I don’t think I can even begin to explain the appeal of these books. A synopsis is going to make it sound ridiculous. A giant shaved vampire cat named Chet is stalking the San Francisco night? Puh-leeze. Except that leaves out Abby Normal, Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night. I. โฅ This. […]
Thumb Flagging by Jerome Peterson: Book Review
Willy is a seasoned hitchhiker who introduces Jay to the wonders of the open road in order to boost his self-confidence and rid him of his spoiled-Catholic-boy tendencies. I enjoyed this. As you can imagine in a book about hitchhiking, it’s a bit of a picaresque novel with stories about the other hitchers and rides […]
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review
Grace has been obsessed with the wolves living in the woods behind her house for years. There’s one in particular that she thinks of as her wolf. On the day that she starts to think that there may be more to these wolves than meets the eye, some local hunters decide to go wolf hunting […]
Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson: Book Review
Alex Van Helsing has heard it thousands of times before. Yes, his last name is really Van Helsing. No, not like that Van Helsing. No, he doesn’t kill monsters. To paraphrase his father, that kind of thing doesn’t happen. Except when it does. What a fun, action-packed story! It begins with Alex running toward a […]
Serena by Ron Rash: Book Review
In Depression-era North Carolina, a timber baron marries Serena and brings her to the lumber camps to live. Her ambition outmatches his and she drives him to succeed, prosper, and expand at any cost. Wow. What a character Ron Rash has created in Serena. I detested her, but she is going to stick with me […]
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs: Book Review
Mercy Thompson is a walker. Not that kind of walker. A “skinwalker.” She can shift into coyote form easily and at will. Her sexy neighbor is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She’s good friends with a vampire. Her life isn’t exactly normal. When a new lone werewolf shows up at her garage one […]
Storm Front by Jim Butcher: Book Review
4 Stars. Were there a few problems with this book? Yes. But it was fun, funny, suspenseful and original. I read it in one shift at work. I was hooked when Harry quips, “But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.” What a great line! Harry is a […]
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Book Review
Aleksandr Ferdinand is the son of the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He finds himself on the run one night with a few loyal men and a Stormwalker, a two-legged machine that sounds like something out of Star Wars. Deryn Sharp is a girl who loved to fly with her father. Now that he’s dead, […]
Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier: Book Review
Paula is accompanying her father to Constantinople on a trading trip. She might โonlyโ be a seventeen-year-old girl, but sheโs an intelligent, able assistant. Theyโre in search of an ancient religious artifact, Cybeleโs Gift. Once in Constantinople, Paula starts seeing strange visions, visions that she feels sure are coming from the Other Kingdom, the fairy […]
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen: Book Review
4 Stars. This wasn’t exactly what I expected when I started it. I was expecting a typical shy-girl-meets-handsome-guy story. But it wasn’t exactly like that. This was more about finding the courage to get to know yourself. The importance of female friendships. The jealousies between mothers and daughters. Surrounding yourself […]
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane: Book Review
Shutter Island is off the coast of Massachusetts, housing an asylum for the criminally insane. As a nasty summer storm brews up, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule cross over to the island to search for an escaped inmate. But Teddy knows that things are not as they seem on Shutter Island. Ho-lee crap. […]