with the end of that novel.  Instead, the author carried it on to this book and it worked really well.  I liked having the two different stories and seeing how Michelle and Sean dealt with both of them.     I also loved that there was more exploration into Sean and Michelle's relationship too.  Loved the ending! (and that's all I'm saying about that).

With this book we know what is going on in regards to Sean and Michelle looking for the kidnapper but we also know who the kidnapper is and we get his side of the story.  The story goes between the two so we get updates as needed. Sometimes this doesn't work very well and sometimes it does.  Luckily, this is a case where it works out really well for the story.

This quickly became one of my favorite series and even though I started it last year, I'm happy to say I'm already caught up in it.  Well, that is until next month with the next book in the series is published.  That's ok though, I already have plans to buddy read it with some friends.

 Audio Review: 
It's kinda funny.  I started out by downloading this book from the library onto my ipod.  Then my requested audio CD copy was ready for me to pick up, so I picked it up and started listening to it in the car using the cd's and on runs and at work with the ipod.  Then my paper copy from paperback swap arrived and by then I was towards the end of the book and had to know what was happening so I read the paper copy at home.

As far as the audio version, I thought it was done pretty well.  I found it fun that there were gunshots during the fight scenes where guns were involved.  It was unexpected and made me smile.  Ron McLarty is the narrator and I think he does an excellent job.

Giveaways announced

Sorry I'm just now getting to the giveaways..I know I promised I would do it on Saturday.  I had other things going on though (such as working on my bookshelves!)

The winner of Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston is Martha H. Congratulations Martha!

The winner of Fruit of All Evil by Paige Shelton is Anne W.  Congratulations Anne!

The winner of Touch of Gold by  Joyce and Jim Levene is Mary W. Congrats Mary!





I'll be contacting the person providing the books for the giveaway today and letting her know won and where to send your lovely items.

Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

#4 House of Night
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: audio
Challenges:  Strong Heroine, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Audio Book
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
In the fourth installment of the House of Night series, we have Zoey being all by herself. No boyfriend..heck..no friends.  Due to her actions, right or wrong, she has become alienated.  The only person still speaking to her is Aphrodite.  When Aphrodite has a vision where she see's two different ways that Zoey dies, she knows it's time to tell friends some of the secrets she's kept from them.  She needs her friends by her side.

Something evil is in the night.  Some weird Raven's.  When Aphrodite has another vision and writes down what she thinks is a poem, they learn that it's really a Cherokee legend and Zoey calls on her Grandma for help.   Soon they learn that it's not legend, it's true.  Neferate is up to something evil and more than just vampyres are in danger.


My Thoughts:
While I thought this was a good installment to the series, I didn't find myself enjoying it as much as I have the other three.  I don't know if it's because I've listened to all of them and with this one the narrator is different and threw me off, or if it was something else.   I found the bickering between Aphrodite and Zoey's other friends getting on my nerves. I get it, they are different, but Aphrodite is changing and I just think the bickering needs to stop.  

The story itself is good, even though it doesn't end with everything wrapped up and tied nicely with a ribbon.  I know it's just leading us in to book 5 though.    I do think this is a good YA urban fantasy series and even though I didn't like this one as much as the others, I still liked it and plan to continue with the series.

Audio Review:
As mentioned, I did listen to this book.  The narrator for book four is Jenna Lamia.  I think she does a good job, I just wish they hadn't changed narrators in the middle of the series.  Sometimes I felt her tone was too sarcastic or too, well, something. But at the same time, it is a YA book and it is how teenagers talk. Whether it was my age showing or not, I don't know.   I did see that Jenna is the narrator for book 5 and I'll continue with audio for this series.

I thought the narrator's name was familiar so I did a search on my blog and found that she's also the narrator of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.  I remember loving that audio version.

