Saturday, October 4, 2008

Book: Howl at the Moon (The Others #4)

Howl at the Moon (The Others, Book 4) Howl at the Moon by Christine Warren


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Working for the Alpha of the Silverback clan in the heart of Manhattan, Samantha has always been right in the middle of everything. But what will she do when Noah Barker, human brother of Abby, who married the Sun Demon Rule, returns to do some recruiting for the government out of the members of the pack?

Run from him ... until he captures her and her heart. Will he hold it or break it like she fears?

Warren does an excellent job of reaching into the true emotions of both of the main characters and putting it onto paper. Translates very well ... my heart broke when Samantha's did and soared with Noah ... great read.


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Book: Twilight Falls (A Novel of the Darkyn #6)

Twilight Fall: A Novel of the Darkyn (Darkyn, Book 6) Twilight Fall: A Novel of the Darkyn by Lynn Viehl


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Valentin Jaus is finally finding something to take his mind off Jema ... Liling Harper.

Beautiful, Asian and ... different, Jaus and Lili find themselves in each other arms right away.

The plot is twisted and lovely if you can get passed the light S&Mish undertone. Jaus is a dominate persona and Lili is submissive which makes them a perfect pair.


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Book: The Painted Drum

The Painted Drum: A Novel (P.S.) The Painted Drum: A Novel by Louise Erdrich


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
An odd but nice read taken from three different points of view that all revolve around the mysterious drum.


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Friday, October 3, 2008

Book: Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville Series #2)

Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville, Book 2) Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Called to testify before a grand jury led by a faith-driven, conservative nutjob, Kitty Norville has to travel to Washington, D.C. Not that big of a deal when you've been driving around the Southwest because if you return to Denver, your home, your old pack will kill you. Poor Kitty.

With the help of Ben, her lawyer, Kitty is going to need some kehonies to deal with the committee.

Before she even gets to her hotel, Kitty is taken from her car and brought to the home of the resident Vampire Master of D.C.

Soon, she's being escorted around the city by the Master's right hand man, Leo. At an event, she slips away for a night of fun when she scents another were ... a werejaguar ... a HOT werejaguar.

Between her new lover, the committee, pushy vampires and the reappearance of Cormac what could go wrong?

Oh poor Kitty ... we all know the answer is everything!


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Book: Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3)

The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book #3) The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
The latest in the Lords of the Underworld Series, Gena Showalter delves into new levels of awesome with The Darkest Pleasure.

Constantly on the run, Danika has finally been caught. But not by the lords who once held her captive in Budapest. She fights off Hunters who have vowed to use her to draw out the Lords.

And draw them they do.

Reyes burst in like a man possessed (ha ha ha get it? possessed? never mind). Saving Danika, he brings her back to the castle in Budapest where he has to figure some things outs.

Like what is he going to do if Aeron still wants to kill her and her family? Where is her family? And what piece do they all play in the eyes of the gods?

S&M, pain and a little naughty sex all play out in the lives of Reyes and Danika.

Great read. Can't wait for the next one!


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Book: The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
I completely forgot why I liked this series of tales. It's what happens when you are a sophomore and not really pay attention in class (or as my bff Courts would say ... "wait, you went to that class?) ...

Bawdy, lewd and ridiculous for it's time. The Canterbury Tales weave morals, lessons and a lot of good 15th century humor into each tale.

My person favorite is the Wife of Bath's tale.


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Book: The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
I completely forgot why I liked this series of tales. It's what happens when you are a sophomore and not really pay attention in class (or as my bff Courts would say ... "wait, you went to that class?) ...

Bawdy, lewd and ridiculous for it's time. The Canterbury Tales weave morals, lessons and a lot of good 15th century humor into each tale.

My person favorite is the Wife of Bath's tale.


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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Book: Phantom in the Night (B.A.D. Series #6)

Phantom in the Night (B.A.D. Series, #6) Phantom in the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Nathan Drake's life couldn't get any worse: he is finally get out of jail (2 years), his mother died of ovarian cancer, and he finds out his identical twin brother, Jaime, has been exectuted by a crime family who thought they were killing Nathan. Could his life get worse?

Oh yes it could.

Into Nathan's life walks Terry. Blonde and deadly, she's working for B.A.D. and she's damn if some man is going to take away her bust. But when they both fall into something bigger (an international crime syndicate that has been in operation since before the Renaissance) can they pull themselves out before they and those that they love get hurt?

With the help of an old Special Ops friend and Terry, Nathan plans to do just that.

But how will the game plan change when Nathan realizes that he's falling for Terry?

Great book. As always, Kenyon is a master manipulator of emotions and works her magic again!

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Book: Realm of the Gods (Immortals series #4)

The Realms of the Gods (Immortals, Book 4) The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the mythical land of Tortall, Daine's story continues as she and Numair, her sage and teacher, are sucked into the Realm of the Gods by the Badger God. She knows she must get back to the world in which she was born or she can't help the Queen, King Jonathan or the King's Champion, Alana.

What's a girl to do?

Fighting, kicking and clawing (pun completely intended) her way to the top Daine finds herself and love in this last of the Immortals series. Can Daine over come Chaos and help the world to continue spinning? If she's got the grit!

Good ending to a good series. I didn't like this series as much as Pierce's Lionness series (about Alana) but I still enjoyed it!

