Dead Silence - Brenda Novak

First of all I would like to say I'm really enjoying Novak's writing style, she keeps me entertained and wanting to know more. The thing is that this book is written from a victims point of view, we know from the beginning that Grace was a victim of her stepfather (I was guessing right away at sexual abuse) and that that trigered her behaviour in high school leading her to be a victim then and now of some boys who never grew up.

I always have some trouble reading books / scenes where the characters are brought low, humiliated because I find them really upsetting. I'm sure this is a great plot device to keep people reading but it's also why I don't watch horror movies - I'm always anticipating the bad things - I kept waiting for someone to come to Grace's door and insult her.

Grace and her family are hiding from everyone that they killed her stepfather 18 years ago. They are hiding it even from her stepsister who keeps trying to find what happened to her father. Grace's return to Stillwater after 13 years is going to open up a lot of wounds and bring past horrors to light.

One of the things that puzzled me was Grace's dislike of Kennedy Archer. Wouldn't it be more obvious to hate the guys who used her and kept insulting her than the guy who did nothing but also didn't use her? And what made Kennedy keep feeling guilty if he didn't do anything? I could understand about wanting to have a non belligerant relationship because of Teddy but it's like he was immediately worrying and lusting after her as soon as she got back. And how come it took him so long to see that Joe was a real jerk?

It still made for a captivating read as the reader is kept in suspense about wether Madeline is going to discover the truth, Joe is going to hurt Grace, Kennedy and Grace will marry and what really happened all those years ago. Since this is a trilogy I guess the answer to the last question will only come up in book 3. A B-

Which CSI character are you?

Which CSI character are you? Your Result: You are Sara Sidle SaraYou are very dedicated to your job, and doing what you feel is just. You are very driven and passionate about everything you do, and you tend to be quite moody. You are brutally honest, and are never afraid to speak your mind. You learn quickly, and are always eager to learn more. You tend to be emotionally unstable at times, but you are strong and usually able to cope with high stress situations. You are often sarcastic, and arent afraid to show how tough you are; although deep down you have a heart of gold. Overall you are witty, passionate, tough, and honest.
You are Greg Sanders
You are Nick Stokes
You are Warrick Brown
You are Gil Grissom
You are Catherine Willows
Which'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/which_csi_character_are_you_1">Which CSI character are you? Take'>http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Take More Quizzes

Green Darkness - Anya Seton

After a steady diet of mysteries and romantic suspense novels I thought I needed something totally different.

I've had this book in my TBR pile for more than a year. I had picked it up because I loved Katherine and I wanted to read more books by Seton. Also this book has a theme that fascinates me - reincarnation, karma, good and evil... - even if I'm not sure if I believe it or not. Maybe it was my feelings toward it that kept me from picking it up for so long but now I'm really happy that I did.

The book starts in the sixties of the XX century. Celia Marsdon, a young american girl, married Richard a british gentleman and his fascinated by british history. They are having some problems as Richard's behaviour becomes strange. During a weekend house party Celia plans a visit to a nearby estate and feels strangely disturbed especially after hearing mention of a young woman being walled up alive 400 years previously. It's soon obvious that unknown forces are affecting both Celia and Richard who both display uncharacteristic behaviour who will lead them to a brutal scene that leaves Celia in a coma and Richard with a death wish.

A interested and active participant in all this is Dr Akananda, a hindu medical doctor, friend of Celia's mother, who believes in reincarnation and how past lifes may affect your present one. He starts an unconventional healing treatment trying to save Celia by making her relieve her past.

So a big part of this book, I should actually say the bigger part, is set in Tudor times during the reign of Henry VIII's children. As the drama unfolds we soon identify most of the present day characters in the historical ones.

I think one of Seton's strong points is how well she makes characters come to life both by good characterisation and vivid settings' descriptions. After we jump to the past I was totally immersed in the reading and didn't want to have to interrupt it when real life called. I have only one thing to mention regarding the story in the past, I think we had a lot of build up and then the actuall tragic event happened too quickly and with little detail, I also realise though that to deal with it differently would probably evoke too much anguish in the reader so maybe that was a good thing. After the action returns to the XX century Celia is already recovering and it's ultimately her who takes Richard through the final steps of the healing process.

Although we could consider this book an historical romance because there is a love story that takes centre stage, this is much more complex than just the love story. According to the Author's note in the beginning: The theme of this book is reincarnation, an attempt to show the interplay - the law of cause and effect, good and evil - for certain individual souls in two english periods.

