Storeetllr - 32 Books Read So Far in 2007

1. How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire - Kerrilyn Sparks (Don't bother to read this one; it's a bore.)
2. Angels Fall by Nora Roberts (3 stars) (contemporary romantic thriller)
3. Night Pleasures by Kenyon (OK story but cliched; didn't care for the writing.)
4. Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (4-1/2 stars) (historical romance)
5. After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros (2 stars) (historical vampire romance, sort of)
6. One Night with a Prince by Sabrina Jeffries (4 stars) (historical romance)
7. In the Prince's Bed by Jeffries (3-1/2 stars) (ditto)
8. Charmed by Nora Roberts (contemporary paranormal romance)
9. Magnolia Creek - Jill Marie Landis (2-1/2 stars) historical romance
10. It Happened One Autumn by Kleypas (5 stars) Second in the Wallflower series of historical romances; excellent read!
11. The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman (4 stars) - A short novel about Rain, the daughter of the last Queen of the Amazons. Gorgeous, spare prose, good characterizations, almost no dialogue but highly readable.
12. The Book Thief by Zusak (4-1/2 stars) Brilliant novel depicting life in Nazi Germany. Narrator is Death. Only missed a 5-star review by a hairsbreadth.
13. Team of Rivals by Goodwin (5 stars) Unbelievably good history of the cabinet put together by Abraham Lincoln and does truly show why he is considered a political genius and the reason we are the United States today and not part of the Confederacy.
14. Caesar by Allan Massie (3-1/2 stars) Narrated by Decimus Brutus, one of Caesar's most trusted generals and one of his assassins. Interesting description of the descent of a great man into megalomania as seen through the eyes of an ally turned traitor.
15. A Vote for Murder by David Wishart (3-1/2 stars) - A Marcus Valerius Corvinus mystery.
16. Really Unusual Bad Boys - 3 short novelettes, one by Mary Janice Davidson (2 stars) The first was okay, the other two ho-hum.
17. Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris (3-1/2 stars) - Predictable but fun.
18. Born in Death by J.D. Robb - (3 stars) There's a mystery here, but I pretty much figured it out before I was halfway through. Thus the 3 star rating. BUT, for the romance, the humor, the relationship factor, and the birth scene, I give it a 5 star rating.
19. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace by Mary Janice Davidson (4 stars) YA Horror and a really good read. Fast-paced and wel-written, it has a nice little twist at the end.
20. Food for the Fishes by Wishart (3-1/2 stars) Another M. Valerius Corvinus mystery, this time set in Baie near Neopolis (Naples). Pretty good mystery.
21. I'm the Vampire, That's Why (forgot the author's name) (3-1/2 stars) Cute and funny. I skipped over a couple of love scenes as all of them were more or less the same.
22. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (4-1/2 stars) Excellent read; couldn't put it down. As good as but completely different from The Curious Incident, with wonderful characters. Haddon somehow managed to make me care about all four of the main characters: the dad, who is slowly going mad; the mom, who is having an affair; the daughter, who is marrying a man she doesn't think she loves; and the son, who is gay & in the middle of a break up with the first & only man he ever actually loved. Brilliant!
23. Let the Emperor Speak: a novel of Caesar Augustus by Massie (4 stars) Better than the novel about Julius Caesar, I thought.
24. Artemis Fowl by Fford (4 stars) YA fantasy, it started out slow but quickly got so good I didn't want it to end.
25. The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr (4 stars) I had to stop reading this about halfway through as it was just too intense for me. Picked it back up about 3 weeks later & finished it; glad I did. A very satisfying read.
26. Parthian Shot by Wishart (4 stars) Another Corvinus mystery. A good read.
27. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers (4 stars) YA horror. A high school junior goes to live with her father in a small town in Washington State while her mother travels with her stepfather. There she meets Edward Cullen, a 17-year old vampire who was made about 90 years earlier and is attending high school with his "siblings" as a cover.
28. Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb (4-1/2 stars) Eve finds herself agonizing over Roarke's apparent attraction to an old flame as she tries to figure out who murdered two private school teachers.
29. By Slanderous Tongues by Mercedes Lackey & Roberta Gellis (3-1/2 stars) Elizabeth, beloved of the elves, is 14 when King Henry dies and she goes to live with Queen Catherine and Thomas Seymour and is caught up in a plot by the Unseleagh to disgrace and/or murder her. Not quite as good as the two earlier books in the series.
30. The Watchman by Robert Crais (4-1/2 stars) Joe Pike is forced by an old promise to become bodyguard of a rich and beautiful but troubled young woman someone is trying to kill.
A really good read, from start to finish.
31. The Chariots of Calyx by Rosemary Rowe (3-1/2 stars) Mystery set in Roman London during the reign of Commodus, featuring Libertus, a freedman pavement maker citizen. It's okay but not as good as others of the genre.
32. White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz (4 stars) - An Arcane Society paranormal romantic mystery set in contemporary times. Jake Jones is a psychic hunter and Claire, the illegitimate daughter of Archer, is a human lie detector. They are 10+ exotics, which would drive most people insane, but they're pretty together. Really good read.
33. The Marriage Spell by Mary Jo Putney (3 stars) Parnormal romance. Abigail is a wizard who heals Lord Frayne after what should have been a fatal accident on the condition he marry her after he is healed. He agrees, though he hates magic and despises wizards, and then insists of going through with the marriage even when Abby releases him from the promise. OK but not the most exciting in the series.

