Sooooo Close To Being Done

I am just soooooo close to finishing The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts Lilian Jackson Braun, BOT, in the car. I really should finish it on the way home from work tonight. I have either Bubbles Unbound Sarah Strohmeyer or Nail Biter: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery Sarah Graves. I left 1776 David McCullough at home. It is narrated by the author and I am not always fond of those. Unless it is Jill Conner Browne or Celia Rivenbark. They absolutely need to narrate their own work.

Tomorrow the July books I read or listened to will be listed here. Oh boy, I know you are waiting with worms on your tongue.....(baited breath).

Verdict....ehhhhhh...so-so

Just now ended The Halo Effect MJ Rose and it was just so-so. It was an up and down kind of ride, mostly well written. I knew whodunnit almost from the very meeting of the bad guy. I don't like when that happens. That this was mostly well-written is making me give MJ Rose another chance. I will read The Delilah Complex. I know I would not be a good therapist, sex as Dr Morgan Snow is or otherwise, I'd never be able to distance myself from the patient. I'd be more likely to pop some of them upside the cranium. See? Not very compassionate.

Challenge Books...

Another challenge book was finished this morning. Just did not want to get out of bed just yet, so finished the last few pages I couldn't last night in bedside book Gallows View-The First Inspector Banks Mystery - Peter Robinson. Poor Alan Banks left London to still be a copper, but wanted more peaceful surroundings. Nuh-uh. I believe I will be looking for his next in series, A Dedicated Man.
I am on tape 4 of 5, side 1 The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts Lilian Jackson Braun in the car and I hope to finish my purse book The Halo Effect M J Rose today. Not sure what I will choose for my next purse book. The choices in my bookbag/purse: The Devil's Redhead David Corbett, Perfectly Pure and Good Frances Fyfield, and Already Dead Charlie Huston. I have already started this last one, so may just go back to it. Somehow, I was sidetracked. I think I was going on mids and wasn't sure the dialogue in Already Dead would be condusive to wakefulness. Not what is being said, just how it appears on the page. The premise is way cool. Vampire private investigator....

Silver Lining for a Book-Chippie

So, I have to work an extraordinarily long day this Wednesday. I have training that starts at 0800 and lasts 'til noon. I am on swing shift that evening from 2-11. Someone do the math.....
Anyway, silver lining to this particular book-chippie: There is a book sale in our building from 11-1300 (1pm to you non-defense worker type), so I will defnitely be here for at least part of that now. Trying to be half full type chickie!!!

I am on tape 3 of 5, side 2 The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts Lilian Jackson Braun in the car. It's an older one, so it is super fun to listen to. It's George Guidall, anyway, so that's even more spiff. I am hoping to read some more in purse book The Halo Effect M J Rose this afternoon. It should be quiet here, another silver lining kind of thing for working on a Sunday. I am just about finished with bedside book Gallows View Peter Robinson as of last night's reading before the AlkaSeltzer cold meds kicked in again. Ideally, I will finish one if not all of these before end of month to make my journal extra puffy for July. I could skim, but I won't. These are all too good to cheat like that.

Found several from my wishlist for the Medical Mystery challenge on Amazon.com. May be doing some ordering in the next few minutes. I can also order a box of my BubbleYum Sugarfree Peppermint Bubblegum, a Twirly-top stovetop popcorn popper, and four or five books all at the same time. What a deal!

A Book Lover's Dream Volunteer Job

Well, at least this book lover....I went to The BookKeeper to see what from my list I could find. I found four:
Shadow Man - Cody McFadyen as highly recommended by my buddy Joy
Dead Guilty - Beverly Connor, one of my new favorite authors, number 2 in Diane Fallon Forensic anthropologist series
The Givenchy Code - Julie Kenner, she of the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom fame
The Delilah Complex - M J Rose, second in the Butterfield Institute series, now have all three

I also found out that I can volunteer at the BookKeeper to shelve books and they will pay me in books. $12 in books for each hour I work. Woo-Hoo!!! I am there, next break.

