A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

          The Hollows #10

          A Perfect Blood is a paranormal mystery, the tenth in this series.  I gave it a 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads. It’s a fine book, and I know I’ve read at least one of the prior books in the series because I remember some of the magical concepts Harrison uses, but I’ll be darned if I can figure out which one I read.

          The story is about a demon, Rachel Morgan, and her friends and allies trying to uncover the culprits behind some nasty murders. A group called HAPA is trying to develop a means to destroy all non-humans, and they are attempting to synthesize demon blood to do it. Their attempts are leaving the witches they kidnap and experiment on, not only dead, but nastily transformed in the process. What they really need to achieve their goal is some of Rachel’s blood.

          Rachel has cut herself off from her most potent magical potential in order to retain as much of her life as she can after discovering her demonity. It hampers her ability to find and capture the HAPA members she is seeking. It also hampers her ability to really live her life.

          In the midst of uncovering the ring of bad guys, she must also uncover her true self. Once she is realigned with her magic, she is able to assist in ending the reign of terror envisioned by HAPA.  But now she must redefine her own life.

          I liked this book, but I’m sure I would have liked it better if I’d read the earlier books and understood the basics of the various creatures and abilities better. I particularly enjoyed Janx, the pixie.  He has a very colorful way of expressing himself! Waiting to hear his next exclamation is part of the fun of the book. 

          I don’t think I’ll add the earlier books to my to-be-read list just yet, but I do look forward to Rachel’s next adventure.  

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

          Stephanie Plum #1

           This is the book that started the long running series about a Jersey girl who turn bounty hunter. It hit the bestseller list last February when it was turned into a movie.  I’ve read a number of these books, and truly enjoy them.  They are generally fast paced and laugh-out-loud funny. Anybody who doesn’t love Lula and Grandma Mazur are simply lacking a funny bone.

          Stephanie Plum is unemployed. Her car is repossessed and she is both facing eviction and running out of items to pawn. While at dinner at her parent’s house her mother mentions that cousin Vinnie is looking for help at his bail bonds office. Stephanie stops in intending to apply for the filing clerk job only to find it is no longer available.  However, one of their bond enforcement officers is out and they are desperate for someone to pick up the slack. And Stephanie becomes a bounty hunter.

          She is after a guy she knew in high school, a local cop accused of murder. He is on the run because he didn’t do it, but cannot prove it. After several attempts to bring him in, he and Stephanie decide to join forces. She will help him prove his innocence and he will allow her to bring him in for the $10,000 bounty. 

          Stephanie’s learning curve is pretty steep, but very entertaining. And, of course, the SUV she is driving during most of the tale is totally destroyed. This book set the pattern for all the other books in the series to follow, but it’s a good one.  Why mess with success?

 

 

         

Private: #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

          Jack Morgan #2

          I actually read the third book in this series, Private Games,  before I read this one. They have little in common except both offices are owned by Jack Morgan and are part of his investigation and security business, Private. That being said, both are pretty good books.

          This story centers on Jack Morgan himself. Jack strikes me as real dog with little impulse control. He sleeps with lots of women, and breaks their hearts, albeit unintentionally. That probably appeals more to male readers than it did to me. He doesn’t seem to have had a particularly easy youth, but he has managed to make a success of himself and the business his father left him.

          The story begins with Jack returning home from a grueling overseas trip, dropping his bags in the entry and heading straight for a shower. Upon getting out of the shower and heading entering his bedroom, he is met with the nasty sight of a former lover shot dead in the middle of his bed.

          Naturally, the police believe Jack is the murderer. He is arrested for the crime. And the police are simply uninterested in digging any deeper. The frame the real murderer cobbled together has Jack well and truly surrounded.

          But Jack has the resources of his company and his staff to delve into the details more deeply. They all work tirelessly to prove Jack did not perpetrate this crime.

          I got the feeling this book was directed more at a male audience, but it was engaging and enjoyable. I don’t think this is a series I will my to-be-read list, but you may want to add it to yours.

         

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

          This was a quick fun read – actually a listen as it was an audio book.  It was totally predictable, which was not a bad thing here. This book did not have any delusions of grandeur.  It was just a simple love story.

