An Ice Cold Grave

An Ice Cold Grave
Charlaine Harris
280 pgs
Berkely Prime Crime













Amazon Blurb -

Bestseller Harris's exciting third Harper Connelly mystery (after 2006's Grave Surprise) finds the psychic sleuth faced with her most challenging and heartbreaking job to date: locating the bodies of runaway boys who the people of Doraville, N.C., suspect have become victims of a serial killer. After Harper locates eight long-dead bodies, much to the surprise of skeptical Sheriff Sandra Rockwell, a mysterious figure attacks Harper. Though all Harper wants is to go home and recover from her injuries, the local authorities and State Bureau of Investigation agents demand that she stay in town to help with their investigation. The cold case heats up fast, attracting media attention as well as Harper's friends, ailing psychic Xylda Bernardo and her doting grandson, Manfred, who make another gruesome discovery. Harper's changing relationship with her stepbrother, manager and confidant, Tolliver Lang, lends personal interest. Harris dependably delivers fear with charming down-home finesse. 
*****

Harper and Tolliver are in North Carolina searching for several boys who have gone missing in the past few years.  The most recent one just 3 months ago.  This is a first for Harper, she has never dealt with a serial killer before.  Sheriff Rockwell isn't as skeptical nor nasty to Harper as she has dealt with in the past.  One of the missing boys grandmother has taken up a collection to pay her with, and Harper sets out to see what she can do.

Locating 8 bodies for them, Harper is horrified at how they died and just wants to get the heck out of there.  Unfortunately that won't be the case.  She's attacked, ends up in the hospital, and the State Bureau of Investigations wants her to stay and help them some more.  It becomes a media circus, friend and psychic Xylda Bernardo and her grandson Manfred come to town to lend a hand.

Manfred is sweet on Harper and this just drives Tolliver crazy.  Harper loves Tolliver, who is NOT her brother, but keeps it to herself for fear that he'll up and leave her.  As the story progresses, how she feels comes out and what Tolliver thinks does as well.

Filled with suspense, great storyline, and great characters, Harris has scored again with Harper Connelly.  You can breeze through this book and not feel bogged down, yet be fully engrossed by the action.  I look forward to the next book.

4 cannolis

Flowers For Elvis

Flowers For Elvis
Julia Schuster
248 pgs.
Bell Bridge Books














Amazon Blurb -

Flowers For Elvis is quirky Southern fiction with a literary edge, surprising humor and an uplifting spirit. In 1956, Olivia and her twin sister are born to a nun an old auto parts store turned convent in rural Mississippi. Little Olivia doesn't survive the day, but her spunky spirit hangs around and takes on the role of ethereal watchdog over her twin. When the Reverend Mother-and holy guilt-convince the nun's sister (a young pregnant newlywed) to secretly raise the baby as the twin of her own soon-to-be-born child, Olivia realizes the urgency of her presence and support. Not only is her aunt a fanatical Elvis fan, she's a renegade Southern belle, bent on self-indulgence and desperate to safeguard her multitude of sins. Without revealing which girl is her twin until the end, Olivia takes the reader on a flower strewn tour of misguided love and maternal betrayal which culminates at Elvis' funeral, where they finally discover the truth of their parentage and unravel the generations of secrets that shadowed their lives. 
*****

During a rainy night in rural Mississippi, in the cold, a nun has given birth to twins.  One is still born the other lives.  Mother Superior takes the babies, has the nuns bury the other baby girl in the yard of the convent which was once an auto parts shop.  The year is 1958 and the twins were bi-racial.  Mother names the baby that has passed Olivia and guiltily feels relief that she has died due to her obvious mixed heritage.  Being in the south during this time would have been way to hard for that child in her mind. What does Mother do?  She has the nun's sister who is also pregnant and due any day come down to the convent and tells her she is going to adopt this baby and raise her as her own.  Genevieve was a wild child and wonders what the Mother wants from her and can't believe this is her request.  With a pocket full of confessions scribbled to her idol Elvis, is shocked by Mother's desire.  Genevieve has no clue that this baby is really her niece, she thinks her sister is away on some mission with the nuns.  Filled with guilt for all her "sins" Genevieve stays at the convent and gives birth three days later, and then comes home with both girls to be raised as twins.  Mother never tells the baby's real mother that one twin died, only that both were adopted by a wonderful family.

