Harper Connelly Series by Charlaine Harris

Ms Harris has me hooked. I love her Southern Vampire series and now I am hooked on her Harper Connelly series. what is fascinating is that the series are completely different, not just in theme but also in the author's voice. Harper is not as light hearted as Sookie is, she has a more skeptical view of the world, a bit more darker, which in turn makes the books more solemn but just as delicious!

Grave Sight (B) : The first book took me a bit to get into but after I got to know Harper and her step brother, Tolliver Lang, I was off and running. Harper and Tolliver come from a messed up home. His Father hooked up with Harper's mom and their efforts to keep the so-called family together united them in a cause. Harper's mom was a alcoholic/drug addict and her father was sent to jail for one thing or another. Harper was struck by lightning when she was a teenager and as a side effect of that experience she has the ability to sense the dead. she does not speak to the dead but can sense when death is near by which allows her to easily find dead bodies. She can also determine the cause of the death by getting a glimpse of the final moments of the victims life. This final quirk comes in handy when Harper is brought in to find the body of a teenager who was suppose to be the second half of a murder-suicide. When Harper find the body of the young girl she knows it's murder but when she stands on the boy's grave it's clear to her that he also was murdered and did NOT commit suicide. This opens up a can of worms because now there is an unsolved murder on the books. The Sheriff of the little town has no problems with this since the girl found was his sister in law. His wife also died several years ago, but he suspects foul play in that death as well (which Harper confirms) and is determined to find out who wanted these sister's dead. The murder mystery just wraps itself around this small town and Harper and Tolliver just get sucked into it.


Grave Surprise (B+) : The second book draws you in from the get go. Harper has been invited to do a demonstration of their abilities at Bingham College by identifying bodies and causes of death in a historic Memphis cemetery. What She discovers among the dead is the body of Tabitha Morgenstern, a young girl she failed to find on a case several years ago. Falling under suspicion in the death Harper and Tolliver must stay in the small town attracting all sorts of characters to themselves..

When the professor that originally invited Harper to the college is found dead in the same grave that Harper had found the other body things heat up and she realizes she must unravel the mystery to clear her name if she ever expect to get out of the town in one piece. This is the book that has Harper looking at Tolliver in a not so sisterly manner and makes us re-examine that relationship too.


Ice Cold Grave (A) : At the end of the last book Harper and Tolliver's relationship shifts a bit and I was so happy I had the next book all lined up to read and I didn't miss a beat.
In this third installment Harper deals with one of her most emotional cases when she is hired by a woman to find her missing grandson. It seems that several boys have gone missing in the small town of Doraville, N.C. and although the local police had dismissed them as runaways the new sheriff, Sandra Rockwell suspects something else. She is proven correct when Harper finds, not just the missing grandson, but all the missing boys (plus two) buried in an abandoned farmhouse. They all had been tortured and abused by a serial killer who is still on the lose. Harper is emotionally drained and would do anything to get away from the horrors she sensed in those bodies but she is suddenly attacked and injured causing her and Tolliver to stay in the town that has become a media circus.

In this book we see the return of psychic Xylda Bernardo and her grandson, Manfred whom we met in the previous book. This book also has Tolliver and Harper discovering that there is no brotherly affection between them but something much more precious.

I cannot tell you how much I loved this series. I cannot wait for more Harper and Tolliver. I was greatly relieved that, even with the popularity of her Southern Vampire series, this series is still active.

We will be getting a new installment in October with the release of Grave Secrets!

Thank goodness I don't have to wait too long!

Keegan Paxton Series by Catherine Anderson

Do you recall my traumatic experience with Catherine Anderson and how I said I would not be picking up her work in the near future? Well it took me a year and a half to get over it before I got the nerve to read her work again. When I finally did read her it was a re-read (Accidental re-read). I decided that this time I was going to post about it so that I won't have that problem again. It also lead me to pick up a sequel to the first book which was new to me!

Keegan's Lady was a very nice read. I found that it had enough bulk to the story to make it worth reading and thus the reason why in many circles it is considered a classic.

