Authors By The Alphabet Q-N-A

Here are the q-n-a's for our May book choice, just cut and paste, post on your blog with  your review, and then come back here and paste your answers-



The First Cut
Dianne Emley
Ballentine Books
352 pgs.






1.    Did you like/dislike this book?  Why?
I did like this book.  Thriller/Suspense is one of my favorite genres.  I like how this book flowed, I found it keeping my interest right to the last page.

2.    What did you think of Det. Nan Vining? 
She was a great character, strong but not over the top tough as sometimes happens when making the female cop the lead.  I found her likeable and very sympathetic in her attack and how she is dealing with it.

3.    Was there a character that you liked or disliked more than any other?  Why?
I didn’t like Lt. Beltran.  When there’s a hidden agenda people can get put into harm’s way, and he exposed them to that all for his own gain.  I like Sgt. Early, they didn’t expound on her too much but I think her character has potential.  I loved her daughter Emily, what a great character she was.  Her devotion to her mom was just fantastic.

4.    Did you think Nan handled her fear well?  Did you think she was too hard on herself?
I think she was a bit hard on herself for having the fears that she did.  Her attack was just coming up on a year anniversary and she was going back to work, so she was riding herself way too hard.  I like how she was trying to talk herself through what she was imagining and feeling.

5.    What were your feelings on her relationship with Det. Jim Kissick and how the author teased about T.B Mann still being out there?  Do you hope to see that explored in her other books?
I liked the two together.  I see where the worry of working together was in the way, but I liked the chemistry between the two.  I expect T.B. Mann to be caught in her later books, and I would hope Nan gets her guy.

6.    Describe what you liked or disliked about the writers style. 
I liked how she didn’t get hung up in details.  She kept the book moving at a quick clip.  The only issue there might be was her name dropping of places and some people not from Cali will have no clue about who or what it is.  Other than that I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

7.    Being a cop is far from easy let alone a female cop, Frankie’s friend officer Hernandez touched on it with Nan and retired cop Gerardo in Frankie’s condo; do you think the author accomplished this in her writing?
Yes, she made it clear when Nan came back how some still have problems with females on the force, and how civilians have no clue what it’s like when a gun is pointed at your face, or a car is used as a weapon.

8.    Did you like that you knew who the bad guy was from the start?  Did you find it too simplistic?
That way is fine for me.  I like both styles of mysteries.  Trying to guess who the bad guy is or knowing out of the gate.  The trick with out of the gate is still holding your interest, and this book did.  I didn’t find it too simplistic at all.

9.    If you could change something about the book what would it be?
I don’t think I’d change anything.  I enjoyed it and found it a great read.

10.    Will you continue with the Det. Nan series?
Yes I think I will, I wanna find out if she finally catches T.B. Mann!!


You can read my review *HERE*

The First Cut

The First Cut
Dianne Emley
352 pgs
Ballentine Books
BCC












Amazon Blurb -

A year after surviving a brutal attack, Pasadena, Calif., police officer Nan Vining returns to duty in Emley's sizzling debut, a hard-edged police procedural with a psychic twist. Nan, a 34-year-old single mom who still bears emotional and skin-deep scars, has her mettle tested by her first case back. The gory corpse of young, blonde LAPD vice cop Frankie Lynde, who got "too close to her work," murmurs a cryptic message to Nan at the crime scene. Nan's ability to hear the dead may be connected to her near-death experience or may be a symptom of post-traumatic stress, but it does help crack Frankie's case and eerily provides a clue about Nan's unknown attacker, whom she and her 14-year-old daughter, Emily, dubbed T.B. Mann or "The Bad Man." Readers will cheer as the fast-paced, high-stakes investigation empowers Nan to triumph over a repugnant criminal and her fears. 
*****

Officer Frankie Lynde has gotten herself in a life taking situation with a man who is far from normal even though the mask he wears fools everyone in society.  He is a kinky wacko who holds her for days only to kill and dump her body with the help of his former stripper wife Pussycat.  Det. Nan Vining has just returned from a year’s leave of absence due to a brutal attack she survived at the hands of a psycho killer she has dubbed T.B. Mann.  He left her stabbed in the neck, bleeding out on a kitchen floor, and she actually flat lined for two minutes.  Now she’s back and on the case to solve Frankie’s murder at the hands of John Lesley, a wealthy night club owning social climber who is the sweetheart of all the wanna-be’s whether they’re higher ups in the police department to actors and actresses.

