Book Reviews - Barbara S. (GourmetReader)

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Elena is the only female werewolf. Werewolves are either born with the gene �" and it's only passed to boys �" or bitten and women usually die. Except Elena. Elena was Bitten but she lived.
The pregnancy is troubling �" there hasn't been a werewolf pregnancy so no one knows what to expect. It would be an understatement to say she was bored witless, so when something comes up that requires her expertise �" and seems harmless �" she jumps at it.

Of course, it isn't harmless. Elena inadvertently opens a time portal and a serial killer and 2 zombies are loose in Toronto. Elena, Clay and Jeremy stay in Toronto to try to send the serial killer and his zombies back. Along the way, they ask Zoe, a vampire, and Jaime, the necromancer, for help. For some reason, the serial killer and his zombies are targeting Elena specifically. The Pack and its friends have to find out why and what to do to close the time portal.

The ending is nearly saccharine but the reader �" at least this reader �" can't help but cheer for Elena and Clay.
Review Date: 4/15/2008

Harper Connelly sees dead people.

Okay, that's not, strictly speaking, true. She doesn't see them so much as sense them. Harper was hit by lightning when she was 15 and since then she can sense dead people. That's how she makes her living, finding dead people. Usually murder victims, but sometimes not.

In “Grave Sight,” Harper is in Sarne, AR to find the body of a local dead girl. It seems straightforward enough but it isn't. Harper, along with her brother Tolliver, are drawn into a web of small-town connections and drama. People are hostile to Harper, nearly as a matter of course, since they don't “approve” of her abilities.

I thought this book was probably the very first written by Charlaine Harris. I'm not sure that's true but it starts out stiffly and doesn't improve much, in terms of writing style. The story is good and I know CH has potential, so I stuck with it. I will probably read at least the next in the series and see if it improves.
Review Date: 5/22/2008

I called my friend M today. I hated to do it, but I had to tell her that her husband was right: I DO like the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. At the very least, I liked the first of them.

Harry Dresden is a wizard who advertises his services in the phone book. Not surprisingly, he is the only wizard in the phone book, so he gets a fair share of nut jobs calling him. This time, however, he gets two calls right after the other: one from a local detective looking for his help and another from a woman who is trying to find her husband. The detective is calling about a double murder using magic �" and Harry is the only local wizard powerful enough to do it. He is under pressure from the human police and the wizard police because they *both* think he's responsible. Along the way, there is a girl and some interesting fights and meetings with otherworldly creatures.

Initially, I thought this was a male version �" and rip off �" of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. The whole being on retainer to the police, the adversarial relationship with some of the police force and then being a magical creature himself. After I read a few pages, I more or less got over that. The writing is more Sam Spade-like than LKH, which can be distracting at first. Again, once I got a few pages into it, that fell by the wayside and I just enjoyed the book.

The character development isn't that great but that's often true of first books. Lieutenant Karrin Murphy is fairly one-dimensional as is Dresden's love interest, Susan Rodriguez. To compare again to LKH, that was true of Dolph and Jean Claude until at least the 3rd book of the series, so I think there's hope. There are (I think) 10 in this series, thus far, so I'm sure Butcher gets better in that arena. He did well enough this time that I want to continue to read the series.

I'm a fan of series book and this promises to be one that I'll continue.
Review Date: 4/7/2008

I went to visit A Friend in a different city and didn't feel like reading the book I took with me, so we found a used bookstore and decided to check it out. I mean, there are Borders and other regular bookstores but I generally find cooler things in used stores. This time, not so much.

However, I did get 3 books: 2 Piers Anthony and “Tales of a Drama Queen” by Lee Nichols. This was, I discovered to my horror only after I bought it, a Red Dress Ink book. Which means it's published by Harlequin. Well, it wasn't so bad. Not your standard formulaic Harlequin romance, which is good.

Elle Medina is a late 20s woman who has never held a job. She met her now-ex-fiance shortly after graduating from college and became a kept woman. That is, until he went on a business trip to Iowa and came home, after a week, married to another woman. Elle moves to Santa Barbara and lives with her high school best friend and decides to get a job, get an apartment and get a man.

For 279 pages, we read about how she screws up at every opportunity and learns how to be a grown up. It was interesting to me because she never actually did learn how to be a grown up when she was supposed to, so her experiences are similar to what a teenager might go through. Since I didn't learn how to be an adult until late in life myself, I could relate. Oh, my issues weren't that I didn't get a job but there were other things. Elle is a likeable character and the story, while not deep, is entertaining. If you are looking for something fun and easy, this is a good choice.
Review Date: 4/7/2008

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