Review-Deal Breaker

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






View all my reviews

This book was recommended by the lovely Literary Marie, and she describes the main character as Alex Cross meets Stephanie Plum. I haven't read an Alex Cross book in years, but from what I remember he was pretty cool, and of course Stephanie is AWESOME, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with checking this one out.

Myron is definitely very witty and charming, and I'd love for him to solve any case of mine. He's way more competent than Stephanie, but not quite as funny, but he's still cool. Just like in the Plum books, I liked the supporting cast as well: Myron's best friend Win, his assistant Esmerelda, and the police officer Jake. I wasn't a big fan of Myron's love interest, Jessica, at first, but she did grow on me.

The mystery (Myron sets out to find the missing girlfriend of his new client, whom everyone thought had been killed, but is now sending out pics of herself in a porn magazine) was intriguing and had lots of twists and turns. The killer was a surprise to me, because I really liked the character and didn't think of him/her as the possible killer or even a suspect at all, and was really hoping I'd see more of him/her in another book!

I did think there were parts that seemed a little forced and that Mr. Coben was trying too hard to be funny, but they were few and far between. I definitely enjoyed this read and I look forward to reading more about Myron Bolitar.

Source: purchased
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Mystery and Suspense Challenge

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (14)

It's time for It's Monday, What are you Reading? a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last Week:
I finished reading Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

This week:
I started reading Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber

Up next:
All We Know of Heaven by Jacqueline Mitchard

What are you reading this week?

Theme Thursday (6)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

1. A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
2. Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
3. Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
4. It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is BUILDING

My entry comes from Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben:

They arrived at Ridgewood High School at nine-thirty. It was a warm June day, the kind of day where you stared out the window and daydreamed about the end of school. Not much movement around the building--as though the entire school, even the edifice, were coasting toward summer vacation.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (13)

Well, it's actually Tuesday, but I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I'm just getting around to posting this today. It's Monday, What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week:
I finally finished Kindred in Death by JD Robb.

This week:
I'm reading Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben.

What are you reading this week?

Review-Kindred in Death

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another great Eve Dallas book! I can't say enough about this series, it just keeps getting better and better. Eve and Roarke are fascinating characters.

In this one, a police captain's daughter has been brutally raped and murdered, seemingly by the new college guy she has been dating, and of course Eve is on the case. I love the ones like these that aren't too sci-fi/techy. I definitely recommend this series, although it's best to start with the first one, Naked in Death, to get the full background on Eve and Roarke's relationship.



View all my reviews

Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Mystery and Suspense Challenge
Source: Library

Quiz

You Are a Hardcover Book

When it comes to reading, you tend to stick to old and modern classics. You are picky about what you read. You probably anticipate certain books' releases, and you snatch them up the moment they're available. You have been building a library of books that mean a lot to you. You carefully consider every book before deciding to add it to your collection. You believe that if a book is worth reading, it's worth paying more to have it in hardcover.

Are You a Hardcover Book or a Paperback Book?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Theme Thursday (5)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between the Pages.

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
*This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is CROCKERY/UTENSIL

My entry once again comes from Kindred in Death by JD Robb since I am still not finished with this book.

She woke just after five to the blessed scent of coffee. Opening one eye, she saw Roarke by the AutoChef, sipping a tall mug and watching her.
"I thought the timing worked," he said as he lifted a second mug and brought it to her.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (12)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly event hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week I finished:
zip, zilch, NADA. I barely did any reading at all last week. Three main reasons for this:

1. We're doing state testing in school. This is normally a time where I don't have to do a lot of work since on testing days I'm just walking around administering the test and then it's pretty much recess all the rest of the day (so no actual teaching) but I'm just so burnt out and tired by the time I come home, I didn't have time to read.

2. My father went back into the hospital again, so there's been a lot of back and forth between my place, my parent's place, and the hospital.

3. I've met the most amazing guy and we've been hanging out some this week (the only bright spot of the week!)

So that's why this week:
I'm STILL currently reading:
Kindred in Death by JD Robb. It's really good so far and I can't wait to find out who the killer is and why he did it. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY I'll be finished with it this weekend.

Up next:
I should probably start one of the books I signed up to read for the March Romance Reader's Challenge Group on goodreads.

Musing Mondays (1)

Musing Mondays is a weekly event hosted by Should Be Reading.

This week's question asks:
Do you have a favorite children’s book? Either one that you loved as a child, or one that you discovered later, and still enjoy? Tell us about it!

My favorite children's book is The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. The first time I heard it was when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Brooks, read it aloud to our class. Being a chocoholic myself, I could definitely relate to John's problem! I teach fourth grade now and for the past few years I've read this book aloud to my students, and they all seem to love it as well.

Other books that I loved as a child:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (again with the chocolate)
The Polk Street Kids series by Patricia Reilly Giff
The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series

Theme Thursday (4)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between the Pages.

1. A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
2. Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
3. Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
4. It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is VEHICLE

My entry comes from Kindred in Death by JD Robb:

She saw a minute break in traffic, gunned it, flipped her vertical, soared over--she loved this new ride--and swung west.

Best I could find for this week, lol!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (11)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last Week:
I finished reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer and Pleasure Bound by Opal Carew.

