Holy. Cow. That book was awesome. It was fast paced, you never knew what was going to happen next and I hated, and I mean hated to put it down. It was a book recommended by my friend Jessy at work. She has the whole series so far, and promised to bring me the other books as well. I can’t wait to get them.

Blindsighted is a suspense genre book and let me tell you, there is plenty of it! When a murder is committed in a small town, pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton is pulled into the thick of it. The murder is quite grisly and unfortunately won’t be the last one. The murder seems to have a religious bent to it, and frankly, adding to the mystery is a postcard Sara receives in the mail with a haunting Bible verse on it.

Of course, you can’t forget the fact that the first murder victim’s twin sister is a detective on the town’s police force, or that the police chief is Sara’s ex-husband. And the murderer? You’d never expect who it turns out to be!

The book does a very good job at hinting around at ghosts in the past and then later, when the time is right, revealing exactly what they are. Not like some books which either hint at it and then tell you right away what happened, leaving no room for excitement or hinting at it but never actually telling you what happened, leaving you feeling confused as to why it’s important.

I have to give this book 5 stars. This is book # 27 of my 28 in 2008, and is book # 1 in the RIP III challenge.

Tags: 28 in 2008, book review, Karin Slaughter, RIP III Challenge

Well well, here we are, another Thursday and for once I am on time for Booking Through Thursday.

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?

And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

The first Sci-Fi book I ever read was a very strange one. I can’t remember the name of it anymore, but it was very very weird. It involved the telling of a story 3 times, in 3 different ways, and all I remember about it was that the title involved some sort of cat and that it had a lot of extremely odd sexual scenes in it. It was extremely odd in my opinion and I never read it again - I can definitely say I shut it with a shudder the instant I was done.

I’m not opposed to new books, new authors, new genres. I just get a little weirded out when things are REALLY in left field.

Tags: booking through thursday

It’s time again for another Booking Through Thursday post. This week’s question is a good one.

Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school–does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

I find that since I don’t have kids, my reading time stays about the same all year long. Right now however, I am finding that with Halloween approaching, I’m more inclined to curl up with a mystery or horror novel, but I’ll read just about anything any time of year.

The only real change is that with Christmas fast approaching, I find myself doing a little less reading and more crocheting and knitting as I try to get Christmas projects finished in time for wrapping before they go under the tree. But all in all, my reading time stays about the same all year long, as do my habits for what I read.

Tags: booking through thursday

After seeing the link on The Symposium, I decided to join up with the RIP III challenge. What exactly is the RIP III challenge? Well….

The RIP III (Readers Imbibing Peril) Challenge is a reading challenge where you have the option of choosing from three perils.

RIP I: Choose Four Books from the gothic, horror, supernatural, mystery, thriller, dark fantasy, and suspense genres.
RIP II: Choose Two Books from the gothic, horror, supernatural, mystery, thriller, dark fantasy, and suspense genres.
RIP III: Choose One Book from the gothic, horror, supernatural, mystery, thrill, dark fantays, and suspense genres.

You can actually create a “pool” of books to choose from, although you aren’t bound to just those books you list. Just list a few that you would like to go for.

My list is as follows:

Cell by Stephen King
Sleepwalk by John Saul
The Husband by Dean Koontz
Judge and Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross
Mind Game by Christine Feehan
Crisis by Robin Cook

These are just a few of the books I might pick from. Oh yeah, and I’m going for RIP I - Four books. Let’s hope I can get them all read - the challenge runs from September 1st - October 31st of 2008, and I’m getting a late start.

I finished “On The Edge” by Pamela Britton last night at work. I have to say, this installment in her NASCAR series of books was, as always, a great read. Now I have to admit, I never realized it was a series until I realized that I kept seeing the same characters. Duh. LOL I have all but one of the books and I ordered the one I’m missing from PaperBackSwap last night, so I’ll have it in a couple of weeks.

“On The Edge” is the story of Becca Newman and Adam Drake. It’s the third book in the series, with “Dangerous Curves” being the first book, although “Dangerous Curves” is not a part of the NASCAR Library Collection. Becca Newman is the widow of five-time Nextel Cup Series champion Randy Newman. She heads up her late husband’s one-car race team. When 10-year-old Lindsey Drake makes her way, on her own and without her dad’s knowledge, to Mooresville, NC to speak with Becca about giving her dad, Adam, a chance to drive for Newman Motorsports, Becca just can’t find it in her heart to refuse.

This book keeps you wondering what will happen next as Lindsey makes some very obvious attempts at matchmaking. You’ll definitely laugh, and at one point, I even had to wipe tears away during a scene towards the end of the book, because it was one of those sad/happy moments. You’d just have to read the book to understand.

