Bean Books

While this book doesn't include every beanie ever made, it does have 1,200+, with a clear color photo for every one listed. About 70% of them are Ty, which makes sense because that's by far the most popular maker. And the photos are big enough to easily identify the beanies. It's got the best photos of beans and Ty tags that I've seen in a beanie book. It's not an exhaustive manual, but it does have a lot for its size. After all, it's a pocket field guide, not an encyclopedia.
Also, it has a lot of information and tips on how to buy and sell beanies on eBay. While the prices are lower than secondary store prices, they're right on for eBay. Overall, I'm really pleased with it and I definitely think it's worth the price.

I bought this book today because I'm an avid Ty collector. There are so many Beanies not listed, and hardly any of the various other types of Ty products. Also only a few pages of each of the other brands of plush when I know there are so many products. This is just not a very complete book. If you want a much better, although still not perfect Ty collector guide, go to Bangzoom Press and buy the Beanie Babies Value Tracker from them.

This is my first Anita Shreve book and I'm looking forward to reading more. It is quick easy read with draws you deeper and deeper into the story.

Every once in awhile I feel that I should read something that people are talking about and usually that means reading an "Oprah Book Club" pick. I don't watch Oprah but I like the idea that she promotes reading among the masses. After I read this book though I started thinking about the last Oprah picks that I've read, The Lovely Bones , Where the Heart Is, White Oleander, She's Coming Undone, and the rest that I can't recall the names of right now, and what I realized is that she's the Jerry Springer of books! Seriously, every book that I have read is a Jerry Springer show on paper. Just in the ones I mentioned above we have a young girl raped and murdered, her family torn apart by it, a seventeen year old pregnant girl abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in a strange city, and a young girl struggling with her ever growing size as she uses food as a substitute for love. After thinking about this book what I realized that Oprah traffics in tragedy! What a revelation! I feel like I've solved some great mystery as to why people are so drawn to her book picks, because it's like reading a Jerry Springer show without having to look at fat, ugly people with bad grammar.
The Pilot's Wife wasn't a bad book, Oprah picks rarely are but it was one of the most depressing books I've ever read. The first half of the book is the two days after a woman finds out that the commercial plane that her husband was flying exploded just off the coast of Ireland. It was nothing but raw emotion with a few short flashbacks of their lives together, some good flashbacks but mostly bad. They had a good marriage for all intents and purposes, they were happy and normal. They had a nice life with their fifteen year old daughter in a very small town on the coast of New Hampshire. During the first half of the book she is dealing with the chaos that surrounds a tragedy like this, the FAA, the airline, the media are all part of the nightmare that literally invade her house looking to find answers as to why this happened. The first speculation is mechanical failure, the second is of course pilot error and then a third possibility surfaces once they find the on board voice recorder, suicide.
The second half of the book deals with the growing number of questions as to why her husband or anyone for that matter might do such a horrendous thing. As she and union representative Robert search for answers she finds out that she really didn't know her husband at all. Now that's one of the tag lines for this book, "how well do you really know anyone?" OK I'll give you that we all have our little secrets, things that we think about or do that we don't tell anyone about, not even the people we are closest to but this man is not keeping normal secrets. His secrets are akin to Ted Bundy keep the fact that he was a serial killer from his girlfriend.
The pilot, Jack Lyons is not a serial killer but he is a man leading a double life. At the end of her search his wife finds out that he had a whole other family living in London. A wife and two small children. An Irish wife that had been a flight attendant and who had gotten pregnant during their affair. He married her in a Catholic church since he was such a devout Catholic. In his life in New Hampshire he was a very lapsed Catholic and never attended church, but of course he also told her that his mother was dead when in fact she was living in a nursing home. The London wife knew about the New Hampshire family but was willing to put up with anything to have her man at least some of the time. Now this is the thing that gets me, he took up with this woman and stayed with her because he liked "risk" and not just the risk of the relationship but the fact that he, after getting involved with her became a mule or smuggler for the IRA. Yes! The IRA! I didn't see that coming at all. See she, his London wife was born in Belfast and her brother used her to transport money and other things for the IRA while she was a flight attendant, so when Jack comes along he being of Irish Catholic descent jumps on the bandwagon to help. This goes on for 5 years before the crash. Now as for the crash, it isn't suicide, no he was unknowingly carrying an explosive device in his duffle bag. So in the end he was used for the cause. Pretty twisted I thought.
In the end the wife is able to let go of her grief because as she says you only really grieve for those you know and she didn't really know her husband.

This book had all the trappings of an excellent summer vacation read. Light enough to not require too much over analyzing, a gripping and suspenseful plot that snagged me from the first page and thought-provoking enough to challenge convention. I was thoroughly sated when the last chapter launched and then the final sentence spoiled it all. It was like someone had pushed me off a cliff. And I even like surprise endings.

I first read Anita Shreve's Body Surfing, and then just had to order another one of her books. Seeing as how The Pilot's Wife was on Oprah's book club, I figured it would be a good read and was yet again surprised by the twists and turns Shreve builds around in her novels. She is an excellent author and I would recommend this book to anybody!!

stare at the wall instead. Seriously, that would be much more interesting. You could make up a more entertaining story in your head in 5 minutes. I read this years ago when it first came out, and I still cannot get over how awful it is. Thank god Oprah lost her credibility with me early on. I am sure it has saved me many a wasted hours reading dreck from her book club.

I read this book awhile ago and I've tried, tried, tried to ignore the annoying aftertaste it left. No such luck. After many months this book, like a fat, lazy kitchen fly, continutes to annoy me. Time to finnaly take a swing and try to squash it.

A Marine myself, I so wanted to like this book - and there are parts of Marine life that Swafford gets laugh-out-loud right. But the whole enterpise is flawed by Swaffords' pompous self-opinion. Pompous because Swafford, as he has either alluded to or out right stated in interviews, is a wanna-be Michale Herr of the Vietnam era "Dispatches" fame. Whereas "Dispatches" feels genuine, trippy, and surreal, Swafford's fascimile feels contrived, hollow, and strained. The first warning sign is Swafford's disclaimer that trys to carve out permission from the reader to a present a fiction reconstructed from fact and real experiences. But instead of feeling like a genunie attempt to englighten the reader to the difficulties of memory and attempts to make sense of the past, it instead reads like an excuse or a disclaimer that a lawyer wanted tacked on. Its as if Swafford expects us to excuse the flaws, literary and pesonal, because the work is fictional while simultaneously expecting us to praise and acclaim Swafford for anf favorable "real" and fictional story line.

"Disgenuine" is one word; or, in the ultimate discredit to a Marine, "lacking in integrity".

Selfish would be another choice word : the author/protagonist never fails to tell us how smart / capable / studyly he is. Yet credit or acknowledgemet is never given to those who took an interest in and inspired or helped the author/protagonist. It is as if, despite the adversity and many obstacles that he does not spare sharing with us, he arrived on the plant and soley unassisted and possessed with such wonderful qualities. I wonder how his teacher / coach / friend's parent felt while reading this book.

What starts as great a read becomes a disapointing expostion of the Swafford/protagonists distasteful character that undercuts the reader's ability to enjoy the story line.

I could go on and on about both the distasteful flaws of the author/protagonist. But I'll spare you. In the end, all of those flaws could be part of a wonderful story that might have made this book an a deeply thoughtful, meaningful book - if the Swaffod/protagonist was capable of change. Instead, despite all that the Swafford/protagonist experiences, he does not change, he is not transformed, he wastes it all. We're left with a gear-stealing, time stealing, selfish, person who probably really believes that literature is about telling his story well.

No, what Swafford really misses is that Michael Herr's "Dispatches" is not a story: "Dispatches" is a journey that changes and transforms the reader just as Herr's own experince changed him. The only thing that changed after reading "Jarhead" was my wallet was lighter and I was a few hours older. Sigh.

The Swafford/protagonist self-image a super Marine who is smarter, funnier, superior human being to the rest of us is deeply, fundamentally, flawed and unlikable. The book, the protagonist, and the author lack character - the kind of character that makes a Marine a Marine or turns words into literature.

In the language of the Marine Corps, when someone is so fundamentally lacking in the most basic requirements, we use the most dismissive word possible: is is "unsatisfatory".

This book, like the Swafford/protagonist, is deeply "unsat".

Semper Fi

Full disclosure: I have not served in the military; however, several of my friends and family either have served (Army, Marines) or are serving currently (Navy).

Words fail me in describing this mind-breakingly poor, so-called "memoir." Far from the battle-scarred warrior he conjures, Mr. Swofford comes across as nothing so much as a whiny, self-absorbed brat. From the very first chapter, we are deluged with page upon page of his self-respect issues, his scatological and sexual fixations, his family issues, his problems with authority, and his problems with life in general. Moreover, the 95% of the book that doesn't involve combat smacks more of life in a street gang than any kind of organized fighting force. In particular, the degree and variety of misbehavior Mr. Swofford so gleefully describes boggles the mind. Civilians go to prison for the kinds of antics Mr. Swofford pulls throughout his career as an enlisted Marine (attempted rape, criminal sexual misconduct, attempted murder, multiple counts petty and grand larceny, and that's just to name the more egregious examples). I refuse to believe that any of the armed forces would react to such acts with anything other than an instant court-martial, or that Mr. Swofford's platoon mates and superiors would not have taken steps to deal with the obviously rotten apple in their barrel.

Worse, all of this "painful honesty" (by which I mean painful for the reader) is described in, to put it mildly, unconscionably bad English. Mr. Swofford fails to muster up the talent of a pre-teen fan-fiction writer, let alone a university writing graduate, and his only flash of creativity comes from some inventive recombinations of profanity. There is nothing "gritty" or "raw" about writing every other word as though it came out of a burning latrine barrel. It's simply the mark of a poor, immature writer who either can't or won't express himself properly.

"Jarhead" is truly a waste of time and money, and an insult to every decent human being, Marine or otherwise. Stay far, far away.

This is an amazing book that offers insight into the thoughts of a Marine during the Gulf War. It isnt meant to be an action packed book, it is meant to offer reflections about the many things that the Marines and other servicemen experienced. It does a great job at helping someone who isnt in the military to understand in a small part what they experienced.

Anthony Swofford's writing is rough around the edges; a great deal of the book is difficult to read, and the language crude, but it's also an honest, first-hand recounting of life as a Marine, before and during the first Gulf war.


The anti-war establishment should photocopy pages 99-103 and hand out the pages to kids who are thinking about enlisting in the military. S--er patrol has never before been so intricately described in print, and any illusions about the glamour and drama of war will be forever erased from the mind of any person reading 'Jarhead.'

This book is not recommended for those who are easily offended. Swofford describes a military hazing ritual known as the field f--k, and I have to wonder how these traditions between enlisted men are playing out now that there are so many women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Jarhead is a fantastic read! It is a glimpse into the everyday life of Marine in Desert Storm. The book is pure raw emotion. You get the chance to move to the front lines with a Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition or S.T.A sniper and see the war through his eyes. It provides an honest glimpse into what sometimes happens to these heroes after the war, the forgotten part of most war books. This book also has some hilarious parts.

Bottom Line: Try before you buy
When I read the synopsis of this book, it seemed really cool. Sort of a different take off Buffy, chick slayer, with a larger group of sidekicks.
However, I could not, for the life of me, get into the characters, at all. They did not seem believable. Added to that, their dialogue, their 'lingo' seemed just lacking...and dumb. It felt like the author was trying to hard to be 'hip', trying to hard to get it down, that special dialogue or lingo that really close friends or close co-workers use, that seems to be signature or representation of their world.
If the characters aren't strong enough, they alone cannot carry a weak story. You have to have both. Strong characters intrigue people, and make them interested in the story, and the story carries the reader along as events happen or unfold to the characters.
It's too bad...could have been really hot.
I'd recommend Kim Harrison, Laurell K. Hamilton, Rob Thurman, or Keri Arthur.

In the interest of accuracy, let me note that the edition of Minion that I have is the "Special Huntress Edition." This is a sort of "director's cut" that contains scenes not in the original edition of the novel. I have not read the first version and do not know which scenes are new.

Minion tells the story of Damali, a young African-American woman, and her friends, who together make up a rap band and, secretly, a vampire-hunting team. Damali has been chosen Buffy-style as the champion of Light against the forces of Darkness, and her friends are the Guardians sworn to protect her until she comes into her full powers. There is a second plot as well, dealing with Damali's ex-boyfriend, Carlos, who was once a Guardian candidate but has fallen into a life of organized crime.

