Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanovich ***

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list. Short on time to find the murderer, Stephanie is also under pressure from family and friends to choose between her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom wants her to dump them both for a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, suggests a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Joe’s old-world grandmother gives Stephanie “the eye,” which may mean that it’s time to get out of town.
With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke

Let's call these books what they are:  The 'By the Numbers' series by Janet Evanovich is purely bubble gum escapism.  There's little to no substance to the books, but they're fun to read.  This one was exactly what I expected after reading the others - a little bit of male fantasy (Will she pick with Joe or Ranger?  Would I pick Joe or Ranger?) and a fair bit of funny.

The Next Accident, by Lisa Gardner ***

This thriller has just the right mix of suspense, intrigue, and murder, topped off with a little romance to make it sizzle. Pierce Quincy, hard-boiled FBI agent, and Rainie Conner, ex-cop turned P.I., team up to catch the perpetrator of several ingenious murders. The psychopath staged the death of Quincy's daughter Amanda, then his ex-wife, and is now going after Quincy's remaining daughter, Kimberly.

I picked up this book because I'd read a few from Gardner's Det. DD Warren series and liked them. This one wasn't part of that series, but it was pretty good - it was an original storyline, I thought. I don't think the mystery was a great shock when it was solved, but the story kept me interested.

The one complaint that I have was the references to a dream that the one character (Raine) was having about a baby elephant... I can't tell you specifics because I flipped past it, but suffice to say that the baby suffered. I don't think that it added anything to the storyline, and I wish it had been left out.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield ***

Former academic Setterfield pays tribute in her debut to Brontë and du Maurier heroines: a plain girl gets wrapped up in a dark, haunted ruin of a house, which guards family secrets that are not hers and that she must discover at her peril. Margaret Lea, a London bookseller's daughter, has written an obscure biography that suggests deep understanding of siblings. She is contacted by renowned aging author Vida Winter, who finally wishes to tell her own, long-hidden, life story. Margaret travels to Yorkshire, where she interviews the dying writer, walks the remains of her estate at Angelfield and tries to verify the old woman's tale of a governess, a ghost and more than one abandoned baby. With the aid of colorful Aurelius Love, Margaret puzzles out generations of Angelfield: destructive Uncle Charlie; his elusive sister, Isabelle; their unhappy parents; Isabelle's twin daughters, Adeline and Emmeline; and the children's caretakers. Contending with ghosts and with a (mostly) scary bunch of living people, Setterfield's sensible heroine is, like Jane Eyre, full of repressed feeling—and is unprepared for both heartache and romance. And like Jane, she's a real reader and makes a terrific narrator. That's where the comparisons end, but Setterfield, who lives in Yorkshire, offers graceful storytelling that has its own pleasures.

The above description, which I had to do some searching for, is neither the one I read before I bought this book, nor the one on the back of the book.  It is, however, an accurate description of the story.  Maybe it was because I was expecting something else, but wasn't as impressed by it as I expected to be.  The Thirteenth Tale is a fairly good book, but I found it to be very dark and somewhat depressing.  

More than one person told me that they read it in a sitting, because they couldn't put it down.  While I didn't dislike it, it didn't hold my attention for very long.  I rarely read more than 20-30 pages before my mind started to wander, which is why it took me over two weeks to complete.  It wasn't a bad book, just not as good as I'd hoped.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards ***

This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins.
His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love.

My first mistake with the novel was to watch the movie before reading the book. I don't generally like reading books after I've seen the movie based off of them because the differences stand out too much to me. I think it distracts from the story when you're expecting one thing and read something else.

Starting out, having seen the movie (which wasn't very good)I had trouble getting into this book. It was slow reading, but I would say that I started enjoying it more at about the half way point, when it started to vary significantly from the story line in the movie. It was good for a little while, and then the end was really slow. Truth is, I felt like the story was over about 40 pages before the end of the book. Eventually, I ended up quitting about 10 pages before the last page. I don't think it was a bad story, just not great. And I really think my impression of it was hampered by the less than stellar movie.

The Girl She Used to Be, by David Cristofano ***

When Melody Grace McCartney was six years old, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal that it changed their lives forever. The federal government lured them into the Witness Protection Program with the promise of safety, and they went gratefully. But the program took Melody's name, her home, her innocence, and, ultimately, her family. She's been May Adams, Karen Smith, Anne Johnson, and countless others--everyone but the one person she longs to be: herself. So when the feds spirit her off to begin yet another new life in another town, she's stunned when a man confronts her and calls her by her real name. Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to hunt her down, knows her, the real her, and it's a dangerous thrill that Melody can't resist. He's insistent that she's just a pawn in the government's war against the Bovaro family. But can she trust her life and her identity to this vicious stranger whose acts of violence are legendary?

I think that maybe I missed reading the last three sentences in that description.   I certainly didn't read the description on the back of the book until after I was a good 100 pages in.  If I'd read either, I don't think I'd have started it.

I thought, going in, that this book was going to be how difficult it's been to have to change identities and be uprooted throughout her life, and how the heroine deals with it.  The story does touch on that, but the focus is more about the push and the pull between Jonathan and Melody.  The description on the back cover implies that there is romance between the two.  There is, in a way, but not in the bodice-ripper, harlequin romance sort of way.  (Which is good, because lately I have been very much not in the mood for that sort of romantic story.)

The first 100 pages or so were pretty good.  Right about the time that Jonathan was introduced, I read the back cover and my perception of the whole story changed.  I almost didn't finish it.   I kept pushing on, though, and while I'm hesitant to say that it was a pleasant surprise, I will say that it wasn't the disappointment that I was sure it was going to be.  It was fluff.  It wasn't even believable fluff.  The heroine was unsympathetic and made incredibly bad choices.  The men that she encountered and waffled between were caricatures of stereotypes, and neither was engaging.  But, the story was somewhat entertaining for a while.  It was a quick, easy read.   I think it's probably a good thing that it was under 250 pages, because I probably would have required more substance to read anything longer.

Caught, by Harlan Coben ***

17 year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst.

Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate—and nationally televised—sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined.

In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben’s trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can’t trust her own instincts about this case—or the motives of the people around her

There are two kinds of mysteries, I think. There are the mysteries with foreshadowing and clues that are subtly hidden throughout the story that inform the reader, à la "Sixth Sense". These clues shouldn't be enough to solve the mystery, but once the answer is given, they should be enough that the reader understands exactly what happened and why.

Alternatively, there are mysteries where the readers follow the protagonist through the various steps as they solve the mystery. Done well, the reader can figure out the whodunit with the main character. Hidden clues throughout the book would lead up to the answers, and once exposed, tie everything together.

What I'm not a big fan of are the second type of mysteries, when the reader follows the protagonist through the various steps to solve the mystery, only to have the answer come out of left field with little to no warning. If the author needs to explain him or herself for 15-20 pages after the mystery is solved, they haven't done their job in my opinion.

This was that kind of book. There was a mystery. There was a character with a supporting cast who intended to solve the mystery. She ran around to check things out. Possibilities were tossed out. Red Herrings were provided. When the mystery was solved, the answer came out of the blue. The explanations then had to be spoon fed to the reader, because there hadn't been enough information provided earlier in the book.

I found myself getting into the story as I read this book, but not to the extent that I had any trouble putting it down. The main character was believable, but some of the supporting characters were beyond weird. As for the mystery - this is where it failed, in my opinion. I didn't read the last few pages. I read until the mystery was solved. I read 10-15 pages of explanation of how the solution came about, and then I'd had enough.

Leaving Jack, by Gareth Crocker ***

After months in Vietnam, soldier Carson Fletcher has had enough. He's tired of the rain, the mud, the discomfort, the danger - and most of all he's tired of seeing his buddies killed. But when his platoon encounters a yellow Lab named Jack, something in Carson comes alive again. He knows that if he can help Jack survive, he can save himself.

