gathering prey

gathering prey
lucas davenport #25
john sandford
fiction/mystery/thriller/suspense
gp putnam's sons
published 2015

They call them Travelers.  They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes - they just like to stay on the move.  And now somebody is killing them.

Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she'd befriended in San Francisco.  The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, she's afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing.  She's hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn't know what to do.

Letty tells Lucas she's going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty's getting played, he volunteers to go with her.  When he hears the woman's story though, he begins to think there's something in it.  Little does he know.  In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has every seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger - but just may change the course of his life.

Another freaking winner by John Sandford.  I wait in anticipation hoping that when Letty finishes college and becomes whatever career badass she's going to be Sandford will give her her own series.  Please, please give Letty her own series.

Anyway, lots of crazies here in Gathering Prey and Lucas has kind of gone off the rails.  It started with the events in Field of Prey and we've seen it before throughout the series.  Lucas needs something.....but he's not sure what yet.  All he knows that what he has now isn't working.  So he puts everything into finding these killers.  But about 98% is born from a kind of stupid thing Letty does that seemed slightly out of character, (but then again not) that sends Lucas into a protective father rage.  It's hard to talk about without giving too much away.

The humor is always there, the reality of these people.  The instances that make them seem like real people that you could encounter or know in this life.  After a bad experience Lucas tells Letty he's going to call Weather.  Letty warns, 'She's gonna scream,' to which Lucas replies, 'Yeah, well - it's her turn.'  And later when Lucas is vaguely outlining his plans to Weather she says to him, 'All right, if you say so.  I reserve the right to smirk when it all goes wrong.'

Sandford's writing is just so perfect.  And the problem with that is for awhile after I've finished a Prey or Virgil Flowers novel everything else I pick up to read just kind of sucks.  So I have to take a break from reading for a bit.  I've said I was thinking of restarting the series and I wonder if now is a good time to start.

ppotw prize explosion

One of the best things I've done this year is join the League of Extraordinary Penpals.  I've met the most amazing, talented, sweet & interesting people and it's been one of the high lights of my day to chat with them online and through snail mail,

Our fearless leader and her partner in crime have a blog, Penpal of the Week that I stalk most regularly because 1) it's fun and 2) Julie makes the most amazing stationery and every week she has a new design for a limited time that I may or may not buy from time to time a lot.  Julie also has an etsy store La Papierre where she sells more of her amazing stationery (aka crack for snail mail addicts) and other mail necessities.

For the ENTIRE month of September PPOTW is giving something away every day!  It's amazing!  Today's giveaway is a very, very cute set of stationery that, if I won, I would have to try very hard not to hoard.

Take a moment and check out Julie's blog and enter her giveaway.  Check out her etsy store too!  I promise you won't be sorry.  And if you're interested in becoming a LEPster you can get info for that here!

field of prey

field of prey
lucas davenport #24
john sandford
fiction/thriller/mystery
putnam
published 2014

The night after Fourth of July, Layton Burns, Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky.  And unlucky.

He'd picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, and abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private and quiet.  The only problem was ... something smelled bad, like, really bad.  He mentioned it to a county deputy he knew, and when the cop took a look, he found a body stuffed down a cistern.  And then another, and another.

By the time Lucas Davenport was called in, the police were up to fifteen bodies, and counting.  And as if that wasn't bad enough, when Lucas began to investigate, he made some disturbing discoveries of his own.  The victims had been killed over a great many years, one every summer, regular as clockwork.  How could this have happened without anybody noticing?

Because one thing was for sure: The killer had to live close by.  He was probably even someone they saw every day.

I love these books.  I love these books so much I'm considering blowing off all the books I have started reading and just going back to Rules of Prey and start the whole series over again.  Honestly, they really do just get better and better.  After Stolen Prey and Letty's amazing freaking amazing-ness (there's really no words for how much I love Letty) and then the appearance of Kidd & Lauren in Silken Prey I really didn't imagine that things would get even better, but they did.

Here's why John Sandford is such a perfect story teller: He tells a slow burner story.  There is this HUGE case in Red Wing and Lucas isn't even the head investigator.  He's the heavy.  He's the one Rose Marie sends in to get shit done.

So he's doing.  And usually he's doing with Del, Jenkins or Shrake along for the ride, but this time there's stuff going on all over the place and everyone, including Virgil are off on other cases.  So Lucas is poking around.  And the whole time you know who the killer is.  You know how close and how far they are from him.  But everything is taking time.  Lucas jumps to the wrong conclusions, makes assumptions that are close, but not right.  He gets the guy, right there, but then skips right over him.  And you, as the reader are thinking, holy crap!  He's RIGHT THERE!

But you're not mad, because if you've read a Lucas Davenport book you know he'll get it done.

So you wait.  And while things are moving slowly you aren't frustrated or bored.  Sandford somehow makes the mundane interesting.  In the middle of the giant case, Lucas goes home so he can go shopping to buy new shoes.  But that's how real life works.  Cases don't get solved right away.  Sometimes months go by.  Sometimes cases go cold.

But then shit hits the fan.  And it isn't even anything to do with what you think it should be, but damn it, I'm invested.  I'm invested in all of these people.  For most of them, I've been with them for 20 years.  They're like my book friends.

So some shit hits the fan, but then all of a sudden, ALL of the shit hits the fan and I've got 88 more pages to go and I'm slapping my legs, bouncing up and down, pulling my hair, everything but biting my nails.  And it is so intense that when it's over I feel drained.  I feel relief and I feel spent.

Lucas is flawed.  And he's bent and twisted and ruthless.  But he is good and dependable and loyal and a fucking maniac.  And damnit I love Weather.  I love that she knows this man so well and loves him for it, expects nothing less than who he is, what he's capable of.

There is no better author out there.  None.

a wanted man

a wanted man
jack reacher #17
lee child
suspense/crime/general badassery
delacorte
published 2012

Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning.  One man driving, another telling stories that don't add up.  A woman in the back, silent and worried.  And a hitchhiker with a broken nose.  An hour behind them, the FBI descends on an old pumping station where a man was stabbed to death - the knife work professional, the killers nowhere to be seen.

All Jack Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia.  All he did was stick out his thumb.  But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride.  He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy, in which nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth.

I'm not kidding you.  If you only reads books from one author, only read one series, it should be this one series by Lee Child.

Jack Reacher is one of the best fictional badasses that has ever graced a page.  He's freaking scary smart, can't stand someone being wronged (especially women and children, but men too - at least good men).  He kicks ass.  Literally.  And he gets revenge.  He gives people what they deserve.  But what I really love the most about him?  He has morals.  He can't just walk away when he knows he can do something about it.  The best example of that:

"It gives me some kind of chance to survive the night."  "How are those better odds?  If you come back with me, you're guaranteed to survive the night."  "No," Reacher said.  "If I come back with you, I'm guaranteed to die of shame."

These books are getting funnier as well.  The longer Reacher is out of the military, the more his dry humor comes out.

Reacher had no patience for people who claimed that y was a vowel.

For some reason that struck me as funny.

My favorite lines had to do with an annoying motel clerk.

"It's the FBI, for the man with the broken nose.  That would be you, I suppose." Reacher said, "Pretty soon it could be either one of us, if you don't stop yapping at me."

and

She hadn't shot the fat man.  She was clearly a person of considerable patience.

The story is fast and there is almost always something important happening.  And there's always this big conspiracy or crime going on (of course, otherwise what would be the point), but it's almost like a backstory.  The story is not about the crime or the mystery to be solved.  The story is how Reacher reacts to that story and the hell he brings upon the criminals.

It's truly a sight to behold.

pure

pure
the pure trilogy #1
julianna baggott
ya/dystopia
grand central publishing
published 2012

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters....

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before.  At an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and wear, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small.  Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash....

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked.  Pures.  Partridge, a Pure, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely.He thinks about loss - maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter.  When a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

I can barely explain how much I loved this book. These are big bold words, but I think I loved this more than I did The Hunger Games or Divergent.  At times I put the book down to collect myself for a minute because something disturbed me so much.

Dusts, Groupies, The Meltlands, The Good Mother.  These things will haunt me.  Pressia, Partridge, Lyda, El Capitan, Bradwell.  These characters will stay with me always.

There were just so many holy shit moments, things I never saw coming.  I don't know if it was because I was so into the story that I didn't have time to look ahead or put the pieces together.  I didn't stop long enough to think about it.  I just read.

The story skips around to different points of view.  Usually this frustrates me because it feels sometimes difficult to follow, but I didn't seem to have a problem.  There were times when the story is being told from Partridges point of view, but would jump over to Bradwell for a minute and while that seemed weird I wasn't confused.

I don't know.  This was different.  My library actually has this in the adult fiction section instead of the YA section and while I don't think it's too mature for teens it was definitely disturbing.  For me, even more so when they got to the Meltlands.  When I finally got a grasp on what had happened, what the Detonations caused I thought it was terrifying.

We're left with the perfect continuing series book.  There is some bit of an ending, but you know the story goes on.  You know there's more, but you're not left with this awful cliffhanger.  Nonetheless, I finished this book at 1:20am and ran to the library this morning to get the next book.

It was just that good.

god-shaped hole

god-shaped hole
tiffanie debartolo
fiction/romance
sourcebooks landmark
published 2002

Tired of the usual dating politics, Beatrice "Trixie" Jordan follows an impulse and replies to a personal ad: "If your intentions are pure, I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world."  In doing so, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming young writer, a passionate seeker of life.  Despite their jaded views of the world, they fall immediately in love.

Trixie and Jacob begin an emotionally charge and tumultuous affair, one they try desperately to keep sacred.  As they struggle to carve out a future beyond the Los Angeles hills, Trixie and Jacob face family secrets that threaten to keep the two close to home ... or at least apart from one another.

Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of your time.  There are too many mediocre things in life to deal with and love shouldn't be one of them.

Over a decade ago a movie changed my life.  It sounds so cliche but it is the truth.  Dream For An Insomniac starring Ione Skye & Jennifer Anniston.  I can close my eyes and watch the movie in my head from beginning to end despite having not watched it in several years.  Ione Skye's Frankie was a romantic who would settle for nothing less than what she deemed to be perfect love and I, well I was stuck in a marriage with a man I didn't even like anymore.  Everything in the movie spoke to me.  I was Frankie.  I was certain I wasn't going to settle for anything less than extraordinary love.

So I booked a flight out of Texas and never went back.

Years later I stumbled upon two books written by Tiffanie DeBartolo who wrote that life-changing movie and finally, I've read one.

Every character came to life for me.  I could feel the desperation at the idea of being stuck in their hell forever.  The helplessness when things began to spiral, the content and giddiness when things were on track....it was all so much life it sparked within the pages.

It's hard to articulate how I feel after reading God-Shaped Hole without spoiling the book for anyone who should want to read it and you should want to read it.  DeBartolo has a way with words.  It made me want to write again, to keep a journal, to write everything down.  To create a story and despite having very little in common with Trixie I related to her in a way that made everything too personal so that when the book was finished I felt broken.

The worst book hangover ever, but truly worth it.

twilight

twilight
twilight saga #1
stephenie meyer
little, brown & co.
published 2006

Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made.  When she meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen - a vampire - her life takes a thrilling and terrifying romantic turn.

This is comfort reading for me.  This is my 5th reading in as many years.  It's the most I've read a single book, especially in such a short amount of time.  Usually I can't reread a book until a decade or two has gone by.

And please spare me the vitriol.  I know it's not a Pulitzer Prize winning book.  I know the writing is amateurish and the plot goes against my more feminist views, but it is truly escapism when I read this book.  It reminds me of falling in love for the first time.  Those few weeks or months learning everything you can about that person.  The butterflies and the thrill of seeing them again when you haven't seen them in oh say, a couple of hours.

Then there's the setting.  The green, rainy gloom.  The cold, grey beach covered in colored glass pebbles.  You can say what you like about Meyer's writing, but she definitely can bring Forks to life.  And this setting is my kind of place!

I just love this book.  And I probably always will.

favorite books of 2013

This is the most books I've recorded reading in a year. Granted, I only started keeping track of my reading a few years ago, but still....

There have also been quite a few really good books I've read this year so this post is just a round up of the ones that made me laugh the hardest, cried the longest, scared the crap out of me or had me biting all my nails off!

Locke & Key by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez (the whole series)

Freaky and gory and terrifying.  It kept me tense the entire time I was reading from beginning to end.  The art is fantastic and the story is crazy good.

Reached by Ally Condie

 I was slightly disappointed with Crossed and Reached made up for that a thousand times over.  I loved every single character, every single moment....it was just such a perfect book.

Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross

 Luther had a couple of things going for it as far as I was concerned.  It was about my favorite BBC show and it's written by the show's creator and writer, Neil Cross.  And it was SO GOOD.  It takes place before the show begins so you get the back story that's only hinted at in the show.  It was an excellent companion to the show.  

Yotsuba@! by Kiyohiko Azuma

 I saw the description for this on the back of another manga and thought it sounded like something Emma might like.  I started reading the first one and went to pick up the others immediately.  My mother-in-law gave me the entire set for Christmas because I just love Yotsuba!  Emma's read them too and loved them so I think that makes it a favorite because it was something we both loved.

Stolen Prey by John Sandford

 Ermahgawd Stolen Prey is probably my favorite Prey novel that Sandford has written.  Letty, Lucas's adopted daughter is the best badass in literature.  I was freaking hyperventilating, my heart was pounding through my chest while I was reading this one.  SO GOOD.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did.  Rainbow Rowell wrote this book that at first feels like a coming of age book and it is in it's way, but it was so much more than that.  The writing was spectacular.  I laughed out loud sometimes, but I cried too and I was frightened and worried and I cared so much about these characters it was ridiculous!

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

 This is one of those books that I should have read years ago.  In fact, it's been sitting on my bookshelf for years.  I really just loved everything about it.  It was painful to read at times and there were characters I loathed, but it was supposed to be that way.  There's a sequel to this one out there, but I don't think I need to read it.  I think I love the way Cannie's story ended here.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 This is another book that sat on my shelf for awhile before I got around to it.  Magical, suspenseful, romantic, beautiful, heartbreaking, curious....it was everything a good book should be.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

At this point, it is clear that Rainbow Rowell is my new favorite author.  I was almost instantly in love with this book.  The most telling feature is how throughout the book, mostly at the beginning of a new chapter, she writes a snippet of the canon or fanfiction that the book is centered around and I was just as into that stuff as I was into the actual story.  Rowell writes books to get lost in.  That's a good thing people.

So here's to another great year of book reading.  Happy New Year everyone and let's discover even better books in 2014!

catch me

catch me
dd warren #6
lisa gardner
fiction/suspense/thriller
dutton
published 2012

Detective D. D. Warren is hard to surprise.  But a lone woman outside D. D.'s latest crime scene shocks her with a remarkable proposition:  Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant believes that she will be murdered in four days.  And she wants Boston's top detective to handle her death investigation.

This is probably one of Gardner's best.  The story is tightly wound, supremely suspenseful and wonderfully written.  D. D. is at her best.  Motherhood has softened her a bit, but it's good for her.  She's not as bitchy as she was and that only makes her a better detective, I think.

I started getting inklings of the outcome, of the killer, but unlike other books the only reason I was figuring it out was because Gardner was writing it so I could figure it out.  It was brilliant.  Charlene is tough and paranoid, but good and flawed and human.  The only one I took an instant dislike to was Detective O.  She reminded me of a harsher, pre-motherhood D. D., but not in a good way.  I guess every story has to have someone you clash with though, right?

But my favorite part, by far was the convergence of multiple characters from nearly every story she's ever done!  Appearances were made by Kimberly & Pierce Quincy (the FBI Profiler series), Roan Griffin (The Survivor's Club) and JT & Tess (The Perfect Husband/FBI Profiler series).  The only one who didn't make an appearance was Bobby Dodge, which is strange since he's part of the D. D. Warren series.  But it was fun to catch up with everyone, especially Pierce and hear just a little bit about what has happened with him & Rainie - two of my favorite characters.  It was also crazy to think about JT & Tess to be in their 60s!

If none of them had been included in this story I still would have loved it, but the fact that they were just made me all giddy with excitement.

eleanor & park

eleanor & park
rainbow rowell
ya/romance
st. martin's griffin
published 2013

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.

When you read a book you enjoy there is a point in the book where you go from not really caring about the book to being enthralled and instantly loving the characters in a way you hadn't just the page before.  In Eleanor & Park that happened for me somewhere around page 53.  And then it just took off from there.

Eleanor stayed away from the N-word, even in her head.  It was bad enough that, thanks to Richie's influence, she went around mentally calling everyone she met a "motherfucker." (Irony.)

He emptied all his handheld video games and Josh's remote control cars, and called his grandma to tell her that all he wanted for his birthday in November was AA batteries.

This book was so rich.  So many emotions were wrung out reading this book.  It felt like being bipolar.  I was enchanted, terrified, elated, sad, relieved and full of wonder.  It brought back those feelings of first love and the angst of high school with this surprising element of family and how you can't choose who brings you into this world.  Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not.

Add in comics, superheroes, music of the 80's, sci fi references and loaded with sarcasm laced with tenderness, it became nearly the perfect book.

Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic, his Vulcan handhold, and now he was going to eat her.  That would be awesome.

 Oh and it was.

virgin book reader envy

It's been quite some time since I've written a post that wasn't a book review!

I just finished reading three books that I loved (Stolen Prey, Delusion in Death & Mad River), but knew I was going to love and one book that I hated, but thought I would enjoy (I, Michael Bennett).  Even though that's a 75% positive rating I still feel kind of, I don't know...bummed?

John Sandford's two books were so good, especially Stolen Prey, but it's been awhile since I've read something truly astounding.  Something that made me lose my mind, or my heart.  The last one was Luther about three months ago.  That doesn't sound that long ago, but since I read Luther I've read 53 books.  I started going through book recommendations on GoodReads, Shelfari & Amazon and it got me thinking about the books I have loved and how I wish I could erase my memory of them so I could read them again without any expectations.

You know what I'm talking about.  There are those books you read and recommend to friends, half jealous because they get to read them for the first time and all you can do is read them again....and even though I have read some of these multiple times and loved them even the second, third, fourth or even fifth time, I still wish I could get that first time read back.  If I could erase my memory of these books and start again here's my list of books I'd do that for.

It seems weird to expound on how much I loved this book.  It's not a warm and fuzzy feel good kind of story.  Chevy Steven's Still Missing is about a woman who is kidnapped and held captive for more than a year, raped and abused repeatedly.  But it was so damn brilliant.  It kept me on the edge of my seat - literally.  I was heartbroken, elated at times, terrified and blown away.  I wasn't expecting what happened.  At all.  It was nothing short of brilliant.

I read What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg too many years ago to count, but the lyrical prose has stayed with me all these years.  Page 30, concerning dreams of fairies became the bar to which I set stories like these.  I wanted magic where there wasn't necessarily going to be magic.  Berg wove beautiful words into this story that haunted me for over a decade.

In the beginning I got Sarah Addison Allen's book The Girl Who Chased the Moon for free from a Barnes & Noble special.  I had it for months before I finally read it and when I did I immediately went out to search for the rest of Allen's books.  They were all just so beautiful, but TGWCM was an unexpected delight.  Like Still Missing I just didn't know what I was getting into so it made everything all the sweeter.  Full of magic, first love, finding love again, family, friends and mystery.  It had everything and more.

Seriously, did you think I wouldn't include this one??  Now I had avoided the Twilight craze.  In fact, I scoffed at it.  So many nutsos going insane over this vampire book immediately turned me off, but one of those nutsos was my friend and she told me I must read it.  She guaranteed I would love it and if I didn't get the books she was going to drop them off on my doorstep.  So I waited a bit longer until all four books came out and went and got them from the library.  With a doubting heart I started Twilight and at page 98 I had to call my husband so I could tell him 'I LOVE THIS BOOK.' and I became one of those nutsos.  I didn't even care.  There was something about this story that tugged at me.  The writing was soooo not perfect, the plot kind of ludicrous and it was far from having a socially acceptable female 'heroine', but I loved it.  Every bit of it.  Maybe it was the first love aspect, or the setting, or the silly differences Meyer made in her vampires.  Whatever it was I loved it and while I enjoyed all four books (6 if you count Midnight Sun and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner) the first one was my favorite.  The first meeting, the first kiss, the first time he saves her life - let's face it, we can roar all we want, but sometimes we just want that knight in sparkly armor.

*image found on Favim

This one's rather obvious, although it's not a single book, but an entire series.  Of course, I'm talking about J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.  Each and every book I loved.  It doesn't matter how many times I read them, they never get old and I still feel them pull the same emotions out of me as they did the first time.  It's one of the only books I've loved the movies almost as much as I loved the books.  I love the world that Rowling created, the language and the people.  I love that she created a series that you can think about, talk about with others and it never gets old.  There were times when I wanted to throttle Harry, but that was okay because even though the books carried his name there were so many characters that brought the stories together and Harry wouldn't have been Harry had it not been for Hermione, Ron, Snape, Dumbledore, Neville, and so many others.

