Book Reviews Moved from Novel Ladies on MSN

5 1/2 Stars or more! Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell

Jonathan Kellerman says Mallory's Oracle is "a joy." Nelson DeMille and other advance readers have called it "truly amazing," "a classic" with "immense appeal". It is all of that, and more: a stunning debut novel about a web of unsolved murders in New York's Gramercy Park and the singular woman who makes them her obsession. At its center is Kathleen Mallory, an extraordinary wild child turned New York City policewoman. Adopted off the streets as a little girl by a police inspector and his wife, she is still not altogether civilized now that she is a sergeant in the Special Crimes section. With her ferocious intelligence and green gunslinger eyes, Mallory (never Kathleen, never Kathy) operates by her own inner compass of right and wrong, a sense of justice that drives her in unpredictable ways. She is a thing apart. And today, she is a thing possessed. Although more at home in the company of computers than in the company of men, Mallory is propelled onto the street when the body of her adoptive father, Louis Markowitz, is found stabbed in a tenement next to the body of a wealthy Gramercy Park woman. The murders are clearly linked to two other Gramercy Park homicides Markowitz had been investigating, and now his cases become Mallory's, his death her cause. Prowling the streets, sifting through his clues, drawing on his circle of friends and colleagues, she plunges into a netherworld of light and shadow, where people are not what they seem and truth shifts without warning. And a murderer waits who is every bit as wild and unpredictable as she....

Intelligent, Awesome! Reading this novel was like watching Criminal Minds. A mind boggling story with characters of high IQ, sarcasm and wit. I loved every page and found that following the clues didn't always get me where I thought it would. Mallory is a complex creature who has the ability to see into a person's soul and then use it against them either by words or by the computer. Brilliant writing and I plan on reading more hoping to gain some insight on this orphan who stills defys the ethics and laws of today's society.



Another 5 1/2 stars or more! The Man Who Cast Two Shadows by Carol O'Connell

O'Connell's second novel (after Mallory's Oracle) brings back NYPD Sergeant Kathy Mallory, plunging this tough-minded yet soulful heroine into another convoluted case. When a woman killed in Central Park is mistakenly identified as Mallory, the former street urchin and computer whiz sets herself up as bait by moving into the apartment building that houses her three main suspects. Using a computer and the building's electronic bulletin board to psych out the killer, she stirs up more than she bargained for-including someone who wants her dead. Other elements in the intelligent plot include a crime of passion, a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game and a boy who may be telekinetic and whose stepmothers keep dying. The dialogue is crisp, the prose supple, but the overall tone is dour, sometimes, in fact, mournful. Not enough of the story is told from Mallory's point of view, however, and O'Connell tends to evoke her mysterious behavior through description rather than through action. As a result, Mallory-who with her bitter youth, street smarts and rough edges carries echoes of Andrew Vachss's Burke-remains an enigma, a major absence at the center of the plot.

Yes, another Brilliant plot with more insight to the Mallory personality. I would not agree on the mournful or dour outlook on the story though as the above author states. She, Mallory, knows things that even I was not prepared for, but Mallory undertakes it all with the ability of an intellectual wiz with is able to multi-task in a man's world. Enter her two partners who have a chance to work with Mallory and are given bylines in the story to evolve as needed characters for the plot. Mallory does need them but wants them to figure that out for themselves. The three are flawed individuals who work well with each other by feeding off the energy that each generates. Truly a remarkable novel with gripping details that not all is as it seems.

All The Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison

When a local girl falls prey to a sadistic serial killer, Nashville Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson and her lover, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, find themselves in a joint investigation pursuing a vicious murderer. The Southern Strangler is slaughtering his way through the Southeast, leaving a gruesome memento at each crime scene—the prior victim's severed hand.Ambitious TV reporter Whitney Connolly is certain the Southern Strangler is her ticket out of Nashville; she's got a scoop that could break the case. She has no idea how close to this story she really is—or what it will cost her. As the killer spirals out of control, everyone involved must face a horrible truth—the purest evil is born of lies.

