not enough books

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

2012-05-22T10:24:00.001-05:00

#6 Mercy Thompson
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Genre: Fiction/urban fantasy
Pages: 290
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
Mercy and Adam finally tie the knot. They honeymoon at a camp that is officially closed but that Adam was given access to. So they are all by themselves. However it soon becomes obvious that given the very nice RV and access to the camp comes with a price. It appears there is something in the river that is killing people and Adam and Mercy were sent there in hopes of figuring out what is going on and putting an end to it.

The local Indian tribe gets involved when one of their own is attacked by the monster in the water. This is a good thing on several levels. Particularly because there are some walkers with this tribe and Mercy learns more about them and about her father.

My Thoughts:
I still really enjoy this series. There is just something about Mercy and Adam that has me coming back for more and more. This story was a bit different from the others, but not in a bad way. I thought it worked well for the series. Ok..so not the best review but I finished the book several days ago and just now getting around to review it. Dealing with some things on the home front and while I knew I needed/wanted to get the review done, just not in the mood to do. You know how that is.

Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr

2012-05-13T01:30:00.000-05:00

#11Virgin River
Copyright:2010
Publisher: Mira
Genre: fiction
Pages:400
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
Aiden Riordan has left his job as an OB with the navy and is spending time in Virgin River while deciding what to do next. His brother's wife is ready to have a baby so he knows he will stay long enough for that. One day while out walking he comes upon a cabin and there is a beautiful women outside. Unfortunately he startles her and she bonks her head and passes out. She awakens to find him going through her purse, he's trying to find her car keys to take her to the hospital. Let's just say that Aiden is smitten with her and she wants nothing to do with her.

Slowly the two begin to form a relationship. Just when things are heating up somebody from Aiden's past pops back up. His ex-wife. She claims the divorce never went through and she wants to try and make the marriage work. She's psycho though and Aiden wants nothing to do with her. How to handle this and the new love in his life?

It wouldn't be a proper Virgin River book if we didn't also learn more about the other characters. Mel has decided she wants a 3rd kid but since she can't have any more kids she needs to look at other methods. Her husband is not on board with this one though.

My Thoughts:
This was the perfect book for me to read when I did because it was towards the end of my pregnancy and it allowed me to just read a book where I could re-connect with "friends". I actually finished this one while I was in the hospital. I love reading about the town and these characters, even the new ones that show up.

I have to admit that Mel really made me mad in this story but that she made things right in the end. Thank goodness! She's one of my favorite characters and I didn't want to dislike her.

There are still several books to be read in this series and I can't wait to get to them.

Meet the newest member of my family

2012-05-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

I gave birth to a healthy baby girl on May 3rd. She came in at 5lbs 10oz and measured 18 inches long. She's itty bitty but great things come in small packages right?

As if my blogging/reading was spotty this past year or so, it will be even worse from now on. I'm reading some but as you can imagine there's a new love in my life now and she takes top priority.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

2012-05-02T10:32:00.002-05:00

#1 50 Shades trilogy
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Vintage Books
Genre: fiction/erotica
Pages: 514
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
I'm sure by now you all know what this book is about. Fifty Shades of Grey is an erotica novel getting a lot of press these days. Anastasia Steele is a virgin, in fact she hasn't even really dated before. This all changes when she meets billionaire Christian Gray. She is instantly attracted to him and he to her. The thing is that he doesn't want a relationship, he wants a submissive and he wants that person to be her.

Anastasia's first adventure in to sex is with S&M, something she wasn't even aware of before. She struggles with her love for Christian yet her repulsion at being a submissive.

My Thoughts:
I'm torn on this one. I had high hopes for it, I admit to liking erotica even though I don't read it very often. I'm torn because while the story was decent there just wasn't enough sex in it for me. haha! The sex that was in there was graphic but not as graphic as I would like. I can see why a lot of people are liking this one, and I did like it, it just wasn't really enough for me in terms of erotica. You can also tell that this was the first novel by the author, the writing wasn't as good as you would expect for a more established author.

With all of that being said..I still liked it, I just didn't like it as much as I had hoped to.

