WEED - Michael LePage - © 2004
This story is about a boy growing up and his trials and tribulations of being the "weed", or the outsider. I can relate to this book, one more than one case and I'm sure anyone who reads this book who is between the age of 26-33 will be able to as well. He has the abused mother, who did everything she possibly could to make things perfect. The alcoholic, abusive father who was having an affair on top of it all. Dealing with the divorce and remarriage of both parents (although I'm not sure how many fathers would remarry drunk). Had many different summer/after school jobs, and a few of them is where he met some of the girls he had relationships with. Of course, there is the band scene, and he had many different bands as well. Then I'm sure like most other kids, once his mom caught wind of the lyric's in the songs, destroyed his tape collection and only left him with a handful. Had a big break with one of his later bands, played a big festival and had the feeling of signing the autographs after playing, which was always cool to experience. Then, at the end, decided to start over, get away from the crazy girls, the drugs and everything else and start over in North Carolina. It's a great little story.

BLOOD AND HONOR- Inside the Scarfo Mob- The Mafia's Most Violent Family - © 2004 - George Anastasia
Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm a big mob buff. I love watching mafia movies, I love reading about them, I just don't want to be in one or near anyone in one. Haha. Anyway, this book has all of the details from the Scarfo reign and ultimately their fall, into now what they are known as, the Simpson's of the underworld. Harsh words for a family who caused so much terror during the reign of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo. This story is based on Nicholas "The Crow" Caramandi. He was in the mob, at one time the ear of Scarfo, until he went into witness protection, testified in 11 trials which resulted in 52 convictions. You get to hear how he started off, just turning tricks, scamming the biggest's scam artists out there, making lots of money. You got to hear in detail about his initiation into the mob. You got details of all of the major players and their deaths. The planning that goes into some of these hits are unbelievable to read, but it is a fascinating book. This is especially interesting to me, since a lot of this happened in Philadelphia and Jersey. When they mention certain restaurants or street corners, I have an idea of where these murders, scams and other acts took place. Recommended for all who loves mob stories.

THE DIRT- CONFESSIONS OF THE WORLD'S MOST NOTORIOUS ROCK BAND: MOTLEY CRUE © 2002
This has to be one of the best autobiographies I have read...ever. This gives such a taste of what it was to be Motley Crue in the beginning, middle and the end. Each of the band members relive tales from the road, studio and just life, and the author pieces it together so they almost co-mingle. It's funny to hear something Tommy will say, for instance, being told by Vince that he "lost" his number and that's why he didn't call him to jam, but when you read Vince's chapter, he recalls something different. Saying instead of losing the number, he threw it away because he didn't want to jam. They had interviews and chapters with the guys from the label as well. This was an out of control band and to hear the stories about groupies will make you cringe. I would be surprised if half of the chicks are still alive to this day! It's funny to hear what they think of other hair bands from that era too. A must read for all music fans.

RINGMASTER - Jerry Springer and Laura Morton - © 1998
Anyone who knows me, knows I love watching the Jerry Springer show on my days off from work. So when I saw this book was out, I wanted to get it. Of course, it took me about 8 years, since the book came out in 1998, and I only bought it this year, but it was a good find for sure. Of course, this is a biography about Jerry Springer, so about half of the book is about his life before Jerry. Background on his parents, living during WWII, his trip to America, school, growing up and all of his runs on TV and in politics. Then, it gets good and starts going into details on the show, some of the past guest and the real backstage info you don't also see, which I find interesting. Any fan of the Jerry Springer show will want to read this.

UNDER THE MAT - Diane Hart with Kirstie McLellan - © 2001
I'm a wrestling fan as most people know and I heard this book came out and then was pulled from the shelves almost immediately after it hit. To me, that means there is stuff in there that I wasn't suppose to know about Vince McMahon and the WWE. That started my search on Ebay looking for it and much to my surprise, I got it and didn't pay as much as I was expecting to. This is all about the Hart family, who I do have to say is fucked up. Everyone seemed to be related, one way or another to them, by blood or by marriage or just being trained in the "dungeon" by wrestling legend Stu Hart. There was rapes, drugs, beatings, children, affairs, death and so much more. This is a great book that gives one families insight to the wrestling business and who fucked up it really is.

SEX, LIES AND HEADLOCKS, the real story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation - Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham - © 2002
I buy a lot of wrestling books, and let them collect dust until I'm out of everything under the sun to read, then I'll read one. I always pass them off to my wrestling buddy Craig for his opinion first. After I gave him this book, when I saw him the next month for a paid per view, he gave me the book back and said you have to read this, it's good. Well, as my friend usually is, he was right. This has all of the dirt on the WWE, from the very very beginning, when TV was barely even out there, before Cable. It starts with Vince's dad when he was just a kid, taking over the wrestling business and ending with Vince, until there was no competition left. It talks about the steroids, from beginning to end, including the trial and who was involved and when. It will shock you the wrestlers named. It takes about the WCW and how that landed in Vince's lap. Everything you want to know about the shady business of Vince is in this book.