What I thought:
5 star rating
Stunning, brilliant debut novel by a great lady! Witty dialogues, superb characters and one hell of a ride through a homicide detective's office. I felt like I was right in the midst of an actual police station dealing with all the detectives' every day work stations and duties. Multiple events that kept you turning each page happening in Nashville plus the gruesome serial murder that was crossing state lines. FBI, State/Town Police, Sheriffs' and Detectives all in one place for this reader to completely enjoy while chasing down the clues and piecing them together. I enjoyed the doubt that J.T. Ellison put in my mind, but I had to go back to my original antagonist even though I hadn't figured out the why part yet... Spoiler***** fantastic that such a tough gal was scared witless when a spider dropped in on her. I loved that part!
Bring on more Taylor and Baldwin please!
J.T. Ellison has hit the ground running with her debut novel and I am completely hyped on her next novel 14 due to be released this fall. Don't miss a chance to try a new author who writes like Tess Gerritsen and John Sandford with a touch of Lee Child in the mix. P.S. one of her favorite mentors and friend is Lee Child. Another fantastic and over the top author! Enjoy!


The Third Victim-Lisa Gardner
The past isn't over....An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy. It's hitting too close to home, bringing back her worst nightmares, threatening to expose her secret sins. But with the boy's life at stake, she won't let anything stop her from finding the real killer. With the help of FBI profiler Pierce Quincy, Rainie comes closer to a deadly truth than she can imagine. Because out there in the shadows a man watches her and plots his next move. He knows her secrets. He kills for sport. He's already brought death to Bakersville and forever shattered the community. But what he has really come for is Rainie -- and he won't leave until he has destroyed her....

5 Stars

This was a book with a disturbing topic of school killings. The analysis in the book was fantastic to read with the hope that all schools can be educated someday to see the signs and or to have the open doors for trouble teens to turn to at all times. We need to pay the school teachers more to do more than just teach. Too many of society's children are growing up in homes where values and basic skills are not being taught. They are ignored or abused or don't fit in and the education systems needs to be educated in what to look for and signs to watch out for not only for the rest of the schools population but for that troubled child.

I shed some tears while reading this book for the schools who have lost already and for the future travesties that might happen. It's not only schools now either. Omaha had a shopping mall incident and there have been several church shootings. Tough subject matter to read, but well written with lovable believable characters who also had flaws. This is my first book by Lisa and I know I will enjoy reading more of her novels. Must read Perfect Husband because that is when FBI Quincy actually shows up only not mentioned until the book The Next Accident.

The Next Accident - Lisa Gardner

5 Stars!

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner is at the top of her form as she takes us on a desperate manhunt for a killer who preys upon his victims’ minds—just before he claims their lives.What do you do when a killer targets the people you love the most? When he knows how to make them vulnerable? When he knows the same about you?These are the questions that haunt FBI Special Agent Pierce Quincy. The police say his daughter’s death was an accident. Quincy will risk everything to learn the truth—and there’s only one person willing to help. Ex-cop Rainie Connor had once been paired professionally—and personally—with the brilliant FBI profiler. He helped her through the darkest days of her life. Now it’s time for Rainie to return the favor. But this killer is like none these two hard-boiled pros have ever encountered. This twisted psychopath has an insatiable hunger for revenge...and for fear. As the clock ticks down to one unspeakably intimate act of vengeance, the only way Rainie can unmask this killer is to step directly in his murderous path. She will become a murder waiting to happen. She will be...the next accident.

I couldn't get enough of Rainie and Quincy from The Third Victim and so I rushed right into this book. Wow, what a wild web of decit and ugliness that the criminal element used. I pegged a certain person early on and I was sort of right. LOL!! To be a profiler is to have a mind set in the darkest of corners and to be human with a life. The horrors one would have to see and think are mind numbing to be sure. I don't like the crimes but I enjoy trying to figure them out and work out in my mind where one can be so devious to plot such hate or despair. I'm not sure that I could attend a crime scene without being scarred for life. So kudos for this author again for entertaining me, seeing more dark corners and making my mind work double time! I will read The Perfect Husband and The Killing Hour and then Finally the masterpiece.....Gone!


The Killing Hour- Lisa Gardner
A cold case grows hot again in Gardner's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce Quincy, former FBI profiler turned PI, last seen in The Next Accident. She's a tough, troubled young woman still recovering from the murders of her mother and sister six years earlier. During week nine of the FBI Academy's 16-week training program in Virginia, she discovers the body of a young woman who looks like her late sister. Since the corpse has been dumped on a secured Marine base, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is in charge, but determined Kimberly soon takes a leave of absence so she can team up with Michael "Mac" McCormack, visiting Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent, along with her father and his partner, Rainie Connor, to prevent another death. Mac receives taunting mail and cell phone messages ("planet dying... animals weeping... rivers screaming... can't you hear it? Heat kills") that lead him to suspect a serial eco-killer who last struck in Georgia three years earlier, leaving seven dead women and one survivor. Sparks fly between Kimberly and Mac as they rush to rescue the eco-killer's latest victim, Tina Krahn. Gardner offers riveting glimpses of Tina's struggle to survive in an environmentally hazardous locale. With tight plotting, an ear for forensic detail and a dash of romance, this is a truly satisfying sizzler in the tradition of Tess Gerritsen and Tami Hoag.