Also fascinating to me is to know that most characters and places truly existed.

My book is a 1974 edition and I was unable to find the cover online. However the one shown here seems almost as old and that's why I chose it. An A read!

Books & Inspiration

I have been very lazy lately in what concerns my other hobby – sewing! The only thing I’ve done is raising hems on L.’s pants usually after he starts dragging them on the floor. Well to gain some inspiration and because I love bags I ordered a new book (shown in the picture) that I hope will make me run to the sewing machine. It seems to have great ideas and I’m looking forward to get it in the mail.

In the mean time I’ve been browsing some blogs and finding beautiful things like these and these. If you’re as bag crazy as I am I’m sure you’ll love them! Oh, and if you have any inspiring links to share I would love to find new sites to visit!

Wild Thing - Anne Stuart

Enjoying a holiday yesterday gave me time to finish Anne Stuart’s Wild Thing and start a new book. Wild Thing is a book about a doctor hired to study a savage man found in the woods believed to be some sort of missing link.

I was worried before starting this one because the theme just didn’t appeal to me, I guess one Tarzan was enough for me. But as soon as I started it I could not put it down.

Dr Elizabeth Hunter arrives on a deserted Island where millionaire Ed Hunnicutt has built a modern facility to study the wild man found on the woods. As soon as she arrives she feels some sort of attraction to the wild man and decides to help him escape. The trouble is he decides to take her with him. The action is a lot more fast paced once they are on the run and it's hilarious how Libby tells him everything and we are already guessing that there must be a twist somewhere to explain the mystery.

This book read like an adventure romp and you do have to suspend your disbelief at such an outrageous plot. But the truth is that it worked for me! I had great fun reading it and because of that this a B+.

25 de Abril

Revenge of The Wrought-Iron Flamingos - Donna Andrews

Yesterday I finished another cozy mystery for the monthly discussion at the cozy group. I’m sad to say that for the first time I didn’t much enjoy the book chosen.

A reenactment of the siege of Yorktown features a crafts fair, so ornamental blacksmith Meg Langslow dresses in costume and peddles her wares. An entrepreneur working with Meg's brother comes to near-blows with several craftspeople--including Meg, who has hidden a dozen modern pink flamingos under her counter. When the man is killed by one of Meg's birds, Meg is determined to find the culprit.

I think my main problem was the type of humour that I didn’t find humorous in the least. Like when Meg finds the body and her first thought is “Well at least he’s in period!”. I’m afraid this doesn’t sound funny to me. And most of the characters seemed like some sort of caricature of real people, talk about extended families with weird members.

From my point of view the first half of the book suffers from too much dialogue, too many characters introduced... it ruined the suspense as the villain, victim is immediately set apart and then it takes forever for the murder to happen. After the murder I think we spend too much time with Meg's crazy relatives and after a while the action just couldn't hold my interest anymore.

I had thought this theme would be just my thing with reenactment of an historical battle and a craft fair but the truth is that it didn't work for me. A C.

World Book Day

Ooops I almost forgot, today is World Book Day. I think I'm heading to Book Depository to do some shopping and celebrate.

World Press Cartoon 2007

We spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday visiting this exhibition. Highly recommended for everyone who loves humour and cartoons!

I'm Watching You - Karen Rose

I just finished I’m Watching You! I think I liked it a little more than Have You Seen Her because I found these characters more likeable. Not as perfect and maybe because of that more human.

Kristen Mayhew is the state’s attorney assistant in Chicago with the best conviction record. She works really hard, has no friends and eats almost all her meals in a nearby diner. One night as she is getting ready to enter her car and go home she finds 3 crates with clothes and a picture in the trunk of her car and 3 letters telling her where to find the bodies. There is a vigilante in action and it’s victims are all criminals who Kristen couldn’t convict. As the body count gets higher Kristen finds herself being threatened by some friends of the victims who want their own revenge. Fortunately, Detective Abe Reagan is determined to protect her at all costs and to find the mAn responsible for so many deaths.

This book evokes very different emotions from the previous one. For one the victims are really bad people who committed horrible crimes, I wont say they deserved to die for it but it’s totally different from a plot where you know someone innocent is going to get hurt. On the other hand, and maybe also because of that, the suspense doesn’t keep you on edge.

That doesn’t mean this was not a page turner because it was, I couldn’t stop reading just to find what was Kristen hiding, what was the problem with the reporter who kept going after her ( a loose end never dealt with) and how was Abe going to win her trust and eventually something more.

