Blood Memory By Greg Iles

Rating: 4/5

Review: This was a great book, but a little disturbing because of the subject matter. I didn't like Cat, the lead character, at first, but soon grew to understand her and respect her a little more by the end. The suspense was written perfectly, the characters were believeable, and the plot moved pretty steadily.

Book Description: Forensic expert "Cat" Ferry has a stellar reputation until a panic attack paralyzes her at a New Orleans murder scene. Praying the attack is a one-time event, she continues working, but when the same killer strikes again -- raising fears that a serial killer is at large -- Cat blacks out over the victim's mutilated corpse. Suspended from the FBI task force, Cat returns to her hometown to regroup. Though her colleagues know her as a world-class forensic odontologist, Cat lives a secret life. Plagued by nightmares, and deeply involved with a married homicide detective, Cat holds herself together with iron nerves and alcohol, using her work as a substitute for life. When some of Cat's forensic chemicals are spilled in her childhood bedroom, two bloody footprints are revealed. This discovery sets in motion a quest to piece together Cat's past -- buried memories that could tie her father's murder to the grisly deaths occurring in New Orleans in the present. For only by finding this remorseless killer can Cat save her sanity -- and her life.

Midnight Bayou By Nora Roberts

Rating: 5/5

Review: I loved this book! Oh my gosh, it was so good! You've got a little bit ghost story, a steamy romance, and the ineteresting scenery of New Orleans and the swamps of Louisianna. I pretty much consumed this one. The characters were great, the story moved quickly, and the history was intriguing. Don't miss out on this one!

Book Description: Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he'd been enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opportunity to buy the house comes up, Declan jumps at the chance to live out a dream. Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief-sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it that the house is haunted, and with every passing day Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows. Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall-a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years."

Blood Trail By Tanya Huff

Read: February 2008

Rating: 5/5

Review: This is the second book in the series, and it was very good. This one involved a family of werewolves who were being assasinated one by one. I loved the characters, and the mystery of who was doing the killing kept me on my toes. Henry and Vicky also get very intimate in this one, and Mike doesn't like it one bit.

Blood Price By Tanya Huff

Rating: 5/5

Review: I love the tv show, Blood Ties, that this series of books is based on, so I thought I'd check it out. This is the first book in the series, and man was it good! I love that I've already got the characters visualized in my head. The story moved very quickly, anf it was almost exactly like the pilot of Blood Ties Season 1. I loved being inside all of the characters' heads, especially Henry's. You get to see a little more into his past throught the book. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.

Book Description: Victoria Nelson, once a homicide inspector with the Toronto police, she has been forced to retire by the start of retinitis pigmentosa. Tough and intelligent, Vicki refuses to be beaten by the disease and has set up as a private detective. Mike Celluci was Vicki's partner on the force and her lover as well. Anger over Vicki's decision to leave the police force has separated the two lovers, but sparks still fly when they are together. Their bickering disguised a deeply held mutual affection.
A sudden rash of hideous killings, throats torn out and blood drained, brings Vicki and Mike back together. As the body count mounts Vicki begins to suspect that the killer is not quite human. The newspapers warn of a vampire, but Mike refuses to believe that any such creature can exist. Vicki is not so sure. When she manages to be present at the next killing she discovers Henry Fitzroy at the death scene. Henry, a handsome, intelligent writer of romantic novels, manages to convince Vicki that he is not the killer. But to do so he must reveal that he is a 450 year old vampire, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, no less.
Henry realizes what Vicki does not. The killer is not a rogue vampire, but a demon, called into service by someone in the city. But the creature serves two masters, the human who called him and one of the greater demons of hell. By using the killings to spell the name of the greater demon across the Toronto landscape, this evil force intends to open the way for a reign of terror on the earth. All Vicki and Henry have to do is identify which of the greater demons is trying to cross over, catch the lesser demon, and stop the human mage who is casting the summonings.

The Water's Lovely By Ruth Rendell

Rating: 2/5

Review: I thought this book was really quite strange. I did feel compelled to finish it once I started, however. The characters were forgettable, and the plot was only vaguely interesting. There was no suspense whatsoever, and the ending was very disapointing.

Book Description: The award-winning author of The Babes in the Wood and The Rottweiler brings us another terrifically paced, richly drawn novel of suspense and psychological intrigue.Weeks went by when Ismay never thought of it at all. Then something would bring it back or it would return in a dream. The dream always began in the same way.She and her mother would be climbing the stairs, following Heather’s lead through the bedroom to what was on the other side, not a bathroom in the dream but a chamber floored and walled in marble. In the middle of it was a glassy lake. The white thing in the water floated towards her, its face submerged, and her mother said, absurdly, “Don’t look!”The dead man was Ismay’s stepfather, Guy. Now, nine years on, she and her sister, Heather, still live in the same house in Clapham. But it has been divided into two self-contained flats. Their mother had lived upstairs with her sister, Pamela. And the bathroom, where Guy had drowned, had disappeared.Ismay worked in public relations, and Heather in catering. They got on well. They always had. They never discussed the changes to the house, still less what had happened that August day. . .But even lives as private as these, where secrets hang in the air like dust, intertwine with other worlds and other individuals. And, with painful inevitability, the truth will emerge.

A Poisoned Season By Tasha Alexander

Rating: 4/5

Review: This book started out pretty slow, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because it kept getting better and better. I really feel that I probably should have read the previous book, And Only to Deceive, since it was Emily Ashton's first mystery. Still, I don't think it's actually necassary in order to enjoy this one. I love Lady Ashton, and Colin is a dream. Margaret, the American, is a fun character, and I would have liked to have learned more about her. The mystery kept me guessing, and the ending was great. I don't normally read cozies, but I'm glad I read this one.

Book Description: From Publishers WeeklyWhen Lady Emily Ashton, an unconventional young widow, comes to London for the social season at the start of Alexander's highly enjoyable late Victorian novel of suspense (the sequel to And Only to Deceive), a presumptive heir to the French throne and a slew of robberies by a thief obsessed with Marie Antoinette soon become the talk of the town. The stakes rise after the murder of one of the thief's victims. As Emily risks her reputation to solve the crimes, she must contend with a mysterious beau, who woos her in Greek. The author deftly works in background material pertinent to Emily's life as well as period detail that never slows the narrative. Emily sometimes behaves in unlikely ways (e.g., visiting a man at his bachelor residence, getting on a first-name basis with a woman after a brief acquaintance), but readers looking for a lighter version of Anne Perry will be well rewarded. (Apr.)

Immortal in Death By JD Robb

Rating: 4/5

Review: This one wasn't quite as good as the first two in the series, but it was still interesting enough to hold my attention. We get to find out just what exactly happened to Dallas when she was a child, and what she did in response to it. She grows closer to Peabody in this book, too, and really gets an idea of who her true friends are. This book was a little bit slower paced, which made it harder to get through, but overall it was still worth the time.

Book Description:It is 2058, New York City. Lieutenant Eve Dallas uncovers a world where technology can create beauty and youth, but passion and greed can destroy them. She was one of the most sought-after women in the world. A top model who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted -even another woman's man. And now she's dead, the victim of a brutal murder. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas puts her life on the line to take the case when suspicion falls on her best friend, the other woman in the fatal love triangle. Beneath the façade of glamour, Eve finds that the world of high fashion thrives on an all-consuming obsession with youth and fame-one that leads her from the lights of the runway to the dark underworld of New York City, where drugs can fulfill any desire, for a price.