Oh My Word was this a page turner!!!! My article for this week's paper review:

Lisa Gardner studies her subjects well and gives her readers a knuckle biting drama with hard core dialogue on every page. The Killing Hour had a very twisted individual that left a trail of clues on each victim. Only to the trained eye would they actually lead the investigator to the next victim...quickly. A Georgia agent was lured by an informant, possibly the killer, via the cell phone to come to Virginia because the killer was up to his old tricks again. GBI Special Agent Michael "Mac" McCormack desperately wanted to catch this lunatic. The F.B.I. and the N.C.I.S. had other ideas in the beginning...so Lisa adds Kimberly the almost F.B.I. agent, her Dad the retired profiler and his partner Rainie with Agent Mac. Now we have a renegade party in the search of the victims with the help of lowly geologists, botanists and conservation park rangers. The stakes were high, the plot devious and it was a wilderness adventure I wouldn't want to enter. Will the beast win, will the agents find the girl in time? "Clock is ticking...planet dying...animals weeping...rivers screaming. Can't you hear it? Heat kills..."

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite one of the series I read and I hope Lisa delivers more! This particular quote from the book gave me shivers up my spine everytime I read it!

Ritual Bath - Faye Kellerman ( Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus series)

Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD is stunned when he gets the report. Someone has shattered the sanctuary of a remote yeshiva community in the California hills with an unimaginable crime. One of the women was brutally raped as she returned from the mikvah, the bathhouse where the cleansing ritual is performed.
The crime was called in by Rina Lazarus, and Decker is relieved to discover that she is a calm and intelligent witness. She is also the only one in the sheltered community willing to speak of this unspeakable violation. As Rina tries to steer Decker through the maze of religious laws the two grow closer. But before they get to the bottom of this horrendous crime, revelations come to light that are so shocking that they threaten to come between the hard-nosed cop and the deeply religious woman with whom he has become irrevocably linked.

Wow, this lady can pack a punch! Wife to Jonathan Kellerman and a marvelous writer! While Jonathan describes many details with character Alex Delaware, Faye shouts out all the details with Detective Peter Decker. An astounding difference and one that I am enjoying. The crime is a horrible crime to any woman at anytime and yet the Jewish faith still stayed strong. I learned so much about the orthodox Jews from this story and that alone fascinated me. I love to learn and that is the best thing about reading books! The characters I fell in love with and in all seriousness was not expecting to appreciate so much wisdom that the Rabbi spoke of. The powerful words and actions lead me to believe more in my faith and to understand so much more than I could imagine. A powerful story for the soul.....from the soul! I will be reading this series and at the moment I think there are 14 books to complete. I look forward to this challange for 2008!

The Sacred and Profane - Faye Kellerman (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus series)

5 Stars!

Detective Decker had two problems. He had to find the killers of two young women from the incredibly seamy world of L.A. porn. And he had to learn to follow the faith of his new lover, Rina--or else lose her forever. From the author of The Ritual Bath.


Simply put and again what a riveting story. More mystery, less togetherness for Peter and Rina, but the case puts Detective Decker in a mood. On one hand he is studying the faith, trying to be a good man and yet this dark world he travels in... eats away at him. Chapter 6 in this book was so moving that I photocopied it all to save. The Rabbi and Peter get into a discussion of faith, the bible, God and evil. Breathtaking! I can't say enough about this series except please read!

A Necessary Evil - Alex Kava


As the killing spree continues unabated, it becomes clear to Maggie O’Dell—the FBI profiler assigned to the case—that more than one perpetrator is responsible. As she begins to drill down into the facts, Maggie discovers a disturbing Internet role-playing game for youths who have been victims of male authority figures—including Catholic priests.With the first real lead in the investigation, Maggie wonders if this group has turned cyberspace justice into reality by dispensing their own brand of vengeance. As the ritualistic killings leave America’s heartland reeling, Maggie gets a second lead—one that leaves her stunned.For the past four years she has been driven by blind determination to find Father Michael Keller, the human monster whose acts of brutality continue to haunt her to this day. Sick and twisted, the priest seems to have vanished without a trace. But with an irony that only life can offer, now he has become a target. When Keller offers to help Maggie solve the crimes in exchange for protection, she has no choice but to ally herself with the elusive child killer—the person she despises with a conviction that’s almost religious in its fervor. Maggie must cross a dangerous line into a world of malevolence and evil from which she may not return unscathed. Maggie knows the bargain is a necessary evil…one that may be made in blood...

