67. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I'm sorry to see this trilogy end.  Collins has written a creative and suspenseful set of books that I found very appealing.  While I didn't like this one quite as much as The Hunger Games, I still thought it was fantastic.  I found Gale to be a bit annoying with his overzealousness and missed Peeta in the first part of the book.  Katniss continued to be as conflicted and determined as ever.  It was a weird setting as all the survivors of District 12 find refuge in District 11, and underground city that offers protection but a loss of self-determination.  Katniss finds she is still playing the Game just on a much larger scale, with so much more at stake, and against the most devious competitor of all, the President of the Federation.  This was the first book I read on my new Kindle, so I will always have it with me; but it is kind of hard not having a book cover to set a feeling for the book.  Even so, I found it very satisfying to know how the story ends even though the ending seemed rushed to me and tied up a bit too neatly.  But a great book which I recommend.
Rating:  4.5

66. Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer

The first Heyer book I read, Why Shoot a Butler, was so much fun to read.  It was set in the twenties in England amid an upperclass group with a good-looking, sarcastic leading man who solves the mystery and falls in love.  I really enjoyed it.  So Envious Casca was quite a disapppointment to me.  It likewise takes place in Enland 1920's with uppclass characters.  The problem is the characters are snobby and unlikeable.  They mystery was too easy to figure out.  After the murder, the local police come with a detective who is not sympathetic or incredibly smart, but competent.  Eventually, Scotland Yard is called in and the Chief Inspector finally solves the case.  The problem is that the reader doesn't even connect with the sleuth because the solution is divided up between the two detectives.  There is a slight romance at the end which was satisfying but entirely predictable.  I don't know if I will read any more Heyer books if this is a true example of her work.  Any recommendations??
Rating:  2.75

65. Fantasy in Death by J D Robb

I listened to this book while traveling to Salt Lake several times in the last two months.  Admittedly, that's not the best way to listen to a book if you forget as easily as I do, but I was able to follow along pretty well.  The "In Death" mystery series features Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Police Homocide Dept.  The series takes place well into the future and I enjoy the author's creativity in the plots involving her odd characters and advanced technology.  This particular book deals with the murder of a game creater who is beheaded while playing his creation in a locked room.  As always, I find Eve Dallas to be a strong, intelligent woman who manages to solve the crime with the help of her hunky husband, Roarke, and her partner, Delia,  and Delia's boyfriend who is also part of the homocide squad.  Listening to the story changed it up and I found the reader did a good job portraying each character.  All in all, though, it was just okay.  There is obligatory sex scene between Roarke and Eve that is ever so tiresome and too much profanity as always.  The mystery itself was okay but farfetched even for being placed in a sci fi setting.  It was just hard to get into.  I would probably have liked it even less if I had read it instead of listening.
Rating:  3

64. Dragon by Michael Connelly

I'm not sure what dragons have to do with this book, except that it involves the Chinese community of LA and a visit to Hong Kong.  Harry Bosch, the star of many of Connelly's books, is called to investigate the murder of a Chinese owner of a liquor store.  Small pieces of information leads him to a Hong Kong triad where he focuses the investigation.  An arrest is made when Harry receives a text from Hong Kong showing his thirteen-year-old daughter has been taken captive.  He travels immediately to rescue her and creates a swath of violence as he narrows down her location and finally is able to retrieve her and bring her back to the United States.  By the time he gets back to LA, the suspect has been released because of lack of evidence, but Harry continues to work the case.  There is a big twist at this point, which I'm not going to go into because I don't want to spoil the story.  While there was some interesting elements to this story, I found it a bit disappointing.  Maybe it just took me so long to read it because of other things going on in my life, that I just lost interest.  Come to think of it, I believe the triad had Dragon as part of its title.  At least I cleared that part up for myself.  Anyway, it was just okay for me.  Rating:  3.75

63. Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

I would proably have read this book just because the cove is so pretty, but I have also liked other books written by this author.  Spindle's End is a twist of the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty but it does follow the original story quite closely.  Princess baby is born, naming ceremony is held and gifts given by all the fairies until the evil, unvited fairy shows up to curse the baby with death by finger prick on spindle at the age of twenty-one.  During the resulting chaos, the baby is given to Katriona, a fairy from a faroff corner of the kingdom.  She takes the baby home and raises her until her twenty-first birthday.  The twist is that Rosie, the princess in disguise is not at all like a princess and doesn't know her royal heritage at all.  She has the gift of animal-speak and uses that gift to work with the local black smith and to cure the local animals.  The story ends with a confrontation at the 21st birthday party and then taking on the evil fairy to wake all those asleep in the castle.  It was a fun story and well-written.  I enjoyed the departures from the original and the surprise ending.  Rating:  4.5

