Category: Challenges (past)

**Kitty and The Midnight Hour Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: November 2005

Thank you to Miriam at Hachette for sending me this book plus the other books in the series to read and for allowing me to take part in the March Book Tour. The March Book Tour is for Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand and Kitty Raises Hell.

I have to say first off that this isn’t a genre of books that I typically read. They are so outside my comfort zone. With that being said I have to say that I am so happy that I took part in this tour cause I really enjoyed Kitty and the Midnight Hour. Looking forward to reading Kitty Goes to Washington and the rest of the series this week.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour introduces Kitty. Kitty is a midnight dj at KNOB radio station. She is also a werewolf. Kitty also reveals how she became a werewolf. (I won’t say how so that I don’t spoil the book for you.) Kitty is part of a pack. The others are becoming more werewolf and less human as they change almost nightly and she only allows herself to change monthly on a full moon.

One night while working she is tired of taking calls for lame song requests and tells the listeners nothing after the 90’s. She decides to ask her listeners about the latest BatBoy article and what they think of the supernatural. Before she realizes it her show is a huge success.

This annoys the Vampires cause they feel as though Kitty has threatened their existence so they send someone to kill her. They think Kitty will expose them. When a dead boy appears in front of her apartment she is questioned by the police.Then before anyone realizes it more bodies are appearing all over the city.

Kitty is having a hard time dealing with her radio show, her pack who don’t approve, helping the cops track down the responsible person in the deaths and trying to find the group of people who claim they can cure Vampires.

I have to stop cause I will end up spoiling the book for you. The book was fast paced and an easy quick read. Very light. There is always action happening so it keeps your interest throughout the book. I have to admit it was a bit gory but that is to be expected from the book. Also I want to mention that there is some mild sex in the book but nothing over the top.

Another great thing I noticed in the book was the playlist that is at the beginning of the book and her other books as well and the reason for it is that when Carrie was writing the book she listened to these songs for inspiration. I was wondering that when I saw it and wondered how it would play in but listening to the songs I see how she would get her inspiration from them.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The Dead Guy Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: December 2008

Thanks to Dorothy at Pump Up Your Promo for sending me this book. I am sorry for the delay in posting this but this month has been a bad month with being sick.

Jack Thigpen is called into investigate what is believed to be a car insurance scam. Jack gets more then what he bargained for. In the beginning of the book Jack is diagnosed with CJD which is Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease. Its the human version of mad cow. I have to say that this touched a soft spot for me because this disease is very real and you can die from this. The reason I know this is because about 20 or so years ago my uncle died from this. It was very sad to watch such a healthy person die from this.

While Jack is investicating the possible car insurance scam he calls in his best friend Hal in to help him out but Hal ends up being killed. Jack vows to find the people responsible for killing Hal. While Jack is struggling to deal with the lose of Hal he is also struggling to deal with his own uncertain future.

Jack survives numerous attempts on his life from being shot at to surviving an explosion. Through it all Jack never dies. I really enjoyed this book. I found it too be a page turner and the story flowed with enough action, murder, and a kidnapping. Just when you think you figure out who is behind it all it changes so it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Another thing I enjoyed was that it took place in Detroit. A place I visted several years ago. It was the perfect setting for the book.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

**Run For Your Life Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: February 2009

As everyone knows I am a huge James Patterson fan so when Miriam sent me this book I was dying to read it. Thank you so very much Miriam.

In 2007 we were introduced to a new cop in town named Mike Bennett. The book was Step On a Crack. Mike is a NYPD Detective. By day, he’s a cop to the people of New York and by night, he’s a single dad to 10 young children whom he adopted with his late wife, Maeve. She died over a year ago. Life as a single parent definitely isn’t easy and he couldn’t do it without their nanny, Mary Catherine and his grandfather, Seamus will help out in a jam.

The book opens up with most of the Bennett children sick with the flu. Mike decides to take a day off to help Mary Catherine, but its short lived when he’s assigned to an urgent new case. An audacious killer who calls himself The Teacher is gunning down victims in broad daylight. He’s carefully planned every last detail of his mission—right down to his checklist of victims.

In one single afternoon, a man has walked into the Ralph Lauren flagship store and shot a clerk. Mere hours later, a man calmly entered 21 and shot the maitre’d . In a possibly-related incident earlier that day, a well-dressed businessman knocked a woman off a subway platform into the path of a train.

