Books update - 143 for the year so far
So much for doing these semi-monthly. I expect to make up for lost time in the next 10 days.
#130, Gravity vs. the Girl by Riley Noehren. After a year in bed Samantha Green is being chased around by the 6 year old ghost of herself who manages to convince her to get out of bed, and would have convinced her to get dressed but for the ghost in the closet. Sam is haunted by 4 ghosts of herself and until she retraces her past and her present, she can't have a future. There were parts of this book that were slow because in many ways, Sam wasn't as interesting as the ghosts of herself were. But as she recovered her equilibrium, moved back with her widowed father and started working again, she started to look at her past through different, adult, eyes and discovered that there has always been a reason for her actions, even if she couldn't articulate it at the time. I liked her concept that ghosts don't haunt places, they haunt people and we all have them. I'll be looking for mine. 4 stars.
#131, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson. Once again, wow. I was hooked early, though I am still confused about how the beginning of the book connected with the rest of the story. Here we are taken into "All the Evil" that changed Lisbeth's life until now. When Lisbeth is accused of 3 murders, only Mikael Blomkvist, Dargan Armansky and her former guardian believe that there is more to the story and only Mikael is certain that she didn't kill anyone. As with the Wennerstrom affair, he's determined to stop at nothing to prove her innocence and expose the guilty party. It was a wild ride from the first page. I'm deeply sorry that the next book is the last. 5 stars.
#132, Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser. Elaine Hamilton mastered the Art of French Cooking by the time she was eight. Her secret desire is to be a chef. Her mother, an ardent feminist congresswoman, believes that voluntarily being in a kitchen sets back women's rights for decades. But when Elaine meets Lucida Sans, yes - same name as the font - her whole life changes. Particularly when Lucida decides that Elaine should have a cable access show. After all, she taught her 6 year old twin brothers how to debone a whole fish into fillets. I enjoyed the story but it wasn't deep enough. I was rooting for Elaine but it isn't until the very end that she has the courage of her own convictions. It meant that Elaine dragged down the story's pace. It was also very unrealistic, but I could just enjoy that part. 3 stars.
#133, Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen, #13) by Joanne Fluke. Another tasty treat from Joanne Fluke. Hannah finds the body of a man she truly hated, the college professor who took advantage of her and too many other women to count. The story was good but took far too long to get anywhere. The murder was more than halfway through the book. The cookie recipes sounded amazing, however. Although I have only read a few of these, it's already annoying that Hannah is still pulled between two men and yet the relationship is largely relegated to kisses. She's been dating these men for years. Hannah has definitely become a very daring sleuth and Fluke makes sure that everything mentioned in the book is a clue so don't forget any details, they will come back and be useful. 3 stars.
#134, Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, #1) by Karen Chance. There is a lot to like about this book. Cassie grew up with the vampire mob but she was a clairvoyant, a talent that most considered a parlor trick at best. Nevertheless, they used her and she wanted out. Now the crime boss is out to get her and the vampire senate wants to save her and no one wants to tell her why. Cassie is likable but not fully three dimensional. I was annoyed by the aborted sex scene. But what really annoyed me was that there wasn't enough world building for the reader to understand Cassie's reality, much less the time travel aspects. I've read a short story by Chance that I also found difficult to follow but was also intriguing. There should be a sequel to this but I am not certain I am going to hunt it down. Yet. 3 stars.
#135, Plum Pudding Murder (Hannah Swensen, #12) by Joanne Fluke. I'm reading this out of order, though I am finding that it doesn't matter so much. In this mystery, Hannah and Norman discover the dead body of a local businessman who seemed to have rather fishy business practices. There were many people who were not sorry to see him gone. Meanwhile, Norman's mother is acting very strange, the men want Hannah to have a Christmas tree and an old enemy makes a reappearance (in time for the next book.) The recipes sounded scrumptious and listening to them read aloud requires tremendous willpower to avoid rushing to the oven. Lake Eden sounds like a slightly too small place to live since everyone knows everyone else's business. It's always interesting to see which special guest will die and by what method. The who is also interesting but the mysteries are not really the main event in these books, but rather the relationships within the town. I like these books but only the recipes are really memorable. 3 stars.
