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Review – Hearts in Darkness – Laura Kaye

15 Sep

Hearts in Darkness
Author: Laura Kaye

Book Description:
Makenna James thinks her day can’t get any worse, until she finds herself stuck in a pitch-black elevator with a complete stranger. Distracted by a phone call and juggling too much stuff, the pin-striped accountant caught only a glimpse of a dragon tattoo on his hand before the lights went out.

Caden Grayson is amused when a redhead literally falls at his feet. His amusement turns to panic when the power fails. Despite his piercings, tats, and vicious scar, he’s terrified of the dark and confined spaces. Now, he’s trapped in his own worst nightmare.

To fight fear, they must both reach out and open up. With no preconceived notions based on looks to hold them back, they discover just how much they have in common. In the warming darkness, attraction grows and sparks fly, but will they feel the same when the lights come back on?

Review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with enjoying novellas. Most of the time, I am left unfulfilled with the conclusion at the end, because it seems as though the author just ran out of word count and had to end the story at a given point. Even more so, I’m not a fan of books where it encompasses only a couple of scenes, because I feel even more jilted. So when I saw that Hearts in Darkness was only 110 pages in print, I was skeptical. About the only thing that convinced me to pick it up was that many of my friends had given it 4 and 5 stars on Goodreads.com and since I rely on them to help me choose the books, I want to read – I took a chance on it.

I have to admit that overall, I was pleasantly surprised. True it was short and it only took me about 40 minutes to read (if that), but I felt like the author did a good job in the limited time she had for character development and while maybe a tad unbelieveable…umm, yeah, hooking up with a guy who you got stuck in an elevator is every girl’s wish right? I liked how the story progressed. I would love to see her take the characters and re-visit them, or maybe feature some of the minor ones that appears in this book and give them their own.

FWIW, I also loved the cover – how it was attractive without being too showy – there was just something that drew me to it. I’m curious to know who the cover artist was, so i can see what else they have designed in the future. Either way, I am intrigued enough by her writing, that I am going to be checking out some other books by her in the future and hopefully, they are as enjoyable as this one. 3.75 stars.

 
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Posted by on September 15, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – The Stonecutter – Camilla Läckberg

10 Sep

The Stonecutter
Author: Camilla Läckberg
Series: #3 in the Patrik Hedström series

Narrator: David Thorn
Run Time: 16 hours and 58 minutes

Review Copy Provided by Audiobook Jukebox and Highbridge Audio

Book Description: The remote resort of Fjallbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman’s net. But the post-mortem reveals that this is no case of accidental drowning!

Local detective Patrik Hedstrom has just become a father. It is his grim task to discover who could be behind the methodical murder of a child both he and his partner, Erica, knew well. He knows the real question – and answer – lies with why. What he does not know is how this case will reach into the dark heart of Fjallbacka and the town’s past, and tear aside its idyllic facade, perhaps forever.

Review:
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical at first when I started The Stonecutter as to if I would enjoy it or not. I had previously tried several times to listen to the first book in the series and kept getting distracted – so I didn’t know if it was an issue with the author, the audio, or the fact that I was trying to listen to it at work. And normally, I am a stickler for listening to series books in order, especially ones like The Stonecutter where many of the same characters re-appear and the relationships develop through-out the books. But after talking to one of my friends who had read all three books in the series, she told me that I should be ok to listen to The Stonecutter without too much trouble and then went on to say that it was her favorite in the series to date. I’m glad that I listened to her advice and now I am debating going back and trying to listen to the previous two, because I am curious enough about the some of the things that were mentioned in this third book to know the context in which they originally occurred.

There were lots of twists and turns presented during the book, and at one stage, I thought I had the who done it, narrowed down to one of three people, but to my surprise when I did finally figure it out, it wasn’t any of the people I was expecting. Läckberg did a great job of laying a foundation of multiple people playing a role in the crime where it could have easily have been any one of several people. I also liked the fact, as with other Nordic authors, the case isn’t presented as a wham bam solve it in one day, but rather it is extended, many different people get questioned and mistakes are made. I also found that the transition between the past and the present flowed relatively smoothly once I got used to it and I could easily see that the chronological progression of the sections from the past meant that it was going to be significant in the ultimately solving of the crime.

Unlike many of the books that fall within the Nordic Noir genre, Camilla Läckberg tends to place a bit more of a focus on the character interactions and relationships, as well as the solving of the crime. At times this was a bit distracting and it felt to me like everyone had some kind of psychological issue (and that I could have been reading symptoms in the DSV-IV). But ultimately many of these issues ended up playing kind of a role in the development of the crime and the eventual solving of it. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of some of the secondary characters and felt that there was some extraneous plots going on (Erica’s sister for one), but with how the book concluded, I think those are going to play a role in later books in the series.

This is the first time that I had listened to a narration by David Thorn (aside from my failed attempt with The Ice Princess which didn’t have anything to do with him as I reflect back). But it won’t be the last. For the most part, I thought he did a good job with the various voices, in particular the male characters. His female voices tended to be weaker than the male ones but that didn’t really surprise me at all. He managed to maintain the continuity of the narration through-out and it was an easy listen.

The production by Highbridge Audio was really good and I didn’t have any complaints about the quality. Just one of my tiny pet peeves is that I like it when CD’s end at the end of a chapter because I routinely try to finish listening to the current chapter on my commute to work in the mornings (or afternoons) and have been known to sit in my car to finish up one – but that is really hard to do if the chapter doesn’t end with the CD – but that is probably just a personal pet peeve of mine and may not bug others.

Overall, I’d give the story a 3.5 and the narration a 4.5 – so an overall score of 4 stars for the book. I’m looking forward to re-trying the earlier books in the series and seeing where she goes in the future.

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Scored – Lily Harlem

06 Sep

Scored
Author: Lily Harlem

Book Description:
Okay, so I eat, sleep and breathe football and reporting the beautiful game is my dream career. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have time for a major crush on the England captain, Lewis Tate. The bloke is sex on legs, hot with a capital H. Add in his awe-inspiring talent, his brooding good looks and what’s not to lust after?

So my excitement is sky-high as I set off with the official press team to cover England’s battle for the European Cup. But when a series of unfortunate, or as it turns out fortunate events, attracts Tate’s attention my way, who am I to say no?

Add in a misogynistic manager, an over-zealous colleague, two blue silk ties and some incredible ball-handling skills and it becomes clear the road to victory, for me, will be an intensely erotic journey. Determined to savor every moment, I hang onto my sanity as best I can while living the fantasy and wondering if it can ever become reality. Because once Lewis Tate has taken me to heaven and back, its clear no one else will ever compare.

Review:
This is the first time that I’ve read anything by Lily Harlem, but not the first time I’ve heard of her. One of my good virtual friends on goodreads, loves her stuff and so her name has come up in recommendations several times. So when I was looking for a book featuring soccer and her book showed up on the Amazon listopia, I figured it was time to give her a try.

I almost immediately fell in love with Nicky – she reminded me a lot of myself when it came to sports, because there were some that I used to follow passionately. Although, I can’t say that I do so much anymore…unfortunately. She also works in pretty much a male dominated career field, not so much the journalism, but the sports writing, the same as me (mine being the military) and she managed to get herself into insane scrapes…yea, well, we won’t go there for me…lol! I loved the passion that Ms Harlem was able to put into her writing and you could also tell that she had done her research into various soccer tournaments because there was an air of knowledge portrayed that seemed genuine.

And Lewis…oh Lewis…ummm, yeah, I love a man who can handle balls…(snerk!). Not going to say much more on that topic, otherwise we might hit an x-rating (well, not quite, but the possibility exists). Either way, I can’t wait to read more by this author in the future and hope others check her out. 4 stars.

Unfortunately, for you non-kindle readers, it is only available electronically right now – but hopefully will be in print in the future
Scored (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on September 6, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs – Molly Harper

06 Sep

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs
Author: Molly Harper
Series: #1 in the Jane Jameson series

Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
Run Time: 9 hours and 24 minutes.

Book Description:
Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children’s librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that’s sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she’s mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.

Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She’s forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn’t enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What’s a nice undead girl to do?

Review
I’m going to preface this review by saying I came to Molly Harper’s writing later than many other people who have read her stuff. And, I read/listened to her Naked Werewolf series prior to listening to Jane Jamison which were her earlier works. So I think I went into Nice Girls with higher expectations because I had previous enjoyed her works. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it, I just didn’t love it like I was expecting to.

From the get-go you could tell that this was one of her earlier works and if you read later books, you can see how her writing style has improved (it is still the same quirky that I enjoy, but the Naked Werewolf books were a bit tighter writing, which made them flow better). However, I did enjoy Jane’s antics (because there really is no other way to describe them). Although, I did solve the mystery element fairly early on (or rather, I had a pretty solid idea of who is was, so the reveal didn’t add that much to the story for me). But I will be looking forward to checking in on Jane again in the future (and luckily for me, I have 5 other books in the series to read!)

Amanda Ronconi, the narrator, is probably one of my top 5 that I have discovered in the last year, along with Xe Sands. I know immediately picking up anything narrated by her, that she is going to hit on the quirky/humorous nature of the writing without too much difficulty. While her male voices, are occasionally, only so-so (but they grow on you), I love her female ones and feel that she had a good range to work with. I’ll be watching for more stuff narrated by her in the future.

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Paperback)
Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on September 6, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – A Gift For My Sister – Ann Pearlman

04 Sep

A Gift for My Sister
Author: Ann Pearlman

Book Description:
Tara and Sky share a mother, but aside from that they seem to differ in almost every way. When a series of tragedies strikes, they must somehow come together in the face of heartbreak, dashed hopes, and demons of the past. The journey they embark on forces each woman to take a walk in the other’s shoes and examine what sisterhood really means to them. It’s a long road to understanding, and everyone who knows them hopes these two sisters can find a way back to each other.

Review:
The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover, there was just something whimsical about it, but then reading the cover copy, I knew going in that it was likely going to be a gut-wrencher and was it in a way. Not a complete blubbering mess like some books i have read recently (Yes, Kristin Hannah, I’m looking at you..) but still an emotional read. I loved how the author not only choose to use an alternating view point between Sky and Tara, but that the each chapter was titled the same as it alternated, so you saw each scenario through both of their eyes. The use of the two different font styles in the books, further emphasized the different POV’s.

That being said, Sky bugged the ever living shit out of me…I know that everyone grieves differently, but damn, she was just a bitch. Although, I also don’t think Tara was completely innocent in the whole scenario either. It was nice seeing their relationship start to mend over the course of the book – while I realize that it won’t ever be tied up in a pretty bow, you could see the inroads that were made. Bonus in the book, there were recipes at the end! I photo-copied a couple of them and can’t wait to try them out! Overall, I’d give it 3.75/5 and might possible seek more out by the author in the future.

A Gift for My Sister (Hardcover)
A Gift for My Sister (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on September 4, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War – Steven M. Gillon

03 Sep

Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War
Author: Steven M. Gillon

Narrator: John Pruden
Run Time: 6 hours and 40 minutes

Book Description:
Franklin D. Roosevelt famously called December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.” History would prove him correct; the events of that day—when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor—ended the Great Depression, changed the course of FDR’s presidency, and swept America into World War II. In Pearl Harbor, acclaimed historian Steven M. Gillon provides a vivid, minute-by-minute account of Roosevelt’s skillful leadership in the wake of the most devastating military assault in American history. FDR proved both decisive and deceptive, inspiring the nation while keeping the real facts of the attack a secret from congressional leaders and the public. Pearl Harbor explores the anxious and emotional events surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor, showing how the president and the American public responded in the pivotal twenty-four hours that followed, a period in which America burst from precarious peace into total war.

Review:
I don’t typically listen to non-fiction audiobooks, but I was looking for something different and this one caught my eye. Having studied history in college, I found that WW2 was definitely a period that interested me – although the European theater was more to my liking than the Pacific theater or the homefront. But any historian knows FDR’s famous words just a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor – so seeing the lead up to how that speech came to be in the hours following the attack was intriguing.

I found Pruden’s narration to be spot on for the topic and the genre. There was really no need for multiple voices in a non-fiction book, although I would be curious to hear him narrator a fiction book to see his range…I know that I will be on the look-out for more books narrated by him in the future. I’ll also be seeking out more books written by Gillon, as he had a way of bringing a well known time period in history to life, with the minor details that likely are never studied by historians. It is those time periods that bring history to life.

 
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Posted by on September 3, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – The Keepsake – Tess Gerritsen

01 Sep

The Keepsake
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: #7 in the Rizzoli and Isles series

Narrator: Diedre Lovejoy
Run Time: 10 hrs and 51 minutes

Book Description:
For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Now its sudden rediscovery by museum staff is both a major coup and an attention-grabbing mystery. Dubbed “Madam X,” the mummy–to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact– seems a ghoulish godsend for the financially struggling institution. But medical examiner Maura Isles soon discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old” relic is instead a modern-day murder victim.

To Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, the forensic evidence is unmistakable, its implications terrifying. And when the grisly remains of yet another woman are found in the hidden recesses of the museum, it becomes chillingly clear that a maniac is at large–and is now taunting them.
Archaeologist Josephine Pulcillo’s blood runs cold when the killer’s cryptic missives are discovered, and her darkest dread becomes real when the carefully preserved corpse of yet a third victim is left in her car like a gruesome offering–or perhaps a ghastly promise of what’s to come.

Review:
Of all the books in the Rizzoli and Isles series that I have listened to this year, The Keepsake is one of my favorites. I loved how a museum, a place where many people wouldn’t necessarily choose to visit (unless you are a history dork like me!) as an option when visiting a new city. And yet, Ms Gerritsen wrote this book in a way that I hope will cause more people to choose to visit them. And added to that, there was the egyptology twist with mummies and artifacts. The various dead methods that the author choose to incorporate into the plot with the Archeology killer were particularly gruesome and unique from all the other books in the series. After finishing this book, I wanted to pick up a book about egyptian burial methods to read up on my history. To me, that is a sign of a good book, when I want to find a non-fiction book about something that was featured in a fiction book.

After listening to most of the books in the series so far, and playing the musical narrators for most of the books (I think Deidre Lovejoy is the 5th different one maybe), I have come to appreciate the different narration skills out there. For me, this was a solid performance. I can’t say that it completely blew me away, but I rather enjoyed it and it made my commute go a lot quicker for the 4 and a half days that it took me to complete it. I downloaded this from my library via the overdrive app, so I have no complaints about the production of it and didn’t notice any issues with the recording.

The Keepsake: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel (Rizzoli & Isles Novels) (Paperback)
The Keepsake: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel (Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles) (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on September 1, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein

31 Aug

Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein

Book Description:
I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.

That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine — and I will do anything, anything, to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.

He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France — an Allied Invasion of Two.

We are a sensational team.

Review:
I should have enjoyed the book more than I did. Its set during WW2 which is a time period of interest to me; it featured 2 teenage girls in interesting/difficult situations and in general, the description just sucked me in. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work. I can’t describe what it was or why I struggled with it – I just know that once I put it down, I wasn’t all that motivated to pick it up and while I did finish reading it, it wasn’t a completely enjoyable read, but it wasn’t completely horrendous either (I don’t even know if that makes sense)…

Maybe others will enjoy it more than I did, but the highest I can give it is 2 stars – meaning that it was ok but not enough for me to want to recommend it. However, if you are interested in reading it, the following are the links for purchasing it on Amazon:

Code Name Verity (Hardcover)
Code Name Verity (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on August 31, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Seriously…I’m Kidding – Ellen DeGeneres

30 Aug

Seriously…I’m Kidding
Author/Narrator: Ellen DeGeneres
Run Time: 3 hrs, 7 minutes

Book Description:
“Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing.” Ellen Degeneres’ winning, upbeat candor has made her show one of the most popular, resilient and honored daytime shows on the air. (To date, it has won no fewer than 31 Emmys.) Seriously… I’m Kidding, Degeneres’ first book in eight years, brings us up to date about the life of a kindhearted woman who bowed out of American Idol because she didn’t want to be mean. Lively; hilarious; often sweetly poignant.

Review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan – I don’t know why, but I just don’t really like her. However, I did enjoy her narration of Dory in Finding Nemo…I mean, I walked around for days with “just keep swimming” stuck in my head…lol! However, when I was browsing the shelves at the library for a short-ish audiobook to fill in the time towards the end of a month, and I saw that this one was only 3 hours, I figured what the heck…why not.

I’ll also admit that authors for narrators typically don’t work for me because they don’t have the training that I feel they need in order to be successful. But I was proved wrong. Ellen’s narration had me in tears several times during this relatively short listen. I’m sure my co-workers were looking at me like I was insane because I was definitely laughing out loud.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was how she took it from a listeners perspective and said listeners, instead of readers…she even devoted a chapter to random noises just for the audiobook people (and no I’m not kidding about that). Either way, I would recommend this for a quick, lite listening, if you need a bit of humor to get through the day. Overall, I’d give it 3 stars

 
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Posted by on August 30, 2012 in Book Review

 

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