5 Rating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, when I first met Alex she had just finished her stand alone novel One False Move and I started sending her an Avoca newspaper after that, so... imagine my surprise when I get to the page where Maggie O'Dell's friend Gwen's assistant is named Dena. I about fell out of my chair!!! I can't wait to ask her about the assistant this weekend when I see her at the Mayhem in the Midlands event. I was just so glad the assistant had brown eyes and not blue eyes like mine are. Whew!!!! The other fun thing about this book was it was back in Omaha, Nebraska my haunting grounds. LOL!!!! Everything from the visits to the Old Market to eating at LaCasa Pizzaria. Loved it! Okay now for the storyline.....gruesome, gritty and full of the highest topic in the Catholic religion across the USA. Bringing back Father Keller and Nick Morelli were the highlights for sure, but the details kept me riveted to the last page. Loved the Nuns and the irony. Can I say Perfect Justice??? I don't want to spoil it for others but if you don't want to read all of the books in order with Maggie O'Dell at least read A Perfect Evil before reading A Necessary Evil.

Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron

5 Stars -- For Teens and Adults

Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.
It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.
But she hadn't planned on a dust storm.
Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
A very quick read, but definitely worth it for all! What ten year old understands death or for that matter do any of us? We all struggle to find our higher power whether at home, at school, at work or church. To be the best citizen, to be the best parent, to be the best volunteer, to be the best person or simply to be! There are days we all want to run away even ten year olds. This book won an award so I say read it out loud to a kid or read it to yourself but definitely read it because they (those loons) are trying to ban this book for a word used on the first page.
Censorship offends me. ~Author Unknown

Cold Truth - Mariah Stewart

5 Stars

TRUTH HAS DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
Twenty-six years ago, even before a series of brutal murders rocked the idyllic town of Bowers Inlet, Cassie Burke lost her parents, her sister, and nearly her own life to a transient befriended by her father. Back then, Cassie was a scared kid-now she's a homicide cop. Back then, the suspect was caught and convicted-he died in prison. But now the killing has started again. And all signs indicate that the Bayside Strangler has come back for more.
With too many victims and too few suspects, Cassie has her hands full investigating the case, while working through the old trauma it has brought to the surface. Luckily, FBI agent Rick Cisco is dispatched to lend support. Together, Cassie and Rick must uncover the link between the dark past and the dangerous present to bring this small town's long nightmare to an end. If they fail, an elusive fiend will slip back into the shadows . . . to watch and wait-and kill another day.
In matters of crime, there are many versions of the truth.

Another new author for myself and I loved it! Great writing style! The storyline was fantastic and when I finished the last page I was hoping to continue with at least the characters. I know this is part of her truth series but I'm not sure that all the characters are recurring or if any are. I hope the writer in the story is at least a small part. Scary to have a murderer so close to home and one that everyone knows. Chilling aspects that small towns could sweep up potential troubles and later suffer the consequences. One should follow the protocol of the law, but as we all know corruption is alive and well. I enjoyed this book and I hope to read many more by Mariah. May the twists and turns continue......

Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin
5 Stars!

Is it possible to grow up while getting younger?Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward? This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

Brilliant, Stunning! A look at death, afterlife and Heaven! This will be my most remembered book for 2008! Imagine waking up on a cruise ship (Death has happened) taking you to Elsewhere where you begin another journey of getting younger. Poor Liz is so upset because she was at an age of becoming. Getting her driver's license, going to Prom, thinking of college. Now.....she will become younger and her response is "You mean I am getting younger? It took me so long to get to fifteen?" She has a ranting rage of not getting the license or bigger boobs or going to Prom, college, finding her love, getting married and having children. Upsetting as that is she soons settles into a life with new people to love and to be loved by. A unique story that I think of almost daily. A great book for both teens and adults. Most definitely a reader who has recently lost a loved one could benefit from words of wisdom and much thought provoking details.
I dare anyone to get lost in these pages of delightful charm!


I had to pull these before MSN closed the room for good! Hope these reviews give you ideas for your next best book to read.

My 2009 year is looking as I have read 9 books in January and almost 5 in February. My goal is to read at least 12 if not more this month.

I will check in later my fine fellow readers!

