So I finally took the plunge. I activated a new design today. Feel free to give me any feedback on what you all think of the new design. I find it to be a lot cleaner. I’m still working on the custom menu options, so those will probably change in the near future. But I’m still trying to get the hang of the new design. Hope you all like it!
2011.4 REVIEW – Cross Country by James Patterson
Cross Country
by James Patterson
Copyright: 2008
Pages: 403
Rating: 3/5
Read: Jan. 17 – 23, 2011
Challenge: Mystery & Suspense Challenge; TBR Dare
Yearly Count: 4
Format: Print
First Line: Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The surname of the family was Cox, the father a very successful trial lawyer, but the target was the mother, Ellie Randall Cox.
Blurb: Detective Alex Cross pursues the most ruthless killer he’s ever encountered – to a land of sheer terror and back. It’s the worst crime scene Alex Cross has ever seen, and then more killings, each one more ruthless than the last, quickly follow. After one death comes terrifyingly close to home, Alex realizes he’s chasing a horrible new breed of killer. Digging deeper into the case, Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, uncover a shocking Washington, D.C., underworld: a gang of teenage thugs headed by a warlord known only as the Tiger. When the Tiger’s elusive trail turns up in Africa, Alex knokws that he must follow. Unprotected and alone, can Alex manage to both survive and catch the killer?
Review: Okay, I’m not going to lie, this was not my favorite Alex Cross book at all. In fact, I actually considered putting it aside at one point. The entire portion of the book in which Alex was in Africa was not my cup of tea. I was a little sick of how cocky Alex got when he was in Africa. I mean, the guy is in a foreign country, not at all wanted there, and yet he goes around thinking that just because he’s a police officer in Washington D.C. will actually mean anything in Africa. It doesn’t work that way in foreign countries. Yet, Alex didn’t seem to comprehend that whatsoever. There is a lot of violence in this book, just a warning to anyone easily offended. I also felt like it was just a little too political for a fiction book. It just really wasn’t all that great in my opinion. I hope that the next book in this series is better, because this installment has left a bad taste in my mouth.
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Sunday Wrap-Up, Jan. 23, 2011
So I just realized as I was looking back at my format for last week’s Sunday Wrap-Up, that I actually titled it with the wrong year! Oops! I’m still writing 2010 on most everything (checks, blog posts, EVERYTHING!) and I probably will continue to do so until at least March. So if you see any other incorrect years, please ignore them 🙂
This past week I was in Las Vegas for the World of Concrete convention. (And a little gambling and good eating, too!) So my participation on this blog was a little lacking. I only scheduled one post:
And I had one review:
Oh and I have one more tidbit to add. Two years ago today, my “baby” was welcomed into this world. That was the week that western Kentucky was hit really hard by an ice storm. He was the runt of the litter and the breeder almost lost him due to power outages and not really being able to get him the proper veterinarian care due to the weather. Needless to say, I’m very glad that he pulled through, because he makes us smile EVERY day! (Even when he’s being as obnoxious as he possibly can). The past two years have been a big experience for my husband and I. We had pets growing up, but neither one of us ever had a pet that was completely our responsibility. So I would like to wish my Buster a happy second birthday!
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Mailbox Monday, Jan. 17, 2010
Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with January’s spot being at Rose City Reader.
Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House by Cormac O’Brien (PBS)
With chapters on every woman who’s ever made it to the White House, Secret Lives of the First Ladies tackles all of the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: How many of these women owned slaves? Which ones were cheating on their husbands? And why was Eleanor Roosevelt serving hot dogs to the King and Queen of England? American history was never this much fun in school!
I received this book off of my wishlist on PBS after receiving Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents late last year. Looking forward to reading both of these books.
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2011.3 REVIEW – Where are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
Where Are the Children?
by Mary Higgins Clark
Copyright: 1975
Pages: 290
Rating: 5/5
Read: Jan. 14 – 16, 2011
Challenge: Mystery & Suspense Challenge; TBR Dare; TwentyEleven Challenge; What’s in a Name 4
Yearly Count: 3
Format: Print
First Line: He could feel the chill coming in through the cracks around the windowpanes.