Thank Goodness for Nap Time

I finished I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason Susan Kandel today after waking from my post mid shift nap. I don't like to sleep all day after my last mid shift or I'll be up all night and my schedule is thrown off. So I slept a couple of super nice hours, woke and read to finish my bedside book. This is a very enjoyable cozy series. I love CeCe's sense of adventurous style in clothing, her family and friends, her choice of writing career, her men, her house, everything is fab (apparently my new favorite word).
I began Gallows View: An Inspector Banks Mystery Peter Robinson. It's the first in the series (challenge books!) and I am already looking forward to the rest of the books.
From the Publisher (thank you B&N):
Former London policeman Alan Banks relocated to Yorkshire seeking some small measuer of peace. But depravity and violence are unfortunately not unique to large cities. His new venue, the quaint little village of Eastvale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors--among them a brazen Peeping Tom who hides in night's shadows spying on attractrive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. And when an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has increased the awful intensity of his criminal activities. But whether relatied or not, perverse local acts and murderous ones are combining to profoundly touch Banks's suddenly vulnerable perosonal life, forcing a dedicated law officer to make hard choices he'd dearly hoped would never be necessary.

Bubbles is the Broad!!!

Bubbles Yablonsky is awesome! Just finished Bubbles Betrothed Sarah Strohmeyer and I loved it. This was my third from this series and it was fab. Bubbles is funny, strong, family oriented and has a keep sense of what works for her fashion-sense wise. I love the character working to be all that she can be by going back to school, finding her niche and going after the career she wants. The storylines are mostly believable, though Bubbles plays the dumb blonde card, she can be very savvy in the human puh-sychee. I can't wait to listen to more of this series. Bring 'em!!


I am now listening to The Cat Who Spoke to Ghosts Lillian Jackson Braun narrated by George Guidall. This will go quickly as it is five tapes and it is George Guidall, who I adore listening to. There will likely be unnecessary trips out and about and some sitting in parking lots or driveways to get more of his voice.

The Halo Effect is super!

MJ Rose begins this book just the way I had rather hoped it would, with someone dead on the floor. A little blech of me, maybe, but there it is....violent beginning and now the characters are being drawn and bringing me into the story. I can only hope it continues to do so. I have a feeling I won't have anything to worry about.

Next Purse/Bedside Book....

The Halo Effect - M J Rose
At the Butterfield Institute Dr. Morgan Snow, one of New York's top sex therapists, sees everything from the abused to the depraved, from couples grappling with sexual boredom to twisted sociopaths with dark, erotic fetishes.
Cleo Thane is one of those special patients Morgan connects with immediately. A high-priced prostitute, Cleo is desperate to reconcile her successful professional life with her neglected personal one. When she asks Morgan to read her unpublished tell-all book about her exclusive clientele, Morgan realizes that what she has in her hands could be explosive.
Then Cleo Disappears
Detective Noah Jordan is trying to stay one step ahead of a serial killer who has been targeting prostitutes, killing them with ritualistic precision. When a missing person's report is filed on Cleo Thane, Noah wonders if she, too, has fallen prey to the psycho's wrath. He approaches Dr. Morgan Snow for insight, but Morgan refuses to breach patient confidentiality. Instead, she begins her own investigation into Cleo's disappearance and is shocked by how much the intimate sexual details of another woman's life affect her own. Too late she realizes she's ventured into dangerous — even deadly — territory.

Okay, Enough of the Princess Merry and her court schtuff....

Okay, I believe I am done with the Meredith Gentry series. Rather than grab my attention with some conversation and character building, Ms Hamilton assumes I have already read the first two books in the series and jumps right in with the nekkid and hotties (possible name for new soap opera on CBS???). I love the Anita Blake series Laurell K Hamilton writes and the Meredith Gentry series started with good intentions, but it's devolved into all sex all the time. By no stretch of the imagination am I a prude, I love a good sex scene, but I was thrust (pardon the pun) immediately into two men and one woman naked and frolicking for the purpose of letting a helicoptored photographer take pictures. And that might work for other readers, but not what I had in mind when I started reading it last night.
I will continue to read the adventures of Anita Blake, vampire hunter and necromancer, but not Princess Meredith Gentry of the Unseelie Court of the Sidhe. Life is way too short and there are other books on Mt Git'r'Read.

Finished a Hottie MJD!!!