A Touch of Gold by Joyce and Jim Levene

#2 Missing Pieces series
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 304
Challenges: What's in a Name, Crusin Through the Cozies, 2011 Pub Challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/4

Simple Description:
The story starts off with us hearing one of the stories from Duck's history along with a group of children.  Max, the curator of Duck's history museum, is telling the story and Dae is there to listen and participate since it is story hour with the Mayor.   After the story is over and the children get some refreshments they head back to school. Dae starts to leave to but turns around when she realizes she forgot to give Max one of the gold coins she found on the floor.  It's then that the museum explodes, killing Max and hurting Dae.

When Dae recovers, she finds her abilities have changed.  She can still find lost objects for people however now she can also get information about objects when she touches them.

Through these new visions Dae learns that the pirate gold Max found years ago, wasn't really found by him but was given to him.   She wonders if this had something to do with his murder.

Soon Dae and Kevin are doing some investigating on their own to try and find who killed Max and who attempted to kill the wife he left behind.   Sure, the authorities are looking in to it, but Dae is pretty sure they are wrong.

My Thoughts:
I thought this was a great follow-up to the first book in the series.  In fact, I liked this one even more.  I think with the first one, while I liked Dae, I did have some issues with her.  In this book, I didn't feel like I had any issues with her.  I thought she put her life at risk but don't all amateur sleuth's at one point or another?  I really like the characters of  Dae, Kevin, and Gramps.  They work really well together and I really like them.

The mystery aspect of this one kept me guessing until pretty close to the end.  I really had no idea who the murder was for most of the book, but a clue towards the end pretty  much told me who it was before Dae figured it out.

I also liked how one mystery about a person who used to live in Duck, was kinda solved.  At least, we got more info on it and it did have relevance to the story and it was a nice twist. I won't say more than that though.

If you read the first one in this series and enjoyed it, I definitely recommend reading the second one. I'm pretty darn sure you'll enjoy just as much, if not more.



Thanks to the publisher for providing this book for review.

Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

#14 Hannah Swanson/Cookie Jar Mystery
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Mystery
Pages: audio
Challenges: crusin through the cozies, audio, 2011 Pub Challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
This one starts out with a bang, there is something fishy going on almost right away.  Rev. Bob and his new wife are finally able to take a honeymoon when they run into visiting minister who knows the family.  Matthew lived with Bob's Grandma Knudson when he was in high school and she was the minister's wife.  However shortly after being reunited with Matthew, Grandma Knudson things something isn't right.  She asks Hannah to look into her suspicions.  With Andrea's help, Hannah is able to explain away Grandma Knudson's suspicions.  Then Matthew turns up dead.  And the real Matthew comes in to town.  Or is he?

With one body and another suspicious person, Hannah has her hands full.  However she's also dealing with things on a personal level.  There's still the issue with her not making up her mind between Mike and Norman.  Then Norman brings Dr. Bev, his ex-fiancée, into his practice as a partner, and he starts acting weird.  Hannah wants to know what's going on.


My Thoughts:
While this is still one of my favorite cozy series and while I did enjoy this book, I really wish Hannah would make up her mind between Norman and Mike. I think we all know Norman is the best guy for her, she just needs to get over how hunky Mike is.    If I have one complaint with this series..that would be it..the fact that Hannah cannot pick one guy to date.

Other than that..I thought this was a good addition to the series.  We get to meet with our favorite characters. We get more cookie recipes that I always want to try baking right away (but rarely do).

I do recommend this cozy series to those who enjoy a light mystery, but definitely recommend starting with book one.

 Audio Review: 
I did listen to the audio version of this book. I plan to buy a copy still, I want to add it to my collection and I want the recipes.  I thought the audio version was good.  Suzanne Toren was the narrator again and I felt she did a very good job.

Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

#1 Pet Rescue series
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 304
Challenges: 1st in a series, Crusin' through the cozies, 2011 Pub Challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description: 
Lauren Vancouver is the director of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter.  Lauren is very passionate about her job and about animal abuse and sometimes that can land her in trouble.  Lauren ends up at a puppy mill as the city is raiding it and she finds Efram Kiley.  Efram sued HotRescues and as part of the bargain he has to "volunteer" there so he can learn about treating animals correctly.  Unfortunately he hasn't learned anything since Lauren knows he's the one who dumped some of the puppies from the puppy mill down a sewer drain.  Lauren threatens him..he threatens her, then he ends up dead.  Lauren finds him at HotRescues near the animal cages.

Lauren is the top suspect and since she doesn't think the authorities are looking at anybody else, she decides to look into it herself.  Unfortunately, her life and some of the dogs live's are put in more danger until she's able to figure out who the real killer is.

My Thoughts:
I thought this was a great start to a new series.  I also thought it was fun that Kendra, the main character in the author's pet-sitter mystery series, shows up in this one.  She has a small role, but it was still fun to see her make an appearance. It also reminded me that I'm incredibly far behind in that series and I need to play catch-up.  That's another topic for another day though.

Lauren is very passionate about what she does and about the welfare of animals.  While sometimes I think this gets her into trouble, I think it works out great for this book/series and it gets the point across about how abusing animals is just wrong.  Lauren is a good character though, I think she'll grow in future books and I look forward to seeing it.

There are a lot of other characters, including a possible love interest for Lauren, and while we don't know too much about any of them, I look forward to learning more about them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this cozy and I'll be looking for book #2 this time next year.  I do want to point out that there is some light cursing in this book.  It's mostly in the first half of the book, I'm not sure I noticed it in the 2nd. It's not something that bothered me at all, heck, I'm probably worse in real life.  However I wanted to say something since it isn't something you normally see in a cozy.




Thanks to Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin for providing this book for review.

Giveaway - 2 March releases for Cozies!

I'm happy to be able to offer you lovely readers a chance to win 2 more cozy mysteries!  Both of these books were released this month and the are each the 2nd book in series that were new last year.

The two books are:

Fruit of all Evil by Paige Shelton
Touch of Gold by Joyce and Jim Lavene




Fruit of Evil is the 2nd in the Farmer's Market Mystery series by the author. I recently read and reviewed this book, to sum it up I think this is a series that has a lot of potential and cozy fans will enjoy. 


Touch of Gold is the 2nd in the Missing Pieces mystery series.  While I have this book at home, I haven't read it yet (fingers crossed I can get to it by the end of the month).   I enjoyed the first one in this series and hope this one will be just as good.




This contest is open to all who have a US shipping address.   I am able to offer 1 copy of each title.    This time around you are able to select if you want a chance to win both books, or just one.  Just mark one or both on the form and I'll be selection the winners separatly. It's very possible that the same person will win both, but you never know!

The giveaway is open March 16th through March 25th at midnight (central time).   I'll be picking a winner via random.org and posting the winners on the 26th.


Good luck everyone!   


A special thanks to the publisher for offering the books for giveaways.

Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr

#7 Virgin River
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Fiction/Romance
Pages: 416
Challenges: Off the shelf,
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5


We are, of course, back in the town of Virgin River.  A town I have grown to love and wish that it was real, because it seems real to me and I love the inhabitants and would love to visit..if not actually move..there.

I'll give a brief description about what goes on in this book but nothing much since you really do have to read this series in order.  Instead of focusing on just one main couple, this book focuses on two couples and a possible third.  It also focuses on another individual.  One of the couples is Walt and Muriel. The two are apart for a bit and both realize what the relationship means to each other and what they need to do to make it work.   The other couple is Cameron and Abby.  Since Abby is pregnant with twins, it's not easy to hide her pregnancy any more.  Cameron wants to be a father to the children and a husband to Abby, but Abby pushes him away..at first.      This book also has us following Rick, a young Marine.  I don't want to say more than that in regards to Rick.

As usual, there is more going on in Virgin River than just these couples and Rick, but those individuals are the most prominent and the ones this book revolves around.

While this is one of my favorite series, this was my least favorite book so far.  I'm not sure exactly why it didn't grab me the way the others have or why I didn't like it as much, I just didn't.  That's not to say it wasn't good, it was, just not as good as I wanted it to be.

I still think this is a series worth checking out, it's one of my top series from 2010 and I imagine it will be in 2011 too.

