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Austenland, the Theme Park for the Rich

July 13, 2008 by


Shannon Hale’s Austenland examines the twentieth century woman’s obsession with Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy, and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Jane Hayes, a very typical first name for a Jane Austenesque novel, is a thirty-something career woman in New York, whose mother is concerned that she has given up on love because of an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Darcy. An impromptu meeting with Jane’s Great Aunt Carolyn changes the course of this woman’s life when she is bequeathed a non-refundable trip to Austenland in England, which traditionally caters to the fantasies of the wealthy, trophy wives of powerful businessmen.

I saw this book on Eclectic Closet and added it to my list of Jane Austen spin-off reads. It also helps fulfill my Irresistable Review Challenge. I have only 2 more books to read to finish off this challenge.

***Spoiler Alert***

Jane is hesitant to take up the task of severing her ties with her Mr. Darcy fantasies in Austenland, but ultimately decides to go and reclaim her “real” self and her ability to have a relationship without worrying about how it would end before it even began.

She is a bit of a crazy character who numbers her boyfriends even if she only spent as little as a few weeks with them. She arrives at Austenland to be lectured by Mrs. Wattlesbrook about her finances and how she is not their typical client and that if she breaks the rules, she will be kicked out. Jane is uncomfortable in Regency clothes and manners from the start. The false manners and pretense grate on her nerves, which is when she begins to seek out some normalcy in Austenland and turns to the gardener, Martin. How cliche in my opinion, but for this book it worked. I was still rooting for Mr. Nobley…aka Mr. Darcy.

Through a series of bungling moments, Jane gets trapped up with Martin and untangled from him. She then falls into the trappings of Austenland and Mr. Nobley. By the time her vacation ends, Jane has grown and changed…become a stronger woman.

***End Spoiler Alert***

I like this book because it is entertaining. Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice are my favorite part of classic literature. I like how Shannon Hale builds up Jane as a lost, romantic career woman who struggles to find her perfect man. I like how skeptical the character is throughout the Austenland experience and how she struggles with herself to stay focused on the act and immersing herself in the role she is expected to play. I also enjoyed how this character learned that she should not have given up her dreams and her artistic outlet of painting, despite her move to graphic design on a computer. Hale does a great job showing the reader how Jane evolves. The final scenes are spectacular and kept me enthralled until its conclusion.

Also Reviewed By:
It’s All About Books (SUEY)
Book Escape
The Written Word
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, irresistible challenge 2008, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Haunted Is Not the Word That Comes to Mind…

July 7, 2008 by


Chris Palahniuk’s Haunted is a novel of short stories and poems. Let’s start off with the positive. This is the first set of short stories in a novel format that actually are cohesive. The poems paired up with each character are narrative in nature, but I noticed that the character of Mrs. Clark has the most short stories in the novel, which to me signifies she is the main focus of the book. However, she isn’t the main point of the book, which I can only describe as disgusting. I hit total utility with this book, which I read as part of the Irresistible Review Challenge. This book was reviewed by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric.

I want to caution anyone picking this book up that if you don’t have a strong stomach, do not attempt to read this. And I know what you are thinking: “It can’t be that bad.” My answer to that is: “It is and worse.”

The 17 members of the writer’s retreat get on a bus and head for an abandoned theater, which I can now only call the theater of horror. I won’t go into all the details of each character’s past, but I will tell you that their pasts pale in comparison to how they behave to themselves and their companions while on this retreat. Mr. Whittier, whom they deem the devil of their little show, is the catalyst, but whether he is worse or better than the rest of the cast, I am not really sure. I can tell you that he is very devious.

My one issue with this book, other than each story being more horrific than the last, is the ending story. The one-upping by the characters is not carried through, and I wonder if that was done on purpose or because the author himself ran out of things to do to these people in their stories and pasts. I also would like to comment that not all of these characters are haunted by their past lives or behaviors, but by themselves–their essences or their inability to change themselves. They are haunted by the incalculable lengths they will stoop to become the center of their “show.” They are haunted by their own lack of humanity and their inability to “save” themselves even when their salvation is before them. They remain focused and unchanged.

