Locked Doors by Blake Crouch

Locked Doors is the sequel to Desert Places, which I read a couple of weeks ago. The ending left me hanging a bit, so I was happy to read Locked Doors. The pages flew by and kept me reading and I give it a B+.

Inside cover:
Seven years ago, suspense novelist Andrew Thomas's life was shattered when he was framed for a series of murders. The killer's victimes were unearthed on Andrew's lakefront property, and since he was wanted by the FBI, Andrew had no choice but to flee and to create a new identity.
Andrew does just that in a cabin tucked away in the remote wilderness near Haines Junction, Yukon. His only link to society is by email, through which he learns that all the people he ever loved are being stalked and murdered. Culminating in the spooky and secluded Outer Banks of North Carolina, the paths of Andrew Thoms, a psychotic, and a young female detective collide.

If you plan on reading this book, I would highly recommend that you start first with Desert Places, which really lays a lot of groundwork for this book. I would also want to warn you that both books are very violent and there are a lot of dead bodies left around in the wake. Sometimes I think that the blood and gore was added just for the sake of having more bloods and guts, but the suspense really keeps your heart racing. This book is also leaves the reader hanging a bit, but there doesn't seem to be another book in the series. Mr. Crouch has a new book that was released today, actually, but it seems to go the way of paranormal books, and that just really doesn't interest me.
I'm glad this book was so good, though. I was previously reading another book, one by Thomas H. Cook, and again I was halfway through it and just couldn't finish it. It was too boring. I am beginning to think that Red Leaves may have been a fluke for me, since this was the second book I tried to read by him and didn't love it. Since I had one more by him checked out from the library, I ended up taking it back unread. I still have two more lirbary books to read, and I really need/want to start reading more off of my own shelves. I am going to read another book by Emily Listfield next and then I have Dean Koontz's latest book, Relentless, to read. That will be my first by Mr. Koontz, and from the reviews I have been reading lately, it looks like a good one to start off with. I hope everyone else has had a smooth transistion to work after a long holiday weekend and Happy Reading!

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot

I have read this series since it began and am always looking forward to the newest addition. I know what to expect from the series, a light-hearted, easy read. I wasn't disappointed this time and it was a pleasant, B read.

From Amazon:

Big mouth. Big heart.
Big wedding. Big problems.
It's the wedding of the century!
Things are looking up at last for Lizzie Nichols. She has a career she loves in the field of her choice (wedding gown restoration), and the love of her life, Jean-Luc, has finally proposed. Life's become a dizzying whirl of wedding gown fittings—not necessarily her own—as Lizzie prepares for her dream wedding at her fiancé's château in the south of France.
But the dream soon becomes a nightmare as the best man—whom Lizzie might once have accidentally slept with . . . no, really, just slept—announces his total lack of support for the couple, a sentiment the maid of honor happens to second; Lizzie's Midwestern family can't understand why she doesn't want to have her wedding in the family backyard; her future, oh-so-proper French in-laws seem to be slowly trying to lure the groom away from medical school and back into investment banking; and Lizzie finds herself wondering if her Prince Charming really is as charming as she once believed.
Is Lizzie really ready to embrace her new role as wife and mistress of Château Mirac? Or is she destined to fall into another man's arms . . . and into the trap of becoming a Bad Girl instead?

This book wasn't anything special or spectacular and will not stick with me for very long, I am sure. But it was a nice read and a good distraction from some of the things going on in my life. I could relate to how Lizzie was feeling and all that was going on in her life. When reading one of Meg Cabot's books, the only expectations I have is something cute and that is exactly what I got. I probably would have enjoyed this book a bit more a few years ago when I was really into chick lit, but now I really don't read this genre. I do think that Ms. Cabot has a wonderful voice and really shows how people feel and their motivations for their actions, which is always refreshing.

Yesterday I went to the library to pick up a book for my mom and ended up grabbing two more for myself. It is a sickness, I tell you. So I will be reading another library book next, Good Intentions by Patricia O'Brien, another new to me author. I hope it is good. It is really hot out right now and I think I will just jump right back in to the next book. Happy Reading!