Tess Gerritsen - The Silent Girl

Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston's Chinatown will do both.
In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female's severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair -- not human -- cling to her body. They are Rizzoli's only clues, but they're enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.
Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she's the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.
Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning -- and a swift, avenging blade.

Comment: Another book by this amazing author. She writes my favorite suspense books...I've repeated myself many times but this is it.
In this new book in the adventures of Rizzoli and Isles, they come across a crime in Chinatown. There's legends and stories around the plot based on that and the author has written a note in the end of the book saying it's a kind of homage to her mother's side of the family.
There was a awful murder-suicide in one restaurant in Chinatown 19 years ago and now a young Caucasian woman is found without her hand and she has a address in her pocket directing her to Chinatown. These two things don't have an apparent connection but because of a missing girl, we realize, chapter after chapter, that they do.

I loved the book. This author always delivers a good and solid story. Something we can follow and appreciate and with scenes from the lives of the two protagonists in there just to make the story more familiar, more realistic.
I like this because this makes Jane and Maura more human, more emotional and we can relate to them or at least to what they are faced against in their private lives. Jane has her parents divorce and Maura her posture as a professional threatened because a cop killed someone and she states facts when cops want recognition. It's a hard dilemma to go through but sometimes your conscience rules.
The story is very interesting and as always, evolves slowly but grows in intensity towards the end, which can be a bit predictable this time, but still amazingly nonetheless. You see there's two mysteries for the reader to investigate in the book: one of them is like I said, a bit predictable and the other one, like she always does, it's a surprise. The author does deliver.

I can't wait to read another book by Gerritsen, I hope it won't take very long...

Susanna Kearsley - Sophia's Secret

History has all but forgotten the spring of 1708, when an invasion fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.
Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors, and starts to write.
But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory...making her the only living person who can know the truth of what did happen all those years ago - a tale of love and loyalty...and ultimate betrayal.

Comment: Years ago I've read a book by this author and I loved it. It was The Shadowy Horses, a great romance. I don't even know why it took me so long to try something else but this was the time.
Sophia's Secret was first published as Winter Sea. After reading the book I understand the original title but I think the second is best suited simply because it's more obvious. The first one is a reference to something in the book, but I don't think it's such a pertinent detail.

The story is divided in two, the present and the past. In the present, Carrie is a writer of historical romances and her research takes her to Scotland to write a story set in 1708. But as long as she learns about that time and those who lived it, she starts having very vivid scenes from things and people from that time which leads her to think she might have an ancestral memory. This means she is the only person who can really know what happened all those years ago in precision. At the same time, her personal life changes too after she meets the owner of the cottage she is renting and his two sons.
I'd say there's a bigger percentage of historical scenes in the past, which explains the second title better. Personally I would have preferred to see more of the actual time scenes because for me they were more interesting, although i understand the fascination with the historical side. But I was really more curious about Carrie herself and her life.
All characters are very intriguing because there's always a certain sense of mystery around them, the author doesn't give us all at once and after reading the book there's still things we can't help but imagining, so this makes us intrigued but delighted too and it's like we know there's something else in there but despite not knowing, we still feel we've had enough. It's just that there's something else mysterious almost in our grasp...
The story is good too, like I said, personally the present is more interesting foe me, but the historical one is quite rich in details and sequence. We can see the author has done her research. The end of the historical part is unpredictable and I was very surprised although after reading it I can't imagine why I didn't think of it. The ending of the present part is more expected but still cute.
I recommend this to everyone who likes history and a sweet romance to balance the more precise parts of a book. It was very sweet.
I still prefer the first book by the author I've read, but I'm now determined to buy the rest and try them all.

Christina Dodd - My Favorite Bride

When Miss Samantha Prendregast arrives at Devil's Fell to take charge of six rebellious girls, the vibrant, outspoken governess is not quite prepared to deal with the tall, dark and dashing master of the grand estate. The children she can manage with intelligence, guile...and a little bribery. Their widowed father, Colonel William Gregory, is not so easily charmed-and far too easy to fall in love with, which she dares not do.
William always cherished the orderliness of his life, until this captivating troublemaker began flouting his authority and distracting him with her witty defiance and breathtaking beauty. Despite the fact that they clash at every meeting, William finds himself inexplicably drawn to Samantha's fire. And now he's even contemplating marriage, which would be sweet madness indeed.
But before he can successfully woo her, William must discover what it is that Samantha is hiding from him. But the secret the lady is preciously guarding is far too shocking and dangerous to ever reveal...

Comment: Some years ago, two or three, I've started reading this author's Governess series. I've stopped because I was enjoying them enough that I didn't want to finish them all at once. They weren't the best thing I've had read but they were so entertaining and interesting that I was seduced. In fact, after trying all the author's genres, I have to say historicals is the one I prefer and the one I think she is most successful at. But that's me.