I guess that brings me to my second pet peeve with the book is that none of the characters evolve. Mrs. Clark, in particular, who is the most haunted by her past and her daughter, Cassandra, does not change. This disturbs me given that she insists she came on the retreat to discover what happened to her daughter and what her daughter saw in the nightmare box. She seeks answers that she doesn’t receive and then proceeds to fall into the same trap consuming the others at the writer’s retreat.

I recommend readers interested in this premise to be careful because the book makes you want to close your eyes and put the book back on the shelf. But curiosity draws your hand back to the shelf to reopen the book to find out what happens to these characters in spite of their faults. I guess in a way they got their wish and became famous.

Also Reviewed By:

Books & Other Thoughs
PinkIndiaInk

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, irresistible challenge 2008, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Blind Submission

June 17, 2008 by


Debra Ginsberg’s Blind Submission is another book I found through the book blogging world, and it qualifies for the Irresistible Review Challenge. I read the review of this book at Book Escape. While this book was deemed a mystery, I found it less mysterious than I originally expected. Whether that is because I am overly analytical, I don’t know. I did figure out the ending among the first mentions of the mystery manuscript, Blind Submission, but I was eager to see how the mystery unfolded.

***Spoiler Alert***

Angel Robinson is introduced as a book store manager of Blue Moon Books, but her book store is going out of business. Her boyfriend and writer, Malcolm, pushes her to apply to the famed Lucy Fiamma Literary Agency, one of the only literary agencies on the West Coast. Angel half-heartedly applies and goes to the interview, which she aces. Angel is beside herself that she interviewed successfully, but when she gets to the office, she feels a bit nervous about her ability to perform the tasks before. Angel quickly comes to realize that her boss is hard-nosed and a bit bipolar. She tells her to complete tasks one way and then complains when they are not completed the other way.

Eventually, Angel gets a handle on her job and grows a bit more confident in her position at the firm. She rustles the feathers of her co-workers. One of whom is named Kelly, but Lucy refuses to call her Kelly–Lucy calls her Nora and expects everyone to do the same. Nora-Kelly is an anorexic beauty, with little brains, while the other co-worker, Anna, is lazy and eager to please. Angel seems to be the only one excelling at her job. Meanwhile, the money man, Craig, takes the reins of the office in his hands to ensure the agency runs smoothly and the workers stay in line.

Meanwhile, Angel sells a major book, which Lucy takes credit for….eventually things spiral out of control at the agency and in Angel’s life. She breaks up with her boyfriend, becomes paranoid, and spends many sleepless nights reading over a manuscript that eerily mirrors her life.

However, in the process she finds love and direction to her life. The mystery of the Blind Submission manuscript unravels quickly toward the end of the book.

***End Spoiler Alert***

I’m glad I found this book at Book Escape. It was a worthwhile read, and I hope to see more from this author. I recommend that other pick it up and try it out.

Look forward to an upcoming book review later this week. And as always, fellow book bloggers, remember that I will add your links to my review posts if you review the same book.

Also, Please feel free to enter my Blogiversary contest.

And like a good blogger, I am posting information about a giveaway on The Written Word. Feel free to enter the giveaway and spread the word about her contest.

Another Giveaway at Maw Books for all the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. Check it out, numerous ways to enter.

Check out this Giveaway at Booking Mamma for The Wednesday Sisters.

Another Blogoversary or Blogiversary at Diary of an Eccentric, check out Anna’s contest; It’s for knitters, yarn lovers, and bookaholics.

Blind Submission Also Reviewed By:
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, irresistible challenge 2008, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

If You Were a Talking Baboon

June 9, 2008 by


Cornelius Medvei’s Mr. Thundermug is an imaginative short novel chronicling the life of Mr. Thundermug, a baboon who inexplicably learns how to speak English. This is another of the books I am reading as part of the Irresistible Review Challenge.

