Abundant Books

2008-11-05T12:39:00.004+11:00

Chosen (House of Night, Book 3)
By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

The third book in the House of Night series, Chosen picks up shortly after Betrayed. Dealing with the secrets she has to hide from her friends, knowing that any knowledge of Stevie Ray's condition could put them, not to mention Stevie Ray, in jeopardy, Zoey decides the safest thing for all involved is to keep the secret to herself .... and Aphrodite. But that's not the only thing she has to deal with. Suddenly not only does Zoey have to deal with her bloodlust issues and dating three guys at once - Heath is still desperate to maintain their relationship, Erik is her vampire boyfriend and Poet Laureate Lorne Blake is making his intentions very clear.

The conflict between Neferet and Zoey deepens, almost hitting a crescendo with a startling discovery of just what exactly the high priestess is willing to do to destroy Zoey. Aphrodite becomes a frenemy of sorts to Zoey, something the group just can't understand with their limited knowledge of what is actually going on. Zoey has to come to terms with the realisation that her best friend - who is now the Undead dead - needs her help or her soul will be lost to darkness forever and that humans are stalking vampires and murdering them - causing the vampires at and students at the House of Night to become uneasy with humans being so close to them.

Tegan and I are looking forward to the next installment of this series.

2008-11-05T12:30:00.006+11:00

Betrayed (House of Night, Book 2)
By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

This book starts up immediately where "Marked" left off - Zoey is settling into life as a vampire fledgling, surrounded by her newfound friends at the House of Night. She has proven herself a worthwhile student in the goddess, Nyx's, eyes and has been marked with a unique design across her forehead - something that has never been done to anyone - vampire or fledgling. Not only does Zoey have to take the responsibility as the leader of the Dark Daughters, she has a blooming relationship with Erik Night evolving, an imprint with her ex-human boyfriend, the famous poet and vampire teacher Lorne seemingly attracted to her and teens around town are being killed, with all signs pointing to the vampires and the House of Night as the culprits.

This is not your run of the mill series about vampires. It is more about teens who feel they don't fit in either at school or at home and have not had someone to help them realise their full potential in life. The metaphor of "the change" from human to vampire is subtle but easily grasped by teens that everyone has great potential even if they may not see it at a point in time of their life. It's easy to get caught up in Zoey's world; Tegan and I really enjoy this series and look forward to the others!

2008-11-05T12:11:00.004+11:00

Marked (House of Night, Book 1)
By P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

In 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampires not only exist but are also tolerated by humans. Those whom the creatures "mark" as special enter the House of Night school where they will either become vampires themselves, or, if their body rejects the change, die. To Zoey, being marked is truly a blessing, though she's scared at first. She has never fit into the human world and has always felt she is destined for something else. Zoey's mother is weak, and her step-father all but hates her. Her grandmother, a descendant of the Cherokee, has always supported her emotionally, and it is she who takes the girl to her new school.

But even there the teen stands apart from the others. Her mark from the Goddess Nyx is a special one, showing that her powers are very strong for one so young. At the House of Night, Zoey finds true friendship, loyalty, and romance as well as mistrust and deception. She realises that all is not right in the vampire world and that the problems she thought she left behind exist there as well. The story moves quickly and purposely leaves many unresolved issues.

Marked is the first in the series. It seems to target older teens, but adults will find themselves drawn to it as well. I've been captured by Zoey's world and want to see how her special spiritualism develops over time. This book also left enough unanswered questions that I'm drawn to find out more. My teenage daughter also thoroughly enjoyed this book and has encouraged her friends to read it too.

2008-11-01T20:22:00.000+11:00

2008-10-24T13:50:00.003+11:00

The Lace Reader
By Brunonia Barry

Look into the lace... When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen... In this moment, an image will begin to form... in the space between what is real and what is only imagined. Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can.

The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid dream, though Barry's portrayal of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts - with its fascinating cast of eccentrics - is reportedly spot-on. Some of its stranger residents include generations of Whitney women, with a gift for seeing the future in the lace they make. Towner Whitney, back to Salem from self-imposed exile on the West Coast, has plans for recuperation that evaporate with her great-aunt Eva's mysterious disappearance and drowning. Fighting fear from a traumatic adolescence she can barely remember, Towner digs in for answers. But questions compound with the disappearance of a young woman under the thrall of a local fire-and-brimstone preacher, whose history of violence against Whitney women makes the situation personal for Towner. Her role in cop John Rafferty's investigation sparks a tentative romance. And as they scramble to avert disaster, the past that had slipped through the gaps in Towner's memory explodes into the present with a violence that capsizes her concept of truth.

Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader s own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace?

A really good read. When you get to the ending, you will re-evaluate everything that you read previously in the novel. I really enjoyed this book.

2008-10-24T13:42:00.004+11:00

The House of Lost Souls
By F.G. Cottam

The Fischer House was the scene of a vicious crime in the 1920s - a crime which still resonates as the century turns. At its heart was a beautiful, enigmatic woman called Pandora Gibson-Hoare, a photographer of genius whose only legacy is a handful of photographs and the clues to a mystery. Paul Seaton was lured to the house ten years ago and escaped, a damaged man. Now three students will die unless he dares to go back. Something at the house wants Paul back but this time he has Nick Mason at his side, and maybe Mason's military skills and courage will be enough for good and hope to prevail.

A good enough mystery novel, with enough in it to keep you guessing until the very end. A good holiday read and an author that I will keep an eye on.

2008-10-22T14:12:00.003+11:00

Beneath a Rising Moon (Ripple Creek, Book 1)
By Keri Arthur

Keri Arthur once again creates a believable alternate reality in which the paranormal exist among us. In this, the first of the Ripple Creek novels, Neva Grant, a golden werewolf with psychic powers, investigates the assault of her twin sister Savannah. Savannah is a ranger on the werewolf reservation and was attacked by a silver werewolf while investigating a series of murders. Neva infiltrates the stronghold of the silver werewolves and becomes involved with one of them to further her investigation. It quickly becomes apparent that both she and Duncan are in danger from the murderer.

Duncan and Neva find themselves falling in love, even though Neva is terrified to admit it, and she has good reason: Duncan has a reputation of being wild, never staying with one mate for more than a week, and getting thrown in jail. Will Duncan convince Neva that she is his soul mate? More importantly, will Neva have the courage to look beyond Duncan's reputation and acknowledge her love for him before the moon phase is up and he leaves her life, possibly forever?

While I enjoyed this book, my one complaint is that, for being a book about werewolves, I didn't think that Arthur went into enough detail on her idea of a werewolf. For example, she didn't describe the change from human to wolf and back again in enough detail. What happened to their clothes when they changed? Was the change painless, fluid, etc? I thoroughly enjoy some of her other books, but this series is primarily a romance with supernatural characters - a nice little "bodice-ripper" and a very quick book. Great for an afternoon escape.

Will I read the next in the series? Haven't made up my mind yet - if I run out of other reading material, maybe.

2008-10-22T10:59:00.003+11:00

The Birth House
By Ami McKay

I chose this novel for a BRA book club selection, having read a review on it somewhere and thinking that it sounded really interesting.

When Dr. Gilbert Thomas, self-proclaimed expert in hygienic, pain-free childbirth, opens a practice in a Nova Scotia coastal village during the World War I years, it sets the stage for a classic conflict between long-held traditions and modern medicine. Seventeen-year-old Dora Rare, the only Rare daughter within five generations, improves her lot in life by becoming the apprentice of Marie Babineau, the independent but caring Acadian midwife who helped bring several generations of Scots Bay residents into the world. The women of the village (not to mention their husbands) grow bitterly divided when Dr. Thomas calls the health and safety of expectant mothers into question. His vengeful actions toward Dora herself - a young woman looking for guidance with her own love life - turn particularly personal as well. Dora's development into a strong, independent woman is extremely gratifying.

McKay has fashioned what she terms a "literary scrapbook," reproducing and re-creating historical news clippings, advertisements, and letters within the text. This sensitively written novel of women's birthing rituals, strengths, and friendships will appeal to readers who enjoy gentle humour and plenty of homespun wisdom.

2008-10-22T10:50:00.005+11:00

The Sleeping Doll
By Jeffrey Deaver

Kathryn Dance, an investigator with the California Bureau of Investigation is the lead cop handling the escape of psychopathic killer Daniel Pell, dubbed "Son of Manson" by the press for his "family" of young runaways and his most horrendous crime, the murders of computer engineer William Croyton, Croyton's wife and two of their three children. The only child left alive, nine-year-old Theresa, is known as the Sleeping Doll. Pell, charismatic and diabolically intelligent, continually eludes capture, but Dance, a specialist in interrogation and kinesics (or body language), is never more than a few suspenseful minutes behind. Dance is nicely detailed, and procedural scenes where she uses somatic cues to ferret out liars are fascinating. The book sags in its long middle, but toward the end Deaver digs into his bottomless bag of unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers wide-eyed with surprise.

This is a BRA book club selection and I don't normally read crime. The Sleeping Doll is a ripper of a yarn. Great characters with terrific development through the book, fast paced, you won't want this read to end but you won't be able to keep from devouring each line.

My Holidays

2008-10-22T10:44:00.004+11:00

I've been on holidays and caught up with some reading. I'll be reviewing the books as soon as I can. I certainly enjoyed reading in the sunshine and Australian landscape.

2008-08-11T13:47:00.004+10:00

The Stand (The Complete and Uncut Edition)
By Stephen King

A virus cooked up in some secret government laboratory (Mr. Tripps is the name of the disease), escapes the confines of its quarantine and begins to infect the world. By the time its viral rampage is over, Mr. Tripps has been fatal for most of the world's population. In the United States, where the events of the novel take place, those with an unexplained immunity to the virus begin to have mysterious dreams that lead them either to Las Vegas, Nevada or Boulder, Colorado. The Stand is a classic good versus evil tale. The good guys trek to Boulder and the bad to Las Vegas, where they prepare for a final, climactic showdown.

I loved this book. From start to finish I was hooked. I had read it as a teenager when it first came out, but I loved this edition. It was amazing how King could have written in so many different characters and storylines and still leaving me caring about all of them a great deal. He then manages to tie everything together in a masterful way. It was definitely a "heavy" read. It took a lot of time and attention, but I was rewarded by the wonderful story that he had put together. This book transcends the decades that have past since it was written and released.

2008-08-11T12:28:00.004+10:00

Eclipse (Book 3, The Twilight Saga)
By Stephenie Meyer

This novel, the third in the series, picks up right where New Moon left off. Bella and her vampire boyfriend, Edward, are preparing to graduate from high school. Meanwhile, Bella manages to reestablish her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black. This leads to numerous awkward situations between Edward and Jacob, but Bella is the one who suffers the most, as she finally realises that there's much more to her relationship with Jacob than she initially thought.

While all this is going on, danger looms on the horizon. Seattle has been plagued by a series of violent homicides, and it soon becomes apparent that the killings are not the work of the average serial killer. It turns out that these mysterious deaths are connected to Bella, who's also busy worrying about the fact that Victoria and the Volturi have it out for her, too. On top of all that, there's the small matter of Bella desperately wanting to become a vampire herself, but no one (including Bella herself) is sure if she can handle it.

Tegan, my daughter, wanted me to pick a side between Edward and Jacob. I still like Jacob better. I just don't understand why Bella loves Edward so much; Jacob is a far better catch and who she probably would have ended up with if it wasn't for the Cullens.

2008-08-11T11:58:00.004+10:00

New Moon (Book 2, The Twilight Saga)
By Stephenie Meyer

Recovered from the vampire attack that hospitalized her in the conclusion of Twilight, Bella celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend Edward and his family, a unique clan of vampires that has sworn off human blood. But the celebration abruptly ends when the teen accidentally cuts her arm on broken glass. The sight and smell of her blood trickling away forces the Cullen family to retreat lest they be tempted to make a meal of her. After all is mended, Edward, realizing the danger that he and his family create for Bella, sees no option for her safety but to leave. Mourning his departure, she slips into a downward spiral of depression that penetrates and lingers over her every step.

It's not until Bella re-acquaints herself with childhood friend Jacob, a sophomore with a penchant for motorcycles, that both the pace and her disposition begin to take off. Their adventures are wild, dare-devilish, and teeter on the brink of romance, but memories of Edward pervade Bella's emotions, and soon their fun quickly morphs into danger, especially when she uncovers the true identities of Jacob and his pack of friends.

If you are a huge Edward fan, he only appears in about a third of this novel. I didn't particularly miss him, though when my daughter read it, she couldn't wait for him to reappear. I'm a Jacob fan.

2008-07-23T12:21:00.002+10:00

Twilight (Book 1, The Twilight Saga)
By Stephenie Meyer

I was initially wary of this series, as I knew it was marketed to the young adult ages, and as I am well past that, I thought it would be too juvenile for me. But I decided to give it a try after my daughter pestered me to buy the series for her. While it is clearly geared towards the high school age, adults will enjoy the book as well. It's not the highest quality of writing or classic literature but it is a greatly entertaining read and the love story is fascinating. I'm a huge fan of vampire stories (as you can tell with a quick look at this blog) and was a big fan of both Buffy and Angel on tv.