April 2012 Reads

2012-05-01T13:04:00.001-05:00

Total Books Read: 5
Pages: 2,315
New Authors: 3
Mystery: 2
Non-Fiction: 1
Fiction: 2
Young Adult: 0
DNF: 0

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowen
Let Them Eat Stake by Sarah Zettel
On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Buckman
The Pawn by Steven James

The Pawn by Steven James

2012-04-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

#1 Patrick Bowers
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Onyx
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 448
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
Patrick Bowers is an FBI agent whose specialty is with environmental profiling. He takes into account the location and time of a murder in order to track the killer and hopefully prevent the next kill. He is asked to work on a serial killer case in North Carolina where he soon finds the killer is always one step ahead of him.

Things are made worse when he finds out the lead FBI agent is a woman who hates him and doesn't mind if his career is destroyed. He also gets off on the wrong foot with the local profiler, an FBI agent he'll have to work closely with during the case.

At times it feels like they are getting closer to the killer but every time he gets a step closer he finds that he falls two steps back.

It doesn't help that the killer has mentioned his step-daughter. He worries that she is in danger but whenever he tries to protect her, it backfires on him. His wife died recently and they are both having trouble dealing with her death and getting close to each other. As we all know you shouldn't take your personal problems to work but we also know that rarely happens. Unfortunately for Patrick that's true for him too.

My Thoughts:
I really liked the character of Patrick. He is incredibly smart but also has his faults, which is good to see in characters. I often wanted to shake him but at the same time can't help but sympathize with him and understand his reaction to things.

The mystery itself was fast paced and kept my interest. Lots of twists and turns and while you alternate between Patrick's point of view and that of the killer, you still don't begin to figure things out till the end. At least I didn't.

This is the first in a series and I can promise you I'll be reading the rest of them. I'm not sure when (you know how that goes) but I know I will.

I also think that a lot of you who like mysteries will enjoy this one, so give it a try if you get a chance.

On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Buckman

2012-04-20T09:03:00.001-05:00

Copyright: 252
Publisher: Parent-wise Solutions
Genre: non-fiction
Pages: 252
Book Website
My rating: none yet

I had a couple of different people recommend this book to me as Husband and I are in the home stretch waiting for Baby Girl to arrive (currently 37 weeks...3 weeks to go). Both people who recommended it to me spoke highly of it and gave me examples of how it's worked for them.

The basic concept is that babies and kids need a schedule..it not only helps them but it helps the parents as well. If you can get your infant on a schedule then things will be a lot easier in the long run. Most infants where the parents are able to follow the method outlined in the book have infants that sleep through the night starting weeks 8-12.

The book goes over the process of how to start getting the child on a schedule involving feeding, wake time, nap time, repeat.

It's not an easy process, it's going to be hard to do. However after reading the book and talking to others who have had success with it, Husband and I are going to give it a try. We won't follow everything. Some things I feel are a bit far fetched, but the general idea is there.

When I tell people we are trying this method at least 90% just give me a look and say good luck, come talk to me in 5 months. I love the optimism and support. haha! I didn't say it would be easy. It's going to have it's challenges, but I also don't see any harm in trying it out. I'll be headed to work after 8 weeks so if we can get Baby Girl on some kind of schedule where she is sleeping through the night or through most of the night soon after, it would really help both of us since we both work full time jobs outside the home.

I figure I'll report back on this book later and let you know if we had any success or if we started the practice and decided it wasn't for us.

Let Them Eat Stake by Sarah Zettel

2012-04-18T11:39:00.000-05:00

#2 Vampire Chef series
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Signet
Genre: Mystery (cozy)
Pages: 320
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
Charlotte is asked to cater one of the most talked about weddings of the year. She can't possibly pass it up due to the publicity and the fee, something she really needs to keep her restaurant going. However the problem is that it's a wedding between a vampire and a powerful witch family. Not just any family but the Maddox family. She is kinda-sorta dating one of the Maddox's and has another one that hates her. Not only that one of the family members was killed in her restaurant in book one.

She feels there is something fishy as to why she was picked to cater this wedding after their first chef, Oscar Simmons, walks out on them. However she isn't sure what it is and she really needs the money.

Things go from bad to worse when Oscar Simmons is found dead. Was it an accident or was it murder? Could it have been somebody in the Maddox family? Charlotte knows her life could be in danger but she just can't help asking questions and trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

My Thoughts:
This is the 2nd in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. This is definitely one series that has a lot of potential to be around for a long time, love it!

Charlotte is such a wonderful character. I could see us getting along really well. She is funny and sarcastic and perfect. Ok, she's not perfect as everyone has faults, but to me she's such a wonderful character. She really makes the books for me.

I like the paranormal aspect to it, like the vampires and witches, yet it's not over-the-top or dramatic. It's there, it's important to the story and series, but it's not dramatic. It's woven in very well with the story and the mystery aspect of it.

