The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine

From the author's website: This a novel about living and falling in love on one block in New York City. It’s a kind of love letter to New York City, the New York that I know, which has neighborhoods and seasons and the rhythms, sometimes, of a small town. In The New Yorkers, neighbors fall in and out of love, and it is their dogs– a dignified old white pit-bull named Beatrice, a puppy named Howdy discovered in the closet of a dead man, a boisterous Rottweiler named Kaiya, and Jolly, a vicious little mutt– who act as cupids.

I listened to this one on audiobook and it took me two tries to get going. I put the first disc in while driving to Greenville, NC with the Nurse from my office for a training. After disc one, I looked at her and said, "I can't take six more hours of this." and out it came. (Replaced by White Oleander.)

A few months went by and I tried again and this time, it clicked. I started to care about the characters both human and canine. It was still on the slow side, a contrast to the way New York actually feels to me - fast, fast, fast, but I stuck it out and enjoyed it. There were several storylines going at once but because nothing was moving too quickly, I was able to keep it all straight. It was all about relationships and that's my favorite kind of story.

My regret on this one is that I really considered saving it for the Literate Housewife's "The Dog Days of Summer" that will be coming back around again this summer but couldn't make myself wait. I'm in an audiobook dry spell - haven't come across any great ones at the local shops and haven't made the trek to Barnes and Noble over on Hilton Head so there was no postponing this book, I'm out of alternatives. Desperate times and all...you'll understand how true that is when I post my reveiw of the "Dr. Phil" book I am listening to now!

Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg

From the author's website: Her Last Death begins as the phone rings early one morning in the Montana house where Susanna Sonnenberg lives with her husband and two young sons. Her aunt is calling to tellSusanna her mother is in a coma after a car accident. She might not live. Any daughter would rush the thousands of miles to her mother's bedside. But Susanna cannot bring herself to go. Her courageous memoir explains why.

Fascinating story in a "watch the train wreck" kind of way. It's hard to imagine a mother who gifts her daughter cocaine for her 16th birthday and celebrates the loss of her virginity but Susanna brings her to life. Along the way she describes travel and money that have some appeal until they disintegrate into drugs and sex. She is a vivid writer with intimate details of every sexual milestone but at the same time, she says that others, "may remember shared experiences differently" - hmmm.....a little James Frey maybe? I read somewhere that her father, Ben Sonnenberg, had also written a memoir and I wonder if I should know who he is but I don't. I listened to this on audio and it was several CD's long. The author read it and I really didn't like her voice at first. But I got used to it and determined I can't decide the voice doesn't sound right becuase she is the real voice, she's right no matter what!

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Flesh and Bone by Jefferson Bass

From the Amazon product description: Dr. Bill Brockton, the founder of the world-famous Body Farm, is hard at work on a troubling new case. A young man's battered body has been found in nearby Chattanooga, and it's up to the talented Dr. Brockton to assemble the pieces of the forensic puzzle. Brockton is brought into the case by the rising star of the state's mechanical examiners, Jess Carter.

Just as they're on the verge of breaking the case open, events take a terrifying turn. Brockton has re-created the Chattanooga death scene at the Body Farm, but a killer tampers with it in a shocking way: placing another corpse at the setting, confusing authorities and putting Brockton's career and life in jeopardy. Soon Brockton himself is accused of the horrific new crime, and the once-beloved professor becomes an outcast. As the net around him tightens, Brockton must use all of his forensic skills to prove his own innocence . . . before he ends up behind bars with some of the very killers he's helped to convict.

Ahhh... creepy. That is the only word that can describe the concept of The Body Farm. The body farm is a research facility that uses corpses to simulate crime scenes and studies the way they decompose in order to determine things like time of death. There's lots of boiling bones, cutting up body parts, and checking rotting flesh. This book certainly captured my attention and held it throughout. That was despite the fact that the narrator was maybe a little bit flat. He did a nice job with the variety of characters that he needed to give voices to but the main character was a very low-key, quiet scientific type so it could have gotten dull quickly if the story itself wasn't good.

