Gateway by Sharon Sinn

When Daiyu, a St. Louis high school student adopted as a baby from China, lives an ordinary life - she is spending her summer volunteering and getting ready for high school to begin.  Then she purchases the ring, she is transported, not back in time – but to an alternate universe. The universe is a near replica in terms of geography to her home in St. Louis but the buildings and modes of transportation are different and the people all look Chinese, they speak an unknown language (which the ring enables her to understand). Daiyu learns that she has been called upon to complete a mission to send an evil leader back to his own universe. The only problem is that Daiyu likes him and cannot commit to the act.

I enjoyed this teen alternative reality novel.  It wasn't overly complicated but the issues that Daiyu deals with felt very real.  Is she allowed to have free will or is her fate already decided?  She is starting to forget the world she came from but finds her self caring little about that as she is falling in love with Kalen.  Kalen is a native boy who helps Daiyu adapt to this strange place.  But when by fate she actually accomplishes her mission there is little reason for her to stay so will she follow her heart and return to her parents and the world she knows or stay and make a life for herself with Kalen?   

One of my favorite movies is Made in Heaven starring Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis and the ending of this book reminded me a lot of this movie.  Not a great teen book but a decent one and maybe it will open a new world to teens who only want to read vampire books.

Beekeeper's Apprentice: or on the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie R. King

Featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell

In the early years of WW I, 15-year-old American Mary Russell encounters Holmes, retired in Sussex Downs where Conan Doyle left him raising bees. Mary, an orphan rebelling against her guardian aunt's strictures, impresses the sleuth with her intelligence and acumen. Holmes initiates her into the mysteries of detection, allowing her to participate in a few cases when she comes home from her studies at Oxford. The collaboration is ignited by the kidnapping in Wales of Jessica Simpson, daughter of an American senator. The sleuthing duo find signs of the hand of a master criminal, and after Russell rescues the child, attempts are made on their lives (and on Watson's), with evidence piling up that the master criminal is out to get Holmes and all he holds dear. 

Now I know that I am biased as I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and have tried out various series out there that feature Sherlock Holmes but still find this one of my favorite as he seems much more likable.  King does an excellent job of tying in the original stories and then adapting her characters to fill in the gaps.  I've read this one several times and it always seems as fresh as the first time I read it years ago.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The novel opens with Harry living under the cupboard with aunt and uncle. He has had a mean, depressed life, but has no joy or love for his life. He is basically a male version of Cinderella. Just before his 11th birthday he gets a letter (actually, hundreds) saying he is in fact a wizard. After the Dursleys try to hide him away a giant man, named Hagrid, finds him on his birthday and takes him to a new and wondrous life. As he goes through platform 9 and 3/4 he meets Ron and Hermione who will be his best friends.  He also meets Malfoy who will be one of his greatest foes.

Before he goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry, along with his new friend the giant Hagrid, go to Diagon Alley, a magical bazaar. Harry discovers that he is really famous among wizards for conquering an evil Wizard named Vo - um - He Who Must Not Be Named. Along the way, we learn that Voldemort is after a magical artifact called the Sorcerer's Stone (which was, unfortunately, changed from the UK original title of Philosopher's Stone" in all other regions). 

In this novel we get the first ever glimpses of Hogwarts, Voldemort, Quidditch, Dumbledore, Severus Snape, muggles, the Forbidden Forest, the Invisibility Cloak, and any other number of thins Rowling's magical confectionery of an imagination has cooked up for us.

I remember reading this book in early 1999 and being amazed by how fun it was to read and incredulous that the Phoenix library had to import a British edition for us to read.  I've have read this book so many times and especially love hearing it read by Jim Dale.

No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman

Tess's boyfriend, Edgar "Crow" Ransome, brings home for the night a homeless teenager, Lloyd, who slashed Crow's tires outside a Baltimore soup kitchen. During dinner Tess suspects that Lloyd has information regarding the recent murder of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Youssef.  After peeling the story out of Lloyd Tess gives his story, sans name, to the local paper, so the authorities will get it secondhand.

this causes a ripple affect as suddenly a fellow street kid of Lloyd's is murdered and it causes Lloyd to panic as only he knows the connection.  Tess starts to get visits from a sinister trio of law enforcement agents avid to know her source. Crow decides that it would be in Lloyd's best interest for them both to disappear and flees with Lloyd while Tess suffers growing pressure, including the threat of federal jail time.

We read the story as it goes back and forth between Tess & Crow with a couple of side chapters from 2 of the bad guys. Tess is one of my favorite series and I always relish her books.  This story wasn't particularily complicated as it focused more on how choosing your path can really affect one's future.

666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce

It seems like magic when Jane Boyle finds herself falling in love with fabulously wealthy American Malcolm Doran.  After just a month he proposes and she accepts and decides to move to New York to be with him and his family.  But before she can leave she takes him to meet her superstitious, overprotective grandmother.  Jane is an orphan raised in the rural Alsace region of France by her grandmother and she moved to Paris to study architecture. When they find her grandmother deceased Jane isn't really upset as she was not close to her grandmother but upon getting ready for the funneral finds an envelope with her name on it that contain a mysterious letter from her grandmother and a silver ring that changes everything.

Jane discovers that she has magical powers and that she's a witch from a long line of witches!  She decides to continue her plan of going to New York and marring Malcolm.  But when she meets Malcolm's family, one of the oldest and most powerful in New York, she discovers that nothing is as it seems and starts to question if her love of Malcolm is even real.  She quickly discovers that her magic will be useless against them, especially Malcolm's very intimidating mother, Lynne. But as her wedding day gets closer, Jane discovers that there's more to the Dorans than she thought, and her magic might be the only thing that will save her.

Fun, light read that gave another element to a supernatural romance.  I did like how the ending was left open and felt much more real than I expected as Jane has to decide to either go on her own or run away with Malcolm.

Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino; translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander

Meticulous high-school math teacher Ishigami frequents the modest box-lunch shop Benten-tei because of his crush on Yasuko Hanaoka, a young mother who works there. Yonazawa and his wife Sayoko, who manage the shop, speculate regularly about Ishigami's visits, but Yasuko seems oblivious to his attention. Although she and her daughter Misato are Ishigami's apartment building neighbors, they've never spoken outside of the shop.

But when divorcee Yasuko Hanaoka is forced to kill her abusive ex-husband in defense of her daughter, Ishigami offers his help to dispose of the body and provide an alibi based on "perfect defense based on perfect logic," his plot to save her from arrest. As the police investigation proceeds, Ishigami isolated world is broken as detective Kusanagi reports going to college with him.  He mentions this to physicist Manabu Yukawa while playing chess and this prompts Yukawa to reconnect with Ishigami. Thus begins a intrigute cat and mouse dance.

Meanwhile Yasuko's past comes in the form of wealthy Mr. Kudo who used to visit her when she worked at a bar.  He has found her at her new job and works at winning Yasuko's heart but will her conscience to Yukawa allow herself to fall in love? 

As the police chip away at the alibi, it is slowly revealed that the math genius' devotion to Yasuko is based not only on love but also on the purity of committing the perfect crime. Yasuko has to remain a pawn to the math teacher's plan, but she wonders how long and how far he will go.

Higashino won Japan's Naoki Prize for Best Novel with this stunning thriller about miscarried human devotion, a bestseller in Japan.  Wow, was this an intense book.  Reminds of the Alfred Hitchcock movies where you just didn't know where the story would take you.  The ending chapters kept me guessing and had me gasping as the real story unfolded.  I think this may be one of the best books I've read so far this year.

My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals: Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes by Melanie Dunea

Melanie Dunea, an award-winning photographer, wrote to 50 famous chefs and asked them to describe their ideal last meal. Their answers, compiled in this weirdly absorbing and gorgeously designed volume, range from the comforting (Lidia Bastianich bids adieu over a plate of linguini and clams) to the cheekily self-aggrandizing (Laurent Tourondel wants nothing more than a BLT sandwich from his own restaurant). The meals are curiosities, and the few recipes included are pleasant enough; it's the photographs of each chef that make this book so irresistible. One needn't have heard of them, much less dined in their restaurants, to appreciate their portraits: from a graceful Gabrielle Hamilton nursing her son to a dashing Guillaume Brahimi reclining in front of the Sydney Opera House, each image is iconic, surprising, and quite often, oddly appetizing. Marcus Samuelsson poses, impishly, in a Japanese-style headband made of salmon; Wylie Dufresne leans like a centerfold on a table stacked with American cheese; and Anthony Bourdain poses totally nude, strategically wielding a butchered leg bone. But perhaps no picture is more memorable than Dan Barber's, a soft-featured New York chef, posing alongside a massive boar named Boris. His last meal is rack of boar, of course: "If I'm going, so is Boris."


Now I heard about this book because it was featured on Top Chef All-Stars as one of the final challenges for the top 3 - they had to give 3 other chefs their last meals.  So I was intrigued enough to find the book at the library.  I knew something or recognized about 75% of the chefs featured. My main complaint is the font - it is really hard to read and I wished the questions had been in the same order for each chef so I could have browsed easier.  Some chefs were very verbose and some said very little. But it was fascinating to learn a bit more about each one by what they love to eat.

Wicked Appettite by Janet Evanovich

Featuring the 7 Deadly sins - this one focuses on gluttony.

Lizzy Tucker has a way with cupcakes, and she’s inherited a great-aunt’s 1740 saltbox house in Salem, Massachusetts, plying her trade at Dazzle’s Bakery in town. Who should turn up in her living room but Diesel, who we met in Visions of Sugar Plums, who is extremely handsome, very strong, and not entirely human (if not entirely angelic). Diesel is locked into a cosmic battle with his cousin Wulf, specter-thin with more than an air of sulfur about him.

Lizzy, who may or may not have a secret, special ability, is needed by Wulf and Diesel to recognize objects of magical power. Lizzy gamely attempts to make sense of oddly magical occurrences (in possession of one of the magic charms, she can’t stop eating; in possession of another, she wants household goods and babies now), while simultaneously dealing with some fairly specific threats involving Wulf and resisting Diesel’s obvious affection and attraction.

fun weekend read and I enjoyed having some new characters to read about as well as a few from other Stephanie Plum novels.  Maybe some more cross-overs to come? Looking at Evanovich's website she states these will feature the 7 deadly sins - so maybe only 7 will be in this series.

Still Life by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

The residents of a tiny Canadian village in Quebec, Canada called Three Pines are shocked when the body of Miss Jane Neal is found in the woods. Miss Neal, the village's retired schoolteacher and a talented amateur artist, has been a good friend to most of the townsfolk, so her loss is keenly felt. At first, her death appears to be a tragic accident--it's deer-hunting season, and it looks a stray hunter's arrow killed her.

But since no one can find the murder weapon Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Montreal Surete is called in to investigate. Accompanying Gamache are his loyal assistant Beauvoir and Yvette Nichol, a new addition to Gamache's team. The trio soon finds that the seemingly peaceful, friendly village hides dark secrets.

This intriguing cozy was much more graphic than I expected and was a pleasant surprise as now I want to read more. It has the flair of a Miss Marple but the drama of Hercule Poirot.

Slightly Shady by Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz)

Lavinia Lake first encounters Tobias March when he bursts into her antiques shop in Rome, trashing her wares, all the while claiming to be on the trail of a murderer and warning Lavinia that she is in danger. There's also talk of treason, a criminal organization known as the Blue Chamber and an evil mastermind named Azure.

Despite her skepticism, Lavinia returns with her niece, Emeline, to London, where she is caught up in more intrigue. She sets herself up as a private detective and even though stubbornness on both sides leads to an oil-and-water pairing, she soon finds herself in business with Tobias, attempting to foil a blackmail scheme, locate the culprit in a series of murders and identify the surviving member of Azure's organization. 

Lavinia also is skilled in the practice of mesmerism, but decides to become a private investigator. Strong-willed and independent, Lavinia isn't a typical society widow, a fact which alternately attracts and frustrates her enigmatic partner, Tobias March. Lavinia and Tobias have a prickly and passionate relationship, and Tobias is determined to protect her, while Lavinia is just as determined to be an equal partner in their business. 

Both Lavinia and Tobias come from simliar backgrounds where they have to take responsiblity of another person and help make both better.  But the sexual tension doesn't have much depth and it took me awhile to figure out what drives the characters.  The sub-characters were almost more interesting than the main ones.

The first chapter of the next book in the series was included but I'm not sure if I'm that interested in reading more of this series or not.  It reminds me of the Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson series by Elizabeth Peters which I think I really prefer.  Plus I think I prefer her books that have more a futuristic aspect to them that she writes under Jayne Castle.

Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

First in the Strain series

When a plane arriving from Berlin goes completely black on the runway at JFK, losing all electrical power and contact with the outside world, authorities expect to find a tense hostage situation on board. Instead, they discover that almost everyone on the plane has mysteriously died, presumably during the very brief interval between the time it landed and the moment a SWAT team stormed the cabin. Suspecting a disease of some kind and fearing its spread, authorities call in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, head of a CDC team set up to deal with just this sort of fast-moving, potentially catastrophic epidemic.

What Dr. Goodweather and his team gradually discover, however, is something much stranger and potentially even more dangerous: a species of parasitic worm that gradually turns its host into a bloodthirsty something that very closely resembles a vampire. Soon they are operating well outside the realm of established science, especially after they team up with Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor and former academic who now operates a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem and has dealt with this sort of thing before. Armed with Setrakian's knowledge and an extensive arsenal of anti-vampire weaponry, the CDC team sets out to control the outbreak by attacking its source.

An interesting premise and I was intrigued by the storyline as I've enjoyed many vampire novels in the past.  This one did not disappoint though I could tell towards the end that it was going to be a series as there was no way it could be finished in one.  So of course there is a cliff-hanger to make me want to read the next one.  But it was borderline too much for me.  The gore was pretty offensive especially in some sections.  I just turned down the volume and waited it out.

Ristorante Paradiso by Natsume Ono

Nicoletta, in her late teens or early 20's is seeking out the mother who left her as a child.  She finds her way to Casetta dell'Orso, a quaint little restaurant in the heart of Rome. The food's delicious, but the handsome staff of bespectacled gentlemen is the real draw. Nicoletta's mother, Olga, left her with her grandmother when she was 4 years old to marry her dream man, Lorenzo, whom she believes would have refused her had she revealed the existence of her child. Fifteen years later, the adult Nicoletta plans to expose her mother by telling Lorenzo the truth.

But instead decides to observe her mother and her relationship with her husband and the people who work in the restaurant.  She finds herself attracted to one particular waiter, Claudio, who still wears a wedding ring even though he has been divorced for years.  But his ex-wife continues to eat in the restaurant every week almost making in impossible for him to move on.  So Nicolette continues to watch and learn from everyone as she starts to work in the kitchen prepping and cleaning.

I enjoyed this quiet graphic novel though I'm not really sure I understood everything but found the illustrations intriguing and it kept me reading.

Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

This picks up where "Girl Who Played with Fire" left off - Lisbeth Salander, who was found by Blomkvist shot in the head is alive after having brain surgery. Though still the prime suspect in three murders in Stockholm, she is convalescing under armed guard.  Meanwhile Mikael Blomkvist works to unravel the decades-old coverup surrounding the man who shot Salander: her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a Soviet intelligence defector and longtime secret asset to Säpo, Sweden's security police. While Blomkvist and Listbeth primarily communicate via online the story flows as both come to terms with the truth.

It took me 2 months to read this book as the first 350 pages just were difficult for me to process.  We are introduced to many new characters while we continue to follow old ones.  Plus since I knew it was the final book I think I just didn't want to finish it.  But once I got to about 350 I just couldn't put it down.  Thankfully it was over a long weekend so I was able to finish it and I felt very happy by the ending.  While I'll miss this series I felt like it ended where I would like it to be.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch

Mirka is a normal Orthodox Jewish girl who dreams of fighting dragons.  She constantly battles wits with her stepmother, Fruma, whose argumentative nature and sharp nose conceal a warm and caring nature.  Mirka is stuck going to school, cleaning and has to learn how to knit, yet longs to wield a sword and do battle with dragons. 

One day on her way to school she takes a wrong turn and discovers a magical house where a witch lives.  She brings her siblings there to prove she isn't just making it up.  She takes one grape and finds herself caught in a battle of wills with a talking pig.  The girl encounters both a mind-reading witch and a multilingual troll in her quest for a sword with which to fight dragons. Yiddish language and Jewish customs are an essential part of the story and provide window to another way of life. 

The scene where Mirka outwits the troll and obtains the sword is hysterical as she is challenged to a race of knitting the perfect sweater.  What makes this graphic novel endearing is the relationships that Mirka has with her stepmother and her opinionated brothers and sisters.  We see how life is in an Orthodox Jewish village as Mirka has to deal with life and yet dreams outside her ordinary life.  Interestingly enough the father never has a voice and is in the background while the stepmother is the one who teaches Mirka how to live life including how to fight trolls.  A fun yet thought provoking graphic novel.

Timbuktu by Paul Auster

Mr. Bones, "a mutt of no particular worth or distinction," and his master, Willy G. Christmas, a middle-aged schizophrenic who has been on the streets since the death of his mother four years before. The novel begins with Willy and Mr. Bones in Baltimore searching for a former high school English teacher who had encouraged the teenage Willy's writerly aspirations. Now Willy is dying and anxious to find a home for both his dog and the multitude of manuscripts he has stashed in a Greyhound bus terminal.  Timbuktu is Willy's name for heaven.

After Mr. Bones is forced to leave Willy he is temporarily adopted by a Chinese boy named Henry but after a few days is discovered by Henry's father and forced to run again.  He then finds a family with 2 young children, Alice & Tiger - but there is no longer has control of his own life.  There are rules that he must follow or there might be serious consequences. But in the end Mr. Bones decides his own fate and goes to find the road to Timbuktu.

This was a rough book to read as about half is focused on Willy and Mr. Bones' relationship and mostly about Willy's rants. But this is all Mr. Bones has ever known.  Over the years I've worked with a lot of homeless that are homeless by choice - more often than not really intelligent people.  So it was hard to read the sections with Willy.  Plus I knew the book wasn't really going to be a happy one - it just had a despondent feel to it.  But there were some really lovely passages - I loved the section in which Mr. Bones turns into a fly and follows Willy to the hospital and is there until he dies.  It is a dream of course but wouldn't it be a wonderful thing?

Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

5th book featuring, Dexter, who works as a blood-spatter expert for the Miami Police Department.  This book continues where the previous one left off - but now he’s got a new baby, a beautiful little girl. So Dexter decides he really, really wants to live like a normal human, to leave his Dark Passenger behind and stop all this murder stuff.  But his Dark Passenger isn't ready to leave and now his left for dead dead brother, Brian, is back.  We left him at the end of book 1.  Brian starts bonding with Dexter's family as Deborah, his sister, keeps insisting that Dexter help her with the case that involve missing girls, vampirism, and cannibalism.  And honestly it is making it difficult keeping his homicidal urges in check.

Part of the charm of these books is the dialog Dexter has with us (the readers).  His use of witty and sarcastic dialog makes for a fun read.  Interesting enough Dexter only kills one person and he really, really deserved it.  It isn't the strongest of the series but definitely back on track after book 3 that I really did not like at all.

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

The story starts with Joey Perrone being thrown overboard from a cruise chip by her husband Chaz. The almost-murdered wife of corrupt Charles "Chaz" Perrone, survives by clinging to a floating bale of marijuana and is rescued by Mick Stranahan, a burnt-by-love ex-cop. The description alone of how she deals with the attempted murder and then the fight to survive is hysterical if it wasn't so scary at the same time.

Chaz, an incompetent marine biologist, (he doesn't even know which direction the Gulf Stream flows in), has long been on the take from agribusiness tycoon Red Hammernut, who's been dumping fertilizer into the endangered Everglades. He thinks that Joey has discovered that he's been exchanging clean-water samples for the actual tainted water that is the result of Hammernut's environmental pollution. But while his wife suspects he is sleeping around she doesn't have a clue about the scam.

Joey recovers her strength, mental and physical, at the island home of her gallant rescuer Mike, who is the victim of six failed marriages. Instead of going to the police, however, she decides to play dead. She persuades Mike to help her mess with Chaz's mind while she figures out why he tried to kill her.

Great cast of charcters - Tool the hired goon of Red Hammernut w ho is brought in to watch Chaz. He was shot in the behind and still has the bullet lodged up his butt.  So since he is in constant pain he raids hospice nursing homes for pain patches.  During one of his late night raids he meets an old woman who gives it right back to him and suddenly reveals that Tool might have a heart of gold.

Hiaasen is not for the faint of heart as he likes his humor dark but still laugh out loud funny.  It is a bit preachy on the devastation of the everglades but you can tell it is a passion of Hiaasen and you can't fault him with being passionate.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Sam has dropped out of college and is stalled in a fast-food job in Seattle. Interrupting the boredom of days waiting on Plumpy customers and evenings watching old movies with his friends, a scary guy named Douglas enters Sam’s world. After a few pithy verbal threats, Douglas has Sam beaten and mauled by a sidekick—and later delivers teen Brooke’s pretty blond head to Sam’s door. The good news is that Brooke seems to be in no pain and is as sassy as ever. The bad news, as Sam finds out in short order, is that Douglas is a necromancer and has identified Sam, who hasn’t a clue what his strengths are, as a rival. Before the week is out, Sam finds himself in a cellar, caged with another pretty girl, who is part werewolf, part fairy. And then there’s Ashley, the parochial-school-uniformed 10-year-old who can orchestrate salvation for Sam by using her Blackberry and brains.

A little trivia, the title and all the chapter headings are lyrics, some which are familiar and others more obscure but it makes one pause and try to figure it out.

Great fun and I hope it will encourage readers who like this book to try other more established series such as Jim Butcher's Dresden's Files.

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

2nd book in the series featuring female New York cop, Nikki Heat, who reluctantly pairs up with a writer, Jameson Rook.   Rook had written an cover story featuring New York City Police department but it focused on Nikki Heat, leaving her feeling exposed to all to see.  When New York's most vicious gossip columnist, Cassidy Towne, is found dead, Heat uncovers a gallery of high profile suspects, all with compelling motives for killing the most feared muckraker in Manhattan.

Heat's murder investigation is complicated by her surprise reunion with superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook. In the wake of their recent breakup, Nikki would rather not deal with their raw emotional baggage. But the handsome, wise-cracking Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's personal involvement in the case forces her to team up with Rook anyway. The residue of their unresolved romantic conflict and crackling sexual tension fills the air as Heat and Rook embark on a search for a killer among celebrities and mobsters, singers and hookers, pro athletes and shamed politicians.

Some of the storylines are following the TV series so it makes for fun reading.  If you watch the show "Castle" this will all make more sense.   But even if you don't watch the series it is great fun and I really enjoy the reader.

Scott Pilgrim 6 : Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

With six of Ramona's seven evil exes dispatched, it is time for Scott Pilgrim to face Gideon Graves, the biggest and baddest of her former beaus. But didn't Ramona take off at the end of Book 5? Shouldn't that let Scott off the hook? Maybe it should, maybe it shouldn't, but one thing is for certain all of this has been building to Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour!

This sixth and final volume doesn't disappoint as we finally get to the final battle that lasts most of the book.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but once the actual battle began it was a wild ride.