THE KILLING HOUR - Lisa Gardner - © 2003
My grandmom found this author/series I think by dumb luck. She called me late one night, around 9:00 (which is late for me) to tell me all about this new author she found, new series and how I'm going to love it. Of course, she knows me too well, because this was a great book. Scary at some points, but keep me wanting more and more each night, which is probably why I finished this small print, 450 page book in 4 days. So we have a killer who takes victims in two. Leaves one for dead, with clues and leaves the other abandoned somewhere, with no supplies to survive. Usually the cops are about a day too late in every case. This one starts off in VA, a dead body left at a training camp for FBI up comers. Rookie agent Kimberly finds the body and teams up with an investigator from GA who has studied this killer very well, since GA is where he did most of his killings before. There is a twist though, this time the killer took 4 girls, not two. This is filled with twists and turns and every time you expect something to happen, it's the complete opposite. Very entertaining. My grandmom bought her whole series and I'll be reading them one by one....

THE PERFECT HUSBAND - Lisa Gardner - © 1998
Great book- The first 200 pages were just the build up and the last 200 pages were on your seat, heart pounding, what is going to happen next type reading. This is a story about a woman who's husband turned out to be a serial killer. She was the one who turned him in and he said he would get even for it. He was a brutal killer and made each person he killed suffer greatly. She decided to seek her own help and found a mercenary to help her train and shoot a gun, although she is still weak and no help in the word could get her enough protection from this beast of a man. The ex-hubby broke into the safe house, killed the officer and then kidnapped their child. I'm not giving away anymore of the book, but I will say the rest of the book was chilling. This is one of the better mystery books I have read in a long time.

THE NEXT ACCIDENT - Lisa Gardner - © 2001
Another great book by Lisa. Probably if I had the time, this would have been done in a weekend, but this was my in-between class book and I only got to read it 45 minutes a week. Pierce Quincy ends up losing his one daughter, his ex wife, his father and almost his second daughter and on again, off again girlfriend. He was being set up to take the fall for these murders as well. It takes them just about to the very end to figure out who and why was doing this to Quincy. I don't think much more could happen to him in this book. Lots of great action and it just makes you want to keep reading and not put the book down.

THE OTHER DAUGHTER - Lisa Gardner - © 2001
This was my in between classes book. Normally it takes a full semester for me to finish one, but this time I found myself getting to class early, on purpose, just to read what happens next. This book had so many twists and turns, I couldn't keep up with them all. A kidnapping, a murder, money, an adoption, more money, a hospital scandal, and once again money. You won't believe the ending. This book had me wanting more every page I turned. An FBI agent is investigating a scandal in the hospital, but somehow gets involved with a 25 year old mystery and family secret. All in the middle is a woman named Melanie, who up until this book was written, life was perfect. Great book, but I'm a little sad it didn't include the main character in some of her other books, Quincy. He was there for a chapter and that was it.

HIDE - Lisa Gardner - © 2006
Damn, this book had so many twists and turns and high and low points. It took a little while to finish, but it was a long book with small print. Here we have Annabelle who lived in a different city every two years, because her father made their family leave each city for a new city. No one ever told her why. Her mother died eventually and her father died horribly in an accident years later. She never understood why. Until one night on the news they found a well down in the earth and bodies of 6 girls. Then the pieces of this insane story started unweaving. Lots of accusations of who did it, lots of blaming and finger pointing and lots of sleepless nights for the police officers, especially detective Bobby, who started to fall for Annabelle. The book had some slow parts and right when I was ready to finish the chapter and call it a night, the last sentence, would be the hook and I would want to read more. The last 100 pages were key in this book, and I read them all without stopping. Other than a few slow parts, this book was a great one.

HUSH - Anne Frasier - © 2002
This is definitely one of my favorite books so far. I found this on Barnes and Noble, when I said Lisa Gardner, give me similar books, and Anne Frasier came up. Lisa actually gave a short review on this book, said it was chilling, among some other things, and I knew I had to read it. The Madonna Murderer is what this book is all about. This horrible man, who went around killing unwed mothers and their new born sons. He almost killed this lady named Claudia and did kill her son, by the grace of God, she made it through. She moved, changed her name, appearance, everything about her. Only one person knew she was alive. Sixteen years later, the murders start again and that one person who knew she was alive called her in as a consultant on the case. This was a longer book, and I finished it in less than a week. The last 100 pages are the key, suspenseful pieces of this two decade long puzzle. You won't stop reading it once you pick it up.

PLAY DEAD - Anne Frasier - © 2004
This book was a little on the edge of books I really don't care for. It had a lot to do with voodoo and spells and that sort of stuff. I don't like reading books with that in it, I think they are boring. But this book didn't forcast a lot on that part. Just parts here and there for some details and background. Basically, someone is turning hookers into zombies, so to speak. Injecting them with a drug that slows their heartbeat down to basically non existent, but they were still alive. Couldn't move, but could see and hear what was going on. It is up to detective Elise and new partner Gould to figure out this mess. They thought it was all around this crazy voodoo princess named Strata Luna. Then everyone around her started dying, and the detectives knew they had a far bigger problem. Not bad, it wasn't as good as Hush, but still a good thriller.

FEAR NO EVIL - Allison Brennan - © 2007
This is a freaky book that my local grocery store was selling. I bought it one day and I finished it two days later. I couldn't put it down. There is this FBI agent who is underground and has all of the bureau looking for her and promised her head on a platter if she came out of hiding. She was trying to track this insane man, who was kidnapping young female adults and then showing a live feed to the victim via the internet. They would rape and torture them, and the viewers, who had to pay 25K to watch, would dictate what would happen to her next and also would control how the person was killed in the end. Luckly, the girl who was kidnapped this time around had a whole family of former cops, marines and doctors. They never gave up looking for her and it cost some of them their well being and their lives. There were so many twists and turns in this book, I loved it, despite the sick nature of the book. I went out and bought the rest of the series.

