Sunday, October 24, 2010

Black Ship by: Carola Dunn

If you're not familiar with the Daisy Dalrymple Mystery series you have missed a fun series. We've been following Daisy from the beginning as a young lady with a title all the way to wife of a police detective and mother of twins.
In this story they have inherited a house from her husband's side of the family and as Daisy is deciding whether to take advantage of the inheritance a new adventure begins. This adventure is full of interesting neighbors, friends, servants and people from across the pond, as they say in England. You may be like me and have to read to the very end to deduce the whole mystery, quite a page turner.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Windup Girl by: Paolo Bacigalupi

The Windup Girl has won and been nominated for several awards. The author has come up with a good premise for a futuristic story. Some of the things he writes about are starting to happen today. Food manipulation, robots to take the place of workers, world political corruption.
It was a pretty good read, a little slow in the middle, but a rousing end. He left the ending open just enough that he can write a sequel.
For me it was a one time read, but every once in awhile it's fun to see what another persons view of the future is.

Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥

Mute Witness by: Charles O'Brien

Mute Witness is Charles O'Brien's first historical mystery and well worth the read. Set in 1785-86 France, he has come up with viable characters and very believable situations and scenery. We have another strong heroine with strong supporting friends to help her discover the ends and outs of  the strange death of her father.
I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series and I have discovered that there are about 8 or 9 all together.
Mr. O'Brien won a couple of awards for this first novel, so if he can continue to write the next ones at the same good pace and continuity of the story we will all be able to escape to France for some interesting adventures.

Happy Reading,
Beverly G ♥

Monday, October 4, 2010

A Poisoned Season by: Tasha Alexander

I've found another heroine that I'm going to add to my favorites list. Lady Emily Ashton. The setting for this book is Victorian England just in time for the Season. Anybody who was Anybody came into London and attended parties, races, balls, luncheons, and looked for husbands for their daughters. My, my what a time in history. Proper etiquette to be followed, while behind the scenes marriages were being brokered that would make or break history.
This Season would be no different. Lady Ashton has to scramble to save her reputation, plus try to solve the mystery of some murders that she feels she caused. By the end of the story Lady Ashton and her friends have put everything to rights and you find yourself wishing you could pick up the next book and carry on with the story.
I hope I can find the rest of the books in this series and continue on. Tasha Alexander is a excellent period author, you feel as if you are there.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥

Ghost a' la Mode by: Sue Ann Jaffarian

This is a series debut. Our heroine Emma finds herself newly divorced and also that she has some hidden talents she wasn't aware of. She meets and helps her great-great-great-grandmother solve a 100 year old mystery. She also, finds some new confidence in herself and even a little bit of a budding romance.
If you like a good cozy mystery, you'll find this new series a pleasing addition to your reading list. I'm looking forward to the next book, which I think is coming out in early 2011.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥ 

The Necromancer by: Michael Scott

I have been reading the series The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott. This is the fourth book in the series.
If you are a fan of old time fairy tales you'll love this series. It is filled with adventure, magic, mythology, and just good old good versus evil.
Josh and Sophie are the children that Nicholas and his wife Perenelle have been searching for through the ages. The story unfolds as they try to teach Josh and Sophie there places in time and how to make the right choices.
Michael Scott has written a fun series with some lessons we could all learn about making right choices between good and evil.
His descriptions of the monsters he has chosen for these stories takes me back to reading with a flashlight under the covers and scaring myself silly when I was much younger.
Pick these up for a good fantasy read.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥

The Physician's Tale by: Ann Benson

A friend loaned me this book because she's knows I like some science fiction and futuristic books. I liked this book as much for the story as for the way Ms. Benson handled the juggling of two stories simultaneously. After I read this book and discussed it with my friend, she said some people did not like jumping back and forth between the past and the future. As an avid history buff, I am familiar with stories about the plague during the age of the Black Death when a good portion of the population was wiped out. This story brings 2 physicians from past and future together in an intriguing scenario that in this age of technology you could see where something like this could almost be possible.
I found this to be an interesting and intriguing read and even though there are three books ahead of this one it was a good stand alone read if you haven't read the other ones first.

Happy reading,
Beverly G ♥