Now that I've told you the books I wish I could go back and read for the first time, what are yours??  I'm always looking for new books to read!

stolen prey

stolen prey
prey #22
john sandford
mystery/suspense/thriller
berkley
published 2012

Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Wayzata, an entire family has been killed—husband, wife, two daughters, dogs.

There’s something about the scene that pokes at Lucas’s cop instincts—it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he’s seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn’t seem to fit.

Until it does. And where it leads Lucas will take him into the darkest nightmare of his life.

Letty.

Letty is the most AMAZING fictional female character in literature at this time.  Screw Katniss, Letty is the biggest asskicker in the fictional world.  And she's not the main character in the book!

So let's back up here.  Twenty-two books in, I've been reading this series for about 19 years, maybe a little longer and I'm invested.  In the beginning it was just Lucas and he was great.  Then we met Weather in Winter Prey (book 5) and they went off and on for awhile.  Letty came along in Naked Prey (book 14).  She was twelve at the time and you could already see the potential there and obviously so did Lucas.

Not only have we seen the relationship with Weather develop, but we've also seen he and Letty grow closer and she has become as important to me as Lucas.

John Sandford writes the way that James Patterson wishes he could write.  There are seriously heart pounding moments, humor that will make you laugh out loud and plots so thick it's hard to see through until Sandford wants you to see the way.  

Stolen Prey is no different.  One of the quotes from a review printed on the back of the book states 'The climax will have you holding your breath - and the book's very last line will leave you hoping for me.'  Hit the nail right on the head.  I actually had to put the down at one point, my heart beating so fast, just so I could process.  And yes, the last line of the book?  Devious.

It is in this book that we come to see how much her family means to Letty and even more importantly, how much she means to Lucas.  That girl.  I love her.  She is the key that makes the Prey novels as brilliant as they are.

Now I have in my lap the next and most current book in the series, Silken Prey.  I'm anxious to get started, but at the same time I know that once I read this I won't have another Prey novel until next year.  Booo hoooo!

yotsuba&!, vol. 2-11

yotsuba&! vol. 2
yotsuba&! vol. 3
yotsuba&! vol. 4
yotsuba&! vol. 5
yotsuba&! vol. 6
yotsuba&! vol. 7
yotsuba&! vol. 8
yotsuba&! vol. 9
yotsuba&! vol. 10
yotsuba&! vol. 11
kiyohiko azuma
graphic novel/manga/comedy/ya
yen press
published 2009-2012

More all ages comedy from the creator of Azumanga Daioh. Yotsuba hasn't gotten much smarter, and her neighbors still haven't gotten used to this wacky tike's exploits. A truly heartwarming comedy that will make you laugh out loud!

It is books like these that make me truly glad when I step out of my comfort zone and read a genre that I never did before.  Even when I started reading graphic novels I never did much more than glance at manga, but I really loved the Bunny Drop manga series and that just opened up so many more possibilities.  The best so far being Yotsuba&!

Yotsuba&! is a series that I would have no problem letting Emma read and at the same time I find them utterly entertaining.  Yotsuba is HILARIOUS.  I mean really.  There are parts in every book that I have laughed out loud at.  The greedy goat, Dad forgetting his wallet, the fundoshi, Yotsuba's nemesis....the list goes on and on.

I promise you won't be sorry if you read these.  They're cute and sweet and full of innocence and laughter.  If you're in a gloomy mood the best way to get out of your funk is to pick up a Yotsuba&! book!

born in ice

born in ice
concannon sisters trilogy #2
nora roberts
fiction/romance
jove
published 1995

Brianna Concannon is a woman with a rare gift for creating a home, and she makes use of this talent by running a bed-and-breakfast in a picturesque corner of Ireland. Mystery writer Grayson Thane is an American who grew up in an orphanage and has spent his life alone. A restless wanderer with a painful past, Grayson arrives at Blackthorn Cottage intent only on soaking up the Irish atmosphere and writing his next novel, but he finds far more than he bargained for. The beautiful, calm Brianna soothes his disquiet soul, and in her Grayson finds the home he hadn't realized he needed. Brianna knows that by falling for him, she risks her heart, already bruised and scarred by a young love who left her at the altar. But the yearning to let the American melt the ice around her cold exterior is irresistible. Unless Grayson can let go of his past to forge a future with her, Brianna may have gambled her heart in vain. 

It doesn't matter that I read these books years ago.  I still get caught up in them.  I found myself staying up late into the night because I didn't want to put the book down.  Even though I knew what would happen, at least the sum of it, I didn't want to stop in the middle.  I don't remember exactly what my teenaged self thought of the details of the book, I just remember loving it.

This time I'm older, and a mother so maybe my perspective is different.  I find I have a harder time than Brianna forgiving her mother.  I think that maybe I'm more like Maggie. Prone to emotional outbursts and able to hold a grudge, but I have to admit that the few times she's shown she does love her daughters have melted my resolve a bit.

The books also rekindle my desire to visit Ireland.  Especially here, with Grayson describing the landscape for his novel, we're rich with descriptives!  How could you not want to stay at Blackthorn and drink in the history?

Roberts ability to spin a tale and draw you in has never been as apparent as it is here.  I think in her trilogies or quartets she shines best, able to continue to flesh out her characters.  They become even more realistic, you're invested even more into their lives.  I mean come on, she makes housework sound thrilling!

reached

reached
matched trilogy #3
ally condie
ya/romance/dystopian
dutton juvienille
published 2012

Cassia faces the ultimate choices in the long-anticipated conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Matched Trilogy. 

After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising--and each other--Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.

In this gripping conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched Trilogy, Cassia will reconcile the difficulties of challenging a life too confining, seeking a freedom she never dreamed possible, and honoring a love she cannot live without.

Perfection.

Complete and utter perfection.  Ally Condie made up for Crossed's lackluster performance tenfold.  I cried when it was over just because it was over.

There are so many books, especially YA books, that have the love triangle thing going on and usually it's a love/hate kind of thing for me.  I love one suitor, hate the other.  But in this trilogy that's impossible to do.  Ky and Xander are both amazing, wonderful characters that I couldn't choose.  And Cassia, she's not annoying, she's not stringing them along (a la Bella to Jacob in New Moon) she loves them both, but knows that Ky is the one she's to be with.  Her love for Xander means that she will go to the ends of the Earth to save him if she needs to as well as protect Ky.

There are usually characters you hate, but everyone here just found a place in my heart.  It sounds so cheesy and it's actually making me tear up here to think about it.  Indie....oh Indie was one I didn't trust at first, in The Carving, but she was worthy of her own book.  Eli, Hunter, Anna, Oaker, Lei, Molly, Bram, they weren't just background characters that you forget about.  They were an intergeral part of the story that wouldn't be complete, wouldn't be memorable without them.

Part of me wishes that the story would go on.  That I could follow all of them forever.  The other part of me is glad that there was this ending.  That I could rest in the knowledge that everything was as it should be.  Perhaps.

immortal beloved

immortal beloved
immortal beloved series #1
cate tiernan
ya/romance/supernatural
little, brown books for young readers
published 2010

Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe—until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

I read this book almost exactly 2 years ago, finishing it on February 27, 2011 and I loved it.  Reading it the second time I love it still though I can't put my finger on exactly why I love it.

There's no sweeping love story, no action packed fight scene.  No government conspiracies, no Hogwarts or Forks.  No vampires, no werewolves, no fairies, no CIA spooks, no mustered out soldiers or ghosts.  Yet somehow, there is a great story here.

Nasty is just another teenage girl, except that she's about 450 years over being a teenager.  She's an immortal and knows no rhyme of reason why her kind exists.  She only knows that the years have gone on and on and on and she's tired of being a drunken party girl.

The story is simply reminiscent of a substance abuser getting clean.  She's trying to find a way to a life that is worth living.  That hurts no one, especially not herself.  She's looking for a way back to caring and it's not easy.  She can tell that there are those who don't want her at River's Crossing, but she's not there for them.  She still acts like a spoiled teenager sometimes, but she's also figuring out how she can be better person.

Then there's the underlying threat of her 'friends' from her other life.  She feels like she needs to hide from them though she's not sure why.  We only know that they're now actively looking for her but Tiernan is saving that juicy part of the story for the next installment.

There's not many books that I can read more than once and not get bored with.  Surprisingly, this is one of them.  I don't even really know why!  I just really love it.  I feel bad that it's taken me this long to get to the next book!  When I saw I still had some B&N credit I bought all three in eBook form so now I have no excuses!