Nan is fighting her ghosts to hold it together on this investigation.  Hearing Frankie’s corpse speaking to her, listening to sound recordings and hearing voices that aren’t there, she fights to finish this and avenge Frankie.  Some her fellow cops are skeptical if she can do this and worry about her well being.  Her partner and former lover Det. Jim Kissick is one or them.

Will she fight her demons and get the bad guy?  Read this book and find out!  I really liked this story, I found Emley a great author.  Her story flowed seamlessly for me, not to hung up on details which can sometimes drag a thriller down.  I will definitely read more in this series.

4 cannolis

 

Authors By The Alphabet June's Book

Three Wishes: A True Story Of GoodFriends, Crushing Heartbreak and AstonishingLuck on Our Way To Love and Motherhood

Carey Goldberg
Back Bay Books
288 pgs
Book Club Choice







Amazon Blurb -


As a Moscow correspondent for the L.A. Times and a reporter for the New York Times, Goldberg's life was driven by career deadlines. Yet, like her friends Jones, a recently divorced writer, and Ferdinand, a single reporter for the Washington Post, Goldberg longed for a child. Having just ended a relationship, Goldberg decided to order eight vials of sperm from California Cryobank, a deceptively hopeful maneuver that pushed all three down the path toward motherhood. That they actually make it, and find long-term relationships along the way, makes for a happy journey, but the power of this three-pronged narrative is the trio's candor regarding the compromises and complications that arise in the process of becoming mothers. Ironically, the anonymous vials of sperm never fulfill their intended purpose, but instead become a symbol of empowerment, giving each woman the green light to let go of bad relationships, find fulfilling new connections, and determine their own destinies. This personal, carefully recounted tale will resonate with any career woman wondering if it's too late to have it all.
*****

As you can see, Marce changed her G author choice, which is just fine :)  Again, if one of us has read a book that is picked, no biggie, you can do a quick refresher if it's necessary.  I did read The Surgeon and had no problem with it.  This sounds interesting though, so I'm looking forward to it.  I know I've said if you don't like a book or find the genre offensive or too disturbing no problem, but if you can at least give it a try it would be great.  In my other book club I have read some real stinkers, Eat Pray Love, omg I hated that book!  The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake, that was a real doozy!  But I did it so I could be a real pain in the tookus at our club and raz away, though no one liked Lemon Cake, oy vey!

I haven't finished First Cut yet, but so far I am liking it.  I know it's the Holiday weekend here in the States, so I'll try and finish and have the ?'s posted on Monday.  Belle, I think you'll wanna read June's choice :) and I know Rebecca from Reading With Rebecca is contemplating so maybe she will too.

I too am sorry to see Julie going, I hope she will come back when life isn't as hectic.  If you all will just chat it up on your blogs, I think 6 - 10 of us will make for great choices as well as discussion.

Little Bee

Little Bee
Chris Cleave
Simon and Schuster Paperbacks
271 pgs
BCC












Amazon Blurb-

Amazon Best of the Month, February 2009: The publishers of Chris Cleave's new novel "don't want to spoil" the story by revealing too much about it, and there's good reason not to tell too much about the plot's pivot point. All you should know going in to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little Bee) and a well-off British couple--journalists trying to repair their strained marriage with a free holiday--who should have stayed behind their resort's walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she claims she couldn't explain to the girls from her village because they'd have no context for its abundance and calm. But she shows us the infinite rifts in a globalized world, where any distance can be crossed in a day--with the right papers--and "no one likes each other, but everyone likes U2." Where you have to give up the safety you'd assumed as your birthright if you decide to save the girl gazing at you through razor wire, left to the wolves of a failing state. 
*****

