Author: Marsha

Serious Book Envy

Posted January 14, 2015 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 2 Comments

book pile I admit it. I have a serious case of book envy going on now. Yesterday and this morning I went through the list of blogs taking part in the Stacking the Shelves meme over at Tynga’s Reviews.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Not only did I find some really interesting new (to me) book blogs to follow — but the books. Oh, the books. And this is only January. My book envy is going to go supernova come July!

I saw at least 50 books that I really want to read. 50. Whew, that’s a lot of reading material plus what is in my to read pile. And we both know that there will be more fantastic novels coming out soon so what’ a book-aholic to do?

The best we can. Really. I love reading, I love putting together this website telling you about the books I’ve read. But, in all honesty, it is so hard to keep current being a one woman blogger here.

When a book really grabs me I can finish it in one day, maybe two. An average book reading time for me is between two or three days. Then there are the ones that just drag because I cannot get into the book – at all. I hate, really hate, to not finish a book. It might not be to my taste, but someone poured their heart and soul into creating it and I probably plopped down my hard earned money to buy it — so I should finish it. So I usually completely read most novels in my piles. I may not love it, but someone else might so I feel obligated to read, review and let the comments fall where they may around here.

Yet there is that occasional one that I simply cannot read one more word of. I’m sorry to those authors, but the book stinks. Badly. The one thing I will not do on this website is name those DNF books. I can’t because someone created it and someone else might find it to be the most awesome book they have ever read. I do not want my experience with DNF books to influence someone else.

I can hear some people say, “If it stinks you should tell people”. Okay, maybe. But, here’s the thing. I have never, ever been able to finish War and Peace. I cannot connect to that book. On the other hand, I read Gone With The Wind once each and every year. Both are considered classic novels and worth reading at least once by many people. So who am I to say that a book stinks and belongs in a did not finish pile when someone, somewhere may think it’s a new classic?

My reading schedule for this year is simple. I vow to get to the bottom of my To-Be-Read pile and do my best to keep up with currently released novels.

I know I am going to suffer from book envy throughout the year – I accept that. But, I plan to do a lot of reading, reviewing and posting this year… because of my serious book envy (or in spite of it.) 🙂

How ’bout you? Are you visiting book blogs and just drooling over novels that you want in your to-read-pile? (me too)

The Duke’s Guide to Correct Behavior by Megan Frampton (A Review)

Posted January 12, 2015 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

I absolutely loved this novel and am so looking forward to the next book in the series.

Here is the book blurb from Goodreads:

All of London knows the Duke of Rutherford has position and wealth. They also whisper that he’s dissolute, devilish, and determinedly unwed. So why, everyone is asking, has he hired a governess?

When Miss Lily Russell crosses the threshold of the Duke of Rutherford’s stylish townhouse, she knows she has come face to face with sensual danger. For this is no doting papa. Rather, his behavior is scandalous, and his reputation rightly earned. And his pursuit of her is nearly irresistible—but resist she must for the sake of her pupil.

As for the duke himself, it was bad enough when his unknown child landed on his doorstep. Now Lily, with her unassuming beauty, has aroused his most wicked fantasies—and, shockingly, his desire to change his wanton ways. He’s determined to become worthy of her, and so he asks for her help in correcting his behavior.

But Lily has a secret, one that, if it becomes known, could change everything . . .

Series: Dukes Behaving Badly
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Avon (November 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062352202
ISBN-13: 978-0062352200
Got my copy as a gift from a friend

Read on for my review of The Duke’s Guide to Correct Behavior – no true spoilers, promise.

Reviewing Dangerous Passions by Kat Martin

Posted January 9, 2015 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

This is an older novel that like many books, has been reprinted. A friend gave me a copy of Dangerous Passions a few months ago. I just got around to reading it a few weeks ago, and have finally finished it. Yes, that’s right – weeks.

