Booking Through Thursday - April 2

Deb at Booking Through Thursday blog's question for this week is:

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I accidentally deleted my post for this while working on this weeks, so I will try and reanswer just so it's available.

I use my public library about once a week at the moment. As soon as they get the online catalog working again I will be using it much more, but since I can't check what books they have available at the moment and reserve them, my frequency there to pick up books has declined.

I don't think the coffeehouse/bookstore has replaced the library. I love the coffeehouse/bookstore as DH and I always make a point when we go out to eat occasionally a few towns over to go to their BAM and sit, read and drink coffee, but it would never replace the library for me even if I had one in my town. The library is free and yes browsing books is free, but I would never have the time (or feel right about) reading a whole book while enjoying coffee at a bookstore and putting it back up. Now I would enjoy browsing the book enough to see if I would enjoy it, but the library does that for me - I can get the book and if I don't like it I'm not out of anything except some time. I still enjoy book stores for the ability to browse and then lovingly take home a lovely book (or twenty).

I loved the library as a child. My mom would take me for reading time occasionally which I enjoyed but I enjoyed checking out books the most. We had a bookmobile that would come down our street during the summer and I remember loving to go into there and check out books - it was so cool!

I will take any library - ours has an older feel, but I have been to a huge newer one when I lived in Raleigh and I loved the sheer number of books available there. Ours is quaint. It will soon be moving and I am looking forward to that. I think they will now have more of a reading area. Right now there are mainly tables plus a few chairs in the magazine section. They will also have more room for more books and that is exciting too!

Really Cool Contest

Check out this really cool contest from Jill Shalvis, Alison Kent and HelenKay Dimon - it's a great one - now go enter it!

Waiting On Wednesday - April 1

Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts "Waiting On" Wednesday where everyone posts what new not-yet-published books we are anxiously awaiting. I'm new to this one also but I am looking forward to being a part of it and seeing all the wonderful new releases out there (and hoping my library will get the online card catalog back up so I can reserve books again).

My Entry for this week is:


I love Greg Iles' books and this one returns to the character Penn Cage, from The Quiet Game and Turning Angel. I can't wait!

Here's the summary:

As a prosecuting attorney in Houston, Penn Cage sent hardened killers to death row. But it is as mayor of his hometown -- Natchez, Mississippi -- that Penn will face his most dangerous threat. Urged by old friends to try to restore this fading jewel of the Old South, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez, like other Mississippi towns, has turned to casino gambling, and now five fantastical steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market at Natchez like props from Gone With the Wind.

But one boat isn't like the others.

Rumor has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas to its Mississippi backwater. And with them -- on sleek private jets that slip in and out of town like whispers in the night -- come pro football players, rap stars, and international gamblers, all sharing an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport -- and the dark vices that go with it. When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, the full weight of Penn's failure to protect his city hits home. So begins his quest to find the men responsible. But it's a hunt he begins alone, for the local authorities have been corrupted by the money and power of his hidden enemy. With his family's lives at stake, Penn realizes his only allies in his one-man war are those bound to him by blood or honor:

Caitlin Masters, the lover Penn found in The Quiet Can Game and lost in Turning Angel

Danny McDavitt, the heroic helicopter pilot from Third Degree

Tom Cage, Penn's father and legendary local family physician

Walt Garrity, a retired Texas Ranger who served with Penn's father during the Korean War

Together they must defeat a sophisticated killer who has an almost preternatural ability to anticipate -- and counter -- their every move. Ultimately, victory will depend on a bold stroke that will leave one of Penn's allies dead -- and Natchez changed forever.

After appearing in two of Iles's most popular novels, Penn Cage makes his triumphant return as a brilliant, honorable, and courageous hero. Rich with Southern atmosphere and marked by one jaw-dropping plot turn after another, The Devil's Punchbowl confirms that Greg Iles is America's master of suspense.

So what are you waiting on this week?

Cold Hearted by Beverly Barton

From Amazon:

Private investigator Rick Carson has been hired to find out who murdered Georgia Sen. Dan Price and finds himself falling for Price's trophy widow, Jordan, even though she's his prime suspect. Gorgeous, steely Jordan stands to inherit a substantial estate and has a history of losing husbands and boyfriends to questionable fatalities, and Price was killed with Jordan's gun. But a sizable cast of quirky hangers-on who rely upon Jordan for room and board complicate matters: any one of them could be responsible for not just the senator's death but also the string of corpses that litter Jordan's past. The more Rick investigates, the more certain he is that the woman he's in love with could be a coldhearted killer. His two minds drive some refreshing twists that leave readers guessing to the end and making the latest from suspense artist Barton a satisfying read.

Wow - I must say this book was excellent. I can see where it may figure in to an earlier series, but I read it as a standalone and no real clues were given away to what took place in the earlier books (besides the one married couple). I really liked Rick and Jordan as characters and at times it could be frustrating watching them fight their feelings, but you understood they had good reasons. The suspense was built really well. I went back and forth on who I suspected and really didn't get it right at the end. Ms. Barton was great at throwing the suspicion on every one that made sense in the story and keeping you guessing. I honestly had a hard time putting this one down (but work, cooking and the kids kind of demanded some of my attention). This wasn't my first by Ms. Barton and it definitely won't be my last. I enjoy her romantic suspense immensely. She has a good balance of romance with the suspense.


On Sale Date: September 1, 2008
Date Started: 03-23-09
Date Finished: 03-25-09
From: My TBR
Publisher: Mira
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Rick Carson, Jordan Price
# in Series: 5 (if you count it as part of Griffen Powell series - but I believe it's more standalone, just has Griffen as a character)
Previous books in series: Killing Her Softly, Close Enough to Kill, The Dying Game, The Murder Game (I have not read any of these)
Pages: 403

14 by J.T. Ellison

From Amazon:

Ten victims, each with pale skin and long dark hair. All have been slashed across the throat, the same red lipstick smeared across their lips.

In the mid-1980s the Snow White Killer terrorized the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Then suddenly the murders stopped. A letter from the killer to the police stated that his work was done.

Now four more bodies are found, marked with his fatal signature. The residents of Nashville fear a madman has returned, decades later, to finish his sick fairy tale. Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson believes the killings are the work of a copycat killer who's even more terrifying. For this monster is meticulously honing his craft as he mimics famous serial murders…proving that the past is not to be forgotten.

I've come to realize that I'm not that great at summarizing books so from now on I'll rely on amazon or another site's description. On to the review:

I remember enjoying All the Pretty Girls - the first in the Taylor Jackson series, but it's been awhile. However it will not be awhile before I read Judas Kiss, the third in the series. 14 was just that good. Taylor is now engaged and dealing with her wedding coming up but also with this Snow White Killer case. More insight is given into her fiancee, her father and her co-workers. I really enjoyed her co-workers, their banter and how well they worked together. Romance figures into this but I would say it is suspense first and foremost since the couple is already involved. Taylor continues to grow as a person and as a detective and I look forward to seeing how well she does in Judas Kiss. If you enjoy suspense and continuing series, I fully recommend getting started with this series. You won't regret it.

On Sale Date: September 1, 2008
Date Started: 03-20-09
Date Finished: 03-22-09
From: My TBR
Publisher: Mira
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Genre: Suspense/Romantic Suspense
Series: Taylor Jackson
# in Series: 2
Previous books in series: All the Pretty Girls
Pages: 418

First Quarter Wrap-Up

Since I just recently restarted my blog I thought I would post a wrap-up of the first three months of the year with my reading. From now on I will do it monthly.

So here it is:

January 2009:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (audiobook - library) (1st-time author for me)
2. Cross Country by James Patterson (library)
3. Sweet Revenge by Fern Michaels (library)
4. Copycat by Erica Spindler (library)
5. The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King (audiobook - library)
6. Hunting the Demon by Jaci Burton (booksfree)
7. The Justice by Angela Elwell Hunt (library) (1st-time author for me)
8. The 7th Victim by Alan Jacobson (library) (1st-time author for me)
9. Perfect Target by Stephanie Newton (tbr) (1st-time author for me)
10. Sewing Basics by Wendy Gardiner (nonfiction - library) (1st-time author for me)
11. Fertile Ground by Ben Mezrich (library) (1st-time author for me)
12. Crazy School by Cornelia Read (audiobook - library) (1st-time author for me)
13. A Hero of Her Own by Carla Cassidy (tbr)

February 2009:

1. The Associate by John Grisham (library)
2. High Five by Janet Evanovich (library)
3. Scream for Me by Karen Rose (library)
4. Under the Rose by Diana Peterfreund (booksfree)
5. Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury (audiobook - library) (1st-time author for me)

March 2009:

1. Lifelines by C.J. Lyons (tbr) (1st-time author for me)
2. Run for Your Life by James Patterson (library) (1st-time author for me)
3. Rites of Spring Break by Diana Peterfreund (booksfree)
4. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich (audiobook - library)
5. Thigh High by Christina Dodd (booksfree)
6. Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan (Library Thing Early Reviewer book) (1st-time author for me) - review
7. See No Evil by Allison Brennan (tbr) - review
8. Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr (booksfree) - review
9. Against Medical Advice by James Patterson and Hal Friedman (audiobook-library) - review
10. Marked by P.C. Cast (booksfree) - review
11. 14 by J.T. Ellison (tbr)
12. Cold Hearted by Beverly Barton (tbr)
13. The Sorority: Eve by Tamara Thorne (booksfree)
14. What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes (booksfree)
15. Good Neighbor by Sharon Mignerey
16. (should finish today) Who by Fire by Diana Spechler (booksfree)

So that's 13 books for January, 5 for February and should be 16 for March. It's been a pretty good reading year so far.

I have also read 6/36 books so far in my Spring Reading Challenge.

Teaser Tuesday - March 31

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

My teaser:

I remember the search party the day Alena disappeared, way before Ash told us about the brown car. A whole town of people, a long, unbroken chain, walking slowly, eyes on the ground.

From Who by Fire by Diana Spechler which I should finish later today.