Dead Until Dark

Sookie is a small town, southern, cocktail waitress.  She proclaims she is afflicted by a 'disability'...mind reading.  Sookie has been waiting for something to perk up her dull life.  That's when Bill the vampire shows up and Sookie's life goes from dead to deadly.

I adore Bill the vampire. I can get into the mystery. I am not yet totally offended by the graphic nature. The sex was a little explicit. I am totally down with Sookie's 'disability'. But Heaven help her personality. What the heck does Bill want with her? It's okay that she is a little 'old fashion', naive, and unsophisticated....maybe it's the way she speaks. Something about her rubs me the wrong way. I guess I will have to learn to live with it because I plan on continuing the series, at least to the next book.

Rating 3.5 Obviously Sookie drives me to drinking but I did like the rest of the book.
Rating R Graphic violence, graphic sex, murder.

Magic Study

Yelena has moved South, left her job as food taster, and her love, Valek.  She meets her familly and learns about her magical abilities. 

A definite drop in score for Magic Study. Even though I took issue with Poison Study for its simplistic writing style I still had a pretty serious book crush on it. I was leery of book #2 as I usually am.....and I was right.


I personally don't take change easily in my own life or when I come to know a character in a book. I was not excited that Yelena had to leave behind Ixia and travel South. The story ended up not being half bad. I just had to get used to it. But I did miss Valek with a heated passion.

Later things began getting sketchy. I appreciated that even though there was a rape in Poison, it was written with some dignity. But please......Snyder, don't make this a running theme. I don't want to hear about anymore brutality. STOP with the raping. Yelena went from a sharp awesome character to a nut job that forged ahead without thought. When Valek finally shows up later in the book.....after the magic and the characters have taken a nose dive...he is unrecognizeable. I don't know who he is any more. I am glad he loves Yelena...but he is a simpering sissy that says 'my love' all of the time. Once made my heart beat rather quickly....the successive times made vomit come up in my mouth a little bit.

I still think the writing style is very simple...like grade 5. Then Snyder throws in some sex and rape. Choose an audience!

After all of the complaints, I still liked the book and will continue the series to see if Valek ever mans up or Yelena gets control of her teen rebellion.
 
Rating 3 Not enough manly Valek and I don't like that Yelena doesn't think before acting.  The friendships are endearing, including the horse.
Rating PG 13 More rape and brutality, sex.

Kiss Of Life (Generation Dead #2)

*Spoilers......and overall uninteresting if you haven't read Generation Dead*
After Adam is killed by Pete, a zombie hater, he returns to life.  Phoebe  feels love and guilt that Adam died saving her.  Since Adam is techincally still walking around, Pete was not convicted of murder.  Phoebe spends a lot of time with Adam since she was told that love brings the undead back faster.  Adam struggles with simple movement and speech.  The rights of the undead are being tried.  Groups are out to see the zombies returned to complete death or to do scientific research on them.

I could go on and on but the book really wasn't as good as the first one.  I was excited to pick this book up to see what happened with the zombie love triangle between Phoebe and Adam and Tommy.  I wish I had only checked it out from the library instead of purchasing it.  It took forever for the book to go anywhere.  Not until the very end is there very much action but it felt unfinished.  I hate second books that are merely a bridge to book three.

I will definitely read the next book in the series, "Passing Strange", because it has one of the better characters, Karen, a zombie sometimes passing as human.  By the end of the book we are unsure what has happened to her.  I have the feeling that there will be loose ends even as the series wraps up.  I also have suspicions about what will happen next and will be glad to have everything explained.

Rating 3 Meh.......
Rating PG 13 Death, zombies, murder, torture, language.

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1)

If you have ever needed external motivation to beef up your food storage......here it is.  It heightened my naturally high anxiety level to 'frantic'.  I plan to begin stock piling wood, asprin, batteries, fuel, canned fruit and veggies, and canned chicken, like nobody's business.  And I am beginning to think that my vaulted ceiling was a mistake.  It won't hold in enough heat when the ash comes.  I'm getting ahead of myself.....