Ace Keegan witnessed the lynching of his stepfather and the rape of his mother. He was a mere boy when his stepfather moved the family to No Name, Colorado where he had purchased a bit of land but when he arrived the sale proved to be a hoax and the group men that cheated him on the deal proceeded to accuse him of murder and hung him in front of his family. During the fight Ace was also injured and his mother raped. Ace promises to return one day and exact revenge on the whole lot of them.
Ace finally returns to No Name with a plot to bankrupt the men but ends up ruining the daughter of one of his enemies. His sense of justice and moral upbringing does not allow him to walk away from the situation and he marries Caitlin O'Shannessy without realizing that the girl had suffered at the hands of her dispicable father too.

Caitlin not only was beaten by her father but battered and traded for whiskey which lead to a brutal rape. This has caused her to shy away from any man that was not her brother. She doesn't trust any man and when she finds herself married and surrounded by a gaggle of Paxton men, all of which have a reason to hate her, her life is turned upside down and her nerves stretched to a breaking point. It is with the patience of a Saint that Ace coaxes her to give him her trust and she finds that his every action leads to her surrendering a piece of her heart.

Poor Ace had his hands full with a skittish wife and a brain damaged cat (the poor cat had been damaged by Caitlin's father and led to a few humourous episodes in the book - one of them involving a morning capture of the mouse between Ace's legs).

This book was originally published back in 1996 and it has sustained the test of time such that 10 years later Anderson gave us the sequel - Summer Breeze.

Summer Breeze was the story of Ace's younger brother Joseph who we actually fell in love with in Keegan's Lady. He was the short but burly half brother that made himself look mean so that he could fend off bullies and pass as a intimidating gunslinger. It has been 4 years since Keegan's Lady and Joe has his own parcel of land in No Name. He is trying to make his own way in the world when the foreman from the neighboring ranch staggers into his land with a bullet in his back.

The Hollister's ranch has been mostly empty for five years, since the family had been slaughtered while out on a picnic. The only surviving daughter has been hold up in the house with just Darby (the foreman) as the go between between the world and her. Darby asks Joe to take care of Rachel because he suspects that the man who shot him is the same person that killed her family and will try to kill Rachel too.

Anderson does a wonderful job in describing Rachel's condition and how the relationship between these two develop to a point that the determined bachelor is ready to turn his life around to accomodate Rachel's illness. I also think that the investigation into the shooting was well developed giving us many suspects but not allowing us to really narrow it down to anyone in particular.

I find that Anderson follows a typical formula in her books and I would like to see what she can do when she steps out of her comfort zone. She writes mostly about damaged females and men that come to thier rescue. I think I would like to see the shoe on the other foot or just some more light hearted work. Anyone know of any of her titles that are like that?

I won't be giving up on Anderson completely since these two books reminded me that she is worth reading (just not too often).

Grade: B (on both)
Format: Audiobook

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

Scottoline has another hit on her hands. Yes, it is not a Rosoto & Associates book but Scottoline has proven that she can step outside of her well known series and provide us with great work nontheless.

Ellen Gleeson is confronted with an adoptive parents worst nightmare when she sees her son's face on a "Have you seen this Child?" postcard. The age progressed image is that of a Florida boy called Timothy Braverman. The boy was kidnapped by a man that has a striking resemblance to the 'father' of her own adopted son. As a seasoned investigative reporter she cannot let the resemblance go and she finds herself jeopardizing her own career to followup on her suspicions even though the road can lead to heartache.

The tension in this story just seems to grow with every step Ellen takes closer to the truth and when you think that this story can go only one way, Scottoline throws us a curve ball out of no where and we end up sitting in the car staring off in space listening with bated breath to what is coming next.

If you didn't get it by my above statements let me spell it out: I loved this book! I could not turn off my iPod; I listened to it all in one day (which should not be a good thing since it was during a work day and then I had to go back and double check all my work).