#136, The Search by Nora Roberts. I am not a dog person, mostly because I'm afraid of them. Even the little ones. But I love reading about them and this was no exception. Fiona Bristow is a dog trainer. While she does obedience training for all dogs, she excels at creating Search and Rescue dogs. When master furniture maker Simon Doyle shows up at her home with a puppy in tow, her first instinct is to help the dog. Her second is to kiss his human. Simon and Fee strike sparks in all sorts of ways. He's blunt, messy and moved to the island to have more space to create. She's fanatically neat, also blunt and moved to the island to recover from the murder of her fiancée and his K9 partner. But the murderer appears to be back to finish the job that got away, Fiona. She's no longer the frightened 20 year old but that doesn't mean she isn't scared. This was almost a cover-to-cover non-stop read. I've heard the book described as boring, but I thought it was fascinating and I learned some new tips on dog training that I look forward to putting to use. 4 stars.
#137, At the Midnight Hour (The Guiness Gang) by Alicia Scott. The first in Scott's Guiness Gang series is very gothic in its suspense. The old house, the darkened hallways, the shut up rooms. It was a good setting for Liz, the youngest Guiness, and new nanny for 6 year old Andrew. Andrew is prim, proper and brilliant. He quotes morbid statistics and doesn't know how to play. His father is a recluse. Of course the gossip that he killed his wife didn't help. He knows he didn't do it, but his wife was murdered, someone had to be involved. Richard is the first man to make her feel since her husband was died in her arms after a shoot-out. Their romance was sweet and sexy and comfortable. Scott created likable characters and put them in a position to distrust one another. The situation created tension and confusion that couldn't mask the sparks between them. Good story, hard to find now as it's 15 years old. But worth the trouble. 4 stars.
#138, Hangman: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman. It says much for a series author when the reader forgets that the characters aren't real. When I read the flap and learned this was a Chris Donatti novel, I had to think back to when Decker first met him. (Justice) and I mentally reviewed Decker's resume to determine where he was stationed. I was aghast to learn that Hannah was going off to college. I remember when she was born. Scary that these characters are so real, so believable. This was a terrific novel that intertwined a gruesome murder with a missing person, Terry McLaughlin, Chris's wife. She leaves behind a 14 year old son who has no one to turn to except Peter Decker, the one man Terry trusted. Decker turns 60 in this book and was looking forward to retirement. Gabe's unexpected presence is a twist for him. For his part, Gabe isn't a normal 14 year old. He's a piano prodigy and he knows he grew up in absolute disfunctionality. He doesn't want to be a burden but he craves the normality of the Decker household and while he isn't looking for new parents, he appreciates their stability. It's a very complicated series of threads that turned into a fast-paced read. 4 stars.
#139, Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich. This was better than I expected. I've been disappointed in this series, though not enough to stop reading them. What disappoints me is that they are all the same. But this one was slightly more serious. Vinnie Plum is in big trouble and it's up to Stephanie to save the day. Even she thinks this is a little much. She has a surprising number of people on her side. There was a little too much Lula in this book and not enough Ranger or Morelli but overall it was enjoyable, even if forgettable. 3 stars.
#140, Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster by Berkeley Breathed. There is a lot to like about this book. Sam the lion, a dachshund, is particularly funny and the other flawed dogs had great personalities. What kept me from rating this book higher was the amount of cruelty that is shown rather than told. It was a little disturbing. When Sam is taken from his person, Heidy, he decides to get revenge against the Westminster dog that framed him. He has allies, a set of unwanted dogs waiting in vain for adoption. Sam may be small but he's creative and doesn't let anything slow him down. 3 stars.
