Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Narrated by

Audiobook – mp3

Rating: 3 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

My Review:

Nikki Heat is a NYC police detective. Jameson (Jaime) Rook is a magazine reporter. Jaime is riding along with Nikki as part of a story he is doing about the department. Together they investigate the murder of real estate Matthew Starr. Starr reveals secrets, lies, deceit, and greed in the victim and those around him. This fast paced novel never lags. It keeps you engaged right to the very end. And why wouldn’t it. It reads like a Christmas song: 5 suspects, 4 police chases, 3 detectives, 2, murders, a multi-million dollar art collection theft, 1 reporter, 1 steamy love scene, and a partridge in a pear tree! TBR #3

Challenges:

Soundtrack Challenge: Dirty Dancing

2012 Support Your Local Library

2012 50 State Reading Challenge

Fun and Games:

Bunnita Reading Travel Buggie

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

hardcover pgs.166

rating 4stars

Plum Lucky is a between-the-numbers book.  These books could be considered part of the Plum series or a series on their own. It would be book 14 in the Plum series (if listed in order) and book 3 in the between-the-number series.

Stephanie is driving with Lula when they spot Grandma Mazur with a duffel bag fighting a little person who resembles a leprechaun. In the morning, hottie Diesel shows up at Stephanie’s looking for a place to crash while he looking for a skip. While Stephanie is contemplate what she is going to do with Diesel her mother calls to enlist her to find Grandma Mazur.

On a hunch, Stephanie figures grandma went to Atlantic City to spend a little of her Social Security check. She stops at the bonds office to inform them of where she is about to go so of course Lula and Connie come along.

Sure enough, Grandma Mazur is at Daffy Casino in Atlantic City. Only she is not spending money for her Social Security check but money from the duffel bag. That’s right. The duffel bag was filled with money and, since this is a Stephanie Plum book, trouble.’

With a cast of characters that include Stephanie, Lula, Connie, Grandma Mazur, Diesel, mobster Lou Delvina, Snuggy (the lucky unlucky leprechaun), and Doug the horse Plum Lucky doesn’t crap out.

*rating factors - fun, fast paced, and short pages. One to two day read

Challenges:
2012 50 State Reading Challenge (New Jersey)
Soundtrack Challenge: Dirty Dancing
2012 TBR Challenge
Stephanie Plum Series

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (noun) – a person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as a belligerent pg.458

Oops she did it again? Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the second book in the Divergent trilogy.  The series takes place in dystopian Chicago. The city is divided into five factions called Amity, Dauntless, Erudite, Abnegation, and Candor. During the choosing ceremony, 16 years must choose which faction they will become apart of. Then there are the factionless. To become factionless is a fate worse than death the society is told. They are not mention much in the first book but is the main presence in the second.

Insurgent picks up where the first book left off, literally. At first I thought that maybe this book would be just a filler novel. Just when you have that thought, she hits you with a mystery. Marcus (Tobias father and a leader of Abnegation) and Johanna (spokesperson for Amity as that faction has not set leader) are walking in the orchid with Tris overhears a conversation about important information which is the reason why the Abnegation were killed during the stimulation attack. This is the basis for this book. What information is so important it was worth killing and dying for? Of course there are side stories and twist and turns along the way. The love story between Tobias and Tris is in the open. Tobais family story is told. Tris learns more about her family including brother, Caleb which I must say I did not see coming.

The true shocker is the ending cliffhanger. The important information you are teased with throughout the book. I can’t tell you obviously it would ruined to book for some of you. So I will say this. If you like the first book then this is a must read. However, don’t think you will be satisfied with the ending because you won’t. It is a cliffhanger. It set you up for the next book. Those you have not read the first one can read this one and enjoy it but it is really not a stand alone book. There are references to previous events that you would most likely want to know about. All in all it is a good book. So did she do it again? Yeah, she did.

TBR list 3

Rating 4stars

Hardcover 525pgs

Challenges:

Dystopia

Soundtrack Challenge: Dirty Dancing

2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Quotes

“It smells green, the way a leaf smell when you tear it in half.” pg 17

‘ “Sleep” he says. “I’ll fight the bad dreams off if they come to get you.” ’ pg 50

Things to think about:

The way Amity keeps peace. Is that really peace? Or is that in itself a betrayl of what Amity is suppose to be about?

Is what Amity does to keep the peace in their society that much different than what Jeannie was doing to keep the truth from the whole society (meaning the mind control)?

So people said they could not get into the story because they could picture a world where those factions exist. Why not? I see it. Though not so clearly defined but we do have people and professions that fit into each faction including the obvious factionless.

Single Husbands by HoneyB

Single Husbands

By HoneyB

Paperback pgs 256

5stars

From back of book:

Herschel Henderson said “I do” to get his hands on his wife’s money, and he has no intentions of giving up his mistress. He’s okay with sneaking around-until he’s suddenly suspects his wife is doing it too.

Lexington Lewis vowed for his better and her worse, especially since he can’t stay out of the sex clubs. He doesn’t understand why he can’t still make it with other women-until his fun threatens what he values most.

Brian Flaw meant it when he said “till death do us part.” But although he adores his wife and kids, his insatiable appetite for sex draws him into a fatal attraction that could cost not only his marriage but his life.

Will their cheating ways finally catch up to them? And what’s a woman to do once she realizes she’s married to one of these…

SINGLE HUSBANDS

The Review:

This is a fast paced, sexually charged, sexually explicit novel. The characters in this novel were not likable but their drama and f-ed up attitudes and actions kept the pages turning. The conclusion was doable but not necessarily satisfying. I would have like to have known more about how the wives lives ended up to however, the book (as shown by the title) is about the husbands.

This book surprised me. I was just expecting to just read a story with the typical ending. However, starting right in the introduction HoneyB poses stimulating question. The main question centered around what marriage is. That is a good question because I think that most people think marriage is suppose to be one particular way. Not true, marriages are as different as the people who are in them.

To know what marriage means to you, you have to know yourself, then know the type of person you want to be with, and then marry the type of person who have the same views on marriage that you do. I think that this is why marriages fail. People try to live up to this one ideal of what marriage is suppose to be without actually discussing it with the person you interested in marrying (I must also mention communication is the key in so many areas in life. You should also discuss how child rearing styles. You don’t want to marry someone you believe in spanking if you think hitting children is wrong).

The characters in the book did not discuss what marriage meant to them with their partners. They are called single husbands because the are married but when they are out on their own they act like single men. Not just single men but promiscuous single men. All three were always ready to sleep with any pretty woman who’s willing to give it up.

Unfortunately, there are men like the men in this book. Men who think that their cheating is not breaking their marriage vows because no where in the marriage vows does it state anything about fidelity (faithful and fidelity is not one in the same). I could go on but I won’t.

So if you can get pass the explicit language, tons of wild sex scenes, and the homosexuality (none of which I have a problem with) the message of the book just may open your eyes. What does marriage mean to you? Are you going on what society tells you marriage should be and look like? Think about those questions. Talk to significant other about it. And if you are married, so what, talk about it any way. Just because you are married doesn’t mean you won’t learn something new about your spouse. People are (or in my opinion should be) constantly changing, learning, and becoming better versions of themselves.  TBR pile #1 just because of the state of marriage these days!

Challenges:
Buy One Book and Read It
Soundtrack Challenge: Dirty Dancing

First Truth by Dawn Cook

First Truth
Truth Series book 1
By Dawn Cook
Narrated by Marguerite Gavin
Audio book (MP3)
*Dawn Cook is also known as Kim Harrison
Rated 3

Description:
Alissa doesn't believe in magic. Her father's stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Masters, are just that—stories. But her mother insists Alissa has inherited her father's magical ability, so she must go to the Hold to be trained. On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. Though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something Alissa needs—one of her father's old maps. Traveling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don't know that the Hold is nearly empty. The Keeper Bailic has sent the Masters on a fool's errand and systematically killed the other Keepers in his search for the First Truth, a book of magic that will give him ultimate power. And he believes that Alissa and Strell hold the secret of the book's hiding place.


The story starts off with Alissa getting the boot from her mother to go find the Hold. Strell has been wandering for the past six years and returns to the plains only to find out some devastating news. On his way back to the coast he runs into Alissa. Together they head out to the Hold. Useless, a master from the Hold tries to discourage Alissa from coming by making her relive her father’s death. Then there is Bailic. Bailic use to be a keeper at the Hold but has since killed almost all the masters in his quest to find the First Truth.

I didn’t like Alissa at first. I found her annoying. Though in the beginning her denial that magic exist is understandable, fairly soon in the book there are event that makes it pretty clear that there are supernatural things going on. Alissa never actually won me over. I continue to listen to the book because I did want to know the outcome but not necessarily because I wanted to know what would happen with her.
Strell, on the other hand, I liked. His character is a stand up guy. Who falls in love with Alissa (this in never stated but one can tell). If it wasn’t for Strell’s presence Alissa would’ve probably been tortured or killed upon entering the gates of the Hold. It is Strell’s presence that makes it so that Bailic doesn’t know which one is the actual keeper.

I really can say mush else about the book without ruining it for those of you who may want to read it so let’s move on to other notes and comments. Ready? Ok.

This is what is happening when you read Harry Potter. You find things to compare. It kind of not fair because let’s be real the Harry Potter series was written wonderfully. In Harry Potter, Harry doesn’t believe in magic but it is not a flat out denial, it is not an absolute I-wont-believe-what-is-right-in-my-face attitude. That is perhaps what irked me most about Alissa’s character.

Bailic is a Voldemort sort of character. He is a half breed you hates half breeds. In this case the two breeds are the Foothills and the Plains. The Plains are the upper class. They do all the skilled labor. And the Foothills are farmers. They, of course, supply all the food. The story does not get into why the two hate each other but it is an intense hatred. Each calling the other names and only tolerating each other enough to be able too trade goods on Market day.

Like Voldemort, Bailic doesn’t understand love. He is arrogant. He doesn’t like interbreeding. And he is consumed with power.

This is not a Harry Potter replacement but the story kept me interested as I said before. I’ll read book two and hope that Alissa will grow on me.

TBR list#4 Read when you get around to it.

Reading Challenges:
Hogwarts Reading Challenge 2012
2012 Paranormal Reading Challenges
Soundtrack Challenge:Dirty Dancing