Justice Hall (Mary Russell #6)

My Rating: 4/5 Review: This was much better than the one before it, I must say. The intrigue of an ancient ancestral home, as well as a perplexing murder mystery quite appealed to me. I enjoy taking my time with these books, mainly because I can (I have been borrowing them from my parents). It's funny. I can go days without reading, then catch right back up where I left off. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holms have become good friends to me, and I am looking forward to their next adventure. Book Description: Only hours after Holmes and Russell return from solving one riddle on the moor, another knocks on their front door…literally. It’s a mystery that begins during the Great War, when Gabriel Hughenfort died amidst scandalous rumors that have haunted the family ever since. But it’s not until Holmes and Russell arrive at Justice Hall, a home of unearthly perfection set in a garden modeled on Paradise, that they fully understand the irony echoed in the family motto, Justicia fortitudo mea est: “Righteousness is my strength.” A trail of ominous clues leads Holmes and Russell from an English hamlet to fashionable Paris to the wild prairie of the New World. But as the moment of reckoning approaches, will justice be done…or have they been lured straight into an elusive killer’s perfectly baited trap?

Demons Among Us

My rating: 4/5 Stars Review: This was quite an interesting story, with very creepy undertones. In fact, the creepiness just sneaks up on you as you're reading. I like that. Book Description: One afternoon he receives a visitor at his campus office, a strikingly thin woman who offers him an invitation: travel to Venice, Italy, witness a “phenomenon,” and offer his professional opinion, in return for an extravagant sum of money. Needing a fresh start, David accepts and heads to Italy with his beloved twelve-year-old daughter Tess. What happens in Venice will send David on an unimaginable journey from skeptic to true believer, as he opens himself up to the possibility that demons really do exist. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David attempts to rescue his daughter from the Unnamed—a demonic entity that has chosen him as its messenger.

A Prisoner, a Doctor, and a Widow

My Rating: 4/5 stars Review: This was an interesting book, with three very different female perspectives. There is Karen, who is on death row in a Texas prison. She is also dying of AIDS. Quite a different story than anything I've every read before. Then there is Celia, who's husband Karen murdered during her last killing spree. Her character and story is a little more of what I'm used to. Finally, there's Franny, a doctor having a hard time dealing with the death of a young cancer patient. Her uncle, the man who raised her from the age of six, after her parents were killed in a car crash, dies while working at the prison where Karen resides. This brings Franny into Karen's life, and eventually into Celia's as well. I enjoyed the short chapters, the different points of view, and the fast-paced storyline.

Small Town Girl Makes it Big

My Rating: 4/5 Review: The book was so long, and the subject so ordinary, that you'd think it would be boring. It wasn't. I found myself enjoying Dena Nordstrom's story. She's a famous news reporter with an interesting past, and a mysterious mother who disappeared on her around Christmas a long time ago. The characters in the book are all so very real, and most of them quite humorous in their little ways. I love how Dena's character develops, and was quite pleased with the ending. Book Description: Once again, Flagg's humor and respect and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery.

Female Jack the Ripper?

My Rating:4/5 Review: I wasn't sure I was going to like this one at first, but after a few chapters, I was hooked. The main character, Lacey, is a rookie cop in London, England. She also has a past that is coming back to kick her in the butt. Someone is playing at Jack the Ripper, and doing a gory job of it. As the story goes along, secrets are revealed, bodies keep turning up, and a mystery gets more and more intriguing. There's also a bit of sexual tension between Lacey and a handsome, but arrogant senior detective. The ending was very good, and I definitely plan to continue the series.

Magic Diary

My Rating: 4/5 Review: While I strongly dislike long chapters with no pause, I did enjoy this book a lot. It was very mysterious and interesting. I absolutely detested the main character, Tamara, at first. She was far too crude and hateful. I assume that was intentional, since I grew to like her a lot as she changed into a more appealing teenager. Tamara was a spoiled, mean, rich girl, until her father took his own life and their wealth was completely lost. She and her mother end up living with relatives, who happened to live near a ruined castle. I liked the whimsy of that. Tamara's mother is severely depressed, and mostly unresponsive, which concerns Tamara. When she discovers a book in a traveling library van, she is completely shocked to find her own handwriting inside several days later. All of a sudden, she has a chance to change the future, and unravel the mysteries that have plagued her since arriving at her relatives' home. It will also help her to bring her mother back from whatever dark place her mind has taken her to. I enjoyed the English scenery, the various characters, and the way the author kept the mystery hidden until the very end.

Depression Era Key West

My Rating: 4/5 Review: I loved this story about a young woman living in Key West, FL during the depression era. It was also an interesting glimpse into the life of one of the most famous authors of all time. I was drawn in from the beginning and completely moved by the end. Book Description: In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway. When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as the reliable Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves.

The Last Runaway

My Rating: 4/5 Review: This was a wonderful story about a young Quaker woman who travels to America from England, and is ultimately introduced to the Underground Railroad. The author has such a special way with character development, as well as, scenery. I was drawn in immediately, and was hooked through to the end. In fact I was sad to end my growing friendship with the main character. I wanted to see where her next road would take her. I wanted to spend more time with her. I absolutely must read more Tracy Chevalier books.

O Jerusalem -Mary Russell #5

My Rating: 4/5 Review:This book ranged from completely boring to edge-of-your-seat excitment. Luckily, it had more exciting and interesting parts, than just plain boring parts. Book Description:At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England's green and pleasant land, Russell and Holmes enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes' enigmatic brother, Mycroft. "Gentlemen, we are at your service." Thus Holmes greets the two travel-grimed Arab figures who receive them in the orange groves fringing the Holy Land. Whatever role could the volatile Ali and the taciturn Mahmoud play in Mycroft's design for this land the British so recently wrested from the Turks? After passing a series of tests, Holmes and Russell learn their guides are engaged in a mission for His Majesty's Government, and disguise themselves as Bedouins--Russell as the beardless youth "Amir"--to join them in a stealthy reconnaissance through the dusty countryside.

Modern Day Western

My Rating: 4/5 Review: I loved the beautiful descriptions, the great banter among the characters, and Walt Longmire. Good stuff! Book Description: In this outstanding first novel, Craig Johnson draws on his background in law enforcement and his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, and full of memorable characters. Walt Longmire, sheriff of Wyoming's Absaroka County, knows he's got trouble when Cody Pritchard is found dead. Two years earlier, Cody and three accomplices had been given suspended sentences for raping a Northern Cheyenne girl. Is someone seeking vengeance? Longmire faces one of the more volatile and challenging cases in his twenty-four years as sheriff and means to see that revenge, a dish that is best served cold, is never served at all.

There is No Left

My Rating: 4/5 Review: A wonderful, interesting, moving, humorous, and thought provoking novel. I must read more Lisa Genova books. Book Description:Sarah Nickerson is like any other career-driven supermom in Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where she leads a hectic but charmed life with her husband Bob, faithful nanny, and three children—Lucy, Charlie, and nine-month-old Linus. Between recruiting the best and brightest minds as the vice president of human resources at Berkley Consulting; shuttling the kids to soccer, day care, and piano lessons; convincing her son’s teacher that he may not, in fact, have ADD; and making it home in time for dinner, it’s a wonder this over-scheduled, over-achieving Harvard graduate has time to breathe. A self-confessed balloon about to burst, Sarah miraculously manages every minute of her life like an air traffic controller. Until one fateful day, while driving to work and trying to make a phone call, she looks away from the road for one second too long. In the blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her jam-packed life come to a screeching halt.

The Fault in Our Stars

My Rating: 5/5 Review:This was such an amazing book! It warms the heart, saddens the soul, and delights the mind all at once. The ending touched me more than I can say. Book Description: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Anne Shirley!

My Rating: 5/5 Review: I loved the book as much as the mini-series, though it was quite different. Anne Shirley has always been one of my favorite characters, and her story is just so much fun to read. You just never know what kind of mischief she's liable to get into. The scenery is also lovely, and it truly makes me want to travel to Prince Edward Island someday. Book Description: Everyone's favorite redhead, the spunky Anne Shirley, begins her adventures at Green Gables, a farm outside Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. When the freckled girl realizes that the elderly Cuthberts wanted to adopt a boy instead, she begins to try to win them and, consequently, the reader, over.

Pollyanna

My Rating: 3/5 Review: It was very different from the movie, and I didn't like how the characters spoke, but it was enjoyable. Book Description: When orphaned 11-year-old Pollyanna comes to live with austere and wealthy Aunt Polly, her philosophy of gladness brings happiness to her aunt and other members of the community.

A Feast For Crows- Not My Favorite

My Rating: 2/5 Review: I cannot believe how much I struggled to finish this book when I enjoyed the others so much. It was long, tedious, and so very boring. There were a few great scenes, a couple of which were shocking. For the most part, though, I just didn't really care about the characters as much. There was way too much Cersei, and Samwell isn't an exciting enough character to carry more than one chapter. Oh well, I am still looking forward to the next book. I hope it's better. Book Description: After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

She Remembers Everything

My Rating: 4/5 Review: I was intigued by the plot: A young woman with a eidetic (photographic) memory witnesses a murder and ends up having to change her identity to escape the Russian mafia. It was very good for the most part, though a little hoaky at times. It was a a light read compared to the other series by a different author I've been reading, which would explain the 4 stars. Sometimes you need a little fluff in between the darkness. Book Description: Daughter of a controlling mother, Elizabeth finally let loose one night, drinking at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer, she designs sophisticated security systems—and supplements her own security with a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. But Abigail’s reserve only intrigues police chief Brooks Gleason. Her logical mind, her secretive nature, and her unromantic viewpoints leave him fascinated but frustrated. He suspects that Abigail needs protection from something—and that her elaborate defenses hide a story that must be revealed.

Ramona Was Better

My Rating: 3.5/5 Review: My son and I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. Still, I think we will have fun continuing the series. I love it when we laugh-out-loud together while reading a book. Book Description: Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he’s never far from trouble. He’s an almost three-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter’s had it up to here! When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter’s pet turtle, it’s the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge for too long. Way too long! How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?

Raging War Among Kings

My Rating: 4/5 Review: One word: Astonishing! So many crazy, unexpected things happened in this book my head is spinning. The very end was the most amazing of all. I am completely flabbergasted. I love this series! Book Description: Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world... But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords...

Fantastic Mr. Fox

My Rating: 4/5 Review: My son and I enjoyed reading this fun little book together. There were some great laugh-out-loud moments. Book Description: This early Roald Dahl adventure is great for reading aloud to three- to seven-year-olds, who will be delighted to hear that Mr. Fox keeps his family one step ahead of the obsessed farmers. When they try to dig him out, he digs faster; when they lay siege to his den, he tunnels to where the farmers least expect him--their own larders! In the end, Mr. Fox not only survives, but also helps the whole community of burrowing creatures live happily ever after. With his usual flourish, Dahl evokes a magical animal world that, as children, we always knew existed, had we only known where or how to look for it.

Royal Treachery Continues

My Rating: 4/5 Review: So intense! I lost sleep over this one towards the end. Book Description: A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.