Hi Stor! I think you've read a very respectable amount of books! I'm just an obsessive reader (if you saw my house you'd know it!) LOL Some of the ones on this list sound very interesting. What did you think of Charmed by Nora Roberts, I haven't read anything by her but have been considering trying one out. Would that be a good one to start with?

Hi, DL ~ Oh, I think I know how obsessive you are ~ I've seen what you have in your LT catalog. :D I'm pretty obsessive about reading too, but so far this year I've been a little preoccupied by moving houses and changing jobs. I plan to catch up now. lol

As far as Charmed, it was pretty good but maybe not the best of Nora Roberts's paranormal romances. Let me think about it for a little bit and get back to you on which one I'd recommend as a try out.

How's the second novel doing? When's it coming out?

34. Caesar: the Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldworthy (5 stars) - From the first chapter, it grabbed me and I couldn't put it down. It is well-researched, well-written and, most important of all, even-handed in its evaluation of Caesar's and his contemporaries' actions so that, even though it's kind of obvious that the author thinks highly of Caesar, he bases his conclusions on facts and, when there doesn't appear to be any solid evidence to back up the conclusions he draws, gives alternative possibilities that are not always complimentary to Caesar so that the reader can draw their own conclusion. Also, unlike many biographers and historians, he doesn't judge the ancient Romans by modern standards but attempts to show how the thinking and ethics of the times shaped them and makes their actions understandable, if not palatable to modern sensibilities.

I'd love any suggestion you'd have on Nora Roberts! We pretty much like the same books so I totally trust your judgment.

My Familiar is coming along well and is available for pre-order. Thanks for asking :-) I'm really relieved to have gotten to this point *sigh* Actually, you should soon be getting a froggie postcard in the mail announcing the book LOL It's my version of a birth announcement.

I'd be upset that I can't find the touchstone except for the fact that I've been having a really hard time finding touchstones for even more popular books lately.

Hi, DL ~ I've thought about it and can't really decide which I'd suggest you read first, but I came up with five series of paranormal romances by Nora Roberts that I can recommend, having personally read all but a couple of The Donovan Legacy ones. Note I left off her latest trilogy about vampires starting with Morrigan's Cross because I haven't read it yet.

I was thinking about starting a new thread in the Romance group asking for the opinions from others who like paranormals by Roberts as to which they would suggest. What do you think?

KEY TRILOGY

Key of Light (2003), Key of Knowledge (2003), Key of Valor (2004)

THREE SISTERS TRILOGY

Dance Upon the Air (2001), Heaven and Earth (2001), Face the Fire (2002)

THE IRISH TRILOGY

Jewels of the Sun (1999), Tears of the Moon (2000), and Heart of the Sea (2000)

THE DONOVAN LEGACY

Captivated (1992), Entranced (1992), Charmed (1992), Enchanted (1999)

NIGHT TALES

Night Shift (1991), Night Shadow (1991), Nightshade (1993), Night Smoke (1994), Night Shield (2000)

BTW, put me on your list for pre-ordering My Familiar. (Hah! I got the touchstone to work!)