#141, Flight by Elizabeth Stow Ellison. For reasons I am unclear, this book, though published in 2008, was set in 1982. I couldn't come up with a reason for this. The book dealt with illiteracy and how it catches up with you. In this case, Samantha's brother Evan, a gifted artist, cannot read. But it isn't something the family discusses. In fact, even the mention of getting Evan tested can start a fight. There were interesting secondary characters but while 3-dimensional, they didn't serve a huge purpose. I would have preferred a most conclusive ending as well. But I suppose real life never has neat endings, why should fiction? 3 stars.
#142, Nightwalker (Dark Days, #1) by Jocelynn Drake. It took me forever to get deep enough into the book to want to keep reading it. The first hundred pages are deep with world building only to come out with a fairly ordinary world. Mira, the Fire Starter, is a 600 year old vampire with the ability to channel fire. Danaus is not exactly human and spends his time killing vampires. Not an auspicious start but suddenly they have a mutual enemy, the naturi (a lot like Sidhe only different.) Although there is a lot of action in this story, there is not a lot of character building. I am hoping to see more of that in book 2. Book 1 starts in Savannah and I'm a little disappointed that we've been all around the world. The next book starts in Venice. I suspect it will be easier to get into since I am already familiar with the world. 3 stars.
#143, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium, #3) by Stieg Larsson. For the first 200 pages, I wasn't sure if this book was going to capture me the way the prior two had. It was very much about government conspiracy and Cold War and it didn't do it for me. Once it all connected it became fascinating, not because of the conspiracy but because of how different the Swedish government is from that in the US. Mikael Blomkvist continued to be a fascinating character. The little boy who didn't want to grow up, whose only commitment is to a story, to getting it right. Lisbeth Salander is also fascinating. She's so very much who she is. She doesn't apologize for the things that make her unique. Erika Berger plays a larger role here and it was fascinating to see more of her. This was an incredible series. I've heard rumors that there were supposed to be more. I can see that. Mikael and Lisbeth were a fascinating team and I'm sorry to have said goodbye. But the wild ride was worth it. The Knights of the Idiotic Table will put a smile on my face for a long time. 5 stars.
#130, Gravity vs. the Girl by Riley Noehren. After a year in bed Samantha Green is being chased around by the 6 year old ghost of herself who manages to convince her to get out of bed, and would have convinced her to get dressed but for the ghost in the closet. Sam is haunted by 4 ghosts of herself and until she retraces her past and her present, she can't have a future. There were parts of this book that were slow because in many ways, Sam wasn't as interesting as the ghosts of herself were. But as she recovered her equilibrium, moved back with her widowed father and started working again, she started to look at her past through different, adult, eyes and discovered that there has always been a reason for her actions, even if she couldn't articulate it at the time. I liked her concept that ghosts don't haunt places, they haunt people and we all have them. I'll be looking for mine. 4 stars.
#131, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson. Once again, wow. I was hooked early, though I am still confused about how the beginning of the book connected with the rest of the story. Here we are taken into "All the Evil" that changed Lisbeth's life until now. When Lisbeth is accused of 3 murders, only Mikael Blomkvist, Dargan Armansky and her former guardian believe that there is more to the story and only Mikael is certain that she didn't kill anyone. As with the Wennerstrom affair, he's determined to stop at nothing to prove her innocence and expose the guilty party. It was a wild ride from the first page. I'm deeply sorry that the next book is the last. 5 stars.
#132, Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser. Elaine Hamilton mastered the Art of French Cooking by the time she was eight. Her secret desire is to be a chef. Her mother, an ardent feminist congresswoman, believes that voluntarily being in a kitchen sets back women's rights for decades. But when Elaine meets Lucida Sans, yes - same name as the font - her whole life changes. Particularly when Lucida decides that Elaine should have a cable access show. After all, she taught her 6 year old twin brothers how to debone a whole fish into fillets. I enjoyed the story but it wasn't deep enough. I was rooting for Elaine but it isn't until the very end that she has the courage of her own convictions. It meant that Elaine dragged down the story's pace. It was also very unrealistic, but I could just enjoy that part. 3 stars.
