Seconds Away. Finished audio 4-28-13, rating 4/5, YA thriller, pub. 2012

Unabridged audio. 7 hours 46 minutes. Read by Nick Podehl who did a fantastic job as Mickey.

Book 2 of the Mickey Bolitar series (Book 1)

Mickey Bolitar is a smart kid with a smart mouth (just like his uncle Myron) and this book picks up just a week after the first one.  Mickey is a kid who knows how to find trouble, or maybe trouble finds him, either way, his story is a thrill ride that few high school sophomores are able to experience.  His dad is still dead (probably), his mom is still a junkie in rehab, and his uncle is still his caretaker, other than that life moves on.  He gets caught in a fire at Bat Lady’s house, find out who the bald man in the sunglasses is, tries to figure out who shot his crush and killed her mom, finds out the truth about Ema’s parents, and tries out for the basketball team.  I had forgotten how much trouble teenagers could find in a day!

I liked this one a lot, maybe even a little better than the first.  I had to suspend disbelief from the beginning, but once I did that I just hung on for the ride. Many of these storylines (Bat Lady, the Butcher, his dad’s death) are continuations from the first book, but there are so many new threads to the story that it felt new.  Some things got wrapped up, some things didn’t and I am looking forward to spending more time with Mickey in the next book.

I wish Coben would write more Myron books so I liked seeing him show up in this one.  If you like the Myron series and you are willing to read about teens then this series is lots of fun.

I checked the audio out of the library.

Blogging from A-Z

Collision Bend. Finished 4-12-13, rating 4/5, 275 pages, pub. 1996

Book 7 of the Milan Jacovich series. (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6)

And the differences aren’t all physical differences, either.  It’s in the thinking.

Men, for instance, have great powers of concentration, almost a tunnel vision, that allows them to laser in on one spot;they are imminently suited to microsurgery, to rebuilding the transmission of a 1956 Thunderbird, and to many types of engineering.  Women, on the other hand, make wonderful executives because they are able to do several things at once, efficiently and well, and have remarkable peripheral awareness, something that is lacking in most males.  A woman president would probably do a hell of a job-better than many of the men we’ve had in the White House.

Chapter 15

Ex-cop and current Cleveland private detective, Milan Jacovich, is as old school as  they come.  He tells it like it is and doesn’t take any crap from people.  Milan has an ex-wife and two teenage boys but they don’t make an appearance, but his ex-girlfriend Mary, does.  When Mary blows back into Milan’s life it’s to ask for a favor, she wants him to prove her boyfriend innocent of murder, of murdering the other woman he was sleeping with.  Milan only wanted to hurt the guy, but he could not resist Mary and he takes the case.

Virginia Carville, a young television reporter is murdered in her home and Milan starts there, with her neighbor, bestselling romance novelist, Rosemary Kelley.  Milan shows his willingness to man up by reading one of her books, but then shows his prejudice by dismissing it.  This is one instance I thought Milan was being a little too old school 🙂 Milan has to dig to find other suspects, but when he does the storylines are compelling.  I wasn’t sure who did it, but they all deserved to get sent away for it.

I have expressed my love for Milan since discovering his first book years ago.  The fact that they take place in Cleveland and it’s nice to see my city represented was the attraction, but it’s Milan  that keeps me coming back for more.  He has such a common sense intelligence and steadfast character that you can’t help but love him.  The fact that he is tough enough to take care of himself and those he loves just makes me love him more.

This was not my favorite, BUT, I have never been disappointed in any of these mysteries and love recommending them.  Great main character and complex storylines make this series great.  Come on, get on the bandwagon 🙂  This was from my own library.

Blogging from A-Z

Kelleys Island:An Island Story by Claudia M. Brown. Finished 4/11/13, 80 pages, pub. 2006

Jason and I have been taking a yearly vacation to Kelleys Island, Ohio, with my parents since 2007.  Jason wanted somewhere close and relaxing.  I found Kelleys Island, the largest of the US Lake Erie islands at 4.4 square miles, less than an hour and a half away.  This island is so quaint and isolated that we fell in love with it as a place to get away.  There is no bridge, you’ve got to take your car over on a 20 minute ferry ride, so the place never seems overrun, even during the summer when many tourists go island hopping using the different boat for day visitors without cars.

I thought this book was fascinating.  For such a small place there is a lot of history.  Inscription Rock is there to see.  The pictographs were done by Native Americans between 1200-1600 since the latest of the pictures have white men, but no guns.  The Glacial Grooves exist from the last Ice Age, about 18,000 years ago, when the glaciers scoured into the soft limestone bedrock.  Stripped of soil these grooves are 400 ft by 35 ft. and contain a fossil record for all to see. Both of these are under the care of the Ohio Historical Society.

