Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb

(336 pages)



'She'd come to New York to be a cop, because she believed in order. Needed it to survive. Her miserable and abusive childhood, with all its blank spaces and dark corners, couldn't be changed. But she had changed. She had taken control, had made herself into the person some anonymous social worker had named Eve Dallas...' But in a few weeks she won't just be Eve Dallas, lieutenant, homicide. She'll be Roarke's wife. But Eve's wedding plans may have to be put on hold as her private and professional lives collide...The victim in her latest murder investigation is one of the most sought-after women in the world. A top model who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted - even another woman's man. And Eve's chief suspect is the other woman in this fatal love triangle - her best friend Mavis. Putting her job on the line to head the investigation, Eve discovers that the world of high fashion thrives on an all-consuming passion for youth and fame. One that leads from the runway to the dark underworld of New York City where drugs can fulfil any desire - for a price...

I am turning into a total Eve & Roarke addict!
The stories are so well written and easy to read, the characters are adorable (mostly! - even Summerset is growing on me now)
I am beginnig to enjoy the growth of the relationship between Eve and Roarke so much that it almost doesn't matter whodunnit!
Like Eve I missed loads of the clues early on in this one, and had convinced myself that i was on the right track with the murderer (coincidentally the same one she followed) But then was thrown a huge curveball at the end. Fabulous!
The ensemble cast is also starting to grow, and i feel as though I have been thrown into the centre of this huge family of friends. Its great!

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!

Abhorsen by Gath Nix

(518 pages)



The long-buried secrets of the Old Kingdom and the Ninth Gate are revealed in the sequel to Sabriel and Lirael. Orannis, the Destroyer, has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to unleash its terrible powers. Only Lirael, Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping this enemy of all Life. As she and her companions - Sameth, the Disreputable Dog and Mogget - set out on their fated journey, Lirael has no idea of what lies ahead. Only days earlier, Lirael was merely a Second Assistant Librarian. Now, with only a vision from the Clayr to guide her and without the experience of Abhorsen Sabriel and King Touchstone, she must search both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer. Before it is too late...

I have just finished this and have no Idea what to write about it. I think I can sum it up in 1 single word - FABULOUS!!!! this seemed to tie up the other 2 books and was well worth the read :o)
Personally I think that Sabriel is the best of the trilogy (probably because everything is new and there are no expectations), but the other 2 (Lirael and this) are fabulous, and follow the entire story through to a fantastic conclusion. I recommend this series to everyone. Young and Old!

Animal Husbandry by Laura Zigman

(288 pages)



Jane Goodall is a TV producer on a talk show. She's just been dumped by a colleague she was crazy about and, as a result, develops a "New Cow/Old Cow" theory of human relations. Her magazine-editor girlfriend likes it so much that she persuades her to write a column under a pseudonym.

This was a sweet yet slightly psychotic account of life after heartbreak. Funny and obsessive I found it a dream to read. Although Jane's obsession is really sad and also quite worrying. She does fall short of turning into a "bunny boiler", and her crazy theories do have a lot of seeming truths in them! I did find myself looking at my boyfriend thinking "oh! thats why he does that!" quite scary really.
Honestly this was a nice fun read,l but if you are looking for happy endings, watch the movie :o) Hugh jackman makes a great Eddie, and Ashley Judd is perfect as Jane. (Greg Kinnear does a pretty good 'old-bull' impression too!)

Rescuing Rose by Isabel Wolff

(480 pages)



The fourth sparkling novel from the bestselling author of THE TRIALS OF TIFFANY TROTT, THE MAKING OF MINTY MALONE and OUT OF THE BLUE has Rose, a prickly agony aunt, fall for the charms of Theo, accountant by day, astronomer by night. who soon has her starry-eyed. But the starcross'd lovers have many obstacles to overcome on the path of true love. Agony aunt Rose has more than a few thorns digging in her side at present. Her seven-month marriage is in tatters, the bills are mounting up at an alarming rate and to top it off, she's being plagued by a stalker who seems to know rather a lot about the mysterious circumstances of her birth. It's usually Rose who dishes out the advice, but now she must rely on her wacky friends to come up with some solutions.They suggest she advertise for a lodger and at first, geeky accountant Theo seems the perfect choice for the now resolutely single Rose. However, she becomes intrigued by her new housemate's fascination with astronomy and he soon has her starry-eyed.
But the path of true love never did run smooth, and the starcross'd lovers face stiff opposition in many forms, including the increasingly deranged stalker who is intent on getting Rose's attention by fair means or foul...

I really did enjoy this, though not as much as "Out of the Blue". The characters were fun, some wacky and zany, others simply loveable but all pretty believable. It also tackled some issues that other novels in this genre don't, and I found that really refreshing.
This wasnt the best book that I have ever read, but it was certainly wrth the time :o)

American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

(399 pages)



Patrick Bateman is Harvard-educated and intelligent. He works by day on Wall Street, earning a fortune to complement the one he was born with. His nights he spends in ways we cannot begin to fathom - doing impermissible things to women. He is living his own "American Dream".

I finally got round to this (i have the sequel to read and pass on so I had to) and I certainly wasnt disappointed.The story moved at a really fast pace with lots of little twists and turns and shocks too.I would reccomend this to anyone who enjoys a thriller and detective story where the lead isnt actually a detective in the traditional sense :)
I am now moving on to 'The Narrows' can't wait......

Lirael by Garth Nix

(526 pages)



When the future is unclear, who holds the key to destiny? Sequel to the spellbinding, award-winning fantasy adventure, SABRIEL. Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. Abandoned by her mother and ignorant of her father's identity, Lirael resembles no one else in her large, extended family living in the Clayr's Glacier. She doesn't even have the Sight -- the ability to See into the present and possible futures -- that is the very birthright of the Clayr. Nonetheless, it is Lirael in whose hands the fate of the Old Kingdom lies. she must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil -- one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clayr, and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself. With only her faithful companion, the Disreputable Dog, to help her, Lirael must find the courage to seek her own hidden destiny. Garth Nix draws readers deeper into the magical landscape of the Old Kingdom and weaves a spellbinding tale of discovery, destiny and danger.


After having read Sabriel and loving it, i wasnt sure whether Lirael could match up to it. I was wrong. It is just as good if not better!
The characters are so believeable, and immediately become real to you they are so fantastically imagined. Lirael is such a stirring character in herself, it is quite amazing the way that describes her, not by words or adjectives, but in her actions and behaviour. The Disresputable Dog is also a fantastically witty character and Sameth, son of Sabriel is a worthy child after his mother. I was delighted at the return of Mogget, who is dark, but witty and humorous all at once. The scenes with the dead are tense and exciting, and left me biting my nails down to the quick! I loved this book and I simply cannot wait to read Abhorsen - which is my next task!

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

(480 pages)



In 1843, a 16-year-old Canadian housemaid named Grace Marks was tried for the murder of her employer and his mistress. The sensationalistic trial made headlines throughout the world, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Yet opinion remained fiercely divided about Marks- -was she a spurned woman who had taken out her rage on two innocent victims, or was she an unwilling victim herself, caught up in a crime she was too young to understand? Such doubts persuaded the judges to commute her sentence to life imprisonment, and Marks spent the next 30 years in an assortment of jails and asylums, where she was often exhibited as a star attraction. In Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood reconstructs Marks's story in fictional form. Her portraits of 19th-century prison and asylum life are chilling in their detail. The author also introduces Dr Simon Jordan, who listens to the prisoner's tale with a mixture of sympathy and disbelief. In his effort to uncover the truth, Jordan uses the tools of the then rudimentary science of psychology. But the last word belongs to the book's narrator--Grace herself.

I found this quite hard going at first, but then I found myself absorbed by it. The details were unbelievable. It was written in such a way that I felt that I was actually there.
I did get frustrated with the letters that the Doctor wrote, as I felt they made the book feel a little disjointed. But they did give an insight into the workings of the minds of both Doctor and 'patient'.

Awaken the Dawn by Doris B. Wolfe

(196 pages)



Can two hearts, torn by separate losses, learn to love again? Lisa Anderson gave in to God's call to teach at a remote, jungle school in South America for one year. Why was God asking more of her than her heart could give? Pilot Mike Osborne was still healing from his wife's tragic death. Did his co-workers in the jungle missionary outpost have a right to play matchmaker in his life? Awaken the Dawn is an intriguing romantic Christian novel with strong biblical principles woven through it.


I did enjoy this, and felt that the characters (especially the children) were very well written The only problem was that I lost track of the time in the novel. There didnt seem to be any way of working out how Long Lisa had been at hte mission for. Apart from that it was a lovely romantic story, with lots of Faith based insights in it :o)

Kiss River by Diane Chamberlain

(376 pages)



Gina Higgins has come to the close-knit community of Kiss River - with a secret. The local nineteenth-century lighthouse has all but fallen into the sea, but it holds the key to Gina's future, her fortune and her only chance to save the one person in the world who matters to her.
Clay O'Neill is grieving the tragic death of his wife and finds himself drawn into Gina's quest for the truth. Together they uncover a decades-old story of a courageous teenage girl swept away by love and plunged into the treacherous waters of espionage during the Second World War. This is more than Gina expected . . . much more. And with it comes new hope for the future . . . and for love.

This was a difficult book to enjoy. I had a real hard time feeling involved with the characters, and didnt enjoy te way it kept jumping back and forth.

Indelible by Karin Slaughter

(360 pages)



Medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver make their fourth appearance in this riveting new back-and-forth thriller that grounds a brutal attack by two young men on the Grant County, Georgia police department in a twelve-year-old Alabama murder case that occurred while Sara and Jeffrey were just beginning their tumultuous romance. En route to a beach vacation shortly after they meet, the couple takes a detour to the small town where Jeffrey grew up and began his law enforcement career. But their carefree holiday is interrupted when his best friend from childhood, a fellow cop, is charged with murder after killing a man who broke into his house. Despite his subsequent confession, Jeffrey believes there’s more to the story than Robert is telling him, and when the skeleton of a young woman with whom both Robert and Tolliver were once involved is discovered in a secret cave only they knew about, and Robert admits to her murder too, Tolliver must again confront a past he thought he had long since put behind him.

I had a very sleepless night last night because I just had to find out who dunnit!
I have read all the Grant County novels and they seem to get better and better! This one did start out slowly, and It was a little confusing at first, but then the pieces of the puzzle just seemed to drop perfectly into place, until for me it became absolutelly un-pt-downable! I just cant waut for the next one!

Hannibal by Thomas Harris

(576 pages)



You remember Hannibal Lecter: gentleman, genius, cannibal. Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he's been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world. But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter's world, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman, and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the final hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one will live long enough to savor the reward--.

I really enjoyed this book (if thats the right word to use!) BUT I have to say that I think the movie was better. I really didnt like the way Mason Verger's sister tret him and also I didnt find the ending believable enough. It was a real page turner, and I had a hard time putting it down, but I didn't get along with some of the characters as well as I did when they were on screen!

Out of the Hannibal Lecter Trilogy, I have to say that The Silence Of the Lambs is my favourite!

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

(259 pages)



Arriving at Dark Avenue, the three Baudelaire orphans, Violet, Klaus and little Sunny, begin their new life with Jerome and Esme Squalor. Jerome is a kind man, but he agrees unquestioningly with everything said by his wife, who is the city's sixth most important financial advisor. The Baudelaires find themselves in a strange world of in things: aqueous martinis (consisting of water with an olive), pinstripe suits (even for infant Sunny) and meals only involving salmon. Sadly, elevators are out, and the children are obliged to walk the many steps up to the Squalors' penthouse. Even more sadly, they soon meet Count Olaf again, disguised as the auctioneer Gunther, and discover that the ersatz elevator is not an elevator at all, but a shaft in which the Quagmire triplets are imprisoned. When they tell Esme of the triplets' fate, she shocks them by throwing them down the elevator too and revealing herself to be in league with Count Olaf. Sunny manages to escape using her teeth, and help her siblings out, who run down the ersatz passageway to emerge - in a spectacular climax - in the charred remains of their parents' mansion! With no time to reflect, they run to Esme's In Auction, hoping to save the Quagmires, but Esme and Olaf escape with the triplets, and the Baudelaires are once more left with only each other to rely on...

Another horrible adventure fot the Unfortunate Baudelaires! Poor things, just when things are going well they start to go badly!
I really like these stories, but I am starting to get annoyed with the constant "...which here means..." dictionary-like explanations of words. I know theyre Childrens books, and thast its probably a good way to learn vocabulary, but almost everyother paragraph, and sometimes for half a page, it does start to grate after a while!

Anyway, I hate Count Olaf and his Cronies so there!!!!!!!!!!!

Recommended to everyone who enjoys seeing poor innocent kiddies in danger! lol! ;o)