Saturday, October 2, 2010

Plaster and Poison (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery #3) by Jennie Bentley

Plaster and Poison (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #3)Plaster and Poison by Jennie Bentley AKA Bente Gallagher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Ex-New York designer Avery Baker left the bustle of the big city to start her own home renovation business in Maine. But as she renovates an old carriage house on behalf of a soon-to-be wed friend, she stumbles across a lifeless body-a person known all too well by the blushing bride. The small town is abuzz with big suspicions, and Avery realizes she must unravel a matrimonial murder.



Very much enjoying this series. Great characters, interesting mysteries and some nice do it yourself tips. A series that I am going to continue reading without a doubt.







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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Spackled and Spooked (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #2) by Jennie Bentley

Spackled and Spooked (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #2)Spackled and Spooked by Jennie Bentley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A mystery surfaces behind the walls in the new Do-It-Yourself series.

Avery Baker and her boyfriend, Derek Ellis, are flipping a seriously stigmatized house rumored to have ghosts. Soon they’ll have even bigger problems — and this renovation project might haunt them forever.


Really enjoying this series. I love the characters and the mysteries are interesting although I have to admit that I figured this one out early.
Great cozy series!

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Fatal Fixer-Upper (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #1) by Jennie Bentley

Fatal Fixer-Upper (A Do-It-Yourself Mystery, #1)Fatal Fixer-Upper by Jennie Bentley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



First in the new Do-It-Yourself mystery series

Avery Baker was once a New York designer, but inheriting her aunt's old Maine cottage has le ...more First in the new Do-It-Yourself mystery series

Avery Baker was once a New York designer, but inheriting her aunt's old Maine cottage has led her down a new career path - home renovation. Now, with help from hunky handyman Derek Ellis, Avery starts learning the ABC's of DIY. But when the designer-turned-renovator finds clues that lead to a missing professor, she wonders if she can finish the house - without getting finished off in the process.



Very good start to what is a new series for me. I love the characters, the mystery was not over the top and the main character is not an all out sleuth, she just happens upon the mystery. Thinking that this is going to be a great series.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A cage of butterflies by Brian Caswell

A cage of butterflies (UQP young adult fiction)A cage of butterflies by Brian Caswell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Mikki and the others live at 'the farm' - an advanced learning facility, a think-tank for a bunch of young people with very high IQs. But what is really going on at the farm? And what about the five much younger children knwn as the Babies, frail as butterflies?
Brian Caswell's new novel explores the powerof love - and presents readers with an intriguing jigsaw puzzle of suspense'


This book was okay. The plot seemed familiar, the story did not have a lot of depth, but it was an interesting idea and played out interestingly enough to keep me reading.

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Monday, August 2, 2010

One Foot in the Grave (The Halflife Chronicles, #1) by Wm. Mark Simmons

One Foot in the Grave (The Halflife Chronicles, #1)One Foot in the Grave by Wm. Mark Simmons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Christopher Csejthe doesn't believe in vampires--until he becomes one. He doesn't believe in witches or werewolves, either. Then they make him an offer he can't refuse.


Wonderful read. I love this author's writing style and sense of humor. Very much looking forward to more of his books.

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Saturday, July 31, 2010

A Glimpse of Evil (Psychic Eye Mystery, #8) by Victoria Laurie

A Glimpse of Evil (Psychic Eye Mystery, #8)A Glimpse of Evil by Victoria Laurie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Professional psychic Abigail Cooper has received a cold welcome from some prickly investigators at the FBI. But that won't stop her from following her intuition...even if it brings her eye to eye with acts of true evil.

SOME COLD CASES ARE BETTER LEFT COLD...

As the FBI's newest civilian profiler, Abby Cooper has a tough job ahead of her. Not only does she have to use her powers of intuition to help solve a backlog of the bureau's cold cases, but she must also win over a frosty group of seasoned investigators and teach them how to develop their own perceptive abilities.

If that weren't challenging enough, Abby's sure that several of the cold cases are connected, but she's the only one who's convinced. Things go from bad to worse when Abby and another agent are suspended for not following protocol, leaving Abby and her old partner, Candice, to investigate on their own. To discover how these pieces fit together, Abby will have to call on every intuitive bone in her body...before she's the one put on ice.


Absolutely love this series!!

Abby and Dutch have moved to Texas along with their crew of friends -- to start new jobs. Abby has a job with Dutch working on solving cold cases for the FBI. I really enjoy the relationship between Dutch and Abby as well as the adventures that Abby finds herself constantly drawn into.

Can't believe that I am going to have to wait a year for the next book. Looks like it is time to drag out Victoria Laurie's Ghost hunter series.

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Saturday, July 24, 2010

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax, #3) by Robert J. Sawyer

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax, #3)Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



In Hominids, author Robert J. Sawyer introduced a character readers will never forget: Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth wh...more In Hominids, author Robert J. Sawyer introduced a character readers will never forget: Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth who was whisked from his reality into ours by a quantum-computing experiment gone awry - making him the ultimate stranger in a strange land.

Now, in Hybrids, Ponter Boddit and his Homo sapiens lover, geneticist Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their star-crossed relationship work. Aided by banned Neanderthal technology, they plan to conceive their first hybrid child, a symbol of hope for the joining of their two versions of reality.

But after an experiment shows that Mary's religious faith - something completely absent in Neanderthals - is a quirk of the neurological wiring of Homo sapiens brains, Ponter and Mary must decide whether their child should be predisposed to atheism or belief. Meanwhile, as Mary's Earth is dealing with a collapse of its planetary magnetic field, her boss, the enigmatic Jock Krieger, has turned envious eyes on the unspoiled Eden that is the Neanderthal world.



I absolutely loved this ending book in the Neanderthal trilogy. We continue to follow the story Ponter and Mary as they attempt to make a live for themselves in the now connected parallel earths. I loved the progression of the story as well as the ending. Very good trilogy!!

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Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer

Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2)Humans by Robert J. Sawyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Robert J. Sawyer, the award-winning and bestselling writer, hits the peak of his powers in Humans, the second book of The Neanderthal Parallax, his trilogy about our world and parallel one in which it was the Homo sapiens who died out and the Neanderthals who became the dominant intelligent species. This powerful idea allows Sawyer to examine some of the deeply rooted assumptions of contemporary human civilization dramatically, by confronting us with another civilization, just as morally valid, that has made other choices. In Humans, Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit, a character you will never forget, returns to our world and to his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughan, as cultural exchanges between the two Earths begin.As we see daily life in another present-day world, radically different from ours, in the course of Sawyer's fast-moving story, we experience the bursts of wonder and enlightenment that are the finest pleasures of science fiction. Humans is one of the best SF novels of the year, and The Neanderthal Parallax is an SF classic in the making.



A wonderful continuation of the story that started with 'Hominids'. This book starts immediately after the first one. Ponter has returned home to his Earth, but he can not forget about Mary who he left behind on the parallel earth. He convinces the High Gray Council to allow him to reopen the tunnel that connects his earth with Mary's earth in hopes of being able to exchange knowledge. We follow the story of the two worlds and the more personal story of Ponter and Mary's love affair. Very good book and a wonderful addition the the trilogy.

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