          Kate is Evanovich’s typical heroine - little ditzy, but determined and charming.  Matt is a good hero.  He is handsome, of course, a talented brewer of beers, a very successful businessman and all round nice guy. 

          Kate has decided, after her divorce, to turn her parent’s vacation home, called the Nutshell, into a bread and breakfast. The place needs extensive renovation, the removal of thousands of bees, cleansing of mold and serious refurnishing. Kate’s resources are limited and she is racing against time to get the B&B up and running before the place goes into foreclosure.

          The story starts with Kate arriving at Matt’s microbrewery, The Depot, to demand a job.  She believes she was unjustly fired from her last position due to a batch of skunky Depot beer, and Matt owes her a job. Matt is not really planning on doing any hiring, but is intrigued.  He has been having a run of bad luck lately that he is beginning to suspect might not be accidental. Kate agrees to do some snooping for him, and the bonus he promises her for finding the culprit will bring the mortgage on the Nutshell current and pay some of the renovation bills.

          It quickly becomes clear that the bad luck really is sabotage as the perpetrators become increasingly violent and dangerous. Matt wants Kate out of the Depot, and harm’s way, but she is determined to earn the bonus she needs by finding out who is responsible.

          Figuring out who-done-it is as easy as thinking about who has the most to gain by running Matt out of business. How the damage is being accomplished is a bit trickier to determine. And, Kate does finally figure it out, mostly because she runs into the guy in the midst of starting a fire. But her mission is accomplished.  Her bonus is earned and as if that is not enough, she also gets the handsome brew master!

          I listened to this one on audio, so it took several days to get through the whole thing.  This probably would have been a one day read in book form. But it was fun. And, my favorite character is Stella.  If you want to know why, you’ll just need to read the book.

The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry

          I really do enjoy historical fiction, and this is a good example of why. Once again Berry combines lots of real people, places and things with a bit of imagination and comes up with a compelling story.

          In this one, he imagines that Christopher Columbus, the one we have the holiday in October for, is a Jew. And his travels to the New World are really motivated by a search for a place where the Jewish people can live in peace. He is tasked with taking precious Jewish artifacts out of the reach of the Inquisition and finding a new haven for them. He accomplishes this pretty well. The Jews find a haven in Jamaica for over 100 years and the treasure for even longer.

          After hiding the treasure, Columbus chooses one man to guard over it, The Levite. This man is to allow only one other to know the secret location. For some five centuries, the secret is kept safe and the treasure remains secure. The location known to only one man at a time, the information passed on as the current keeper nears the time of his death.

          In the current time, the Levite develops a problem. His son has renounced his religion and heritage, and therefore cannot be a fit guardian.  So the Levite takes the secret, literally, to his grave. He has his granddaughter who is the executer of his estate bury him with a package. In the package is the secret that he could not pass down to his son.

          Israeli radicals determine who the Levite was, and realize he was buried with this package despite it being against orthodox Jewish rules. They develop a plan to retrieve the package, and then the treasure. They plan to return the treasure to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem from whence it was removed millennia ago. And, they hope the return of these items to this sacred location will arouse the Jewish people to a war with the Islamic peoples who now control the location.

          The characters travel all over the globe, plans are created and thwarted and altered. Many forces are in play and no one is who they seem. The treasure is finally found, but only the new Levite controls its destiny.

          I enjoyed this one.  At times I was uncertain who was a good guy and who was a bad guy.  And, in the end it became clear that many people were a little of each. It’s always fun to read the afterward to see exactly which parts of the story are real, which are theory or myth and which came straight out of the author’s imagination.

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

               I’ve got to say I was a bit disappointed in this offering by Nicholas Sparks. Not to suggest this is a bad book - far from it. But the last one of his I read struck such deep, emotional chords with me, I’m afraid I raised my expectations a bit too high with this one. (See my review of The Best of Me at http://musingsofsue.blogspot.com/2012/06/best-of-me-by-nicholas-sparks.html). I also figured since The Lucky One is set largely in a dog kennel/training school, I would love the story just because the dogs would play such a large part. Unfortunately, most of the kennel action has to do with cleaning up the poop, not interacting with puppies.  I liked this book, but just wasn’t touched emotionally like I expected to be.