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Book: Heart of the Sea (Gallaghers of Ardmore Series #3)

Heart of the Sea (Gallaghers of Ardmore / Irish trilogy #3) Heart of the Sea by Nora Roberts

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Darcy's only ever wanted two things ... money and someone to give it to her. When the rich great-grandnephew of Johnny Magee comes storming into town to build the music theatre behind the family pub, Darcy's life is thrown for a loop.

Devilishly handsome and rich, Trevor Magee has always had a strange pull to his father's native land of Ireland and the small out of the way town on the Irish Sea, Ardmore. He's just there to build the theatre, or so he thinks. Turns out ... he's there to fall in love with the untamed and wild raven haired Darcy Gallagher.

But will money and looks be enough for the self proclaimed money hungry Darcy? Or will Carrick and Lady Gwen's final words come to haunt them both?

A spectacular ending to the series. Honestly, I would have liked to see more Lady Gwen and Carrick in this one ... kind of like in the first one (Jewels of the Sun). The ending for Carrick and Lady Gwen was too short. Other than that, it was fantastic.

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Book: Tears of the Moon (Gallaghers of Ardmore Series #2)

Tears of the Moon (Gallaghers of Ardmore / Irish trilogy #2) Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
A little bit of Irish mythology thrown in with some good old fashioned romance.

Shawn Gallagher is so wrapped up in his music and his life as a chef in his family's pub that he doesn't see what's right in front of him ... Brenna.

Firey hair and spirit Brenna has wanted to love Shawn since she was 14 and broken his nose playing baseball. When will he wake up and realize that she's here and ready for him? Probably when she offers to sleep with him.

But no, he turns her down and the game of cat and mouse is now in play. A side story of a Mr. Magee that wants to come to Ardmore and build a music theatre behind the pub and Jude and Aiden's pregnancy play out with Shawn and Brenna's story of love.

Great second book in the series.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Book: Jewels of the Sun (Gallaghers of Ardmore Series #1)

Jewels of the Sun (Gallaghers of Ardmore / Irish trilogy #1) Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
A decent enough romance set in Ireland. (It's my soft spot and why I picked up the book).

After thinking she's on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Jude Francise Murray hops on a plan and heads to County Waterford to stay for six months at her grandmother's ancestrial home.

Aidan Gallagher, owner of the local pub, spies the lass on soon after she arrives and at once his roaming heart is tempted to put down roots.

With a touch of magic and a sprinkling of Irish lore and mythology that any good Irish child (myself included) has heard a number of times, Aidan and Jude come together. But will it last?

I nice "summer" read. Quick. It got me through the night when I was up with my cold, sneezing.


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Book: Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
A beautiful and poignant tale centered around the life of Kathy, a student of Halesham who grows to become a respected Carer.

What we don't realize for a good portion of the book (although it is subtly refered to but never said right out) is that the children at this school are clones. They are here so that the rest of the population can harvast organs (called "donations"). They make four donations and then "complete" (it's assumed that this means they die).

Ishiguro is able to take these "students"/clones/donation candidates and through his retelling of Kathy's life, humanize them for us.

Honestly, the only reason I even thought to read this book was because of a friend of mine, whose opinion on things literary I truly respect, mentioned that he had read this.

I found the first very chapters difficult to get into but once I got passed that point, I fell ... literally tumbled ... in love with this novel. When the question came up that Madame and Ms. Emily stated that most regular people questioned whether the "students" had souls ... that made me sick. Sick to the core. How could they not have had souls!?!? Souls feel ... souls hate ... souls forgive ... souls love.

And Kathy and Tommy's love ... it was beautiful even when they weren't really "in love" or when Ruth was in the way. It was still Tommy and Kath and not Tommy and Ruth in my mind. Ruth was more dehumanized for me than were some of the other names that popped in and out of the novel.

I cried at the end when Kathy pulled out of Tommy's donation center. I was pissed at Ruth for keeping Tommy and Kathy apart for so long. I was heartbroken when Kathy ended up on the road in the county that they (as children) had believed everything they had ever lost would turn up and she had the vision of Tommy waiting for her.

This book has fast become one of my favorites ... ever.

Incidently, I found this review of the novel as I was searching for some other information and really liked it (note I had to cut some of the text out to fit it. Full text: http://www.slate.com/id/211604...

Brave New World

Kazuo Ishiguro's novel really is chilling.

By Margaret Atwood

Posted Friday, April 1, 2005, at 7:25 AM ET

Chilling me softly

It's a thoughtful, crafty, and finally very disquieting look at the effects of dehumanization on any group that's subject to it. In Ishiguro's subtle hands, these effects are far from obvious. There's no Them-Bad, Us-Good preaching; rather there's the feeling that as the expectations of such a group are diminished, so is its ability to think outside the box it has been shut up in. The reader reaches the end of the book wondering exactly where the walls of his or her own invisible box begin and end.

The narrator, Kathy H., is looking back on her school days at a superficially idyllic establishment called Hailsham. (As in "sham"; as in Charles Dickens' Miss Havisham, exploiter of uncomprehending children.) At first you think the "H" in "Kathy H." is the initial of a surname, but none of the students at Hailsham has a real surname. Soon you understand that there's something very peculiar about this school. Tommy, for instance, who is the best boy at football, is picked on because he's no good at art: In a conventional school it would be the other way around.

In fact, Hailsham exists to raise cloned children who have been brought into the world for the sole purpose of providing organs to other, "normal" people. They don't have parents. They can't have children. Once they graduate, they will go through a period of being "carers" to others of their kind who are already being deprived of their organs; then they will undergo up to four "donations" themselves, until they "complete." (None of these terms has originated with Ishiguro; he just gives them an extra twist.) The whole enterprise, like most human enterprises of dubious morality, is wrapped in euphemism and shadow: The outer world wants these children to exist because it's greedy for the benefits they can confer, but it doesn't wish to look head-on at what is happening. We assume—though it's never stated—that whatever objections might have been raised to such a scheme have already been overcome: By now the rules are in place and the situation is taken for granted—as slavery was once—by beneficiaries and victims alike.

All this is background. Ishiguro isn't much interested in the practicalities of cloning and organ donation. (Which four organs, you may wonder? A liver, two kidneys, then the heart? But wouldn't you be dead after the second kidney, anyway? Or are we throwing in the pancreas?) Nor is this a novel about future horrors: It's set, not in a Britain-yet-to-come, but in a Britain-off-to-the-side, in which cloning has been introduced before the 1970s. Kathy H. is 31 in the late 1990s, which places her childhood and adolescence in the '70s and early '80s—close to those of Ishiguro, who was born in 1955 in Nagasaki and moved to England when he was 5. (Surely there's a connection: As a child, Ishiguro must have seen many young people dying far too soon, through no fault of their own.) And so the observed detail is realistic—the landscapes, the kind of sports pavilion at Hailsham, the assortment of teachers and "guardians," even the fact that Kathy listens to her music via tape, not CD.

Kathy H. has nothing to say about the unfairness of her fate. Indeed, she considers herself lucky to have grown up in a superior establishment like Hailsham rather than on the standard organ farm. Like most people, she's interested in personal relationships: in her case, the connection between her "best friend," the bossy and manipulative Ruth, and the boy she loves—Tommy, the amiable football-playing bad artist. Ishiguro's tone is perfect: Kathy is intelligent but nothing extraordinary, and she prattles on in the obsessive manner touchy girls have, going back over past conversations and registering every comment and twitch and crush and put-down and cold shoulder and gang-up and spat. It's all hideously familiar and gruesomely compelling to anyone who ever kept a teenage diary.

What is art for? the characters ask. They connect the question to their own circumstances, but surely they speak for anyone with a connection with the arts: What is art for? The notion that it ought to be for something, that it must serve some clear social purpose—extolling the gods, cheering people up, illustrating moral lessons—has been around at least since Plato and was tyrannical in the 19th century. It lingers with us still, especially when parents and teachers start squabbling over the school curricula. Art does turn out to have a purpose in Never Let Me Go, but it isn't quite the purpose the characters have been hoping for.

One motif at the very core of Never Let Me Go is the treatment of out-groups, and the way out-groups form in-groups, even among themselves. The marginalized are not exempt from doing their own marginalization: Even as they die, Ruth and Tommy and the other donors form a proud, cruel little clique, excluding Kathy H. because, not being a donor yet, she can't really understand.

The book is also about our tendency to cannibalize others to make sure we ourselves get a soft ride. Ursula Le Guin has a short story called The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, in which the happiness of the many depends absolutely on the arranged unhappiness of the few, and Never Let Me Go could be read as a sister text: The children of Hailsham are human sacrifices, offered up on the altar of improved health for the population at large. With babies already being created with a view to their organs—help for an afflicted sibling, for instance—the dilemma of the Hailsham "students" is bound to become more general. Who owns your body? Who therefore is entitled to offer it up? The reluctance of Kathy H. and her pals to really confront what awaits them—pain, mutilation, death—may account for the curious lack of physicality of Kathy's descriptions of their life. Nobody eats anything much in this book, nobody smells anything. We don't know much about what the main characters look like. Even the sex is oddly bloodless. But landscapes, buildings, and the weather are intensely present. It's as if Kathy has invested a lot of her sense of self in things quite far away from her own body, and thus less likely to be injured.

Finally, the book is also about our wish to do well, to attract approval. The children's poignant desire to be patted on the head—to be a "good carer," keeping those from whom organs are being taken from becoming too distressed; to be a "good donor," someone who makes it through all four "donations"—is heartbreaking. This is what traps them in their cage: None of them thinks about running away or revenging themselves upon the "normal" members of society. Ruth takes refuge in grandiose lies about herself and in daydreams—maybe she'll be allowed to get an office job. Tommy reacts with occasional rage to the unconscionable things being done to him, but then apologizes for his loss of control. In Ishiguro's world, as in our own, most people do what they're told.

Tellingly, two words recur again and again. One, as you might expect, is "normal." The other is "supposed," as in the last words of the book: "wherever it was that I was supposed to be going." Who defines "normal"? Who tells us what we are supposed to be doing? These questions always become more pressing in times of stress; unless I'm much mistaken, they'll loom ever larger in the next few years.


Never Let Me Go is unlikely to be everybody's cup of tea. The people in it aren't heroic. The ending is not comforting. Nevertheless, this is a brilliantly executed book by a master craftsman who has chosen a difficult subject: ourselves, seen through a glass, darkly.


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Book: Return of the Warrior (MacAllister Series #7)

Return of the Warrior (Brotherhood/MacAllister Series, Book #7) Return of the Warrior by Kinley MacGregor

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Two souls both desperate for a family cling together in the hopes for salvation. Can they save themselves? Can they save each other? Can they save the kingdoms each is supposed to rule?

Queen Adara has ruled without her husband since she was seven. Waiting for her beloved was her only goal but the power hungry steward of the neighboring country is pressuring her to denounce her husband as dead. Instead, Adara wishes to find the man she has always loved and bring him home so he can finally help her rule her country ... and his own.


