Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Do you remember 1999?  We were worried about Y2K, the internet was just starting to take hold in our lives and e-mail was just entering the workplace. 

Enter Lincoln O'Neil.  His job at the Courier newspaper is read e-mails and warn anyone who is using inappropriate language or improper topics of discussion.  It's not difficult and while he's bored out of his mind, Lincoln is good at his job.  Until he begins to read the messages between copy editor, Jennifer, and Beth, the movie reviewer. 

They don't care that anyone is reading their mail and their conversations are so interesting that Lincoln can't bring himself to issue the warnings.  The more he reads, the more he likes these women until one day Lincoln realizes that he's in love with Beth.

This book was wonderful, because although it was a love story, it was more a coming of age tale.  Rainbow Rowel paints a beautiful portrait of a boy living in his mother's basement and growing into a man.  Lincoln's account is painfully honest with many failures and small victories that eventually amount into something more. 

Highly reccomended for fans of Jennifer Weiner or Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close.

Review: Carrie by Stephen King

As far as I can recall, Carrie was my forray into the world of Stephen King and it left a definite impression on me.  I understood the social isolation, the way people would stop talking or look at you funny when you came near them, because, in grade school, I was Carrie.  The social pariah was me. 

No sympathy please.  It happened over 20 years ago and while it left some emotional scars, they have long since healed.  The only reason I mention it now, is to give you some context on why I connect on such a deep level to this book. 

Here we have a girl, Carrie, who wants nothing more than to belong.  Unfortunately for her, small town life has a way of preventing that.  On her first day of school she branded a weird girl for kneeling down to pray before she ate her lunch and years later, while not everybody may have remembered why the cruelty started, that single act made Carrietta White, the weird girl.  Anything else - her funny style of clothing (black skirt, white blouse), her plain looks, etc. just became fodder for their harsh actions and remarks, what hurt the most was when she finally found an in road, her classmates destroyed her for it. 

How dare she rise above her station, so she paid them back in kind.  She destroyed the kids, her school and her town, all of which were so uncaring towards her, before for she finally succumbed to her own death. 

On my initial reading of it, there was quite a large piece of me who relished in the pain Carrie doles out, because I never really fought back.  In grade school, I had learned that it defending myself just lead to more attacks and it was just easier to accept my outsider status.  So I kept moving forward, but even when I did collect friends, I kept them at a distance.  That way I could avoid any taunts or jabs they may have wanted to inflict.

It made things a little lonely, but it got me through. 

It wasn't until I became an adult that I realize how truly sad Carrie is.  Unlike me, our heroine never got the pleasure of getting away from everyone, forging a new life for herself, developing her own sense of style or even meeting and befriending other outcasts like herself.  Carrie never got to realize how small high school really is, how it little it matters who you were as a child, like I did.

To gain that perspective you need to become an adult and our girl will never get that chance.  

Review: The Asylum Interviews: Trixie by Jocelynn Drake

Things seem to be going well for Gage, his tattoo business is booming and his old girlfriend, Jo, is back in Low Town to ask a favor of him - Jo's friend, Trixie, is a tattoo artist in need of a job. 

Gage, agrees to look at Trixie's portfolio, but things quickly when he finds out that his interviewee is less interested in landing a job, than she is in getting Jo out of her own sticky situation. 

I'm not familiar with Drake's work, but I thought this was a great introduction for her new series The Asylum Tales, which will be about Gage's tattoo parlor.  It peaked my interest and I am looking forward to finding out what the book has instore for me.  Lucky for me, I've already got it to review!

Recommeded for fans of Vicki Pettersson's Signs of the Zodiac series and Charlaine Harris. 

Review: In a Fix by Linda Grimes

 

What if you could avoid meeting your future mother-in-law, by simply hiring someone to stand in for you - not just stand in; be you.  Well if you have enough money, you can hire a facilitator like Ciel Halligan, whose natural ability allows her to take on another person's aura in orde to become them. 

It's a good business, until Ciel finds out her latest client is involved with an FBI investigaton, being run by her sexy best friend Billy and her long time crush Mark.  Now that Ciel must stay alive long enough to help the boys finish the investigation while trying not to fall in love with either one of them.

This book was a very quick read.  The plot is engaging, but I struggled to really relate to the lead character.  She was your typical headstrong female, but I found Ciel frustrating in a couple aspects:

• She was always disobeying Mark's orders and then falling into enemy hands.  If it had happened once or twice, it would have been alright, but it seemed every time Ciel was told not to do something, she chose to ignore it.  This plot device got very old, very fast.
• My other issue with this book was Mark and Billy.  While I liked the characters, Ciel bounced back and forth between them as if she was in a pinball machine.  One minute, she was getting hot and bothered about Mark and then she kissing Billy.  I would have enjoyed the book more, if the author had picked one relationship to flesh out rather than convoluting the plot with two.

Was it fun?  Yes, aspects of it were and frankly, it could have been too disappointing - I read it in less than 24 hours. 

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Imagine a world where people no longer had to interact with one another in person.  How would yo feel if going to work was a matter plugging in your laptop and putting on a visor that completely immerses you into a computer world?  What if your World of Warcraft avatar became your representative to the world, because he/she was the one who went to school or work in this virtual reality world? 

Welcome to the world of 2044, where gaming software OASIS has become the standard for living around the world everything from ordering food to attending school can be done through OASIS and the strongest currency is gaming credits.

Now imagine that when OASIS designer James Halliday passes away that he reveals that his fortune is hidden within his virtual creation and the person who finds it will inherit everything.  The game is on.

My God this book was incredible, but what drove it was the world Ernest Cline created.  Let's face it - virtual reality existence is not that far fetched.  We can already got to college, attend business meetings and have every service delivered to us by just sitting at the computer.  Placing on some glasses and gloves that allow to engage in an online reality was not that crazy.  In fact, I wondered what it would be like and I'm not a gamer. 

The other thing that turned me on were the 80s references.  James Halliday was obsessed the topic, because that's when he was a teenager.  Now I admit, I was born early in the decade, so I didn't experience it the same way he would have, but being in on a lot of the references made me feel very special.

Highly recommended!!!

Review: Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs

The 15th book in the Tempe Brennan series takes us back to Montreal, where the good doctor is brought in to consult on the death of an infant, but a further search of the scene finds 2 additional infants in the apartment.  Appalled, Tempe and Detective Ryan pursue mother of the children, only to find stumble themselves in the middle of a crime, they didn't even know existed. 

I liked this one.  Tempe is always a good character and while I was a bit surprised that she didn't focus on the forensics as much, she did have some interesting reasearch on the region, etc.

Nice job, Kathy Reichs.  You keep writing them and I'll keep reading them. 

Review: Stranger in the Room by Amanda Kyle Williams

Keye Street is just trying to pay her bills.  After alcoholism ruined her career as an FBI profiler, Street turned to private investigation to keep things afloat and after a lot of hard work, she just wants the weekend alone with her boyfriend. 

Unfortunately, fate has a way of derailing these things.  This time it comes in the shape of a murder her boyfriend, Dectective Aaron Rauser, must solve...a series of death threats to Keye's cousin Miki and a crematory business in North Georgia that may not be what it seems. 

As Keye wraps completes the crematory case, she begins to realize that Aaron's case and Miki's threats may not be so independent of one another and that she has now attracted the attention of this murderer.

I must say I really enjoyed this book.  Williams has a great way of juggling all these plot lines without letting any one of them fall to the wayside while managing to weave them all into one cohesive story.

Reccomended for anyone who enjoys who loves a good mystery. 

News: Robert Crais on NPR

I'm so excited to share with you that Robert Crais, a favorite author and creator of the Elvis Cole & Joe Pike series, will be featured on NPR's Special Series Crime in the City. The segment will be broadcast on Morning Edition on the morning of 20 August 2012 and Crais will discuss why he chose L.A. as his setting for the books as well as his fabulous characters.
Other authors who have been highlighted include Karin Slaughter and Janet Evanovich. You can find more information about the previous contributors on NPR's Crime in the City page and you can find out more about Robert Crais on his website. 
The photo above is from the 2011 signing for The Sentry that took place at my favorite Houston indie book store, Murder By the Book.  My sister is on the right and I am on the left with Robert Crais in the center. 

