Chill Factor by Sandra Brown

This author never disappoints, at least not with her romantic suspense books. They always grab you and throw you for a loop in one way or another and this one follows suit.

Five disappearances in the small town of Cleary has the FBI investigating, but when they finally narrow things down to a suspect they drop in town during the worse ice storm of the season. Ben Tierney appears to be their man and the reader is lead to believe this as well when we see him walking out of the woods with a shovel in hand. Ben is hit by the car of Lilly Martin, the ex-wife of Cleary's sheriff Dutch Burton, when she is heading down from her mountain cottage. Lilly had been closing a painful chapter in her life with the sale of her mountain home when she hits Tierney and finds herself stranded on the mountain as the storm hits.

Ben and Lilly had met the summer before while white water rafting and felt attracted to each other but Lilly was still married and trying to recover from the death of her daughter, so things had gone no where. Now she is stranded in a cabin with him and, although the attraction is still there, something does not feel right.

Back in town the FBI finds newspaper clippings in Tierney's hotel room and all hell breaks lose. Dutch who is still obsessed with his wife is going over the deep end (as well as mountainous cliffs) as he tries to reach her at their cabin. The local High School coach, Wes, has secrets of his own as he tries to protect his son from the FBI because he thinks Scott might have something to do with the disappearance of the latest victim. The story weaves itself around the people in Cleary and the secrets just keep popping up all over the place. Brown keeps you on your toes, guessing as to the identity of the serial killer 'Blue'. Halfway through the book you just cannot accept that Tierney is the killer and start looking elsewhere and then Brown throws you a fast one that has you questioning your judgment.

The culminating scene at the end has you at the edge of your seat and cringing with every shot fired. Brown is a queen at her game and Chill Factor just reinforces her position as one of the best romantic suspense authors of her time.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook

Surrender by Pamela Clare

Dorchester Publishing sent out a few Advanced Readers Copies of this release, and I was fortunate enough to receive one. This is the first book in a new trilogy by Pamela Clare which tells the story of the MacKinnon brothers, who have been pressed to serve the British after being falsely accused of Murder.

In this first installment we meet the brothers and get to know the circumstances that has the brothers, as highlanders and jacobites, working as Rangers in the French / British war. We then meet Lady Anne Burness Campbell who also has been falsely accused of a crime and is sold into indentured labor to the colonies.

When Iain (the eldest of the MacKinnon brothers decides to intervene and save Anne from rape and then death, the writing is set on the wall.

This was my first book by Clare and I was pleasantly surprised. I received the book as an ARC and to be honest, I had no expectations for the piece. The blurb on the back of the book just didn't make it sound that exciting and I found that I had no real interest in reading it right away, but I had committed myself to read the book and so I started it as soon as I got it.

As soon as I situated where in history the events took place, the book came alive. I am a BIG Last of the Mohicans fan and the atmosphere that was created in the book reminded me of that movie/book. The brothers had been adopted by a tribe of Indians and they fought crudely like the Highlanders and Indians were known to fight. The romance between Iain and Annie was not rushed or hindered by a bunch of silly misunderstandings. When Iain reacted stupidly, he admitted it and accepted his flaw. He realized the importance in life and treasured his time alive. This is how I would expect a sensible man would act in a time of war like the brothers lived in.

The rhythm Clare set in the plot had great timing and the characters were all well developed. When you closed the book you felt as if you were leaving good friends behind. This is something that an author writing a series needs to establish from book one. You need to want to go back and read about those other two brothers. You need to care about the characters and feel the need to revisit them. I must admit that even the 'villain' of the book, at the end, had me wanting a HEA for him as well.

Besides all that... the book was quite steamy. Lord William and his friendly fingers and Iain with his handy razor, made the book sizzle with scenes that were just not your typical 'let's go tupping!'. Definitely a series to watch out for and an author with great talent.

Grade: B+

Eldest by Christoher Paolini

I discovered Christopher Paolini at the end of last year when I picked up the Audiobook of Eragon. Eldest is the second book in the Inheritance Trilogy and it picks up just a few hours after the battle at the end of Eragon. These books are not independent of each other. They are not like romance novels, where a trilogy indicates that there are three separate characters and each book will cover the story of a separate couple. No, this trilogy is more of the Saga type of books, where you need to read the first book to know what is happening in the next. The Inheritance trilogy reminds me very much of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

When we last left Eragon he had just slain the Shade, Durza, in the battle of Farthen Dur, where the urgals had attacked the Varden. The success of the battle was the beginning of the war against Galbatorix's Empire. The wound that Durza, the Shade, gave Eragon leaves him crippled, in a sense. He now has a scar on his back, like Murtagh, that pains him into oblivion. Ajihad has been slain in the battle and the Varden need a new leader. The elders on the council decide to ask Nasuada to replace her father and be a puppethead, but she has other plans and after accepting the confirmation she surprises them all by proving to be an independent leader and worthy of the title. After Nasuada takes command and decides to move the Varden out of Farthen Dur to Gil'ead, Arya, the elf, takes Eragon to Ellesmera for his training as a Rider.

