MARCH READING UPDATE…

March was a great reading month... I found my way thru 12 books this month easily closing in on my goal of 50 for the year! I stayed with a lot of old stand-bys and even through some new works into the mix. Here's my reading list...

1. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris – This is the third in the Sookie Stackhouse series and I loved it. You would think that as a series goes on, especially one that focuses primarily on one couple, that we would tire of the characters… they tend to get that same old, same old thinking going on. I know that this is the thinking on the Stephanie Plum series (which I tend to agree with but damn they are funny!) But so far I have not even begun to tire of Sookie. In Club Dead, Bill is taken captive by another vampire faction and Eric sends Sookie in to help rescue him with the assistance of a werewolf, Alcide. In this one I became disillusioned with Bill, as does Sookie, and she learns that Bill is not the only suitor trying for her attentions… of course, there is Eric but we are also introduced to Alcide, a were. Depending how these relationships play out, it could fall into the Stephanie/Ranger/Morelli scenario (just pick one dammit!) but I don’t think so. It seems like Sookie really loves Bill even after his betrayal in this book. He doesn’t really deserve her love and especially her efforts at saving him. But despite her unwillingness to let him burn, Sookie is still a strong (even moral) heroine and is not willing to turn a blind eye right away to Bill’s actions. When this book ends, she has rescinded Bill and Eric’s invitation to her home (a vampire can only enter a private domicile when invited) and she is hurt and considering her options. I can’t wait to read the next to see where this couple’s relationship goes… will they get the quick fix or will Ms. Harris make Bill work for her attentions and love…. OR will their relationship come to an end?… A-

2. Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black- This is a young adult book that I read because K2 was interested in it but she was concerned about the age rating on it. I had told her that I would read it first and then decide if she could read it. This is the story of Valerie who after being betrayed by her mom, her friend and her boyfriend runs away from home to NYC. There she meets up with some tunnel kids who live in abandoned subway tunnels. Life is rough but then Val notices that not is all as it appears. Her friends are doing deliveries for someone who turns out to be from the faerie world banished to ours. After intruding upon the trolls home and being caught trying to steal from him, Val is bound into service to him for a month. It is while she is serving her sentence that she comes to know the troll better and see him in a better light… all is not as it seems. But someone is murdering those from the faerie world and making it look like Ravus, the troll, is doing it. Val and her friends need to solve the mystery and save Ravus’ life… B

3. Dead Sexy by Amanda Ashley – In this story, humans know that vampires exist however they are contained within certain areas of the city. Someone is murdering mortals and the undead so former vampire hunter, Regan Delaney, must team up with vampire Master of the City, Joaquin Santiago. In trying to solve the murders, Regan comes up against Joaquin’s old nemesis, a werewolf. In an attack, Regan is bitten and will become a werewolf at the next full moon. In an attempt to reverse the curse, Regan and Joaquin travel to the Black Hills to find an old medicine man rumored to have a cure to a werewolf bite. However, the werewolf gets to the old man first and kills him. Now the only way for Regan to rid herself of the werewolf curse is to kill the werewolf who brought her over. In the final showdown, Regan does kill him but is so gravely injured that Joaquin brings her over to the vampire world. While its true I like my paranormal romances, this one fell flat… C

4. Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward – Finally we get Butch’s story… I honestly didn’t think I would like Butch’s story all that much… I have not been a fan of Marissa’s and I didn’t know if there would be enough to fill a whole book. But not only does JR Ward do it, but she gives us the largest one yet. The best thing about these books besides the action and the HOT factor, that is… is that there is usually so much more to the story. We get to see more of what is going on NOT just what is happening in Butch and Marissa’s lives… we get to see the struggle that John is going thru, we get to see V and his relationship with Butch. I loved this book but then I have loved all of the Brotherhood books so far…A

5. Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day – Let me start by saying that I am a fan of Alesia Holliday but not necessarily her writing. I think she is a very funny woman in person but the books of hers that I have read have been “take ‘em or leave ‘em” for me. But this one… this one I loved! I loved the whole idea of using Atlantis as a backdrop. I usually find that the first book in the series tends to be the weakest…too much of the story is taken up giving us the necessary background for the storyline. And I believe this will be true in this case as well. I did really like this book and I am looking forward to the rest of the Warriors of Posiedon…. A

6. Murder on the Rocks: A Gray Whale Inn Mystery by Karen MacInerney – I have read so many paranormals lately that I decided to give a mystery a try and one with no sex in it, too! This one was one I found on the library shelf. It involves Natalie Barnes leaving Texas behind to start up a bed and breakfast on the coast of Maine. But before she can barely get her business off the ground, a resort owner is looking at putting his new resort right next to her Inn. Natalie is trying to get the sale of land to him stalled by having the land declared a safe haven for birds that are nesting there. However, when the resort owner dies and Natalie finds the body, she has to solve the mystery or face being arrested for the murder. It was intriguing enough to make me look up others in this series…. B+

7. Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb – This book has Eve and Roarke delving into the supernatural. Friendships are placed in jeopardy when Eve has to look into the dealings of a former mentor and his subsequent death. When his granddaughter then dies, it all becomes personal for Eve. She will stop at nothing to stop whoever is doing this. Although in her pursuit, Eve wears blinders for a bit which almost hurts her in the end. I loved this book… I love watching Eve as a kick ass heroine but watching her lower her defenses for Roarke just makes her that much more human… A

8. Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips – SEP is not an automatic buy for me… although I have read most of her Chicago Stars series. I usually find myself laughing out loud while reading one of her books and this one was no different. I loved the banter between Blue and Dean. I liked watching his mismatched family come together and it didn’t happen in this nice pat little way. There were times when I wanted to reach thru the pages and smack the hell outta Dean but he did have his redeeming moments. Makes me want to go back to see if there are any SEP’s that I missed out there…. A-

9. Firegirl by Tony Abbott- Another YA book… This story is told thru the POV of Tom, a self described, “sweaty fat kid” who seems to be invisible most of the time and is quite happy with that. His mom is pushing him to get out there and make an effort to get involved at school. His friend, Jeff, is angry most of the time since his dad moved out and is far too concerned with showing how cool he is… he does not want to be invisible or different from the other kids in school. Then one day a new girl joins their class… but the teacher warns them that she is different. Jessica was in a fire and was burned over most of her body. She just moved to town to have treatments done at a local hospital. Because of her appearance, the kids don’t know how to treat her… so they make up stories about her. When Tom’s teacher asks him to drop homework off for Jessica after she misses school, a tentative friendship develops between them. This was a very good book for kids to read about friendship and dealing with those who are “different”… A-

10. Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas – This was my first historical in a very long time (well, other than my P&P mysteries). I had given up on historicals awhile back because I wanted to throw the books at the wall so many times. I just couldn’t relate to most of the heroines and the time period of women being completely controlled by men… to me, it made them seem weak. But that is definitely not the case with this book. Our hero is Derek Craven, one of the richest men in England but a self-made man who rose up from the ashes of being raised by prostitutes after his mother abandoned him. He runs a gaming house. Our heroine is Sarah Fielding, a famous author of the time who is researching her next book and needs inside info on the gambling world. Derek at first tries to deny his attraction to Sarah, knowing that her reputation will be ruined if associated with him and he sends her back to her almost fiancée. Sarah is a strong heroine who stands up for herself… she is not willing to give up her writing nor be forced to live with her interfering future mother-in-law. She ends up calling off her engagement. After Sarah is attacked in an act of revenge against Derek by his former lover, Lady Ashby, Derek is made to realize that Sarah must marry. After first trying to marry her off to members of the ton, he marries her himself (when she refuses to even consider the others.) I liked this one because of the strength of the characters. Sarah is not a shrinking violet agreeing with everything her husband says. And Derek is strong enough not to be threatened by her intelligence (his spelling and grasp of vocabulary is not even close to hers) and her passion and success for writing. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters in this, Lily and Alex, Worthy, Tabitha and the house wenches and the others. I now have to go and find the first in this series which tells the story of Lily and Alex.

11. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris – Sookie is at a crossroads in her life… she has broken up with Bill and unsure of where she is going from here. When Bill leaves the country on a mission for the Queen of Lousiana, Sookie finds vampire, Eric, wandering the highway. He has amnesia and is wanted by a coven of witches. All involved decide that Eric is safest hiding out with Sookie. However, Eric is different with amnesia… more sweet, more tender. Sookie finds herself falling for this new Eric knowing full well that nothing can ever come of it because once Eric gets his memory back he will resort to his usual cocky self. I loved this installment … I am not used to reading books where it looks like the heroine has her HEA only to find that maybe he wasn’t the one. I love Bill but there are things that he does that makes me wonder if he could ever be Sookie’s HEA. And while Ms. Harris is figuring it out, I have no problem with Sookie testing the waters with others… A

12. A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh – After not having read a historical in so long, I went and read two this month. I picked this one because this author is very popular among members of the BB and I wanted to see if she was worth the hype. Well, if this book is anything to go by, she is. I LOVED this book… it wasn’t like anything that I had come to hate about historicals. Lauren Edgeworth is no shrinking violet afraid to be her own person. She is a very strong independent character who can dish out insults while still remaining a lady. Our hero, Kit, is being pressured to marry by his family who have gone so far as to enter into a marriage contract for him. He however wants at the very least to pick his own bride. Lauren after being left at the altar wants nothing more than to retire to Bath and live her own life. She would not normally be attracted to such a scoundrel as Kit however her family who is throwing men in her path at every opportunity don’t like Kit and warn her away from him. This alone makes her curious. The two concoct a plan where Kit and Lauren will be engaged for the summer… long enough for Kit to be rescued from marrying neighbor, Freya. At the end of summer, Lauren will “break” the engagement and be free to retire to Bath. Although all does not go as planned as Kit finds himself truly falling for Lauren and he must convince her to give their engagement a shot for real.