Forestfire4's Blog

This is the third book in a trilogy, but the sixth set in this “world”, and a very satisfying conclusion. The main character was young and immature and the trials experienced through the book saw her grow up and accept that love is not always what is expected or even what you think you need. Thank you Maria Snyder for a great series.  Go to www.mariavsnyder.com for more information on this author and her series.  This is not my typical type of story, it is set in a world of magic but I love books where the main character is a strong female lead.  Although she is often naive the travails Opal passes through are painful and yet interesting.  What can I say, just a fun read.  Sometimes we all need to step outside of the real world and find something different.

Since I wrapped up my mystery book club selection in short order, I was able to dive into Fever Dream on Sunday and just finished it late last night.  I really enjoyed this book.  Seeing Pendergast in they eyes of Captain D’Agosta was especially interesting, he always has a male counterpoint and seeing him from the eyes of a woman was interesting.  I hope all is well with Vincent on the next book though!  I like his character.  The ending is a bit creepy, but very satisfying too, in an evil way.  You can see justice looming on the horizon, but you don’t get to experience it in the book, you have to use your imagination.

This is another book where you end up feeling like you are there, like you are visiting the south.  The way they weave the book into the flow and feel of Louisiana is really interesting to me, I definitely learned more even with it being a fiction novel. The description of the swamps though, don’t leave me wanting to come and visit that however!  I may be a wetland scientist to some degree, but alligators and cottonmouth snakes just don’t appeal to me.

At the end of the book Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston say they are starting a new series together and I really look forward to seeing these.  But they are still going to continue Mr. Pendergast’s story too!  I really want to see how they bring Constance back into the story, that was my only gripe with this novel was how they weaved in her backstory.  I really want to learn more about her and her history.

I just finished the newest Sookie Stackhouse book last week and must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was disappointed in #8 and the loss of her “fairy godmother”. However, in this book we find that not all the elves have left and they are still in the background, which is good. I really liked the flow of the book and was very satisfied.

I will say up front, I typically enjoy reading Daniel Silva and have read most of his Gabriel Allon series.  But this one was just plain DUMB!!  I rented the cd-rom from the library to read in the car and was glad I didn’t spend the money on it.  The plot was transparent and the ending conflict scene just boggled my mind over how stupid they were.  They are up against “the best assassin in the world” and they go to the wife’s father’s house to hide?  Like he wouldn’t know that?  I skipped over a lot of this part, I just couldn’t get it.  So, skip this one, but definitely try his other books instead.

This is the third book in a fun cozy mystery series by Wendy Roberts.  This one though dealt with a topic close to my heart.  The main character in the book, Sadie, has a unique gift, she can see and talk to ghosts and helps them to cross over (a bit like Ghost Whisperer) when they have unresolved issues.  However she also owns a clean-up service, the type who come in after deaths or crimes to clean up the mess (yuck) and some of the descriptions really leave you with a taste of how messy it can get!  Please, let my body be found right away!  Anyway, since she works on crime scenes often she of course gets entangled in a few mysteries that need solving.  The reason this one was close to my heart?  The opening scene is at the funeral for her dad.  Of course she sees his spirit, and the reason he hasn’t crossed over is for her with a surprising twist.  It really brought to mind all the things I wish I could have shared with my dad before he passed over.  The apologies, the moments missed, just letting him know how much I loved him, how much I didn’t want him to go.  So, it was a fun read but sad as well.  But, thinking about my dad is always a good thing so that is okay too.  I do talk to him often, maybe he even hears me once in a while.  I hope so.

I don’t remember how I was turned into this series, but I am certainly glad I was.  A Rather Charming Invitation is the third book in this series by C.A. Belmond.  The central character is a historical researcher who works for the film industry, helping to set up films to be historically accurate.  Being the film industry, there are of course a couple of quirky characters who carry through the books.  Penny has a mother and father who “escaped” their stuffy families and met and married in America.  The first story surrounds a mystery set up by a relative for her and her “cousin” Jeremy to solve,  the result of which is a nice fortune.  This book surrounds a family mystery centering on a beautiful tapestry that was loaned to Penny and Jeremy for their wedding and the clues it holds to a cache of gold coins.  It is an enjoyable read.  I especially like how she sets the base story (the wedding and Penny’s fears about whether it could change their relationship) against the setting (Monte Carlo, Grasse and London) with a mystery thrown in for good measure.  All of her books are set between France, Italy and England and they always leave me with a desire to go visit.   A dash of fun, a dash of history, a dash unusual relatives, a dash of quirky friends, and a big dash of mystery.  Highly recommended.  I do hope she continues the series.

The first book is A Rather Lovely Inheritance and I do recommend starting at the beginning.  www.cabelmond.com is the link to her site.  I love this quote from her web site. 

My weekend read!  Well, my second one anyway.  I needed a nice easy, breezy book and this was it.  I believe it is actually more for juniors, but I really like this series.  The book moves fast and I can finish it in a day.  Since I was sore and worn out from packing the last couple days, I just needed a day off to read and this was perfect for that.  This series is definitely off-beat and you kind of wonder if genetic engineering could someday go in this direction (scary) but it is fun to read.  I do like a good “what-if” read when it comes to science, genetic engineering, or medicine.  Makes me worried some days, but interesting none the less.  Probably comes from that degree in biology/chemistry.