Category: Read in 2009

AUTHOR, Book Review, D, Fiction, Read in 2009

The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinksy

Tara

The Secret Between Us
by Barbara Delinksy

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 343
Rating: 5/5
Read: March 1-6, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 14

First Line: They were arguing in the seconds before impact.

Deborah Monroe and her daughter. Grace are driving home one rainy night when they hit a man running in the dark. Grace was driving but Deborah sends her home before the police arrive in order to take the blame for the accident. However what seemed like such an obvious and easy decision on Deborah’s part takes on a life of its own and threatens to shatter the mother-daughter relationship between the two.

When I first heard about this book I knew I had to read it. I put it on my PBS wishlist, after waiting for what seemed like forever I finally got a copy!!! When it came in the mail I could hardly wait to start it. And let me tell you, I loved this book! You really saw the interaction between mother and daughter. Barbara Delinksy really was able to show me, the reader, how one little innocent omission of truth can really affect everyone involved. Deborah’s decision to take on the blame for the accident was something that most mothers wouldn’t even think twice about doing, but Grace’s reaction to the untruth was really amazing. Delinksy created a very strong teenage character in Grace. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story.

AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Kay Scarpetta, Read in 2009, SERIES

Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

Tara

Postmortem
by Patricia Cornwell

Copyright: 1990
Pages: 327
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Feb. 18-26, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; 2009 1st in a Series Challenge; RYOB 2009; Suspense & Thriller Challenge – Forensic mystery subcategory
Yearly Count: 13

First Line: It was raining in Richmond on Friday, June 6.

Someone is killing women in Richmond. Someone who is going completely undetected. A “Mr. Nobody” if you will. Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is determined to get to the bottom of these cases and find out who is behind these brutal killings. Even when it becomes apparent that someone is trying to sabotage Kay’s investigation from inside her own office she will not back down … even if someone might even want her dead …

I finally got around to reading the first in this series. I’ve only read a few of these books here and there, but this one is not as good as some of the later ones that I’ve read of this series. However I am glad that I finally read the first book and can start to understand more things about this series as I continue on with it in order now.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, L, Read in 2009

To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman

Tara

To the Power of Three
by Laura Lippman

Copyright: 2005
Pages: 412
Rating: 4/5
Read: Feb. 13-17, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge; RYOB 2009; Suspense & Thriller Challenge – Drama thriller subcategory
Yearly Count: 12

First Line: People would want to know what she was thinking, the night before.

Josie, Perri, and Kat have been best friends since the third grade. However high school will eventually test their friendship. But things really come to a head when one of the girls brings a gun to school. When the police finally arrive they find one girl dead and the other two wounded, one of them critically. What could possibly drive one of these three girls to snap like that? In this small affluent suburb, people want answers … or do they?

I really enjoyed this book!!! I think I have only read one other Laura Lippman book but this one was really really really good!! For those of you who are involved in the Suspense & Thriller challenge, I categorized this as a Drama Thriller mainly because of the character development – you really learn who the girls were and why they eventually split up during high school. Anyway, I really recommend this book!!

AUTHOR, Book Review, E, Fiction, Read in 2009, SERIES, Stephanie Plum

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

Tara

Three to Get Deadly
by Janet Evanovich

Copyright: 1997
Pages: 321
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Feb. 10-12, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 11

First Line: It was January in Trenton

Uncle Mo has missed his court appearance and Stephanie Plum is the bounty hunter charged with taking him back into custody. Unfortunately, Uncle Mo is considered a saint around Trenton. However, as the body count begins to add up , Stephanie finds herself involved with drug dealers and people wanting to kill her.

This book was not as funny as the second one in my opinion. However, I did enjoy this one. I usually don’t read books that are of a lighter, more humorous tone, but for some reason I enjoy this series.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, G, Kinsey Millhone, Read in 2009, SERIES

C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton

Tara

C is for Corpse
by Sue Grafton

Copyright: 1986
Pages: 213
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Feb. 5-9, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 10

First Line: I met Bobby Callahan on Monday of that week.

Kinsey Millhone meets Bobby Callahan at the local gym. Kinsey is doing physical therapy after getting shot on her previous case. Callahan is at the gym doing his physical therapy after barely surviving a horrific car accident. Bobby knows that someone was after him and that the car accident was not an accident, but unfortunately the accident took away most of his memory and he can’t remember who was after him or why. So he hires Kinsey to find out what really happened that night and what it was that he knew that was worth killing over. But three days later, Bobby is dead and Kinsey is more determined thane ver to find out what it was that Bobby knew that would get him killed.

This book was pretty good. Like I’ve said about the two previous books in this series that I’ve read, it’s hard to get an entire story into 200 short pages. But this story was actually pretty good. This series is definitely getting better for me and I’m looking forward to reading ‘D’.

AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Myron Bolitar, Read in 2009, SERIES

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

Tara

Deal Breaker
by Harlan Coben

Copyright: 1995
Pages: 343
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Feb. 3-5, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009; 2009 1st in a Series Challenge; 2009 Celebrate the Author Challenge
Yearly Count: 9

First Line: Otto Burke, the Wizard of Schmooze, raised his game another level.

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is representing rookie quarterback, Christian Steele. But when Christian receives a mysterious phone call from who he thinks is his former girlfriend who has been missing for over a year everything starts to spin out of control for Christian. And it is Myron who is at the helm of investigating what is really going on. But what he will find out will shock him more than he can believe possible.

This is the first in the Myron Bolitar series. I enjoyed it. However, I personally feel that his stand alone books might be better than this. I am going to continue this series, but I’m really not in much of a rush to do so.

Alex Cross, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, P, Read in 2009, SERIES

Jack & Jill by James Patterson

Tara

Jack & Jill
by James Patterson

Copyright: 1996
Pages: 466
Rating: 4/5
Read: Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 8

First Line: Sam Harrison swung his agile body out of the silver blue Ford Aerostar, which he had parked on Q Street in the Georgetown section of Washington.

Jack and Jill have come to the Hill. That’s right, there’s a serial killer couple on the streets in Washington D.C. And they’re killing celebrities. And leaving a little rhyme at each crime scene. This is only one string of killings going on in the city though. There are also little children being killed. And unfortunately, the celebrity murders are getting more press than the children’s murders. But Dr. Alex Cross has a bad feeling that somehow the two are connected. It will take a lot out of Alex in order to figure out what is really going on in his city.

I love James Patterson’s books. I’m definitely enjoying reading this series. They keep getting better and better. I really recommend this series if you’ve never tried it before.

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

All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Tara

All We Know of Heaven
by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 310
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: Jan. 28-30, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 7

First Line: Once she understood that she was dead, her first thought was that heaven was overrated.

Bridget Flannery and Maureen O’Malley have been best friends forever. But one terrible car accident will take everything away from them. One girl will die, the other will survive, barely, with a very long road of recovery ahead of her. As time goes by and progress is made in the healing process, once again the two families lives are turned upside down. The doctors made a horrible mistake that fateful December night and misidentified the girls.

Based on what I am assuming is the case of the Taylor University students that were misidentified after a bad accident a couple of years ago, this story is really something to read. Mitchard really portrays the feelings of all of the characters in a way that is something else! I was unsure about giving Mitchard a second chance after not really being all that impressed by The Midnight Twins, but this book was really good! I would have rated this book a 5/5 had it not been for my growing dislike of Maureen. She got on my nerves after a while. Other than that, though, the book was a really great read.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2009

Perfect by Harry Kraus, MD

Tara

Perfect
by Harry Kraus, MD

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 325
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Jan. 25-28, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 6

First Line: I peered over a box of Special K at my husband and smiled because today I was going to run away with another man.

Wendi Stratford has a perfect life. Absolutely perfect. She has a successful job as an accident reconstructionist. She is married to a successful surgeon. Everything is perfect – perfect career, perfect marriage, perfect home. But there’s a big problem looming in the background: it’s all a sham. Wendi feels like nothing but a fake. So when she decides to run away with her piano teacher she feels liberated. However, when he is critically injured in an accident just outside her driveway, heading home to pack for their romantic getaway, she feels like this is her chance to start over – to make her perfect life perfect again. But as she looks into the accident, something that she has to do herself, she realizes that the accident was no accident. As she follows the clues she is being led straight into the hands of a killer.

This book was okay in my opinion. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t wonderful either. It was a quick read for me. I got a little irritated by the main character because she was obnoxious with her feelings of guilty going on 24/7 in this book. But if you can ignore that, it’s actually a pretty good story.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, L, Read in 2009

Over Your Dead Body by David L.

Tara

Over Your Dead Body
by David L.

Copyright: 2007
Pages: 275
Rating: 2/5
Read: Jan. 23-25, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 5

First Line: “You made me do this to you, Janelle!” I yell out loud, looking over at the lifeless corpse of my once loving wife.

Preston Price had it all. He had a six figure career, a beautiful house, a loving wife and two little children. So what will make him kill his wife?! Preston has never once been unfaithful to his wife and yet she is accusing him adultery. Before he knows it he loses everything – his wife, his children, his job, his house, everything. And it’s the stress of all those losses that will cause him to resort to murder.

This book was really weird. I honestly didn’t like it all that much. When I picked it up at the library it sounded really good. When I got it home and began to read it I regretted picking up this book. I made myself get through this book, although I really wish I hadn’t. I don’t recommend this book at all.