I’m very happy to say that I had an idea of who the killer might be around the middle of the book, But since I had no idea why I kept second guessing myself till the very end. All in all another good one even if the little surprise at the end is unnecessary from my point of view. Another B!

Have You Seen Her? - Karen Rose

Thanks to A. I read another very good Karen Rose romantic suspense yesterday. In this one Special Agent Steven Thatcher is assigned to a new case, a girl has disappeared and is soon found murdered as another girl follows. At the same time his oldest son starts to behave oddly and he is called to school to speak with his teacher, Dr Jenna Marshall.

I really liked this book, I thought the suspense part was well done and like the characters I couldn’t guess who the murder was right till the end. Till then I was thinking it was somebody else. There are some scenes from the serial killer point of view which are used to show how the killing spree is escalating and also how much he is obsessed with Jenna.

Regarding the main characters both of them had some baggage to deal with. With Jenna it was her parents and with Steven the kidnapping of his son a few months earlier (and the precedent book) and his insecurity regarding women because of his wife. I could understand how one would be affected by what he perceived as a similar situation but at the same time he doubted Jenna a bit too much. Especially in a time when she was in danger and ended up being attacked when he left her alone. Wouldn’t it have been more mature to talk about things instead of jumping to conclusions and running away? And one thing I couldn't agree with was his holding the truth from his sons, at least from Brad who was old enough to understand. I ended up guessing what could be Brad's problem...

I also have some doubts about the love triangle the author tried to create with Neil, the cop from Seattle, who brings new light to the case. I don’t really like love triangles and fortunately this one doesn’t actually happen but I really liked Neil’s character. Since she frequently brings secondary characters to the spotlight I’m hoping he will be a hero in a future book.

A B! And since I have her next one right here I think I'll pick it up right away.

Funny cartoon

I'm putting you on a diet!
No more fat knights, maidens only...

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I so like medievals that I couldn't resist sharing this cartoon...

Now You See Him - Anne Stuart

I finished another Anne Stuart oldie, this time it was Now You See Him. After I finished it, I sat back and the only thing that came to mind was how much this book was similar to Black Ice. Beware, this review has several spoilers...

The man who called himself Michael Dowd wasn't exactly what he seemed. Wherever Michael went, it seemed to Francey Neeley, danger followed. But she couldn't escape an attraction to him. He was trying to pry information from her about a terrorist group, a group that was trying to kill him - and her. Soon, Francey became swept into a world of death and deceit, but she couldn't stay away from Michael

In both of them we have an innocent heroine who ends up in trouble with the bad guys after her, and a hero who is a secret agent for a secret organisation who starts out pretty bad and unsure about her but ends up falling for our girl and saves her. Also the hero is believed to be dead at the end till he suddenly shows up at the heroine’s doorstep.

However in this book there isn’t that secretive and mysterious aura surrounding the hero. We are much more aware of his feelings and why he is acting the way he is, not on the psycological side but how he is a secret agent fighting against the IRA terrorists. Everything is much more in the open in this story, there's less suspense. There are some dark parts, like when Francey was locked up in a prison in Spain, but it’s not one of Stuart’s dark stories.

We just have a glimpse of Francey’s past and not even that when it comes to Michael, I think that could have been a bonus to the story. I always like to know where people come from so I can feel confident in the happy ending. Since we are informed of his feelings and how they change during the course of the story I think some background was needed.

I realize what I mentioned about this book are themes that appear in several other Stuart romantic suspense books. It just struck me that it was similar to Black Ice but I read somewhere a reader comparing it to Moonrise so maybe other people will come up with other titles…

The cover is the usual 90s thing, no matter how much they scream and fight each other in the book you always have 2 lovebirds in the cover…

Another B for Ms Stuart!

I'm a Literature Nerd!

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Social Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Musician
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Like you didn't know that already, eh?

Drinking Tea

Tea is one of my favourite drinks, either when I'm at work or at home in the evenings I drink tea almost every day. I used to paint boxes to store my tea bags, I haven't done many lately because I already gave most of my friends their own box and since it does take some space I can't have many in my own kitchen.

Here are some examples:

Dying For Chocolate - Diane Mott Davidson

Well I couldn't resist starting this one immediately after finishing nº1. As with the first one I enjoyed it but with some reservations.

This time Goldy has taken a job as a live-in cook on the house of some very rich people who have an excellent security system. That seems to be the most important thing since her ex-husband is becoming more of a threat. The plot thickens when the shrink she has been dating dies in a very weird automobile accident.

