Challenge Wrap-Up

Finished Challenge – Numbers Challenge

Tara

Well, I have officially finished my first challenge! Tonight, I finished my final book required for Callista’s Numbers Challenge. (Note: There are different links there, one to the challenge page, and one to the hosts’ personal page).

For this challenge, I read:

  1. Mary Higgins Clark – Two Little Girls in Blue
  2. Harlan Coben – No Second Chance
  3. James Patterson – 1st to Die
  4. James Patterson – 2nd Chance
  5. Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason – The Rule of Four

As laid out in the rules, three were overlapped with other challenges. Those that were for this challenge only were 2nd Chance and The Rule of Four. Through this challenge, I was able to read both of the James Patterson books which had sat on my shelf for at least 2 years. (Not sure why I never picked them up before!). Patterson was a new author for me, as was Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. It had been a long time since I had read anything by Harlan Coben or Mary Higgins Clark.

Overall, I am quite proud that I was able to finish this challenge so early. I had to change my list once, after I read the rules more closely and realized that they couldn’t ALL be overlapped with other challenges!! (Oops!) I am glad that I chose this challenge as one to participate in!!

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, P, Read in 2008, SERIES, Women's Murder Club

2nd Chance by James Patterson

Tara
2nd Chance
by James Patterson

Copyright: 2002
Pages: 400
Rating: 4/5
Read: March 21-22, 2008
Challenge: Numbers Challenge

First Line: Aaron Winslow would never forget the next few minutes.

The Women’s Murder Club returns in this second installment of the series! This time, they are up against a brilliant murderer who is seemingly killing people at random. But Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is under the impression that the killings are somehow related and that there is a serial killer on the loose. But in order to convince her boss and co-workers, she has to enlist the help of her girls in the Club. And what they find out will rock the city to it’s core.

This was another great one from James Patterson! This one read so incredibly fast and was a great read!! I still do not know why I waited so long to start this series, but am definitely glad that I’m reading them now!!

Finishing this book also completes the Numbers Challenge. (My first finished challenge! Yay! – I’ll post a end-of-challenge round-up post shortly).

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2008

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Tara
Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 446
Rating: 3/5
Read: March 18-21, 2008
Challenge: Eponymous Challenge

First Line: My name is Odd Thomas, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship, I am not sure why you should care who I am or that I exist.

Odd Thomas is a young man with a gift. He uses this gift in order to get justice for those who cannot help themselves. But when a strange man comes into the diner where Odd works as a short order cook, he’s never encountered anyone as evil before. With the help of his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, they must stop this strange man before he can wreak havoc on their little community.
I’m going to be honest … this book was weird. And usually I like weird books, but this one was not really wonderful. It definitely had it’s great parts, but overall I was a little bored throughout the book. I found myself struggling to pay attention to it. I am not sure I will continue this series, although I have the next one. It will be a while before I will want to pick up the second one.
Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill-Ins #64

Tara

1. Spring is so exciting!
2. Strawberry fields are probably something to see (never seen one).
3. Fried Chicken sounds like it would taste delicious! (Really craving it right now)
4. Why does warm weather make me feel so good?!
5. Australia is something I’ve always wanted to see.
6. It’s sad when my Salukis’ season is over. (SIU got eliminated from the NIT yesterday)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a good home cooked meal, tomorrow my plans include going to Paducah and Sunday, I want to forget that I have TWO family dinners!
Booking Through Thursday

BTT – The End

Tara

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

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What I do after I finish a book varies with the book. If it was a really great book, I will usually sit and savor the ending for a little bit, letting it sink in. If it was just an okay book, I almost always start another book right away. I guess I prefer to let those books that I really and truly enjoy I would rather have the memories of them for a little longer before I start another one. For those books that were just okay, I usually prefer to dive into another one in the hopes that I will find something great in it!
4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2008, S

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve

Tara
The Pilot’s Wife
by Anita Shreve
Copyright: 1998
Pages: 293
Rating: 4/5
Read: March 16-17, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: She heard a knocking, and then a dog barking.

For a pilot’s wife, that middle of the night knock at the door is part of life. But when that knock comes on Kathryn Lyon’s door, she is not only unprepared to hear of her husband’s death, but also of the damning circumstances surrounding the explosion that took out his plane and 103 other people on board. But she can’t really give up – she realizes that she must find out who her husband really was, regardless of what the results will do to her heart.
This was a really good book. It read extremely quickly for me. I had trouble putting it down. I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t believe the twists and turns that occurred throughout the book. The ending is not at all what I expected, and I really enjoyed this book!
5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, P, Read in 2008

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Tara
The Pact
by Jodi Picoult

Copyright: 1998
Pages: 496
Rating: 5/5
Read: March 14-16, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: There was nothing left to say.

Chris Harte and Emily Gold have been joined at the hip since birth. They had no choice, with their mothers being best friends, they were always together. So it was no surprise to anyone when their friendship turned into a romantic relationship. However, when Emily is found dead in the arms of Chris, dead of a supposed suicide pact, no one can comprehend what could have happened. Emily’s death will rock their little town, change their parents’ life forever and possibly be the end of Chris’ life as he knows it.
This book was great! After hearing many great things about Jodi Picoult, this book was the only one that I could find available on paperbackswap.com and decided to give it a shot. I read it in three days and was absolutely entranced by it the entire time. The way that Picoult weaves her story is amazing. The characters came to life, I could feel the feelings that the characters were feeling. It was just a great book all around. Highly recommended.
5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, G, Read in 2008

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Tara
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory

Copyright: 2001
Pages: 735
Rating: 5/5
Read: March 11-14, 2008
Challenge: Back to History
First Line: I could hear a roll of muffled drums.
Mary Boleyn is a young girl serving at the court of King Henry of England. When her sister, Anne, comes back from France, the sibling rivalry begins once again. However, when Mary finds herself in the favor of the King, Anne and the rest of the family is doing nothing but pushing Mary toward the king. After giving birth to two of his children, one girl and one boy, Mary finds herself being pushed out of the favor of the king. Instead, she finds her sister Anne being the king’s favorite. But Anne will not stand by and simply be the mistress to the king; she wants to be queen. With the help of the entire family, Anne finds her way into the favor of the king and subsequently talks him into divorcing Queen Katherine. Although Anne gets what she wants, that ambition will ultimately be the end of her.
Oh my goodness! This book was sooooooooo good! I could not hardly stand to put it down. It was a little slow to start, but after about 100 pages into it, it picked up pace and never backed off! This was really my first time reading anything about this time period and I really enjoyed it! I will probably be looking for more of her books. I love that she made the story readable to a person who knows little to nothing about this time period. Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended!!!
Booking Through Thursday

BTT – Playing Editor

Tara

Suggested by John :
How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:
__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.
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Hannibal Rising would have been a much better book if … there had actually been a point to the book! Haha! Okay, seriously, this book had so much promise. To me it should have really wrapped up all the questions that surrounded Dr. Hannibal Lecter and what made him the monster that we know him as. I felt cheated after I finished it. I wanted to know everything that had happened to Lecter, and to some degree I got that. But I felt as if Thomas Harris could have done a lot more with the book in order to make it better. I honestly wouldn’t recommend anyone to even bother with Hannibal Rising.
4/5, A, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, Read in 2008

Diana’s Boys by Christopher Andersen

Tara
Diana’s Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved
by Christopher Andersen

Copyright: 2001, 2002
Pages: 365
Rating: 4/5
Read: March 4-10, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – Bio/Autobio category; Eponymous Challenge

First Line: That the beautiful, complicated Princess of Wales — arguably the most celebrated woman of the twentieth century — died so violently, so senselessly, and so young at age thirty-six was tragic.

Such a great book! Andersen makes the story of these two boys flow so easily. He really goes into a lot of detail about what life was like for them growing up not only as royals but also as children who had to watch their parents quarrel almost constantly. It’s really amazing how they got away with quite a bit, but both of their parents were always keeping them in line (although Diana was more likely to let them have a little fun than Charles). Andersen also spends a lot of time explaining how their parents’ problems and subsequent divorce as well as the tragic death of their mother effected their lives. Great read.