Teenager Miranda is your run of the mill girl.  She worries about blog stalking her Olympic crush. She's a little shallow. She wants less homework and worries about her changing friendships.  Then a once a life time meteor collision with the moon goes from block party atmosphere to apocalyptic.  The moon is pushed closer to the Earth causing it's gravitation to spur one natural disaster after another.  No longer is Miranda worried about which sport to play or the fact that she is growing apart from her childhood friends.  Survival is at the forefront.  Sacrifice, starvation, desolation, and death quickly take the place of free spirited American life.  Miranda captures it all in journal entries.

This is a superb work of post-apocalyptic fiction.  It is so believeable that you can't decide whether to keep reading or start hoarding.  It is very simply written and a tad slow at the beginning.  The simplicity makes it scarier on one hand.  The sense of desperation and grueling day to day survival is vivid.  And then sometimes I felt like the simplicity also took away.  I didn't get the sense of urgency that I think would exist during a crisis.  That took it down a point for me.  Also, I am now realizing......hello! Where was your weapon stock pile? How were they going to defend their wood, asprin, and canned chicken for Pete's sake. That part is so unrealistic I can't believe I forgot it was one of the point deductors. And I just have to put in my 2 cents....I realize the author can write any old thing she wants and if I were to author a book I could splatter my opinions everywhere....but I didn't like the Conservative slamming, from President bashing (which granted I would do if the President in the book I wrote were a so Liberal he was suffocating) to making Christians look like Kool-Aid sipping nut jobs. I think I may have been more forgiving if this book wasn't aimed at a younger audience. Just my opinion.



Rating 4
Rating PG 13  Crisis situations, death, destruction, scarey situations, talk of promiscuity.

Rumors A Luxe Novel

Is it wrong to swoon over a cover of a book so much that you don't care what takes place inside?  I would love to put on this blood red frosting and walk right into New York elite society 1899.

Spoilers if you haven't read The Luxe.

Elizabeth has gone to meet Will in a very underdescribed manner....out West.  Diana is hot for Henry.  Henry is hot for Di.  The fact that Henry was engaged to Diana's dead sister is keeping them apart.  Penelope is a hot mess as far as I am concerned.  Her kitty claws are out and ready to capture Henry.  Lina, the personal maid that Elizabeth fired is on the loose and vying for a place in a society she has envied her whole life.

I was completely caught up in The Luxe.  This book was a severe disappointment.  I quickly tire of the intrigue, gossip, backstabbing and jealousy.  I just want the people in love to get together.  The surprise ending was a nightmare.........a serious, serious nightmare which I don't understand.  And it will lead me to pick up the next book as soon as I can.

Rating  3  I HATED the end of this book.  It magnified how in need the rest of the book was. 
Rating PG mature themes but not entirely dirty

Spirit Bound (A Vampire Academy Novel #5)

If I haven't mentioned before.....I really hate the pictures on these books.  The people are not that hot and they are too old. 
Well, somehow I have submerged myself right into another love triangle.  I fall for it every time but I am getting REALLY tired of it.  Dimitri is still Strigoi and still alive after Rose failed to kill him.  She has returned to the Academy in time to graduate and become a guardian.  During this time she has promised Adrian to give a fair shot to a relationship with him.  The whole cast of gradutates go to court to await their new stations in life.
Rose has hatched a plan to use Lissa's spirit magic to somehow change Dimitri from Strigoi back to dhampir.  She needs information from the one person claiming to have already worked this magic.  This includes breaking an enemy out of a secure Moroi prison.
There are lots of side stories.  The book was entertaining as usual but by the time I reached the surprise ending and realized that this was NOT going to end the series I was.......perturbed to say the least.  I don't know how much more I can take of Rose not being settled in a relationship.  I want her to be with both Adrian and Dimitri......this seems to be a running theme in my life, er well, my literary life. 
The side stories were good.  The romance went up a notch.  The mysterious ending left me intruguied but praying that the next book will put an end to it all.  And finally, getting a little sick of the love triangle angle.

Rating 4  I will fully admit this is due to the emotion I felt over Dimitri, the gladness I felt over Rose and Adrian hooking up, and the intriguing ending.
Rating R  Very strong language for teen fiction including multiple uses of the F word, sexual situations, smoking, alcohol consumption by teens, contraception.