               Logan Thibault (pronounced T-boe) is a marine in Afghanistan. While out for a run one early morning, the rising sun glints off something in the sand. Logan pauses to see what it is and finds a laminated photograph of a woman and two men at a fair. He attempts to find the owner of the photo, but cannot.  And, so, he begins carrying the photo with him at all times. Once he begins keeping the photo with him, he seems to become charmed. He cannot lose – not at games, not at life, not at war. While fellow marines are dying within feet of him, he comes out of the situations unscathed. One of his buddies has a theory that the photo is his lucky charm and is keeping him from all harm.

               Eventually, Logan’s time in Afghanistan comes to a close and he returns to his home in Colorado. He does not have the readjustment issues that so many vets have, but is unsettled and not really happy. He chooses to go looking for the woman in the photo – and chooses to do so on foot. Logan and his trusty German Shepherd, Zeus, head southeast toward North Carolina. After months of walking and camping, they finally find the woman in the photo, Elizabeth, divorced mother of one, caretaker to her grandmother. A woman desperately trying to figure out how to keep her grandmother’s kennel and dog training business running while teaching elementary school in town.

               Logan’s arrival seems the answer to Elizabeth’s dilemma.  Logan is meticulous with the kennel duties, good with the dogs, and willing to work cheap. He is also good with Elizabeth’s son and grandmother. But there is a somewhat sinister third leg to this triangle, Elizabeth’s ex-husband. He comes off as juvenile, arrogant and entitled through the entire story, till the climactic scene in which his selfless behavior redeems him, even though it strikes a dissonant chord. We have seen no redeeming aspect to his character, and then he does this? What? This makes no sense!

               I felt the characters were not a fully fleshed out in this story as in some of his others.  The action was less intense and even the scenery was not as well defined. I realize not every book an author produces is going to ring my bell, but I was hoping for more with this one.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

          This is a Young Adult novel, the first in a series, which was recommended by one of the bloggers I follow, Jesi Lea Ryan, Diary of a Bibliophile. Graceling is a very good book, and may be the beginning of a very good series. I am not going to be the one to tell you, though. While there are certainly Young Adult novels that I really enjoy, I encountered most of them while I was a young adult myself.  I also enjoy fantasy novels, which this is, and it’s a pretty good fantasy also.  It’s just a little too young and the fantasy world is a little too formulaic for my tastes.

          Katsa is a young woman in a world where some people are “graced”. Being graced is rather like having a talent on overdrive. At the tender age of eight, Katsa defends herself instinctually and kills the predator stalking her. From that point forward, it is assumed that Katsa’s grace is killing.  As the niece of the king, she quickly becomes his executioner. But she is smart and motivated to help others and really, really dislikes being used to intimidate, hurt and kill the king’s enemies. She finally develops the maturity and insight to realize that she holds the real power here, not the king. She refuses to do his bidding and leaves the kingdom.

          But she does not leave alone. A young man, Po, has come to her uncle’s kingdom searching for his kidnapped grandfather.  When Po leaves to continue his search, Katsa accompanies him. They come to know and trust each other as they face the perils of their journey. They both possess graces that everyone around them interprets incorrectly. Together they discover the true depths of their graces. They eventually fall in love.

          They determine who is behind the kidnapping of Po’s grandfather, and in their quest to discover and understand the motives for it; they encounter Bitterblue, a princess of a neighboring kingdom and Po’s cousin. She is grave peril, and Katsa and Po must risk everything to save her and expose the evil that is spreading outward from her kingdom.  Grandfather is rescued. Bitterblue is crowned queen, and the young lovers return to their cabin in the mountains to await the next installment in their story.

          This really is a good story. It is just directed at too young an audience to keep my interest. By all means give it a try, and encourage your kids to try it as well.

Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr

               Virgin River #19

               Sunrise Point is another quick, fun read from Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series.  Nora appeared a couple of books ago and she and her two young daughters quickly became a part of the fabric of life in town. So it was no surprise when her story came along.

