Reviews Written By: AA2BITCKPL8JNprovided by Amazon.com |
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 | The Other Twin | |
 | "Good Read" | 2009-02-25 |
| This was my first book by Hunter Morgan and it won't be my last.
I enjoyed the book a lot, although it wasn't overly suspenseful and the culprit was kind of obvious (although there was a nice twist). Sydney was a bit annoying, but not enough to detract from the overall book. Looking forward to more by this author! | ||
 | One Dangerous Lady | |
| "Good Read" | 2009-01-30 |
| I enjoyed this book much better than "Social Crimes," as it didn't seem to drag on much longer than it should have. I had hoped to find another Jo Slater book since it's been so longer since this one was written, but I guess that's not in the author's cards. I do hope she changes her mind, as I'd like to revisit this cast of characters in a new setting. | ||
 | Scent of Danger | |
 | "Ridiculously Unbelievable" | 2009-01-03 |
| This book has been sitting on the top of my "emergency pile" for a couple of years, and I finally got around to reading it. Even though Andrea Kane is one of my favorite authors, I was bitterly disappointed. The story might've been believable if Carson had established his relationship with Sabrina by bringing her and her firm in as a consultant. But making this unqualified person he'd known for about two days the president of his multi-million dollar company just stretched the bounds of credibility as did Dylan's acceptance of the whole thing. The characters also weren't very likeable. Sabrina's tough-guy routine seemed forced in order to try to show she was an equal to Carson, and it fell flat. And I'm not sure I've ever read more corny love scenes in my life, with dialogue that was completely ridiculous. If I read one more time how Dylan would die if he wasn't inside her, I would've screamed. Add all this to a culprit whose identity was obvious from the start, and this was a very disappointing effort from a very good author. | ||
 | Social Crimes : A Novel | |
 | "Started So Promising..." | 2009-01-01 |
| I loved this book when I started it, however, I turned out to be disapointed. Lucius' death came way too early because after that, the whole book just became repetitive as Jo slipped further and further down the social ladder and became even more obsessed with the Contessa. And as it became obvious that years were passing instead of weeks, it just stopped making sense that Jo wouldn't have packed her bags and left New York after so much time and misery. I enjoyed it enough to read the sequel, but I think the author could've had a much better book if she'd cut it down by about 100 pages. | ||
 | The Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock, ISBN 0786124695 | |
| "Started So Promising..." | 2009-01-01 |
| I loved this book when I started it, however, I turned out to be disapointed. Lucius' death came way too early because after that, the whole book just became repetitive as Jo slipped further and further down the social ladder and became even more obsessed with the Contessa. And as it became obvious that years were passing instead of weeks, it just stopped making sense that Jo wouldn't have packed her bags and left New York after so much time and misery. I enjoyed it enough to read the sequel, but I think the author could've had a much better book if she'd cut it down by about 100 pages. | ||
 | Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock, ISBN 0786868155 | |
| "Started So Promising..." | 2009-01-01 |
| I loved this book when I started it, however, I turned out to be disapointed. Lucius' death came way too early because after that, the whole book just became repetitive as Jo slipped further and further down the social ladder and became even more obsessed with the Contessa. And as it became obvious that years were passing instead of weeks, it just stopped making sense that Jo wouldn't have packed her bags and left New York after so much time and misery. I enjoyed it enough to read the sequel, but I think the author could've had a much better book if she'd cut it down by about 100 pages. | ||
 | Wait Until Dark | |
| "Good Read" | 2008-12-28 |
| Mariah Stewart and Andrea Kane are two of my favorite authors, so I was happy with this book, although I thought MS's story was a bit weaker than what I'm used to from her, since the culprit could've only been one person. While I thought AK's story was the strongest, I enjoyed the Karen Robards story a lot and will look for more from this author. My least favorite was the Linda Anderson -- aside from the dog being beaten, which is usually enough for me to throw a book away, I found the whole sequence during the barn dance to be very scattered and confusing, and I had no idea what was going on throughout that whole portion of the book. | ||
 | Taking the Wrap | |
 | "Excellent" | 2008-11-24 |
| I've missed this series and am glad I finally bought the hardcover. I just wish it had come out in paperback so I could've read it a lot sooner. Mandy is one of the more fun amateur sleuths to read about, and the addition of Laura is a good one. I could've done without Mandy's mother, since the rest of the supporting cast is so strong, but hopefully we've seen the last of her. Looking forward to catching up with the next book in the series, and hope more are coming (in paperback)! | ||