It doesn’t take long for Mike to realize that these three acts are somehow related and that they are all perpetrated by the same man. The killer is calling himself The Teacher. He’s provided the press with a mission statement and it details his reasoning and he explains why his actions are to better the quality of life in New York. Mike and his team hit the ground running, trying to catch this guy before he kills again.

I have to stop myself before I give the story away. If you are looking for a page turner then let me suggest this book to you. Its book two in the series so its easy to catch up on the whole Benette history. You don’t have to read the first book to get the story but its always nice to.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

**Letters Between Us Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: August 2008

Thank You to Paula at AME Inc for sending me this book to read and review.

“Letters Between Us” begins with a Santa Barbara Herald newspaper article. The article is about the death of 39-year-old Katharine Taylor Fields whose body was found in a dumpster at the Cold Spring Tavern Inn. Katharine’s estranged husband David calls Laura. Laura is a childhood friend of Katharine’s. Katherine has been a patient a Psychiatric hospital for the past eight months of Katherine’s life. After attending the services Laura stops by David’s house and he gives her a brown box thinking that she should have it since it was a box filled with all kinds of memories of the girls.

The box contains letters that Katherine had kept from Laura. The letters dated back to 8th grade. Laura gets a room at the Vista del Mar Inn. She calls her husband and tells him to send her own box of saved letters she is intent on reading through all of them.

The book is written in a series of letters back and forth, interjected with journal entries and Laura’s memories.As she reads, she also remembers. The current time in this story is 1989.

Neither one of these girls had a very stable upbringing. Laura was both promiscuous and heavily involved in experimentation with drugs and alcohol. Katharine, in spite of her mental health issues, was more reserved and restrained. Katharine’s first hospitalization in a mental health facility began in 1969. Being a child of alcoholic parents and a father that was abusive and unemployed left a huge scar on her psyche. As she grew into adulthood it only got worse.

As Laura reads the letters and journal she looks back over the years and she sees clues about Katharine’s life that she missed while they grew up. Laura’s young adulthood was more focused on sex, drugs and alcohol than self-examination.

“Letters Between Us” is an engaging, easy-to-read novel, written in a unique form. The book is about a friendship that has grown since they were teenagers. Makes you wonder if a friendship like that can stand the test of time. Did you keep any letters or notes from friends when you were that age?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

**The Spare Room Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: February 2009
GENRE: Fiction

The book opens up with Helen preparing her spare bedroom for the arrival of her friend Nicola. Nicola has stage four cancer and is going to stay with Helen for 3 weeks while she undergo alternative treatment.

Helen and Nicola are in their sixties. They have enjoyed a close friendship. Helen has prepared herself, setting aside commitments, psychologically and to be physically ready to be of assistence to her friend

Helen takes her young granddaughter to the airport to meet Nicola. Helen is shocked when she sees Nicola’s deteriorated condition. Even the child is frightened by the frail woman who staggers towards them. Helen didn’t realize it was that bad.

Nicola’s immune system is virtually nonexistent. What follows is an huge act of generosity on Helen’s part. A three-week endurance of Nicola’s night sweats, agonizing pain and determination to ignore the cancer that assails her. Intending only kindness, Helen is soon worn down by the bizarre treatments (including the infusion of massive doses of Vitamin C), and the suffering Nicola endures during long, pain-wracked nights.

Helen has not expected that in caring for Nicola, the limitations she would have to put up against. The rage that fills her in the face of Nicola’s behavior and how she can go on suffering. Nicola is relentless in her cheerfulness in spite of debilitating pain, an unshakable belief that she ignores Helen’s exhaustion and fraying nerves. Most damaging is Helen’s overwhelming rage, a frustration with the false promises of alternative medicine. She knows there is no cure and she doesn’t understand why Nicola can’t see that.

This is a journey of friendship tested by a final reality- death.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Lost In Las Vegas Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: February 1, 2009
GENRE: YA

This is the 5th book in the series. Book 6 is called New York Debut and is coming out in May 2009. I can’t wait to read it. There is a total of 8 books in this series. I couldn’t find the titles or release dates for books 7 and 8. Hopefully fans of this series won’t have to wait too long for them to be released.

Lost in Las Vegas opens up with the girls getting ready for the Winter Ball. They all have dates except DJ. Connor has asked DJ but she has said no she doesn’t want to upset Haley. Finally Taylor talks to DJ and convinces DJ that she can’t let Haley dictact who she can and can’t see. Hearing this DJ begins to think that Taylor is right so she calls Connor and they go to the ball together. Haley is in a treatment center.

Katherine asks all the girls what their plans are for Christmas. Eliza is going to Kentuck to visit family and then her and her siblings will fry to France, Taylor is going to Las Vegas with her mother who will be doing shows there, Kriti is going to NY because she has family coming in from India,Rhiannon is going to Maine to see an aunt and her mother might be able to get out of rehab for the holiday, Casey is going to California and DJ is going to stay with Katherine. She doesn’t want to go to her fathers cause she doesn’t want to spend her holiday as a live in baby sitter. She is looking forward to having Carter House to herself.

Taylor calls DJ from Las Vegas telling that she is lonely and wants DJ to come and keep her company. DJ is also lonely and jumps at the chance to go. Once DJ finally makes it there Taylor’s and her opinion of fun are two different things. DJ things you can have fun without alcohol but Taylor thinks otherwise. She is into fake id’s, dancing with strangers and drinking.

When DJ bails early one night she wakes up to find that Eliza is there. Apparently Taylor called her when DJ got stuck at the airport. They attempt to make a girls outing but by evening that plan is blown out of the water and Taylor and Eliza go out and party.

DJ is constantly praying for Taylor. When DJ is down at the pool swimming she meets a guy named Terrance. He is a Christian and in Las Vegas with his father celebrating his 50th bday. DJ talks to him about Taylor and they exchange numbers in case she needs him. DJ comes back from her swim to find Taylor in the bathroom sick and hung over DJ worries about her. Eva, Taylor’s mother knows about her drinking. She is worried too. The only thing is that both Eva and DJ have no idea why she is drinking and how much she is drinking.

Hours later DJ finally confronts Taylor and lets her know how worried she is about Taylor. Finally Taylor admits to DJ the reason for her drinking and tells DJ just how much she is drinking. DJ is shocked to hear this. DJ tells her about Terrance and Taylor agrees to meet him. Taylor talks to Terrance and admits that she needs help and he gets her into a special rehab for teens and he admits that he had a problem too and that they helped him. Taylor tells her mother and she signs Taylor into rehab. Arrangements are made for the following day.

What makes Taylor drink? How much does she actually drink? Will she go into rehab?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Viva Vermont Review

Posted on by Cindy


PUB DATE: October 2008
GENRE: YA

This is the fourth book in the series. It begins where Homecoming Queen ended. DJ’s name was added to the Homecoming Queen ballot. Taylor has offered to help DJ get a dress for the parade. Haley is happy for DJ and offers Connor as her escort but DJ says no. Caleb, the life guard at the pool offers to take DJ. DJ is crowned homecoming Queen.

DJ isn’t able to bask in the glory of being crowned homecoming queen because her grandmother wants them to focus on the fashion show the following day. DJ tries her best to get out of it but her grandmother won’t hear of it because DJ will bring attention to the event cause she was crowned homecoming queen and the fact that she still is a local celebrity.

DJ takes one of her pills and goes to take a nap she is hoping that she will sleep through the whole think but no such luck when Taylor wakes her up to get ready. The girls get together to help DJ. The make it too Kellie’s Tavern just in time.

Eliza is the first girl out and on her way back DJ is next but Eliza is jealous of all the attention DJ is getting so she trips DJ and makes DJ fall off the run way. Taylor saw the whole thing and confronts Eliza. The girls begin to fight about it. Finally order is restored and the fashion show continues.

DJ is happy when the fashion show is over and is excited that things will get back to normal but its short lived when more drama comes her way in the form of Haley. Connor has broken up with Haley telling her he still cares about DJ. Connor tells DJ but DJ tells Connor they can only be friends. She is still hurt from when she broke up with Connor and he went to Haley.

Haly and her friends conspire to make DJ pay for the break up. They are angry and start to make DJ’s life hell. Things get worse when DJ is invited to join the swim team. She has earned a spot as a strong swimmer which only makes Haley angry. DJ suddenly starts to get some anonymous threatening text messages. She is scared but does nothing about it except delete the messages from her phone.

When Katherine makes an announcement to the girls that The General is taking them to Vermont for the weekend they are all excited and make plans and shop for it. They are prepared to leave on the Friday but DJ says she can’t go cause she has a swim meet that day. Connor has offered to drive her up since he is going to. Harry and the boys are going to Harry’s parents place for the weekend. On the way up Connor and DJ encounter car problems and are forced to spend the night together. DJ tells Taylor and Taylor spreads the gossip that they spent the night together. Word gets back to Haley about this and she is so mad that she attempts to take her life.

Will DJ uncover who is sending her the anonymous messages?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.