Volume 4 #6
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All books reviewed here are recommended. Please, always keep in mind that the only books that appear on this page are ones that I liked enough to write about. For every book reviewed here I have usually read two that I would not want to inflict on anyone.
| Crime/Amateur Detective/Woman
Detective Chandler’s Daughter Donovan, Truly Write Way 1885173628 Lexy Connor, a software consultant living in Boulder, Colorado hits the road for both coasts when Tally, a young friend calls terrified in the night with a story that sets Lexy on the trail of Tally’s birth parents. When Tally arrives at a hotel to meet a woman who had contacted her about information on her birth parents she finds a murder scene and turns to Lexy. Lexy does some of her research in Westchester high school libraries and some in a high tech newspaper morgue and comes up with some good clues. It’s about time we had an old fat female sleuth with sex appeal. Lexy is a force to be reckoned with. While this first mystery is a little predictable it offers an enjoyable ride and hopes for future adventures featuring this likable sleuth. |
Crime/Amateur
Detective/Journalist The Deadline Franscell, Ron Write Way 1885173733 Franscell’s first mystery is a real find. Small town Wyoming newspaper editor Jefferson Morgan is struggling to make a go of his hometown newspaper purchased from his mentor, a true newspaper man with “ink in his veins.” Neeley Gilmartin approaches Morgan with a plea to clear his name after having served 50 years for the murder of a little girl that he now says he did not commit. On the personal front Morgan’s wife Claire is pregnant, a difficult situation for them as their beloved 8 year old son had recently died from leukemia. As he delves into the mystery, Morgan finds support from unexpected sources including his taciturn pressman and fields threats from his childhood best friend, the sheriff, the local banker who holds the mortgage to the Bullet and a Bible quoting survivalist cult leader. Fascinating and beautifully crafted, in my book this is the best mystery of the year. |
Romance/Historical/Regency/Spicy
Adventure Wicked Widow Quick, Amanda Bantam 0553100874 Read Booklist for the full review. Madeline Deveridge, a misunderstood widow with a reputation for murder and Artemis Hunt, a strapping member of the ton who secretly owns the Dream Pavilions a popular pleasure garden are thrust into danger by one who may be the ghost of Madeline's murdered husband. |
Romance/Contemporary/Sweet
Romeo & Julia
Kimberlin, Annie
Love Spell 0505523418
Kimberlin gets better every time she delves into the lives of the humans and companion animals who live in Hartley, Ohio. There are no villains in her books, the bad guys have problems that make them the way they are. In this outing Julia, a 40 year old librarian meets the gorgeous 30 year old school bus driver that has been christened Romeo by the appreciative library staff. He finds a hungry dirty adolescent kitten in a snow storm and she agrees to take it home and then finds out that the kitten is pregnant. As the two, and his dog and her cat, develop a friendship they discover that they have the same dreams and values but a secret from her past keeps them apart. It is a joy to visit the lovely folk of Hartley some of whom have appeared in her earlier books.
Fantasy/Dragons/Shapeshifters
Dragon and Phoenix
Joanne Bertin
Tor 0312864302
This sequel to The Last Dragonlord starts up soon after Maurynna has started her life as a dragonlord at Dragonskeep with her soultwin Linden. Unable to leave because she cannot change into her dragon self she feels somewhat worthless and depressed. A visitor claiming to be an escaped slave from the distant empire of Jahanglan appears at Dragonskeep with the news that a dragon is held prisoner under a mountain and has been there for a thousand years. When the truedragons numbers are decimated in an unsuccessful attempt to free the captive Maurynna, Linden, and two other dragonlords are selected for a mission to travel to the distant exotic land and stop the abomination. In Jahanglan a concubine schemes and plots to become empress as others scheme to depose the emperor.
Bertin creates a fully and richly imagined world. It is rather slow going at first as she introduces diverse characters and settings, moving quickly from one to another, but the payoff is splendid as all the diverse and tangled threads are brought together into a tightly wrapped and satisfying conclusion.
Fantasy/Parallel Worlds/Religion/Magic
The Garden of the Stone
Victoria
Strauss
Avon 0382797526
Featuring Cariad, the daughter of Brom from The Arm of Stone, the fight
against the Guardians, who protect the world from technology of
even the most basic sort, continues. Cariad, a talented empath
and assassin is sent to infiltrate the Fortress where she decides
to slay the evil Jolyon her father's nemesis. In disguise as a
laundry servant, she learns that being "ungifted" does
not mean stupid or untalented. Once again Strauss has created a
richly textured and intricately wrought novel.
Young Adult/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Hard Love
Ellen Wittlinger
Simon & Schuster 0689821344
John shuttles back and forth between his mom who won't touch him and his big city playboy dad. He also wonders if he is normal or not because he has never fallen in love and never even been strongly attracted to anyone. He is involved in the 'Zine scene, however, writing his own 'zine and admiring the 'zines of others particularly Marisol who he contrives to meet on one of his lonely weekends in the city with dad. They mesh having quite a bit in common even outside of 'zines. Even though Marisol is a professed lesbian, John falls in love with her. The angst of unrequited love and the disaster of a "just friends" prom ring achingly true. It is no wonder that Hard Love has been one of the most talked about YA novels of the year.