As is my habit, I have started a series with the second book. (I am failing the 1st in a Series challenge and now am tempted to start a "2nd in a Series" challenge because I think I would have that one wrapped up!) Starting in the middle didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book. There is some history between a few of the main characters that we don't know the details of but enough background is given to keep this story on track.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

King of Torts by John Grisham

From the author's website: The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week.

As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life—that would make him, almost overnight, the legal profession’s newest king of torts…

It's been a lot of years since I read a Grisham book and my memory said, "You really like this guy." so I was excited when I stumbled across the audiobook for King of Torts in a local second hand store. I did like the story, up to a point, unfortunately, at that point, the book just ended. I felt cheated out of a climatic scene and a solid conclusion. Where was the courtroom drama? Where was the redemption for mistakes made or, perhaps, even punishment? The music that signals 'end of story' started playing and I started checking for another disc, thinking, "Really? It's going to just end there?" And it did - but the first part was great....

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

A Fine Dark Line by Joe Lansdale

From the Amazon product description: For young Stanley Mitchell, Jr., 1958 is quickly becoming a year of newfound joys and thrilling adventure. Beginning with the discovery of hidden love letters, Stanley learns about blues music, Sherlock Holmes, racism, and lost dreams. Through the natural course of growing up, he discovers the true nature of his father's heart; learns about love from his mother, sister, and house servant, Rosy; and becomes involved in a forbidden world that exists beneath Dewmont, Texas, like dirt swept under a beautiful carpet. But when Stanley enters a forbidden world of secrets filled with death and darkness, jealous lovers, and ghostly occurrences, he finds the real murderer of the young girl who wrote the once-secret love letters...and becomes the next target.

Wow - all I could think about as I read this was that the main character, Stanley, is right smack dab in the middle of my two boys age-wise. My boys are 10 and 12 and Stanley is supposed to be 11. I can't imagine having the conversations with my boys that occur with Stanley over the course of this summer story. School may be out but Stanley gets quite an education - racism, masochism, sadism, homosexuality, domestic abuse, incest....it goes on and on. I really thought when I picked it up, it would be a sweet coming of age tale with a little murder mystery on the side; boy, was I surprised. It was a wonderful surprise though, because although I like the sweetness of Mitford or Zebra Drive, I really do prefer stories with a bite to them and this one had some sharp teeth. I enjoyed hearing it - it was the kind of book that made me sit in my car and listen a little longer even after I had arrived at my destination. What a nice surprise!

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Gone for Good by Harlan Coben

From the amazon product description: As a boy, Will Klein had a hero: his older brother, Ken. Then, on a warm suburban night in the Klein's affluent New Jersey neighborhood, a young woman--a girl Will had once loved--was found raped and murdered in her family's basement.

The prime suspect: Ken Klein. With the evidence against him overwhelming, Ken simply vanished, spending the next decade as the elusive subject of rumors, speculation, and an international manhunt. When his shattered family never heard from Ken again, they were sure he was gone for good.

This is my second Harlan Coben, the first was Long Lost, and I enjoyed them both. I didn't figure out all the twists until very close to the end. I can't say I "liked" all the characters, there some truly ugly people in this story!, but I did find them imaginatively brought to life. Again there is "the friend who can do everything", in this case, Squares, I just think that is such a cop out move by Coben. final verdict - I was completely entertained!

You can read an excerpt here at the author's website.

White Oleander by Janet fitch

From the author's website: Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery--but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison.

White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become.

White Oleander was an Oprah book and I chose to listen to the audiobook which was read by...Oprah! It was a typical Oprah book in that every thing bad that could possibly happen to this poor girl happened. Whenever a new character was introduced, I was just waiting to see how they would further destroy this child and I was rarely let down. Oprah did a beautiful job reading the story and donated her proceeds to charity to help children in these dire circumstances. I may roll my eyes a bit at the stereotype of an Oprah book but I love an emotional read and this was no exception. Maybe I'll see about renting the movie.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

From Amazon: "God, he was a smart kid..." So why did Christopher McCandless trade a bright future--a college education, material comfort, uncommon ability and charm--for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in the woods of Alaska? This is the question that Jon Krakauer's book tries to answer. While it doesn't—cannot—answer the question with certainty, Into the Wild does shed considerable light along the way. Not only about McCandless's "Alaskan odyssey," but also the forces that drive people to drop out of society and test themselves in other ways.

