Busy month in September

September seemed endless, I was so busy and didn't have time to read much. But now that Fall is here I'm trying to catch up.

1. I read two books from Ted Dekker, The Bride Collector  and Kiss.  His books scare the daylights out of me. In The Bride Collector. FBI Spec. Agent Brad Raines searches for a serial killer who is murdering perfect women to give them as brides to God. With the help of residents of a psychiatric facility Raines races against time to stop a madman who is targeting the women in Raines life.

In Kiss, Shauna McAllister, wakes up six weeks after a car accident leaves her brother with brain damage and Shauna with no memory of the accident.  Shauna doesn't believe she did all the horrible things her family says she did, and she doesn't remember the boyfriend standing at her bedside. Who can she trust? Everyone is lying to her and she has nowhere to turn. As people Shauna talks to start dying she has to find out the truth before she's next.

2. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen is a quick read because once you start reading it, you can't put it down. I started it at bedtime and wound up staying up until 3 a.m. to finish it. Mara Iles goes to Wyoming for a forensics conference. On the spur of the moment she decides to go sight-seeing with a group of collegues. The group gets lost and the weather goes from bad to worse and they wind up in a snow bank. The five people take shelter in an abandoned housing addition in the middle of nowhere. The houses are all empty, with food sitting on the table and dead animals laying around. Worse yet, someone is killing off Mara's companions and the whole thing is made to look like a car accident. Jane Rizzoli and her friends grieve the loss of Mara. But Jane won't believe her friend is dead until she sees her with her own eyes.

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Shaffer and Anne Barrows is an amazing historical fiction set on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel during World War II. The book is written as a series of letters from an author, Juliet Ashton to her friends, publisher and the people of Guernsey. The island was invaded by the Germans during WWII and as a means of socializing a group of people became the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. They read all the books on the island and discussed them while eating potato peel pie. Juliet believes there's a book in there somewhere and travels to Guernsey only to be swallowed up by the people, life and stories of the island.

4.  In Knight  by Steven James FBI Geo-profiler Patrick Bowers tracks a serial killer who is using a historical novel as the blueprint for his murders. Meanwhile is step-daughter Tessa struggles with learning things about her late mother and discovering her biological father is still alive.

Summer Reading
I haven't been in the mood to read much this month, until this weekend and now I can't get enough. Over the weekend I read "Sworn to Protect" by DiAnn Mills. It's about the Border Patrol and one patrol officer, Danika Morales. This is a very thought provoking book about the immigration problem. The author tries to show both sides unbiasly. In the book Danika has to find out who is trying to kill her before it's too late. She believes the threats on her life are connected to her husbands murder two-years earlier. Not only that, her family is falling apart from grief, anger and blame. And then there's a mole in the Border Patrol Station selling sensor sites to drug runners and everyone is under investigation. An excellent book.

It's too hot to do anything but read

I am waaaayyyy behind in blogging, so here goes the reviews

1. Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark-wonderful mystery. Loved the charachters, the plot kept me guessing right up until the end. Kind of hard to read because it's about twins kidnapped on their third birthday. As the mother of twins and the grandmother of three three-year-olds it was hard to read about babies scared and crying for their parents. The twins connection is fascinating as any parent of twins can tell you. They have their own language and are so connected it's incredible to watch.

2. Intervention by Terri Blackstock-heartwrenching story of a mother of a teenager who has lost her soul to drugs. The mother's last ditch effort to help her daughter goes horribly wrong and the police believe her daughter is guilty of murder. The mother risks everything including her life to find her daughter and prove she isn't a murderer. Great book.

3, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner-by Stephanie Meyer. This is a Twilight series novella based on an unnamed charager in the book new moon. If you've read New Moon or watched the movie you will understand the book a little better. But I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I've not read the series but I've seen a couple of the movies. Bree was born a vampire when she was 15 or 16-years-old. She has learned to survive without joining one of the packs but she questions what her creator is doing and why she's creating a vampire army.

4. Whiplash-Catherine Coulter. Another in the FBI thrillers with husband and wife agents Dillon Savich and Lacy Sherlock tracking down a ghost haunting a United States senator and a German citizen murdered on Federal Land. Who to trust and what the truth is in both cases lead Savich and Sherlock on a near deadly ride.

 5. Eleven-Patricia Reilly Giff. This book is on the Children's Sequoyah Book list for 2011. The number 11 scares Sam and he doesn't know why. But on his 11th birthday Sam finds a secret that may explain his fear. A newspaper clipping with his picture that says he's missing. With the help of his new classmate Sam looks for the truth of who he is while fearing what that truth will expose. Wonderful mystery and Ms. Giff's take on 11-year-old kids thought process is right on.

