My First Ever Challenge!

So I am going to enter my first ever challenge. It is called RYOB 2009 and I am excited to join it.

Head over to Books 'N Border Collies to enter! The rules are pretty easy to follow:

1. Set a number of books you would like to read from your own collection.

2. Read your books between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009

I plan to read 40 books. I have no idea which ones those will be since I have over 600 books to read and I hate feeling like I have to read a book. Let me know if you are planning on joining as well!

The Night Spider by John Lutz

I have been a fan of Mr. Lutz's books since I read his book that was the basis for the movie Single White Female. I have read another of his books earlier this year and picked up The Night Spider on my birthday at Borders and decided to not wait and read it right away. I am glad I did as it was a great book and I give it a B+.

From the back of the book:
Each woman slept in her Manhattan high-rise, behind securely locked doors. Each was sealed alive in her bedsheets and stabbed repeatedly. Each bled to a slow end. Mouths frozen in silent screams tell little to retired NYPD Captain Thomas Horn and his detectives.
Even a vet like Horn is baffled. Nothing connects the slain women except cruel murder by a cunning intruder. Sparse clues point to a wall-crawling, glass-cutting predator who enters bedroom windos with calculated ease. But as the killer grows bolder, Horn's worst fears about to come true. Because somewhere in the dark, the Night Spider prepares to take a new victim- and this one won't be a stranger. In a desperate race against time, Horn must snare a psychopath in his own tangled web... or die trying.

This book had everything I look for in a good suspense. There were plenty of twists and turns and red herrings that throw the reader for a loop. The characters, mainly the detectives are very likeable characters and you really root for them. The book appears to end about halfway through and then boom... there is something that no one would expect. The only reason why I gave it a B+ and not an A- is because the set up of the detectives is very similar to one of his other books I read and that kind of grated on me. I will definitely be on the lookout for more of his backlist.

I enjoy this author so much that I would like to send this book to anyone who is interested. If you would like to receive my copy, leave a comment and on Friday I will pick a winner. US only please since I will use Media Mail.

Up next is a book by new-to-me author Mary Burton. I used a random number generator from my list of books I have and it came up. I decided to do that to just see what came up. I may keep doing this when I am indecisive. I hope it is good. I am exhausted right now as I have a sinus infection and the meds make me so sleepy. I had to stay up to watch the Wings though, and hope after a commanding win and lead of 3-0 against Dallas that some of the haters (Versus annoucers) will stop talking so bad about us. But in another way, I kind of like it because we so prove them wrong. Our goalie Osgood is now 9-0 in the playoffs and we are undefeated since he came in during game 5 of the the first series. I am not Hasek's biggest fan but love Ozzie so I am really happy for him. Wednesday we can finish Dallas off and wait for the Pennsylvania team to grab our cup! I am so excited about this!!!! GO WINGS!!!!!!

Happy Reading everyone!

The Last to Die by Beverly Barton

I have a bunch of Ms. Barton's books on my bookshelf, so I decided to grab one and get reading some of the oldest books on my TBR shelves. While this one was the second in a trilogy, it didn't bother me and I still enjoyed it, rating it a B.

From Amazon:
Cherokee Pointe, Tennessee has seen murder before, but nothing like what has claimed the life of Jamie Upton, heir to the Upton fortune. The crime is so vicious, so personal and filled with hatred, the authorities are certain it had to be someone he knew...someone hiding an unimaginable sadistic'' streak behind a friendly faade. The number one suspect is Jamie''s former lover, Jazzy Talbot. But Jazzy knows she didn''t kill Jamie...just as she knows she''s being watched, stalked like prey. And then the killer strikes again...and again...with the same chilling signature. With no one to believe her innocence except enigmatic drifter Caleb McCord, Jazzy plunges into a small town''s long-buried secrets and shocking family sins...each startling truth bringing her dangerously close to a killer determined to make Jazzy the last to die!

I thought that the blurb on the back of the book wasn't completly true, as everyone in town pretty much did believe that Jazzy was not guilty. I felt that while the murders were rather graphic in some of the descriptions the suspense wasn't that well done. I felt that this book focused more on the romance and character building more than it was suspensful. Lately I have been shying away from heavily romantic suspense because the same thing always happens... there is some big misunderstanding and they break up and then it gets straightened out in the end. That's what happened in this book as well, and it kind of just gets old. The other thing that bothered me a bit was the reader isn't really given enough clues to have any idea who the killer is. That being said, it was a quick read and I did enjoy getting to know some of the characters. I think I have the third book in the series, though I probably won't read it right away. I read part of the prologue that was in this book and I can kind of already see where it's going. A lot of the character's relationships were left unresolved and I can guess that there will be happily ever afters all around. I am not saying that it is a bad thing, but I think right now I am in the mood for something a bit more gritty.

Not sure what I am going to read next though it will be something from my shelves. I have a bunch of books on hold from the library that should be coming in soon, but they haven't yet, so I am going to pick something out. I seem to be on a reading spree lately and want to keep that up. I had to go to the dentist again today because I am still in pain and got some really bad news. I have to go to see a specialist for a root canal and I also have an infection in my tooth and in my sinuses. Fun, fun... especially since I had to get up at 5:30 this morning and have to work all day and then at night as well tomorrow. Oh well, Spring Break is next week so I can relax then. However, a good book can hopefully lessen the pain. Hope everyone else is having a good week and Happy Reading!

What Lies in Shadow by Tina Wainscott

This was my first book by author Tina Wainscott (though not to first one I bought) and I can definitely tell you it won't be the last of mine from her. I throughly enjoyed this one and a lot of times it had me scared. Not scared in hanging on to the edge of my seat but scared in the way that this could happen. I really liked the book and it's premise and grade it a B+.

From Amazon:
Her blog is one of the hottest on the Web—a place where she can be herself and talk anonymously about her most private needs and desires. Not even her wealthy new husband knows about her online persona. And when Jonna Karakosta learns that he may be cheating on her, she needs her online community more than ever…Enter “Dominic,” a frequent guest on Jonna’s blog who seems to understand her like no one else. She finally agrees to meet him face-to-face, and he turns out to be better—and more attractive—than she could have imagined. But when Jonna has a change of heart and decides to fight to save her marriage, Dominic refuses to take “no” for an answer. Now Dominic will do anything not to lose Jonna—even if it means bringing her deepest, darkest fears to light…and taking her world apart piece by piece.

I think the part of this book that had me hooked the most was that as a blogger, I detail enough about my personal life that if some psycho stalker wanted to stalk me, he/she could probably figure out who I am. In a world where I love to blog and read other blogs, it kind of hit home to me. I don't think it would happen to me, but the little extra believability (is that even a word?) makes it that much of a better book. I really like Jonna's character and was sympathetic from the get go. I pretty much had an idea of who was doing what and what was going on, though it didn't take away from the book at all. It took me a bit to get into it, though that was because of me, and once I was sucked in I couldn't put it down. I had some major dental work done yesterday and was in a lot of pain so I didn't get that much reading done. However, I did stay up past my bedtime to read it and even woke up early to get more reading in. That is unheard of for me who loves my reading. I had to sub today and then work at my mom's office right now (from 4:30-8:00) so it is tough getting though today. Though today and tomorrow I was subbing for a librarian so I had a dream day and tomorrow will be some of the same. I loved being surrounded by all of the books and helping students find the right kind of books that they would love. The day did go by fast which was wonderful.

Up next is The Liar's Diary. Not sure where I heard of this book, but I did place it on hold awhile ago through my library. It sounds promising, so I hope to get into it a little bit today here at work. This is a new to me author and I hope there are good things to come! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week and Happy Reading!