Blurb: Nancy Harmon had fled the vil of her first marriage, the macabre deaths of her two little children, the hideous charges against her. She changed her name, dyed her hair, moved from California to New England. Now she was married again, had had two more lovely children, and her life was filled with happiness … until the morning when she looked for her children and found only one tattered red mitten and knew that the nightmare was beginning again…
Review: This is Mary Higgins Clark’s first mystery novel. I found it just as thrilling as her recent novels! You could definitely tell that it was dated (1975), but that really didn’t take away from the actual storyline. In all honesty, this is a book that can be read 100 years from now and still be good. Overall, I thouroughly enjoyed this book. That’s not to say it was perfect, I did have a little bit of an issue with Nancy’s character. I guess it stems from me not liking such weak women characters. I have very little sympathy for weak women, so I didn’t really like Nancy’s character as much as I could have. I was also a little disappointed by the lack of background about Nancy. For most of the book I kept scratching my head wondering if I had missed something, and then I decided that there was a lot that wasn’t revealed as early as it could have been. This is a 290 page book that was short, sweet and to the point. It could have had at least 30 extra pages in it to include this background. Of course, then I would probably be complaining about too much background, so I suppose that complaint is a double edged sword. Overall, I really did enjoy this book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.
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Sunday Wrap-Up, Jan. 16, 2010
Here’s my weekly wrap-up:
I participated in three memes:
- I welcomed one book in my mailbox this week
- I talked about my blogging/reading resolutions
- I talked about my reading in WWW Wednesdays
I posted one review:
I’ve really been using the schedule feature lately. Which is a good thing, because I will be going out of town this week. So if you don’t see as much of me you know why.
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2011.2 REVIEW – Judas Kiss by J.T. Ellison
Judas Kiss
by J.T. Ellison
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 395
Rating: 4/5
Read: Jan. 5 – 14, 2011
Challenge: Mystery & Suspense Challenge; TBR Dare
Yearly Count: 2
Format: Print
First Line: Blood. It was everywhere.
Blurb: It was a murder made for TV: a trail of tiny bloody footprints. An innocent toddler playing beside her mother’s bludgeoned body. Pretty young Corinne Wolff, seven months pregnant, brutally murdered in her own home. Cameras and questions don’t usually faze Nashville homicide lieutenant Taylor Jackson, but the media frenzy surrounding the Wolff case is particularly nasty … and thorough. When the seemingly model mommy is linked to an amateur porn Web site with underage actresses and unwitting players, the sharks begin to circle. The shock is magnified when an old adversary uses the sexy secret footage to implicate Taylor in a murder – an accusation that threatens her career, her reputation and her relationship. Both cases hinge on the evidence – real or manufactured – of crimes that go beyond passion, into the realm of obsessive vengeance and shocking betrayal. Just what the networks love.
Review: Okay, so it took me forever to read this book. But not because I wasn’t enjoying it! I actually really liked this book. For whatever reason, I really like Taylor Jackson as a character! She’s witty, independent, smart, and manages to balance all of that with her love life and work life. It’s amazing what kind of insight the author, J.T. Ellison, has into the psyche of the character she has created. In this particular installment, many of the cases from Taylor’s past come back into her life. It’s interesting to see how she handles it all – along with the pressure of having some really embarrassing tapes being released to the media. This book does have some adult aspects to it, so I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. (But I’m not really a good judge when it comes to offensive material because I’m not offended by much of anything.) Overall I’m really looking forward to reading more Taylor Jackson, I’m dying to know what she does with the awful Delores Norris (what a despicable woman!).
Here’s a line that made me laugh out loud when I was reading:
She was starting to get a complex; just how many serial killers could the city of Nashville have in one day?
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WWW Wednesdays – Jan. 12, 2011
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
* What are you currently reading?
- Judas Kiss by J.T. Ellison – I’m almost done with it though! It’s been a crazy week at work so far and my reading has suffered because of it.
* What did you recently finish reading?
- I’ve only finished one book so far this year – Double Cross by James Patterson
*What do you think you’ll read next?
- I’m not entirely sure … but after the week I’ve had so far, I need something light and easy!
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Top Ten Tuesday – Jan. 11, 2010
Top Ten Bookish/Blogging Resolutions in which you can share all those things you things that you resolve to do concerning your reading or blogging life.
- Participate in as many memes as I possibly can. I pass up on a lot of opportunities when it comes to memes. I want to change that this year. I need to participate more, it will only help me become more well known in the book blogosphere, plus it will help me post everyday (hopefully!)
- Comment, comment, comment. I am determined to stop being such a lurker and comment on other people’s blogs more often. I have countless blogs in my Google Reader that I follow religiously, I want to let all these wonderful bloggers know that I’m enjoying their blogs!
- Review a book as quickly as I can. I noticed more than once in 2010 that I wasn’t reviewing books as soon as I possibly could. This meant that by the time I got around to reviewing the book, I was 2-3 books down the road and had trouble recalling specifics about the particular book I was trying to review. I don’t necessarily have to review the book on my blog immediately, I just want to make sure that I don’t let too much time pass before I have a chance to put words to my thoughts.
- READ MORE! I read 67 books total in 2010. Overall, I’m pleased with that number. But in November I only read 3 books! I could have easily hit 70 books had I not hit such a huge slump. I need to work out of those slumps. I need to pick up “fluff” books when I hit slumps. I need to make myself read as much as I possibly can.
- Pick up that Nook. I received a Nook Color for Christmas. I received it early, the day it came out. And I have read ONE book on it. ONE!! And I have loaded like 6-7 books on it. I need to pick it up more and read off of it more. I like to read two books at once. I always take a book with me to work. I need to make a plan to pick up the Nook and read it at night. (Unless of course the paper book that I’m reading at work is just that good and I want to read it more.)
- Schedule. I need to use the schedule feature more often. A lot of the things that I post on here I can use the schedule feature. For example, this is a scheduled post! I started this post on Jan. 4th, it’s now Jan. 9th and I’m editing on it some more 🙂 This is definitely a feature I need to use, especially since I tend to go out of town quite a bit. I hate having huge gaps in the dates of my posts. If I schedule, I can cut back on that.
- Find a better layout. Here’s the deal, I’ve had the same theme on my blog since the day I took it live on WordPress. I just keep changing the colors. I need something new. I need something better. I’ve been putting off changing things up because of all my widgets and needing the free time to mess with it all at once. I need to just schedule a weekend and sit down and take care of it all.
- Organize those book shelves. My in-laws bought me a nice 5 shelf book case for Christmas. Not one of those cheapies that I have from Walmart. A nice one. I need to get it put together (I love my husband!) and start getting my books better organized. I was using an Excel spreadsheet. That’s just not cutting it anymore. I have downloaded a free trial version of a book database software. I have begun inputting a little bit, if I continue to like it I will purchase the full version and go from there.
- Breaking up is hard to do. I need to break up with some of my books. Desperately. I need to just sit down and weed them out. If they’ve been on my shelves for too long I need to see about moving them to another spot and if they are still unread within 6 months, they need new homes. Period. End of story. I need to do this, my house is being overrun with books (and I have a huge house!). Besides, I am a little intimidated by the amount of books I have, it’s daunting, actually.
- Get my husband to read. My husband, bless his heart, is a civil engineer. He claims he hates to read. I keep telling him he hasn’t found the right book yet. I’m determined to find the right book, even if that means I have to hunt down James Bond and Indiana Jones books for him (his favorite movies). I don’t necessarily want to turn him into a book worm like me, but we travel a lot and it would be nice if I could get him to read a book on airplanes rather than bug me the whole trip 🙂
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Mailbox Monday – Jan. 10, 2010
Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with January’s spot being at Rose City Reader.
Cop Hater by Ed McBain (PBS)
Swift, silent, and deadly – someone is knocking off the 87th Precinct’s finest, one by one. The how of the killings if obvious: three .45 shots from the dark add up to one, two, three very dead detectives. The why and the who are the Precinct’s headaches now. When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it. With one meager clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city’s underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head…
This was an impulse “buy” from PBS. I’m not sure what it was exactly that made me use a credit on this book, but it does look very good, and it’s a series that I’ve looked at trying quite often in the past.
Tales of a Book Addict 