en-US Thu, 16 Feb 2023 11:57:29 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 59955194
After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.

Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.

Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost. Could the key to finding Tara and solving these murders be hidden in one of his cold cases? Or will the next body they recover be hers?]]> 390 Damyanti Biswas 1662503903 Jodi 3 3.74 2023
author: Damyanti Biswas
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/12
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2023-audiobooks
review:

]]> 61043413 A dark new thriller perfect for fans of Megan Miranda and Shari Lapena where murder exposes the dark secrets at the center of a group of friends and sets two women � one with a traumatic past, the other a Boston police detective � on a hunt for truth.

Snow falls softly outside Molly Bradley’s home on a frigid January night. Inside, half a dozen close friends are gathered to celebrate the fortieth birthday of Molly’s psychologist husband, Jay. Candlelight gleams against dark wood, wine flows, and the house rings with laughter. Everybody loves Jay, Molly most of all. Yet next morning, Molly discovers Jay dead on the floor of his office, his throat brutally slashed.

After decades working with the Boston PD, Detective Rita Myers has grown accustomed to the banality of evil—the murders that make no sense beyond bad luck or a tragic brush with the worst of humanity. But Jay Bradley’s murder isn’t random, or a mere crime of opportunity. Rita is convinced that someone in the couple’s small circle killed him. Someone who was celebrating with them that night.

Devastated, Molly tries to make sense of her husband’s death. Jay was her rock, the only person who really understood the nightmare she lived through long ago. He knew the horrors she’s kept hidden even from her friends. But shocking revelations are making her question if Jay was all he seemed to be—and whether someone else knows her past too. And until Molly figures out who she can really trust, she won’t be able to stop herself becoming the next target . . .]]> 312 Terri Parlato 149673856X Jodi 3 3.70 2022
author: Terri Parlato
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/16
date added: 2023/02/16
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2023-audiobooks
review:

]]> 62381097
Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?

When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.

One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.

Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It’s in Cassie’s interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like it has nothing to do with Manor Park and she seems to be succeeding.

Until someone else from the reunion is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard�

RUN TIME: 9 hours and 16 minutes]]> 1 Elly Griffiths Jodi 3 lj, 2022-audiobooks 3.33 2022
author: Elly Griffiths
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/14
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: lj, 2022-audiobooks
review:

]]> 62326628 From the writer who brought you the Irish romance The Upside of Falling Down comes a new novel about secrets, friendship, reinvention, and unexpected love in the Scottish Highlands.

June Merriweather is on the run—from her own life. Her brother is dead, her parents are liars, and her college major is a joke. Apart from her best friend, Matt, June is desperate for reinvention. And a one-way ticket out of Cincinnati to the Scottish Highlands is a good place to start.

With a backpack, an urn, and a secret, June begins again. She snags a job at a café and finds lodging at a quaint inn with a quirky cast of housemates. The only problem: the inn’s infuriatingly perceptive (and sexy) owner, Lennox. He’s suspicious of June. After all, no one comes to Scotland in the winter unless they’re running from something. From rocky start to sizzling temptation, June’s new world is exhilarating…and one detour away from disaster.

With her past and her future both vying for attention, June can’t begin to picture where her reimagined life is headed next. And falling in love with the last person she expected is only the beginning.]]> 283 Rebekah Crane 1542036135 Jodi 4 3.91
author: Rebekah Crane
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/01
date added: 2022/12/01
shelves: 2022-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:

]]> 59447597
It’s the eve of Hollywood publicist Lucy Green’s thirtieth birthday, a day she hopes will bring the promotion she deserves and a proposal from her boyfriend. But he stands her up for a date, not for the first time, leaving Lucy alone at the bar—or at least, alone with the handsome bartender on the other side of the counter—so she makes a rueful wish over her cocktail for a perfect birthday. But when Lucy’s wish is granted in the most unexpected way, things go terribly awry, as things often do when wishes come true�.

When Lucy wakes up on her big day, she can’t seem to force herself to go through her rigorous fitness and beauty routines—things she usually tells herself she likes. She has no desire to eat only a spoonful of yogurt for breakfast and she simply can’t bear to put on the uncomfortable shapewear needed for the power outfit she had planned for work.

When Lucy arrives at the office, she realizes that not only can she no longer lie to herself, she can’t lie to anyone else, either. Not her clients, not her boyfriend, not her creep of a boss. Now that she can’t hide how she feels, Lucy must confront all the injustices—small and large—she’s faced on a daily basis at work, in her relationship, and in every other aspect of her life...and the truth is going to come out in a big way.

This sharp, bighearted, and magical novel tackles all the lies women are encouraged to tell just to get by in today’s world—in life, in love, and in the workplace—and the liberation that can come from telling nothing but the truth.]]> 304 Holly James 0593186508 Jodi 4 3.47 2022
author: Holly James
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/19
date added: 2022/11/10
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2022-audiobooks
review:

]]> 59411914 From the author of The Matzah Ball comes a pitch-perfect romcom following a third-generation Jewish matchmaker who unwittingly finds her own search for love thrust into the spotlight...

The perfect Jewish husband should be:
* A doctor or lawyer (preferably a doctor)
* Baggage-free (no previous marriages, no children)
* And of course—he must be Jewish


As the creator and CEO of the popular Jewish dating app J-Mate, matchmaker Dara Rabinowitz knows the formula for lasting love—at least, for everyone else. When it comes to her own love life, she’s been idling indefinitely. Until her beloved bubbe shares Dara’s checklist for “The Perfect Jewish Husband� on national television and charming news anchor Chris Steadfast proposes they turn Dara’s search into must-see TV.

As a non-Jewish single dad, Chris doesn’t check any of Dara’s boxes. But her hunt for Mr. Perfect is the ratings boost his show desperately needs. If only Chris could ignore his own pesky attraction to Dara—a task much easier said than done when Dara starts questioning if “perfect on paper� can compete with how hard she’s falling for Chris…]]> 387 Jean Meltzer 0778386872 Jodi 4 3.67 2022
author: Jean Meltzer
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/03
date added: 2022/10/03
shelves: 2022-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:

]]> 60322492
Before his success in public relations, his loving marriage and his storied writing career, Wade Rouse was simply Ted Rouse's son. A queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade struggled at a young age to garner his father's approval and find his voice. For his part, Ted was a hard-lined engineer, offering little emotional support or encouragement. But Wade and Ted had one thing in an undying love of the St. Louis Cardinals.

For decades, baseball offered Wade and his father a shared vocabulary—a way to stay in touch, to connect and to express their emotions. But when his father's health takes a turn for the worst, Wade returns to southwest Missouri to share one final season with his father. As the Cards race towards a dramatic pennant race, Wade and his father begin to open up in way they never thought possible. Together, inning by inning during their own magic season, they'll move towards forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.

Heartfelt, hilarious and lovingly rendered, Magic Season is an unforgettable story of love, family and forgiveness against the backdrop of America's favorite pastime.]]> 242 Wade Rouse 0369720466 Jodi 4 4.37 2022
author: Wade Rouse
name: Jodi
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/27
date added: 2022/08/08
shelves: lj, 2022-audiobooks, audiobook
review:

]]> 58939853 Natalie Caña turns up the heat, humor and heart in this debut rom-com about a Puerto Rican chef and an Irish American whiskey distiller forced into a fake engagement by their scheming octogenarian grandfathers.

Kamilah Vega is desperate to convince her family to update their Puerto Rican restaurant and enter it into the Fall Foodie Tour. With the gentrification of their Chicago neighborhood, it's the only way to save the place. The fly in her mofongo--her blackmailing abuelo says if she wants to change anything in his restaurant, she'll have to marry the one man she can't stand: his best friend's grandson.

Liam Kane spent a decade working to turn his family's distillery into a contender. Now he and his grandfather are on the verge of winning a national competition. Then Granda hits him with a one-two punch: he has cancer and he has his heart set on seeing Liam married before it's too late. And Granda knows just the girl...Kamilah Vega.