This was a book that I had to start twice to get into and even the second time when I finished it, it really didn't engage me easily - it took effort to listen through. I wondered if I had it in printed form if some of the lengthy quotes from other works and the author's meanderings through his own life would have been "skim over" material for me and I would have just stuck with the meat of the story of Chris McClandess. The combination of sources presented - interviews wih people he met, the diary he kept, and so forth, give a vivid picture of Chris. Hearing how close he actually was to civilization when he died was heartbreaking. It reminded me of when I hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and would sometimes feel like we were in the middle of nowhere with no hope of ever finding the next town and then when you did get to the next town, you'd figure out you had been walking parallel to a major throoughfare the whole day long.

I will probably watch the movie now - I have it Tivo'd and waiting - just to see how they translated the story to the screen.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Open House by Elizabeth Berg

From the author's website: A woman whose husband abruptly leaves her decides that rather than selling their house, she will keep it and rent out rooms to boarders. This novel, which was an Oprah pick, is about finding the gifts inside yourself that you've ignored or not been aware of. It emphasizes the fact that sometimes it takes a tragedy to get you to the best place you can be.

I am undecided about Elizabeth Berg; she makes me think of an American version of Maeve Binchy. This story, Open House, is a gentle unfolding of someone's relationships following a divorce but being the American version there is some sex and some cussing! I was interested in the story, the characters, the descriptions. Berg describes the fresh-faced, polite bag boys at the fancy supermarket and says she thinks they go home at night "back to the 1950's". An unsuccessful sexual encounter results in comparing a penis to a flaccid "grub worm". The part that leaves me undecided is that the story unfolds almost too gently and slowly, it doesn't have the distinct arc that hooks me and makes me want to keep going and find something out. This story seemed like it could go on forever - that we were just following Samantha through life and it would never end - after all, aren't we all unfinished business until The End? My only other thought is that both books I have read by Elizabeth Berg were about women restarting their lives after losing a man - the first, The Year of Pleasures was about a widower, and now, Open House is about a divorcee. I wonder if all her books are like this or if I just happened to run into two with a similar theme.


I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Memory in Deathby J.D. Robb

The author's website has an excerpt to read but this blurb is from Amazon: Eve Dallas is one tough cop. She's got no problem dealing with a holiday reveler in a red suit who plunges thirty-seven stories and gives new meaning to the term "sidewalk Santa." But when she gets back to the station and Trudy Lombard shows up, it's all Eve can do to hold it together. Instantly, she's thrown back into the past, to the days when she was a vulnerable, traumatized girl-trapped in foster care with the twisted woman who now sits in front of her, smiling.

I have a habit of picking up a book and not knowing it was one of a series - this is one of those. It's actually somewhere around number 25 in a very long series - wow! This was your basic crime/detective series books with the unique twist of being set in the future around 2050 or so. That twist was enough to give it a little different feel without being overwhelming - JD Robb's version of New York city forty years from now isn't too much of a stretch for my imagination.

I picked out the murderer right away but it was still entertaining to hear the tale unfold. The main character Eve Dallas is so much of tough cop that she borders on a caricature. Perhaps if I had read the twenty four preceding books, I'd have a better opinion of her - I got the impression she's had a hard life. Like so many of the audiobooks I pick up used that are part of a series, it's not something I'm going to seek out but it wiles away the time in the car for me so if I happen across another, I'll listen to it too.

J.D. Robb is a pen name for Nora Roberts. She has her JD Robb website that I linked above but she also has a Nora Roberts website. This lady is a work horse - she has written too many books to count- most are romance, not my cup of tea, but the amount she is putting out there is amazing.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Got the Look by James Grippando

From the author's website: Miami lawyer Jack Swyteck has a new girlfriend, Mia, and life is good—until Mia goes missing. Then Jack gets a one-two punch. Mia is married to one of Florida's richest men. And she is the victim of a kidnapper with a chilling ransom demand: “Pay me what she's worth.” It turns out that Jack is up against a serial kidnapper who is being tracked by FBI agent Andie Henning (Under Cover of Darkness)—a woman who both infuriates and fascinates Jack. If the kidnapper's track record is any indicator, the consequences of paying too little are positively deadly.

