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.


View all my reviews.

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.