Here’s the book blurb from Goodreads:

Let bestselling author Kat Martin sweep you away-from Society’s grand ballrooms to the perilous battlefields of the Napoleonic War-in a magnificent story of love, betrayal, and trust regained.When Elissa Tauber learns of her beloved brother’s murder and that her native homeland is threatened, she is determined to expose the traitor. Posing as a recently widowed countess, she moves through the glittering world of the court, willing to barter even her lovely body if she must.

More than one man poses a threat, but it is the tall, imposing Lord Wolvermont, Colonel Adrian Kingsland, who endangers her heart. Even as she suspects he might be the spy called the Falcon, she longs for his touch. When fate takes a hand, Elissa must decide whether to betray her mission-or lose the man she loves.

(less)

Paperback, 368 pages

Published February 15th 1998 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks (first published 1998)

original title

Dangerous Passions

ISBN 0312962479 (ISBN13: 9780312962470)

Given to me by a friend.

Read on for my review. I promise no true spoilers are ahead:

Haunted by Kay Hooper (A Review)

Posted January 3, 2015 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

Let me start this review with a sort of disclaimer: I have always loved Kay Hooper’s Bishop/Special Crimes Units novels. That enjoyment doesn’t mean that I don’t know that some are better than others – but – I enjoy the stories nonetheless. Having said that…

from Goodreads:

How do you make peace with the dead if the dead aren’t ready to forgive? In New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper’s new novel, the answer lies in the twisting shadows of a small town, and its secrets yet unearthed…

When Deacon James’s younger sister Melanie calls him, terrified, he goes to her aid in the small Georgia town of Sociable. What he finds is a scared young woman in the grip of what she insists is a paranormal nightmare—and murder. Two local men have been killed under mysterious circumstances. And Melanie is the prime suspect.

Trinity Nichols left a high-stress job for quiet, small-town life. But news of the murders has left her—and the town—on edge, especially when there is nothing remotely ordinary about how the men died. And her investigation is yielding more than she bargained for, including a group of strangers who have descended on Sociable, some with abilities Trinity finds hard to believe, and agendas she refuses to trust. For some reason, they know a lot more than they should about what’s happening in town. And what’s happening is growing stranger by the minute.

Now Trinity, Deacon, and this odd band of FBI agents must work together to solve a series of disturbances so incredible that Trinity, and the town of Sociable, will be changed forever. She just isn’t certain who—or what—will be left standing when it’s all over.

This book is in my personal collection- owned.

Read on for my review of Haunted – no spoilers, promise.

A Blogging Slump

Posted December 28, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

blue eyes I hate to admit to this – I really do, but I am in such a blogging slump lately.

Oh, I’m reading. Maybe not as much but I am turning the pages of really good books. I’m just not writing about the experience.

And I don’t know why.

I guess there really is no explanation for slumps… they just happen. And I’m not alone either. A lot of the book blogs that I follow are also experiencing slumps. Whether it’s lack of time, life getting in the way of the fun of blogging or some other reason, writing slumps happen to every blogger that ever put words on the screen.

So. What to do about it? Forcing it won’t work, I’ve tried that before with dismal results.

While reading the comments on other blogs of other people in a similar slump the suggestions of reading for enjoyment only, switching to a different style of novel, blogging about something non-book for a while — but most importantly was the large number of statements suggesting “don’t feel guilty, we all have slumps and eventually they go away”.

And that is exactly what I’m going to do. I love this blog, I love talking about books that I’ve enjoyed, sharing authors that readers may not have tried yet — but no more guilt.

A new year is about to arrive, and the blogging slump will fade away. Until it does I’m guilt-free about this situation I’m in…

And I’m wishing you a wonderful new year full of awesome reading adventures.

Talk again soon.

Secrets of Bella Terra by Christina Dodd

Posted December 28, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

I thrive on a continuing story. I want to know what happens to the secondary characters – I also want to know what I missed in the first book. Just a few of the reasons I absolutely love reading a continuing storyline.