 | Taking the Wrap : A Mandy Dyer Mystery | |
| "Excellent" | 2008-11-24 |
| I've missed this series and am glad I finally bought the hardcover. I just wish it had come out in paperback so I could've read it a lot sooner. Mandy is one of the more fun amateur sleuths to read about, and the addition of Laura is a good one. I could've done without Mandy's mother, since the rest of the supporting cast is so strong, but hopefully we've seen the last of her. Looking forward to catching up with the next book in the series, and hope more are coming (in paperback)! | ||
 | The Morning After | |
| "Unbearable Heroine" | 2008-07-26 |
| While the book is well-written and keeps you guessing, I couldn't give this one any more stars because the character of Nikki was so unlikeable that it was impossible to care about her or do anything other than hope she'd be buried alive. Reed wasn't much better, but at least he was tolerable when he was with Morrisette. LJ has written better...don't feel bad skipping this one. | ||
 | The Night Before | |
| "Suspenseful at times, but way too long" | 2008-07-14 |
| While this book was suspenseful and gave you lots of people to choose from as the murderer, it went on way too long and therefore took me a long time to get through. I think the author could've chopped a ton of pages and had a much tighter book that wouldn't have felt like it was dragging in places (especially the beginning). I also found it hard to get behind Caitlyn and especially her romance with Adam, which seemed forced and contrived. The epilogue just confirmed that. Lisa Jackson a good writer, so I hope the sequel is better. | ||
 | I'm Watching You | |
| "Excellent Suspense" | 2008-06-10 |
| I really enjoyed this book, which was suspenseful and kept you guessing until the end. However, the romance between Kristin and Abe just didn't do it for me. I didn't find it believable in the least, and it detracted somewhat from the story. I also understand the author was trying to show us how close the Reagan family was, but small families can be close too -- there were way too many characters, particularly from this family, and at times I had trouble keeping them all straight. Once again, I also don't understand the author's use of animals in her books. Kristin didn't seem to give a damn about her cats, forgetting about them half the time and never bothering to check on them after terrible things were happening at her home. I don't know if this author is trying to be animal-friendly, but she's no Carlene Thomson or Meryl Sawyer. Looking forward to my next Karen Rose book! | ||
 | Have You Seen Her? | |
| "Good Storyline, Bad Story" | 2008-06-04 |
| While I really enjoyed the storyline of this book and thought it was well-written, I can't give it more than three stars. Steven was unbearable with his jealousy and it really turned me off from his character. Jenna was too perfect, but she was more tolerable than Steven. The murderer's identity also couldn't have been more obvious. But, there's no way I can give anymore stars to a book that features so much violence against animals. If one more dog had been stabbed, I would've been done with this author forever. | ||
 | No Way Out | |
| "Not Very Good" | 2008-05-20 |
| I'm not sure why this was listed as romantic suspense since there's nothing at all suspenseful about it. The bad guy is about as obvious a bad guy as you'll ever come across. Julia's obsession with Brian also made no sense. Every kid has some problems at home. The way she jumped on his and seemed so determined to see abuse where there was none was just silly. Not to mention the way she kept sticking her nose into things that were none of her business. Don't waste your time...Andrea Kane's later efforts are much better. | ||
 | Cold Blooded | |
| "Good Sequel" | 2008-05-16 |
| This was a good sequel to "Hot Blooded" but not nearly as compelling. It started slow. Once it picked up, it was much more interesting. However, it felt like there was too much going on at once and when everything came to a head at the end, you were left feeling like not everything was quite resolved. I look forward to more books from this author. | ||
 | Hot Blooded | |
| "Page Turner" | 2008-05-05 |
| Although Sam came across as stupid in many places, especially where Ty was concerned, the book was still a page turner that leaves you unable to put it down until you've finished the whole thing. The only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars was all the errors -- there were a lot of grammatical errors (such as quotation marks in the middle of someone's quote) and other things that should've been picked up by a competent editor. For example, Montoya tells Bentz that he needs to check out the patient list for Sam's ex-husband that he left on his desk and take note of one particular patient. However, when Bentz picks up the list, it's Sam's patient list, not her ex-husband's, and the patient in question was her patient, not his -- yet this was never even questioned by Bentz the next time he saw her. Looking forward to reading "Cold Blooded." | ||
 | Don't Tell | |
| "Suspenseful" | 2007-11-21 |
| While the book was very suspenseful and kept me reading way past bedtime, it was also very predictable and somewhat unrealistic.