In this installment we also follow Roran, Eragon's cousin as the Ra-zac attack Carvahall in search of him. They want to use him to get to Eragon. The villagers abandon Carvahall through the Spine to get to the Varden, in hopes that they can join the fight against the Empire and protect themselves from Galbatorix. I enjoyed Roran's storyline more than Eragon's even though Eragon goes through many transformations (he becomes more elf-like and takes on apprenticeship from Oramis, a hidden Rider) there is no real action until the very end. Roran's story is stronger because we see him encounter many obstacles in his trail to the Varden. During the last battle a twist is revealed that leaves the reader stunned, not just by the revelation into the prophesy Angela had made to Eragon in the first book but also by revealing who the prophesy was referring to. Angela had told Eragon that he would be betrayed but someone of his blood and when Eragon's paternity is revealed we discover exactly who betrays him.

Excellent Saga! If you are into Fantasy, this is the book you cannot miss. In the same line as the Harry Potter series, this book is not just for the young. The story and characters come alive with the fight between good and evil. The characters are multifaceted, where they are flawed and human-like. A code of honor keeps the good true and all creatures have a separate code.

If you want more information about the book you can visit http://www.dragonriders.co.uk/, which has tons of info. The first book, Eragon, has already been picked up by Fox to make as a movie. The next installment, tentatively titled Empire, will be published in 2007. Can't wait!!

Grade: B+
Format: Audiobook

The Wedding Game by Jane Feather

This is the last book in the Duncan Sister Trilogy. The first two books are The Bachelor List & The Bride Hunt which tell the stories of Constance and Prudence Duncan. This trio of sisters has had to find ways to supplement their income after their father loses a large portion of his wealth on a bad investment. The stories take place in the early 1900 which was quite different for me. There really aren't that many books that take place during this time, when the women's suffragist movement was taking root and women were testing the limits society had imposed on them for so long. The sisters decide to continue the suffragist work their deceased mother had started by printing a broadsheet called The Mayfair Lady where not only do they talk about the movement but also run advertisements, an advice column and a matchmaking service. The Go-Between is the matchmaking service which we have seen has had some success in the previous books.

Chastity Duncan goes to interview a potential client and encounters a man she had seen before (in The Bride Hunt). Dr. Douglas Farrell is committed to a slum clinic but he needs funds to afford the medication that his patients cannot afford. He is looking for a wealthy wife that will give him an influx of funds and put him in the path of wealthy clients. He believes that by treating the wealthy and all their imaginary diseases he will be able to treat the truly needy. Regardless to say that his disdain for the wealthy comes through loud and clear during his interview and since he didn't explain his motives for taking on a rich wife, Chastity, who is the most sensitive of the sisters, is livid. When she discusses the client with her sisters, they agree to take him on even though his motives appear mercenary.

The book covers Chastity and Douglas romance, but also Lord Duncan's (the sister's widowed father) romance to an Italian Countess, whose daughter, Laura, is the candidate the Go-Between have chosen for Douglas. The events in the book take place during Christmas which is nice. This is the best story in the trilogy, although the others were good as well. I especially enjoyed that the Hero/Heroine can be seen falling in love. After Chastity discovers what Douglas is doing her attitude changes and she starts seeing the real Douglas. It's a straight forward love story with not alot of complications and barriers (unless you call the fact that Chastity is dirt poor an obstacle).

Grade: B

Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard

After many discussions about this series, I picked up the first two books. This is the story of Wolf Mackenzie and Mary Elizabeth Potter.

Wolf is an Indian half breed and Mary is a school teacher just arrived to Wyoming from Savannah. She goes up Mackenzie's Mountain to investigate why Joe Mackenzie (Wolf's son) has dropped out of school when he is very talented. This is where she meets Wolf and is instantly attracted to him. She does not see his race and this confuses Wolf who has faced prejudice in the town of Ruth since he arrived 10 years before. At that time he was unjustly accused of Rape and spent two years in prison before he was cleared when the real rapist is captured and he confesses.

When Mary challenges the community's prejudice a threat is presented against everyone who talks in favor of the Mackenzie's. When Mary is almost raped Wolf takes it personally and claims her as his woman, giving into his desires. The book was nice and spicy. Even though it was short, the story was well weaved and made sense, it didn't seem rushed at all. I also liked that although you suspected who was behind the events taking place in the town, you were never really sure until the very end. I can see how it would be hard for Howard to top the success of this book.

