Category: Fiction

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

REVIEW: The Piper’s Sons by Bruce Chandler Fergusson

Tara

The Piper’s Sons
by Bruce Chandler Fergusson

Copyright: 1999
Pages: 424
Rating: 3/5
Read: Aug. 1-8, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; A Well-Rounded Challenge; RYOB 2009; Random Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 40

First Line: Would I have gone after the girl if my own daughter, Emma, were still alive?

Paul Sinclair is a haunted man. His brother disappeared many years before. His daughter, Emma, died years ago. But there’s more … there’s a terrible secret in his family. It’s a secret that he will only begin to scratch the surface of, starting with the unexpected death of his father. In his family history is a man called the Pied Piper – a brutal killer who was never caught and was presumed dead. But is he? He seems to be getting closer to Paul and his wife and son. And it’s Paul who is determined to find exactly what is in his past, even if it means losing his family in the process.

Okay, so this was really a strange book. It started out great and had me hooked from the first page. Then I got to the middle and it kind of lulled. Then it picked up again and I was really starting to see what Paul was seeing. But then, in the last 100 pages it hit another lull and I felt bogged down by a lot of unimportant descriptions that seemed more like filler to me than anything of real importance. I just don’t know what to think about this book. I mean, it wasn’t bad, but it was definitely kind of weird. I had a lot of issues with the way Fergusson kept changing who was talking, I had trouble keeping up sometimes. Now I will say this, I hadn’t expected the ending. I was surprised by who the Pied Piper ended up being, but after I finished the last sentence and set the book down and tried to make sense of everything that happened in the last third of the book, I will admit – I was confused. I must have missed something because I never did see how he ended up with the ending he did. But overall it was an okay book, just a little weird that’s all.

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

REVIEW: Dancing with Ana by Nicole Barker

Tara

Dancing with Ana
by Nicole Barker

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 170
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: Aug. 3, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; A Well-Rounded Challenge; Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 39

First Line: “Christine McCady’s hair is especially shiny today,” Jenny told the three girls sitting with her at the lunch table.

Four sixteen-year-old friends, Beth, Jenny, Rachel and Melanie are struggling to find out who they are as young women. And they’re also struggling with the fact that there’s always going to be someone skinnier, someone prettier, someone with better hair, the list can go on and on. But for Beth, life is going especially tough for her and she hasn’t even really realized it yet. Her father has left their family for a younger woman, she’s falling in love with her best friend, and she is determined to get down to her “target” weight of 110 pounds. She’s so determined that she has enlisted the help of her closest friends to diet together. But their diets are dangerous – they’re hardly eating. The horrible headaches and dizziness finally makes Beth’s friends realize that they have no business dieting like they’re doing. But Beth is determined. However, when she hits 110 pounds, she realizes that she’s not as happy as she had expected to be. In fact, she’s actually even more depressed. But as she keeps going, her friends and new boyfriend are finally able to step in and help her realize that she doesn’t need to do all this dieting in order to be pretty and happy.

I’m going to include a small selection from page 164 that really highlights what has been going on with Beth. The first girl talking in this blurb is Christine, McCady, the most popular girl in school.

She paused at the door. “By the way, love what you’ve done with yourself. Ten more pounds and you’ll be super hot!”

And she was gone.

Beth looked at herself in the mirror, and for the first time, saw the dark smudges under her eyes. Her hair hung loose, laying flat against her head. Her skin was very pale. Hesitantly, she lifted her oversized t-shirt, exposing her stomach. All of her ribs showed, and her stomach was sunken in. For the first time, she saw how frail her arms looked.

She also finally saw how she’d chosen to deal with her father’s abandonment … by destroying herself.

I was contacted directly by the author, Nicole Barker, to read and review this book. I received it in the mail yesterday and sat down with it last night and read it in one sitting. It was that good. I could really relate with Beth’s character; I was a milder version of her my junior year in high school. Barker’s descriptions of the new love that all four of the girls finally began to experience reminded me of those first few months of young love with my husband when we were in high school. I find it kind of ironic that at the age of 24 I find myself enjoying YA reads, whereas when I was 15 or 16 and should have read a book like this I wanted no part of them. I honestly believe that women of all ages could really relate to the girls in this story, I highly recommend this book to everyone.

