Running Hot

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz (Arcane Society Novel)

What was this book about?

Grace Renquist is all alone in the world. She met someone who she thought would be her friend and her family and it turned out that he was open to doing some pretty bad things. She now will do what she has to to keep the evil out of the world (while still keeping her secrets).

She may be an Arcane Society librarian but she has an interesting twist on someone who can read auras. She can read them so well she can tell if someone is who she thinks they are just by their auras. So she is sent to Hawaii to match up with Luther Malone. Luther is an ex-cop who knows that Grace has secrets. He has a few of his own.

Can they get the job done and identify the bad guy? What is going on with all these other people who seem to be involved? Can they stop the evil Nightshade group – which is manufacturing a drug that makes psychic powers more intense (but also breaks the user down mentally?)

What did you think about the book?

I like these Arcane Society books. I love how they span the past and the present. And they bring up the characters from other books in the series without making you feel like they have been thrown in just for that reason.

For everyone in the books it is all about power and how sometimes the need to do anything to get power will corrupt you. There are people who have the power naturally or work to get it – but play by the rules – and bad things may happen to them but overall they overcome it all and come out ahead because of how they deal with it.

So take that and throw in some supernatural abilities and the need to find someone to love – who they fit in with and you have the classic Arcane Society Novel.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance/Suspense

Overall:

Question for You!
When picking your family – who do you consider part of your family – that isn’t a blood relative?

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice by Julie Garwood

What was this book about?

Sophie Rose is a reporter who loves her job. She grew up the favored daughter of a man she didn’t really understand (but definitely loved) – the famed Bobbie Rose. Bobbie is the Robin Hood of the Chicago area – simultaneously loved and hated – which definitely puts Sophie in a tight spot.

After quitting her first job because she refused to give in to pressure to out her father – she now has a job at a small paper that leaves her doing human interest stories – but they don’t pressure her about her father.

Her best friends since grade school are there to support her –Regan and Cordie. When something new happens in the news with her father – she starts getting death threats and attempts on her life. In comes friend of Regan’s Jack MacAllister. Jack is FBI – and Sophie knows to not trust the FBI.

Meanwhile one of the stars of a human interest story she was going to write turns up dead. Dead and in Alaska. Sophie wants to find out what really happened and in doing so starts a rollercoaster of a ride for her and Jack.

What did you think about the book?

Let me start off by saying I love Julie Garwood’s historical romances. I have many of them on shelves in my house (or packed away – a girl only has that much room for books). But I have read them over and over (and really am wondering if I should read them again so that I can post reviews for them – even if they are not newer books). I just really enjoy those characters. I love how they interact and re-meet each other. They just are books that entertain me no matter how many times I read them.

So this made me start wondering – what leads an author to staying in the same vein of writing – romance – but switching genres almost in terms of time periods and types of stories. I really don’t know. I liked this book. I liked her other contemporary work – but I love her historicals and wish there were more of them so that I could eat them up.

The first thing when I started “thinking” about this book was that. The second was wow – I remember reading about the Buchanan’s – I think I need to reread the book of Alec and his wife.

I liked this book. The characters easily could have been unlikeable (daughter of mob boss and FBI agent). They were both strong characters who needed to rely on each other. The plot was interesting and different and it was just a twist of fate that put Sophie and Jack in danger.

What genre would you consider this?
Contemporary Romance

Overall:

Question for You!
Why do you think author’s move from genre to genre?

The Book of Lies

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer

What was this book about?

There has always been some that wondered about the story of Cain and Abel. The Bible makes no mention of what Cain killed Abel with and what happened to it afterwards. Because of this there are many powerful men and women that would do anything to find it.

Cal has a history of pain when his father killed his mother. But when he comes across him again – he is brought into a mystery like which he never imagined. He has no one to trust (including his father) and no idea what to do next.

This mystery of finding the “Book of Lies” the book that Cain killed Abel with is something Cal can’t help but want to figure out. It will bring him and everyone around him into danger. At some point he will find out there is a connection between the man that created Superman and this book. Can he figure it all out in time?

What did you think about the book?

I was highly intrigued as to how they were going to tie this Book that has to do with Cain and Abel and the death – to Superman and the creator’s father. And they definitely do so. I thought that parts of the book were great – while others were a little harder to get into.

It kept my interest but I would have loved to have more puzzles, have more feelings for some of the characters. From the get go there was almost no one to like or identify with. Everyone was acting suspicious.

I would definitely suggest this as a possibility for anyone who enjoyed the DaVinci Code not just because of the religious implications. This book has a touch of religion embedded in its meaning – but it isn’t something that redefines totally how you think of things (or makes you questions things ) at least in my case it was something I had never really though of before and it brought some interest about how much of it was possible.

What genre would you consider this?Suspense

Overall: