Sale !!!
From now until Christmas, Be Your Own Editor, which makes a perfect gift for friends, colleagues and family, is available directly through me for $9.99, not including shipping and handling. Please send an e-mail to sigridmac at rogers.com and put BYOE in the subject title.
Click this link for Sigrid's website: Be Your Own Editor
Iris Blobel
Janet Evanovich - Metro Girl
ISBN: 9780060584023
My rating: 4/5
Buckle your seat belts. Number one New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich is moving into the fast lane with Metro Girl, a thrilling, high-octane misadventure with high stakes, hot nights, cold-blooded murder, sunken treasure, a woman with a chassis built for speed, and one very good, very sexy NASCAR driver who's along for the ride.
"Wild" Bill Barnaby's dropped off the face of the earth and big sister Alex heads for Miami, Bill's last known sighting, on a harrowing hunt to save her brother ...and maybe the world. Truth is, Alex has been bailing her brother out of trouble since they were kids. Not that Bill's a bad sort. More that he acts first and thinks later. Unfortunately, this time around "Wild" Bill will be "Dead" Bill if Alex doesn't find him in time.
Alex blasts through the bars of South Beach and points her search south to Key West and Cuba, laying waste to Miami hit men, dodging Palmetto bugs big enough to eat her alive and going pedal to the metal with NASCAR driver Sam Hooker.
Engaged in a deadly race, Wild Bill's "borrowed" Hooker's sixty-five foot Hatteras and sailed off into the sunset ...just when Hooker has plans for the boat. Hooker figures he'll attach himself to Alex and maybe run into scumbag Bill. And maybe Hooker'll get lucky in love with Bill's sweetie pie sister. After all, Hooker is NASCAR Guy. And NASCAR Guy is good at revving a woman's engine.
The race to the finish is hot and hard, taking Alex and Hooker into international waters, exposing a plot to grab Cuban gold and a sinister relic of the Cuban missile crises.
Creative cussing and sexual innuendo included. (http://www.evanovich.com/)
My thoughts
GREAT !
I don't really like to admit it, but I almost liked "Metro Girl" better than some of the Stephanie Plum books.The characters are just as unique, but the dialogues are a tad better and wittier, especially Hooker's replies are brilliant at times. The plot is more complex and easier to follow.
This first book introduces us to Alex Barnaby, also called Barnie, Sam Hooker, "the NASCAR guy" as well as others like Barnie's brother, Bill who's taken Sam's boat, but that's not the only trouble he got himself into. Now it's up to Barnie to help her brother - with Sam's unwilling help; he just wants his boat back.
I reckon if you like the Plum series, you need to take your mind off Steph and try not compare it and take it for what it is I'd say you'll like it too.
My favourite quote was:
"If you're afraid of the elevator, big brave NASCAR Guy would be willing to hold you close and make you feel safe," Hooker said.
"Thanks, but I'm too numb to be afraid."
"Could you pretend?"
Kerstin Gier - In Wahrheit wird viel mehr gelogen
ISBN: 978-3785760147
My rating: 2/5
Die Erbmasse verringert sich mit der Masse der Erben … Gerade, als Carolin anfängt sich zu fragen, ob es wirklich eine so gute Idee war, Professor Karl Schütz, den charismatischen Vater ihres eher spießigen Studienfreunds Leo zu heiraten, stirbt Karl − und hinterlässt ihr ein überraschend großes Vermögen. Karls Kinder und seine Exfrau erheben allerdings ebenfalls Anspruch auf das Erbe und sind bereit, mit allen Tricks und Kniffen darum zu kämpfen. Leo, inzwischen Anwalt und verlobt mit der hübschen Tochter seines Chefs, nimmt Carolin offenbar immer noch sehr übel, dass sie ihn vor fünf Jahren wegen seines Vaters verlassen hat. Um Carolin das Erbe streitig zu machen, fährt er schwere Geschütze auf. Aber Carolin weiß sich durchaus zu wehren … (www.kerstingier.com)
My thoughts
So my mum said 'what you start you've got to finish' ... so here I am with another one of Kerstin Gier's book *sigh*.
Carolin's husband dies suddenly and she's confronted with not only a life without him, but also with his family who is eager to get their hands on the money left behind.
In my opinion, Gier did very well, describing Carolin's emotions after the death, ignoring bureaucracy, having counselling and only hesitantly doing steps forward. But still, the whole book is slow and the characters are stretched within their stereotypes. If you have read a few of the previous books you might find some "old friends" from those stories.
All in all, Kerstin Gier is still not convincing me, so I'd give this one a miss as well.
PS - What is it with the chemist guy coming to the hospital with all the facial treatment stuff?? Very odd
Janet Evanovich - Fearless Fourteen
ISBN: 978-0312349516
My rating: 3/5
The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars
Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money and did the time. His family couldn't be more proud. He always was the smart one.
The Cousin: Joe Morelli
Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi and Dom's sister Loretta are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all American family.
The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux
Less than a week after Dom's release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He's getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.
The Catastrophe: Moonman
Morelli hires Walter "Mooner" Dunphy, stoner and "inventor" turned crime-fighter to protect his house. Morelli can't afford a lot on a cop's salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.
The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum
Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection and driving each other nuts. She's a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she's involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.
The Crisis: A favor for Ranger
Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night-work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie's evening activities.
The Conclusion:
Only the fearless should read fourteen. (http://www.evanovich.com/)
My thoughts
Everyone has a bad day once in a while, right? I think Evanovich had one when she wrote Fearless Fourteen.
I'm not really sure where to start – Ranger asks Steph for help; he has to bodyguard Brenda, a famous singer, and this - as it seems the main plot - is a circus and I don’t know how often I just scanned through the lines in order to just move on.
Okay, then there are all these people in Morelli’s house – that’s right, yes, there was a crime as well, but who knows what it was really all about.
In all the chaos is Lula my favourite with turning into a wedding crazed person on a mission to have a wedding with Tank, who, - and I have no idea where that came from - turned from a tough-guy to a guy who faints at the bare thought of a wedding.
AND ... sorry to say it, there was no way enough Ranger for me!
For the Plum fans out there, you've gotta read it to because you're a fan and you move on to number fifteen - otherwise ... and I hate to say it ..... give it a miss.
PS – If anybody ever finds out whose toes they were, please let me know.
Kerstin Gier - Fuer jede Loesung ein Problem
ISBN: 978-3404156146
Language: German
My rating: 2.5/5
Gerri schreibt Abschiedsbriefe an alle, die sie kennt, und sie geht nicht gerade zimperlich mit der Wahrheit um. Nur dummerweise klappt es dann nicht mit den Schlaftabletten und dem Wodka – und Gerris Leben wird von einem Tag auf den anderen so richtig spannend. Denn es ist nicht einfach, mit seinen Mitmenschen klarzukommen, wenn sie wissen, was man wirklich von ihnen hält!
Lach-Therapie für alle Schwarzseher – oder wenn das Leben es mal wieder nicht so gut mit einem meint … (kerstingier.com)
My thoughts
So - this is a different kind of genre for Kerstin Gier - suicide!
We get to know Gerri - short for Gerda because she was supposed to be a boy named Gerd. Gerri is in the process in writing her "goodbye-letters" to those she feels she needs to speak her last words: her mother she was never able to make it right for, her very best friend, who indeed was a great friend and Gerri tells her how much she's appreciated this friendship; a letter as well for the new editor at the publishing house she works for as a freelance writer, the one, in Gerri's words, with the sexy derriere, and so many others letters to those she feels she needs to make peace with. Her suicide is planned and organised to go ahead in a hotel .... but she didn't expect to run into Ole, one of her friends, who is drowning is sorrow in alcohol and ends up in Gerri's hotel room - messing up her plans.
Like in all the other books, I couldn't warm to the story, even though the plot and the story are good, it's again the characters who are so extrem, ie the mother or the sisters. A bit like Cinderella, though it's not a step-mother. Though this was a more serious side to Gier, I find she failed again to develop the characters more and give the actual topic more oompf.
I'd give it a miss, though I suppose it's one of her better ones!
Janet Evanovich - Lean mean Thirteen
ISBN: 978-0312349493
My rating: 3.5/5
New secrets, old flames, and hidden agendas are about to send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most outrageous adventure yet!
MISTAKE #1
Dickie Orr. Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her arch-nemesis Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping to never see either one of them again.
MISTAKE #2
Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carlos Manoso (a.k.a. Ranger). Ranger needs her to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing something shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out, he's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turns out Ranger's favors always come with a price...
MISTAKE #3
Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office. Now Dickie has disappeared and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can Stephanie Plum stay one step ahead in this new, dangerous game? Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, NJ is also keeping Stephanie on her toes-and he may know more than he's saying about many things in Stephanie's life. It's a cat-and-mouse game for Stephanie Plum, where the ultimate prize might be her life.
With Janet Evanovich's flair for hilarious situations, breathtaking action, and unforgettable characters, LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN shows why no one can beat Evanovich for blockbuster entertainment. (evanovich.com)
My thoughts
Hmmmm .... not sure about this one!
Ranger asks Steph to bug her ex-husband and a few days later he’s missing – with Steph as the main suspect. But Joyce Barnhart, her arch enemy, is in the picture as well; Steph doesn’t know what to think of that.
There are lots of FTAs for Steph and Lula, but even in Book 13 (and I-don’t-know-how many years later); Steph is still lousy at her job. Getting zapped all the time isn’t the big laugh anymore and neither is Lula accidently burning down a house full of pot.
Steph still can’t decide between the two men in her life, which seems to get boring, but I suppose it’d be even more of a bore if she’d be just with one. I like Morelli, but I go for Ranger!
What else –
Grandma has a smaller part, but still very funny. I love it when she goes out bra shopping with her granddaughter.
Lula ends up in a grave and might even end up with a man!
My favourite Quotes:
"Saved by Joyce Barnhard - go figure"
"One day he just woke up dead"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)