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

REVIEW: Cat & Mouse by James Patterson

Tara

Cat & Mouse
by James Patterson

Copyright: 1997
Pages: 451
Rating: 5/5
Read: July 25-31, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 38

First Line: The Cross house was twenty paces away and the proximity and sight of it made Gary Soneji’s skin prickle.

Gary Soneji is back! And he’s back with a vengeance and out for Alex Cross’s blood. He waits patiently in Cross’s basement to kill Cross and his family. But instead, he goes on a killing rampage … knowing quite well that Alex will follow him. But what Alex finds out will shake him to the core: Soneji has nothing to lose anymore, he’s dying. That’s why he goes on such a rampage leaving the scenes gruesome. But then the two finally have a face off in the tunnels underneath NYC. Only one can survive. Cross is sure that he sees Soneji die. So when he gets attacked in his own bed he swears that Soneji is back, because he promised Cross that he would get him even if he was to die. That what he had put into motion would outlive Soneji. But while all this is going on, another crazed serial killer is at work, a madman that is known as Mr. Smith is killing randomly in the United States and across Europe. And he’s chosen Alex Cross as a worthy opponent to stop him. And that’s exactly what Alex sets out to do.

Okay, so that probably wasn’t the best description of this book. I enjoyed it, but it was really difficult for me to explain it without giving too many spoilers away. There was really two plot lines going on with both of them loosely weaved in together – see, very difficult to describe! Anyway, as always with James Patterson’s books, it was a fun and quick read. I will say that I do believe that the Alex Cross series is 100% better than the Women’s Murder Club series (which I’m up-to-date on, but burned out on at the same time). With Alex Cross, he just continues to grow and grow as a character as well as his relationship with his friends and family members. I really enjoy this series a lot. Don’t ask me why, but I know that sometimes James Patterson’s books are very formulaic; but he’s one of my favorite authors! I highly recommend this book if you haven’t read it! It’s definitely a page-turning suspenseful thriller not to be missed!

AUTHOR, D, Fiction, Read in 2009, READING CHALLENGES 2008

REVIEW: BoneMan’s Daughters

Tara

BoneMan’s Daughters
by Ted Dekker

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 401
Rating: 4/5
Read: July 19-12, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge; What’s in a Name 2 Challenge
Yearly Count: 36

First Line: The day that Ryan Evan’s world changed forever began as any other day he’d spent in the host desert might have begun.

The BoneMan is a serial killer who is looking for the perfect daughter. He has already killed six young women in his quest. After he takes a girl if she doesn’t live up to his potential he simply breaks their bones and leaves them to die. Intelligence officer Ryan Evans has not been the perfect daughter to Bethany – nor the perfect husband to Celine. He’s too tied up in his work and currently he’s overseas on assignment. Bethany and Celine have pretty much moved on from having any hopes of being a family together again. But Ryan is taken hostage in the desert and as his life is hanging in the balance he realizes what a mistake he has made in the past with his family. He returns to the States in order to start anew. But Bethany and Celine want no part of it. Before he knows it he’s out of their lives for good. That is until BoneMan takes Bethany. This causes Ryan to be out for blood. He will do whatever it takes to track down BoneMan and to save his only daughter …. he’s going to be the perfect father once and for all. But when the evidence begins to point towards Ryan as being the BoneMan he realizes that Bethany’s only chance at survival lies within Ryan. But BoneMan has a plan …. BoneMan knows that there can only be one father for Bethany, and he is determined that it is not going to be Ryan Evans.

So I picked this one up at the library after reading a review of it on someone’s blog … and once again I have forgotten whose blog I read about it on (I really should start writing that stuff down so that I can link reviews!) Anyways, I picked it up and was immediately sucked in. I have never read a Ted Dekker book before and this one was really enjoyable for me. It was well written and fast paced. The suspense was wonderful. The way that he bounced between differing points of view was interesting, you  never knew what was really going to happen next. I found myself hoping that Ryan would prevail in the end, that he would save Bethany from BoneMan, even if he was beaten down psychologically. I know that I only rated this a 4 and my reason was really because of the cookie-cutter ending. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the ending, but it was too neat for my tastes. Overall I really recommend this book, I found it fascinating! Dekker really created a superb serial killer in BoneMan …. also – could BoneMan return in a future book?? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out….

