mystery

Unlucky 13: The Women’s Murder Club – James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Angela4 Comments

Another great installment in The Women’s Murder Club Series, I had this read in a day. And was at Barnes and Noble today to get #14, which was nowhere to be found… 😦

Unlucky 13 Cover Image

Lindsey Boxer is enjoying life as a new wife and mother, but a person from her recent past is determined to put an end to that. Yuki and Brady find themselves experiencing their own nightmare on their honeymoon cruise, and Cindy is set on getting the breaking story of her career. Claire has a smaller role in this story, but the suspense is there, and you will not want to put it down!

Up next, I am reading Catacomb, by Madeleine Roux, book 3 in the Asylum series.

From a Buick 8 – Stephen King

Angela3 Comments

Yes, this is what I was finishing up yesterday. I am not positive on the number, but this has to be at least the 8th time I have read this story. I still pulls me in now the same way it did when I first read it.

From a Buick 8 cover image

I consider this “classic” Stephen King. We tend to hear that a lot, and say it often. We compare stories we read now to the first stories Mr. King wrote. We even try to find the timeline of his “drunk” writing, and his “sober” writing. We want him to explain to us how he dare to write something we did not like.

Have I read stories he wrote that I did not like? Absolutely. But it does not mean it is time to put the pen down and do something else. I read a story that he wrote that literally made me cry, it was romantic and horror all at once. I cannot remember the name of the book, and I do not own it. I just remember a man being in love with a younger woman and she was killed in the end…

From a Buick 8 is intense, supernatural, and all about family and friends. A young man is struggling with the death of his father, and it seems like no one can give him the answers he needs. The answers that will allow him to accept what happened, and move on with his life.

No spoilers here, as usual, but we are talking about a car that showed up out of nowhere, with a driver that disappeared, and became the unfortunate property of Pennsylvania State Police Troop D.

It spit out horrors, and tried to pull them each in. And friendships lasted, friends died, and life moved on, with or without answers that one young man so desperately needed.

If you have read this story, I would love to hear what you thought of it!

Chapter and Hearse – Lorna Barrett

Angela2 Comments

I believe this is book 5 of the 7 books I bought in the “Booktown Mystery” series of books. I enjoyed it as well as the others, but there were a couple of things that I read that just did not sit well with me.

Chapter and Hearse Lorna barrett cover Image

Tricia Miles again is caught up in a murder mystery of her own, while trying to run her bookstore, “Haven’t Got a Clue”. There are many who really wish she would just mind her own business: mostly the people killing other people. Her sister, Angelica, is on a book tour promoting her new cookbook, so Tricia is watching her employees at her restaurant and bookstore. Throw in her love-life-going-down-the drain, and some sketchy behavior by her employees, and you will certainly keep turning the pages.

I am switching it up and starting a different type of genre to read next, so be on the look-out for that.

A fun cartoon from Lorna's website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com
A fun cartoon from Lorna’s website! Be sure to visit it at http://lornabarrett.com

I have yet to hear from anyone who has read this series, and am curious on how you liked it if you have indeed read some of these stories?

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King

AngelaLeave a comment

I was told by a few of you that I would love this book, and you were right! This was definitely along the lines of classic Stephen King, and it has set me on a new mission: to read all of the older Stephen King books that are seldom talked about and I have somehow not yet managed to read.

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As a side note; I still like “From a Buick 8” the best. I am going to have to pay close attention the next time I read it, which will be soon, to see if I can figure out what exactly it is about that one story in particular that makes me like it so much!

Trisha McFarland goes from being a normal 9 year old girl, with an irritating older brother, and parents who just divorced, to suddenly fighting for her life when she gets lost in the woods. Having a 10 year old daughter myself, I was often wondering what she would do and how she would handle each new situation that Trisha encountered as she walked for miles, trying to find her way out of the woods.

The one thing that saves Trisha’s sanity, at least for the most part, is listening to the Boston Red Sox on her Walkman, and telling herself that when Tom Gordon gets the save, it means she will get saved. This is classic Stephen King all over the place, but how much of it is in Trisha’s scared, starved, exhausted mind, and how much of it is really out there in the woods, watching her?

If you like Stephen King, you will enjoy this story. At less than 300 pages it is a quick read, and the only thing I did not like about it was that the chapters were so very long! I like to try to stop reading at the end of a chapter, but sometimes I just couldn’t because they were so long. I would have to put it down about halfway through a chapter, and then skim through the page before when I picked it up to refresh myself on what was happening since I was in the middle of something big going on in the story line.

I have already started Stephen King’s new story, Finders Keepers, but this one will be a bit longer of a read. I am still trying to get my blog in top-notch working order so I can attach my store, and I do have to go back to work tomorrow!

May your Sunday be full of great stories!

Desperate Chioces – Jeanette Cooper

AngelaLeave a comment

This is a fantastic book! A quick read, full of suspense, romance, and intrigue. As a note, there is quite a bit of violence against women going on in this book, please be advised before you read.