If you don't know of Lisa Scottoline's work pick up anything in her backlist and you won't be disappointed but if you do, keep in mind that she writes a great ongoing series on a group of female attornies better known as Rosato & Associates so try to find one of her stand alone books (like this one!) so you don't fall into the middle of the series.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook

Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein

I recently mentioned that my reading for June had picked up nicely. I am edging my way to completing my first challenge in 2009 by reading 100 books. Seeing that last year I read just over 100 during the whole year, meeting this challenge in the first 6 months of 2009 reflects a great reading year.

Now not all is rosey when it comes to reading because among the 100 books there are some great titles (Megan Whalen-Turner's Attolia Series; Kelley Armstrong's Bitten; Nalini Singh's work; etc) but you also have titles that were not so successful (Kay Hooper's CJ's Fate; Michele Bradsley's I'm the Vampire, That's why; Kinsella's Remember Me) and then you have those that disappoint you to the point that you wonder what happened to the author while writing the piece. Especially when the author has consistenetly been a winner in your book.

That was what happened with Linda Fairstien's new book Lethal Legacy. If you follow my blog you will know Fairstien has been a great source of enjoyment for me but Killer Heat really didn't give me the rush her work usually does and this last one... I could not believe how disappointed I was.

The story follows our trio of cohorts Alex Cooper, Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace as they investigate a murder that appears to be related to certain historical books from the NY Public Library. Now I was thinking that I would be loving this one because the whole bibliophile thing and being a big fan of libraries, NY being a weird variety of the ones we visit in our local town, but I felt lost from the get go.

Like for Killer Heat, there appeared to be way to much history thrown at the reader with out any real reason. I just can't see these people sitting around talking about the history of the library in so much detail. I love the history lesson but feed it to me seamlessly through the story. At one point I completely lost track of what these characters were after. Didn't really know what the crime was. Then Alex would mention the victim and I would then recall what was the end game.

The ending itself was very anticlimactic. The book flatlined early on and didn't give a sign of life again. After two disappointments I'm really going to have to rethink Fairstein's newer work. Unfortunately, she will no longer be an autobuy for me but I will still keep an eye on her since I know she has the potential to be great!

Grade: D
Format: Audiobook

Getting to know Kelley Armstrong – Bitten

How many times we are drawn to the water and refuse to drink until we are good and ready? Too many times to count. With books I have kind of given up the resistance and go with the flow. Most often I’m not disappointed. Thus the case of the series by Kelley Armstrong, Woman of the Otherworld. For the longest time I have read the reviews (the series is on it’s 10 installment) and heard the praise but I kept putting it off. That is until I found the first book in Audiobook. Then there is really no excuse not to read it because selection is slim for audiobooks and I have been listening to the books too quickly to be picky.

I want to just tell you that I loved the book and not really explain why because it’s just too difficult to put in worlds why I loved the book. It’s not chuck full of romance, it’s read in first person POV and many cool characters are killed – what’s there to like?

How about a heroine that feels real? A hero that is not really a hero but you still call him a hero? A book that is not about lovers but about people that love each other?

Elena is the only female werewolf in existence. She was betrayed by her lover when he bit her in his werewolf form without explaining to her what he was and what he was doing to her. She has since struggled to live two lives, struggled to stay within the human confines of society and suppress the wolf in her. She stayed with the pack early on in her change but realized that she could not forgive Clay for his betrayal and leaves to live as a human again. She has developed a relationship with a good man who knows nothing of who she really is and holds down a steady job... When the pack calls her back because they need help tracking down some killer ‘mutt’ (werewolves that are not part of a pack) she grudgingly returns. This is when she feels most threatened, when she can finally let the wolf out.

Elena can’t find her place in the world and Armstrong makes this clear to the reader. The story is strong and the darkness that Elena at times finds her self in is told so clearly that I found my skin crawling. If I could compare Armstrong’s voice I would say that the feeling of this book reminded me at times of Dean Koontz, which is quite a praise. The murders start to pile up and the pack is on the verge of destruction. The mutts want Elena, they want revenge on the pack and they want to take over the territory. No one seems to be able to stop them and Elena must decide what she wants before she loses it all.

