2012 book challenges

It's the time of year again to announce my TBR picks for next year and my other book challenges this year. Tomorrow I'll post my January non-challenge books reads.


To Be Read (TBR) top picks:
#1 All the Pretty Girls by JT Ellison
#2 The Reincarnationist by MJ Rose
#3 Taken by Chris Jordan
#4 Monkeewrench by PJ Tracy
#5 Takeover by Lisa Black
#6 Dead Connection by Alafair Burke
#7 Bobby Faye's Very Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey
#8 Tempting the Beast by Lora Leigh
#9 One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake
#10 Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
#11 She'll Never Tell by Hunter Morgan
#12 Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

TBR Alternates
#1 Murder Uncorked by Michele Scott
#2 Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
#3 Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
#4 Scent of Darkness by Christina Dodd
#5 A Cutthroat Business by Bente Gallagher
#6 The Pretender by Celeste Bradley
#7 You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister
#8 Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
#9 Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
#10 Causing Havoc by Lori Foster
#11 Delicious by Susan Mallery
#12 The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly

TBR Lite
#1 Death List by Paul Johnston
#2 One Last Breath by Laura Griffin
#3 Slave to Surrender by Nalini Singh
#4 The Perfect Temptation by Leslie Lafoy
#5 A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller
#6 Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie


Beth Fish Reading Challenge
 #1.  "House"--Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton (farm house)
 #2.   "Something in the sky"--Sweet Tea at Sunrise by Sheryl Woods
#3.   "Creepy crawler"--Spider's Web by Margaret Coel
#4.   "Something found in pocketbook"--Lucky Charm by Carly Phillips
#5.  "Topographical feature"--Amber Beach by Elizabeth Lowell
#6.  "Something found on a calender"--5 Days in Summer by Kate Pepper


Mystery Readers Cafe Reading Challenge
#1.   "First" book in series from new to you author: Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry
#2     "Food"--Liver Let Die by Liz Lipperman
#3     "Blue Cover"--The Crack in the Lens by Steve Hockensmith
#4      "Gem"--The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh
#5       "R" last name--The Complaints by Ian Rankin

Extra : Use Last letter in first name for title: "N"--Now May You Weep by Deborah Crombie

Over the Porch Swing Reading Challenge 
#1       "Bird"--Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews
#2       "Yellow Cover"--The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams
#3       "Foreign Locale"--Blood Men by Paul Cleave (New Zealand)
#4       "Weather"--Storm Prey by John Sandford
#5        "Size"--Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover

Extra: Use all letters to spell out names in titles:
             K--A Killer Crop by Sheila Connolly
             R--Ruthless by Anne Stuart
             I--In Plain Sight by CJ Box
             S--Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell
             T--A Templar's Code by C.M. Palov
             E--Eve by Iris Johansen
             N--Nobody's Darling by Teresa Medeiros


Romance Book Club Book Challenge
#1. Medieval--My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale
#2. At Sea--Scandalous Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt
#3. Regency--To Pleasure A Lady by Nicole Jordan
#4.  Frontier (American wild west, Canadian or Australian)--When My Heart Calls by Janette Oke (Canadian)
#5. Futuristic--Midnight Crystal by Jayne Castle

Deadly Night

Here's my final book review for 2011. Happy new year everyone. This is the first book of the Flynn brothers trilogy. Aidan and his two brothers inherit their old family plantation in New Orleans, post-Katrina, since their aunt died.  When Aidan Flynn, PI, discovered a bone at the home, he began investigating this matter and discovers that it's from one of the missing women in the area. He also meets Kendall Montgomery, a psychic who sees the future and ghosts, and collides with her. Little did they know, things heat up for them, when there's a killer watching them and ghosts from his homestead haunt his home. When he gets closer to the truth, it's up to Aidan and the lonely souls there to stop the murders. A lovely romantic suspense with a hint of a ghost story.

The Screaming Room

If you love a real good thriller, you'll enjoy the 2nd book in the John Driscoll series. In The Screaming Room, someone is targeting tourists in New York City. One by one, they're found in landmarks and found scalped like Indians. Later on, they find out from blood from a broken toenail that they're dealing with identical fraternal twins, Cassie and Angus Claxonn, who are after them for one reason: revenge on the sexual abuse they endured from their dad. And that bridges the connection between all of them, even when Malcolm Shewster's daughter is one of the victims, and is on the scene to go after them. Once they're exposed, they make their threats known to the final end, when they go after someone Driscoll cares about. What a wild ride!

Payment in Blood

If you love good mysteries, you'll enjoy the next one in the Inspector Lynley series. In Payment in Blood, Lynley and Havers were sent to Scotland, when a young playwright was found murdered on a cold winter day. It was up to Lynley and Havers to find out why, when they talked to everyone in the theater company. When someone else got killed, it made them dig further into the background of family secrets, lies, betrayal, and a cold case. For Lynley, he had a hint of jealousy to his lady love, Lady Helen Clyde.  As they got closer to the truth, they closed in further to the suspicions of one or two narrowed suspects, right before someone got assaulted. Now it was a game of whodunit, right until the final end. What a rush!

This was another fascinating Elizabeth George British mystery. I continued to love Scotland Yard and all of the United Kingdom for the settings. I believe Havers and Lynley were an incredible and impeccable crime-solving team. I liked the backdrop of the play, when everyone played a part into this crime in not so many acts.  You could really imagine yourself there, when everything happened at once. Plenty of crime-solving action, lots of drama, and a great mystery that's filled with intrigue and suspense.

Ready for the opening act? Grab a copy for your ticket right now!

The Wild Child

If you love magical historical romances, this is the one for you, the first of a trilogy. In the Wild Child, Lady Meriel Grahame lost her parents in a violent Indian raid when she was little and have come silent or "mad" since then. When Dominic Renbourne agrees to his twin brother's plan to pose as him with his courtship with her, things take a different turn. She listens to him and understands him. She creates henna designs and arranges wild flowers. But her two uncles have a plan for her--one wants her to marry, the other doesn't. She's at a crossroads. But when she encounters Dominic as Kyle, she begins to fall for him and wants him. Later they make love after she begins to speak. Renbourne's magic works on her, when his brother is out in Spain. Later, they fall in love and marry, when there's a danger within her family as she remembers the past and Kyle knows the truth. A magical story.

Ashes to Ashes

If you love fantastic thrillers, you'll enjoy this one from Tami Hoag. In Ashes to Ashes, the first book in the Kovac/Liska series, Kate Conlan was a former FBI Agent and now a victim advocate for court in Minnesota. She had been introduced on a new case, when the only victim who witnessed the Cremator in action.  With two dead prostitutes and one millionaire's daughter who saw it, she talked to Angie DeMarco. John Quinn from the FBI resurfaced into her life after five years, when she was now divorced and lost her daughter to illness. Now she had to battle her emotions from the past and focused on the case before. Later on, the tables were turned, when puzzling new evidence was into play, and the truth of the role of her witness also came into play, when she realized how the killer was on to her and wanted her dead. This would keep you guessing right to the end.

This was a great introductin to Kovac and Liska. I did feel worried about Kate, Angie, and Peter Boudrant's daughter. I became interested, when John came back into Kate's life.  I loved the backdrop of Minnesota for the series. The Cremator gave me the creeps and the chills. This would make you turn you head and shake it in disbelief. Great drama, plenty of creepy and eerie suspense, nice action in a great flowing pace.

Ready for a great read? Enjoy a copy this weekend!

The Book of Fate

If you love a great thriller with a military twist, you'll love this one by Brad Meltzer. Eight years, presidential aide Wes Holloway was a witness to a fatal assassination attempt--Ron Boyle was killed, he was left disfigured. Now, when he discovers Boyle's alive, it sets the secret in motion of the Three, three VIPs in top government officials who were Freemasons back in the hands of time. Now, Wes disfigures how things changed that day, when everything's not who they seem. It's up to Wes and his friends to discover who are the Three or Four, while they're after him along with a psycho killer out there, all seeking out revenge for opening their own Pandora's Box in the Book of Fate. Lots of good twists and turns in fast-paced fun.

Fear No Evil

In  Allison Brennan's Fear No Evil, the last installment of the No Evil trilogy, this story focused on Dillon Kincaid and Lucy Kincaid, his youngest sister. When she had supposed to be graduating from high school, she wasmissing. Later, she ended up on tape, when she met someone online, and then had gotten raped, when there was a deadline to save her before she died by a brutal death. That's when Dillon met Kate Donovan, a rogue FBI agent who was after a man named Trask for the past couple of years, and hoped to bring him down along with his online porn enterprise. But he had a bone to pick and people to exploit online. Plus Dillon was reunited with her long-lost estranged brother, Jack Kincaid. Head to head, they saved Lucy and brought down Task, while Kate fell in love with Dillon and had to pay the price for hiding out in Mexico for a few years. A red hot ending to the trilogy.

This was a phenomenal ending to the No Evil trilogy with a shocking ending. I cared about the Kincaid family, especially Dillon, Lucy and Jack. I loved how Dillon and Kate came together to become the next powerhouse couple in this romantic suspense. I loved the California locations in this novel and the scenic settings to make it pop with vivid colors.  This would take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. Great drama and non-stop action with tons of heated romance, suspense and intrigue along the way.


Check this out today!

The Big Over Easy

If you loved the Thursday Next series with classic literature, then you'll enjoy this latest series on nursery rhyme crimes. The Big Over Easy introduces DI Jack Spratt and DS Mary Mary, when they solve the biggest nursery mystery of all: why did Humpty Dumpty die and fell off the wall? Spratt and Mary deal with Humpty's life and discovers some troubling secrets about him, like his two marriages, his drinking problem, and many more. Not only that, they deal with some suspicious characters and Friedland Chymes, who has it in for Jack at the Guild. Fast-paced with a hint of humor and a great mystery, you'll get a great read out of this one.

Mark of a Demon

If you love a good urban fantasy with a twist, you'll enjoy Mark of a Demon, the first book in the Kara Gillian series. Kara Gillian is a loner and a Bealac detective in New Orleans. She's also a demon summoner. When she's assigned on a case to lead a special task force, she jumps at the opportunity and leads the team on the recent murder. She realized the arcane symbols and markings of it, and goes back to old case files of the Symbol Man case. At first, she thought it was pure coincidence and a copycat case. She also had visits from a Demonic Lord who gives her pleasure and answers in her dreams after one accidental summoning. Lately, she put together the past history and the recent cases to find the common links and the Demon Lord's hidden messages to her. In the end, there's a surprising twist I wouldn't dare to give away. It rocked!