Book Review: A Million Little Pieces

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Personally I don't care that this turned out to be a work of fiction; it is still a good read. I'm actually more impressed with him not actually going through all that and doing research on it than if it would have been a true story. The part about when he went to the dentist actually made my mouth hurt. It was tough to read at times, and certain characters pissed me off, but it was well worth it.

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Book Review: Lover Revealed

Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a good news/bad news kind of thing. The good news is that I have found another series to read, The Black Dagger Brotherhood. The bad news is Lover Revealed is the fourth book in the series, so I've read the wrong one first. Will that stop me from reading books one through three? No way. If the series is anything like this book (and all I have heard are raves about it), then the lack of suspense for how they end won't really be a detriment to me.
This is a book about a small group of powerful vampires that call themselves the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Each has their own unique strength; all are huge, muscular and gorgeous. Lover Revealed is the story of Butch O'Neal, former police officer and the only human ever allowed within the inner circle of the Brotherhood. One night, Butch is caught between a civilian vampire (a weaker class of vampire than the Brotherhood) and a group of lessers (vampire hunters) and is taken to a place where he is tortured and introduced to the most evil thing of this world or any other world, known simply as the Omega. Taken out to the woods and left for dead he is eventually found by one of the Brotherhood, Vishous. Things look pretty bleak for our hero, so Vishous calls in the only one he can think of that will give Butch the will to live.
A part of the vampire aristocracy, Marissa is nonetheless shunned from the governing body of vampires. She comes to Butch's side when Vishous calls her and stays with him until he does recover. Along the way, they discover the tricks used to keep them apart in an earlier novel and confess their undying love for each other. There's only one problem...Butch is human while Marissa is immortal. Is there any way that Butch can become a part of the Brotherhood? And if he can, how will he be as a vampire? Will he still feel the same way about Marissa, or will he turn away from her like he did before? And what's with Butch being able to "inhale" the lessers during a fight, turning them to dust? What exactly did the Omega do to him while he was in that place to cause this black goo to ooze out of him?

This was an excellent book and I could not read it fast enough. I am looking forward to reading all the other books in the series.

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Book Review: Murdering Mr. Monti

Murdering Mr. Monti by Judith Viorst


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Murdering Mr. Monti turned out to be a better book than I thought it would be. For an eavesdropping, murder-plotting, adulteress like Brenda Kovner to be someone the reader actually LIKES is quite an accomplishment for an author. It all starts when Brenda's son announces his engagement to Josephine Monti, the painfully shy youngest daughter of overbearing Joseph Monti. It's bad enough that he is going to lose his daughter, but when she decides to convert to Judaism, Mr. Monti declares war on the Kovner clan. He bankrolls a shady land development deal with Brenda's other son then demands a balloon payment that he cannot possibly repay, he is behind two couples who are suing Brenda's pediatric surgeon husband Jake, and now threats keep coming to the house via crazy singing clowns, maniac van drivers and faxes. What can a mother do but protect her child? And the only way Brenda sees to protect not only her son, but save her whole family, is to murder Mr. Monti before he can destroy their lives.
As you can imagine, chaos ensues.
This was a fast read, a kind of out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire type of book and more than once I found myself chuckling. And I was pulling for Brenda all the way.
3 stars out of 5

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Book Review: Islands

Islands by Anne Rivers Siddons


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book started out slow for about the first half, but by the end I wasn't able to put it down. It's the story of four couples who call themselves the scrubs because they are all involved in the medical community of Charleston, South Carolina in some way. The main character is Anny who marries Lewis and is welcomed wholeheartedly to the group. The unquestioned heart of the group is warm and gracious Camilla; she is the one that is credited for holding the group together through a hurricane, deaths, fire and change.
Towards the end of the book there is a mystery to be solved and I was surprised at the conclusion of it, but the book itself is an excellent one and I would recommend it for reading when it's cold outside.
3.5 stars out of 5

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Book Review

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
MacKayla Lane, Mac for short, is a 22 year old Southern belle whose idyllic existance comes to a crashing halt when she learns her sister Alina has been murdered in Dublin, Ireland. The police don't have many clues to follow and soon the case gets relegated to the cold case files. Everyone seems to have given up on finding Alina's killer, even Mac's parents, so she flies to Dublin herself to see if she can find anything out. Almost immediately strange things start to happen to her - hallucinations mostly - and when she has one in a local pub, she finds out about something called a Sinsar Dubh. Mac has no idea what that is, but every time she mentions it, people get mighty peculiar.

Eventually she meets Jericho Barrons, wealthy and mysterious owner of Barrons Books and Baubles, who at first tries to warn her away from Dublin, telling her she has no idea what she is getting herself into. Turns out that Mac is a Sidhe-Seer, someone who can see beneath the glamour of the mystical Fae and see them for what they truly are underneath...horribly disfigured monsters. She also meets V'lane, an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women. V'lane is a seelie Fae, the lighter or fairer of the two classes, and therefore completely irresistible. The ugly Fae are called the unseelies.(I know...I rolled my eyes too, but it's really a good book.)

The Sinsar Dubh is a centuries old book of the most powerful magic ever known and everyone is after it including Fae, mobsters, vampires and Barrons himself. When he discovers Mac is not only a Sidhe-Seer, but a Null (one who can freeze the Fae for an instant and who gets nauseous every time she is near anything to do with the Sinsar Dubh or the Fae) he teams up with Mac to find the book.

This is the first book in a series and there is a cliffhanger at the end, so they are best read in order.

5 stars out of 5

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Book Review: Rose Madder

Rose Madder by Stephen King


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
90% of Rose Madder is a departure for Stephen King in my opinion. There is only a small part in the middle of the book which is more his typical style, and of course the ending is what you would expect it to be. The cover of the book, which made me wonder how in the world a bull skull with flowers on its horns fits in with the story, but eventually it does get explained. It's just too bizarre for me to explain it in a few words so I won't even attempt to.
This is a story about Rose Daniels, the classic battered woman. The batterer in this case is her husband, police officer Norman Daniels. Norman is a psychotic, sadistic, controlling, sexist, racist piece of work. A spot of blood on the bedsheet is the catalyst for Rose to leave him after 14 years of hell. Rose Madder tells how Rose Daniels became Rosie McClendon, independent woman. Of course she meets a new man, falls in love, gets a good job and her own place, and of course Norman is going to follow her to teach her a lesson or, as he puts it "talk to her up close", all because she dared to steal his bank ATM card and take $350 (or so he tells himself). By the end of the novel he is a stark raving lunatic. A strange painting Rosie buys at a pawn shop figures prominently in the story, and this is where the King-ness comes into play.
When Rosie's fear turns to anger, you almost sit up and cheer because you want so badly for her to be free of Norman. When Norman finally gets his comeuppance, fittingly it is at the hands of women who are stronger than him.
Overall, this was a very good read. 4 stars out of 5

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Book Review: One For The Money

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love the Stephanie Plum novels as a rule. This series makes me actually laugh out loud. Whenever Stephanie goes over to her parents for supper, something is bound to happen, courtesy of Grandma Mazur more times than not. I finally got around to reading the first in this series and I'm glad I did.

Stephanie Plum is out of work and getting desperate for money. Her car is about to be repo'ed, she has been pawning off her stuff to pay her bills, and the rent is coming due again soon. Running out of options, she hears about a filing job at her cousin Vinny's bail bonds shop and reluctantly goes down there to apply. The position has already been filled, but Vinny's secretary tells Stephanie that the real money is in bounty hunting; why, they have one right here that is worth $10,000 if she's interested in it.

Meet Joe Marelli, an ex vice cop who is wanted for murder and who has jumped bail. Stephanie knows Joe intimately well - or she used to when they were teenagers - and Vinny gives her one week to catch him or else he will give the file to someone else. Being that Stephanie has no clue how to be a bounty hunter, she gets in touch with the best in the business, Ricardo Manoso a.k.a. Ranger, to give her a crash course in hunting fugitives. Before the end of the book, Stephanie manages to steal a car (or, as she calls it, "commandeer" a car), get shot at, almost get blown up, and punched in the face by a stalker.

There is quite a cast of characters in this book - an insane boxing world heavyweight champion and his head-in-the-sand manager, a couple of hookers named Lula and Jackie, and of course Stephanie's parents and grandma Mazur. It's quite a rollercoaster ride and a lot of fun.

4 stars out of 5


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Book Review: Divine Evil

Divine Evil by Nora Roberts

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Clare Kimball is a famous sculptress when she returns to her hometown of Emmitsboro, Maryland to confront the ghosts of her past. She moves into the family home, the site of her father's suicide. Although a lot of the town has stayed the same in the years since Clare left, many things have changed. The wild and rebellious Cameron Rafferty is now the town sheriff and he has his own demons to face. An old grave of a baby is dug up in the cemetary and the dirt hauled away. A runaway teenage girl is missing, last spotted just outside of Emmitsboro; only problem is, no one saw this girl anywhere in town. Then a gruesome murder happens to someone Cam knows only too well. It doesn't take long for Clare's past to come crashing down around these two either. Clare finds out that her father may have been involved in a cult and that maybe his death wasn't a suicide or accident after all. The more time Clare and Cam spend together, the closer they become and the more nervous they make certain people in town. Because while on the surface Emmitsboro may look like Mayberry, it is hiding a very dark evil secret. And someone will go to any lengths to keep that secret hidden.