6. Sinner-Tess Gerritsen. This is the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed it. The forensics is deep but I was able to keep up. Some of the descriptions are pretty graphic, the weak of stomach may want to slide over some of those parts. The characters, Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles are great together. As different as night and day but equally commanding. I will definitely be reading more Tess Gerritsen books.

So...I'm behind on blogging

I'm three books behind and with a long weekend ahead of me with plenty of time to read I'd better catch up.

I grieved the loss of Robert B. Parker a few months ago because as creator of Jesse Stone mysteries I was uncertain about my hero's future.  So when Split Image came out I relished it. I didn't just read it I devoured it. What happens when two enemy gansters marry twin sisters and one of their "employees" winds up dead? While Jesse is trying to sort this out, his on-again-off-again girlfriend Sunny Randall comes to Paradise for a case of a missing teenager holed up in a cult compound in Paradise. Jesse continues to fight the demons of alcohol and his ex-wife.

 Ever since I watched the movie First to Die Based on James Patterson's book I've wanted to read the Women's Mystery Club series. I started with the first book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to continue to read the series with a homicide detective, a pathologist, a assistant district attorney and a crime reporter who step outside the lines to brainstorm cases they are working on. I'm looking forward to reading book 2 and then finally finished with 9th judgment.

Finally on my day off I read Exposure by Brandilyn Collins. I couldn't put it down. I read it in one day. It deals with fear, not just being scared of bugs or clowns or storms, but brain-numbing, heart-stopping fear.  The kind that freezes you into inaction. The kind of fear that makes it hard to breath.  The first few chapters hit too close to home for my comfort. But the mysteries had me intrigued and no matter how uncomfortable the subject was I had to keep reading. I was so spellbound by the characters and the mysteries that I didn't even see the end coming. Was it a happily-ever-after ending, no, I don't think so. But the ending made me smile in relief when it got there.

Two more books

Read two more books this week, "The Pawn" by Steven James. This psychological thriller had me at the edge of my seat at the end of the book. The beginning is a little slow but when it picked up it went full steam ahead. A serial killer is killing young women and leaving their bodies staged in remote places.  Special Agent Patrick Bowers is a Geo-profiler with the FBI.  He determines the killer's working area so he can anticipate where the killer will strike next.  But this killer makes it personal when he threatens Bower's teen-aged step-daughter. The twists and turns of this book keep you reading late into the night.

Secondly I read "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan.  It's a fun book to read to your daughters, granddaughters or even just read for fun. It's full of fun facts about famous women.  How to play games such as Jacks, Hopscoth, Double Dutch, Chinese Jump Rope and much more. Did you know that 12 things every girl should carry with her are: a Swiss army knife, a bandana, rope or twine, journal with a pencil and pen, duct tape, hair band, bungee cord, flashlight, compass, safety pins, deck of cards or a good book and patience.  There is also a book for boys called "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden.

Sorry behind on my blogging

Wow it's been a busy two months and I'm way behind on my blogging. So let me catch you up.

I borrowed the book "Heat Wave" by Richard Castle. Only Richard Castle isn't a real author. Richard Castle is a character on the television series "Castle" on ABC. Confused yet? Yeah me too. The character, Richard Castle,  on the television series is an author who is following around a female New York homocide detective named Kate Beckett to get information for his new murder series based a homocide detective named Nikki Heat. The book "Heat Wave" is the book that character Richard Castle wrote.

Okay, here is where it gets more confusing. The book "Heat Wave" is about a magazine writer, Jameson Rook, following a New York homicide detective around named Nikki Heat. He is writing a magazine article about homocide detectives in New York. 

The book was okay.  I like the t.v. series and thought it would be fun to read the book that the character, Richard Castle is writing. But, when I read the book the same dialogue and gags were pretty much the same as the series. It was like sitting through a rerun. Secondly this is not the kind of book I would normally read. Some of the scenes were steamier than I read.  The mystery was good but a couple of the characters were weak and I had a hard time believing some of the scenes. I was thinking, "Nobody does this" "Nobody says that."

Then I read "Wrecked" by Carol Higgins Clark.  Her books are quick reads, a Saturday afternoon pasttime. Wrecked brings back Jack and Regan Reilly on their first wedding anniversary.  They go to Jack's parents vacation home on Cape Cod for a nice quiet weekend. Okay, nice quiet weekend for Jack and Regan, it doesn't happen.  First their nosey neighbor sisters Fran and Ginny come running over because a tree limb came through their living room window during a storm.  While the pair are regaling Jack and Regan with their misadventures the caretaker comes running in to tell them that the next door neighbor was laying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs on the beach. Jack and the caretaker run down there only to find the tide has come in and the woman is gone.  From there the weekend goes downhill.  Add to the chaos two women that run a pillow shop specializing in pillows to people who have done you wrong and an off broadway theater company rehearsing in an old castle. But as always, Jack and Riley solve all the mysteries and in spite of everything have a wonderful first anniversary party. 

