The Angel, by Carla Neggers

4 Comments

Cover ImageFinished 1-18-09, rating 4/5, romantic suspense, pub. 2008

This is not a sequel, but it is book 2 of the Boston PD-FBI series.

She joined him at the table, her cheeks flushed as she buttered a small piece of bread.  “Once upon a time,” she said, laying on her Irish accent, “there were three brothers who lived on the southwest coast of Ireland–a farmer, a hermit monk and a ne’er-do-well, who was, of course, everybody’s favorite…

Prologue

 And so begins the magical tale of the three brothers and the Stone Angel.  This Irish legend is the basis of Keira’s impending six-week trip to Ireland.  She is a successful folklorist and illustrator who is researching Irish stories for an upcoming conference and the trip to Ireland is both professional and personal.  Her mother, now a religious recluse, had gone to Ireland in her youth and returned home pregnant with Keira.

Keira’s uncle, Boston homicide detective Bob O’Reilly, was concerned about her, even more so when she discovers a man dead the night before she leaves.  When he doesn’t hear from her in Ireland he calls a search-and-rescue expert to find her.  When Simon finds her the sparks fly and Simon stays by her side as they head back to Boston.  Once back in Boston a wide range of characters and mishaps prove that the legend may have some truth and every one who knows about it is at risk.

This book really does have a magical feel to it.  There are angels, fairies, Satan, and evil, all fighting an ageless battle.  I’ve never really been interested in fairy tales or folktales, but I must admit there is something very romantic and mystical about them that I’ve never really appreciated.  Also, I fell in love with Ireland even though most of the action was in Boston.  The mystery and rugged beauty appealed to me and now I might have to put Ireland on my list of hopeful vacation destinations!

This is not a sequel, but I think you will not fully appreciate this story without reading the first, The Widow.  My review is here.  Abigail, Owen, and Abigail’s father all play significant roles and I appreciate that she incorporated them into the story instead of them being relegated to a mere mention here and there. 

Book 3, The Mist, will be released this summer.  I am looking forward to it 🙂

Teaser Tuesdays-A Gentle Rain

3 Comments

teasertuesdays2TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
  • Please avoid spoilers!

I had found my birth parents and their protective mentor.  He seemed a fine man, albeit brusque and sardonic.  Their lives with him appeared stable, productive and content.  Thanks to quirky coincidence, I had won the opportunity to be part of their lives.

A Gentle Rain by Deborah Smith, page 71

Yes, I cheated a little by including a few extra sentences, but I couldn’t help myself!  Let me know what your teaser is.  I look forward to getting some new book ideas.

What’s the best caption quiz?

9 Comments

We have a split decision…

“Sadly, the snow covering Stacy did not melt until mid-March.”  (Mark)

and

“Yeah, now I remember why I moved to Cleveland.”  (Betty)

100_07122

I took this photo of Jason yesterday.  This week’s quiz—-

What is the best caption for this photo?  I’ll post your caption with the photo and a link back to your blog if you have one.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!  I’ll pick the best one on Friday.

Naked Came the Manatee, Carl Hiaasen editor

1 Comment

Cover ImageFinished 1-17-09, rating 2.5/5, fiction, pub. 1996

This novel is a serial collaborataion of 13 of South Florida’s best writers and was originally written for The Miami Herald’s Tropic magazine.  David Barry writes the first chapter, passes it off to Les Standiford, Paul Levine, Edna Buchanan, James W. Hall, Carolina Hospital, Evelyn Mayerson, Tananarive Due, Brian Antoni, Vicki Hendricks, John Dufresne, Elmore Leonard, and Carl Hiaasen plays clean up in the last chapter.  A few of the authors’ serial characters show up- Buchanan’s Britt Montero, Standiford’s John Deal, and Levine’s Jake Lassiter.

A 102 year old woman rescues a man from the bay and he is in possession of a canister with shocking contents.  The canister is one of a pair, both containing the head of Fidel Castro.  There are chases, murders, confusion, and a multitude of characters, including Jimmy Carter and Fidel Castro.  And there is a very introspective manatee in the bay named Booger, who thinks of the 102 year old grandmother as his ‘ma’. 