In Twilight, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.

Meyer begins the story with a familiar premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst.

This is a very interesting re-take on the vampire legend, and a great star-crossed lovers plot. I highly recommend it to all ages. I devoured this book in a day and am really looking forward to the movie version hitting the big screen at the end of the year.

2008-07-23T11:23:00.003+10:00

The Mascot
By Mark Kurzem

When a death squad massacred his mother and fellow villagers, five-year-old Alex escaped, hiding in the freezing Russian forest until he was picked up by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. Alex was able to hide his Jewish identity and win over the soldiers, becoming their mascot and an honorary “corporal” in the SS with his own uniform. But what began as a desperate bid for survival became a performance that delighted the highest ranks of the Nazi elite. And so a young Jewish boy ended up starring in a Nazi propaganda film.

After sixty-three years of silence, Alex revealed his terrible secret to his son Mark. With his son’s help, Alex retraced his past in search of answers. His story is at once a terrifying account of survival and its psychological cost as well as a brutally honest examination of identity, complicity, and memory.

Another BRA bookclub selection. I can't say that I really loved the way the story was told, although it is a powerful, shocking story. I would have been quite happy to read it as a case study or a shorter story. The feelings were varied at our book club meeting. Some loved it, and some felt like me. We all felt for his family too - the son Mark keeping his father's secrets and the loyal wife unaware until much later.

2008-07-02T14:03:00.003+10:00

Child of a Dead God - Book 6 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
By Barb and JC Hendee

Magiere, Leesil, Wynn, and Chap leave elven lands for the South. Magiere has been having disturbing dreams driving her to an artifact in that direction. But she is not the only person after the artifact. Her evil half-brother and one of the Noble Dead, is following Magiere hoping to get his hands on it. And a group of elf assassins will do anything to bring the artifact back to their own lands.

Each installment has gotten a little more dark and violent. The character development has gotten more in-depth as well. The Hendee's have become true masters of character and world building. This is a fast-paced, action and adventure-filled dark fantasy. The vampires are cunning, the elves are deceptive, and Magiere doesn't even know what the object she's searching for is supposed to do.

While some of the plot lines that have arced over the entire series have been tied up in this sixth novel, the ending has definitely been left open for the coming spin-off series. I'm looking forward to seeing which characters this new series will follow, and more of the fabulous dark fantasy world that the Hendee's have created.

2008-07-02T13:44:00.003+10:00

The Darkest Kiss
Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 6
By Keri Arthur

Riley's focused on two cases this time around, and I loved the action scenes while the hunts grew. Riley's smarts and instincts get the job done. Arthur makes good use of the paranormal elements of her world and creates some formidable killers - for one, the bakenecko, she draws on Japanese lore to add complexity to the character. She also adds another flavour of vamp to her world, an emo vamp who feeds on emotion, the power hungry Vinnie promises to be a nemesis Riley is sure to encounter again in the future.

Kellen had left her feeling alone, and she struggles quite a bit with that. She truly did love him, but I believe that, if a man truly loves you, he won't ask you to change. While it hurt that he left, I believe that she's better off. This story sees the welcome return of Quinn, the Old Vampire who couldn't cope with Riley sharing her attentions with other men. Riley seems to be settling down, however, so that when Quinn walks back into her life there's possible some kind of a future for them. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks - I think that while Quinn may be stubborn, it may work out just between them. Like any woman, Riley is being cautious; she doesn't want to get hurt again, and I can understand that.

We get even more between Rhoan and Liander, and Rhoan's inner struggle where Liander's concerned. I really like the banter between Kade and Riley, even though she refuses to let it go anywhere. In true Riley form, she gives the excuse that Jack would get mad about it. We know better. She's not ready for it, but she won't admit it to anyone but herself. And I wonder if anything will come of the banter between Cole and Riley. I think he's very attacted to her and fighting it tooth and nail. It will be interesting to see if anything happens between them.

This book will appeal to those who have read the previous books and I did enjoy it, particularly the Australian rather than American/British/Irish setting. Another excellent novel and I can't wait for the next.

2008-06-20T09:55:00.002+10:00

Personal Demon
By Kelley Armstrong

Chaos rules in Armstrong's complex eighth Women of the Otherworld installment (after 2007's No Humans Involved). This book is about Hope (a chaos loving half demon) and her off and on boyfriend Karl (werewolf jewel thief). The formidable Benicio Cortez once helped Hope out of a jam, so she agrees to go undercover and join a supernatural youth gang that's been causing problems for Cortez's multinational corporation (a Cabal - think Mafia family for supernaturals disguised as a Fortune 500 company). Assuming the persona of bratty rich Faith Edmonds, Hope works her way into the gang, participates in heists and soon finds herself dangerously attracted to one of the other members, cute Jasper Jaz Haig. All too soon, Jaz's diabolical plans lead to a shocking tragedy.

The characters are well drawn and compelling. The erotic scenes flow with the story and are very well written. Excellent plot, the villains have to be discovered and everyone doesn't come out swinging. Armstrong excels in depicting Hope's transformations, but new readers might want to read earlier books to get context for all the mayhem.

2008-06-10T09:49:00.004+10:00

Bones to Ashes
By Kathy Reichs

Forensic anthropologist Temperance (Tempe) Brennan works both in Quebec and North Carolina working murder cases which usually involve action, danger and old bones. In this one she's just returned to her Montreal office for the summer - her job, to determine if they're animal or human and if human was foul play involved.

She determines they are human and that they appear to be of an adolescent. When she finds out the bones had been discovered in the Canadian Maritime Provinces that brings back memories of her childhood friend Evangeline Landry and her sister, who she played with in South Carolina when they were staying there with their aunt and uncle. Tempe and the girls were close right up until the time the girls disappeared. Her family wouldn't say why, just that it was a bad thing.

Tempe is convinced the bones are tied to a crime. So she goes to the Maritimes in search of missing girls and to try and find out how the girl whose bones she in charge of died. Estranged lover Detective Andrew Ryan, who's worked several cases involving missing girls, goes with her. As usual Tempe finds out enough to get a killer or killers interested in what she's up to. Here, we're talking about a sociopathic killer of the first order. There's more to be sure, Tempe's in danger again and once again Kathy Reich has written an edge of your seat story that's nigh well impossible to put down.

2008-06-05T10:37:00.004+10:00

Careless
By Deborah Robertson

This month's BRA book club selection was an interesting little novel that explores how we all deal with grief differently and choose to memorialise the dead. I looked at it numerous times in the bookstore and was glad that it was chosen as one of this year's reads. I would not have read it if left to my own devices.

In the first novel from Australian Robertson, Pearl, at eight, already exerts a self-punishing precision on a world she cannot control. When her younger brother, Riley, whom Pearl's aloof single mother, Lily, charged Pearl with caring for, is mowed down (along with several other children) deliberately by a disturbed father's car, Lily tries to peddle Pearl's grief to the media. She then gets involved with Adam, an artist who has created a scandal by making and showing a body cast of a dead teenage heroin addict. With Adam up for the design of the memorial to honour the children slain with her son, Lily morbidly attempts to secure his affection. A another storyline follows Sonia, a recent widow of a famous woodcarver and furniture maker, from whom Adam rents studio space. Pearl, meanwhile, to deal with her grief and keep chaos at bay, becomes almost obsessed by Frank Lloyd Wright's house 'Fallingwater' .

2008-06-05T10:11:00.005+10:00

Blood Noir
By Laurell K. Hamilton

I bought this book Tuesday afternoon and finished it Wednesday. This in between working, being a mum and an evening meeting and dinner. Yes, I enjoyed it.

Anita travels with Jason - her best friend and a werewolf - to visit his dying father in Asheville. They get caught up in a case of mistaken identify - as has happened all his life, Jason is mistaken for his cousin Keith Summerland, bad apple of the Summerland clan, and mixed up in things that make it dangerous for Anita and Jason to be in town. Not too much sex, not too many vampire politics, not too much paranormal weirdness. The positives are a meaningful storyline that is interesting, a father-son story that is handled pretty well, and the potential for some good books to come.

This book reminded me of the early Anita Blake books. Anita is actually doing things rather than worrying about her multiple-partner sex life. There are humans in the story, with very human feelings, and all the silliness that wraps itself around a wedding. Jean-Claude is barely in the story at all, and although I really like Jean-Claude, it was refreshing to just deal with Jason and some weretigers, strange magic with Marmee Noir, the Mother of All Darkness, and Richard, who tries to bespell Anita.

Worth a read. Especially if you enjoyed the rest of the Anita Blake novels.

2008-05-28T12:54:00.002+10:00

The Outlaw Demon Wails
By Kim Harrison

Witch Rachel Morgan has a demon after her, but that's just one of her many troubles in this action-packed sixth installment of Harrison's Hollows series . A nice guy, Marshal (the witch from Mackinaw Island), might be moving into Rachel's town and life, but she's still getting over her last boyfriend, Kirsten, whose murder she has yet to solve. Elf politician Trent Kalamack wants her to go to the ever-after on a dangerous mission. Rynn Cormel, Cincinnati's new master vampire and ex-leader of the free world, is interfering in her life. Her friend, former demon familiar Ceri, is unexpectedly pregnant, by an unexpected partner. Rachel's mom has a very dark secret related to Rachel's father and Keasley's true identity is revealed. On top of all this, Rachel worries she may have had a too close encounter with a vampire and soon becomes concerned about her own abilities with demon magic. With the help of her feisty mother, Alice, and her pixy partner, Jenks, Rachel boldly tackles every challenge amid a cascade of plot twists that will delight Harrison's fans.

Love the book, love the series. Answers questions that had been stirring in the under current but the book's main mystery is still unanswered. You don't always get all the answers when you expect them and thats what makes this series fun. Kim's a masterful story teller and has a way of making fantastical characters seem like people you know. If Kim keeps writing them I'll keep reading them.

2008-05-19T10:45:00.003+10:00

The Death Chamber
By Sarah Rayne

A great read for the car or a holiday. Lots of twists and turns, with several time periods, telling the story of Calvary Gaol, standing bleak and forbidding on the Cumbrian hillside.

This evil place exerts a curious influence over Georgina Grey; her family's history closely bound up in the penitentiary's dark and terrible past. It was predominantly used as a gaol to house and hang those criminals who were given death sentences, including women. Television presenter Chad Ingram is fascinated by Calvary as well. He plans to conduct a new experiment in the long-vacant structure within the brooding desolation of the old execution chamber. Someone with a horrid past is set on suppressing the truth of Calvary, and is willing to go to any lengths to ensure that its shocking past remains buried.

A great read - one to pass on to friends to enjoy too.

2008-05-19T10:31:00.005+10:00

Peony in Love: A Novel
By Lisa See

Set in 17th-century China, this novel is a coming-of-age story, a ghost story, a family saga and a work of musical and social history. As Peony, the 15-year-old daughter of the wealthy Chen family, approaches an arranged marriage, she commits an unthinkable breach of etiquette when she accidentally comes upon a man who has entered the family garden. Unusually for a girl of her time, Peony has been educated and revels in studying The Peony Pavilion, a real opera published in 1598, as the repercussions of the meeting unfold. The novel's plot mirrors that of the opera, and eternal themes abound: an intelligent girl chafing against the restrictions of expected behavior; fiction's educative powers; the rocky path of love between lovers and in families. It figures into the plot that generations of young Chinese women, known as the lovesick maidens, became obsessed with The Peony Pavilion, and many starved themselves to death. Th story offers meticulous depiction of women's roles in Qing and Ming dynasty China (including horrifying foot-binding scenes) and vivid descriptions of daily Qing life, festivals and rituals.

This was the April choice from my book club and I must admit that I struggled through it. I found the historical and cultural elements quite interesting, but was totally uninterested in the ghost story. It is not what I would describe as a "summer read". You need to dedicate time and effort to this novel.

2008-05-19T10:09:00.005+10:00

The Blood of Flowers
By Anita Amirrezvani

This is the tale of a 17th-century Persian village girl who makes her way with her mother to a rich uncle's house in the city of Isfahan after her father's untimely death. As poor relatives, they are treated as servants. The uncle, a master rug maker for the shah, grudgingly teaches her his trade, his love and respect for her increasing with her perseverance and obvious talent. His greedy wife convinces him to accept a three-month "marriage" contract for the girl with a rich horse trader. She learns how to please her "husband" (and herself) sexually, but also learns that he has no intention of making her his permanent wife as she has no money. She vows to make beautiful rugs on her own, and thus ensure her and her mother's financial security. She is banished from her uncle's house when she tells her friend about the marriage contract. She trusts a foreign merchant with her rug and he steals it. Now she must beg and find shelter and a way to begin a new rug. The heroine's mother is a master storyteller, telling tales within this tale that Amirrezvani tells so magically.