In the 1700′ s the Native Americans used it as shortcut to Canada but by the War of 1812 the military was using it and the Native Americans were driven away.  In 1827 only four people lived there and that’s when continuous habitation began for the white folks.  In 1833 the Kelley brothers began investing in quarrying and the rest is history.

Because it’s so isolated I’ve always been curious about the population. In 1863, there were 600 people and that was up to 1,174 in 1900.  The 2010 census had the permanent population at 312.  That’s quite a drop!  In the winter the lake freezes over and you are stuck there with no doctor, but a plane that may or may not be able to fly you to the mainland.  I love the charm of this island but don’t think I could do it. Summer residents compose about 75% of the island’s population.

Anyway, this book is a very detailed history and as someone who knows the island, I loved it!  Makes me look forward to our trip this year.  Here are links to past posts about our trips and a few pics. 2012 2011 2009

The Peach Keeper.Finished audio 3-25-13. 4 stars, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio 7 hours, 35 minutes. Read by Karen White who did an excellent job.

When I read Allen’s first novel, Garden Spells, I fell in love with this writer who embodies lightness and magical realism in such a beautiful way.  I love the southern charm and those moments of the supernatural in her books.  I always finish satisfied.  Once I got past that expectation I enjoyed the book for what it was, a great story of friendship among women, from one generation to the next.  Some of the whimsy was missing, but only missing because I expected it.

Wall of Water, North Carolina, is home to Willa, Paxton, and Sebastian.  Though none of them were friends in high school, Paxton and Sebastian are inseparable now.  Willa own her own store and lives a happy but quiet life.  When Paxton restores the Blue Ridge Madam, an old home important to Willa’s family, it brings a mystery that leads them both to their grandmothers, looking for answers.

I loved the friendship that forms between Willa and Paxton, much like the one their grandmothers shared many years ago.  By the end of the book I was ready to look up some of my friends from high school to see if we could be BFFs again.  I also loved how the story showed how much where and how we grow up influences who we are as adults, and not just in the obvious ways.  I moved away from home when I went to college and, except for a 5 month pit stop after I graduated, I’ve never moved back.  So, I understood when Paxton’s brother didn’t want to move back to Wall of Water, afraid he’d forever be labelled ‘Stick Man’.  And Paxton, who had never lived anywhere else, lived the opposite life, always struggling with the expectations placed on her.  There was was much to like about this story.

SAA delivers once again.  She can’t write fast enough for her fans 🙂

Eden Close. Finished 2-27-13, rating 4/5, 265 pages, pub. 1989

I consider myself a fan of Anita Shreve even though I’d only read three of her sixteen novels.  So, when I saw that Diane had this on her favorites from 2002 list (reposted with 2012 favorites) and that I had it on my shelves I added it to my small 2013 reading pile.  This is Shreve’s first novel.

Andrew, after many years, returns to his hometown to attend his mother’s funeral. Planning to remain only a few days, he is drawn into the tragic legacy of his childhood friend and beautiful girl next door, Eden Close.  An adopted child, Eden had learned to avoid the mother who did not want her and to please the father who did.  Then one hot night, Andrew was awakened by gunshots and piercing screams from the next farm: Mr. Close had been killed and Eden blinded.

Now, seventeen years later, Andrew begins to uncover the grisly story – to unravel the layers of thwarted love between the husband, wife, and tormented girl.

from Goodreeads

This book had all of the things I love about reading Shreve.  The characters are complex and yet recognizable, the language haunting and beautiful, and the story told with a lingering sadness.  Andy is not only dealing with the death of his mother, but of returning home for the first time in almost 20 years.  As he packs up the house, memories of Eden and that fact that she is only across the driveway but may as well be a million miles away, keep him close and resisting a return to his real life with a job and a son. But ultimately Eden has always drawn him to her and when he can no longer resist he sees her for the first time since the shooting, the shot that took her sight.  He is also navigating old friendships that are so far away from the man he is now.

I savored every word because her writing is so beautiful.  There is something so familiar about her characters, insights that make you say, ‘yes! exactly!’ , sometimes out loud.  In this way her writing resembles Elizabeth Berg.  As much as I liked this one I did think that the story dragged in a few places, especially for as short a novel as it is. But the feeling of those two lonely houses alone together in a sea of farmland and the two old friends and would be lovers will be with me a while.

Let me leave you with a few passages about childhood.