I think the new thread on Nora Roberts on the Romance Group is a good idea! We do have some other author threads over there. I'm going to check out a couple from here to and see what's interesting. I'm also thinking about reading the Merry Gentry books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I really should try and make a dent in my TBR pile before I start getting into any more series though.

Are you going to be doing the romance group read for May? It is Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas.

Very cool that you got my touchstone to work! :-)

Hey, DL ~ Do you want to start the Nora Roberts paranormals thread on the Romance Group or should I?

I read Suddenly You a few years ago, loved it, and would reread it gladly except that I have so many unread books to read just now that I can't take the time. But I see that you enjoyed it and am glad ~ all of Kleypas's historical romances are wonderful! I have her latest ~ Sugar Daddy, a contemporary ~ to read. I'm hoping it's as good as the historicals, but we'll see.

35. You Suck, a love story by Christopher Moore. I think I should have read Bloodsucking Fiends, a love story first, although it isn't necessary to follow the story in You Suck. Just that I might have understood the characters and their relationships a little better, which might have made the ending less disappointing. Don't get me wrong ~ it was a really good read: darkly, laugh-out-loud-in-some-places funny, great writing, good story. Even the ending was good, it's just that I wanted it to end differently, but I figure the author ended it that way as a setup for a third in the series. I hope. All in all, I give it 4 stars.

*Edited to say "Argh! Touchstones not loading."

36. Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas (3-1/2 stars) I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away. As with her historical romances, it's well-written with good characters and an interesting story, but it wasn't quite what I expected from a contemporary romance written by Kleypas. It was more like a coming of age/woman's struggle to survive story with very little romance of the type she usually writes in her novels and that was just toward the end.

Edited to add:
36 / 100
(36.0%)

37. Fangs But No Fangs by Kathy Love (3-1/2 stars) I enjoyed it but was expecting it to be more of a paranormal than it was. The vamp ~ Christian Young ~ has eschewed his evil nature and stopped feeding on people. In order to expiate his guilt for his many sins, one of which includes killing his brother's true love, he's living in a trashy trailer park in West Virginia, writing a nightly confessional blog, and trying to follow a 12-step program for becoming more human ~ he's got the list hanging on his refrigerator door with a magnet. He meets his neighbor, Jolee, who is running away from her own sordid past (well, the sordid past that is her family, anyway, because Jolee herself is as pure as the driven snow, a paragon of goodness and virtue, who sings like an angel, to use a number of cliches) and is the proud owner of a tacky karaoke bar. She also turns out to be his own true love, whom he decides he can never have because of his past. With a setup like that, it should have been better.

Having said that, it contains some really good bits, like this one which happens toward the beginning of the story. They're on a country road beside a field of sheep that were resting for the night and Christian again gets turned on by Jolee:

"Behind him, he heard the fretful bleating of the sheep, and felt the minute vibration of the ground as the flock fled. They sensed him now, his need making him a distinguishable predator.

"Jolee stopped at the road and waited for him.

"At one time, he wouldn't have let her walk away. When he'd wanted to feed, he'd done so, no hesitation, no remorse. He would have fed from her, satisfying himself. And he could have satisfied her, too, with his bite. Now, he couldn't do either. He was neither man nor vampire.

"Now, he was just standing in a field in West Virginia, making the sheep nervous."

Everytime I read that, I just have to smile.

37 / 100
(37.0%)

38. Roma by Steven Saylor. 3-1/2 stars. As Edward Rutherfurd and James Michener have done with other places, Saylor has written a century-spanning story of Rome from before its founding in the mists of prehistory to the last days of Augustus using a couple of families in vingettes highlighting various events. I started it, got as far as Remus and Romulus, found it neither as interesting nor as well-written as his Gordianus the Finder series, put it down for a week or so before forcing myself to pick it up again and finish it, which I did late last night. My first feeling on completion was relief, my next feeling a sense of disappointment. Not to say that it was dreadful or unreadable ~ Saylor's a good writer and the subject matter is one that I usually love, and there were some really good bits in the book ~ but it just wasn't as good overall as I was expecting. Next novel of this type I'm going to read is probably Rutherfurd's Sarum.

