Monday, September 22, 2008

Eight Million Ways To Die by Lawrence Block




The fifth book of the Matthew Scudder series, it starts out with Kim Dakkanin -a prostitute- being murdered a gruesome murder and everyone pointing a finger to her pimp Chance. But when more murders happen it seems a pattern seems to take over, is it a serial killer killing ramdomly or is there some kind of connection ?! Very nicely written, some expected and some unexpected turns of events but a very good read non the less.


"Eight million ways to die in the Emerald city"


Barnes & Noble Sypnosis:

Matthew Scudder Crime Novel #5. "For those who yearn to walk those mean streets, no one provides a more satisfactory stroll than Lawrence Block" (The San Diego Union-Tribune).
A frightened hooker named Kim asked private investigator Matthew Scudder to help her get out of "the Life." Now she's dead, slashed to ribbons in a high-rise hotel.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich


This was a great easy and fast read.. It's a romance but not the usual kind.. They hate each other then have a predicament then fall hopelessly in love..I hate that!! No, in this romance they find that they love each other from the begining and deal with it.. very cute.. and Bob (the dog) is adorable !!

Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..
When the delightful, daffy Dog Lady of station WZZZ offered to take on the temporary job of traffic reporter, Steve Crow tried to think of reasons to turn Daisy Adams down. Perhaps he knew that sharing the close quarters of a car with her for hours would give the handsome program director no room to resist her quirky charms. He'd always favored low-slung sports cars and high-heeled women, but that was before he fell for a free spirit who caught crooks by accident, loved old people and pets, and had just too many jobs!
Loving Daisy turned Steve's life upside down, especially once he adopted Bob, a couch potato masquerading as a huge dog. But was Daisy finally ready to play for keeps?

The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory


Yet another amazing book by Philippa Gregory. It shows the story from Lady Amy Dudley's point of view and makes you feel for her, it was so heart breaking.
It shows how Queen Elizabeth was so soft and vulnurable when it came to her lover and best friend Sir Robert Dudley and her not being able to refuse whatever he requests.
Then comes the plot for Lady Amy's life and practically the end of any hope of Sir Robert rising to the throne.
Very detailed and believable. I just loved this book as much as I loved The Other Boleyn Girl. Some shocking theories if they are fact.

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Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..

Autumn 1558
All the bells in Norfolk were ringing for Elizabeth, pounding the peal into Amy's head, first the treble bell screaming out like a mad woman, and then the whole agonizing, jangling sob till the great bell boomed a warning that the whole discordant carillon was about to shriek out again. She pulled the pillow over her head to shut out the sound, and yet still it went on, until the rooks abandoned their nests and went streaming into the skies, tossing and turning in the wind like a banner of ill omen, and the bats left the belfry like a plume of black smoke as if to say that the world was upside down now, and day should be forever night.
Amy did not need to ask what the racket was for; she already knew. At last, poor sick Queen Mary had died, and Princess Elizabeth was the uncontested heir. Praise be. Everyone in England should rejoice. The Protestant princess had come to the throne and would be England's queen. All over the country people would be ringing bells for joy, striking kegs of ale, dancing in the streets, and throwing open prison doors. The English had their Elizabeth at last, and the fear-filled days of Mary Tudor could be forgotten. Everyone in England was celebrating.
Everyone but Amy.
The peals, pounding Amy into wakefulness, did not bring her to joy. Amy, alone in all of England, could not celebrate Elizabeth's upward leap to the throne. The chimes did not even sound on key, they sounded like the beat of jealousy, the scream of rage, the sobbing shout of a deserted woman.
"God strike her dead," she swore into her pillow as her head rang with the pound of Elizabeth's bells. "God strike her down in her youth and herpride and her beauty. God blast her looks, and thin her hair, and rot her teeth, and let her die lonely and alone. Deserted, like me."
Amy had no word from her absent husband: she did not expect one. Another day went by and then it was a week. Amy guessed that he would have ridden at breakneck pace to Hatfield Palace from London at the first news that Queen Mary was dead. He would have been the first, as he had planned, the very first to kneel before the princess and tell her she was queen.
Amy guessed that Elizabeth would already have a speech prepared, some practiced pose to strike, and for his part Robert would already have his reward in mind. Perhaps even now he was celebrating his own rise to greatness as the princess celebrated hers. Amy, walking down to the river to fetch in the cows for milking because the lad was sick and they were shorthanded at Stanfield Hall, her family's farm, stopped to stare at the brown leaves unraveling from an oak tree and whirling like a snowstorm, southwest to Hatfield where her husband had blown, like the wind itself, to Elizabeth.
She knew that she should be glad that a queen had come to the throne who would favor him. She knew she should be glad for her family, whose wealth and position would rise with Robert's. She knew that she should be glad to be Lady Dudley once more: restored to her lands, given a place at court, perhaps even made a countess.
But she was not. She would rather have had him at her side as an attainted traitor, with her in the drudgery of the day and in the warm silence of the night; anything rather than than ennobled as the handsome favorite at another woman's court. She knew from this that she was a jealous wife; and jealousy was a sin in the eyes of God.
She put her head down and trudged on to the meadows where the cows grazed on the thin grass, churning up sepia earth and flints beneath their clumsy hooves.
How could we end up like this? she whispered to the stormy sky piling up a brooding castle of clouds over Norfolk. Since I love him so much, and since he loves me? Since there is no one for us but each other? How could he leave me to struggle here, and dash off to her? How could it start so well, in such wealth and glory as it did, and end in hardship and loneliness like this?