November 23, 2008 - Thanksgiving Next Week!

Greetings, my fellow readers!

Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving???? Wow! Where has the year gone? I am busy reading my 59 book for the year and I'm behind the curve for last year's total. I believe I read 73 or 75 books, but I probably could get busier, huh?

Just read a new author, Meg Gardiner. Great novel, The Dirty Secrets Club! Authors Stephen King, Tess Gerritsen and Jeffery Deaver are raving about her works. I'm going to read her other five books that have recurring character Evan Delaney. I love finding new authors and with that statement I have! Mayhem in the Midlands is on tract and has already found the Host, The Toast Master and an International guest author for next May. So Dana Stabenow is the host and she has written quite a few books with character Kate Shugak. Sixteen to be exact, with the newest one coming out in 2009. Check out her web page www.danastabenow.com and watch her YouTube funny describing all the books in order. I got a deep chuckle out of it and promptly went to the library to grad the first three books in the series. I plan to have plenty under my belt when I get to the Mayhem event.

Yes, Of Course, I'm attending this shindig again! What fun it was last year meeting so many neat and intelligent souls. I had a huge problem not getting out of the rooms that had to do with crime so maybe I can check out a few more seminars. LOL! It's all Alex's fault for inviting the Douglas County Crime Scene team and a Douglas County Prosecutor for the day. I learn tons of great facts and how much fiction is used in the CSI shows. <---------still love them though. Oh who is Alex? Alex Kava an Omaha Native and one of the greatest writers ever! Along with Erica Spindler, Jan Burke, Jeff Abbott, J.A. Konrath, Charlaine Harris, J.T. Ellison and all the rest of the authors I met last May. Seriously, though I'm trying to read a book by each author that attended last year and so far the above mentioned have been tried and LOVED! I would like to get a few more authors read before the next Mayhem because I'm sure several of them will be repeats to this awesome event.

So I am now reading a Michael Connelly book, A Darkness More Than Night and I had just finished Orchid Blues by Stuart Woods. A Holly Barker novel......with only two more to go in that series. In 2009 I will attempt to read all the Will Lee character books by Stuart and I shall be caught up with his writing. I need to also concentrate on the Harry Bosch series, The Reacher series, the Tempe series, the Cross series, the Lincoln series and several more. I love series books! What more can I say?

Christmas will be around the corner and I hope you all think of buying books for your friends and family. They make the best presents ever and on the inside you could put a special poem for that person. Some special coffee beans, a coffee mug or tea mug and of course a new bookmark would just be great for something extra with the book. Not sure what they are reading? Try getting a gift card than.

Well, I my books are calling me and my son is begging to use the computer and you need to do something else besides reading all my ramblings on and on about authors and novels. I hope I have given you a new author to try and if you want more please e-mail me at magentas_85@hotmail.com I do love to get mail!

TTFN my Reading Friends

"A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors." ~Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Thanksgiving Thought:

Books had instant replay long before televised sports. ~Bern Williams

Summer Reading 2008

Hey, Hey my reading friends!

Been a long time since I wrote some words but boy have I been busy! I Attended the Mayhem in the Midlands event in Omaha at the end of May and I met lots of great authors, and I bought tons of books to read and to get autographed. Soon I hope to have mayhem pictures on the webpage. It was a great mystery weekend of fun and laughter! I even played the blushing bride at the mystery dinner that was held on the last night of the convention. I plan on staying at the hotel next year at the 10th annual event and Joy my web guru is going too!

Between all the baseball games and swim team meets and VBS and a Family vacation I have managed to read quite a few titles:

Stone Angel -- Carol O'Connell
Angels Flight -- Michael Connelly
Night Passage -- Robert Parker
Exposed -- Alex Kava
A Wrinkle in Time -- Madeleine L'Engle
Goose Chase -- Patrice Kindl
Fresh Disasters -- Stuart Woods
Dying for Chocolate -- Diane Mott Davidson
Bandit Queen Boogie - Sparkle Hayter
A Necessary Evil - Alex Kava
Last Known Victim - Erica Spindler


I'm reading:

Carrot Cake Murder
Obedience

I just purchased:

Sail - James Patterson
Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich


I'm working off a mental reading list now, but I promise to have the second half of my summer up in the numbers for reading. With swim team almost over now... I will be home free for weeks with nothing but the pool and my bag of books to call my name. Okay.....maybe a few loads of laundry, but that is it!

Take it easy my reading friends and enjoy the heat! Stop by your local library and support the librarians.