This is the sixth story in the series and I liked it a lot. Samantha is a governess with a shady past. Her childhood was poor and her mother died soon so she was left with her father that treated in such a way it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't cry but I felt like it. Anyway, she became a known pickpocket but was rescued by her employer and since then her life turned better...but she speaks her mind and that got her in trouble where she worked because she couldn't stand seeing injustices. The owner of the governess agency decides to send her to the country after Samantha's latest trouble, and she's to become the governess of 6 children, all of them motherless. Their father was in the military and rules the house like a ship but of course this is a romance and with children's pranks and a handsome boss, what could be more natural than for Samantha to fall for them all?

This sounds familiar, isn't it? Yep, the moment I read the blurb the first thing that came to my mind was "Sound of Music". Lol. Obviously there are several differences, but it's interesting the inspiration. The same thing happened to some of her other novels in the series, which were so similar to movies.
Well, the story starts when Samantha arrives where she's supposed to be but no one is expecting her so she tries to walk but it's almost robbed.
The thing is, her new boss wants to catch spies that cross his land and in particular a couple that trades secrets and the betrays the country. He also wants a new wife because his children need a mother, so he arranges for a party where he can lure the couple and see if the woman he has in mind to propose to could manage the task. However, he wasn't counting on being attracted to Samantha, who still can't really hold her tongue or be submissive.
The sparks flew between them because they argued and it was fun to watch. I think the romance part of all this was very good, there's also a sub plot with another couple having a romance, I liked it. And when the main couple finally became intimate it was both sweet and romantic. I really liked it, I think, of all the books in the series, this one is now my favorite. The bad guys are caught, of course and all ends well. But this we knew from the start that would happen, but the way things progresses until then was very amusing and entertaining to follow.
There were interesting situations and some scenes, specially the one when Samantha explains why she's not married are quite stamped on my head because they made the story more rich somehow. You know, sometimes little details can make a whole book look better.
I really liked this one. I'm not so sure about the next one's blurb, but let's see..I'll be reading it next month.

CE Murphy - Demon Hunts

Seattle police detective Joanne Walker started the year mostly dead, and she's ending it trying not to be consumed by evil. Literally.
She's proven she can handle the gods and the walking dead. But a cannibalistic serial killer? That's more than even she bargained for. What's worse, the brutal demon can only be tracked one way. If Joanne is to stop its campaign of terror, she'll have to hunt it where it lives: the Lower World, a shamanistic plane of magic and spirits.
Trouble is, Joanne's skills are no match for the dangers she's about to face--and her on-the-job training could prove fatal to the people she's sworn to protect...

Comment: The 5th installment in the Walker Paper Series.
This time Joanne faces a being that eats the flesh of dead people and she has no idea how to stop this. And the only way of stopping the bad guy from killing even more and to protect those around her, she has to go to the Lower World and she knows despite embracing her shaman side lately, she still has a lot to learn before she can be successful in a place of such magic she can do more harm than good if she doesn't know what she's doing.

I have to confess...the biggest reason I read these books is to see if Joanne gains some romance in her life. She does in this one hallelujah, but...not with the guy she ends up with. I know the person she's with in this story is someone important to her, someone she trusts and who knows what's to know about her and even more I know it's not something definitive because after all, she still has feelings for her boss, but it still bothers me a little bit that a heroine (or a hero, for that matter) has intimacy with someone not his/her intended. I'm all for attempting to be happy if the person you don't have but want isn't available. Sometimes people just have to move on with their lives.
But this is fiction and I'm old fashioned. I like the fantasy. The magic of it. I like the illusion that when a character meets their special person, soul mate, mate, beloved, significant other, whatever, their feelings can't be "used" so to speak, in somebody else. And this happened here. Rationally I get it and Joanne deserves someone, but....but she's in love with someone else, that should gain more points than admiration and joy...right?
Ah well..this was the only thing that annoyed me a little bit and not that much because I just know she will have to end up with her boss, somehow (or else I'll scream), eventually. But until then...hummmm
The story...well, it's fun and it presents an interesting plot line. I thought it had once more some scenes where isn't that easy to separate the reality from Joanne's trips to the astral planes and Lower World specially because some scenes kept changing sets and it was almost like ping pong, so a bit confusing. But overall, not badly done. Some people from Joanne's past make an appearance and it shows us more about her personality. I liked knowing more about her feelings and how she has to deal with what she always saw and what really happened..it's called growing up lol, but it was interesting.
Still, I don't consider this one of my favorites. It has some things I didn't enjoy that much so the good parts were a bit overshadowed for me, but this is a continuous series, she would have to deal with some of this stuff at some point.
Now I can't wait for the next one...I keep thinking, will this be the one where she confesses she's in love with him? Lol

Richard Zimler - The Varsaw Anagrams

Warsaw, 1941--an exhausted and elderly psychiatrist named Erik Cohen makes his way home to the Jewish ghetto after being interned in a Nazi labor camp. Yet only one visionary man--Heniek Corben--can see him and hear him. Heniek soon realizes that Cohen has become an ibbur--a spirit. But how and why has he taken this form?

