Unprintable by Julie Kaewert

Started: 1/23/07
Finished: 1/26/07
Year: 1998
Pages: 381
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from back cover): "It is possibly the most repugnant piece of fiction in all of England. So why is Plumtree Press, one of the country's most respectable publishing houses, about to add the hotly controversial new novel to its list? Publisher Alex Plumtree isn't talking. So hardly anyone knows he has taken on the project as a favor to the Prime Minister. Forget the bad press and hateful reviews, Alex swiftly finds himself on the wrong side of a lawsuit, bugged, betrayed, roughed up, and implicated in murder. Suddenly Alex doesn't know who to trust. Suddenly Alex doesn't know who to trust. For someone is clearly determined to stop the presses at any cost. The only think Alex does know for certain is that going to press with this book may cost him more than just his reputation...it may cost him his life."
Opinion: Not as good as other Julie Kaewert's books. I had read one and loved it and was looking forward to this one but I found my mind constantly shifting to other things while reading this.

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde by Denise Swanson

Started: 1/22/07
Finished: 1/23/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 237
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "A health spa complete with tofu turkey and 'Dress for Sexcess' lectures is the last place school psychologist Skye Denison wants to spend Thanksgiving. But when her best friend, Trixie Frayne, convinces her to take a complimentary weekend at the new Scumble River Spa, Skye accepts her fate and prepares to be slathered, wrapped, and roasted.
"Then an annoying quartet that includes both Skye's mom and her ex-boyfriend's mother impulsively joins her for a girls-only holiday, and Skye wonders just how bad things can get. She soon finds out-when she's confronted with treatments only a masochist would enjoy, a diet plan fit for a Barbie doll, and a troublesome trespasser searching for a cache of jewels supposedly hidden on the spa grounds seventy years ago. Worst of all, a famous former model turns up dead in the Miracle Mud bath. It looks like no one will be leaving the spa until Skye can identify which of the eccentric guests, pesky local protesters, or sneaky treasure hunters is also a killer deserving of special treatment-in the county jail."
Opinion: Not as clever as Swanson's previous books but still a good mystery. For a complete review, check out MyShelf.com next month

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

Started: 1/19/07
Finished: 1/22/07
Year: 1999
Pages: 210
Genre: Fiction
Grade: B
Reason for reading: Booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Twenty-four-year old Veronika seems to have enverything-youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. but something is missing in the her life. So, one cold November morning Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. but she does-at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live."
Opinion; I had gotten this title from the 1001 books you should read before you die list that was put out recently. It hit a little too close to home as I've experienced similar things as Veronika has. For that reason, it was important to read it.

Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth

Started: 1/17/07
Finished: 1/19/07
Year: 1929 (this edition 1986)
Pages: 251
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "It was Charles Moray's peculiar misfortune to have overheard some sinister words spoken in the dark. Something about a murder at sea, inheritance, missing documents. And he had seen a tall man in a grey mask disappear quickly into the night.
"A few days later London was stunned by some shocking news. Lord Standing was dead, washed overboard from the deck of his yacht. Then came a series of other deaths, all somehow related to the Standing case. It was clear to Charles that something had to be done. But involving the police was out of the question, since one of the voices he had heard in the dark was unmistakably that of Margaret Langton-the woman he loved!
"The case was tailor-made for the veteran sleuth Miss Silver..."
Opinion: Not one of the best mysteries that I've read. A certain character was beyond annoying-an 18-year old who acted like she was 12. Other than that it was a good read, the mystery itself was good.

Island Blues by Wendy Howell Mills

Started: 1/15/07
Finished: 1/17/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 268
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Sabrina Dunsweeney desperately needs a job. After moving to isolated Comico Island with her parakeet Calvin to start a new chapter of her life, Sabrina discovers that life in a beautiful, tropical environment isn't all fun and games. When the town council offers her employment as the island's first official ombudsman to cope with the burgeoning tourist influx, Sabrina is thrilled. Her first order of business is to deal with a number of burglaries. But as she digs deeper into the theftless break-ins, she begins to suspect that this mystery has its origins rooted in the rum-soaked days of prohibition.
"Then, Sabrina must face the "Hummers" who have booked a week at one of the local hotels. The Hummers claim that they can hear a hum that no one else can hear, and only by following very private riturals can they rid themselves of the annoying, persistent noise. Then the spokesman of the Hummers is murdered, and Sabrina begins to suspect that the origin of the humming may have an earth-bound-and deadly-source.
"When Sabrina finds herself the target of a killer' rage, she wonders if she will survive her first week on the job..."
Opinion: Lot of subplots to this story. Very easy to read. For a complete review, check out MyShelf.com next month.