While on our trip, I was able to start and finish Dead and Loving It MaryJanice Davidson. It took about two days to read. All paranormal hottie sex (whispering). YOWZAH!!! I could have read it in one sitting if allowed, but I had to pay attention to my DH and Lady K from time to time. We went to a very nifty botanic garden in Steamboat Springs, went up in our first gondola up the side of a ski mountain. I am fairly sure DH has been up many of them, but it was the first for Lady K and myself. We hiked up a nice trail to see a pretty magnificent waterfall. Went fishing, but only succeeded in drowning a few worms. But it was all fun. I brought home driftwood and rocks as my souvenirs from our hikes.

I will get back to Bubbles Betrothed Sarah Strohmeyer in the morning on my get back to reality drive to work. sigh....I have I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason Susan Kandel in my purse. I started it after MJD paranormal frolic. I think I will read Seduced by Moonlight Laurell K Hamilton as my next bedside book. Talk about your paranormal frolics!! This is from her Meredith Gentry series.

Dammit...lost a post!!! I finished Three Books This Week

ARGH!!!! I accidentally wiped my post!
I finished three books this week, one of them (best of the three) just a few minutes ago. I finished Betrayal at Cross Creek: An American Girl History Mystery Kathleen Ernst. It was a nice short three tape story and it was a very interesting tale. I also finished Murder of a Barbie and Ken: A Scumble River Mystery Denise Swanson. Another good story and a very good addition to this cozy series. This will be making its way a friend in DesMoines IA next week. The book I finished a few minutes ago is the best of the bunch, The Hundredth Man Jack Kerley. Wowzah!! This was a super fast, intense, interesting read. I will get everything Jack Kerley writes and is made available.

I am now listening to Bubbles Betrothed Sarah Strohmeyer in the car. Just love this series. Bubbles is my kinda dame, brave and a fearless fashion statement maker. Takes not much in the way of crapola. My next purse book, bought yesterday morning, Already Dead Charlie Huston. This one will qualify for Summer Mystery Challenge as new to me author of mysteries. Review:
The vampire mythos gets a healthy dose of attitude à la Raymond Chandler in Charlie Huston's singularly cool Already Dead, a savage and sardonic novel that blends blood-sucking fantasy and horror elements with the hard-boiled style of noir thrillers.Joe Pitt is a vampyre living in post-9/11 New York City. On an island ruled by all-powerful and very politically diverse vampyre clans -- the Coalition, the Society, the Enclave, et al. -- Pitt is a loner, surviving by doing various odd jobs for clan bosses. When he becomes indebted to the Coalition and is strong-armed into finding the runaway daughter of a biotech magnate, the undead amateur detective begins a treacherous mission that will lead him through the dark underbelly of Manhattan and pit him against brain-eating zombies, drug-addicted squatters, warring vampyre factions, and his most base desire: the need to feed. Huston, who has already wowed mystery and mainstream fiction readers with his breakout novels, Caught Stealing and Six Bad Things (down-and-dirty suspense thrillers featuring ill-fated bartender-turned-outlaw Henry "Hank" Thompson), is primed to blow the socks off of yet another genre audience with Already Dead, a novel that introduces a rousing new twist on one of literature's oldest and most popular myths. Simply put, this is an absolute must-read for dark fantasy, horror, and mystery aficionados, as well as mainstream fiction fans looking for something a little off the beaten path. All categorization aside, Huston's genre-transcending, pedal-to-the-metal novel is a thrill ride of the highest order -- gloriously nasty!

Only A Few Good Things About Monday Mornings....

Only a few things about the first day of six day rotation that actually starts on a Monday morning that are good. Earning money in the bank and getting back to my car book. I don't get to listen too much on break as I have Lady K or DH in the car with and they have their own tastes which don't really run to listening to a book. Getting up at 0300 to be at work early so that I don't have to stay all afternoon is a bit difficult, but it is at least quiet on the roads. I have my story to listen to, which currently is the dulcet voice of Davina Porter narrating Betrayal at Cross Creek: An American Girl History Mystery written by Kathleen Ernst.

I finished The Jasmine Moon Murder Laura Childs yesterday morning, thanks to my not being able to sleep well and Lady K sleeping late again. This is a very good cozy series. Laura Childs is on my good list, so I will keep looking for her and adding her to Mt Git'r'Read.
I decided to begin The Hundredth Man Jack Kerley as next bedside book, but I believe I will trade with my purse book Murder of a Barbie and Ken: A Scumble River Mystery Denise Swanson. Review of The Hundredth Man and you will see why I should....

Publishers Weekly
First-time author Kerley debuts with a classically constructed, psychotic-killer-with-a-horrendous-childhood thriller featuring young detective Carson Ryder, himself troubled by a problematic past. Carson and partner Harry Nautilus are the newly formed two-man Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team, referred to as Piss-it by the other members of the Mobile, Ala., police force. While Piss-it's official mandate is the investigation of murders committed by particularly horrendous killers, the formation of the team is actually a public relations scheme. Nevertheless, when a headless body turns up in a local park, Piss-it has its first real case. At the autopsy, Carson meets new hire Dr. Ava Davenelle, who is handling corpse-cutting duties. "She was dour, abrupt, and projected the femininity of a hammer-yet her motions verged on symphonic." Of course he's immediately smitten, though his polite advances are rejected. Turns out she has her own life as well as a job-threatening problem, which Carson must solve while simultaneously identifying the killer who has meanwhile added several more headless victims to his growing list. Carson's secret weapon of detection is his brother, an insane mass-murderer who feeds him clues on the nature of madmen from an asylum, la Hannibal Lecter. Kerley has certainly mastered the form, and the nail-biter takedown scene is as exciting as any in the business. This is a solid addition to the genre, and a series to look forward to.

Finishing more....

I finished two more books. Both are challenges worthy as they are either or both medical and new to me mystery authors. BOT in the car, Michael Connelly City of Bones (new to me mystery author challenge) and Deadly Advice Roberta Isleib (new to me author and medical mystery). Both very good. Deadly Advice was recommended on the Summer Mystery Reading Challenge, those are to get folks to read new to them authors of the mystery genre. It was a fast read, smooth and sort of surprising in its ending.

I began Cross Creek Betrayal: American Girl History Mystery Kathleen Ernst and narrated by the lovely Davina Porter as my next car book. It will be super quick as it is three tapes. My next purse book is Denise Swanson Murder of a Ken and Barbie: A Scumble River Mystery. Looking forward to both.

Another Challenge Book Finished, Another one Started

I finished Carved in Bone Jefferson Bass (Jon Jefferson and Dr Bill Bass) last night on shift. It was SUPER!!!! I am already listing Flesh and Bone, next in the series, when it comes out in pbk and Death's Acre, a nonfiction by the authors.
From the Publisher:
Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases-and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.
Author Biography: Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first and only laboratory devoted to the study of human decomposition: The Body Farm. Bass has written or co-written more than 200 scientific publications, many based on mysteries he helped solve. Jon Jefferson is a veteran journalist, science writer, and documentary filmmaker. His productions have been broadcast on such networks as The History Channel, A&E, and the National Geographic Channel, and his articles have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, and USA Today.

I gotta tell ya, I cannot wait to find Death's Acre. I so would not be a good forensic pathologist (ick threshold is pretty low), but I love to read about them and the work that they do.

I began a book recommended on RBL Summer Mystery Reading Challenge, Deadly Advice Roberta Isleib. It is very good starting out. It was given me by a fellow mystery buddy at work. I was glad to see it so soon after adding it to my wishlist. We trade books, she is mostly cozies, so she doesn't dig all of what I read. Those tend to go to my sister once I am finished or to my favorite mystery bookstore, High Crimes, for discount points.
I should finish Deadly Advice this evening on shift as long as it stays quiet. I will finish my car book, City of Bones Michael Connelly on my way home in the morning. It's my first Connelly book and very definitely won't be my last.

June Books

Books read in June:
Quilter's Legacy - Jennifer Chiaverini, BOT, just love this series

Stolen - Kelley Armstrong, pbk, OMG GOOD

One Grave Too Many - Beverly Connor, pbk, one of my new favorite authors

A Vision of Murder: A Psychic Eye Mystery - Victoria Laurie, pbk, Super!

Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter, pbk, HUMDINGAH!

Mum's the Word - Kate Collins, pbk. Cute, but I think I am done with this series

Darwin's Radio - Greg Bear, BOT, good story

Carpe Demon: Secrets of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom - Julie Kenner, pbk. So flippin' funny & I will be looking for more of her