38 / 100
(38.0%)

39. Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell ~ 3-3/4 stars. Just missed being a 4 by the tiniest margin. Started out great but it got a bit weird toward the end. I understood the mystery but the subtext was beyond me. I am going to read the next couple of books in the series, though, as the writing is good and, strangely enough, I care about the main characters and want to know what happens next. One thing, I found myself comparing Charles, one of the characters, to Lord Peter Wimsey. Not quite sure why and am interested to see if that comparison holds true in the next book.

Next up: Something quick and easy ~ either Quinn's It's in His Kiss or Laurens What Price Love? or maybe Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn, all of which are due back to the library on Monday. Ah, decisions, decisions!

40. Mona Lisa Awakening by Sunny. 4 stars. This book has been compared to the writing of Laurell K. Hamilton, but, since I've never gotten into her stuff (tho I tried), I can't say. All I CAN say is, "Oh, my!" and "More."

Loved it! Loved the main character, who is the narrator. (Unusual for me, as I usually detest first person narratives.) Best sex scenes I've read in a long long time. (Another unusual thing for me; lately anyway, I've been skimming/skipping over most of the sex in the novels I've read because it's been either boringly predictable or gratuitious or both.) Good characterization. Great plot and action. If you enjoy paranormal romance, you might want to give this one a try. I think you'll like it!

41. Singer in the Snow by Louise Marley 4-1/2 stars. Marley hasn't disappointed yet, and this YA paranormal / sci-fi novel is another winner! Mreen and Emle are two young women trained as psi singers on a freezing planet where the human settlers would not be able to survive without the heat and light brought forth by the Gifted when the sing. Each stuggles to overcome her own unique problem: Emle is a talented musician with a voice that is unbearably beautiful, but she's unable to control her psi talent, while Mreen is Gifted with incredible psi power though she's unable to sing because she was born mute. Wonderful story and characters. I think this is the 4th in a series, and I'm definitely going to be looking for the first 3 now.

42. The Man Who Cast Two Shadows by Carol O'Connell - 5 stars. This is the second in the series of noir mystery/thrillers in which the main protagonist ~ Kathleen Mallory ~ is a sociopathic cop without a heart but with a strict code of right-and-wrong, ala Dexter. Loved it! A few of the cleverist bits of humor I've read in a long time, many of them having to do with a cat who may be the only witness to a murder, as well as two excellent mysteries and a memorable cast of characters. Unlike Dexter, though, whom we get to know quite well through his inner dialogue, Mallory remains an enigma who is only seen through the eyes of those who know her best, in other words, which means not very well at all. Can't wait to begin the next in the series, which is lying in wait on my bedside table.

43. Stone Angel by Carol O'Connell - 4 stars. Mallory goes back to discovery her roots and discovers a hotbed of murder and mayhem in a small town in the South. Another excellent read. I'm hooked.

44. The River Knows by Amanda Quick. 4 stars. Loved the mf and mm characters, loved the plot, loved the villains (there were a lot of them, actually), and loved the romance. Like most of Quick's novels, this one had some juicy sex but not an overwhelming amount of it; some romance, but not the mindnumbing mushy stuff; some humor, but no slapstick comedy; and some mystery, but never taking the place of the burgeoning relationship between the quirky but strong hero and equally quirky but also strong heroine.

45. Murphy's Law by Lori Foster. 4 stars. I really enjoyed this sequel to Jude's Law, though Ashley was a bit over-the-top with her prickly independent streak and Quinton just a tad too nice. But it was a good finish to the story that began with May and Jude.

46. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong. 4 stars. This was the first Kelley Armstrong I've read and probably won't be the last, though this wasn't my favorite paranormal/supernatural novel. I think it's because I didn't really like the mfc, Jaime Vegas, who seemed a bit too smug and unfeeling. Maybe I just had to have read the prior novels in the series to appreciate her.

47. Crime School by Carol O'Connell. 4 stars. Another good read. Mallory and crew ends up teaching the ropes to a young and very inexperienced detective while pursuing a cold case crime that ties in with a recent serial killing spree. Good ending ~ I never saw it coming, and, best of all, no cats get shot.

48. Greywalker by Kat Richardson. 4 stars. Urban fantasy about a woman P.I. who is revived after being dead for 2 minutes and becomes able to "walk" in both the world of the living and the world of the ~ I was going to say "dead," but it was more like the world of the paranormal, including ghosts, vampires, witches, and necromancers. It took a few chapters to get good, but then I couldn't put it down.