This Week:
I'm currently reading Kindred in Death by JD Robb.

Up Next:
All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard

What are you reading this week?

Review-New Moon

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






View all my reviews

Okay, so I was all prepared to dislike New Moon. I was told that this is the book where Edward goes away and I was not looking forward to pages upon pages upon pages of Bella's incessant whining and pining. I was also told that this is the book where she starts spending more time with Jacob and we find out more about him. I was all like "No! I don't care about Jacob! I don't want to read about Jacob and learn about his back story." So yeah, I thought New Moon would be a slow read for me.

That was not the case. I actually like this one even better than Twilight. First of all, I loved the way it began with Bella's birthday and the dream with her "grandma", realizing that she would be growing older while Edward remains the same. I loved the birthday party with Bella getting cut and the vampires reacting. I also didn't mind the part where Edward leaves, and I appreciated what SM did to cut out the whining and pining.

So then the best part happens. Bella decides she wants to be reckless so she gets some old, beat up motorcycles and asks Jacob to fix them up for her. They start spending more time together and Jacob becomes her best friend, even though he has a huge crush on her.

I barely paid any attention to Jacob in Twilight. I absolutely LOVED him in this book and he is now my favorite character. He just seems so cute and sweet! I was really hoping for a while that Bella would forget all about sparkle-boy and make Jacob happy by getting with him.

But then sadly, Jacob undergoes his transformation and becomes a werewolf, a werewolf that hunts "bloodsuckers." Even though he is bigger and meaner here, I still liked him. I hate what he does to Bella right at the end (with the motorcycles and Charlie) and I HOPE that he doesn't become a total a$$ in Eclipse. I know that Bella and Edward end up together, and I'm completely fine with that because I agree with Bella: Jacob is too good for her. She and Sparkle can have each other, Jacob needs to be with a more understanding, non-crazy girl (like me.)

Anyways, so the best parts of the book were all the Jacob parts. Eventually something happens where Edward thinks that Bella has died, so he decides to go to the Volturi and have himself killed. So Alice gets Bella and they go save him. This part was so boring. I don't care about the Volturi.

Edward and the Cullens come back home and Bella once again wants to become a vampire and has the Cullens vote on whether or not she will become one. Thankfully we get to see more Jacob before the book ends, although this is when he's being a meany again.

All in all, the book was great, all except for about 60 or so pages at the end with all that Volturi stuff. I hope to see more of Jacob in Eclipse. I don't mind werewolf Jacob, I just don't want total meanie Jacob. Even though I don't want them to date, I do like the friendship between he and Bella. He makes her somewhat tolerable.

Theme Thursday (3)

Theme Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Between Pages...

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:

*A theme will be posted each week (on Thursdays)
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
*Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
*It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”
*This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

This week's theme is FURNITURE.

My entry comes from pages 281-282 in my current read, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer:

"Bella?" Jacob whispered anxiously. He caught my elbow as I swayed again, and steered me back to the bed. My legs gave out when I reached the edge, and I plopped into a limp heap on the mattress.

February Recap

Books Read: 6
Favorite Book Read: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Least Favorite Book: Deadly Sanctuary by Sylvia Nobel
Number of Books Purchased: 5
Library Visits: 2
Books Won/Received: 0

Challenge Progress:
*100 Books in a Year Challenge: 6 Total: 14
*Mystery and Suspense Challenge: 1 Total: 2
*YA of the '80s/'90s Challenge: 1 Total: 1
*Show Me the Free Challenge: 1 Total: 1
*Read Me Baby, One More Time: 1 Total: 1
*Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge: 0 Total: 0
*E-Book Challenge: 1 Total: 1
*YA Reading Challenge: 3 Total: 4

Romance Reader's March Challenge

Over on GoodReads, I have entered the Romance Reader's Reading Challenges March Challenge. Here are the rules:


1. March: Read a book which title or authors name starts with “M”.

2. Birthday: Read a book from a March B-day celebrant’s GR bookshelf whose “day” falls on the same “day” as yours. If no one has the exact same day, then go for the closest date. (http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2162...)

3. Geography: Read a book whose author, setting or character is from South Carolina.

4. Third Month: Read a book that is third in a series, or has three words in the title.

5. March Off to War: Read a book about war, the military or has a military character.

6. Mardi Gras: Read a book that is set in New Orleans/Louisiana, has a colorful cover (at least 3 colors) or shows a party mask.

7. St.Patrick's Day: Read a book that has a predominantly green cover or has anything related to Ireland (plot, cover, character, etc).

8. Doctor's Day: Read a book with a medical theme (plot, cover, setting) to it or a Dr. McDreamy character.

9. Of Shelves and Lists: Read a book from the first 10 pages of the contemporary romance shelf.
(http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/cont...)

10. Reader's Choice

Challenge Duration: March 1 – March 31, 2011

You can choose 3, 5, 8 or all 10 categories depending on your reading speed, books availability and/or time commitment.

I'm going to go for 5 categories and this is what I've chosen:

2. Birthday: I picked Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris from BJRose's bookshelf
4. Third Month (third in series): Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
7. St. Patrick's Day (green cover): Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
8. Dr.'s Day: Medical Error by Richard Mabry
10. Reader's Choice: TBD