The coincidence of Caroline finally finding love at the precise time her sicko husband started looking for her was too contrived, as was the speed in which the relationship between Caroline and Max progressed, considering her history. I also found best friend Dana to be annoying...what was the point of her character, other than to have Caroline punch her in the arm and say, "Shut up, Dana" every time she was in a scene? Looking forward to trying another by this author, who's long come up in my Amazon recommendations. | ||
 | If She Only Knew | |
| "Suspenseful, but repetitive" | 2007-09-30 |
| This is my second attempt at a Lisa Jackson book. I hated the first one I read, but I picked up "Almost Dead" to give her a second chance...and upon immediately realizing it was a sequel, I went out and bought this one.
While the book was suspenseful, it was really hard to give it any more stars. The characters were unlikeable (especially the main characters), and more than anything, the book was so repetitive! Three times in two pages we were told that Marla's jaw muscles had atrophied from being wired shut. We had to read through pages and pages and pages of Marla and Nick's thoughts on how wrong it was to want each other. Frankly, I think the book could've been 100 pages shorter and not left any of the important plot points out -- if only the author hadn't kept repeating things over and over. | ||
 | Run For Your Life | |
| "So-So" | 2007-09-02 |
| A section early in the book made the CEO of the Hope Institute obvious. After I finished reading, I realized that scene had no purpose in the scope of the book. So instead of being shocked at the culprit's identity, I was disappointed at how obvious the author made it. The book was about 100 pages too long -- and 95 of those pages were probably taken up with the explicit sex scenes between Victoria and Zach. I thought it was overdone. | ||
 | Strip Poker (Sierra Lavotini Mysteries (Hardcover)) | |
| "Bring Back Sierra!" | 2007-06-03 |
| I read the other three books in this series a few years ago and just got around to picking up a used copy of this one. And I'm disappointed -- not in the story, but that there's no more Sierra!
I don't know why the author stopped this series. I've read her other books and while they're good, they can't hold a candle to this series. The characters, the storytelling, the mystery -- everything put together makes it a book you don't want to put down, and a series you don't want to see left hanging when there's still so much story to tell. Bring back Sierra! | ||
 | Twice Kissed | |
| "Not Impressed" | 2007-04-15 |
| After reading her collaboration with Wendy Corsi Staub and Beverly Barton, I decided to give Lisa Jackson's solo work a try. I was not impressed. The writing was way too dramatic and theatric for the story. I also thought there was an awful lot of filler and found myself skimming a good portion of the book. I may try another one by this author because I've heard good things...but this one was a definite disappointment. | ||
 | Sit, Stay, Slay | |
| "Good Debut" | 2006-09-20 |
| As an animal lover, I loved the premise of this series and think it could be a keeper. However, I do hope that there's some development for Kendra. Frankly, I thought it was stupid that she would keep showing up at the firm where she was disgraced, or that they would even let her. I thought it was ridiculous that she ran around accusing various people, hoping a confession would just fall out of the sky. I found it ludicrous that she never once had any kind of dogfight on her hands while bringing Lexie, and at times Odin and/or Py, on her pet-sitting rounds with her. Looking forward to the next installment. | ||
 | Dead Man Docking: A Bed-And-Breakfast Mystery | |
 | "Stick a Fork In It" | 2006-09-15 |
| I've read this series since the first installment, and unfortunately they keep getting worse. Renie, who used to be somewhat amusing, keeps getting more and more annoying. Way too much time is spent on stupidity such as her stuffed ape being "kidnapped" and her rabbit dressed in a tutu. Her mouthiness and attitude are also no longer entertaining -- the character has become unbearable. And Judith isn't much better -- people talking to her because she smiles warmly at them has long since gotten ridiculous. When you run out of feasible reasons for your characters to be involved in murder and the reasons become as convoluted and lame as they have with this series, it's time to stick a fork in it. | ||
 | Killing Kelly | |
| "A Real Stinker" | 2006-08-06 |
| I don't know what's more unbelievable...that this author has gotten her books published, or that I keep reading the garbage that she turns out. This was one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters were unlikeable and complete idiots. The dialogue was inane ("Mel's hurt!" "Yes. Let's go to him!" "Okay!"). The storyline made absolutely no sense at all. As usual, Heather Graham fills her books with so many characters that it's impossible to keep track of them all. And about 90% of them do absolutely nothing for the story but fill pages. Does she have a page quota to meet? The worst part of her books is the horrible writing. Whoever told this woman that she could write should be locked in a room and forced to read her books non-stop for a month. No one speaks...everyone murmurs. On the rare occasion that someone does speak, they always do so "cheerfully." Any writer knows that you use exclamation points sparingly -- however, everything these characters say (or murmur) is an exclamation. It's distracting and annoying. Finishing this book was painful. Ms. Graham should be grateful for the fact that I had no other books in the house, or I would've thrown this one in the trash after the first few chapters. Too bad there's not a zero star rating...although even that would've been too high for this stinker. | ||
