DROP SHOT - Harlen Coben

Still in love with Myron Bolitar. And possibly a teensy crush on Win. This is a series that behooves me to read in order, as well as take my time with. I could get very greedy and read them one after another, like M&Ms (all green ones.....), so I pace myself. This way my time with Myron and Jess and Win and Esperanza is a treat to savor and look forward to.

For those who don't know, Myron is a sport's agent and finds himself righting wrongs for those who need it, whether they realize they need or not. Or want it or not.

Myron is representing Duane Richwood, an up and comer tennis player. A fellow tennis player is murdered. Myron feels compelled to investigate. Enigmatic Win assists. There is a torrid past, input from the Mob, some more killing, a lot of smart-aith remarks that endears Myron to my quirk-lovin' self.

I have placed an addendum to my 'list'. . You know 'the list'....the one where if someone from your 'list' should show up in your life and want to be with you for a short time, your significant other has to oblige gracefully. Anyway, fictional characters can now be added. So Myron joins Matthew McConaughey, Kurt Russell, Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, Chris Isaak, Harry Connick Jr, John Hannah, Lyle Lovett (hey, it's MY list!).....

ONCE UPON A CURSE - E D Baker

This is third in a cute faery story series. Emma is a princess who is also the Green Witch. Which means she is charged with the care of the realm. She's fairly happy even though she is an only daughter and her mother despairs of her actions and lack of style and general clumsiness in the past.

There's a catch to Emma's life, though. If she should touch a flower of any type after her 16th birthday, she turns into an evil hag witch until the kiss of a true love touches her lips. It's affected the Green Witch in her family for hundreds of years. Currently, her grandmother and aunt are in this predicament.

Emma decides to do something about stopping the curse and that is the story, short and sweet. She can talk to animals because she'd been turned into a frog in the first of the series. This is she met her honey, Prince Eidrick, who had also been turned into a frog.

Very sweet and funny story, highly recommendable for short and sweet listen or read.

STORM FRONT: Book One Dresden Files - Jim Butcher

Forgot to add the book cover!!!

STORM FRONT: Book One Dresden Files - Jim Butcher

This was a very good book, especially as I was reading in tandem with Harlen Coben - DROP SHOT. Not sure if Harlen and Jim have met, but their two respective characters are so wonderfully similar in a very good way. So much so, that as I read DROP SHOT, I keep expecting Myron to begin talking in first person like Harry Dresden in STORM FRONT. Both are funny, smart, out there righting wrongs, smartass comments abound, keep going even when the possibility of bodily harm is on its way.
Harry Dresden is a wizard in Chicago. He is on retainer with the local police for any odd occurences that cannot be explained any other way. Harry has the White Council, watchers of all things magic, on his back for something he was acquitted, but they are still cautious. Harry is hired by a woman to find her husband, he is hired by the detective in the police department on whom all of the unexplained cases get dumped, to find who killed a local mob boss' right hand man, apparently by magic.
Dresden Files series is more than a series of books of the magic world. It's written like a Chicago private eye boiler. It makes for a super combo.
My favorite peripheral characters are Bob, the skull/spirit and Mister, the 33 pound cat.

Having fun with all of my books....

Every once in a while, all of my books I am reading are really good. This is one of those times. Not to say that I read bad books, I don't have time for that. Life is short, read good books....
But sometimes the books are just so-so or just reasonably likeable. One will be fab, one will be good and one will be ehhhhh...or any combo thereof..it happens. This time is like book gold. I am reading STORM FRONT - Jim Butcher, the first in the Harry Dresden Files series, DROP SHOT - Harlen Coben, second in Myron Bolitar series, and listening to ONCE UPON A CURSE - E D Baker in the car. All are really good and making me want to stay in the car or on the recumbent bike or in bed for just a little while longer so I can read just a teensy few chapters more. As it happens, I am almost done with all three, so that will make me do just that, wake early or stay up later to have that time with Myron or get in some extra activity minutes with Harry, drive around the block one more time or so and see what Emma is up to.
The only issue with three super books is that there is then the choice of what to read next....

6 Word Memoir MeMe.....

Two areas of Mt Git'r'Read.....

Life is short, read good books.

Mary at Bookfan Blog tagged me for this meme. It sounds easy enough but it's not.
Here are the meme rules:
1. Write your own 6 word meme.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you'd like.

3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post and this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.

5. Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

I could only think of one other book bud who Mary hadn't already tagged, so I tag J Kaye....

STRIPPED - Brian Freeman

What a fab read/listen! I didn't miss anything by starting with second in the series, but now I can't wait to read the first in the series, IMMORAL.

This, like all of my favorites, is a character study as much as it is a thriller. I empathized with the good guys and one or two of the bad. There were several back stories going on at any given time and they all meshed.

