January's Book of the Month

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories...

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. January's Book of the Month is: 

An Isolated Incident by Susan R. Sloan

Published as: An Isolated Incident in February 1998

Publisher: Warner Books, Inc.

Birth Name: Susan R. Sloan

Born: in Washington

Canonical Name: Susan R. Sloan

Pseudonyms: None

An Isolated Incident by Susan R. Sloan was the first book that I read in 2013. I have had this book on my TBR bookshelf since July 25, 2008. I read this book for the first time in January of 2013 and it took me four days to read this book. This book is currently on several book swapping sites waiting to go to another good home.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rose Connors - Temporary Sanity: A Crime Novel

9. Temporary Sanity: A Crime Novel by Rose Connors (2003)
Marty Nickerson Series Book 2
Length: 308 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 29 January 2013
Finished: 31 January 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 May 2008
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Rose Connors is a new author for me.

When devoted father Buck Hammond's seven-year-old son is abducted and murdered by convicted pedophile Hector Monteros, Buck takes justice into his own hands. Unfortunately, the television cameras were rolling as Buck aimed his hunting rifle at Hector's head and shot him dead. The only viable defense for a charge of murder one is insanity, but the grieving father refuses to say he was crazy when he pulled the trigger. 

Cape Cod defense attorney Marty Nickerson - until recently a Massachusetts prosecutor - must ask herself if homicidal insanity is ever a moral or legal justification for murder - when she takes on the defense of Buck Hammond. Along with her partner in law and love, Harry Madigan, Marty has to present a tough case. How can the jury possibly acquit Buck when the shooting is there on the screen for all to see?

Marty and Harry and their young assistant, Kevin Kydd, are already stretched to their limits when, on the very eve of the trial, a battered and bleeding woman stumbles into their office. She's in deep trouble - her attacker's body has just been found, viciously stabbed, and he's an officer of the court. Now Marty has two seemingly impossible battles to win against her former colleagues. But losing a verdict may be the least of Marty's worries, as her efforts soon lead to shocking revelations that strike fear in the residents of the Cape and bring devastating changes to Buck's trial.

I really enjoyed Temporary Sanity: A Crime Novel by Rose Connors. The plot was gripping and kept me guessing until the very end. There was a thread of comedy running through the story that I really appreciated, and I also could sense the tension that each character experienced throughout the story. I give this book an A+! and will certainly be adding Rose Connors to my Wish List.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Judith Michael - A Ruling Passion: Volume 1

8. A Ruling Passion: Volume 1 by Judith Michael (1990)
Length: 567 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 25 January 2013
Finished: 28 January 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 May 2008
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and despite having several books by Judith Michael on my bookshelf, I haven't read that many books by this author before.

Pampered socialite Valerie Sterling is shattered by her husband's death and the mysterious loss of her wealth. But she somehow finds within herself the will to build a new life, and rekindles a romance with television network head Nicholas Fielding - an old college flame. Valerie is totally unaware of the dangerous passions she is stirring up in Sybille Enderby, her childhood friend and the daughter of a seamstress on one of Valerie's estates. 

Clawing her way up in the television industry, Sybille has always coveted all that Valerie has. Yet success, marriage, and the glittering whirl of society cannot quench Sybille's envy of her friend...an envy that grows into one blinding obsession: to destroy Valerie Sterling.

I liked this book very much. The characters were sympathetically drawn - even though they were wealthy, and moved within elite social circles, they ultimately faced the exact same personal problems and struggles as everyone else in the world. I give this book an A+! and I am eagerly trying to locate A Ruling Passion: Volume 2 by Judith Michael to see how the rest of the story turns out.

A+! - (96-100%)   

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Gus Pelagatti - The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story

7. The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Gus Pelagatti (2011)
Length: 296 pages
Genre: True Crime
Started: 24 January 2013
Finished: 25 January 2013
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Gus for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 January 2013
Why do I have it? I like true crime and Gus Pelagatti is a new author for me. I also had never heard of the actual 1938 Philadelphia murder scandals that this book is based on.

The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story is a story set in Depression-Era Philadelphia and filled with murder, corruption, treachery, love and lust written about in vivid detail. 

Giorgio DiSipio - a local tailor known as the 'Don Juan of Passyunk Avenue' - preyed upon disenchanted and unfaithful wives - eventually convincing twelve of them to kill their spouses for the insurance money. The murder conspiracy is very successful, until one lone assistant District Attorney, Tom Rossi, uncovers the plot and brings the perpetrators to justice.

All in all, seventeen wives were arrested and charged with the murders of their husbands. First among them being Lillian Stoner, who murders her husband Reggie and depends on her lover Giorgio to feed her opium habit. There was Eva Bell Fitzpatrick, a risque redhead who loves sex and gambling, and whose gambling debts lead her in to the worst kind of trouble - murder. Rose Grady was known as the 'Kiss of Death Widow' - married four times, she was thrice a widow - looking for affection and support for herself and her two young daughters, she finds both in Giorgio DiSipio. Joanna Napoli was the full-figured gift shop owner - the only 'Wicked Wife' to be 'blinded by love' - and her obsession with Giorgio leads her to do the unthinkable.

Assigned to arrest and prosecute all the conspirators including the wives for the poison murders, assistant District Attorney Tom Rossi incurs the wrath of the corrupt Deputy Mayor Bill Evans after he refuses to protect Bill Evans' niece Lillan Stoner from murder charges. The Deputy Mayor sets the political machinery in motion to get Tom Rossi disbarred, using the only ammunition he is able to find, Tom's relationship with nurse Hope Daniels. Part Negro, Hope has successfully lived her life as a white woman, but Bill Evans uses the bigotry of Philadelphia voters to derail Tom Rossi's campaign to be elected District Attorney.

To be completely honest, while I enjoyed the underlying murder mystery, and appreciated how well-researched the book was, there were so many characters involved that I had trouble keeping them all straight in my mind. The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Gus Pelagatti was gritty, violent and incredibly realistic. I certainly don't recommend this book for 'faint-of-heart' or squeamish readers. I give The Wicked Wives: A Novel Based on a True Story by Gus Pelagatti an A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sidney Sheldon - Tell me Your Dreams

6. Tell me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon (1998)
Length: 274 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 22 January 2013
Finished: 24 January 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 23 January 2008
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Ashley Patterson is a brainy and gorgeous "computer whiz" with a cushy job at a fast-growing start-up computer graphics company in Silicon Valley. She is lonely, shy, and lives a life that is unfulfilling to her. She is also absolutely convinced that someone is stalking her. Toni Prescott and Alette Peters are both co-workers of Ashley's, however the similarities end there. 

Toni is a saucy, British vixen with a penchant for Internet dating and dancing at discotheques. 'La bella Italiana' Alette is an aspiring artist who prefers quiet, dreamy weekends spent in the arms of handsome painters. Reminiscent of high school, Toni and Alette do their best to keep Ashley out of their cool clique, but find it extremely difficult after a string of murders irrevocably binds their lives together. Toni, Alette and Ashley know virtually nothing about each other until all three women are inexplicably linked into a murder investigation that will lead to one of the most bizarre trials of the century.

This book is a work of fiction, but is based on several actual cases. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be an interesting read. I was definitely hooked by the plot and wanted to discover what happened next. The book was laden with such realistic details that I learned plenty of information about certain subjects that I never knew. I give this book an A+! and am eager to read more books by Sidney Sheldon in the future.

A+! - (96-100%)
      
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Martin Cruz Smith - Rose

5. Rose by Martin Cruz Smith (1996)
Length: 364 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Started: 18 January 2013
Finished: 22 January 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 23 January 2008
Why do I have it? I like historical mysteries and Martin Cruz Smith is a new author for me.

The year is 1872. The place is Wigan, England - a nineteenth-century town in the coal-mining district of Lancashire. Into this dark, complicated world where wealthy mine owners live like royalty alongside miners who are treated no better than slaves, comes Jonathan Blair, a mining engineer who has accepted a commission to find a missing man. Recently returned from Africa's Gold Coast, Jonathan finds his native England utterly depressing and soon falls into melancholy and alcoholism.

Desperate to return to Africa, Jonathan agrees to investigate the disappearance of a local curate who was engaged to marry the daughter of Jonathan's patron. As he begins his search, every road leads back to one woman - a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that call her unnatural, scandalous and a 'loose' woman.   

As Rose and Jonathan circle one another, first warily, then with the heat of mutual desire, Blair loses his balance. And the lull induced by Rose's sensual touch leaves Jonathan totally unprepared for the bizarre, soul-scorching truth. 

I found that this book was very interesting, although the ending was extremely convoluted. I had to find out what happened in the book, even though I couldn't really understand the mining practices of 19th-century England that were written about in such detail. I give this book an A!   

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Bob Larson - Shock Talk: The Exorcist Files

4. Shock Talk: The Exorcist Files by Bob Larson (2001)
Length: 241 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 10 January 2013
Finished: 14 January 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 25 July 2008
Why do I have it? I like horror and Bob Larson is a new author for me.

At her wits' end, Jenny Owens doesn't know where to turn. Her twenty-two-year-old daughter, Allison, has moved back home with a two-year-old daughter of her own. Jenny, who loves her daughter and granddaughter deeply, does her best to support, encourage, and help Allison in any way possible, but the situation is rapidly getting out of hand. Allison is acting more like a rebellious teenager than a responsible mom.

After numerous attempts to reach her daughter, Jenny makes one last desperate move to connect with her wayward daughter; she calls The Billy McBride Show - tabloid TV at its worst - hoping to reconnect with Allison somehow. The topic: "Families Out of Control". Billy McBride is a no-nonsense, no-holds-barred TV host - more interested in television ratings than counseling - however, Jenny believes that Billy can help her get through to Allison.

Billy McBride's engaging smile and easygoing manner masks a deep pain which he has carried since childhood - his father's abandonment of him. This pain has left him open and vulnerable to Allison's own harsh life experiences. Billy knows the basic routine of shock television: tease the topic, badger the guests, shock the viewing audience.

When Allison suddenly attempts suicide during the broadcast, Billy's ratings skyrocket. However, Allison's desperate act brings Billy no excitement for the ratings bump, only a deep sense of sadness for both Jenny and Allison. Despite himself, Billy finds that this desperate young woman and her mother's shared plight has touched something deep within his heart and he hopes that he will be able to help them somehow. However, nothing could have prepared Billy McBride for the evil that he would encounter.

I have to say that while this book started out rather well, it turned out not to be all that frightening to me. I found that the situations that the characters were placed in were perhaps not totally unbelievable, but certainly entirely improbable, in my opinion. I like many horror books that deal with possession and spiritual warfare, and have absolutely no problem with reading books that feature strong Christian themes. However, Bob Larson - who happens to be a well-known exorcist himself, apparently - might be able to write about the supernatural competently. However, in my opinion, the author doesn't integrate reality with the supernatural very successfully.

I give this book an B+! I have one other book by Bob Larson on my bookshelf called Dead Air which I would certainly like to read at some point. I am more than willing to give Bob Larson another try, so I am hopeful that Dead Air will capture my attention better than Shock Talk: The Exorcist Files did.    

B+! - (89-94%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight