Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe by Bryan Lee O'Malley
To win the hand of the lovely Ramona Flowers, he must defeat her seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends in video-game style battles.  This time out, he's got to fight the handsome twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi who are even more awesome than Scott himself. More importantly, now that he and Ramona are cohabiting, they face danger from the jealousies and insecurities of couple hood.  Scott and Ramona both carry emotional baggage from their previous relationships. Scott cheated on one or more of his ex-girlfriends, who have names like Envy and Knives. As we know Ramona has several ex-boyfriends but dated the twins at the same time! 

The ending is rather bittersweet as Ramona just kind of pops out of existence.  It leaves you wondering how this will resolve. There is more mature feel to this series now as we see Scott become more of an adult especially with his relationships.  There is still that teen angst but thankfully not so prevalent.  A movie version of this series has been released but I think I'll wait until it comes out on cable or DVD.

Winter Widow by Charlene Weir

San Francisco policewoman Susan Donovan moves to Hampstead, Kans., when she marries the small city's police chief, Dan Wren, only to become a widow within six weeks. Shocked and enraged, Susan gets herself appointed Hampstead's temporary police chief and vows to find Dan's killer. When a reporter, daughter of the area's leading family, is strangled while investigating Dan's death, the mayor responds to local pressure and threatens to fire outsider Susan before more citizens die. She wins a five-day reprieve but must survive various assaults, from humans and animals, before she can solve the cases.

I had read a later book in the series and her backstory intrigued me so I finally read the first in the series.  Coming from the midwest you get a real feel of the cold isolation that the open plains are. She has to deal with a small town mentality where men run the show.  Much of the story is her internalizing the situation and trying to deal with the grief she is feeling.  Not bad for a first book.

Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Nina Harrison has been 15 years old since 1973 because she is a vampire. She and the members of the Reformed Vampire Support Group break the mold when compared to the accepted vampire lore that has been around since the time of Count Dracula. They are not beautiful, strong, powerful, rich, or in control. Instead they are sickly, struggling just to stay alive, living on the blood of the guinea pigs they keep, and making the best of their affliction. They have all vowed not to drink human blood or be responsible for the creation of another vampire. But Nina hates her boring, uneventful life, which changes drastically when Casimir is staked and the group, realizing that the killer knows who and where they are, all move in with Nina and her mother, a non-vampire.

With only a silver bullet as a clue to track the vampire slayer, Nina, Dave, and Father Ramon, who sponsors the group, set out on a dangerous journey. Along the way they rescue a werewolf from an illegal fight ring, deal with a villainous father/son team, and discover that their immortal lives might have more to offer than they ever thought.

Set in Sydney Australia we get a real flavor of the city plus how uneventful life is if you are a vampire. Imagine if you were only awake during the night - it would really limit your work potential. Plus they even had to wear sunglasses at night as bright lights would make their eyes bleed! Yuck.

I wanted to like this but honestly the characters are so whiny and prickly it was hard to even care if they lived to the next day. But I finished it the end as I try to give most vampire books at least a try. I was grateful that it wasn't very violent and believe there was nothing romantic or sexy about being a vampire in this story. The redeaming factor was the ending chapter when it is revealed that Nina has written their story but changed names and descriptions and places to protect everyone.  So it felt more authentic then the rest of the story.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

This is a quiet tale of Major Ernest Pettigrew, an honor-bound Englishman and widower, who is the very embodiment of duty and pride. He lives in his childhood home in the quaint village of Edgecombe St. Mary in Sussex, England. As the story unfolds, the major is mourning the loss of his younger brother, Bertie, while grieving again for his wife who died several years ago. But on the flip side Pettigrew is trying to get back Bertie's antique Churchill shotgun—part of a set that the boys' father split between them, but which Bertie's widow doesn't want to hand over. While the major is eager to reunite the pair for tradition's sake, his son, Roger, has plans to sell the heirloom set to a collector for a tidy sum.

As he frets over the guns, the major develops a friendship with Jasmina Ali—the Pakistani widow of the local food shop owner in town. Mrs. Ali is a 50-something Pakistani widow who shares his love of Kipling and his wry look at the world in which they both reside.

Time passes and the more things change the more things stay the same as Pettigrew finds himself part of the gossip and he flounders on what is polite and what is the right thing to do. He struggles to understand his own son whom he discovering he has little in common with yet he yearns to have around.

This story is not dramatic and will not make you sit on the edge of your seat but I just kept turning the pages and enjoy this lovely quiet story about life.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Eizabeth Peters

Also writes under Barbara Michaels

Introduces us to Amelia Peabody

Set in 1884, Amelia Peabody is not your typcial female of the time. She is a spinster living with her aging father and more educated than most men. She lives through her books, so after her father dies she receives a large inheritance and decides to use it for travel. On her way through Rome to Egypt, she meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young woman abandoned by her lover and left with no means of support. Amelia promptly takes Evelyn under her wing, insisting that the young lady accompany her to Egypt, where Amelia plans to indulge her passion for Egyptology.

But when Evelyn becomes the target of an aborted kidnapping and the focus of a series of suspicious accidents and mysterious visitations, Amelia becomes convinced of a plot to harm her young friend. Like any self-respecting sleuth, Amelia sets out to discover who is behind it all. As they enter Egypt they brothers Walter & Radcliff Emerson, who become love interests. The story gets more complicated when Evelyn's cousin shows up with a marriage proposal and a promise to split their grandfather's inheritance.

The mystery is not why you would read this book. It is an entertaining yet educational look at a time period in which men and women were discovering much about the past and moving towards the future. I had read this book back in high school and read many of the series but it's been years since I've read a Peabody mystery. I'm ready to catch back up with this entertaining series.

Mischief in Maggoddy by Joan Hess

Arly Hanks, comes back from vacation to find the community in an uproar: practically everyone is under the influence of psychic Madame Celeste, four hippies have taken over a local store and local prostitute and moonshiner Robin Buchanon has disappeared, leaving behind five hungry children.

The mayor's wife, busybody Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanon, wants Arly to do something about the children, a wild and uncivilized lot, but Arly manages to foist them onto Mrs. Jim Bob while she goes hunting for the mother, whom she finds with her head blown off in the middle of a marijuana patch. As she sets out to discover who planted the weed and then booby-trapped it, the children proceed to bring Mrs. Jim Bob low while Madame Celeste has premonitions of disaster. Aided by a possible new love interest, David Allen Wainright, guidance counselor at the local high school, Arly tries to help the children, particularly the foulmouthed but oddly charming Hammet.

I have to say this is one of my favorite Maggoddy books. I read it so long ago but the majority of the story stuck with me. But I had forgotten that it had all happened in one book and not through out several storylines. Looking forward to more Maggody books to read over this hot summer.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures - The Complete Collection by Laurel K. Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, Jess Ruffner-Booth, Brett Booth and Ron Lim

Graphic novel based on the Anita Blake series - this one focuses on the Guilty Pleasures book. Fusing mythology, werewolves, and vampires with a story loaded with mystery, action, and romance, the Anita Blake novels take place in a world where vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of nightmare have been declared legal citizens of the United States. Anita Blake is an "animator" - a profession that involves raising the dead for a living. She is also known as a fearsome hunter of criminal vampires, and she moonlights by investigating cases that are far too much for "conventional" police. But as Anita gains the attention of the vampire masters in her hometown of St. Louis, she also risks revealing an intriguing secret about herself - the source of her unusual strength and power. Watch as Anita goes up against fierce obstacles and is forced to make tough choices. What price will Anita pay in order to save her friend's life and solve the Vampire Murders?

Since I've read a lot of this series I didn't have problems following the storyline but for those who may not have read the series I think it would be hard to follow or understand Anita's motivation. I personally didn't care for the illustrations of Anita or Jean Claude as he really looked like a harlequin romance cover with his white pirate shirt. Plus it was hard to figure out why she even liked Phillip or Jean Claude. I did enjoy some of the minor storylines such as the wererats and Edward who is also an animator. But honestly I didn't enjoy as much as I hoped.

Peony in Love by Lisa See

Set in 17th-century China, this coming-of-age story, is part ghost story, family saga but also a work of musical and social history. The story is told by Peony, the 15-year-old daughter of the wealthy Chen family, as she approaches an arranged marriage, she commits an unthinkable breach of etiquette when she accidentally comes upon a man who has entered the family garden. Unusually for a girl of her time, Peony has been educated and revels in studying The Peony Pavilion, a real opera published in 1598, as the repercussions of the meeting unfold.

Peony's life mirrors that of the opera, and eternal themes abound: an intelligent girl chafing against the restrictions of expected behavior; fiction's educative powers; the rocky path of love between lovers and in families. It figures into the plot that generations of young Chinese women, known as the lovesick maidens, became obsessed with The Peony Pavilion, and, in a Werther-like passion, many starved themselves to death. You really see how life was during that time as the story offers meticulous depiction of women's roles in Qing and Ming dynasty China (including horrifying foot-binding scenes) and vivid descriptions of daily Qing life, festivals and rituals.

The story takes place over a span of almost 30 years as we see Peony become a hungry ghost and deal with the loss of her life and love of her family and the life she never got to have. So she tries to live life through the living as she follows the man she was supposed to marry. But until her tablet is dotted she will never be able to venture on. Women are punished during life and after life for not conforming to what is expected of them.

A truly intriguing story as it really is about a time period I have little knowledge or read about it. Plus it was interesting to discover how much women of that time were involved with literature and the arts. This is not a light summer read but a though provoking story. I need to read more by Lisa See.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Set in the post apocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands a tribute from each of its 12 territories: two children to be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death. We start out the story seeing life through Katniss Everdeen's eyes as she struggles to find food for her mother and younger sister. When the drawing happens for the tributes of district 12, Katniss finds to her horror that her sister's name is drawn. In a moment of almost dispair Katniss offers to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games. So after this ultimate sacrifice, she is entirely focused on survival at any cost. It is her teammate, Peeta Mellark, who recognizes the importance of holding on to one's humanity in such inhuman circumstances.

Much of the story is told through flashbacks as we learn more about Katniss and how she came to this point. But the story is brutal as one by one tributes are killed off until the shocking conclusion where the ultimate horror becomes realized. Because of the "love connection" between Katniss & Peeta it is determined that if both tributes from the same district survive to the end then they can both be winners. But when the capital tries to revoke it at the last moment Katniss has the last word by showing they are both willing to die if they have to chose. Unfortunately the love Peeta feels for Katniss is real while Katniss is playing the game to survive.

So the story ends with them going home as the victors but Katniss has revealed her feelings to Peeta who is heartbroken. We're left wondering if they can keep up the deception as they will be under constant surveillance by the capital. Since this is the first book in the trilogy it isn't suprising that the ending is left opened for the next book. I listened to it on CD and really enjoyed it. It's right up there with Lois Lowry's Giver and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Wow.