Time for a books post
From my Goodreads library. The most recent reads in August.
#90, Reader's Advisory: An Unshelved Collection by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes. You don't have to be a librarian to appreciate this humor but you do have to like books. The latest adventures of Dewey and the Mallville Public library are hilarious. It's almost enough to make me want back in. 4 stars.
#91, NYX X-23: Innocence Lost by Zeb Wells, Joe Quesada , Christopher Yost. I read this book mostly so that I could read Marjorie Liu's continuation of the NYX series. I really liked the art in this book but I thought the story itself was just okay. The villainy of the creators (in the story) of X-23 was outrageous. Pure evil. The NYX teens were pretty cool and I was sorry that it ended after 7 issues. 3 stars.
#92, Nyx: No Way Home (Nyx (Graphic Novels)) by Marjorie Liu. Marjorie Liu's talent takes this graphic novel and elevates it to one where the story is equal to the pictures. It takes place right after the end of the original series. The artwork has been updated. (New artist and different time - teen fashion changes quickly) The story didn't go as far as I would have liked but it was extremely readable and interesting. If mutants did exist in our world, we would be afraid of them (though at least they have powers and that could be threatening. What's our excuse for religion and sexual orientation today?) Liu understands the medium very well and really played to it. 4 stars.
#93, Black Hills by Nora Roberts. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood but this book just never captured my attention. Coop and Lil met as children, fell in love, and then Coop broke up with her. Lil founded a big cat refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Coop became a cop and a PI and returns to the Black Hills to take over his grandparents' farm. They've never stopped loving each other but someone has targeted Lil and will kill anything that gets in his way. I found the story slow and while I liked Coop and Lil, I preferred the...more Maybe I just wasn't in the mood but this book just never captured my attention. Coop and Lil met as children, fell in love, and then Coop broke up with her. Lil founded a big cat refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Coop became a cop and a PI and returns to the Black Hills to take over his grandparents' farm. They've never stopped loving each other but someone has targeted Lil and will kill anything that gets in his way. I found the story slow and while I liked Coop and Lil, I preferred the secondary characters. There was too much in this book and yet, very little happens. 2 stars.
#94, Storm Cycle by Iris Johansen and Ray Johansen. Rachel Kirby is brilliant but brilliance alone won't be enough to find a cure for her sister's rare disease. Nonetheless, she's devoted her life to ensuring that the computing power is there. John Tavak is also brilliant. He's been siphoning off computing power from Rachel's project for his own ends. When he comes across what might be the cure, the two cross paths and a race begins - not a race to find the cure but a race to decode the cure. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones who want the information. The premise is very interesting but the story moves slowly. I never felt like I knew the main characters very well. The last third of the book moves quickly which makes up for the first 2/3s that plod along. If you like Egyptian history and distributed computers, it is a very interesting book about possibilities. 3 stars.
#95, Just Watch Me (Midnight Fantasies) (Harlequin Blaze #29) by Julie Elizabeth Leto. Voyeurism isn't my thing. But I didn't like this book mostly because it was terribly dull and I never felt anything for any of the characters. It did get better at the end but it wasn't worth reading to get to that point. 1 star.
#96, Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter, #19) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. What takes this book to the next level is the author's ability to entwine this story around stories that already took place. Years ago. She had to remember what characters knew or didn't know at the time. She had to remember how everyone was viewing certain events. And then she had to see it from another's point of view. Everyone has been waiting for Fang and Aimee's story for years and this was worth waiting for. Wolves and bears don't mix. Aimee owes it to her mother to find a mate within the bears but the Fates determine that and Fang is the only one she's ever seen. This book introduces us to a whole new cast of characters, new pantheons, and new things to kill. The only question I had was really at the end - critical things happen and they didn't feel like they fit into the current timeline as I know it but it's possible that the subject hasn't come up in the last few books. Regardless, it was ultimately very satisfying. Plus, we got to see Savitar. Now that Acheron is taken, there's always Savitar who will need a happy ending. 5 stars.
#97, The Culprit and The Cure: Why lifestyle is the culprit behind America's poor health by Steven C. Aldana. We had to read this for our wellness program at work but I was fairly impressed with the balanced coverage of how to solve our health issues. As a gastric bypass patient and interested party, I knew most of what Aldana talked about. What I didn't realize was the severity. One of the exercises we had to complete was to review our pantry and find the transfats. My diet doesn't allow for many processed food anymore so the likelihood of having transfat is seriously limited. At the same time, my diet also doesn't allow for a whole lot of fiber, which was something else we had to track. It reminded me to be aware but I suspect for many people, the book was a real eye-opener. Many of us do not eat well in this country. We have plenty of food but given a choice, most of us go for the easy way - processed or take-out or fried. It tastes good! But so does fresh food. It's really about lifestyle change. Aldana provides not only statistics, but suggestions, things to look for, ways to make small changes that have the chance to become permanent. 4 stars.