This is an interesting experiment, but it is a hot mess of a novel.  There are characters that move in and out of the story with little or no explanation, each author wanting to add something new instead of trying to build on what’s there.  The last chapter where Carl Hiaasen tries to explain everything is pretty funny considering what he had to work with.  It was wacky in a good way, but it was probably best suited to it’s original form, as a weekly magazine installment.

Rumpleville Chronicles presents The Bomb That Followed Me Home

3 Comments

Author-Cevin Soling  Illustrator-Steve Kille

The Rumpleville series are contemporary fables that are replete with social commentary…The fairy tale format highlights the perverse morality of contemporary culture and foiled promised of “happily ever after” endings. 

This was from the press release I received with the book.  I requested the book because I thought it was a children’s book.  I still thought that when I took it out of the mailing envelope and saw a children’s book.  It wasn’t until a few pages into the book that I realized this is not  for kids.  So, of we completely take that off the table I can review it as a book for more mature readers, let’s say teenagers or older.

A boy realizes he is being followed home by a bomb (that hides in the landfills).  As he walks by his neighbors house (the only part of the book I truly enjoyed) he remembers all of the reasons he dislikes them.  Once home there is this

“Suddenly something chafed against my leg.  I glanced down, and there at my feet was the cutest bomb I had ever seen.”

The boy wants to keep it, but his parents won’t let him, relating it to having a dog.  I won’t spoil the end, but really it just made an absurd book bad.  My husband disliked it more than I did.  The illustrations were okay and I suppose kids would enjoy the art.  You would have to make up your own story.

This is book three in the Rumpleville Chronicles.

This was not to my sense of humor (except the neighbor gibberish part), but it would probably appeal to someone with a more twisted sense of humor.  If that person might be you, leave a comment and I’ll mail the book on to you, free of charge.

Garden of Beasts: A Novel of Berlin 1936, by Jeffery Deaver

1 Comment

Cover ImageFinished audio 1-14-09, rating 3.5, fiction, pub. 2004

In this historical novel Paul Shumann is a hit man for the mob who gets caught red-handed and is offered the choice of the electric chair or traveling to Germany to kill one of Hitler’s power men, Reinhard Ernst.  The choice was an easy one and Paul travels to Germany with the Olympic team where cameos by real Olympians, including the hero of the games, Jesse Owens, add interest.  Once Paul reaches Germany he is almost immediately embroiled in a murder that has the Crypto searching Berlin and beyond for the hit man.

The many storylines are compelling.  You get to meet Hitler and other real characters like Himmler and Goring.  The Cryptos search for Paul is a cat and mouse game that forces Paul into the shadows.  There are a few there to help Paul complete his heady task of killing Ernst.  And the men pulling the strings back in New York are not exactly what they seem.  There is also love and national loyalty at play.

This novel has plenty going on and there were many things I really liked about it.  I thought the first two-thirds of the book was a great set-up full of wonderful characters and storylines.  It was interesting to see that some of the police were not Hitler supporters and it added real depth to the real story being enacted Hitler.  Paul’s sense of duty to his job and his interest in righting injustice made him a compelling main character.

As much as I enjoyed the first part of the book I equally did not find the end satisfying.  The wrap up had plenty of twist and turns, which was good, but at the end there still seemed to be a few things left incomplete. 

If this time period intrigues you or you are a Jeffery Deaver fan you should give this book a try.

What I Learned Today

5 Comments

 I saw this done on another blog (sorry, but I don’t remember where) and thought I’d steal the idea for today.  I used the Go To a Random Blog button and tried to learn at least one thing from each before I moved on.  I went 10 places and you can see what happened.  It was interesting to say the least.

On MyCoffeBreaks every post was written in a language I didn’t know except one.  The one written in English?  Lyrics to Goodbye My Lover by James Blunt. 

From Katara I learned the rules for a good, clean fight with my husband.

At Princess and Bear Go to the Movies the last 8 posts were reviews for various Friday the 13th movies.  I realized that maybe I am the only person in the world who has never seen any of them.