 | Suspicion Of Rage | |
| "Disappointing" | 2006-06-05 |
| Here I thought I was buying a mystery...only to find the author using this book as a soapbox for Cuban history and politics. I've found this series to be less enjoyable since it's morphed from the Gail Connor mysteries to the Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana mysteries to what I believe is now the Anthony Quintana mysteries. Gail seems to have become a supporting character in her own books as Mr. Perfect continues to zip around in his red cape, saving the world and all its people. Aside from her character being minimized, Gail has gone from a fiesty indepedent lawyer to an annoying, harping shrew who whines and complains to and about Anthony constantly, but then forgets all about it as soon as he kisses her hand and calls her "bonboncita" (which is usually about when I throw up). Anthony is way too slick for my tastes -- I lived in Miami for 15 years, and having known many Anthonys, I can guarantee that this guy wouldn't give someone like Gail a second look, let alone marry her and put up with her garbage. And no one...I mean NO ONE...is as perfect as the author tries to make us believe Anthony is. I was disappointed in the supporting cast in this story too. I didn't think any of the Cuban characters were fully developed and there were a lot of loose ends left hanging, particularly with Mario and Marta. I also thought the regular supporting cast was pretty useless to this story. The author would've been better off leaving them all at home and not wasting so much time on finding stuff for all these people to do. While this book was suspenseful and well-written, I really didn't expect or want to read a political novel about Cuba and Cubans. Had I wanted that, I would've picked up a Carolina Aguilera-Garcia book. | ||
 | Cross Your Heart And Hope To Die: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery | |
| "Not Her Best" | 2006-04-29 |
| I like this series a lot, but I wasn't all that impressed with this installment. The back and forth with Mick and Nora was pretty annoying, and I really didn't care for the ending. Also, I was really disappointed to see the departure of Spike, one of the more entertaining "characters" in the series. Unfortunately, while we lost Spike, we still have Libby. Her "Maybe I should make <> my target customer" got old after the second time, and it seemed that there was way too much time and emphasis put on her stupid new "career." The author would've been better off sending her to New Zealand and keeping Spike around. I hope the next installment is better. | ||
 | Bubbles Betrothed | |
| "Good Installment of the Series" | 2006-04-07 |
| Though the series is starting to get a bit stale, this installment was entertaining as Bubbles moves on in her career. And the entire cast was present, which is what makes the series fun.
I didn't give it more stars, though, because I found the Dan stuff to be convoluted and completely out of left field. I also found it hard at times to keep all the characters straight in my head because there were so many of them. I'm glad the author chose to leave the series temporarily after this book and give it a breather...hopefully she'll come back fresh with the next installment. | ||
 | Killer Stuff : A Mystery (A Jane Wheel Mystery) | |
| "Good Debut" | 2006-02-16 |
| I liked this book, though I'm not quite sure why -- I found the story to be very confusing in places, and a number of things didn't make any sense. But the characters seemed likable and well-developed (particularly Oh), so it was an enjoyable read. | ||
 | Killer Stuff : A Mystery (A Jane Wheel Mystery) | |
| "Good Debut" | 2006-02-16 |
| I liked this book, though I'm not quite sure why -- I found the story to be very confusing in places, and a number of things didn't make any sense. But the characters seemed likable and well-developed (particularly Oh), so it was an enjoyable read. | ||
 | The Flaming Luau of Death : A Madeline Bean Novel (Madeline Bean Mysteries (Hardcover)) | |
| "Not Up To Par" | 2005-12-27 |
| I really enjoy this series, but this installment wasn't as good as usual. First off, there were way too many characters, which made things get confusing -- especially in the case of Holly's sisters. None of them added anything to the story, but the author seemed determined to not let them just fade into the background by giving them a line here or a word there. It would've been better to just not even have had them in the book. Then you add in all the Hawaiian characters and it was hard to keep track of so many people. One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the entire cast -- Maddie, Wes and Holly. So it was disappointing to see Maddie go off on her own to solve this case that involved Holly without any assistance at all from her and Wes. I also hate the "round up everyone mentioned in the book and stick 'em in the same place" kind of endings. Not only was everyone in the book at the final location, but suddenly you have all these characters back home who'd been mentioned showing up too. It was overkill. And it was an especially annoying way to end the book since we don't know how the current story ended. Does Holly get back together with Marvin? Does she stay in Hawaii or return to LA? I would've been more interested in finding that out and dealing with everyone else back in LA in the next installment. Parts of the book read like a history lesson on Hawaii, but nevertheless, if you're a Maddie Bean fan, you'll enjoy spending a few hours with the gang. | ||
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