#133, Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen, #13) by Joanne Fluke. Another tasty treat from Joanne Fluke. Hannah finds the body of a man she truly hated, the college professor who took advantage of her and too many other women to count. The story was good but took far too long to get anywhere. The murder was more than halfway through the book. The cookie recipes sounded amazing, however. Although I have only read a few of these, it's already annoying that Hannah is still pulled between two men and yet the relationship is largely relegated to kisses. She's been dating these men for years. Hannah has definitely become a very daring sleuth and Fluke makes sure that everything mentioned in the book is a clue so don't forget any details, they will come back and be useful. 3 stars.
#134, Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, #1) by Karen Chance. There is a lot to like about this book. Cassie grew up with the vampire mob but she was a clairvoyant, a talent that most considered a parlor trick at best. Nevertheless, they used her and she wanted out. Now the crime boss is out to get her and the vampire senate wants to save her and no one wants to tell her why. Cassie is likable but not fully three dimensional. I was annoyed by the aborted sex scene. But what really annoyed me was that there wasn't enough world building for the reader to understand Cassie's reality, much less the time travel aspects. I've read a short story by Chance that I also found difficult to follow but was also intriguing. There should be a sequel to this but I am not certain I am going to hunt it down. Yet. 3 stars.
#135, Plum Pudding Murder (Hannah Swensen, #12) by Joanne Fluke. I'm reading this out of order, though I am finding that it doesn't matter so much. In this mystery, Hannah and Norman discover the dead body of a local businessman who seemed to have rather fishy business practices. There were many people who were not sorry to see him gone. Meanwhile, Norman's mother is acting very strange, the men want Hannah to have a Christmas tree and an old enemy makes a reappearance (in time for the next book.) The recipes sounded scrumptious and listening to them read aloud requires tremendous willpower to avoid rushing to the oven. Lake Eden sounds like a slightly too small place to live since everyone knows everyone else's business. It's always interesting to see which special guest will die and by what method. The who is also interesting but the mysteries are not really the main event in these books, but rather the relationships within the town. I like these books but only the recipes are really memorable. 3 stars.
#136, The Search by Nora Roberts. I am not a dog person, mostly because I'm afraid of them. Even the little ones. But I love reading about them and this was no exception. Fiona Bristow is a dog trainer. While she does obedience training for all dogs, she excels at creating Search and Rescue dogs. When master furniture maker Simon Doyle shows up at her home with a puppy in tow, her first instinct is to help the dog. Her second is to kiss his human. Simon and Fee strike sparks in all sorts of ways. He's blunt, messy and moved to the island to have more space to create. She's fanatically neat, also blunt and moved to the island to recover from the murder of her fiancée and his K9 partner. But the murderer appears to be back to finish the job that got away, Fiona. She's no longer the frightened 20 year old but that doesn't mean she isn't scared. This was almost a cover-to-cover non-stop read. I've heard the book described as boring, but I thought it was fascinating and I learned some new tips on dog training that I look forward to putting to use. 4 stars.
#137, At the Midnight Hour (The Guiness Gang) by Alicia Scott. The first in Scott's Guiness Gang series is very gothic in its suspense. The old house, the darkened hallways, the shut up rooms. It was a good setting for Liz, the youngest Guiness, and new nanny for 6 year old Andrew. Andrew is prim, proper and brilliant. He quotes morbid statistics and doesn't know how to play. His father is a recluse. Of course the gossip that he killed his wife didn't help. He knows he didn't do it, but his wife was murdered, someone had to be involved. Richard is the first man to make her feel since her husband was died in her arms after a shoot-out. Their romance was sweet and sexy and comfortable. Scott created likable characters and put them in a position to distrust one another. The situation created tension and confusion that couldn't mask the sparks between them. Good story, hard to find now as it's 15 years old. But worth the trouble. 4 stars.