Don’t wait to pick this one up.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook

Glitter Baby and More by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Recently Susan Elizabeth Phillips reissued a novel first published in 1983 called Glitter Baby. It was then followed by her newest release What I did for Love, that coincidently takes place in the same hollywood environment and in which the couple from Glitter Baby makes a cameo appearance.

Glitter Baby (B-)
The book started out very slow with a retelling of Fleur's life and it was a bit disturbing. I had read reviews on this portion of the book and was expecting a really bad taste in my mouth when reading about the pedophile that was Fleur’s father (and step father) but I was surprised to find Phillips wrote it edging on impropriety (edging REALLY closely in some places) but not crossing the line. I will also note at this point that the book although re-issued was not re-written so it is a bit dated in descriptions and the sorts.

After the first portion of the book the story picks up and in a way takes off. The battle between Fleur and her step father, her dysfunctional and, at times, demented mother, her feelings of being too little in her big body, leads to a great story of a woman who fought hard to rise above her past and conquer her future.

Fleur was always led by someone in one way or the other, first by her mother whom she would never want to disappoint and then her father who had never given her the time of day. When she finally sheds herself from her past she emerges as a strong, smart and beautiful woman who is willing to do what it takes to dig her own niche in the world. She becomes a success and in a way that is her own revenge. I didn’t really think of this book as a romance. It was more of a ‘growing’ book.


What I did for Love (B-)
This one takes place in the same ‘Hollywood’ world as Glitter Baby and even had a cameo appearance from Fleur and Jake but the story itself revolves around Georgie …

She was a child actress in a sitcom but lost herself as an adult in roles that mean very little to her. Her father has geared her career into corner where she has been typecast into the funny girl.

Bram was Georgie’s co-star and love interest on the sitcom but his destructive attitude earned him a bad rap that later destroyed his career. He is looking for a way back into respected society but a night in Vegas threatens to kill what has yet to be revived.

Georgie wakes up married to the same man that stomped on her tender young heart as a girl. She also cannot afford a scandal and convinces Bram to stay married for a while as to not add fuel to the paparazzi frenzy that has been hounding her since her husband left her for his most recent co-star.

I actually loved Bram. He was very secretive but I had him pegged from the get go. I had never read a character that entrenched on not falling in love as Bram. He just didn’t see it coming and although his ‘aha’ moment was a bit choppy I really loved seeing him get hit over the head with it. What I did find a bit weak was the final acceptance of Bram by Georgie. If she was so dead set against him the acceptance was just too easy. I also did not really feel much for Georgie throughout the book. I never really connected with her. I did like the secondary characters (like with most SEP books), they just really added juice to this one. Chaz, the homeless girl Bram picked up and employed as his cook, Ernie, Georgie’s overweight personal assistant, Peter, Georgie’s father who never knew how to be a father after his wife passed away and Laura, Georgie’s ineffective agent.

Although What I did for Love had the characters from Glitter Baby they are completely unrelated and can be read separately. Which did I like better? Honestly, both stood on thier own merit and I found them very different. Although Glitter Baby was dated it had a more darker undertone than the newest book but we are looking at 26 years of growth in writting style so I would expect it to be different. The newest book is more of what we expect of SEP now (multiple couples finding love, strong focus on each side of the main couple and thier dysfunctional lives, etc.) and yet we don't see much of the humor and wittiness in these characters as we have seen in Phillips more recent work .

I think both were well worth picking up.

Format: Audiobook

Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh

This series was highly recommended across so many outlets I added it to my TBR pile last year but for one reason or another it simply did not jump off the shelf to get read. Even though I had not read the book I actually recommended it to my daughter who had the same reaction that I did.. egh.

This year the next installment is coming out and I'm sure I will hear everyone raving over the darn series once again and I'll be wondering what the hoopla is all about, so I was determined to read the darn thing!! I have consumed three doses of Singh's Psy-Changeling pairings since the beginning of the year and I'm actually quite hooked.

