Saturday, July 25, 2009

Books I've Read Lately

It’s been a crazy month. Not very conducive to reading, reviewing, OR blogging. So I’m going to cheat. Here’s a look at some books I’ve read lately:


First up is the always fabulous Karen Rose. I’ve been slowly working my way through her back list and I’m totally looking forward to getting her new book, I CAN SEE YOU, when it comes out August 5th. For now, I’ve just finished reading her 4th book, NOTHING TO FEAR, and it was great! Spooky, scary, serial-killin’ great! In this book, security expert Ethan Buchanan is looking for his kidnapped godson. This leads him to Chicago and Dana Dupinsky (who first appeared in Rose’s 1st book, DON’T TELL) who runs a shelter for battered women. Will Dana be able to help Ethan and still keep the secrets her clients rely on her to keep? If you’re looking for an edge-of-your-seat ride, you can’t go wrong with a Karen Rose book. I would advise keeping the lights on, though. Muhahaha. As for me, I’m moving on to book #5: YOU CAN’T HIDE.


I loved it!


Next, I read the much blogged about (at least by the book bloggers I read), LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This was a wonderfully interesting book about what might happen if a meteor hit the moon and knocked it closer to Earth. Think about that for a minute -- the tides would be different and many coastal cities would be flooded, the weather would probably change, and our communication systems would likely be adversely affected. This book, told through the diary entries of a teenaged girl named Miranda, imagines how one town and one family are affected by these events and how their lives had to change in order for them to survive. I’d highly recommend this fascinating, hard-to-put-down young adult novel to any one of any age. I know I’ll be picking up Pfeffer’s follow-up novel, THE DEAD AND GONE, which is basically the same story told by a teenaged boy living in New York City. Pfeffer has also written a third installment of the Moon Crash trilogy called, THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN. This book is a continuation of Miranda’s diary, taking up where LIFE AS WE KNEW IT left off. It comes out April 2010.


Highly Recommended


Then I read the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS by Charlaine Harris. I actually think I like this book better than the first, but it was almost like two books in one. The book starts out with the murder of a cook in the bar where Sookie works. Before she has a chance to really get involved in that little mystery, however, she and Bill, her vampire boyfriend, are sent to Dallas to help the vampires there find one of their missing nestmates. Once the nasty business in Dallas is concluded, Sookie and Bill return home to solve the cook’s murder. A little disjointed, but, nonetheless, the book kept my interest all the way through. Next up in the series is CLUB DEAD.


Very Good


And, last but not least, I’ve just finished FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN by Janet Evanovich. I can count on Evanovich to come up with a funny, entertaining story every time. This book is the latest installment of the Stephanie Plum series. In this one, Lula witnesses a murder of a famous television chef which leads to her being hunted by the killers, entering a cooking contest, and moving into Stephanie’s apartment. Which, in turn, leads to many cars being burned, Grandma Mazur getting involved with the cooking, and Stephanie moving out of her apartment and into Ranger’s. A quick, fun read.



Excellent

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want to start the Sookie Stackhouse series. I'm hoping to get to the first book soon.

Life as We Knew it sounds very interesting.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Beth F said...

Sookie really grows on you!