Monday, August 24, 2009

And now for something completely different

Now I'm reading everything I can get my hands on - as long as it is light and doesn't make me have to think!

First up is "By Hook or By Crook" by Betty Hechtman about the Tarzana Hookers - the crocheting group that meets at a bookstore. Molly Pink, a widow, with two grown sons is the one the others elect to find out who left the bag with the filet crochet panels on their table at the craft fair. By figuring out what all of the panels mean and what they pertain to along with the diary page and letter that hints at wanting to right a wrong. Silly story but I stayed with it.

"The Stars Blue Yonder" by Sandra McDonald is the third novel about Jodenny Scott and Terry Myell, members of Team Space, wife and husband, separated by time and space. Terry is forced to jump back and forth in time by a device over which he has no control. He meets his wife when she's newly widowed, when she's very pregnant and when she's 70 years-old. While she recognizes him, she doesn't believe his story - until she is accidentally taken with him. Then she ends up in Australia of 1855, terribly pregnant and unprepared for life in that time period. While none of this made much sense to me, it made for good reading.

"Blood Atonement" by Dan Waddell is a page-turner that made me want to read the end to make sure it came out alright. A single mother has been found in her garden with her throat cut and her fourteen-year-old daughter missing. It's pretty obvious that the daughter is NOT the murderer so the police will be looking into the mother's background - only, there doesn't seem to be one. This is the second mystery involving DCI Grant Foster, DI Heather Jenkins and genealogist Nigel Barnes. The three of them will put their lives on the line to find this girl and try to avoid other deaths - but they won't entirely succeed. More blood is spilled by a person who seems to hate all members of a particular family. The link will lead to a branch of the Mormon Church in Utah. A bit of the present day problems linked to the past. But as Harriet Klausner says on Amazon "Leave your plausibilty meter parked elsewhere."

Sometimes it's dangerous for me to work on the books - in this case, changing new to old. I found two light reads that I thought would keep me occupied. "Summer Blowout" by Claire Cook had the cutest little dog in a beach bag on the cover - that sold me on this one. It's about a big family of hairdressers whose father is Irish but sells his salons as being Italian. Bella is going through a difficult patch since her sister took up with her husband. Bella meets a cute guy at a college fair and even though they bicker, he gives her a great business idea - or helps her come up with a great idea. When the whole Shaughnessy clan goes to Atlanta for a wedding, cute guy happens to be there as well. The dog comes in when Bella does a wedding party - hair and make-up and then gets stuck with two kids and when she hands them back, she's left with a dog!

"Like a Charm" by Candace Havens has a picture on the cover of a woman in four inch heels and a tight yellow suit on a ladder in front of library shelves - yeah, like that's going to happen. Magic town of Sweet, Texas is where corporate contract lawyer Kira Smythe has come home to recuperate after suffering from mono and a few other nasty things. She's fired from her job and left the town library in the will of the last librarian - it just gets sillier from there. Hippie, tofu loving parents who have managed to make quite a living for themselves - in fact it seems as if everyone in this town is wealthy.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Not in the mood

The library system is losing 55 people in September and I'm having a hard time finding anything I really want to read. I've got several books going but this is one of those times when I don't like anything I've got - and they are all books I've looked forward to reading. The last time this happened my dad and a couple of good friends died - that's what it feels like now. Everyone is in hospice.

OK, I did find an amusing section in the Fred Vargas book - "Have Mercy on Us All".
French though this may be, a woman still gets upset when she catches her man having sex with another woman, even recognizing the moves he makes. Their mutual friend tells her that God had had a bad night when he was making the boyfriend and hadn't recovered "from His night on the tiles" so he didn't get the mixture right. God gave him intuition, gentleness, beauty and ease. The Devil contributed indifference, gentleness, beauty and ease. This mystery was about someone attempting to spread the bubonic plague.

The other book I finished was "Civil Twilight" by Susan Dunlap. I really liked the first book dealing with Darcy Lott, the stunt woman at the Zen retreat. This third book was annoying because I felt like Darcy was solving an old crime - it just took her to figure it all out - everyone else was an idiot. But I stayed to the end.

I also read "Mr. and Miss Anonymous" by Fern Michaels - very far fetched, a lot name dropping of clothing labels and designers, everyone is rich and smart, yada, yada, yada. Oh, well.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

My sister read this and urged me to read it, as well. I did, even though I wanted to smack the heroine, Lara, and her ghost great-aunt, Sadie. The first was whiny and second was shrill. I kept reading, however, and liked the last part. It seemed that it took Lara forever to catch on to the fact that her friend was using her in their business and her ex-boyfriend was more interested in himself than in her. She does meet a rather nice American man and they hit it off - even though Sadie thinks he's hers. As a ghost, Sadie helps Lara in her business which makes me wonder what she's going to do after Sadie leaves. Sorry, Kathy, I tried. But I didn't like "Gone With the Wind" either - hated Scarlett.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Let's Fight

David Gunn's new Death's Head, Day of the Damned is not my usual cup of tea but I love this series. Sven and his band of misfits have come to Farlight for some R & R - yeah, right. While visiting his friends,Debro and Anton, who he busted out of an ice prison planet, and their daughter, Aptitude, whose husband he assassinated, he discovers that some nasty beings have been smuggled onto the planet. Then he finds himself up against General Luc, known as the Wolf. Luc wants Aptitude, who wants Vijay Jaxx, who's just become a duke on the violent death of his father. I don't think that who ever wrote the blurb on this book, actually read the book. They say that Apt has a major crush on Sven, when it's Sven who has a crush on Apt. Lots of fighting, missed the sarcastic gun for a lot of the book but it made a good showing in the last third or so of the book. Lots of politicking, which I don't care for but was necessary. I was like Sven, I didn't know where all of it was going but it was sure worth the ride.

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff is a new fantasy series about a family who seem to have a lot of magical power. The Gale family live in Ontario. Their men get "horny" in a very literal sense. There are fewer men than women so they "share". The Aunties are a pretty bossy, powerful bunch - not sure if they are witches or just what. Alysha Catherine Gale or Allie has just lost her job so is available when news arrives that her gran has died and left her a junque shop in Calgary. It seems the perfect place to go and lick her wounds. But, when she gets there, she finds that the junque appeals to the fey and they are her customers. Soon she's involved with a leprechaun who's homeless - he becomes her shop assistant, then she finds out that there is a sorcerer in town who is not to be trusted. She meets him through a man who works for the sorcerer as a tabloid reporter - could he be the love of her life? Then there's the dragons! Lots of fun in this book. I'm ready for the next one.