A friend recommended this short story to me. She said she's read it over and over and loves it every time. I've looked, and am pretty sure it's out of print... an audio version of it is going for $63 on Amazon, so I figured it must be a great story. I thought it was good, but not spectacular. The story opened up as the main character stands over his families grave, after an accident. He's already tried to commit suicide once over their loss, and decides to enlist to go to Vietnam to ensure his death in a 'useful' manner. It's a story that's been told many times in various forms, but it has potential.

Being the dog lover that I am, it feels odd to say this, but the story lost credibility when the dog is introduced. Injuries and events are a little to severe to be survived - multiple times. If you suspend your disbelief, the story is based on good premise; I just found it a little too hard to believe to get truly involved.

Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova ***

Sarah Nickerson is like any other career-driven supermom in Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where she leads a hectic but charmed life with her husband Bob, faithful nanny, and three children—Lucy, Charlie, and nine-month-old Linus.
Between recruiting the best and brightest minds as the vice president of human resources at Berkley Consulting; shuttling the kids to soccer, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son’s teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it’s a wonder this over-scheduled, over-achieving Harvard graduate has time to breathe.

A self-confessed balloon about to burst, Sarah miraculously manages every minute of her life like an air traffic controller. Until one fateful day, while driving to work and trying to make a phone call, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her jam-packed life come to a screeching halt.

A traumatic brain injury completely erases the left side of her world, and for once, Sarah relinquishes control to those around her, including her formerly absent mother. Without the ability to even floss her own teeth, she struggles to find answers about her past and her uncertain future.

Now, as she wills herself to regain her independence and heal, Sarah must learn that her real destiny—her new, true life—may in fact lie far from the world of conference calls and spreadsheets. And that a happiness and peace greater than all the success in the world is close within reach, if only she slows down long enough to notice.

I thought this book was good, but not great. The first few chapters drew me in. I liked the main character and could relate to her life; but it went down hill from there. I wasn't as fond of the dream sequences, where each chapter started with a description of a weird dream that the main character had... I knew those dreams were a way to show how her life was spinning out of control, and that they'd stop after the accident, but I didn't like them. Fortunately, they were written in italics, and I could flip past them and get straight to the 'real' story.

Full disclosure - I picked up this book because I've had a traumatic brain injury, and it's about a similar injury to mine, stemming from the same sort of accident. I read that the author has her PhD in neuroscience from Harvard, and I wondered how accurate the book would be. I was a bit disappointed that she didn't touch on any of the other issues that stem from a right hemisphere brain injury - it focused entirely on Left Neglect (when the brain doesn't recognize the left side) and left out everything else - that made it harder for me to buy into the story. Luckily for me, I did not experience left neglect; but I did (do) deal with a whole host of other issues stemming from the brain injury that weren't even mentioned in the book. I found it unrealistic that she only had that one (major) problem to deal with. That left the story feeling incomplete to me.

My Best Friend's Girl, by Dorothy Koomson ***1/2

When Kamryn (Ryn) Matika gets a call from college friend Adele Del Brannon, she reluctantly heads to the hospital where Adele is dying of cancer. The two had been odd couple friends (working-class Ryn is black, posh Adele is white) while attending Leeds University, but their friendship did not survive Del's admission of an affair with Ryn's fiancé Nate Turner, which also ended Ryn's relationship with Nate. The affair did result, however, in the now-five-year-old Tegan, and Del has called Ryn to ask her to adopt the adorable girl. Ryn agrees, but must face down Del's stepmother, Muriel, to do it. She finds surprising help from new boss Luke Wiseman, who, after meeting her unceremoniously, loves Tegan (and eventually Ryn, too), but the return of Nate, who doesn't know Tegan is his daughter, promises to reopen old wounds. Koomson's U.S. debut is a three-hankie delight. (Mar.)

I picked this book up because I thought the idea was original. If your best friend cheated on you with your fiancé and got pregnant, could you raise the child? It's an interesting idea that I thought was handled well from the beginning. I also liked the descriptions of Ryn transitioning from a career minded single female to somebody who is very suddenly a single mother. I thought that the start of this book was excellent, but was a little disappointed that the ending turned more into a story about a love triangle and romantic angst. I wish the focus could have stayed with the little girl, and the adjustment of adding her to Ryn's life. It was a pretty good book, though, and a quick easy read. I liked it, but it wasn't spectacular.

Bad Day for Sorry, by Sophie Littlefield ***

Bad Day for Sorry, by Sophie Littlefield

Description:

Stella Hardesty dispatched her abusive husband with a wrench shortly before her fiftieth birthday. A few years later, she’s so busy delivering home-style justice, helping other women deal with their own abusive husbands and boyfriends, that she’s barely got time to run her sewing shop. Since Stella works outside of the law, she’s free to do whatever it takes to be convincing—as long as she keeps her distance from the handsome devil of a local sheriff, Goat Jones.

When young mother Chrissy Shaw asks Stella for help with her no-good, husband Roy Dean, it looks like just another standard job. But then Chrissy’s two-year-old son is taken, and Stella finds herself up against a much more formidable enemy.

This is a mostly humorous, sometimes bittersweet story of a lady who, after killing her own abusive husband, starts to step in and deal with other abusive men in a way that the law can't.

I got the feeling while reading it that it was an imitation of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, only not quite as good. It's not a bad read, but it wasn't that great either. It's a quick, fun read; but I'll probably pass on the follow up book that's just been published.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, by Stephanie Meyer ***

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I read this, but I figure I better keep this reading list real. It wasn't bad. If you liked the Twilight series, you'll probably like it; although it's a completely separate storyline from the first four books. It's not about the Cullens. It has some of the same elements (no romance or angst-y female), mostly different characters. It's a quick easy read.

PS I Love You, by Cecelia Ahern ***

Ps I Love You


I didn't like this book in the beginning, because it was so different from the movie. I kept at it, though, and it got better and better as it went on. It actually turned into a pretty good read, once I gave up on the idea of matching the story I was reading to the movie. (Note to self: read the book before you see the movie.)

A is for Alibi by, Sue Grafton ***

A is for Alibi

I picked this one up because I've been craving a mystery for a while. It wasn't very deep but it wasn't bad. It's a quick, easy read... I don't feel compelled to run out and get the next book in this series immediately, but I probably will eventually.

Kit's Law, by Donna Morressy ***

Kit's Law


This story is about a girl in small town Newfoundland whose grandmother dies and leaves her to care for her mentally challenged mother. It started slowly, but I thought it turned into a pretty good book.

Family Affair, by Caprice Crane ***

Family Affair: A Novel


This book was OK, but not great. It's a comedy about a couple who separate. The wife has a better relationship with her in laws than she does with her husband. She wants to keep them, but ditch the husband. Humorous, I guess but wasn't laugh out loud funny.

Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke ***

Inkheart

I enjoyed it, but it was slow reading for me. I’m not normally a fantasy reader, but this was an interesting storyline, where the characters of a book came to life and took over. I'll definitely read the next book in the series, but I think I'll wait a bit first.

What I did for Love, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips ***

What I Did For Love


I picked up this book by accident, when I mistook it for another one that was recommended. It was the typical romance. Innocent woman, bad boy. They hated each other, then they loved each other. It was OK as an escape, if you’re into that sort of book (which I am occasionally) but it wasn’t spectacular.

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillippa Gregory ***

The Other Boleyn Girl

Loosely based on the life of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn and mistress of Henry VIII. I read somewhere that this book is claustrophobic, and I think that’s accurate. I just can’t decide if that was intentional (to reflect on the times) or if it was just plain ol’ dry. It wasn’t a bad read, but I probably won’t run out and get any more like it.