62. The Time Thief by Linda Buckley Archer

Book Two of the Gideon Trilogy finds Kate returning to the present with her father and Peter stranded in 1763.  He was shoved out of the way at the last minute by the villaneous Tar Man, who has a hey day in the 21st century, once he figures out how everything works.  He also starts to figure out ways to move back and forth between the past the and the present which creates all kinds of problems.  Kate finally finds a way to return to 1763 to rescue Peter but goes to 1783 instead.  The machine was broken in the travel and they travel about Europe to find a scientist who can fix it.  There is no definite solution at the end of the book, setting the reader up for the third and final book.  Still, I enjoyed the author's attention to the details of the earlier time and the history included in the story as well as the characters and their motives.  The Tar Man is certainly a fun villain to follow, but he is really getting out of hand.  It will be interesting to see how everything comes together in the end.  Rating:  4.25

61. The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen

Gerritsen really does write interesting medical thrillers but this one veers off that path into Satanism and a study of pure evil.  Jane Rizzoli is still the copy who investigates the crimes and Dr. Maura Isles, the medical examiner.  Helping in the investigation is a group called the Mephisto Club who study evil in the hopes of containing the demons who have existed since the time of Adam's son, Seth.  Apparently, there is a Book of Enoch which was left out fo the old Testament telling of fallen angels who impregnate human women, creating this demonic rae.  I found the book to be quite thrilling with some surprising twists along the way, but did not enjoy the Satanic storyline.  Just not my thing.  Rating:  3.75

60. The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantease

14th Century England is the setting for this hirtorical novel which revolves around the illicit translation of the Bible into English, bringing about a change in the entire religious atmosphere of the country.  Several historical personages are part of the story including John Wucliff, the priest who takes on the the Ensligh translation, the Biship of Norwich, a corrupt priest who abuses his power and is willing to almost anything to prevent any change to the status quo, the Sheriff of Norwich, a man trying to enlarge his own estates and wealth, and John of Gaunt, the regent to the young King of England.  The main fictional characters are Lady Kathryn, a middle-aged widow and mother of two sons struggling to make ends meet while holding on to her estates in the face of pressure to marry the sheriff and incresing taxes from the Bishop; and Finn, a talented illuminator hired to create drawings for a local abbey.  The abbey pays kathryn to rpovide lodging for Finn and his daughter while he complete his work.  Not only do they fall in love, but his daughter and one of the sons fall in love as well.

I enjoyed the hsitory involved in this story but found the romance and consequent turmoil too sad and tense.  Even so, I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to heppen next.  That kept me going right up to the end, which I hated.  Rating:  3.75

59. Hold Tight by Harlen Coben

Tia and Mike Baye have a great life in the suburbs.  He is a doctor and she is a lawyer.  They love each other and their family, but lately the son, Adam, has been acting strange.  They decide to spy on his computer usage to see if they can learn how to help him; but the messages they see involve them in something way over everybody's head.  On the other hand, a serial killer is on the loose, torturing and mutilating women in the area.  How these two story lines converge and become resolved is intense and griping.  I haven't been disappointed by a Coben yet.  His stories are thrilling and keep you on the edge of you seat.
Rating:  4.25

58. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Twin brothers are born in a hospital complex in Ethiopia, joined at the head by a thn piece of tissue.  No one was aware of the impending birth as the mother was a beautiful nun and surgical assistant who hid the pregnancy from all around her.  The father, a brilliant British surgeon, freezes at the difficult delivery:  the mother dies and the father disappears.  The twins are raised by the remaining medical personnel, mostly a gynocological surgeon who becomes their adopted mother.  Both grow up with a fascination for medicine but they have completely different personalities.  Marion is conscientious and considerate of those around him.  SHe is deeply in love with the daughter of a nurse at the hospital.  Shiva, while medically brilliant, is self-centered and unthinking, not in a horrible way, but his behavior causes a deep rift between the two brothers.  Because of the rift, Marion flees Ethiopia in the midst of its revolution and complete his surgical training in New York City.  There he meets his surgeon father and develops his own talents, while Shiva ramins in Ethiopia and becomes an expert on treating genital mutilation common amont the young women in that country.

I loved this book which surprises me because of the subject matter.  Still, it is full of wondrful and diverse characters who lend so much flavor to the story.  And Marion, the main character, is a deep, complex person, who makes understandable mistakes, gets hurt by those he trusts; and makes you root for him throughout the book.  It's a beautiful story of love and betrayal and redemption.
Rating:  5

57. The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

Thanks to Jennclair for sending me this book.  I enjoyed the Swedish setting especially since my son served part of his mission close to where this book takes place.  The frozen atmosphere helped me keep cool during this hot July weather.  I think there were some places where the translation didn't quite work for me.  The phrasing seemed wrong, but overall I liked the book.

Ericka is a biography author struggling to complete her next book while dealing with the recent death of her parents.  While out walking, a elderly man drags her up to the home of her childhood friend, Alexandra, where she finds her naked in a tub of ice, her wrists slashed and blood all over.  She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Alex, uncovering 25-year-old secrets and becoming reacquainted with another childhood friend, Petrik, who happens to be a cop investigating the death.  It was a great mystery, didn't see the end coming at all.  Part of the book deals with Ericka's sister and her personal problems that didn't really have anything to do with the mystery but added to Ericka's overall angst.  The resolution to those problems seemed a bit too neat for me.  There were some other side stories involving the elderly man, an old teacher, etc., that I found distracting and far too much time spent on what the characters had for dinner.  You expect that in a culinary mystery, which this isn't, and I found it a little annoying.  But overall, it was a good book, darker than I usually like but very interesting look into people's mind and actions.
Rating:  4

Since Jennclair was so generous to give this book to me, I'm going to pass it along to someone else.  If you're interested, leave a comment with your email address and I'll draw a name on August 15. 

56. The First Patient by Michael Palmer

The First Patient begins with the presidential helicopter landing on a small ranch in Wyoming.  It's President Andrew Stockton coming to ask his old college roommate, Dr. Gabe Singleton, to be his personal physician in the White House.  The president is less than candid about his reasons, but Gabe soon discovers that the most powerful man in the world seems to suffer from periodic bouts of insanity.  What follows is a fast-paced, action-filled story about government intrigue, medical advances, the 25th  Amendment (policy about presidential succession), with some romance and true evil thrown in for good measure.  Some of the story is predictable.  I saw the resolution about Gabe's past coming a mile away, but the mastermind behind the president's potential demise was a complete surprise to me.  Granted the whole premise was pretty far fetched, but Palmer makes it believable and certainly entertaining.
Rating:  4

55. The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I enjoyed the Twilight series but put off reading this book because the storyline didn't sound appealing to me.  I'm not a sci-fi fan and this book is definitely science fiction.  The whole idea of a body being taken over by an alien who tries to erase that person's mind was kind of creepy to me.  Then the alien falls in love with the man in the actual person's memories.   It just didn't sound like my kind of book.  But when I was able to mooch the book, I did.  And since it is a large book and takes too much room on the book shelves, I decided to read it quickly so I could mooch it forward.  Well, what can I say.  I really liked this book, much better than the Twilight series.  Wanderer, the alien (called a soul), is a fantastic character as is Melanie, the human striving to remain alive in her taken-over body.  They are strong, interesting and not completely perfect.  When they are able to find a small group of human survivors, the conflict between the humans, especially Jared, Melanie's love interest; and the host body of Melanie is intense and intriguing.  Plus the world they have created for themselves in order to survive and hide from the souls is pure creative delight.  It's not an easy world but  believable.  I found this book to be very imaginative and well written.  Even the romance is interesting, not an easy love, but conflicted, twisting and turning, with all kinds of impediments.  While I may never read the Twilight series again, since I found the first movie disappointing and Edward and Bella so far from what I imagined; I plan on keeping this book around for a future reread.  So much for clearing off the shelves.  Of course, when a movie comes out, the casting may be as awful and make it impossible to read the book again with the same enjoyment.  As for my interest in science fiction, I may have to rethink that as well.  I really liked this book and loved Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.  What other great sci-fi's am I missing?
Rating:  4.75

54. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Thanks heavens, I finished it.  It was hard, I really slogged through the first two-thirds; but it did get interesting towards the end.  There is a very real gothic feel to this book with a sense of menace permeating throughout.  That Mrs. Danvers is a very creepy character.  But overall, I was quite out of patience with the second Mrs. de Winters (we never learn her first name) who narrates the story.  She is such a namby-pamby.  The story would have ended at two hundred pages instead of 416 if she had just talked to her husband or if he had talked to her about anything they were feeling.  Honestly!!  I didn't expect the part about finding a boat in the bay but that is where all the excitement comes in.  And then the ending is so abrupt that you feel dropped, even though the first chapter of the book takes place after the ending; so you're not very surprised, just dropped.  This is my second du Maurier book which I liked better than the first but not much.  I still have Jamaica Inn sitting on the shelves.  What is your opinion?  Should I try it or give it up before I waste my time. 
Rating:  3

53, The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

I'm not sure how you would classify this book:  chick lit?  kind of,  fantasy?  maybe,  LDS fiction,  I guess.  The thing is it has elements of all of these but not enough to really meet all the criteria.  I guess I would go with LDS fiction because the main character, Becky is an LDS housewife; and the book does incorporate a lot of her beliefs and lifestyle mostly as a way of showing who Becky is and not as a means of preaching or pushing church doctrine. (The scene of Felix attending a ward dinner is a riot.)

Becky is eight months pregnant and in Hollywood to sell her screenplay.  While talking with the agent, in walks Felix, her screen idol, who is famous for hisromantic comedies.  They clash in an amusing way and end up having dinner together.  Because he can't understand his strange attraction to a not-so-beautiful and hugely pregnant woman, Felix follows up by bringing his wife to Utah to delve into his feelings more.  Becky is happily married to Mike, but the connection with Felix is so strong, that they become best friends.  And for the most part, the spouses are supportive, while friends and family question the advisability of the whole relationship.  I found the whole premise to be completely unbelievable but I love the way Hale writes and this book is no exception.  She almost makes it plausible, but not quite.  If the book wasn't written so well, the characters so interesting and the dialog so funny; I probably would have quit the book mid-stream because the actual plot was so odd.  But I did finish it.  There is a heart-breaking scene which made me cry and another scene near the end of the book that made me uncomfortable.  I did like how the book ended as it was totally in sinc with everything else that takes place throughout, but overall, it was my least favorite Hale book.  Still I'm giving it a good rating, because of the great Hale touch and  her humor.
Rating:  4

52. Bread Alone by Judi Hendrix

"Not suited for teaching high school and hopeless at selling real-estate, thirty-one-year-old Wynter Morrison has long ago given up any pretense of being a career woman and drifted into the role of a trophy wife. So after seven years of marriage, when her husband David informs her that it was all a mistake, she is left emotionally devastated and directionless—wondering how she let herself become so dependent.



Desperate for a change of scenery, Wyn leaves behind her pampered life in Los Angeles and ventures north to Seattle, where she spends hours at a small local bakery sipping coffee and inhaling the aromas of freshly made bread. These visits bring back memories of her apprenticeship at a French boulangerie, when her passion for bread making nearly led her to abandon college for cooking school. When offered a position at the bakery, Wyn accepts, grateful for the comfort of a routine.


Turning her schedule upside down to work all night and sleep during the day, learning to coexist with Linda, the irascible bread baker; making friends with earth mother Ellen, her artistic partner Diane, and Tyler, the blue-haired barista—Wyn happens upon some truths that she apparently missed while living the good life in Hancock Park. And soon she finds that making bread—the kneading of the dough, the scent of yeast hanging in the air—possesses an unexpected and wondrous healing power—helping her to rediscover that nothing stays the same: bread rises, pain fades, the heart heals and the future beckons."  From Author's Website

I enjoyed the journey of Wyn changing from a selfish, spoiled society wife to a person who is aware of others and more aware of herself.  She is a fun character, sometimes exasperating, confusing, heart-warming, and just plain dumb.  But never boring. 
Rating:  4.5

51. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling (audio)

I was able to purchase this used CD at a reasonable price and decided to give it a listen on my recent trip to Vegas.  I don't normally listen to audio books that have ten discs and so it took me considerably longer than the trip to finish this one.  I had just watched the movie a month ago and was surprised at the things that were left out.  It was a lot of fun reliving the whole adventure. 

I won't bore you with a synposis of the story.  Most people know what happens.  I'll just share what I liked and didn't like.  First of all, Jim Dale is an amazing narrator.  He has the gift of differentiating each voice so you recognize that character each time he/she speaks.  However, I found his voice for Hermione to be very annoying.  He makes her drag out the last syllable to Harry's name so it just got on my nerves.  But that is a very minor flaw.  I looked forward to listening to the book each time I got into my car.  The Harry Potter books are amazing and entertaining and so imaginative.  I really would like to listen to the entire set and don't even care if I do it in order. 
Rating:  5

50. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

This book is so reminiscent of Arthur Ransom's and E Nesbitt's books in which a group of basically good children have adventures and get into trouble along the way.  The grownups are on the sideline for the most part.  In a way, the story seems like it was written 100 years ago, when it was actually published in 2005.  There is a bit more angst than in, say, The Railway Children, but still pretty much a fun and light hearted story. 

The four Penderwick sisters go on vacation with their father and stay in a cottage on the Arundel estate.  They meet Jeffrey, whose mother owns the estate, and they have lots of summer adventures.  But Jeffrey's mother is a big snob and disapproves of the Penderwicks and their influence on her son.  Soon Jeffrey is facing leaving soon for military school where he will learn some discipline.  So there are a couple of mean adults in the book who make life difficult for everyone.  The oldest daughter, 12-year-old Rosalind, falls in love with a 17-year-old boy which makes for another intersting storyline that you wouldn't find in any of those older children's novels.  But the children are adorable, the dog is loyal and rambunctious, and the father is absent-minded.  What else could you wish for?  Fun story for children and adults who enjoy a light read.  There is a sequel but I haven't heard how good it is.
Rated:  4

49. The Icing on the Cake by Elodia Strain

This book is a well-written LDS chick-lit.  Annabelle Pleasanton is the typical female heroine:  lacks self-confidence, gets into strange and embarrassing situations, prettier than she realizes, and has a heart of gold.  I liked her a lot.  She is a fledging writer at a magazine who drives two-hundred miles to buy a cake to impress her boss.  On this trip, she meets Isaac, a photographer, and a romance is born.  I found Annabelle to be very real in her relationships with her friends and with Isaac.  Isaac starts off as almost too good to be true, but with the conflict of the book arises, I found his reaction to be less believable but making him more human.  It was a slight stumbling block for me, and he overcomes it.  He really is the perfect guy.  Annabelle puts herself in all kinds of ridiculous situations trying to impress Isaac or her boss or someone else; but there is an integrity inside her that keeps her from completely losing herself.  Overall, the book is hilarious, I loved Annabelle, want Isaac for my daughter, and plan to read the sequel, Previously Engaged. 
Rating:  4

47-48 Silent in the Sanctuary and Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

I read the first book in this series, Silent in the Grave, about a year ago and liked it, even though I found Lady Julia Gray a bit annoying.  But she grew on me and I really like her in these two books.  She come from a very unconventional aristocratic family who isn't very well accepted in society because of its idiosyncrasies.  She is a much more interesting character than if she had been a typical upper-class Victorian lady.  The other main character is Nicholas Brisbane who helped Julia solve the murder of her husband and influenced her to actually start living instead of merely existing.  She insists on helping with his investigation and her meddling continues with the next two books.  I really like Brisbane.  He is good-looking, intelligent, and athletic, as you would expect in any hero.  But he also suffers from debilitating migraines, has a nasty temper; and is often unreasonably contrary.  Very interesting man. 

In Sanctuary, Julia returns from Italy to her family home at Christmas.  She is surprised to find Brisbane as one of the guests.  The chemistry between the two grows although both fight the attraction.  A murder takes place; and Julia and Brisbane investigate, sometimes by cooperating and other times by going their own way. 

Moor continues the story several months later.  Brisbane has bought a home in isolated Yorkshire and proceeds to ignore Julia; in fact, forbids her from visiting.  She ignores that and shows up on the doorstep with her sister and brother in tow.  The family who previously owned the manor still live there as they are destitute.  The oldest brother who spent the family fortune had died leaving a room full of Egyptian artifacts.  There is an attempt on Brisbane's life which almost succeeds and Julia nurses him back to health.  The mystery in this book is who tried to kill Brisbane.  It's not hard to figure out; but the Allenby family are so odd and twisted, that it made the book hard to put down.

I enjoyed both books and especially liked that the series concludes after three books.  I'm not sure the kind of emotional tug of war involved in this romance would continue to be entertaining after too many more books.  I think Raybourn ended it at the perfect time.  I don't know if she has written any other books.  I hope so because I would love to read them.
Rating for both:  4.5