Shin

READING CHALLENGES Month Title Challenge - To read a book with a month in the title and book choices are: January - Alder, Curtis: January Colours February - Wu, Fan: February Flowers March April May June July - Patterson, James: 4th of July August September October November December BOOKRINGS I am not sure if I am still in these bookrings yet! DENOTES MOVED TO TBR LIST DENOTES MOVED TO CURRENT READ DENOTES READ & REVIEWED Grave Sight Series by Charlaine Harris ~ Bookring by Weave Grave Sight Grave Surprise An Ice Cold Grave Grave Secret Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris ~ Bookring by Weave Dead Reckoning The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ~ Bookring by Lucybird

BOOKS BOUGHT THIS YEAR My aim is not to buy any books during 2012! I have plenty on my TBR pile which I hope to get through this year. If I do acquire any books throughout the year it will be via hand me downs or library books! BOOKS I ACQUIRED IN 2012 HMD: HAND-ME-DOWNS LB: LIBRARY BOOKS February Flowers by Fan Wu LB BOOK SERIES COMPLETED UP~TO~DATE (WAITING ON NEXT BOOK) This will be were I will keep track of book series that I am currently reading, up-to-date with or have finished. This list may get a bit longer by the end of the year. The Vampire Chronicles ~by~ Anne Rice Alex Cross Series ~by~ James Patterson Plum Series ~by~ Janet Evanovich Rachel Morgan Series ~by~ Kim Harrison Morganville Vampire Series ~by~ Rachel Caine House of the Night Series ~by~ PC Cast with Kristin Cast Grave Sight Series ~by~ Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse Series ~by~ Charlaine Harris Undead Series ~by~ MaryJanice Davidson Thursday Next Series ~by~ Jasper Fforde Nursery Crime Series ~by~ Jasper Fforde Women of the Otherworld Series ~by~ Kelley Armstrong Georgia Series ~by~ Karin Slaughter Harry Potter Books ~by~ J K Rowlings Vicky Bliss Series ~by~ Elizabeth Peters

Previous Reading Lists: 2009 : (39 BOOKS) 2010 : (38 BOOKS) 2011 : (12 BOOKS) Oops! 2012 AIM : 52 BOOKS - one per week (hopefully!) RATINGS 5/5: Excellent - could not put the book down. Highly recommended. 4/5: Very Good - really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend. 3/5: Good - readable and would recommend. 2/5: OK - nothing to write home about but read it when you have nothing else to read. 1/5: Awful - finished the book for the sake of finishing a book but don't waste your time reading it. 0/5: Abandoned - that bad I couldn't even finish it. Don't even bother with it. CURRENTLY READING: Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James August 2012 (0) July 2012 (0) June 2012 (0) May 2012 (0) April 2012 (0) March 2012 (0) February 2012 (1) 5. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 4/5 January 2012 (4) 4. Amanda's Wedding by Jenny Colgan 2/5 3. Animal Farm by George Orwell 5/5 2. Report for Murder by V.L. McDermid 3/5 1. Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella 3/5

Oh dear, I can't beleive it has been 6 months since I have been on here. I have also been bad as I have not read much either. Been busy running, dieting and making jewellery but that 6 months has flew by. Much up date my reading list then. Charm, I think you might like that series. It's slow to begin with but you get into it after book one or two.

Sizzling Sixteen ~by~ Janet Evanovich Started: 15th February 2011 Finished: 18th February 2011 Rating: 4/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a 'lucky' bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn't specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck...Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, owes a gambling debt to mobster Bobby Sunflower. It's up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs. Saving the business means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a Turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr Jingles. The job comes with perks in the guise of Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous security expert, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip's lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky -- the only question is...with whom? My Review After my disappointments with Evanovich’s previous books in the series, I think she is back in form after reading this one. I found myself laughing out loud in some parts of the book, which I have not done with this series since the earlier books. This time we see Vinnie (the owner of the bail bonds company and Stephanie’s cousin) go missing. So to keep their jobs otherwise they would not have bothered, Stephanie, Lula and Connie set off to get him back. I loved reading the antics of these three together. Connie is the Office Manager at Vincent Plum Bails Bond and doesn’t assist Stephanie and Lula on their trips but we were introduced to three amigos in one of the “In Between the Numbers” novels, Plum Lucky and I thought it worked. They are so funny together. Of course, you still had the usual FTAs escaping and the endless trips to Cluck in a Bucket and Tasty Pastry. Then there is the currently “off-again” relationship with Morrelli. I love Morrelli and I think that it is time Stephanie and Joe settled down but I think the “off-again” relationship made this book a little more interesting. Then there is Ranger…..I will say no more. I have to find myself some of that Bulgari shower gel!!!

Every Which Way But Dead ~by~ Kim Harrison Started: 7th February 2011 Finished: 14th February 2011 Rating: 4/5 Synopsis by Waterstones If you make a deal with the devil, can you still save your soul? To avoid becoming the love-slave of a depraved criminal vampire, bounty-hunter and witch, Rachel Morgan, is cornered into a deal that could promise her an eternity of suffering. But eternal damnation is not Rachel's only worry. Her vampire roommate, Ivy, has rediscovered her taste for blood and is struggling to keep their relationship platonic, her boyfriend, Nick, has disappeared -- perhaps indefinitely, and she's being stalked by an irate pack of werewolves. And then there's also the small matter of the turf war raging in Cincinnati's underworld; one that Rachel began and will have to navigate before she has the smallest hope of preserving her own future. My Review The third book in the Hallows series commences with Rachel Morgan settling her arrangement with scary demon, Algaliarept, or better known as “Big Al”. An arrangement made in exchange for Big Al’s help to imprison high vampire Piscary...the arrangement to become his familiar and taken to the ever-after. Rachel does everything in her power to prevent Big Al taking her there and in the meantime she accommodates her predecessor (Big Al's previous familiar). Most of the story was focused on Rachel trying to escape Big Al every time she tapped into a ley line and her relationships with those close to her. Her boyfriend Nick leaves, human vampire Kisten tries to date her, room mates and business partners Ivy and Jenks gives her cause for misery. All in all it was a good story. I can see the story evolving more and more and I love the new relationship between Kisten and Rachel. It is not one of my favourite series but I will continue with books.

Just back from a walk while on my lunch hour and called into the charity shops again. I got the following for £2.40 and some are from my wishlist. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult The Distant Echo by Val McDermid The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Denver The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

I am currently reading Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. It is going well but I had to put my reading aside this week and also the start of next week as I have promised my friend that I will have her wedding invitations ready for her by Wednesday. I am soooo behind. After that I will only have the evening invites and placecards to do and they are more straight forward so I will be able to relax and pick up on my reading again. I still have to do my review for the last two books I have read so they will be coming up.

Hi Charm, you doing really well with your reading. The synopsis for Therapy makes the book sound really interested but going by your review it didn't turn out as so. I don't think I could go through a depressing and suffocating book. Great review.

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson Started: 1st February 2011 Finished: 6th February 2011 Rating: 5/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is fed up of trying to decipher the strange things prophesied in The Book of the Dead. At the end of her tether, she strikes a deal with Satan who promises to help - if she and her half-sister Laura pay a visit to Hell. Hell, it would seem, is more terrifying than Betsy could have ever imagined - a waiting room with bad carpeting, re-runs of 70s TV shows and ancient Good Housekeeping magazines. But when Betsy and Laura find themselves catapulted back and forth through time, they realise they could seriously screw everything up for good... My Review I have to say that this has to be my favourite book so far in this series. The doubts I had in the reviews in the last two books have now crumbled and I can now see were everything is going and it is getting so much more interesting. Truthfully, the start of the book was really slow for me...so unlike me as I could finish one of these books within a few hours. I don't know but I don't really like Laura...she bores me! I know it is tough on me because it seems that the series is revolved around Betsy and Lauras relationship but I think in future books, I may begin to like her. It was really interesting when Betsy and Laura started travelling through time and I must admit Betsy annoyed me a little in this book....just with her usual attitude...but we should really love her for it. May be I was I little tired when reading the book. To sum it up....the ending of this book made me gasp! I finished it last night and I still have not stopped thinking about it. Everything has slotted into place and I just can not wait for the next book.

I agree. Better to go out on top. I am reading a bounty hunter series which I love but the 17th book is out this year and that is not including the 3-4 in between the numbers books. I find that the series has run it course and every book is the same type of storyline, you know what is going to happen. I think the author should have wound up the series a few books back so I really think Charlaine Harris is doing the right thing even though I would miss them so much.

Hi Catwoman...lovely to see you back. How's that mojo of yours?

Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson Started: 27th January 2011 Finished: 31st January 2011 Rating: 4/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Betsy Taylor has problems that only a vampire queen/suburban wife could possibly understand...such as fifty thousand angry werewolves. That's what Betsy is facing when she takes her werewolf friend Antonia's body to Cape Cod, where the Pack resides at Wyndham Mansion. Because Antonia died in her service, Betsy is alive and well - and wracked with guilt. She has no idea if the Wyndham werewolves will welcome her with fangs or friendship. While Betsy and her husband Sinclair try to make nice, their legal ward BabyJon is freaking out every werewolf he comes in contact with. Meanwhile, Betsy's posse back at the St Paul mansion are not happy. Increasingly frantic emails alert Betsy to her half-sister's increasingly erratic behavior. Looks like the devil's daughter is coming into her own - and raising hell. All in the name of making Betsy's life easier, of course. My Review Betsy along with her husband, Eric Sinclair and half brother BabyJon, set off on a trip to Cape Cod to bring Antonia's body back to her pack. The book is written in half the 'normal' manner and 'half' journal written by Marc. I found this quite odd but could see the sense in it in the end....of course we needed to be updated on what is going on back in Minnesota while Betsy and Sinclair are inches from a vampire / werewolf war. As the previous book to this one was the first of a trilogy amount the series, I was left quite confused in how different these books are to the 'norm' and how they were taking the wholes story to a different level. Still, they are great wee reads...very funny and uplifting.