The Other Boleyn Girl By Philippa Gregory


I enjoyed it very much since it was historical fiction about Anne Boleyn's sister Mary in King Henry VIII court.
It is told from Mary Boleyn's point of view which is usually regarded as a side character, here she was the main.
How she was the King's mistress for quite some time and bore him children.
This was my first book by this author, but her style captivated me and had me asking for more! Very nicely written !!!

The Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..
Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king
When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her familys ambitious plots as the kings interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.
A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.


Other points of view about this book:

Honeymoon by James Patterson & Howard Roughan


All I can say is WOW what a page turner.. I mean it's full of surprises that knocked the breath out of me.. I so love surprises !!!

Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..
How does it feel to be desired by every man and envied by every woman? Wonderful. This is the life Nora Sinclair has dreamed about, the life she's worked hard for, the life she will never give up. Meet Nora Sinclair.
When FBI agent John O'Hara first sees her, she seems perfect. She has the looks. The career. The clothes. The wit. The sophistication. The tantalizing sex appeal. The whole extraordinary package - and men fall in line to court her. She doesn't just attract men, she enthralls them. If you dare.
So why is the FBI so interested in Nora Sinclair? Mysterious things keep happening to people around her, especially the men. And there is something dangerous about Nora when Agent O'Hara looks closer - something that lures him at the same time that it fills him with fear. Is there something dark hidden among the unexplained gaps in her past? And as he spends more and more time getting to know her, is he pursuing justice? Or his own fatal obsession?

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Jemima J.: A Novel about Ugly Ducklings and Swans

Year Published: 2000

My Rating: 3 stars

373 pages


I did relate to Jemima in a certain way and would really love to accomplish what she did.Although the beginning was nice, the middle just went on and on and made me feel stupid when it went bad cuz it was so unrealistic it just got me crazy..but it was meant to be an easy read so I kept going on to see what eventually happens to Jemima.The ending was ok although it was expected.Never thought it would take about 2 weeks to finish and it's not even long.


Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..

"If I had one wish in all the world, I wouldn't wish to win the lottery. Nor would I wish for true love. No, if I had one wish I would wish to have a model's figure, probably Cindy Crawford's, and I would extend that wish into having and keeping a model's figure, no matter what I eat."Jemima Jones is overweight. About 98 pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima's only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, Jemima has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself--as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl of her dreams. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails-- no small feat.This is just the beginning of Jemima's transformation, a process that takes her through enormous physical and emotional change and halfway around the globe. First published in the UK to great fanfare, Jemima J spent nine weeks on the bestseller lists. Jane Green's brilliant wit, warm sense of humor and honesty ensure that her success will continue--on both sides of the Atlantic. Jemima J is a heroine who'll work her way into your heart, making you laugh through foible and folly as she sets out to reinvent her life and along the way learns a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately,who she really is. With a fast-paced plot and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be.

One For The Money (Stephanie Plum Series #1) by Janet Evanovich


Stephanie Plum is such a funny character.. the book was a real page turner.. and such fun !!

She is still new at this bounty thing and has her work cut up for her..

Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey. She's out of work and out of money. Her first assignment is to nail Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one.

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake Book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton



Since I love vampire stories I thought I'd try this out although I never read for this author before... I'm sure to read the rest of the series.. when I have the time :) I loved it.. It was fun !!

The Barnes & Noble Sypnosis..
Introducing Anita Blake, vampire hunter extraordinaire. Most people don't even bat an eye at vampires since they've been given equal rights by the Supreme Court. But Anita knows better--she's seen their victims. . . . A serial killer is murdering vampires, however, and now the most powerful vampire in town wants Anita to find the killer.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks



Although I saw the movie and loved it, I was not much interested in reading the book since I already knoe the story and especially the ending so I kept postponing reading it till I got in the Alphabet Soup Challenge and got to letter "N". So I though why not try it out and see how it goes..

And WOW it was great, it's true it was a bit different than the movie but it was like reading a slightly different story which was perfect.

It's such a touching romantic tale with no sleazy stuff.

The sypnosis for the book from Barnes & Noble ..
A man picks up a very special notebook and begins reading to his beloved wife, his voice recalling the story of their poignant and bittersweet journey to happiness. . . so begins The Notebook, a touching novel that is a dual tale of love lost and found, and of a couple's gentle efforts to retrieve the most cherished moments of their lives. The Notebook is irrepressibly romantic and has become a classic.

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Books Read In 2007

  • PS, I Love You by Cecilia Ahern
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
  • Where There is Evil by Sandra Brown
  • Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
  • New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
  • The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block
  • Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block
  • Drop Dead Sexy by Elisa Adams

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