In the first Midnighters book, Jessica, along with the reader, was just discovering Midnight and her own special Midnight talent. In the second book, Jessica has come into her own. She is comfortable and confident in Midnight and in her relationship with Jonathon. This makes the second Midnighters book even more captivating than the first.

Jessica might feel safe at the start of this book, but it doesn’t last long. With the appearance of a human stalker, Jessica finds herself and her friends in danger by the end of the first chapter. The action keeps going from there. The introduction of human danger as well as darkling danger is an interesting twist that keeps the reader guessing.

Jessica and her friends make some interesting discoveries that are both enlightening and mystifying. They realize there is still a lot about midnight they don’t know, leaving the reader ready to continue on to the third book in the series to find out more.

Touching Darkness was fast moving and action packed with enough mystery to keep it intriguing. Scott Westerfeld knows how to write a finely crafted science-fiction novel, and his Midnighters series doesn’t disappoint.

Rent Touching Darkness at BookSwim.

This was my first experience with W. Somerset Maugham and I can definitely say I will add more of his books to my rental pool. I was enthralled with “The Painted Veil” from the moment I picked it up. I chose it because I was interested in seeing the 2006 movie of the same name and I really like to read the book before seeing the movie. (Or Boovie as Steve Leveen, CEO of Levenger likes to call them.)

The preface was especially insightful as it opened your eyes to what was going on in Maugham’s head as he developed this story. We learn that the inspiration for “The Painted Veil” came from a line of Dante. The preface also gave an interesting history of the serialized magazine publication for the novel.
The story centers around Kitty Fane and her husband Walter. Walter is a biologist in the Foreign Service for Great Britain pre-WW2. Kitty has followed Walter to Hong Kong and has embarked on an adulterous affair to assuage her boredom. Kitty married Walter in a fit of rage when her younger sister became engaged. She has led a very shallow life up until this point of which the main goal was to marry up and achieve a higher social status.
When Walter discovered her affair, he reacts very unpredictably. He brings (forces) Kitty along on an expedition into Central China to study a cholera epidemic. Kitty’s despair at being dragged away from her love affair combined with a healthy fear of cholera begin her rising self-awareness regarding her marriage and the value of her life up until this point.
This story is essentially about Kitty’s awakening and her true growth into adulthood. Maugham’s tense language and short chapters lead you quickly through the story. But no matter how quickly you can read the story, you should slow down and actually listen to the story. In “The Painted Veil”, sometimes it’s what isn’t written but what’s left unwritten that has the most impact.

Rent “The Painted Veil” at BookSwim

The graduate students at New York College are striking, the trash cans are overflowing and Heather Wells’ new boss has just been murdered. The only good thing is that the cafeteria workers are part of a different union, so the caf will remain open… oh, and that little thing of Tad popping THE question.

The third book in the Heather Wells mysteries falls right in line with the first two… excellent. The first two books are must reads and will lead you up to this moment nicely. Heather Wells is the pop princess who, after her mom ran away with all her money, is now living with her ex-boyfriend’s brother, working for next-to-nothing at the “Death Dorm” and trying to get her undergraduate degree. As usual, the police are not heading in the right direction to find Dr. Veatch’s murder, so Heather must step in and pick up the pieces, solve the mystery and almost get killed in the process. Heather spends most the time trying to figure out how she will answer Tad’s question and avoiding him until she decides what the answer should be. In the end, the big question is who pops THE big question. Will Heather end up with Tad, her cute, vegetarian, exercise obsessed remedial math prof, Jordan her ex-boyfriend, married, father-to-be, or Cooper her PI landlord? The excitement is killing me!

Meg Cabot is awesome, bringing back all the characters we have loved from the first two Heather Wells novels. I was hoping that the Heather Wells mysteries were going to be a multi-book series, but with Big Boned, it seems that it will only be a trilogy. At the end of this novel Heather does agree to marry one of the men in her life, so, no matter who she chooses, the sexual tension is gone. We will have to wait until the next installment (if there will be one), to see if Heather choosing a suitor will cause the series to jump the shark.

Heather is a great role model, showing that even if you once had it all, you can live a down to earth life, where you work for your rent and have a real job. Maybe, Brittany Spears should read this book to see how a washed up pop princess should run her life. It’s also good to see that those of us who were once a size 6 can grow to a size 12 and still have a meaningful, fulfilling life, with friends and love. Lots of women will relate to Heather’s constant struggle between losing weight and giving up the food she loves.

A wonderfully entertaining book, combining the three things I love: murder, humor and little romance.

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Alice Sebold has written some daring books in the past. This one meets that standard as well, although it does not meet its mark as easily as some of her other works. Sebold’s third novel, The Almost Moon, takes on the complications of family life, its beauties and its horrors.

The first sentence of the book is obviously meant to shock; frankly the book as a whole is shocking. The main character, Helen, seems to be both amazed by and resigned to her actions, as though she knew she always had this in her but is surprised to finally let it out. Perhaps she always thought that this is where she would end up.

The problem I found with this novel, was that as a reader, I was never shocked. I was vaguely interested in what would happen next, but after chapter after chapter of shocking events nothing seems all that radical anymore. Helen’s lack of foresight became tiresome as well. If a character is going to take such extreme measures, it would be appreciated if they would think about them, or at least seem to care about their fate.

The book also jumps from distant past to present to near past in a matter of sentences. This can be difficult to keep up with at times, but provides an interesting aspect to the story, as though all the events therein are woven together into the fabric of the characters life. Her family’s pain, and hers, and her daughters’ are all meshed together to become one. This style reinforces the concept that Helen was always going to wind up at this end, with no escape from her own actions.

This book is a good, junk food for the brain kind of read. Definitely an interesting read, if not one that will change your life. The topic is dark, so I would not recommend for the squeamish.

- Kristin
Diverxtrme

Rent The Almost Moon at Bookswim

Night of the Soul Stealers: The Last Apprentice Book 3
by Joseph Delaney

The third book in Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice series does not disappoint. Spook’s apprentice Thomas Ward travels with his master to their winter home, bringing the young witch Alice to stay at a farm nearby. While there Tom encounters stone-chuckers, feral lamia witches, and the Spook’s former love Meg, who is also a witch. There are enough creepy creatures to keep any young (or not so young) reader captivated.

The action starts building from the first chapter, climaxing when the Spook’s former apprentice, Morgon, tries to wake the winter god Golgoth. Tom stays smart and keeps his head through most of the book. But when he fails to tell the Spook or Alice about Morgon’s plan to steal the grimoire from the Spook, he finds himself in trouble.

This book has just the right amount of creepiness, suspense, and action. The characters are interesting and easy to relate to, even when they’re fighting witches and boggarts. It even has a touch of romance.

It was easy to get into this book and keep reading until the very end. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Rent it here: Night of the Soul Stealer

Merlin prophesied that the twenty first queen would redeem the Pendragon name, end war with the wave of her hand, and restore glory to Wilde Island. Rosalind happens to be the twenty first queen. But Rosalind holds the devils mark, her ring finger is the claw of a dragon with a prominent black talon at its end.

Rosalind is forced to wear gloves to hide her mark and anyone that bears witness to it, doesn’t live long after. Although many healers have been sought to heal the mark, it remains. Rosalind fears she will remain tainted forever, and will never marry or find love.

Rosalind is captured by the dragon Lord Faul and is forced to care for his young after his mate is killed. It is here at her life with the dragons that Rosalind finds herself.

I expected a lot from this book, and I hate to say it but I was disappointed. It seemed like Rosalind couldn’t figure out what kind of person she was, one second she was vulnerable the next she’s invincible. The story was interesting, but it seemed to drag. I had to fight myself to keep interest, I only continued to read because there were so many unanswered questions. To add to my disappointment was the melodramatic climax. At least there was a happy ending. This book was okay, it was good, just not great. I wanted to love it, but I don’t know if I even really liked it.

Add Dragon’s Keep to your book pool

Poseur revolves around the story of four girls. Janie Farrish, Charoltte Beverwil, Melissa Moon and Petra Greene. There are only two things these girls have in common a) they go to the same school, Winston Prep and b) they have a particular interest in fashion.

So when the school proposed a new class called “Special Study” the four girls all enter their own ideas for their class. Although in theory the ideas are all completely different, the outcome again leads to their one common interest, fashion. And so starts The Trend Set, which consists of the four girls, and to say they aren’t happy about it, is an understatement. The girls not only have to deal with themselves but they all have a private drama in their lives as well.

I have to say that I was reluctant to read this at first. I’m not a fashion guru at any means. My wardrobe consists of t-shirts and jeans. But I actually ended up enjoying this book. There are a lot of references to fashion, but even a simpleton such as my self wasn’t lost, and the fashion talk didn’t overwhelm the story. Poseur was a light and fun read! The story line was fun as well, I guess I should say stories. Each chapter usually stars a different girl, so you get a look in each of their lives. Anyway, I ended up really enjoying this book and I will think you will too! And really everyone has a little poseur-ish self in them at one time or another.

Add Poseur to your book pool.

“Candy Cane Murder” by Joanne Fluke

Three great writers, one good book and twelve calorie-loaded recipes. This book will definitely help you celebrate the twelve days of Christmas. Whether the candy canes leave a trail, tempt you into trouble or are found broken at the bottom of the stairs, one thing is for sure, this Christmas all candy canes lead to murder.

With Christmas going on all around you this is a good pick. Easy to put down while you baste the turkey or greet the family who just showed up, but entertaining when you get around to reading during the busy holiday season. Whether you are reading this as your Christmas installment to the Hannah Swenson, Jaine Austen or Lucy Stone series, or using this to get to know the authors, you can’t go wrong with this Christmas “brain candy.” The three authors showcased in this collection are a good fit, and every one will be able to relate to one of these amazing heroines. The stories were in a good order as well, Hannah Swenson is good, but Jaine Austen and Lucy Stone are even better. Also, don’t forget to bake at least one of the cookie recipes, I suggest trying them all.

Candy Cane Murder by Joanne Fluke

“You have got to stop doing this, Hannah Louise!” The famous words spoken from Hannah’s mother every time she finds another dead body, and she’s done it again. Hannah Swenson, owner of The Cookie Jar, can’t seem to stop finding dead bodies, inserting herself into the investigation or getting into sticky situations. In this Christmas themed short mystery Santa himself is found by Hannah, well maybe he’s just Wayne Bergstrom, owner of Bergstrom’s Department Store, dressed up as Santa. Never the less, Hannah, and her cohorts, insist on solving the mystery themselves.

In this short mystery by Joanne Fluke you will find the most of the things that seasoned Hannah Swenson fans have come accustomed to: characters speaking to each other on a 2nd grade level, a chocolate cookie fixing everyone’s problems and the tooth-achingly sweet lifestyle of every one in Lake Eden. However, some of the Hannah fans will miss The Cookie Jar’s big red truck and the description of how it must be plugged in at all times during the winter, the constant battle between Mike and Norman, and Hannah’s self discussions on which one to pick. If you can get past the boring dialog (which must be done with every Hannah Swenson book) then the mystery is intriguing and above all else, the recipes are great.

The Dangers of Candy Canes by Laura Levine

“Size Doesn’t Matter. We Do Big Jobs and Small.” That’s the slogan that Jaine Austen, no relation, wrote for Seymour Fiedler, owner of Fiedler on the Roof Roofers, and now he’s asked her to solve a murder that is being blamed on him. Just what Jaine needs, something else to do while she’s trying to prepare for Christmas with her relatives in Florida, start mentoring a motherless girl through L.A. Girlfriends and flirt with that cute boy that did the L.A. Girlfriends interview. This short mystery is a two for one, who murdered Garth Janken and will Jaine finally go on a date?

Laura Levine did a great job packing all the Jaine Austen stuff we love into a shorter story. There is Jaine’s constant battle with what she eats, the lusting after items in Nordstrom’s, the constantly empty bank account and how to discipline that cat of hers. I can relate with all of these problems, except for the cat, I have a dog and he behaves wonderfully. The only thing missing from the full length Jaine Austen mysteries is the neighbor who adds even more comedy. This one had me guessing right up to Chapter Thirteen (next to last) and I will miss Angel, I think she would have made a good addition to the regular characters.

Candy Canes of Christmas Past by Leslie Meier

Lucy Stone is remembering her first Christmas in Tinker’s Cove Maine, how her small boy got snowed on in his crib, how her husband almost blew up the house trying to fix the stove and how she solved her first murder. Lucy Stone, Bill, her husband, Toby, her son, and the little one on the way, all moved to Tinker’s Cove and left the rat race of NYC behind. Miss Tilley, the town librarian, is the first person in Tinker’s Cove to open up to Lucy and Lucy jumps at the chance to spend a few hours visiting a house with a working… anything. Lucy thanks Miss Tilley with a beautiful Christmas gift that brings up awful memories of her mother’s death. Now Lucy is determined to solve the mystery, maybe even murder of Miss Tilley’s mother and along the way she makes some friends in the small town of Tinker’s Cove.

The avid Leslie Meier readers will get to see where it all began and the rest of us will start from the beginning. The book is full of small town characters that small town dwellers already know and big city livers always dream of knowing. Leslie Meier makes me want to live in Tinker’s Cove! This story will be the beginning of a long relationship between me and Lucy Stone.

Rent “A Certain Justice” by John Lescroart

POW! Zing! Ka-Zam! BANG! John Lescroart continues to sparkle, amuse, entice and entertain in this fast-paced novel.

