Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I've already forgotten when I finished this one, so I guess I should add it before it slips my mind completely:

27.
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Title: One Silent Night
Publication: Kindle Edition
Pages: 320 pages
Genre: Romance
Acquisition: March 27, 2010
Date Completed: March 31, 2010, I think
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

More of the same, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

26.
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Title: Revelations
Publication: Hyperion, 2008. Paperback.
Pages: 264 pages
Genre: YA Horror
Acquisition: March 26, 2010
Date Completed: March 28, 2010
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Revelations is Melissa De La Cruz's third Blue Blood novel. Blue Bloods are fallen angels, exiled to earth as vampires as punishment for rising against God. In the latest "cycle" the most powerful figures are teenagers, and face a world of tension and deceit as they are figuring out who they are and how they fit into the larger power structure of the 400. In Revelations the problems escalate, and characters are developed in interesting ways. It is a satisfying installment in the series.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

25.
Author: Janet Evanovich
Title: [One for the Money]
Publication: St. Martin's, 1994. Paperback.
Pages: 320pages
Genre: Mystery
Acquisition: March 19, 2010
Date Completed: March 27, 2010
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Stephanie Plum's introduction to bounty-hunting isn't glamorous. She sells her furniture to pay her bills, her refrigerator holds nothing but mold an hamster food, and the only job she can find is with a relative's bond shop. However, she charges in with determination and a laugh in her throat, and carries the reader from one mishap to another. Plum is a fun and sassy narrator, and her determination to make it to tomorrow provides excellent motivation for her actions. One for the Money is fantastically fun, and I'll definitely be looking for more Evanovich in the future.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

24.
Author: Rebecca M. Hale
Title: How to Wash a Cat
Publication: Berkley Prime Crime, 2010. Paperback.
Pages: 295 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Acquisition: Picked out by partner March 20, 2010
Date Completed: March 25, 2010
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Rebecca M. Hale's How to Wash a Cat is a feline-full "mystery" that links a San Francisco Gold-Rush-Era mystery with a series of mysterious modern day events. The writing is a bit clumsy at times (I've never known "tender chicken and rice" to crunch, p. 14), and the excessive personification of the cats had me eying my own beasts with suspicion, but the story itself is cute, and the absurd cast of characters is endearing. While the pacing is uneven, it nonetheless kept my attention and provided a nice distraction. I would recommend How to Wash a Cat primarily to cat-loving cozy mystery readers.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

23.
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Title: The Summoning
Publication: HarperCollins, 2009. Paperback.
Pages: 416 pages
Genre: YA
Acquisition: Purchased March 18, 2010
Date Completed: March 19, 2010
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong is the first in her "Darkest Powers" series for young adults. The book introduces the character of Chloe, and how the young girl finds out she's not who she thought she was. Armstrong sets the series in the same world she created in her "Women of the Otherworld" series, and I appreciated the linear transition. Armstrong doesn't "write down" to her audience, and she masterfully explores the implications of being a young supernatural in the world she has already established. Recommended for teens and adults who enjoy supernatural fiction.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

22.
Author: Marie Phillips
Title: Gods Behaving Badly
Publication: Kindle Edition.
Pages: 304 pages
Genre: Mystery
Acquisition: Purchased March 14, 2010, recommended by calm
Date Completed: March 17, 2010
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Gods Behaving Badly is a delightful and lighthearted mock-epic that places the once-powerful Greek gods in a crumbling house in London. While the treatment of the gods isn't original (think Pratchett's take on gods and belief systems), Phillips did surprise me with a development or two, and I was entertained from beginning to end. A perfectly fun light read for a lazy day.

Friday, March 12, 2010

20.
Author: Ken Kesey
Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Publication: Penguin Classics, 2007.
Pages: 320 pages
Genre: Fiction
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: March 7, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5

21.
Author: Joanne Fluke
Title: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
Publication: Kensington, 2008. Kindle Edition.
Pages: 304 pages
Genre: Mystery
Acquisition: Purchased February 21, 2010
Date Completed: March 11, 2010
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is the first in a sweet-themed cozy mystery series, with a heavy emphasis on the cozy. Fluke seems to spend more time developing her gimmick than focusing on the murder-mystery aspect of the genre. But that emphasis includes plenty of recipes, so I wasn't too disappointed. Hannah Swenson is a clunky but sweet protagonist with a firm belief that chocolate can cure all. I have a feeling that this series could improve with time, so I'm fairly likely to pick up the second book at some point in the future.

I actually made Fluke's "Chocolate Covered Cherry Delights" on the tenth, and they were quite a treat!