Giveaway and Author Guest Post - Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston

I'm very happy to be able to host a guest post by Linda O. Johnston, author of the new pet rescue mystery series and offer a give away for the first book, giveaway sign-up is at the end of the post.  

Thank you Linda for taking the time to write a great post for my blog!

Pets and Mysteries!

First of all, I want to thank Kris for inviting me to guest blog here.

I also want to send my greetings, and my dogs’ greetings, to Myla, Kris’s pup.  I learned about Myla because I hadn’t previously discovered the Not Enough Books Blog, so I read some of the prior posts to get a sense of its contents and tone.

I discovered a post in early February about Myla, who seemed to understand when Kris had some minor surgery done, and even tried to comfort her.  Kris ended her post with, “I feel sorry for those who can't (or don't) spend their lives with a pet.”

Me, too!

I love animals.  I’m probably obsessed by them.  And that’s why I write books that feature them.

This month, my new Pet Rescue Mystery series debuts with BEAGLEMANIA.  The series is a spinoff from my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries.  Both are from Berkley Prime Crime.  Do you sense my theme here?

I consider Kendra an alter ego of mine.  She’s a lawyer who lives in the Hollywood Hills with her Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Lexie.  I’ve been a lawyer, and I live in the Hollywood Hills with my two Cavaliers, Lexie and Mystie, as well as my husband.  I’ve fortunately never become a murder magnet, though.

The protagonist of my new Pet Rescue Mystery series is Lauren Vancouver, the director of HotRescues, a no-kill animal shelter.  She was introduced in HOWL DEADLY, the eighth Kendra mystery, and also appeared in FELINE FATALE, the ninth.  I adore Lauren and her obsession with saving animals, but I didn’t think she’d become an alter ego of mine, too. 

But that was before I started researching her stories.  I met with pet rescuers of many kinds.   I visited shelters, both public and private.  I talked to people.  Met animals.

Now I volunteer at a private shelter, Pet Orphans of Southern California.  I’m a dog adoption counselor, which means I both screen potential adopters and introduce them to dogs they might fall in love with.  It’s always such a thrill when a match works and the people I’ve first screened bring a dog to its new forever home.

I’m also the Los Angeles Pet Rescue Examiner, for the Examiner.com website.

Lauren’s way of dealing with animals is different from mine.  Her obsession is even more complete, and she does a great job of helping the animals with whom she comes in contact.  BEAGLEMANIA begins with a rescue from a puppy mill.  Some of Lauren’s later adventures will involve an animal hoarder and a shelter that takes in unadoptable pets. 

But I can still identify with her. 

Check her out, and let me know what you think.  Maybe you’ll identify with her, too!

By the way, in the Pet Rescue Mysteries, “no-kill” means pets, not people....

Please come visit me at www.LindaOJohnston.com and at www.KillerHobbies.blogspot.com on Wednesdays.  Friend me on Facebook.  I’d love to hear what you think of pet rescue--and BEAGLEMANIA!

************************************************************************************
I am very happy to be able to offer a copy of Beaglemania by Linda O. Johnston to one lucky reader!

This giveaway is open to anybody who has a US mailing address. So for those international readers, sorry it can't be mailed directly to you but if you have somebody willing to ship to you..you can still enter if you have a US mailing address for the publisher to send to.

The giveaway is open from March 14th through March 25th (ends at midnight, central time).  I'll used random.org to pick a winner and will announce the winner on my blog on the 26th.

Goodluck!

Fruit of All Evil by Paige Shelton

#2 Farmers' Market Mystery
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 281
Challenges: What's in a Name? (evil), Crusin Through the Cozies, 2011 Pub challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
Becca once again finds herself involved in a murder investigation.  This time it's because her friend, Linda, and her friend's fiancée, Drew, are possible suspects.  When the mother-in-law to be is found dead in her home, the most likely suspects are family.   Becca briefly wonders if Linda did it, but quickly pushes that aside.  She's not so sure about Drew though, especially not after she over hears him on his cell phone when he thought he was in private.

Becca also knows that some of Drew's cousins act a bit iffy and bother her.  Could they have something to do with it?  How about the fact that the murdered woman worked at a bank and has sent several foreclosure notices, could one of the recipients be the murderer?  How about Becca's own boyfriend, he received a call from the victim earlier in that day, is he guilty?

Becca has lots of suspects and even though she isn't on the police force she is friends with the lead investigator and working with clue's they've both found, they solve the murder.

My Thoughts:
I have much the same over-all thoughts with this book as I did the first one, Farm Fresh Murder, when I reviewed it last year.  I love the setting, sounds like  a wonderful place to live.

I think Becca has good intentions.  The thing is she's not very smooth with asking questions, she's very much "in your face" and that can be hard to read with a cozy.  Her character also bothered me a bit because she didn't trust that her friend was not guilty right away, she had doubts.

The story itself is good and entertaining.  Lots of potential guilty parties involved.  I do think this series is still it's infancy and is good enough for me to hang on for more. I think it has a lot of room to grow and I hope to see Becca's character be a bit smoother on the next book.




Thanks to the publisher for providing this book for review.

First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene frost

#1 Night Huntress World
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 371
Challenges: Off the Shelf, Urban Fantasy Challenge, What's in a Name? (number), Paranormal/Fantasy, 1st in a series
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description: 
This book focuses on Spade and Denise.  These are two characters who are in the Night Huntress novels by the author but they are secondary characters.  This book is the first in a new series, Night Huntress World, which is a spin-off of the other.  In this one, Spade and Denise become the main characters.

Denise has sworn off vampires and ghouls. She's done with them.  Unfortunately, they aren't done with her.  Members of Denise's family keep ending up dead and then she witnesses the death of her cousin. Later when a demon shows up at her door and brands her, Denise has to call the only vampire who's number she still has. Spade. She has to beg for his help.  Spade, on the other hand, knows that helping Denise will cause problems for him but he's always been attracted to her.

Somehow Spade and Denise must find one of Denis' long lost relatives who tricked the demon years ago, deliver this person to the demon so the demon will remove the bonds he placed on Denise, but at the same time keep it secret what they are doing.  You just know that's not going to work out as planned.

My Thoughts:
I thought this was a great book!  It was the perfect book for me, for the mood I was in when reading it.  I love the Night Huntress series and was both very interested in this one and worried about it. Would it live up to my expectation?  I'm happy to announce that it did.   It was a lot of fun to learn more about two of the secondary characters and then to have the other characters we know also play a part in the series.
If you like the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy this one too.  In fact, if I'm not mistaken the 2nd book in the Night Huntress World series was published last month, I might just stop at a bookstore tonight and look for it.


 Audio Review:
I did listen to part of this book. I actually forgot I had requested it on audio and started reading the paper copy.  Then I went to the library to get a different audio book that was on hold for me and this one was there too. Bonus.  So I listened to it in the car and then read the book when not driving, of course.  I read the majority of this book in paper form though, I pretty much plowed through it.  So while I'm not counting it for my audio challenge or my stats, I did want to mention it  in my review.

What I did listen to..was excellent. Tavia Gilbert is the narrator and I feel she did a fantastic job. I wouldn't hesitate to listen to more books in this series.

Friday Smile - The Castlewood Cup edition

The Castlewood Cup is a local 15k (9.3 mile) trail run in my area.    It's held at a local state park, Castlewood.  I actually live right by the park and run there on the weekends, weather permitting.  I ran cross-country in highschool and love trail running. I have to run streets during the week but on the weekend, I'm not happy unless I can get to a park and run.

The trail run was this past weekend, February 26th and luckily I was able to run it with a friend. This 15k trail run was pretty tough.  It would have been tough no matter what, but factor in the horrible training I've had and I knew it was going to be tough.  I ran a 10 mile race in November that left my heal hurting (due to a heal fracture that still bothers me) and I didn't run for a week or two.  Then in December I got a cold and took it easy.  Then we were getting lots of ice and snow.  Then the end of January I had an out patient surgery and I couldn't do anything for a week.  Well, really, I should have rested for more than a week but I was itching to be active.  So while I did start running again..I had to keep my mileage light because of pain and a risk of making my incisions worse.  So coming up on a 9.3 trail run, I had only been averaging 4-5 miles.  The week before I did run 7.1 miles at the park and I did the majority of the course and I felt somewhat better about the race.