Here's the link to the story on NPR.

My Favorite Quote about the Twilight Saga

"Let me get this straight; the vampire impregnates the girl who always looks pissed and then the werewolf wants her baby? I miss John Hughes."

- Zach Braff

Quote: Food for Thought

"A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him."
        - Edna St. Vincent Millay 

I guess the authors who lash out to bloggers, etc. over bad reviews, haven't really considered this....

Review: The Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

When I picked up Deadlocked in this past May, I was really excited.  What's not to like - an intelligent female heroine, sexy vampires (Hello Eric Northman!) and enteraining cast of characters.  They are quick enjoyable reads that always make me happy, but this time it was a little different. 

It had been so long since I'd read any of them (over a year ago when Dead Reckoning was released) that I couldn't remember who any of the more recent characters or storylines.  Who's Michelle?  Tara's married and pregnant?  Eric's day time man?  WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHAT IS GOING ON?  It was confusing at first, but I was able to bypass my feelings of frustration by vowing to reread the series after I finished the new book.

I am happy to state that I'm on book 11, Dead Reckoning, and I'm enjoying every word of this series.  Even when I had already read the book, I still found myself reading long into the night or blowing off chores just to find out what Sookie would do next. 

So yes, this series stands the test of time and comes as highly reccommeded as my first read back in 2006.

Review: Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie

Abby Cooper has a tough life - her best friend/business partner is moving to California, she can barely keep up with the repairs she is making to her home and her new man, Dutch, doesn't believe in psychics.  As if that wasn't bad enough, Dectective Dutch also suspects her of murder.  No big deal!  

Dear Lord, this book was adorable.  Our heroine is so smart, sassy and sarcastic that Victoria Laurie is able to hold her reader's interest no matter what Abby is doing - from getting dressed in the morning to solving a murder.  I loved it!

Highly recommended for fans of Charlaine Harris, Jennifer Crusie or anyone who loves a good cozy mystery. 

Review: Dare Me by Megan Abbott

For years, it's always been Beth Cassidy - grade school, middle school, cheer camp, high school and now the varsity cheerleading squad.  Beth has always been the captain with second, Addy Hanlon by her side, but junior year is different.  There is a new cheerleading coach - hard, dedicated and all the girls find themselves inexplicably drawn to her. 

Suddenly Beth is not on top and the Addy knows there will be consequences.  Coach doesn't believe that Beth has that much power, but Addy knows better....

This book is as amazing as it is sinister.  There are no innocents, because everyone is played or being played.  What really took me aback was the prose.  

In this type of novel, I expect the writing to have a certain flintiness to it, but I did not expect how lyrical it would be.  Abbott has this magic ability to express the cruelty and competitiveness that occurs between teenage girls in almost poetic way.  She described the flipping, turning and twirling in a way that made, even me - a woman in her 30s, long to be part of that elite squad - depsite the fact the politics and back stabbing felt like it could get a girl killed. 

Highly reccommended for fans of Gillian Flynn!!!!!

Review: The Absent One by Jussi Alder-Olsen

 At Department Q, a division of the Denmark police, they only review cold cases, so why the file for an over 20 year murder case with a conviction lands on desk for Carl Mørck, the head of the department, is unknown. With his curiosity peaked, Carl begins his investigation only to find that when some of the most wealthy and powerful men in the country commit crimes, many times there are no consequences.

What our hero doesn’t realize is that vengeance is coming for these men in the form of someone they once knew – a woman named Kimmie.  After living on the streets for years, she has decided to face her demons and destroy those who have hurt her, just as long as they don’t find her first.

The story then becomes a race who will find whom and how many of them will live to tell the tale. 

I was first introduced to Carl Mørck and Department Q by Anne at Murder by the Book last year and it has been a roller coaster of a ride.  Alder-Olsen has the really intense of giving the reader enough background on the story to hold their attention and peppering in little shocks throughout the book until the pulse pounding climax. 

Excellent for reading when you have plenty of time, but reading in bed will make it impossible to sleep at night as readers will be up until all hours trying to finish the book. 

Highly recommended for fans of Tana French or Scandinavian mysteries!