As usual Goldy ends up investigating on her own. However I thought the action moved a bit slow. In the middle we deal more with Goldy's problems with her son, what people around her are hiding, her relationship with the shrink, etc... that is also important for the action but I didn't feel it was well inserted into the story so it distracted me a bit from the mystery plot instead of making it more dense.

When the pace picks up again and it comes back to what is really important regarding the murder mystery I became more insterested again and the end was a real surprise for me. Actually there were several surprises at the end.

I'm hesitating between grades but the truth is that even with these flaws I couldn't put it down so I'll give it a B-.

Bags

I had mentioned here previously how my Mom made me some bags. Today I decided to show some of them. I believe I have more laying around so I'll update this post when I find the others...

Catering to Nobody - Diane Mott Davidson

I finished another cozy mystery this morning. This time it was Diane Mott Davidson’s Catering to Nobody.

In this first story of the series Goldy’s business is closed down when her ex father in law is poisoned on the wake of her son’s teacher. To get her business open as soon as possible she decides to investigate on her own and soon she finds a lot of hidden secrets about her ex in laws and her son’s teacher’s death.

I have some mixed feelings about it. As a whole I enjoyed it but there were some things that bothered me. First of all it has a bit of a slow start, I really wanted to know more a bit earlier. Then I think we don’t really get to know Goldy really well as there’s no mention of her past before her marriage, of course that might be solved when I continue the series. And then all that situation that was happening with Patty Sue and what had happened with the other girl felt a bit weird to me., It’s like it was too serious a subject to be dealt like this in a cozy.

Other than that it was nice read, I was hoping Goldy would decide between the cop (who told her more than I think cops usually do) and Pom. It was kind of weird how one was totally smitten by her and she kept mentioning how attracted she was with the other. I also like Arch, Goldy and John Richard’s son, with a really difficult attitude sometimes I think he ended up looking like a real 11 year old.

I couldn't help comparing this story to the other culinary mystery series I've been reading lately, Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries. So far I think I identify with Hannah a bit more but I guess I'll have to read more books on this series to really be able to compare.

It’s a B- for this because even with the flaws I mentioned I can’t wait to start the next one. Fortunately I already have it in the TBR pile.

Criminal Minds

I found a new TV Series I like, Criminal Minds is about FBI profilers and I like the psicological part of the investigation. I have no idea how accurate it really is but it’s entertaining. For someone who always said she seldom watched television it seems I've been hooked by a lot of shows lately. Will I ever overdose on these police/detective/investigation shows?


I must say though that what first made stop me my zapping in this program was the fact that one of the main characters is played by Thomas Gibson, which I recognised from the Dharma and Greg series. I had so much fun watching that series a few years ago when it first aired here!

Hide and Seek - Cherry Adair

Adair's first book I read failed to convince me but I had this one in the tbr pile and so decided on reading it just the same.

It’s more or less the same kind of plot, terrorists and drug dealers as villains, a special operations hero and an innocent heroine caught in the middle. Well this heroine got herself in the middle by going in search of her sister who was on more than friendly terms with the villain. There she finds the hero pretending to be a terrorist but actually preparing to close down the villain's operation. And, big coincidence, she had a one night stand with hero a few years ago and never forgot him (what are the odds of picking a man for a one night stand and being remembered 5 years later?).

Well although it didn’t seem as cartoonish as the previous book terrorists and special operation agents are still not my favourites. I guess I just feel that there’s violence instead of character development.

The heroine was a (big) bit TSTL and kept getting herself in more trouble but as a whole the story wasn’t that bad (meaning it was entertaining despite being bad).Oh and I really hated the last scenes, if you had to choose between staying with awounded sister or leave her with with strangers to go after your healthy lover which would you choose? The sister right? So how come we have a scene of the heroine having to grovel to the hero because of that? It was going ok but that ruined it for me. And now I’m left wondering about Dare and Lauren...after 2 C grades to Cherry Adair I should have learned my lesson shouldn’t I? But if she ever writes a book about them I might be tempted to read it. Talk about an addiction!

Also this review didn't come out the easy way, you might find that it's not at all well structured. I blame it on the contraditory feelings I had while reading this book...

A Funny Cartoon

Taken from here

Do You Believe? - Ann Lawrence

I had this book in my tbr for a while, I put it on my wish list right after reading her medievals which I enjoyed, especially Lord of The Keep. This book was about evil and that seemed like an interesting start for a thriller even if it was a paranormal and those are not among my favourite reading subgenres.

Rosie´s sister is missing, the only clue she has is a packet of papers including a book by famous fiction author V F Drummond who lives in the same village her sister disappeared in. At the end of that book there is a question, do you believe in evil? And Joan(the sister) wrote: I believe !

This could have been a really interesting story but in the end it didn’t work for me. It’s sort of a cozy without the cozyness, a little village where everyone is familiar with everyone else but where most people seem a bit twisted and dangerous.

There are too many things happening at the same time: they try to follow Joan’s footsteps, to discover the source of the paranormal events, Rosie and Vic’s relationship, the church and young people some characters kept talking about, why some people were influenced to evil actions... Things were not naturally interwoven and to make it worst it dragged a bit in the middle, the action seemed like slow moving to me, in a thriller or at least a suspense novel I prefer to have fast paced action.

I was unsatisfied with the conclusion, who really murdered Joan and why, the same for the young priest, where did evil came from and why... There were just too many loose ends to make it work, a C.

Vera Cuz do Marmelar

And we're back after a really nice weekend in the country!

Vera Cruz is a quiet little village with small white houses in the middle of Alentejo. We spent the time visiting friends, watching the animals and just relaxing.



We were getting ready for dinner when I took these pictures, hence the dark...thankfully it was sunny all weekend.




the restaurant where we had most meals, great food and really cheap!




Deers on a hunt reservation...





...she was friendly enough to make me swear off lamb for the rest of my life...




these were really curious about us and just run around...



the little rabbits were too cute...



Prison Break the animal version, at least according to L.

and that's it! I wish we could have stayed longer, it's the ideal place to just relax and forget the stress of city life.

Unfortunately today it's time to go back to work...

Happy Easter

At Christmas we eat cakes and puddings, at Easter we eat almonds and chocolate eggs… I can’t tell you how difficult it is to maintain that New Year resolution of eating less sweets and exercising more….

We are going away for the Easter Weekend. My sister in law's parents have a house in Alentejo, in a little village called Vera Cruz and that's where we are heading. I'll be back to posting on monday!

Happy Easter everyone!

Organising From The Inside Out

I read a different kind of book yesterday, more on the practical side. I've always been into organising everything. Ever since I know myself I'm either orginising and storing and filing or complaining about things not being organised my way.

When this book came along I thought there might be room for improvement and so I started reading it. However I think this is a bit too detailed for me and my needs. Not to mention that there is a psicological approach that really is not my style.

I'm passing it along to the next person but I'm wondering if I'm the only one trying to organise everything. Aren't you like that too?

Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear

I finished reading Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs yesterday and I loved it. I can start this review by saying this one was an A.

It is set in the 1920s and when we meet Maisie she has just established herself as a Private Investigator. As she starts investigating her first case we are given a view of her past as a young house maid and then, through hard work and kind employers, as a student in Cambridge University and after that as a nurse in France during World War II.

I particularly liked two things, the sense of time and place of the descriptions and the psycological approach to every situation. Maisie's interactions with other people are always analised by her according to the teachings of her mentor, Maurice Blanche. There's a part in the book where he asks her what she wants to do and she replies: I want to do what you do. I want to heal people!

The first case Maisie investigates while seeming just an ordinary infidelity case will make her revisit her past, relive the horrors of the war and the problem the wounded soldiers faced on returning home not whole and finally it will make her deal with the loss of her love.

I can't wait to get my hands on the second book, as a matter of fact I read this one as part of a bookring but I think I'll have to find my own copy soon. I want to keep it and reread it.

Behind The Scenes

I was zapping yesterday and caught a program on TV called Infanity Prison Break and after that one Infanity Bones.

Now I have already mentioned I'm not a big Prison Break fan but I'm really curious about what's going to happen on season 2. It was a bit odd for me that the main characters are prisoners, and some of them really bad people, and I certainly don't want to watch them all on the outside. It was interesting to see how they look anything but nasty characters when they are normally dressed and don't speak with accents or foul language, and how the tattoo on Wentworth Miller's body is done.



Regarding Bones I really enjoyed learning how they make all those bones and rotting corpses and all that. All the cast seemed really nice and friendly, David Boreanaz kept making jokes, but they all failed the Bones quiz about the human body. I was looking forward to an interview with Kathy Reichs or at least some info about her but it didn't happen. I still feel the books are better but I guess I have to read more books to offer an informed opinion.

My Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Thanks Alecia for sharing the link!