Joe's story is told in the sequel, Mackenzie's Mission.

Grade: B+

End of Year Summary...

This past year (2005) I read a total of 178 books, which averages out to approximately 143/4 books a month.

Of those, 48 were Audio books which averages out to 4 Audiobooks a month and 25 were ebooks which is approximately 2 ebooks a month.

My Best Month was September with 25 reads.
My Worst Month was a tie between Feb & March w/ only 9 reads each

I had a fairly great year where there was not one D grade in all my readings, although I did stop reading one because I was too bored to care, but the writing itself was not bad enough to give it a D. So it got a C-. The book was Mary Jo Putney's A Kiss of Fate

One thing I noticed while doing my round up was the amount of anthologies I read. I don't like to read anthologies but I read 7 of them this year so that was a definite improvement over last year.

I read about 40 new authors and among them were Laura Kinsale, NinaBangs, Lisa Marie Rice, Maggie Shayne, SEP, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Scottoline, Mary Janice Davidson, Julianne MacLean, Loretta Chase, Christina Dodd, Lora Leigh, Sherri L. King, Sarah McCarty, Susan Donovan, Marianne Stillings, Cheryl St. John, Elizabeth Rolls, Kathryn Caskie, Laura Lee Guhrke, Amelia Grey, Elizabeth Lowell, Susan Kearney, Lynn Viehl and Suzanne Enoch.

My two favorite books this year were Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale and Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow & Ashes

I started reading Feehan's Carpatian Series but never got around to reading the next book after Dark Prince. I guess I should tackle that series early this year since it's so long.

My favorite series this year would have to be spilt in to three Suzanne Enoch's Lesson in Love, Sherri L. King's Hordes War and Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Stars series.

My resolution this year is to finish two long running series which have been sitting in my TBR pile. I want to finish the Cynster series (aprox 8 left) and the Carpathian series (all of them left, except the first story).

When it comes to how many books I would like to read... I just hope to have a year without flops regardless if I read 20 or 200 books in 2006.

Happy 2006!

Another year of Reading...

It's been almost a year and I'm setting up to review my reading.

Something new this year has been ebooks! I have started adding these books to my reading because there are lots of erotica published in this medium and the authors are outstanding. Lora Leigh and Sherri L. King are just some names that have attracted me. Lisa Marie Rice is another great author that has put ebooks on my map.

I have also noticed that my reading has leaned toward paranormals with Vampire series and shapeshifters.

I will post my year end summary at the end of the month when I have tallied the books read for the Month of December.

A Viking we shall go!!

Just finished reading Sandra Hill's A Very Virile Viking. This was the story of the last Erickson Brother, Magnus. The eldest of the bunch, he has the problem of being overly fertile. With having bred 13 children (2 died in infancy) he has a reputation of being overly virile. His friends tease him mercilessly and after another child gets dumped on his lap, he decides to take his children and find a better land.
He leaves Vestfold with 9 of his offspring (his eldest daughter has just been wed and his eldest son is left to care for his father's lands). They head out on his longboat and get caught up in a mysterious fog that dumps them on a Viking movie set in Hollywood. It is there that he meets his destiny in the form of Angela Abruzzi.
Angela is the granddaughter of Italian immigrants that have a vineyard in Sonoma California. The vineyard no longer produces wine but they still harvest grapes that get sold to other vineyards. They are barely making ends and Angela has taken a part time job in the city as a real estate salesperson. She is trying to contract with the movie studio so that they will use the vineyard as the set for an upcoming movie, thus giving the vineyard an influx of cash flow. The director agrees to the location IF she takes Magnus and his children to the vineyard while he tries to convince Magnus to be the star of his Viking movie.
Magnus has taken a vow of celibacy because he doesn’t want any more children but after meeting Angela he questions his strength to follow through.

Hill returns to the great writing that we saw in The Last Viking. The children add a new element to the fold but don't distract from the main romance. I loved to see how Magnus adapts, not only to his new environment but also to the new challenges he faces as a father of children in the 21st century. During the other books, when I heard about Magnus I could not imagine him as a hero to his own story, but Hill did an exceptional job in making him appealing. She made him a tender father and that tugs at most woman's heartstrings. I loved one line in particular, when he tells Angela that if she is willing to become a mother to his 9 children, he could certainly become father to their one. This is when Angela tells him that she wants children of her own. The story was and excellent read!

Going to give Judith French a try by reading The Barbarian... Will let you know how that goes.