i like it like that

i like it like that
gossip girl #5
cecily von ziegesar
poppy
published 2008

It's spring break and love is in the air.  Or is that a blend of Chanel no. 9 and Gucci Rush?  Is there a difference?  Blair moves in with Serena and they're back to being best friends.  But will the love-fest last or will they end up tearing out one another's newly highlighted hair?  And speaking of new, Nate is on the straight and narrow, playing Nate-in-shining-armor to his crazy new girlfriend, Georgie.  But he will definitely get more than he bargained for when he, Georgie, Blair, and Serena end up hanging out together in Sun Valley, Idaho.  Back in Manhattan, Jenny is spending time with a mysteriously nice new boyfriend and Dan is spending time crying in the office of the Red Letter literary journal.  And Vanessa, wait, is that Vanessa shopping at Barney's with a guy in a Lacoste shirt?  The long cold winter is over and the sun is finally shining along Fifth Avenue.  The trees are in bloom and NYC's most fabulous are ready for a truly outrageous vacation!

It's funny.  Usually, I read the book before I see the movie, but there haven't been too many book series that TV shows have been based on that I've watched.  Bones is one of them, but those books are so different it's really only the Temperance Brennan character who is the same.  When I do read a book and see the movie I'm inevitably disappointed in how the movie portrayed a character or changed something.  I hardly ever think the movie change was for the better, but in the case of Gossip Girl the changes that were made were mostly for the better in my opinion.

My favorite characters on the TV show were Chuck and Blair.  The only reason why I watched the show after the second season was only because of the two of them.  The rest of them could have all died in a fiery soap opera plane crash and I would have continued watching as long as Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf were still there.  In the end, I didn't even care who Gossip Girl was.  I just care about what happened to Chuck & Blair.

So while I loved them on the show, the book is much different.  Chuck is nowhere near the show Chuck.  He's like first episode Chuck, but much further out there.  Plus, he's a background character that we hardly get to see, much less get into his head.

Still, I find myself drawn to Blair.  I could care less about Nate, Serena, Jenny, Dan or Vanessa.  Their chapters are just annoying interruptions to my Blair story!  Out of those Vanessa is probably most interesting.  Dan is just as ridiculous as he was on the show and even Jenny, who I loved in the It Girl books, is boring.

However, it doesn't matter what I don't like about these books because I still love reading them!  I'll keep reading just in case my Chuck Bass comes back.

the darkest evening of the year

the darkest evening of the year
dean koontz
suspense/horror/fantasy
bantam
published 2007

Amy Redwing has dedicated her life to the southern California organization she founded to rescue abandoned and endangered golden retrievers.  Among dog lovers, she's a legend for the risks she'll take to save an animal from abuse.  Among her friends, Amy's heedless devotion is often cause for concern.  To widower Brian McCarthy, whose commitment she can't allow herself to return, Amy's behavior is far more puzzling and hides a shattering secret.

No on is surprised when Amy risks her life to save Nickie, nor when she takes the female golden into her home.  The bond between Amy and Nickie is immediate and uncanny.  Even her two other goldens, Fred & Ethel, recognize Nickie as special, a natural alpha.  But the instant joy Nickie brings is shadowed by a series of eerie incidents.  An ominous stranger.  A mysterious home invasion.

And the unmistakable sense that someone is watching Amy's every more and that, whoever it is, he's not alone.

Someone has come back to turn Amy into the desperate, hunted creature sh's always been there to save.  But now there's no one to save Amy and those she loves.

In most of Dean Koontz's recent books I've read there is an autistic or child with Down's and a dog that has some uncanny sort of understanding of humans.  Most of the time I love it, but the way that the child was treated in this book was hard to read.  I mean, really hard to read.

The whole story is very slow.  He's building suspense and trying to lay out the story, but this time it didn't feel suspenseful and when the resolution is coming to and end it happens in about 4 pages.  After 10 years of being tormented by this woman there is no confrontation it's just over.  And the outcome is so 'magical' that I just couldn't get into it.  In the end, I just didn't care who lived and who died.

because i'm worth it

because i'm worth it
gossip girl #4
cecily von ziegesar
ya/romance
poppy
published 2008

Everyone who's anyone in New York City is suffering from post-college-application cabin fever and it's time to run a little wild!  Could it be that Serena is smitten with Blair's stepbrother or will the Fashion Week parties pull her away from any attempt at true love?  Dan & Vanessa are mad about each other and pursuing their creative dreams - but be careful of what you wish for.  Nate hits and all-time low as Blair's Yale interview with a tall, handsome alum takes an unexpected turn and Jenny makes a new friend who gets a little too close for comfort.  And just who is going to get into college early?  Wintertime has never been hotter in NYC as things steam up all over Fifth Avenue.

Reading these while reading the Pretty Little Liars books only highlight how much better Gossip Girl is.  The only mystery around here that's ongoing book by book is who Gossip Girl really is, but that's not a make or break mystery.  We could care less as long as (s)he's dishing the gossip.

For some reason the brand name dropping doesn't get on my nerves as much as it does in PLL.  I think because it's more subtle or appropriate?  In PLL every time someone picks up the same Coach bag Shepard writes 'Hanna picked up her Coach bag...' and then when she subsequently puts it down we read 'Hanna put down her Coach bag...'  Yes, we get it, Hanna has a Coach bag.