The Blood of Flowers is a story of love, loss, learning and sacrifice. The young girl often makes rash, immature decisions and takes extreme risks - something unusual in a Muslim girl in 17th Century Persia. Some of these risks pay dividends, while others bring great misery. This book is also a coming of age story as the young girl moves to womanhood. If you enjoyed Khaled Hosseini's novels you will love this. All the Bra girls enjoyed this novel - it is beautifully written and sumptuous. I especially enjoyed cooking a traditional Persian meal for the girls when we discussed this book - and the walnuts were crunchy :-)

2008-05-18T11:21:00.000+10:00

All Together Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mystery
By Charlaine Harris

Charliane Harris mixes humorous Southern-fried fantasy with biting satirical commentary in her seventh novel to feature Sookie Stackhouse, the bubbly telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps, La. Sookie attends an all-important central U.S. vamp summit on the shores of Lake Michigan as a "human geiger counter" for Sophie-Anne Leclerq, vampire queen of a Louisiana weakened by Hurricane Katrina and who will be tried during the event for murdering her husband, and king. Sookie knows the queen is innocent, but she's hardly prepared for other shocking murders, not to mention protests by the Fellowship of the Sun, a right-wing anti-vampire movement. Her sleuthing skills, along with those of her new telepath friend, Barry the Bellboy, are put to the extreme test.

Harris juggles a large cast, including several romantic contenders for Sookie's heart, with effortless exuberance. I marvel at the imagination of Harris as she plucks new beings and social systems from out of seeming thin air and breathes life into them with absolute believability and skill. A great read that continues to keep me enthralled by Sookie's world. I will definitely keep with this series.

2008-04-08T11:52:00.004+10:00

The Broken Shore
By Peter Temple

Joe Cashin, a city homicide cop recovering from an injury and broken by his last case, returns to the quiet coastal area of South Australia where he grew up to run its one-man police station while his wounds heal and the nightmares fade. He lives a quiet life with his two dogs in the tumbledown wreck his family home has become. It's a peaceful existence - ideal for the rehabilitating man. There he investigates the beating death of elderly millionaire Charles Bourgoyne. After three aboriginal teens try to sell Bourgoyne's missing watch, the cops ambush the boys, killing two. When the department closes the case, Joe, a melancholy, combative cynic sympathetic to underdogs, decides to find the truth on his own. His unauthorized inquiry, which takes him both back in time and sideways into a netherworld of child pornography and sexual abuse, leads to a shocking conclusion.

The relentless story of a town with a hidden past versus a man who is trying to forget his, "The Broken Shore" delivers powerful, lean writing. Temple chooses his words carefully and sparingly. Incisively drawn characters combine with stunning descriptions of the wild, lush, menacing Australian landscape to make this an unforgettable read.

Watch the First Tuesday Book Club's review of this novel.

2008-04-01T09:29:00.005+11:00

The Hunt for Atlantis
By Andy McDermott

Andy McDermott takes us a roller-coaster ride in search of the legendary Atlantis. Archaeologist Nina Wilde believes she has found the location of the lost city of Atlantis and now she wants the opportunity to prove her theory. Someone else though wants her dead! With the help of ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase and beautiful heiress Kari Frost, Nina faces a breakneck race against time around the world, pursued at every step by agents of the mysterious - and murderous - Brotherhood of Selasphoros. From the jungles of Brazil to the mountains of Tibet, from the streets of Manhattan to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, the hunt for Atlantis leads to a secret hidden for 11,000 years - which in the wrong hands could destroy civilization as we know it....

You would think that a storyline which involved searching for the lost city of Atlantis would have been done to death by now, but this is a very good first novel for the author. The author is very adept at generating excitement and the book is fast paced. The book was enjoyable. It seems that Nina and Eddie will be back in another book - well worth a read. Good travel fodder.

2008-04-01T09:20:00.003+11:00

Spider Light
By Sarah Rayne

Antonia Weston's life was shattered years ago by a personal tragedy made all-too-public. She moves to the sleepy town of Amberwood, hoping to start afresh. But someone knows exactly who she is and they are determined not to let Antonia forget the past. A trained psychiatrist, Antonia becomes intrigued by Latchkill, a former asylum and Twygrist, an abandoned mill. Both buildings have macabre histories, and as a series of disturbing incidents occur, it would seem the past is very much alive. . .

Rayne does an excellent job of evoking an atmosphere of edgy suspense. She handles multiple narratives with ease and manages to leave no loose ends. I don't usually read crime novels but the gothic atmosphere of this novel, along with the mystery of Amberwood, made it really appealing. Well worth a read.

2008-03-28T14:25:00.003+11:00

The Illustrated Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Illustrated by Jae Lee

This is a tactile and visually beautiful edition of the famous novel by Bram Stoker. Dracula was not the first vampire novel, nor was it Bram Stoker's first book. But after years of research, Stoker managed to craft the ultimate vampire novel, which has spawned countless movies, spinoffs, and books - and here, his immortal story is enhanced by the creepy, jagged art of Jae Lee.

Jae Lee's shadowy, sharp-edged pictures are well-suited for this story; a few are in muted colours, but most are black-and-white. Lee creates chilling portraits of the looming vampire, his brides, ships in the mist, and Renfield eating a giant beetle; the most shocking is a bloody-mouthed Lucy clutching a baby.

Dracula is the grandaddy is Lestat and Jean-Claude, but that isn't the sole reason why it is a classic. It's also incredibly atmospheric, and very well-written. Not only is it very freaky, in an ornate Victorian style, but it is also full of restrained, quiet horror and creepy eroticism. What's more, it's shaped the portrayal of vampires in movies and books, even to this day. Intelligent, frightening and very well-written, Dracula is the well-deserved godfather of all modern vampire books and movies - and arguably among the best.

2008-03-28T09:56:00.003+11:00

Mister B. Gone
By Clive Barker

Mister B. Gone marks the long-awaited return of Clive Barker, the great master of the macabre, to the classic horror story. This novel, in which a medieval devil speaks directly to his reader - his tone murderous one moment, seductive the next - is a never-before-published memoir allegedly penned in the year 1438. The demon has embedded himself in the very words of this tale of terror, turning the book itself into a dangerous object, laced with menace only too ready to break free and exert its power. Jakabok Botch, the child of two demons who has inherited his father's two tails, is rendered even more grotesque after he tumbles into a fire and most of his face is badly burned. A violent dispute with his abusive father, Pappy Gatmuss, leads to the pair being trapped by a net from our world. Jakabok manages to elude capture and eventually finds his way to the home of Johannes Gutenberg, whose wife turns out to be an angel in disguise.

I found this a strange book indeed. This fable about good and evil is less than rewarding. The book's format- simultaneously Botch's first-person narrative and his break-the-fourth-wall address to the reader pleading for him or her to burn the book - may puzzle readers. I really did want to burn this book, but I paid good money for it, so will set it free instead. Hopefully the next owner will enjoy it more than I did.

2008-03-28T09:46:00.003+11:00

Trip of a Lifetime
By Liz Byrski

Leaving her Newcastle office one afternoon, Heather Delaney, a parliamentarian, is shot in the shoulder, the apparent victim of an assassination attempt. A somewhat controversial politician, there seem any number of people who could have wanted her dead – but as the months drift by, no suspect emerges. Determined to get on with her life, but traumatised and vulnerable, she succumbs to the advances of Ellis Hargreaves, with whom she had an affair forty years earlier when she was a student and he a married man. Now divorced and living a reclusive life in Byron Bay, he comes back into her life seemingly eager to pick up where they left off. But as their relationship progresses, Heather finds Ellis determined to draw her into his shady schemes to set himself up as a New Age ‘life-coach’, and a dangerous game begins, in which she is forced to confront their embittered past, and choose between following her heart and her head.

Ellis is a slime-ball and why Heather can't see that is beyond me. All her friends, co-workers and family could see it. Heather's aunt is a beautiful character, as is her soulmate who lives next door. Their relationship is truly wonderful. I love Liz's novels and recommend them to anyone who loves to read about love, life and powerful women.

2008-03-28T09:34:00.003+11:00

No Humans Involved
By Kelley Armstrong

In Armstrong's assured seventh Otherworld paranormal romance, pretty Jaime Vegas, a 44-year-old necromancer who can reanimate the dead, faces her biggest career challenge yet - freeing the trapped ghosts of six murdered children. Thankfully, Jeremy Danvers, Jaime's hunky and very Alpha werewolf boyfriend, tags along for this hair-raising ride. Jaime, who has made a living onstage and off by her ghost-whispering skills, is in L.A. as one of three celebrity mediums participating in Death of Innocence, a TV special that hopes "to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe," but instead uncovers a serial-killing cult intent on man-made black magic. Seeking justice for the lost children and punishing the dark arts practitioners don't prevent Jaime and Jeremy from finding time for love.

Armstrong deftly juggles such creatures as werewolves, witches, demons and ghosts with real-life issues. A great story that further develops characters we already know and love. As long as she keeps writing them, I'll keep reading. Jaime is one of my favorite characters and seeing her come into her own in this book was a great satisfaction.

2008-03-27T14:25:00.003+11:00

Duma Key
By Stephen King

Duma Key is the engaging, fascinating story of a man who discovers an incredible talent for painting after he barely survives after the Dodge Ram he's driving collides with a 12-story crane on a job site in which he loses an arm and badly fractures his skull.

He moves to a 'new life' in Duma Key, off Florida's West Coast; a deserted strip, part beach, part weed-tangled, owned by a patroness of the arts whose twin sisters went missing in the 1920s. Duma Key is where out-of-season hurricanes tears lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Here Freemantle is inspired to paint the amazing sunsets. But soon the paintings become predictive, even dangerous. Freemantle knows the only way forward is to discover what happened to the twin sisters - and what is the secret of the strange old lady who holds the key?

The story is about friendship, about the bond between a father and his daughter. And about memory, truth and art. It is also is a metaphor for the life and inspiration of a writer, and an exploration of the nature, power and influence of fiction. This is the Stephen King we all know and scared us out of our wits so well. I urge you to read it. Highly, highly recommended.

2008-03-27T14:12:00.002+11:00

20th Century Ghosts
By Joe Hill

Fifteen of the best short stories I've read in a very long time. Some are skin crawling horrid, some are touchingly human, but all are gripping and thought provoking.

Giant bugs, blow-up friends, vampires in training, flying blanket capes, a very strange museum of death; each story is a world of its own, all are the world of Joe Hill.

Critics often say, "I couldn't put the book down." I put 20th Century Ghosts down a half-dozen times, asking myself, "How could this guy be so damned good?" Do yourself a huge favor. Buy 20th Century Ghosts.

2008-03-27T13:59:00.005+11:00

A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini

Afghan-American novelist Hosseini follows up his bestselling The Kite Runner with another searing epic of Afghanistan in turmoil. The story covers three decades of anti-Soviet jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny through the lives of two women.

Mariam is the scorned illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, forced at age 15 into marrying the 40-year-old Rasheed, who grows increasingly brutal as she fails to produce a child. Eighteen later, Rasheed takes another wife, 14-year-old Laila, a smart and spirited girl whose only other options, after her parents are killed by rocket fire, are prostitution or starvation. Against a backdrop of unending war, Mariam and Laila become allies in an asymmetrical battle with Rasheed, whose violent misogyny - "There was no cursing, no screaming, no pleading, no surprised yelps, only the systematic business of beating and being beaten" - is endorsed by custom and law. Hosseini gives a forceful but nuanced portrait of a patriarchal despotism where women are agonizingly dependent on fathers, husbands and especially sons, the bearing of male children being their sole path to social status.

His tale is a powerful, harrowing depiction of Afghanistan, but also a lyrical evocation of the lives and enduring hopes of its resilient characters. Hosseini's simple but richly descriptive prose makes for an engrossing read. This is definitely not one to be missed.

Watch the First Tuesday Book Club reviewing the novel.

2008-03-27T13:48:00.002+11:00

Embraced by Darkness
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 5
By Keri Arthur

Riley Jenson is part vampire and part werewolf. She had been forcibly given an experimental fertility drug in her past. She has developed a few interesting powers due to side effects, such as the abilities to see souls rise and spirits walk in the shadows. Riley never knows when another ability will pop up. However, they tend to come in handy during her job.

Riley and her brother, Rhoan, are Guardians; they are the super-cops, hunter-killers, of the nonhuman world.

When Blake Jenson, her family's alpha male, demands Riley help the pack, Riley is ready to tell him to get lost. Riley and Rhoan had been thrown out of the red pack back when they had been thirteen-year-old pups. But Blake throws down a verbal gauntlet when he informs Riley that should she refuse to help or fails in the mission her mother's life would be forfeit. Riley is now on the hunt for a serial killer. At the same time, Riley's lover is trying to convince her to quit her work. Yet should Riley do so, many will die.

This is the fifth book in the Riley Jenson Guardian series. The plot starts out immediately, on page one. Readers are able to dive right into the scenario. The action slows down two or three times during the course of the novel, but gets hotter than a blow torch by the end. Well worth following this series.

2008-03-27T13:26:00.003+11:00

Dangerous Games
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 4
By Keri Arthur

Dangerous Games is the fourth book in the series by Keri Arthur, and each of the stories pulls the reader deeper and deeper into the lust filled life of vampires and werewolves that is Riley Jensen. With each story brings her closer to becoming a true Guardian, and right now she isn't so sure this is a bad thing anymore. This time she hunts a serial killer, but this killer is beyond anything she has ever faced before, because this killer isn't anything that is from this time or place.

