"Summer Rental" by Mary Kay Andrews

Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia - whose caustic wit covers up her wounds - has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, and her live. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world... though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what each of them needs.

Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he's hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to each other, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about.

Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants, but can they also provide what she needs?

Five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who need a sea change, and one month in a summer rental that might just give it to them.

I love Mary Kay Andrews and have since I read "Hissy Fit" so many years ago. She puts out funny, Southern women's fiction, and other than "Deep Dish", she hasn't missed a beat. (Hey, I still liked that one, too, just not as much as all the others I've read). I put my name on the list for this, her newest title, as soon as our system got it, even though it meant it would be a dreaded 7-day title.

So imagine my surprise when I get my copy and start reading and realize - this is sorta serious stuff. Not wring-your-hands and cry-your-eyeballs-out serious, but a lot more serious than I remember her books being. There's an unplanned pregnancy (and no, I'm not giving anything away - you can spot that coming a mile away); there's job loss; there's potential bankruptcy and home-loss; and there's physical abuse. Heck, there's even possible murder! And while some of these issues have sort of popped up before in an MKA book, the subjects were dealt with quickly and with great humor. This time the subjects linger and the humor felt a bit more grim.

Now having said that I was shocked by the more serious, grown-up tone of this book, I have to say that I still enjoyed it. The friendships between the three friends was wonderful and felt very much like some of my real-life friendships. I really wanted to know more about Maryn, and that was perhaps my only disappointment, that her story was left unfinished. Maybe she will be the lead character of the next book? (hint, hint, MKA.....)

The romance is nicely done, developing at a leisurely pace. And as always, the descriptions of the seaside town, the houses, the furniture, etc, are just fabulous. You really feel like you're there and can easily imagine the cottages, the roads, the bicycles, etc.

Overall, I would say "Summer Rental" is a good read, and it would make a perfect beach book. Of course, I'm getting around to reviewing it way past summer and "beach time" but who knows? Maybe you'll be heading out to the coast yourself this fall/winter!

"Dreams of a Dark Warrior" by Kresley Cole

Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives. When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals - unaware that he belongs to their world. Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan's torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared - even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

OK, bear with me. It's been quite a while since I actually read this title, so I'm just going to give you general impressions. A very good friend of mine has suggested that I start setting deadlines for my reviews; if I don't review a book within, say, 5 days, just move on to the next title. Obviously she's got the right idea!

What's funny is that when I read the description from the back of the book (the italicized portion above), I remember that I thought this title was better than the previous one. That one had some pretty darn hot sex, but after reading another reviewer's opinion (that the sex bordered on rape), I'm sort of rethinking my opinion on that installment. This one, however, was Cole as I love her: great action, great romance, great romantic tension, etc.

What I remember most about this book is the ending, which I loved. I won't give anything away, but I was very impressed by how the author handled the whole "if he remembers, he'll die" quandary. It made perfect sense, plus it really showed her ability to full develop a character. No bait-and-switch here, no magical ending, just something that really had me smiling and saying "Yes!"

Can't wait for the next IAD book, and I promise I'll try to stick with my friend's plan to get the reviews done on time - or not at all. Wish me luck!

"The Geeks' Guide to World Domination" by Garth Sundem

After realizing this title had been on my Amazon wish list for about two years, I gave up and requested it as an inter-library loan. I waited a few weeks for delivery, and voila! Geekdom at my fingertips! Joy and much singing in the land until..... I realize this is not exactly what I thought it was.

For some weird reason, I was under the (obviously mistaken) impression that it was more of a typical non-fiction book. Or perhaps I thought it was a novel, I don't know. In any case, it was not what I thought it would be, which sort of set me asea as it were. Sundem's work is a collection of some 300+ "geek" factoids and trivia, a worthy feat in and of itself. However, the majority of these snippets are true geek nirvana of the math, computer, and role-playing variety - and sadly, I am not that sort of geek. The math went way over my head, as did much of the computer fun. I did get some of the RPG references, having dabbled a wee bit with the classic Dungeons & Dragons back in the day, but I've never done any of the online stuff. (I don't even play "Farmville" on Facebook, for crying out loud).

I will give the author big props for including the Dewey Decimal System - GO DEWEY! He's right: it gives you a unique way to classify everything in the world, going from uber-general subjects to the specific equivalency of the head of a pin. Love me some Dewey, even as it's been sliding into obscurity due to the shift of many libraries to the Library of Congress system, or - heaven forbid - the general categories found in most book stores.

There were some other chapters/sections/snippets I liked, including but not limited to: Quotable Yoda, Five Classic Macgyver Hacks, Moral Lessons brought to you by the Monster of "The Odyssey", 10 Most Valuable Comic Books (not the books, but the point he makes about they're only as valuable as you can collect on), and Quotable X-files.

Overall, I'd still say I enjoyed the book. It's very easy to jump around and digest, which is great. It's also easy enough to skip over entries that you have no interest in (or that are too complex for mine, and possibly your, non-geek self). I have to admit that I'm disappointed that I lack the geekdom I thought I had, but that's OK. I do believe I'm still geeky enough for the club.

My Dog Daisy

Today will be a bit of a departure from the norm. After reading a wonderful blog post by Jocelynn Drake, I decided to help out the good people at Pedigree and write a blog about a dog, thus helping them with their quest to donate pounds and pounds of dog food to shelters. A link to her blog, if you wish to read her story:
http://jocelynndrake.blogspot.com/2011/08/write-post-help-dog.html

And from her page, this is why I'm doing this:
Pedigree has decided to launch a Write a Post, Help a Dog Campaign. For those of you who missed the event last year in September, 391 bloggers wrote about the program and with each post, Pedigree donated 20 pounds of its Healthy Longevity dog food to shelter animals. In all, 7,820 pounds of food was donated to two shelters known across the country for their dedication to the care and re-homing of senior dogs: Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco and Castaway Critters in Harrisburg, Pa.

How you can help in 2011


Simply spread the word about Write a Post, Help a Dog 2011 and once again Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of food for each blog post. If you don’t have a blog feel free to tweet about the campaign or share on Facebook so your friends who do blog can participate. All bloggers are welcome even if you do not generally talk about pets on your blog. Its all about using Social Media for Social Good.

Here’s how it works:
•The Write a Post, Help a Dog program is aimed at raising awareness of the more then 4 million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year. As well as to help get them all food (our goal is 10,000 lbs of food in the next two weeks) for the more than four million dogs that wind up in shelters and breed rescues each year.


•For each blog post mentioning the Pedigree Foundation from now until midnight ET on September 3, Pedigree will donate 20 pounds of its new dry Pedigree recipe food for dogs — its best recipe ever — to a shelter, because every dog deserves leading nutrition.


•The Pedigree Foundation — a 501 (C)(3) nonprofit organization is committed to helping dogs by providing grants to shelters and rescues and encouraging dog adoption. This year the Foundation has already raised more than $376,570 against its goal of $1.5 million to carry out its work to fund grants that not only help shelters operate, but to further shelter innovations.

Alright, now that you know the why and the how, here's my story about my dog, Daisy.

My baby sister and I had a very good childhood, very stable and with plenty of money (although we probably didn't realize it at the time). As middle-class, slightly more privileged children, my parents thought we should get a dog when we were young; my dad grew up with dogs, especially Dobermans. I can't remember if my mom had dogs as a young girl, but I know if she did, hers were of the smaller variety. When we went to pick out a new Labrador puppy, my mother was shocked at the size of the mamma dog. She thought she was huge! My dad wisely told his buddy to hurry up and get the pups into the room, and that was all she wrote; we took Daisy home in a laundry basket and loved her from that very moment.

Now, I know this will be super-hard for some to believe, but I was a very shy kid growing up. I usually had one "best friend" in my class every year, if that; my books were my friends and my comfort when I was lonely, sad, or scared. Then there was Daisy. She truly was my one best and constant friend while I was growing up. She didn't care that she, a black Lab, had been named for a white flower. She didn't care that I was shy and awkward. She didn't even care that I upchucked orange juice on her one horrible winter afternoon (looooooooong story); she loved me no matter what. She knew when I needed a hug, and when I just needed someone to sit beside me and be there. She was a wonderful dog who had a very good life, and when we lost her in 1985, it was devastating to my teenage self. How do you recover from the loss of a best friend? Time, as they say, does heal old wounds. However, it doesn't take away the scar, and to this day, I still get teary-eyed thinking about her. So this post is honor of my best friend Daisy, who crossed that rainbow bridge long ago. Still love you, and we'll see each other again someday.

"Demon Can't Help It" by Kathy Love

Practical Josephine "Jo" Burke has no patience for the paranormal - even if she's been having some strange visions lately. But if she is losing her mind, at least it would explain her new attraction to her co-worker, the last suitable man she could ever fall for... Maksim Kostova has no idea why he's so drawn to feisty mortal Jo, but he does know how she feels about the supernatural. Forget about her accepting him for what he really is, she'd never even believe him in the first place. Or would she? When Jo confesses to him that she's been seeing visions of a dead girl, it seems anything's possible...

I've been reading Kathy Love for a while, starting back when she was still writing "regular" romances (ie - no vampires or demons as characters). The books are light reading with hot guys and even hotter sex, and almost always have a happy ending. I finally got my hands on this book a few months ago and it's typical Love, although not my favorite.

Maksim is a devil of a demon, good-looking beyond belief but condescending to anyone human. He uses and abuses women of the mortal variety, and right now, he really doesn't have time for even that - he's searching for his lost sister. Enter Jo, the one mortal woman who seems to be completely oblivious to her. Well, you know what will happen next - men hate to be ignored! The story doesn't deviate from the standard format: demon meets human woman, woos human woman, falls in love with human woman, then must find a way to either leave human woman or tell her what he really is and hope for the best. It's still a decent read given the material.

