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It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots.My Thoughts: Loved this book! The only thing that would have made this book better is if there had been more detail from Georgie and Agatha's time, and a little more Devlin, but still it's a fantastic, up all night read! Allen's books are truly magical, she does, after all, write "magical realism". While I personally like The Girl Who Chased the Moon, I know other readers didn't feel it measured up to Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. The Peach Keeper is closer to the first two books than TGWCtM. I have loved Sarah Addison Allen's writing from her very first novel, and now that she has four books under her belt I can officially claim her as one of my favorite all time writers. When I give books as gifts, she is one of the authors I love to introduce people to. So... how long until her next book?
But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it.
For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town.
Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living.
"Thrilling and creepy, super sexy, and so very hilarious." --Lisa McMann, bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.
Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.
But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.
Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved Aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie’s twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key—one carried by her mother on the day she herself died—to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy.My Thoughts: I really loved this book, but then I've been a fan of the Romeo and Juliet since high school. This was a great, mysterious and intriguing look at the origins of the play, and the love that inspired it. I don't know if this book is for everyone, but if you liked The Historian or Discovery of Witches, then you'll probably like this book. And if you don't already have your passport up to date, then you'll want to get it before you pick up Juliet, as Siena, Italy is described in great detail. Just don't go with any anti-war protestors like Julie did on her first visit!
This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever—a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
But six centuries have a way of catching up to the present, and Julie gradually begins to discover that here, in this ancient city, the past and present are hard to tell apart. The deeper she delves into the history of Romeo and Giulietta, and the closer she gets to the treasure they allegedly left behind, the greater the danger surrounding her—superstitions, ancient hostilities, and personal vendettas. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in the unforgettable blood feud, she begins to fear that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is destined to be its next target. Only someone like Romeo, it seems, could save her from this dreaded fate, but his story ended long ago. Or did it?
From Anne Fortier comes a sweeping, beautifully written novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied—for better or worse—to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers.
In the late summer of a long ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a fourteen-year-old boy.My Thoughts: A little darker than some of his more recent books, What the Night Knows is still full of what Koontz does best- precocious kids and magical dogs, although the dog's part is small. What the Night Knows is about John, who lost his entire family to a serial killer. Before 14 year old John kills Alton Turner Blackwood, the killer makes a promise to return some day when John has kids. Flash forward 20 years, and John is meeting with Billy, a 14 year old with choir boy looks who just blew away his entire family, his crimes and words echoing Alton Turner Blackwood. Now John, his wife and his 3 adorable moppets, sorry, children, are in danger, as are other innocent families.
Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, recreating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family—his wife and three children—will be targets in the fourth crime, just as his parents and sisters were victims on that distant night when he was fourteen and killed their slayer.
As a detective, John is a man of reason who deals in cold facts. But an extraordinary experience convinces him that sometimes death is not a one-way journey, that sometimes the dead return.
Here is ghost story like no other you have read. In the Calvinos, Dean Koontz brings to life a family that might be your own, in a war for their survival against an adversary more malevolent than any he has yet created, with their own home the battleground. Of all his acclaimed novels, none exceeds What the Night Knows in power, in chilling suspense, and in sheer mesmerizing storytelling.
That's right, readers, it's Challenge Time! And yes, I am doing the hammer dance as I type this up.
The challenge is to read 15,000 pages in 2012!Chances of Success For Yours Truly: High
Basically, in the year 2011 a lot of my reading centered around reading graphic novels and listening to audio books. So when I was thinking about how I wanted to challenge myself in 2012, I decided to challenge myself on how many pages I read.
It will break down like this...
read 41 pages a dayread 100 books of 150 pagesread 75 books of 200 pagesread 50 books of 300 pagesread 30 books of 500 pagesread 15 books of 1000 pages
Do you see how easy this will be?
THE RULES:
1. You have to actually read the pages, i.e. no audio books but I will include e-books since you are actually reading the words. Just look up the book on goodreads or amazon to get a page count number and I trust you to be fair.2. Graphic Novels are not including because a majority of this genre is centered around the graphics and not the text.3. You can only include the pages you read between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2012.4. You can only include the pages you actually read, so if the book has appendixes but you choose not to read them, don't include them in your final tally.
I'm going for Level 2 for now. I do a lot of ARC tours now so that will help, especially as I'm really trying not to buy any books that aren't absolute must haves.There are different levels that you can choose to challenge yourself in:Level 1: 5+ booksLevel 2: 10+ booksLevel 3: 15+ booksRules:You can read any contemporary YA novel that is published between January 1, 2012and December 30, 2012 but you must read them in 2012! (All formats accepted: paperback, ARC, e-book)
Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?My Thoughts: I've been meaning to read this book for years, and I actually saw the movie when it came out, although the plot in the book is fairly different from what I remember about the movie. I liked Vivian as a character- she's not insecure, she's not whimpy, and she's not a victim waiting for the right boy to save her like so many other heroines of YA. The struggles Vivian faced were handled well, and her pack dynamic was very interesting. Normally I don't particularly care for werewolves, but this past year I seem to be enjoying them more and more (the Shiver series, the Lonely Werewolf books). Vivian's mom is a piece of work, though, and the romance with Aiden definitely does not follow YA teen formula. All this works for me. Plus for a 1990's YA book, there's lots of smexy smex going on, which is a bit surprising. Of course, the 1990's books I was reading as teen were the early 90's and dominated by R.L. Stine (no sex), Christopher Pike (some sex but all older teens) and L.J. Smith (hinted sex, but all off screen and just the "bad girls"). By the time Blood and Chocolate came out I was already in college (and I use "in college" loosely, as I was there, but not really there, as in "not really in class". Which might be why I have a book blog instead of owning a book store- education, people! Take it seriously!) So, back to the book, it was good. I liked it, even though I have as much in common with Vivian as I do a supermodel (which is NOTHING, not even the same species).
Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.
Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate?
The Last Little Blue EnvelopeGinny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny's backpack—and the last little blue envelope inside—she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end.My Thoughts: There are few sequels that are better than the original novels, but it seems that every Maureen Johnson book I read is suddenly my all time favorite! Maureen is an amazingly funny writer, I was underlining quotes like crazy- the one dig at Nicolas Sparks was a particular favorite. New characters Ellis and Oliver were wonderful additions. Ginny really matured as a character and was far less passive this time around. Her European adventures from the first book have given her some confidence, and I went from liking the first book to loving the second book. I always know I'm going to laugh when I pick up one of Johnson's books, and that's a great thing to be able to depend upon.
Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he's found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure—one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits . . . and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King's heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination-a thousand page tour de force.
Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment-a real life moment-when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history.
Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students-a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.
Not much later, Jake's friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane-and insanely possible-mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake's new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake's life-a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.
A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.
“I had been hobbled, perhaps even crippled by a pervasive internet society I had come to depend on and take for granted... hit enter and let Google, that twenty-first century Big Brother, take care of the rest.11/22/63 gets a Midnight Book Rating of:
In the Derry of 1958, the most up-to-date computers were the size of small housing developments, and the local paper was no help. What did that leave? I remembered a sociology prof I’d had in college - a sarcastic old bastard - who used to say, When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”
“On that gray street, with the smell of industrial smokes in the air and the afternoon bleeding away to evening, downtown Derry looked only marginally more charming than a dead hooker in a church pew.”
“Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it?”
“The past is obdurate.”
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