The Luxe

I have heard this series likened to Gossip Girl.  Since I have no idea what that is I can't say one way or  the other.  I suspect it wasn't always a flattering comaprison though.  Either way.......I have to admit up front that I liked this book.  Originally I was attracted to the cover like a child to a chocolate bar.  The dress is phenominal!  I still put off picking it up and reading it for a very long time......but like anything pink and glittery, I will eventually sucumb.
Elizabeth Holland is at the top of the richie rich game in New York elite society 1899.  She is in love with the stable boy.  She is engaged to Henry Schoonmaker; rich, handsome, playboy.  Liz's bestie, evil biddy wrapped in scarlet, Penelope Hayes.....wants her finely sharpened claws dug into Henry.  Liz's little sis Diana is in love with the Henry that no one else sees.  Not a one of them is going to get what they want. 
I can admit this is a fluff piece.  Yet I really connected with the heartfelt desire to have what you can't.  I am not kidding, I even shed a tear......well a few.  Yes, it was pool side and I do consider this light reading.  But I did feel strongly about the girls.....the saner two....having to watch while what they wanted more than anything slipped from their fingers. 

Rating 4.......I know, sort of fluffy for a 4 but I tell you, I'm in it for the desire.
Rating PG 13  Sneaking off to the stables and the green house, or one of the many kitchens in your mansion for a tryst gets you a PG 13.  It wasn't salacious really or even well described but I wouldn't want my 10 year old to read this even though she is literate enough.

The Dead-Tossed Waves

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth)

Years have passed since Mary left the Forest of Hands and Teeth.  She lives at the edge of the ocean, caring for the lighthouse and the beach.  Her own daughter, Gabry, is not as daring and adventurous as Mary.  Gabry wants nothing more than to be safe and stay in her small seaside town with her new love Catcher.

As many teens are prone to do, Gabry follows her friends outside of the barriers that keep the village safe from the Mudo.  When a Breaker attacks the group of friends, turning many into the undead, Gabry flees to the safety inside of the barriers.  Catcher is contaminated with a Mudo bite.  The ones not 'turned' are captured by the Recruiters and locked up to await punishment for endangering the whole community.

Mary decides it is time to go back to the Forest and reclaim the past she left behind.  Gabry, too afraid to follow her mother, stays behind.  Gabry wonders why she can't be brave like her mother and adventerous like her friends.  When she finds out Catcher is still alive and outside of the barriers, but contaminated with the virus that will turn him into an undead, Gabry tries to find the inner gumption to leave the community and brave the dangers outside of the barriers for the boy she always saw herself loving.

At the beginning of the book I felt a little like I wasn't reading a sequel.  The unconsecrated are now called Mudo, meaning 'mute'.  The fast Mudo are called Breakers.  You turn Breaker if there are not enough Mudo around when you are infected.  I didn't feel like these were covered very well.  I felt like I walked into the middle of a conversation.  Then the more I thought about it, I realized that this was many years after the first book and it took place in a society that knew more about the zombies. 

I would have like to delve into the reason for the zombies and how the rest of the new civilization worked.  I do however LOVE this author's writing style and the way she puts the words together.  She uses very descriptive words in a way that I would not think to put them together, but then somehow you understand exactly what she was trying to evoke.

I am pretty sure that I marked a lot of quotes but now that I am looking at my markers I see that my kidlets have pulled most of them out:(

"His words cut into me, his desires and dreams mingling with my own, throwning at me everything I've lost.  Everything that will never be mine."

Gabry's life strays completely from the narrow path she saw for herself in the future and she miraculously steps onto it with bravery that I don't know if I could muster.

Rating 4  Great, great writing style.  I was still interested in the Mudo virus and the society that was built up after the Return, which I didn't get many answers to.
Rating PG  No language or sexuality really.  Just some sensual kissing and peril.

Courting Miss Lancaster

Courting Miss Lancaster by Sarah M. Eden

'Courting Miss Lancaster' is the sequel to 'Seeking Persephone'.  I was given this book and read it without knowing there was a volume preceding it.  I did not find that I needed the previous volume to understand this one.

