Bride McTierney has had it with men. They’re cheap, self-centered, and never love her for who she is. But though she prides herself on being independent, deep down she still yearns for a knight in shining armor.

She just never expected her knight in shining armor to have a shiny coat of fur…

Deadly and tortured, Vane Kattalakis isn’t what he seems. Most women lament that their boyfriends are dogs. In Bride’s case, hers is a wolf. A Were-Hunter wolf. Wanted dead by his enemies, Vane isn’t looking for a mate. But the Fates have marked Bride as his. Now he has three weeks to either convince Bride that the supernatural is real or he will spend the rest of his life neutered–something no self-respecting wolf can accept…

But how does a wolf convince a human to trust him with her life when his enemies are out to end his? In the world of the Were-Hunters, it really is dog-eat-dog. And only one alpha male can win.

This book was more about the romance than some of the other books in this series.  I liked Bride (but I’m not crazy about her name) and Vane, though the book followed Kenyon’s usual “supernatural man finds love with human woman but he thinks they shouldn’t be together” formula. I also like how Kenyon’s leading ladies are not the stereotypical drop dead gorgeous bombshells.  Not a lot of substance here, but that’s really not what I was looking for.  You read these books for a fun supernatural romp complete with some hot between the sheets action.

Page count: 384 | Word count: 83,299

2008: Wed to a Stranger? (Jule McBride)
2007: A Complicated Kindness (Miriam Toews)
2006: Killing Floor (Lee Child)
2005: Sudden Prey (John Sandford)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; The 999 Challenge; A-Z 2009 Challenge; Read Your Own Books Challenge;

Belle de Jour is the nom de plume of a high-class call girl working in London. This is her story. From debating the literary merits of the works of Martin Amis with naked clients, entering a hotel with two whips strapped to the lining of her coat, and juggling her love-life with her professional one, Belle’s no-holds-barred account of her experiences as a prostitute is frank, funny and completely compelling. Since the summer of 2003, Belle’s award-winning website has charted her day-to-day adventures on and off the field. In it, she has confessed her triumphs and disasters in the world of dating, introduced readers to her friends N and ‘the four As’ and chronicled the ins and outs of her working life. Now she elaborates on those diary entries, revealing how she became a working girl, what it feels like to do it for money – and why she can recommend it – and where to buy the best knickers for the job. Sometimes shocking, often hilarious, always thought-provoking, the ‘Intimate Adventures’ is the story of a 21st-century Moll Flanders, giving us an illuminating glimpse behind the scenes of the high-class sex-trade, and an insight into the secret life of an extraordinary, ordinary woman.

I first became interested in reading this book when I started watching Secret Diary of a Call Girl on Showtime.  I really like Belle’s voice.  She’s frank, and often funny, and not at all a bad writer.  Do I think all of her stories are true? Not hardly, but who cares?  This was a fun, escapist read.  But if you don’t enjoy detailed and explicit talk about all manners of sex, this book is not for you. If you’ve read this book and enjoyed it, I recommend the Showtime series.  They’ve managed to capture the voice and attitude perfectly.

Page count: 288 | Approximate word count: 79,053

2008: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (Kim Harrison)
2007: Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie)
2006: The Deep (Peter Benchley)
2005: Charleston (John Jakes)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; The 999 Challenge;

Police Lieutenant Phoebe MacNamara found her calling at an early age when an unstable man broke into her family’s home, trapping and terrorizing them for hours. Now she’s Savannah’s top hostage negotiator, defusing powderkeg situations with a talent for knowing when to give in-and when to jump in and take action. It’s satisfying work-and sometimes those skills come in handy at home dealing with her agoraphobic mother, still traumatized by the break-in after all these years, and her precocious seven-year-old, Carly.

It’s exactly that heady combination of steely courage and sensitivity that first attracts Duncan Swift to Phoebe. After observing her coax one of his employees down from a roof ledge, he is committed to keeping this intriguing, take-charge woman in his life. She’s used to working solo, but Phoebe’s discovering that no amount of negotiation can keep Duncan at arm’s length.

And when she’s grabbed by a man who throws a hood over her head and brutally assaults her-in her own precinct house-Phoebe can’t help but be deeply shaken. Then threatening messages show up on her doorstep, and she’s not just alarmed but frustrated. How do you go face-to-face with an opponent who refuses to look you in the eye?

Now, with Duncan backing her up every step of the way, she must establish contact with the faceless tormentor who is determined to make her a hostage to fear . . . before she becomes the final showdown.

It amazes me that after what, 100+ books?, Nora Roberts can continue to create new characters and new storylines.  Phoebe MacNamara and Duncan Swift are two of my favorites so far. I liked their easy report with each other, and the way their relationship wasn’t the big drama in the story. There was a really obvious red herring in the story, but it didn’t really take away from anything.  Overall, another Nora classic!

P.S. The Lifetime movie was actually pretty decent, too.  I haven’t been impressed with most of them.

Page count: 496 | Word count: 155,747

2008: A Living Nightmare (Darren Shan)
2007: The End (Lemony Snicket)
2006: Narcissus in Chains (Laurell K. Hamilton)
2005: Nora, Nora (Anne Rivers Siddons)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; The 999 Challenge;

There’s never a dull moment for the residents of Beaumont, South Carolina. Lately, a heat wave’s spiked the mercury-and everyone’s sex drive! These days, when Jamie runs into Max, it’s all she can do not to tear his clothes off-and the feeling is mutual. But trouble seems to follow Max like moths to a flame, and Jamie suspects he’s all wrong for her. Meanwhile, the lingerie shop is having a sale on edible underwear, while the bakery’s selling aphrodisiac-laced brownies and x-rated birthday cakes. Even Jamie’s dog, Fleas, is dodging passes from the amorous French poodle next door! But when someone starts bumping off some of the town’s more annoying citizens, all clues lead straight to the new personals section in Jamie’s newspaper. Pretty soon, things are getting hot and heavy, as Max and Jamie start uncovering secrets-and undressing each other…

This was another fun quick Evanovich read. The mystery here is closer to home than in the previous book, and it looks like Max and Jamie might actually be getting more serious. Not a lot of substance here, but enough fun to keep me reading!

Page count: 352 | Word count: 69,327

2008: Dark of the Moon (John Sandford)
2007: The Husband (Dean Koontz)
2006: Darksong Rising (L.E. Modesitt, Jr.)
2005: Vengeance in Death (J.D. Robb)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; The 999 Challenge; Read Your Own Books Challenge;

Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley is a long way from Hollywood. And that’s exactly how Cilla McGowan wants it. Cilla, a former child star who has found more satisfying work as a restorer of old houses, has come to her grandmother’s farmhouse, tools at her side, to rescue it from ruin. Sadly, no one was able to save her grandmother, the legendary Janet Hardy. An actress with a tumultuous life, Janet entertained glamorous guests and engaged in decadent affairs – but died of an overdose in this very house more than thirty years earlier. To this day, Janet haunts Cilla’s dreams. And during waking hours, Cilla is haunted by her melodramatic, five-times-married mother, who carried on in the public spotlight and never gave her a chance at a normal childhood. By coming east, rolling up her sleeves, and rehabbing this wreck of a house, Cilla intends to find some kind of normalcy for herself.

Plunging into the project with gusto, she’s almost too busy to notice her neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer – but his lanky form, green eyes, and easy, unflappable humor (not to mention his delightfully ugly dog, Spock) are hard to ignore. Determined not to perpetuate the family tradition of ill-fated romances, Cilla steels herself against Ford’s quirky charm, but she can’t help indulging in a little fantasy.

But love and a peaceful life may not be in the cards for Cilla. In the attic, she has found a cache of unsigned letters suggesting that Janet Hardy was pregnant when she died – and that the father was a local married man. Cilla can’t help but wonder what really happened all those years ago. The mystery only deepens with a series of intimidating acts and a frightening, violent assault. And if Cilla and Ford are unable to sort out who is targeting her and why, she may – like her world-famous grandmother – be cut down in the prime of her life.

This was a mixed-bag for me. The romance part was great… Nora Roberts still knows what she’s doing there.  I liked Cilla, and I liked Ford, and I really liked them together. But some parts of the book were lackluster.  I didn’t particularly care for Cilla’s dream visits with her grandmother, and I thought the harassment could have been a little more creative. How many different ways can a “Katie” doll be defiled?  But, though I did figure out who Janet was having an affair with pretty early in the story, the big bad guy was a big bad surprise.

Page count: 464 | Approximate word count: 150,555

2008: Curse of the Spellmans (Lisa Lutz)
2007: The Fiery Cross (Diana Gabaldon)
2006: The Footprints of God (Greg Iles)
2005: Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge; A-Z 2009 Challenge;

Reluctant vampire queen Betsy Taylor may rule the topsy-turvy world of the undead, but now Betsy’s discovered that she has a long-lost half-sister who’s the devil’s daughter–and destined to rule the underworld.

I found this third “Undead” book to be rather anti-climatic… or maybe non-climatic would be a better word.  When I got to the end, all I could think was “That’s it?  Am I missing pages? Were chapters left out of my ebook?” Not a lot happens here. Basically, Betsy finds out she has a half-sister who’s really the daughter of Satan, goes a little crazy after reading the Book of the Dead for too long and has to apologize to everyone, has one confrontation where she finds out some important facts about her new half-sister, and finally admits that she loves Sinclair.  And… that’s it. Maybe we find out more about this prophecy with her sister in the next book?  All I know is that this one was pretty lacking.

Page count: 304 | Word count: 46,962

2008: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill)
2007: Plum Lovin’ (Janet Evanovich)
2006: All the Flowers Are Dying (Lawrence Block)
2005: A Kiss of Shadows (Laurell K. Hamilton)

Used in these Challenges: The Countdown Challenge; 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge;

Despite dating one vampire and living with another, Rachel Morgan has always managed to stay just ahead of trouble . . . until now.

A fiendish serial killer stalks the Hollows, and no one living in or around Cincinnati—human, inhuman, or undead—is safe.

An ancient artifact may be the key to stopping the murderer—a mysterious relic that is now in the hands of Rachel Morgan, fearless independent bounty hunter and reckless witch. But revealing it could ignite a battle to the death among the vast and varied local supernatural races.

Rachel’s been lucky so far. But even she can’t hide from catastrophe forever.

Unfortunately, I ruined part of this for myself by reading about the next book on Amazon.  So if you don’t want to know what happens with Rachel and Kisten, don’t do that! Overall, this was a solid entry in a series I love, though I don’t think it was quite as good as the last one. There are a lot of surprises here, the first one coming immediately when Rachel wakes up in the process of being possessed by a demon… and it isn’t Al for once. The characters continue to show growth, but I have to say that I was really disappointed in Trent.  I was just getting used to thinking about him being a basically decent guy under the whole “running a drug cartel” thing when it turns out he’s much, much worse than we thought. When this book ends, there’s a fair amount of stuff that remains to be explained.  There’s been a big change in Rachel’s world, and I can’t wait to see how things shake out.

Page count: 560 | Approximate word count: 181,328

2008: Exit Music (Ian Rankin)
2007: Dark Angels (Karleen Koen)
2006: Survivor in Death (J.D. Robb)
2005: We’ll Meet Again (Mary Higgins Clark)

Used in these Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge;

When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods one sunny day with his two best friends. He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened.

Twenty years later Adam — now using his middle name of Rob — is a detective with the Dublin police force. His colleagues don’t know about his past. He works as a team with Cassie Maddox, a smart, tough cookie; they are best friends as well as partners. When the body of a young girl is found at the site of an archaeological dig, Rob and Cassie get the case. And when they reach the crime scene, Rob realizes it is the exact site of his childhood trauma. They also find a hairclip that he recognizes as having belonged to his friend. Could there be a connection between that old, unsolved crime and this? Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet. Rob and Cassie are investigating the murder of Katy Devlin, but they both hope that they might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.

Wow.  I have so much I want to say about this book, but I don’t want to give anything away! I love the narration in this novel.  Rob (Adam) is telling you his story, but one of the first things he tells you is that he is a liar.  So can you believe everything he says and hears?  When Rob and Cassie are handed Katy Devlin’s case, Rob is brought face to face with the childhood he can’t remember. As the story and the case progresses, you see the stress of his hidden identity and the events he can’t remember weighing down on him.  You can easily find yourself lost in Rob’s downward spiral. The little subtle bits of foreshadowing work incredibly well, making you wonder constantly. I really loved the relationship between Rob and Cassie, even if he does screw it up in the end. I have a friend like that that I’m 100% completely comfortable with, so I could relate to their ease with each other. Finally, the writing here is just beautiful… lyrical and haunting… and the ending leaves you wanting more.

There was a time when I believed I was the redeemed one, the boy borne safely home on the ebb of whatever freak tide carried Peter and Jamie away. Not any more. In ways too dark and crucial to be called metaphorical, I never left that wood.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

Page count: 464 | Approximate word count: 139,200

2008: Midnight Bayou (Nora Roberts)
2007: The Black Echo (Michael Connelly)
2006: Purity in Death (J.D. Robb)
2005: Wicked (Gregory Maguire)

Used in these Challenges: Book Awards II Challenge; 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 1st in a Series Challenge; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge; A-Z Challenge 2009;

When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn’t just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn’t a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It’s Eric the vampire–but now he’s a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life.

I think I enjoyed this book a little more than the last couple because I’ve watched the True Blood HBO series and now have a voice and picture in my head for different characters.  Also, there’s very little Bill in this book, which suits me fine because in this series, I’m more of a were/shifter fan — Alcide or Sam, anyone? Instead, we get a lot of Eric, though in a form we’ve never seen before.  I enjoyed Sookie testing out her independence a bit, even if she’s not entirely happy with some of the choices she makes. I liked how there are some events that happen here that will definitely change Sookie’s future — I can’t wait to see where the story’s going!

Page count: 320 | Word count: 91,349

2008: Living Dead in Dallas (Charlaine Harris)
2007: A Death in Belmont (Sebastian Junger)
2006: A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)
2005: The Bastard (John Jakes)

Used in these Challenges: The Countdown Challenge; 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge; A-Z 2009 Challenge;

First, she imagined it. Then a killer made it real.

Rowan Smith is living in a borrowed Malibu beach house while her bestselling novel is made into a Hollywood movie. A former FBI agent with a haunted past, Rowan thinks she has outrun her demons. But fiction and reality collide when a dismembered body is found in Colorado: the real-life victim had the same name, occupation, and looks as a character in Rowan’s novel. By the time the FBI, the LAPD, and her own private bodyguard gather around her, another person is killed–again, the murder ripped from the pages of Rowan’s book.

In the company of a former Delta Force officer with secrets of his own, Rowan faces an excruciating dilemma: the only way to chase down the tormenting killer is by revisiting the darkness of her past–and by praying for some way out again.

After the prey is chosen, the hunt is on and the kill is certain.

This was just okay for me. I liked Rowan okay, despite her being so guarded that you don’t really get to know her, but I liked Michael more than John, so John and Rowan’s relationship didn’t sit real well with me. I did like that there was a little bit of a deeper storyline here… it wasn’t all about the murders.  I think a lot of it was about siblings and the relationships between them, as well. But overall, it just left me with that “meh” feeling. I don’t know that I’ll bother finishing the trilogy unless I have a compelling reason to.

Page count: 416 | Approximate word count: 104,000

2008: Sad Cypress (Agatha Christie)
2007: The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud (Julia Navarro)
2006: Kill the Messenger (Tami Hoag)
2005: G is for Gumshoe (Sue Grafton)

Used in these Challenges: The Naming Conventions Challenge; The Countdown Challenge; 100+ Reading Challenge 2009; 1st in a Series Challenge; 2009 eBook Challenge; The 999 Challenge; A-Z 2009 Challenge