L.A. Banks draws many parallels, throughout Minion, between vampires and those who prey upon the urban poor in real life: the gang leaders and drug kingpins. On one level, Banks's vampires are a metaphor for these human predators.

The characters speak in urban slang, and whether you like this aspect of the novel will likely depend on whether you like authors to write out their characters' accents.

Minion contains heavy Christian themes. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The bad news is that the novel feels a little preachy at times. The good news, though, is that it works well within the plot. The characters' deep Christian faith gives them motivation to fight evil, and also gives meaning to the cross-and-holy-water methods of warding off vampires. There are some vamp novels in which religion is never mentioned except when the characters are splattering holy water across the scenery. One might wonder whether it would even work if the wielder didn't actually believe in the deity and was just using the water because "everyone knows" it works against vampires.

What didn't work for me: First, the aforementioned preachiness. This tone isn't limited to religion, but also includes diet and music lyrics. On the positive side, much of the sermonizing comes from a single character and can just be chalked up to her personality.

More importantly, Minion is just too "talky" overall. It starts with some action and some tragedy, but sinks into a morass of endless talk among the characters. Much of this talk is preachy, filled with bickering, or worst of all, info-dumpy. Characters take up a lot of page space telling each other things they already know in order to convey that information to the reader. There was probably a less clumsy way to do this.

I also wish more had been done with the group's musical interests. They theoretically have a band, but we only see Damali perform once (briefly), and never see any of the other characters play music. There is talk about the power of music to help people save their souls, but while jamming together might have helped the group keep up their morale and reinforce their bond, we never see them so much as rehearse.

Finally, I had been told that Minion ended on a cliffhanger. It's more like it screeches to a halt about two miles back at the first sight of the "Caution: Cliff Ahead" sign. There is an event that the entire plot is building toward, and we never get there.

Banks shows promise in this first VAMPIRE HUNTRESS novel, but doesn't do enough with it. The plot may thicken later in the series; however, the first installment is the one that needs to hook the reader.

I'm a big fan of novels of the preternatural. Anne Rice, for example, was probably one of the first writers that created vampires that broke out of the stereotypical role first created by Bram Stoker. Laurell K. Hamilton has done a great job in her own right in her portrayal of her preternatural creatures in the Anita Blake series, as has Stephenie Meyer for the YA crowd in the Twilight Saga.

I was looking forward to sampling a new vampire series, and had heard a lot about LA Banks, so I started with Minion. I'm well over a third into it, and will not finish it -- I figure that if a book doesn't click with me by 100 pages, it probably won't. Here's why:

I love character-driven fiction, but I can't identify with Damali in any way. She doesn't have the spunk & vinegar of Anita Blake, and by page 100, we have yet to meet any vampires, except in passing. We don't know their minds, as with the novels of Rice, Hamilton & Meyer, and there's little to relate to in any of the other characters that are made of fairly flimsy cardboard.

I was also disillusioned to read that the edition of Minion that I was reading was "new & improved" based on readers' input to Banks. More sizzling erotic scenes, she promises, and a speeding up of the action. I have trouble respecting creative output that depends on what the "fans" want. An author needs to be true to him/herself, and write the story as they envision it. Anything else is pandering, and results in invalid work.

Finally, I realized only after buying the book that Minion has a cliffhanger ending. Hmm. Pretty manipulative in my opinion ... this means that you have to buy the next book, and who knows how many others? Even within a series, I believe that each book should stand alone, with a satisfying ending for the reader.

I brought Minion along for a beach read on my vacation ... and even as a beach read, this book didn't make the cut. It'll be on my pile for donation, and perhaps a reader more appreciative than me will have fun reading it.

I have a thing for a good vampire novel, so I thought I would go ahead and start this series, the book has been sitting on the shelf for some time...and I now know why I was hesitant to start lol. This book is a pretty good "set up" book. I didn't find it that hard to read, but it was a bit slow..until the end. I hope that the other readers are correct when they say that the second book is far better and maybe...if we are lucky..it gets better with each book. Worth the read, but don't expect to finish in one sitting.

So, as soon as I finished the anthology "Hotter Than Hell", I had to go out and try some of the authors that were in the book. L. A. Banks was one of them because I loved her sexy, spine tingling story about the Greek Goddess, Artemis. As you can see by my rating, I did not love this book. Actually, I wish I could choose no stars.

I won't bore you with describing the book, many have already done that for me. What I will say is, Banks seems to be trying something out that she has no feel for. I like the story and the plot that she is building, but the dialogue is very lacking. Not only do the characters not have anything special to say, but they repeat themselves WAY too much. Don't even get me started on the slang. Banks makes it feel like George Bush talking about his bling.

I do understand when a writer needs to end on a cliffhanger to get you to read the next book, after all, I am a fan of the Meredith Gentry books. However, this one seemed to stop in the middle of a thought and did not leave me wanting more. Frankly, I don't know how Banks got the funding for a second book.

That is my soapbox speech.

I won't lie and say I didn't like this book, because I did. There was a little crush going on for me with Cal. I wish he could be picked out of this novel and given a new story from a different author. Linda Howard seems to be a good writer, although I've yet to read one to compare to all the hype, but I'm working on that. "Cover of Night" seemed to start slow and end way to fast. I mean seriously, the day before Cate wasn't even sure about him and the next she said yes to marriage? Not even in a book does that work.

Cover of Night: A Novel How can you go wrong with a Linda Howard novel?

I am a big Linda Howard fan, but this book is so bad I would be ashamed to tell my friends my favorite author wrote it - reading this book is like a bad dream that gets worse! While Ms. Howard did a decent job in telling the story and explaining the characters actions and feelings, there are so many holes in all aspects of the story you feel like it's made of swiss cheese.

The biggest flaw for me is, as other reviewers have pointed out, the whole plot made no sense. The dumbest crooks wouldn't do what they did, which was costly, risky, too slow to get results, and would get every law enforcement agencies in the country on their back. I had the feeling the whole purpose of Ms. Howard's picking this "hold the entire town hostage" plan was merely to create an opportunity for the hero to show off his commando skills (and also his actions) and, of course, to justify the sudden spark of romance between the hero and the heroine.

I wouldn't advise anyone to spend her hard earned dollars on this book, but I think it's probably worth the time to read it if you can do it for free if you are curious. It will make you realize how good Ms. Howard's other books are, such as Shades of Twilight, Mr. Perfect, To Die For..etc. I hope Ms. Howard will exercise more common sense and think things through a bit more with her future books. Senseless plots and unbelievable story lines not only waste my time/money, they also make me feel insulted as a reader.

Cate Nightingale lives with her two four year old twin boys in Trail Stop, Idaho running a B & B. Calvin Harris who is the local jack of all trades is not what he seems and Cate's luck is about to run out.

One morning at the B & B a guest disappears; leaving behind all of his personal belongs. A couple days later armed men storm the house and demand the mystery man's belongings. Calvin forces the intruders into the surrounding woods where the nightmare begins for Cate, Calvin and the entire residents of the community. All of a sudden everyone finds themselves cut off and alone from the rest of civilization with no means to call for help as the threat intensifies and first blood is drawn.

With no way to communicate for help, both Cate and Calvin decided to fight their enemies head on under the cover of night. As Cate soon realizes it may not be only her enemies that she has to watch out for but also Calvin and the strong feelings she has for him.

This book was just ok for me. It didn't seem very strong in the fact that when Cate and Calvin were fighting the bad guys it was like the bad guys came in hot and heavy at first and than let Cate and Calvin save the day, so that there could be a happy ending.

Now as far as love scenes go, I don't require that the people have to do it all the time and often which is not the way with this book but when Cate and Calvin did hook up it was kind of luke warm for me.
I will check out another of Linda Howard's books but I hope that it is better than this one.

First I'm going to write about the thrilling part - If it's one written in the book. This story is about a hit man. The hit man knew - because he said so at the beginning of the book- what was the trap his prey was doing, and guess what, the hit man was right and he was caught in his own snare. Give me a break.

On the other hand you'll have to read pages and pages of twaddle writing to get to the book's end. LH knows how to write better than this.

