Category: RATING

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, R, RATING, Read in 2011, Read-a-Long, READING CHALLENGES 2011, SERIES

2011.48 REVIEW – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Tara

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
by J.K. Rowling

Copyright: 1998
Pages: 341
Rating: 5/5
Read: Aug 22 – Aug. 27, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 48
Format: Print
Source: Personal Copy

Blurb: The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike. And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart; a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom; and the unwanted attention of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny. But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone – or something – starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects … Harry Potter himself!

Review: When can you go wrong with Harry Potter? And how can you critique these books? If anyone can answer those two questions, please let me know! Personally, I think this installment is better than the first one. But I think that I feel that way simply because the first one tends to read a little childish (my opinion only). We get to see inside Dumbledore in this book more than in the first one, and anyone who’s read this series, knows just how important Dumbledore is to Harry. Although I am re-reading this series, the books feel brand spanking new to me. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since I’ve read the earlier books. Either way, it’s definitely got me read to move on to the third book!!

I just want to share a quick passage that made me laugh out loud. From page 341:

“Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won’t they?” said Hermoine as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. “When they hear what you did this year?”

“Proud?” said Harry. “Are you crazy? All those times I could’ve died, and I didn’t manage it? They’ll be furious…”

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, G, Jane Rizzoli, RATING, Read in 2011, SERIES

2011.47 REVIEW – The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

Tara

The Silent Girl
by Tess Gerritsen

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 315
Rating: 4/5
Read: Aug 20 – Aug. 22, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 47
Format: Print
Source: Library Book

Blurb: Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display that homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston’s Chinatown will do both. In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, the body nearly decapitated. Two strands of silver hair – not human – cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make a startling discovery: This violent death had a chilling prequel. Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. One woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil. Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning – and a swift, avenging blade.

Review: Ms. Gerritsen is a must-read author for me. I don’t even read the book blurb, I just pick them up and read. I waited on the library’s wait list for this book, when I got it home and read the blurb, I almost took it right back. It didn’t sound like my cup of tea. But, I decided I would regret not trying it and so I did. Well, I can definitely say that I am so glad with my decision. I enjoyed this book so much! I look forward to the next installment, and I sure do hope we get to find out a little bit more about Detective Tam! Highly recommended!

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, E-Book, Fiction, G, RATING, Read in 2011, Review Book

2011.46 REVIEW – Connected by Kathryn Gayle

Tara

Connected
by Kathryn Gayle

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 267
Rating: 3/5
Read: Aug 15 – Aug. 19, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 46
Format: E-Book
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program

Blurb: The last thing Delilah Preston wanted to do was be a hero, but when she finds herself in a position to prevent an assassination, her conscience wouldn’t let her walk away. As a result, she gets caught up in an FBI investigation and the media spotlight. The problem? Delilah Preston is not who she claims to be. Seven years ago she fled from a cruel and sadistic husband, a powerful underworld figure who wants her back, dead or alive. Enter Special Agent Dominic Santiago who discovers Delilah’s true identity and realizes that after many years of dead-ends, she’s his ticket to taking down notorious crime boss Cap Grimaldi. But Cap isn’t about to let anyone threaten his family’s empire, and quickly devises a plan to not only discredit the Federal Monkey on his back, but also recover his errant wife and the fortune she took from him when she fled.

Review: I received this E-Book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. First of all I must start out by saying that this book did not immediately draw me in. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to like where this book was going. It wasn’t until about 100 pages that the book started to improve for me and I really got interested in it. There were some, “yeah, right”, moments … those where I just couldn’t wrap my mind around them. I also felt as if the ending was a little bit rushed. Now, negative stuff aside, I enjoyed the book overall. I felt as if the writing was strong. The storyline was interesting. I enjoyed the characters, they were all interesting and well-developed. I would definitely recommend this book.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011, S

2011.45 REVIEW – Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Tara

Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 340
Rating: 5/5
Read: Aug 12 – Aug. 15, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 45
Format: Print
Source: Library Book

Blurb: On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old Realtor, had three goals: Sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she’s about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent captive in a remote mountain cabin – which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist – is a second narrative recounting the nightmare that follows her escape: her struggle to piece her shattered life back together, the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor, and the disturbing sense that things are far from over. The truth doesn’t always set you free.

Review: WOW! This book really sucks you in from the first page. I should first say that this book is very graphic and not for the faint of heart. I’m not easily offended or upset. I read the first 50 pages quickly on the first night I picked the book up. A couple of days went by as I tried to finish another book I needed to get wrapped up and reviewed and then I picked this one back up last night. I flew through it. I stayed up way past my bedtime to read as much as I could before having to finally give it up when my eyes just wouldn’t stay open any longer. I finished it up today. And let me tell you, it’s such a chilling and thrilling read. The twists and turns are unbelievable. The descriptions of Annie’s time in captivity feel unbelievably real. Personally I liked that the book was told in her psychiatric sessions solely from her viewpoint, there was no interruptions by the psychiatrist whatsoever. That made the book feel so much more raw. I just want to kick myself for waiting so long to pick this book up!

Here’s a few reviews that made me pick this book up:

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, R, RATING, Read in 2011, Read-a-Long, SERIES

2011.44 REVIEW – Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Tara

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone
by J.K. Rowling

Copyright: 1997
Pages: 309
Rating: 5/5
Read: Aug 12 – Aug. 14, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 44
Format: Print
Source: Personal copy

Blurb: Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley – a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry’s room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry – and anyone who reads about him – will find unforgettable. For it’s there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him … if Harry can survive the encounter.

Review: This is the third time that I have read this book, it never ceases to amaze me. I am re-reading the series all over again as part of the Harry Potter Read-a-Long hosted by Pretty Deadly Reviews. In this first installment Harry finds out he’s a wizard. He has always known that he’s a little bit different from everyone else, strange things tend to happen around him when he gets angry. His early years have not been easy on him. His home life is about one step above abuse/neglect. He lives in a closet. His cousin is horrible to him. His aunt and uncle treat him like he’s such a burden. He never gets anything except Dudley’s hand-me-downs. He doesn’t have any friends. But all of this changes when he gets that invitation to study at Hogwarts. Suddenly, he has friends and is having the time of his life. But trouble always seems to find Harry, no matter where he goes, and it will be up to him and his new best friends, Ron and Hermoine, to keep a very valuable thing out of the wrong hands. I love this series and I’m so glad to be starting all over again!

3.5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, E-Book, Fiction, O, RATING, Read in 2011, Review Book

2011.43 REVIEW – Untouchable by Scott O’Connor

Tara

Untouchable
by Scott O’Connor

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 374
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Aug 6 – Aug. 11, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 43
Format: E-Book
Source: Review Book courtesy of FSB Associates

Blurb: It is the autumn of 1999. A year has passed since Lucy Darby’s unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. Whitley – an 11-year-old social pariah known simply as The Kid – hasn’t spoken since his mother’s death. Instead, he communicates through a growing collection of notebooks, living in a safer world of his own silent imagining. As David continues to lose his grip on reality and The Kid’s sense of urgency grows, they begin to uncover truths that will force them to confront their deepest fears about each other and the wounded family they are trying desperately to save.

Review:  I received a copy of this e-book courtesy of Leyane Jerejian at FSB Associates. I was intrigued by the blurb of this book. If I was to explain the premise of this book in three words it would be this: everyone grieves differently. The story revolves around a husband and son who lost their wife and mother the previous year. Her death was definitely an unspoken topic in the house. For the husband, who works nights for a company that cleans up the scene after a person has died, he can’t seem to handle what really happened. He doesn’t know how to handle The Kid. You can see this through the elaborate descriptions of his time at work. I’m not sure that Lucy’s death was ever talked about by David after he told his son and co-worker, Bob, about what happened. I think he just blocked it out. At the same time, the reader also gets a peek into the life of Whitley, or The Kid, as he is known throughout the book. The Kid has made a decision to not speak again. He seems to think that by giving up this form of communication, it will bring his mother back to him. He can’t seem to grasp the reality that she is gone. He wants to really believe that she’s just on vacation and that she will be back. I think part of this stems from the fact that he can’t talk to his father about it. This book was definitely unlike anything that I’ve ever read before. But I think it would be a book that would really hit home with anyone who has lost someone close to them. For me, it was the unexpected death of my grandfather when I was 12. He was the first person really close to me that I lost. I remember being absolutely numb. There was never much discussion about it after the funeral. It wasn’t that it was avoided or taboo in my house, it was just that everything was still too raw to talk about it at the time. Fourteen years later we have wonderful memories of him and we talk fondly of him quite a bit, so it’s like I said, everyone grieves differently. This book shows that. I would definitely recommend this book.

3.5/5, A, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, RATING, Read in 2011

2011.42 REVIEW – William and Kate: A Royal Love Story by Christopher Andersen

Tara

William and Kate: A Royal Love Story
by Christopher Andersen

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 301
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Aug 6 – Aug. 10, 2011
Challenge: No challenge
Yearly Count: 42
Format: Print
Source: Library Book

Blurb: Theirs was destined from the start to be one of the most celebrated unions of the twenty-first century: he, the charismatic prince who would someday be crowned king of England; she, the stunningly beautiful commoner who won his heart. Prince William and Kate Middleton defied all odds to forge a storybook romance amid the scandals, power struggles, tragedies, and general dysfunction that are the hallmarks of Britain’s Royal Family. In the process, they became the most written about, gossiped about, admired, and envied young couple of their generation. Yet for most of their nearly decade-long affair, William and Kate have remained famously quiet and kept their royal relationship a tantalizing mystery. For many, William and Kate’s union represents an opportunity to recapture the magic – the compelling and complicated legacy – of his beloved mother Diana, Princess of Wales. Part glittering fairy tale, part searing family drama, part political potboiler, part heart-stopping cliff-hanger, theirs is, above all else, an affair to remember.