               She was discovered, destitute with two babies, living in a derelict house that had no heat in the midst of a major blizzard.  The town rallied around her, got her warm and fed, and shored up the house. Soon she had a part time job and could at least manage to keep her small family fed.

               At the start of Sunrise Point, she is reading a help wanted poster for apple pickers at the orchard three miles outside of town. She is determined to get a job there. She bums a ride down to the orchard to apply.  The owner’s grandson, who is handling the hiring, takes one look at her and sends her on her way.  She is too young and small and weak-looking to be an apple picker. His grandmother, however, takes one look, sees shades of herself as a young woman, and pulls rank, informing Tom that Nora is to be given a chance.

               Nora grabs the opportunity and runs with it. But she is aware that Tom doesn’t really want her there…at first. She finds him very attractive, but knows there is another woman in the picture (classy, sophisticated and absolutely intimidating to Nora).  And, Tom is hesitant to take on a ready-made family, but not so hesitant that he is willing to keep his distance from the feisty, independent woman working in his orchard.

               Through trials and tribulations and triumphs, Nora and Tom become closer. And, when faced with the possibility of losing Nora and the girls for good, Tom does the only thing he can.

               I liked this book. It’s not deep and there are no major twists or surprises, but it is very entertaining and has a happy ending. I’ll look forward to the next book in the series.

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith

               #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency #13

               I had a very hard time getting into this one.  I’ve heard such good things about this series, but I just didn’t get it. Perhaps it was because I had not read any of the earlier novels.  Perhaps because the culture portrayed in the book is so very foreign to me. I nearly gave it up after the end of chapter 3.  I still didn’t know what the mystery was going to be and I found it very confusing that they all call each other the same thing – Mma. 

               Mma would roughly translate to Mrs. in English.  And, the character used this form of address in nearly every sentence they spoke to each other.  I found the incessant repetition of this word very distracting.

                              “I had a very strange dream last night, Mma,” she said. “As I was saying.”

                        “Please tell me what it was, Mma,” said Mma Makutsi.

This made it difficult for me to read.  The sentences did not flow for me.

               Also, it wasn’t until chapter 11 or 12 that I finally discovered what the mystery was.  Perhaps I am too impatient, but that seemed like a very long time to wait before the point of the story came up.  And, meanwhile, there were a couple of side stories that seemed to take up a great deal of the volume of the tale, without adding much to it. The arrest and trial of one of the detective lady’s husband’s employees happens, and is told about in much detail.  But, I never figured out where those characters and that activity played into the mystery out at the orphan’s farm. Also, the other detective lady’s husband discovers he is being cheated by the contactor building his house. Once again, I’m not sure how that part of the tale added to the story. 

               The reason I kept reading was a vignette in which a mother is helping her child with his math homework.  He’s doing word problems which were also my nemesis. If a man can dig a ditch in one hour, how long will it take 3 men to dig a ditch?  I totally agreed with the kid that they’d get in each other’s way and it would undoubtedly take longer than an hour.  I figured any author with that tight a grasp on math was worth some more of my time, so I forged on.

               I won’t be reading any more of these books. I was disappointed. I had been looking forward to being delighted, but it just didn’t happen.

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

          Poppy is an idiot. Her friends are too ridiculous for words. I really struggled to get through the first chapters of this book. If the woman didn’t lie, cheat and routinely break the rules of civilized behavior, her life would be simpler, less stressful and easier to read about. And, the muscles in my eyes wouldn’t ache from all the rolling.

          I wrote the paragraph above at the end of chapter three intending to stop reading right there. However, I realized I did not have another book loaded on the Kindle yet, and since I was reading between calls at work, I couldn’t really go shopping for one right then. So, I decided to soldier on till the end of my shift.

          I got better – not great – but it became more readable as it went on. Poppy started making better decisions, stopped lying compulsively, spent far less time with her idiot friends and finally met a good guy.

          This is not a book I’ll ever read again, but it ended up being okay.

Betrayal by Danielle Steel

               A woman who seems to have it all discovers she’s been living in a house of cards.