Pushed away from his homeland, Christian de Acre lost his parents at a young age, was imprisioned in a monastary, had said monastary burned to the ground, and was imprisioned in Outremer. How much more can one man take? How about a woman he vague remembers turning up declaring them to be man and wife?


Slowly, their love grows and the two head back to take on the usper to both of their throwns.

Again, MacGreggor/Kenyon does a fantastic job of tapping into the basis of human emotions. Great read.

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Book: Midnight Rishing (Midnight Breed Series #4)

Midnight Rising (Midnight Breed Series, Book #4) Midnight Rising by Lara Adrian

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dangerous to himself and to those around him, Rio has decided to end it all by blowing some C4 in the hibernation chambers in the mountains of Romania. By some stroke of fate, that very day, Dylan Alexander, journalist with a tabloid rag, just happens to wander into his quasi-sancutary.

After returning the next day and snapping some photos, Rio has to hunt her down and destroy the evidence of the chamber. In the process, he discovers she's a Breedmate, one of the rare and highly revered women who can produce children from the coupling with a Breed male.

Returning to Boston with the Breedmate, Rio finds it difficult to accept his past (the disception of his wife Eva, who killed her self (Book #1)) and cope with the knowledge that his brothers in the Order, especially Niko, know he was planning to kill himself.

Behind it all, Dragos's son has the Ancient, who Dragos awoke from the slumber of the hibernation chamber, is breeding more Gen Ones while other Gen Ones are disappearing all over the world. The Order needs to find out what is going on and in a hurry if they are planning to save the others ... and themselves.

Rio needs help ... is Dylan the answer?

Lara Adrian does a better job in this novel than in her past works (such as Books #2 and/or #3) of setting up something compeling (something that won't let you put the book down). Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for the broken guy (aka Zarek from the Dark-Hunter series or Zsadist from the Blackdagger Brotherhood), but I liked this book much better than the first three.

Can't wait for Nikolai's story to come out!


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Book: Prince of Twilight (Twilight Series #14)

Prince Of Twilight (Twilight Series Book 12) Prince Of Twilight by Maggie Shayne

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sixteen years after Vlad Dracula (yes ... THAT Dracula) took Tempest Jones away from Maxie and Lou, we meet up with her again. A little rounder and a little older, Stormy still remembers her time with Vlad

... and she is still in love with him.

Vlad is still searching for a way to bring back his wife, Elisabeta, who commited suicide 500 years ago after hearing that Vlad had been killed while defending the borderlands.

Vlad knows that he must find the ring and the scroll that the magicians and socerers from 500 years ago imbued with power so that he can release his Beta. He only has a few days to complete the ritual.

But at what cost? Can he pick Beta over Tempest? Who is he in love with? How powerful is that love?

This book was one of the better Twilight series novels. True and palipable heartfelt emotions soared through Stormy and Vlad. Beta's reintroduction into a corporeal form was entertaining too (reading about how she discovered Coke and how it made her burp - hilarious).

A slight twist at the end made it all the more endearing.


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Friday, September 12, 2008

Book: Ghost of a Chance (Karma Marx Series #1)

Ghost of a Chance (Karma Marx: Book 1) Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh


My review


rating: 2 of 5 stars
Karma Marx is half-human, half-polter but 100 percent in control of the situation. After dealing with her philandering husband for just long enough, she makes a deal with him, Spider, to grant her a divorce. Her side of the bargain is that she has to help him clean (exorcise the ghosts and other paranormal beings from) his newest investment which is the most haunted house in all of the Olympic Pennisula.

But Karma is sick of banishing spirits to the otherside. She's begun taking them in and sheltering them. But if it means she can get rid of her husband, she's willing to take on the job.

Out of nowhere, Pixie shows up. The Otherside's equivalent of foster care needs Karma (and Spider - only because he "agreed" to help foster) to take care of the teenager.

With Pixie, Karma heads out to the house to do the cleaning. There she meets Adam, the resident polter and the other spirits that live in the house: Antonio and Jules (two spirits who we assume are together - once they refer to themselves as domestic partners) and Amanita (a unicorn).

After sometime fighting with Adam about who owns the house (Spider bought it out from under Adam in a very very shading deal), Spider and his business partner Meredith show up. Angered beyond belief, Adam seals the house (a kind of otherside lockdown).

After confessing that he, Spider, and his partner Meredith were the ones who raped and murdered Karma's fifteen year old cousin, Bethany, Spider is found in the basement ... dead.

Who killed him? Who is this woman Savanagh who seems to know more about the otherside beings than she lets on? And what part do Adam and Karma play in all this?

Slow at times but I might be willing to pick up a second book (if there is one) in this series.

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Book: Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl Series #6)

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, Book 6) Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another stellar visit into the world of Artemis Fowl (teenage genius) and Holly Short (captian of the L.E.P.).

Back from the place where time doesn't exist (where he saved Number 1 - a warlock), three years has gone by but Artemis (and Holly) both find that they are the same as when they left on their last journey. Artemis has two new (twin) 2 year old brothers.

But, Angeline Fowl is sick. Deathly ill. And it's because of magic. She has been infected with a plague like illness that struck down fairies in the past but now is virtually unheard of. Cure? lemur brain fluid.

Problem? Artemis (his 10 year old self) had the last lemur killed 8 years ago. Answer? GO BACK IN TIME!

Artemis and Holly get closer in this novel and you can see the bonds between the pair get stronger. Artemis's nasty criminal mind is becoming more moral in his old age and he's realizing what it really means to have friends and family.

I'm anticipating another novel in this series. I hope it comes out soon.


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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Book: War and Peace

War and Peace War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy


My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
A great book. Then again, I'm a huge Tolstoy fan so I'm not what you would call "impartial."

My favorite passage was the section describing the French troops coming into a deserted Moscow in 1812. The city was empty of all the gentry and nobles but some of the peasants were still there. Tolstoy equated the city to a bee hive without its queen. The left over bees do activities that are somewhat similar to what they had been doing but not exactly and buzz around in drunken, lost circles looking for purpose. The bee keeper comes in then and burns what is left over of the hive (which is what the French did to Moscow by looting and burning it). The passage is powerful and beautiful in its elegency.

The only thing I could have done without was the lengthy second Epilogue. It didn't tell me anything that Tolstoy hadn't already said in less words during the novel. Unneeded in my view.

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Book: War and Peace

War and Peace War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy


My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
A great book. Then again, I'm a huge Tolstoy fan so I'm not what you would call "impartial."

My favorite passage was the section describing the French troops coming into a deserted Moscow in 1812. The city was empty of all the gentry and nobles but some of the peasants were still there. Tolstoy equated the city to a bee hive without its queen. The left over bees do activities that are somewhat similar to what they had been doing but not exactly and buzz around in drunken, lost circles looking for purpose. The bee keeper comes in then and burns what is left over of the hive (which is what the French did to Moscow by looting and burning it). The passage is powerful and beautiful in its elegency.

The only thing I could have done without was the lengthy second Epilogue. It didn't tell me anything that Tolstoy hadn't already said in less words during the novel. Unneeded in my view.

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Book: Killing Moon (Moon Series #1)

Killing Moon (Moon series, Book 1) Killing Moon by Rebecca York

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Megan was only doing her job when her boss asked her to take her lab supplies and go out to a client's house to take some blood. She just thought she'd be there for a few minutes to collect his blood and then head back to the lab so she might do some research on the genotypes in his sample.

Was she ever wrong.

PI Ross Marshall is a werewolf. And he's really good at his job. He has single handedly taken down one serial killer/rapist and is working on the second. Only problem? When the police didn't believe his tips about the first killer, he took matters into his own hands ... or muzzle as it was.

When Megan walked into his house to find him naked and bleeding from an infected gunshot wound in his leg, his life changes forever. Her touch is electric and now he understands everything his father ever told him (all be it in The Big Bad Wolf's most vulgar language) about finding his mate.

Because after all, wolves mate for life.

Part detective story, part suspense thriller, all paranormal romance, this was a great start to this series.

A little vulgar for my taste (mostly when setting up the latest serial killer/rapist's mentality and what he did with women) but other than that it was good.


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Book: Twilight Hunger (Twilight Series #7)

Twilight Hunger (Twilight Series Book 7) Twilight Hunger by Maggie Shayne

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Maggie Shayne dips her hand back into the world of vampires and comes out with a good (but not great) book.

Morgan is haunted by Dante, a man who she has come to know and love through some diaries that he left in her house. Slightly stealing from the diaries, Morgan writes Dante's stories in the form of a screenplay. Eventually, she becomes somewhat of a big hit and getting an award nomination.

Then, Dante shows up.

The subplot of Maxine, Lou, Lydia, and Stormy completely take over Dante and Morgan's story. I did not like this novel as much as Shayne's others. But nonetheless, it was a good read.


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Saturday, September 6, 2008

Book: A Dark Champion (MacAllister Series #6)

A Dark Champion (Brotherhood/MacAllister Series, Book #6) A Dark Champion by Kinley MacGregor

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kinley MacGregor does another bang up job with this historical romance.

A knight in shining armor set to steal your heart and flood your senses. Who could ask for more? Rowena de Vitry, that's who. A woman ahead of her time stuck in King Henry II's England, all she wants is to share her gift of music with those around her.

In strides (no pun intended) Stryder, Earl of Blackmoor. Every woman wants him. Every man wants to be him. His problem? Forgetting his past in Outremer.

Fate throws these two passionate souls together as they fight for each others' lives and hearts.

A spectacular novel in the MacAllister/the Brotherhood series.

Stryder often mentioned Simon and his wife Kenna ... I feel like I might have missed a book in this series. I always wanted to know what would happen to poor Simon. I'll have to get on that one!

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Book: Walk on the Wild Side (The Others #5)

Walk on the Wild Side (The Others, Book 5) Walk on the Wild Side by Christine Warren

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another terrific book in the continuing tale of the Others. Set almost a year after the coming out, Kitty Sugarman is in for a big surprise.

After a horrifying car accident, Kitty Sugarman (ironically named) shifts into a Leo, the lion form of a werewolf (aka a werelion). She's scared and needs answers. NOW.

Her mother finally admits to her that her father isn't dead like she had been told, and he lives in Las Vegas. So Kitty hops aboard a flight and heads west looking for the answers to why she turns into an animal that belongs on the plains of Africa when she is frightened.

What she finds there is a little more frightening, unexpected, and, not just a little, sexy.

Max Stuart. The baas, second in command to the Felix (head of the pride). He runs the casino that Kitty is to stay at. And oh, did he mention to her that her father just happens to own that casino? And he's dying of cancer.

Poor Kitty has to dodge romantic attention from Max, her insane step-family that is dogging for her to leave before her father dies, and an assissin who is trying to whipe her out without giving her a reason.

The reason I gave the book a 4 instead of a 5 was because I wanted Christine Warren to go into a little more depth with the emotions of the characters. They seemed a little too 2D instead of 3D.

It's like comparing these characters (almost formed lumps of clay) to Sherrilyn Kenyon or Kresley Cole's characters (beautiful vases). You don't "feeling" anything from them the way you do with Kenyon or Cole. The former two write and your heart breaks and soars along with their characters. Warren almost gets that right but just misses the mark.

And to top it all off ... the sex scenes were strange. First he's WAY too big for her (yeah don't all guys think that ... HA! - sorry that was mean). And second, there was shifted sex (i.e. they mated while in lion form) - I'm not saying that it's not the first "shifted" sex scene I've read but it was definitely the most explicit. Strange.

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Book: Scent of Darkness (Darkness Chosen #1)

Scent of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, Book 1) Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another great paranormal-romance series that I just happen to stumble upon.

After making a pact with the devil more than a 1000 years ago, the Wilder family must deal with the ramifications of their ancestor's bargain. Each of the four brothers must find a piece of the family's icon (four scenes of the Madonna). Problem? There are only three brothers in the family and one daughter.

Jasha Wilder finds his love in his personal assistant Ann Smith. A wolf shifter, he hunts her down one day that she comes up to his castle tucked away in the forrest. But, unbeknownst to her, she's allowed the Wilder's distant Russian family to follow her to Jasha's hiding place.

The true romance scenes here were odd. I have a real problem with forced (aka quasi-rape-esque) plot devices that are meant to fit into someone's niche of erotic literature.

Of the three sex scenes, two of them were all but "forced." It's possible that in the wolf world it's ok to do that to your made or someone for which you wish to dominate (as a male would a female) but since a.) I'm human and b.) the characters were one human and one shifter that spent a good deal of time as a human ... this bothered me some what.

If it wasn't for that fact I would have given the book 5 stars.


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Monday, September 1, 2008

Book: Born In Sin (MacAllister Series #3)

Born in Sin (Brotherhood/ MacAllister Series, Book #3) Born in Sin by Kinley MacGregor

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another fantastic addition the Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor's MacAllister series.

Saved from the harsh life of slavery and killing he was sold into, Sin is the trusted advisor and sometimes friend of King Henry of England. Allowing no man nor family to claim him, Sin deals with his demons (and being called a demon as well as the devil himself and a baby eater) on a daily basis.

Much to his chagrin, Henry orders Sin to marry a woman who is the oldest daughter of the former (now dead) Laird of the clan MacNeeley. Sin wants nothing to do with her. He wants nothing to do with the homeland (Scotland) who shut her door to him. Sin hates ALL things Scottish.

Who is this red haired vixen? Caledonia. So Scottish, her name is the Gaelic word for Scotland.

What is a man like Sin to do? And what happens when he starts to fall for the little minx?

All around a good addition to the series. This book allows you to see all the brothers, their dead father, and Sin's step-mother (the rest of the boy's biological mother) in a different light.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Book: Claiming the Highlander (MacAllister Series #2)

Claiming the Highlander (Brotherhood/ MacAllister Series, Book #2) Claiming the Highlander by Kinley MacGregor

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
All it took was one fickle woman to ruin the lives of most of the members of two clans in the Highlands of Scotland. Clansmen from both families are still paying the price to this day (seven years later) and Maggie ingen Blar is sick of buring her family over this stupid feud. Using her brains she rallies the women of both clans to hide in the kirk (church) on her family's land and in the castle of the MacDonald's land. Suffering from loneliness, bad hygenie, and horrendous cooking, the men of the clans realize that Maggie is a pain in the butt and her influence has to be removed from their women's presence.

Their best idea? Send in Braden MacAllister, playboy extradinaire.

Problem? Maggie has been in love with Braden since she was a child of ten. How is she going to end the feud, save the laird AND her heart in one fell swoop?

Deep and emotionally, I enjoyed Kenyon/MacGregor's tone and the speed at which the plot moved. As always Kenyon/MacGregor probes the emotions behind the characters and doesn't leave you with a flat 2D picture of anyone. We can see their souls through her words.


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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Book: Master of Desire (MacAllister Series #1)

Master of Desire (Brotherhood/MacAllister Series, Book #1) Master of Desire by Kinley MacGregor


My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

A historical romance set in the England during the reign of Henry II. Draven, Earl of Ravenwood, is forced by his sovereign to take in the youngest daughter of his sworn enemy in an attempt to bring some truce between the two feuding households. This works for sometime as Emily and Draven get close. She is determined he will be her husband and he has made an oath to the King to return her to her father in one years time in the exact same way he left her. Old wounds and psychological trama come up for Draven leaving Emily's feelings battered but not bruised. Can she win him?

Overall, a good read. Not one of the best from Kenyon but a very good start to the MacAllister Series. The one part I didn't appreciate was that she threw in Sin's name close to the end in a very off-handedly way. If I hadn't already read some of the MacAllister series book already, I would have had no idea what she was talking about. Literally, it says Sin did something with Draven ... nothing is explained about who Sin is ... or why he was there. Like I said, I knew who Sin was but didn't expect him to show up in this book.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Book: A Pirate of Her Own

A Pirate of Her Own A Pirate of Her Own by Kinley MacGregor

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A woman oppressed by the male dominated early Colonial times, we find Serenity James (a spinster and totally unmarriage-able at 25 - great ... where does that leave the rest of us?) in the office of her father's publishing house. She is a brilliant writer but her place is in the home not the work force.

After writing about The Sea Wolf, a privateer who frees enslaved Colonists from British ships, a stranger appears in the office. It takes no time for the reader to realize that he's attracted to her, even though (gasp) she's 25, unmarried, and wears conservative clothing. And clearly visa versa.

Somehow, she's taken aboard the ship by Jake, who is really one of Captain Drake's (aka the Sea Wolf's) friends. A woman on a ship full of men? Oh bad idea. So Drake stores her away in his own cabin ... which probably is like putting a lamb in the wolf's den and expecting him not to eat her ... literally.

As always, Kenyon/MacGreggor delves deeper into the character and their emotions than most romance novelists that I've read. She has a way to tell the story very nicely without being too cutsie pootsie. Well done.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008

Book: The Nymph King

The Nymph King The Nymph King by Gena Showalter

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm not sure if I liked this book because of the plot etc ... or liked it because I like the way Gena Showalter writes.

This was the story of Valerian (btw - why do all romance novels have use the same 10 names for their lead male characters?) and Shaye. Val (I like to call him that in my head - it's Tabitha's fault! (read Sherrilyn Kenyon's Night Play and you will understand)) steals Shaye from her mother's 6th wedding (along with about 20 other women). Shaye is emotionally scarred from years of emotional, physcological and sometimes physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her mother and the revolving door step-father and step-siblings.

Slowly, Shaye warms to Val.

Here's what I don't understand. Shaye is set ... SET ... in her ways ... as anyone with half a brain who was treated like she was would be ... and holds her ground for the majority of the book. And then when Val needs her (read: is really horny for her) and he all but forces her (then says "Oh but don't worry, as I'm hovering above you in this precariously sexual way, I won't force anything on you ... just say stop." I'm screaming in my head: clearly, you have put yourself and Shaye in this position because you want to have your way with her. While that's well and good, she has said no a hundred times already. Don't you understand that "no" means "no"?)

Yeah that made the book a little lacking for me.

I did like the subplot of Brenna and Joachim (I assume that's said like Joaquim). It was a nice little throw in there. I'm still wondering what will happen to Shivawn (I assume that's said like the Gaelic female name Siobhan) and if he and Alyssa the vampire hooked up ...

guess I'll have to wait for the next one!

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Friday, August 22, 2008

Book: Savor Me Slowly

Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress Novel, Book #3) Savor Me Slowly by Gena Showalter


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
A fantastic third novel in the Alien Huntress series. Better than the first two, this third book focuses on Mishka Le'Ace, half-woman, half-machine and Jaxon. Held hostage for information he knows, Jaxon is saved by Le'Ace. We come to know both of their backgrounds while meeting up with Kyrin and Mia (Book #1), Lucius and Eden (Book #2).


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I'm still reading War and Peace. I'm almost 1/3rd of the way through it ... it's a long book and it's my "home-reading" book (i.e. the book I'm reading at home - as I have a book for different places to read like while working or trying to fall asleep etc).

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Book: Bitten

Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) Bitten by Kelley Armstrong


My review


I'm starting to fall for the "werewolf" version of Para-romance. I love the "family" dynamic of a pact (and especially in Bitten, the dynamic between Clay and Elena).



Very well written.


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Bluebird

I love this poem. I just wanted to share it.

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay in there,
I'm not goingto let anybody see you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pore whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smokeand the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerksnever know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
dieand we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Book: Blue Twilight (Twilight Series #11)

Blue Twilight (Twilight Series Book 11) Blue Twilight by Maggie Shayne


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
The human side of Shayne's vampire world. Elegant and lovely. I almost liked Maxine and Lou's story (both of whom are human) better than some of the vampires' stories.


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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Book: Jewel of Atlantis

Jewel Of Atlantis Jewel Of Atlantis by Gena Showalter

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
With the reappearance of Grayson James (sister to Katie James from the Stone Prince), we already know the story is going to kick major butt. A deep bond he doesn't fully understand and a mission in his mind, Gray is drawn to an enslaved beauty in a market place. Tension, tempers, and libidos run wild when Gray breaks the beauty, who he calls Jewel because she doesn't have a name, free ... with sexy results.



Action, adventure, and a good old fashion true love story ... what more can a girl ask for.


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Book: A Sound of Thunder

A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories by Ray Bradbury



My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Deep and disturbingly beautiful. Reminds us of how the most insignificant of things can change everything (for the better or worse).



On the eve of a election, a party of rich men purchase a time travel safari to the past to hunt a T-Rex. While the safari guides have taken every precaution to minimize the impact of the hunting party on the past, one member violates the rules and leaves the designated path. Upon their return to the present the group finds that the world has been drastically altered by the seemingly innocuous death of a pre-historic butterfly.



The imagiary of the mashed golden butterfly embedded in the mud of Eckelsly's shoe still haunts me to this day even though I've read this book a few times.


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The book was much, much better than the movie version of the tale. The movie takes it step further asking you to assume that we didn't know the businessman stepped off the path and to assume that they all thought the safari was a success. Then we are forced to watch the head of the safari guide team, aptle played by Edward Burns, find a scientist who knows all about prehistoric times and somehow, too, how to reverse all the changes that are now sweeping over the world in waves (literally in waves).