Harry Windover has fallen for Athena Lancaster.  Poor Harry can never be thought of as an eligible match for her though because he is nearly penniless.  To make Harry's suffering even worse, Harry's best friend is Athena's guardian, and he asks Harry's assistance in finding Athena a suitable gentleman.  Harry decides to show Athena what she doesn't want in a suitor.  Gentlemen with alarming characteristics are introduced and quickly turned away.  With every debacle, Athena needs Harry's comfort more.  What she doesn't understand is that love isn't always like a lightening bolt, sometimes it grows quietly.

Clean, sweet romance!  Even though there must be some...misunderstanding.....to wrench your heart and make you cringe in agony, it's not so bad that you start to hate the story.  Fun, super fast read.  I think I am convinced to find its predecessor and read it too.

Rating 3.5  Sweet, cute, fun, cuddly if necessary......just like you think it would be.
Rating G Pretty darn clean.

Recovering Charles

Recovering Charles by Jason F. Wright

Wright is the author of 'Christmas Jars' and 'Wednesday Letters'.   In 'Recovering Charles' Wright's main character, Luke Millward is a lost soul.  He is a successful photographer that has little personal connection to anyone except his friend Jordan.  Jordan and Luke met in college and have remained close, though Luke cannot bring himself to make Jordan his wife.
Hurricane Katrina hits the lower South.  Luke discovers that his estranged, alcoholic father was lost in the fray.  Luke has never come to terms with his father's desperate dive into alcholism.  As a teen, Luke's mother died of a drug overdose.  His father has never been able to reconcile himself and turned quickly to the soft sholder of alcohol.  Charles (Charlie, Luke's father.) stopped contacting Luke at his request.  He became a nomad, traveling for cards, liquor and his deep love of music.  Charlie found his life again, in New Orleans playing jazz and getting clean.
Luke takes his time making the trek from New York to the hard hit South.  He finds way more than he thought he would.  Initially he agrees to go as a photographer.  Through the eye of his lense he sees a nation ravaged by nature but saved by the amazing heart of humanity.
The story as a whole was meaty enough to enjoy.  I was crushed by the aftermath of Katrina.  The characters were very loveable.......except for Luke.  I could never understand exactly when his heart turned from disgust with his father to love and regret.  Luke was a mystery and not very well written as a main character.  The end was rushed and left me to wonder what happened:(

Rating 3.5  There were salvageable parts; Katrina, the characters, Charlie's struggle through alcoholism and twelve step recovery.
Rating PG  Lots of death and destruction.

Impossible

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

The song 'Scarborough Fair' takes the starring role as a curse.  Lucy is a regular girl living with her foster parents.  Her life takes a dramatic change;  her crazy birthmother shows up just as Lucy is heading off to her first prom, a strange and enchanting man shows up for dinner at her parent's house, her long time neighbor/best friend Zach, moves into her house, and her prom date becomes posessed and rapes her.
Lucy realizes that the song 'Scarborough Fair' isn't just a song her looney mother sang because she was nuts.  It is a curse, a riddle, and a warning.  Lucy has to find a way to accomplish all of the tasks in the riddle, in order to break the curse put on all of the women in her family by an Elfin Knight.  She only has a short amount of time to break the curse before she becomes crazy......as all of the women before her have.

Lucy was easily likeable.  She is quiet and determined and makes the strange plot easy to believe.  Lucy and Zach quickly fall in love despite their ages.  Zach, along with Lucy's very supportive parents, help her unwind the riddle that will soon take her mind.  I didn't really end up liking Soledad (Lucy's foster mother) very much.  I think somehow I took her to be a liberal, granola......and she never sat well with me most of the time.

Rating 4  Loved Lucy and Zach together.  I loved the magical quality and unique way that the song was turned into a curse.  The characters where a great group that I became attached to.

Rating PG 13   Rape, teen pregnancy, information about abortion, evil magic used to cause a mental disorder and to coerce someone into being a sex slave.

Shadowland

Shadowland (Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

*Spoiler in here, if you can really spoil this book.
Ever and Damen are unable to solidify their eternal bond because Ever added her blood to the elixer that saved Damen.  Now, if their bodily fluids mix, their immortal souls willl perish and be sent to Shadowland.  Ever wants more than anything to rectify the situation.  Damen at first decides that this is all because of bad karma that he caused by being so self centered for 600 years. 
Ever tries to persuade the elusive Roman to give her the information she needs.  Roman in turn tells her she will have to pay the price (which Ever imagines is probably sex, but turns out to be saving her friend Haven from death by having to decide if Haven becomes immortal or dies). Damen decides to dress like he shops at Wal-mart and ride the bus in order to turn his karma around.  Pointlessness.....upon pointlessness.
Ever gets a job at a psychic shop.  The owner, Jude, turns out to be a major player in their immortal game.  It seems that we now find Jude has followed Ever throughout her lives and that he may have also been her boyfriend/lover.  Damen thinks that because he has persued Ever throughout time, that he has actually negated her agency to choose and now leaves her to spend time with Jude and decide once and for all whom she wants to be with.  In the mean time, he cares for two twin witches that left Summerland in the last book, and have now lost their magik.
The whole book was like an after-thought/segue (and not a smooth one) to book #4.

Rating 3   I can connect with the whole I wish we weren't damned to hell if we touch each other......meh, okay, that's horrible.  But the rest of the story was blah.  Ever's friendships are dull and shallow.  Ever and Damen can't do anything but wish they were together.  The whole Jude ordeal may have been interesting if we were ever given anymore information than 'he followed her through every life'. 
Rating PG........honestly I can't remember....they can't do more than kiss with a magic forcefield between them so it couldn't have gotten too bad.

The Sugar Queen

   The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Josey Cirrini exists in a small town that holds it memories and judgements like iron fetters.  Everyone remembers what a beast of a child she was.  Everyone knows now that she lives with her harsh elderly mother and does nothing but care for her.  Everyone knows she is plump and alone.  Josey knows she loves sweets and Adam the mailman, and no one else can know.  In a totally bizarre and magical twist, Josey opens her closet one day to find Della Lee......a local waitress.  Della Lee refuses to leave the confines of the closet, saying only that she won't be there for long before she moves on.  In her rough and caring way, Della Lee helps Josey open up to life.  Soon she isn't going to her closet for sweets but to see Della Lee.  Josey finds friendship and possibly LOVE?

This book didn't seem that interesting when I heard about it.  It came with good recommendations and I did like the author's other book 'Garden Spells'.  What do you know?  I loved it.  I read it lickedy split.  The book was magical and a little mysterious.  Josey was able to make a friend after years of being alone.  Many times I don't like books that lend to a 'sisterly' theme because they tend to cut everyone else out of the picture.  This book wasn't like that.  The girls met and became a great support to each other right away.  There were also some really great quotes in this book.  Allen has a beautiful way with words.

----------

"It feels like he's taken your heart, doesn't it?....Like he's reached in and pulled it out from you. And I bet he smiles like he doesn't know, like he doesn't know he's holding your heart in his hand and you're dying from him."


"You'd be surprised how easy some things can be, things you never thought you'd do, when you take self-restpect out of the equation."


"Sometimes you weren't supposed to share pain. Sometimes it was best just to deal with it alone."



"She'd always known he didn't love her. But it was easier to bear when he didn't know she loved him. That way they were even. Now he knew he had all the power."


Rating PG  domestic abuse, an affair, murder, ghosts
Rating 4.5  Only because I probably won't read it again soon, but I loved the magical qualities and Allen's descriptiveness.

A Far, Far Better Place

A Far, Far Better Place by Anita Stansfield

Well you already know my opinion about having a police type in the book.  Anita couldn't have chosen a better character.  She did not however take my advice and make him normal.....meaning, living on the wages the state feels inclined to drizzle his way.  Ah, but he is so manly no matter his independent wealth.

Former Agent Jackson Leeds and his wife Chas run a little B&B.  Jackson and Chas are hap, hap, happy with their little inn and their little baby Charles.  Ah, but Stansfield can't let a good thing carry on for long.  Jackson's semi estranged mother dies.  Jackson promises her as she lay dying, to forgive his abusive father (who is also dead).  The anger and hurt that Jackson has always felt for his father bubbles to the surface as his mind and heart refuse to forgive the evil doings.  His intense feelings merge with the PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) that he suffers from due to being kidnapped and tortured as an FBI agent.  Jackson must find away to forgive his father so that his humble life with Chas can continue.