And then, because he was seventeen, he had another realization-one that had possibly been lurking below the surface all along but now became, like many of the insights he was having that summer, a conscious thought: Even though you could love someone as much as he had loved his mother and she him, her only child, you could leave her if you had to.  You could even look forward to leaving her.

section 1

But TJ and Andy accepted this embarrassment  and his parents’ volatility as a give, much in the same way they unconsciously acknowledged that Andy’s mother was too fat and TJ’s mother was a social climber-these facts intruding upon their childhood, sometimes even causing them a moment’s pain or awkwardness, but ultimately easily dismissed as not being pivotal to their lives.  The weather was pivotal.  And the condition of the ice or the fishing.  Or a stolen baseball glove or the offer of a driving lesson or a chance at the playoffs.  Their parents, however seemed more like obstacles to be negotiated than central figures in the daily drama.

section 2

The Enemy. Finished 1-21-13, rating 4/5, 464 pgs, pub. 2004

Book 8 in the Jack Reacher series (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6) (Book 7)

She had lived through desperate times and she had stepped up and done what was necessary.  At that moment I started to miss her more than I would have thought possible.  At that moment I knew I would miss her forever.  I felt empty.  I had lost something I never knew I had.

Chapter 19

Jack Reacher, loner extraordinaire, wasn’t always such a hard man.  There was a time when he had a job, a family and friends.  He was a star in the military police force and he was content with life.  This story of his time at Fort Bird was quite a departure for Reacher and I liked it but Reacher didn’t feel completely known to me either.  This is a military police procedural with some mom and brother time thrown in for fans.  His mother’s storyline was powerful.  I liked the change of pace, but am looking forward to the roaming Reacher with nothing but a toothbrush to take on the world.

Why should you be reading the Jack Reacher series?  Because he’s alpha male dreamy.  He isn’t held back by rules but is ruled by what is good and just and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty in the pursuit of justice.  He’s a tall, commanding man who, if you count the number of women he’s charmed out of their clothes, knows his way around a woman’s body.  Wonder if I can get Reacher to take a bus to Cleveland?

I found this paperback on my shelf and was ready to read it after seeing the Jack Reacher movie.

Gone Girl. Finished 1-11-13, rating 4/5, thriller, 415 pages, pub. 2012

I don’t often actively choose a book to be the first I read in a new year, too much pressure.  But as I was walking through the library after Christmas, Gone Girl just called out to me from the shelves.  I couldn’t resist.  I mean I’ve been reading so many raves about it that I was excited to read it.  Thankfully, I was not disappointed.

Nick and Amy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.  First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes blood on the kitchen floor.  As with most other reviews of this book, the less I say about the story the better.  It’s best to go in with no expectations.  I tried skim the reviews because I didn’t want my experience to be spoiled but I still caught a few hints that led me to a few good guesses.  It didn’t ruin the book at all.  But, in all honesty, I think Flynn does a good job of keeping you guessing no matter what you might expect.

I read Sharp Objects, Flynn’s first book, but I didn’t really care for it.  This one I really liked.  They are both dark novels with characters not always easy to like, but somehow, this one really worked for me.  I don’t know if it will end up on me year end favorite list, as seems to be the case with almost everyone who has read it, but it is one that I can happily recommend for the thriller lover with a twisty streak.

The Informationist, Finished 12-10-12, rating 4/5, 315 pages , pub. 2011

She nodded.  “You and every person who serves merits thanks and commendation, and you most certainly have it.”  She was silent for a moment.  “I can appreciate patriotism, but that’s about as far as it goes.  I’m not like most people,” she said,  “I have no devotion or affinity to any particular country-for that I assume I’d have to experience a sense of belonging.”  She looked at him and searched his eyes for an indication that he understood, then added, “Patriots defend their homeland, Miles.  Where is my home?”

Chapter 7

Vanessa Michael Munroe is a tough woman in a man’s world.  She makes her living finding information and selling it to businessmen who need it to make a deal.  She speaks over 20 languages which serves her well since she spends most of her time overseas, blending in with the natives wherever she goes, even passing as a man is if serves her well.  She grew up in Africa to missionary parents and spent many years working for Francisco, a gunrunner, and when her latest assignment takes her back to Cameroon she runs into her old mentor.

Munroe is an interesting character, but a hard woman to like.  She kills with little remorse and doesn’t seem to have any moral boundaries.  It isn’t that she’s heartless, because she’s not, she can break just like the rest of us.  She’s complicated, but not necessarily in a way that attracts a lot of compassion.   Let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to sit down and have coffee with her, but if I needed to get information and I had millions of dollars, she’d be the first person I’d call.

I thought the African setting was great.  I learned so much and still never felt like I was overwhelmed with too much information.  It was a perfect way for me to experience some of the wilder parts of Africa.  And as much as I liked the setting the mystery was solid and kept me guessing til the end.  I am really looking forward to continuing on with Munroe with the next book in the series.

Many of you remember that I was able to spend a little time with Taylor Stevens at the Bouchercon in October and I am so relieved that I liked the book as much as I liked the author 🙂  I won this book at Book Den last year.  Thanks, Jennifer!