To give you a bit of a background, the series takes place in an alternate universe where the races are subdivided between the humans, the Psy and the Changelings. Humans are easy to define, they are humans. Changelings can be divided into different categories depending on the animal they have the capacity to change into (wolf, leopards, jaguars, deers, hyenas, etc), and they all share that animals special trait (strong sense of smell, great night vision, speed, stealth, etc). They live in a pack like society and seldom relate to other packs, yet they share a common dislike for the Psy.

The Psy is the top of the food chain. It is a race of beings who have had all traces of emotions wiped. They developed a conditioning called Silence which eradicates all feelings from the individual creating less emotion driven reactions in their culture. At first this was done to erase violent behavior that was triggered by uncontrolled emotions but they noticed that emotions could also affect their judgment in business and politics, so it became a society trait. To make this world a bit more complex, the Psy can also be sub-classified based on their additional 'gifts'. These designations can range from an M-Psy (healers/ scientist), F-Psy (foreseers), Tk-Psy (telekinesis), Tp-Psy (telepathic), E-Psy (empath), etc. When you have highly developed abilities you have a specific designation called Cardinals. If you are a Cardinal you are prized w/in the Psy society. The Psy are interconnected by the PsyNet where everyone's subconscious is linked in a Matrix-like environment which is governed by a council of Cardinals. The Council's word is law and they are not judged by any one. They make the decisions that rule this unusual society.

Complicated enough? In an effort to save some time I'm going to give just a short run down of the three books I've read until now.

Slave to Sensation (A) : The first in the series tells the story of Sascha Duncan, a Cardinal of the Psy world who is fighting an internal battle to hide the fact that her emotions are not as 'Silent' as they should be. She has been told all her life that she is 'flawed' and fears that if anyone discovers that she is actually 'feeling' she will be sent in for rehabilitation (which leaves the rehabilitated in a vegetative state). She is put in a more difficult position when she is put in charge of the first Psy-Changeling business venture and has to work closely with one of the most passionate men she has ever met.

Lucas Hunter is on the prowl. The Alpha of the Dark River leopard pack is hunting a serial killer amongst the Psy and the business venture that brings a Psy Cardinal to his door is the best way to infiltrate the closely guarded ranks of the higher Council (Sascha's mother is a Council member). What he didn't expect was that the Psy in question feels more than she lets on and it doesn't take long before the alpha in Lucas wants to claim her as his own. When another female is abducted from the Snow Dancer's pack - a rival wolf changeling group, it become a race against time to discover who is the killer, who is covering for him and if the Psy Lucas has given his heart to can be trusted.

There are some series that really don't need to be read in order. This one is not it. This book is essential to the whole storyline and those that are to follow. We not only get to see the strain between these two races in this book but the events that take place here open a subplot that carries on to all the other books. Similar to the J.R. Ward's Lessers and Kenyon's Dark Hunter plight. The Psy Council wants to be the last one standing and will do anything to stop the flow of information. Sascha needs to find a way to break away from the PsyNet to survive but if she does break free it will punctuate a severe flaw in the Net, one that opens the door for others to rebel. It is with this book that Singh introduces us to her world and those that inhabit it, promising us a wonderful ride into that Psy-Changeling world.


Visions of Heat (A) : This installment takes place a few months after Slave and follows Faith Nightstar as she struggles with similar feelings of instability as Sascha had but with the peculiarity that Faith expects insanity as her fate. As a foreseer (F-Psy) insanity is the final frontier - so to say. She is being considered for a post on the newly vacated seat in the Council but she is hiding the fact that she is seeing visions of death and torture instead of market gains and fluctuations (which is what the foreseers are used for since 'the Psy no longer have crime'). As her senses are very delicate she has lived most of her life in isolation and it is here that Vaughn finds her.

Vaughn is a jaguar that joined the Dark River leopards after suffering a tragedy that marks his life. He has pledged his loyalty to Lucas and his fellow changelings. He is intrigued by Faith and feels drawn to her but he questions her motives in seeking help controlling her visions.