If you are new to this author’s novels, you are not going to be disappointed in what you read. If you are a long time fan and enthusiast of this very talented writer, you are not going to be disappointed in what you read either! I have read almost 10 of this author’s works in just the last six months and he never…NEVER…fails to snag me at almost the first sentence. That literary love affair continues until the last sentence – every time!

Equally, he never bores me or gets caught in the “same old, same old” rut that many authors get enticed into after a few books. There is such an interesting and diverse mix of characters to read about – each one being featured prominently at one time or another in one of Lescroart’s tomes. In A Certain Justice you will very much enjoy the off beat (and often dryly humorous) friendship of Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky, you’ll cheer the return of Wes Farrell to his love of law – as well as the on-going round of folks and familiar faces who pop in and out of Lou the Greeks – another staple of a Lescroart book!

As always, Lescroart is topical in his subject matter and absolutely honest in the portrayal of his characters. Pick up one of this man’s books and get to know the rich, real and robust characters that you will find in every book by John Lescroart and most definitely in this one!

Rent “The First Law” by John Lescroart

Aficionados of Mr. Lescroart’s books are wildly vocal in their love of his work, the stylization of his characters and the on-going fascinating legal story lines that encompass all of his characters at one time or another (and none of them are boring!!). Please add my voice to that cry of “LOVE IT!”

In this particular book, I became involved in the mechanisms of the police processes – and the human underpinnings of corruption that is a part of the law, whether we like it or not. The ethical dilemma proffered in this novel is as real as it gets – we’ve all had to make a decision based on a reality and not a scale of fairness – we’ve all had the school of hard knocks come rapping at our door and we’ve all faced the moral decisions that had to be made the hard way. Abe Glitsky and Dismas Hardy are caught in a whirlpool that seems about destroy them and their families.

When a book can make me FEEL the emotions of anger, wrongness and fear felt by the characters, then that author has a talent indeed…and Mr. Lescroart, you are indeed talented!! No matter if you pick up his first book in his series invovling Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky, et. al., or pick up his tenth – there’s no character confusion…in fact, I’ve been reading his books in a “scatter-shoot” mode – in no particular order – and it has never caused a problem in knowing his characters or enjoying his plots.

God Bless Jenny McCarthy. Never thought you’d hear those words in a book review, huh? Autism rates around the country have risen at a dramatic rate in recent years. I use the word dramatic because I can’t think of one more severe. Perhaps enormous or shocking may do the trick. Many people hear this and figure that it’s someone else’s problem, but as a woman planning to have a child someday, this is a problem that may someday be my own. Louder Than Words, McCarthy’s latest book, is raw and true. There’s nothing more vital to an epidemic than truth. What McCarthy does by opening up her journey to the public is incredibly brave and extremely worthwhile.

I noticed my queue has been giving me a lot of memoirs lately. Memoirs generally indicate that you will be reading an in-depth story about someone else’s pain. A real person’s pain, not some fictional character whose tragedies you can shuffle away quite as easily. I both loved and dreaded receiving this book after the past few I’ve read. I desperately wanted to know more about autism and why 1 out of 150 children born today are diagnosed with this disease. Yet I wasn’t sure I wanted another person living in my head, reminding me of what they’d been through. So, hesitantly, I picked up the book to immerse myself in another person’s pain.

But it didn’t happen. Not fully. McCarthy’s direct look at this disease is rough to take, sure. But she’s honest about her joys, her anger, her pain in a way that makes this feel like you’ve joined Team Jenny. You want her to win, you want to know how she can help her son Evan, you want her to punch that doctor in the neck.

I sped through this book, wanting to find answers along with our protagonist. It is written in very a human way, like a long conversation in which you are completely engrossed. As painful and scary as the tale is, it is a marvelous book. I couldn’t put it down and I spent the last several pages thinking to myself “I’m buying this book. And every other one she’s written.” I can’t wait to read McCarthy’s other works now that I’ve read this. I’m tempted to buy it for everyone I’ve ever met so they can know how much attention this disease deserves, but I’m pretty sure most people will think it’s someone else’s problem.

- Kristin
Diverxtrme

Rent Louder Than Words at Bookswim

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

It all started with a coin toss. Naomi picked heads and now she can’t remember the past four years of her life. Well there was a little bit more to the accident than the coin toss, there is the part about falling down the stairs head first, but the coin toss was the ultimate downfall.

She doesn’t remember her best friend Will, she doesn’t remember her boyfriend Ace, she doesn’t remember her parents divorce, but she does remember James the boy who found her after the accident.
Everyone tries to tell Naomi the kind of person that she is, but she isn’t sure that she wants to go back to being that person. Did she really like working on the yearbook staff with Will? Was she even in love with Ace? Now that Naomi has a second chance, will she be able to find the courage to take it?

