Book #55: Touch the Dark

Karen Chance's Touch the Dark was my second attempt at urban fantasy. This was also the first in a series, but I don't think I'll be continuing with this one.

Cassandra Palmer has spent half of her life as an unwilling member of the vampire royal court, and the other half of her life on the run. She is sought for her clairvoyant abilities. Beyond that, everything is extremely muddled.

The author spends pages explaining some things, and then no time at all explaining others. Her vampires are also able to feed off humans by absorbing blood (sometimes from across the room) and no biting is necessary. That was a little too much artistic license for me to swallow. It kind of completely eliminates one of the things that makes vampire legend so compelling.

The main character also seems to jump around in time to a dizzying degree and I rarely wanted to follow her.

Book #54: Dead Witch Walking

Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking is my first foray into urban fantasy. The Sookie Stackhouse novels would probably fit into that category if they weren't, you know, rural.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter for the government, ends up on the run when she quits her job. She's wanted dead or alive, gets kicked out of her apartment, and has to move in with her new partners: a vampire and a pixie.

It was interesting to read something from the witch vein instead of vampires for a change. Though the book feels a bit vague on whether or not witchcraft is inherited or anyone can pick it up. The fact that charms can be purchased in stores and witches have to train in school, takes away some of the mystical aspect.

This is the first in The Hollows series and I will likely continue on in the series.

Book #53: Smash Cut

Smash Cut is Sandra Brown's newest novel, using her newest formula. Two main characters meet, become intimate ridiculously fast, and then get to know eachother and solve a mystery. (See: The Switch, Exclusive, and Play Dirty)

Criminal lawyer Derek Mitchel and gallery owner Julie Rutledge are drawn together by the murder of her lover and benefactor. Of course many things will throw a wrench in their relationship, including psychopathic stalker Creighton Wheeler.

This was fairly quick paced though I found myself irritated by Sandra Brown's ability to write flawed and complex men, but mostly bland fragile women. But what she does is exceptionally well is psychopaths. (Her villain in Unspeakable will scare the crap out of you.)

What the hell am I doing?

Currently re-reading the entire Sookie Stackhouse series because I am crazy like that, and contemplating revamping myself into rockabilly style.

Be back soon with something new.

Book #52: Black Hills

Black Hills is Nora Roberts' newest romantic suspense novel. These are typically enjoyable though after you've read all of her books, the formula can get tiresome.

Lil Chance and Cooper Sullivan have been friends since their childhood summers in South Dakota. They fall in love one summer before they go off in their separate directions, he to become a New York City cop and she to become a wildlife biologist. They meet again ten years later when Lil and her Wildlife Refuge are in danger from a deranged stalker.

Roberts follows one of her formulas (previously seen in The Reef, and River's End) where the couple fall in love very young, he breaks her heart (usually for her own good) and then they reconnect when they're both older, wiser, and more bitter. Of course they fall in love again, but he has to apologize, grovel, and win her back first.

I thought the mystery was a bit lacking in this one, once you realize who the killer is, he seems so beneath them. But I did enjoy the Deadwood setting.

Book #51: Crazy for You

Jennifer Crusie's Crazy for You shares a title with my favorite Madonna song. The Madonna song is better.

Quinn MacKenzie is a high school art teacher who's living with the town's favorite baseball coach and pretty much just coasting through life. When she and her coach boyfriend have a disagreement about a stray dog she wants to keep, it spurs Quinn to finally make some changes in her life. She moves out, buys a house, cuts her hair, and keeps the dog. She also decides to pursue her sister's ex-husband Nick.

While Quinn is making the zany changes in her life, and pursuing the ill-advised affair with her sister's ex, who has always had the hots for her, Bill the baseball coach is convinced she'll come back to him. But when she doesn't come back fast enough, he starts breaking into her house and vandalizing things so she'll realize how much she needs him, and he begins stalking her. His cluelessness might have been comical if it wasn't so goddamned scary. As a result, it cast a pall over the entire rest of the story.

Book #50: Poppy Done to Death

Poppy Done to Death is the eighth book in Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. This series is okay, though I still don't enjoy it quite as much as Harris' supernatural Sookie series.

