The Big 5-Oh!

I got this book for free on the Kindle and you get what you pay for. This book was so predictable, so diabetes inducing sweet it was torture finishing it. And it committed major crime in my book by completely failing to understand how hurricanes and hurricane season works. You dumb author there are no hurricanes on the west coast of Florida in the winter; if there is it's name isn't Millicent, and if there is they don't show up without any warning, nor does the power company manage to restore power in under 24 hours only with the storm planning to hit again. This level of lack of attention to detail just about sent me over the edge. Maybe I'm just terribly cynical, but this is not my type of book and for this type of book this was terrible.

Killer View

The second Walt Fleming Sun Valley mystery. This was even better than the first novel, and best of all ended without petering out like the first one did. The fleshing out of Sherif Walt was needed and appreciated. The main story was interesting and peppered with enough twists and turns to keep the story moving. While I won't run out and read Killer Summer right away, I do look forward to it.

Ape House

Sara Gruen's novel Water for Elephants was a great read. Ape House was not. They are very different novels, Elephants being essentially historical fiction and Ape being satire. With Ape House I just didn't care much about the characters, most of which were caricatures rather than actual characters, and the action continually devolved from the potentially serious to the ridiculous. Ultimately harmless, but not meaty and satisfying the way Elephants was.

Strip Jack

The 4th Rebus novel returns to Edinburgh and introduces us to The Pack, a very interesting and entertaining group of school friends from Fife and their foibles. Rankin does a great job of giving us just enough personal information about Rebus and those he works with and the mystery of the week. Another enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next.

Insatiable

Meg Cabot and Vampires. Well, I'm not a big vampire fan, but I really like Meg Cabot. Unfortunately it was a little too much vampire and too little Meg Cabot humor until about page 200 for me to have truly enjoyed this book. And given the ending and the possibility of turning this into a series, for me at least, I have been sated by Insatiable and won't read this any further.

Service Included

As a devoted viewer of Top Chef and a lover of good meals, this insider's guide the opening and reviewing of Thomas Keller's New York restaurant Per Se was an enjoyable read. The only downside to the book was that the author herself and her non-Per Se time was not that relatable or interesting. I would have preferred to spend even more time in the restaurant than the book did. I cannot imagine a 17-course meal, but now I have at least a jumping off point to imagine one.

Mini Shopaholic

Nothing like Becky Bloomwood Brandon to brighten your day. While the series is starting to get a little thin, I still enjoyed the latest Shopaholic book and look forward to the next. Exactly what you would expect and want from Chick Lit.