In Melbourne’s urban underworld, there’s a nightclub for every fantasy and desire. But for Riley Jenson, one such club has become an obsession. Riley, a rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, hasn’t come in pursuit of pleasure but of an unknown killer who’s been using the steamy nightspot as his hunting grounds. Leave it to Riley to find the only ticket into the heavily guarded club: Jin, a deliciously hot-bodied bartender who might just provide the key to unmasking a killer unlike any other in the Directorate’s experience.

Taunted by a former colleague turned rogue, distracted by an ex-lover’s attentions, Riley follows Jin into a realm of pleasure she could never have imagined. Along with trying to stay focused enough to stay alive, she also has to battle her desire for her on again off again lover Quinn. This time her vampire lover may have crossed a line she isn't going to be able to let pass.

All in all, the Riley Jenson guardian novels are still an entertaining new series. I will definitely be buying the next one.

2008-03-27T12:33:00.004+11:00

Tempting Evil
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 3
By Keri Arthur

Riley, almost a full guardian, is placed as the sexual entertainment and fighter (among other women) at Deshon Starr's estate - he is the kingpin of the great crime cartel that is responsible for the breeding labs and the experimental cloning. Riley's psychic powers are growing, as is her strength. This assignment will prove her mettle as a guardian. Although reluctant, she is determined to stop Starr's cartel, and if possible stop Starr.

The action is nonstop and the story progresses Riley and her guardianship. Quinn the ancient vampire and Kellen, the alpha werewolf, vie for Riley's heart. Neither will step aside for the other. Both are very strong characters. There is a lot of sex (willing and not) in this book - moreso than the other books.

I will be reading the next Riley Jenson book. She has strengthened and is a fuller character. Although she still is on the finding her were soulmate jag. - I think that Quinn may have a different plan, and that's what makes it interesting. Tempting Evil is a good read, and the series is great.

2008-03-27T11:56:00.005+11:00

Little Children
By Tom Perrotta

The characters in this absorbing tale of suburban angst are constrained and defined by their relationship to children. There's Sarah, an erstwhile bisexual feminist who finds herself an unhappy mother and wife to a branding consultant addicted to Internet porn. There's Todd, a handsome ex-jock and stay-at-home dad known to neighborhood housewives as the Prom King, who finds in house-husbandry and reveries about his teenage glory days a comforting alternative to his wife's demands that he pass the bar and get on with a law career. There's Mary Ann, an uptight supermom who schedules sex with her husband every Tuesday at nine and already has her well-drilled four-year-old on the inside track to Harvard. And there's Ronnie, a pedophile whose return from prison throws the school district into an uproar, and his mother, May, who still harbors hopes that her son will turn out well after all. In the midst of this universe of mild to fulminating family dysfunction, Sarah and Todd drift into an affair that recaptures the passion of adolescence, that fleeting period of freedom and possibility between the dutiful rigidities of childhood and parenthood.

Little Children looks at the sterility of suburbia and at the dark emotions that threaten the characters' placid and predictable lives. Most of the individuals in this novel are hypocritical, selfish, and immature. Nevertheless, Perrotta is such a gifted writer that he humanizes the characters and makes us care deeply about them. The author implies that even when we grow up and become parents ourselves, in some ways we all remain "little children" inside.

This book has been adapted for the big screen. Watch the movie trailer.

2008-03-27T11:38:00.005+11:00

Moral Disorder
By Margaret Atwood

Moral Disorder could be seen either as a collection of ten stories that is almost a novel or as a novel broken up into ten stories. It resembles a photograph album - a series of clearly observed moments that trace the course of a life, and also the lives intertwined with it - those of parents, of siblings, of children, of friends, of enemies, of teachers, and even of animals. And as in an album, times change: the 30s, the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s and 80s, the present time - all are here. The settings are equally varied: large cities, suburbs, farms, northern forests.

Moral Disorder is about a whole life, the life of Nell, married to Tig, or Gilbert. Margaret Atwood balances the apparently random - disorderly - events and memories against the sense we all have that a life as a whole has its own shape, possibly a destiny.

There were varying opinions about this novel in our reading group. Some found it difficult to read and disjointed. I liked the book and it's interlinked stories. A good piece of literature.

2007-12-17T11:10:00.000+11:00

Garden Spells
By Sarah Addison Allen

A magical, utterly delicious debut that will cast its charm over everyone who loved Chocolat or Fried Green Tomatoes. Bascom, North Carolina is a town where everyone is known for their family's characteristics, passed down through generations. One family's women are good in bed: they always marry well. One family gives birth to a strong man - always called Josiah -
once in a generation (you go to him to help you when you move house). The Waverleys are known for their magic touch: Evanelle, who's lived in Bascom all her life, gives people what they need before they know they need it; Claire, who came to town when she was six and never wants to leave, can turn the plants in her garden into delicious food and drink with spectacular effects on those who consume it; Sydney, who ran away from her home town at 18, hasn't worked out what hers is. When Sydney returns to Bascom with her little girl, in flight from an abusive marriage, she proves a catalyst for change in the lives of all three women.

Allen bewitches with savoury prose and keen insight, leaving me to want more. Think of the very best fairy tale you were ever told; now pick up "Garden Spells" and read one of the best magical stories for adults I have enjoyed in a long time. I rarely pass on my books, but I did this one and the recipients were as delighted and enchanted as I was.

2007-12-13T11:20:00.002+11:00

Kissing Sin
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 2
By Keri Arthur

Vampire-werewolf heroine Riley Jenson escapes an unknown enemy's breeding pens to kick off the second installment of Arthur's urban fantasy series. The action and sex come fast and furious as Riley works with her twin brother, her boss at Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races, as well as most of her lovers (who include a vampire with werewolf issues, a werewolf with mixed loyalties, an alpha werewolf and a horse-shifter) to uncover and derail a nefarious plot to create an army of super-beings.

Strong world-building, vivid personalities and the distinctive cultures of each of the various paranormal strains combine for a rich narrative, and Arthur's descriptive prose adds texture and menace. She also creates strong empathy for Riley, whose vampire half is beginning to assert itself, making her already precarious fertility problems worse.

Riley is a strong willed woman who accepts her nature and tells men who can't accept her for what she is to take a hike. The novel is a fast paced action packed romantic fantasy that takes place on an earth so descriptive readers will feel they must have visited it.

2007-12-13T11:10:00.001+11:00

Full Moon Rising
Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 1
By Keri Arthur

Werewolf novels and vampire novels are both hugely popular in the urban fantasy genre - and Keri Arthur has combined the two in her heroine, Riley Jenson, a hybrid of a werewolf and a vampire. Riley's werewolf side seems mostly to the fore - she changes into a wolf, she doesn't need to drink blood, can go out in the daytime, but does have a few vampire tricks up her sleeve such as the ability to sense things in a psychic way and to resist glamour.

Riley's twin brother Rhoan works for Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races as a Guardian - this means he is sent to dispose of any of the supernatural race that commit crimes (and the disposal is usually permanent). However when Rhoan goes missing Riley begins to worry, especially as ten other Guardians have gone missing and been found dead recently. Riley tries to persuade Rhoan's boss Jack to hunt for him, but Jack wants Riley to become a Guardian and seems to be using Rhoan's disappearance as a lever to persuade her to join. Just to add to the complication, Riley discovers a naked vampire camped outside her front door - Quinn, the vampire, can't remember what happened to him but knows he wants to talk to Rhoan and he gets dragged into the plot when it becomes clear he has a significant interest in what's been happening.

What follows is the hunt for Rhoan alongside the discovery of a plot to clone humans and supernatural creatures. Riley finds herself working with Quinn, who turns out to be a billionaire who's over a thousand years old, with Rhoan and his lover and with the mysterious Jack, boss of the Guardians. Her time is also spent with her two lovers, Talon and Misha, both werewolves.

I love that this series is set in Melbourne and not the usual America. Strong, smart and capable, Riley will remind many of Anita Blake, Laurell K. Hamilton's kick-ass vampire hunter. Fans of Anita Blake and Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse vampire series will be rewarded. I bought books 1 and 2 on a fly-by visit to the Sydney Dymocks store and will be ordering the rest of the books as soon as possible for some holiday reading.

2007-12-13T10:51:00.000+11:00

Fallowblade
Crowthistle Chronicles Book 4
By Celia Dart-Thornton

Fallow Blade, the final book in The Crowthistle Chronicles, continues on from Book Three: Weather Witch with the story of Asrăthiel Maelstronnar. Due to her unique heritage, Asrăthiel has inherited some rather unusual skills: weatherworking and immortality from her father's side of the family, stunning beauty and an inability to accept the status quo from her mother's. Asrăthiel also has the ability to wield the sword called Fallowblade that can defeat Goblinkind.

The book in the middle of a world war that engulfs all four human kingdoms of Tir. There's backstabbing, betrayal, brothers pitted against brothers in nasty choices of honour versus love, lies, deceit and attempted genocide. And that's just the humans.

Once upon a time the Goblins were defeated by the weathermasters and Fallowblade. Now they're back and wreaking havoc on the war-divided humans. These unseelie hordes are riding out of the northern mountains, led by the Goblin King, with nary a shred of mercy to their names. They may look human, but they are not. They are very alien in their reasoning, motivations, morals and goals.

This book is recommended if the prospective reader enjoys rich language, epic storylines and ending that are not so much "happily ever after" but rather, "setting things right". A worthy ending to the series.

2007-12-13T10:40:00.000+11:00

The Six Sacred Stones
By Matthew Reilly

Unlocking the secret of the Seven Ancient Wonders was only the beginning...

After their thrilling exploits in Matthew Reilly's bestseller, Seven Deadly Wonders, supersoldier Jack West Jr. and his loyal team of adventurers are back, and now they face an all-but-impossible challenge. A mysterious ceremony in an unknown location has unraveled their work and triggered a catastrophic countdown that will climax in no less than the end of all life on Earth.

But there is one last hope. If Jack and his team can find and rebuild a legendary ancient device known only as the "Machine," they might be able to ward off the coming armageddon. The only clues to locating this Machine, however, are held within the fabled Six Sacred Stones, long lost in the fog of history. And so the hunt begins for the Six Sacred Stones and the all-important knowledge they possess, but in the course of this wild adventure Jack and his team will discover that they are not the only ones seeking the Stones and that there might just be other players out there who don't want to see the world saved at all.

From Stonehenge in England to the deserts of Egypt to the spectacular Three Gorges region of China, The 6 Sacred Stones will take you on a nonstop roller-coaster ride through ancient history, modern military hardware, and some of the fastest and most mind-blowing action you will ever read.

Excellent read!! I love this author. If you want action, fast pace and historical mysteries you will love this book. Can't wait for the next one to find out what happens to Jack in the cliff-hanger of an ending.

2007-12-13T10:35:00.000+11:00

The Faraday Girls
By Monica McInerney

This story depicts the tensions that emerge between five sisters as they struggle to establish their own identities. The book opens in 1979, in Tasmania, Australia, just before the lives of Juliet, Miranda, Eliza, Sadie, Clementine and their father, Leo, are irrevocably altered by 16-year-old Clementine's announcement that she's pregnant. The sisters and widower Leo make a pact to raise the child until it begins elementary school. Despite their unyielding love for baby Maggie, the pact is an enduring challenge for the sisters (who range in age from 16 to 23), who each yearn for independence. Leo, however, sees Maggie's birth as the perfect excuse to keep all his daughters under the same roof. When Maggie is five, one sister's colossal error in judgment ruptures the tenuous familial bonds.

The consequences play out as the novel fast-forwards 20 years, with the family fractured and Maggie living in New York City. Two events within hours of each other have Maggie en route to New York and seriously considering a career change. Leo's love of inventing has accumulated quite a bit on money. Every July the Faraday clan meets up in "the holiday house" in Ireland. This year, Leo needs Maggie's help. Leo thinks he knows where Sadie is, thanks to a private detective. If Leo is correct, Sadie has a new name, lives in Ireland (very close to the holiday house) and has a family all her own. Maggie is about to learn that every single member of the Faraday family has their own closely guarded secret. At the center of them all is Maggie.

The story weaves a delightful plot, developing fundamentally flawed characters with underlying redeemable qualities. The author adeptly unveils rivalry at its finest, pitting sister against sister, mother against daughter and a grieving husband's memory against his children.

2007-12-13T10:31:00.000+11:00

Second Chance
By Jane Green

A group of seemingly disparate adults in their 30s gathers to mourn a dear friend, Tom, unexpectedly killed in a terrorist attack in New York. The friends gather in Britain for Tom's "hometown" memorial and a reunion. One friend, Saffron, is a grade B Hollywood actress with two big secrets to hide – her alcoholism and her very famous, married lover. Another, Holly, is married to a high-level lawyer and absolutely miserable, despite her two beautiful children. Olivia seems happy on the outside; she's an animal rescuer, but her longtime relationship has just collapsed. Paul seems the luckiest and happiest, married to a drop-dead gorgeous Scandinavian Internet entrepeneur, Anna, but they are unable to have children despite many IV attempts. And then there is Will, younger brother of Tom, who is still the perpetual hippie.