               Successful film director Tallie Jones is at the peak of her career, surrounded by people who live to take care of her so she can concentrate on her work. Brigitte, her personal assistant and best friend for the last seventeen years does everything she can to keep the worries of the world away. Vincent, Tallie’s accountant for the last fifteen years, keeps track of her fortune. Hunter, Tallie’s live in boyfriend of four years and producer of her most recent films, keeps the home fires burning while she is on location. Tallie’s aging father and law school student daughter round out the major players in her life.

               When Tallie discovers that more than one of them has been lying to her, her world comes tumbling down.

               I the ensuing chaos, Tallie meets FBI agent Jim Kingston who helps right the legal wrongs that have been done to her, and gives her life a new stability.  This allows Tallie to build her world to new and even greater heights.

               I liked this book. It was a quick, fun read, if a little predictable.

V Is For Vengeance by Sue Grafton

Kinsey Millhone #22

          I’ve missed the last four or five books in this series, but

did not feel lost at all in this one. While Kinsey Millhone’s

friends and neighbors make their regular appearances here,

the story line works quite well as a standalone.

          The story starts with Kinsey witnessing a shoplifter and reporting her to store security. Soon after the woman is arrested, she dies. This woman’s fiancée shows up on Kinsey’s doorstep asking her to look into the death. The story spirals out into organized retail theft and further into family run organized crime and police corruption. Nearly everyone gets what’s coming to them by the end. And Kinsey is left with the means to get vengeance on her worst enemy.

          If you’ve never read one of Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, I’d surely suggest picking up a few of the early ones just to get a feel for the recurring characters.  If you’ve read them all, you’re going to love this one too! 

          Respectfully submitted,

Angle of Investigation by Michael Connelly

               This is a collection of three short Harry Bosch stories.

               Christmas Even is the story of a thief who has robbed the same pawn shop four times. He was shocked to discover, during his fourth and final break in, that the pawn shop owner had finally had enough.

               Father’s Day is the very sad tale of an all too common, but dreadful, death of a child. As we’ve all read in the papers, a parent became distracted and forgot his sleeping child was in the car seat in the back. This one is a tragedy on a number of levels besides the obvious.

               Angle of Investigation has Harry reopening a cold case. As it happens, he and his trainer found this body on Harry’s second day ever on patrol. With the help of new technology and something only his old trainer knew, Harry puts a decades old drowning to bed.

               If you are a Harry Bosch fan, I’d definitely get a copy of this ebook. Each of these stories gives a bit of insight into Harry as well as determining who done it.

Longing by Karen Kingsbury

               Bailey Flanigan #3

               God may be a football fan, but I am not.  Nor am I fond of being preached at.  It’s been quite some time since I failed to finish a book on my list, but I couldn’t stand another syllable.  I broke my own rule about giving a book three chapters to catch me before I give it up.  About half way through the second chapter, a high school football coach allows an injured player to go back onto the field.  Don’t even get me started on the total irresponsibility of such a move.  I knew at that point, that in my eyes, this book was irredeemable.  I shut down the audio player. Life is too short to waste it on this story.

               Of course, if you like football or are heavy into Christian literature, this book may be for you.

The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck

               This was a quick read for which I am grateful. Two stories run in parallel until they finally meet at the very end. 

                Rachel, the child of an alcoholic mother and an absentee father find herself in an abusive marriage. The day her husband turns his temper on their daughter, she finally finds the strength to leave. With the love and help of two friends who have stuck with her through her marriage, she and her daughter escape her abuser and head out to start a new life. But, she needs to make one last stop before they go.

               Mitch’s story plays out in a single day – Christmas Eve. He wakes to discover he is an old man, in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers. Alzheimer’s has wreaked its havoc on his memory, but he understands it is Christmas Eve, and he knows he is waiting for someone. He’s just not sure who.

               The final scenes play out as Rachel encounters her father for the first time in over a decade. While he does not recognize Rachel as an adult, he mistakes his granddaughter for her mother. This is the child he has been waiting for. The one he knows he let down in a thousand ways, and the one he has waited many years from whom to ask forgiveness.

               It is all very sad and sweet.  Not my usual cup of tea, but a fairly well written little story. If you like heavily emotional, bittersweet ending stories, this one’s for you.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

               I was torn while reading this story. On one hand, I was absolutely riveted and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. On the other hand, just knew what I was seeing was utterly disturbing and I just wanted to look away. Depending on where I was in the story, I couldn’t wait to get back to it, or I totally dreaded reading the next section.

               As a parent, the very thought of my child being arrested for murder makes me a little bit ill. How much worse it would be if the possibility existed my child could be guilty. This is the situation faced by the Barbers in this story.

               As a parent, how would I react if I realized that I had brought a monster into the world? How far would I go to protect my child? How much could I disregard the safety of those around us? This is the dilemma faced by the Barbers in this story.  I totally understand the very different reactions of both parents, and wonder which I would be more inclined to emulate.

               I’m giving this book a good rating even though it is not entertaining in the usual sense. It was a very uncomfortable book for me to read. But like watching a train hurtle toward a trestle rigged to blow, I could not look away.

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

          I listened to the audio book version of this one, and thoroughly enjoyed it.   The premise would have seemed a bit farfetched, except that I know someone it happened to.  Gaby gets a marriage proposal, not so unreal. It happens all the time.  But, two other men decide they cannot let her get away without a fight.  They both propose as well.  Now she is juggling three proposals.

          She also has grown children that she hasn’t seen as a group since their father died several years earlier. She decides to use the wedding as a way to get the family together for Christmas.  She plans the wedding for Christmas Day, but throws in a twist.  She will not reveal the identity of the groom until the ceremony is about to begin!

          There is a lot of fun and excitement, and several small twists to keep the action moving. Gaby keeps her kids in the loop via video messages that she records, copies and sends to them all. At the moment of truth, Gaby announces the name of the groom and they are duly wed. The part that amazes me is that the author leads us to believe that Gaby’s relationship with the pair of suitors she refused will not change.

          That point aside, I recommend this book to those who enjoy love stories and family dramas. It’s a quick, fun read and thoroughly enjoyable.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

               This is a looooong book – it took me ten or eleven days to read it. Even so, I’m not sure I’d have cut out more than a few sentences, if I’d had the opportunity. The story is complex and tightly woven with few extraneous loose threads hanging out. I was very impressed.

               I started with a certain level of concern that I would have trouble reading such a long work based in another culture. Sometimes translations of foreign works leave me struggling with cultural ignorance issues – my cultural ignorance, not the author’s.  I often find names of people and places hard to deal with as well. Not so much with 1Q84. Fortunately, translating Japanese into English is very much a spell-like-it-sounds proposition.

               I recommend this story. It is absolutely not a quick, fun read. But it kept me interested and entertained for over a week!

Lethal by Sandra Brown

               I liked this one. It sucked me in early and kept me interested. And I was sure I had it all figured out until the very end when I was forced to admit I am not always as smart as I think I am.

               I especially liked the kid in this one – Emily.  She’s four. Brown must have kids of her own because she nailed this one. The child is bright and inquisitive and utterly forthright as only a four-year-old can be.

               I listened to this book, which is the only reason I didn’t finish it all in one day. It’s a good who-done-it with plenty of twists, turns, fun and fear along the way.

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

               I’m not a regular reader of Dean Koontz or any other horror writer for that matter.  Regular readers of this site will know by now that I read to be entertained and being scared and/or grossed out is not my idea of entertainment. However, this book made the best seller list and I put it on my to-read schedule. 

               I was fairly impressed 77 Shadow Street. It is as much a science fiction story as a horror story. One of my favorite sci-fi concepts is time travel, and while time travel is not really the point of this book, time shifts within the setting are ongoing throughout the story which piqued my interest. Another ongoing concept in the book is the idea of nanotechnology being able to transform human beings, in this case pretty horribly. A third sci-fi thread running through the story is the “rise of the machines”, artificially intelligent creations eventually taking over the earth and destroying the humans that created them in the first place. This concept is not one of my favorites, but it is a very intriguing and frightening idea.

               And, of course, in the time and place of this story, the humans do prevail. Those who will unwittingly unleash the machines in the future are rendered harmless in the present. But as with any good horror story, the villain remains, biding his time and doing his best to bring about the correct series of events in the past that will allow it to prevail in the future.