If they refuse, their grandfathers will sell the building that houses both their businesses. With their futures on the line, Kamilah and Liam plan to outfox the devious duo, faking an engagement until they both get what they want. But soon, they find themselves tangled up in more than either of them bargained for.]]> 333 Natalie Caña 0778386090 Jodi 4 3.74 2022
author: Natalie Caña
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/13
date added: 2022/08/08
shelves: lj, audiobook, 2022-audiobooks
review:

]]> 59040889 They go together like water and oil�

All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she's had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV seriesÌýThe Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene.
Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk.

Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It's part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits—on live TV.

To make matters worse, the two are caught in whatÌýlooksÌýlike a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romanceâ€� between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most.

Now all they have to do is play along, withoutÌýkilling each other...and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd's pie. Right?Ìý]]> 368 Erin La Rosa 1335506349 Jodi 4 3.38 2022
author: Erin La Rosa
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/04
date added: 2022/08/08
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2022-audiobooks
review:

]]> 57693474
On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like.

Meanwhile, Vero's keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay's first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes... and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book's deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn't a noose at the end of it...

From Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead―the hilarious and heart-pounding follow-up to Finlay Donovan is Killing It.]]> 357 Elle Cosimano 1250242185 Jodi 3 3.95 2022
author: Elle Cosimano
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/23
date added: 2022/03/03
shelves: lj, audiobook, 2022-audiobooks
review:
Writer Finlay Donovan is at it again in the second book in the series. This takes place right after the first book and is a continuation of the story. This book really does not stand alone, though she does go into some backstory. I did not read the first book in the series which would have set the stage. Fin has just gotten over the shocks of book one when she discovers, through a chat forum for women, that someone has put out a 100G hit on her ex-husband Steven. Now she thinks Steven is scum but she also knows he is a great dad and she doesn't want anything to endanger that. However, she is not letting the kids alone with him until the hitman or woman is stopped. Meanwhile, her agent is all over her for a book proposal that has come due; she can't decide what to do about Julian, the young law student she's having a passionate affair with; She "borrowed" a $300,000 car and, let's say it isn't returnable any longer; she is still dealing with the fallout from her ex-husband's ill-fated engagement; and there is a Russian mob boss who really wants to get to know her better. The audio is well read and definitely had some funny moments but it was slow. The pacing would rise to fever pitch and then drop and then rise and drop again but a lot of time between the risings and the dropping. I kept waiting for something to happen. The final denouement was well done, lots of action, bullets flying, well described, well read, but I was hoping for more comedy throughout because the entire plot was unrealistic.
]]> 56383022
Stefan was just seventeen when he went to prison for the drug-fueled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother, once Thea’s good friend, galvanizes the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbors, employers, even some members of Thea's own family turn away.

Meanwhile Thea struggles to understand her son. At times, he is still the sweet boy he has always been; at others, he is a young man tormented by guilt and almost broken by his time in prison. But as his efforts to make amends meet escalating resistance and threats, Thea suspects more forces are at play than just community outrage. And if there is so much she never knew about her own son, what other secrets has she yet to uncover—especially about the night Belinda died?]]> 344 Jacquelyn Mitchard 0778311791 Jodi 3 3.31 2022
author: Jacquelyn Mitchard
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/27
date added: 2022/02/25
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2022-audiobooks
review:
Stefan had always been obsessed with Belinda so the idea that he killed her in a drug-fueled was out of character but not out of the realm of possibility despite the fact that Stefan remembers nothing of the events of that night. He was convicted of manslaughter and spent several years in prison. Now he's ready to rejoin society if it will let him. Belinda's mother leads protests against him. He can't get a job until family steps in. It isn't until he starts an ambitious project aimed at healing and redemption that he starts to make real inroads into regaining a place in society. But not everyone is happy about that. His mother Thea wants to protect Stefan as best she can but she keeps getting calls from a young girl claiming that Stefan can't ever talk about what really happened the night of Belinda's death leading Thea to believe that more happened that night than a drug-induced rage. The story is read well but it highlighted how unrealistic the story really is. And how naïve Thea was about the challenges facing her son. The redemption project that Stefan started was too perfect. It worked every time. Real life doesn't work like that. There are always setbacks - real setbacks. That didn't happen here. Nevertheless, the story is fast-paced and kept me entertained.
]]> 57800385 A provocative new novel from the best-selling author ofÌýSnow Falling on Cedars--a moving father-son story that is also a taut courtroom drama and a bold examination of privilege, power, and how to live a meaningful life.

A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey--conservative, white fundamentalist Christians--are charged with her murder.
Ìý
Royal, a Seattle criminal attorney in the last days of his long career, takes Betsy Harvey’s case. An octogenarian without a driver’s license, he leans on his son--the novel’s narrator--as he prepares for trial.
Ìý
So beginsÌýThe Final Case,Ìýa bracing, astute, and deeply affecting examination of justice and injustice--and familial love. David Guterson’s first courtroom drama sinceÌýSnow Falling on Cedars,Ìýit is his most compelling and heartfelt novel to date.

]]> 246 David Guterson 0525521321 Jodi 3 3.05 2022
author: David Guterson
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.05
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/05
date added: 2022/01/05
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2022-audiobooks
review:
This is an interesting book to review because I am still not certain what the book was about. Ostensibly it was about the death of a young Ethiopian girl at the hand of her adoptive white, conservative religious parents. (Think Quiverfull movement) But really it was the examination of the relationship between Royal, the octogenarian, appointed to defend the white mother, and his son, the narrator of the story. It is perfectly read and it held my interest but I kept waiting for something to happen. The prose is beautiful. Lyrical and lilting. It is delightful to hear. It sings along the sense. It just meanders rather than taking us to an end place. We do get the verdict of the trial but that wasn't really the point of the book, more a side-note. Which leads me back to my initial statement that I am not certain what this book was about. The examination of a life well lived, perhaps? I enjoyed it. It's hard not enjoy the beautifully written words but I am not sure it works as a fully realized story.
]]> 58262041
“Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community. This is a story of courage, of women willing to take a stand in the face of corporate greed, and most definitely a tale for our times.� —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who’s just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina—the tobacco capital of the South—where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes, and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives.

When a series of unexpected events thrusts Maddie into the role of lead dressmaker for the town’s most influential women, she scrambles to produce their ornate gowns for the biggest party of the season. But she soon learns that Bright Leaf isn’t quite the carefree paradise that it seems: A trail of misfortune follows many of the women, including substantial health problems. Although Maddie is quick to believe that this is a coincidence, she inadvertently uncovers evidence that suggests otherwise.

Maddie wants to report what she knows, but in a town where everyone depends on Big Tobacco to survive, she doesn’t know who she can trust—and fears that exposing the truth may destroy the lives of the proud, strong women with whom she has forged strong bonds.

Shedding light on the hidden history of women’s activism during the post-war period, at its heart, The Tobacco Wives is a deeply human, emotionally satisfying, and dramatic novel about the power of female connection and the importance of seeking truth.]]> 344 Adele Myers 0063082934 Jodi 3 3.77 2022
author: Adele Myers
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/23
date added: 2021/12/30
shelves: 2021-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
This was a very interesting story of a young seamstress who gets the opportunity to work on the gala gowns for the Tobacco Wives of Bright Leaf, NC. Maddie is 15 years old when she is brought to stay at her Aunt's house. Her mother drops her off and leaves, anxious to find a new husband to keep her in finery. Maddie doesn't really mind. She has learned everything about being a dressmaker from her aunt but has never helped her during Gala season. When her aunt falls ill with pneumonia, Maddie is forced to step up and take over, which tests her mettle in more ways than one. The war is ending and the men are finally coming home. Meanwhile, since they've been gone, women have stepped in and taken over to ensure that production on the cigarette lines never stopped. Now the company wants to fire these women in favor of the men. But what's worse, Maddie comes across some information that leads her to believe that smoking may not be as healthy as it's being touted to be. How can she get that information out to the public without destroying her aunt's business and reputation. Worse, without destroying the livelihood of the town? I listened to this book and it is very ably read by Sharon McManus and Janet Metzger, they imbue Maddy with all the innocence and righteous indignation of girl who is still young enough to see the world only in shades of black and white. When Maddie goes to a union organizers meeting she immediately becomes inflamed with passion for women's rights. She puts all her passion behind her feelings and is astonished when others don't or won't. It's a good novel, a solid debut and recommended.
]]> 55816484 Listening Length: 9 hours and 10 minutes
Read by Lauren Hough and Cate Blanchett

Searing and extremely personal essays, shot through with the darkest elements America can manifest, while discovering light and humor in unexpected corners.

As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: an airman in the US Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe - to Germany, Japan, Texas, Chile - but it wasn't until she finally left for good that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond "The Family".

Along the way, she's loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next. She's taken pilgrimages to the sights of her youth, been kept in solitary confinement, dated a lot of women, dabbled in drugs, and eventually found herself as what she always wanted to be: a writer. Here, as she sweeps through the underbelly of America - relying on friends, family, and strangers alike - she begins to excavate a new identity even as her past continues to trail her and color her world, relationships, and perceptions of self.

At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave, and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity, and how to reclaim one's past when carving out a future.]]> 10 Lauren Hough Jodi 4 2021-audiobooks, lj 3.86 2021
author: Lauren Hough
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/04/26
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves: 2021-audiobooks, lj
review:
Imagine changing and losing your identity every time you moved. Now imagine always moving. That’s what Lauren Hough experienced growing up in a cult. She grew up around the world and when she finally left discovered she no longer knew who she was. She knew she was a lesbian, but that was just a word. In the cult it was something to be beaten out of her. She tried the Air Force during DADT. Unfortunately, the harassment grew to such levels that she eventually announced her homosexuality just to get a discharge. She spent years working in bars; working at cash jobs; being one paycheck away from homelessness. Yet her essays don’t inspire pity. She doesn’t feel sorry for herself. She’s funny, poignant, sweetly naïve, painfully honest, and constantly brave without effort. Hough and Cate Blanchett pair up as narrators. It is difficult to tell them apart although Blanchett’s voice is slightly less gritty and hoarse, a tad more upbeat and by nature more fluid in her reading. Hough reads her essays and it feels like an intimate setting. If you’re looking for the star-studded life, look elsewhere. If you want to hear about someone who has earned everything she has through blood, sweat and tears, this is your book.
]]> 54373818
The FBI enlists Portia's help in a high-stakes sting operation to recover the stolen works of art - a dangerous proposition that will take her to Colombia, where she'll have to earn the trust of a notorious drug lord's married daughter. Risking everything, Portia must navigate the underworld of Medellin - a complicated web of politics, pride and ugly crimes - where a single misstep could have deadly consequences.

Inspired by history's largest art heist, A DISCERNING EYE is a fast-paced, skillfully plotted journey in which the fate of some of the world's most prized masterpieces depends on one woman's perceptive cunning.]]> 265 Carol Orange 0998749362 Jodi 2 3.55 2020
author: Carol Orange
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2021/03/07
date added: 2021/04/01
shelves: 2021-audiobooks, audible, audiobook, lj
review:
I wanted to love this book. It is set in Boston shortly after the art heist at the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum. The case is real and has never been solved. The story takes a new tack on the case, looking to the art to see if the art holds the answer. For gallery owner and museum docent, Portia Malatesta, the art, the interplay between darkness and light create a portrait or profile of the thief. Not necessarily the one who did the work but the one who ordered it done. She felt that there were many more valuable paintings that could have been taken so why these thirteen. It is a fascinating theory. The premise is fantastic. The execution is not as well done. Partially because I had just read Daniel Silva's the Heist, it was clear that when Portia is invited to work with the FBI art crimes team and actually go on-site in Columbia (can the FBI even operate there legally?) and make contacts that there wasn't enough time for the FBI to train her unless she dropped everything else in her life and did nothing but train. It is naive to suggest that the FBI would take an amateur on what could be a deadly fact-finding mission. Also, I think the premise would have been most interesting had it been set now, thirty years later. The detailed study that Portia does, a great idea, would have been reviewed by FBI profilers. The time-line was too short for real-time. What Orange did excel at was Boston place and time. She gets right the geography, the restaurants, in-spots of what was happening in 1990. I know because I lived there in 1990 and it felt like she was describing the background of my life. I listened to this. Read by Campbell Scott and his wife, it was well read and the narration switched seamlessly from one to the other. But Portia wasn't a particularly likeable character. She suffers depression, not merely situational, is a little on the selfish side, has relationship problems with men, including her second husband, and tends to make blanket assumptions about groups of people. In other words, despite her nuances about art, she isn't nuanced about people. All in all, it was an okay read that would different editing, could have been extraordinary.
]]> 55707640
How far would you go to win? Hyper-competitive people, mind games and a dangerous natural environment combine to make the must-read thriller of the year. Fans of Lucy Foley and Lisa Jewell will be gripped by spectacular debut novel Shiver.

When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go.

The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.

In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.]]> 432 Allie Reynolds 147227024X Jodi 2 3.77 2020
author: Allie Reynolds
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2021/01/04
date added: 2021/01/22
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2021-audiobooks
review:
Ten years ago Milla and five others were at the top of the highly competitive snowboarding world. It all collapsed over one weekend when one of their number was paralyzed and another went missing. Now, nearing the anniversary of that weekend comes an invitation to revisit the scene of the crime. Her instinct to say no wars with her instinct to see the man who invited her, Curtis, brother to the missing snowboarder, Saskia. The remaining members of their loosely knit club are all under the impression that Saskia invited them. Though why she would do such a thing is anyone's guess. As it turns out, in addition to having little trust in one another, they also don't like one another very much. There are petty jealousies that make some sense at 18, less so at 28. Things get nasty very quickly when the group realizes they are trapped on the mountain with no way off. Which, of course, is when the first one dies. Milla knows she didn't do it, but all evidence points to Saskia being the killer. Which doesn't make any sense since Saskia is dead. Milla knows that for sure. The story goes back and forth between present day and 10 years ago and frankly none of the characters are particularly likeable, but I think that's somewhat of the point. That camaraderie is a bit of an illusion when winning is the only thing. But when the characters are unlikeable it makes it harder to care about the end result. It reminded me of Gone Girl in the sense that I felt that everyone got what they deserved because they all behaved badly. This is best enjoyed by snowboarders who will at least enjoy all the technical talk about the sport. I had to look things up so I could understand the point. It was okay but I wouldn't rush to recommend it, though it was read really well, with great accents and voices that really brought home the ages and diversity of the characters.
]]> 51854625 A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.

It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

The breathtaking new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.]]> 463 Stuart Turton Jodi 4 3.82 2020
author: Stuart Turton
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/14
date added: 2020/10/26
shelves: 2020-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
The year is 1654. The world's greatest detective, Samuel Pipps, is being transported to Amsterdam to be tried and convicted of a crime no one will discuss. His bodyguard, Arent Hayes, accompanies him. Also on the journey is the Governor-General of Batavia who also happens to be Arent's uncle, along with the man's family, including his wife, daughter, mistress and her children. But the voyage is not going to be without incident because they are hardly the only passengers. A demon by the name of Old Tom has also come on board and has threatened the very lives of those on the board the ship. Although the only proof they have of that is Old Tom's symbol, which had been carved into Arent's cheek as a child, and which is suddenly appearing around the ship; and immolated leper who refuses to stay dead; and the promise of three unholy miracles. Arent's uncle puts him on the case despite Arent's declarations that he is no Sammy Pipps. He is joined by Sarah, the governor-general's abused wife who happens to be smart, courageous and willing to do almost anything to get out from under her husband's fist. Her affinity with Arent is unexpected but she embraces it. The mystery is incredibly intricate and the sailors and passengers are rightly terrified of the demon aspect but very few people are telling the truth about either themselves or their motives. When the denouement is finally unveiled it is a surprise to everyone but Arent and Sarah but it is not a cheat to the reader. It is effectively read such that I found reasons to keep listening. I didn't read his first book but I am going to do so. This one is certainly worth reading.
]]> 13542421
When bizarre magical disappearances disrupt shows around the city, Esther receives a mysterious warning not to go on with her off-Broadway show. Desperate to stay on stage rather than resort to waiting tables, Esther turns to her new BFF, Dr. Maximillian Zadok, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York from Evil. Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery without losing her job, Esther and Max team up with a conjuring cowboy, a banker with stage aspirations, and a flock of fearless drag queens. Also on the case is Detective Connor Lopez, a sexy cop who has a thing for Esther, but who fears that she and Max may be a bigger problem than the vanishing performers.

Since the show must go on—and the astronomical rent must be paid—Esther, Max, and their friends pursue Evil to its lair in their fearless determination to find the missing performers and restore harmony to the city that never sleeps. Disappearing Nightly is the thrilling first novel of the Esther Diamond series.]]> 386 Laura Resnick 0756407664 Jodi 4 3.47 2005
author: Laura Resnick
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2017/03/29
date added: 2017/03/30
shelves: 2017-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
Some books are better heard than read and this is definitely one of those. This is a full cast, full sound effects recording and it works because the writing is over the top. Esther Diamond, a NYC actress understudying the lead in an off-off-off Broadway production that includes a disappearing act. It's all fun and games until the lead disappears for real and magician simply isn't that good even at his best. Then Esther starts getting threatening notes telling her the same will happen to her if she goes on. Lopez, the officer in charge, doesn't believe Golly G is really missing. And then there is Max who seems to know a lot about it but he's talking real magic. That can't possibly exist. Can it? It doesn't take Esther long to get deeply involved in the disappearances because it isn't just Golly G, there are a whole bunch of accidentally disappeared people and a lot of magicians who want answers. Esther is hilariously over-the-top, as are the drag-queens and almost every other character in this story. The audio doesn't take itself too seriously which is why it is so entertaining. If you want a good laugh, you'll get one here.
]]> 30899279 A missing woman leads her twin sister on a twisted scavenger hunt in this clever debut novel of suspense for readers of Luckiest Girl Alive and Reconstructing Amelia.

Ahoy, Ava! Welcome home, my sweet jet-setting twin! So glad you were able to wrest yourself away from your dazzling life in the City of Light; I hope my death hasn't interrupted anything too crucial.

Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. In Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past. Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.

Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behavior. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette. But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message from her sister.

Just as Ava suspected, Zelda's playing one of her games. In fact, she's outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda's drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers. Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava's heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?

Featuring a colorful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach's debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family.]]> Caite Dolan-Leach 0735287031 Jodi 2 3.52 2017
author: Caite Dolan-Leach
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2017
rating: 2
read at: 2017/03/18
date added: 2017/03/19
shelves: 2017-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
This is for people who liked Gone Girl and books where the narrator is unreliable and the characters are all unlikable. Ava Antipova is called back to the States from France when she gets word that her identical twin sister Zelda has died in a fire. Ava is sure that Zelda wouldn't have allowed that to happen and she must have been planning to disappear. Sure enough, emails from Zelda start appearing giving clues - from A to Z - convincing Ava that Zelda is not only alive but she is watching her. Meanwhile, the entire family is barely functioning alcoholics. They run a bad vineyard in NY. Their father, Marlon Antipova (and the name is Eastern European so it isn't accurate for a male) divorced the family, remarried and moved to California to open a vineyard there but came back for this. Nadine, the mother, is dying of early onset dementia. She drinks like a fish. Zelda, first born twin, barely graduated high school, drinks and pops pills and is the wild child, slept with Ava's not-boyfriend, and send Ava running for France. Ava went to Cornell and majored in viticulture but after Zelda took her not-boyfriend she ran to France to study obscure literature. What saved this at all was the brilliance of Jorjeana Marie, the narrator. She milked every word. Zelda was so real she flounced out of the speakers and you could feel her and smell her. In fact, that was true of every character. Marie brought them alive. Dolan-Leach was often caught up in her own literary wonder, waxing poetic with flowery exacting words that really meant nothing. This is not a literary novel. But Marie applied the sarcasm and self-deprecation and irony that kept the listener reading even though the mystery wasn't really compelling.
]]> 32587485 0 Jenn McKinlay 1520064284 Jodi 3 3.55 2012
author: Jenn McKinlay
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2017/02/18
date added: 2017/02/18
shelves: 2017-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
In the 4th book in McKinlay's Fairy Tale Cupcake series, it's 115 degrees in Scottsdale so when Oz gets some wheels, the team packs up 10,000 cupcakes and heads to a Texas Rodeo. They aren't there very long before the shooting starts but that doesn't stop them from making a little frenemy wager with the BBQ-pit boys next-door to them at the rodeo. Whoever earns the least, spends the last day of the rodeo serving up their opponents food in either bright pink aprons or Daisy Duke short shorts. But when the rodeo celebrity gets killed, the mood turns somber. While Mel has no reason to get involved, Angie finds the murder weapon and Oz clears the bull of wrong doing. (Yes, you read that correctly.) It's a cute story, read well by Susan Boyce. I still think the characters are not nearly three dimensional enough but I was happily entertained this week.
]]> 32441596 0 Jenn McKinlay 1520063687 Jodi 3 3.67 2011
author: Jenn McKinlay
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2017/02/10
date added: 2017/02/18
shelves: 2017-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
Jenn McKinlay is no Joanne Fluke but Melanie Cooper and her Fairy Tale Cupcakes have their own flavor of yummy. Mel and her business partner, Angie deLaura, are competing in the Challenge to the Chefs competition to promote their bakery but when the judges start dropping dead, it doesn't bode well. To make matters worse, the first judge to die is Mel's culinary school mentor, and though she loved him, she wasn't blind to his faults which put practically everyone on the suspect list. The characters are a bit two dimensional. Angie and her 7 older Italian brothers are straight out of central casting. Her new high school intern, Oz, is a hulking figure who looks like he should be quarrying stone not piping rosettes but appearances are often deceiving. Susan Boyce is a pretty credible narrator. Though she isn't brilliant at male voices, she has enough vocal variety for cats but also teen boys, hot-headed Italians of any gender and a host of other quirky characters. It was a fun listen even if not as food oriented as I would have preferred.
]]> 25251757 You Will Know Me is a breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of desire, jealousy, and ambition.]]> 345 Megan Abbott 031623107X Jodi 2 3.42 2016
author: Megan Abbott
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2016/09/20
date added: 2016/09/25
shelves: 2016-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
After the recent Rio Olympics, this book has much to fascinate. There are endless (and repetitive) details about how an elite gymnast becomes elite and it isn't only about her talent. It's about the boosters and the coach an the practicing and the single-mindedness. But this story features a murder. Which goes unsolved by the cops but not by many people in the story and the reader figures it out pretty easily too. The problem I had with the story was the unlike-ability of all the characters. While I could appreciate Devon's desire to become an Olympian, she was flat. Everyone was flat. And the fact that her little brother was still lisping at 9, nearly 10? Even worse, he was the ignored child to the point I might have called child protective services. I kept thinking of Aly Raisman and hoping this wasn't her life. As a suspense/mystery the story never got started but if you want to know the inner workings of elite gymnasts this is for you. It was read well but the story didn't support the narrator.
]]> 25991136 Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire�

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself.

Listening Length: 9 hours and 22 minutes]]> 10 Roshani Chokshi 1427272999 Jodi 4 3.38 2016
author: Roshani Chokshi
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/09
date added: 2016/05/09
shelves: 2016-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
This is a lush and lyrical story that pulls from the mythology of India but takes place not in our world. It is skillfully read by Priya Ayyar whose cadence soothes and excites. Maya is the daughter of a Rajah but she was born under a horoscope so horrible that most of the harem shunned her very presence. Even her father thought her best worth would be in her death. But at the last moment, she is saved that fate by a handsome man who whisks her away to another land and a new adventure but he is unable to tell her anything until after the moon has completed a cycle. She is at once enchanted and frightened, in love and suspicious. Her new castle is empty and yet there are voices, warning her. And there is a woman. She knows her and yet the memory is just out of reach and when she finally grasps it, it is not at all what she expected. Is she strong enough to correct her betrayal before her last chance slips through her fingers? Although the story drags in places and is confusing in others, it is a fascinating world and a very different view of death's realm than we usually see.
]]> 27133301 0 Belinda Bauer 1682628310 Jodi 3 3.38 2015
author: Belinda Bauer
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2016/02/12
date added: 2016/02/15
shelves: 2016-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
It's important to note that this review refers to the audiobook which is narrated very well by Andrew Wincott. Two children have gone missing a year apart. They have nothing in common. One is a cold case being handled by DCI Marvel. He is a very unsympathetic character. He's brusque, uninterested in common courtesy, and is completely self-serving. But this missing girl has gotten under his skin and he is determined to solve her case. The only clue is her bicycle which was found with some blood and a psychic who talked about a garden that wasn't real. Anna Buck's 4 year old walked out of the house one morning and disappeared. Anna was devastated. So much so that she would try anything, including going to a church that promises a chance to talk to the dead. She doesn't speak to Daniel but she does meet a nice woman with a picture of a missing dog. Anna starts getting visions of a garden that isn't real. There are a lot of characters in this book who are tangentially connected but it isn't clear how until the end and some things are never cleared up, which is a shame. Although Bauer certainly draws vivid and lasting pictures, there were too many threads to connect and remember for the audio to be as successful as the book would be.
]]> 27036427 From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerieâ€�Ìý

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus big-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town.Ìý

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.Ìý

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale]]> 11 Rachel Vincent Jodi 4 4.19 2015
author: Rachel Vincent
name: Jodi
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/12/06
date added: 2015/12/15
shelves: 2015-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
If I had any doubt that Vincent could write, this dispelled them. In this world, at once similar but vastly different from our own, we live in concert with fantastical creatures. It used to be normal until 1986 when every parent in America killed their children except for their 6 year olds born in March. And they weren't human. After that, these creatures, cryptids, lost all their rights. Many of them are captive in traveling menageries. Delilah is a bank teller from Oklahoma. Until she goes to the Menagerie on her birthday and sees a young werewolf being abused. She changes into something else. Suddenly she is considered less than human. Except that she isn't. And yet she is. Purchased by the Menagerie, Delilah must navigate her new life and figure out what she is and who she can trust before some of the more vicious handlers kill her. She does have an ally, she thinks, in her enigmatic chief handler Gallagher, but he won't tell her everything and that makes her wary. Gabra Zackman gives a good showing as narrator. Delilah's pain comes through as does Gallagher's lust for violence. It's a complex and multilayered plot that could have gone even deeper but I look forward to book two to see where she takes it.
]]> 26792778
Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn.…]]> Rachel Caine 1490676449 Jodi 5
Jess is from a family of Black Market book smugglers. He is a strong believer the library and when his father gets him a placement in the next class of potential librarians he understands the catch. It is all toward helping the illegal family business of smuggling actual books. Owning actual books is a death sentence. Being a library postulate is different than he expected. For one thing, there is danger around every turn, but he grew up with danger. He didn't expect some of the danger to come from the Library itself. After growing up worshiping what the library stood for, what if it doesn't stand for that after all?

The book is well narrated by Julian Elfer and I can't wait for book 2. I loved how Caine handled various relationships and prejudices and love. Postulates can come from all over the world and they do and just because you share a common interest doesn't mean you see the world in the same way. Jess is not in lockstep with many of his class but each of them has a strong sense of right and wrong and while we are rooting for Jess, book one is all about grey areas. Definitely a step above anything else that Caine has done. ]]> 3.76 2015
author: Rachel Caine
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2015/11/05
date added: 2015/11/27
shelves: 2015-audiobooks, lj, audiobook, caine-rachel
review:
This is getting 5 stars because conceptually, it's brilliant. Think Steampunk but not. The library at Alexandria never fell. It changed everything. The Library is the fount of all knowledge and Librarians control everything. Books are currency like no other. There are other libraries. Daughter libraries, but they are offshoots of the Great Library. The Gutenberg Press was never invented. Or rather it was, but it was suppressed in favor of alchemy. Blanks where writing appears but the book is worthless. Obscurists are the rarest of talents, those who can make alchemy happen. They live their lives in the Iron Tower.

Jess is from a family of Black Market book smugglers. He is a strong believer the library and when his father gets him a placement in the next class of potential librarians he understands the catch. It is all toward helping the illegal family business of smuggling actual books. Owning actual books is a death sentence. Being a library postulate is different than he expected. For one thing, there is danger around every turn, but he grew up with danger. He didn't expect some of the danger to come from the Library itself. After growing up worshiping what the library stood for, what if it doesn't stand for that after all?

The book is well narrated by Julian Elfer and I can't wait for book 2. I loved how Caine handled various relationships and prejudices and love. Postulates can come from all over the world and they do and just because you share a common interest doesn't mean you see the world in the same way. Jess is not in lockstep with many of his class but each of them has a strong sense of right and wrong and while we are rooting for Jess, book one is all about grey areas. Definitely a step above anything else that Caine has done.
]]> 22675867 Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, and The Carrie Diaries comes an addictive story about fame, love, and foolishness that will keep readers enthralled to the very last enticing scene.

Pandy "PJ" Wallis is a renowned writer whose novels about a young woman making her way in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films. After the success of the Monica books and movies, Pandy wants to attempt something different: a historical novel based on her ancestor Lady Wallis. But Pandy's publishers and audience only want her to keep cranking out more Monica-as does her greedy husband, Jonny, who's gone deeply in debt to finance his new restaurant in Las Vegas.

When her marriage crumbles and the boathouse of her family home in Connecticut goes up in flames, Pandy suddenly realizes she has an opportunity to reinvent herself. But to do so, she will have to reconcile with her ex-best friend and former partner in crime, SondraBeth Schnowzer, who plays Monica on the big screen-and who may have her own reasons to derail Pandy's startling change of plan.

In KILLING MONICA, Candace Bushnell spoofs and skewers her way through pop culture, celebrity worship, fame, and the meaning of identity. With her trademark humor and style, this is Bushnell's sharpest, funniest book to date]]> 308 Candace Bushnell 0446557900 Jodi 3 2.67 2015
author: Candace Bushnell
name: Jodi
average rating: 2.67
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/21
date added: 2015/08/24
shelves: 2015-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
I am not a Sex in the City fan. Never watched it. But I still wonder how much of this story is at least emotionally autobiographical. Author Pandy Wallis adored her creation, Monica. She and the actress who played Monica were practically joined at the hip. But when Pandy wanted to do something more literary, her publisher just wanted more Monica. Meanwhile, her personal life was a mess. Her married life was a disaster. Her best friend was no more. And all she had was Monica, Monica, Monica. If Pandy was going to live, Monica was going to have to die. But neither life nor literature are ever that simple. Narrator Therese Plummer owned this book. She affected fantastic voices and sound effects and attitude. Although I couldn't relate to the characters in any way, I was entertained, particularly toward the end. While I agree with other reviews that the transgender character issue, which is treated as an afterthought, was handled inadequately, the character was not the focus of the story.
]]> 25490826 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels returns to the one-traffic-light town you see only when you’re on the way to someplace else�

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight�



]]> Charlaine Harris 140915615X Jodi 3 3.68 2015
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2015/08/11
date added: 2015/08/24
shelves: 2015-audiobooks, harris-charlaine, lj, audiobook
review:
I really want this series to be compelling. This book focused on Olivia, easily the most interesting of the Midnight cast of characters. Her backstory is horrific. Though we don't get (thankfully) a lot of graphic detail. We do get the reason she is so happy with Lemuel, the energy vampire, because if there is one thing Olivia has a lot of it is excess energy. Mostly anger. She's good at what she does - assassin. She and Manfred cross paths in Dallas. Both are on jobs but only her clients are supposed to end up dead. When Manfred's client ends up dying in front of him, he ends up being accused of stealing the old woman's jewelry. Suddenly he's up the wazoo with legal troubles. Meanwhile, the old hotel in Midnight has been renovated and has reopened part hotel/part old folks home. And one of the old folks is the grandfather of Barry the Bellboy. There is another new resident in town. A young boy. He looks about 4, maybe 6, could be 10, maybe 14. Looks can be deceiving and we get another Sookie character tie-in. It should have been exciting but it hovered at mildly interesting. There is just no tension in the story. I like Manfred. I like all the characters but I am not invested in them. The narrator was good but she couldn't invent emotion that wasn't there. Harris is capable of much better.
]]> 23705527 Chocolat,� New York Times bestselling author Joanne M. Harris, “this pacy adult fantasy is narrated by Loki, the Norse god of fire and mischief� (Vogue).

This novel is a brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods—retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki. A #1 bestseller in the UK, The Gospel of Loki tells the story of Loki’s recruitment from the underworld of Chaos, his many exploits on behalf of his one-eyed master, Odin, through to his eventual betrayal of the gods and the fall of Asgard itself.]]> 8 Joanne M. Harris 1442387750 Jodi 4 3.91 2014
author: Joanne M. Harris
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/30
date added: 2015/06/13
shelves: 2015-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
Although Loki will forever been entangled in my mind as Tom Hiddleston, narrator Allan Corduner does a damn fine job bringing the trickster god to life. This is not Marvel's Loki. This is the elemental Chaos god who was seduced by Odin into joining the Norse gods on Asgard only to discover that outside of Odin, they would never accept him. It didn't help that he couldn't stop crossing the line between funny and hurtful. He tells us his story in chapters meant as lessons that begin Never Trust ... He does take responsibility for the destruction of the Norse pantheon and by that time, he reveled in it, thought it was the least he could do, even though by that time, he knew it had been a set up. Funny, coarse, bawdy, he's not shy about his feelings toward the other Asgardians. Seeing them through his eyes and then watching a Marvel's Agents of Shield when Sif comes to town gives all new meanings to the idea of a cross-over. It's a different origin story than what most of us know but not less enjoyable.
]]> 16130410 A WOMAN OUT FOR BLOOD

Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories—along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there’s one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate and fear the most . . .

A VAMPIRE OUT FOR REVENGE

A member of the renegade vampire MoonBound Clan, Riker is haunted by demons of his own. When he recognizes Nicole and remembers how her family enslaved his loved ones, his heart burns for vengeance. But when he kidnaps Nicole and holds her in a secret lair, his mortal enemy becomes his soul obsession, his greatest temptation, and, perhaps, his only salvation—a hot-blooded lover who could heal him with her touch . . . or bury him forever.]]> 400 Larissa Ione 1476700192 Jodi 4 3.95 2013
author: Larissa Ione
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2014/07/13
date added: 2014/07/17
shelves: 2014-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
In this world vampires are poorly treated slaves. But there are some free clans. Riker belongs to Moonbound. He hates humans, particularly the Martin family who killed his mate 20 years ago. It's a little more complicated than that but that's how he sees it. 20 years ago Nicole Martin was viciously mauled during a slave rebellion. She was 6. Today she runs her family's pharmaceutical firm and is a noted vampire physiologist. When test vampires are murdered in her name she tries to clear herself but she is kidnapped before she can do that. That results in a little odyssey wherein Riker and Nicole heal old hurts and discover new love. The beginning is very choppy but Nicole's transformations are very real and so are Riker's. Ione sets up the next books in the series well, making you already want to read them and she has created likable characters that you care about. It's read well. The narrator did a good job of keeping the characters unique. The whole experience got better as the book evolved.
]]> 17802756 New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Ivy lures readers into the dark, seductive world of the Sentinels—humans outcast by their hidden abilities, treading the line between life and death, good and evil, pleasure and pain�

Born In Blood

Sergeant Duncan O’Conner has seen it all before. A beautiful erotic dancer is found murdered in her home—no suspect, no motive. But there’s one clue: she’s missing her heart. It’s enough to make the hard-bitten Kansas City cop enlist the help of a necro—one of the dead-channeling freaks who live in the domed city of nearby Valhalla. It’s a long shot, but desperate crimes call for desperate measures.

Unlike the other “high-bloods� in Valhalla, Callie Brown considers her abilities a gift, not a curse. But when she reads the dancer’s final thoughts, she senses a powerful presence blocking her vision. This is no ordinary homicide. This is the work of a legendary necromancer who controls souls. A ravenous force that will put Callie’s skills to the test, O’Conner’s career at risk, and both their hearts on the line…literally.]]> 373 Alexandra Ivy 1420125141 Jodi 2 3.80 2013
author: Alexandra Ivy
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2014/06/08
date added: 2014/07/17
shelves: 2014-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
The concept has a lot of merit. Humans with extra-human abilities are freaks or perhaps the next generation of humans. Some raise the dead, others see souls, others can prognosticate etc. Callie Brown works with the dead. She gets called in during murders to read the last thoughts of the dead only this time there is someone in there with her. A true necromancer, someone who controls the dead. Duncan O'Connor loves being a cop but something about Callie sets off his proactive instincts and when he has to make a choice between Caliie and the investigation he doesn't hesitate. Jim Frangione narrates. The book has a Black Dagger brotherhood feel, probably because Frangione reads it. I didn't get the sexual tension between Callie and Duncan at all. From abhorrence to lust in seconds didn't work for me. Even learning Duncan's secrets didn't help me like the couple more. The world is decent, the main couple didn't work for me but there were other characters who would.
]]> 18051941 357 Joanne Fluke 0758280378 Jodi 4 3.58 2014
author: Joanne Fluke
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/03/06
date added: 2014/03/09
shelves: 2014-audiobooks, audiobook, lj, sc, fluke-joanne
review:
With mouthwatering recipes and a near cliffhanger story this entry in the series brings back all the things about the series that made it great. When Hannah accidentally kills a man she finds herself up on negligent homicide charges. While dealing with that, she and her sisters and Lisa are trying to plan their mother's wedding only she won't cooperate. Then a friend of Michelle's asks to speak to her because she doesn't believe that her long lost missing sister is who she claims to be but her mother insists that she is. WhenHannah realizes that it all ties in to her missing John Doe she thinks she may have solved her own case but the facts remain, she killed a man and those facts don't go away. The recipes would have been better served in this audio as a PDF included with the disks because I want them all. Suzanne Toren was excellent as narrator. This one is well worth the listen.
]]> 15985372
Anita Blake makes her living off of zombies—but these aren’t the kind she knows so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes…Where will it stop? Even Anita Blake doesn’t know.]]> 570 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425255700 Jodi 4
There were things I didn't like but I was listening to this book and as always with her books, they listen as quickly as they read, I kept wanting more. Though I think all the talk gets in the way. While Anita has learned to talk she does better at showing and I think it would cut down on unnecessary exposition which comes at odd places. It's also tiring to watch Anita be treated badly by other law enforcement except that I suspect that is all too real. And not because she's sleeping with the monsters. She's pretty and that makes her suspect. In these small towns, sometimes pettiness is all that gets them through the day.

I'll continue to read the series and forever be grateful to it and its author but I am just as happy to be released from bondage. It was a little scary to see everything through Anita's eyes but it made for a fun decade.]]> 4.03 2013
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Jodi
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/10
date added: 2013/12/10
shelves: 2013-audiobooks, audiobook, kindle, lj, hamilton-laurell-k
review:
It's taken me months to write this review not because I didn't enjoy the book but because I wanted to sort out my thoughts and feelings. This series changed my life but it no longer holds me in the thrall that it did for nearly 10 years. I'm not unhappy about that. I am grateful for every minute I spent expanding my world because of Anita. So I don't begrudge that the books have changed in ways that appeal to me less. There were things I really liked about this book. I liked seeing Micah, Nathaniel and Anita with Micah's family and I liked discovering that Micah's family wasn't June Cleaver normal either. I like that she made a big deal of not putting labels on people. Sleeping with or having sex with someone of the same sex doesn't mean you're gay. Sometimes it is about the whole package. It's the love, not the body parts. I thought the premise was interesting. I liked that we hadn't seen the rotting zombies for a while and now they were back. I would have liked to see Jason in there because it was such a phobia for him but he is no longer that submissive wolf. There are too many characters for me to be able to easy track who is who and what species they are when they aren't human. Nicky's character underwent the most dramatic change. He's still a bad man, but being Anita's bride, he can't act on those feelings and her better feelings have changed him. He is content to follow but will lead if needs to. He can tamp down his violent urges but they are right there below the surface if she just gives the word. He didn't have a choice about falling in love with her but she did have a choice. So why Nicky? It wasn't intentional. At first, I think she saw him as a puppy and then as an odd equal, someone who would always be on her side and had the muscle to do so. And after a while you get familiarity. Anita needs that for love. She needs to know that you'll come home each night. Jean-Claude spent years breaching her defenses. If he hadn't Richard never would have had a chance. But what she felt for Richard wasn't love, it was lust. With Nicky she's had the chance to get to know the core of him and to trust him and ultimately that has become love.

There were things I didn't like but I was listening to this book and as always with her books, they listen as quickly as they read, I kept wanting more. Though I think all the talk gets in the way. While Anita has learned to talk she does better at showing and I think it would cut down on unnecessary exposition which comes at odd places. It's also tiring to watch Anita be treated badly by other law enforcement except that I suspect that is all too real. And not because she's sleeping with the monsters. She's pretty and that makes her suspect. In these small towns, sometimes pettiness is all that gets them through the day.

I'll continue to read the series and forever be grateful to it and its author but I am just as happy to be released from bondage. It was a little scary to see everything through Anita's eyes but it made for a fun decade.
]]> 18625189
Jim Heron, fallen angel and reluctant savior, is ahead in the war, but he puts everything at risk when he seeks to make a deal with the devil - literally. As yet another soul is unwittingly caught in the battle between him and the demon Devina, his fixation on an innocent trapped in Hell threatens to sidetrack him from his sacred duty....

Can good still prevail if true love makes a savior weak? And will a woman's future be the key, or the curse, for all of humanity? Only time, and hearts, will tell.]]> 15 J.R. Ward Jodi 3 3.79 2013
author: J.R. Ward
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2013/11/28
date added: 2013/12/02
shelves: 2013-audiobooks, lj, audiobook, ward-j-r
review:
I'm sure it would have helped if I hadn't jumped into the series in book 5. Although the conflict is easy to understand, these are continuing characters and their backstory is important. This is a battle between good and evil, though the Angels aren't flying around with wings. They are saving souls the old fashioned way. The demons or perhaps just the devil, is a rotting woman with good glamour, a serious OCD problem and a consumerism fetish. This was the showdown between Duke and his twin G.B. The two men couldn't be more different. Duke is a bouncer and looks disreputable. G.B. is a singer/actor on the verge of his big break. The latter is smooth, the former all rough edges. But you should never judge a book by its cover and looks are quite deceiving to the Angels too, as they are after the wrong soul. Meanwhile, Jim trades a win to get back Cissy, the young college student murdered in the last book. She can't return as normal and she wants to pay back some of the hell she was forced to endure. If that puts her on the side of the Angels, so be it. While the cameos from the Black Dagger Brotherhood were nice, Caldwell has got to be completely unsafe for humans. For me the problem with this book was that her voice was too clearly BDB and these books just aren't as exciting. Eric Dove narrates and does a credible job. The story just didn't wrap me into it the way the BDB series has done.
]]> 16059602
Just when you thought doomsday was over . . .

Centuries ago Acheron saved the human race by imprisoning an ancient evil bent on absolute destruction. Now that evil has been unleashed and it is out for revenge.

As the twin to Acheron, Styxx hasn't always been on his brother's side. They've spent more centuries going at each other's throats than protecting their backs. Now Styxx has a chance to prove his loyalty to his brother, but only if he's willing to trade his life and future for Acheron's.

The Atlantean goddess of Wrath and Misery, Bethany was born to right wrongs. But it was never a task she relished. Until now.

She owes Acheron a debt that she vows to repay, no matter what it takes. He will join their fellow gods in hell and nothing is going to stop her. But things are never what they seem, and Acheron is no longer the last of his line. Styxx and Acheron must put aside their past and learn to trust each other or more will suffer.

Yet it's hard to risk your own life for someone who once tried to take yours, even when it's your own twin, and when loyalties are skewed and no one can be trusted, not even yourself, how do you find a way back from the darkness that wants to consume the entire world? One that wants to start by devouring your very soul?]]> 24 Sherrilyn Kenyon 1427230943 Jodi 4 4.81 2013
author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
name: Jodi
average rating: 4.81
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/22
date added: 2013/10/27
shelves: lj, audiobook, 2013-audiobooks
review:
Styxx is the flip side of Acheron. You may think the grass is greener for your identical twin, the crown prince, but not when nothing you could do would possibly satisfy your father. Your mother and sister hate you on sight. And everyone seems to want to kill you. It was painful to listen to nearly 18 hours of Styxx being abused as a human. Longer than we had to listen to Acheron's pain. It's brutal, unflinching, and unrepentant. Styxx is brutally raped repeatedly because he is cursed by Apollomi's sister and catches the eye of Apollo. Any idea that we may have had that Apollo isn't a complete egomaniacal dickwad who enjoys using his power to abuse others is certainly disabused in this story. Styxx is likable from the beginning. Sensitive, he only wants to find love but he is born at a time where men were gladiators and softer emotions were to be beaten out of you. Eventually he meets Beth, a blind peasant fisherwoman who is actually the vengeance god Betanya. But he doesn't know that and she doesn't know he is Prince Styxx. They fall in love. It's the real thing. Unfortunately, real life, the gods and a few demons conspire to make their love impossible. Styxx declares he will never stop trying to find her and eleven thousand years later it's finally time for him to have peace and love and family. If the story had been more balanced between past and present it would have made it more interesting but watching Acheron really understand his brother was quite good. Fred Berman is a great addition to the stable of narrators for this series. He understood the seriousness of the gods and didn't downplay the bitterness that permeated the novel until nearly the end. Artemis was in good form which was the only humor in the book. There were some fabulous reveals that are too good to be spoilers. Read it and find out. It is worth the 26+ hours to listen to and I'm sure it's marvelous in book form as well.
]]> 13532291
At the end of The Vintage Caper, Sam had just carried off a staggering feat of derring-do in the heart of Bordeaux, infiltrating the ranks of the French elite to rescue a stolen, priceless wine collection. With the questionable legality of the adventure—and the threat of some very powerful enemies!—Sam thought it’d be a while before he returned to France, especially with the charms of the beautiful Elena Morales to keep him in Los Angeles.

But when the immensely wealthy Francis Reboul—the victim of Sam’s last heist but someone who knows talent when he sees it—asks our hero to take a job in Marseille, it’s impossible for Sam and Elena to resist the possibility of further excitement . . . to say nothing of the pleasures of the region. Soon the two are enjoying the coastal sunshine and the delectable food and wine for which Marseille is known. Yet as a competition over Marseille’s valuable waterfront grows more hotly disputed, Sam, representing Reboul, finds himself in the middle of an increasingly intrigue-ridden and dangerous real-estate grab, with thuggish gangsters on one side and sharklike developers on the other.

