13 1/2 by Nevada Barr

I've been reading a ton about this book on various blogs and knew I just had to try it out. I've heard a lot of good things about Nevada Barr, but have never read anything by her... probably because she writes the Anna Pigeon series and another series to follow is the last thing I really need right now. Anyways, I had 13 1/2 figured out pretty much from the beginning but I still enjoyed it. I give it a B.

Inside cover:
In Jackson Square in the French Quater a tarot card reader told Polly Deschamps she would be a success. Thirty years later, Polly is a respected professor of literature with good friends and her own home- a safe life for her and her two daughters.
Butcher Boy, released on his seventeenth birthday, shook the snow from his boots and went south. New Orleans, a mecca for runaways then and now, offers sanctuary but never forgiveness.
When Polly falls in love with Marshall Marchand, a restoration architect who is helping to rebuild her adopted city, shadows of her past rise out of the posioned ground of New Orleans as thick and deadly as the toxic waters of the flood.
Like history, some crimes are doomed to repeat themselves. Evil stays the same, only the victims' names change. As two broken pasts collide in an uncertain present, Polly is determined that her children's names will never be on that list.

The story is told going back and forth from the late 1960s/early 1970s to the present day. As you read, you learn of the horrible crimes that were committed by the Butcher Boy and then are brought back to modern day, post-Katrina New Orleans. Polly is a strange character, one that I admire, but not one that I really cared for. As a matter of fact, I really didn't like any of the characters, but it was an interesting story to read. The whole premise of reinventing yourself is a common theme and one that is well done. I think part of my problem is I haven't had a lot of timie to really get lost in a book for a couple of hours and are just reading a few pages here and there and that may have impacted my enjoyment and rating of this book. If you like a psychological suspense, I would recommend 13 1/2.

I am not sure what I am going to read next, but it will be one of my books. I am going to get dinner ready for tomorrow and then hope to dive in to a great book. I hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Reading!