Review: I got this one from the library on a whim. I have read two previous Christopher Andersen books about the royal family – After Diana and Diana’s Boys. To be completely honest, I was a little disappointed with this book. First of all, it started out great. I loved reading a little bit of background about William and Kate as they grew up. As the book continued on to the part where they met at St. Andrew’s the book continued to fascinate me. Then there was a very long section that goes into detail about William and Harry’s military careers. I understand that to a degree this is an important part of the story – but it was a little on the boring side. I found myself wanting to skip over entire paragraphs, actually the entire chapter. The actual information about the engagement announcement was whittled down to a few pages. There was no mention about the wedding itself. And then I found out that this book had actually come out before the wedding!  That explained a lot of things, why the ending was rushed, why there was so much build up with very little fanfare at the end. Most of the information that was in the first three-quarters of the book could have been written 3 years ago with a small chapter about the engagement coming right on the heels of the official announcement. I don’t know that this is how it happened, but after reading the book and realizing what the publication date was, it made me wonder. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for, I suppose.

3.5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Maggie O'Dell, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011, SERIES

2011.41 REVIEW – Hotwire by Alex Kava

Tara

Hotwire
by Alex Kava

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 288
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Aug 5 – Aug. 7, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 41
Format: Print
Source: Library Book

Blurb: On a crisp fall evening in western Nebraska, what started as a group of kids filming their drug-induced party ends in an explosive light show, leaving the victims apparently electrocuted, with odd scorch marks being the only evidence. While Maggie tries to make sense of what is real and what is hallucination, she realizes that the surviving teens are being targeted and systematically eliminated. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, Army Colonel Benjamin Platt is at the scene of a deadly outbreak, desperate to identify the pathogen that has infected children at a Washington, D.C., elementary school. Despite the miles that separate them, the two cases collide as Maggie and Platt uncover secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the remote Midwest landscape.

Review: I was a little hesitant about this book since I was a little bit disappointed in the last book (Damaged). That being said I’m a little on the fence on this one overall. First of all, I should start out by saying that I really do enjoy this series, I like Maggie’s character. I especially like that we’re starting to see the possibility of some romance in her life. But this book and the previous book haven’t been as great as the other previous books were. There seems to be less profiling for Maggie (and that’s what her job description is!) and I honestly loved that aspect of the series. There were two storylines in this book that were supposed to be connected … but seriously, the connection required quite a bit of imagination if you ask me. The way that the two storylines were connected would not have been the way I would have connected them. But again, this is just my opinion. As I stated in my review for Damaged, the ending to this book felt a little rushed as well. Once again I felt the story being built up and up only to be wrapped up in 10 pages. I don’t know. Like I said, I’m a little on the fence. I enjoyed it, but if I was just picking this book up without having read the others first, it probably wouldn’t be a series I would continue with.

4.5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, O, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011

2011.40 REVIEW – Closer than Blood by Gregg Olsen

Tara

Closer than Blood
by Gregg Olsen

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 412
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: July 31 – Aug. 4, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 40
Format: Print
Source: Purchased new

Blurb: The first victim was easy. No one ever suspected the victim had been murdered. The crime long buried, the dark passions guiding the killer’s hand are still alive. But the need for revenge cannot be denied. Only one person can stop the killing. Only one person can identify the killer. Only one person knows the face of death – is as close as the face in the mirror…

Review: Mr. Olsen never fails to impress me. I have read all of his fiction novels so far and have enjoyed every single one of them. The amount of evil he can come up with is amazing to me. Tori, one of the twins in this book … wow, what a character, is all I can say. The storyline was interesting and there was a very interesting twist that came out of left field for me! I simply can’t say enough good things about this book – for sure pick this one up!

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Jack Daniels, K, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011, SERIES

2011.39 REVIEW – Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

Tara

Whiskey Sour
by J.A. Konrath

Copyright: 2004
Pages: 276
Rating: 4/5
Read: July 28 – July 30, 2011
Challenge: TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 39
Format: Print
Source: Purchased online from Powell’s in 2010

Blurb: Lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is an insomniac Chicago cop with a train wreck of a personal life and a stalker bent on adding her to his murder list. Join Jack, her binge-eating partner, a sleazy PI, and two very stupid FBI agents on a wild hunt for the Gingerbread Man – a killer who makes Hannibal Lecter look like Huck Finn.

Review: I purchased this book online in 2010 from Powell’s. I went on this binge where I was gathering up some new series’ to start. I hate to admit that I let this one sit on my shelf for as long as I did. And honestly, I only read it when I did was because it is part of a large trade I have going with a fellow member of the Yahoo group MysteryBookSwap. That being said, I found this book to be hilarious. I’m already looking for the second in the series, Bloody Mary. I don’t think that there’s any other character quite like Jack Daniels in any book I’ve ever read. She’s believable, humorous, serious and likeable all at the same time. The storyline was really enjoyable, the bad guy was interesting, the supporting characters are good. I’m definitely glad that I read this book and I’m really looking forward to reading more in this serious. I would highly recommend this book.