"A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into exquisite hours of delight." Charles de Montesquieu

Visit our Website

Be sure to visit our website at:

www.geocities.com/avocabookclub

Wow, April is almost over!

So I have finished:

Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman
Trunk Music by Michael Connelly
Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler

#1 How To Kill a Millionaire by Nancy Martin
#2 Dead Girls Don't Wear Diamonds by Nancy Martin
#3 Some Like it Lethal by Nancy Martin

Spiderwick Chronicles, The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Darkest Hour, Mediator series by Meg Cabot

Reading Now:

Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews....#1 in this series with Meg Langslow

Next up to read:

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris
Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl


I need to read a book by these authors before I get to the Mayhem in the Midlands this May:

Alex Kava
Erica Spindler
Jan Burke

It's going to be a busy month with reading, baseball games, my daughter's birthday, last month of school for the kids, getting my husband to Canada, graduation parties and lots of other things that will pop up unforseen. So it goes.....

I hope you enjoy the new books for the month of May for club and we welcome your reviews, so send us some e-mail.

TTFN (ta ta for now)

D

When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "one word at a time." -Stephen King

March Reads = Literary Month

Greetings fellow readers!

I have finished these books:

Orchid Beach by Stuart Woods
Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler

Both excellent first novels in their series! Holly Barker is an outstanding female character for Stuart and well I have loved Dirk since seeing Sahara on the big screen. Oops... I mean Matthew McConaughey. LOL! I will continue both these series and luckily... only four for Holly Barker so, three to go.


Reading:

Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman

A third book in this series and so far Peter Decker is still a lovable gruff character. Rina should show up soon. I will move to book Trunk Music by Michael Connelly and this is book five in the Harry Bosch series. Another lovable gruff character and also in L.A.

Book Review:

Pieces of My Sister's Life by Elizabeth Joy Arnold

A very disappointing read and that hasn't happened in a long time. What could have been an emotional roller coaster ride from the phone call to the sister from her brother in law, left me, the reader, wondering where is all the meat to the story? The author went from present to the past so many times that I was praying for the ending to come soon. A bitter childhood for the twins due to a mother who left, a drunk father who tried and to their teen years when their father died. A fabulous storyline that lacked true emotional feelings. One sister on the track of destroying and the other naive but both were wounded. Instead of the twins remembering the past so much they should have been concentrating on the future...what time was left on earth to be sisters. Family, Love and Death should have trumped anger, denial and lies. I give this book a 3 star rating only for the one moment the two sisters shared where emtionally it mattered and I give it a 2 star rating because I truly didn't like the way it ended. The child should not have to suffer the same bitter consequences of no mother to lean upon. The Aunt (the sister) should have turned the other cheek, accepted the position God gave her and guided her niece through the rest of her years.

This book will haunt me as never giving enough....


I met author Mel Boring and hopefully I will have his photos posted soon on the children's page! What a great speaker to all ages! The kids were quite impressed with him from the smallest to the oldest in the elementary school. I bought two books of his and each has been personally signed to my kids. They loved it!!! Kudos to Mrs. Edwards for bringing him to A-H-S-T!

Quotes:

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.”
- Confucius

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.”
- Elizabeth Hardwick


“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
- Frederick Douglass

Finished Books with Asterik * and bolded




*Sacred and Profane - Faye Kellerman
*The Man Who Cast Two Shadows - Carol O'Connell
*Gone - Lisa Gardner
*The Third Victim - Lisa Gardner
*The Next Accident - Lisa Gardner
*Cold Truth - Mariah Stewart
Bone Thief - Thomas O'Callaghan
The Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman
Live Bait - PJ Tracy
The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen
*2nd Chance - James Patterson
*Weekend Warriors - Fern Michaels
Beautiful Lies - Lisa Unger
*Pieces of My Sister's Life - Elizabeth Joy Arnold
The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman
*Killing Critics - Carol O'Connell
Milk and Honey - Faye Kellerman
*Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin
*Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron
*Two Dollar Bill - Stuart Woods
*Dark Harbor - Stuart Woods
*The Wizard of Oz

Wow!!!! 15 books and so much more to finish this month of March. I hope to get at least 5 more done this month, if not more. I need to... so I can get back library books to the library. LOL!!! Too many were calling my name this last month. I have my March books finished for book club but I am behind on my internet book reading challenges. I think I will finish out the night by reading a book and then hopefully going to sleep tonight. My schedule is off wack for sleeping this weekend. Happy Reading to all my friends and may you have the Luck of the Irish with ya tomorrow!!!