I think those of you who like a touch of paranormal and a good cozy mystery would love this series.

oh..and check this out. I was checking out the author's blog and on the page for this book there's a quote from my review of book one. How cool is that?!

Thanks to the publisher for providing this book for review, it took me longer than I had wanted to get to it but I loved it and appreciate the chance to review it.

Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan

2012-04-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Genre: fiction
Pages: 326
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
This is a spin on the classic story of Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty does go into a deep sleep where only true love can save her, but before that happens she trains as a vampire slayer. See, her curse is that she sleeps during the day and everyone else is awake. However when the sun goes down she wakes up and everyone else is asleep. She trains, semi-secretly as her Mom knows but her Dad doesn't, to be a Vampire slayer so she can protect herself and others at night.

She spends the first 16 years of her life being sheltered from everything because the curse will happen if she pricks her finger after she turns 16. So there is a lot of teenage angst earlier in the book as she's frustrated with everything. Then after the curse is in effect she focuses on protecting her parents but also finding true love. Luckily she has two options in the true love department.

This book isn't just a twist on a classic tail but it's also a choose-your-own-adventure book. Do you remember those? I haven't read one since I was a kid! I used to love them! There are a couple of times during the story where you choose what selection the princess must take and your story changes depending on what you choose.

My Thoughts:
I wanted something light and fun after spending so long reading A Clash of Kings. This book fit that perfectly. It's not the best story but it was enjoyable and fun. You have to go in to it not expecting superior writing and just looking for a good time. If you do that, I think you'll enjoy it. The author has another book that is very similar, Cindarella Ninja Warrior. I already plan on reading that one. haha

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

2012-04-03T11:44:00.000-05:00

#2 A Song of Ice and Fire
Copyright: 2011 edition
Publisher: Bantam Books
Genre: Fantasy/Fiction
Pages: 969
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
It's not often I do this but for this book I'm going to copy what is on Amazon.com:

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles

My Thoughts:
My initial thought upon finishing this book early this morning was "Thank God!". But then, that's what I was thinking when I finish a chunkster that's taken me so long to read. haha! It really has nothing to do with the book, it's just me being ready to be done with that book.

Ok, so this is the follow-up to Game of Thrones, which I really enjoyed. As many of you know HBO has made this book series into a tv series. The second season started on April 1st and follows this book. I really wanted to finish the book before the series started as both myself and Husband enjoyed season one and were pumped for season 2.

Now..because it had been roughly a year since I read book one and because there are so many freaking characters I was confused in the beginning. That's just bound to happen. Once I got into the groove of the book I started to remember the characters more and it became less confusing.

This is definitely a book where you HAVE to read the first one before reading this one. Otherwise you will have no idea what is going on and be completely lost.

I don't think I liked this one as much as the first one but I still enjoyed it. I would like to say I can't wait to get to the 3rd but let's be honest..I need some fun, light, SHORT, reads after this one.

If you like fantasy, check out this series if you haven't already. It's well worth the time.

March 2012 Reads

2012-04-02T08:49:00.001-05:00

Total Books Read: 1
Pages: 418
New Authors: 1
Mystery: 0
Non-Fiction: 0
Fiction: 1
Young Adult: 0
DNF: 0

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Wow - I think this is the first month EVER where I only finished one book. I have been working on finishing A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin and at over 900 pages and a busy month, I didn't get it completed. I'm less than 100 pages though! So expect that review within the next couple of day.s

Carnton Plantation

2012-03-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

It was wonderful being able to visit Carnton Plantation on my recent trip to Tennessee. Having finished The Widow of the South, which takes place in Franklin, TN and mostly at Carnton Plantation, the book and the events that happened there were fresh in my mind. Shoot..I finished the book on a Monday and saw the house on Wednesday that same week. haha!

While I went to the house knowing the story I read wasn't going to be 100% accurate, being able to walk around the house and be familiar with the family and the events that took place there made it more "real" for me. I could picture it all. There are a couple of rooms on the 2nd floor that still show blood stains in the wood. While this is morbid when you think about it, it was really neat to see. We can analyze what that says about me at a later time. I think just seeing the blood stains and knowing how they came about just enhanced the experienced and made the events come to life for me. It's one thing to know "ok..this was used as a field hospital, a lot of amputations happened here" and it's another to know that happened and see real proof.