The complexity in this relationship is what put meat on this book. Faith cannot withstand physical stimuli because it overwhelms her mental shields. To do so can lead to complete mental and physical breakdown, yet Vaughn pushes the edge of her boundaries over and over. He is determined to claim her as his own but he has to walk a fine line to extract her from the Psy world intact. And the Psy is not willing to give up Faith as easily as they did Sascha because Faith represents a strong flow of income. All this and another Psy murderer is on the lose but this time the victims are not a random selection but ones that make the killer feel threatened.

I simply loved the push and pull Vaughn had with his 'Red' and Singh didn't bore us with another Psy disappearing from the Net, but figured a way to get Faith out of the Psy's reach in a very believable manner.


Caressed by Ice (B+) : This one was a bit different. The Psy in question is already out of the PsyNet and he has been living as part of the Snow Dancer's pack for a while.

Judd was an Arrow, an elite team of assassins, when part of the Net but he's family was marked for 'rehabilitation' when his sister killed herself showing signs of deteriorating conditioning. It was believed that the problem was genetic and every one of the Lauren's received a sentence of rehab. Judd was not amongst them due to his elite status he was not even acknowledged as a Lauren but he ran to protect his family, a weak sign as it is. the Laurens were the first to discover that the Psy could survive outside of the PsyNet if they can connect to another type of Net that could provide the neurological feedback that is needed for a Psy to function.

Although he has been out side and part of the wolf pack for some time, he is really not accepted because he is not tactile. He refuses to break conditioning, but in many ways he does. He was part of the team that helped Sascha and Lucas bring down the Serial Killer in our first book and it's that female that brings him down.

Brenna was violated in the most horrendous manner for a Changeling. She had her mind raped and her body tortured to a point where she was barely functional when finally rescued, but she has fought her way back. Now there has been a murder in the Den. She had seen the murder take place in her dreams, it made her part of the killer and the death simulates what had been done to her. She finds that the only person that can keep the demons away is Judd. His cold nature does not sugar coat anything for her, but it infuriates the wolf in her.

This book was very closely tied tot he first two books. Judd had some serious issues because he was not only mentally programed in Silence but he was physically attached tot he conditioning where shards of pain would be sent to his body every time he felt anything outside of Silence. He also had a problem WANTING to break Silence because his particular 'abilities' could have him kill without really wanting to. If he felt anger too strongly, or felt any negative emotions he could inadvertently kill who ever was close by. The book itself was slow at the get go but when Judd started to give in to Brenna's insistence the story just took off! There is a lot of development of the subplot here, a lot of foundation put in place for the next few installments of the series so you really can't miss these first few books.

I'm getting ready to start the fourth book Mine to Posses and then Hostage to Pleasure. This will bring me up to date with the series and prepare me for the release of Branded by Fire, a cross over between the Snow Dancer wolf pack and the Dark River leopards, coming out this July.

Shards of Honor by Lois McMasters Bujold

This month the AOM for my yahoo reading group pushed the edges of Romance and made me step into a realm I don’t typically read. There is a big difference between the sci-fi aspects of a book like Justin Davis’ Sky Pirate and Lois McMasters Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. One is focused on the romance and the other has the romance squeezed into the story.

Shards of Honor is not well known outside of the Sci-fi genre just because the books that followed quite overshadowed this one. It is better known as the first part of the omnibus that is Cordelia’s Honor. This installment tells the story of how the parents of Miles Vorkosigan (the hero of the series) met and fell in love.

Cordelia Naismith is commanding a scientific expedition from Beta Colony on a newly discovered planet when her team is attacked by Barrayarans. She finds herself captured by Aral Vorkosigan, better known as the Butcher of Komarr. She later discovers that the attack was mostly for his sake and that there is a plot to get rid of the honorable warrior.

Aral has molded himself from the environment he has lived in and has sharpened his teeth on the political intrigue that has surrounded his planet. He is a strategist and has no patient for those he perceives as weak. In Cordelia his assumptions are put to the test and his beliefs challenged when he discovers her strength and moral values, something unexpected among her race.

These two have been stranded on this new planet and without being able to trust anyone, they must rely on each other to get out of the dangerous situation they find themselves in. This trust serves as a foundation to the relationship they develop and need to survive, not just the trek to safety but the ensuing political plotting on both ends of their race (but mostly on Barrayar).

For such a short book it did hold quite a bang and a lot of things were squeezed into its pages. I think I need to re-read the book because even though I got the gist of it, I think I missed a bit. So many things kept going on and the time line of events kept jumping forward that it was hard to grasp how much time had elapsed between one event and the other. And yet the book was very satisfying, very engaging and opens you up to want to find out what else is going to happen.

Grade: B-
Format: Audiobook

Fragile by Shiloh Walker

Last month I had a great reading month but I honestly had a terrible blogging month. I have been remiss on my reviews for the last few months and I will admit that November and December were due to work and the holidays but January gives me no excuses. So, I'm determined to put in at least 5 posts per month from this point forward. So let's start with a new release from one of my favorite authors.

Fragile arrived at a bookstore near you on the 3rd of February. I was fortunate to receive an ARC which let me read it in January. and before I go on... Don't you just love that cover!

Fragile tells the story of Devon Manning, a social worker who is struggling to keep her head above water. She carries a dark past which makes her push away those that wish to develop any type of relationship with her. Devon was orphaned at a young age and put in the care of her Aunt who was not much of a care giver. She was abused by her Aunt's boyfriend and eventually kicked out of the house. By the age of 13 she was an addict headed on the road to nowhere. She was 'saved' so to say by a social worker that cared enough to look past the façade that she had put up. This inspires Devon to follow in that work, to be that one person that stands between a battered child and a system with too many cracks. She spends a lot of her time in the hospital rescuing those children. And it is there that she meets Luke.

Luke is looking for something. He has not been able to put his finger on what is missing in his life but he knows that he needs to find it soon. His life was never one of distress but he surrounds himself by those that need rescuing, especially his twin brother, Quinn, who had the unfortunate luck to have been raised by their alcoholic mother. She stole him from the hospital after birth, leaving a weaker Luke in the care of his father. Luke has stayed close to Quinn since he came back into their lives at the age of 11, but after Luke gets injured in the armed forces they head their separate ways. Luke finds military life empty and seeks meaning to his life, so he studies medicine and becomes a doctor.

Luke falls hard for Devon and she allows him to creep into her life. They develop a fragile relationship where Luke gets to play the role of hero and Devon gets face some of the fears she has been holding onto for most of her adult life.

If you think that this is where the story lies you would be wrong. The meat of the story lies in the suspenseful thriller that takes front and center by the middle of the book. Devon's work leaves her open to many people that might carry a grudge. Not every one appreciates some one meddling in how you raise your child, especially those with the propensity for abuse. This is why no one really pays much attention when she develops the attention of a stalker. No one that is, except Luke, who has the feeling this is more than just a disgruntled parent looking for payback.

The suspense is strong and when you think you know who's done it… you need to guess again.

Walker brings her talent for angst to the pages of this book but I think there was too much misdirection to keep me from being blown away as I was with The Missing. The most flawed / damaged of all the characters was the one that attracted me the most. Luke was very much the man who wanted to solve everyone’s problem, his super hero attitude pulled me away from really caring for him. It could be that I felt he wanted to take over Devon’s life in the guise of protection.

Devon had much baggage but she was holding her own. Her background gives her the characteristics of a strong female and the beginning of the story gives us a glimpse of that person – when she opens up to Luke and lets him in, but as the story moves forward she becomes just an image of the woman she was. There is an explanation for her 180 at the end of the story but we don’t get the chance to justify her behavior and get our feelings in check before then. It made me lose my admiration for her character and the explanation at the end was not enough to pull me back to my original opinion of her.

I also thought that the villain really came out of no where. I know that it would have killed the suspense but I felt we were being pushed into one direction and then forced into another at the last minute. If you are driving a car and try a maneuver like that, you just might fall off of a cliff.

Regardless of these 'weaknesses' the book kept me glued to its pages, it made me really think about these characters and what I expected from each one. It made me question my judgment on each and every one. I was never sure if I really knew the character or if I was being led on a merry chase.

Walker recently announced (see her post here) that she would be writing romantic suspense for Ballantine Publishing. I think this is definitely right up her alley. She can definitely keep you on the edge of your seat, turning the pages to uncover the true villain of the tale.

If you haven’t already picked up Fragile, don’t miss out, it will have your heart pumping until the very end.

Grade: B-

Format: eBook

Challenges for 2009 Part 1- Triple 9

Some challenges are just great to motivate you and others make you resent having to read. I take challenges to be in the first group and so I decided to join just as many challenges this year as in 2008 but with fewer restrictions.

The first challenge I joined was this year’s version of Triple 8. It’s called Triple 9 and here are the rules:

Triple 9 Challenge

Read 9 books each in 9 different categories in 2009.

1. Challenge runs from January 1 through December 31, 2009.
2. Choose 9 categories of your own that you would like to read 9 books EACH in.
3. You will be allowed 9 overlaps (books that fit into more than one category).
4. You may overlap your titles with any other challenge.
5. You may change your list or your categories at any time.

To make it harder --- If you need more of a challenge…Complete all your books by 9/9/09

http://the999challenge.blogspot.com/

Group 1: Paranormals:
1) Swallowing Darkness by Hamilton
2) Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
3) Back From Hell by Shiloh Walker
4) Lover Avenged by J.R Ward
5) Dance with the Devil by Kenyon
6) Kiss the Night by Kenyon
7) Night Play by Kenyon
8) Fangs for the Memories by Kathy Love
9) Bitten by Kelly Armstrong

Group 2: Young Adults:
1) Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
2) The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
3) Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
4) The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
5) Vampire Academy by Mead
6) The Uglies by Westerfield
7) Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
8) The Curious incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
9) Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Group 3: Suspense
1) The Appeal by John Grisham
2) Divine Justice by David Baldacci
3) Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer
4) Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstien
5) Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
6) Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner
7)
8)
9)

Group 4: 2009 New Releases
1) Lover Avenged by J.R Ward
2) Fragile by Shiloh Walker
3) Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann
4) Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh
5) First Family by David Baldacci
6) Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstien
7) Look Again by Lisa Scottoline
8) Burn by Linda Howard
9) What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Group 5: Published on or before 2000
1) Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockmann
2) Menage by Emma Holly
3) Iresistible by Mary Balogh
4) Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1983)
5) Undercover Princess by Suzanne Brockmann
6)
7)
8)
9)

Group 6: Series/Category Romance:
1) Baby I’m yours by Catherine Mann
2) Price for Passion by Susan Napier
3) Reckless Conduct by Susan Napier
4) Accidental Mistress by Susan Napier
5) In Bed with the Boss by Susan Napier
6) Under the Millionaire's Influence by Catherine Mann
7)
8)
9)

Group 7: Books in Series:
1) Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
2) Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh
3) Naked in Death by JD Robb
4) Confessions of a Shopoholic by Sophia Kinsella
5) Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
6) Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
7) Split Second by David Baldacci
8) Tempted by His Kiss by Tracy Anne Warren
9) First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh

Group 8: New Authors
1) Salve to Sensation by Nalini Singh
2) Baby I’m yours by Catherine Mann
3) My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth
4) The Bride Bed by Linda Needham
5) Shards of Honor by Lois McMasters Bujold
6) Fangs for the Memories by Kathy Love
7) Instant Attraction by Jill Shalvis
8) An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
9) Darkest Fire by Gena Showalter

Group 9: Historicals
1) Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn
2) Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
3) To Sin With a Stranger by Kathryn Caskie
4) To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt
5) To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
6) It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
7) Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
8) Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
9)


Some categories are easier to fill up while others will remain open until I run into a book that might fit the bill.

I have decided to break up this post on challenges so that each challenge will have it's own link.
Keep your eyes out for the other challenges.

One challenge I won't be posting about is the Chunkster Challenge. I was keeping an eye out so I could join on time but reading the rules it does not allow for YA books (which I think should not have been put as a limit since some of us love YA books and read them a lot) and it also restricts the chunksters from being Audiobooks (which I also think unfair but I can understand since some people don’t consider Audiobooks as a valid reading vehicle) – so that challenge is out!
:(