Song of Susannah by Stephen King

Started: 1/12/07
Finished: 1/15/07
Year: 2004
Pages: 544
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: B
Reason for reading it: borrowed from friend, continuing with series
Blurb (from back cover): "Susannah Dean is possessed, her body a living vessel for the demon-mother Mia. Something is growing inside Susannah's belly, something terrible, and soon she will give birth to Mia's 'chap.' But three unlikely allies are following them from New York City to the border of End World, hoping to prevent the unthinkable. Meanwhile, Eddie and Roland have tumbled into the state of Maine-where the auther of a novel called Salem's Lot is about to meet his destiny..."
Opinion: Well, when Stephen King makes himself a character in a story is a little far-fetched. Overall, the story was good and enough action to make it worthwhile. Would I need to read this again? No.

The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr

Started: 1/11/07
Finished: 1/12/07
Year: 2005
Pages: 338
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: love the author, grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from the back cover): "Mycroft Holmes's encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburgh's Holyroodhouse to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men-horrific incidents that took place with Her Highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on Her Majesty's life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier...
"For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary, Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act-even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyroodhouse are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood..."
Opinion: I didn't enjoy this book as much as I've enjoyed other Carr books. Probably because it was based on Sherlock Holmes and I wasn't expecting it. But it was well written in a similar style to Doyle's original Holmes stories. Still worth reading.

Tripwire by Lee Child

Started: 1/6/07
Finished: 1/11/07
Year: 1999
Pages: 401
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: Booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is enjoying the lazy anonymity of Key West when a stranger shows up asking for him. He's got a lot of questions. Reacher does too, especially after the guy turns up dead. The answers lead Reacher on a cold trail back to New York, to the tenuous confidence of an alluring woman, and the dangerous corners of his own past."
Opinion: Interesting writing style and enough adventure to keep readers' attention. Great twist at the end.

Sweet Enemy by Diana Palmer

Started: 1/5/07
Finished: 1/5/07
Year: 1978
Pages: 249
Genre: Romance
Grade: B+
Blurb (from back cover): "Wholesome Maggie Kirk had always been wary of commanding cowboy Clint Raygen. So if her best friend's forbidding older brother rubbed her the wrong way, how come she'd chosen his ranch to recover from a broken heart? She knew the dangers that her foe posed...yet every time she crossed paths with the hard-edged cattle rancher, her pulse would race out of control. Maggie secretly dreamed of awakening to womanhood in Clint's powerful embrace...but did these sweet enemies have a shot at becoming lifelong lovers?"
Opinion: There are some moments of really good emotional writing in this book. Readers will be able to relate to the emotions that both Clint and Maggie feel for each other and how they react. Were they cruel to each other? Yes, and some of it was taken way too far to be forgiveable.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Started: 12/28/06
Finished: 1/5/07
Year: 1994 (this edition) originally published 1907
Pages: 797
Genre: Classic Literature
Grade: C
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Esther Summerson, one of the two narrators of Bleak House, shares in the processes of unrevelling the mystery surrounding her birth and exploring the strange connections which unite the rich and the poor, the exploiters and the exploited, the deranged and the corrupt. Hers is a journey towards painful enlightenment in which there is no turning back. For other characters enlightenment brings danger, disillusion, and death.
Bleak House is Dickens's densest study of the stark contrast and disturbing oddities implicit in the urban civilization of Victorian England.
Opinion: This is in typical Dickens' writing. Not as good as A Christmas Carol or Great Expectations but still worth picking up and taking a gander.

My top ten of 2006

# The Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul - Jack Canfield, et al
# Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer - Moira Anderson Allen
# Introduction to Forensic Psychology - Bruce A. Arrigo
# Women Who Kill - Ann Jones
# Marley & Me
# Fear - Joanna Bourke
# Worth More Dead - Ann Rule
# The Shop on Blossom Street - Debbie Macomber
# A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
# Depraved - John Glatt