Mary Willis Walker - The Red Scream: A Novel of Suspense

76. The Red Scream: A Novel of Suspense by Mary Willis Walker (1994)
Molly Cates Series Book 1
Length: 324 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 9 August 2013
Finished: 12 August 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 25 July 2001
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Mary Willis Walker is a new author for me. 

Texas-based crime reporter Molly Cates has just published her first book, describing the blood-curdling exploits of serial killer Louie Bronk. Now on death row, Louie's sentence is about to be carried out and Molly will be present as a witness. She wants to write about it - the final coda to Louie's story. 

But suddenly, she's being strongly discouraged by her boss at The Lone Star Monthly and by a multi-millionaire real estate developer to not continue with her writing. Charlie McFarland - the multi-millionaire real estate developer - lost his first wife, Tiny, to Louie's horrendous murder spree. She was Louie's most famous victim and the only one whose murder is a capital offense. 

Then Molly starts to receive dark hints that Louie may not have killed Tiny at all. There is another murder following Louie's M. O. - one that he couldn't have committed. The veracity of Molly's book is questioned and then her very life is threatened. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Molly realizes that by attempting to save Louie she is putting her own life on the line, and discrediting her own work. 

Honestly, I wasn't expecting this book to be as good as it actually was. I found the characters to be extremely likable; the book was well-written and ultimately the mystery was engaging enough to keep me guessing until the very end. I give this book an A+! and I plan to find some other books by Mary Willis Walker to read in the future.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Scott Spencer - A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel

75. A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel by Scott Spencer (2003)
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 6 August 2013
Finished: 9 August 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 October 2007
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Scott Spencer is a new author for me.

After a shattering incident of violence is perpetrated against him, lawyer Daniel Emerson leaves New York City and returns to the Hudson River town where he grew up. There, along with his partner Kate Ellis and her young daughter, Ruby, Daniel settles into the kind of secure and comfortable family life he always longed for during his emotionally barren childhood. However, he ultimately cannot control his desire for Iris Davenport, an African-American woman whose son is Ruby's best friend.

During a freak October blizzard, Daniel is stranded at Iris' house, and they spend the night together - beginning a sexual liaison that eventually imperils all their relationships, Daniel's profession, their children's well-being, their own race-blindness, and their view of themselves as essentially good people. The emotional stakes are raised even higher when Iris' husband, Hampton, suffers a devastating accidental injury at Daniel's hands.

Scott Spencer is a new author to me and this actually is the first book by this author that I've read. Reading this story was quite complex for me; there were many layers to it that caused me to read this book slowly - savoring it until I had reached the last page. Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel from beginning to end. I give this book a definite A+! and have already put three more books by Scott Spencer on my Wish List.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Scott Spencer - A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel

75. A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel by Scott Spencer (2003)
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 6 August 2013
Finished: 9 August 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 October 2007
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Scott Spencer is a new author for me.

After a shattering incident of violence is perpetrated against him, lawyer Daniel Emerson leaves New York City and returns to the Hudson River town where he grew up. There, along with his partner Kate Ellis and her young daughter, Ruby, Daniel settles into the kind of secure and comfortable family life he always longed for during his emotionally barren childhood. However, he ultimately cannot control his desire for Iris Davenport, an African-American woman whose son is Ruby's best friend.

During a freak October blizzard, Daniel is stranded at Iris' house, and they spend the night together - beginning a sexual liaison that eventually imperils all their relationships, Daniel's profession, their children's well-being, their own race-blindness, and their view of themselves as essentially good people. The emotional stakes are raised even higher when Iris' husband, Hampton, suffers a devastating accidental injury at Daniel's hands.

Scott Spencer is a new author to me and this actually is the first book by this author that I've read. Reading this story was quite complex for me; there were many layers to it that caused me to read this book slowly - savoring it until I had reached the last page. Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel from beginning to end. I give this book a definite A+! and have already put three more books by Scott Spencer on my Wish List.

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

Robin Cook - Mindbend

74. Mindbend by Robin Cook (1985)
Length: 256 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 3 August 2013
Finished: 6 August 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 23 January 2001
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and have read and enjoyed Godplayer by the same author in the past. 

Adam Schonberg is an aspiring young doctor who is forced to drop out of medical school and take a job with Arelon - a pharmaceutical company - when his wife Jennifer becomes pregnant unexpectedly. Adam's new job with Arelon is extremely lucrative, and the company itself is gigantic with aspirations of ultimately dominating the medical field. He becomes suspicious of the company's practices when some of its physician employees begin to act strangely.

Extremely worried about her pregnancy due to a family history of severe birth defects, Jennifer's gynecologist prescribes a morning sickness medication created by Arelon. The medication proves to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, and Adam demands that Jennifer stop taking it and change doctors. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile as Adam becomes increasingly more determined to discover Arelon's secrets; he begins an investigation into the company which reveals more than Adam could have ever even imagined.      

I must say that I enjoyed this book much more than I expected I would. Generally, I like Robin Cook as an author and have probably read about six or seven of his books in the past. However, occasionally I do have a little trouble getting into some of the plots of Robin Cook's books. I had no such trouble with Mindbend and I give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)   


Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Amy Greene - Bloodroot

73. Bloodroot by Amy Greene (2010)
Length: 365 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Started: 31 July 2013
Finished: 3 August 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 June 2013
Why do I have it? I like modern historical fiction and Amy Greene is a new author for me. 

Myra Lamb, a wild young girl with haunting blue eyes and a mysterious, almost fey-like disposition, grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain raised by her grandmother Byrdie. Named for a flower whose blood-red sap possesses the power to heal or to poison; Bloodroot Mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range in Tennessee.

Byrdie Lamb is fiercely protective of her granddaughter and passes down to her "the touch" that bewitches people and animals alike. However, she can not protect Myra from living her life and falling in love. This novel centers around an incendiary romance which consumes everyone in its path: from Myra's childhood friend Doug - who is secretly in love with Myra, but is destined never to have her - to the twins Myra is forced to abandon, but who never forget their mother's deep and abiding love for them.

John Odom is the man who captures Myra Lamb's heart. He is the man who tries to tame her; and he is the man who ultimately meets with shocking, violent disaster. Against the backdrop of a beautiful but often unforgiving country, these lives come together - only to be torn apart - as a dark, riveting mystery unfolds. 

I absolutely fell in love with this book! Amy Greene is such a fantastic writer whose characters come vividly alive and capture the reader's heart and mind. I give Bloodroot by Amy Greene a definite A+! I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to read her next book Long Man at some point in the future.

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

Reading Wrap-up For July at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out July with 719 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 704 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from an author, Paperback Swap, and Bookmooch. 

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Rereads
- Trade-Off by Harrison Arnston

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- The Fireman's Wife and Other Stories by Richard Bausch
- Stillwell: A Haunting on Long Island by Michael Phillip Cash
- After the Fire by Belva Plain
- Hunter's Blood by Jere Cunningham
- Hauntings: Is Anybody There? by Norah Lofts
- McNally's Puzzle by Lawrence Sanders
- The Magdalena Curse by F. G. Cottam
- Best Friends Forever: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner
- A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
- Twins by Roxanne Pulitzer 
- A Crime of Honor by Giovanni Arpino
- Bloodprint: A Novel of Psychological Suspense by Kitty Sewell
- Island Murders by Wanda Canada
- The Wheat Field by Steve Thayer

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell
- Deadly Evidence by Harrison Arnston
- The Landlord by Ken Merrell
- Light Source by Bari Wood
- The Summer Visitors by Brooke Leimas

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- The Glenna Powers Case by Hillary Waugh
- Blood of the Impaler by Jeffrey Sackett
- The Fireman's Wife and Other Stories by Richard Bausch
- Hauntings: Is Anybody There? by Norah Lofts
- To Dance With Kings by Rosalind Laker
- The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
- A Place to Call Home by Deborah Smith
- Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods
- The Big War by Anton Myrer
- The Magdalena Curse by F. G. Cottam
- Deadly Sleep by John Applegate
- 10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
- Moon Shell Beach: A Novel by Nancy Thayer
- Darkness by John Saul
- Nathaniel by John Saul
- Second Child by John Saul

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 15
Pages Read: 4,497
Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was July. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For July at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out July with 744 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 729 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from an author, Paperback Swap, and Bookmooch. 

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Rereads
- Trade-Off by Harrison Arnston

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- The Fireman's Wife and Other Stories by Richard Bausch
- Stillwell: A Haunting on Long Island by Michael Phillip Cash
- After the Fire by Belva Plain
- Hunter's Blood by Jere Cunningham
- Hauntings: Is Anybody There? by Norah Lofts
- McNally's Puzzle by Lawrence Sanders
- The Magdalena Curse by F. G. Cottam
- Best Friends Forever: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner
- A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
- Twins by Roxanne Pulitzer 
- A Crime of Honor by Giovanni Arpino
- Bloodprint: A Novel of Psychological Suspense by Kitty Sewell
- Island Murders by Wanda Canada
- The Wheat Field by Steve Thayer

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- Candles Burning by Tabitha King and Michael McDowell
- Deadly Evidence by Harrison Arnston
- The Landlord by Ken Merrell
- Light Source by Bari Wood
- The Summer Visitors by Brooke Leimas

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- The Glenna Powers Case by Hillary Waugh
- Blood of the Impaler by Jeffrey Sackett
- The Fireman's Wife and Other Stories by Richard Bausch
- Hauntings: Is Anybody There? by Norah Lofts
- To Dance With Kings by Rosalind Laker
- The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg
- A Place to Call Home by Deborah Smith
- Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods
- The Big War by Anton Myrer
- The Magdalena Curse by F. G. Cottam
- Deadly Sleep by John Applegate
- 10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
- Moon Shell Beach: A Novel by Nancy Thayer
- Darkness by John Saul
- Nathaniel by John Saul
- Second Child by John Saul

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 15
Pages Read: 4,497
Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was July. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight