Archive for January, 2010

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Every week I’ll post about what books I have received that week – either through the mail for review, borrowed from the library or bought.  This week I will list the books that I have borrowed from the library.

Mark Billingham – In the Dark

A rainy night in London.  Shots are fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement, ploughing into a bus stop.  It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life.  But the reality is far more sinister…  One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger; an ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth.  Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard?  In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible.  Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story’s final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come.

Andrew Davidson – The Gargoyle

The nameless and beautiful narrator of “The Gargoyle” is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows.  He crashes into a ravine and wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned.  His life is over – he is now a monster.  But in fact it is only just beginning.  One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany.  In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and a scribe who nursed him back to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal.  As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life – and, finally, to love.

Jane Green – Second Chance

Step inside the home of Holly Mac and meet her successful, distinguished husband Marcus, notice how beautiful her home is and how gorgeous her children Daisy and Oliver are.  You might say that they are the perfect family, but you would be very wrong… Holly is desperately lonely.  She has spent her entire marriage trying to be the perfect wife but she is missing the one thing she really wants – a husband she can talk to, a soul mate to share everything with, someone like her first love and best friend Tom.  Then a terrible tragedy finds Holly reunited with some old friends, and she soon realises that they too are each beset by their own problems.  There’s Saffron, a Hollywood actress and a recovering alcoholic, in love with a very famous and very married actor.  Then there are Paul and Anna who have a great relationship but months of IVF have destroyed them financially and Anna still isn’t pregnant.  As the safety net of Holly’s life begins to unravel, she’s about to confront her problems head-on but is she ready for the change?  And faced with a second chance at life, will she take it?

Wendy Holden – The School for Husbands

Sophie’s marriage was perfect, but now it’s all gone wrong.  Mark works late; she’s left with the baby, domestic drudgery, her own career to keep on the go and the growing feeling that Mark is having an affair.  When he fails to come home one night it’s the last straw.  Sophie wants a divorce.  But Mark doesn’t.  He hasn’t been unfaithful, just thoughtless.  Desperate not to lose his family, he signs up to the ‘School for Husbands’; which transforms hopeless spouses into perfect marriage partners.  But will its intensive and unusual tuition be enough to get him back with Sophie?  Especially now an eligible millionaire is after her!

So, what’s in your mailbox this week?

Publisher - Doubleday Children’s Books
Publication Date – 10th December 2009
Paperback – 464 pages
Genre – Young Adult/Urban Fantasy

Source – Library

Book Information - There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia.  He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – and goes out of his way to make that very clear – she can’t let it go.  Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret… even if it kills her.
Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

Review - I immediately fell in love with the cover of this novel – I just thought it was gorgeous.  Once I opened the book and started reading, I just couldn’t stop.  It really gripped my attention and the mystery of Daniel and Luce’s past had me speeding through the pages longing for answers.
I really liked Luce’s character and felt she was well written and believable.  However, I would have liked to have learnt a little bit more about Daniel as I felt there was a bit too much mystery surrounding him.  I really liked the other characters too and was surprised by the twist at the end involving all the students and teachers of Sword & Cross.
I was slightly disappointed by the ending though as I felt there were just too many unanswered questions surrounding Luce and Daniel.  I realise that this is in preparation for the sequel which is being released later in the year but I still think that a little bit more could have been revealed.  However, this didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the book and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of ‘Torment’ in September 2010.

This is a great weekly meme hosted by Midday Escapades, One 2 Try and Hearts Make Familes and it is a brilliant way to find other new and interesting blogs, whilst getting new followers for your own site.

Here’s how YOU can join the celebration:

1. Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

2. Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.

3. Follow as many blogs as you’d like.

4. Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow.

5. Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

I look forward to meeting lots of other bloggers x

As I have just completed, and loved, the first book of J.D. Robb’s ‘In Death’ series – Naked in Death – now seems like the perfect time to join the ‘In Death’ Reading Challenge that is being hosted by Christine at The Happily Ever After…

Here are the rules from The Happily Ever After… site:

1. Anyone can join at any time.

2. Read one ‘In Death’ book by J.D. Robb per month, starting in January 2010 until you’re caught up in the series.

3. To join, make a post on your blog about the challenge where you will keep a running list of the books that you’ll edit as you go along.  Once you’ve made your entry post, come back to this post and enter the link to your entry post in Mr.Linky below.

4. If you don’t have a blog and you’d like to join the challenge, you can come back here and leave a comment as you read the books, or at the monthly ‘In Death’ Challenge post that I’ll make on or around the last day of each month.

5. Reviews are optional.  I will make a post on or around the last day of each month with a Mr.Linky for you to link any reviews or commentary from your blog so that we can find each other’s posts easily and engage in some dialogue about the books.

6. If you miss a month, don’t stress over it.  This is all for fun and camaraderie!  To motivate everyone from stay on track, however, I plan on awarding prizes at regular intervals (maybe every four months) to a randomly selected participant who has stayed on schedule for that time period.

7. Have fun!

You can keep track of my progress in this challenge here.

Publisher - Piatkus Books
Publication Date – 25th September 2003
Paperback – 336 pages
Genre – Crime
Series – Book 1 in the In Death Series

Source –Purchased

Book Information – Crime and punishment is Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s business.  Murder her speciality.  Named by the social worker who found her when she was a mere child roaming that city’s streets, Eve Dallas is a New York police detective who lives for her job.  In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all – and knows her survival depends on her instincts.  But she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, a charismatic Irish billionaire – and a suspect in Eve’s latest murder investigation.  But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about – except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.  From international bestselling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, comes a novel set in a richly imagined futuristic world.  But for New York cop Eve Dallas one irresistible impulse still rules the heart: passion.

Review – This is the first book of the ‘In Death’ series and is a great introduction to the character of Eve Dallas.  She is a strong woman who has overcome a terrible childhood to become a brilliant and dedicated police detective.  Her work is her life and she doesn’t let much stand in the way of her duty to protect the people of New York.  I think that Eve’s character is well written and she comes across as a likeable and realistic character.
I also really like the chemistry between Eve and Roarke, although at times Roake can seem to come across as a bit too soppy and sentimental for the bad boy character that he is being portrayed as, therefore making him seem a little bit unrealistic.
This is the first book that I have read that has been set in the future and for the first couple of chapters the descriptions of all the futuristic technology did put me off a bit.  However, after a while I got so into the book that I stopped paying so much attention to these references and just accepted it as part of a very good story.
I really enjoyed this novel and I have already added the second book in this series, Glory in Death, to my TBR list.

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City.  It is a chance for me to list a couple of books that are on my TBR list but that I don’t currently own.

1. Evermore by Alyson Noel

Seventeen-year-old Ever is the sole survivor of a car crash that killed her entire family.  Living with her aunt in Southern California, she’s plagued by the ability to hear the thoughts of those around her, and haunted by the ghost of her little sister.  She tries to tune everyone out, shunning her old lifestyle as the pretty, popular cheerleader, but somehow she can’t hide from Damen, the new guy at school.  Stunningly handsome, clever and not a little bit intimidating, there’s something about him that doesn’t quite add up.  Ever realises he’s hiding something, but nothing could prepare her for the truth – especially when the truth involves past lives, murderous enemies, everlasting love and the secret of eternal youth…

2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster.  If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war.  Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn.  The pope and most of Europe opposes him.  The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.
Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell.  Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition.  But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous.  Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

What’s on your wishlist?

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.

4. Be careful not to include spoilers.

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the books to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Naked in Death by J.D. Robb:

The sense of betrayal, disillusionment was huge, weakening and something he hadn’t felt in too many years to count.  She’d taken him to a point of vulnerability he’d escaped from.  She could hurt him.  They could hurt each other.  That was something he would have to consider carefully.  Page 133.

What’s your Tuesday Teaser?

What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week. This meme is hosted by J.Kaye at J.Kaye’s Book Blog.

Books completed last week:

You’ve Been Warned – James Patterson and Howard Roughan
Fallen – Lauren Kate

Books I gave up on:

This Charming Man – Marian Keyes 

I would just like to say that I didn’t give up on this one because I wasn’t enjoying it.  My e-book reader broke when I was about a third of the way through it and I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of the book at the library so I could finish it so I started reading something else.  I will probably get back to this one at a later date.

Books I am currently reading:

Naked in Death – J.D. Robb

Up next:

Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

Books I still need to write reviews on:

Fallen – Lauren Kate

I have decided to do a weekly feature highlighting any interesting looking books that are being released during that week.  Today I will be concentrating on any books being released between the 25th and 31st January.

Elizabeth Kostova – The Swan Thieves (Released 26th January)

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life – solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves.  This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient.  Desperate to understand the secret that torments this genius, Marlowe embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.  Kostova’s masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy; from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love.  The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history’s losses, and the power of art to preserve hope.

Kay Hooper – Blood Ties (Released 26th January)

 The elite Special Crimes Unit, the FBI’s most controversial and effective team, is a group of mavericks and misfits trained to use their unique psychic abilities to hunt the worst monsters imaginable—human ones.  Led by the enigmatic Noah Bishop, the SCU has earned a reputation for pitting their skills and cunning against killers that other cops fear.  But this time Bishop and his agents face an enemy who has them in his sights, a trained sniper with a deadly plan—and more than one ace up his sleeve.
It starts with an unspeakable series of grisly murders across three states, a trail of blood leading, finally, to the small Tennessee town of Serenade.  There, two more brutal killings lure the SCU into what may be the ultimate trap.
One of the first investigators on the scene, Special Agent Hollis Templeton, is willing to push herself as hard and as far as necessary.  Risking more than her life to help and protect her SCU colleagues, Hollis must cope with her own psychic abilities, which are evolving in unprecedented ways, an attraction to the most complex man she’s ever known, and a serial murder investigation that turns very, very personal.
In her time with the SCU, Hollis has shown an uncanny ability to survive even the deadliest attacks.  But what she can’t know is that this killer intends to destroy the team from within.
The clock is ticking.  The body count is rising.  And as Bishop and his agents race to uncover the true identity of their enemy, not even their special senses can warn them just how bloody, and how terrifyingly close, the truth will be.

Lesley Pearse – Stolen

Sussex, 2003.  When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there.  But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright.  The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple.  To her regret, Dale hasn’t seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier… but the girl on the beach – although badly bruised – is indeed her much missed friend.  Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets, lies and nightmares.  Where has Lotte been?  Who is the man who seems to want to kill her?  And what has become of the baby she’s recently given birth to?  Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte’s stolen – and deadly – past…

Publisher – Simon & Schuster Children’s
Publication Date – 2nd October 2006
Paperback – 288 pages
Genre – Young Adult/Thriller

Source –Library

Book Information - Lauren is adopted and eager to know more about her mysterious past.  But when she discovers she may have been snatched from an American family as a baby, her life suddenly feels like a sham.  Why will no one answer her questions?  How can she find her biological mum and dad?  And are her adoptive parents really responsible for kidnapping her?
Lauren runs away from her family to find out the truth, but her journey takes her into more and more danger – as she discovers that the people who abducted her are prepared to do anything to keep her silent…

Review - The action starts in this book pretty much from the first page and continues until the last.  It is so fast-paced you just have to keep turning the pages to find out what is going to happen next.  The story is full of intrigue and characters who are realistic and likeable.
The only bad point of the book is the main character, Lauren.  At times she is incredibly selfish and short-sighted.  She goes on a quest to find her real parents without thinking about what she really wants or about how it will affect either her adoptive parents or her biological parents, which I found to be incredibly frustrating.
However, it is still a thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing book which I would recommend to anybody.

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Every week I’ll post about what books I have received that week – either through the mail for review, borrowed from the library or bought.  These are the e-books that I have bought myself this week.

J.D. Robb – Naked in Death

Crime and punishment is Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s business.  Murder her speciality.  Named by the social worker who found her when she was a mere child roaming that city’s streets, Eve Dallas is a New York police detective who lives for her job.  In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all – and knows her survival depends on her instincts.  But she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, a charismatic Irish billionaire – and a suspect in Eve’s latest murder investigation.  But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about – except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.  From international bestselling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, comes a novel set in a richly imagined futuristic world.  But for New York cop Eve Dallas one irresistible impulse still rules the heart: passion.

Jeaniene Frost – Halfway to the Grave

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of those deadbeats is her father – the guy responsible for ruining her mother’s life.  But when she’s captured by Bones, a bounty hunter and a vampire, she finds herself forced into an unholy partnership.  In exchange for his help in finding her father, and still astonished she hasn’t ended up as his dinner, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until her battle reflexes are as sharp as his fangs.  But that’s not all Bones has to show her – Cat’s starting to believe maybe vampires aren’t all evil after all, especially ones as cute as Bones.  She’s half-convinced that being half-dead doesn’t have to be all bad.  But before she can enjoy her newfound status as confident kick-ass demon hunter Cat finds herself, and Bones, hotly pursued by a band of killers. She’s is going to have to pick a side – and fast…

Diana Gabaldon – The Fiery Cross

1771: the Colony of North Carolina stands in an uneasy balance, with the rich, colonial aristocracy on one side and the struggling pioneers of the backcountry on the other.  Between them stands Jamie Fraser, a man of honour, a man of worth.  Exiled from his beloved Scotland, he is at last possessed of the land he has longed for.  By his side his extraordinary wife, Claire, a woman out of time and out of place, blessed with the uneasy gift of the knowledge of what is to come.  In the past, that knowledge has brought both danger and deliverance to Jamie and Claire.  Now it could be a flickering torch that will light their way through the perilous years ahead – or might ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.

Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy

St Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school – hidden away, it’s a place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them.  Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess.  They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St Vladimir’s where the girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night time rituals.  But most of all, staying alive.

I have decided that it is time to join another reading challenge, and this time I have picked the James Patterson Reading Challenge that is being hosted by Socrates’ Book Reviews.  I have already read one this year and hopefully I should be able to read 9 more to be able to complete the challenge.

Here are the rules:

1. The challenge is to read at least 10 James Patterson books in a year. You do not need to make a list of what you will read now or, if you want, you can. However, nothing is written in stone and the books you list can be changed at any time. Overlapping books with other challenges is allowed.

2.  As long as it’s written by James Patterson, you can use the book in this challenge. Even if you are part of the Women’s Murder Club challenge, you can overlap books and count them as part of this challenge.

3. All books need to be read between August 15, 2009 and August 15, 2010. Books read prior to August 15th don’t count for this challenge.

4. If you want to participate, just post about it on your blog with a link back to here.

5. Audio and Ebooks are acceptable.

6. Please use Mr. Linky to sign up. Use the link to your post about this challenge, not your main blog address. Links that don’t go directly to your challenge post will be deleted.

7. Once you complete the challenge, please post the link to your wrap-up blog post with Mr. Linky.

8. There will also be a Mr. Linky for reviews, although posting your reviews are not a requirement.

9. You can take the button above and post it on your blog.

Publisher – Headline
Publication Date – 30th October 2008
Paperback – 416 pages
Genre – Thriller

Source – Purchased

Book Information - Kristin Burns has lived her life by the philosophy, ‘don’t think, just shoot’ – pictures that is.  Struggling to make ends meet, she works full time as nanny to the fabulously wealthy Turnbull family, looking after their two children and waiting for her life as a New York fashion photographer to begin.
But Kristin has a major distraction: forbidden love.  The man of her dreams is almost hers for keeps.  Breathless with an inexhaustible passion and the excitement of being within reach of everything she wants, Kristin ignores all signs of catastrophe brewing.
Fear exists for a reason.  And Kristin can only dismiss the warnings for so long.  Searching desperately for the truth through the lens of her camera she can only hope that it’s not too late.

Review - I have read a few James Patterson novels in the past and I have enjoyed them all so far.  So when I picked up You’ve Been Warned I was expecting to feel the same way.  This book shares the super-fast pace and the twists and turns of the other James Patterson novels that I have read but I’m afraid that is where the similarities end.
I was surprised to see a supernatural slant from this book.  Don’t get me wrong, I normally like paranormal stuff in books, but it was just not what I had expected from the book.  The previous Patterson novels that I had read were all based on gritty, realistic crime investigation, so the paranormal aspects just seemed to distract me from the storyline.
Also, I found myself confused most of the way along about what was actually happening and racing towards the end in the hope that all would be explained in the final pages.  But this was not the case and I finished the book with a lot of unanswered questions and a feeling of disappointment.
So overall, I was not very impressed with this novel and I much prefer Patterson’s novels from the Alex Cross and Women’s Murder Club series’.

I have just found this great weekly meme hosted by Midday Escapades, One 2 Try and Hearts Make Familes and it is a brilliant way to find other new and interesting blogs, whilst getting new followers for your own site.

�
Here’s how YOU can join the celebration:

1. Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

2. Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots. They will follow you back.

3. Follow as many blogs as you’d like.

4. Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you’re from Friday Follow.

5. Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.

I look forward to meeting lots of other bloggers x

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City.  It should be posted on a Wednesday but I am a day behind this week.  It is a chance for me to list a couple of books that are on my TBR list but that I don’t currently own (maybe in the hope that my husband will see this and buy them for me!!!).

1. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Summary – Elena Michaels is a model woman for the 21st century: self-assured, keenly intelligent, fighting fit.  And like every modern woman, she has her secrets.  Nothing extraordinary about that.  Except that Elena really is extraordinary.  In fact, she may well be the most extraordinary woman alive.  She is, after all, the only female werewolf in the world…  Ten years ago, against her will, Elena’s lover turned her into a werewolf.  Some days it feels like a gift.  Most days it feels like a curse.  A year ago, she decided to live as a human.  Now she has to go back to New York State, her old home.  Her pack is under seige by a new group of violent, psychotic werewolves that shows no respect for the old ways, and no respect for territory.  Forced into helping her old friends, Elena soon slips back into the reassuring camaradarie of the pack, though she struggles against her dangerous, unpredictable desires.  Hunting down her enemies, Elena prowls through territories usually barred to women.  From dangerous back alleys to the dark, luscious forests of New York State, she must hunt and destroy the renegade pack before they destroy her.

2. Betrayed by P.C. Cast

Summary – It seems that (un)life is going pretty well for Zoey Redbird.  She’s settled in at the House of Night finishing school and is coming to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her.  She even has a boyfriend…or two.  Best of all, Zoey finally feels she has found somewhere she belongs.  Then the unthinkable happens.  Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the vampires at Zoey’s school.  While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s past life, she begins to realise that the very powers that made her so unique might also threaten those she loves.  Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night.  Zoey finds herself facing a betrayal that could break her heart and jeopardise the very fabric of her world.

Publisher – Hodder Paperback
Publication Date – 10th July 2008
Paperback – 480 pages
Genre – Crime
Series - Book 1 in the Lincoln Rhyme Series

Source – Purchased

Book Information - Lincoln Rhyme, ex-head of NYPD forensics, was the nation’s foremost criminalist, the man who could work a crime scene and come away with a perfect profile of the killer, frozen in time.  Now, Lincoln is frozen in place — permanently.  An accident on the job left him a quadriplegic who can move just one finger, a great mind strapped to his bed, mulish and sarcastic, hiding from a life he no longer wants to live.
Until he sees the crime-scene report about a corpse found buried on a deserted West Side railroad track, its bloody hand rising from the dirt.  It belonged to a man who got into a cab at the airport and never got out.  Reluctantly, Lincoln Rhyme abandons retirement to track down a killer whose ingenious clues hold the secret to saving his victims — if Rhyme can decipher them in time.  The search leads him to the Bone Collector, whose obsession with old New York colours every scrap of evidence he leaves for Rhyme and his new partner, Amelia Sachs, whom he drafts as his arms and legs.  But she’s never worked a crime scene in her life — and he can only whisper in her ear as she does the exacting work he loved more than anything else.

Review – I had already seen the film of The Bone Collector – although that was a few years ago now – so I thought I knew what to suspect from this novel.  However, as always seems to be the case, the book is better by far than the film.  The novel is fast-paced and full of suspense.  It leaves you reading until late into the night because you just can’t bear to put it down.  I fell in love with both Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs – despite the fact that Rhyme could be incredibly difficult at times but for me that just added to his charm.  Both of these characters were so well written and ‘fleshed out’ (no pun intended!) that I felt as though they could have been real people rather than just characters in a story.  I also enjoyed the parts written from the killer’s point of view – they gave me a real insight into the workings of his mind.
My only criticism of the book would be that, although I found the forensic detail to be very interesting and essential for this type of novel, at times Deaver just included too much scientific information and I found myself skipping over a few pages just to get back to the story.
Overall, a brilliant novel and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one in the series!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading.

Here’s what you have to do:

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.

4. Be careful not to include spoilers.

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the books to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

So my teaser this week is from You’ve Been Warned by James Patterson & Howard Roughan:

It’s the next morning, but that’s all that’s changed.  I even hear the music, that same song playing in my head.  A familiar tune, though I still can’t put a name to it.  Page 77.

What’s your Tuesday Teaser?

I saw this challenge over on the Royal Reviews blog and I just couldn’t resist!  Seeing as e-books are my new obsession it wouldn’t be right not to take part.

There are four levels to the challenge and I have decided to go for the ‘Obsessed’ level – meaning that I will need to read 20 e-books.

You can keep track of my progress in this challenge here.

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Every week I’ll post about what books I have received that week – either through the mail for review, borrowed from the library or bought.  As I haven’t received any books yet to review from publishers I will list the e-books that I have bought.

Laurell K. Hamilton – Guilty Pleasures

My name is Anita Blake.  Vampires call me The Executioner.  What I call them isn’t repeatable.  Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs.  I know better.  I’ve seen their victims.  I carry the scars…  But now a serial killer is murdering vampires – and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer…

Charlaine Harris – Living Dead in Dallas

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse isn’t happy.  Her co-worker has been murdered and no one seems to care.  If that wasn’t enough she’s got blood-poisoning and a raging fever.  Luckily, some friendly vampires graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn’t enjoy it).  But, seeing as they did save her life, when they come asking for a favour she can hardly refuse.  She quickly finds herself using her telepathic skills in the search for a missing vampire, but when they break their good behaviour condition over a tasty blond, things go rapidly and horribly wrong…

Marian Keyes – This Charming Man

Lola has just found out that her boyfriend – charismatic politician Paddy de Courcy – is getting married.  To someone else.  Heartbroken, Lola flees the city for a cottage by the sea.  But will Lola’s retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Journalist Grace wants the inside story on Paddy de Courcy’s engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it.  Grace knew Paddy a long time ago.  But why can’t she forget him?  Grace’s sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past.  Her loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can’t take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy.  What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on?  Alicia Thornton is Paddy’s wife-to-be.  Determined to be the perfect wife, Alicia would do anything for her fiancé.  But does she know the real Paddy?  Four very different women.  One awfully charming man.  And the dark secret that binds them all…

James Patterson – Beach Road

Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in East Hampton, summer home to billionaires and Hollywood celebrities.  But his clients are the people he grew up with, the people who make a living serving the rich.  When an old friend, Dante Halleyville, is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star’s mansion, Tom agrees to represent him, and recruits super lawyer, and ex-girlfriend, Kate Costello to help fight the case.  As Tom wonders if he can ever get Kate to forgive him for his past sins, the case takes on astonishing dimensions, revealing a world of illegal pleasures, revenge, and fear amongst the super-rich…  Written with the whiplash precision that has made James Patterson the world’s No. 1 suspense writer, Beach Road is his wildest and most thrillingly unpredictable novel ever.

Jennifer Rardin – Once Bitten Twice Shy

Vayl is the CIA’s top assassin.  A master of black ops, he has never failed.  He’s also a 291-year-old vampire.  Assigned to protect Vayl, if such a formidable creature can be said to require protection, is Jasmine Parks – ‘Jaz’ to her friends.   But Jaz has got problems – and not just the run-of-the-mill ones you’d expect from someone whose job consists of putting her life on the line for an undead assassin.  She hasn’t had sex in god knows how long, so Vayl’s almost overpowering vampire charisma is making it increasingly difficult for her to keep their relationship… professional.  Her personal life is a long line of missed birthdays and Christmases, and lies and excuses to her family.  And then there’s that other thing: the blackouts.  See, there’s times that Jaz can’t account for and things that happen in those times that Vayl – not to mention the CIA – may not appreciate.  And if they find out, Jasmine knows it won’t just be her contract that’s terminated…

Jean M. Auel – The Clan of the Cave Bear

The Clan of the Cave Bear is the start of Jean M Auel’s epic Earth’s Children series.  When her parents are killed by an earthquake, five-year-old Ayla wanders through the forest completely alone.  Cold, hungry, and badly injured by a cave lion, the little girl is as good as gone until she is discovered by a group who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear.  This clan, left homeless by the same disaster, has little interest in the helpless girl who comes from the tribe they refer to as the “Others”.  Only their medicine woman sees in Ayla a fellow human, worthy of care.  She painstakingly nurses her back to health–a decision that will forever alter the physical and emotional structure of the clan. Although this story takes place roughly 35,000 years ago, its cast of characters could easily slide into any modern tale.  The members of the Neanderthal clan, ruled by traditions and taboos, find themselves challenged by this outsider, who represents the physically modern Cro-Magnons.  And as Ayla begins to grow and mature, her natural tendencies emerge, putting her in the middle of a brutal and dangerous power struggle.

Publisher – Simon and Schuster
Publication Date – 6th May 2008
Paperback – 256 pages
Genre – Chick-Lit

Source – Library

Book Information – With less than an hour to go before her best friend is to walk down the aisle, Evie is attempting to fulfill her most important role as bridesmaid: to deposit the bride at the start-line.
Although the odds appear stacked against her, she at least has her new ‘chicken fillets’ to boost her confidence.  Until, that is, they are witnessed popping out of her dress by the dazzlingly handsome Jack.
Evie is twenty-seven, a sparkly, down-to-earth journalist who has never been in love and has started to think that she never will be.  Small wonder then that the prospect of so many impending weddings fills her with trepidation.
When Jack starts becoming a regular fixture at the nuptials, however, things really start looking up.
Only between her discovery that he’s dating the self-obsessed Valentina, and an unfortunate incident with a 10-inch vibrator, not everything goes quite as Evie might have  hoped…

Review - The tag line on the front of the book is ‘Four Weddings without the funeral’.  As soon as I saw that I knew I had to read it – not only do I love that film (except for the funeral bit) but I also love weddings in general.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found myself laughing out loud in several places – whilst getting plenty of strange looks from my husband.  I just couldn’t put it down and I finished it within a couple of days.  It is written with a light and witty style that means you can’t keep from falling in love with this book.  It also has a heartwarmingly happy ending and characters that I wish I could meet in real life.
Overall, a fantastic read that I would recommend to everybody.