My favorite part was that just when you thought the story had been told....yeah...it kept going and it made sense and it wasn't just to fill out a few more pages. The stories had to be told.

My favorite character: Amanda. Loved her bite and humor.

THE NyMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS - Mario Acevedo

Oooooo-kay! What an interesting romp in the rack. Very irreverant and funny and twisty turny vampire novel. I bought it because of the title and subject matter (the vampires, NOT the nymphos!) and I was happily pleased with the whole read. Well, had some ick issues with the pouring of blood over perfectly yum Mexican food or whatever else they were crunching on. Gah!

The story starts with how Felix goes to Iraq a soldier and comes back a vampire. He is hired as a private investigator to find out why the women at Rocky Flats Nuclear Arsenal are turning into nymphos....nice gig, I reckon.....The story takes place in Denver, so I had fun with the locales.

Looking forward to the rest of the series, if only for the titles.

Skimming....not reading....MURDEROUS GLAZE - Melissa Glazer

I used my Life is Too Short rule....

Not diggin' it, so gave up. I won't count as a book read as I was skimming more than I was actually reading. I didn't care about any of the characters! Knock 'em out, put 'em out of their misery!
I'm glad I've read other cozies, well written and entertaining cozies, before this. If I had to base my opinion on the cozy genre based on this one, I'd have tossed every single one in the collection on Mt Git'r'Read. And I have a lot of those wonderfully slender, perfect for purse sized, titled-like-a-country-song books. So thank you Cleo Coyle, Elaine Viets, Kate Collins, M C Beaton, Nancy Atherton, Sarah Stewart Taylor, Casey Daniels, Denise Swanson, Sarah Strohmeyer, Susan Wittig Albert, Laura Childs, etc....for writing wonderful cozies and lighting the way.

HOUNDING THE MOON - P R Frost

Finished this morning. I am already looking forward to the next in the series, MOON IN THE MIRROR. All of the characters are interesting, especially the bad guys - the demons. Tess makes for a fab heroine with emotional baggage galore and wanting to fix the world, one demon portal a time. My favorite character is Scrap, her imp. He's a delight and needs a good pop upside the head every once in a while. He is devoted to his 'babe', Tess, emotionally and psychically.
The book is laced with demons who have apparently been around for a long while on Earth, with sightings in Washington state. Big, furry, manlike creatures....yeah, those guys of folk legend....
I recommend this book to any who enjoy a good paranormal romp, good mix of humor and a dash into the fantasy/sci-fi conventions.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FAIRY TALES - K T Casha

Thankin' you, J Kaye!! THE TRUTH ABOUT FAIRY TALES showed in the post container today! I am so looking forward to reading this. I may challenge myself to read books where the main character is an author. Reading HOUNDING THE MOON - P R Frost now. Main character writes fantasy novels based on what she is doing in 'real life' in the book.
TRUTH...features a romance writer and discovers her life is turning into a romance story, at the age of 40-ish. At least that is what it looks to me from the cover. I can identify with this one, absotively. Life didn't get really cool until I turned 40. This book is up next.

I Won a Prize!! I Won a Prize!!

http://thoughtsofjoyblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-in-series-give-away-winner.html

Whoo Hoo!!! I won a book from Joy! I joined her super fun First in Series Challenge and I won the February drawing for one of the series books she'd read in the past, or BB, Before Blogging ( I think this is getting added to the dictionary). She posts that it is not a typical series style, but series nevertheless.

I'd added this to my wishlist to buy immediately after my self-imposed no book buying time-out ends. And now something else gets moved up the list ladder.

I won a boo-ook...I won a boo-ook....

Had to Give up on Harlen for a bit....not his fault

Had to give up on TELL NO ONE - Harlen Coben for next up bedside book. Not Harlen's fault, nope, nope, nope. Love Harlen. The book was falling apart. I got it at a used bookstore and I was so excited about getting newly discovered to me Harlen Coben, that I didn't check the condition of the actual book. I was reading it last night and some of the pages started falling out. Le sigh....SO, I will put that in the donate pile and it looks like next up is A MURDEROUS GLAZE - Melissa Glazer. Time for a cozy I think....

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

There, that's what I wanted to post!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

I Feel the Need....the Need for Root Canal.....AGH!!!

*whimper*.....I can feel that dadgum back tooth, really below the tooth start the flare up. It does this from time to time ever since that lame-o dentist tore the living (literally) heck out of my nerves while trying to dose me with novacaine (is that a capitlized word??). Went for one appt and he shot me up 7 times trying to numb the area enough to drill and fill. Nope, not gonna happen, so we made a new appt. He made a 'cocktail' and it worked....mostly. I basically just sucked it up and let him have his way with the drill and fill (that does sound so wrong in so many ways) and we finished it up.
This was all while I was active duty Air Force and this was a contracted dentist as Buckley did not have its own dental office on base. I retired from the Air Force and started using DH's dental plan and dentist. LOVED HER! I told her the deal of the last time after she told me that a new filling was needed as the first one was caving. She told me that likely the dentist really couldn't find the right place to numb. She said she would do a better job. And, guess what?? She did! The shot felt like honkin' big bee taking aim at my gum, but I felt nothing afterward. She did the work and all went well. She did tell that I would likely have issues later due to the damage from the previous scenario of the dentist in the past who should burn in Hades.
And, guess what....she was right!! Every couple of months, that area in the back of my tooth-al area, lower right side of my face, starts its little throb which builds to a nice crescendo and then it subsides after a day or so. The last episode was just before Christmas and I told DH about it. He took a look-see and pronounced the need for root canal. The area looked pretty shadoobie. He prescribed Motrin and a Listerine rinse and I actually felt better soon after. But he made me promise to make a dental appt as soon as the holidays were over. Okaaaaaay!
No flare ups since then, but I did make the appt and the doctor saw the root canal and the need for two crowns. OH BOY!!
So, secondary insurance is called for. Applied and got it, now to use it. Working up the nerve to fix the nerve.

CITY OF MASKS - Daniel Hecht

CITY OF MASKS....A disturbing, dark, great paranormal character study. There were so many things going on in this dense, dank, murky book. And I do not mean any of this in a bad way. I highly recommend this book to all who love a good ghost story with a strong dose of deception and decay.
Even though the cover states that it is "A Cree Black Novel", Daniel Hecht does share the wealth of story telling with all of the characters, good, bad, and shades in between.

My least favorite was Charmian. She valued her position in society above all else, even her daughter's mental health.

My most favorite character, besides Cree, was Lila. Bless her, she was the bravest of all of them. Terrified and she still needed to confront her ghosts, literally.
A second favorite character is Joyce. Just love her balance of humor and love for Cree and Ed.

I cannot wait to read the next Cree Black Novel and see who all we meet, alive and ghost alike.

DEATH'S ACRE - Dr Bill Bass & Jon Jefferson

Finished another super book on non-fiction style, DEATH'S ACRE, was a greatly informative read. I had heard of The Body Farm before while reading Patricia Cornwell (before she turned to shite). Her book of that name was superb and just made me want to visit this site of forensic discovery and study. Kind of gross, maybe, but I found it fascinating. I will never be a forensic scientist, but I love reading about it. Up to now, it's been fiction. I found Jefferson Bass while looking for medical mysteries for a summer challenge last year. Found and read and totally dug CARVED IN BONE. I found that Jefferson Bass was really Dr Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson and that they had written some non-fiction as well as some more of what was going to be a series. Found DEATH'S ACRE and FLESH AND BONE for my ever increasing TBR.
I highly recommend DEATH'S ACRE if you like the background of some of the medical mysteries we read. I have a new appreciation of the science and the work and dedication and time it takes. I love CSI shows to pieces, but the bad guys don't get caught that quickly!

CIRCLE OF QUILTERS - Jennifer Chiaverini

This is my favorite of the Elm Creek Quilters series, so far. I loved all of the stories/chapters, some more than others. Anna and Gretchen were my favorite characters. When you want to reach in a slap a character or two or three (Gordon, Theresa, and Heidi), then the book is well written in my opinion.
And this series always makes me want to go sign up for quilting classes!! There is a quilting shop a few blocks from my house......

CIRCLE OF QU

THE DOLLMAKER -Amanda Stevens

If you are looking for a rather fast paced well written thriller, well cats and kittens, THE DOLLMAKER is the one for you! It was recommended on BookBitch a while back, I bought the book and it sat on Mt Git'r'Read for a while. The cover just freaks me the hell out! It's the quarter face of a porcelain doll and I really can't stand those things. Too much Twilight Zone as a child maybe, but there it is.
So, I put it on my TBR Challenge list and that would make me have to read it. It fit perfectly in this time frame, I tucked it in my purse this morning (Saturday) and I finished it this evening (still Saturday) while waiting for the system I work with to cooperate and work. It didn't, so I read. I started this morning while Lady K was in swim lessons, then on the bike for 46 minutes, then finished it in less than four hours at work. Sunday night I am bringing two books, just in case. Which will, of course, ensure that the system will work properly and I won't have as much time to read.
THE DOLLMAKER has a lot going on, storyline wise. But it isn't convoluted, rather you just go, "OOOOOOO, that's intriguing! Must see what happens next!".
Highly recommend and I do hope that Amanda Stevens has other books out there and/or up her sleeve.