Per usual, quiet librarian widow Aurora Teagarden, has bodies practically dropping at her feet with alarming regularity. How she hasn't been considered a murder suspect yet is simply amazing. This time around, it's her philandering sister-in-law Poppy. Roe and Poppy weren't especially close, but she feels obligated to find out who killed Poppy, while also protecting Poppy's privacy at the same time.

In the midst of all that, she's still navigating her love affair with famous writer Robin Crusoe, an unexpected visit from her teenage brother, and another unexpected surprise.

Not sure if this is officially the last Aurora book, but it had a definite air of finality about it.

Book #49: Deadly Kisses

Deadly Kisses is the final published book in Brenda Joyce's Deadly Series. Apparently she's written one additional book in the series, but her publisher is holding it hostage due to a perceived lack of interest. Bastards.

Debutante sleuth Francesca Cahill encounters her most personal case yet when her fiance, enigmatic billionaire Calder Hart, is suspected of murdering his former mistress.

While Francesca struggles to solve the case, Calder tries to distance himself from her in an attempt to spare her reputation. Since Francesca has finally decided that she's in love with Calder, she makes this fairly difficult for him.

By the end of the book Francesca and Calder are back on track, but her parents are still insisting that they wait a year until marrying. I really would have liked to find out what that year might hold for them.

Book #48: Deadly Illusions

Deadly Illusions is the next to last installment in Brenda Joyce's unfinished Deadly Series.

Turn of the century sleuth Francesca Cahill finds herself on the trail of a slasher. A madman with a knife has attacked several women on the Lower East side of Manhattan, and the victims' proximity to Francesca's close friends, the Kennedy family, has her especially worried.

Francesca also has to contend with the jealousy of her smoldering fiance Calder Hart, as she resumes her investigative partnership with Calder's brother, police commissioner Rick Bragg.

In the later books of the series, Joyce has fleshed out the secondary characters' relationships and those have become nearly as interesting as Francesca and Calder's steamy courtship. Again, mysteries? Secondary.

Book #47: Deadly Promise

Sixth book in Brenda Joyce's Deadly Series, Deadly Promise takes place in March 1902, a mere three months after the first book in the series.

In her latest adventure, Francesca Cahill is searching for several young missing girls from a poor Irish neighborhood in New York. She and police commissioner Rick Bragg begin to suspect that the girls are being kidnapped to work in a seedy bordello.

Francesca and Rick's partnership is threatened by the recent return of Rick's estranged wife, and Francesca's announced engagement to Calder Hart. Calder, Rick's younger half brother and arch nemesis was introduced as a wealthy and reckless playboy, but has become a fascinating character, for the audience, and Francesca.

Now I can't put these books down.

Book #46: Deadly Caress

Deadly Caress is the fifth book in Brenda Joyce’s Deadly Series, and I'm so freaking hooked now.

Turn of the century sleuth Francesca Cahill is on the case after one of her closest friends art studio is vandalized, another artist has disappeared, and her brother's mistress has been murdered.

And can I just tell you how much I dislike the word "sleuth"? It's thrown about all over this series in all seriousness, and it may have been a word in use at the time. But it just makes me think of Nancy Drew mysteries and cheesiness.

So murder mystery blah blah blah. Really, the thing that is making this series better and better, (oh, and hotter) is the love triangle between Francesca, Rick Bragg, the police commissioner she's been on the verge of having an affair with, and his rich and mysterious brother Calder Hart (who is now pursuing Francesca). The mysteries? Way secondary.

Book #45: Strange Bedpersons

Strange BedPersons by Jennifer Crusie is dated chick-lit.

Tess is a bleeding heart liberal who grew up on a commune, calls her parents by her their first names, and despises everything yuppie.

Nick is a wealthy Republican lawyer, desperate to make partner at his firm. It's very Wall Street.

Can these two opposites attract? Yawn.

What was interesting about this story is that at the beginning of the book, Tess and Nick had already dated and broken up, because they were two different. Second chances can be an interesting concept, but I prefer getting to experience the couple first meeting.

Book #44: The Gamble

I thought I had read all of Lavyrle Spencer's novels years ago, but I somehow missed The Gamble.

All Lavyrle Spencer novels are about families. Some are about the traditional families that are bonded together by blood, and some are about the families that come together by choice.