Again, I'm popping into a series in the middle of it but it was not a problem. The story here was good and certainly stood alone without having to read the series from the start. I liked the main character, a lawyer named Jack who has a nice sense of humor and is smart, but isn't super-hero unbelievable. He has the somewhat annoying sidekick that seems to pop up in these crime books - the guy with money and connections that can solve the problem. I think if the author starts digging some problem hole, he needs to come up with a better solution to get out of it than a friend with everything - a little pet peeve of mine. Got the Look was your basic crime/detective/thriller - nothing outstanding that made the book extra special but an interesting, fast paced story that wiled away my drive time easily enough. But I didn't sit in the parking lot unwilling to turn the car off because it was so engrossing - I was able to walk away.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

The Unquiet by John Connolly

From the author's website: Daniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has been missing for years following revelations about harm done to the children in his care. Believing him dead, his daughter Rebecca has tried to come to terms with her father's legacy, but her fragile peace is about to be shattered. Someone is asking questions about Daniel Clay, someone who refuses to believe that he is dead: the revenger Merrick, a father and a killer obsessed with discovering the truth about his own daughter's disappearance. Private detective Charlie Parker is hired to make Merrick go away, but Merrick will not be stopped. Soon Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Daniel Clay to be revealed, and those who want it to remain hidden at all costs. But there are other forces at work. Someone is funding Merrick's hunt, a ghost from Parker's past. And Merrick's actions have drawn others from the shadows, half-glimpsed figures intent upon their own form of revenge, pale wraiths drifting through the ranks of the unquiet dead.

The Hollow Men have come . . .

Spooky stuff here. The topic - child sexual abuse is horrific enough without adding the "Hollow Men". The first time the Hollow Men appeared I was uncertain whether or not they were real men - were they characters in the story, figments of the main character's imagination, or actual ghosts? - and I pretty much stayed in that foggy state throughout the book. There was just enough question left each time to make you wonder what was really going on. On a different note - Oops, I've done it again! - I jumped into an established series by picking up this particular book before reading any of the ones that have come before but, no fear, the story was complete enough to stand alone and still be captivating. This book made me glad I work, and thus do my driving/listening, during daylight hours - creepy!

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

From the author's website: A rising threat has startled the world. Armies are preparing to fight. And as nations slip ever closer to open conflict, the struggle to reveal the truth might be the most dangerous battle of all...

“Dick, I need a war.”

Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to “perception manage” his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind.

The narrator for this audio book, Ron McLarty, is excellent. He makes each character come alive with such ease transitioning from one to the next that you are really able to get lost in the story. There's not much to say about a David Baldacci story - they are well done and there are a lot of them out there. The man must work like a machine to crank these out! This one was not as good as The First Family but that was because it wasn't as developed and intricate - this was only five CD's compared to 12 for The First Family. I've yet to read a Baldacci but I am enjoying listening to them.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

From the back cover: It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili—a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past — and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled — until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia's secrets.

This is one of those books that makes me wonder how out of touch I am with the rest of the world. The web site promoting the book has some grand figure for sales and for number of weeks on the best seller list but I didn't like it. The story was very flat - lots of scholarly information that sounded like reading a textbook aloud for conversation. the four young men who were the main characters didn't coem to life enough that they each had their own disinct personalities; they stayed kind of a bland mash-up the whole time. There were glimpses of interesting and quirky Princeton traditions, insider scoop always appeals to me, but this came off kind of arrogant so I didn't get a lot of pleasure there. The whole book felt like these two Princeton guys had read and loved Angels and Demons and said, "Hey, we could write a book like that!" and Rule of Four is the result. But apparently I am really in the minority with this opinion so go ahead and buy it - you may love it1

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

From the author's website: Myron Bolitar hasn’t heard from Terese Collins since their torrid affair ended ten years ago, so her desperate phone call from Paris catches him completely off guard. In a shattering admission, Terese reveals the tragic story behind her disappearance—her struggles to get pregnant, the greatest moment of her life when her baby was born…and the fatal accident that robbed her of it all: her marriage, her happiness and her beloved only daughter.