I picked this up at a book sale, having no idea who the author was. The characters in this book are so unbelievably unbelievable it is hard to even describe it. A hotel heiress and her super-rich friends drive crappy cars, do good deeds, talk about how 3k is alot of money and get stalked by psychos. Oh, and one gets involved in w/ a cop in a "romance" storyline that is eyeball dryingly bad. At least I didn't pay too much for this book and I know to avoid this author.

Shortly after attending a seminar, Reagan Hamilton was walking to her car, when her knee gave out. She and her two friends Sophie and Cordie had been at the seminar to try and get the goods on a self help guru thought to have caused a distraught woman to commit suicide. Reagan's knee gave out periodically, but this time, she could barely get up. She was going to shout out for help, when a man approached her. The man instantly made her uncomfortable, so instead of sticking around, she followed her instincts, and made it to her car.

Reagan was catching up with her email shortly after knee surgery when she stumbled upon one containing grisly photos of a dead man. She was horrified, but was further distraught when she realized she recognized the man. It was the police detective investigating the suicide victim. Alec Buchanan was assigned to investigate the case, and was trying to make some connection between Reagan and the murdered detective. He didn't believe just their brief meeting at the station could be at the center of it. When a second victim was identified, Reagan remembered at the seminar creating a murder list for those that had wronged her, or people she would just like to get rid of, and the two murder victims were on that list. Now that the connection was established, Alec knew her life was in danger.

Alec was assigned to be her bodyguard, and both of them found the instant attraction between them to be overwhelming. He was not going to get involved with her because he had a job at the FBI waiting on him in Boston. Nothing was going to get in the way of him leaving Chicago. Famous last words! Before long neither could contain the passion between them, and they soon discovered they could not get enough of each other.

Reagan and Alec are a wonderful couple. They balance each other very well. Alec has a tough job dealing with the scourge of the earth each day, and she brings the humanity back into his world. Reagan changed a lot in this story. She had always lived her life according to the standards of her family, and doing what they told her to do. When Alec entered her life, he gave her the strength to take a stand, and live her life on her terms. Good suspenseful read.

I love Julie's contemporarary series! She artistically builds suspense while balancing building the romance at the same time.

I bought this at the drugstore as a carpool time filler....I thought it was pretty good.

This book was okay. I devoured Mercy and Killjoy, this one simply did not have the UMPH that the other two had. I had to read it, because a Buchanan was in it, I did like it, it just lacked a little magic. Don't buy it, get it from the library. If you like the family, it's worth the read. I am going on to Slow Burn, which I hope the magic returns.

I am a fan of Tami Hoag and her later works. I picked this book up thinking it would be a mystery/suspense. It was a romantic/suspense, but leaned heavily towards formula romance. In that genre, it enjoyable though it is predictable. Tami Hoag has improved through the years, this was one of her earlier books, first released in 1991 and re-released in 1999. A lot of the dialogue was simplistic and repetitive. The main character called everyone "Sugar" which soon became annoying. Once I got past those issues with the book, it was an enjoyable read. I do like her later books better.

Really not impressed with her writing. Don't know if I'll bother to read any more of her books. I've read a few already and have not been too impressed. I just wanted a good scary book! This one was too much romance thrown in.

The only thing that has ever allowed me to distinguish this title from the rest of this author's very similar pulp is the creep Amish guy. Other than that, this book is like reading the same thing with characters that just so happen to have different names.

There's the Strong, Opinionated, Smart woman doing a Man's Job, who is better at these things than anyone else, not to mention that she's Beautiful.

There's the Bitter, Ex-Jock/Cop/Hero, who's coming back into his own following a Personal Disaster, usually he's been Widowed. He's sexy and a Man's Man.

Put these two cookie cutter charaters together, there's some hot sex and a convoluted mystery, and the same miserable things in every one of these books. Yawn.

Elizabeth Stuart and her teenage son arrive in Still Waters, Minnesota to start a new life after a bruising and very public divorce from an Atlanta media mogul. Elizabeth, along with her old college friend Tess, buys the town newspaper, determined to live up to its motto and print the truth. Because she's sexy and beautiful - not to mention the fact that she discovers the body of an unpopular developer, the first murder victim in Still Waters in 33 years -Elizabeth causes quite a commotion. She meets Sheriff Dane Jantzen for the first time at the murder scene. Jantzen is an embittered ex-football player forced to retire due to a knee injury. He's also bitter because his ex-wife walked out on him when the going got tough.

And that's where the problems start. Jantzen is so bitter and one-dimensional it verges on the ridiculous. After insulting each other (Jantzen initially considers Elizabeth a murder suspect) they fall into bed in a matter of days - an all-too-common theme in Hoag's novels.

On the plus side, Hoag portrays small-town life beautifully, especially the issues and problems facing a community where the Amish and English live side by side and the reluctance of both to change their way of life. The heroine comes across as feisty and likable and you find yourself rooting for her to have the happy ending she desperately wants. Hoag's written better novels so buy this one used if you possibly can.

I've read some of her other books, and I thought they were pretty good for the suspense genre. This was almost impossible to get through. It reminded me of a Lifetime movie, and a bad one at that!

I listened to this book on audio. Initially intrigued by the interesting setting, colorful heroines, and promising plotline, I spent much of the second half of the book grimacing. Gratuitous violence is a poor substitute for well-crafted suspense.

I've read a few other Nevada Barr books and liked them well enough (although Ann Pigeon is far from my favorite mystery series protagonist), but this one I really didn't care for. I picked out the likely villain very early and I was waiting for an unexpected twist but it didn't come. Really there were virtuallly no surprises and those which there were didn't really matter much. I also got annoyed and very tired of her (the author, through mouth of the protagonist) harping on the one character's fatness, going on and on about it and describing him with really contemptuous language -- it gives a strong impression of someone who is rabidly "sizist." OK, the guy is fat - so are a lot of people, so get over it. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

This is my second Anna Pigeon mystery, and I listened to it on audio. I don't do crime books, but the first was so entertaining (and so well-narrated) and well-written, I looked forward to Hard Truth. I like mysteries, but not when they feature sadomasochistic scenes of violence, which is why I was happy to find these novels. Not now. The last two discs, where Anna is captured, are horrific to read.

HARD TRUTH by Nevada Barr takes Anna Pigeon fans deep into the stark contrast of the beauty of the Rocky Mountain Park and evil of religious cults which use faith to mask their unholy deeds. This is a different Barr, which explores kidnapping, child abuse, violence and evil. It is not a story for the faint hearted, but it contains all the classic elements of Barr's fictional prose, vivid descriptions of the locale, tight plotting, sensitive and striking characterizations.
The scenes move seamlessly between the points of view of Anna and Heath Jarrod, a wheelchair accident victim who has problems of her own when Heath discovers and bonds with the lost children.
New territory for Barr, a eye opener for her fans.
Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This is just an ugly, hateful, horrible book. Although I have regularly read the Anna Pigeon series, I have always found the gratuitous violence and brutality disturbing.

This one, though, is the worst ever---I loathed the animal torture, the child molestation, the child abuse, and the extremely unsettling religious extremism. And, of course, Anna Pigeon HAS to be brutalized, as she is in EVERY ONE of the other books.

This one was the last, however. No more for me.

The beginning and end were captivating. The middle of the book was nauseatingly repetative and dull. Characters were generally unlikeable.

I think some of the not so good reviews on here are from people who thought it was a romance novel with some mystery. It wasn't. It was a mystery/suspense novel with a sprinkling of sexual tension.

As a romance novel, I'd rate this a D. As a mystery novel, I'd give it a B because as I read it, I was constantly trying to figure out what was going on. It wasn't "The Da Vinci Code", but it was a good read.

The protagonist herself isn't sure what's what. So, it takes the reader on this ride of either trusting her mind or her gut. As a reader, I was trying to guess what was going to happen next, why she was acting the way she was with her boyfriend, her friend's murder, etc.

Good read.

I thought this story was full of suspense and surprise. It was well worth the money spent to enjoy it.

Obsession is a science fiction thriller, and a pretty big departure from Karen Robards usual work. I'd characterize the book as more of a mystery/thriller than a romance novel. Although much of the storyline is highly implausible, I don't really think it's intended to be "scientifically accurate" as she blends some elements of science fiction into the plot. There is good chemistry between the characters, and the action is fast moving with constant suspense. A good summer read if you accept the book for what it is, but if you're looking for Karen Robards more typical work, look elsewhere.

I'm a definite fan of Karen Robards, but this book seemed like it was from an author who's just starting out. The beginning really catches your attention, then about halfway through, you're scratching your head trying to figure out if your copy of the book is missing a section. It was almost as if the whole second part of the book explained the beginning but as an afterthought, kind of like the author said "oh yeah, I'll just kill the suspense and just throw something together". This book could have been great, but the author killed it in a half-hearted attempt to bring things together.

Love these books, enjoyed each one, purchased and read all to date. Arrived promptly.

B"H

I've liked all of the Dianne Mott Davidson books, but this was the weakest, by far. What a snotty kid Arch has turned into -- made worse by the fact that the new character, Liz, also has a spoiled brat. The both need a dose of Dr. Laura.

It's one thing to create unsavory characters to heighten tension, it's quite another to fill the book with them. In this one, there's no one to like -- It actually occured to me to wonder who really wrote this thing.

Maybe it's time to leave Goldy and Liz to their futures of bailing out their kids -- literally -- and focus on Julian, instead. He's the only one to have his act together.

So-so plot, annoying characters, not especially interesting recipes. I won't be looking forward to the next one quite as much....

See my review on Catering to Nobody. Also, the new character Goldy's new assistant Liz Fury works in very nicely.

Diane Mott Davidson's books are very easy to read. Something that will put a person in a good mood.

Goldy's catering business has taken off and she's exhausted. She caters an event at an expanding shopping mall and disaster strikes, as it usually does when Goldy is present. The worst part is, her dear young friend Jullian is arrested for murder. Goldy sets out to solve the crime and get Jullian out of jail. This is an especially well-plotted story that moves along at a rapid pace. Never a dull moment. The regular cast of characters are present and as enjoyable as ever. A multitude of nasty suspects gives the reader plenty of opportunities to boo and hiss. As always, many wonderful sounding recipes are included. I made the Spice Of Life Cookies and they turned out great...soft and full of flavor like a good molasses-type cookie. Davidson's books should come with warning labels. Caution: May cause weight gain.

I'd heard about this series from friends, but this is the first one I've actually read. Chopping Spree is book eleven of the series, which now has fourteen books.

1. Catering to Nobody
2. Dying for Chocolate
3. The Cereal Murders
4. The Last Suppers
5. Killer Pancake
6. The Main Corpse
7. The Grilling Season
8. Prime Cut
9. Tough Cookie
10. Sticks and Scones
11. Chopping Spree
12. Double Shot
13. Dark Tort
14. Sweet Revenge

The series features Gertrude "Goldy" Schulz, a Colorado caterer who solves murder mysteries between courses. What's different about these books is that each book includes a set of recipes for dishes being served up by Goldilock's Catering.

Everybody who knows me knows that I'm no cook, but I do enjoy good food and a murder mystery. Unfortunately, something seemed missing from this book, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would have.

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

Goldy is hired to cater a party at a shopping mall for a group of "Elite Shoppers".
Goldy consumes a lot of espresso and chocolate
Someone tries to run a truck over Goldy and friends just before the event starts.
Someone succeeds in killing somebody else, with a knife, in the shopping mall.
The clues point towards Goldilock's Catering.
Goldy downs more caffeine.
Goldy hunts down the killer, keeps her hubby happy, tolerates her bratty son, chops and dices, snoops and spies, deals with personal problems of her assistants, and yes, drinks enough coffee to cause a worldwide bean shortage.

Recipes in this book:
1. Spice of Life Cookies
2. Shoppers' Chocolate Truffles
3. Sweethearts' Swedish Meatballs in Burgundy Sauce
4. Diamond Lovers' Hot Crab Dip
5. Quiche Me Quick
6. Today-Only Avocado-Shrimp Boats
7. Super spenders' Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler
8. Ad Guys' Roast Beef and Gravy
9. Wild Girls' Grilled Mushroom Salad
10. Chopping Spree salad


This one is marred by a slightly ridiculous plot and some puzzling situations, but would be fine for those times when your brain cells won't tolerate literary abuse. Also recommended for those who aren't challenged when it comes to culinary matters.




Amanda Richards, December 15, 2007