Agatha Downing is a lonely spinster who limps through her quiet existance, making hats for a living and crusading for temperance in her tiny 1880's Kansas town.

Scott Gandy is the charismatic former riverboat gambler who buys the saloon next to Agatha's milliner shop. Soon he is joined in town by his rag-tag and flamboyant group of bartenders, card dealers and dancing girls.

Agatha and Scott clash at first, but eventually band together to care for a 5 year-old orphan boy.

Lavyrle Spencer's romances build slowly, which always feels more realistic than the typical overly dramatic love-at-first-sight books that saturate the genre.

Book #43: Nineteen Minutes

"In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five.... In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge."

-from Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult

Nineteen Minutes is about a Columbine-like school shooting. Bullied outcast Peter Houghton opens fire in his New Hampshire high school killing ten people, but failing to kill himself before he's apprehended by the police.

The book is told from all different points of view: the shooter, the shooter's parents, a superior court judge, the defense attorney, and the police officer who stops Peter Houghton. The time spans from the time Peter is an infant, up to a year after his trial. The story is also told from the point of view of Josie Cormier, who's mother is the superior court judge. She was Peter's best friend in childhood, until she ditched him for the popular crowd. Josie's friends and her boyfriend were shot by Peter during the rampage.

It's an interesting story, and Piccoult does a good job making you feel empathy for the killer (who's been bullied his entire life) but also very clear that his solution was wrong. It's a very difficult read of course, and as a parent is especially scary. You always wonder about those student shooters, how their parents didn't notice them stock-piling weapons, how they could create a monster without knowing it. Of course it isn't that simple, and you can always do your very best job, and it can still not be enough. But I'd like to think as a parent, if my child were being bullied to that degree, that I would do whatever I had to do, to keep him from having to be miserable every day of his life. Whether that means going bankrupt to pay for private school, or quitting work to home school, so be it.

"What about home schooling? You know, it's not just for scary religious people anymore."
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Dead Man's Party"

Book #42: Getting Rid of Bradley

Getting Rid of Bradley is the third Jennifer Crusie book I've read, and I have to say, I like her. They're light and fun, and her characters are insanely likable.

Lucy Savage (And by the way, Lucy is a great character name. It immediately conveys 'adorable' and 'quirky'.) gets stood up at her own divorce. She finally gets the guts to get rid of her boring and controlling husband Bradley, but not until she walks in on him with another woman, in her house. Lucy is a science teacher with a great old Victorian in need of some work, and three silly dogs that she's devoted to.

Due to absurd coincidences, (hey, I don't mind, if it's done in an entertaining way) Lucy ends up defending herself from a mugger, who is actually hot cop Zack Warren, as he's trying to save her life.

Zack ends up moving in to protect her from either someone who's trying to kill her, or someone who is just trying to break into her house. Of course sparks fly, so do bullets, and cats.

My favorite thing about Jennifer Crusie books are her characters. They all come across as real people. They're not ridiculously gorgeous, though they're of course attractive to the other person. They have typical human fears and insecurities that make them feel like people you know.

Book #41: Deadly Desire

The fourth book in Brenda Joyce’s Deadly Series, Deadly Desire is a little bit more mature, faster paced, and steamier than previous installments.

Francesca gets to meet the family of the man she loves, police commissioner Rick Bragg, as well as his estranged wife. Rick is now convinced he must give up his political aspirations and get a divorce so that he might marry Francesca. And Calder Hart, Rick’s charming, rich and single brother is starting to come between Francesca and Rick even more. Francesca is fighting her attraction to him, and Calder wishes to protect Francesca from the inevitable heartbreak of being in love with a married man.

There’s also a mystery to solve, in the form of a blackmailer who’s stalking Lucy Bragg, Rick and Calder’s sister, and heroine of one of my all time favorite Brenda Joyce novels, Fires of Paradise (terrible new cover art, Lucy is a flaming redhead!).

Book #40: Deadly Affairs

Deadly Affairs is the third installment in Brenda Joyce’s Deadly Series (also known as Francesca Cahill Romance Novels). This series is steadily getting more intense, though I’m still irritated by Francesca’s naiveté.