As all these friends gather, they find they still love one another, but must accept the realities of their adult lives. It becomes clear in short order that Tom was the catalyst who, all these years, kept them together by an invisible thread; although none of them really kept in touch, Tom kept in touch with them all. And it is upon him that many of their hopes and dreams have rested, in complete fantasy.

This is beyond chick-lit. This is a thoughtful book, maybe a bit cliched, but still well worth reading. It's a fast and interesting read, but meaningful as well. I had tears in my eyes quite a few times. I saw myself in one of the characters and found it deeply moving to see my feelings on the page. Recommended.

2007-12-12T10:40:00.000+11:00

Diaries of an Internet Lover
By Dawn Porter

Tired of looking for Mr Right when all she wanted was casual fun, Dawn Porter placed an ad on a website notorious for its no-strings adult ads – to see what handsome, wealthy and charming men would respond to her request for surprising nights out and possibly more. Nine months later and the results make for jaw-dropping reading.

A cast of characters you couldn’t invent do their best to impress Ms Porter with their wit, wisdom and physical attributes. With nicknames like the ‘very clever wolf’ and the ‘big bumbino’, these would-be suitors’ antics read like a modern comedy of sexual manners.

Not content with looking for lust with cute guys, Ms Porter explores her ‘bi-curious’ side and builds up to a liaison with a couple. With a taste for fancy restaurants, fine wines and men who make her laugh, Dawn’s dates are a bang-up-to-the-minute look at modern dating from a clued-up young woman with her eyes on the prize. The question is, will she actually fall for any of her dates?

A fun, light read with a risque element. Good holiday reading. I'll have to wait and see what the rest of the BRA book club think. The question remains - is any of it real? Sold as fiction, but written as a journal by Dawn with herself as the main character. Hmm...

2007-12-12T10:25:00.000+11:00

Handmaid's Tale
By Margaret Atwood

Respected Canadian poet and novelist Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right ideals have been carried to extremes in the monotheocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives. The tale is told by Offred ("of Fred"), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be.

The Handmaid's Tale is a horrifying story of a government fully in control of each person's life and totally out of control. The Handmaid's Tale is the perfect book for book clubs as it will evoke numerous discussions on feminism, nuclear war, radical government policies, slavery, etc. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and it indeed led to some very interesting discussions and insights.

2007-12-12T10:14:00.001+11:00

How to Kill Your Husband
By Kathy Lette

Another BRA book club selection, and one that none of us really liked.

All women want to kill their husbands some of the time "Where there's a will, I intend to be in it," wives half-joke to each other. Marriage, it would appear, is a fun-packed frivolous hobby, only occasionally resulting in death. But when Jazz Jardine is arrested for her husband's murder, the joke falls flat. Life should begin at 40 - not with life imprisonment for killing your spouse. Jazz, stay-at-home mum and domestic goddess; Hannah, childless career woman; and Cassie, demented working mother of two are three ordinary women. Cassie and Hannah set out immediately to prove their best friend's innocence, uncovering betrayal, adultery, plot twists, thinner thighs and toy boys aplenty en route but will their friendship survive these ever darker revelations?

For a novel a serious premise, it trivialised the emotions and situations of the people involved. It dealt with serious marital issues as though they were a joke, with no compassion. Yes, it's supposed to be light chick-lit but it didn't strike a cord with me, or any of the BRA book club. Don't bother with this one.

2007-12-12T09:59:00.001+11:00

The Book of Lost Things: A Novel
By John Connolly

Thriller writer Connolly turns from criminal fears to primal fears in this enchanting novel about a 12-year-old English boy, David, who is thrust into a realm where eternal stories and fairy tales assume an often gruesome reality. Books are the magic that speak to David, whose mother has died at the start of WWII after a long debilitating illness. His father remarries, and soon his stepmother is pregnant with yet another interloper who will threaten David's place in his father's life.

When a portal to another world opens in time-honored fashion, David enters a land of beasts and monsters where he must undertake a quest if he is to earn his way back out. Connolly echoes many great fairy tales and legends (Little Red Riding Hood, Roland, Hansel and Gretel), but cleverly twists them to his own purposes. Despite horrific elements, this tale is never truly frightening, but is consistently entertaining as David learns lessons of bravery, loyalty and honor that all of us should learn. David must choose between good and evil. During this journey David finds himself growing from a child to a young man with a true heart. All lost things are found again.

The book held me from the very beginning with the books, the books talking, the life of books, the emotion of books! This is a book for all those who believe in the life of books and the power of words.

2007-12-12T09:49:00.000+11:00

A Lick of Frost
Meredith Gentry Book 6
By Laurell K. Hamilton

Princess Meredith NicEssus of the Unseelie Court finally reaches an elusive goal in Hamilton's seductive sixth Meredith Gentry paranormal romance. Half-human, half-faerie, Meredith is a former L.A. PI whose current full-time job is trying to get pregnant - trying at least three times a day, in fact, mainly with her devoted retinue of sex-starved guards - to insure her ascendancy to the Unseelie throne of night. Unfortunately, her bedding schedule has been interrupted by Lady Caitrin of the Seelie Court, who claims she was raped by three of Meredith's guards. Meredith must protect her faithful retinue from the terrible wrath of her uncle, King Taranis of the Seelie Court, and defend herself from the dangerous desire Taranis harbors for her. Hamilton depicts Meredith's erotic adventures in her usual breathless, overheated style, but also reveals a deeper glimpse into Meredith's introspective side as she reflects on her favorite lover, Killing Frost, whose strange fate finds her re-evaluating the costs of being a future queen.

A Lick of Frost focuses on Taranis's hatred of the Unseelie sidhe, his desire to rule at all costs - even at the expense of his niece, and the madness he's wrought by keeping his people under the rule of a barren king.

2007-12-12T09:40:00.000+11:00

An Ice Cold Grave
Harper Connelly Mysteries Book 3
By Charlaine Harris

After being struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper Connelly has developed the unique ability to find the dead and see how they died. She and her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, run a business in which they travel the country assisting law-enforcement personnel and family members of the dead. In her third case, Harper is hired by a woman to find her missing grandson. In fact, numerous teenage boys have disappeared from Doraville, North Carolina. Harper finds the bodies, but still reeling from coming into contact with her first serial killer, she is attacked and injured. She stays in Doraville to recover and assist in the investigation. Harris' series makes the most of its unusual premise, using the paranormal elements to good effect. She has also created a winning heroine; Harper is a caring person who gives closure to victims' families often at great cost to herself as she deals with the skepticism of the law-enforcement community. Her developing relationship with Tolliver grows and changes in this installment.

The plot kept me reading page after page until the book was done. "An Ice Cold Grave" is a satisfying read that I'd recommend to fans of mysteries, thrillers and paranormal fiction. While you don't have to read "Grave Secret" and "Grave Surprise" to understand this book, it's definitely not a waste of your time to do so.

The 2007 Books Alive Promotion

2007-08-14T11:57:00.000+10:00

Books Alive is an Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage all Australians to experience the joys of reading. Every year, Books Alive runs a nationwide campaign to ignite the country’s passion for books and make it easier to choose a really great ‘read’.

This year's list focuses on great stories, whether it's fiction, history, crime or books for kids. They reflect our shared experiences, enriching our cultural heritage with great story-telling. Among the books listed are:

Food, Sex & Money, Liz Byrski
The Shifting Fog, Kate Morton
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
The Butterfly Man, Heather Rose
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living, Carrie Tiffany
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian, Marina Lewycka
Swallow the Air, Tara June Winch
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
Journey to the Stone Country, Alex Miller

For a full list, go to http://booksalive.com.au/

2007-08-14T11:50:00.000+10:00

Food, Sex and Money
By Liz Byrski

Nominated in this year's Books Alive promotion, this is a story about three women renewing their friendship forty years after convent school.

Following the death of her husband, Bonnie moves back to Australia after decades in Europe. She soon realises that it will take more than adjusting the amount of make-up she wears to fit back in. Along with her friends Fran, a well known food writer, and Slvia, a minister's wife, she decides to open The Boatshed - a combined restuarant, gallery and shop. It's an enormous undertaking that has an unexpected impact on them and their families.

It is not only a novel written with remarkable insights and sensitivity, but is also a tribute to about three quarters of the female population of the planet, who are more than twenty-five years old. It is most satisfying that an excellent author had the courage to star women, who are over the proverbial hill, have been battered by losses, are anguished by the future, and caught between the problems of their adult children on one end, and the last struggles of their parents on the other. In a society besotted by youth, the majority of women cannot find many novels in which they do not feel excluded, ( or when included than mostly as ridiculous, or pitiable figures).

2007-08-08T11:00:00.000+10:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
By J.K. Rowling

Here in this seventh and final book, Harry Potter discovers what fate truly has in store for him after the moments of calm as he inextricably makes his way to that final meeting with Voldemort.In this thrilling climax of the bestselling series J.K. Rowling reveals answers to the many questions that her readers have been so eagerly waiting for.

The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission - not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man - and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.

A spectacular finish to a phenomenal series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bittersweet read. The journey is hard, filled with events both tragic and triumphant, the battlefield littered with the bodies of the dearest and despised, but the final chapter is as brilliant and blinding as a phoenix's flame, and fans and skeptics alike will emerge from the confines of the story with full but heavy hearts, giddy and grateful for the experience.

2007-08-08T10:41:00.000+10:00

For a Few Demons More
By Kim Harrison

In bestseller Harrison's fifth demon-kicking extravaganza to feature Rachel Morgan, the Cincinnati-based bounty hunter and spell caster still possesses "the focus," a 5,000-year-old demon-crafted Were artifact. With the help of her pixie partner Jenks and Detective Glenn, Rachel must deal with demons and master vampire Piscary, who along with angry Weres, struggle for possession of the artifact. The elf Trent comes back into play and it's a totally different side of him than readers have read before. Ceri, the powerful ex-demon familiar, shows Rachel just how much she respects her and Rachel's pack mate David takes on a major role. A serial killer is on the loose and Rachel's alpha werewolf pal, David Hue, becomes the prime suspect of the FIB (aka the human-run Federal Inderland Bureau).

Action-packed and full of Rachel's persistent erotic ruminations, this tale includes a shocking finale that will leave fans anxiously waiting for the next installment in the Hollows series.

2007-08-08T09:37:00.001+10:00

Heart-Shaped Box
By Joe Hill

Hill features a particularly merciless ghost in his powerful first novel. Middle-aged rock star Judas Coyne collects morbid curios for fun, so doesn't think twice about buying a suit advertised at an online auction site as haunted by its dead owner's ghost. Only after it arrives does Judas discover that the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of one of Coyne's discarded groupies, and that the old man's ghost is a malignant spirit determined to kill Judas in revenge for his stepdaughter's suicide. Judas isn't quite the cad or Craddock the avenging angel this scenario makes them at first, but their true motivations reveal themselves only gradually in a fast-paced plot that crackles with expertly planted surprises and revelations. Hill gives his characters believably complex emotional lives that help to anchor the supernatural in psychological reality. His subtle and skillful treatment of horrors that could easily have exploded over the top and out of control helps make this a truly memorable debut.

This book is a true spine-tingler. Read it!

Watch an interview with Joe Hill on YouTube.

2007-08-07T13:47:00.000+10:00

Widdershins
By Charles de Lint

Since they were introduced in the first Newford story, Jilly Coppercorn and Geordie Riddell, their friends and readers alike have been waiting for them to realize what everybody else already knows: that they belong together. But they've been more clueless about how they feel for each other than the characters in When Harry Met Sally. Now in Widdershins, a stand-alone novel of fairy courts set in shopping malls and the Bohemian street scene of Newford's Crowsea area, Jilly and Geordie's story is finally being told.

Jilly is a wonderfully whimsical artist, now hampered by a physical disability and Geordie is a brilliant fiddler with serious commitment issues which leave him drifting through what could othwise be a prosperous musical career. Both have been friends forever, but even though there has been speculation, they have never gotten together as a couple due to bad timing and a series of spectacularly disasterous relationships and old baggage on both parts.

Jilly is held captive in a sinister world based on her own worst memories—and Geordie, attempting to help, is sent someplace even worse. To walk “widdershins” is to walk counterclockwise or backwards around something. It's a classic pathway into the fairy realm. It's also the way people often back slowly into the relationships that matter, the real ones that make for a life.

I've been a DeLint fan for years, but I was really disappointed at the end of The Onion Girl when Jilly, who of all of Newford's citizens, wants to believe and be touched by otherworldly magic the most, is left crippled and unable to visit the otherworld after her magical encounter.

Now, finally, we see a conclusion to the Jilly and Geordie saga in a story rife with new characters, North American "animal people", and fairy folk. Just as in DeLint's other works, we find new trails of stories intertwined with the main plot and explore human nature in a provoking manner. Appearances by other old friends, like the Crow Girls, pop up thoughout and just make the whole experience more enjoyable.

