Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Portland detective Archie Sheridan, the former head of the Beauty Killer Task Force, hunted Gretchen Lowell for years before she kidnapped him, tortured him, and then let him go. Now that she is behind bars, Archie is finally piecing his life back together. He’s returned home to his ex-wife and their two children. But no matter how hard Archie tries, he just can’t stop thinking about Gretchen…
Sweetheart
When the body of a young woman is discovered in Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the first corpse he discovered there a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. Then, the unthinkable happens: Gretchen escapes from prison, and once the news breaks, all of Portland goes on high alert…but secretly, Archie is relieved. He knows he’s the only one who can capture Gretchen—and now he has a plan to get out from under her thumb once and for all. Even if it means becoming her last victim.

This book is a great thriller. Its addictive and you want more. It was very hard to put this book down to get some chores done. I have not read the first book in this series but will make sure to get it and definitely will have to read the third book in this series.
If you like a good thriller with many twists and turns then this is one book you need to read.

Author Biography
Chelsea Cain lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where the infamous Green River killer was "the boogeyman" of her youth. Her first novel featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and killer Gretchen Lowell, Heartsick, was a New York Times bestseller. Also the author of Confessions of a Teenage Sleuth, a parody based on the life of Nancy Drew, several nonfiction titles, and a weekly column in The Oregonian, Chelsea Cain lives in Portland with her family. Visit her online at www.chelseacain.com.


Pub. Date: September 2009
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 338pp
Series: Gretchen Lowell Series, #2
ISBN-13: 9780312943837
ISBN: 0312943830

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams


13-year-old Kyra rebels against her close-knit, cult-like polygamist community when she is ordered to marry her 60-year-old uncle, who already has six wives.

This book touched my heart. It is an emotional, heartbreaking story of Kyra, a teenage girl who will break away from the cult after she finds out she will become the 7th wife of her uncle. Kyra will be beaten and has a lot to go through before she is finally able to leave.
This story will stay with me for a very long time.

Author Biography

CAROL LYNCH WILLIAMS, a four-time winner of the Utah Original Writing Competition and winner of Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award, grew up in Florida but now lives in Utah with her husband and seven children. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and helped develop the conference on Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers at Brigham Young University


Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1 edition (May 12, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312555113
ISBN-13: 978-0312555115

Truly, madly by Heather Webber

Lucy Valentine is as smart as can be, as single as you can get, and so not qualified to run a matchmaking service. But when her parents temporarily step down from the family business, Valentine, Inc., it’s Lucy’s turn to step up and help out—in the name of love.

Plus, her rent is due.

Here’s the problem: Lucy doesn’t have the knack for matchmaking. According to family legend, every Valentine has been blessed by Cupid with the ability to read “auras” and pair up perfect couples. But not Lucy. Her skills were zapped away years ago in an electrical surge, and now all she can do is find lost objects. What good is that in the matchmaking world? You’d be surprised. In a city like Boston, everyone’s looking for something. So when Lucy locates a missing wedding ring—on a dead body—she asks the sexy private eye who lives upstairs to help her solve the perfect crime. And who knows? Maybe she’ll find the perfect love while she’s at it…


This book is a quick fun read. This novel was delightful from start to end. It held my attention to the last page. Well written and charming. Wonderful chick lit, part romance, mystery and humor.

This is the first book in the new Lucy Valentine series by Heather Webber and I am trying to wait patiently for the next book in this series to come out.

Coming For Money by F.W. Scheidt

Coming For Money by F.W. Scheidt

How much money is too much? And how fast is too fast in life? Investment star Paris Smith steps onto the top rungs of the corporate ladder, only to discover he is caught between his need for fulfillment and his need for understanding, between his drive for power and his inability to cope with his growing emptiness where there was once love. When his wife disappears from the core of his life, Smith’s loneliness and sense of disconnection threaten to overwhelm him. When he tries to compensate by losing himself in his work, he stumbles off the treadmill of his own success, and is entangled in the web of a fraudulent bond deal that threatens to derail his career and his life. Forced to put his personal life on hold while he travels non-stop between Toronto, Singapore, and Bangkok to salvage his career, the embattled financier is deprived of the time and space he needs to mourn the absence of his wife and to objectively assess his future options. In the heat,
turmoil and fast money of Southeast Asia half a world from home and half a life from his last remembered smile Paris Smith finds duplicity, comradeship, and power. He also finds a special woman who might heal his heart.


This author is very talented. This book is fast paced, a page turner until the novel ends. The characters are believable, realistic and come to life. This book makes you still think after you finish reading it. This is a must read for anyone.


Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Blue Butterfly Books (October 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0978498283
ISBN-13: 978-0978498283

A field guide to burying your parents by Liza Palmer

Grace Hawkes has not spoken to her previously tight-knit family since her mother's sudden death five years ago. Well, most of the family was tight-knit-- her father walked out on them when she was 13 and she and her two brothers and sister bonded together even closer with their mother as a result.

She's been doing her best to live her new life apart from them, but when their estranged father has a stroke and summons them, Grace suddenly realizes she's done the same thing he had done...abandoned those who need her most.