SPEAK NO EVIL - Allison Brennan - © 2007
I really like this lady's books. It's a shame she doesn't have more. There is only one more book in this series, but she has another series out, I'll have to try one of them to see if it's good. Her books are demented though. So this book has a killer and his trademark move is sealing their mouths shut with glue. This guy will be friends with someone, stalk them for a little while without the person knowing and then kidnap and torture them. There were quite a few dead bodies in this book before the detectives could figure out what was going on. This was the first book in the series, so I also got to learn more about the main detective, Carina, who in the last book was kinda messed up in the head from something that happened to her previously. Great book, sick and demented, but great.

YOU CAN'T HIDE - Karen Rose - © 2006
I picked this out of the pile of unread books, because Lisa Gardner, another author I really like said it was a great little thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. She was right, I finished this book within 3 days. So this psychiatrist, Tess, has an enemy and he and stalking her. He is also listening to all of her conversations with her patients. Then, he will coax them into killing themselves. Of course, Tess gets the call usually 5 minutes too late and by that time they are dead. She is a firecracker and fights the cops every step of the way. They think for most of the case, it's actually her offing her patients. But then they founds bugs, camera's and microphones all over her clothes, house and office. Turns out to be someone close to Tess in the end doing all of this horrible stuff, because she was jealous of the life Tess had. Not bad read at all.

THE FIFTH VIAL - Michael Palmer - © 2007
I had a heck of a time getting to read this book. First, I had to order the book because it kept selling out of the local Barnes. That's great for my favorite author, but bad for me, since I had to wait. I should have pre-ordered. Anway, I got the book and it's over 600 pages. Maybe work is getting to me more than I thought and I'm starting to look old. Real old, because the book they ordered for me was a BIG print. Meaning, it has like 3 words on a page. Not really, but I could read the book from about a mile away. Then I lent the book to my grandmom first, who forgot she lent it to my great aunt, who forgot she put it away when she was done reading it. So the book was missing for about 6 months. Then, they found it, and gave it back to me, but then I misplaced it. I put it in a spot where I wouldn't forget where it was, and I forgot where it was. Then, I didn't remember I got it back, and convienced grandmom she still had it. Needless to say, I just finished it. This book is real good and it took me less than 3 days to finish it. There are three different stories going on at the same time, but they all come together later in the book. There is a woman who is a med student, who takes a trip down to South America and has an operation unwilling to her. Then there are these messed up dudes who are paid to kidnap certain people, based on blood type. Last, there is a private eye, who gets hired to identify a John Doe, who gets in too deep with his investigation. My review sucks, because I read the book a while ago and I don't remember it completely, but it was a great thriller and while I was reading it, I loved every minute of it.

THE SOCIETY - Michael Palmer - © 2004
My favorite writer has a new book out (well it was new last year when I bought it). This one deals with the corruption in the hospitals and the insurance companies. A great well known doctor is framed with having drugs that caused him to get sick during a surgery. A bunch of HMO's executives wind up dead. A cop who has barely any experience tried to get to the bottom of the case, who also has some problems finding the truth gets shot and put into a coma. The plot thickens in this one and like all his others, you want to keep reading to find out what happens.

FATAL - Michael Palmer - © 2003
Another great book from Palmer. This one starts off in the country side. A doctor who's wife just died is heart stricken and is trying to get evidence against the big bad corporation dumping chemicals into the water. He knows her death and the other deaths of patients with the same symptoms are related. They have large lumps all over their face to the point of disfigurement. In another part of the country, a woman's roommate just went crazy, and was found hit by a car. She starts prying into what happened and shots are taken against her life! The doctor and the woman end up in the same hospital and they realize it is all related. You have 3 hillbilly's in the woods who help them out, along with some other plots and twists and turns, but it's a great mystery.

THE SECOND TIME AROUND - Mary Higgins Clark - © 2003
A reporter. A 100 billion dollar drug. A lawyer. An advisor. A marriage. A lover. An affair. Millions of lost dollars. Hundreds of pissed off people. A plot so crazy you will never believe the last 50 pages. That is what you will find in this book. Gen-stone was a company who was testing a drug to cure cancer in people. The drug went belly up, with the president's plane destroyed in Puerto Rico, with the body no where to be found. Millions of dollars stolen from the company. Then one by one, the truth comes out with a reporter who is writing a cover story on the most horrible man on the planet....This has a lot of characters and is not the type of book to leave go for a long period of time, or I promise you will be flipping through the book trying to figure out where the person mentioned was originally.

THE SURGEON - Tess Gerristen - © 2002
I'm not a huge fan of Tess and her writing style. My favorite medical murder mystery writer is Michael Palmer. He doesn't use a ton of medical terms, but when he does, you know what he is talking about because of the content. This one doesn't really do that, and she will throw medical terms out at you all the time and if you don't have a medical dictionary, you will be lost. This book isn't as bad though. There is a guy running around cutting out the uterus of woman while they are awake and then slashing their throats at the end to end their hours and hours of suffering. One lady in particular was attacked years and years ago but survived. Moved far away and left everything behind. All the sudden the murders started happening again. Little notes were sent to her, only things she and the killer would know, except, she shot the killer dead. This is a tale that will leave you hanging for every page.