If you are a NASCAR fan and a romance fan, I highly suggest you get started on the NASCAR Library Series books by Pamela Britton. In order they are - “Dangerous Curves” (not officially a part of the NASCAR Library but first in the series), “In The Groove,” “On The Edge,” “To The Limit,” “Total Control,” and “On The Move.” The next book, according to Ms. Britton’s website, is an untitled book that comes out in late 2009. There is a story in “A NASCAR Holiday 2″ that I believe also goes somewhere in the series, probably between “Total Control” and “On The Move” but I’m not certain. I’ll have to find the book and read the story again.

All in all this book gets 5 stars and I definitely recommend it to any NASCAR fans out there!

Tags: book review, NASCAR Library Collection, Pamela Britton

I recently finished “Shadow Game” by Christine Feehan. I’ve had the book for a couple of years now, but had never actually sat down and read it. I remember getting “Mind Game” first and then finding out it was the 2nd in a series and putting it down. “Shadow Game” is the first book in that series - the GhostWalker Series.

As per usual, this one was a masterpiece. If you’ve ever wondered what you’d get if you matched up 2 people who have psychic abilities, such as telepathy, look no further. This book has it all, love, betrayal, military espionage.

When a group of men from the Special Forces divisions of the military and even some special task groups of the civilian law enforcement are brought together for an experiment in psychic abilities, someone decides that these secrets are too good to keep to themselves. When people start dying over it though, that’s when Dr. Lily Whitney, the daughter of the doctor conducting the experiment and Ryland Miller, the leader of that group of men realize they need to do something about it. Our villains want the secrets they believe Lily possesses and they want them now!

It’s up to Lily, her most trusted associates, Ryland, and his men to save the day and to help Ryland and his men to be able to function in the world with their newly enhanced psychic talents. Along the way, they discover some shocking things - which you’ll just have to read the book to find out about.

As I said, this was an awesome book and I give it 5 stars easily.

Tags: book review, Christine Feehan, GhostWalkers

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question really got me thinking about the kinds of books I read. Here’s the question:

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know that not all of you who read are in the U.S., but still, it’s vital that none of us who are decent people forget the scope of disaster that a few, evil people can cause–anywhere in the world. It’s not about religion, it’s not about politics, it’s about the acknowledgment that humans should try to work together, not tear each other apart, even when they disagree.

So, feeling my way to a question here … Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read? Personally, I used to enjoy reading Tom Clancy, but haven’t been able to stomach his fight-terrorist kinds of books since.

And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?

Truthfully, the majority of books I read that have actual villains in them are usually “supernatural” in nature. The villains are usually vampires, warlocks, witches, or people with some sort of psychic powers that they’re using for evil not for good. Or it is just plain Evil that is the villain in the book.

I’ve never been one for Tom Clancy books or his type of books. Most of my books involve things that although in some cases it *is* possible to do those things, most of them are so far-fetched that there’s not a possibility of it. So I would have to say that 9/11 has not affected the types of books I read at all.

Tags: booking through thursday

I just finished “The Devil’s Labyrinth” by John Saul. As with most of his books, it involved evil possessing a child or teenager. This time it involves a teenage boy named Ryan who got beat up at his high school and ended up being sent to the private St. Isaac’s Preparatory Academy. There he meets up with Father Sebastian Sloane, a Catholic priest who has had some “success” in helping troubled teens. This priest has been noticed by the Vatican for his successes.

The only problem is, he uses “exorcism” that isn’t really an exorcism and the Pope has noticed. He arranges for a visit to the Boston school but he’s about to get more than he bargained for. Father Sebastian isn’t all he seems. Luckily, Ryan, with a little help from his deceased father and a gift his father left for him, can help foil the plot.

The only disappointing thing was that the book’s “climax” came at the very end and frankly, wasn’t all that great. The book was great and I could hardly put it down, but it just didn’t have the same thrilling climax that John Saul’s books usually have. Now I’m not sure if it’s because he’s written 34 novels (more actually because there’s at least one more after this book) and he’s running out of steam, or if it was just a fluke. Of course, every writer has at least one book that doesn’t live up to expectations, so I guess this one was it.

I give it four stars.

Tags: book review, John Saul

Here is this week’s Booking Through Thursday question -

I was looking through books yesterday at the shops and saw all the Twilight books, which I know basically nothing about. What I do know is that I’m beginning to feel like I’m the *only* person who knows nothing about them.

Despite being almost broke and trying to save money, I almost bought the expensive book (Australian book prices are often completely nutty) just because I felt the need to be ‘up’ on what everyone else was reading.

Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc, do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?

Actually, yes I have felt pressured to read something because everyone else was reading it. When my strict Mormon friend started reading Harry Potter books, I finally decided it was time for me to read them. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with them, and although I managed to read all the way through the first 2, I have never finished the series. Other than that, it was the Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal back in elementary and middle schools that I read, because everyone else was reading them. The difference there was, I enjoyed the Sweet Valley and Canby Hall series books, as well as Babysitters Club books.

Right now, I want to read the Twilight series, not because it’s popular but because upon reading a blurb on the Twilight book, I wanted to read it. My only issue is I can’t afford the books right now, and they’re not available on PaperBack Swap. LOL

Tags: booking through thursday