Finished 10-22-11, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 222 pages, pub. 2010

Book 1 Cupcake Bakery Mystery series

Melanie Cooper, Angie DeLaura and Tate Harper have been best friends forever and now they are in business together with Fairy Tale Cupcakes.  When Tate’s fiance is murdered by a killer cupcake the police are very interested in Mel’s relationship with Tate and the ingredients of her cupcakes.

I liked that the characters were fun and the relationships interesting.  Mel was a strong woman who followed her dreams and was comfortable in her own skin.  She still had her insecurities with men, which only made her more appealing.

I liked that it was a fast and easy read and a great set-up for the series.  This was a perfect first book for the read-a-thon.  Not my normal type of mystery, this was more of a cozy, but it was solid.  I chose it because I can now say I’ve been to Arizona in the States challenge.

I didn’t like Mel’s ridiculous cavalier attitude at the end.  She seemed to think that she could be a detective and put herself in dangerous situations.  I know lots of mysteries are this way, but nothing that Mel did made me think she was smart enough to stay alive.

I didn’t like that all I wanted to do after reading this was go buy a gourmet cupcake!

I checked this book out of the library.

Take a minute to vote for the scariest characters in literature.

Finished 10-20-11, rating 3.5/5, fiction, 385 pages, pub. 2009

Tessa grew up a gypsy of sorts, moving from festival to festival with her father and her adult life followed the same path, as a guide for exotic tours all over the world.  When Tessa has a near death experience that brings with it confusing memories from her childhood, she decides to go back to where she spent those early years on New Mexico commune.  What she finds is an upscale desert town that asks as many questions as it does provide answers.

I loved Tessa’s close relationship with her father.  It was just the two of them and Sam, as a quasi-recovering hippy, was easy to like.  Some people grow up with two parents and still don’t have that much love and support.

I loved that the town of Las Ladronas was a town with a dog or cat for every resident and visitor.  They were expected at shops and hotels and there was no shortage of four-legged companionship.  It made me want to visit and hang out with all of the tail waggers.

I liked the beautiful town and laid back residents.  They each had something to reveal Tessa about her past.

I liked Vince, the sexy rescue worker with the muscular thighs (sorry, but that point was made more than once).  He was raising three young daughters and the volatile relationship between the two older girls made me thankful I was an only child.

There were two things that made the book fall a little flat for me. The story was told from way too many viewpoints.  Instead of just following Tessa and maybe one other character we followed quite a few minor characters who were interesting, but didn’t really add any momentum to Tessa’s journey.  Also, the end just seemed very pat to me.  I’m all for conclusive endings, but I don’t think every detail needs to be addressed.

I enjoyed this book and will definitely read more of O’Neal’s work.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.

Finished 10-14-11, rating 3.5/5, romance short stories/novellas, 376 pages, pub. 1994

I don’t read many short stories, but I had this one and they all took place in Colorado, so I picked it up.  And the stories were actually perfect for my busy schedule the last few weeks.  I’ve always enjoyed Deveraux’s romances and this was no exception.  I think she tells the story from the man’s point of view extremely well.  Overall, a nice selection of stories.

In The Invitation Jackie is one of only a few women pilots in 1934 and when her husband dies she returns home to fly for the superrich Montgomery’s.  Waiting for her  there is  little Billy Montgomery all grown up and eager to please.  Jackie, a successful woman, cared way too much about what other people thought about the age difference.

Edward didn’t fully understand what he had said to Jackie to offend her.  When his wife had reached forty- an age Jackie was fast approaching she had cried for two days.  She’d said it was the end of youth and that she didn’t want to be middle-aged.  Maybe that was Jackie’s problem. She was refusing to face the fact that she wasn’t a kid anymore. No longer would newspapers write stories about her being the youngest person to do so and so.  Maybe her eyesight was failing, or her reflexes.  Maybe she was seeing the younger pilots doing so well, then seeing her own body aging, and it was making her angry. Aging often made a person angry at first.

Maybe, he thought, she was worried about whether or not she was still attractive to men.

Chapter 8 (As a woman who just hit forty I had a good laugh at this one.  What a great first date this guy was!)

In Matchmakers widower Kane Taggert isn’t looking for a replacement for his late wife and mother of his twin boys, and when he takes four city women on the trails of Colorado he finds hate/hate relationship with mystery writer Cale.  Loved the snarky Cale, but the ending was too ridiculous, even for a romance.

A Perfect Arrangement is set in 1882 where a woman is an old maid at 30.  Wealthy Dorrie proposes a sham marriage to gun-for-hire Cole and even though he’s never had a problem with he ladies, he’s found one in Dorrie.  The chemistry was good and this was my favorite of the three.

This is from my personal library.

Finished 10-22-11, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 222 pages, pub. 2010

Book 1 Cupcake Bakery Mystery series

Melanie Cooper, Angie DeLaura and Tate Harper have been best friends forever and now they are in business together with Fairy Tale Cupcakes.  When Tate’s fiance is murdered by a killer cupcake the police are very interested in Mel’s relationship with Tate and the ingredients of her cupcakes.

I liked that the characters were fun and the relationships interesting.  Mel was a strong woman who followed her dreams and was comfortable in her own skin.  She still had her insecurities with men, which only made her more appealing.

I liked that it was a fast and easy read and a great set-up for the series.  This was a perfect first book for the read-a-thon.  Not my normal type of mystery, this was more of a cozy, but it was solid.  I chose it because I can now say I’ve been to Arizona in the States challenge.

I didn’t like Mel’s ridiculous cavalier attitude at the end.  She seemed to think that she could be a detective and put herself in dangerous situations.  I know lots of mysteries are this way, but nothing that Mel did made me think she was smart enough to stay alive.

I didn’t like that all I wanted to do after reading this was go buy a gourmet cupcake!

I checked this book out of the library.

Take a minute to vote for the scariest characters in literature.

Finished 9-29-11, rating 4.5/5, mystery, 390 pages, pub. 2011

#21 in the Prey series

Series main character  Lucas Davenport has been in Minnesota law enforcement for all 21 novels.  He started as a detective and now works as an investigator for Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.  He’s married to a surgeon and has three children with another on the way.

What makes him special? Lucas is a tough guy who doesn’t mind bending the rules to catch the bad guy.  He has the smarts to track down leads and the muscle and charm with the ladies to make them talk.  He’s also filthy rich and a clotheshorse.

This is what Sandford said about him in 2004, “I’ve always thought of him as a kind of sociopath who is slightly warped. Of course, Davenport changed a lot throughout the stories, he became calmer… ”

Supporting Cast His police friends Del, Jenkins, Shrake, Marcy and Sandy are all on the case.  A pregnant Weather and adopted daughter Letty try to keep him from doing something stupid.  Should I tell you that one of them won’t be in the next book?  Oops.  Forget I said anything.

The story Two young sisters disappeared in the 1980’s and were discovered buried under a house in 2011.  The sisters were the first case Lucas worked on and a good portion of the book is a flashback to that case with a young Lucas getting his first big break.  Now that the bodies have been discovered he is ready to find the murderer who got away.

How does it stack up with the rest of the series?  I fell in love with Lucas in the first half of this series, but felt that the last few have been uninspired.  This one is as good as some of the first and it feels like the series is back on track.

Can it be read as a stand-alone?  I always think it’s better to read a series from the beginning, but because of the flashback section I think this is one of the rare occurences where it would be it okay to read alone.

Who should read it? Fans of police procedurals and fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.

Finished 9-26-11, rating 4.5/5, Vampire mystery, 292 pages, pub. 2001

You can tell I don’t get out much.  And it’s not because I’m not pretty.  I am.  I’m blond and blue-eyed and twenty-five, and my legs are strong and my bosom is substantial, and I have a waspy waistline.  I look good in the warm weather waitress outfit Sam picked for us: black shorts, white socks, black Nikes.

But I have a disability.  That’s how I try to think of it.

The bar patrons just say I’m crazy.

Either way, the result is that I almost never have a date.  So little treats count a lot with me.

And he sat at one of my tables-the vampire.

Chapter 1

Sookie is a waitress in Louisiana.  Bill is a vampire trying to assimilate into the human world.  While vampires are now legal beings they are not really accepted so when dead waitresses start showing up, Bill is in trouble.

I really don’t read vampire stories.  I did read the first Twilight and was entertained, but not so overwhelmed that I wanted to read more.  So, I skimmed all the reviews on this one and thought that I would give it a try someday, but it wasn’t until I picked this first one up at Border’s and then realized it would help me on two challenges that I started to read.  The verdict is still out on vampires in general, but I totally loved this book.

What’s there to say about Sookie that has’t already been said?  Sookie knows who she is and isn’t afraid to show the world. She hadn’t really considered the upside of her ‘disability’ and it was fun to see her start to see herself in a new light.  I loved that she was brave and impulsive and looking for some excitement.

The plot had more serious twists than I was expecting and that’s a good thing.  The mystery was solid, but it was much more fun finding out more about vampire protocol.  A vampire book I loved.  Who knew?

This was so much fun to read that I know I will be continuing on with Sookie, Bill & Co.  It was light and fun and told with great humor and sass.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.

Finished 9-19-11, rating 3.5/5, fiction, 422 pages, pub. 1990

It was a bright, defrosted, pussy-willow day at the onset of spring, and the newlyweds were driving cross-country in a large roast turkey.

The turkey lay upon its back, as roast turkeys will; submissive, agreeable, volunteering its breast to the carving blade, its roly-poly legs cocked in a stiff but jaunty position, as if it might summon the gumption to spring forward onto its feet, but of course, it had no feet, which made the suggestion seem both empty and ridiculous, and only added to the turkey’s aura of goofy vulnerability.

Opening paragraphs

Boomer loves Ellen Cherry and he makes her a turkey RV to prove it.  She falls for it and marries him.  They escape small town Virginia and head west for a time before settling in New York City so Ellen Cherry can pursue her career as an artist.  Only it’s not Ellen Cherry that becomes the star, it’s Boomer and his turkey RV.

This sounds like a simple storyline, but it is full of crazy people, and, well, utensils, canned goods, clothing, and objects of nature.  Yes, there is secondary storyline where a stick and shell are trying to make their way back to Jerusalem after hundreds of years in American exile.  And they receive help from a spoon, sock, and can of beans.  And there’s also Uncle Buddy, who is trying to start World War III in Israel so that Jesus will return.

It is quirky and the writing is fun and smile-worthy.  As far as the story, well, I wasn’t all that interested.  It took me way too long to get through this one to recommend it.  And I really did not like the last part of the book, lots of personal views just thrown out there with zero to do with the story.  I don’t care about Robbins’ enlightened views of money, government, or religion.

I expected to enjoy it more and wonder if it’s where I am in life right now.  I don’t have huge chunks of time to read and maybe the 20-30 minutes a few times a week weren’t enough to make this one work.  Or maybe I have mommy brain 🙂  I know I need to keep reading or it will go to mush!  I might give Robbins another try in a few years.

This is from my personal library and was chosen by Carol and Mille.  Here’s what they had to say…

“Don’t expect profundity; it’s more of a play date for the mind, or a hot chocolate and blanket on a grumpy day kind of book.”  Mille

“Because I love Tom Robbins.”  Carol