One for the Money

What could be better then a story about a brand new bounty hunter? O, and did I add that she is tracking down the man who took her virginity behind the eclair counter in the local bakery?

Stephanie Plum is the heroine in this great murder mystery. Janet Evanovich, the author, gives Plum a great sense of humor. Evanovich knows how to write characters a person can understand. You hate the characters who are the bad guys and love the good guys. Evanovich makes it very clear who is good and who is bad, no matter what side they may be on in the plot.

It's a murder mystery with a great sense of dry humor. You laugh your ass off while Plum is chasing down the killer. And don't get confused. You will still be sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for Plum to catch the bad guy and collect her finder's fee.

I can't wait for the second book in this series. The grandmother in this series, Grandma Mazer, is funny, and from what I have been told, she only gets better with age. I can't wait to see what she does in the later books.

Read this! You are in for a treat.

grave sight

(Mom and I at dinner. She recommended my next book selection.)

Today I finished grave sight by Charlaine Harris. I decided to pick up this series, staring Harper Connelly, because I loved Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Harper is a young woman who has been struck by lightening and can now sense dead bodies. She travels the country with her step-brother Tolliver helping people to find the bodies of their loved ones and tell the grieving how the death came about.

I enjoyed the novel, because it still contained Harris' sense of humor throughout the book. I did figure out the end but Harris lead me to it. Something I did think was kinda weird was the relationship between Harper and Tolliver. He called her things like "baby" and "honey". It was weird. I mean, I love my little brother but I am not calling him "honey" for any reason.

I am going to pick up the second book in the series in a few days. I enjoy a good mystery, especially when relaxing with a book on the beach. Harris definitely delivers that. Plus the books are such easy reads that if you sit and read for an hour, you just polished off 100 pages. Reading that fast can always make a person feel accomplished.

If you want a mystery with a twist, then please go pick up this series. You will not be disappointed.

Catching Up On My Reading.

Ok! I know it has been forever since my last post but I promise you that I have been reading. I have been doing so much reading I haven't had time to do much else. So since my last post I have read:

The is Jenna and I. She recommended

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to me.

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
2. Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse novel
3. A Touch of Dead: Sookie Stackhouse short stories
4. The Handmaid's Tale
5. 9th Judgement

See? I told you it was a lot!

As far as reviews gone I am going to try and keep these short and sweet. I guess to start, I will group together the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I love this series by Charlaine Harris. I love her characters, literally. I want to jump into the book and steal Eric Northman away from Sookie! Harris writes unique, original stories with a modern sense of humor. You get mystery, romance, funny anecdotes and characters you can relate to even if they are vampires, werewolves, fairies and of course, telepaths. Dead in the Family does not have as much suspense as some of the previous books, but it gives great incite into the relationships of the characters. Harris is building on the relationships she has written for her characters and I can not wait to see how it all plays out. There are 10 books in this series and I will preorder the 11th and wait with much anticipation! I thought A Touch of Dead was a cute idea. Of course, I loved the story envolving Eric Northman. (I know being in lust with a fictional character is crazy but after so many books I can't help it.) I did get a little confused when Harris was filling in some of the gaps from past books. So I would recommend to anyone who is beginning the series that if you have an old woman's memory like mine, read these stories where they fit into the series. This will avoid confusion.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was recommended to me by a friend, and I am not going to lie. For me the first 200 pages of this best selling thriller were slow and just set the background information. However, once I talked to said friend and to others who had read the book, it was only I who had this problem. Oh well. The story was good and kept me guessing right until the author, Steig Larsson, wanted the reader to know the truth. I have already bought the second novel in the series because even after about 650 pages the ending still leaves you wanting more!

9th Confession is the ninth book in the Women's Murder Club Series by James Patterson. (I really like series. What can I say?) I felt a little let down by this last book. Don't get me wrong. It was well written and fast paced and I love that. But the actual story was not as good as some others. I would recommend this series though. It has a cast of nothing but strong, independent women. They are hard working and successful in their fields. Begin with the first book in the series and I promise you will be hooked. Patterson writes his books with short 2 to 3 pages chapters. It makes all of his books super quick to read. If someone really wanted to (and I have), you can sit down and read one of his books in one evening.

Lastly, The Handmaid's Tale was a reading assignment for one of my classes. Well, I did my assignment. I read this book, but I am not totally sure that I understand what I read. The novel takes place in the future that is run by men and nothing but men. Women are seen as wombs and thats it! Just wombs! The woman's job was to make babies with the man who "owned" her. I am indepepdent and I like doing my own thing but I probably would not call myself a feminist. Maybe this is why I did not like this book (or maybe it is because I do not like the idea of being owned by a man as a sex object). Although the book was well written I read this book because it was an assignment and that was the only reason I finished it. It was an easy read however, and many parts of it were touching.

As always, I hoped you liked my recommendations and please feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with anything I have said.