If you enjoy Civil War history or history in general and you have the chance to visit this location, I highly recommend it.

Front of Carnton Plantation

Back of Carnton Plantation

Civil War cemetery on the property

Cemetery with Carnton Plantation in the background

2012 Cozy Mystery Challenge

2012-03-12T12:03:00.001-05:00

Even though life is going to be nuts for me pretty soon I couldn't pass up hosting the cozy mystery challenge again this year.

If you are interested, please visit the dedicated blog for the challenge. I posted the rules and sign-up sheet earlier today.

The Widow of The South by Robert Hicks

2012-03-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

Copyright: Publisher: Genre: fiction
Pages: 418
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5

Simple Description:
The Widow of the South is the story of how Carrie McGavock's house, Carnton Plantation, was used as a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin during the American Civil War.

Carrie's life hasn't been the same since a couple of her children passed away. She doesn't need to be bothered with the war, but it's being fought in her backyard and it doesn't seem as if she has a choice. When soldiers start arriving she could escape and go outside and stay in the one room that the army let her and her family keep for themselves. Yet, she walked around the house offering water, etc to the soldiers. She helped them as best she could in their time of need.

She started to get close to one soldier, Zachariah Cashwell. He ended up staying with the McGavock's longer than other soldiers.

The story isn't told just from Carrie's point of view. In the beginning different chapters are devoted to different characters. At first several of different soldiers, so we do get info on the battle and what was happening. Later the chapters are mostly focused on Carrie, her husband, and Zachariah.

The later chapters deal with Carrie and Zachariah's relationship, how they are drawn to one another. It also deals with how Carrie was set on making sure the soldiers who were killed had a proper burial and how her property ended up being the location of the cemetery.

While this book is fiction, it is based on real events.

My Thoughts:
It took me longer than I wanted to read this book but I'm glad I finally did. I've had it for a couple of years, I've heard it was good, I just kept passing it up. The book didn't always flow for me but I don't think that was a bad thing. It was more just getting used to it and dealing with the way people talked during the 1800's. The story itself kept my interest though. I wanted to know how the battle was fought, what it was like for Carrie to open her house as a field hospital, and what Zachariah went through as a soldier. I also wanted to know how it came about that the cemetery is on her property.

The reason I finally convinced myself to pick up this book is because I was headed to Franklin, TN for a short vacation. I knew the Carnton Plantation house was a historic site and on my list of things to do so I really wanted to have this book read by then.

I'm so glad I did! While a lot of the story is fiction and things didn't happen the way the book says, it was great to have a bit of a background. It also was great to read about a location and a historic event and then get to see it in person. No worries..I'll be sure to post some photo's soon!

Winner Announced!

2012-03-09T11:39:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the slow notification!

The giveaway for a copy of Invisible Thread has come to a close and I'm happy to report that the winner is Cozy in Texas!

Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the book.

Saying good-bye to Audio books

2012-03-02T14:46:00.001-06:00

Not forever. I don't want to break up with them permanently but I feel we need a separation for now. I love audio books and it's been a great way for me to get in some quality reading as my life has gotten busier. However, with the emotional roller coaster I've been on the last handful of months I've found myself not enjoying them as much. I just don't pay attention in the car because my mind wanders and I think about a lot of other things.

I finally decided that we just need a break for now. A little distance might be good. We'll come back stronger and better than ever!

I feel like I probably won't pick them up again until after I return to work from maternity leave, so it's going to be sometime this summer. Then I'll see how we are doing and if we can rekindle our love. It might be difficult still as the cd player in my car is still broken and I have to use my ipod and an attachment. This means the quality is somewhat less than good. I'm willing to give it a try again as long as they are.

So long audio books, I loved you and I feel like this is just a bump in the road for us. I look forward to getting back together later this year.

February 2012 Reads

2012-03-01T12:12:00.001-06:00

Total Books Read: 4
Pages: 991
New Authors: 2
Mystery: 1
Non-Fiction:
Fiction: 2
Young Adult: 1
Audio: 1
DNF:

I'm disappointed in my reading last month, only 4 books! I was really hoping to get in some good reading hours before baby girl makes her debut. Oh well..4 is better than 0!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner
Fallen by Traci L. Slatton
The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig

The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig

2012-02-28T11:32:00.004-06:00

#8 Pink Carnation
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: NAL Trade
Genre: fiction
Pages: audio
Author's Website
My rating: 2.5/5

Simple Description:
Laura Grey is tired of being a governess and joins the Selwick Spy School. Unfortunatly her first mission upon graduating is to be a governess. At least this time she has other motives. She heads to Napoleonic France and becomes part of the household for deputy minister of police Andre Jaouen. She must find out if he is trying to thrwart a plot to put somebody with royal blood back on the throne.

Unfortunately her cover is blown when they happen to meet somebody that knows her from her previous life. However it's not so bad since she learns the true nature of what Jaouen is up to.

Soon she finds herself fleeing France and in charge of his family and their safety.

My Thoughts:
I wasn't feeling this one. It didn't have the same feel as the previous novels have had for me. Now, let me say that I've had a lot on my mind while listening to this one and so I know my mind wondered a lot. That could be why I didn't like it as much. However could it also be that it was easier to wonder because I wasn't as invested in the story? Either way I still like the series enough that I plan to continue with it. Hopefully this one was just a fluke and I like the next one a lot better.

Fallen by Traci L. Slatton

2012-02-26T16:34:00.003-06:00

#1 trilogy
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 226
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description:

Strange mist has descended on the Earth. It destroys any kind of metal that's in it's path. Living things as well. I no time entire cities were wiped out. Thousands of people were killed. There are few survivors. Emma was in Paris with her youngest daughter when the mists showed up. They were lucky to survive. In the time since Emma has gathered other children who are left without parents.

While in one village looking for supplies and food the mist shows up but they are luckily saved by some men on horseback. One of the girls Emma takes care of can see in to the future and she tells Emma that these men are safe and have a safe place. Emma strikes a bargain with the lead guy and she is able to take her children to safety.

Slowly Emma find a spot for herself in this camp and starts to make it more livable for everyone. She also becomes attached to the leader, more so than she expected since creating their "arrangement". She also finds that her gift, since the mists arrived, of healing people has gotten around. People show up at the camp looking for a healer.

Through all this Emma still has one desire, to get to Canada. A safe zone has been found and as luck would have it her husband and oldest daughter were in that city when the mists showed up. She has to believe they are alive still.

My Thoughts:

I do enjoy a good post-apocalyptic novel. This one is no exception. It's different from others I've read, I suppose I tend to read more of the vampire and zombie kinds. I like that this one was different in that regard.

I enjoyed the character of Emma and the leader of the camp. Emma is a very strong female character and those always make an impression on me. She knows she puts herself in danger with some of the things she does but she always does it because she feels it is best for those she is trying to help. She isn't perfect though and that's a good thing. A flawed character is a good character.

The leader of the camp is also a good character. He is a very powerful leader but falls head over heals in love with Emma and doesn't care who knows. He is very protective of her and therefore decides he can boss her around and he knows what is best. This doesn't go over well with Emma, which makes for a good (for the reader) relationship.

Overall, this was an excellent novel. I read it pretty darn fast, it just took awhile for me to get the review on my blog.

Thanks to the author, Traci Slatton, for sending me a copy of her book.

Giveaway - An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski

2012-02-23T01:00:00.000-06:00

I am happy to be able to offer a giveaway for up to three copies of this book: An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski.

Here's some information about the book:

“Excuse me lady, do you have any spare change? I am hungry.”

When I heard him, I didn’t really hear him. His words were part of the clatter, like a car horn or someone yelling for a cab. They were, you could say, just noise—the kind of nuisance New Yorkers learn to tune out. So I walked right by him, as if he wasn’t there.

But then, just a few yards past him, I stopped.

And then—and I’m still not sure why I did this—I came back.

When Laura Schroff first met Maurice on a New York City street corner, she had no idea that she was standing on the brink of an incredible and unlikely friendship that would inevitably change both their lives. As one lunch at McDonald’s with Maurice turns into two, then into a weekly occurrence, Laura learns heart-wrenching details about Maurice’s horrific childhood.

Sprinkled throughout the book is also Laura’s own story of her turbulent childhood. Every now and then, something about Maurice's struggles reminds her of her past, how her father’s alcohol-induced rages shaped the person she became and, in a way, led her to Maurice.

As their friendship grows, Laura offers Maurice simple experiences he comes to treasure: learning how to set a table, trimming a Christmas tree, visiting her nieces and nephew on Long Island, and even having homemade lunches to bring to school.

AN INVISIBLE THREAD is the heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned thirty years and brought life to an over-scheduled professional and hope to a hungry and desperate boy.

An Invisible Thread from UMBRASOLUTIONS on Vimeo.

______________________________________________________________
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway runs February 23rd through March 2nd (midnight central time). Only one entry per person. You must have a US or Canadian shipping address to be eligible to win a copy.

Please fill out the form below. Thanks!

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The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner

2012-02-21T01:00:00.000-06:00

Copyright: 1999
Publisher: Bantam
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 413
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description:
Melanie Stokes might be almost 30 but she is still dealing with the fact that when she was 9 she was abandoned in a hospital and her real parents never came forward. She as adopted by a cardiac dr and lived a good life, but it's something that has always been there.

It seems somebody else doesn't want her to forget it either. See, she was adopted by a family who had lost their 4 year old daughter several years earlier, she had been kidnapped and murdered. Now somebody wants the truth to come out. It appears the family is hiding a secret, or several, about what really happened to their first daughter. There are also several questions about how Melanie came to be associated with her family.
Somebody is leaving notes, and sometimes "gifts", for the family members and causing everyone to panic. Somebody is also trying to force Melanie to remember what happened to her before her 9th birthday.

Melanie connects with an FBI agent who is actually investigating her father for healthcare fraud. Together they begin to unravel what happened all those years ago. Somebody has found out and is trying to kill them, or at least Melanie. It looks like Melanie's perfect, rich family has a lot of secrets after all.

My Thoughts:
It might have taken me forever to actually read this book but that should not be an indication of how much I liked it. I actually really enjoyed it and can't believe I waited this long to read a book by Lisa Gardner.

While at times the book didn't have me turning the pages to find out what was happening or fill me with that urge to know what was going to happen next...it still kept my interest and was really good. I actually didn't figure out what was up until, well, it was revealed in the book. haha. It makes sense too..it wasn't one of those endings where you feel like it came out of nowhere, it makes sense, the clues were just hidden well enough that I didn't figure it out.

Definitely recommend this one to other mystery fans and you can bet I plan to read more by this author in the future.

Giveaway winner announced

2012-02-20T12:48:00.003-06:00

Thanks to all those who entered for a chance to win a copy of Blue Monday by Nicci French.

The lucky winner was Martha H.

Congrats Martha! I've already emailed my contact with the publisher so I'm sure they'll work on getting it in the mail to you this week.

Q&A and Giveaway - Blue Monday by Nicci French

2012-02-09T01:00:00.000-06:00

I'm happy to provide my readers with not only an interesting Q&A with the authors of Blue Monday but also with a chance to win a galley copy of Blue Monday. The giveaway info is below the Q&A. Enjoy!

Q&A with Nicci Gerrard and Sean French,

AKA Nicci French, author of

BLUE MONDAY

(On sale 3/5/12 from Pamela Dorman Books/Viking; 978-0-670-02336-3/0-670-02336-1)

BLUE MONDAY is your thirteenth book and the first book in a new series of psychological thrillers, introducing Frieda a psychotherapist. It’s also the first series you’ve ever written. What was the inspiration for this new series?

Frieda came along before the idea of writing a series did. We had always said we wrote stand-alone thrillers, but then we thought about a central character who is a therapist, someone who believes you can’t solve the mess in the world but you can try to address the mess in your own head, the pain and fear and anxiety inside of you. We thought of her as a different kind of detective, a detective of the mind, who is unwillingly dragged by the events that unfurl in the novel out into the real world.

Once we had imagined Frieda—solitary, insomniac, prickly, difficult, honorable, trustworthy, fiercely private—we knew she needed more than one book. She has to be discovered over time. And from that the octet gradually emerged. The books will cover a decade in Frieda’s life and the lives of the cast that she assembles around her; we want to see how time marks them, how they are changed by the experiences they live through together.

Also, we became excited by the idea of writing eight books that could stand as gripping thrillers in their own right, but which are also connected by one over-arching story. In BLUE MONDAY a fuse is lit that then will burn its way through the remaining seven books, coming to a climax in the final novel.

Where did the title BLUE MONDAY come from?

This is the first book of a planned series of dark thrillers that will be named after the days of the week. The title BLUE MONDAY seemed perfect to us because it is both about beginnings but also about the difficulty of beginning, its pains and regrets and fears. It also happens to be the title of not just one but two (very different) great songs – by Fats Domino and New Order.

Set against a backdrop of a dark, tangled London, BLUE MONDAY illustrates your power over a sense of place. As Frieda navigates its streets one can almost feel the damp chill of London’s foggy night air. What is your writing process? What are some things about the London you depict in your books that those of us in the US might not know?

