Conspiracy in Death

Okay, so this is filling in an unblogged re-read in my 9909 Challenge.

Conspiracy in Death is part of J.D. Robb's In Death series, starring Lieutenant Eve Dallas, her (totally sexy) husband Roarke (no last name needed or wanted), and their band of merry police officers.

In this one, Eve is investigating the murder of a homeless man. He had his heart taken out, and it looks too perfect to be anyone but a doctor. While she's trying to chase down leads within the biggest medical center in New York, she's also having trouble with another officer who just wants to make trouble for Eve.

Roarke, in true Roarke fashion, has his hand in many of the pies that Eve is investigating (I did mention that along with being incredibly sexy, Roarke owns about 1/3 of the known universe and is incredibly loaded too, right?), but can drop everything when Eve needs his help.

This time, it's worse because when the officer Eve was having trouble with ends up murdered, Eve is suspended from her duty, which sends her into an emotional tailspin that could never be repeated. Roarke, of course, drops everything to help her get back on her feet and solve the case outside of official bounds (he's a good husband like that...not to mention stellar with hacking electronics).

Of course, Peabody is there, helping out. Feeney is doing his backup thing. McNab and Peabody aren't dating yet, but it's not far off. In this one, we meet Louise Dimatto (MD), Officer Trueheart (as cute and amazing as the day is long), and every one's favorite rat-squad detective/ex-lover, Don Webster (he works with Internal Affairs, hence the rat-squad reference).

Anyway, due to the excellent police work and the equally great personal drama, this is one of my favorite In Death books. Sometimes the weight in on one side or the other, making the neglected side...well, neglected. But this one balances both equally well.

4 Snowflakes for rocking my world.

Ugh!

So, I just finished a NR book, and here's my question.

In my 9909 Challenge, why the heck did I pick 9 books that take place in the South? I should have chosen the Northwest, because I think I'd be done with the category by now!

Just because at the time I wanted to move to the South, and I thought I should "read up" on my future home...

And, of course, now I don't want to move to the South, and...just...ugh.

Vampire Academy

In the new brilliant tradition of teen vampire novels, I give you Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.

This one stars two girls, Lissa, a vampire princess, and Rose, her half-human/half-vampire bodyguard.

It's an odd story, but really easy to get into. Much like the Blue Blood series, there are good vampires and bad vampires. Good vampires also have a certain magic they can tap into.

But Lissa and Rose ran away from the school that was supposed to keep them safe, only to be brought back. Lissa is doing her best to survive (high school sucks even if you are a princess), and Rose is training to make sure that she can protect Lissa.

Never mind the new girl who has it in for Lissa, or Lissa's rather odd talent. And Rose's terrible temper.

Oh, and did I mention the dead animals everywhere?

Right. It's a good book, fun read. I liked it.

And yes, it's the first in a series.

After Caroline

I swear I've been reading! I just haven't blogged about it in a really long time.

Anyway, I just finished After Caroline by Kay Hooper. Now, this one is older and kind of slow. It's when she was just starting out with novels more about mystery than about romance.

Joanna lives in Atlanta as a reference librarian. On July 1st, she gets into a car accident, and while her car is totalled, she emerges without a scrape. But as she is standing outside the car in awe, a tree falls on her car, and she is electrocuted. They revive her, but something weird starts happening.

Joanna is plagued by dreams from a place called Cliffside, and when she finally figures out where it is (Oregon, near Portland), she goes only to find out that she looks just like a woman named Caroline.

Caroline was also in a car accident on July 1st, and Caroline wasn't as lucky as Joanna.

Joanna is absolutely convinced that Caroline wasn't in an accident, and starts to dig into her life. Given the small town, it's easier than it could have been.

This, of course, piques the sheriff's interest in her, and Griffin decides to stick close. As time goes by, Joanna reveals a lot of secrets in this seemingly happy small town, but the most dangerous is about Caroline's last lover.

It was really slow to start out with. The first 100 pages or so, I didn't really care that much. The romance angle (Joanna and Griff) takes for-freaking-ever, and even then it's slightly unbelievable. Scott (Caroline's husband) and Lyssa (who works for him) have a thing, but it's slightly unbelievable too. It seems to be about settling often.

Anyway, it was fine. Not overly stellar, not terrible. Once you get into it, you really want to know who did it, but before then you only kind of care. At least, that's how I felt.

Lady and the Vamp

Okay, so I did mention as part of my 9909 Challenge that I have to blog about every book that I read that fulfills the challenge, right? It's like...proof.

Well, in case you missed it, this on hits the "New Vampire Book" quota. Lady and the Vamp is the third in a series by Michelle Rowen. Thankfully, you don't need to read the first two (which are about Sarah, a different vampire) in order to get this one.

It stars Janie Parker and Michael Quinn. Janie is in the business of doing whatever her boss tells her to do...because she signed a contract in blood (bad idea). Quinn is a vampire. A new vampire. Who used to be a vampire hunter (read: killer).

They're both going after The Eye, a magical...item that grants 1 wish every 1,000 years. Janie's boss wants it to do...well, what he does, while Quinn wants it so that he can become human again.

Needless to say, they see each other again (Quinn hung out with Janie's brother when they were younger, and Janie had a huge crush on him), and sparks fly. Mean while, they're trying to outwit each other for The Eye, defeat the many bad guys they come across, and not fall in love with each other. Oh, and Janie's partner is in lust with her, and Quinn's partner is a werewolf who can't stay in one form.

Confused yet? It's actually not so bad. The dialogue is witty (though a touch lacking), and the (rather inevitable) sex scene come very close to the end.