I originally found the review for this book at Diary of an Eccentric, which is listed as book 38, I believe, in the recap. What a great look at the life of a Baboon as a human, or should I say ape in a human world.

***Spoiler Alert***

Mr. Thundermug, his wife, and his two children, Angus and Trudy, are all given names by Mr. Thundermug. The baboon soon realizes that he is the only one in the family able to speak and understand English when it is spoken. Through a series of run-ins with the Council on Housing, Thundermug soon comes to realize that he is governed by two contrary standards–that of human law and natural law.

His grasp of speech amazes many, while others ignore the baboon who speaks their language as if he were a figment of their imagination. I wonder if this book is another look at discrimination, but at the same time I wonder if there is another meaning altogether. Perhaps as humans we are not as superior to animals as we would like to suggest or believe. Perhaps they are wiser than we are.

***End Spoiler Alert***

It’s interesting to see a study of animal conditions from another perspective, rather than the human entering the world of the gorilla, for instance. The baboon enters the world of humanity and what he learns is striking.

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, fiction, irresistible challenge 2008, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Bronzed Vampires, You Suck

June 9, 2008 by

Christopher Moore’s You Suck audio book is another find at the library that I should have taken out in book form. This book had us roaring with laughter in the car on the way to work over the weeks we listened to it.

***Spoiler Alert***

This is a vampiric tale of one young fledgling, Jody, turning her Midwest boyfriend, Tommy Flood, into a vampire so they can be together forever. Jody, who was turned by an older vampire, Elijah, teams up with Tommy and his co-workers at the San Francisco Marina Safeway to bronze the older vampire who has gone on a killing spree among the sick and infirm. Jody hopes to get away from the elder vampire and take Tommy into her dark world.

Along the way, Tommy starts getting used to his vampiric ways, but eventually “enjoys” some aspects of his nature too much for his Midwestern sensibilities. Tommy adopts the name Lord Flood with his minion, Abby Normal–o yes, you guessed it an old fashioned play on words. She is nothing short of normal by today’s standards with her Gothic clothes, her sarcasm, attempts to fit in with the rebels, and her love of the undead…but she also has a perky side and you eventually discover her favorite literary character is not from Lovecraft, but it is Pipi Longstocking, a perkier side of Abby.

Even Abby falls in love, and its not with a vampire or her gay friend, Jared.

***End Spoiler Alert***

Not only is their vampire hunting, love, sex, drugs, and stealing, but there is sarcastic humor, self-deprecating humor, and twists of fate in this book that are great. The narrator chosen to read this novel was well selected. Her character voices were believable.

What made the vampire book for me, beyond the vampires of course, was the narration, hilarious lines, and the character of Abby Normal. I would love to see an entire novel of her adventures from Moore; that would make great reading. I recommend this book, You Suck, in any form you choose. I’m going to have to go out and get the hard copy to add to my collection since I foresee myself reading it for the first time, only to re-read it again and again.

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Who Would You Trust All Your Secrets To?

May 19, 2008 by

Sophie Kinsella’s “Can You Keep a Secret?” blew me away with its wit and humor. There were times when I roared out loud with laughter and there was a time near the end of the book where I wanted to weep. This book surpassed my expectations. After reading the Undomestic Goddess, I was expecting a book that was similarly amusing, but Emma is a much funnier character.

***Spoiler Alert***

When we meet Emma Corrigan she totally messes up a “slam-dunk” business meeting and is headed back to London from Scotland on a flight that gets rather turbulent in more ways than one. In some ways, the turbulent plane ride becomes a metaphor for her life throughout much of the book after meeting a fellow business executive, who turns out to be her firm’s founding owner–Jack Harper.

Emma spills all of her secrets to this stranger on the flight while others on the flight are praying that they will land safely in London. These secrets range from her hatred of crochet to her attempts to kill a co-worker’s plant with orange juice. She thinks nothing much of it at the time because he is a mere stranger on the plane. However, she soon gets back to the office to discover that the man on the plane is none other than Jack Harper, the partial owner of Panther Corporation.

The banter between Emma and Jack sets the stage for the ultimate betrayal. Emma runs the gamut of emotions in this book from pleased with herself that she and the CEO have a secret understanding to head-over-heels in love to disappointment, embarrassment, and betrayal.

***End Spoiler Alert***

This books examines relationships in their many forms: love, romance, friendship, family. Emma learns a lot about her familial relationships and that even the best of friends have secrets from one another. She learns that honesty may be the hardest option in some cases, but it generally is the best road to undertake. Her evolution throughout the novel is fantastic and well-paced. I enjoyed Emma’s struggles, which often reflect many of the struggles other women have in balancing the many relationships we have.

It begs the question, who do you trust you secrets to? I for one spread them around to various people. I have to keep everyone guessing at some point, don’t I? It also makes me wonder, how many of my secrets have been passed along to others in the heat of the moment.

That’s a question for readers…Have you told a secret to one person and not another, and why? And have you ever blurted out someone’s secret accidentally without meaning to harm the person entrusting you with that secret?

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, chicklit, fiction, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Jane’s Book Club

May 16, 2008 by

Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club is an interesting amalgamation of characters, but the book for me was not as satisfying as I had hoped. Many of the characters reminded me of Jane Austen’s characters, though a bit more modern. Jocelyn reminds me of a modern day Elizabeth Bennett, while Prudie reminds me of Elizabeth’s mother, especially because she prattles on and on.

For this book, I really won’t be doing any spoilers. This is one book you would have to read on your own. The characters I found most interesting, however, were the ones not delved into as much as I would have liked. I really enjoyed Sylvia’s daughter, Allegra, but unfortunately, you don’t see much of her. The narrator, who I’m not really clear on, seems to assume we know quite a bit about Allegra’s character, when we really don’t. I wonder if the narrator is an omniscient outsider or an actual book club member–this was not clear to me.

The resolution to the book club seems about rushed, and I wonder if the book club continues with another author’s works or whether it simply disbands after all of Austen’s works are discussed by the members. Fowler may have something here; perhaps she should consider writing additional book club books with character parallels from different authors.

Also Reviewed by:
The Written Word
5-Squared

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, chicklit, fiction, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Dirty Domesticity

May 8, 2008 by

Sophie Kinsella’s The Undomestic Goddess is a quick read for commuting and equally as amusing as her other books. I enjoyed Samantha Sweeting’s character much more than I did Lexi Smart. I also didn’t see as much of Becky Bloomwood in this character as I did in Lexi Smart. Kinsella has a fine talent for getting to the heart of high-powered career women who forget about the finer things in life while they are competing (and winning) in a male dominated profession.

****Spoiler Alert***
Samantha Sweeting is a powerful attorney in London, who much like her mother strives to be the best at her job. To accomplish her goal of becoming a partner at Carter Spink, Samantha works more hours than the other attorneys and barely has a social life. When she finally manages to get time off to have dinner with her mom and brother, she ends up having dinner with two cell phones, an assistant, and singing group of waiters. Suffice to say, her personal life can’t get much worse. That’s what you would think, but then the senior partner from the firm, the one she does not have a cordial relationship with, moves into her building, two floors up.

Early on, something goes terribly wrong at the firm and she panics. Heads out of town to the countryside where she is mistakenly hired as a housekeeper. At first she takes the job because she is still in a state of shock, but as she learns of the fallout from her “mistake,” she decides that being a housekeeper could be a fine change of pace. After many dirty domestic mishaps, Samantha realizes she needs some cooking and cleaning lessons. Nathaniel, the gardener, offers his mother’s services after laughing at her expense when she fails to start the washing machine and can barely make toast and coffee. Iris, his mother, sets about helping Samantha become domestic. She teaches her how to make food, bread, pastry, and other items, but most importantly, Iris helps her slowdown and relax…take in the little things about life and cooking. The scenes with Iris and Nathaniel on the weekends are fantastic.

***End Spoiler Alert***

I won’t go into all the details of the book, but there is a great scene in the garden between Samantha and Nathaniel that just made me swoon. Yes, I said swoon. I wish that romance of that caliber were real. Don’t get me wrong, love is still here in my life, it’s just different. The puppy love of this scene made me reminisce. The resolution of the book is exactly what you would expect; well, maybe not exactly as you picture it. But you get your just desserts.

Also reviewed at:
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
Book Escape

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: borrowed copy, chicklit, fiction, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Surfing Through Life

April 16, 2008 by

Body Surfing by Anita Shreve is not one of my favorite novels, but I enjoyed the meditative way in which she weaves the love triangle between Sydney, Jeff, and Ben. What I enjoyed most about the love triangle is that it is done in such a way that it takes the whole book to see the outcome and the third angle in the triangle.

***Spoiler Alert***

Sydney loves to body surf in the ocean, and this becomes a metaphor for how she lives her life. She tends to get swept up by the circumstances she finds herself in, whether it’s the odd jobs she has held or the men she becomes involved with. She’s been married two times previously when we meet her in the book, and she has taken time off from graduate school after the death of her second husband to tutor a young girl, Julie Edwards, for the SATs over the summer.

She has a relatively calm time at the New Hampshire beach cottage, which has appeared in several of Shreve’s other novels–including one of my favorites The Pilot’s Wife. The house’s history is not lost on the character of Mr. Edwards in this book, and he has even become a sort of historian of the house. It has been great to see the stories that emerge from this single cottage over the years. I wonder if Shreve will set another novel in this cottage; I would enjoy visiting it again.

Suddenly, Sydney is thrust between two brothers and their competitive behavior. The competition is not overt, but alluded to throughout the book. The subtlety here may be hard to sift through, but reading Shreve’s works in the past, I’ve become more attune to her visual cues and descriptions to uncover the internal struggles and hidden agendas and connections between her characters.

I truly enjoyed the parts after the wedding debacle where Sydney spends time in a Boston hotel to regroup and her meeting with Mr. Cavalli. I think these were eye-opening experiences for the character. Her return to New Hampshire three years later for a psychology conference and her subsequent meeting with Ben is a major turning point for a number of characters, including Sydney and Ben’s mother. I just love the few lines with which Shreve accomplishes the transition in this book and the immediate mutual realization that Ben and Sydney reach together.

***End Spoiler Alert***

Overall, this book held my attention throughout the daily commute and even some evenings at home when I was engrossed in the dialogue and current situations Sydney found herself in. While it is not as well constructed as The Pilot’s Wife, Sea Glass, or The Last Time They Met, I enjoyed my journey back to the oceanside of New Hampshire and the trip back into Boston, even if it was for a brief interlude.

***Please feel free to enter the next National Poetry Month Contest here.

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: fiction, purchased, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

Is Helen The Almost Moon?

April 10, 2008 by

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold pulls out all the stops and blurs the boundaries of morality and a normal life. Helen Knightley is a woman haunted by her past and her present, so much so that it drives her to do the unthinkable.

***Spoiler Alert***

While Anna had read this book before me, I had forgotten much of what she told me until I came to the part where Helen smothers her elderly mother. I’m not telling you anything that you won’t find out in the first chapter. The book is not about the events leading up to her mother’s murder, but how Helen came to the conclusion that murder was the answer and how that answer was shaped by her childhood and her first marriage.

For me, the main problem I had with the novel was my inability to feel sorry for Helen. It’s not that I didn’t find her life hard as a child with an agoraphobic mother and a bipolar father, with suicidal tendencies; I guess the narration jumped around too much for me to delve deeper into the character’s feelings and psyche. I always felt like Helen was keeping us just outside a wall that we were not allowed to jump over. I guess you could say I felt a bit like Hamish, her best friend’s son and her lover. He says at one point in the book that he knows Helen has a good heart, but that she can be “so cold” sometimes. This is how I felt about Helen.

Her actions jump from murdering her mother to sleeping with her best friend’s son, right after calling her ex-husband she hasn’t spoken to in years to confess her crime. While I can see the connection between her murdering her mother and calling the one person she believed would understand her motivations, I was taken aback by the sudden sexual interlude between her and Hamish. Perhaps she was in shock, perhaps she was hoping the sex would release something pent up inside of her. I really cannot say.

The journey from leaving her mother in the basement to the discovery of her murder by the police is intertwined with childhood memories and memories of her marriage to Jake, the artist, painter, and sculptor. These are the scenes I enjoyed most. I was given a rare glimpse into Helen’s life that shaped her current persona. It allowed me to garner a sense of her inner turmoil where her mother was concerned and how she always seemed to identify herself as on her father’s side. The transition at the end from realizing that her father was not the victim but an enabler was fantastic. It was almost like it took Helen her entire life to realize the marriage and their problems at home were the result of two people in dire need of psychological assistance, not just her mother as she had always presumed.

And in a way, I wanted more of a resolution, not Helen’s speculations on the matter. Was she going to escape or was she arrested and sent to prison for her mother’s murder? These are the questions that still linger for me.

***End Spoiler Alert***

While her mother is referred to as The Almost Moon early on in the book, I came to believe it was Helen and her father that the phrase referred to most.

If you are looking for another Lucky or Lovely Bones, The Almost Moon is not it. This book made the commuting time on the bus and metro fly by, but the tail end of the book dragged for me. I think a few of the descriptive pages could have been cut out to make the ending more powerful for the character.

Also Reviewed by:

The Bookworm

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: fiction, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,

7th Heaven Sure Is a Firey Pit

March 24, 2008 by

Despite a bump in the road with 6th Target, James Patterson has picked up the Women’s Murder Club Series in 7th Heaven, and it looks like Lindsay is on the brink of yet another emotional dilemma. In this book, Michael Campion, who has a bad heart and happens to be the son of a former governor, disappears, but a tip comes in leading to a potential suspect. At the same time, a series of homes are set afire, robbed, and their occupants killed; these fires appear to be arson or accidental, but the detectives must follow a gruelling set of leads to discover the truth. Meanwhile, Lindsay Boxer continues to live with her FBI boyfriend, Joe, even though she has yet to say yes to his proposal from 6th Target.

***Spoiler Alert***

While this book has a much cleaner plot and the suspense is kept high for most of the book, I don’t see the attraction Lindsay has to Rich Conklin, her partner. I know that Patterson is setting it up to be a love triangle with Lindsay caught between two men–her partner and her former FBI boyfriend–but I guess I am partial to Joe. I want to see her happy, and after cheering him on and happily applauding his decision to finally move to San Francisco and quite the FBI to be with Lindsay, I want my happy ending for them. I knew once Jacobi was moved up and no longer her partner, another hunk was moving into her life. I wonder if it is her desire for Conklin or her inability to commit that has her so confused about the men in her life. I gather its a bit of both.

This is one thing I have noticed about Patterson’s crime stories–and it bugs me–the main characters who are detectives in police forces never can just have a happy home life. Wives die, marriages end in divorce, partners become lovers, and other activities happen that keep these detectives merely bouncing from bed to bed. I find that disturbing. I would like to see something out of the ordinary from one of his main characters; I would like to see them fall in love, get married, and have families all while remaining on the job and platonic with their partners.

As for the crimes, the Campion case takes a series of twists and turns that even had me baffled for a while, though I finally had it figured. I love the ending to this case, folks. If for nothing else, you should read this book to find out what really happens to Michael Campion. I have to say the conversation with Boxer, Conklin, and Campion’s father was the biggest clue to the ending for me. It was a good point in the story to bring it out as well.

The rash of fires in the area among wealthy families was intriguing and the discovery of who Pidge and Hawk really are was captivating. The only question I have for those characters is what sick and twisted world do you live in that setting fires and killing people can be equated with 7th Heaven? Talk about a disturbing title for a graphic novel/manifesto of crime. It makes one wonder how these minds become that twisted to think hey let’s set fire to homes, rob them, and kill the couples inside rather than sell this really detailed graphic novel that received rave reviews and become rich ourselves. I think in this instance, I would have preferred a bit more detail into how these criminals came to those conclusions. What motivated them to kill, rather than make money and change their lot in life? Then again, I suppose most cops and prosecutors never find that out even if the perps are arrested.

***End Spoiler Alert****

Also, keep a watchful eye on this book for the newest addition to the Women’s Murder Club. The group is growing. Overall, this was an enjoyable, quick read that kept my interest throughout. While some parts angered me and there is still no resolution to the Joe, Lindsay, Conklin interactions, I would recommend this crime drama, 7th Heaven, as a must read part of the series, just skip over the 6th Target.

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, purchased, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Sharpen Those Fangs…

March 16, 2008 by

The second part to the Blue Bloods series, Masquerade, is a whirlwind of revelations regarding the Van Alens and the entire Blue Blood society. I was anxious to get my copy from the library and continue reading about these young vampires and their families. I looked forward to Schulyer’s adventure to find her grandfather, Lawrence. However, that journey was short-lived. While I was initially disappointed that the journey started and ended quickly, my disappointment was overcome by curiosity.

***Spoiler Alert***

She finds her grandfather at the behest of her grandmother–a trip that takes her to Venice. She spies people who look like her mother and who remind her of people she should know from her past lives, but disappointments in her quest make her doubt her ability to find her grandfather, who holds the key to defeating the Silver Bloods.

After she finds her grandfather, her disappointment only deepens when he refuses to help her in her quest to uncover the Silver Blood and Blue Blood past and defeat the impending threat to her teenage friends at an elite New York prep school. Returning to New York thrusts her back into the thick of her teenage confusion over Oliver, her conduit and friend, and her crush on Jack Force, who is bound through blood to his sister, Mimi. Schulyer’s desire for the unattainable is palatable in this second book in the series–a desire that most anyone who has had a crush on a boy can certainly relate to.

The adventures in this book are even more dire than the first, with the Silver Blood presence even more apparent despite The Committee’s denials and entreaties that the Silver Bloods were defeated many centuries ago. Schuyler’s coming of age as a vampire is also wrought with risks to herself and her conduit, who soon becomes her familiar—further complicating her feelings for him and his growing love for her.

The intricacies of this world start to unfold quickly in the book, and as you may have guessed Mimi figures in profoundly because after all her rival for Jack’s bond is Schuyler. Jack is a character torn between duty and passion, and his actions clearly define his dilemma–stuck between his lifelong, eternal blood bond with Mimi and his passion for the daughter of Allegra Van Alen, Schuyler.

The history of these character’s past lives unravels quickly to reveal some shocking connections.

***End Spoiler Alert***

It’s a quick read, and held my attention much more than the first book. I was excited to see what would happen next. The end leaves the door wide open for a third book in this young adult series about teenage vampires, and I hope that Melissa De La Cruz does not disappoint. I recommend this book for people who enjoy YA reading and vampires alike. This not a horror series by any stretch of the imagination, not too much gore here. It’s more like a commentary on the teenage relationships in high society and coming of age, just with a vampire twist.

Copyright of Serena M. Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit 2007-2010. This is not original content, this content is owned and copyrighted by Serena M. Agusto-Cox
Filed Under: fiction, purchased, Read in 2008, reviews Tagged With: ,