The Closers by Michael Connelly

(464 pages)



After three years as a PI, Harry Bosch returns to the LAPD, working with his former cop ally and partner, Kizmin Rider. Harry and Kiz are assigned to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit. These detectives are the Closers; they put a shovel in the dirt and turn over the past. Harry and Kiz are immediately thrown into a politically sensitive and dangerous case when a DNA match connects a white supremacist to the 1988 murder of a mixed race 16-year-old girl. As he navigates the case, Harry finds a police department far different from the one he left three years earlier. A new Chief has been brought over from New York to change the bad old culture of corruption - or that's the theory. But one thing hasn't changed - Harry's nemesis, Irving. The former Deputy Chief has been pushed from power and given a virtually meaningless new role. Full of vengeance, Irving calls Harry a 'retread'. He watches from the sidelines like an injured bear, hoping Harry will make a mistake ...

i really enjoyed this....the pages flew by without me realising it, and although the story is rather slow only picking up steam in the last third or so, at no point did I feel bored. All the details were there and it made me feel as though I was part of the investigation. I hadnt guessed whodunnit until Harry and Kiz worked it out and as for the ending... I thought it was great :D

Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts

(400 pages)



When Nell Channing arrives on Three Sisters Island, she hopes she has finally found refuge from her abusive husband. But even in this peaceful place, she feels haunted by fear. Then she discovers the island is suffering under a terrible curse and that she must find the power to save herself.

I enjoyed this quite a lot. I had admiration for Nell's determination, and a huge dislike for Evan. Zack was very likeable, but some of the other characters such as Lulu and Ripley, seemed a little shallow. Admittedly, this was the first in a trilogy, but it didnt leave me wanting to read the other two.
It was a good book as a stand-alone, and it didnt feel necessary for me to read the other 2 in the series. The only flaw was the ending, which felt a little rushed.

March by Geradine Brooks

(304 pages)



From the author of the acclaimed "Year Of Wonders", a historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe on the front lines of the American Civil War. Set during the American Civil War, "March" tells the story of John March, known to us as the father away from his family of girls in "Little Women", Louisa May Alcott's classic American novel. In Brooks' telling, March emerges as an abolitionist and idealistic chaplain on the front lines of a war that tests his faith in himself and in the Union cause when he learns that his side, too, is capable of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near-fatal illness in a Washington hospital, he must reassemble the shards of his shattered mind and body, and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through. As Alcott drew on her real-life sisters in shaping the characters of her little women, so Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's father, an idealistic educator, animal rights exponent and abolitionist who was a friend and confidante of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The story spans the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, through to the first year of the Civil War as the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats. Like her bestselling "Year Of Wonders", "March" follows an unconventional love story. It explores the passions between a man and a woman, the tenderness of parent and child, and the life-changing power of an ardently held belief.


Whilst this was a very well written and touching story, it just didnt do very much for me. Perhaps I need to read it again when I am more in the mood for a bit of History.

Faking It by Jennifer Crusie

(340 pages)



A new masterpiece from the queen of smart, sexy female fiction Mural artist Tilda Goodnight is struggling to pay off the mortgage on the family art gallery to keep the lid on her family secrets. Her life was complicated enough when all she had to deal with were her daydreaming mother, her split-personality sister and her cross-dressing brother-in-law but when con-man, charmer and sex-on-legs Davy Dempsey enters her life things, begin to get really out of control. Suddenly everyone is faking something. What will happen when all the secrets are out?

this was the most fun i've had reading a book for ages. I mean there were hit-men, con men, gold-diggers people with split personalities fake paintings and FBI agents.
the story rattled on at a great pace, woth the plot becoming more convoluted and entangled by the page! the ending was great, and left me with a smile on my face.
I will definitely be reading more books by Jennifer Crusie.

The Other Woman's Shoes by Adele Parks

(496 pages)



Eliza and Martha are sisters. But that's where the similarity ends. Martha appears to have the perfect life: two lovely children and plenty of money. Eliza lives in a one-bedroom flat with her musician boyfriend Greg. When Eliza ditches Greg and turns up on her sister's doorstep, she expects to be swallowed into the sanctuary of Martha's warm loving home. But Martha's husband has just announced he's leaving. For good. Proving to both women that a wedding ring isn't a life raft. Then Martha meets Jack, who is everything she's never wanted, whilst Eliza is dating dozens of men in hope of finding the perfect husband. Suddenly the sisters are faced with the same challenge- is there such as thing as the perfect love? or the perfect life?

This was typical Adele Parks. That isnt a bad thing, but I have to admit that I have enjoyed some of her other books more than this. I found it really hard to identify with any of the characters, which meant that for me it wasnt an easy read. It was worth the effort, but it isnt one that i would read again.

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

(371 pages)



For Kate Klein, semi-accidental mother of three, the unsolved murder of a fellow mother is the most interesting thing to happen since the neighbours cracked their septic tank. Up until then life in suburbia has been distinctly underwhelming. Her once-loving husband is hardly ever home. The supermums on the playground routinely snub her and her days are filled with an empty routine. At night, most of her orgasms are of the do-it-yourself variety. So, from 8:45 to 11:30 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, when her kids are in nursery school, Kate launches a murder investigation of her own. With the help of her best friend, carpet heiress, Janie Segal, and former flame, Evan McKenna, she is drawn deep into the dead woman's double life. Suddenly suburbia is not so ordinary after all. Engrossing, suspenseful, and laugh-out-loud funny, "Goodnight Nobody" is another unputdownable, sparkling tale; a quick-witted mystery with a great heart and a narrator you'll never forget.

I enjoyed this, though not as much as i expected. Whilst it was fun, and i was chuckling aloud at some parts, there was also a huge air of sadness over it. it was well written, although some of the characters were a wee bit shallow. the first 2/3 were fantastic...getting you drawn into the murder mystery, but i feel the ending was a bit rushed and let the story down a little.