Plum Spooky ~by~ Janet Evanovich Started: 22nd January 2011 Finished: 27th January 2011 Rating: 3/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Stephanie Plum is back in town, along with her sidekick Lula, her Grandma Mazur, and an ever-widening cast of freaks, criminals, deranged felons, and lunatics looking for love. And just when Stephanie thinks her life can't get any more complicated, in walks the mysterious Diesel. A man who seems to show up at the most inconvenient moments. This time, he's the instigator for Stephanie's new adventure, which involves camping in the Pine Barrens with Lula, and perhaps even a sighting of the Jersey Devil My Review This is another one of Evanovich's "Between the Numbers" novel but this book is not the normal slim, short story like the rest of the in-betweeners. Again, the mysterious Diesel is back and this time is on the hunt for his cousin Wulf who is tied up in some technology scam with Martin Munch....Stephanie's latest PTA. They also have Carl tagging along....a cute, funny and rude little monkey that Stephanie is roped into babysitting. Evanovich seems to leave Morelli and Ranger for the main novels but I am delighted they were featured a little more often in this book than they have done in the other in-betweeners. To sum up my review, I think this book was good but I think Evanovich has lost her touch with these books. There was a time I would have given these books a 5/5...no questions asked but they don't make me laugh the way they used to. I think that the inbetweeners was a bad idea...even though I do like reading them. I also think it is time for Evanovich to take the books up a level...like may be Morelli and Stephanie getting married and how her married life fits around bounty hunting. Despite this review....I won't stop reading the series.

Would you say that Karen Rose books are like Karin Slaughters books? I love books that I can't put down. I see Karen Roses books in Smyths in Newcastle for 2 for £12. Not much of a bargain so I didn't get them. I will look into getting them in the library.

Undead and Unworthy ~by~ MaryJanice Davidson Started: 20th January 2011 Finished: 22nd January 2011 Rating: 4/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Having recently lost her dad and stepmother, Betsy Sinclair (nee Taylor) is adjusting to rather more than just married life. Their untimely deaths have left her and Eric as sole guardians of her little brother, Jon. Two vampire parents - albeit vampire royalty - for a decidedly human baby. Still, Betsy is more than up for the challenge. If only everyone would stop being so nervous around her, given her sudden recent burst of power. Betsy most emphatically does not want to discuss it, and for the moment, everyone is following her lead. But then the ghost of Betsy's stepmother turns up at their house. And as stubborn and insufferable as she was in life, she's even more annoying in death - especially as she regards her demise as all Betsy's fault! My Review I just love the Queen Betsy series. They are light hearted, funny and short reads. Not only is Betsy trying to cope with married life, being a parent to her brother, BabyJon, she also has now to deal with the Ant floating about and the disastrous Fiends. Davidson has stated at the beginning of this book that this one is the first in a trilogy and the whole series is now going in a different direction. I am looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

Do, they are quite funny. Thanks Brida, definitely give The Vampire Lestat a go...I think it is worth reading.

I totally agree...get reading them now.

I would say that they would be a 'bounty hunter' version of the Queen Betsy series. No vampires in these books but they are quite funny and the series starts with One for the Money. I know you like the Queen Betsy series so I think you might like these.

I have finished reading Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich tonight and started Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson.

We took the lazy option tonight....chips from the chip shop.

Plum Lucky ~by~ Janet Evanovich Started: 17th January 2011 Finished: 20th January 2011 Rating: 3/5 Synopsis by Waterstones Stephanie Plum has a way of attracting danger, lunatics, oddballs, bad luck ...and mystery men. And no one is more mysterious than the unmentionable Diesel. He's back and hot on the trail of a little man in green pants who's lost a giant bag of money. Problem is the money isn't exactly lost. Stephanie's Grandma Mazur has found it, and like any good Jersey senior citizen she's high-tailed it in a Winnebago to Atlantic City and hit the slots. With Lula and Connie in tow, Stephanie attempts to bring Grandma home. But the luck of the Irish is rubbing off on everyone. Lula's found a job modeling plus size lingerie, Connie's found a guy, Diesel's found Stephanie. And Stephanie has found herself in way over her head... My Review Well, the synopsis for this book just sums up the storyline and I haven't much more to add. This is just one of Evanovich's 'in-between the numbers' novel and is set around St. Patrick's Day or more so the day after. We are again are introduced to the supernatural Diesel who is hunting a man who thinks he is a leprechaun and has lost a duffle bag of money. Stephanie's mad but loveable Grandma Mazur has found it and taken off to Altantic City for a spending spree. So all the Trenton gang go for a short break to Altantic City to bring her home. These 'in-betweeners' keep you going until the next novel therefore there is not really much of a storyline to the books. We only have one or two mentions of Ranger and Morelli in the books and they seem to revolve around Diesel, this mysterious or supernatural character which Evanovich does not go much into detail. I think her idea is to keep this character magical for the 'in-between' festive novels such as St. Patrick's Day and Christmas. Although these novels have not lost the humour and I did enjoy the story, I miss having Ranger and Morelli play a big part in the story. For me they make the Plum series.

Great haul Charm. I think that The Works has a better selection than Bargain Book did.