August 2009 – Tales of a Book Addict

Widow Rose Larrabee is having a hard time coping with her husband’s sudden death. Although it’s been a year, she just isn’t coping well. And with two young children to raise and a job that is barely covering the bills, her stress level is through the roof. The last thing that she needs is someone stalking her. But that’s exactly the feeling that she is getting. It starts with a homemade valentine in her mailbox … a little creepy, but it doesn’t raise concerns yet. But when a box of chocolates mysteriously finds itself in the front seat of her car, the phone starts ringing in the middle of the night, and a heart-shaped gift appears one morning on her husband’s pillow, she starts to get the feeling that there’s someone out there watching her … and he’s hiding in plain sight. Will she figure out what is going on before it’s too late?

I have read Wendy Corsi Staub before and I remember enjoying her book. Well, this one definitely did not disappoint! When the ending came and the killer was revealed, it was someone that I hadn’t even considered!! There are so many twists and turns. Staub really created a character that I could connect with in Rose. And Christine was another great character. Sometimes books can be somewhat formulaic – I didn’t get that feeling from this book at all. I thought it was really well plotted. Although the ending was slightly abrupt, it was still a good way to end the book. I am definitely glad that I picked this book up off my shelf, it was really worth reading! I highly recommend this book and author to anyone that hasn’t given her a try before!

Booking Through Thursday, Meme

Booking Through Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009 – Recent Fluff

August 27, 2009 Tara

What’s the lightest, most “fluff” kind of book you’ve read recently?

Hmmm …. as a general rule “fluff” books don’t interest me, but I’ve noticed that here lately they’ve been a welcome change in between the more serious books that I tend to read. They are really more filler than anything for me. So let’s see, I guess the most recent “fluff” book that I have read would have been An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris. This is the third in the Harper Connelly series. For some reason I have really enjoyed this series, I’m slightly bummed to know that the fourth book due out in October of this year will be the final in this series (although this isn’t a series that could have been long running anyway). It was a really easy light read for me and I enjoyed it!!

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, H, Harper Connelly, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2008, SERIES

REVIEW: An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

August 23, 2009August 27, 2009 Tara

An Ice Cold Grave
by Charlaine Harris

Copyright: 2007
Pages: 280
Rating: 5/5
Read: Aug. 20-23, 2009
Challenge: 2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 43

First Line: The eastern seaboard is crammed with dead people.

Harper Connelly is called to a job in Doraville, North Carolina. She is hired to find a missing boy for a grieving grandmother. He is just one of several teenage boys that has disappeared from the area over the past five years. She ends up finding them all, buried at an old deserted house. Having done the job she was hired to do, all she wants to do is get out of town. Instead she finds herself attacked and in the hospital. While recovering Harper will learn more about Doraville, North Carolina, than she ever cared to know.

This is the third book in the Harper Connelly series. I have read online at Ms. Harris’ website that the fourth book due out later this year will be the final book in this series. I sure will be bummed out when this series ends. I have read the first three this year and I have really enjoyed all of them. I personally feel as if the first is still the best so far, but this was one was better than the second. I loved how Harper and Tolliver both grow as characters by leaps and bounds in this installment. I definitely recommend this series.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, Read in 2009

REVIEW: Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin

August 19, 2009 Tara

Executive Privilege
by Phillip Margolin

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 443
Rating: 5/5
Read: Aug. 15-19, 2009
Challenge: 2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 42

First Line: Brad Miller woke up at 6 a.m. even though his meeting with Roy Kineer, the retired Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was scheduled for nine.

When private detective Dana Cutler is hired to follow college student Charlotte Walsh, never in her wildest dreams did she consider that the trail would lead her to the White House. But that is exactly what happens when Walsh turns up dead after a clandestine meeting with the President of the United States, Christopher Farrington. Her murder is blamed on the serial killer, the “D.C. Ripper.” Brad Miller, a junior associate in an Oregon law firm, still quite fresh out of law school, is given the case of the appeal of serial killer Clarence Little. Miller is stunned by Little’s insistence that he killed everyone that he was blamed for except for one: the death of the babysitter of then-governor, now-President Farrington. So a green lawyer and a small-time private eye have to come up with the hard evidence to prove that someone at the very highest level of the United States government is a brutal murderer and that it might very well be the President himself.

