The Key by Jennifer Sturman

I picked up The Key by Jennifer Sturman from the library because I had read the first two books in the series, The Pact and The Jinx. While these are "chick lit" mysteries, I really feel like they are not so much chick lit, even though they take place in New York. The mystery was all right, though I was more involved in the main character, Rachel, and her relationship with Peter. Overall, it was an average read with 3 out 5 stars.

Ever wished your boss would drop dead? Of course not. Well not really. And neither had Rachel Benjamin- until she finds herself working for Wall Street terror Glenn Gallagher on his latest pet project. Rachel thinks the deal-and Glenn- are more than a little shady, but she has a promotion at stake. It's either keep her lips sealed or kiss her partnership goodbye. Or kill Glenn. (Just kidding!)

At least she has Peter. Rachel's too-good-to-be-true fiance has moved in, while his stuff is everywhere and he's strangely jealous of her friendly new coworker, she's confident they'll figure things out. It would help if Glenn's killer scheldule didn't have Rachel working around the clock. Really, the man must be stopped.

Rachel's jokes about killing her boss don't seem so funny when Glenn is murdered. And it's even less laughable when she becomes the prome suspect. With the police hot on her very stylish heels, and the threat of an unflattering orange jumpsuit in her future, Rachel's learning the hard way to be careful with what you wish for. She needs to catch the true killer quickly, before the killer catches her.

I checked this book out of the library after seeing it at the bookstore. I had read the previous two books and was interested to see what was happening with Rachel and her love life. The price tag of $13.95 for a book I can read in less than a day had me go to the library. It was a nice, easy read and as I mentioned I was more interested in finding out about Rachel and her friends than the mystery. It was a fun book, but I am glad I didn't pay for it. There will be a fourth book in the series to be released next December and I will look for it at the library to hopefully find a better conclusion to Rachel and Peter's romance. If you enjoy chick lit with a twist of mystery, I would look for this book. Up next is a recommendation from Kristie (a fellow blogger who happens to spell her name the RIGHT way) of a Linda Howard titled After the Night.

I'm In No Mood for Love by Rachel Gibson

I'm In No Mood for Love by Rachel Gibson is the loosely connected story to Sex, Lies, and Online Dating. It was a quick and easy read, and I enjoyed it. 3 out of 5 stars.

What is Clare Wingate doing? One minute she's suffering in a pretty-in-pink gown she'll never wear again, and the next thing she knows it's morning... and she has the nastiest hangover of her life.

To make matters worse, she wearing nothing but a spritz of Escada and lying next to Sebastian Vaughan... her girlhood crush turned sexy, globehopping journalist. Somewhere between the toast and the toss of the bouquet she'd gotten herself into a whole lot of trouble.

Clare had the right to go wild- after all, she'd been knocked off her dyed-to-match shoes after finding her own fiance in na compromising position with the washing machine repairman. Clearly her society wedding is off.

But Sebastian pushed all the wrong buttons- and some of the right ones too. Clare is in no mood for love-not even lust- and wants to forget about Sebastian and his six-pack abs ASAP. But he isn't in the mood to go away, and his kiss is impossible to forget.

This was a fun read. I enjoyed watching Clare and Sebastian's relationship evolve from not liking each other to friends, and eventually more than just friends. Sebastian and Clare are good matches for each other, and were a pleasure to read. While this book follows Sex, Lies, and Online Dating, it is not necessary to read that book first. That book discusses Clare's friend Lucy and how she met her match. They are just briefly mentioned in this book.

The only reason I gave it 3 out of 5 stars and not more is just because it was not a total page turner and was a cozy read. Not spectacular, but fun to read. I really liked that all four of the friends are different authors. It was fun to see about the inside of a writer that Gibson provides. I will be looking for the following book, Maddie's story which comes out in the summer of 2007.

Better Read than Dead

First of all, I would like to say that I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

I just finished Better Read Than Dead, the second in the Psychic Eyes Series which features Abby Cooper, a psychic who assists the police in solving cases. This book also takes place in my local area, particularly the city of Royal Oak. I enjoyed this book very much, as it was a quick and easy read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed the mystery, though did feel like it was concluded suddenly with no oppurtinity for the reader to try and solve it or guess who the bad guy was. However, I did enjoy the story and the chemistry with Abby and Dutch, her FBI agent sometimes boyfriend. I have the following two books in the series and plan to read them in the near future.

The only other thing I have to point out in this story was in one point, Abby is taken to a house on Lakeshore Drive. Lakeshore Drive is a street in Grosse Pointe and Detroit that has huge mansions that celebreties and CEO's that live there. It is a real street that faces Lake St. Clair, a large lake that flows into the Detroit River and is in between Canada and Michigan. The author names the lake as Lake Michigan, when in fact Lake Michigan is on the other side of the state with Chicago on it's banks. It really threw me and I had a hard time to get over that. While the author used to live in Michigan, even someone that has not lived in Michigan would know that Lake Michigan is one the west side of the state. Just a little nit-picking thing that I picked up on. Otherwise, everything was really real to the area, including news stations and even area codes.

Next up in I'm In No Mood for Love by Rachel Gibson, which I just got from the library.

The Perfect Man by Linda Howard

The Perfect Man by Linda Howard was one of the first Linda Howard's I have read, besides Open Season. I really enjoyed the banter between the hero, Sam, and the heroine, Janine and fel that the suspense was second to the romance. While I normally like a mystery more than the romance, I felt it really went well in the story. Overall, I would give the story 4 out 5 "books".

The other thing I really enjoyed about the story was the fact that it is set in my hometown of Warren. I just moved here about 3 years ago, and it was really neat to know all of the locations and cities that are part of the story. I really think it had an impact on my interest level of the story.

I am planning on looking for more of Linda Howard's romantic suspense novels. Hopefully they will all be as good and funny!

Up next, the second book in the Abby Cooper Psychic Eye series, titled Better Wed than Dead. The reason why I selected this one is because I read the first book in the series and really enjoyed it, and it is also set in Southeastern Michigan. I figured to continue the trend! It has been sitting on my TBR bookshelf for over a year... and I do plan on getting some of these read!

Free Books!

I am entering the contest that the great ladies over at Sanctuary's Finest are offering! Head over there and check it out!

www.sanctuarysbookblog.blogspot.com

2007 Reading Goals

With a little more than a week to go in 2006, I have decided to set and announce my reading goals for the upcoming year. We will see how well I follow these goals, but one can hope, right?

1. Record all books I read or attempt to read. Include notes on why I selected it, what I thought, etc.
2. Read from my TBR! The shelves are threatening to fall over!
3. Cut book buying purchases!
4. Join some challenges to help broaden my reading horizons.

I am sure there are more than just these, but here is a good start!

Here I Go

Well, even though I seem to have hardly any time with school and my family and work, I love to read other people's blogs so I have decided to start one up as well. I hope this well help me keep my reads organized, and will get me to "delurk" from some of the blogs I frequent. I hope to post ideas on what I read, things that are going on in my life (which probably won't be an interest to anyone but me) and other random things. I hope as I take this trek out into the blogging world, I make some great friends!