ONE FOR THE MONEY - Janet Evanovich - © 2003 Reprint
This is the first book in the Stephanie Plum series and it's a funny one, like the other 2 I have read. This one starts out introducing Stephanie and her family. She has just been laid off from a job, and finds out her cousin needs some help in his office, working as a bounty hunter. First assignment? Bring in Joe Morelli, a good cop gone bad. Why is she desperate to bring this guy in? Other than the fact he played Choo-Choo with her when they were 5, it's $10,000, which would be great since she sold all of her furniture to pay for the rent she was behind on. While trying to find Joe, she gets a psycho boxer mad at her, and he leaves phone messages and "presents" for her. Real twist in the end. I just love these books!

TWO FOR THE DOUGH - Janet Evanovich - © 1996
Here is the second series for the Stephanie Plum bounty hunter books and it's as great as the last few I have read. This time she is looking for a guy named Kenny, who is a relative of Joe Morelli. She has a past with Joe, he played Choo-Choo with her when they were 5, she tried running him over when she was 18 and she had to catch him in the last book. She teams up with him to try to find him, both with their own motives. Stephanie wants the money for bringing him in, Joe wants his cousin just to be OK and to help him free his name. From the beginning it's just one big hilarious ride. Oh yeah, and in this book, she burns down the funeral home, her grandmom loves to go to for viewing's.

THREE TO GET DEADLY - Janet Evanovich - © 1997
This book took me about 3 days to finish. Uncle Mo is a beloved character in the town. He has his own ice cream shop and has been selling ice cream to the kids in Trenton for many many years. He gets pulled over and he has a gun on him, then of course, he doesn't go to his trial and now it's Stephanie's problem. No one wants to help her bring in this poor old man who would never have done anything wrong. Then one day after sneaking into his ice cream store looking for clues, she gets knocked out, a drug dealer gets shot while she is out and in the end they end up finding 4 bodies in Mo's shop. Still the community won't hear of Uncle Mo every doing anything wrong. She always gets her man in the end, and even with her orange hair, she still manages to end get some bedroom action....finally!

FOUR TO SCORE - Janet Evanovich - ©1999
This story was pretty insane, with all of the twist and turns and surprise plots, it had my head spinning, but of course I loved every minute of it. In this adventure, a waitress skips bail and it's Stephanie's job to find her. People around the waitress start dying off, or pieces of their scalp or hand starts disappearing. She pops up all the time, but what good would a Stephanie Plum novel be if she caught her right away? Of course, there is always Joe Morelli, who know she is in a relationship with, finally, after stringing us along for the past 3 books! And to make matters worse for her, the woman who stole her husband away decides she wants to be a bounty hunter, gets hired by the same company as Stephanie and ruins her chances to get the runaway waitress on at least 2 times. Let's not forget Sally Sweet and his roommate who is jealous of Stephanie because Sally is spending all of his time with her! The plot thickens for sure!

HIGH FIVE - Janet Evanovich © 1999
I'm a little annoyed at this book, because I went out and bought a few mobster books and said I was going to start reading them when I was done with this book. Well, they left such a cliff hanger at the end (who Stephanie calls over for a late night booty call, Joe or Ranger??), I had to start reading Hot Six to find out! Still, another great book in the installments of Stephanie Plum. This time, the boxer is out of jail stalking her, she damaged a door to the apartment for a FTA and now he, the midget, is living with her until it gets fixed, and worse, her uncle is missing. With Grandmom Mazur lifting the lid of a coffin to take pictures of the dead, her new Porshe being blown up and then smashed, a second new car being stolen 10 minutes after accepting it, this book has more action in it then the others!

HOT SIX - Janet Evanovich © 2001
So, I found out the conclusion of the last book- Little disappointed with the choice Stephanie made, but it was only for a chapter before I forgot all about it. In this book, Stephanie needs to find Ranger, her hot co-worker. She wants nothing to do with it, however still has two guys following her around, hoping she would lead them to Ranger. Vinnie at the Bond Company gives the FTA to Joyce, Stephanie's favorite person, and before she knows it, Joyce is following her around too, for the same reason as the other two. Someone drops off their dog for Stephanie to dog-watch, except he never comes back. Grandmom ends up living with her too for a while since she had a fight with the family. Everything is NOT going Stephanie's way in this book and it's a hoot from beginning to end!

SEVEN UP - Janet Evanovich © 2001
Another cliff hanger at the end of this book, this time it's with Ranger though! This has an insane plot, which includes an old geyser who missed his court case, two old ladies, a human heart, an animal's heart and of course, a few dead bodies. This time the mob is related so they are all over Stephanie to try and "help" her find Eddie. She is having problems with Joe, her on again, off again boyfriend, which just makes everything more complicated! Not to mention, her favorite stoners go missing, first Mooner, than Doug. This one is a hoot!

HARD EIGHT- Janet Evanovich © 2002
In this book, Stephanie was asked to find a granddaughter and great granddaughter, which really isn't part of bounty hunting, but this lady lives next door to her parents and she couldn't refuse a crying old lady! She gets more than she is bargained for, when she has problems with Bill Clinton and a rabbit, a nasty, bitter ex-husband and a few blown up cars! Not to mention death cutie's! Ewwww! Joe is off in this book, but have no fear, Ranger is on!

TO THE NINES - Janet Evanovich © 2003
This book was crazy with twists, turns, trips, dogs and a mean old mother! The bonds company Stephanie works for decides to try something new and posted bail on someone who was on a visa bond. He goes missing, has an arranged wife to be, and old mother to be in law bothering Vinnie, Connie, Ranger and Stephanie until he is found, but more importantly, until their dog is found, who left with the missing man. Steph uncovers a game involving a person she never thought was included. Of course she has a car or two blown up, people stalking her and more fun with Grandmom Mazur and her soon to explode prego sister!

TEN BIG ONES - Janet Evanovich - © 2005
My grandmother and great aunt have turned me on to Janet and I have to say, I love her books. They are funny and corky and the kind of books that make you laugh out loud, which happens every time I go to read them. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter, who is not very good at her job and has more cars blown up than there are drivers in the US. In this novel, she finds out who the Red Devil is in error and from then on, she is in big trouble. She has a grandmom who loves viewing's, a sister who is marrying a going no where lawyer, who has a cross dresser as their wedding planner. If it doesn't get worse, she has an obsession with sweets, a on-off again cop boyfriend and a secret crush on her HOT boss Ranger. I read this book in 3 days and laughed through out most of it.

ELEVEN ON TOP - Janet Evanovich - © 2005
After reading two of her books, I heard this one was just released and I ran out to the store to buy it. This starts off kinda where the last one ends, but the one thing about Janet's books, if I never would have read the one before it, I would have still known who every character was. She goes through all of the characters again and makes sure you see what their roll is. Nothing repeating the other books, just so you aren't lost. Here, Stephanie has decided to quit the bounty hunter roll and try on a different shoe. Let's say many different shoes. Let's say she has had more jobs in the 250 pages than a 17 year old high school stoner would have. She gets herself involved again in a case, even though she swore off the business, and it gets her into a heap of trouble. Still mixed up with the cop, still having the crush on Ranger and now on a diet, but dreaming about sweets. Funny stuff, once again.

TWELVE SHARP - Janet Evanovich - © 2006
Another great Stephanie Plum novel, finished of course in a few days after buying it. Stephanie gets a woman stalker....Ranger's wife! Imagine that! Then Rangers child becomes kidnapped and everything thinks it's Ranger doing the killing and kidnapping. Except, it's a Ranger stalker! So Stephanie is trying to avoid a woman Ranger who has no problem pointing a gun at her, and Ranger has this deranged man who is holding his kid! Grandmom breaks through another casket lid, another car gets blown up and more on and off again Joe relationship issues!

LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN - Janet Evanovich - © 2007
I liked this one, I think it was cute. This one involves Stephanie's ex husband Dickie who was captured and dragged out of his mansion a bloody mess, according to what was left behind. Who was to blame? Of course Stephanie! Maybe it had to do with showing up as his office the day before threating him and then strangling him in front of the office! A big conspiracy with dirty laywers is behind evrything and of course, Stephanie's life is threatened, more times than just once. She deals with her enemy Joyce, Lula and Connie, and her normal crazy skips. Grandmom finds loves in a taxidermy who turns old animals into bombs and leaves them for people who miss him off. It had my laughing out loud for most of the story.

PLUM LUCKY - Janet Evanovich © 2008
Very cute book, it was a short one, about 170 pages and larger print than a normal book. But it was a fast read, I was done it in two sittings. So hot stuff Diesel shows up again, but not much Ranger and not much Joey. This one revolves mostly around Grandma Mazur, she is up to her old tricks again! She "finds" some money on the street and buys a RV, buys a bodyguard...kinda...and goes to Atlantic City. Bad move though, the money was originally stolen from the mob and even though Grandma didn't steal it, Grandma spent it and they weren't happy. It was up to Lula, Connie, Stephanie, Briggs the bodyguard, Snuggy, who originally stole the money, and Doug the horse to get Grandma back from Deliva, the toadlike mobster. It's a hoot!

VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS - Janet Evanovich - © 2002
This book was a break in between numbered books and I have to say, it was a bit weird. It's Christmas time and Stephanie wakes up with some strange man in her house, which isn't that unusual. They both are trying to find some guy who skipped out on court and also who is being hunted. By a supernatural creature. And this guy was some supernatural creature as well. They both had these special powers, one was good, the other was bad and the bad guy kept using his powers to make the other guys life miserable. This was one insane tail, but Grandma Mazur, and Joe was there to bring the normalcy down, if you can believe that.

BACK TO THE BEDROOM - Janet Evanovich - © 2005
This was almost hard to believe. My grandmom says, you are going to love this romance book. Romance, shormance, nothing that I would want to read about. I have to say she was right. This book was done in 2 days. Two neighbors, never even looking at each other before. One day something crashes through the roof of the one's house. The other, comes and helps out and the romance is started. Of course, no girl is perfect, or sane for that matter. This lady drags the man through the dirt, up the hill, down the hill, though more dirt and he sticks it out. She has a new roommate to get use to, an old lady who packs heat and has been dating men from the old folk's home. This one will have you laughing the entire time you read it.

LOVE OVERBOARD - Janet Evanovich - © 2005
Here is another one of Janet's romance books, recently republished, which is good for me, because I could find it. This one stars Stephanie, a clumsy woman, who use to be a cop back in her younger days, recently a new homeowner and now a chief for a tour boat. This also stars Ivan, a pirate, who has had more woman then Gene Simmons, the captain of the boat that now Stephanie has to cook for during the next week of cruises. To make matters a little more worse, Stephanie is a virgin! They get through the week of bad cooking and now Stephanie finds herself in her new house, with ghost living there, mad she has turned the house into a inn. Bad plumbing, cracks in the walls, porches that rot are just a start of some of the things that go wrong for her. Have no fear, the pirate shows up to save the day and make her a real woman. This is a great funny cute book.

THE ROCKY ROAD TO ROMANCE - Janet Evanovich - © 2004
I guess you could say I'm on a big Janet kick! Man, I still have another 10 or so of her books to read. I went back to one of her older/newer releases for some romance. This was one that was re-released just recently. In this one, we have Daisy, who has a small segment on the local news for her town. She is high strung, has about 4 other jobs, and has a brother who eats everything, living with her. She is a dog lover, as her segment is all about dogs and home made treats. The normal traffic guy breaks his leg, and some how thru her wits, Daisy convinces Steve, the station manager to let her do the traffic. She messes up and in one of her disasters, she hits and lets the cops arrest a main drug lord. Big mistake, because until he is caught (200 pages later), Daisy, Steve, who is now madly in love with her, the brother and everyone around them is in trouble. Of course, what kind of book what Janet write that did not include an old lady! This one is a hoot, reminds me of Grandmom Mazur from the Plum series. Cute book, I especially liked it because I love dogs as well.

SMITTEN - Janet Evanovich - © 2006
Since the semester at school is over, I have read 3 books in the past 2 weeks. Ha ha. Some of them are just too good to put down. This is another one of the released romance books from Janet Evanovich. It's about a woman named Lizabeth, who after getting divorced from her hubby, lands a job doing construction. She has an aunt, just like the grandmom in all of the Stephanie Plum series, so that makes the book hilarious. She watches her kids while she is at work. Her boss and owner of the company, Matt, ends up falling for her. After some persuading and lots of chores around the house, Lizabeth falls for him too. Real good book, it's a quick read. Two days tops.

THANKSGIVING - Janet Evanovich - © 2006
Megan was minding her own business and all the sudden a rabbit started eating her custom. She worked in Williamsburg, VA and was in full attire just admiring the view when she looked down and saw this rabbit. From there it went down hill for her. The owner was a good looking new doctor in town. Then, an infant was dropped off at his door step and she got tricked into baby sitting. Then a fake engagement, Thanksgiving with the parents, and an old boyfriend in town. What next, but the real engagement going completely wrong of course! All works out in the end for Megan, doctor Pat and the horse. Yes, I said a horse. This was a cute romance book, which I couldn't put down until it was done.

MANHUNT - Janet Evanovich - © 2005
Boy this was a cute story. So we have this girl with a big dog. And must against her lawyers advice, she quits her corporate job in the city to move to Alaska and run a bait and tackle shop, and of course, to find a husband. On her way there, she has a little bit of bad luck and in Janet Evanovich style, the man who helps out Ms. Alex ends up being her next door neighbor once in Alaska. He becomes smitten with her and even though she said multiple times he was Mr. Wrong and she is searching for Mr. Right, she likes him too. Took me less than 2 days to finish, I couldn't put it down once I started reading it.

FULL HOUSE - Janet Evanovich - © 2002
This is a great little story, the first of the "Full" series Janet co-wrote with Charlotte Hughes. This is an older book, and it was published originally by Janet under a different name. Anyway, this is a romance book and it has all of the fun articles like the other ones Janet normally writes. In this story Billie is a homemaker and decided to spice up her life by taking up polo lessons, never even riding on a horse before. The teacher, a womanizer millionaire named Nick, decided Billie would be his next conquest. Between the horses, extra roommates, a bug guy, kids, pets and marriage proposals, this is one action packed cute novel. It will leave you not wanting to put the book down.

FULL TILT -Janet Evanovich - © 2002
This one is kinda a continuation of Full House. Of course, I did not realize that until about half way through the pick, then a big fat DUH smacked me in the face. This story involved Max, and DeeDee, about 20 years later. Max is a brilliant smart man, coming to the aid of his sister DeeDee, who's wrestler husband is retired and now running for a spot in the government. He gets in trouble by declaring he would look into the missing tax dollars. Well that is all that is needed to have people start gunning after Frankie. Max falls in love with Jamie, an engaged woman who runs the only local paper in the city. The two of them get involved in more ways than one. Threats, broken windows, cars blown up and Swampdog are all included in this action packed book.

PLUM LOVIN' - Janet Evanovich - © 2007
This one is a half bonds series meets Janet's old romance books. Real Stephanie Plum style but a funny romance theme. It's Valentines Day around the corner. Annie Hart, who is a relationship consultant has some clients in desperate need of help. Problem is, she messed with the wrong couple, and now the jilted ex hubby is out to get her. She's in hiding, and she is also Stephanie's highest bond right now. Diesel is holding her, to find the ex hubby and it's Stephanie's job to find matches for these clients. Real short book, less than 200 pages, but it's a good one. Sadly, Grandma Mazur doesn't make too much of an appearance. Neither does Stephanie's side kick Lulu. Real cute though.

HOT STUFF - Janet Evanovich and Leanne Banks - © 2007
For some reason, my grandmom didn't like this book. She said it wasn't good, and she was bored. I thought it was cute, I finished it in 2 days. Not very big book, 300 pages, not that bad. So we have Cate, who lives with a cross dressing lounge singer named Marty. She rents a room from him, but he is nevr home, so it is like she has this palace to herself most of the time. Marty gets mixed up with some bad deals, bad people and just bad everything. Marty disappears and everyone is looking for him and the missing jews and money. Naturarly, they bother Cate for the stuff, which she doesn't have. The place gets broken into, her dog gets stolen and she has a lovesick would be boyfriend, named Pugg, who is being a pain! But of course, she also meets a nice sexy man, named Kellen. Lots of twists and turns and a good read.

BUBBLES UNBOUND - Sarah Strohmeyer - © 2001
Never judge a book by it's cover, that's for sure. My grandmom told me I would like these Bubbles books. I looked at the cover and wondered what kind of cheesy shit is she giving me. So I finished all of the romance novels I could handle and decided to give Bubbles a shot. Book was done in 3 days. Loved it. Good thing she gave me the entire series! This is about a girl named Bubbles, hairdresser during the day and journalist at night and whenever she can catch a break. She gets her first big break, except she prints a story basically calling the most powerful man in the Leigh Valley's wife a murderer. She is, but there is a big cover up and everyone is trying to prevent Bubbles from uncovering it. Just like in the Janet Evanovich books, there is an older gal, in this case her mother who should be in a psych hospital and a hot love interest. Great series, can't wait to read more.

BUBBLES IN TROUBLE- Sarah Strohmeyer - © 2002
These remind me a lot of the Stephanie Plum/Janet Evanovich series. Real funny, real quirky and interesting. There is Bubbles, who is a hairdresser/journalist. She has a teenage daughter, who is this book has a much older boyfriend "G". She has a mother, who is old and carries a gun, with her old friend, who carries a much bigger gun. Then we have the hunky boyfriend, here one day, gone the next, the infamous Steve. In this book, she has a relative who gets caught up with the wrong people, in error. Skips town, misses her own wedding and heads back to Lancaster county, PA. Everyone is on the look out for Janice and of course, the only person to put the clues together is Bubbles. She is undercover posing as an Amish girl from Ohio. Her cover eventually gets blown, because you can't take the big hair, spandex clothes, high heels and hot nail polish away for too long. Lots of twists and turns and the entire thing is a riot from start to finish.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE MURDER - Joanne Fluke - © 2001
When my grandmom gave me this book, I thought she was smoking crack. What person names her book after a great dessert and then adds Murder to the end of it? Needless to say this sat in my closet for about a year. I finally grabbed it the other day, needed a book for school and decided to give it a shot. It was actually a really cute book. The main character is a lady who owns her own cookie store. They were having a bake off and one of the judges ends up dead afterwards. Of course, the wife is to blame at first, he beat her a few times, so she is the suspect. It's up to Hannah and her perfect sister to solve this case so her friend doesn't get a bad rep. The best part about these books by Joanne though, she puts receipts in there for all of the different desserts she talks about in the books. Of course, for someone who doesn't cook much, they are too hard for me to try, but for someone who knows their way around the kitchen, they are some yummy treats. Every time I read the book, I got hungry.

THE LAST JUROR - John Grisham - © 2004
I found a deal on this guy. Never heard of him before in my life, but heard he dealt a lot with legal mystery's, which I like a lot, so I found a lot on ebay, 22 books for like 20 bucks, including shipping. So I got it and started off with this book. This mostly is about a young kid, who is 24, and borrows some money from his aunt, to buy a town newspaper. The previous owner was just about to go bankrupt, so this kid stepped in. Turned the paper around, adding town news, school news, sports, and tons of ad's and did a killing. At the same time, there was a horrible murder that took place. A man raped and killed a woman, basically in front of her two small children. She ID'ed the man before she died and there was a trial for it, which the newspaper covered. The guy was a nut, had an insane family and basically the entire town's officals were always paid off by this family. Either that, or they ended up dead. Needless to say, somehow he escaped being put to death and in 3 years was let out of jail. This caused a stir, including the 3 jurors who voted against death to eventually be shot, random town shootings and a ton of other mess. Great book, kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

JUDGE AND JURY - James Patterson - © 2006
I never read one of this guys books before. Not really sure why, I think because I have so many other books here at the house, I just pick from them. But when I read the sleeve, this one was right up my alley. There is a mobster on trial and he takes out an entire bus load of jurors from his first trial, he just about takes out the entire court in his second trial and he gets away. During the first case though, one juror survived and it was her and a detectives mission to find this guy. He escaped to the lowest point on the map and after much plotting, they were able to find him and bring him back to justice. Very good book, I couldn't put it down.

CROSS - James Patterson - © 2006
This was another real good Patterson book. I might have to start buying his books now too. We have this FBI agent, Alex Cross. His wife is a social worker and works on a rape case. The rapist though, is an insane serial killer and doesn't like the victim talking to the social worker and guns them both down. Years later, without any breaks in his wife's case, the rapist appears again. The book is like one big jigsaw puzzle, trying to pick up clues here and there and putting them all together. Of course he gets his killer in the end, but not without a lot of heartache and stress. Real good suspense book.

OVER HER DEAD BODY - Kate White - © 2005
Again, another book I have had for a while now and because the cover looked stupid, I didn't read it. Surprising, my grandmother gave me this book, and it's a little dirty. A couple times they drop the F bomb, the main character is just looking for a summer fling and there is all kinds of caddy fights. I don't think I'll be able to give this to my other grandmom, the more Catholic grandmom. Anyway, Bailey is a reporter for the rag magazine the Buzz, probably something very similar to the National Enquirer. So her boss, this shrew of a woman was murdered in the office. Bailey does crime reporting, so she gets involved with writing the piece for her magazine. She has a conflict with another writer who ends up dead later too. At the end, the pieces all come together and she figures out who did it. Of course, right before her life is about to be taken. Good book, didn't make me want to read it for hours on end though. A little long, could have been a little shorter. This writer Kate White is also the editor in chief at Cosmopolitan magazine.

THE MARK - JASON PINTER - © 2007
Never heard of this guy before, but his book was great. Although, it did take me all summer to finish. Not because of the book, but because my boyfriend went back to school, so I played xbox all summer. Didn't have time to read, too busy playing with guitars and bunnys. Anyway, Henry is fresh out of college and lands this amazing job at a major paper for the city. He is getting little pety assigments, nothing major, until the senior writer says he can assist him. That changes his life forever. He gets caught up in a murder of a cop, which he didn't do, but the entire city and all of the cops across America believe he did it. If that isn't bad enough, he has an assassin looking for him as well, because he believes he has a package, that he picked up at the murder scene. This kid and new found friend Amanda need to piece all of the pieces together themselves and solve the mystery before they get themselves killed. Real nail bitter, and I regret it took me so long to finish it.

CELL - Stephen King - © 2007
So this is my first Stephen King book. I never even see his movies, or at least all the way through. For no good reason, I just never got around to them. Someone told me King's books were extremely long, so I never bothered to pick one up. This book was around 450 pages and it took me forever to complete it. I didn't like it, so it made it so hard coming back to it. I really tried to get into it, but it was just way too far hetched for me. One day the main character Clay, is walking along and all the sudden, everyone on a cell phone basically turns mad. They start killing people, eating people, starting fires, just chaotic. He finds a place to hide, finds some new friends and then everntually they figure the pattern of these crazies out and he starts to make the journey back home with his friends. Then, it's like 300 pages of long, boring details of the journey home. Of course they have problems, nothing is every easy, but even with the issues they had, nothing ever kept me wanting to read the next chapter, or prevented me from putting the book down. Just not my thing.

SEIZURE - Robin Cook - © 2003
Never read a Robin Cook book vefore, but the guy looks so familar, I have seen him before in TV or movies. but I have no idea from where. This was actually pretty cool, I found a 'lot' of his books, almost all of his books on ebay for less than 15.00. That was a great deal so I won them. I decided to pick this book first, no good reason, it was first on the pile. Very good book, however my favorite medical thriller writer is still Michael Palmer. No one can compare to him as of yet. My only complaint, which is a complaint of a lot of authors in this genre, there are too many medical terms in here. C'mon, most of the time, it's not some Havard grad reading the book. These medical writers need to dumb the books down for us average people. I could never give this book to my grandmom to read, she would ask me every 30 seconds what half of the words mean. Anyway, these two chemist and creators of this new experimental drug go to treat a senator undercover. The senator comes down with Parkinson's and he is trying to cover it up. He is also the head guy trying to bad the new drug from ever seeing the light of day. In the while of saying how bad the drug is, he is also calling them begging them to treat him. The two chemist agree to treat him and I won't tell you what happens, because it would give it away, but I never saw it coming and I was left in shock. This was probably one of the best endings I ever read. Even thought I didn't know what a lot of the terms meant and I got tired of looking them all up, the ending made it all worth while.

PLAY DEAD - David Rosenfelt- © 2007
Never heard of this guy before, but I'm glad I read this, because I will go out and try to find his novels. I love books that include legal stuff. I'm all about the legal thrillers. This one though is a little more unique because they throw in a dog. I can't imagine this could every happen, but basically, the dog is a sudo witness to a crime that took place. So of course, the dog is allowed in the court room. It actually was a good, fast pace moving book. I can honestly say, I finished this book in less than a week. Ever time I thought I would finish the end of a chapter, they would end it in such a way, I would have to read the next chapter to see what happened next. It was a good mystery book.

WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE - Allison Brennan, Roxanne St. Claire and Karin Tabke - © 2008
I so was not into this book. I thought I would be, I really like Allison Brennan. This was a short story book, three stories, three different authors. It was all about the dark side of things....Which I really can't get into. The story by Brennan was about a bunch of priest get murdered and a straight laced cop and a priest who feels it's a demon of some kind try to work together. It gets real weird at the end, the demon takes over other bodies, and makes others do things they normally wouldn't do. The second story was a little better, a TV personality has a coupld death threats, hires a body guard, and eventually all come to find out who did the threats, but it was weird, dealing with psychics and such. The third was the worse for me. A guy dies, gets saved from hell by promising to bring a couple things back together on earth. He needs his ex to do this and she hates his guys. Totally weird, not my thing. If you are into the occult and dark stories, this is your thing.