Will Sam survive this caper unscathed? Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed—with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam’s friends—in the novel’s wonderfully satisfying climax.Ìý]]> 224 Peter Mayle 030759419X Jodi 3 3.30 2010
author: Peter Mayle
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2013/03/09
date added: 2013/03/11
shelves: lj, 2013-audiobooks, audiobook
review:
In this sequel to The Vintage Caper, Francis Reboul, the victim in the last book, hires Sam and Elena to do a job in Marseille. Sam is not one to pass up an opportunity to delight in the food and wine of the region but even he is surprised at the sharks circling the real estate project and just how far the competition is willing to go to win. Robin Sachs, who could make the phone book exciting, give Peter Mayle's prose more to latch on to, making it lusher, tastier, more alcholic with ever word. And yet it isn't all fun and games. The story has a serious bent and Sachs slips into the hearts and minds of villains easily, although they are more rent-a-villain than hardened criminals. Sachs will be dearly missed. Although this is not a brilliant story, it still shows off Sachs' skill.
]]> 15816848 0 M.K. Gilroy 1613752547 Jodi 2 3.62 2012
author: M.K. Gilroy
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2013/02/06
date added: 2013/02/06
shelves: 2013-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
I had a hard time with this book because it took place within the Chicago Police Department and the FBI. If had taken place in a small town police department, I wouldn't have blinked an eye. The story was well plotted. But this is Christian Fiction which means that Christianity plays a big role. While I have no problem with that per se, in the context of the Chicago PD, I found it slightly ludicrous. Kristen Conner is a police detective. She's so good that the FBI wants her. But she completely balks at going undercover as a very high priced escort in order to find the murderer of a very prominent Chicago businessman. She is on the job when she is "outed" by her sister, a TV anchor woman. The PD keeps talking about prayer sessions and praying and things that would cause human resource complaints in real life. Not that there aren't plenty of religious people on the police force, but they keep it to themselves because not everyone is going to share their faith in the same way. Connor also drops the assignment for a family emergency. While I get that, she has a big family and this was a major murder investigation. People who put their religion that far up their priority ladder rarely do well in the jobs that take them away from family on a regular basis. Connor didn't behave like a seasoned detective. She behaved like a cop who got really lucky and was promoted rather than someone who deserved her place. It's too bad because she has great instincts about people. The book was read well, albeit not overly memorably. But the religious aspect overwhelmed the mystery.
]]> 13587859 Ìý]]> 0 Mary Daheim 1611206901 Jodi 3 3.42 2012
author: Mary Daheim
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/11/20
date added: 2012/11/21
shelves: 2012-audiobooks, audiobook, lj
review:
Although I think that the characters are a little mean spirited at times, much of this book was entertaining. Judith Flynn and her cousin Renie are off on a little working vacation in Little Bavaria volunteering at the State B&B booth. Unfortunately, they aren't there a day before a dead body shows up. Judith's reputation has preceeded her and the cops ask for her help, not just for this dead body but for another one as well. Judith reluctantly says yes. It turns out that a lot of the town was fathered, quite literally, by the recently murdered man. Much beloved by the town, everyone is shocked by his death. But as Judith starts investigating she finds that behind closed doors things were not quite as pleasant. Lindsay Ellison does a great job making Judith and Renie sound their age. They are in their 60s and they sound it. Likewise, the characters in their 20s sound young. It was refreshing. It would have been nice if Daheim hadn't been quite so obvious about the keystone cops but no one is perfect. If you're reading the series, you'll enjoy this installment. I wouldn't start here, however. Although backstory is provided, you won't really understand the characters if you start here.
]]> 12383252
But even vampires have monsters that they're afraid of. And Anita is one of them...]]> 359 Laurell K. Hamilton 0425247546 Jodi 3 3.83 2012
author: Laurell K. Hamilton
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/08/12
date added: 2012/08/29
shelves: audiobook, hamilton-laurell-k, lj, 2012-audiobooks
review:
There was a lot to like about this book but there was also a lot to get aggravated about and that's why I'm giving it 3 stars. This was an audiobook. The reader, Kim Alexis, has been reading the books for some time. But rather than sinking into the characters, she put on new skin and it didn't match the characters. Like Micah who suddenly developed an Irish accent. Which irritated me every time he opened his mouth. It was a good Irish accent, just wrong! The story had two plots. The external plot involved the murder of two cops and the kidnapping of an underage girl. This plot kept getting lost. It was a decent plot but it kept getting lost under the weight of the question of whether the law is right to condemn everyone for the act of one person. The angst and the ardeur seemed seemed forced and unnecessary. As did the fight with Asher. Too much happened off stage and we walked in in the middle without context. There are way too many lovers for Anita to care about or for the readers to care about. Which is pushing this toward the type of erotica that holds no interest for me, sex without emotional bonds. That just doesn't float my boat. This book didn't have a lot of sex but the sex scenes, while lengthy, were without emotional engagement. Which left them unmemorable.
]]> 14580192 0 Camilla Läckberg 1617071307 Jodi 5 3.61 2005
author: Camilla Läckberg
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2012/07/03
date added: 2012/07/04
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2012-audiobooks
review:
Although this is book 3 in the series, you aren't missing a lot by starting here. A fisherman pulls up his lobster trap and gets the shock of his life: the body of a child. Although the mystery surrounds the murder of this child, the focus really isn't about the murder of children or child abuse. It's a much deeper story than that and goes back nearly 100 years and is much about nature vs. nuture. The best way to appreciate this book is by listening to it. It's too difficult for Americans to wrap our tongues around the Swedish alphabet and David Thorn trills the words like a native. (Perhaps he is!) Listening allows the reader to become immersed in the story of evil rather than getting bogged down in place names and trying to remember who belongs with whom and just when you're sure where the evil lies, it's somewhere you least expected. It's very well done and ends on a cliffhanger for the next mystery.
]]> 11796251 335 Joanne Fluke 0758234937 Jodi 3 3.75 2012
author: Joanne Fluke
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2012/05/30
date added: 2012/06/01
shelves: 2012-audiobooks, lj, sc, audiobook, fluke-joanne
review:
Another solid entry in the Hannah Swensen series, this also ties up the Norman/Doctor Bev arc in a very, very satisfying way. Hannah and Michelle are driving back home when they see an overturned bus and go to help. The bus belongs to the Cinnamon Roll Six, a jazz band scheduled to play at the Inn. But when they keyboard player, who only had a broken wrist, is murdered in the Emergency room, Hannah wants to get to the bottom of it all. Meanwhile, she's received an invitation to Norman's wedding and her family has had just about enough of her sitting back and just taking it. It might be time that both Norman and Hannah decide to do what's best for them! The recipes are mouthwatering, the cats are adorable and Suzanne Toren wears the characters like a second skin.
]]> 11699295 On the northern banks of the Vltava River, an extraordinary event is taking place. Inside a private chapel, a high-born Hungarian lady is being laid to rest. But not before her heart is removed from her body, and she is buried beneath a layer of heavy stones -- lest she rise again to prey upon her victims.

VENICE, 2010
Holidaying in the world's most beautiful city, Chris Bronson and Angela Lewis discover a desecrated tomb. Inside it is a female skeleton and an arcane diary dating back hundreds of years. Written in Latin, it references a scroll that will provide an answer to an ancient secret. Soon corpses of young women, all killed in the same ritualistic manner, start appearing throughout the city. And when Angela disappears, Bronson knows that he must find her before she too is slaughtered.

But Bronson's hunt for Angela leads him back to the Island of the Dead, and into a conspiracy more deadly than he could ever have imagined.]]> 466 James Becker 045123619X Jodi 3 3.47 2011
author: James Becker
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2012/05/17
date added: 2012/05/19
shelves: audiobook, lj, 2012-audiobooks
review:
When British cop Chris Bronson and his ex-wife take a week's vacation to Venice he wasn't expecting a busman's holiday. Neither was he expecting vampires. In fact, it takes serious suspension of disbelief, on his part and ours, to expect them now but when Angela, his ex-wfe, is kidnapped by the serial killer, Chris refuses to rule out any possibility. Graeme Malcolm's cultured European accent doesn't romanticize the vampires but it does serve to romanticize Europe which helps because the story itself is not particularly brilliantly written nor are the characters particularly well drawn. But Malcolm's accent keeps you wanting more. But not in a Hollywood vampire sort of way. These are inhumane serial killers. While they may have a less emotional purpose than most serial killers, it doesn't change the facts. Interesting but neither exactly a romance nor exactly a thriller or really a mystery but a cobbled blending of the latter two with a decent friendship between Chris and Angela forming the bond that matters.
]]> 12888138
Just as she is settling in, one by one the most talented students � the Exceptionals � go missing. In an attempt to find out what happened to them, Claire uncovers a dark prophecy involving a plot to destroy Cambial and a mysterious girl who can communicate with a hawk. Could she be that girl? Does the gorgeous but secretive boy she meets in the woods know more than he is letting on? After years of ignoring her special gift, Claire decides the time has come to embrace her ability . . . before it’s too late.]]> 236 Erin Cashman 0823423352 Jodi 2 3.76 2012
author: Erin Cashman
name: Jodi
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2012/05/06
date added: 2012/05/06
shelves: 2012-audiobooks, lj, audiobook
review:
While Cashman gets huge kudos for a paranormal book that doesn't have a single vampire, werewolf or zombie as well as kudos for a fairly clever concept, the story itself is rather pedestrian and stale. Claire Walker is the only one in her family that doesn't have a "Special", a paranormal talent that would make her a shoo-in to Cambrial Academy, the high school for Special teens that was founded by her great-great grandfather. But of course, she does have a special talent. She can speak to animals. There is a prophecy about a girl whose talent with animals will save the school but will die in the attempt. So her parents tried to dissuade her from believing she had talent. But like with most prophecies (remember Oedipus?) the harder you run away from it, the easier you run toward it. And she does. The reader Madeleine Lambert was adequate, though all her teenage boys sounded like they were suffering from bad colds. And the adults all seemed more clueless than they should have been. It's an okay first novel with potential for the author.
]]>