Often times a trilogy or series starts off with a blast of excitement – others unfurl like a slowly blooming leaf. Secrets of Bella Terra was a very slowly opening blossom (one I almost gave up on, except I’ve been trained by a bookaholic mother to read the whole story before reaching a conclusion!).

At its very core, Secrets of Bella Terra is about history – family history, the history of lovers and the history of a lifelong family feud fed by bitterness.

Rafe Di Lucas and Brooke Petersson have a past history. One forged in childhood and continued throughout early adulthood – unfortunately, Brooke ended up always being the one left behind as Rafe took off around the world. His reasons were valid – to him. Her reasons to stay and wait were all that mattered to her, even as she convinced herself that she was not waiting for anything except her next vacation.

Afraid To Die by Lisa Jackson

Posted December 8, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

Returning to Grizzly Falls, Montana would be a lot more fun if they didn’t have so many serial murders around there! But then, that would leave us with nothing new to read from the ongoing “to Die” series by Lisa Jackson.

Once again murder returns to hover over the winter holidays of Detective Selena Alvarez and her partner, Detective Regan Pescoli.

This time the mad killer is placing bits of Selena’s stolen jewelery on the bodies of his victims – frozen naked works of “art” by a killer who not only believes in revenge, but in painfully, slowly unwinding secrets Selena would have liked to keep in her past.

Secrets will always find their way to the surface – Selena must make sure that her secrets are told to the necessary people before the killer makes them headlines.

Private Investigator Dylan O’Keefe has close ties to those old secrets and he is not going to let Selena keep them from him any longer.

A love gets a second chance – if – secrets can be told and trust freely given by both Selena and Dylan.

(possible spoilers ahead)

Before She Dies by Mary Burton

Posted December 7, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

A crystal ball is not always necessary to know that evil walks among us.

“Before She Dies” was an enjoyable read. As a child of the carnival myself, many parts of the story had me smiling in memory of my childhood years traveling the carnival circuit with my parents.

But.. to my knowledge we never had a murderer among us!

Charlotte (Grace) Wellington’s sister Mariah was murdered. Grace left the carnival world and set out to make her own life away from the memories, and the people of her past. Yet the past rarely stays in the past.

Grace or Charlotte as she is now known, hides memories and her past behind the tough surface of her criminal lawyer career. She rarely lets anyone in. Detective Daniel Rokov is determined to get past the line she draws between personal and professional. It’s a difficult task but one that Daniel will succeed at.

The carnival is in town – and women are being murdered. His mission is to destroy the witches. He takes great pride and pleasure in dealing out his kind of justice. The seer, the witch, the one who has knowledge that she should not have will pay the ultimate price.

Face the Fire by Nora Roberts

Posted December 6, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

Mia Devlin had always known that she would one day face the evil that threatened her island, her life and all that she loved. Nell had found her courage and made her stand, Ripley had discovered that justice could be dealt without loss of control. Now it was up to her.

After staying away for a decade, Sam Logan stepped off the ferry onto Three Sisters Island. Not that much had changed, it was still the charming New England town that visitors flocked to in summer or to experience the wonder of the fall color changes. Yet everything had changed. He returned not as a boy struggling to discover his place in the world, but as a man who knew exactly what he wanted and intended to get it. The Magick Inn was now his. It had been a challenge to outwit his father and finally purchase his birthright, but it had been done.

He had come back for Mia. Perhaps renting the little yellow cottage under one of his many businesses wasn’t the best way to handle his return to her. Still knowing Mia’s stubbornness she wouldn’t have rented it to him at all. And he needed the cottage, he wouldn’t live where he worked even if Magick Inn did provide the best hotel rooms on the island.

So, he was back on the island they both loved. He would simply announce himself, pick up where they left off years ago and break the island curse. Done deal, shouldn’t take more than a week to set things right again.

Trouble was.. Once Sam knew Mia’s every thought, knew exactly how she felt about him…now he didn’t know her at all.

Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz

Posted December 5, 2014 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Jove; Reprint edition (January 27, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0515145815
ISBN-13: 978-0515145816
Source: Library

Raine Tallentyre hears voices. No, she’s not crazy just psychic. (although some people think that the two go hand in hand ..they don’t)

Raine has the paranormal ability (certainly not the gift) of hearing the whisperings of the evil mind that hides behind the mask most killers wear. Although she tries her best to keep them at bay, at the lightest touch of something that evil has handled, Raine hears their mind whispers – it certainly is enough to drive some people crazy, or at least believe that they are.

Aunt Vella had heard voices, too. Unfortunately, the voices she heard sent her down a spiraling fall into a private facility, and suddenly into death. Raine has returned to Shelbeyville in Washington state to sell her aunt’s home, which will not be an easy feat as Vella was considered a crazy lady at the very least.

Although Raine has used her abilities to help Detective Bradley Mitchell solve several cold cases, she always kept her special skills far in the background. Until she pushed the romance envelope… that backfired on her. Seems Detective Mitchell was just fine with using her “gift” to bring himself some glory… hearing voices kind of creeped him out. So much for romance.

At this moment in time, Raine’s past, present and her future are going to collide as she discovers a serial killer’s victim trapped in her aunt’s basement – and a connection to the Arcane Society heads into town in the form of J&J investigator Zack Jones.

Heaven and Earth by Nora Roberts

Posted December 5, 2014 by Marsha in This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

Earth raged, her anger and grief erupting from her soul. Her sister had been killed. Killed by her abusive husband and now Earth only sought what she saw as justice. A life for a life. Air had not fought back, she had not used her powers to save her life, but Earth could and would avenge her death. The pleas of her sister Fire were an annoyance. Yes, she knew the creed, she knew that harm none was more than simple words but a way of life for them. A past way of life, for there was power surging towards Earth, power most satisfying and intoxicating and she wanted more..she wanted his death more than she wanted her own life. She reached willingly for the power tempting her, deaf to the words of her sister, immune to the rational thoughts she was so known for. Now only revenge would satisfy, and once fed she would lose more then a sister…

Deputy Ripley Todd was as down to earth as it was possible to get. She believed firmly in justice and fairness. All of this magic mumbo jumbo that Mia Devlin nagged her about was just that…hocus pocus. No one really believed that three witches had created this island or that according to legend the island would be destroyed if the descendants of the original three sisters did not bind together to save it.

It was great for the tourist trade that the island residents depended upon. The summer people made it possible to survive through the harsh New England winters. Save the magical for them, Ripley wanted no further part of it.

Yes, she had stood with Nell and Mia – but that was a one time need, not to be repeated ever again. Nell was safe and that was all that mattered. Add magic and hocus pocus to all the news reports and rumors about happened that night when Nell’s abusive, now former husband showed up was bad enough. To add further insult was the fact that Mia had allowed some super geek ghost hunter or some such nonsense to rent out the cottage that Ripley had her eye on – that just made her day, and gave Mia far too much satisfaction for Ripley’s comfort.

MacAllister Booke or simply “Mac” was the ultimate example of an absent-minded professor. Most days he barely survived impaling himself on one of his vast number of gadgets and computer parts scattered about. What he lacked in co-ordination he more than made up for in looks, talent and debunking the shams and charlatan out there that preyed on those that searched for knowledge. It was true that he disproved more often than he proved, but when he did find the genuine otherworldly event people took notice.

He had heard the stories, had read the police reports of that night when an abusive husband tracked down his runaway wife. Determined that he would never loose his Helen, Remington would see his wife dead before he would let her go. Thankfully Nell Channing, no it was Nell Todd now, survived as did her now husband Zack Todd. Yet enough speculation in addition to Evan Remington’s mad ravings about witches and things crawling beneath his skin had come to light to spark Mac’s interest. Besides, Mac brought something to the island aside from his knowledge of the paranormal, he had a bargaining chip about the legend should Mia Devlin decide to not be interviewed.

Unfortunately for Mac..he didn’t bargain on Ripley.