The Gazebo. Finished 12-12-13, rating 4.25/5, romance, 275 pages, pub. 1999

Smalltown reporter Abby Reston is hungry for a good story when elderly, but still hale and handsome, Martin Rayfiel walks into her office. Martin tells the young newspaperwoman of his lifelong romance with Claire Swift, and how they have faithfully reunited once every year at the gazebo in the town square. When Abby goes to the gazebo to witness the annual meeting, she finds a briefcase filled with photographs, letters, tape recordings, and mementos. It is a poignant and haunting chronicle of love and devotion that will profoundly affect the life of Abby Reston and touch the heart of everyone who experiences it.

from Goodreads

Even though it didn’t have a Christmas theme it was a nice, easy story to help with December stress.  Martin and Claire were never meant to meet really, but a black eye turns into a chance meeting at the town gazebo and then an invitation home.  Martin is the son of the richest man in town and Claire’s family owns a humble landscaping business.  They must meet in secret, but eventually Martin goes off to college and their promise of meeting every year at ‘their’ gazebo is made and kept until it was no longer possible.  It is a bittersweet romance that extends to Europe and back.

I did have some problems with the story near the end but still really enjoyed it.  Recommended for romance lovers.

I read The Fountain by Grayson a few years ago and liked the easygoing writing style enough that I kept my eyes out for her books.  I thought this one was better than the first and as far as I can tell she’s only written five books but I hope to find them all.

The Passage. Finished audio 12-4-13, rating  3.75/5, vampirish fiction, 766 pages, pub. 2010

Unabridged audio. I listened to the audio and enjoyed it although it took me about four months to get through all 29 cds.

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” 

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Let me start by saying that I don’t consider my few thoughts on this book to be a review.  I am overwhelmed by the holidays  right now (or maybe it’s just life) and don’t have the time for the review this massive tome deserves.  But I want to start 2014 fresh and that means posting about the books I’ve read this year actually in this year!

Because it took me so long to get through it, it is a little hard to remember  some of the beginning details. I remember meeting six-year old Amy and her mother and agent Wolgast, their early story stuck with me in a way that some of the rest of it didn’t.  The government was trying some crazy stuff to help humans live, if not forever, at least as long as Noah from the Bible (950 years).  But like many things run by the corrupt and greedy there was a problem and they unleashed upon the world Virals.  Virals are vampire-like, but not like your Edward Cullen vampire, think more nasty and ugly.  The United States did not survive and the Virals went international.   This book tracks America after the Virals disrupt life as we know it,

I liked most of it.  The beginning while good, annoyed me because every time I cared about someone they died.  It was better for me once main characters started surviving and I could get more invested.  There were some cheesy parts surrounding the 12 super virals, but I accepted it because I was interested in how humans were going to survive when they were totally cut off from each other.

This is not my usual  reading, but I needed to see what all the fuss was about.   I received the next in the trilogy, The Twelve, last year and I’d like to see what happens but I definitely need a break from the desolate world Cronin created.

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Silken Prey. Finished 11-8-13, 4.25/5 stars, fiction, 406 pages, pub. 2013

#23 in the Lucan Davenport series.

Murder, scandal, political espionage, and an extremely dangerous woman. Lucas Davenport’s going to be lucky to get out of this one alive.

Very early one morning, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, “Hey, I think he’s breathing,” and another voice says, “Yeah? Give me the bat.” And that’s the last thing he knows.    
 
Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man’s disappearance, then—very troublingly—to the Minneapolis police department, then—most troublingly of all—to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness, and sheer will to make it happen.

No matter who gets in the way.

from Goodreads

I have a few series men that make me read them and continue to read them even when they might have an off book or two and Lucas Davenport is one of the them.  I’m not sure when I first discovered him but I am a loyal fan.  His last few have been hit or miss for me so I was happy to see a return to a Lucas story I loved.  It was was political, even more so than the regular politics of Lucas’ job, and just like real-life politics it was dirty and true justice illusive.

I love this series and how Lucas ages and grows.  He is not the same womanizer detective we met in the first book, but he is a man who has found his happiness.  I think to truly appreciate the series you have to start at the beginning with Rules of Prey.

Just Like Heaven. Finished 10-15-13, rating 3.75/5 stars, romance, 374 pages, pub. 2011

Smythe -Smith Quartet #1

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) not in love with her older brother’s best friend
D) all of the above

Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) not in love with his best friend’s younger sister
D) all of the above

Together they:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever and the world’s worst musical performance
C) fall quite desperately in love

from Goodreads

I love the cover of this book, don’y you?  Makes me want to buy a white dress just so I can wear killer red heels.  I read this on my Nook so, unfortunately, I don’t get to admire it on my shelves.

This was a very fun, light romance.  I wasn’t sure about Honoria at first, but her devotion to family and tradition won me over and provided more than a few chuckles.  Marcus, the Earl of Chatteris, was easy to feel a warm spot for because of his lack of family and the way he truly appreciated the Smythe-Smith clan.  The two grew up together , but it wasn’t until Honoria’s ill-conceived plan with a shovel that the two realized there was love there.  The story didn’t linger and always felt fresh.

This was a very enjoyable first read of Julia Quinn’s work and I know I’ll read more.  I love historical romances and this is the perfect time of year for light and happy reading.

Finished 11-24-13, rating 4/5, fiction, 352 pages, pub. 2013

I received this book from She Reads.  Go on over and see what other bloggers think about this one.

At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.   (from Goodreads)

This may be the first book I’ve read with a main character, “the Aut-astic Dr. Ashe”, on the spectrum and it was refreshing to see how respectfully Jackson did it.  I was impressed.  William may  have problems in the social department but he was above the grade in mental capacity and physical presence, so there wasn’t a lack of opportunity for him.  Shandi, on the other hand, was a 21-year-old single mother who had convinced herself that her genius boy was a miracle baby and her opportunities were limited.  But because of her loving parents and best friend Walcott she had a great support system and people who wanted to see her succeed. I think too often young single mothers are portrayed as having some missing parental relationship so it was nice to see that, yes, the undesirable can happen to decent parents too.

I found it hard to put this book down. Jackson has a way of drawing you in and making you want to stay in the world she’s created.  Alternating chapters helped this story move along and I loved getting so much backstory with the current one.  There was a shock near the end that I didn’t see coming and for some reason I didn’t like it.  I know I will be in the minority here and I can take it.  It just didn’t work for me.  I get it and I get why people love it, but there were some threads to the story that made this surprising turn of events seem…disappointing in a way.  It didn’t ruin the story because I still loved it, it’s more of a personal preference I guess.

This is my second Joshilyn Jackson book and I consider myself a new fan this year.   I highly recommend this one.