43. Seventh Son

Okay, first thanks to Kay Pearn for this recommendation!!

This is a new-to-me Orson Scott Card series. I didn't even know it existed. And like his "Ender" books, I really liked this one. So I will definitely read the series.

On the front cover..."Come fall in love with a magical America that might have been". I know I got my daughters attention with the word magical. ha ha! But I think Harrison will like this series too, as he is the one who got me reading the Ender books.

It takes place about the time of Ben Franklin and shows an alternative America. Although Ben Franklin and the other founding fathers still existed. The main character is Alvin, who is the 7th son of a 7th son. And this apparently gives you cool magical powers.

Can't wait to read the rest!

42. Juliet

This was a fairly interesting book - a modern take on Romeo & Juliet. In fact it is about the descendants of the original Romeo & Juliet that Shakespeare based his play on. It takes place in Sienna, Italy. Lots of good mystery and intrigue as it goes from 1340 to present day and back again.

41. Friedman's Fables

Companion book to the required reading for staff. Easier to read than Failure of Nerve, but still not pleasurable reading in the least. No one reading my blog will ever read this book, so just ignore it! ha ha

40. Illusion

Well, this book was really different. I don't think I liked it.

I don't even know how to describe it.


synopsis --


Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for forty years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the nineteen-year-old she was in 1970. Distraught and disoriented in what to her is the future, she is confined to a mental ward until she discovers a magical ability to pass invisibly through time and space to escape. Alone in a strange world, she uses her mysterious powers to eke out a living, performing magic on the streets and in a quaint coffee shop.

Hoping to discover an exciting new talent, Dane ventures into the coffee shop and is transfixed by the magic he sees, illusions that even he, a seasoned professional, cannot explain. But more than anything, he is emotionally devastated by this teenager who has never met him, doesn’t know him, is certainly not in love with him, but is in every respect identical to the young beauty he first met and married some forty years earlier.

They begin a furtive relationship as mentor and protégée, but even as Dane tries to sort out who she really is and she tries to understand why she is drawn to him, they are watched by secretive interests who not only possess the answers to Mandy’s powers and misplacement in time but also the roguish ability to decide what will become of her.

39. XO

Loved it! Another Jeffrey Deaver book. I think I have read every book he has written. This is the latest Kathryn Dance book. I think Meg & Britt would like it. Good characters and not scary.

COUNTRY-POP INGÉNUE Kayleigh Towne’s career is just reaching new heights with her huge hit single “Your Shadow”—but increased fame is also bringing unwanted attention. An innocent exchange with one of her fans, signed with an “XO,” leads Kayleigh into the dangerous and terrifying realm of obsession.

Edwin Sharp thinks Kayleigh’s songs contain messages that speak directly to him. Despite her clear rejection and threats from lawyers and law enforcers, he remains convinced that “Your Shadow” was written just for him, and he announces he’s coming for Kayleigh. Then a potentially fatal accident occurs at the concert hall where Kayleigh is rehearsing for a triumphant hometown performance, and she is convinced that someone—maybe Edwin—was there watching her from the darkness.

True to his word, Edwin Sharp soon makes an ominous appearance in town, and California Bureau of Investigation Agent Kathryn Dance, a friend and fan of Kayleigh’s on vacation in Fresno to attend the show, intervenes on her behalf, drawing Sharp’s frightening attention to herself. That night a member of the road crew whom Kayleigh had once dated is murdered in an eerie echo of an image from her chart-topping song. As more deaths loom on the horizon, Kathryn Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body-language analysis to stop the stalker and save more innocent victims. But before long she learns that, like many celebrities, Kayleigh has more than one fan with a mission . . .

This nail-biting thriller from suspense master Jeffery Deaver speeds along over just three short days, filled with terrifying twists that will keep readers held in rapt suspense until the final shocking revelation.

38. A Thousand Acres

HATED IT. Again HATED IT!!

I kept reading thinking it has to get better, but no. And I got it because it was recommended on Barnes & Noble.com. Ugh.

A dysfunctional farm family struggles with farming. The father is mean. There are 3 grown & married daughters. The father decides to "retire" and give the farm to his girls. He then sits on his recliner and glares at them working all day.
The oldest daughter sleeps with a man she knew in high school who has come back home after dodging the draft in Canada for years.
Then the 2nd daughter falls in love with him, has an affair, meanwhile the oldest daughter finds out and begins to hate her sister.
Meanwhile the 2nd daughter's husband dies, leaving her with 2 teen daughters, but at least she has her new boyfriend. Oh and she has breast cancer.
The oldest daughter wanting to kill her sister, poisons some canned food (that she knows the daughters won't eat) and then just kind of waits to hear the news that her sister is dead.
Meanwhile, she then gets up one day, leaves her husband and belongings, drives to California and becomes a waitress.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the father sexually abused his daughters while they were growing up.
Then the 2nd sister dies (of breast cancer) and the oldest sister gets to raise them. But they are never really super close.

The 3rd sister (a lawyer) is much younger and ends up convincing her dad to sue his other daughters to get his farm back. But the father goes senile as the trial starts, so his older daughters can't confront him about his abuse.

Just a bucket of fun. Did I mention that I HATED this book.

37. The Innocent

Audio book - riveting, couldn't wait to get back in the car to find out what happens next...


Eight years ago, a man walked five-year-old Hannah out the front doors of her school and spirited her over the Mexican border, taking her into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who’ve searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who’ve managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn’t trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.