The blurb and the back of the book says not to say too much so I'll keep it brief.  This is not a bad book, it wasn't a great book in my opinion either.  I didn't find it quite as horrifying has it has been described by some, though there are some very very sad parts.  It is a story I don't really like as there is unfaithfulness in it and a bunch of lying like crazy by all.  That said, some will like this book very much and some won't.  Will I tell everyone to read it, no it wasn't my cup of tea so I wouldn't suggest it to all. It was for my book club and I know the gal who chose it was not expecting this at all.  Oh well...

3 cannolis

A Kiss Of Shadows

A Kiss Of Shadows
Laurel K Hamilton
Ballentine Books
480 pgs.













Amazon blurb -

Laurell K. Hamilton revitalized vampires, werewolves, and zombies in the popular Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books. In this new series, she updates faeries. A Kiss of Shadows introduces Merry Gentry, a.k.a. Meredith NicEssus, a faerie princess of the Unseelie Court, where politics is a blood sport. Merry, who's part sidhe (elvish), part brownie, and part human, never really fit in. She's short, not skilled in offensive magic, and mortal because of her human blood. These are real liabilities when your family, especially aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, is out to kill you. Merry has been in hiding for three years, living in Los Angeles and working for the Grey Detective Agency, which specializes in "supernatural problems, magical solutions." A new case sets her against a man who uses forbidden magic to seduce fey women and drain their power. A plan to trap him goes awry and Merry's cover is blown. Now Andais knows where she is. But things have changed in Andais's court, and Merry is changing too. Despite the selkies, brownies, goblins, and ogres in this book, it's not for children. The fey are "creatures of the senses"--and in the Unseelie court, sex and pain go together. Merry is sexually adventurous and surrounded by gorgeous, powerful males, most of whom want her badly. She's politically savvy and no coward, though she's not the warrior Anita is. Hamilton fans and readers of adult fairy tales like Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy will want to give Merry a look.
*****
Merry Gentry is a Private Eye in Los Angeles, that’s not all she is though.   She is also the Fae Princess Meredith NicEssus of the UnSeelie court and the Queen’s niece, who really doesn’t like Merry all too much, hence her living in L.A. essentially hiding from the Queen.  She uses glamour to disguise herself so no one see’s the real her, though it is known that she has some form of power.   The supernatural world of Fae is known to humans and they coexist in this tale that Laurel K. Hamilton has created.

When her cover is blown, Merry is summoned back home by her aunt with a promise of safety.  Merry doesn’t know if she should trust her, her aunt is quite wicked and known for her enjoyment of torturing her subjects.  She has also allowed Merry to be attacked with no provision of safety almost to the point of death by some of the fae.  Queen Andais has put a geas on her guards forcing them into celibacy except with herself.  Some have been celibate for hundreds of years.  That geas is being lifted for Merry, the Queen wants Merry to have a child, the problem is Merry’s horrid cousin Prince Cel and the Queen’s only child.  He has angered the Queen so now the competition is to see who can provide a child first and they will become the King or Queen.  Cel wants to see Merry dead as a doornail his hatred of her is so intense.

She isn’t even home yet and the assassination attempts have begun.  With the Queen’s guards around her, Darkness, Frost, Rhys, and Galen, Merry will be protected and taken care of in more ways than one.

LKH has crafted some great characters and an interesting world.  While Merry is decent, I’m not doing cartwheels over her.  I liked this book, I haven’t quite decided if I’ll keep going in the series yet.  I’m at the cusp here, should I….I’ll have to think about it.

3 ½  cannolis

Vampire Diaries and Goodbye To An Old Friend

I haven't read this series, but I love the t.v show!  The season finale was fantastic and it's been a great way to pass the time till True Blood's return next month.  I am wondering if I should read the books.  After Twilight I swore I'd not do YA any more.  I found it just wasn't satisfying me enough. Especially if you love PNR and suspense novels.

I don't really talk about tv shows too often on this blog, but Friday we watched the final episode ever of Smallville.  I didn't just like this series and Tom Welling, I loved it and I'm so sad it's over.  The finale was fantastic right down to him donning the suit, finally!!  It won't let me embed, but this link to you-tube shows Clark getting his suit.  I'll miss this show a lot.

http://youtu.be/88qCnkXA7YQ

Authors By The Alphabet Update

Just a reminder that May's book is The First Cut by Diane Emley.  Our G author will be chosen by Marce.









On a sad note, Julie from Reading Without Restraint has had to drop out.  She has gotten behind in her reading and just can't do it anymore.  If any or you think it's silly to continue with just 3 of us let me know.  Again I'd like to take a moment to just say what I said in my little manifesto, Deep Thoughts, read for the joy of reading, not to see how many pages you can read in a year or how many books you can get through, or how many authors want your review.  If it's becoming a job, it's not doing what it was meant to do, and that's take you to exciting new places and discover funny wonderful, and sometimes not so wonderful, characters, and make you feel good when you put that book back on it's shelf.

A Cry In The Night

A Cry In The Night
Mary Higgins Clark
352 pgs
Pocket
Audio version












Amazon Blurb -

When Jenny MacPartland meets the man of her dreams while working in a New York art gallery, she's ecstatic. Painter Erich Krueger -- whose exquisite landscapes are making him a huge success -- is handsome, sensitive...and utterly in love with her. They marry quickly and Jenny plans a loving home on Erich's vast Minnesota farm. But lonely days and eerie nights strain her nerves to the breaking point and test her sanity. Caught in a whirlpool of shattering events, Jenny soon unearths a past more terrifying than she dares imagine...tragic secrets that threaten her marriage, her children, her life.
*****

Jennie is a single mom living in Manhattan who’s ex husband is a wanna be actor and a dead beat dad who comes to her for money constantly.  She works in an art gallery that is having a show featuring young handsome up and coming artist Erich Krueger.  

In the Gallery window a painting of Eric’s mother Caroline shows the striking resemblance of Jennie to her.  All the guests actually thought she was the subject.  Eric takes her to lunch wanting to get to know her.  He tells her how his mother died when he was ten in a tragic accident. The two hit it off and start a whirlwind courtship that ends with him wanting to adopt Jennie’s two very young daughters and moving them all to his farm in Minnesota.

This was very suspenseful but I had a hard time since it was an audio-book and the narrator was horrific.  The inflection and emotion for some parts just ruined the crap out of it for me.  Also, Jennie did some things that would’ve shot flares up big time if I was there.  Like the fact that he made her wear his mother’s lingerie on their first night and then would only be with her if she had it on.  Um, no don’t think I’d ever do that!  She becomes pregnant and when Eric sees that the baby has red hair like the girls he jumps to the conclusion that her ex Kevin is the father.  What does the wack a doodle do?  He names the baby Kevin, when Jennie says do not put that on the birth cert, she doesn’t follow through to make sure he didn’t.  Cuhrazy with a capitol C!!

Eric does other odd things and has a possessive streak a mile wide.  He won’t let her go anywhere, never leaving the car keys for her and fumes if she does stuff with the girls and doesn’t wait for him.  His farm hands all are petrified of him and Rooney the farm manager’s wife is slightly looney herself adding to the drama.  I’d recommend this book for those who love a scare, just read it don’t listen.

I read this for my MHC challenge hosted by Marce from Tea Time With Marcy and I look forward to READING not listening to my next book.  I haven’t read her in many many years and look forward to getting re-acquainted with Mary again.

3 cannolis

Lover Unleashed

Lover Unleashed
J.R. Ward
489 pgs
NAL Hardcover













Amazon Blurb -

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, seductive cloth as her brother. Imprisoned for eons by their mother, the Scribe Virgin, she finally frees herself-only to face a devastating injury. Manuel Manello, M.D., is drafted by the Brotherhood to save her as only he can-but when the human surgeon and the vampire warrior meet, their two worlds collide in the face of their undeniable passion. With so much working against them, can love prove stronger than the birthright and the biology that separates them? 
*****

Book # 9 in the BDB series this being about Payne twin of Vishous.  Payne’s story takes up where Lover Mine ended, her paralyzed after sparring with Wrath.  Jane goes back to get Dr. Manny Mannelo to try and save her from paralysis.  Of course the two meet and its fireworks on the 4th of July!

The side story here deals with the Bastards, a group of vamps whose leader was the Bloodletter, V and Payne’s father’s, other child Xkor.  He witnessed Payne kill his father 200 some odd years ago, and he vows revenge.  He also wants to over throwWrath.  That it’s taken him so many damn years to finally get on the ball about this is kind of a mystery to me.  I don’t know why the Warden did that.

We also have Qhuinn pining for Blay and not acting on it, deciding to be celibate instead.  Truly this story bores me a bit, I feel nothing for either one of these characters.

Vishous is having a hell of a time with Payne’s arrival and her asking him to kill her if she can’t walk.  He and Jane hit a rocky patch and he turns to his man Butch to work him over, as the only person he truly can trust.  His BDSM fetish is something Jane can’t go into full force and in this instance he needs to be the sub.  Butch does this unhappily, but his love for his friend is more important.  Again, Jane is not my favorite, she is better here, but this is really the one instance where I wish Ward would have let it go.  V and Butch just work for me, and Marissa is a nothing too.  No loss on that front but alas still just a side wish for all of us who like those two together.

Manny is ok, not the greatest character, but workable.  We’ll see how he grows as the series continues I guess.  For the most part, lessers were non-existent which is fine with me, and the small story of a serial killer was just a distraction imho.

The branding is just insane as always, Versace this, Herradura that, Lil’Wayne’s I’m Not A Human Being on the speakers(anyone who’s caught a glimpse of Lil’Wayne with that crazy a$$ grill of his wouldn’t argue that point), blah blah blah, and of course with the verbage, true? And Lord knows no one delivers a love scene like the Warden.  Hhhhmm,well except maybe ch. 32 in One Foot In The Grave from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.  Still, I’m hooked like a fish and will read # 10 when it comes, supposedly about Tohr.

4 cannolis

ShadowFever

Shadowfever
Karen Marie Moning
594 pgs
Delacorte













Amazon Blurb -
“Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.”

MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.

Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.

What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.

In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.
Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?

From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it. 
*****

Wow, again, WOW!!  I will be using my spoiler box cause there are some things I just have to spill about.

Mac is on a mission to capture the Sinsar Dubh and create a new world.  To do it she must convince her enemy, Darrok, aka The Lord Master that she wants to hook up with him so they can rule together.  Will it work?  Will he buy her baloney?  Is she strong enough to get close to who killed her sister?  Who did Mac kill, was it JB was it Christian?  Who is Dreamy Eyed Guy?  Will she finally cave for V’lane?  One has to read to find out.

This book just had me busted up.  My heart was hurting more times than I can count.  Tears would come to my eyes. I love JB I love Mac, Lordy I love Christian “Doona by duhing me missy!” MacKeltar, I love Dani.  We even get a very small peak at those lovely Highlanders, my fave being Cian.  *Sniffle* That this was the end was sad.  I really loved this series, it is just fantastic.  The characters are so rich and vibrant you can’t help but love the good guys and just hate the baddies.  A great end to a wonderful tale.

class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">Spoiler:

Holy crap my heart just ceased as Mac was over JB’s body trying to give him her blood, put his innards back in and just go into emotional meltdown.  Then when she was grabbed after Darroc bit it and in the bookstore I was in tears as she saw it was truly him!  How he loves her and just was so darn stubborn. So typical alpha male, yet so very irresistible, he will always protect her and love her to death.

Man oh man!! Poor Christian starting to turn fae, but my oh my how freakin hot was he?!  I really loved his character.

I always hated Rowena, and this just cemented the whole damn deal for me and poor Dani, I never saw that coming and it was like a punch in the stomach!

I kept saying she can’t be the freakin King no damn way what the heck is going on, but I never gave much thought as to who Dreamy Eye Guy was!
V’LANE!!!; WTF!!! I wanted to scream, the hottest fae next to Adam and this is how it goes, oh no!!!!!

Get the book, if you haven’t read the series start.

5 cannolis

Hopping On Friday

This Hop is hosted by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books, and it runs through the weekend, so if you can't today, hop on tomorrow!  Just remember, go to her site, follow the rules, visit some of the blogs and get to know em, if you start to follow tell em you met them through the hop!

This weeks ? -

 "Which book blogger would you most like to meet in real life?"

What a great question!  There are 4 bloggers I would love to meet in person.  I love their blogs, their posts always offer something insightful or informative.  We share similar tastes in books too ;)  Here they are -

Marce from Tea time With Marce.  She is just wonderful.  I thriller suspense lover like me, and a challenge enabler too!

Julie from Reading Without Restraint.  I love this woman's blog, as well as being so down to earth, what a sweet lady.

Christine from The Happily Ever After.  Christine's blog covers not just books, but her life as well.  She shares unselfishly what is happening in her world and I love reading about it. 

Steph from Fangs Wands And Fairy Dust.  Need I say more?  I love Steph's blog and she's a UF PNR junkie like me, her blog is chock full of info on not just the books she reads but the meaning behind some of the lore they carry.  Just love it.

These ladies would be so great to share a cup of coffee, or better yet, a margarita with!  Go check em out :)

The Month's Wrap-Up

Can you believe it's already May?  Time is flying and the kid's will be done with school in 22 days!  I'll have to compile my summer reading list soon.

I had a good reading month!  I've read 7 books and 1/2 of an eighth. My book club book choice Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino turned out to be much better than I ever thought it could be, my online book club Authors By The Alphabet for the letter F, Still Life With Husband by Lauren Fox, was ok. Click on the club title if you'd like to join :)   I had one really big stinker, About Grace by Anthony Doerr.  OMG that book was soooo bad I never should have finished it!!  My review is *HERE*

Right now I'm about halfway through Shadowfever.  This book is just fantastic, and it has had me gasping, heart-clenching and tearing up a bunch of times already.  My oh my I love Jerricho Barnes!  Mac  has come a long way since the first book.  I can't wait to see how it finishes.

What's up for May?  I have a few goodies coming.  Here they are-




This month is a bit heavy on the PNR, that's ok a couple of these are in my TBR pile which I have my challenge going for and want to whittle that monster down!  Little Bee is a book club choice, again I'm not too anxious about reading, the second is the letter E for my online club, The First Cut by Dianne Emley.  We went back so we wouldn't miss any letters if possible.  Sounded real good and I've not read her yet.  J.R Ward is up as soon as I'm through with Shadowfever.  I love this series, some of the books most certainly more than others, V is my favorite brother followed by Zhadist, so I look forward to seeing him in this one, with Payne being his twin.  And no, I'm not even a little embarrassed by the corniness of them, and all the branding the Warden throws around, never mind her lingo.  I will then read Dead Reckoning.  It should get here today, my dd will chomp it down first, then I'll read it.  I love this series, and I love the show too.  I am anxious to see what Miss Charlaine has up for us next!  I haven't yet started Laurel K Hamiliton's Merry Gentry series, and I'm anxious too see what that's all about so I look forward to A Kiss Of Shadows.  At some point I need to get back to Anita Blake, but I am angry at the spin LKH has taken it so I haven't picked it up since finishing #16 Danse Macabre well over a year ago.

Of course the order sometimes changes, depending on my mood, and maybe I'll be able to squeeze an extra in there too but this is my reading for May.  How about you, got a list compiled or do you fly by the seat of your pants?

Happy Reading