Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy. This was such a fun read, plus the sequel comes out next month! Hurray!

Both of these books are by Simon's Pulse books for teens and have very similar cover styles. These make for very light reading and are kind of original.

How Not to Spend Your Senior Year by Cameron Dokey
Because Jo O'Connor's father is a witness in an ongoing murder investigation, they must leave town and make it appear that they died in a car accident, but Jo can't bear to leave without saying good-bye to her boyfriend, who now thinks she's a ghost.

Ripped at the Seams by Nancy Krulik
Arriving in New York City with dreams of becoming a successful designer, Sami quickly learns that the big city is a lot different than her small town in the Midwest when her ideas are stolen and she is blacklisted from getting another reputable job, yet not willing to quit, Sami regroups and comes up with a plan that gives her all the notoriety she could ever want.

Leon and the Spitting Image by Allen Kurzweil
As Leon Zeisel heads back to school as a fourth grader, he sees nothing but doom and gloom in his future due to the secret teachers’ reports he has recently read, the introduction of his new and uptight teacher, and the realization that Henry Lumpkin, the class bully, is back and ready for action. Leon's new teacher, Miss Hagmeyer, promises more scholastic agony than usual with the announcement of a mysterious yearlong sewing project. Leon, who is all thumbs, is in danger of repeating fourth grade until he creates a doll image of Miss Hagmeyer that exerts a strange power over the teacher herself. Realizing the potential for mayhem, Leon and his friends team up to solve the mystery and defeat the bully with the help of their magical doll. This was a very interesting yet odd book. But I loved all the eyeballs on the inside pages.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years. We hear both sides of the same story with very different conclusions. I really enjoyed this novel. Plus there is a cute chick on the front cover.

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy (The mother/daughter writing team of P.J. and Traci Lambrecht under the pseudonym of P.J. Tracy) Features Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth.

Tall, dark haired and complicated, riding boot-wearing Grace McBride is the fragile heart and soul of a group of oddball computer geeks with a collectively shady past. They are five friends on the run from violence who have banded together to form the successful Minneapolis software company, Monkeewrench. But when someone begins using the grisly scenarios from their new game, Serial Killer, as inspiration for real life murder, it quickly becomes obvious that the horrors of the past have finally caught up with them.

What I liked about this book is that even though I had my suspicions it was a lot more complicated and a bit shocking. I'm looking forward to reading more by this duo.

Live Bait is the 2nd title in this new series. I listened to it on tape. Elderly people are being murdered in Minneapolis, and detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth work to solve the case. On the surface it appears to be some kind of crazy serial killer who is going after old people. But as they delve into the details in the victims lives it becomes apparent that the people who were being killed have more in common than what meets the eye. We also have the original characters from the Monkeewrench crew in the story but in a much more background mode.

Another excellent suspenseful thriller by this new writing duo. I can't wait until the new one comes out.

Dead Run is the 3rd title in the series. And it does not disapoint.
Monkeewrench founders Grace MacBride and Annie Belinsky, along with Deputy Sharon Mueller, are driving from Minneapolis to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they believe a new serial killer is just warming up. When their car breaks down deep in the northern woods, far from civilization and cell-phone towers, a walk through the forest leads them to the crossroads of Four Corners, where they find...absolutely nothing. Something terrible has happened in Four Corners, and the complete absence of life, together with severed phone lines in every building, makes it impossible to find help. Grace, her senses honed by a lifetime of justifiable paranoia, sees the sinister in every detail, and her instincts barely save the three women when they witness a horrifying double murder. Grace, Annie, and Sharon are suddenly running for their lives, while the rest of the Monkeewrench crew, along with Minneapolis cops Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth, strike out on a blind search to find them.

This book was very hard to put down as I wanted to see if they could get out alive. Plus the women are the strong ones and able to bring the terrorist threat to it's head. Wow! Right to the end.

Snow Blind #4 in the series.
With the holidays over and the long cold winter looming, January can be a bleak month in Minneapolis. So what better way to bring a little cheer to the good people of the city than sponsoring an old-fashioned snowman-building contest? In a matter of hours, a local park is filled with the innocent laughter of children and their frosty creations. But things take an awful turn when the dead bodies of police officers are discovered inside two of the snowmen – sending the entire department and Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth on high alert.

The next day, Iris Rikker, the newly minted sheriff of rural Dundas County, comes across another body in another snowman. Fearing that Rikker’s inexperience will hamper the investigation, Magozzi and Rolseth head north, in a blizzard, to hunt for clues. As Grace MacBride and her crack computer jocks at Monkeewrench comb the Web for connections, a terrifying link emerges among the dead cops, Magozzi and Rolseth, and Monkeewrench – a link that must be broken before it’s too late.

Ok the Monkeewrench is a red hering! We see more about Magozzi & Rolseth plus the new female sheriff in Dundas County. What this book really comes down to is in regards to domestic violence who is responsible? The person doing the beatings? the police who won't help? the family, friends and neighbors who looks the other way?

What would you do if you could take action into your own hands and punish them all? Read Snow Blind and find out. This was a very interesting look at domestic violence and the consequences. I did not see how this book would end as they did a great job making this look one way and then taking it a 180 turn.

Eugenia Potter series by Virginia Rich (picked up by Nancy Pickard)
Cooking School Murders
In Harrington, Iowa, for her yearly hometown visit, dignified and down-to-earth Mrs. Potter becomes involved in the slashed-throat murder of a student in an advanced cooking class attended by Harrington's elite. We are introduced to Eugenia Potter and the other cast of characters. It is interesting as I read these many years ago and am enjoying it very much.

Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.

Very interesting. I thought I had read it many years ago but now I'm not sure I did.

Jennifer Government by Max Barry
In a corporate-governed future world where people take the last names of the companies they work for, merchandising officer Hack Nike tries to get out of a contract that requires him to shoot teenagers, a situation that results in his unwitting involvement with an agent who is out to get Hack's employer. I really enjoyed this book. What a hoot!

Lost and Found by Jane Sigaloff
When successful London Lawyer Samantha Washington leaves her diary, which contains a dark secret that could destroy her career, in a New York hotel room, TV producer Ben Fisher walks into her life and seems to know a lot about her, leading Sam to believe that he is now the owner of her diary. Lots of mis-interpretations lead to a funny modern romance.

Ringan Laine series by Deborah Grabien
Weaver and the Factory Maid Coming into ownership of a restored eighteenth-century cottage, British folk musician Ringan Laine discovers that the property is haunted and is assisted by long-time girlfriend Penny in researching the identities of his otherworldly tenants. I liked the premise but it wasn't a prefered read. I will try another one to see if it improves.

Big Bad Wolf Tells All by Donna Kauffman Tanzy Harrington tells all in her online singles column. When her Aunt Millicent orchestrates an up-close-and-personal encounter with Riley Parrish, she rebuffs any niggling inner attraction to the all-too-obviously Clark Kent in ill-fitting clothing. And yet. It's the "and yet" that makes for the delicious two-step Tanzy and Riley dance around each other while he tries to protect her from a predatory online stalker-fan, and she tries to remember why the swingin' single life is her modus operandi.

Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler features five women and one enigmatic man who meet on a monthly basis to discuss the novels of Jane Austen, one at a time. As they debate Marianne's marriage to Brandon and whether or not Charlotte Lucas is gay, they reveal nothing so much as their own "private Austen(s)". Sylvia whose husband, Daniel, has left her after 32 years and three children. Jocelyn, her best friend, never married and now focuses on breeding dogs. Prudie is a French teacher in her late twenties, in possession of a worthy husband yet disoriented by persistent fantasies about sex with other men. Sixty-something Bernadette has decided that she's finally over the hill and can act a little dotty, just let herself go. The beautiful, risk-taking Allegra -- Sylvia and Daniel's lesbian daughter -- has quit speaking to her lover. And Grigg, a middle-aged science fiction fan and computer whiz, is strangely unattached. But then maybe he's gay?

This book was interesting in how much the author gave us glimpses into the various characters personal lives. It was just long enough. I felt very happy after reading it.

Justice Hall by Laurie R. King features Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. Two old friends reappear, in decidedly different guise: the two “Bedouin” guides from O Jerusalem are in England, caught in a mesh of honor and justice and the death of a young nephew. Quickly Russell & Holmes discover that nothing is quite as it seems and together they will solve this very secret mystery.

Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - set as historical fiction in turn of the century San Francisco. At his birth, Max's father declares him a "nisse," a creature of Danish myth, as his baby son has the external physical appearance of an old, dying creature. Max grows older like any child, but his physical age appears to go backward--on the outside a very old man, but inside still a fearful child. The story is told in three acts. First, young Max falls in love with a neighborhood girl, Alice, who ages as normally as any of us. Max, of course, does not; as a young man, he has an older man's body. But his curse is also his blessing: as he gets older, his body grows younger, so each successive time he finds his Alice, she does not recognize him. She takes him for a stranger, and Max is given another chance at love. This is a very interesting if you can call it love story. It reminded me of the Timetraveler's Wife which I read a few months ago.

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan is a Newbery honor book for 2003.

Jake Semple is a scary kid. Word has it that he burned down his old school and then was kicked out of every other school in his home state. Only weeks into September, the middle school in Traybridge, North Carolina, has thrown him out, too. Now there's only one place left that will take him -- a home school run by the most outrageous, forgetful, chaotic, quarrelsome family you'll ever meet. Each and every Applewhite is an artist through and through -- except E.D., the smart, scruffy girl with a deep longing for order and predictability. E.D. and Jake, so nearly the same age, are quickly paired in the family's first experiment in "cooperative education." The two clash immediately, of course. The only thing they have in common is the determination to survive the family's eccentricities. This is such a fun read, I really got to like all the various characters. This story is from both E.D. & Jake's point of view and it flows well. Tolan is such a great author and really stands the test of time.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver Codi Noline, her self-confidence flagging after failures in med school and in a relationship, returns home to Grace, Ariz., where she renews a romance, comes to understand her father and worries about her sister, Hallie, who is helping farmers in Nicaragua. This is portrayed in a series of flashbacks for both Codi & her father who is declining from Alzheimers. It is so well written. I read it so long ago when I lived in Tucson so it was fun to read it again.

After dark by Jayne Castle (aka author Jayne Ann Krentz)
A race of aliens once lived on the future Earth colony called Harmony, leaving behind them the ruins of a vast, beautiful, and mysterious culture that is still protected by the psychic illusion traps and eerie ghosts that they created. Lydia Smith is an archaeologist who can resonate and dissolve the illusions, and those talents, combined with her lack of finances and questionable professional reputation, make her the obvious hire for Emmett London, who is trying to track down a lost antique and the nephew who stole it. Lydia's first consulting job quickly turns dangerous, however, as corpses, ghosts, and illusion traps start popping up--not to mention the rather unprofessional electricity between her and her first client. I like her futuristic romances, very fun to read.

After Glow
It's the second time in a month that Lydia Smith has found a dead body. The first time pararchaelogist and museum curator Lydia became tangled up in a murder investigation it brought her together with her current paramour, ghost hunter Emmett London. So naturally Lydia thinks of Emmett when she stumbles across the body of her former professor, Lawrence Maltby. While the police believe Maltby's death was caused by his drug addiction, Lydia doesn't buy it. So with Emmett's help, she pursues her own investigation even as she tries to figure out exactly what kind of a relationship she and Emmett have.

It is a good follow-up to the previous books and it's fun to be back in the futuristic world of Harmony.

Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz a well known romance suspence author. I have read many of her books. This title features Leonora Hutton who is investigating her half-sister's, Meredith's supposidly accidental death. When she gets a delayed email from the grave she knows that Meredith was murdered. She meets Thomas Walker who is also looking into another related death of his sister-in-law Bethany. His brother Deke Walker doesn't believe his wife's supposed suicide. Were these women murdered and if so why and by whom? Lots of romance, more deaths and finally an ending that is not easy to foresee. I prefer her science fiction romances but this was fun.

Angel Factory by Terence Blacker
Twelve-year-old Thomas Wisdom's seemingly perfect life with his peaceful British family begins to fall apart after he learns that he was adopted and that his parents and sister are really angels sent to Earth to prevent humanity from destroying itself. Their plan is to recruit adopted children and persuade them to cooperate with the Project by using brainwashing, threats, and even violence. When he discovers that even the President of the United States is an angel, Thomas doesn't know whom to trust. Then he is forced to make a decision–whether or not to go along with the Project. He discovers that nothing is like it seems and has to decide who to trust. A very engaging YA novel.

Earlene Fowler Bennie Harper Mysteries
1. Fool's Puzzle
2. Irish Chain
3. Kansas Troubles
4. Goose in the Pond
5. Dove in the Window
6. Mariner's Compass
7. Seven Sisters
8. Arkansas Traveler
9. Steps to the Altar
10. Sunshine and Shadow
11. Broken Dishes

Keepsakes Crimes by Laura Childs
Carmela's life is having its ups and downs. Her scrapbooking shop is doing well, but she's been separated from her husband for six months. She's trying to put that behind her and enjoy Mardi Gras.

While attending a parade with her friend Ava, she is shocked to see the body of a friend lowered from a float, dead. She's even more surprised to learn that Shamus, her husband, is the chief suspect. She doesn't believe he could really be the killer, so she sets out to see what she can learn.

Needlecraft Mysteries by Monica Ferris
1. Crewel World
2. Framed In Lace
3. A Stitch in Time
4. Unraveled Sleeve
5. A Murderous Yarn
6. Hanging by a Thread
Betsy is still new enough to Excelsior, Minnesota, to not know a scandal when she causes one. So, when she hires Foster Johns to fix her roof, the resulting uproar has her needled. The whole town has pinned a five-year-old unsolved double murder on him. Betsy believes Johns when he says he isn't guilty. But she'll have to use every stitch of her sleuthing skills to tie up all the loose ends that will prove his innocence once and for all. This included both knitting and stitchery. Very fun and the mystery was pretty good as well. I started with this one so will go back and see what the early ones were about.
7. Cutwork