Review: Shakespeare's Counselor

Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I liked this book, and the series. I am very disappointed that this is the end of the series, though. Just when it seemed like Lily was really & truly starting to heal emotionally as well as physically - the series is over. Oh well. Not my decision to make, nor my story to write.



View all my reviews

Review: Sizzling Sixteen

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Maybe I'm expecting too much, but these later books in the series are not as good as they used to be. Too much is explained that we should already know (just how often do we need to be told that Lula is a plus-size woman who wears size-small clothes? or that Ranger is mysterious and super-sexy? or that Stephanie can't decide between two men? or that Vinnie is a sleazeball?). It takes up space in the book, yes. But being given everyone's specifics in the first few chapters of each book is getting old - and it's the same reason I stopped reading the Baby-Sitters Club series as a young teen. Too much repetition insults the intelligence of your readership.

There were some moments of humor - which redeemed the book somewhat (hence the fourth star - I came very close to giving it three). Someone who hasn't read the rest of the series would probably find this book very entertaining.



View all my reviews

Review: Plum Lovin'

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a quick read. These "between the numbers" books are a lot of fun (and fluff). I read this one in an afternoon.



View all my reviews

Review: Dead in the Family

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll admit that I was surprised to find this book at the library. I hadn't been paying enough attention to know that another Sookie Stackhouse novel had been released. Big excitement in my little world.
That said, the book needed something else. It either needed to be longer (to fully develop more of the plot points) or have fewer side stories. Pick something to focus on - be it the conflict now that the Weres have "come out" or Eric's history (or Bill's), or Sookie's relationship with Hunter, or the Faery stuff - any of those could have been a main plotpoint with the others as side notes. Instead, we have all of these things competing for status as the "main" storyline.

Even with these complaints - I loved this book. It took me only about a day to read it - despite having to work. :)



View all my reviews

Seeking Sara Summers

Seeking Sara Summers by Susan Gabriel

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable book. There were several distracting instances where apostrophes were misused, and a couple of times where homonyms were mixed up, but they did not do much to detract from the story as a whole and I was able to get past them fairly quickly.


Part of what drew me to this story was the title. I am always happy to find characters with my name, spelled the way I spell it. Characters named Sarah are very common, those named Sara are hard to find. To have nothing else in common with the character is irrelevant to me - I'll read almost any book with a main character named Sara.


I do think that the jacket description gives away a little too much of the plot, which made the story itself rather predictable. Sara needs to discover who she is before she can decide what she wants, and this is Sara's journey of self-discovery. However, Sara's ultimate decision about her life, as well as her husband's revelation in the second-to-last chapter, are left as mysteries until the very end - something I really enjoyed. Keeping those two secrets until the last few pages of the book is a great way to end things.


View all my reviews.

The Lunatic Cafe

The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #4) by Laurell K. Hamilton

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the fourth book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. It is less intense than the third book, but that is not to say that it is less of a story. Anita is back and doing what she always does - except that the Christmas season is slow for zombie raisings and there haven't been any vampires to execute lately. She manages to get tangled up in local Were politics, which is not fun for anyone, least of all her on-again, off-again boyfriend Richard (who is a Werewolf). The immediate mystery is solved during the course of the book, but naturally there is always the underlying overall mystery of what Anita will do with her life when she has two supernatural creatures vying for her attention. As usual, there is a lot of blood & gore, but also a lot of great one-liners. Nothing in this series is gratuitous, and each book gives us a deeper glimpse into Anita's past and why she is the way she is.


View all my reviews.

2008 Reading List

I did it! I read 50 books during 2008. Here is my 2008 list:

1. Days of Infamy (Harry Turtledove)
2. The Magician's Nephew (C. S. Lewis)
3. Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)
4. End of the Beginning (Harry Turtledove)
5. The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs)
6. Short & Tall Tales: Moose County Legends (Lilian Jackson Braun)
7. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
8. Mount Vernon Love Story (Mary Higgins Clark)
9. Blood Orange (Drusilla Campbell)
10. Mercy (Jodi Picoult)
11. Happiness Sold Separately (Lolly Winston)
12. The Horse and His Boy (C. S. Lewis)
13. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
14. Good In Bed (Jennifer Weiner)
15. Prince Caspian (C. S. Lewis)
16. Before Green Gables (Budge Wilson)
17. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
18. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Joshilyn Jackson)
19. The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)
20. The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
21. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C. S. Lewis)
22. The Diary of Mattie Spenser (Sandra Dallas)
23. Bad Girls of the Bible (and what we can learn from them) (Liz Curtis Higgs)
24. Chronicles of Chrestomanci, volume 1 (Diane Wynne Jones)
25. Rhett Butler's People (Donald McCaig)
26. Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery)
27. Emily Climbs (L.M. Montgomery)
28. Emily's Quest (L.M. Montgomery)
29. Chronicles of Chrestomani, volume 2 (Diane Wynne Jones)
30. Howl's Moving Castle (Diane Wynne Jones)
31. Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea (Diane Glancy)
32. The Morgue The Merrier (Rosemary Laurey, Karen Kelley, & Dianne Castell)
33. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
34. Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler (Wade Rouse)
35. Those Who Save Us (Jenna Blum)
36. Anne of Avonlea (L.M. Montgomery)
37. Pushing the Bear: a Novel of the Trail of Tears (Diane Glancy)
38. In Her Shoes (Jennifer Weiner)
39. Anne of the Island (L.M. Montgomery)
40. Blood Ties (Pamela Freeman)
41. A Lion Among Men (Gregory Maguire)
42. The Art of Keeping Secrets (Patty Callahan Henry)
43. Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
44. The Heretic's Daughter (Kathleen Kent)
45. New Moon (Stephenie Meyer)
46. The Shack (Wm. Paul Young)
47. Anne of Windy Poplars (L.M. Montgomery)
48. Nineteen Minutes (Jodi Picoult)
49. The Tsarina's Daughter (Carolly Erickson)
50. The Teahouse Fire (Ellis Avery)

I have set myself a goal of 75 for 2009.