From Index Beating  I learned that a blog can sound just like my husband when he’s talking about work…oil, indexes, subprime, trades…

Over at Projecy Progeny  I learned the travails of a working mom and the struggle with infertility.

At Secret Angel Cat I learned about Tigerfeet, a 24 year old Tauren who loves chocolate ice cream and blackberries.

CashMattress’s Weblog  has 400 members and offers  $10 prizes for things like completing the most offers?

The Desert Duck is a funny blog written by an elementary school teacher.  I enjoyed the stories about her students.  This was my favorite of the 10.

http://bookwyrmknits.wordpress.com/ has lots of info and photos for knitters.  My favorite photo was of cute kitty, Suzy. 

 From Where is Olga?  I learned that Olga has been quite a few places.   It’s organized and easy to find specific places.  She includes lots of photos.

Go ahead and try it.  See what you can learn today 🙂

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

4 Comments

TwilightFinished 1-10-09, rating 3.5/5, YA fiction, pub. 2005

Bella is a normal teenager with divorced parents and low self-esteem.  She moves up to Washington state to live with her father and becomes very popular with the boys of the small town.  One boy in particular, Edward, makes her heart jump and the two begin a relationship.  Of course, she does find out that he is a vampire, but that is of no real concern, they are young and in love.

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I placed my name on the waiting list at the library and finally it was my turn!   It is a nice story about young love and vampires, but nothing more and nothing less.  I used to devour teen romances back in my own teen years and this feels the same.  It is fluffy, shallow, and not really challenging in any way.  The fact that Bella is your average girl and suddenly every boy around her seems lost in love, including a vampire who has not fallen in love in his 100+ years, seems like overkill.

On the positive side it was interesting and about halfway through the pace picked up and became more of a page turner.  The first half may have been a little slow, but once the vampires began fighting each other it gained some momentum.  The game of baseball the vampire clan, the Cullens, played in the woods during thunderstorms was original and fun.

I was expecting something great from all of the hype surrounding the book and the movie and I was a little disappointed.  I can see why teen girls love it but, I am probably not going to finish the series.  There are just too many really good books out there!

More reviews-

Heather @ Book Addiction

Whatcha Readin’ Quiz?

6 Comments

For fun I thought it would be great if we all shared what we’re reading right now with a sentence or two from the first page.

It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.  I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them.

These are the first two sentences of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, a 933 page novel that mirrors his own life.

So what are you reading right now and can you share a sentence or two from the first page?  Any time of book works for me 🙂

Small Town Girl, by Lavyrle Spencer

1 Comment

Cover ImageFinished 1-9-09, rating 3.5, romance, pub.1997

“One-way traffic crawlin’ round a small town square

Eighteen years’ve passed since she’s been there

Been around the world, now she’s coming back

Wider-eyed  and noting what this small town lacks” 

Beginning of the song, Small Town Girl

Tess has a voice and a face that the whole world knows.  She left her small town roots behind when she was eighteen to become a country star and a millionaire many times over.  Tess puts her life in Nashville on hold to drive back to Missouri when her oldest sister demands that she come home to take care of their mother after surgery.

Although Tess’ life may have changed, nothing in her childhood home has and she quickly becomes frustrated by her mother’s stubbornness.  Almost immediately she butts heads with an old schoolmate, Kenny, who had a crush on her in school and now lives next to her mother.  Kenny is divorced with a teen-aged daughter and a long time girlfriend, but sparks fly between he and Tess and his adolescent crush threatens to capture his heart again.

This romance is a great down home family drama.  Tess, after being gone so long, has to readjust her attitude and her relationships and I was drawn in to her struggle to reconcile her two lives.  And Kenny’s daughter, Casey, was a big part of that and it was easy to love her exuberance and its impact on Tess.

All of the problems of  Tess’ life aren’t tied up and served like a gift at the end of the story and this made me like it that much more.  It felt real.  There was also quite a lot of detail about the music business that anyone interested in the industry would learn from. 

I really enjoyed this romance and I think anyone who is from a small town or who has an interest in the world of country music will too.