Francesca has been hired (for her sleuthing skills) by her first paying client, Lydia Stuart, to find out if Lydia’s husband is cheating. In the course of following him, Francesca literally stumbles on a body, and before they know it, they’re on the trail of a serial killer.

Francesca is still having her intense and steamy “friendship” with police commissioner Rick Bragg, the man she loves but can’t have because he’s married to some awful woman who lives in Europe. Novels set before divorce was so fashionable and easy to obtain makes for lots of angst.

And now Francesca also has to fend off the matchmaking attempts of her disapproving socialite mother, who wishes to match her up with none other than Calder Hart, Rick’s magnetic, womanizing, wealthy brother. This love triangle is heating up nicely.

Book #39: Charlie All Night

Charlie All Night (titles again, I know, right?) by Jennifer Crusie is my second chick lit novel in a week. I was on vacation, don't judge!

Radio producer Ally has just been replaced. Her radio star ex-boyfriend has replaced her with a younger and thinner model in his bed and on his show.

Charlie has been hired to helm the 2am show and since he's not really there to deejay, he's perfectly fine with having hardly any listeners. But since Ally has been assigned as his producer, he has to work extra hard to keep her from making him a star, and to keep his hands off of her.

This was a somewhat enjoyable beach type read (sadly, I was not actually at the beach). But I didn't find the relationship to be as complex or as enjoyable as the one in Crusie's Bet Me. But I believe Charlie All Night was originally published as a Harlequin. And yes, I'm totally judging.

Book #38: Bet Me

Jennifer Crusie's Bet Me is chick lit. As far as I can tell, that means it's a romance novel, but an extremely modern one where the heroine has a career and doesn't always want children.

Of course it started with a bet.

Min (short for Minerva) has just been dumped by her boyfriend David, who she wasn't even sure she liked very much, three weeks before her sister's wedding. Min is an actuary, and on the chubby side, so she's pretty sure she'll have to listen to her mother's recriminations when she shows up to the wedding dateless. When she overhears David the ex, make a bet that his friend Cal can't get Min into bed, Min decides maybe she can get some revenge, and a hot (if worthless) date to the wedding in one swoop.

Cal hardly ever turns away from a bet, but he's actually not sleazy enough to bet on getting a woman into bed. What he does bet on, is that he can get her to leave the bar with him. He figures he's at least that charming. But since Min is onto him, he actually won't get very far with his legendary charm.

Through a series of extremely odd coincidences, and maybe a little fate, and despite their psychotic exes, Min and Cal keep finding themselves together. Jennifer Crusie actually does a really good job of making you see why a guy like Cal might fall for a girl like Min. And he even talks her out of her perpetual dieting. (But seriously ladies, diet if you want to, but nobody and I mean nobody, wants to hear you whine about all the things you choose to deny yourself.) This was a funny and frothy good book.

The book post that never was.

"Town is fearfully dull, except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively in the dull hours of the night...."

-O. Henry

I tried to read A Twist at the End by Steven Saylor, I did try.

The subject matter is fascinating. It's set in Austin in 1885, when the entire city was living in terror of it's very own serial killer (three years before Jack the Ripper stalked London), the Servant Girl Annihilator. I've thought for a while that time and place would be a great setting for a novel, and then I found out someone had already written it. So I was somewhat psyched to read A Twist at the End, despite the mediocre Amazon reviews.

But it is a fat book. 576 pages. Although I don't object to a long book, I object to a boring book. And only a handful of pages into the first chapter, we meet the Exposition Fairy. For the non-TV or video game addicted: the Exposition Fairy is the character that helpfully explains to the audience whatever back-story is necessary to the scene that couldn't fit into the "Previously on..." This is almost always done as awkward conversation that doesn't at all resemble conversation heard in real life. I can deal with the Exposition Fairy on television shows (though voiceovers, like on "My So-Called Life" and "Veronica Mars" make for much better exposition- in case any TV producers are reading) I object to having them appear in the first chapter of a murderously long book. It just comes off as hacky.

That's a lot of annoyance to plow through. So instead of dreading it, and avoiding it, I just quit. 576 pages people. I'd rather read Twilight for the 59th time.

I may shelve this and come back to it later. If I ever run out of vampires romances.