Sinister Sprinkles - Jessica Beck

Sinister Sprinkles - Jessica Beck
I did a little research on the author of this book, which I don't normally do, but something got me interested.  I have an inquiry on my blog on whether Jessica Beck is really Joaane Fluke, author of the Hannah Swensen series.  Now, I have compared these two quite a bit in my previous posts and it got me thinking, could it be true.  I discovered that Jessica Beck really is a pen name, the books that come out from her are spaced in between Joanne Flukes books and the artwork is also very similar.  I don't know, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if it's true. 
So, this third installment of the Donut Shop Mysteries is a case of mistaken identity. At least that's what they think at first.  The murder victum in this book is the very same woman that Suzanne's ex-husband Max, cheated on her with. (That's not very good english, and Hannah Swenson would have corrected me!)  Max, goes missing and Suzanne finds herself trying to help prove he didn't do it.  She's not enthuzed about it at first, but decides to go along with it, a little to easily for my taste, but then again I guess we wouldn't have a story otherwise.  Halfway through, her boyfriend, Jake, pays her a visit, just to breakup with her and her best friend is flown out to California and offered a really good job out there. There are some awesomely awkward encounters with the local hair stylist and morning radio personality, these end a little too abrubtly for me, I was left wanting more.  The ending is pretty exciting, an awesome shoot out at the Donut Shop with an unexpected suspect turning out to be guilty.  And wouldn't you know it, Jake comes back to make-up.

There were parts of this book I liked and parts that I didn't.  I didn't like when people asked Suzanne for details on what she was investigating or what she found out, she thought for only a second and then gave some lame excuse on how she couldn't see how it could hurt.  If she wasn't going to hesitate to tell them, then why write any kind of hesitation at all, it bothered me!

This was really good light reading, and the recipes in this one were much better then the last.  I still prefer Joanne Fluke's writting, unless of course they turn out to be the same person and then I would have to say I like the work in the Hannah Swensen series better!  3.5 out of 5 for this one.  Next up is Evil Eclairs, but it's not due out until the end of April.

Jumper - Reflex by Steven Gould

Jumper - Reflex by Steven Gould

I decided to read this sequel because it looked like an interesting continuation and I wanted to see if Hollywood could have made a good follow up movie with it.  It was VERY good.  I again think that if the screenwriters had stuck to some of the original plot lines in the book they would have had a much more successful box office turnout.

 

Our story picks up with Millie and Davy ten years later.  They got married and are "commuting" between their condo in Oklahoma and the hide out that Davy created years earlier in Texas they call the Aerie.  The couple is arguing once again about whether to have a child.  Davy is against it, afraid of inflicing the abuse he once had to endure from his father.  Mille is more optomistic that he is not his father and is not capable of that.  Right in the heat of the argument, Davy pops away and leaves Millie frustrated.  "I wish I could teleport, then he wouldn't escape from me so easily."  I know rigtht away that this story was going to be more about her.

 

Well, Davy had leave because of a prearranged meeting he had in D.C. with a member of the NSA.  The meeting goes all kinds of wrong ending up with the kidnapping of our hero, Davy.  The chapters that follow are some of the worst yet most mezmorizing chapters I have ever read. 

 

Millie was left in the Aerie, which, being some 200 feet up  embedding into the face of a mountain, has no ground level exit.  She waits for a day with no cell phone, no wallet and no Davy to take her out of there.  Then she breaks out the emergency escape equipment, a climbing harness and nylon rope.  As she is starting to decend the rock, one of the clamps comes loose, sending her plummeting 150 feet to the ground.  That was the first time she jumped, ending up back in her condo in Oklahoma.

 

Davy is have a real rough time.  He has been kidnapped and placed in a strange room with all white wall, a bed, a bathroom and a large window in one wall.  He has been chained to the wall and can't jump out of there.  Also, there's a really strange scar on his chest just over his heart.  His captures inform him that he has been electronically restrained and will only remove the chains after they have "trained" him to come back when called.  I hated to read about how they tried to break him, it was terrible and amazing all at the same time. The writing was so REAL that you just wanted to reach in the book and crush all those people who were forcing him to endure such humiliating experiences.  Like I said, mezmorizing!

 

In the mean time, Millie is learning how to teleport and starts tracking down her husband.  This woman could work for the CIA, she's good at getting information from people, and the fact that she can jump to anywhere in the world doesn't hurt either.  Her side of the story is wonderful to read, I found myself rooting for her every step of the way. 

 

Eventually, Millie discovers where Davy is; Davy outsmarts his captures so they decide they have to dispose of him; Mille gets there in time to save him and they get their revenge on almost all of them.  However, they have no way of knowing who the actual boss is since the one they thought was in charge ended up committing suicide before the could get any information out of him.

 

I have to say, it was tough to get through the Davy chapters with the humiliation and all, but well worth the effort.  It was a GREAT book, well written with emmense depth.  5 out of 5, a must read!  Can't wait to read, Jumper - Griffin's Story.

Jumper - Steven Gould

Jumper - Steven Gould

This is my second installment of reading books which inspired some of my favorite movies.  I really enjoyed this book, even more then the movie.  I think if Hollywood would have stuck with some of the original plot lines in the book, they may have had a better chance at a sequel. 

Davy is from a broken home.  His mother left when he was twelve and his father drank then beat him.  This first time Davy "jumped" was right before his father was going to beat him with his belt, the buckle side.  He landed in the local library, one of his favorite hang outs and the only place he feels safe.  In the beginning, the plot pretty much stays the same as the movie, however, he is not best friends with a girl from school,  he doesn't fall into a river and then jump causing everyone to think he's dead.  He does run away to New York where he does actually rob a bank.

It gets weirder though, in the movie he can jump to places he's never been if he just looks at a picture but the book tells us that isn't the case.  Davy has to actually have been to the place he is jumping first, in order to have a sensory memory of it that allows him to jump back there later.  He meets a girl in New York, Millie, who is actually from Oklahoma.  They hit it off and he later tells her that he can teleport.  He starts to look for his mom but doesn't know where to start, so he goes to his grandfather's house in Florida. No luck, grandpa died several years ago, but a family attorney points him in the right direction.  His mom contacts him in New York and they have a great day together before she flies out on a business trip.  Unfortunately, the flight is hijacked and his mom has a bomb strapped to her.  She doesn't make it.  Davy watches it all happen without being able to do anything.  He makes it his mission to find the terrorists responsible for the hijacking and take revenge on them.

There is so much to this story that I could go on and on, but you really should read it for yourself.  I love how Steven Gould implies that teleportation is a plausible human function and not just a sci-fi, futuristic, unachievable goal.  This books get a 5 out of 5, READ IT!

Stardust - Neil Gaiman

Stardust - Neil Gaiman

I just LOVE to read.  My latest craze is taking all of my favorite movies and reading the books they were based on.  My first subject, Stardust of course.  I absolutely loved this movie so I was super excited to read the original story.

In the book we are introduced to the village of Wall, somewhere in England I think, so named for the stone wall located near the village.  There is a small gap in the wall that is guarded night and day in order to keep people out.  There is only one day that they are permitted within the wall which opens into a meadow, and that day only comes around every nine years.  It was on one of those days, May day, that Dunstan went wondering among the many booths that had come to sell their wares to the villagers.  He happened upon a young maiden and, well, nine months later had a basket left on his doorstep.  And that is how we meet Tristran, Dunstan's son and the main character in the book. 

I have to say that whoever wrote the screen play for the movie did a GREAT job.  I loved it soooo much more than the book.  The character that Robert De Niro plays in the movie, Captain Alberic, has a depth to him that I really missed in the book.  Also, the girl that Tristran is suppose to be impressing by bringing her back the star, she's is such a brat in the movie, but Neil Gaiman portrays her as a really understanding and remorseful person.  I actually liked hating her in the movie and didn't want to feel the compassion towards her that I ended up feeling.

All in all, the book gets a 3.5 from me, but the movie, which I know I'm only suppose to be reviewing books here, the movie gets a 5 out of 5.  You simply have to see the movie!

Safe Haven - Nicholas Sparks

Safe Haven - Nicholas Sparks

I recently joined a book club and our first assignment was this book.  I have to say I was apprehensive, not because I don't like Nicholas Sparks, it was just that I've read so many of his books like; Dear John, The Notebook and The Last Song, that I knew whether I wanted to or not, I was going to cry. I wasn't disappointed.

This sweet story starts out introducing us to Katie, who works as a waitress and just recently moved to Southport North Carolina.  She doesn't have a car, and walks to work from her little cottage down a dirt road.  We are also introduced to her friend Jo who moves in next door to her in the only other run down cottage on that road.  Early on we get a sense that something is a little off about Katie.  She's not openly friendly, she works all the time and spends very little money on anything but food, saving the rest.  Jo immediately asks her if she's dating anyone, which she promptly denies.  But Jo doesn't let up there, she asks her if she has met the general store owner with the grey hair.  I immediately suspect something about Jo, she seems to have her own agenda, but more on that later.

We are then introduced to the grey haired store owner, Alex, and given his perspective.  He has noticed Katie, has tried to talk to her, but she keeps her head down and doesn't linger in the store when she's shopping.  She only pauses long enough to talk to Alex's daughter, Kristen. His son, Josh, usually fishes out on the dock behind the store. Alex's wife passed away several years ago. I knew immediately that Katie and Alex would fall for each other.  Alex also notices something about the way (spoiler alert) that Katie tends to twist a ring on her finger that is no longer there. He knows exactly what has happened to her and what she is running from. 

