A little bit of a delay

I'm having some personal turmoil right now so it'll be a couple more days until I can update the blog with more books. Stay tuned....

6-9-10 Killer View by Ridley Pearson - Fiction

4 - I know I've lived in Arizona too long when I have a real hard time picturing snow. I can still picture light dustings and such, but the 18" blizzard described in the beginning of the book took a little bit to wrap my head around. Other than that, this was a good thriller with more to it than the basic good buy/bad guy plot. Walt is the sheriff of Blaine County, Idaho and his already turbulent life is stirred up even more after the death of one of his rescue team during the search for a lost skier. Suddenly he's in the middle of seemingly unrelated events that start to tie together in a frightening pattern of subterfuge and lies. He receives no help from anyone involved and is advised by some to drop the investigation. Since that goes against his training as an investigator he wades blindly into the middle of something so big he can't even imagine the implications. This book will keep you guessing.

6-7-10 Hand of Evil by J.A. Jance - Fiction

5 - I've almost gotten up to speed on this series so that I can read the rest in order. I'll just have to hunt down the first book. But anyway, I enjoyed this one even more than the other two Ali Reynolds books I've read. Tightly woven with multiple crimes and story lines, Hand of Evil is written so well that the reader is never confused and is able to follow all the threads until everything meshes. Ali becomes drawn into Arabella Ashcroft's life after meeting her for tea. Because the scholarship provided by Arabella and her mother made it possible for Ali to go to college, she agrees to assist Arabella in telling her story as a book. In the meantime, her friend Dave requests Ali's help as well with his 13-year-old daughter who is beginning to run down the wrong path. Ali's just a busy bee in this story.

6-6-10 The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan - Fiction

5 - I have to give this book a 5 because it's a standout in teen books right now. A very taut thriller, the first in a series from what I gather, that portrays a teen with high moral values, self control, and no swearing. Now, don't get me wrong, I love bloody and crass and sex in my fiction books, but once I was done with his book and reflecting what I would write I was astounded at what was missing in this book. Yes, there is violence, but even that is tempered because Charlie, a seventeen year old with a black belt in karate, takes to heart what his sensei has taught. Sensei Mike uses a quote from "Kung Fu" (gotta love it!) as his basis for teaching that ends with the phrase "all life is precious." Plus, Charlie keeps referring to a Winston Churchill quote from World War II to keep moving as he tries to figure out where the last year of his life went. One night Charlie goes to sleep in his bed and the next morning he wakes up strapped to a chair in a torture room with no idea how he got there. After he escapes he discovers a year has gone by since the last day he remembers and he is now on the run from a group he doesn't know and the authorities as well. I'm going to check out the second book because I can't believe that Klavan can keep the momentum of this book without reverting to more adult themes.

6-5-10 Mango Elephants in the Sun by Susana Herrera - Non-Fiction

4 - Susana Herrera spent two years working for the Peace Corps in the village of Guidiguis in northern Cameroon. This book tells her story from her first night to her final day. As an American and a white woman she was considered an outsider but she found her inner courage and learned to survive in a desert. By the time she left, she had two "adopted" sons and a Fulfulde family. Included in the story are letters she wrote to her mother which tend to be humorous just in the descriptions of what she misses and how everyday things are done in the village. For Herrera, this was a spiritual and cultural journey. Her descriptions of the people are vivid and emotionally capture the reader. Glad I randomly picked this one up.

6-4-10 Fade Away by Harlan Coben - Fiction

4 - This Myron Bolitar novel is centered around basketball. Myron was almost a professional basketball player out of college. He was drafted by the Celtics in the first round but his knee was shattered in a preseason game, ending his basketball career. Eleven years later he is offered a place on the Dragons by the man who drafted him for the Celtics. But this isn't altruism or a belief in his playing ability; he's hired to find a missing player who also happens to be his college rival. It's almost the playoffs and the majority owner of the team is getting nervous. As Myron faces the agony of his lost chance he becomes involved in a complex mystery that involves a sixties radical group, a big time bad ass loan shark, and a very messy child custody battle. I'm loving these books.

6-3-10 I'll Pass for Your Comrade by Anita Silvey - Non-Fiction

3 - This book is about the women who served as soldiers in the Civil War (or the War between the States depending where you're located.) I was a little surprised at how short this book was (93 pages) but I thought it might be due to lack of information and research material. It turns out that because of misshelving at the library I checked out this young adult book because it was in adult history. Nevertheless, it was interesting. I never knew that there had been women on both sides of the conflict who had disguised themselves as men to fight with the armies. There weren't may, only a few hundred, but I'd never heard them mentioned. This is a good overview of the subject with many interesting individual stories and some great Civil War photographs and period illustrations. Silvey also mentions another book, They Fought Like Demons, that is "the most comprehensive book to date on women soldiers in the Civil War." So, now that my interest has been piqued, I may have to look for the adult history book on this subject.

6-3-10 Web of Evil by J.A. Jance - Fiction

4 - I still couldn't get the first Ali Reynolds book so I settled for the second and got the story of how Ali was accused of her soon-to-be-ex-husband's death. And I enjoyed it. Ali has to travel back to LA from her home in Sedona, Arizona to finalize her divorce. Her soon to be ex wants a quick solution to the divorce and they are scheduled to sign on Friday so he can marry his very pregnant fiancee on Saturday. But he never shows. His body is found in the wreckage of a car that was hit by a train. It turns out he hadn't signed his new will yet so Ali is the sole beneficiary. That's what the police see when they start their investigation. So Ali, her mom, and her friend Dave start their own investigation. A good twisty mystery.

6-1-10 Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine - Fiction

3 - OK, this series is starting to lose its sparkle for me. I can't quite put a finger on why but I think it has to do with Claire. All through this book she's completely wound tight with no real break and all the situations she's in she bumbles through. That stressed out attitude doesn't put me on the edge of my seat, it drives me batty waiting for a breather. The best way I can describe it is the series is losing the characters and focusing way too much on the events. Claire has pledged to Amelia and now has to work with a half crazed vampire. She can't tell anyone that she's working with him or what they are working on. Plus, Shane gets stabbed and Eve's brother, Jason, is stalking Claire. Claire's parents also add a layer of turmoil. I don't think I'm going to continue this series.

5-30-10 Drop Shot by Harlan Coben - Fiction

4 - Not as good as the other Myron Bolitar book I read but still good. And it's chronologically before Back Spin so I got a little more background on the characters which is always good. Drop Shot is centered around tennis, specifically a rising star that Myron represents. When a washed up tennis star is murdered at the US Open, Myron takes it upon himself to discover the killer. He ends up in the midst of cut throat business, politics, the mob, and his own client's past as he hunts the truth. But he still makes me laugh.

5-27-10 Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - Fiction

5 - Not a moment's rest for Sookie. For her own protection, she and Eric are wed without her knowledge or understanding. But, Bonus!, the Were community comes out to the world. The vampire acceptance was going so well they couldn't see any reason to put it off any longer. So Sam is out as a shapeshifter. Unfortunately, the Fellowship of the Sun takes this news almost worse than the vampire outing. Violence ensues. In addition to that battle, the fairies are at war and, as a fairy prince's great granddaughter, Sookie is in danger. As usual. But this time she calls in her markers with both the vamps and the weres for protection. However, these are fairies and a whole new degree of danger. I'm eagerly awaiting Harris' next book.

5-27-10 Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast - Fiction

5 - This was a nice change of pace in the House of Night series because most of the book is told through Stevie Ray, Rephaim, Aphrodite, and Stark instead of Zoey. Zoey's in the Otherworld, her soul shattered, and the others need to find a way to get her back to her body before seven days is up and her body dies. Stevie Ray is also dealing with the guilt and difficulty of keeping Rephaim alive and hidden and the fact that she is the only High Priestess at the House of Night. Aphrodite is discovering new powers associated with her being named a Prophetess of Nyx. Rephaim is struggling with being imprinted with Stevie Ray, an enemy of his father's. Stark is wading through his guilt at not protecting Zoey as her Warrior and then must face a family legacy to save her. As usual, this was over way too soon and now I have to wait for the next book. Sigh.

5-26-10 Firestarter by Stephen King - Fiction

5 - I double checked and I haven't read this since I started my journal. So here it is, a classic of the horror genre. King's earlier books are truly his best. Those books also give great flashbacks to the 70's and 80's. Do you remember what a Fotomat was? Did you know HBO used to be referred to as Home Box Office and only played about 5 different movies per month? Anyway, the great thing about King's early stories is that so many were centered around children and he brings to the forefront the innocence of a child who is then thrust into an extraordinary childhood. Charlie is seven and she's a firestarter using pyrokinesis. Her potential is unmapped. That's why The Shop is after her and her psychically abled father. They see them as potential weapons and their ticket to restart the research on Lot 6, the experimental chemical injected into Charlie's mother and father when they were in college. A good cat and mouse with very memorable characters.