The sweet twist?  Olivia's spirit leaves her tiny body, and she follows the "twins" and their mother/aunt throughout their life sort of as a guardian angel.  Poor Olivia tries to steer them, the girls somewhat sense her presence, but she can't do all that much to help them.

You soon learn that these girls are funny and mischievous, being taught by a woman/child who they call Moody instead of mom because of all her crazy mood swings.  Their father has no control over them nor does their mother who really doesn't give them much guidance at all.  They go on Elvis stalkings with Moody, help with the family floral business meet their Aunt Willard for the first time, suffer the disappearance of their father, and grow into pre-teens.  This is where the trouble really takes shape.  Poor Olivia is usually helpless to stop what takes place and realizes that sometimes bad has to happen in life.  While their Mother pines for her long lost love, the girls fend for themselves. 

As they grow, you never know which girl belongs to which sister, all the way to the very end.  You keep guessing, and the roller coaster of who their parents are becomes quite a ride worth getting on.

Tragic, funny, and sometimes very aggravating, this was a really great story.  I can't give it 5 cannolis for two reasons, I hate infidelity, and there was blatant child molestation taking place here with no comeuppance to the perpetrator imho, some who have read it will probably disagree, but it was not to my satisfaction.  I do recommend this book.

4 1/2 cannolis

Friday Follow

I haven't Followed in a long while.  Thought I'd take a spin :)

If you're interested we have a book club going on here called Authors By The Alphabet.  Kinda self explanatory, gives us all a chance to go through authors alphabetically and expand our reading world, sometimes with lovely surprises, sometimes with teeth gnashing growls ;)  This month is H and we have Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. Just click on  the club title to join!
*****

On to the Follow -



 To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - Read.Breathe.Relax.
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!  

PJ's ? for this week -

Q. Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished? 

I have three that I've read when I never should have continued, the second one was after I vowed to never EVER read a crummy book again!! 

#3


Yes it's true I hated this book.  By #3 I was like eh, then this one just stunk for me. I kept going since I had read the rest, but vowed to never do it again.  Too many good books out there to waste time on kaka.















#2

Oops I did it again ;)  Yeah that's right after saying NEVUH! I read the most boring book in the whole world.  They should have given this book out in Guantanamo for torture!  I kept going to see if my hunch about it was right and ya know what, that was really dumb.   Not only was I wrong, but I wanted to throw a rope over a rafter after this one!!!              









# 1




That's right folks, 3 times the charm :)  My all time suckiest book is this drivel filled bull sh*t.  Why did I do it you ask?  Well my sis in law started a book club last August and this was their first choice.  I was in Vegas when they met so I couldn't stamp my feet and throw a hissy fit in protest so I read this crap and took one for the team.  Wanna see my vitriol filled review?  Go *here*  All I know is I wish a publisher would pay me to eat my way through Italy, I'd do it with a smile as big as New York City!!









Happy Friday Bloggers, and have a great weekend!!

Authors By The Alphabet July's Book

Ok ladies, our choice has been made -


Grave Sight
Charlaine Harris
Berkley
310 pgs














Amazon Blurb -

Ever since Harper Connelly survived a zap from a lightning bolt, she's been able to find dead people, a skill that makes the protagonist in the first installment of Harris's new series a tad more bizarre than the mind-reading heroine of the author's Sookie Stackhouse books (Dead as a Doornail, etc.). Harper travels to the Ozark town of Sarne, Ark., to find a missing teenage girl's body, accompanied by her stepbrother, Tolliver, who acts as her manager and bodyguard and with whom she shares a thinly disguised physical attraction that they manage to keep at bay by engaging in casual sex with various partners. Finding the body takes no time at all, but leaving town afterward isn't so easy. When Harper's life is threatened and Tolliver ends up in jail on trumped-up charges, it quickly becomes apparent that something sinister is going on in Sarne. Harris delivers a knuckle-gnawing tale populated with well-developed, albeit edgy characters. A nifty puzzle toward the end will challenge the most jaded mystery buffs.
*****

This was a great book!  I love the series and will be continuing with it.  I have both 1 and 2 in pdf form, if any of you would like to have it just let me know.  For the kindle, I have downloaded Calibre (just click on the name) so you can convert files to mobi. 

Great choice Christine!!  Belle you do have the letter I, so have fun seeking a book for us I look forward to our next author!

June's Wrap-Up

June was a good reading month for me.  I read everything I listed and an extra book as well.  Really enjoyed Dead Reckoning with Sookie, I can't believe there's only one more of those left.  Beneath A Blood Red Moon was ok, I have the second in that series so I'll read it to get it off my tbr challenge, but I'm not going to keep going with it.  Nice for quick fluff, but not a real grabber.  My two book club choices were really polar opposites!  My online club choice, Three Wishes, just didn't do it for me and was a misleading title to say the least.  My review is *HERE* if you'd like to know more, just be careful since our q-n-a is in this post as well and there are spoilers.  My other book club choice, Finishing Touches was really decent.  Definitely chick lit, but I enjoyed it and had a lot to say at our meeting.  My review is *HERE* .  Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank was a nice surprise, very easy reading and I'll keep going with the series when I want some light entertaining.  Vampire Seduction was ok, not quite what I'd have liked, but I have the second book that I will read and if it doesn't grab me then I'll end with that.  I ended the month with Mercy Thompson and book four, Iron Kissed.  I love this series and I loved this book, I can't wait to read the next which is on my book shelf!  My review is *HERE*  Mercy is an awesome character and I love the chemistry with all of them.  Fantastic.

What's up for July?  Well, I have started a great little book that was a kindle freebie last August - Flowers For Elvis.  This is wonderful Southern Lit that I really enjoy, I have such an affinity for southerners and the south, I teasingly say in a past life I was a Belle.  I really need to whittle this kindle tbr down, and hope my two challenges offer me that opportunity.  There are just way to many books in my E library that are floundering.  So far this is a gem.  For my book clubs, I have already read the books, so I don't have any bcc's here, kind of a free reading month ;)  Here is a view of this months list -






So this is my list for July.  Sometimes I read them all, sometimes I change my mind and switch to something different, some are for challenges that I have been slacking at.  We shall see how the month progresses.  In the meantime I'm gonna try and kick some tbr booty!!

Iron Kissed

Iron Kissed
Patricia Briggs
Ace
287 pgs.














Amazon Blurb -

Shape-shifter Mercy Thompson has a complex life, juggling two werewolf lovers and a job working for a fae mechanic; things get even more hectic when her boss and mentor is arrested for killing a citizen of the fae reservation. As the fae seem content to let him rot, Thompson takes it on herself to clear her friend's name, beginning a lone-wolf investigation that may cost her life. Briggs's third novel featuring Thompson (after Blood Bound) is another top-notch paranormal mystery; her well-balanced contemporary world, where humans live uneasily among werewolves and fae, is still a believably lived-in world; the ever-present threat of government legislation against nonhumans (though familiar to X-Men fans) adds weight to her paranormal elements, and thoughtfully researched mythology adds rich detail. Thompson is a sharp, strong heroine and her lycanthropic love triangle is honest and steamy. Briggs never shies from difficult material, and she moves effortlessly from werewolf pack psychology to human legal proceedings, making this a tense, nimble, crowd-pleasing page-turner.
*****

Mercy's fae friend Zee has called in his favor.  He needs Mercy to enter the home's of murdered fae in her coyote form to try and sniff out the killer.  Finding out who it is and telling Zee, Zee is arrested for the murder of the murderer.  She knows he is innocent and Mercy being Mercy will not stay out of fae business till he's proven  innocent, even at the risk of her own life.

Of course that is never her only trouble.  She still has were Sam and Alpha were Adam vying for her love. Honey, one of the pack's females has explained that by not accepting Adams offer as his mate she is weakening the whole pack and takes the time to explain just what Adam's declaring that has done for her besides protecting Mercy from other weres killing her.  She'll need Adam's help more than once here as the fae put a hit out on her for seeing too much of their secrets, and she gets herself in a situation that nearly breaks her and had me tearing up for what she suffers. 

Mercy is just a fantastic female protagonist.  She is so strong, yet not obnoxiously so.  She makes just enough mistakes that you can't help but say "oh Mercy when will you put a cork in it?"  The other characters are great as well, Warren and Kyle are great friends, and Sam is not so bad himself.  You also get to see another side of Ben that redeems him completely in my eyes.  Briggs has really scored with this series, I read them with as much gusto and enjoyment as I do Sookie's books and can't wait to read #4, Bone Crossed which is sitting on my shelf.

4 1/2 cannolis

Vampire's Seduction

Vampire's Seduction
Raven Hart
Del Rey
408 pgs















Amazon Blurb -

Suspenseful without being horrific and sexy without being romantic, this debut from Hart (a pseudonym for the writing team of Virginia Ellis and Susan Goggins) adds nothing to the growing pile of vampire fiction except the promise of more to come. Vampire William Cuyler Thorne is a 500-year-old socialite living in contemporary Savannah, Ga. Passing himself off as a new family scion each generation since the Revolutionary War, William has acquired substantial wealth, social stature and a co-conspirator in Eleanor, a high-class madam who supplies women to satiate his bloodlust. Despite his savagery and anger issues, William isn't such a bad guy: his victims are all willing, he sponsors charity events, and he's even got a good-ol'-boy buddy, Jack McShane, a former Confederate soldier whom William turned into a bloodsucker. Life is good for the trio until the sadistic Reedrek, William's vampiric sire, shows up to make William pay for centuries of defiance. Luckily, William has his friends and voodoo princess Melaphia on his side—but can he retain their loyalty when the powerful Reedrek seeks to turn their allegiance? 
*****

William Cuyler Thorne is a vamp living in Savannah Ga.  He's been there for over 200 years and is considered the upper echelon of society, holding his swanky fundraisers in his historic home with Savannah's other social uppers.  He's quiet, not a bad vamp, keeps to himself, only has one "child", Jack, who he made on the the bloodied Civil war ground as Jack lay dying.  His helpers are Melaphia a voodoo princess who's mother, great- grandmother and great-great- grandmother stood at William's side as well as twin brother and sister Deylaud and Reyah, who are human by night and Egyptian guard dogs by day, and his girlfriend Eleanor a madam for high-end prostitutes.

Trouble has never come to him till now, his maker Reedrek is in Savannah to wreak havoc on William and his friends in his quest to become even more powerful and just for his plain hate of William.  The problem is will all his friends stand by him to defeat Reedrek or will he be left to flounder on his own?

This was an ok story.  I liked Jack a lot more than William.  Somewhat on the tame side, I felt it didn't have quite enough tooth-pardon the pun.  William was a bit stuffy except while with Eleanor, whereas Jack was just too funny, what a great character he was.  I wish William let his hair down a bit more in the book, he has potential.  This is the first in the series so maybe the others get better.  I have #2 which I will read since it's in my tbr, but if it doesn't pick up, ciao ciao bambino.

A funny quote between Jack and William has William telling Jack he'll have to host the big soiree at the mansion and wear the special jacket that's whammied with voodoo magic -

"You expect me to go around Savannah looking like a fugitive from the gay pride parade?  No way is that happening - or in vampire speak, not on your immortal life!"

3 cannolis