Shem Creek by Dorothea Benton Frank

Started: 10/28/06
Finished: 10/30/06
Year: 2004
Genre: Southern Fiction
Grade: B
Reason for reading: booksfree.com book
Blurb (from back cover): "Meet Linda Berland, single parent of two teenage daughters-one of whom is headed off to college. Between that and the married men, the cold New Jersey winters, her pinched wallet, and her ex-husband who marries a beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she is-let's just say Linda has seen enough to fill a thousand pages. Now she's bound for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the magical landscape of her ancestors. Welcomed by the help of her advice-dispensing sister and an intriguing ex-investment banker turned restuarant owner, Linda slowly begins to find her way and realizes that she, too, is entitled to a second chance..."
Opinion: At first, it was a bit confusing on who the narrator was because each chapter it seemed to switch up. But it was an enjoyable read that kept my attention. It was nice to read a character who despite all the negative things, still rise above it all and be successful in life.

Parallel Heat by Deidre Knight

Started: 10/24/06
Finished: 10/28/06
Year: 2006
Genre: Paranormal romance
Grade: D
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Warrior and royal guardian Marco McKinley has been assigned a vital mission on Earth, where a war between human fighters and otherworldly soldiers is rising. But he's also been warned about twists of fate yet to come-ones that will transform him into the enemy of his own peple and appoint him the personal protector of beautiful soldier Thea Haven.
"Little do Marco and Thea know, but they have met before in an alternate universe, and they are bound by betrayal and vengeance. Now, on a world at the brink of destruction, they feel only a forbidden passion and the unease that comes with it..."
Opinion: Just not my cup of tea, coffee, soda, what have you. It's going to be hard for me to write a positive review for MyShelf-too much unrealistic romance and passion between characters-yes it's paranormal and I can respect the paranormal features but the romance and passion is just too much

Buchanan's Baby by Pamela Toth

Started: 10/23/06
Finished: 10/24/06
Year: 1996
Genre: Romance (Silhouette Special Edition)
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR shelf-received from a bookbox
Blurb (from back cover): "They say you never forget your first love, and Donovan Buchanan was more unforgettable than most. The rough-and-ready cowboy had left a trail of broken hearts along the road to success...and he'd left perky waitress Bobbie McBride with just a little bit more. Sweet little Rose was now four years old-and about to mee the daddy who didn't know she existed.
"Bobbie expected all kinds of reactions from Big D., none of them good. But suddenly the hunky hero was proposing marriage! What was a mother to do?"
Opinion: Unrealistic? Sure. Still enjoyable read? Yes. Obvious how stupid men and women can be but that helps us reconnect with our significant others.

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

Started: 10/18/06
Finished: 10/23/06
Year: this edition is from 2000
Genre: Classic Literature
Grade: B
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Theodore Dreiser's first and perhaps most accessible novel, Sister Carrie is an epic of urban life-the story of an innocent heroine adrift in an indifferent city. When small-town girl Carrie Meeber sets out for Chicago, she is equipped with nothing but a few dollars, a certain unspoiled beauty and charm-and a pitiful lack of preparation for the complex moral choices she will face. Her story is one of struggle-from sweatshop to stage success-and of the love she inspires in a married man twice her age, whose obession with her threatens to destory him."
Opinion: A surprisingly good novel. I had read Dreiser's An American Tragedy and enjoyed that one so I picked this one to read. I'm glad that I did.

Death Drop by Alina Adams

Started: 10/16/06
Finished: 10/18/06
Year: 2006
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Figure skaters start young, but when a baby is seemingly abandoned at a Nationals practice session, Bex suspects that there's more going on than a bid for early coaching. A few hours later, Allison Adler, a young ice-dancing champion, is also discovered at the arena-dead, at the end of a rope.
"It soon becomes clear that Allison was the baby's mother, but the candidates for paternity are multiplying: both her ex-boyfriend, a former champion skater himself, and her married coach claim to be the father. Then the police learn that Allison died by strangulation, not suicide. Suddenly the skating world is full of suspects, and it's about to get thrown for a triple loop..."
Opinion: Not one of the best mysteries that I've read but still enjoyable. Enough twists and turns so the reader isn't 100% sure whodunit. For a more complete review, check out MyShelf.com next month.

The Cellar by Richard Laymon

Started: 10/15/06
Finished: 10/16/06
Year: 2006
Genre: Horror
Grade: B
Reason for reading: had to get a book to read for the ride back home from my interview
Blurb (from back cover): "They call it Beast House. Tourists flock to see it, lured by its history of butchery and sadistic sexual enslavement. They enter, armed with cameras and camcorders, but many never return. The men are slaughtered quickly. The women have a far worse fate in store. But the worst part of the house is what lies beneath it. Behind the cellar door, down the creaky steps, waits a creature of pure evil. At night, when the house is dark and all is quiet...the beast comes out.
"Awakened by an early-morning phone call, Donna found out that her ex-husband, Roy, has been released from prison. She immediately dragged her twelve-year-old daughter out of bed and together they hit the road-fast. The last thing she wants is for Roy to get his hands on them again. But in fleeing one danger, Donna and her daughter are unknowingly heading straight toward another. They're heading toward Beast House."
Opinion: Considering I haven't read a horror book in a while, this one was pretty good. Very quick to read. My big objection was the "romantic" link between Donna and another character. Very unrealistic and unnecessary. Other than that, it has all the key elements to a good horror book.

Fear: A Cultural History by Joanna Bourke

Started: 10/10/06
Finished: 10/14/06
Year: 2006
Genre: History/Psychology
Grade: A
Reason for reading: interest-TBR pile
Blurb (from book cover): "Fear. The word itself conjures the appropriate response. With a dark cacophony of associated words-fright, dread, horror, panic, alarm, anxiety, terror-fear is universally understood as one of the most basic and powerful human emotions, obtaining a nearly palpable and overwhelming substance in today's world.
"In this remarkable, groundbreaking book, acclaimed historian Joanna Bourke covers the landscape of fear over the past two hundred years: from the nineteenth-century dread of being buried alive-a subject dear to the heart of Edgar Allen Poe-to the current worry over being able to die when one chooses; from the diagnoses of phobias and anxieties produced by psychotherapists and livingly catalogued, to the role of popular culture and media in inciting panic and dread; from the horrors of the nuclear age to the cold fear of twenty-first-century terrorism. Fear tells the compelling story of anguish in modern times.
"A blend of social and cultural history with psychology, philosophy, and popular science, this astonishing book-exhaustively researched and beautifully written-offers strikingly original insights into the mind and worldview of the 'long twentieth century' from one of the brilliant scholars of our times."
Opinion: By far, one of the best books I've read this year. It's very obvious that Ms. Bourke did extensive research to complete this well written piece of work. If you have any sort of interest is history or psychology, this is a must get.

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

Started: 10/6/06
Finished: 10/10/06
Year: 2003
Genre: Sci-fi
Grade: B
Reason for reading: Booksfree.com book, also need to continue with the series.
Blurb (from first page): "While pursuing his quest for the Dark Tower through a world that is a nightmarishly distorted mirror image of our own, Roland is drawn through a mysterious door that brings him into contemporary America.
"Here he links forces with defiant young Eddie Dean and with the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes in a savage struggle agaisnt underworld evil and otherworldly enemies."
Opinion: I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first of the Dark Tower series. At least I have hope that the rest of the series will be decent reading. I have book five on my TBR shelf but I'm going to be borrowing the 3rd and 4th from my coworker/friend.

No Lights, No Sirens by Robert Cea

Started: 10/1/06
Finished: 10/6/06
Year: 2006
Genre: True Crime
Grade: C
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb: "What Office Robert Cea learned at the Police Academy never prepared him for the depraved reality of the streets. Beginning his career as an idealistic young policeman, he swore that he'd never become one of the thugs, creeps, and criminal "monsters" he was chasing. He was wrong.
"In No Lights, No Sirens, one ex-New York cop offers a gritty, graphic, brutally authentic portrait of daily life in the patrol cars, the gutters, and the urban dark alleys-exposing the corruption that runs rampant throughout the deparment as law enforcers routinely break the law to stay one step ahead of their prey. Cea's courageous, uncompromising memoir is a gripping and terrifying morality tale with repercussions for us all-the spellbinding true story of an officer who traveled through hell en route to becoming one of the most highly decorated cops in NYPD history...and lost his soul along the way."
Opinion: Not one of the best written stories that I've read. Not enough background was given in my opinion. For a complete review, check out Myshelf next month.

Crime Beat by Michael Connelly

Started: 9/28/06
Finished: 10/1/06
Year: 2006
Genre: True Crime
Grade: B
Reason for reading: fan of Michael Connelly
Blurb (from book jacket): "Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat. In these vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the reader past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friends-and, of course, the killers-to tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath.
"Connelly's firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels. His first book, The Black Echo, was drawn from a real-life bank heist, while Trunk Music was based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls-Royce. And the vital details of Connelly's best-known characters, both heroes and villains, would get their realism from the cops and killlers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer the Poet.
"Crime Beat presents stories as fascinating as they are chilling, from the serial killer of young models who cuts a swath across the country to elude police, to the man who leads a bizarre double life on two coasts before his elaborate hoax breaks down. Here, too, we can see Connelly's razor-sharp eye for telling details: a worn-down earpiece on a cop's eyeglasses, the revealing high school yearbook quotes of an alleged cold-blooded murderer, the checkered career of a bumbling gang of killers who publicly advertise their services.
"Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft but also one of the Amercian writers in any form. Crime Beat confirms why the Washington Post distinguishes Connelly as the real thing, taking us into the parts of the real America that most of our novelists never visit because they don't even know where, or what, they are."
Opinion: It was nice to read the stories and actually clips that Connelly has complied over the years. As a fan of Connelly's fictional works-it was nice to see the background of where the ideas came from for Harry Bosch's character.