2007-08-07T13:42:00.000+10:00

Grave Surprise
Harper Connelly Mysteries Book 2
By Charlaine Harris

At the start of Harris's winning second supernatural caper to feature Harper Connelly, a skeptical anthropology professor, Clyde Nunley, tests Harper's gift of clairvoyance in a historic Memphis cemetery, where Harper correctly senses a fresh corpse in the wrong grave. Strangely, the body turns out to be a missing 12-year-old girl, Tabitha Morgenstern, whom Harper failed to locate in Nashville on a case two years earlier. The hotel suite of Harper and her manager and stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, both of whom fall under suspicion, becomes a magnet for a medley of amusing characters, including Memphis cops, Tabitha's assorted relatives and a drunken Clyde Nunley, who, shortly after accusing Harper of fraud, is found dead in the same grave as Tabitha.

Peppered with the author's trademark deadpan wit, this book should help make Harper and Tolliver as popular as Sookie Stackhouse, the heroine of Harris's vampire mystery series.

2007-08-07T13:19:00.001+10:00

Grave Sight
Harper Connelly Mysteries Book 1
By Charlaine Harris

Ever since Harper Connelly survived a zap from a lightning bolt, she's been able to find dead people, a skill that makes the protagonist in the first installment of Harris's new series a tad more bizarre than the mind-reading heroine of the author's Sookie Stackhouse books (Dead as a Doornail, etc.). Harper travels to the Ozark town of Sarne, Ark., to find a missing teenage girl's body, accompanied by her stepbrother, Tolliver, who acts as her manager and bodyguard and with whom she shares a thinly disguised physical attraction that they manage to keep at bay by engaging in casual sex with various partners. Finding the body takes no time at all, but leaving town afterward isn't so easy. When Harper's life is threatened and Tolliver ends up in jail on trumped-up charges, it quickly becomes apparent that something sinister is going on in Sarne. Harris delivers a knuckle-gnawing tale populated with well-developed, albeit edgy characters. A nifty puzzle toward the end will challenge the most jaded mystery buffs.

This is the first book in a new series and it promises great things. Harper is a darker protagonist than Sookie, and the tone of the book is more serious; there is humor, but it's painted with a much lighter brush. Also, while Harper's "power" is certainly fantastic, the novel otherwise is entirely grounded in reality. The characters seem so real, it's hard to believe they were just invented for this book. This new series is a winner.

2007-08-07T13:14:00.000+10:00

Blood Debt
by Tanya Huff

It began with a ghost in his bedroom. A tormented soul hungry for vengeance. The sort of nocturnal visitation that even a five-hundred-year-old vampire like Henry Fitzroy found tiresome. It would lead Vicki Nelson, PI into her most deadly investigation yet. The wraith is determined that Henry and Vicki track down its killer - and is prepared to use a little persuasion by way of the innocent inhabitants of Toronto to ensure their support. Forced to investigate, Vicki discovers a host of souls in desperate torment and evidence to suggest that trailing the killer will only lead to further deaths - starting with her own.

This is the final book in this series and has upset quite a few fans. I persevered and did enjoy it, though Henry's arrogance was annoying until he realises that he is not so superior after all. A tidy wrap-up with yet another kind of monster/bad guy involved.

2007-08-07T12:57:00.001+10:00

Blood Pact
by Tanya Huff

It began, as it so often did, with a body. Only this time death has struck close to home for Vicki Nelson, PI. Her mother is the victim. And what at first seems no more than a tragic natural death is about to become the most terrifying case of her career. For Vicki and her sometime lover, the vampire Henry Fitzroy, have discovered something suspicious in her mother's demise. Vicki feels unable to deal with the grief until she's investigated what happened. But she soon discovers that it's not just memories that can be difficult to lay to rest.

Again, a great story, with yet another type of monster to deal with. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, yet the ending leaves you wondering what's in store for the next story as a main character "dies".

My Mid-Year Holiday

2007-08-07T12:31:00.001+10:00

I had a great time away travelling through the outback. Cold, beautiful and thoroughly wonderful. I did manage to read more than I thought as I couldn't read on the dirt roads (which made up a lot of our trip) but I made up for it when we hit the tar. Enjoy the pictures.

2007-06-26T14:41:00.000+10:00

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
By Susskind Patrick

Survivor, genius, perfumer, killer: this is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. He is abandoned on the filthy streets as a new-born child, but grows up in an orphanage to discover he has an extraordinary gift: a sense of smell more powerful than any other human's. Soon, he is obsessively creating the most sublime fragrances in Paris. Yet there is one odour he cannot capture. It is exquisite, magical - the scent of a young virgin. And to get it, he must kill. And kill. And kill.

A novel both horrid and repelent, it draws you in with it's imagery. Perfume relates the fascinating and horrifying tale of a person as gifted as he was abominable. Born without a smell of his own but endowed with an extraordinary sense of smell, Grenouille becomes obsessed with procuring the perfect scent that will make him fully human. With brilliant narrative skill Susskind exposes the dark underside of the society through which Grenouille moves and explores the disquieting inner universe of this singularly possessed man.

The film is a visual feast - luscious and erotic, cruel and fascinating. You do need to have read the novel to truly appreciate the film and understand it's dark themes fully.

2007-06-26T14:19:00.000+10:00

The Time Traveller's Wife
By Audrey Niffeneger

This extraordinary, magical novel is the story of Clare and Henry who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder - periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. His disappearances are spontaneous and his experiences are alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's passionate love for each other with grace and humour. Their struggle to lead normal lives in the face of a force they can neither prevent nor control is intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

This was a BRA book club selection. I already had the book before it was chosen - I'd bought it to read 'one of these days'. It is an astounding, beautiful and incredibly sad novel - the story of a love that would survive through time. The inevitable result of Henry's time travelling is the most touching and poignant series of events that I've ever read. I'd recommend it to anyone.

2007-06-26T12:20:00.000+10:00

The Dragon Queens - Book Two of Mystique
By Traci Harding

Ashlee Devere, 19th century clairvoyant, adventurer and historian is called upon by the Sangreal Knighthood to authenticate a Sumerian text taken from an archaeological dig. This text predates the Old Testament and the Genesis story it tells is radically different from any other. Tamar, daughter of the renowned 21st century linguist, Mia Montrose, is going through a crisis. While reading Ashlee's diaries for the first time Tamar is contacted by a powerful goddess - and endures an astoundingly rapid transformation of her psychic abilities and physical appearance. Kali is one of the keepers of the lost key to the gateway between our world and the next and is coming to clear a pathway to Tamar's destiny.

This is the second book in a trilogy. The stories of adventure in the journals of Ashlee's are well paced, but the story gets bogged down in extensive dissertation on soul spheres, planetary alignments and time travel. The author's interest in grail lore and esoteric philosophy is well researched but gets lost in the fog. I will probably read the third book because I started on this journey and just have to finish, but unless you are a diehard fan I would not read it.

2007-06-25T14:46:00.000+10:00

A Fistful of Charms
By Kim Harrison

This strong entry in Harrison's intricate Hollows series (number four) plunges headlong into the action as Rachel Morgan finishes up her latest bounty hunting mission by taking down an alpha Were. The book swings into gear when she returns home to find that her ex, Nick, has recruited her partner Jenks's son in a criminal enterprise—and gotten them both imprisoned by Weres in Michigan, apparently for stealing a priceless Were artifact. With the help of some borderline black magic, Jenks—a pixie—is given human proportions in order to accompany Rachel on a mission to rescue his son. Finding the jailed pixie ends up the easiest task in an operation that quickly spirals out of control after Rachel decides she must also rescue the errant Nick. Harrison provides conflict aplenty as Rachel debates how far into the black arts she'll venture to accomplish a good end; past and present boyfriends vie for her attention; and Weres battle vampires for supremacy.

This series just gets better and better. Harrison's characters are lively, interesting and unusual. She has a knack for building an intricate story line that is suspenseful, action packed and entertaining. It is definitely a requirement to read the story from the first novel, Dead Witch Walking, otherwise the relationships and supernatural lore are too complicated to understand. Highly recommended!

2007-06-25T14:38:00.000+10:00

Every Which Way but Dead
By Kim Harrison

In Harrison's third Rachel Morgan novel, the witch strikes a deal with the devil. To get demon Algaliarept to testify at the trial of evil vampire Piscary, who poses an imminent threat to witch Rachel, she agrees to let Algaliarept become her familiar and share her aura. Rachel is certain she can maintain control, since she is keeping her soul. When she changes places with the demon's old familiar, Ceri, she takes pity on the girl and rescues her from the demon's clutches. Rachel is distracted by the two men in her life. Boyfriend Nick is pulling away after Rachel accidentally made him her familiar. Unsure of how to reconnect with him, Rachel finds she isn't immune to the charms of Kisten, a sexy vampire who worked for Piscary. As she finds herself falling for Kisten, she learns that Algaliarept poses a greater danger than she first expected.

This book felt to me like Kim Harrison was really hitting her stride in writing. Although the first two books were really good reads this one was definitely better. There was actually less relentless action in it and much more time was spent with the characters - Rachel, Ivy and Kisten mainly. Jenks and his family are in the story, of course, as light relief and I love their interactions; this book was a bit more steamy than the previous two and there was more focus on the relationship between Ivy and Rachel. Overall this was another really good read from Kim Harrison. Less spells, more character, and I felt that was a definite improvement in direction and made for a more enjoyable and meaty book.

2007-06-25T12:30:00.000+10:00

Once Upon a Day
By Lisa Tucker

The young woman in Stephen Spaulding's cab was strange. Her view of the world was unusual to say the least. Gradually, however, Stephen learns how she and her brother have been raised by their once-famous father in a utopian 'Sanctuary', away from the decadence of modern America. She has come to St Louis to find her runaway brother, a brilliant painter who fled the Sanctuary himself two years before. Dorothea's search for her brother will turn into an odyssey of discovery, leading to the shocking truth about her family's past and the terrifying events of the day that drove her father to escape California in a desperate attempt to protect his children from a dangerous world. In Stephen, Dorothea finds a fellow traveller on her journey - together they learn that while a heart can be broken by the tragic events of a day, a day can also bring a new chance at love and a deeper understanding of life's infinite possibilities.

A BRA book club selection. A nice enough book with a good mystery but the story is too neatly wrapped up at the end. A good piece of 'chick lit' for a rainy weekend.

2007-06-25T12:01:00.000+10:00

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
By Brian Selznick

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spellbinding mystery.

This is a glorious book - a visual feast. Every page is beautifully presented. Here is a true masterpiece - an artful blending of narrative, illustration and cinematic technique, for a story as tantalizing as it is touching. Parts of the story are told through impressive use of meticulous charcoal drawings that grow or shrink against black backdrops, in pages-long sequences. They display the same item in increasingly tight focus or pan across scenes the way a camera might. One of the most beautiful books and stories that I have every had the pleasure to read.

Stocking up for the holidays

2007-06-25T11:11:00.000+10:00

We are off on a three week camping trip on Saturday and I have been ordering books from Dymocks and trying really hard not to read them before I go. I failed on a few, but I have managed to save some for the trip - the next two books by Tanya Huff, a book by Charles de Lint, a horror story by Stephen King's son, the first two books in a new series by Charlaine Harris and a few others. I am really looking forward to filling in the long drives with my nose in a book.

Thank you Alita and Stacey for making me update my blog. I will try to be more diligent in keeping it up to date in the future.

P.S. That's me on the right after a weekend of camping down near Goulburn.

2007-06-25T11:01:00.000+10:00

Blood Lines
By Tanya Huff

It began with a dazzling vision of the sun. And for Henry Fitzroy, that was the worst vision of all. Sunlight never features high on a vampire's list of daydreams. But for Vicki Nelson, PI, one hallucinatory vampire hardly warrants a drop-everything case - even if they were sometime lovers. Or so she thought at the time. Vicki is investigating a bizarre crime within the Toronto museum Egyptology department. A double murder has been committed, but no one seems willing or able to shed light on the deaths. And it's only when Vicki begins to suspect that minds are being tampered with that Henry's sun-fixation is suddenly not so irrelevant after all.

Blood Lines is the third in this series and carves out some new territory. As I love stories about big, bad Egyptian mummies,I took great delight in discovering that the latest opponent of Vicki Nelson, Mike Celluci, and Henry Fitzroy is an ancient Egyptian wizard who is so old that his origins go back to pre-dynastic times. The series shifts from simply being Vicki's story to making Celluci and Henry equal characters. For the same reason, Henry's powers as a 450 year old vampire are downplayed to increase the part the others play in the final cataclysm. This means good character development and a rich and varied plot. All in all a very enjoyable novel, and the best so far.

2007-06-25T10:56:00.000+10:00

Blood Trail
By Tanya Huff

It began with two bodies. Different locations, same cause of death. Vicki Nelson, PI knew right off that it wouldn't be a straightforward case. The silver bullets found at the scene were a pretty big clue. That and having the victim's niece shapeshift in her office. Now Vicki is on the trail of an assassin hell-bent on wiping out Canada's last remaining werewolf clan. And with back-up from five- hundred-year-old vampire Henry Fitzroy available on a strictly nocturnal basis, she's already regretting the decision. Because out in the wilds of Ontario it's no longer just lycanthropes that are in the hunter's sights.

The second book in the series. A change of scenery from the city and a good little supernatural mystery/detective story. Well worth reading, although it is what I would term a quick-read.

2007-06-25T10:49:00.000+10:00

Blood Price
By Tanya Huff

It began with blood and death. And Vicki Nelson, PI was at the scene. The victim had been brutally, inhumanly opened up. Messy work. She'd had to cover the corpse with her coat. It had sort of made her feel involved. Now Vicki is caught up in the deadly pursuit of a mass murderer with an inhuman appetite for mayhem and destruction. And her advisor on the case is doing nothing to dampen her growing sense of foreboding. But then, with a being of unspeakable evil stalking the city, only Vicki Nelson would ally herself to Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate child of Henry VIII and a five-hundred-year-old vampire.

Yes, another vampire series. I really like the main character Vicki, as she is not perfect - a retired cop who had to leave because of her failing eye-sight who feels frustrated and at times angry with the world that she is forced to live in. The world she lives in does not know that the supernatural exists - society is blissfully ignorant and happy that way. A quick, satisfying read.

2007-06-25T10:36:00.000+10:00

The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger and her younger brother are being taken by their mother to live with a foster family outside Munich. Liesel's father was taken away on the breath of a single, unfamiliar word - Kommunist - and Liesel sees the fear of a similar fate in her mother's eyes. On the journey, Death visits the young boy, and notices Liesel. It will be the first of many near encounters. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery.So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

The Book Thief is a story about the power of words to make worlds. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us an amazing book. This was another BRA book club selection (mine) and I loved it, as did everyone else. I think that was almost a first for everyone to enjoy a book. A very long book but well worth the effort. The book in the book that the Jewish man writes for Leisel is poignant and extremely beautiful. One of the best books that I have read in a long time.

2007-06-25T10:27:00.000+10:00

The Bookseller of Kabul
By Asne Seierstad

Two weeks after September 11th, award-winning journalist Asne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict. In the following spring she returned to live with a bookseller and his family for several months. The Bookseller of Kabul is the account of her time spent living with the family of thirteen in their four-roomed home. Bookseller Sultan Khan defied the authorities for twenty years to supply books to the people of Kabul. He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock in attics all over Kabul. But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and hatred of censorship, he is also a committed Muslim with strict views on family life. As an outsider, Seierstad is able to move between the private world of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the more public lives of the men. The result is an intimate portrait of a family which also offers a unique perspective on a troubled country.

It's like looking in a window at someone else's life. This was a BRA book club book and I would not choose to read it. I disliked Sultan immensely - his treatment of his wives as chattels and his children as little more than slaves is terrible, but the book did offer insight into another culture.

2007-06-25T10:12:00.000+10:00

Lottie
By Reg Egan

When Ethel Griggs dies suddenly in the Victorian country town of Omeo in January 1928, rumours about her husband's blatant affair with 20- year-old Lottie are rife. Police order Ethel's body to be exhumed and Ethel is found to have died from arsenic poisoning. Her husband, Rev. Ron Griggs, is charged with the murder.

This was a BRA book club choice. I wouldn't normally pick up this kind of book but I did enjoy it. It's a fictionalised version of a true story. What a cold fish Ron Griggs is - a horrid little man with grandious ideas of his importance in the world. I felt great pity for Ethel and cheered her journey of self-discovery and mourned her return to Ron and her death. A good, reasonably quick read.

2007-06-25T09:52:00.000+10:00

Rebel Fay - Book 5 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
By Barb and J.C. Hendee

The fifth installment in the Noble Blood series, a hybrid crossing Tolkienesque fantasy with vampire-infused horror, finds half-vampire Magiere and half-elf Leesil in the Elven Territories, searching for Leesil's imprisoned elven mother, Nien'a. The pair are accompanied by their preternaturally intelligent canine protector, Chap, and Wynn, a human sage who can connect psychically with Chap. This is really Leesil and Chap's book. On their mission to rescue Nien'a from her own people, the gang must battle the hateful elven leader, Most Aged Father, and his followers' prejudice against the human race. In an intriguing parallel adventure, the elegant vampire Welstiel, with the help of his undead companion, Chane, continues his quest for "the orb" that will free him of his blood lust.

New readers might find the plot mystifying at times, but fans will enjoy the ongoing clash between elves, humans and the undead. This is a pivotal book, answering some questions and raising many more. Well worth reading if you are a fan of the series.

2007-06-25T09:35:00.000+10:00

Harlequin
By Laurell K. Hamilton

At the start of bestseller Hamilton's solid 15th adventure to star vampire hunter Anita Blake, Malcolm, the priggish head of the Church of the Eternal Life (the vampire church), is so desperate for help in dealing with the Harlequin, a troop of vampire enforcers and spies so feared vampires are forbidden to speak its name, he turns to those he considers sinful and corrupt - Anita and her sweetie, Jean-Claude, St. Louis's Master of the City. The Harlequin may have targeted Anita and the powerful triumvirate she has forged with Jean-Claude and Richard Zeeman (aka Ulfric of the werewolves). According to the rules, the Harlequin must make contact through delivery of a mask - white to indicate they are watching, red for pain, black for death. Anita receives a white mask, but the members of the Harlequin aren't playing by the rules.

Shorter and more tightly structured than the previous entry in the series, Danse Macabre, This book is satisfying with its straightforward supernatural politics and steamy (but not extreme) sex. Anita is beginning to understand her powers better and I loved seeing Edward back. The plot lines involving Edward's family versus his job struggle, the were politics and their tenuous relationship with the vampires, the fight between Richard and Jean-Claude, and the whole threat of the Harlequin itself is pretty thrilling. I devoured this book in a weekend.

2007-06-25T09:18:00.003+10:00

Hunting Season
By Dean Vincent Carter

Eight years ago, the Austrian emergency services were called to the scene of a bizarre car accident... two mangled bodies were found in the snow not far from the vehicle, clawed and chewed by a ferocious animal...

Something unspeakable took Gerontius Moore’s parents from him, leaving him orphaned and alone. Now, that something, is back. Caught up in a terrifying hunt and finding help from an unlikely source, Gerontius must once more flee the clutches of an appalling beast, before it learns its business is unfinished.

Full moon or not, the hunt is on.

An interesting story with little depth. I read it in a few hours and then passed it on to my 13 year-old daughter, who loved it. Although it is marketed as adult fiction, it really is written at the level of teenagers. To truly engage adults, he needs to be a much more sophisticated writer and develop plots in more depth. A fantastic book for young people. The website that the author has developed is very good and provides really good background information on werewolves. Visit The Cabinet of Lycanthropic Curiosities.

2007-03-13T13:50:00.000+11:00

Belly Dancing for Beginners
by Liz Byrski

Gayle and Sonya are a study in contrasts one reserved and cautious, the other confident and outspoken. But their very different lives will be turned upside down when they impulsively join a belly dancing class. Marissa, their teacher, is sixty, sexy, and very much her own person, and as Gayle and Sonya learn about the origins and meaning of the dance, much more than their muscle tone begins to change. Gayle, crippled by the secrets at the heart of her marriage, is forced to face who and what she has become; the seriously single Sonya begins to explore her isolation from her family; and even Marissa, accustomed to seeing other women changed by the dance, must finally confront a horrifying event from her own past. And then there are the men in their lives: Oliver, deeply confused about why his politically correct attitude to women never quite seems to work; Brian, blissfully unaware that he's sailing towards the rocks; and Frank, who's battling his own demons.

'Belly Dancing for Beginners' is a warm-hearted, moving, and often funny story of what can happen when women and men are brave enough to reveal who they really are. I loved this book even though it is about middle aged women "discovering" themselves, much like her other book that I have read, "Gang of Four". She tells a story so well though, and makes it seem so realistic and plausible, that it is a genuinely good read. The twist in the last few pages gives more depth to the story and keeps you thinking.

2007-03-13T13:39:00.000+11:00

Minion
by L. A. Banks

Damali Richards is a rising star of Warriors of Light Records - but her fans would never guess that she is also the most important vampire hunter in a millennium. However, unfortunately for the inexperienced young huntress, the vampires and demons have both discovered her existence. An age-old war escalates to unprecedented heights of violence as the dark forces strive to slay Damali before she comes of age and gains her full powers.

Damali is an appealing heroine, the concept is intriguing, and the series is promising. However, the first novel is rocky. Damali is a vampire-killing martial artist, and Minion presents an epic struggle between good and evil, yet the novel doesn't have much of a climax - a sequel is obviously forthcoming. Damali's teacher withholds crucial information from not only the huntress, but also her guardians, who should have learned everything many years ago. In contrast, the characters frequently tell each other things they already know. Readers craving the twisted erotic charge of the Anita Blake novels may be dissatisfied that sexual tension is less important to Minion.

I'll give the next few books a go and see how it pans out - there are eight books in the series to date.

2007-02-27T13:47:00.000+11:00

Gang of Four
by Liz Byrski

They have been close friends for almost two decades, supporting each other through personal and professional crises - parents dying, children leaving home, house moves, job changes, political activism, diets and really bad haircuts. Now the gang of four', Isabel, Sally, Robin and Grace, are all fifty-something, successful and restless. It is Isabel who makes the first move, taking a year away from her family to follow in her mother's footsteps across Europe. Soon Sally is on her way to San Francisco, to come face to face with a guilty secret. Robin, in the wake of a clandestine relationship, heads for isolation in the country. And Grace? Well, Grace would never go away for an entire year, but, lonely in the others' absence, she thinks she might take a short holiday in England. Once there, she bumps into someone she hardly knows - herself.

This was a book chosen by a member of my reading group. It is a truly wonderful story and I really identified with that need to escape from my life for a time, and the women's stories ran so true. A beautiful ending, although it is not a 'happily ever after' story. I could truly identify with some of these characters and was truly touched by their friendship and the discovery of themselves. It happened to be selected by a wonderful person, who told us on the night that we discussed this that she and her family were doing a tree change and leaving us. Good luck, Alita.

2007-02-27T13:27:00.000+11:00

A Solitary Journey
by Tony Shillitoe

The nation of Shess is once again beset by enemies, and Meg Farmer's peaceful world is brutally destroyed. Her life torn apart by a sliver of amber, Meg Farmer flees to Summerbrook to marry and raise three children. When an invasion from the north forces Shess into yet another brutal conflict, Meg is wounded and her memory is erased. Now a refugee, she embarks on a journey to discover who she is. Lost, unsure of the past or present, Meg embarks on a journey to find her stolen children and her own identity. Pursued by mysterious Seers, and tormented by dreams of a trapped soul offering help, Meg brings an enigma from ancient Andrakis into her world.

This is the second book in the Dreaming in Amber series and is again wonderfully written. Amber travels to new and distant lands and discovers more about herself and her powers. A great read - I'd recommend it to any fantasy reader.

2007-02-27T10:35:00.001+11:00

The Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty Trilogy -
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Beauty's Punishment
Beauty's Release
by Anne Rice as A. N. Roquelaure

I want to warn that it is definitely NOT for the timid, the easily offended or the closeminded. This is definitely not the Sleeping Beauty story of your childhood. It is extremely erotic and explores many areas of sexual fetishism that some people don't have the stomach to even THINK about.

The premise of the series is loosely based on Sleeping Beauty. Beauty is awakened from her hundred-year sleep by the Prince, not with a simple kiss, but with an initiation into a Satyricon-like world of sexual adventures. He takes her to his kingdom, ruled by his mother, the Queen, and Beauty is stripped naked and trained as a slave and a plaything. The rest of the naked slaves, dozens of them, in the Queen's palace are princes and princesses sent by their royal parents from the surrounding kingdoms as tributes. In this palace they spend several years learning to become obedient and submissive sexual property, accepting being spanked, being publicly displayed, crawling around on their hands and knees, servicing their masters and mistresses, until they return to their own lands "being enhanced in wisdom". Beauty fails to become an obedient plaything, and the first book closes with her being sentenced to brutal slavery in the neighboring village along with other failed slaves.

In the second book Beuty's punishment in the village is explored. Once the Prince's favourite pleasure - once the passionate plaything of his court - Beauty is being punished with banishment from that kingdom of carnal delights. Though Beauty's enchantment is over, her lessons in loving have only just begun.

In the final book, "Beauty's Release", Beauty has learned her lessons well. There are no pleasures that she hasn't given, no delights she hasn't known - but there can be no freedom for her. It means she must deny her body the joy it expects, the excitement it so desperately craves. As the story nears its end, Beauty meets the Prince of her dreams.

2007-02-27T09:38:00.000+11:00

The Secret of Crickley Hall
by James Herbert

The Secret of Crickley Hall is a new take on the classic ghost story...in much the same way as his bestseller Once was a new take on the classic fairy tale. James Herbert is an author who has produced some of the most powerful horror fiction of the past generation. In recent years his fiction has become a skilful blend of horror and thriller fiction - what we like to call Chiller fiction. He explores the darker, more obtuse territories of evil, evoking a sense of brooding menace and rising tension. He masterfully and relentlessly draws the reader through to a story's ultimate revelation - one that will stay to chill the mind long after the book has been laid aside.

The Secret of Crickley Hall is set in a childrens home in a coastal town in England. Crickley Hall is an unusually large house on the outskirts of the village at the bottom of Devil's Cleave. Some of the children are persecuted by the people who run the home and have found places between the floors and walls of the home toavoid the adults. They can also spy, of course. One day there is a flash flood which sweeps through the town and the childrens home. All the children escape, except the kids in the walls and floors, who drown. They come back as ghosts and seek their revenge. A river flows past the front garden. Gabe has brought his wife, Eve, and daughters, Loren and Cally, down to Devon, to this peaceful seaside village of Hollow Bay. Here, they discover the secrets of Crickley Hall.

If you have not read any James Herbert, he is a wonderful gothic style writer. Lots of hauntings and creepy things that go bump in the night. A horror writer in the classical sense - more fright than blood and gore (except for his Rats series). Well worth checking out.

2007-02-26T14:54:00.000+11:00

April Fools Day
by Bryce Courtenay

Bryce Courtney's beloved son Damon, a haemophiliac, died from medically-acquired AIDS on Aprils Fool's day 1991, at the age of 24. In this book, he celebrates his life, but he condemns the medical approach taken towards AIDS, and how he and his family coped with Damon's haemophlia and early death.

The story that is told is this memoir is sad and touching. However, I truly disliked the style of writing - the story was disjointed and more an attack on those who did wrong than a story about Damon's life. I also found the lack of other voices like his mother and brothers create an imbalance in the story. I wouldn't have read it, except that it was chosen by the book group I belong to.

2007-02-26T14:47:00.000+11:00

The Good, the Bad and the Undead
by Kim Harrison

Former-bounty-hunter Rachel Morgan has it pretty good. She's left the corrupt Inderland Runner Service and started her own independent service. She's survived werewolves, shape-changing demons, bad-hair days, and sharing a church with her vampire roommate Ivy. She even has a cute (if human) boyfriend - what more could a witch want?

But living with a reformed vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be, particularly when your roommate's very bad ex-boyfriend wants her back, and wouldn't mind you in the process. And especially when he's six feet of sheer supernatural seduction, and you've got a demon mark that makes vampires literally hotter than hell....

To save herself and Ivy, Rachel must confront the vampire master-and the dark secrets she's hidden even from herself. The second book in the series, it lives up to the standard set by Dead Witch Walking. Again, the word play on the title is clever.

2007-02-26T14:33:00.000+11:00

Dead Witch Walking
by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking is a fantastically fun, first novel by Kim Harrison. The world Kim Harrison has created is marred by tomatoes. In our search for genetically engineered food and medicine, we created a nasty virus in tomatoes that has nearly wiped out mankind. This virus has exposed paranormal races to the world as they are immune. Society has splintered with all the upheaval and paranormal races have set-up residence in the Hollows.`Day-trippers' frequently take a walk-on-the-wild side to meet and mingle in the Hallows with werewolves, vampires, witches, and so on.

Rachel Morgan is a witch and an I.S. runner - similar to an FBI agent but for the paranormal world. Her career is going nowhere. It seems as though she can do nothing right and is given the lowest assignments available. Each day and night of work has become drudgery and Rachel is looking for a way out.

Dead Witch Walking quickly immerses the reader in a vibrant cast of characters. We meet Ivy, a living vampire; Jenks, a pixie with a lot of children; Trent, a businessman who may or may not be human and is believed to be dealing in Brimstone, a very nasty drug.

Kim Harrison has created a fun book with laughs that are unexpected. The story line is not completely predictable and has many different twists and turns. I hope that this series lives up to the standard of this, the first book in series. Oh, and I love the word play on the title (think spaghetti westerns).

2007-02-26T14:27:00.001+11:00

Mistral's Kiss
by Laurell K. Hamilton

Princess Meredith is in line to become Queen of the Unseelie Court. The only problem she has is that she must be pregnant to “earn” the crown. Merry is beautiful, courageous and the best hope for the sidhe to regain what they have lost throughout the centuries. So far, Merry has brought the Queen’s ring to life, awoke from a dream with the chalice and now she will protect her people by risking her life – again.

Her guards will gladly give their lives to protect her and not just for the sex that some of them have not had in centuries, but for her. She has proven to them that royalty can be kind, loving and able to sacrifice for others. Doyal and Frost are her favorites, but all are in the running to be King – whoever gets Merry pregnant, they will be King to her Queen.

Full of intrigue and magic, this book takes you to a new world - one where sidhe, goblins and night flyers are among us. Who will be the next to end his sexual fast? Who will be the one to get Merry pregnant? Can her allies be trusted to help her when she needs it or will political maneuvering cause distractions? Will the “wild magic” she unleashes take her or save her?

Mistral's Kiss is a wonderful addition to the Merry Gentry series. Laurell Hamilton is a wonderful erotic author and this book can attest to that. She has the ability to make you want to sit down and read the entire book in one sitting but you will definitely need a cold shower after finishing her book.

See an interview with Laurell K. Hamilton about sex in the land of faerie.

2006-09-21T10:52:00.000+10:00

Traitor to the Blood - Book 4 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Born a half-breed to an elven mother and human father, Leesil was raised in the Warlands as assassin, spy, and slave to Lord Darmouth, ruler to one of its independent provinces. But Leesil's mother trained him too well, and he used his skills to escape, leaving his parents to suffer Darmouth's wrath for all such traitors and their kin. Now, with newfound purpose in the company of his beloved Magiere, Leesil returns to confront the sins of his past and uncover his parents' fate.

Unable to turn him from this dangerous course, Magiere follows Leesil into the darkness of his past in the Warlands. Knowing what may happen should Darmouth learn of Leesil's return, she is prepared to slaughter any who may try to take him from her. But Magiere's own past may well pose a more deadly threat. Two creatures of unfathomable power continue to stalk her-one who believes she's the key to his salvation, and one who seeks to destroy her...and all those she loves.

The Noble Dead Saga continues with another great story. Now I have to wait for the next instalment to be written. There is another book in this series planned and a second series is on the cards, set on a different continent.

2006-09-07T09:04:00.000+10:00

The Italian Romance
by Joanne Carroll

Lillian has had to make the hardest decision a woman can make. In war-torn Australia in 1947, she is forced to choose between her baby daughter and the love of her life, an Italian prisoner-of-war. She flees to Italy to make a new life in an act of love that haunts her for fifty years.

Set between rural New South Wales and Italy, The Italian Romance examines the choices we make and their unexpected consequences. In this moving novel about families and the different faces of love, Joanne Carroll reminds us what it is to be human.

This book was a BRA selection. Beautifully written, three stories take us on a journey through the life of Lillian. From her sadness and courage as a young woman, to her melancholy existance as a widow in Italy meeting her daughter for the first time since she was a baby. Can you love two men? Can we be happy if we give up our children for love? Difficult questions are explored in this novel with thoughtfulness. A lovely story with an ending full of hope.

2006-08-25T12:34:00.000+10:00

Sister of the Dead - Book 3 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Magiere is a dhampir - half human, half vampire - sired for the purpose of slaying the undead. Or was she bred to be something else entirely? Outside the village of Chemestuk, where she was born and raised, stands her father's keep. Within its walls, she hopes to discover the secrets of her past and figure out why a vampire would wish to breed a creature capable of slaughtering his own kind ...But there are those who don't want Magiere to learn the truth - and when her half-elf partner, Leesil, makes a startling discovery in the keep, he can understand why. Before Leesil can reveal the truth to Magiere, they must vanquish a creature of unimaginable and unlimited power who has damned a small village of people with a horrifying curse.

The Noble Dead saga continues as Magiere and Leesil embark on a quest to uncover the secrets of their mysterious origins - and those responsible for orchestrating the events that brought them together. Along the way they discover secrets thought hidden forever.

Again, a thoroughly enjoyable read. Now I need to get my hands on the next book.

2006-08-15T10:44:00.000+10:00

The Girl with the Cardboard Port
by Judy L. McNeil

Judy McNeil is only fourteen when her father dies in a railway accident. Penniless and with nowhere to live, her mother is forced to take Judy and her five siblings to seek a new life in Brisbane, where she quickly remarries and Judy's life takes a dramatic turn for the worse. Fleeing to Sydney after attempting to kill her stepfather, all she has are a few belongings in a cardboard port, or suitcase. Judy falls in love with a Singaporean man named Richard, but her dreams of happiness are soon dashed. He sends her to live with his family in Singapore while he remains behind in Australia. So, still a teenager, Judy finds herself abandoned in a strange country with her young child and another on the way. The twists and turns of Judy's subsequent life make for compelling reading.

Loathed by her husband's father, she convinces her husband to relocate her from the family home only to find herself at the mercy of one of Malaya's headhunting Dayak rebels and forced to turn to prostitution to feed herself and her children. Later, reunited with her husband, she battles rats that feed on corpses buried in a neighbouring cemetery before returning to seek refuge in the drains. Ultimately she is faced with a devastating choice: to escape her nightmare world she will have to leave her children behind.

This is a true story that will leave you wondering how one woman could endure so much and yet still survive. I rarely enjoy non-fiction, but this was incredible. This woman's courage and the sacrifices and deprivation that she endured create a book that you cannot stop reading. It made me appreciate the life that I have.

2006-08-15T10:33:00.000+10:00

Broken
by Kelley Armstrong

Book 6 in Kelley Armstrong's supernatural series marks the return of werewolf Elena Michaels from Bitten and Stolen. When half-demon Xavier calls in the favour Elena owes him, it seems easy enough - steal Jack the Ripper's 'From Hell' letter away from a Toronto collector who had himself stolen it from the Ripper evidence boxes in the Metropolitan Police files. But nothing in the supernatural world is ever as simple as it seems. Elena accidentally triggers a spell placed on the letter, and manages to tear an opening that leads into the nether regions of Victorian London. Toronto may be looking for a tourism boost, but 'Gateway to Hell' isn't quite the new slogan the city had in mind ...

This novel also sees Elena coping with being pregnant, and being a werewolf this presents unique circumstances. I enjoyed this series of novels, as they present a larger world than you usually see in a series, with novels linked, but featuring different main characters. The narrators may change, but the cast of characters doesn't diminish. If you liked a narrator, she's certain to return as a secondary character and perhaps as the narrator of a future book.

How many supernatural series can I get wrapped up in? Obviously, not enough!

2006-08-11T10:33:00.000+10:00

Cross Stitch
by Diana Gabaldon

The first book of a trilogy crossing 200 years of Scottish history. On holiday in the Scottish Highlands in 1945, Clare Randall walks through a stone circle - and into a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. She becomes marooned amid passion, violence, superstition and shifting allegiances.

In this time-travel romance, strong-willed and sensual Claire Randall leads a double life with a husband in one century, and a lover in another. Torn between fidelity and desire, she struggles to understand the pure intent of her heart. But don't let the number of pages and the Scottish dialect scare you. It's one of the fastest reads you'll have in your library. I didn't think that I would like it, but read it when several different friends ensured me that I'd enjoy it.

While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.

Gabaldon creates characters that you'll remember, laugh with, cry with, and cheer for long after you've finished the book. I can't wait to read the next installment.

2006-08-03T11:35:00.000+10:00

Thief of Lives - Book 2 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Magiere, half-human child of a vampire, and Leesil her half-elf partner are investigating the sinister murder of a Councilman's daughter in a nearby town. Only her damaged town's desperate need for money could have pressured Magiere to return to the twilight world of crime that she used to inhabit. But this murder is not all it seems, and has all the hallmarks of something much darker, more complicated, more calculating. It seems that someone was trying to send a message, but was it a vampire or an even more dread force?

The second book proves even better than the first. More is discovered about Leesil and Chap, who is not what he appears to be. Magiere is finally coming to accept her real nature and is searching for answers. Finally, too, the relationship between Magiere and Leesil moves on to a new level of intimacy. The ending leads into another book, which I'll be ordering. If you loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'll love this series. There are still lots of questions to be answered and more vampires to slay.

2006-08-03T11:22:00.000+10:00

Dhampir - Book 1 of the Saga of the Noble Dead
by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Magiere has cultivated a reputation as the most formidable vampire slayer in the land. Villagers everywhere welcome her with both awe and dismay, grateful to her for removing the undead menace, but finding themselves poorer for their salvation. Magiere has never had a problem with exploiting superstition for profit. Now, tired of this game, Magiere and her half-elf partner are ready to retire. But Magiere has attracted the attention of vampires who recognize her true identity - even if she does not - and who fear her birthright and latent power. They will do anything to stop Magiere from realising her true potential.

This is Buffy meets Lord of the Rings. A satisfying medieval thriller with well written characters, this is an enjoyable story. Magiere and Leesil, along with the mysterious Chap, begin to learn the true nature of Magiere and her abilities. Magiere is a dhampir - born of a human woman and vampire father, with strengths from both races. The action is well-written and the setting is interesting - a medieval world peopled by everyday folk, along with vampires and elves.