As regards London, our writing process is to do what we have always done, which is to spend a lot of our time walking, cycling—and sometimes running—around the city, exploring its hidden alleys, squares, canals. We have both spent many years living in the city and every time we go out we see something completely new. Much of BLUE MONDAY came out of those walks.

A few things you need to know about London:

It’s big; really big. Greater London is about thirty-five miles across.

It’s really old. It’s been a continuously functioning (and dis-functioning) city since the Romans and it has been built on, burnt down, bombed, demolished, built on, over and over again.

London is really a collection of villages that used to be separated by fields and meadows and woodlands and orchards that gradually got filled up but they still hang on to their identity. In good ways and bad, London is a jangling mess. North Londoners don’t like South London, East Enders feel persecuted by everybody, West Kensington isn’t really in Kensington, and wherever you’re from anywhere in the world, you’ll find a community somewhere in London.

London is a landscape as much as a city, one of the oldest and most complicated landscapes in England.

And still, there’s so much that we don’t understand about London. For example, why do tourists always go to Madame Tussaud’s?

What are some things about you that might be a surprise to those of us in the US?

Sean: My mother is Swedish and we spend every New Year in central

Sweden

. On New Year’s Eve we have a sauna and jump through a hole in the ice.

Nicci and I studied the same subject (English literature) at the same university (Oxford) but we didn’t meet until ten years later.

In 2005, we ran the London Marathon together. Literally—we crossed the line at the same time.

Nicci: I broke my back a few years ago (and have sworn never to get on a horse again).

I am trained as a celebrant—I can bury people!

One of my passions is growing chillies—very, very hot chillies. Another is eating them (if you eat burningly hot chillies when they are frozen, you can taste their real flavour and only later do they explode in your chest like a small bomb).

Frieda is a psychotherapist. What kind of research did you do to make her so real?

Sean: Frieda emerged from our fascination with the whole subject of doctors whose job it is to make sense of our lives just by the way we talk about them. We have friends who are therapists, we have a certain experience of therapy, we’ve talked to people who have undergone therapy and we’ve read an awful lot about it.

Nicci: And also, in a way, therapy is a bit like writing itself: you take chaos and put order onto it, a road out of the dark woods.

What are you working on now?

Sean: We’ve just finished the second Frieda Klein and we’re standing nervously by the edge plucking up the nerve to dive into the third one.

You are known as the internationally bestselling author Nicci French, yet really there are two of you: Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, writing partners and husband and wife and you live in England. Why did you decide to start writing fiction together?

Sean: In the first years we were married, we talked about the idea. We knew that people could collaborate in different ways but we were interested in whether two people could write a novel that had one voice, where you were really creating a new person.

Nicci: It was like an experiment. But looking back at it, all these years and fourteen books later, it seems so odd, such a strange thing to do when we were both working flat out anyway, with four tiny children racing around the house. We didn’t do it because we thought we would write a book, get it published, become Nicci French. We did it to see if we could do it, because it seemed like a shared adventure—and it has been a shared adventure, a way of exploring the world together.

How do you manage co-authorship? Do you sit down and write together or do you take it in shifts?

Nicci: When we talk about how we write together we tend to make it sound much neater and better managed than it actually is, it’s a rather chaotic and messy business. The one thing we never do is actually sit down and write together, and the thought of one of us dictating to the other is a kind of madness, it just wouldn’t work. We spend a long time talking about the shape of the novel, the story, the way the plot goes, the development of the characters and above all the voice of the narrator into whom we both have to write, and once we’re satisfied with that then we’ll start to write. The writing will quite often take us away from the plan, but that’s what we do. One of us will write, say, the first chapter and then hand it over to the other who is absolutely free to change it, edit it, erase it, add other words to it, and then they will write the next chapter and pass it back. It’s a question of moving between the two of us. We never decide in advance who’s going to write what chapter, there’s no division.

Sean: We felt that in order for it to work we both have to be responsible for everything, whether we (individually) have written it or not. If there’s any research that needs doing for a book then we both have to do it, we both have to have all of it in our heads.

Nicci: If Sean writes something and I change absolutely nothing about that whole section, but I read it and approve it, then it becomes mine as well. It becomes a kind of Nicci French thing so we both own each word of it.

Why did you choose to write crime novels?

Nicci: I’m interested in crime in the sense that I’m interested in the strange path that people’s lives can go down. I’m not so much interested in the criminal; I’m much more interested in the victim, the effects of the crime and what lies beneath the settled surface. Most people, when you meet them, present themselves as ordered and controlled; they have a self-possessed image. Underneath that everybody is a welter of doubt, grief, loss, nostalgia, love and hate; that’s what I’m interested in. The thrillers that we write are not about fiendishly clever serial killers outwitting the police, they’re about ordinary people who have extraordinary things happening in the middle of their lives, and the way that they change and have to resolve things. I think that attracts us to the thriller genre.

You chose to use a female pseudonym, and almost all your novels so far have been written from a female viewpoint. Is there a reason for this?

Sean: The first idea we had was about recovered memory, and 99% of people recovering memory in therapy are women, so it obviously had to be a woman. Once it was a woman as the main character then it just seemed obvious that if we were going to choose a name, that it should be a female name. Women have achieved a kind of independence and equality, a nominal independence, and yet so many things haven’t changed. There are so many kinds of unexpected pressures that have come along with that, and that seemed an interesting road to go down.

Nicci: It is that sense of there being a cross-current between what modern women are like now; assertive, independent, strong, ambitious, and yet still very physically vulnerable, but also vulnerable to all the things that attack us from the past, all the things we’re conditioned to feel. There’s a kind of emotional vulnerability and intelligence, a particular kind of female intelligence that seems to be a good way of looking at the world.

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I am happy to be able to offer one lucky reader a copy of this book. I was so tempted to get a copy for myself but know things are going to be crazy for me and I don't want to commit to too much.

The galley copy is available to anybody with a US or Canadian mailing address. You have until midnight (central time) on February 19th to enter. To enter, just fill out the form below. That's it! Good luck everyone.

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

2012-02-07T08:50:00.000-06:00

#1 Miss Peregrine
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Quirk Books
Genre: young adult
Pages: 352
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description:
When Jacob was much younger his Grandpa would tell him stories of his childhood. His Grandpa grew up in a Children's home in the early 40's, on an island off the coast of Wales. His Grandpa would even show him pictures of children he said he grew up with. As Jacob got older he recognized his Grandfather's stories for what they were, stories and not truth. The pictures of the kids doing peculiar things, well, pictures can be altered.

When Jacob's Grandfather is killed and Jacob see's a monster near the body, he begins to wonder if the stories were real or not. He has a hard time dealing with the death and see's a psychiatrist, but that doesn't seem to help. Then he finds a letter in a book and some of his Grandfather's last words start to seem real. Jacob and his father head to the island where his Grandfather grew up so Jacob can try and get some closure.

While there Jacob learns that the home was bombed during the war and is just a shell of a place, supposedly haunted. While exploring it one day he see's children, children he recognizes from his Grandfather's pictures. He follows one of the girls and ends up on the island..at the house..before it was bombed.

Jacob learns that all the stories his Grandfather tells him are true. He also knows there are secrets nobody is telling him. He also realizes that they are in danger and he might be the only one who can help.

My Thoughts:
I thought this book was rather interesting and good. The book has black and white photo's scattered throughout that show pictures of the characters. I loved this. I felt it really enhanced the story and made it interesting. When talking about a girl who levitates, you turn the page a bit later and there's a picture. How can you not like that? I almost feel that I wouldn't have liked the story as much if the pictures hadn't been there.

As for the story itself, very interesting. I liked the concept of it and it kept my interest. Jacob is lost as a teenager. He doesn't really have friends, he doesn't fit in. He is just kind of there. Going on this adventure to see where is Grandfather grew up and to gain some answers helps him start to grow into himself. I liked seeing that. I also like "peculiar" things so of course that aspect of the story is what really drew me to it.

I did check out the author's website and found that he is working on a second in the series. The ending was such that it was left open to there being at least sequel but at the same time you know how some books just end like that, so I wasn't sure. I'm happy to see there will be a 2nd book. It also appears the movie rights for this one have been bought. If it does make it to the big screen I think it would be very interesting. It could go either way, it could really suck or it could be really good.

January 2012 Reads

2012-01-31T19:11:00.001-06:00

Total Books Read: 7
Pages: 2358
New Authors: 3
Mystery: 3
Non-Fiction:
Fiction: 1
Young Adult: 3
Audio: 1
DNF:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Cut by Patricia McCormick
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White
Ghoul Interrupted by Victoria Laurie
Delirum by Lauren Oliver
It Takes a Witch by Heather Blake