Sometimes I feel like Stansfield uses the same situations with new faces.  I would have to admit that this book is a type of many of her other books.  I did enjoy that she carefully illustrated being a strong, tolerant, loving and supportive spouse.  Chas never even seemed like she wanted to bust a cap in Jackson even though I am sure he was hard to deal with.  She also does a good job of weaving in gospel principles in a way that you can see how they would work in a regular person's life (regular except for the fact that Jackson is always at home to help with the baby and dishes......er getting way from myself).  Besides PTSD, which I found interesting, Stansfield's story centered on forgiveness.  How we all like to hold those grudges close to our hearts and cling on to them by digging in our fingernails!  She was able to show more than one side of the damage, and by doing so, how forgiveness is really for the forgiver.  Letting go of that rubble we pack around can be for us, not just the one we forgive.

Rating 3.5
Rating PG.....the kissing in the night, I am sure lead to sex between a married couple...but that was only insinuated.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Mary lives in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.  She lives in a village within the confine of fences that keep her and her village safe from the Unconsecrated.  The Unconsecrated have overtaken everything since the Return.  Mary wonders if there is anything outside of the forest, if there is anyone left.
Mary's mother has tempted her with stories of the ocean and now she cannot rest.  Nothing can satisfy her desire to see what is beyond the forest.......to make it to the salty ocean.  Even the love of one boy, the exquisitely haunting desire for another, the mysterious threats of the Sisterhood, or the danger of becoming Unconsecrated herself, nothing is enough to stop her need to go beyond.

I finished this book very quickly, but I am still haunted by the acute pain left by Travis (Mary's love).  Travis is betrothed to Cass, Mary's bestfriend.  He is also the brother of Harry, Mary's betrothed.  Although the book is about zombies that have come about by a virus at some point in the future, it still has the feeling of being in the past.  Between the fear for their lives and the desire for something Mary can't have, the book was gripping, and tore at my heart.

Book quotes that I LOVE.....
Mary says....."Tonight my body pulses with awareness as I kneel by his bed, our fingers intertwined.  We've been sharing each other's breath for what seems like weeks now even though it's only been a few moments.  It's as if there is infinity between our lips and we will never actually touch.  Like math, where dividing by half can last for eternity."

"Suddenly he doesn't feel like my friend but like something more and I have to force myself to remember that he is not mine to desire."    (ugh.......so painful!)

"In the last few days I had already begun to imagine what Travis's and my children would look like, how their tiny hands would curl around my finger.  I had already dreamed an entire life between Travis and me.  And now that was the only life that we would ever lead together-the one in my dreams."

"It is not about surviving.  It should be about love.  When you know love.. that's what makes this life worth it.  When you live with it every day.  Wake up with it, hold on to it during the thunder and after a nightmare.  When love is your refuge from the death that surrounds us all and when it fills you so tight that you can't express it."

Rating 5  This was a good book.  It may not be super fantastic but it still left me feeling it after more than one day so.......I have to give it credit.
Rating PG  It's totally clean despite the desire thick enough to cut with a knife.  The zombies (Unconsecrated) are trying to kill everyone, so the threat is a little scary.

The Queen's Fool

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

By the author of The Other Boleyn Girl, comes this book, which takes place after Henry the VIII.  His daughters......Mary from his first wife, Kathrine of Aragon, and Elizabeth from his sordid mistress and second wife, Anne Boleyn, are at battle over the crown and fighting over the religious tone the country should take.

The story is told through the fictional character of Hannah Greene.  Hannah is a young Jewish girl, chased from her Spanish homeland when her mother was burned for being a Jew.  Hannah and her father finally end their terrible flee from persecution, in London.  Hannah's father is a book printer/seller.  When it is discovered by Sir Robert Dudley (vying for position for religious freedom) that Hannah has the 'sight', Hannah is begged as Queen Mary's fool.  She is pulled between the sad and stoic Queen Mary and her beautiful and dangerous half sister, Princess Elizabeth as they value Hannah's ability to see the future. 
Hannah is living the dangerous life as one of 'The People' in hiding.  She must not forget the old ways, while living the life of a Christian in a court where she could be slaughtered for her beliefs.  Hannah is betrothed to Daniel Carpenter, another Jew.  She must grow up and decide whether Daniel's faithful love and her heritage are more important than her girlish desire for Robert Dudley and her allegiance to a queen that is destined to fail miserably.

I loved the historical aspect, the religious themes, and the romance.  The book does open with a rather descriptive sexual scene but really tames after that.

Rating 4
Rating PG 13  sexual scenes

Her Fearful Summetry

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

I've been courting more than one book at a time and it has really taken a toll on completing one book.

Her Fearful Symmetry is written by the author of  The Time Traveler's Wife.  I felt daunted knowing how much I LOVE her first book.  However the two books are so different that I was able to stop comparing rather quickly.

Julia and Valentina are 20 year old American twins.  Their lives are intertwined in an unnatural and somewhat perverse way.  Sometimes it's like they are only a whole person when they are together.
Their mother (Edie) and aunt Elspeth) are also twins.  As far as they can remember they have never met their mother's twin.  Their contact with her begins upon her death.  Elspeth leaves her London flat to the girls.  Once they accept the stipulations set out by their dead aunt, deep secrets, bizarre desires, and twisted personal lives come flooding into the light. 
Much of the book centers around London and Highgate cemetary which added a layer of gothic/romantic sadness.
I couldn't come to love Julia and Valentina, or Elspeth.......at times I disliked them for their deceit, desperate dependance, and sickening selfishness.  My heart broke for Robert, Elspeth's left behind lover and for the quirky, charming upstairs neighbor (with extreme OCD) Martin.
On the other hand I loved the supernatural aspect, the cemetary, and finding out by the end that I didn't know what I thought I knew!

Rating 4  Didn't really love the characters but I did get into the story.
Rating PG13  sexual content, hauntings

Anansi Boys

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Wow.....I don't know if I can even classify this book.  There are ghosts, myth, magic and love but it's not overly ghosty, mythy, magical or lovey.
Fat Charlie Nancy is your run of the mill guy.  He has a fiancee named Rosie and he works small stints at jobs in London.  His life only gets strange after his estranged father dies.  Fat Charlie then learns that he has a brother  named Spider, he never knew existed, and that his father may have been some kind of African spider god.
Spider moves in and turns Fat Charlie's life on its ear.  He quickly wins the love of Rosie, has Fat Charlie investigated by the police, adds a fantastical room onto Fat Charlie's flat, and eventually gets everyone nearly killed.
This was my first Neil Gaiman book although he has come highly recommended as an author.  For any one previously enjoying Gaiman, I am sure this book won't dissappoint.  He is a witty writer and uses great descriptors.  Lots of fun and funny read.
Rating 4
Rating PG 13  peril, talk of sex, murder

First Love Second Chances

First Love Second Chances by Anita Stansfield

Well it seems I wasn't quite finished with being sentimental.........and I took in the second book. 
Clean, romantic, foreign, struggle with emotions and problems unique to the LDS culture.  Sigh.  I felt fulfilled.

This is the second book put out by Stansfield YEARS ago.  Loved it maybe a hair less than the first one.

Hopefully I am now able to move on to other literature.
Rating 5
Rating PG

The Best of Times

The Best of Times by Anita Stansfield

Chas (short for Charles......but she's a girl) runs the Dickensian Inn while caring for her aged Granny.  Tragedy has left her with only that.  But you know Anita.......Chas isn't alone for long once the story opens. 
Jackson is an FBI agent (finally getting warmer Anita) taking a break from the work that has consumed his life and may now ruin it. 

Well after all of these years there is an armed man in one of these books!  If he were only a semi normal police officer........e.g. poor, then she would have finally hit the nail on the head.  But yet again, Jackson has saved all of his money and made great investments.
There was a lot of verbal banter.  I would have to say that this book was one of  those wordy books where I get tired of the characters talking to each other.  It moved up a notch once Jackson had to go back to the FBI.
I loved Jackson. He was like an M&M.....tough shell and sweet inside. Chas was a good woman with great faith.  She just did not do it for me this time.
I did like that this book had  tolerance for non LDS people........most of the characters were not Church members.  I also enjoyed that the various religious or nonreligious backgrounds were able to speak about values without wanting to kill each other (which would have made it more realistic).
It seemed like there was a lot of build up to the couple getting together and then ....meh, there they were. 

This was a fast, soothing read.  It is not one of my all time Stansfield faves. 
Rating 3
Rating G  So clean.......