Overall, it was an okay book. I did figure out who most of the people involved in the cult were before they were revealed, but I did not guess the real ringleader - that was a shocker to me.



3 stars out of 5


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Book Review: Trace

Trace by Patricia Cornwell

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
This book wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. The Last Precinct was a better read. There wasn't much action in this one, the characters weren't fleshed out very well at all, and the capture of the bad guy was very, very anti-climactic. I didn't even care much for Scarpetta in this book; her niece Lucy seemed to be a self-absorbed rich b***h; I don't know why she put certain characters in with others (she has Benton in Aspen "babysitting" Lucy's employee, who was attacked in Lucy's home). There is no resolution of a feud between Scarpetta and Virginia's new chief medical examiner, and really no hint that this will be re-visited in a future book (maybe she resolves it in another novel, I haven't heard). This book was quite a let down all the way around.


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Book Review: Eclipse

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This third novel in the Twilight series is better than the first two I think. It is a continuation from New Moon and it's best read in order. Basically this one has the Cullens joining forces with their bitter enemies the werewolves to protect Bella from Victoria (who was introduced in the first book, Twilight). Along the way, Bella has to choose between her love for Edward and her growing love for Jacob. I can't really say too much about the book without giving a lot of it away, but when Bella makes her choice, it is very bittersweet. I actually teared up a little at the end.

Hopefully the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn, will be another good read, as each book so far in the series has gotten better than the one before it, IMO.


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Book Review: Undead and Unappreciated

Undead and Unappreciated by MaryJanice Davidson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have found a new series to read. This was a more entertaining read than I was expecting, really. Betsy Taylor is the vampire queen, tricked into marrying the tall, dark and handsome king, Eric Sinclair. She lives in a Twin Cities mansion with Sinclair and their friends, most of whom are alive and who are aware of Betsy's status. (It sounds creepier than it actually is.)

Betsy finds out she has a half-sister she never knew about who is currently a student at the University. Her name is Laura. She is blonde haired, blue eyed, sparkly, bubbly and gorgeous. And oh yeah, she's also Satan's daughter, destined to rule the world someday...


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Book Review: Welcome To The World Baby Girl!

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!: A Novel by Fannie Flagg

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is one of the best ones I've read in a very long time. It tells the story of Dena Nordstrom, America's blonde haired, blue eyed #1 female newsperson in the 1970's. The book jumps back and forth between the 1940's and how Dena's parents met and her childhood, to 1978 New York City. It could easily get confusing, but Fannie Flagg writes it so flawlessly it isn't hard to follow at all.



It mainly centers around Dena and how her life is out of control - she drinks too much, goes out too often and cannot handle any type of relationship. And on top of all that, now she has a bleeding ulcer. What's a girl to do? Go see a psychiatrist. Only problem there is, the second she walks in his office, he falls in love with her. So he refers her to another doctor, aptly named Dr. Diggers, who keeps asking her questions about her childhood and her mother in particular.



What can Dena tell her? Her mother was a very private person and Dena did not know her well at all. During Christmas break one year, Dena flys to her mother's apartment in Chicago, only to find that her mother has disappeared off the face of the earth. Why? Where did she disappear to? What secrets was she keeping? Was her mother a Nazi spy? A sleazy reporter thinks so, and he would like nothing better than to destroy Dena and her reputation. Dena has to put the past to rest and the only way to do that is by solving the mystery of her mother's past and what exactly happened to her.



Along the way in this book, you meet some interesting characters, mainly in the town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri - Dena's hometown and the place where she finally becomes whole again.



4 stars out of 5


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Book Review: The Haunting

The Haunting by Joan Lowery Nixon

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wanted to grab a quick read, and this book fit the bill perfectly at 184 pages. It's about a 15 year old girl whose mother inherits a haunted house, Graymoss, in Louisiana and plan to adopt a bunch of hard-to-adopt children with her husband and live there. Problem is, Lia isn't crazy about that idea. The walls whisper one word over and over which no one can quite figure out, the designs on the ceiling turn into hissing and spitting monsters, invisible hands reach out and grab at people's hair and face; there have even been a couple of "accidents" of people falling down stairs after claiming they were pushed by something. The answers to the haunting lie in Lia's great-great-great grandmother's diary and a well worn copy of 'Favorite Tales of Edgar Allan Poe'. Can Lia solve the mystery and free Graymoss from the evil within it's walls? What is that one word that the house keeps whispering, then screaming? Will Lia and her parents be able to live in Graymoss, or will they run from the old plantation house like their ancestors have for the past 200 years?