As I continued to read, I knew exactly where this story was going, because I had read a similar story many years before - Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen.  There are many similarities between Black and Blue and Safe Haven.  I like Safe Haven better though, much happier ending.

Now, I really like how Alex accepts Katie for who and what she is but I also know that Jo is being pretty hard on her about not leading him or the kids on if she is not in this for the long haul.  Katie eventually tells Alex that she is on the run from her abusive husband, and I do mean husband because she is still officially married to the man, who just happens to be a police detective.  This is where the story got weird for me.  It starts to tell his perspective, not Alex's, but the wife beater husband, Kevin.  I really didn't care to read about how he justified hitting Katie or how he thought she actually enjoyed being locked in the house all day, unable to leave or make phones calls or even go for a walk.  That part really creeped me out.

Anyway, Kevin eventually finds Katie in Southport.  She just happens to be babysitting Alex's kids for the evening at their place when Kevin decides to burn the place down.  Katie manages to escape, saving the kids but running into Kevin outside.  There is a great fight and death scene that I would love to describe, but you're just going to have to read it.  And then, the kicker, we find out that Katie's friend, Jo, was really... wait for it ...  the ghost of Alex's wife all along and there was never really anyone at the rundown cottage next door!!  I told you there was something about her, didn't I!!

This was a sweet little story and overall I really did enjoy reading it.  I give it a 5 out of 5, even taking into account the creep factor with the husband.

Maximum Ride Series #5 - Max

Maximum Ride Series #5 - Max by James Patterson

Max, The fifth book in the flying teenager series.  Let me begin by saying I will continue to read these books, but my attention span is officially on other things.  I wonder if it's just me or it others feel that these plots are feeling more and more thrown together.  Well, luckily i only have 3 books to go, as James Patterson announced that the eighth book will be the last one of this series.

This book started out with "The Flock"  giving an aerial display in support of the CSM (Coalition to Stop the Madness) the group Max's mother started to help save the environment.  During the performance, an assassin tries to take out Max, surprise, and the whole gang mobilizes to kick butt.  That is, before the gunman blows himself to pieces.  There is a pretty funny segment at a modeling agency where we definitely see the teenage romance budding rapidly between Max and Fang. 

I won't mince words, I'm completely bored with this series so I apologize for not being more flattering.  The plot swiftly moves on to Max's mother being kidnapped; the flock befriends the military to help find her, and there's something fishy (pun intended) going on in the Pacific.  After a series of misadventures on a submarine, they discover that Max's mom is being held under water.  Trying to rescue her, they also encounter some weird mutant fish that help them, through Angel's ability to talk to fish.  We discover that Max can also breathe under water which really comes in handy rescuing her mom . . .  and . . .  everybody wins.

I wonder though, what happened to the mutant, slim cover mega fish they discovered?  The story just kinda left them at the bottom of the ocean.  Well, we did discover that Max isn't afraid of kissing Fang in front of anybody any more, and we may have another enemy for the next book.  It ends, typically, with the whole gang flying off into the sunset on search of yet another adventure.

I give it a 2 out of 5, I'm just tired of the worn out plot line I think.  Maybe the next one, Fang, will be better.

Maximum Ride #4 - The Final Warning

The Final Warning: Maximum Ride Series #4 - James Patterson

Let me first start by saying that, no, I did not read all of these books in one day.  I have, however, read about four or so since my post on the 2nd book in this series.  Like I've said in previous posts, the Maximum Ride Series is written for the teenage audience and is a fairly easy read.

This book starts out with Max and "The Flock" attending Ari's funeral, Max's half brother.  Also in attendance are Jeb, her "father", and Dr. Valencia Martinez her "mother".    The story takes us to Washington where a bunch of government types try to persuade The Flock into letting them study the strange kids with wings.  It didn't go well.

As they are trying to figure out where to go and what to do next, they discover that they are still spontaneously mutating and acquiring new powers.  Nudge is magnetic and Angel can now talk to fish.  Max's mom hooks them up with a research vessel that takes them down to Antarctica to help with the Global Warming epidemic  But, even on an island of ice and snow, they are still tracked down and kidnapped to be auctioned off by someone named the Uber Director.

Now the next sections I have several problems with; during the auction a massive hurricane just happens to swoop down on the office building they are being held in in Florida. They escape, yet again, and take off for parts unknown to save the world some more.

This was where I really started losing interest in the series.  I enjoy the adventure and all, but the constant, getting captured and then escaping only to run into another trap is wearing a little thin.  I am still going to try and get through the next book - Max, but I'm not all that optimistic.  3 out of 5 on this one.  It just seemed thrown together somehow, and I like a little more depth in my reading.