Now a suspect in the murder of her ex-husband in Paris, Terese has nowhere else to turn for help. Myron heeds the call. But then a startling piece of evidence turns the entire case upside down, laying bare Terese’s long-buried family secrets…and the very real possibility that her daughter may still be alive.

In grave danger from unknown assailants in a country where nothing is as it seems, Myron and Terese race to stay a step ahead of Homeland Security, Interpol, and Mossad. Soon they are working at breakneck pace, not only to learn what really happened to Terese’s long-lost little girl— but to uncover a sinister plot with shocking global implications.

This was an attention getting story. the plot is so intricate and it keeps going unexpected places - I liked that. I liked the main character, Myron's sense of humor too. The romance was alright - whenever a woman is described in such goddess-like terms, it's hard to root for her. You kind of want her to fall on her tush - at least I do! Here was my problem, Winn - not sure if I am spelling it right since it was an audiobook. He was the rich friend who solved every problem. The author developed these great dilemmas, you are on the edge of your seat wondering how it's going to play out, and then..bam.. in walks Winn and solves it all with his unlimited funds, connections to everyone and everything, ability to fight to kill without breaking a sweat - it was all just a bit much. The "sinister plot with shocking global implications" was truly disturbing to consider because you think if some old guy sitting around writing mysteries can plan this out, what's stopping the real bad guys from doing the same?

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I'm adding the extras as I finish them.

First Family by David Baldacci

From the author's website: It began with what seemed like an ordinary children’s birthday party. Friends and family gathered to celebrate. There were balloons and cake, games and gifts.

This party, however, was far from ordinary. It was held at Camp David, the presidential retreat. And it ended with a daring kidnapping... which immediately turned into a national security nightmare.

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell were not looking to become involved. As former Secret Service agents turned private investigators, they had no reason to be. The FBI doesn’t want them interfering. But years ago, Sean King saved the First Lady’s husband, then a senator, from political disaster. Now, Sean is the one person the First Lady trusts, and she presses Sean and Michelle into the desperate search to rescue the kidnapped child.

With Michelle still battling her own demons, and forces aligned on all sides against them, the two are pushed to the absolute limit. In the race to save an innocent victim, the line between friend and foe will become impossible to define... or defend.

This was my first David Baldacci and it was great. The story was compelling, the characters were likable, and the narration was excellent. I was just amazed at how the narrator was able to define each character with his voice - there were so many and they were all different. The characters ranged from sophisticated political players to backwoods hillbillies and the narrator brought them each to life with a feeling of truth. I am brainwashed by the media because I could not picture the first lady character, Jane Cox, as anybody but Michelle Obama! But unfortunately for her, the president didn't come up in my imagination as Barack but instead as Dan Quayle - probably because his name was Dan Cox. I did have an idea of how it was all going to play out a little earlier than I would have liked but there were so many layers of the plot that it didn't spoil it for me. When I first started listening and it switched back and forth between the East Coast setting and the rural Alabama setting, I didn't see how they would ever become entwined and really, I wanted the book to just stay in Washington with all the interesting behind the scenes stuff about the Secret Service and the presidential office. But eventually the story came together and I was hooked.

I've finished up the audio book challenge but I think I'll keep adding the extras as I finish them.

When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton

From Amazon's product description: Jane Hamilton, award-winning author of The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World brings us a rich and loving novel about a non-traditional family in the aftermath of a terrible accident.

When Aaron Maciver’s beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers a head injury in a bicycle crash, she is left with the mental capabilities of a six-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own. Inspired in part by Elizabeth Spencer’s Light in the Piazza, Hamilton offers an honest and exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes the boundaries of love.

This book is a peaceful yet strange journey. The story is told from the point of view of Madeline's younger "brother" although of course we know that really Madeline is his father's ex-wife so their relationship if Madeline wasn't disabled would be more like step-mother/step-son. Mac doesn’t tell the tale by starting at one point and moving chronologically through his memories. It just begins and then something leaps out and he tells all about a certain period. And then your back to present day and then you're off to history again. It meanders through their lives touching down here and there. Each piece is told so well that the imagery makes you feel like you are in the midst of the scene and each scene seems equally important to the whole book. The narration is excellent although the narrator pronounces some words very differently than I have heard them before and when that happens it kind of jars me from the tale and I wonder about him - is he from another country, is it a mistake that the producer didn’t catch, or maybe I have been mispronouncing this word or that word all my life? So I have to hit the rewind button and get back into the story! The story isn't funny but the author allows Mac to have such a dry wit that as you listen something unexpectedly funny will be said and all of a sudden you're laughing.

I could see this book as the basis for a television series. There are so many layers to the story that you couldn't just make a movie and do the tale justice. And there isn't a distinct story arc - not a single problem or relationship to explore and then tie up neatly - but rather there is a web of problems and relationships that make up a family. But a television show - something like the Walton's where you can tell the tale a bit at a time would be perfect! I've finished the book - all 9 Cd's - and I still want more. I want to know where each family member goes from here. I think Hamilton did a great job developing these characters into people I want to spend time with. And, even more amazing since Hamilton is the author of two Oprah picks - the characters aren't abusing each other but are loving each other! What a treat!


I've finished up the audio book challenge but I think I'll keep adding the extras as I finish them - a little extra credit. Perhaps I can apply any extra credit to my least productive challenge.






and this one too...
This is on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.

Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson

From the author's website: Even the undead celebrate Christmas, and Betsy is in heaven shopping for gifts.

But all is not merry in the mansion. It’s become infested with ghosts—really needy ones who have no qualms asking Betsy to run errands for them to rectify their pasts. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, and, being tall and blonde, Betsy perfectly fits his type.

They say Christmas is a time for friends and family. But with a half-sister who’s the devil’s daughter, an evil stepmother, a fiend living in her basement, and assorted spirits and killers running amok, Betsy is not sure she’ll survive the holidays. Oh, right. She’s already dead…

Blech! I think I need a shower - I feel dirty just for having listened to this. I hated it. I saw it on the shelf at Barnes and Noble and thought it sounded cute and fun but it was awful. I feel somewhat guilty being so mean about someone's work but this is the fourth in a series of EIGHT so I assume MaryJanice Davidson is rolling in money and could not care less what a housewife from the sticks thinks about her book.

The closest I can come to describing it is that it was like someone decided to turn Twilight into a sitcom comedy. It was a series of single episode jokes/situations just strung together without much of an overarching plot. There was a little bit of a mystery but nothing really happened on that front until disk 4 of the 5 and then it had no depth. There was the romance between the two main characters, Betsy the vampire queen and Eric Sinclair, her king. But Eric, the male lead, had zero personality, he was flat, dull and just the anti-thesis of the leading man.

The narrator was Nancy Wu and she did an alright job with some of the females but her male voices - oh my, bad, bad, bad. And there was so much foul language and vulgar sex. Hearing Nancy Wu use the bad words and read the sex scenes - ewww!

The bright spot was some good one-liners - I got the occasional laugh. And, Davidson must churn these out pretty quickly because despite the fact that this was book four and she's on number eight now, some of the cultural references and slang were still fresh.

I'm really curious who is buying and reading these books. They must sell or she wouldn't have had so many of them published. I may nose around the blogs of people doing the Vampire Challenge and see what I can find out!

This is one of my books for the 2009 Audio book Challenge. 12/12 completed on that one - my first challenge completed in 2009! Click on the button to see what else I listened too!






This book is my "U" for the A-Z Reading Challenge! Click on the logo to see my progress.






and this one too...
This is on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.

Lifeguard by James Patterson

From the author's website: The danger isn't in the water.

Working as a lifeguard at a Florida resort, Ned Kelly meets a woman he is wild about, the woman of his dreams. It feels perfect in every way - except that she is used to caviar and Manolo Blahniks, and he is used to burgers and flip-flops. She is a guest at the luxurious hotel - he lives above a garage.