 Next I read "Double Comfort Safari Club" by Alexander McCall Smith. It's another No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book with Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi. Grace's fiancee Phuti Radiphuti is injured in an accident and his overbearing aunt steps in to take over his recovery leaving Grace out in the cold. Precious and her friend Mma. Potswane come to her rescue  at the same time as Precious is trying to find a safari guide who has inherited a large amount of money and help a friend and her husband with a delicate marital situation.  As always Precious' wisdom and diplomacy win the day and resolve all the issues. The history, culture and landscape in Botswana, Africa are described in such a way it's as though you are there driving with Precious and Grace to the Delta. His books are easy reads, interesting but not very exciting.

I wanted to mention the movie John Adams based on the book by the same name by David McCullough.  The movie is a seven-part HBO miniseries that is excellent. It starts with Adams at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and continues through the Contenental Congress, his career as a diplomat to France, Holland and England, his political career as the first Vice President and the second President of the United States and on until his death just a few hours before Thomas Jefferson died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Didn't care for Dewey so much
I recently finished Dewey: a small town library cat that changed the world by Vicki Myron.  I really didn't care for it that much.  The parts about Dewey were great but there was too much about the town of Spencer, Iowa.  The stories about Dewey's antics were great, but too often she veered off into the politics of running a library.  She has also written a children's book about Dewey, Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library,  which I read for Story Time on April 6.  The kids loved the book and it is all about Dewey and his "job" at the Library. 

Another Higgins book
I missed one of Jack Higgins books several years ago and I haven't been able to find it. I finally did and read it last weekend.  The President's Daughter is set Corfu, London, Ireland and Washington D.C.  U.S. President Jake Cazlet discovers he has a daughter, conceived when he was a soldier in Vietnam. Twenty years later only 4 people in the world know about her and one of them is dead.   Until she is kidnapped by a radical Israeli terrorist group who wants to blackmail the U.S. into bombing Israels enemies in the Middle East. It's up to Dillon, Ferguson and Blake Johnson to find the President's daughter and rescue her before the deadline ends to bombing the Middle East.  Dillon at his finest and his counterpart in the U.S., Johnson proves to be a serious agent, not ust another bureaucrat.

Two more books to add to the list

I've been doing a lot of driving lately so I picked up a book on tape to pass the time in the car. I listened to The General by Patrick Davis. Very good mystery, rather out-dated but it was very interesting. A general is tortured and murdered, then a Vietnamese restaurant owner is murdered and there seems to be a connection. CID and local police follow the leads even after the army orders Lt. Col. Charlie Jensen to end the investigation he knows the truth goes right up to the top of the Chief of Staffs office. Jensen has to finish the General's investigation into POW's from Vietnam to find out who killed him.

 Then I read "Fire Dancer" by Colleen Coble. Tess' parents and her uncle died in a fire on her 14th birthday. She can't let go of the fact she couldn't save them. Twelve years later while working as a smokejumper, someone tries to kill Tess and critically injures another smokejumper instead. Tess is then called home only to discover the arsonist who killed her parents is still out there setting fires and killing people to cover his tracks. Worse yet Tess has to work with an old enemy to find the killer before everything she loves is destroyed.  This is a wonderful book. Very exciting and the mystery keeps you turning pages until the very end. Sometimes some of the story line is less than believable but over all the book is excellent.

Finished a book, listened to an audiobook

I read Jack Higgins new book, "Wolf At the Door". It was different and the same as his more recent novels. It was the same that there was a lot of flash back to 20-30 years ago and how those events were the cause/effect of recent events of Charles Ferguson and the Prime Minister's private army. It was different because Ferguson and his team were only cursory players in the story. Someone tries to kill Charles Ferguson, the United States president's right hand man Blake Johnson, the PM's adviser, Harry Miller, Miller's sister Monica Starling, and Sean Dillon's former gangster friends turned British Intelligence operatives Harry and Billy Salter all within an hour of each other. The story revolves around who planned the assassination attempts and the results of intrigue and double crossing.

On Saturday I spent the day in the city running errands and picked up an audiocassette of Maeve Binchy's "Copper Beech." The book around the school in Shancarrig, Ireland, the families of Shancarrig and the children whose friendships and lives are forever intertwined by the copper beech tree on the school grounds. The book is read by Fionnula Flanagan and her rich Irish accent adds flavor and authenticity to the book. From lost loves, to found treasures of friendship and relationships the book is a joy to listen to. I have read several of Ms. Binchy's books, but I have to say listening to to Ms. Flanagan reading it I was able to visualize the community and people so much better. A warning that the audiobook is abridged so if you want the full story you will have to find the book.