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Book: Night's Edge

Night's Edge Night's Edge by Maggie Shayne


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read only Maggie Shane's story in this. It was well thought out and executed.


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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Book: Tantalize

Tantalize Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith


My review


rating: 2 of 5 stars
Honestly, the set up was good. We knew the main character (Quincie) and we understood her feelings for her bestfriend/half-werewolf (Kieran). But, things started to fall apart after that. Just expected things happened. There was no illusions that your assumptions might be off or wrong ... and you knew EXACTLY what was going to happen.



Really, there was an acceptable amount of rising action and then it just ENDED?!?! There was no explaination of why what happened really happened. And Quincie was upset by her own actions because she didn't want to be all alone again?



I hate to say it but if there is another book in this series I will probably look for it at the library because I hate not knowing the whole story. But I didn't really like this book all that much. I just want to know what is going to happen between Quincie, Brad, and Kieran.



And when did the Principal become a vampire?


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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Book: Edge of Twilight (Twilight Series #10)

Edge Of Twilight (Twilight Series Book 10) (Mira Romance) Edge Of Twilight by Maggie Shayne

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
What happens when the daughter of two vampires finally grows up? Love.

Jaded hearts ... broken spirits ... a PLAUSIBLE vampire pregnancy (i.e. not Breaking Dawn's craptacular version of it - which almost reads like Stephenie Meyer read this and then went to work on her own novel). Where S. Meyer's dropped the ball, this series and this book run with it and score!

The only thing that I didn't like was that I couldn't picture Edge/Edgar in my mind at all. I can't remember if he wasn't described well enough or if my mind didn't want to hold on to the description but it didn't seem right. I appreciate books where I can picture the characters better.

Otherwise ... fantastic!

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Monday, August 11, 2008

Book: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Fantastic horror story that reminded me of the dark Turn of the Screw.


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Book: Kitty and The Midnight Hour

Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, Book # 1) Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn


My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
Kitty Norville is your typical werewolf and that suits her just fine. Soon, she's "getting too big for her britches." The pack no longer keeps her happy or safe for that matter. After staving off an attack by paranormal hitman, she delves deeper into herself to find the real wolf within.



Soon, Kitty's radio talk show takes off and lands her in syndication. Her pack might hate her, the vamps might be after her, a nut job "cure" cult might be gunning for her but her advice and general sense of self are spot on.



I wasn't surprised by the ending in the least. Meg was bad news ... what did surprise me was what Carl decided to do. T.J. was the saving grace in this novel. I almost burst into tears when the novel was over. I can't to get my hands on number 2.


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Sunday, August 10, 2008

Book: Dead Witch Walking

Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows, Book 1) Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
Action packed beginning to this series. I liked this hands and feet above the Anita Blake series. I can't wait for the next book to find out if Ivy wants Rachel's friendship or blood. And Jenks? I LOVE HIM! He's a great character! Nick better be all he promises to be.


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Friday, August 8, 2008

Moby - Dick, bees, frogs and thunderstorms

I think this is funny … which is why people shouldn’t let me near their small children:

That's, Like, All We Did in Bio Lab Last Year
Girl #1: Did you know babies have natural reflexes? Like, if you stick your finger in their hand, they'll grab it, and if you try to pull it away, they'll hold on to it for like a minute.
Girl #2: Did you know if you punch a baby in the face, it'll cry?

--Columbia University

Overheard by: mkb
via Overheard in New York, Jul 31, 2008

I finally finished Herman Melville’s Moby – Dick. Now, I’m going to start War and Peace. I know … I know … it does seem pretentious to read it. Almost like I am trying to look smart for reading something so large and complex but, really, I LOVE Tolstoy. Anna Karenina is my absolute favorite book. Well almost the absolute; it’s a tie between Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, and Mansfield Park.

Herman Melville : Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick (Library of America) Herman Melville : Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville


My review




rating: 2 of 5 stars


Lisa Simpson: "You can't take revenge on an animal. That's the point of Moby - Dick!"


Homer Simpson: "The point of Moby - Dick is to be yourself!"

- The Simpons (Episode Title: The Fat and The Furriest)

It’s been thundering outside since about 1 p.m. and being 12:30 p.m. … it’s been nasty out. It just started raining for the first time though! It’s been about 65 or 70 for about two days. It’s nice. Michaeleen said she loves it because she finally is comfortable. Poor kid. It must suck to be pregnant in the middle of the summer.

When I went outside to get the towels (that were dripping wet from washing Molly) from the back porch I noticed a bright green frog in my flowers. It was so cute. And then, out of no where, a honey bee popped in looking for nectar and legs full of pollen.


rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read this while on my trip through Ireland during the summer of 1997. I was supposed to be reading The Scarlett Letter ... but this looked more interesting!


The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Read this during English 2 at Tufts. Honestly, I didn't read it the first time around because I wasn't very happy about being made to read it. The second time around I was supposed to read it for English 62: Short Stories with L. Bamber. I liked it that time!


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Deliver Us from Evie Deliver Us from Evie by M. E. Kerr


My review


rating: 2 of 5 stars
Read for Girls' Books (grad level English class at Tufts).


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Weetzie Bat Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

My review


rating: 1 of 5 stars
Was forced to read this for a class on Girls Books.

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Book: Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher Dreamcatcher by Stephen King


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I read this book, it was because the movie was coming out in the following month. Parts had me yawning but for the most part it was good. The ending was nice too ... I live near the Quabin so it was cool. Always appreciate a local setting.


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