#98, Burn by Linda Howard. Jenner Redwine is a blue collar woman who won the lottery. However, unlike many other lottery winners, she's smart and worked to be money savvy. She also had to completely remake her life. She does so with the help of heiress Sydney Hazlett who saw a kindred spirit in Jenner. They were supposed to go on a charity cruise together but instead Syd gets kidnapped and Jenner gets coerced into helping the kidnappers. But she's not sure why and these don't seem to be ordinary kidnappers. Cael Traylor is heading up a surveillance team that isn't exactly sure what they are supposed to find. They only know that the ship's owner is up to no good and they need Jenner's suite to run their equipment, hence the elaborate kidnapping scheme. Cael doesn't expect Jenner. He doesn't want to be attracted to her and definitely doesn't want to make the first move. He's her kidnapper, that would be rape, even if she wants it. Watching them get together is fun. However, the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. It's a fun read because Jenner and Cael are interesting characters. But it's not memorable. 3 stars.
#99, The Bronze Pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This had a very clever premise. An aspiring young (age 12) author is given a pen under mysterious circumstances and that pen has mysterious powers. I liked Audrey and her friend Lizzie. What confused me is why it was necessary to set this book in 1972. I realize it made the plot a little more exciting that her father needed heart bypass surgery in a time before that was done on a regular basis but most readers wouldn't know this fact. It would have been more interesting, in my opinion, had it been set in current day and had to deal with the pull of electronics. 3 stars
#100, Relentless by Dean Koontz. This was both completely different and yet very much in line with Koontz's other work. Cubby Greenwich is a successful author. At least until the day that Shearman Waxx, pre-eminent reviewer trashes his latest novel. He might have let it go but Waxx begins a determined campaign to destroy Cubby and his family. Suddenly the mild-mannered author will do things he never thought himself capable of doing. The book is funny and compelling, but not believable (and I don't mean the antics of Milo and Lassie). The idea that Waxx could do the things he did, just didn't strike true. It's enjoyable but it needed just a little more to take it to the next level. As always, Koontz does the best dogs. 3 stars.
#90, Reader's Advisory: An Unshelved Collection by Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes. You don't have to be a librarian to appreciate this humor but you do have to like books. The latest adventures of Dewey and the Mallville Public library are hilarious. It's almost enough to make me want back in. 4 stars.
#91, NYX X-23: Innocence Lost by Zeb Wells, Joe Quesada , Christopher Yost. I read this book mostly so that I could read Marjorie Liu's continuation of the NYX series. I really liked the art in this book but I thought the story itself was just okay. The villainy of the creators (in the story) of X-23 was outrageous. Pure evil. The NYX teens were pretty cool and I was sorry that it ended after 7 issues. 3 stars.
#92, Nyx: No Way Home (Nyx (Graphic Novels)) by Marjorie Liu. Marjorie Liu's talent takes this graphic novel and elevates it to one where the story is equal to the pictures. It takes place right after the end of the original series. The artwork has been updated. (New artist and different time - teen fashion changes quickly) The story didn't go as far as I would have liked but it was extremely readable and interesting. If mutants did exist in our world, we would be afraid of them (though at least they have powers and that could be threatening. What's our excuse for religion and sexual orientation today?) Liu understands the medium very well and really played to it. 4 stars.
#93, Black Hills by Nora Roberts. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood but this book just never captured my attention. Coop and Lil met as children, fell in love, and then Coop broke up with her. Lil founded a big cat refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Coop became a cop and a PI and returns to the Black Hills to take over his grandparents' farm. They've never stopped loving each other but someone has targeted Lil and will kill anything that gets in his way. I found the story slow and while I liked Coop and Lil, I preferred the...more Maybe I just wasn't in the mood but this book just never captured my attention. Coop and Lil met as children, fell in love, and then Coop broke up with her. Lil founded a big cat refuge in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Coop became a cop and a PI and returns to the Black Hills to take over his grandparents' farm. They've never stopped loving each other but someone has targeted Lil and will kill anything that gets in his way. I found the story slow and while I liked Coop and Lil, I preferred the secondary characters. There was too much in this book and yet, very little happens. 2 stars.
#94, Storm Cycle by Iris Johansen and Ray Johansen. Rachel Kirby is brilliant but brilliance alone won't be enough to find a cure for her sister's rare disease. Nonetheless, she's devoted her life to ensuring that the computing power is there. John Tavak is also brilliant. He's been siphoning off computing power from Rachel's project for his own ends. When he comes across what might be the cure, the two cross paths and a race begins - not a race to find the cure but a race to decode the cure. Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones who want the information. The premise is very interesting but the story moves slowly. I never felt like I knew the main characters very well. The last third of the book moves quickly which makes up for the first 2/3s that plod along. If you like Egyptian history and distributed computers, it is a very interesting book about possibilities. 3 stars.
#95, Just Watch Me (Midnight Fantasies) (Harlequin Blaze #29) by Julie Elizabeth Leto. Voyeurism isn't my thing. But I didn't like this book mostly because it was terribly dull and I never felt anything for any of the characters. It did get better at the end but it wasn't worth reading to get to that point. 1 star.
#96, Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter, #19) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. What takes this book to the next level is the author's ability to entwine this story around stories that already took place. Years ago. She had to remember what characters knew or didn't know at the time. She had to remember how everyone was viewing certain events. And then she had to see it from another's point of view. Everyone has been waiting for Fang and Aimee's story for years and this was worth waiting for. Wolves and bears don't mix. Aimee owes it to her mother to find a mate within the bears but the Fates determine that and Fang is the only one she's ever seen. This book introduces us to a whole new cast of characters, new pantheons, and new things to kill. The only question I had was really at the end - critical things happen and they didn't feel like they fit into the current timeline as I know it but it's possible that the subject hasn't come up in the last few books. Regardless, it was ultimately very satisfying. Plus, we got to see Savitar. Now that Acheron is taken, there's always Savitar who will need a happy ending. 5 stars.
#97, The Culprit and The Cure: Why lifestyle is the culprit behind America's poor health by Steven C. Aldana. We had to read this for our wellness program at work but I was fairly impressed with the balanced coverage of how to solve our health issues. As a gastric bypass patient and interested party, I knew most of what Aldana talked about. What I didn't realize was the severity. One of the exercises we had to complete was to review our pantry and find the transfats. My diet doesn't allow for many processed food anymore so the likelihood of having transfat is seriously limited. At the same time, my diet also doesn't allow for a whole lot of fiber, which was something else we had to track. It reminded me to be aware but I suspect for many people, the book was a real eye-opener. Many of us do not eat well in this country. We have plenty of food but given a choice, most of us go for the easy way - processed or take-out or fried. It tastes good! But so does fresh food. It's really about lifestyle change. Aldana provides not only statistics, but suggestions, things to look for, ways to make small changes that have the chance to become permanent. 4 stars.
#98, Burn by Linda Howard. Jenner Redwine is a blue collar woman who won the lottery. However, unlike many other lottery winners, she's smart and worked to be money savvy. She also had to completely remake her life. She does so with the help of heiress Sydney Hazlett who saw a kindred spirit in Jenner. They were supposed to go on a charity cruise together but instead Syd gets kidnapped and Jenner gets coerced into helping the kidnappers. But she's not sure why and these don't seem to be ordinary kidnappers. Cael Traylor is heading up a surveillance team that isn't exactly sure what they are supposed to find. They only know that the ship's owner is up to no good and they need Jenner's suite to run their equipment, hence the elaborate kidnapping scheme. Cael doesn't expect Jenner. He doesn't want to be attracted to her and definitely doesn't want to make the first move. He's her kidnapper, that would be rape, even if she wants it. Watching them get together is fun. However, the plot doesn't make a lot of sense. It's a fun read because Jenner and Cael are interesting characters. But it's not memorable. 3 stars.
#99, The Bronze Pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. This had a very clever premise. An aspiring young (age 12) author is given a pen under mysterious circumstances and that pen has mysterious powers. I liked Audrey and her friend Lizzie. What confused me is why it was necessary to set this book in 1972. I realize it made the plot a little more exciting that her father needed heart bypass surgery in a time before that was done on a regular basis but most readers wouldn't know this fact. It would have been more interesting, in my opinion, had it been set in current day and had to deal with the pull of electronics. 3 stars
#100, Relentless by Dean Koontz. This was both completely different and yet very much in line with Koontz's other work. Cubby Greenwich is a successful author. At least until the day that Shearman Waxx, pre-eminent reviewer trashes his latest novel. He might have let it go but Waxx begins a determined campaign to destroy Cubby and his family. Suddenly the mild-mannered author will do things he never thought himself capable of doing. The book is funny and compelling, but not believable (and I don't mean the antics of Milo and Lassie). The idea that Waxx could do the things he did, just didn't strike true. It's enjoyable but it needed just a little more to take it to the next level. As always, Koontz does the best dogs. 3 stars.