And need her they do, for inside the hospital halls, a strange war is unfolding between the pseudo-kindly woman who is their father's second wife and the rest of the original Hawkes clan. Upon reconnecting with her brother and sisters, Grace will find a part of herself she thought was lost forever. As they unravel the manipulative deception of the second Mrs. Hawkes, Grace will finally be able to stand up for her family-- and to remember what a family is, even after all these years.

This is a fast paced, great read. I couldn’t stop reading since I had to know what happens next. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a quick fast read and look forward to read more by this author.

To Desire A Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

To Desire A Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING-
Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl's heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?

OR DANGEROUS-
Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle's home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh-and luring her into his bed.

THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.
Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud's savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice's love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?


This novel was just ok for me. I love reading this author but was a little disappointed in the last book of this series.

Pub. Date: October 2009
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Format: Mass Market Paperback,
384 pages
Series: Legend of the Four Soldiers Series, #4
ISBN-13: 9780446406949
ISBN: 0446406945

Let’s Find You by Jeffrey D. Barbieri

Let’s Find You by Jeffrey D. Barbieri

Let's Find You chronicles Ben's remarkable upbringing in a singularly unique family, one where a new crisis is always just around the corner.
Told in a mix of prose and poetry, the compelling coming-of-age narrative follows Benjamin from a young boy into early adulthood.
He and his brothers routinely fight, and his mother remains an elusive figure in his life, constantly moving the family from place to place.
But there's also plenty to laugh over - from the wacky garbage men tale to the creature he encounters along the way.
Can Benjamin survive his family, and find his true sense of self?
Let's Find You is the ultimate guide into the heart and soul of a teenage boy as he journeys through car crashes, near-death experiences and melted chocolate...


I enjoyed this novel and liked the characters. This novel is touching and emotional and I was able to relate to the characters. I believe every one of us can somehow relate to this story.
The author did a wonderful job with this novel and I am looking forward to read more by this author.


Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (July 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432743651
ISBN-13: 978-1432743659

Until Now by Denise Skelton

Until Now by Denise Skelton

Terry Meyers’ life seems to be falling apart. Her husband left her and their 2 sons for a woman 10 years her junior, she has a mortgage that she can’t afford, a car that stays broken more than it works and a son who’s going through puberty and seems set to drive her crazy in the process. Add to that the desire to go into business with her cousin, who is adamant that that will never happen and Terry believes her life could not get much worse.

Wade Nelson has moved back to Chicago to work as the new English teacher at Jefferson high. His strained relationship with his father has kept him away for many years. What his family doesn’t know is that Wade has another agenda for being back in Chicago.

As things seem to go from bad, to worse, Terry decides it’s time to take stock in her life. First on the list, handle her deadbeat future ex-husband. Second, find a new career. Third, swear off men, what’s the point, she always chooses the wrong one, always ends up being used or hurt… Until Now…

When Wade meets feisty Terry Meyers, the last thing he’s thinking about being in a relationship with anyone, let alone a woman who has two children, but Terry has a way of finding herself in rather strange situations and he just happened to be the one there to bail her out. With a past that he has never put to rest, Wade. by no means, considered the idea of settling don. Until Now…


This novel is a fun fast-paced easy read. I was laughing out loud at some of the situations Terry got herself into. Until Now kept my attention until the last page and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance with a little mystery.


Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: First Chance Publishing (November 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0979087732
ISBN-13: 978-0979087738

Dear John

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life—until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.


This is an awesome novel by Nicholas Sparks. Wonderful quick read that was hard to put down. This is a touching love story without the conventional ending and sometimes I had tears in my eyes reading it.

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (July 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446618306
ISBN-13: 978-0446618304

Embellish by R.L. Sloan

Embellish by R.L. Sloan

Revenge has never tasted so sweet...

As a young girl, Solis Burkes is raped at the hands of ruthless school bullies-an incident that haunts her into young adulthood. Then she meets Nacio, a strikingly handsome man who seems to know everything about her-including the painful past Solis hasn't told anyone about. But what Solis doesn't know is that Nacio has been with her every step of the way, protecting her ever since that fateful episode.

It's a destiny he's been working up to for the last 257 years.

Now, as Solis enters a dark world of vampires, voodoo, and passion, she'll need all the protection she can get. Unbeknownst to her, those responsible for Solis's rape have returned. Connected to the evil voodoo Priestess Aldicia, they'll stop at nothing in their plans to spew violence and mayhem throughout the city. And an old family feud dating back centuries puts Solis first on their list of targets. But not if Solis can unravel the clues fast enough, and inflict her own brand of revenge...

Embellish mixes sexy romance with high-stakes paranormal intrigue for a keeps-you-guessing, fast-paced and savvy thriller, right up until the shocking finale.


R.L. Sloan did an excellent job with this novel. This is a great fast-paced paranormal romance thriller which makes you want more. I read this book in two nights. Was not able to put it down once I got started reading. This novel has well developed characters and is well written. I am looking forward to read the next novel by this author and recommend this book to anyone who likes some good paranormal romance.

Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (June 23, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432740326
ISBN-13: 978-1432740320
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches