dust to dust

dust to dust
kovac/liska #2
tami hoag
fiction/mystery/thriller
bantam
published 2000

Sorry.  The single word was written on the mirror.  In front of it hung the body of Andy Fallon, a Minneapolis Internal Affairs cop.  Was it suicide?  Or a kinky act turned tragic accident?  Either way, his death wasn't a crime.  The investigation will be a formality, a duty that veteran Homicide detective Sam Kovac isn't looking forward to.  He doesn't want to spend any more time than he has to in the bleak, empty world of the victim's father, Iron Mike, Kovac's old mentor and a department legend.  It's too much like looking into his own future.  But Kovac has a sixth sense for crime, and it's buring.

Together with his partner, the wisecracking, ambitious Nikki Liska, Kovac begins to dig at the too-neat edges of Fallon's death, uncovering one motive and one suspect after another.  The shadows of suspicion fall deeply not only on the city's power elite, but into the very heart of the police department itself.

While Ashes to Ashes was touted as the first Kovac/Liska book they merely had background roles in the book.  Kovac was present more than Liska was, but not much.  Here in Dust to Dust they are both in the forefront working together, but also separately on two different cases.  Both of them involving the police department.

Kovac's case is personal and he's pretty much the only one who thinks that a crime actually occurred.  Liska is following up on a closed case, much to the irritation of their boss.

There are times when I wonder why Liska makes such dumb choices, or ignores something that any self respecting cop would ignore.  And there are times when Hoag goes off describing something or added a scene that was completely unnecessary.  The book was longer than it should have been and to be honest, there were no surprises anywhere.

Who else could the killer have been?  The players could all only fit into certain roles so the pieces all fit in much faster than I think Hoag was aiming for.  

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.

going to the movies

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ DIVERGENT AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED DO NOT READ THIS POST.

So here's the thing.  We finally went to see Divergent tonight.  

Divergent is probably one of my top five favorite books.  I loved that book more than Twilight, more than the Hunger Games.  I actually can't think of another book that I loved as much.  I think because Tris is such a strong character.  A likeable character.  She's human, she's flawed.  She wants to fit in, she wants to be loved, to be liked, but she stays as true to herself as she can be.

So seeing the movie should be at the top of my to do list, right?

Well, not so much.

I started to get an inkling when I saw the preview at the Veronica Mars movie.  I started crying.  I had done a pretty good job of not watching any interviews or trailers.  Ever since New Moon when I watched and read every bit of information I could about the movie I felt like I spoiled it for myself so I've been much more careful.

Anyhow, after friends went to see it without me (I begged off, just not feeling well, Ray wasn't home to watch the girls) I figured I would just wait until it came out on video.  Where I could watch it in the comfort (read: privacy) of my own home.  But Ray wanted to go see it too so that's what we did tonight.  And I loved it.  Of course, it wasn't perfect and if I had the choice I probably would have chosen someone else to play Tris, to play Four and I wouldn't have cast three guys who all look incredibly alike to play three different characters (Will, Al & Peter).  But it was good and for the most part stayed true to the book.

My problem is purely grief and this really does just prove what a freaking book nerd I am.

I feel like I'm mourning the losses again.  When Tris takes that zip line ride for the first time after the War Game I could only think about Four taking that same ride at the end of Allegiant and I could barely hold it together.  Even now, thinking about it again I am incredibly sad.  There were moments during the movie where I hoped, maybe it would be different.  Maybe her mother would not die.  Maybe her father would not sacrifice himself.  When I saw Caleb after their mother dies my lip actually curled in disgust.

All because I know.  I know what's going to happen, what will be revealed.  What they have done and how they all end up and I cried and I mourned for those lost when the books finished and I'm doing it all over again.

And I realize as I'm reading this back to myself how ridiculous it all sounds.  It's a book!  It's not real.  The people don't exist, but for a time, in my head while I read they did and that's enough.

the guernsey literary & potato peel pie society

the guernsey literary & potato peel pie society
mary ann shaffer & annie barrows
fiction/historical
dial press
published 2008

January 1976: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject.  Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb?

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - born as spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Aahhh!  This book was so good!  When I first read the title I thought 'whaaaaat?'  And that it takes place after WWII made me a little hesitant since I don't read too much historical fiction, but I'm so glad I did.

Juliet is hilarious.  She's smart and independent and doesn't take crap from anyone and I love her for it.  But she's not the only good character in the book.  Not by a long shot!  Amelia, Isola, Kit, Sidney, Eben, Dawsey, Booker....but I think Isola was my favorite.  Holy moley I wish that person existed in real life and she lived next door to me.

But it wasn't just witty.  The stories from the villagers of the days of the occupation were sad and haunting and then the circumstances of the two authors was a story of its own.  I have to admit I cried more reading the afterword than I did the book!

But I was so upset that it was over.  I actually did cry a little, like a spoiled child because the book ended.  I really and truly wanted it to go on forever.  I wanted to read those letters everyday.  Such a perfect treasure of a book.

the iron daughter

the iron daughter
the iron fey #2
julie kagawa
ya/fantasy/romance
harlequin teen
published 2010

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere.  Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen.  As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey - ironbound faeries tat only she and her absent prince have seen.  But no one believes her.  Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off.  She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help.  Trusting anyone would be foolish.  Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly.  But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-to-human heart.

So here's the thing.  For the first third, maybe half, of the book I wanted to punch Meghan in the face.  On the way to Tir Na Nog Ash kept telling Meghan that they could not be together.  That Mab could possibly kill him if he were to declare his love for the half-Summer faery/human.  At this point, she has spent some time with the fae and she knows how things work.  So when they arrive at Mab's castle Meghan just doesn't seem to get it.  She spends nearly the entire time there whining about why Ash isn't talking to her.  And when she finally does get to hear from the prince he's cold and uncaring (BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE TO PROTECT BOTH OF THEM) she goes into some horrible despairing coma and doesn't want to live anymore.

Case in point:

I stepped toward him, smiling, only to be stopped dead by his cold glare.  Confused, I stumbled to a halt.  Maybe he didn't recognize me.  I met his gaze, waiting for his expression to thaw, for him to give me the tiny smile I adored so much.  It didn't happen.  His frosty eyes swept over me in a brief, dismissive glance, before he stepped around me and continued toward the queen.  I felt a stab of shock and hurt; maybe he was playing it cool in front of the queen, but he could've at least said hi.  I made the mental note to scold him later when we were alone.

See?!  She's an idiot!  Playing it cool?  Could have at least said hi?  And later she would scold him?!  It's so weird and ridiculous.  It's like she's a clueless idiot who is also a grandmother because no one says 'scold' anymore.

I get it.  She loves him SO MUCH that she just can't function.  She's a teenager and that's the way things are at that age.  Everything is the end of the world.  But for god's sake please stop whining!

The other thing I'm over is the whole love triangle thing.  Every YA book has got to have some love triangle nonsense in it.  And it's not even just that there are two guys who are crushing on the same girl.  She loves them both.  Every time.

No me gusta.

But I'm torn because despite her whining the story is interesting.  I don't understand why no one in the story (except, I suspect, Ironhorse knew) knows what Meghan is.  I'm not sure if I'll finish the series.  There are some good points, but there's irritating things too.  Maybe those things will be resolved earlier on in the next book so that I don't have to spend half the book hating Meghan.

heartless

heartless
pretty little liars #7
sara shepard
ya/mystery
harperteen
published 2010

In picturesque Rosewood, Pennsylvania, neighbors gossip over picket fences, and gleaming SUVs sit in every crushed-granite driveway.  But recently, friendly smiles have been replaced with suspicious glares and accusatory whispers - and it's all because Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer just can't keep their mouths shut.  First they claimed they found a dead body in the woods behind Spencer's house, only to have it vanish without a trace.  Then when the same woods went up in flames, they swore they saw someone who's supposed to be dead rise from the ashes.  And even after all that, the pretty little liars are still playing with fire.  Hanna's trading in her Dior trench for a straitjacket.  Aria's trying to contact the dead.  Emily's dumped her boyfriend and is skipping town ... again.  And Spencer thinks someone in her family has gotten away with murder.  The friends insist they're telling the truth about what they saw, but all of Rosewood thinks they're simply out for attention - and nobody likes a girl who cries wolf.  So when the big bad killer comes after the girls, will anyone believe them, or will they be the next to disappear?


These girls really just don't learn.  It doesn't matter what happens to them because they will just repeat the same idiotic mistakes in the next book.  And Emily.  Oh my god please stop whining!  And learn to shut your mouth!  In this installment the girls are all given rope and they subsequently hang themselves.

I can't believe I signed up to finish this series!!!  Curse me!!!!