So when Ned's cousin offers to cut him in on a rich deal he's been commissioned to execute, Ned can't turn him down. The plan is simple, just a fast break-and-enter. The risk is high, and the reward is even greater - $5 million. But on the night of the heist, something goes devastatingly wrong. Who will save the lifeguard?

Ned walks away from his job, his town, and the woman he's fallen in love with. Runs away, actually, knowing that only velocity and secrecy can save his life. But who is pursuing him? The FBI? Whoever sabotaged the heist? Or is it all somehow tied into his new love - and his oldest enemies?

This is my third James Patterson and least favorite so far. It was still good but it wasn't great like the others. It wasn't the narration - the narrator had a great voice and the whole man talking like a woman thing wasn't as annoying as it sometimes can be. It wasn't the plot - the plot was interesting. I didn't figure all of it out until the end. (There was one major clue that kept getting overlooked that grated on my nerves. Because it was so obvious that I noticed it, all of the characters should have spied it as well.) So it's hard to put my finger on what made this book less appealing than the others. There was a little more sex - when I read a novel with a sex scene, I can just skim through and kind of ignore it. I'm not exactly a prude, but it's not for me. When you are listening to an audio book, you're kind of stuck in the moment. You can't skip ahead or you may miss some piece of dialogue that's crucial, you can't close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ear and sing "la-la-la, I'm not hearing this!" because you're driving. So the sex is there to stay. And then the main character who narrates much of the books (if not all - memory is not always good) sometimes used flowery language that didn't really seem to suit his character. Yes, he was the lifeguard with the degree, slumming it on the beach, but it still seemed strange. These two things were enough to take this book down a notch for me. I still think James Patterson is a great read and I will be excited when another of his audio books comes my way but this was not a home run.

This is one of my books for the 2009 Audio book Challenge. 11/12 completed on that one - click on the button to see how it's going!






and this one too...
This is on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.

The Power of Simple Prayer by Joyce Meyer

From the author's website: In her newest book, Joyce takes the mystery out of prayer and helps you to discover a whole new way of living.

“God intends for prayer to be an integral part of our everyday lives—the easiest thing we do each day.”
—Joyce Meyer

Begin unleashing the power of simple prayer in your life today, and open the door for God to work like never before

I jokingly told my girlfriend I was having my own private revival in my car as I drove. Joyce Meyer certainly is plain spoken and entertaining. She didn't read the book for this audio book, she just gave an introduction, but her daughter has the same Minnesota flavor voice so it was a good fit. Since I am a Catholic, Joyce and I aren't the best fit but I truly got a lot out of listening to her and I have always been open minded about respecting other people's point of view.

I'm with Joyce when it comes to prayer being an all day affair, and I would believe there is scripture to back that up saying "pray without ceasing". The difference between Joyce and I is that she probably knows the passage and could quote it exactly! I have just a vague recollection.

And we agree to consecrate ourselves each day to the Lord. She does it with terrific spontaneous prayer which she reports she often utters lying face down on the floor. I do it with a flying out of my brain prayer as I drive kids to school and myself to work. And also by getting the Latin- ad majorem Dei gloriam - written at the top of my papers each day. (Roughly translated - all for the glory of God). I hope that my work reflects a desire to do God's will. I often think that I need to incorporate more prayer into my work day. I should pray for every family that I visit in my home visiting and I should suggest a prayer at our staff meetings. We three are all Christian women and prayer would not be out of the question for just us. But I digress...

Joyce left me behind with her talk of speaking in tongues and the whole 'submit to your husbands' section went in one ear and out the other. But the book overall was lively, helpful, and worth a listen. Can I get an Amen? AMEN!


Almost forgot my button...
This is one of my books for the 2009 Audio book Challenge. 10/12 completed on that one - click on the button to see how it's going!






and this one too...
This is one of the books on my list for the Spring Reading Thing 2009. Click on the logo to see the rest of my list.






and one more.....
This book is my "P" for the A-Z Reading Challenge! Click on the logo to see my progress.