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

REVIEW: Sail by James Patterson

Tara

Sail
by James Patterson

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 414
Rating: 5/5
Read: July 15-19, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; 2009 RYOB
Yearly Count: 35

First Line: Easing through the marina’s sapphire-blue water at a leisurely three-knot clip, Captain Stephen Preston took a long pull off his Marlboro Red, casually flicking the ash into the cool island breeze.

The Dunne family is out on a summer vacation sailboat trip. For mother Katherine, this is a time to really re-connect with her three children, Carrie, Mark, and Ernie after really losing touch with them for the past four years after the loss of their father. Carrie and Mark, both older teenagers, want no part of this get-away, but they go along because their mother and Uncle Jake really want them to. Ten-year-old Ernie is still at an age where he doesn’t mind going. But what awaits the Dunne family out on the open water will surprise all of them. None of them are really ready for their boat to explode, leaving them stranded in the middle of the ocean with only a life raft and a little bit of water and crackers. But eventually they float over to a deserted island, where they will wait patiently for the Coast Guard to come get them – hopefully. What the Dunne’s don’t realize is that the Coast Guard fear the worst for them. They are unable to find their boat (or what’s left of it actually) and when they finally do come upon the wreckage, they call off the search, essentially declaring the Dunne family dead. But the Dunne’s are made of tougher stuff than that! When a bottle with a message from Ernie finds its way to land, the search for the Dunne’s is back on. But there is only one problem … there is someone out there that wants to make sure that the Dunne family doesn’t come back alive from that boating trip.

If I’m ever in a reading slump, I can almost always count on being able to pick up a James Patterson book and flying through it. This one was no exception. Although it took me a little longer than normal to read it, it wasn’t because it was not a good book. In fact, it was a really good book. I would have to say that out of all the James Patterson books that I have read to date, this one is really high up on my list of favorites. I guess after being so burned out and slightly disappointed in the Women’s Murder Club books this one was a real treat for me. It felt more like a normal Patterson book for me. I enjoyed the suspense. I actually felt for the characters. At one point in the book, while on the deserted island, Katherine has an unfortunate encounter with a rather large snake … I felt myself shuddering right along with Katherine while reading about the ordeal. I was glad to see Carrie pull out of her funk because of what she went through with her family. I felt relieved at the end because Peter really did end up getting what he deserved. The characters were just believable, which to me is an all-important part of any book. I can’t say enough good things about this book. If you haven’t picked it up, I really hope that you give it a try if you run across it somewhere – it’s that good of a book in my opinion.

AUTHOR, Book Review, C, FBI Thriller, Fiction, Read in 2009, SERIES

The Maze by Catherine Coulter

Tara

The Mazee
by Catherine Coulter

Copyright: 1997
Pages: 268
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: July 4-11, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 34

First Line: It wouldn’t stop, ever.

Agent Lacey Sherlock is fresh out of the FBI Academy when Special Agent Dillon Savich chooses her to be included in his new unit. They’ve met once before, when Sherlock took down Savich in Hogan’s Alley – the famed FBI training town. But neither one of them is prepared to have sparks fly between them while trying to track down serial killers. Sherlock has joined the FBI in the hopes that it would allow her to catch the madman that killed her sister, Belinda, and six other women in her hometown. But she’s not prepared for what she learns about her sister and the killer.

This is the second in Coulter’s FBI Thriller series. I really am glad that I picked up The Beginning at the library, which is essentially both The Cove and The Maze in one book. I really don’t know why it took me so long to get around to reading this series. I guess I was putting it off because of the romance angle for so long, but really it’s not the meat of the story in these two books. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Savich and Sherlock grow old together (and hopefully we can see more of Sally & James Quinlan too!)

AUTHOR, Book Review, C, FBI Thriller, Fiction, Read in 2009, SERIES

The Cove by Catherine Coulter

Tara

The Cove
by Catherine Coulter

Copyright: 1996
Pages: 262
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: July 1-4, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; 1st in a Series Challenge
Yearly Count: 33

First Line: Someone was watching her.