I LOVED this book!! It was fast paced and had twists and turns that kept me going all the way until the very end. Phillip Margolin is one of those authors that I have enjoyed every book that I have read of his and this one was definitely no exception. I really enjoyed the two story lines. Sometimes having two story lines is confusing to me, but Margolin definitely weaved his stories together beautifully. The characters were so well developed. I loved Brad and Ginny together! And Dana, well Dana was a firecracker!! The plot was really good too. I really recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller!!!

Meme, What Are You Reading?

What are you Reading? Monday, Aug. 17, 2009

August 17, 2009 Tara

What are You Reading on Mondays

For It’s Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week. Post the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. Feel free to pile on a little extra.

If you’d like to join in this weekly event, please include a link to this post. That way others can find it and join in.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What I finished this past week:

Swimsuit by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

What I’m currently reading:

Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin

What I’ll be starting this week:

Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver

Meme, Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays – Aug. 17, 2009

August 17, 2009 Tara

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about movies …

How do you react to movies made of your favourite books (or even not-so-favourite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?

Okay, this is really an easy one for me. As a general rule, I don’t really much care for movies based on books that I’ve read. The exception: Harry Potter. But this is really because the movie is never as good as the book, not even close in a lot of situations. I can even tell you that I was disappointed in the 6th HP movie recently because the books is just that good … the movie was bound to pale in comparison in my opinion. I prefer to read the book before I see the movie, but I don’t force myself to wait to see the movie if I want to see it bad enough.

Booking Through Thursday, Meme

Booking Through Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 – Recent Worst

August 13, 2009 Tara

What’s the worst book you’ve read recently?
(I figure it’s easier than asking your all-time worst, because, well, it’s recent!)

Okay, well nothing really bad sticks out in my mind here recently. I can say that In a Dark Time by Larry Watson was not really good, I read that one back in June and that was really the last bad book that I remember reading … but probably the absolute worst book I’ve read all year was Over Your Dead Body by David L.

I have said it a few times on here already, this year hasn’t been too bad for me as far as quality goes. I’ve read some pretty good books this year. Hey, maybe next week the question will be Recent Best and that one will be really easy for me to answer!

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, P, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2008

REVIEW: Swimsuit by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

August 11, 2009 Tara

Swimsuit
by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 391
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Aug. 9-11, 2009
Challenge: 2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 41

First Line: I know things I don’t want to know.

On the beautiful beaches of Hawaii a beautiful swimsuit model disappears. Kim McDaniels’ parents immediately fly to Hawaii in order to find their daughter. Ex-cop Ben Hawkins is now a reporter for the L.A. Times. He is given the assigntment of covering the McDaniels disappearance. He starts to get the feeling that this might be the one big story that he’s been searching for. And he also realizes that the local cops just might botch this, so he begins his own investigation. But the killer has a plan in mind. He’s planning his own next move, and it has Ben Hawkins in the middle of it.

This is really a complicated story to try and explain. It is written as a book within a book. Being a pretty big fan of James Patterson, I must say that this one was a slight disappointment for me. First of all, I really did not take to Ben Hawkins’ character one bit. I felt disconnected from him throughout the entire book, and to me that connection with the narrator is a very important part of the whole book experience. Now that’s not to say that I didn’t like the book in general, there were definitely some great parts, but I just didn’t think that it was really up to par in my opinion. I don’t really know what to say about this book if you want the truth. It just really didn’t speak to me much.

Meme, What Are You Reading?

What are you Reading? Monday, Aug. 10, 2009

August 10, 2009August 9, 2009 Tara

If you’d like to join in this weekly event, please include a link to this post. That way others can find it and join in.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

What I finished this past week:

What I’m currently reading:

Swimsuit by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
The Criminalist by William Relling, Jr.

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this: