Ghost Mountain still hasn’t been released, but that’s okay. I figure it’s a lesson in patience.
The book will be out this month, though, so those of you who are anxiously awaiting it will only need to wait a little longer.
Keep checking back. And check the publisher’s link to the book. There you can purchase it as soon as it becomes available.
Thanks!
Blessings!
Nichole
Here is another book which doesn’t fall into the category of “Nichole’s Normal Genres.” Yes, it’s a fantasy, but it’s also a romance and clearly falls into that category.
So why did I pick this one up? Would you believe it was because of the main character’s name? Cordelia.
And why would that name stick out at me? Well, because I have a child with an amazing imagination. When my kiddo was about 9 or 10, she would introduce herself as “Cordelia.” I’m sure that had something to do with discovering Anne of Green Gables at about that time.
Anyway, the combination of the main character’s name and the back of the book blurb made me want to pick this one up.
Cordelia is the official wise woman for the Cornish piskies. In that capacity, she is a seer, who often uses her skills to look into the future of people attached to the pisky court. Her favorite to spy on, however, is the King’s brother.
Unfortunately, she didn’t see the trouble brewing.
When a portal to the Underworld is accidentally opened, the Welsh King of the Underworld kidnaps one of the King’s twin sons. Cordelia must work with the King’s brother to save the boy.
I’ll admit I enjoyed the tale, even with the romantic elements that were far beyond what I normally read. The action was fast-paced and the storyline was easy to follow. For those of you who enjoy romance, I recommend this one.
Blessings!
Nichole
Have you ever picked up a book and thought “I might like this, might not.” Maybe it’s in a genre that’s not your favorite. Or the back of the book summary sounds good, but there’s just something about the cover that just doesn’t appeal to you. But when you finish reading it, not only did you enjoy the story, but you suddenly remember you actually really like everything you’ve read by that author?
That’s what happens to me every time I pick up a Heather Graham novel.
I am always leery of her work because it’s filed in the romance section of the store. At the same time, I’m drawn to her stories because of the fantastic way she weaves the paranormal into the story. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m not a huge romance fan. In fact, if you queried my husband, he’d likely tell you that I don’t have a romantic bone in my body. Therefore, reading romance isn’t something I normally do.
Having said all that, I really enjoy Heather Graham’s books. I think the paranormal aspects of the stories overshadow the romance sections. In other words, there is more to the story then the stereotypical “girl meets boy/girl hates boy/girl needs boy to solve some problem/girl loves boy/they live happily ever after.”
And in Unhallowed Ground, Ms. Graham didn’t disappoint me.
In the book, Sarah McKinley has returned to her St. Augustine, Florida, hometown and has purchased the historic antebellum mansion she’s always loved. During the renovation process, however, Sarah finds more than she bargained for.
There are skeletons buried in the walls. Lots of them.
Now, this doesn’t freak Sarah out quite as much as it would me. You see, this particular mansion did a stint as a funeral home around the time of the Civil War. As a living history enthusiast, and an archeologist, Sarah understands the process her home must go through to be cleared for her to return.
Meanwhile, private investigator Caleb Anderson is in the area searching for a missing girl — one of two, actually. Since the missing girls are the same “type,” there is some concern about a serial killer.
Sarah’s and Caleb’s separate investigations cross paths and the two find themselves drawn to each other and the overlaps in their various “mysteries.”
Ms. Graham spins a captivating yarn. I enjoy the twists and turns she employs and even the romantic tension isn’t strained. The characters are multi-dimensional and the pacing of the story (as well as the sense of place) are fantastic. If you enjoy paranormal stories, but are tired with the excess of vampires out there, you’ll enjoy just about anything by Ms. Graham. Don’t let the “romance” label put you off, there’s just as much mystery in the books as there is romance.
Blessings!
Nichole
I’ll admit it. I had never read any of Hiaasen’s work before, even if “New York Times Bestseller” was listed across the top of his books. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I may have avoid his work BECAUSE of the New York Times banner.
I admit it… I’m a non-conformist.
Anyway, this isn’t the type of book I would normally select, but I’m glad I picked this one up.
The premise of the book is that Chaz Perrone decides to kill his wife, Joey, by throwing her off a cruise ship. Chaz isn’t that smart. In fact, he’s pretty much a self-centered jerk. He doesn’t seem to realize or remember that Joey was a champion swimmer in college.
Joey survives the tumble and decides to get even with Chaz. She is able to mess with his head and get her revenge.
Hiassen uses multiple points of view to move the story forward. And he does it very well! I can’t imagine the story being told only from Chaz’s or Joey’s point of view. As a reader, we wouldn’t have enough information to keep the story moving forward.
I also noticed that Hiassen used humor in the novel. As a bit of a smartypants myself, I appreciated his use of irony and the way he twisted the events to make the story work. Hiassen also used (mostly) believable situations in the novel.
Most impressive, however, were the characters he created. And were they ever characters! If you’ve been following the “villain talk” on Frightening Journeys this month, you know I like my fictional characters to be multidimensional. The characters in Skinny Dip cover a variety of ranges and Hiassen explains them amazingly. For me, it really was the characters who made the book worth reading.
Blessings!
Nichole
I picked this book up mostly because of the tag line: “A good cop never gives up the ghost…” With a line like that, what’s not to love?
The premise of the story is fantastic. A cop has been killed (okay, that’s not so fantastic, but bear with me!), but hasn’t moved “to the light.” As the story progresses, we learn that Detective Kevin Fahey was a drunk and a bit of a jerk. He was also a lazy cop.
Fahey spends some time trying to determine out why he’s “still here” and hasn’t moved on when he’s visited by the victim of one of his previous cases — one of the few he’d “solved” in the last few years of his life. That visitation leads Fahey to another body eerily similar to the previous victim, which forces Fahey to realize the wrong man is in prison for the crime.
As a spirit, Fahey can’t do much in the investigation. At one point, the dead detective tries to move something and the effort drains him for hours. He does however keep track of the investigation’s progress by following around his replacement, Detective Maggie Gunn.
I enjoyed the premise of the story and I think there is some serious potential for additional novels with these characters. However, the choice to write this novel in first-person from Fahey’s point of view drove me batty. In fact, I described the POV to one friend as “first-third person” — yes, it’s written in first person, but Fahey is telling us everything as if it were written in third. Clearly that was done for a reason. As a spirit, Fahey didn’t communicate with anyone. Dialogue seemed almost non-existent in points. I would like to see future novels in this series have more of the dialogue. In my opinion, the overall writing was very much “telling” as opposed to “showing.” Again, I attribute that to the POV issue.
Overall, I really enjoyed the story and how the characters grew from page one to page two hundred and ninety-eight. I look forward to another “Dead Detective” novel by Chaz McGee.
Blessings!
Nichole
This series was suggested to me by the mother of a girl in an organization my younger daughter is also involved in. These are very much teenage-girl books and are all about the vampires.
Currently, there are six novels in the series, and the time frame isn’t even a year. Really book 2 (Betrayed) picks up within hours of the conclusion to book 1 (Marked). That was my biggest complaint with the series. Here we have a vampire high school and, six books in, we have very little character growth among the main characters. Yes, they grow. But the six books seem so much like one really long, thousand page novel, that there isn’t a lot.
The theme of the series is really the choice between good and evil, something that can touch everyone no matter where they are in life. There’s even a moral to the series; which is that you always have a choice between good and bad, light and dark, truth and evil.
To summarize the books, Zoey Redbird has recently found out she’s been chosen to become a vampire. That means leaving the home and school and friends she has known and moving to the House of Night. Once at the House of Night, Zoey finds out that she’s not just going to be a vampire. The tell-tale crescent that marks fledglings (or “vampires in the making”) are usually just outlines until the person becomes a full-blown vamp. In Zoey, the mark is already filled in and she has the accompanying tattoos — both things that are unheard of in fledglings. So not only does Zoey have to deal with the new school, new friends issues, but there’s a major bad guy in the school and it’s up to Zoey and her crew to fight for the good.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the series is that it’s written by a mother-daughter team. I liked that because it’s written for pre-teens or young teens and I know the collaboration gave the store a bit more realism especially in the language of the teen characters and their likes and dislikes.
I read all six books in about two weeks. They were easy and didn’t require a lot of thought. I did feel the “teenage drama” was a little over-the-top. In fact, my 16-year-old daughter read the first book and thought the drama was a bit much. She summed the series up by saying “it’s Harry Potter meets Twilight plus more drama then you could ever imagine.”
I tend to agree with her.
Blessings!
Nichole
OK, I’m not sure I’ve announced this, so here goes.
Ghost Mountain was accepted by a publisher! The tentative publication date is Jan. 2, 2010.
Check it out at http://secondwindpublishing.com/GhostMountain.html and make sure you get yours!
Blessings!
Nichole
In the spirit of full disclosure, let me tell you all that not only do I come from a family of Masons, I was a Job’s Daughter and my daughter is currently one. I am a member of both the Eastern Star and the Daughters of the Nile. My husband is a Mason.
I’m used to people thinking my family is involved with a cult. I grew up with it.
Having said all that, I read Dan Brown’s latest with the eye of a skeptic. Truly, I expected to dislike the book. Don’t get me wrong! Having read both The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, I knew this would be a quick read and highly entertaining. I wasn’t disappointed.
The Lost Symbolwas a quick read and it was highly entertaining. There were also some fantastic quotes. (I loved Professor Langdon telling his class about the cult he was a member of. One that meets on the day of the sun god Ra, where people kneel at the foot of an ancient instrument of torture and consume ritualistic blood and flesh. When his students became shocked, Langdon invited them to attend Mass the following Sunday and partake in Holy Communion.)
While the idea behind the book was interesting, please remember it’s fiction.
About the book, it was good. I liked the story. Fast-paced and action filled, there were not many dull spots in the story. The premise used to get Langdon to Washington, D.C., however, I had some problems with but, as I said before, this is fiction and I’m willing to suspend a bit of disbelief in the name of a good book. The chapters in this one are short, which I liked because I often have to carve out my reading time. It’s much easier for me to stop at the end of a chapter, and I can do it more often when the chapters are only a few pages long. I realize that’s a personal preference, but it does seem to make it easier for me to zip through novels.
If The Lost Symbol follows Mr. Brown’s other novels, I expect there will be a movie in the future. I look forward to that, since I think it will be very interesting.
Heck, it might even raise interest in the various Masonic orders and that can only help the world as we know it!
Blessings!
Nichole
WOW! What an ending!
I’ve read a number of Charlaine Harris’s novels, in a few of the different series she writes. I’ll admit, though, that the Harper Connelly series is one of my favorite. I like the idea that Harper has a talent she struggles with. (For those not familiar with the series, Harper is able to find dead bodies and can even tell details of the person’s last moments on Earth.) I like the idea that Harper tries to use that talent to help others. I like the fact that the series is a mystery and that it’s a paranormal without vampires.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve read a few of Ms. Harris’s vampire series, as well. The Sookie Stackhouse series is good. But I’m a little “vamped out,” if you know what I mean.
Grave Secret is the fourth of the Harper Connelly books. Each book has had a few interesting subplots — including the relationship between Harper and Tolliver, and Harper’s search for her older sister. In this installment, Harper and her step-brother/boyfriend are headed to see their little sisters. They do one quick job and head to see their family. Unfortunately, the results of that job aren’t quite what the clients are looking for. Not to be dissuaded from visiting their sisters, Harper and Tolliver continue on.
They are able to spend time with their sisters at a skating rink where Tolliver’s dad shows up. Tolliver makes it clear he wants nothing to do with his ex-con father, but the older man isn’t easily convinced.
Grave Secret ties up the “loose end” of Cameron (Harper’s sister), which has been an ongoing subplot in the series. I’m hoping that there are more novels in the works since I really do enjoy this series.
Blessings!
Nichole
I grabbed this one because an on-line mystery readers group was going to review it. And I’m so glad I did.
The premise of the story deals with a cold case of two missing girls. The Bethany sisters have been missing for 30 years after disappearing from a Baltimore shopping mall. There was no sign of the girls and their bodies were never found. Now one of the girls has shown back up.
What makes this novel interesting is that author Laura Lippman uses six different points of view to tell the story. Six POVs have the possibility to be very confusing for the reader, but Lippman does a great job of keeping the story moving. I’m not sure she could have told the story with fewer characters, since each POV (one of the Bethany girls, their mother, their father, the current detective, the original case detective, and a hospital case worker) has a distinct view of the original case and the events that have happened since then.
A woman claiming to be Heather Bethany, the younger of the two sisters, is involved in a traffic accident and spills the entire story to the first police officer on the scene. Is she really Heather Bethany? Or someone trying to divert attention to get out of the mess following the accident?
This is a fast moving novel and a quick read, despite its 350+ pages.
Blessings!
Nichole