Now having said that, I did have a few problems with this particular work, namely the editing/proofing - or rather, extreme lack thereof. I felt at times as if I was reading a submission, rather than an actual published work, it was so bad! Typos out the wazoo, incorrect words choices (there vs. their), extra words thrown in that made no sense whatsoever. And my biggest beef was the lack of contractions! I'm sorry, but if you're a modern writer, you need to write the way people speak, and I know of hardly anyone that speaks in full, complete, wordy sentences the way Love's characters do. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on Maksim - his being a demon means that English isn't his "native" tongue, and many foreigners learning a new language will speak in those complete sentences. But Americans? When was the last time you heard someone say "I will go to the store. I am willing to go to the store."?

Then there were the sex scenes. I love me some good sex scenes, but maybe I'm starting to get old or something. I found myself skipping over the "hot" stuff more and more, trying to get to the story itself. I know there a lot of readers out there who love the sex and want more of it, so maybe that's the audience Love is writing for.

Finally, there was the "big secret" that Jo had from the very first page, the one she was just sure would drive her friends away, and later on, her new lover. Oh my god, if you have any brains at all, you'll figure it out as quickly as I did, so I'm not sure why it was written as it was. I think the author would have done everyone a favor by just putting it out there right away and getting on with the story.

But I still enjoyed the book enough to review it for all of you! LOL!

"Hidden Alcatraz: the fortress revealed" by Steve Fritz and Deborah Roundtree

Back in the late 80s, I was lucky enough to visit Alcatraz with my dad. I thought it would be a cool place to see, one with such a dark history. I was right - and I was wrong. It was interesting, but the whole time we were on "the Rock", I felt uncomfortable, almost edgy. I wanted to leave almost as soon as we arrived; something just felt off to me. I couldn't put a finger on what was causing my uneasiness; I just felt very, very creeped out.

Flash forward to this year and this book. It's a wonderful pictorial look at the facility today, which has decayed even further. Photographers were granted unprecedented overnight access, which means there are several photos taken after dark, giving the place an even more eerie appearance. The work is extraordinary, including color and black and white, and really does give the reader a feel for this most infamous of prisons.

Be sure to read the foreword by actor Peter Coyote; it gives an additional history lesson regarding Alcatraz that I was unaware of, namely that Native Americans claimed it for themselves for a good while back in the late 60s. Oddly enough, I also learned that most prisoners never felt threatened while doing their time; they felt "safe" in Alcatraz because their usual enemies couldn't reach them. That doesn't mean there wasn't blood shed, though, and perhaps that contributed to the "bad vibe" I felt so very long ago. In any case, it's a fascinating place with a rich history, one we certainly shouldn't forget.

"The Contender" by Robert Lipsyte

Since I was going to have a long weekend to relax and read, I decided I should tackle a few more of the "classics" on an old list I saved from a previous patron. This book was next in line and I ordered it from work, even though it really didn't look like anything I was interested in. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover - or its storyline.

Alfred Brooks is a 17-year-old high school drop out in late 1960s Harlem. He's black, but he's not proud. He has managed to find himself a small job at a local grocery owned by a Jewish couple; there's not much chance of bettering his position (or so he thinks) and he misses hanging out with his best friend, James.

One Friday night he goes out to locate James; he finds him at the local "club" hanging out with his thuggish friends, Major, Hollis, and some others. While talking about his job, Alfred lets slip that due to their religion, his employers leave money in the safe every Friday night; of course, the "bad" boys decide to rob the store. Unfortunately, they are in such a hurry that Alfred doesn't have a chance to tell them about the brand new alarm system that was just installed (he claims he "forgot" to tell them; maybe he did, and maybe he didn't). James is arrested while the other boys manage to escape, and of course, they come looking for revenge.

Alfred is tired of his life, and tired of being pushed around by the gang. One night he wanders into Donatelli's Gym, and he meets the owner himself. They talk, and Alfred states he wants to be a fighter. Donatelli attempts to talk him out of it, explaining that the hours of training will be grueling and that Alfred will probably quit within a few weeks, but the young man is determined. The book then follows Alfred on his quest to become a professional boxer, showing him doing a lot of repetitive training and becoming frustrated that he's not put into matches right away. Donatelli explains that it takes a lot to be a fighter, not just good moves; there must be an inner fire, too. Eventually Alfred does fight, and he discovers that while he's not too bad a boxer, he has an inner strength to fight much bigger battles in his life, including rescuing his friend James from the stranglehold of drugs.

This was a very well-written, and still timely, novel about a young black man. I had to flip to the copyright page to remind myself that it was written back in the day and not just last year; the issues are still very relevant (think of all the gang trouble we have in inner cities, especially those that deal/use drugs). There are some things that date the book a bit; there's a group of activists that try to enlist Alfred in their cause, claiming that "whitey" is holding back Alfred and that joining them is his only way of advancing his life. There are many who would argue that race relations are still strained, and probably many who would claim that "whitey" is still holding down the man, be he African-American, Hispanic, or any other ethnicity.

Alfred's transformation is believable and a wonderful thing to watch. He struggles to follow Donatelli's authority/advice, and at one point, pretty much decides that he knows what's best for himself, skipping his workouts and hanging out with the gang. Of course he sees the error of his ways, and when he slinks back into the gym, Donatelli has a talk with him - but doesn't turn him away. It was a very good read, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good coming-of-age story.