Rochelle met a wonderful man who she married, and learned about his abusive side after the fact. He is a major king pin in the drug world, and she is a hostage in her home.

It seems predictable at points, and when Michael starts acting like a total ass, it got a bit hard to not skim over. but keep going, it is worth the read. One woman learns what is important, learns a lot about herself, and just may find her happy ending!

Desperate Choices Cover Image

Sweet Water – Christina Baker Kline

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After becoming the owner of a house and 60 acres willed to her after her Grandfather’s death, Cassie Simon decides this is just the change she needs. Having lived in the city for the majority of her life, she was not exactly sure what she was looking for, but that this was her chance to do something different.

image from: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/
image from: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/

Her long-lost family, who have not seen her since she and her father moved away after her mother was killed, are skeptical about why she would come back. Why would she decide to live in a house that has been empty for so long? Would she be capable of even taking care of herself, or would she expect her new-found family to help her out?

Cassie does her best to fit in, and get her new home in tip-top shape. Her relationship with her grandmother, whom everyone calls “Clyde”, is tense for reasons she does not understand and can’t seem to figure out.

This story is told from two different viewpoints: Cassie’s, and Clyde’s. This story drew me in right from the beginning, and I was anxious, and sad, and angry right along with Cassie as she learns more and more about her family, this new town, and what really, truly happened to her mother. The biggest question is, when she learns the truth, will she have any forgiveness left in her?

This is my first read of Ms. Kline, and I was not disappointed. She his highly reviewed, and highly rated. I happened to stumble on this book while browsing through others, not knowing what exactly I was looking for, but that I would know it when I saw it. And I did.

You can find out more about this book, and Ms. Kline, here: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/

If you have read any of her stories, including this one, I would love to hear what you thought of it!

Chill Run – Russell Brooks

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This was a fast-paced read, with a lot of twists and turns. This is the second book I have read by Russell Brooks, and this one had a completely different feel to it. The whole style of writing seemed different than “The Demeter Code”, and it was spot-on for this story.

Chill Run Image

When Eddie has no one who believes in him and his dream of becoming a published author, his two friends convince him to try a publicity stunt to end all publicity stunts. Everyone knows it is a lot easier to sell your first novel when people have heard of you.

Eddie should have stuck to writing, and hired someone to get his name out to the public. What seemed like a harmless stunt turned into an unsuspecting, albeit sketchy, Governor being murdered. And the bodies seemed to pile up from there. With next to nobody believing in his innocent, Eddie and his friends begin a journey to clear all of their names. They manage to uncover corruption of the deepest kind while they are at it, while learning what they are truly made of.

I liked this story a lot, and highly recommend it. It has action, suspense, romance, and a couple laugh-out-loud moments as well.

To learn more a bout Russell and his stories, be sure to visit his website at: http://russellparkway.com  

A Call From the Dark – Adam Deverell

Angela2 Comments

A Call From the Dark Cover Image

This was an okay story, centered around a teenage girl who works in a video rental store, and gets herself caught up in one of her co-workers DVD-Video-Computer-game pirating scheme. She gets quite a scare when someone breaks in as she is closing the store, and is determined to get herself out of the mess she got herself into, while exacting a little bit if revenge for herself.

In the end, she doesn’t get caught for her small involvement in the DVD-copying racket, she gets a different job for the summer, and her and her father have a better relationship.

There were some spelling and sentence errors, such as using ‘he’ where it should be ‘she’, or using the wrong person’s name. ‘Smelt’ was used for ‘smelled’ more than once. Such as if I were to say “It smelt like the candle burned out”.

I feel like this story had great potential, if things were expanded on. It was not horrible by any means, but I wouldn’t be likely to purchase one of this author’s books if I saw it on an end-cap at B&N.

(The image above was the only cover image I could find, and I do not think the person on the cover looks like a 15 year old girl. IMHO).

Sanctum – Madeleine Roux

Angela3 Comments

Sanctum Cover Image

The follow-up book to Asylum was not quite as creepy as Asylum, but I enjoyed it none-the-less. This story had us again following Dan, Abby, and Jordan as they return to Brookline, still in search of the answer to what is going on at the old Mental Hospital, and why.

Sanctum 001

They all lie to their parents saying they are going elsewhere (didn’t we all do this?) and are trying to figure out what Felix, the poor chap from the 1st book, was trying to tell Dan when he paid him a visit. Felix’s mom called Dan, asking that he come to visit Felix. Dan goes, only to leave feeling far more confused than he did when he arrived.

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This book is full of creepy photos as well; this time of old circus performers. They make me happy that not only did my parents never take me to the circus, but that I have never taken my own children, either.

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I do not know if there is going to be a third novel; nothing was mentioned at the end of this story. If one comes out, I will certainly read it. If not, it was a good two stories just as they are.