I'm in black with a blue shirt

Why do I tell you my sob story?  I want to give you the background so that when I tell that I 1)finished the race and I wasn't last 2)ran the entire race...didn't walk up any hills and 3)felt horrible the last couple of miles but still kept at it, you'll know just how happy that all makes me!   My time was slow and normally that's something that would upset me, but knowing how bad my training had been...I'm not letting it get me down. I completed the course, I ran up all the hills (I'm still surprised by the large amount of people I passed walking up all the hills), and I ran the entire course.  Oh, just in case you were wondering, my pace was 10/21 min/mile. I wanted to be under 10. My last mile was actually 9:08, which really surprised me since I was so tired.  I knew my pace would be slower due to the hills (my pass was a bit over 11 on a couple of the hills) but I had hoped to make up time on the downhills and flats.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Here's how the company describes the course:
Big River Running Company is proud to announce the third annual Castlewood Cup. The race will be a true test of trail running with a 15k course that includes uphills, downhills, switchbacks and even a creek crossing. The course was designed by local trail running gurus Skip MacDowell and Blair Porter and they made sure to make things exciting for you

Husband had decided to come along and I made him bring the camera. He's not a runner, doesn't get it, doesn't like cold weather (neither do I!) but he was a sport. He even moved around a bit on the course so he could snap different pictures.  He couldn't walk to most of the trail..but he could to some areas that were by the road.

Oh..and my fear of being last?  No worries there! I came in 192 out of 322.  I was the 45th girl, out of 112.

The dreaded creek crossing.  Ok..really..I thought the creek crossing would be fun (and it was) but at the same time it was really cold, mid 30's that day, and we had received a lot of rain earlier in the week. I was worried about how high the creek would be and also paranoid I would fall in it. 

Ta-da! No falling for me!

The finish..at last!!!!

After the race....standing near the heat lamps but still shaking from the cold.

February 2011 Reads

Total books completed: 12

Pages: 2,814
New Authors: 4 
Mystery: 5
Non-Fiction: 0 
Fiction: 5
Young Adult: 2 
Audio: 6
Own: 4 (includes two books that I owned, but listened to most of the book on audio, which was borrowed)
Bought: 0
Review: 4 
Borrowed: 6 
DNF: 1


A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett
Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke
Wake by Lisa McMann
Fade by Lisa McMann
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Stitch me Deadly by Amanda Lee
Simple Genius by David Baldacci
Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts
Polished Off by Lila Dare
Peony in Love by Lisa See


Challenges
I'm not doing too bad on the challenges so far.  There are some I really need to get moving on, such as the Off the Shelf Challenge and Buy 1 Book and Read it.  Lots of books made it into the house...I just haven't read any of them yet. haha!

Off the Shelf: 7/30
New Author: 7/50
Hometown Challenge: 0/4
Gothic Reading Challenge: 0/1
Strong Heroine Challenge: 1/12
Urban Fantasy Challenge: 3/15
I want More Book Challenge: 2/4
What’s in a Name?4: 0/6
Paranormal/Fantasy reading challenge: 2/12
Series Challenge season 5: 0/2 series, 1/7 books
1st in a Series challenge: 4/12
War Through the Generations: 2.5/10
Young Adult challenge: 5/20 
Mystery and Suspense: 3/12
Cruisin’ Through the Cozies: 7/13
Buy 1 book and read it: 0/12
Audio Books: 9/20
2011 Pub Challenge: 6/11

It's Cozy Mystery Challenge Time!!!!

Hey everyone, it's the day you have all be anxiously awaiting....sign-up for my annual cozy mystery challenge is now available!!!!

The challenge runs April-September and all the details can be found on the dedicated Cozy Mystery Challenge Blog.

I hope to see a lot of you cozy fans there!