As Cohen recounts his disturbing and moving story, small but telling inconsistencies appear in his narrative. Heniek begins to believe that Cohen is not the secular Jew he claims to be, but may, in fact, be a student of practical Kabbalah?of magic. Why is he lying? And what is the importance of the anagrams he creates for the names of his friends and relatives? Heniek traces his suspicions and comes to an astonishing conclusion?one that has consequences for his own identity and life, and perhaps for the reader's as well.

Comment: Another read because of a book club.
I had seen this author's name often in my local library. I always imagined it would be boring, detailed stories, describing monotone behaviors that would be as much appealing to me as eating shrimp, which is to say...not at all.
I'm happily proven wrong because I loved the author's book. I mean, the story is too sad, but I liked reading it. What a paradox it can be sometimes, isn't it? To enjoy a story /book but not the book/story? Anyway... apart from surprises and wrong impressions from things we didn't know of, this author has written a moving story but also very sad like I said. I cried a couple of times because if it's awful to read about it, how much more awful, how much hard was it to bear the pain of it in flesh? This thought crossed my mind many times, and after reading this and after some talks I've had with people, I still think how many German people feel the burden of their heritage, specially because so many were innocent in all that but the world sees the whole, not the details...

So, the book is obviously about the Nazi oppression. This story focuses on the Jews living in a neighborhood in Poland, forced to live in ghettos before deportation to concentration camps. We go through so many details of their lives, of the lack of food and dignity they were forced to suffer and it's like a slap in the face to think the only rational living creature in the planet can be so stupid and illogical.
The main plot is how Erik Cohen tries to find out what happened to his nephew (almost a grandson actually) after he was killed and dumped in barbed wire for the Jews to find and see. The whole book shows us Erik's thoughts and actions to discover the truth with the help of friends. During this, we get to see little things about what life was for those people and how they were reduced to live like animals, worse than that while Nazi Germans ate what they wanted and did what they wanted. Two scenes didn't leave my head until this day, how Erik as a psychologist is asked for a German lady to see her daughter because she tried to commit suicide and when told he would be paid, he only asked for food. The other is how a 14-year-old living only with her mother in the ghetto wanted to have sex with 60-something Erik because she didn't see any way to gain money so she and her mother could have the first meal in a week.
This was real, I'm sure. The story is fiction but Holocaust did happen. Jews were killed. Jews were forced to live horribly before dying. It's not the fact the fictional story impressed me, it did, but to know this is a book after real things that happened in our world, to real people in real places is still such a shock.
In the end of the book the reader is left thinking a couple of things about the story, which I'm still a bit confused about, but to be honest, after finding out the guilty person for the killing of Erik's nephew, it's the truth behind the fiction that stays on. This book is worth for its reality.
I really liked this, despite how sad it was, and I'll try more books by him for sure, but not so soon..it's really very emotional and it can drain one's chest like I never imagined.

So, things to keep in mind after reading this post: Reality can be worse than we imagine, we can have wrong ideas about things we never tried before and how common it is to enjoy stories when the book sucks and vice versa.

Kate Elliott - Cold Magic

It is the dawn of a new age... The Industrial Revolution has begun, factories are springing up across the country, and new technologies are transforming in the cities. But the old ways do not die easy.
Cat and Bee are part of this revolution. Young women at college, learning of the science that will shape their future and ignorant of the magics that rule their families. But all of that will change when the Cold Mages come for Cat. New dangers lurk around every corner and hidden threats menace her every move. If blood can't be trusted, who can you trust?

Comment: As I've said before, I do monthly lists of books I intend to read that month. Sometimes I can't keep up and some books go on to the next month and so on... This one, I a serious, was marked in my list for...January. Yep, January. I had the idea of reading Cold Magic in January. But some books took more time than what I wanted, sometimes RL doesn't allow me more time than I intended in the fist place and well...things get postponed.
This book did, and for quite a long time at that.

So, this is the story of Cat, a young woman that lives with her cousin's family because her parents were killed when she was a child. Her cousin is the same age and they share everything. One day, after school, the dreaded cold mages come for the oldest girl in the house and that is Cat. Then, cat travels with her new husband to his house and along the way she sees and learns a lot of new things, including secrets from her past. However, things aren't what they seem and Cat runs away to her family, because the most important thing to her is the safety of Bee, her cousin.

Well, my impressions...to be honest I was a bit bored with the beginning, I thought the reader had to wait a bit for the good parts to begin, but after Cat's sudden wedding things started to look better. There were many details about the world and the way we're supposed to understand how the society works that can be confusing at times. I confess some details here and there lost me, but in the general concept of what was happening I managed to understand it. the author has a very vivid imagination, and I felt many of those scenes were vivid to, so I guess she was successful in trying to portray her images to the reader.
The characters are intriguing yes, I wanted to know more about their secrets and personalities, what made them think certain things, what drove them to act this or that way, but as we see everything from Cat's POV we loose that, so in my opinion I think it would suit this story to have a 3rd person narrator. Cat was obviously the most important character but her husband and her cousin too. I also liked Cat's links to her family, very surprising.
The story kept things interesting and the pace was good for the things that were happening. I was surprised some times, which is good, nothing like "I didn't saw that coming" to spice up the book. Still, I think I'd prefer if we could get a more obvious separation between some scenes, specially when Cat travels to other dimension or something, magical stuff, because there were moments where I felt a bit lost like I said.
In the end, the story seduced me yes, and I was happy to see it end and was a bit curious about what would happen in the following books (it's a trilogy) but I've made the mistake of reading a spoiler from book #2 and now I'm so...disappointed by what I've read my will to read the book is gone. Perhaps one - faraway - day I'll try.
As for this book, I think it's a great take of a fantasy story, I enjoyed reading it, at least most of it.

GA Hauser - Getting It in the End

You know him. You’ve seen him attempt to marry Sharon Tice in A Question of Sex, be swept off his feet by the ex-LAPD cop, Steve Miller in Capital Games, begging forgiveness from his best friend Jack Larsen in When Adam Met Jack, seduced by two young handsome television stars in Playing Dirty, but who is Mark Antonious Richfield? In Los Angeles, California where everyone is a ten, Mark is an eleven. Too gorgeous for everyone’s good, Mark is terribly flawed, and knows it. Beating himself up constantly for making bad decisions, Mark tries to please everyone to their peril.
But what on earth is going on with Mark now? Still working at Parsons and Company with his loyal lover, Steve, Mark begins modeling on the side. At one of his sessions he meets an old friend who stirs up some forbidden passion. And as usual, Mark Richfield is in the middle of a quagmire without the social skills to make a good decision. Other than his fantastic sex appeal, Mark has one other problem. He loves too much, has too much heart, and craves to be loved in return like he breathes air. Desperately.
Find out Mark’s side of the story, and fly with him as he falters through his life, trying, pleading, and usually not succeeding. Mark Richfield. Love him or hate him, he is a fascinating study in human nature.

Comment: Every month I read two or three gay books just to keep going through my TBR, otherwise they would just stay there eternally. Once, I used to collect things from authors whose books I'd read and enjoy because I'd be delighted with the things I'd read. This author is one of those, I've read a couple novels I really liked, so every chance I got, I'd get more books.
I've read the first two books in this Action! series and the 1st one was great, wonderful sexual chemistry, great scenes, a believable tension between the two main characters and a tiny bit of angst in there just to give some credit to their obstacles. The 2nd one wasn't as great, but still enjoyable. This one is the 3rd and I thought I might have more of the same as in book #1 but, after all, the word for it is: ridiculous.

This book picks characters from other books, because every characters, in a way or another is seen somewhere in almost every book, there's a connection somewhere in all books, so I wasn't surprised to see the ones in this story. Mark is a very known character in the author's universe, as are the other 3 that have center stage in the story. The 4 of them are two separate couples, committed, in love.
Mark, however has issues...fine, who doesn't? but I found his character so annoying here, so spoiled, so unbelievable idiot that I just cant stand him. I guess I'm becoming one of those who hate him. He doesn't try to change, to understand his behavior isn't right and no one around him seems to make him see because they all are too focused in his beauty. The thing is, he acted badly before towards his friend Jack, and now only thinks about having his friendship back and starts thinking about what would be like to have sex with him too. WTF??
You see, this is why some people still don't accept gays can have longterm relationships. Why does he have to want sex if he's in love, if he says so countless times and really likes his partner Steve? Why does Steve accept this and also wants to try sex with Jack? Why does Jack humiliates himself (in my opinion) by wanting Mark back after all the things he used to do to him? And why does Adam, Jack's boyfriend - who loves him so much and who gives him an ultimatum after Jack says he wants to be with Mark - also wants to have sex with Mark after one car ride? Please, this is ridiculous, wasn't romantic, if it's real life good, than I'll stick with fantasy thank you.
Sorry if I spoiled your fun but I just can't help myself, I was too annoyed with the story. The whole book is a disappointment to me. I respect some people might like where this is going, but after reading the blurbs from the following books, I don't want to continue this series. I'll try other books by the author because I have them and because some things she wrote I really liked - still do - but this one is just to forget.

