The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus & Emma McLaughlin

(320 pages)



Nan, in her early twenties, goes to work for the wealthy X family to help put herself through college, and is shocked by their antics. Between raising the X's son Grayer, keeping on top of her studies, moving house and ensuring Mrs X's day runs smoothly, it's a wonder Nanny ever finds time to hang out with the gorgeous HH on the sixth floor. With divorce on the cards, Nanny finds herself caught up in the X's embittered world of power plays, lies and deciet. As communication rapidly breaks down, will Nanny be able to maintain the mental health of Grayer, despite the onslaught of Personal Problem Consultants, macrobiotic nutritionist and bilingual meals?

I can't believe how much I enjoyed this. I was ready to strangle Mrs. X right from the beginning, and felt so sorry for Nan and Grayer all the way through :(
I cannot understand why people like the X's have children, when they clearly cannot be bothered with them! Grrrrrr!!! LOL :)

Unchained Melanie by Judy Astley

(289 pages)



Melanie finds herself single again after years of being one half of a couple. Her friends predict loneliness, frustration, disaster. Her parents are convinced she's a failure in life. But Melanie is overwhelmingly excited to be able to do her own thing - she plans a programme of behaving badly, after a lifetime of behaving properly. With her daughter off to university and ex-husband Roger married off at last - to his lamentably young girlfriend whom he accidentally got pregnant at the office party - she has what a teenager would call a Free House, and she intends to make the most of it. But is the single life quite all it's cracked up to be? If no-one needs her any more, what is she really for?

A sweet look at life after marriage and all that it involves. Having never been married and having no kids, I couldnt really relate to everything, but it certainly was worth the read.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

(320 pages)



The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates she will, like all dissenters, be hanged or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

This really was intriguing and disturbing, and unfortunately I can see similar things happening in the future, although hopefully not as extreme!
I did enjoy this although it wouldnt be one I would read over and over.

With Malicious Intent by M.T. Kingsley

(248 pages)



Hardworking New Orleans environmental lawyer Rebecca Boudreaux's life just got substantially more complicated and dangerous because of the new case that her public interest law firm plans to file on behalf of citizens living in the Cancer Alley area of Louisiana. The focus of her case is River Road Recyclers, or Triple R, an oilfield waste recycling business that recently expanded its operations to illegally accept hazardous wastes. Rebecca must reveal how the company has doctored and falsified reports submitted to the government, spewed enormous amounts of toxic pollutants daily to the air and water near her clients' homes, and caused devastating health effects to her clients, all of which could have been avoided had the company just operated as it was required to under the law. Her efforts are hampered when her inside informants keep mysteriously dying, her clients are terrorized, her key witness is forced to hide in a rundown shack in the bayou until trial begins, and her own life is at risk. When Rebecca collapses in the courtroom and is rushed to the hospital on the first day of trial, her boss, Joe Cairns, steps in to litigate the case in her place. The drama climaxes as he exposes whether Rebecca's best friend, her steamy new love interest, the directors of the greedy and corrupt "recycling" company, or someone else has been acting ...With Malicious Intent.

I started this when I got up yesterday, and finished it before I went to bed, I just couldn't put it down!
Iwas really impressed with how gripping it was, it had a bit of something for everyone - murder, mystery, thriller, legal drama, romance, sex and twists galore at the end. Fabulous.
If you like John Grisham, but would prefer something a littleless far fetched, and if you need a bit of romance, and also if you love to read a book, feel like you know exactly where it is going, and then get surprised with twist after twist in the last third then this is for you!

Glory In Death by J.D. Robb

(336 pages)



'The dead were her business. She lived with them, worked with them, studied them. She dreamed of them. And because that didn't seem to be enough, in some deep, secret chamber of her heart, she mourned for them.' The first victim is found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second murdered in her own apartment building. Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas has no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims are beautiful and highly successful women; their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provide Eve with a long list of suspects - including her own lover, Roarke. As a woman, Eve is compelled to trust the man who shares her bed. But as a cop, it's her job to follow every lead...to explore every secret passion, no matter how dark. Or how dangerous...

This book had me gripped for the first page. I just love Eve & Roarke. I didnt guess who the killer was until it teigged with Eve, and the ending was wonderful! I never thought that sexy romance could be mixd with a murder Mystery, but JD Robb has got it down to a fine art!