This is an enjoyable read. Overall I give it 3 stars out of 5.


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Book Review: Judgment in Death

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love this series. I could not pick a favorite book out of it if I tried. This one pits Eve against a killer of dirty cops in New York in the year 2059. The first cop killed is moonlighting at a club called Purgatory which happens to be owned by Eve's husband Roarke. The normal cast of characters shows up in this installment also - Peabody, McNab, Feeney, Dr. Mira, Sommerset, Mavis, et al... I've grown quite fond of the characters in this series and their interactions with each other, Eve and Peabody especially make me chuckle.

Before you know it, two more cops are dead and Eve has her sights set on nailing a powerful mafia-type crime boss who she believes is behind the whole thing.

This series has it all...crime, punishment, sex, bad guys, futuristic crime fighting and a little bit of comic relief thrown in for good measure. I give this book 5 stars out of 5. I give the whole series a 5/5. Highly recommended.

Book Review - R is for Ricochet

I like this series for some reason. Ms. Grafton puts in way too many humdrum
details (I took a shower then walked to my closet and found my little black
dress, threw it on, went downstairs, walked into the kitchen and poured myself a
cup of coffee. Grabbing the newspaper, I sat down at the table to read the front
page...yada, yada, yada). Too many minute details, and it does get frustrating.
It's almost like she had a word quota to fill. But, like I said, for some reason
I like this series. Not really sure why, but I keep coming back for more. The
storyline itself is a good one; her characters are well developed and you do
tend to root for them. There is also a couple of new romances brewing (and
fizzling) in this book.

Overall, I would give it 3 stars out of 5.

Books Read So Far

Just so I can keep track of the books I've read, I'm going to list them here in this blog entry as I go along.

1. Blackwood Farm
2. Visions of Sugar Plums
3. R is for Ricochet
4. Shattered - A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
5. Twilight
6. New Moon
7. War and Peace
8. Judgment in Death
9. The Haunting
10. Welcome To The World, Baby Girl!
11. Undead and Unappreciated
12. Eclipse
13. Trace
14. Pride and Prejudice
15. Divine Evil
16. One For The Money
17. A Tale of Two Cities
18. Rose Madder
19. Darkfever
20. Islands
21. Murdering Mr. Monti
22. Morrigan's Cross
23. Lover Revealed
24. Scent of Darkness
25. Code Name: Nanny
26. A Million Little Pieces
27. Breaking Dawn
28. Dark Lover
29. Two For The Dough
30. Rapture In Death
31. Lover Eternal
32. Lover Awakened
33. Dance of the Gods
34. What Looks Like Crazy
35. A Clue For The Puzzle Lady

Please scroll down for my review of "Blackwood Farm"

The Heroin Diaries - A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

Title: The Heroin Diaries - A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

Author: Nikki Sixx with Ian Gitting

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-1194-6

ISBN-10: 1-4165-1194-6

Publisher: Pocket Books

Pages: 413

My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

I consider myself a child of the 80s, and I was a HUGE Motley Crue fan back in the day, so when I heard Nikki Sixx had written a book I was anxious to read it. I'm glad I did. I knew Motley overindulged in the "sex, drugs and rock & roll" lifestyle, but I never realized it was as bad as the picture Nikki paints in this book. It was 1987 and basically, he went insane. We find out a little about his family life, a LOT about life on the road, and what his life was like in his own skin. It ain't pretty, but addiction never is. I wish that kids and young adults who think this lifestyle is so glamourous and cool, and who maybe are tempted to party like a rock star would read this book first. Maybe it would turn them against it before they ever start. I knew Nikki had died once, but rock star overdoses aren't really a shock anymore. It's how close he came to suicide that really shocked me when I read this book. I'm glad he didn't die and I'm glad I read this book. I would recommend this book to anyone.
This is probably a great big DUH, but there is a lot of graphic parts in this book pertaining to drug use, bodily functions, sex and a lot of bad language, so if that offends you, you probably shouldn't read this book.

2009 Suspense & Thriller Reading Challenge: REVIEW: Blackwood Farm

MY REVIEW:




I had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time so maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't realy enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I can divide it into three parts. The first third of the book is alright as she introduces us to the characters and Blackwood Farm itself. Anne Rice is the master at creating ambience and this book is no exception. The middle half is what took me the longest to read (I found myself thinking as I did in her novel "Memnoch the Devil" that I just wish he would shut up already and let Lestat do his thing.) So the middle part is pretty boring. Then the final third of the book is probably the best of it, because FINALLY the action picks up. New characters are introduced, characters from other novels (Merrick and The Witching Hour series) are brought in, and there is more than one twist that I did not see coming before the end of the book. Overall I give it 3 stars out of 5.