The daughter of a murdered high-powered lawyer is on the run. She can’t remember the murder of her father, but she fears that she is at fault. She ends up in a quaint little town on the doorstep of her aunt’s house. However, an FBI agent is hot on her trail. In fact, he’s followed her to The Cove. But what they find out about The Cove is chilling, it’s not as quaint a town as the residents would like outsiders to believe. In fact, there’s evil residing here and it will be up to Sally and the FBI agent, James Quinlan to figure out what is going on in The Cove while simultaneously trying to figure out what happened to Sally’s father.

Okay, so I’ve had numerous Catherine Coulterbooks on my shelves for years. (Of course this was not one of them, this was a library book, lol). I have to say that after a slow start I really enjoyed this book! However, the whole whirlwind romance of Sally and James was a little unbelievable (they met, fell in love and got engaged in about the blink of an eye). Other than that, I thought the suspense was great, I couldn’t figure out what was going on in The Cove, but I knew something was! If you’ve never given this series a try, I definitely recommend this book!!!

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, H, Harper Connelly, Read in 2009, SERIES

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

Tara

Grave Surprise
by Charlaine Harris

Copyright: 2006
Pages: 295
Rating: 4/5
Read: June 20-24, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge
Yearly Count: 32

First Line: I didn’t like Clyde Nunley the first time I met him face-to-face in the old cemetery.

Harper Connelly is back in this second installment. This time around, she finds herself in Memphis, Tennessee. She has been called in by Professor Clyde Nunley to demonstrate her ability for his Occult Studies class. They end up in an old cemetery on campus where Harper goes to work identifying the people in the old graves as well as what they died from. But she finds someone she never expected to be there – a little girl that she had failed to find the previous year. Now Harper and her step-brother Tolliver set out to find out how Tabitha got where she was and how it could not possibly be a coincidence that Harper ended up finding her in the end.

I really enjoyed this book. I really think that this is a fun and interesting series. I have really taken to Harper as a character, I think that she’s believable even with her strange ability. I am definitely looking forward to reading the third in this series as soon as it comes available at my library, as well as the long-awaited fourth book which is due out later this year.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2009, U-V-W

In a Dark Time by Larry Watson

Tara

In a Dark Time
by Larry Watson

Copyright: 1980
Pages: 243
Rating: 3/5
Read: June 15-19, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 30

First Line: The third body was found this morning.

Wanekia, Minnesota is being plagued by a murderer loose in town. Young girls are being found strangled at the high school. The third one has recently been discovered. In a small town like Wanekia, everyone is a little on edge knowing that someone is out there hunting down teenage girls. For English teacher Peter Leesh, he puts pen to paper after the third girl is found dead. He decides to keep a journal of all the activities in and around Wanekia until the murderer is finally stopped once and for all.

Okay, so I wanted to love this book so badly. I read White Crosses last year and absolutely LOVED it! This one however, I was slightly disappointed in. It started out really well, but when I got to the middle of it it started to drag. To be brutally honest, I could have skipped the entire middle section of this book. The ending was rather predictable as well – everything was neatly solved with no loose ends. Peter even went so far as to explain where all of his co-workers ended up at the end of the year – really, did we need that?! So yeah, I just wasn’t real impressed overall.

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

Snagged by Carol Higgins Clark

Tara

Snagged
by Carol Higgins Clark

Copyright: 1993
Pages: 306
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: June 13-14, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2009
Yearly Count: 29

First Line: Richie Blossom tumbled from the side of his bed as he bent over in an awkward attempt to pull on his brand-new pair of panty hose.

In Miami for a wedding, Regan Reilly meets the bride’s Uncle Richie. He has produced seemingly indestructible panty hose. With the panty hose convention in town, he has plans to sell his invention to the highest bidder. But panty hose manufacturers will do nearly anything to keep Uncle Richie from putting these on the market – perhaps even kill. So after two attempts on his life are made, Regan finds herself surrounded by numerous suspects while trying to keep an eye on Uncle Richie.

Okay, so I read the first Regan Reilly book, Decked, two years ago. I enjoyed it. But this one was really good! There was just enough humor sprinkled throughout the mystery that it was a really good mix. To be honest, I was surprised at the ending of it – I had no idea who the killer really was – and it was a pleasant shock! Overall I liked this book and will definitely look forward to continuing this series.