#138, Hangman: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman. It says much for a series author when the reader forgets that the characters aren't real. When I read the flap and learned this was a Chris Donatti novel, I had to think back to when Decker first met him. (Justice) and I mentally reviewed Decker's resume to determine where he was stationed. I was aghast to learn that Hannah was going off to college. I remember when she was born. Scary that these characters are so real, so believable. This was a terrific novel that intertwined a gruesome murder with a missing person, Terry McLaughlin, Chris's wife. She leaves behind a 14 year old son who has no one to turn to except Peter Decker, the one man Terry trusted. Decker turns 60 in this book and was looking forward to retirement. Gabe's unexpected presence is a twist for him. For his part, Gabe isn't a normal 14 year old. He's a piano prodigy and he knows he grew up in absolute disfunctionality. He doesn't want to be a burden but he craves the normality of the Decker household and while he isn't looking for new parents, he appreciates their stability. It's a very complicated series of threads that turned into a fast-paced read. 4 stars.
#139, Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich. This was better than I expected. I've been disappointed in this series, though not enough to stop reading them. What disappoints me is that they are all the same. But this one was slightly more serious. Vinnie Plum is in big trouble and it's up to Stephanie to save the day. Even she thinks this is a little much. She has a surprising number of people on her side. There was a little too much Lula in this book and not enough Ranger or Morelli but overall it was enjoyable, even if forgettable. 3 stars.
#140, Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster by Berkeley Breathed. There is a lot to like about this book. Sam the lion, a dachshund, is particularly funny and the other flawed dogs had great personalities. What kept me from rating this book higher was the amount of cruelty that is shown rather than told. It was a little disturbing. When Sam is taken from his person, Heidy, he decides to get revenge against the Westminster dog that framed him. He has allies, a set of unwanted dogs waiting in vain for adoption. Sam may be small but he's creative and doesn't let anything slow him down. 3 stars.
#141, Flight by Elizabeth Stow Ellison. For reasons I am unclear, this book, though published in 2008, was set in 1982. I couldn't come up with a reason for this. The book dealt with illiteracy and how it catches up with you. In this case, Samantha's brother Evan, a gifted artist, cannot read. But it isn't something the family discusses. In fact, even the mention of getting Evan tested can start a fight. There were interesting secondary characters but while 3-dimensional, they didn't serve a huge purpose. I would have preferred a most conclusive ending as well. But I suppose real life never has neat endings, why should fiction? 3 stars.
#142, Nightwalker (Dark Days, #1) by Jocelynn Drake. It took me forever to get deep enough into the book to want to keep reading it. The first hundred pages are deep with world building only to come out with a fairly ordinary world. Mira, the Fire Starter, is a 600 year old vampire with the ability to channel fire. Danaus is not exactly human and spends his time killing vampires. Not an auspicious start but suddenly they have a mutual enemy, the naturi (a lot like Sidhe only different.) Although there is a lot of action in this story, there is not a lot of character building. I am hoping to see more of that in book 2. Book 1 starts in Savannah and I'm a little disappointed that we've been all around the world. The next book starts in Venice. I suspect it will be easier to get into since I am already familiar with the world. 3 stars.
#143, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium, #3) by Stieg Larsson. For the first 200 pages, I wasn't sure if this book was going to capture me the way the prior two had. It was very much about government conspiracy and Cold War and it didn't do it for me. Once it all connected it became fascinating, not because of the conspiracy but because of how different the Swedish government is from that in the US. Mikael Blomkvist continued to be a fascinating character. The little boy who didn't want to grow up, whose only commitment is to a story, to getting it right. Lisbeth Salander is also fascinating. She's so very much who she is. She doesn't apologize for the things that make her unique. Erika Berger plays a larger role here and it was fascinating to see more of her. This was an incredible series. I've heard rumors that there were supposed to be more. I can see that. Mikael and Lisbeth were a fascinating team and I'm sorry to have said goodbye. But the wild ride was worth it. The Knights of the Idiotic Table will put a smile on my face for a long time. 5 stars.