Amanda Quick - Wait Until Midnight

Gentle Reader,
It could have been a scene from one of my novels. As a rule, respectable ladies do not accept calls from Mysterious Gentlemen on business of the most grave importance--but I confess that I was possessed of a lively curiosity. The past three years had been so determinedly dull, I hoped Mr. Adam Hardesty would offer a tiny respite from it. Indeed, upon first glance, Mr. Hardesty had such a formidable, thrilling presence, he quickly became the model for the villain in the sensation novel I was currently writing.
Imagine my shock and distress then, when Mr. Hardesty accused me of being party to a plot of murder, blackmail, and general villainy! I knew nothing of such occurrences, and pro-claimed my innocence. Unfortunately, Mr. Hardesty left unconvinced, and I had an uneasy feeling over what his search would uncover. You see, Gentle Reader, though I live a most uneventful life now, my past contained a Great Scandal that would be ruinous if resurrected. To protect my secrets from Mr. Hardesty's investigation, I concluded that I would need to conduct an inquiry of my own, and if that meant sharing my findings with Mr. Hardesty, so be it. And my course of action had nothing whatsoever to do with the illicit, passionate feelings that he aroused in me--feelings that propriety would definitely frown upon...
Yours most sincerely,
Caroline Fordyce

Comment: Considering I have about 10 more books by this author to read I've decided to read some in the next few months.
This month it was Wait Until Midnight, a purely random choice.
This book is the story of Caroline, she's a writer and very known. For her next novel she decided to investigate the so-called psychics and, because of that, she is seen in several meetings where she observes psychics and does research. The book starts with a murder, a psychic woman was murdered and Adam Hardesty is investigating it because the woman had a secret of his family and he wanted to find out if she had told someone else.
At first these two didn't seem to have much in common but Adam starts feeling very attracted to Caroline during the time they spend together to solve the murder. His family is special because his brother and sisters aren't related by blood, neither is their supposed grandfather. Still, he has managed to survive a poor childhood and remained a decent person. However, many people might disagree and use this to blackmail him, so he needs the proof the murdered psychic didn't share that information with anyone else. He's a strong and determined character, the usual kind of protagonist the author creates. Caroline, on the other hand, comes from a good family but was caught in a scandal where the was the least guilty but even nowadays her life could be ruined if people knew. Her writing is the source of income for her and her two aunts, so she is not only trying to do research, she's also trying to clear her name because she has participated in so many meetings she could be considered guilty of something.
These are the two main characters and their behavior and attitudes are the same as other protagonists the author has written. Still, I find this comforting because I know what I'm going to get and the idea of getting characters I'd like is like going back to cozy place, always nice. Sure, I'd like some more variety besides the names and live paths, but I like to see two apparent indifferent characters getting to know each other and feeling something, even if it appears they don't really care because of they way they're described.
The mystery gets more obvious as time goes by, but it does provide some interesting scenes.
I can't wait to read some, to see if any book will make me like it more than my current favorite, which is The River Knows.

Armed and Dangerous - Abigail Roux

Left alone in Baltimore after his unpredictable lover bails, Special Agent Zane Garrett takes his frustration out on everything in his path until he is ordered to Chicago to back up an undercover operative. When he gets there, though, he finds himself face to face with his wayward partner, Special Agent Ty Grady. They have to deal with the uncertainty lingering between them while they work to retrieve their intended mark, a retired hit man and CIA wet-works operative named Julian Cross.
Ty, once a Marine and now an FBI hotshot, has a penchant for being unpredictable, a trait Zane can vouch for. Zane is a man who once lived for his job but has come to realize his heartbreaking past doesn’t have to overshadow his future. They're partners, friends, lovers, and the go-to team for unusual cases. With Cross and his innocuous boyfriend, Cameron Jacobs, in tow, Ty and Zane must navigate the obstacles of a cross-country trek, including TSA pat-downs, blizzards, their uncooperative prisoners, CIA kill teams, a desperate lack of sleep and caffeine, and each other. Ty and Zane are determined to get Julian Cross to DC in one piece, but it’s starting to look like it might be the last thing they do.

Comment: One of the m/m books I've read this month was Armed and Dangerous by Abigail Roux, now writing the adventures of Ty and Zane alone.
This book starts a bit after the previous one, Divide and Conquer, ended. In that book Zane waked up alone after confessing to Ty he's in love with him too and with a note by Ty saying he had to leave. Zane thinks the worst for a time but in this book we know Ty had to go on one of his mysterious missions.
This brings us to the present book, where Ty and later on, Zane, are told to look for and bring Julian Cross to Washington because of a situation with one of Ty and Zane's book friend's. Julian Cross is a character from one of Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux's other book, Warrior's Cross, already commented by me. I didn't like it that much, it was just enjoyable for me, that's all.
Anyway, most of the book is all the guys together traveling from Julian's house to Washington and all the adventures they must face.
I liked the book the same writing just by one author...I didn't find such a difference to put me off and it was so good to see Ty and Zane being in love, it's really wonderful.
The adventurous part was intriguing and the funny moments also helped. In the end I wasn't surprised by who the bad guy was because it's was rather obvious. Now I can't wait to see what will happen next to Ty and Zane.
Like I said, the fact Ty and Zane are in love makes them think and act in a certain way and I enjoy a lot to see their thought process and to see them come to the certainties they developed about the other. It wasn't always easy, but it sure was good to follow. I think the emotional side of these books is very well done and also credible, to me at least, even knowing it's fiction. I like to imagine them and picture them just side by side, which is great, considering how easy is to get indifferent towards fictional characters after a while. I just know that a book featuring them will be a great way to spend time.
The relationship with the other couple, the one from the other story, was interesting and with little tidbits we got to know more about them all, which was both fun and intriguing. I still cared more for Cameron than for Julian but I was somewhat sad to know they went their way in the end of the book.
This author - and Madeleine Urban too - is becoming one of my favorites in the genre, for sure.

Jeaniene Frost & Gena Showalter

After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...
Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all--but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him - a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.


Leader of the most powerful army in the heavens, Zacharel has been deemed nearly too dangerous, too ruthless-and if he isn't careful, he'll lose his wings. But this warrior with a heart of ice will not be deterred from his missions, at any cost...until a vulnerable human tempts him with a carnal pleasure he's never known before.
Accused of a crime she did not commit, Annabelle Miller has spent four years in an institution for the criminally insane. Demons track her every move, and their king will stop at nothing to have her. Zacharel is her only hope for survival, but is the brutal angel with a touch as hot as hell her salvation-or her ultimate damnation?



Comment:These two books are the most recent ones by two authors I usually don't wait to read.
Once Burned is the story of Vlad a recurrent character from the author's Night Huntress series. In this first installment of a new series featuring Vlad we see him waking up when someone invaded his mind. The person who did was Leila, a young woman from a continent away who has the power to electrocute someone who might attack her with just one touch. The same touch can show her the person's worst sin and what's on their mind, so she avoids people in order to stop her power to activate. But one day she just couldn't help it and helped a woman from being killed by her husband. Somehow, some bad vampires found out about her powers and they want to know where Vlad is by forcing Leila to touch something of him and trying to see if she knows where he will be in the future. Leila is smart though and finds a way to alert Vlad. From then on, they meet and he tries to save Leila from the bad vampires by taking her with him to his place and they eventually start being involved.
The bad vampire who wants to destroy Vlad is a surprise and the story felt quite interesting despite Vlad's personality being a bit too alpha, because he had to have things his own way and seducing Leila was part of his agenda too. I liked him better in the other books where he showed up. I hope the second book is better in terms of personality development. I'm curious about them though, so I ended up enjoying the story a lot.

Wicked Nights is the first book in the author's new series about warrior angels, a kind of spin off from the Lords of the Underworld series. Zacharel is a character we know from some of the LOTUs series and this is his story. He's the appointed leader of a group of angels who must prove themselves or else they Fall. In this book, Zacharel saves Annabelle, a girl from a mental institute because she claims to see demons and acts strangely because she says she's defending herself from them. The reason why might be a spoiler so I won't tell, but it's related to a demon still in Hell, one of the High Lords (like the demons inside the LOTUs warriors). Anyway, Zacharel rescues her and gets to know her and starts feeling things and in the end they find out a truth I didn't see coming, so this book surprised me for that alone.
The writing remains the same and like always, we get to see other character's POV's and little tidbits that might be important to future plots. I was happy with the book and I'm very eager to see how the next protagonist will deal with his issues and who might be his mate. Besides I like the cover..it's very faithful to the character's descriptions and how happy I also was with that!

Guy de Maupassant - Bel Ami

Bel Ami, written at the height of Guy de Maupassant's powers, is a classic novel of seduction, intrigue, and ruthless social climbing in belle époque Paris.
Georges Duroy is a down-and-out journalist from a humble background who engineers a stunning rise to the top of Parisian society through his relationships with influential and wealthy women. Making the most of his charm and good looks (his admirers nickname him "Bel Ami"), Duroy exploits the weaknesses of others to his own advantage -- in the process betraying the woman who has most selflessly supported him. Published in 1885, Bel Ami is not only a vivid portrait of a glamorously corrupt and long-vanished Paris, but also a strikingly modern exposure of the destructiveness of unconstrained ambition, sex, and power.

Comment: This is another book from one of my book clubs. It was one I never intended to read on my own will, but I can't say I regret it. It was actually a rather interesting and easy read.
Bel-Ami follows the life and social climbing of George Duroy. He starts the book as a poor employee in a train rail always counting his pennies but after meeting by chance a friend from the times when they were both soldiers his life begins to change. His friend makes it possible for him to be a journalist and from there he meets many people, most of them influential enough to allow him a continuous climbing in the social ladder. We also see him dealing with several women in his life and although we (well, I, personally did) like him at first, he's so brazen that we chuckle at some of his antics and adventures. I found him funny and sly but harmless..he was just a guy trying to make a better living and taking some risks but always with a humorous note. By the end of the book I've changed my mind and thought he was as bad as he could be.
I think this is the beauty of the book, we know what it's all about and if at first everything looks innocent or simple enough, we realize page after page that the more he aspires for, the more corrupt and rotten he gets. The story is a bit like a scale and the more we read, the more serious George's aim gets and the more intense his actions until the end, where he does something we can't help but be repulsed by. The intensity gets bigger and stronger after each page.
There are several characters that play a certain role as antagonists and George uses them all, friends or not. Sometimes he gets out of tricky situations by simple luck but sometimes he attempts things just to see if he can and then he dismisses it like it wasn't never his fault, he plays a lot with other feelings, specially the women he seduces, uses and puts aside.
I like the writing style because it was fluid and not heavy like some classics where the author's need to insert as many characteristics from the time make the book more tiring to read. This one was more focused on the story with some splashes of history themed scenes in there, all balanced enough to feel good to read about.
I really liked and I was amazed at the way the author managed to create and develop such a character that seemed to act so innocently, so effortlessly towards an aim that he looked less and less at moral obligations to get what he wanted and to reach a final behavior so despicable as possible.
There are people like that in world, that seem clueless but are acute minds and don't care about rules, that with luck and corruption get what they want. In this the author maintained his actuality, making this book a classic exactly for that, in my opinion.
I recommend this classic to everyone because it's not hard to read and does create an environment with a crescent intensity in the plot that makes the reader change their feelings about the main character in a subtle but unstoppable way.

Elizabeth Gaskell - North and South

′But the cloud never comes in that quarter of the horizon from which we watch for it.′
When Margaret Hale is uprooted from Hampshire and moves to the industrial town of Milton in the North of England, her whole world changes. As her sympathy for the town′s mill workers grows, her sense of social injustice piques and she passionately fights their corner. However, just as she disputes the mill owner, John Thornton′s treatment of his workers, she cannot deny her growing attraction to him. Highlighting the changing landscape of nineteenth-century Britain and championing the role of women in Victorian society, Gaskell brilliantly captures the lives of ordinary people through one of her strongest female characters in literature.

Comment: The reason I decided to read this book came from a conversation I had with a friend, she's as much a book lover as I am. So, back in the end of April we've talked about reading this book in June together but she had some stuff to work out because of her RL and couldn't manage the time and well..the book is quite big, so I went ahead and read it alone because I already had put it in my June plans...(I make monthly lists of what I'm planing to read).
I'm not usually overwhelmed by books with many pages but this fact added to the language and the story itself made me take a whole week to read the book. I've started it in a Tuesday and ended it in the Wednesday the following week. A lot of time for me because I'm a rather faster reader I think, even with work. The story was very slow and it had obviously many details and sometimes I didn't feel focused enough to keep reading. Some pages were hard to get over with, I admit. I justify this with the book itself because I've read other classics and they didn't take as long or weren't as hard to read, so this is the only practical reason I can find to explain my slowness.

The story is about Margaret and her family, they live in the south of England where her father is the minister but he starts getting religious doubts and feels he has to abdicate and go somewhere else, some place different so he can "earn" his punishment for not respecting his Church. So, they go north, to an industrial city, where people have different goals and attitudes and way of life. There, they find a house with the help of Mr. Thornton who is also going to be Margaret's father pupil, as her father will become a teacher, kind of. Margaret and Mr Thornton have very different and opposite ideas about everything and they dislike each other from the start. But, obviously, things around them just make them deal with each other and it's pretty obvious they will end up together, somehow.

There were some parts in the story I enjoyed and other where I felt like the plot was just dragging. I guess part of why this happened is simply the writing style, very apropos to the time it was written, but this also meant sometimes I felt a bit bored and would not pay as much attention to what I was reading. I thought the story was interesting but it could be as good without so many pages.
The two main characters were intriguing, Mr Thornton more so than Margaret simply because she annoyed me a lot of times. She was very stubborn and not always tender and there were moments where I felt she could be more sympathetic and not as rigid. She defended her points of view and I liked that specially considering the time she was living in but I think if she were to be a bit more romantic, then she could be more likable. Mr Thornton was an interesting lead character and I liked him and his posture although I didn't agree with some things he defended. I think he and Margaret made a very interesting couple and I liked how the story ended for them.
The remaining cast was interesting but I admit not as much as the two main characters, mainly because of the language. Many characters talked like northerns, without educated language and I had some trouble "deciphering" the slang used. Apart from this, I liked how the story played, although ideally, like I said, it could be smaller and less boring at times.
The plot has interesting things and I felt emotional at certain moments due to things that were happening and I think the author knew how to play that too.

I still think it was important for me to have read it, classics are classics for some reason, but to be really honest this wasn't a favorite. I'm curious, though, to watch the BBC series made based on it. I want to see how different - or not - it is from the book.

Barbara Ashford - Spellcrossed

It's not easy losing the magic in your life...
But when Maggie Graham freed Rowan Mackenzie from the curse that bound him to this world, she took the first step toward her new life as director of the Crossroads Theatre. While she yearns to give others the healing she found there, she knows that magic must take a back seat to ticket sales and Rowan must be considgned to the past. But magic is hard to banish from the old white barn, where memories lurk like ghosts in the shadowy wings and the unexpected is as time-honored a tradition as the curtain call. And when the tangled spells of the past turn Maggie's life upside down, it will take more than magic to ensure the happy-ever-after ending she longs for.

