The end of January is upon us - who saw this month just flying by like it has? I'm always shocked at how much faster time seems to go the older I get; why didn't Einstein investigate that theory? LOL! Anyway, there's not a whole lot out this week, mostly non-fiction that I chose to ignore. Here's the best of the new pubs....
"Blood Ties" by Kay Hooper. This is the conclusion of Hooper's paranormal thriller trilogy that includes "Blood Dreams" and "Blood Sins". I've never read her, but she usually falls into the romantic suspense category. I'm guessing she went into this area when all the vampire/paranormal stuff hit big. Publisher's Weekly has a short review available on Amazon, and let's just say they are not impressed.
"Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging" by Greg Critser. The author tackles the world of biogerentology (aka how to keep the old people young and healthy). He covers all sorts of territory, starting with the Caloric Restriction Society, the people who believe hardly eating anything at all will keep you young and more mentally viable. I've gotta tell ya, folks - I am sick of this sort of thing. Aging is now looked at as a disease, and it's NOT. It's part of the natural process of human beings, it's going to happen to all of us, and we should stop trying to stop the clock. Whatever happened to "aging gracefully"?
"Gator-a-Go-Go" by Tim Dorsey. There are now an even dozen titles in Dorsey's wacky series about serial killer Serge A. Storms (a killer with a conscience - he tends to only kill bad people, the kind that need killing). Florida's Spring Break offers the setting and lots of opportunities for interesting kills, not to mention satire on a "Girls Gone Wild" sort of show. He's not for everyone, but he is good.
"The Bricklayer" by Noah Boyd. Boyd is a pseudonym for a former FBI agent; this is his debut novel. PW says it's a by-the-numbers routine thriller. Probably a good reason to use the pen-name.
"The Dragon Keeper: Vol I of the Rain Wilds Chronicles" by Robin Hobb. Fantasy work from Hobb, the beginning of a new series, and it's all about dragons. Not the kind you usually read about, though; these dragons are struggling to survive in a world that has largely forgotten about them.
"Three Days Before the Shooting..." by Ralph Ellison. This isn't really a novel but a compilation of work done by Ellison, most of it belonging to a never-finished second novel. It sounds like it will be good, but only if you're an Ellison fan to begin with. Plus it clocks in at over 1100 pages - definitely for the die-hard enthusiast.
"The Seventh Witch" by Shirley Damsgaard. (Ophelia & Abby Mysteries, #7). This is one that I've been waiting for. I've read this series from the start, and I'm always glad to see a new book starring Ophelia Jensen and her grandmother Abby. They're both witches from a long line of such women, but they're not nearly as "woo-woo" as most think, more along the lines of women from the Appalachians who worked in herbs and other folksy medicine. Fear not, there are some "real" witch powers as well - Ophelia tends to get flashes of the future, something she's been learning to embrace, rather than fear. These are great books for someone who wants a little bit of the paranormal in their reading, but doesn't want all the gore that can be found in the urban fantasy genre, nor a lot of the hot & heavy romance from that genre. Think tea cozy mystery, just starring witches!
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