Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

Title/Author: Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
Publisher/Date published: De Bezige Bij (the Busy Bee :) ), first published in 2001 by William Morrow/Harper Collins
How I got this book: I bought it
Why I read this book: it had been staring at me from my shelve for over a year and it fit rather nicely into the fall/winter challenge from the College Students group on Goodreads

Goodreads summary: "The sleepy town of Heartsdale, Georgia, is jolted into panic when Sara Linton, the town's pediatrician and coroner, finds Sibyl Adams, a young college professor, dead in the local diner. As well as being viciously raped, Sibyl has been cut: two deep knife wounds form a lethal cross over her stomach. But it's only once Sara starts to perform the postmortem that the full extent of the killer's brutality starts to become clear.
Police chief Jeffrey Tolliver - Sara's ex-husband - is in charge of the investigation, and when a second victim is found, crucified, only a few days later, he has to face the fact that Sibyl's murder wasn't a single personal attack: They're dealing with a sadistic rapist turned killer who is terrorizing rural Grant County.
Jeffrey isn't alone in his search. Lena Adams - the county's sole female detective - wants to see justice done since her sister was the first victim. Sara, too, cannot escape the terror. A secret from her past could hold the key to finding the killer - unless he finds her first."

I almost never read thrillers, I used to read a lot when I was younger and for some reason I don't remember went off them. Maybe it's the fact that as a medical student I get to see enough icky stuff and don't need it in my books. Besides, murderers scare me.

This was a fast read, Slaughter writes very engaging and apart from the a 'seriously?' reaction at Sara being a pediatrician as well as the coroner (that doesn't happen in Holland, I don't know about the US, but here pediatricians work in a hospital and they most certainly don't have a job as a coroner on the side) it was a smooth read.

I was horrified at the sick mind of this murderer, it was just sick what he did to his victims! Especially the first one, that was just plain awful. But I appreciate Slaughter's storytelling in this, there's real creativity involved. The way she describes the community and the dysfunctional relationship between Sara and Jeffrey is wonderful. I was rooting for them to work it out, but maybe that happens in one of the sequels.

I did guess who the killer was way before it was revealed, but I don't know why I thought that, I'm for some reason annoyingly accurate at guessing this. It wasn't overly obvious or something.

Anyway, though I don't think I'll be starting to read a lot of thrillers again, I really enjoyed it. If you have a weak stomach, I wouldn't recommend reading this one.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Twice the Temptation by Rochelle Alers

Title/Author: Twice the Temptation by Rochelle Alers
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin, Kimani Romance, October 1st 2010
How I got this book: got it from the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: I'd requested it and felt like reading a romance novel (I seem to be on a romance spree lately)

Goodreads summary: "Denise Eaton is proud of the day-care business she built from scratch. But now the scion of this Philadelphia family dynasty could lose everything. The man who holds the key to her future? None other than Rhett Ferrell, the man she passionately loved in college… and who broke her heart.
Rhett has waited six years to take his sweet revenge. Now the legendary corporate raider is about to have Denise right where he wants her — at his mercy and in his bed. He's never forgiven her for walking out and taking up with his most hated enemy. But he's also never forgotten the desire that still burns so hotly, so irresistibly between them. That's when Rhett plots one final conquest: to take over Denise's heart. And he's a man who plays to win…"

I really like a good romance and the summary promised a lot of tension, heartbreak and just plain conflict, which always makes me cry and I love those kinds of books. But(yes there's a huge but), I was hugely disappointed. Let me explain:

They were a great couple for 4 years, then Denise thought Rhett was cheating on her and he thinks that after breaking if off she proceeded to jump into bed with his best friend. Both weren't rational enough to try and talk it over back then, but that part is understandable.
They both go on to have careers and meet again when Rhett is trying to get revenge on Denise for having sex with said former best friend and arranges for them to meet to discuss the rent for Denise's daycare centre, he owns the building. He devices a plan in which she can either choose to pay an enormous amount of rent or become his hostess/date for the summer. I found the reasoning for this a bit hard to believe, but still, I thought, let's see what happens from this.

I expected lots of devious plotting and Denise finding out and being heartbroken all over again and him discovering he still loved her after all in the end, after which revalation they kiss and make up and proceed to have lots of babies. Or something like that.

But none of this happened, or at least not in this context. They never really talked the misunderstandings from their previous relationship over, they just discovered what happened because someone told them. There's this huge mystery about Rhett's father, which didn't really seem that important to me and was a bit of a blah moment when he finally found out.

What I also couldn't figure out is the immediate switch from Rhett's need to get revenge to him loving her like he did before in just one date. And then deciding to get married after the second or third. There really was no conflict in this! And I love conflict! I expect and want it. This is somewhere at the beginning of the book and I couldn't figure out where the story was going exactly. What the book seemed to tell me is that they loved eachother, didn't talk about their problems and had sex whenever possible. And I don't mind sex in romance books, but there has to be a relevant plot somewhere too!

I thought the author definitely had a nice plot for an enjoyable romance novel, but then she didn't stick to it. I was really disappointed and found myself going 'huh??' more than once while reading it. Also, I didn't understand how he went from being named Garrett to Rhett (I mean, where does that H come from all of a sudden, but maybe that's just me being nitpickerish).

My rating: 1 star, I really want to give it more, but I can't in all honesty.

Top Ten Books I'll Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, check it out and join in on the fun!

This week's Top Ten:
Your Top Ten Book's You'll NEVER Read

So this is hard, even if I don't feel like reading a book now, I might in the future. And I don't keep lists of these, so it's difficult to think of them (unlike my to-read list, which is alfabetized in an excell sheet, color-coded with the place to find them, I'm a geek, I know). But it's highly doubtfull I will read any of these:

1. 'Tis by Frank McCourt: I think Angela's Ashes was the only book I ever truly hated. I've heard other people say they loved it and I'm sure it can be enjoyable, but it just wasn't for me, which is why I won't be reading it's sequel.

2. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey: I'd heard really good things about this one, but struggled through 100 pages, before deciding to put it down. I don't think I'll ever pick it up again. I could not get into the storyline and didn't connect with Phèdre.

3. Rumors by Anna Godbersen: I could not get into The Luxe, I disliked the girls. I was surprised by this, because I love historical romance and thought this would be my kind of book.

4. The sequel to The Magicians by Lev Grossman: I have reviewed The Magicians, so you can see my reasons for not liking this book there. I just discovered there will be a sequel to this book, which will most likely provide the same issues I had with the first one, so it's a no-go for me.

5. Ink Exchange by Mellisa Marr: again, couldn't get into the first book in the series and discovered I'm not into fantasy that involves fairies. Maybe I'll have to try with another author.

6. The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time #2) by Robert Jordan: I keep finding myself repeating it: I wasn't into the first book in the series. And the size isn't making me very eager to try it again. But one of my best friend's boyfriend loves it and is encouraging me to give it another shot, so maybe I will cave in the end after all.

7. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: it's on my to-read list, but I struggled a bit with Anna Karenina and that hasn't motivated me to read this book, which will probably also be filled with many, many things about agriculture, politics and other things I find detracting from the storyline.

8. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: for this one it's the simple fact that travel memoirs aren't really my thing. I also rarely read non-fiction books.

9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan: it's supposed to be a good read, but I HATE zombies! They freak me out. There's no rational explanation, but I'll never read this book.

10. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler: I don't think I'll ever read this, the ideas in this book have caused such hatred and destruction.

So that's it, do you have books you probably won't ever read?

The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan

Title/Author: The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan
Publisher/Date published: A.W. Bruna Uitgevers, first published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster Inc.
How I got this book: I bought it after reading the first one in the series The Expected One. The picture is of my Dutch version which translates as 'The Jezus Mystery'.
Why I read this book: I really liked the first book in the series, which deals with the story of Mary Magdalene.

Goodreads summary: "Maureen Paschal thought she might rest and work on her book after discovering the gospel written by Mary Magdalene that revealed Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. The truth of their story rocked the world and made Maureen a target of those who did not like her discovery and a heroine to those who did.
Then Maureen receives a strange package containing what looks like an ancient letter written in Latin and signed with a symbol. She discovers that its author is an extraordinary woman whom history has overlooked -- or covered up -- Countess Matilda of Tuscany, and in the letter Matilda demands the return of her "most precious books and documents." Maureen soon finds herself in a race across Italy and France, where hidden dangers await her and her lover, Bérenger, as they begin to realize that they are on the trail of another explosive discovery: the Book of Love, the Gospel written in Jesus' own hand.
As Maureen learns more about Matilda, an eleventh century warrior countess who was secretly married to a pope, she begins to see the eerie connections between herself and Matilda, connections she must trace to their source if she is to stop the wrong people from finding the Book of Love and hiding it forever."

Maureen is again on a mission to uncover the true story of a woman who was also of the bloodline of Mary Magdalene and Jezus Christ. Wikipedia can't tell me why Matilda of Tuscany's body was moved to the rest in the Vatican, but in this story she is not only the lover of Pope Gregory VII, but also his wife and the mother of his child. Maureen finds out Matilda was one of the expected ones as well, with the same red hair she herself has. She was educated in the ways of the Book of Love, the gospel written by Jezus Christ himself when she was a child.
Through a series of visions and excerpts of the Book of Love, we learn the story of Matilda and even of Sheba and Solomon.

I appreciate the storytelling that McGowan is really good at, but I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first one, which relates the story of Mary Magdalene and her life with Jezus Christ. I'm not a religious person and the views of the church are a bit too confining to me, which is maybe why I enjoyed this other version of the story told by McGowan so much. It describes Jezus Christ as an incredible leader and good man, who was married and had children with Mary Magdalene. I'm intrigued by this idea and the story was beautiful.

I'm a bit disappointed to say that I didn't get into the story of Matilda and her life as much as I did with Mary Magdalene, however much I wanted to. Though the woman does sound interesting and the fact alone that her body was moved to the Vatican is enough to spark my interest. Stories like this, about the Church covering up part of history, always make me wonder exactly what is hidden in the archives of the Vatican.

This wasn't light reading in any way you can imagine, it was a bit hard to get into at first and it doesn't really get much easier after that. But I'm glad I finished it, though I'm not sure about reading the final part in the trilogy. This could have been just a fictional biography, the parts with Maureen finding out about a lot of things didn't really add to the story in my opinion.

My rating: 3 stars

The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

Title/Author: The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt
Publisher/Date published: Carina Press, September 27th 2010
How I got this book: I got it from the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: I have wondered what happens to the other people in fairy tales. It's actually a novella.

Goodreads summary: "Have you ever wondered what happens to the other people in the fairy tale?
Things look grim for Talia and her mother. By royal proclamation, the constables and those annoying “good” fairies have taken away their livelihood by confiscating their spinning wheel. Something to do with a curse on the princess, they said.
Not every young lady has a fairy godmother rushing to her rescue.
Without the promise of an income from spinning, Talia’s prospects for marriage disappear, and she and her mother face destitution. Past caring about breaking an arbitrary and cruel law, rebellious Talia determines to build a new spinning wheel, the only one in the nation, which plays right into the evil fairy’s diabolical plan. Talia discovers that finding a happy ending requires sacrifice. But is it a sacrifice she’s willing to make?"

I was a bit shocked when I saw the e-book only had 97 pages, I never read anything that short. But I decided what the heck, let's just find out, the summary sounded promising.

And I liked it. I really did. We're given a look at the life of the people in the fairy tale who are affected by the main events in the fairy tale. Talia looses her livelihood and her chance at marriage when their spinning wheel is taken away. This leads her to do a number of things I would consider bad choices. But for her it seems to be the only way.
The Sevenfold spell refers to the princess in Sleeping Beauty and how her 7 fairy godmothers never finished the spell to give her everything a princess needs. She lacks something essential, which I will not give away because that would ruin it.

I loved how Talia was loyal to people. She saved the princess without caring what it would do to her or that she could benefit from it herself. I'm sad the story wasn't longer, because I would have loved so see this more expanded and with more depth to it than can be accomplished in a novella in my opinion.

I laughed so hard at the part where Talia's mother whacks one of the fairies with a broom, that was amazing! Fairies are mostly thought of as annoying and troublesome where Talia lives.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the cover. After reading Halo I was a bit wary of judging a book by its cover, but this one actually lives up to it.

This is a quick, enjoyable reads for those of you who have also wondered what the normal folks get around to in the fairy tales we all love.

My rating: 4 stars

The Spurned Viscountess by Shelley Munro

Title/Author: The Spurned Viscountess by Shelley Munro
Publisher/Date published:Carina Press, September 20th 2010
How I got this book: I got it from the publisher through NetGalley
Why I read this book: what can I say, I love a good romance story and had a lazy afternoon to get through.

Goodreads summary: "Cursed with the sight and rumors of witchcraft, Rosalind's only chance at an ordinary life is marriage to Lucien, Viscount Hastings. She doesn't expect love, only security and children of her own. Determined to go through with the wedding, she allows nothing she encounters at the gloomy Castle St. Clare to dissuade her.
Recently returned from the Continent, Lucien has no time for the English mouse his family has arranged for him to marry - not when he's plotting to avenge the murder of his beloved Francesca. He has no intention of bedding Rosalind, not even to sire an heir.
Though spurned by her bridegroom, Rosalind turns to him for protection when she is plagued by a series of mysterious accidents and haunted by terrifying visions. Forced to keep Rosalind close - and tempted into passionate kisses - Lucien soon finds himself in grave danger of falling in love with his own wife..."

I enjoyed reading this book, old fasioned romance is one of my guilty pleasures. The two main characters were likeable. Rosalind isn't a weeping lady waiting to be rescued, she tries to do some rescueing of her own! She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go out and take it.
Lucien lost his memories after being beaten up in Italy, where he met his first wife, Francesca. She was shot and died in his arm, traumatizing him immensely. She was also pregnant at the time. The only reason Lucien is in England is because he heard an English name the night Francesca died and wants to find the man responsible for her death. We see him warm up to Rosalind as he finds out it's okay to open his heart to someone else again, that it doesn't mean he didn't love Francesca.

One thing I didn't understand was: why did Lucien have to marry again? His wife only died 10 months ago and I understand the need to produce an heir being the heir to the family estate himself, but why so fast? Why not find someone himself after 1 year, 2 years or more? He's still young, there's no hurry, and besides, men can have children even if they're seventy years old.

I liked that Rosalind and Lucien slowly got to know each other and their relationship flowed from that. One thing I thought was odd was how Rosalind would sense people's thoughts when touching them, but was rather naive at the end when she felt bad vibes coming from someone and did not think to act on it. The rest of the time she was much better at estimating a situation.

One thing I missed while reading this book was romantic tension to make me cry. I never once cried and I always cry, I'm such a sap I avoid reading books like this in public places because people look at me funny. Struggling lovers make me cry more than death, I can't help it. So, while this was an enjoyable read, it lacked a bit in the romance part for me.

My rating: 3 stars

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Title/Author: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Publisher/Date published: August 31st 2010 by Feiwel & Friends
How I got this book: own it
Why I read this book: I'm a bit embarassed to say it was mostly cover love (isn't it amazing??), the story sounded vaguely interesting but I don't know if I would have read it if it hadn't been for this amazing cover.

Goodreads summary: "Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings. But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth."

I have issues with this book. I did like the general idea, but 496 pages of reading how much a teenage angel loves her boyfriend is a bit much. I had expected to love it based on the cover (a bit naive, I know).

Interacting with humans on even a friendly basis is actually a big no-no we learn at the beginning of the book. I'm a bit clueless as to why they would send Bethany to a high school if she wasn't meant to befriend other teenagers. But falling in love with a human is a huge taboo and sure enough this happens and I expected devine retribution or something like that. And I waited for it. And waited. And waited. And then the book ended. Which was kind of disappointing, since we're not really given a clear reason as to why this doesn't happen.

Whenever I think of angels, I always picture serene, wise, loving creatures. I did like the whole order and different abilities Adornetto presents, but I couldn't really picture Bethany as an actual angel because she acted like a regular teenager.

I was actually glad the bad guy (who had a big sign with I'M THE BAD GUY over his head, only Bethany couldn't tell it was him somehow) came along to spice things up, because after pages and pages of Bethany doting on Xavier and telling us how he was so beautiful and him somehow thinking he had to protect her from everything (seriously, sometimes he felt more like and overly concerned mother than a boyfriend) the story needed it. I didn't really get why Bethany had to be protected so much, surely God wouldn't send his angels down to earth if he didn't think they could handle it right? Besides, Xavier is just a boy, she's an angel! She has enormous wings and heals superfast and stuff! And besides, she could bore them to death talking about her boyfriend if all else failed (ok, now I'm being mean).
The ending felt a bit like a deus ex machina experience to me and my mind just went: "seriously??"

Anyway, I sound really negative and the book wasn't that bad, it just disappointed me on different fronts. I also hadn't realised this was the first book in a series when I started it. I did like the concept of angels coming down to earth in disguise to help people and how a rebel-angel would complicate things, but I just couldn't really connect with Beth, she was a bit too weak for a should-be kick-ass immortal being.

My rating: 2.5 stars