This is my first time reading Zevin and I really enjoyed her writing. I’m looking forward to reading Elsewhere another one of her books. As for Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, I loved Naomi’s search into her identity and her self realization. This book was not only thought provoking but also entertaining. The characters were well rounded and helped balance the story. The themes were mostly serious but again it was balanced with humor. I loved this story and I recommend it as a great read!

Add Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac to your pool.

I can honestly say that I was disappointed…I like Jude Deveraux but this book was sickly sweet and didn’t make a lot of sense. It (the plot) wandered and didn’t actually feel like something that had any potential of happening in the real world. I don’t like when authors are vague about characters. For instance, Jason is simply a cold, megawealthy control freak – so what??? That’s every man in modern romance. How about explaining what he does, giving him motivation… And Amy – ok so she’s white trash – poor, uneducated, etc. So what??? Give us some more reasons why Jason would be attracted to her. It doesn’t really make any sense…the whole book…I kept waiting for it to make sense again but it just felt empty. And Max’s transition from 6 month old to two and a half year old felt false as well. No two and a half year old acts the way she portrayed him. Ridiculous!

Have you ever read a book that you couldn’t stop thinking about a week after you finished it? Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker have written a book unlike any other, one that leaves the reader deep in thought even after the story is over.
Upon first glance, this book looks like a million other horror/mystery/thrillers out there. Even the blurb on the back seems like a generic plotline. I had just finished one of Ted Dekker’s other novels and was impressed with the way that he really challenged his readers to delve deeper into the story and to find the true meanings behind his characters actions.
When I first started House, I was impressed with the vivid pictures that I was able to draw from Peretti and Dekker’s writing. The book starts out with two couples, stranded in rural Alabama who find themselves stuck together in a house set deep in the woods. They soon find that the house is not at all what it seems and that a killer has trapped them there to play a horrible game. They must choose one amongst them to die before sunrise or they will all be killed. Here is where most books would start to get ridiculous. Either the characters would do something so horribly stupid that the reader gets bored, or the killer would become all powerful, giving the main characters no possible chance to escape. Not so in this novel. Dekker and Peretti are just getting warmed up, as the reader starts to find out that these four were not trapped here randomly, there is a reason that they were all brought together. As the couples back stories are developed, I found myself getting to know each couple and wondering how their past would affect their actions and what choices they would make to get out of this game.
I did not put this book down. I got out of bed one night to finish the last couple of chapters, because lying there wondering what happened to these four and what choices they would make was keeping me awake! The ending was very powerful and not at all what I expected. I don’t think anyone could truly say that they saw the ending coming- Dekker and Peretti have the reader holding their breath until the last minute. Even after I was done with this book, I spent the next few days thinking about the meanings behind some of the plot twists, the symbolism that Dekker and Peretti used and most of all, what I would have done in the same situation. I love to read, and usually I pick an author that I like, one who has a developed character and storyline, and something that will be enjoyable but won’t take too much thought. This book was challenging, thought provoking and interesting and I can’t wait to see what else Dekker has out there!

http://www.bookswim.com/book/House-119190976894108.html

Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty

In Fourth Comings the fourth book in the Jessica Darling series, we rejoin Jessica when it seems like she finally has everything she has been working so hard to attain. She is graduated with her psychology degree, is living with her best friend Hope and she is writing. The one thing she loves the most, well besides Marcus.

Marcus on the other hand it just starting his freshman year at Princeton and Jessica is not looking forward to being the girlfriend of a college freshman. Which leads her to the conclusion that she should break off the on/off relationship for good. Needless to say, Marcus has other ideas and asks Jessica to marry him.

The book itself is a notebook that Jessica is writing to Marcus in the week she is deciding whether or not to accept his proposal. Although it was apparent to me from the beginning what her answer would be.

I was really disappointed with this book. I’ve been a fan of Jessica since book one, but this story was overall lacking. There was a line in the book that Jessica says and I quote “WHAT THE HELL AM I EVEN RAMBLING ABOUT!” To me that sums up the entire book. It was entirely random rambling! And the ending was a total let down, yet to end it any other way would have been too far fetched. The story just seemed incomplete there was just no, what is the word I’m looking for here, cohesion! Complete lack of substance.

Now please don’t let this keep you from reading a great series. I loved and thoroughly enjoyed Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. They are the books that made me fall in love with this series! If there is another bookin this series, you bet I will be reading it and I only hope it can redeem my faith!

On another note this book is more for an older young adult audience. I’ve seen it suggested to be a crossover title to Adult Fiction and I have to say that I agree, this book is definitely for a mature audience.

Add Fourth Comings to your book pool!