Heat, Nikki Heat

My Rating: 4/5

Review: I am a huge fan of the show, Castle, so this book was a fun treat for me. It was basically like watching an episode of the show, but I enjoyed it immensely. One of my favorite things about Castle, is the constant sparing between the two main characters, and that certainly transcends onto the pages of this book. Not only do you get to enjoy a little humor along with some great characters, but an exciting mystery to solve as well. If you like the show, you'll love the book.

Book Description: A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Not So Nice Angels Among Us

My Rating: 4/5

Review: Well, this was certainly a different take on angels. I don't think I've ever actually read a book featuring angels other than the bible, so this was an interesting first for me. The angels featured here, though, are not the glowing peaceful creatures we see in paintings and poetry. These are fierce, power hungry beings full of vanity and greed. I'm talking about the Nephilim-a cross between humans and angels. This was a wonderfully mysterious tale about the evil crossbreeds and the secret society sworn to protect us normal humans from them. There is adventure, mystery, intrigue, suspense, and even a hint of romance. There are twists and turns, and an ending that will leave you anxiously wondering "what happens next?". Good stuff.

Book Description: A thrilling epic about an ancient clash reignited in our time- between a hidden society and heaven's darkest creatures There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Genesis 6:5 Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now, at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim. For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the mountains of Bulgaria. Rich in history, full of mesmerizing characters, and wondrously conceived, Angelology blends biblical lore, the myth of Orpheus and the Miltonic visions of Paradise Lost into a riveting tale of ordinary people engaged in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.

That Girl Has Real Brain Power

My Rating: 4/5

Review: This is the second book my son and I have read together, and it wasn't quite as enjoyable as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the same author. Surprisingly, I liked the movie version much better. That may have been my problem, since I was expecting the book to be a little more magical like the movie. There is very little magic, and what does happen comes late in the story. Still, Matilda is a very interesting little character, and her abilities are extraordinary without all the magic. She is a five-year-old girl who has read the entire children's section of the library and has moved on to books like Anna Karenina and Moby Dick. She reads anything and everything. She is a whiz at math, too. She's also a spunky little thing who will stand up to anyone, even the very mean and scary Miss Trunchbull. My son's favorite part was when the boy is forced to eat the chocolate cake. I have to admit, that was a good bit, but I liked the library visits the best. Just imagine a little girl consuming every book she can get her hands on. Wonderful!

Book Description: Matilda Wormwood is brilliant, sensitive and brilliant. But her parents treat her as a scab, not a daughter—a scab to be endured until the time comes to flick her away to the next county, or preferably farther. But her father (car salesman) and mother (with platinum hair) are no match for her sharp genius. And when she is attacked by Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress, Matilda discovers she has an extraordinary psychic power that can save her school and her lovely teacher, Miss Honey.

Don't Mess With a Demon

My Rating: 4/5

Review: I like Rachel Morgan, and I love the paranormal world Kim Harrison has created with all its corniness and spooky happenings. Rachel comes close to becoming a vampire's plaything in this one. She also gets even more tangled up with the demon from the first book.Her boyfriend, Nick, gets a very nasty surprise when Rachel does her homework for a Ley Line class she's taking in order to find out if her mean old teacher is a serial killer. So, there's more sticky situations, magical goofs, and kick-ass fun, just perfect for a late night summer read.

Book Description: In this follow-up to Dead Witch Walking, Harrison continues her bestselling supernatural series. To save herself and her vampire roommate, former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan must confront an ancient evil and dark secrets she's hidden even from herself.

You Can't Run From the Truth

My Rating: 4/5

Review: This is one of those stories that's mainly just about people. Particularly one Taylor Greer, her illegally adopted Cherokee girl named Turtle, her mother who's tired of a husband that does nothing but watch tv all day, her boyfriend who's desperately in love with her, Annawake Stillwater who wants to do right for her people, and several more characters scattered hither and tither. Kingsolver seems to have a magical gift for describing ordinary things. She has such a way with analogies that I have found myself re-reading a sentence just to relive it's beauty. She's awfully good with people, too. I know every single one of her characters as if I have met them in real life. There's no big action scenes here, no wild car chases or serial killers on the prowl. It's just a woman desperate to hold on to the little girl who came into her life by chance and a nation of people who have suffered so much that each child they lose to the world outside their own is a devastating blow. Simple, raw, and oh so good.

Book Description: When 6-year-old Turtle Greer witnesses a freak accident at the Hoover Dam, her insistence on what she has seen leads to a man's dramatic rescue. But Turtle's moment of celebrity soon draws her and everyone in her life into a conflict of historic proportions.

Witch on the Run

My Rating: 4/5

Review: I enjoyed Rachel Morgan's banter, and the crazy situations she gets herself into. I actually started this series with the third book, Every Which Way But Dead, for some reason. I'm glad I have now gotten the background information of Rachel, and how she got started in her own "running" business. She is a tough witch with an even tougher female vampire for a room mate, and a feisty pixy for a partner. Well, really, they are all partners, and have all left the I.S. (a magical form of the F.B.I. that takes down magical creatures who have broken the law) at the same time. Rachel's leaving has caused her to have a bounty on her head, and she has to track down a very bad guy to get her name cleared and her contract paid off. It's a magical wild ride full of interesting creatures, including a very nasty demon she will have to owe favor to. I'll definitely have to collect this series.

Book Description: All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party ... and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining -- and it’s Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead ... or undead.

I've Got a Golden Ticket!

My Rating: 4/5

Review: This is the first chapter book that I read to my son, so it will automatically hold a special place in my heart. I've seen the movies, too, of course. I have to say that Tim Burton's version was definitely more faithful to the book. I still like Gene Wilder's Wonka, though. Back to the book. It was wonderfully fun to read, and it held my son's attention to the very end. In fact, he wanted more. Good thing I have the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Book Description: The gates of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory are opening at last . . . and only five children will be allowed inside.