Comment: First of all, I must say I was more than eager for this book. The previous one, Spellcast was my favorite of all the books I've read in 2011. The really best, no doubts. I awaited a whole long year for this one..well, me and everyone else, of course. I would think about the other one and wonder what this sequel might mean. My expectations were high and I felt like this book might be another great wonder.
Well, I also have to say the time when it show up wasn't the best for me to read it because I was really busy and my mind was more focused on other things and.....this is really just excuses, isn't it? If a book is really great then no matter what you should feel it for what it's worth, right? I think that I was also so eager to read it I don't think I've savored it properly. At the time I didn't think about it this way but after some time went by I think this was it.

Anyway, the book wasn't bad. I just thought that perhaps it might have the same "feel" of the other one and as it didn't, I got a bit disappointed.
In the end of Spellcast, Maggie broke the curse that bound Rowan to our land and he was able to leave again to his home, in Faerie. I still remember the heartfelt and so emotional scene where she says goodbye instead of demanding he stayed and loved her. It still brings tears to my eyes because with everything that led to that place and the author's writing, it was indeed very emotional and it made me cry but it felt right. Now, in this Spellcrossed, Rowan was back and brought a surprise to Maggie. This meant a whole new set of expectations and actions throughout the book. Rowan came to stay, though, and this also means new things, specially in the behavior between everyone and what it means for Rowan to be there but not bound, so he's free but at first he behaves like he still is...I guess anyone would act the same after so long without real freedom.
The thing is, Maggie has to deal with more than Rowan returning and dealing with their feelings for each other. What happens during this book offers many sad scenes but also some funny ones, in that the author has made a good balance. I won't spoiler it, but it has a connection to Maggie's past and her personal feelings towards some things she still has some trouble with.
But in the characterization of Rowan was where she disappointed me. You see, in the fist book he was larger than life, the mystery and power surrounding him were the main focus in everything that happened in the book. In this new book Rowan was changed. I felt like it wasn't the same character. And although I get why and it fits the story, I still feel he was so downplayed that what made him irresistibly perfect in Spellcast has been almost erased in this one. This shaped a bit everything around them, because many interactions happened with Rowan like this and I thought it wasn't that good. He still has his magic and powers and that was good but it was his personality that made me wrinkle my nose.
Still, the plot was interesting and offered many good scenes. The secondary characters still maintained the same feel as in the previous book and was good to read about many of them again.

So, after everything I still liked and cared for this story but I felt a bit sad to, because after so long waiting for it and then...but well, the one one is still The Book of 2011 for me. This is just a little bit lacking when comparing the two.

Your blog inspires

While I was away, Ana from Aneca's World sent me a stamp, which I appreciate a lot.
So, I hope I'm still on time to receive it and to say thank you!


It means "your blog inspires", and I'm very happy to see she thought of me, because I know my blog doesn't even come close to be as interesting as some out there, but it's mine and I'm happy with her recognition.

So, about the rules:
1) Pass it along to 3 blogs (they all inspire me with their posts even when I don't comment on them and I know sometimes they check my blog):
http://www.impressionsofareader.com/
http://natuschan.blogspot.com/
http://theromanticlife.blogspot.pt/

2) Link to whoever sent it to you:
http://anecasworld.blogspot.pt/

3) Mention 5 random facts about you:
1. My favorite dish is cod with cream.
2. Like Ana, I also don't wear a watch.
3. My favorite color is white but I don't use it often.
4. I have my ears pierced but I rarely use wearings.
5. I never got drunk and I never tried a cigarette.

Have fun!

Missing time and shelves

Hello all, so sorry to be missing lately but my job and stuff that happens in RL just didn't give me enough time to be here and do something. Then it was that awful time in the year when my mom wants to clean the whole house and having two floors is too much to do and I just couldn't find the time..I didn't stop reading (still have 8 books to comment), but I really couldn't take time to be online. On Sundays where supposedly I could, I had visitors...I love family, I do, but sometimes they do show up at not suitable times.
Anyway...during the cleaning time I took the time to organize my shelves again and I have so many books to read it's frightening, and I don't seem to be able to stop buying them. I always think what if one day I just can't have the means to buy more and I know that I'll have a tidy sum to keep me occupied but when looking at them spread all over my bed (100 alone are firsts in trilogies or series) I just know I might be a bit over the top...without counting the ebooks (which I refuse to do), I know I might have more than 380 books to read.
Yep..some people are addicted to cigarettes, other to collecting stamps, others to fast food and some just can't live without drinking. I'm a bookaholic. It could be worse and it only ruins my wallet.
So, after fixing the shelves I took some pictures and I want to share them with you. Obviously my talents as s photographer aren't the question here, but I hope you can see the books there.











I have a couple more boxes with books in there but I forgot to take the picture, it's the boxes with my Sandra Brown and Barbara Delinsky's collections ah ah

One of my dreams is to one day have a huge room only to put my books, my own personal library. Logistically it's not an easy thing to have but who knows...? I just love to be surrounded by my books, I know exactly where each and every one is right now.
It's the only good thing about cleaning the house, the chance to organize and "play" with my books :)