But with so many characters who each have a little story and all of them interesting and separate it keeps things fresh.  They're not all chasing after the same thing and I think that's why I don't get tired of these like I have with PLL.

Dan is still a dummy who is, despite his disdain for it, lured by fame and fortune.  Vanessa, more true to herself than just about anyone is more deserving.  Blair is going through some kind of mid-teen crisis and Serena is just page filler.  I swear that girl doesn't have one intelligent thought in her head.  Nate has met Georgina, so look out NYC and Jenny is getting over Nate by hopping the fence?  Maybe?

Either way, I'm delighted and here's to hoping we see more of Chuck Bass because let's face it, Gossip Girl needs Chuck Bass.

the serpent's tale

the serpent's tale
mistress of the art of death #2
ariana franklin
fiction/historical/mystery
putnam adult
published 2008

Since she solved a particularly nasty case of a child murder using her forensic skills, Adelia Aguilar is deemed too valuable to send back to the School of Medicine in Salerno where she was trained.  Instead, King Henry II has decided to keep her in England.  This is bad news for Adelia - in free-thinking Salerno, women doctors are accepted but in twelfth-century England they're unheard of and regarded as witches.  Under suspicion, and with her illegitimate child, Adelia is forced to live and practice in the secrecy of Cambridgeshire's fenland.  But at Henry's court, terrible things are happening.  Out of jealousy, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine is not only stirring up revolt against her husband, rumor has it that she has also poisoned Fair Rosamund Clifford - the King's favorite mistress.  If Henry believes the stories, England will be torn apart as King battles Queen.  In a race against time to prove that Eleanor is at least innocent of Rosamund's murder, Adelia is recruitd by Rowley, her former lover and father of her child, to help avoid a civil war.  It isn't easy.  An assassin is on the loose and so is Queen Eleanor with a small army.  Adelia encounters both as, in the middle of a terrible medieval winter, she tries to pierce the physical and metaphorical maze that surrounds Rosamund's tower and they mystery of the dead woman who lies frozen inside.

Historical fiction is not my favorite genre.  It's not even my second favorite genre.  In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of historical fiction books I've read.  Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death was a book I read for a book group years ago and I loved it.  The idea of a woman medical examiner back in the twelfth century was fascinating and the murders she was solving were captivating.

This time around I wasn't so enamored with this Mistress.  Adelia is the same, for the most part, but this story wasn't my cup of tea.  Too much talk of kings and queens and treason and plotting and God.  There were so many characters to keep track of I would forget who was who and the way that Franklin cloaks her mystery from the reader makes things confusing at times.  As if I'm missing something.  And I guess I am.  I was frustrated with Rowley and irritated at Adelia's forced citizenship.

Had this been the first book of Adelia I wouldn't have read any more after it.  As it stands I did purchase the third book so I'll probably read that one as well.  Hopefully the case will be more up my alley.

all i want is everything

all i want is everything
gossip girl #3
cecily von ziegesar
poppy
published 2007

It's Christmastime and Blair and Serena are best friends again and up to their old tricks - partying hard and breaking hearts from Park Avenue to the Caribbean.  Blair's mom and Cyrus are having their honeymoon in Salt Key.  And when school lets out for the holiday, Blair, Serena, Aaron, and company head down there to blow off st  eam after their midterm exams.  In between Pina Coladas and topless sunbathing, Blair and Serena plot revenge on super-jerk Chuck Bass.  Everyone jets back to NYC for Serena's New Year's party, during which Nate and Blair may or may not finally go all the way, and Serena may or may not be discovered to be the secret flung of Hollywood's hottest young leading man.

These are always fun.  Mindless entertainment mostly and since I watched the first few seasons of the show it's fun to compare.  Dan is even more of a douchebag in the books than he was in the show.  I really just don't like him.  I hope he gets better.

Jenny and Nate are still together though that's mostly because Nate's so stoned he really doesn't know what's happening.  I think this might the last Gossip Girl book she's in before she moves on the It Girl (which I loved).  Blair is working on her essay for Yale and Serena is just Serena.

Seriously, there is nothing too hard about these books but they are so much fun!

ashes to ashes

ashes to ashes
kovac/liska #1
tami hoag
fiction/suspense/thriller/mystery
orion
published 1999

The newspapers have dubbed him the Cremator.  He has already claimed three lives and he won't stop there.  He has a plan for greatness, only this time there is a witness.  A teenage runaway with a dubious identity and a murky past, Angie DiMarco has seen the face of the killer in the flickering light of the funeral pyre.  Now the police have Angie, but Angie isn't talking.

While I've read a few Tami Hoag books I've kind had a hit or miss sort of luck with them.  I bought a bunch of her books after I read the first one I really liked, but then I read the one I didn't like and I wasn't too excited to start any other one.

But after years of sitting on my shelf I've decided to finally give them another shot. And I was pleasantly surprised.  Much better than the not so great one I read, but I didn't quite get into it the way I did the first one!

It was really long.  And for why, I'm not entirely sure.  There were moments that dragged on, musings that seemed to muse for too long.  But it was interesting enough to keep me entertained until the end.  I have the next book Dust to Dust which features Kovac & Liska who were a little more than background characters in Ashes to Ashes.

And while it was interesting it was slightly predictable.  I knew who the killer was and I figured out the connection between the killer and the witness, but still there were a few surprises that I won't spoil for you.  All in all it was a good read!