And, really, he should have let her kill Malcolm any of the times she wanted to. Both of them should know by now that enemies going after the same artifact will keep trying to get it until they either have it, or are dead.

All in all, the book was cute. I like it.

The Apple That Astonished Paris

I don't often sit down and read a book of poetry. I really like to peruse them as I have time.

The trouble is, I hate carrying them around, and therefore never peruse them.

So when I heard that my favorite poet, Billy Collins, had a new book out, I decided to request it. Then I saw another book out that I hadn't read, so I requested that as well. The Apple That Astonished Paris is short, and I'd read some of the poems before. Heck, I memorized one of them for my poetry class.

Anyway, it made me want to read Anna Karenina, just for a moment. I really liked the poems "Cancer", "The Frankenstein Poet", and "The Morning After My Death"

This book is more serious than funny, but I still really enjoyed his poetry. As always.

Plus...he's a man, so this counts as a book written by a man. Score!

C.J.'s Fate

So, when anyone asks me what I did at home...the easy answers are "read" and "watched movies"

I just finished C.J.'s Fate, and older Kay Hooper. But it stars a librarian! Although the only reason we know that is because it's mentioned...she does absolutely nothing librarian-esque.

Anyway, C.J. is attending a wedding in Aspen. On her very first night, tired of her friends harassing her about not dating, she enlists a stranger to pretend to be her lover. You can see where this is going, right?

Fate (yeah, his name is Fate) falls in love with her immediately, so he decides to woo her and play along. She can't decide if the affection is really him, or the role he's playing.

Eventually, of course, they end up together, but it was fun getting there. Especially when Fate decides to read C.J. poetry in order to woo her. Fun. Not at all demanding, very fluffy, and probably not anything I'm ever going to read again, but I enjoyed it.

Out of Sync

Okay, so I have two confessions to make before I review this book. (1) I love biographies, I just never sit down and read them. I always want to, but if I put them down for any length of time, I rarely want to pick them back up. (2) About 8-10 years ago, when *N SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, 98 Degrees and the like became famous...I was one of those teeny-boppers who loved them. With a heart filled passion. In every boy band, I had the one that I wanted to sweep me off my feet. With Backstreet Boys, I was a die hard Nick Carter fan.

When it came to *N SYNC, though, I was a little more subtle. I was Lance Bass fan. So when his biography, Out of Sync, came out, I have to admit that I was intrigued. Once I decided to do biographies for my 9909 Challenge, I decided it would be the perfect excuse to read it. So I did today.

It was interesting. It's about his life, a little before *N SYNC, about 1/2 during, a few chapters on the almost-astronaut months, then the breakup of the band and Lance's eventual coming out as gay (of course I liked the gay one...it just makes sense).

Anyway, it was short (under 200 pages). I get the feeling he wrote it himself, and you can tell he's not a writer. I feel a little bit bad about critiquing his work (he is telling his life story, and how would I feel if someone told me it was lacking?), but I wasn't as interested as I could have been. It mostly centered around his feeling of just not being in tune with the rest of the world (though the fact that he had an irregular heart beat would have been a very good metaphor...too bad he had that fixed).

Anyway, I enjoyed it, but probably wouldn't recommend it. Not unless you're a die hard *N SYNC fan, or curious about famous people who have come out as homosexual.

Surprised

I'm at my mothers, reading, and she's surprised when I finish my book.

Well, it's her book, technically. And it's my second book of the day.

But still, when I close it and bust open my laptop, she looks at me and goes, "Done?"

I, of course, look sheepishly at the couch in front of me, let out a small smile, and nod.

What can I say? I'm a fast reader.

She thinks it took me less than 3 hours. It's entirely possible she's right. But it was only 320 pages. What do you expect? This is me.

The Dewey Decimal System of Love

Okay, so I found this book for $5 on a clearance rack at Barnes & Noble. I thought to myself, "Huh...a book about a librarian falling in love. Fun."

So it's by Josephine Carr, and is entitled, The Dewey Decimal System of Love On the cover is a card that you could stick in the card catalogue. Since I barely remember using these, it makes me laugh.

Oh, yes, and it is my first filled requirement for the 9909 Challenge.

So, onto the story. Ally is not your typical librarian. Unless you count wearing her hair up, wearing "librarian clothes", having thick glasses, and her most intimate relationships are with books, then no, she's no typical librarian.

But when she goes to a concert and falls in love with the conductor (Aleski), her whole world changes. When he seems to be interested in her (never mind his lovely wife), everything is glorious.

Except the odd homeless man with a PhD from Harvard who may or may not be placing stink bombs in the library. And her boss, Gordon, who suddenly sees her as, well, a woman. And Yvonne, who's in love with Gordon. Oh, and did I mention that Aleski's lovely wife might be planning to kill him? How odd.

It's funny, yes. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but funny anyway. It's quick, and wraps up very nicely at the end. She bemoans her fate as a single woman (at about 40) after the first time she sees Aleski, and spends a lot of time talking to the reader (which is a little...unsettling).

Though, at the beginning of every chapter, it tells you where to find certain things in the Dewey Decimal System (oh, Dewey...).

A Quick Edit

So, you know how I'm doing the 9909 challenge (9 books in 9 categories in 2009)?

I have something to add to one of them. #2 is "9 Re-Reads" I'd like to change that.

#2 shall now and for the year read, "2. 9 Re-Reads I Haven't Blogged"

End of the Year

So, it's the end of the year.

And you know what that means...

The final count for how many books I read.

Okay, even I'm a little appalled this year. I'm trying to remember what else I did, because the number is astronomical...even for me.

Wasn't I in school? Didn't I hang out with friends? I hold down a job. When did I have this much time to read?

The total? 256 books.

Holy-freaking-cow.