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This is a Guest Review by Mrs. Sneakyreader

Subtitle: The First in an Unfoogettable Series

Author: Obert Skye

Genre: Young Reader Fantasy (9+)

Rating: **** (4 Stars)

Summary:

Leven Thumps is a fourteen year old orphan living in a trailer home with his aunt and uncle, who don’t really want him around but feel obligated.  Unknown to Leven, he lives near a gateway to a magical world called Foo. Foo is threatened by the malevolent Sabine, who, if victorious, will destroy not only Foo, but our world as well.

By Fate, Leven meets three messengers from Foo, who tell Leven about Food, and explain that Leven alone has power to save it from the forces of Sabine.

This is the first of a series of books describing Leven’s efforts to save Foo.

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This is a guest review by Mrs. Sneakyreader

Author: Brandon Mull

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Rating: ****(4 Stars – as rated by Mrs. Sneakyreader)

Summary:

Seth and Kendra are spending time at their grandparents farm, Fablehaven.  While there, they are given a set of strict rules.  Seth becomes curious, and ventures into the nearby forest without permission, where he begins to learn about the magical creatures that inhabit the forest.

The children find out that their grandfather is the caretaker of the magical forest and is tasked with maintaining the balance of good and evil among the creatures who live there.

As Kendra and Seth explore, they accidentally break a protective spell, and their grandfather is abducted by mysterious creatures.  Seth and Kendra must rescue him and restore the balance of power at Fablehaven.

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This is a Guest Review by Mrs. Sneakyreader.

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Rating: *** (3 Stars)

Summary:

Isabella (”Bella”) Swan is a high school student who moves Arizona to Washington State to live with her father, Charlie.  On her first day at her new school, Bella catches a fellow student, Edward Cullen, staring at her.  He is in one of her classes, but gives her the cold shoulder and tries unsuccessfully to transfer out of the class, causing Bella to think she has offended him somehow.

Later, Edward pulls Bella out of the path of a speeding car, then saves her from a group of men who are harassing her.  They become aware of their mutual attraction and begin spending lots of time together.

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Author: Michael Connelly

Genre: Detective Fiction

Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Summary:

Terry McCaleb is a former FBI agent, forced to retire by heart disease. While recovering from his heart transplant he is restoring and living on his deceased father’s boat in Long Beach, California.

One day, Terry is visited by a woman who introduces herself as the sister of the woman whose heart now beats in Terry’s chest. Her sister was shot in a convenience store robbery that was never solved, and the surviving sister asks Terry to look into it. Although he is ill, retired, and has no official standing, Terry agrees over his doctor’s objections.

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Author: Jonathan Kellerman

Genre: Mystery (Detective Fiction)

Rating: **** (4 Stars)

Summary:

Jonathan Kellerman is a child psychologist who has written a series of novels featuring the partnership Milo Sturgis, a Los Angeles police detective, and Alex Delaware, a psychologist who consults for the LAPD.  The psychologist, Alex Delaware, often goes well beyond mere consulting, and occasionally endangers his own life in pursuit of the bad guys.

Flesh and Blood begins ten years in the past, with Dr. Delaware’s treatment of Lauren Teague, a teenage girl with behavior problems.  The skeptical father ends treatment after just two visits, and Alex remembers the case as one of his professional failures.  Six years later, while making a token appearance at a colleague’s bachelor party, Alex sees Lauren, who is now a stripper.  He leaves feeling ashamed of himself.

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Science Fiction/ Horror

Rating: *** (3 Stars)

Summary:

Dreamcatcher reads very much like King’s earlier novel, It, published in 1986.  Both books use flashbacks to simultaneously tell two stories involving the same characters.  The story begins as a hunting party of four men, friends since childhood, meet a man lost in the Maine woods and suffering from exposure.  They take him back to their cabin, where, instead of recovering, the man dies painfully, and gives birth to a large and vicious parasite that has been growing inside him.

At the same time, the Army is responding to reports of UFO sightings, missing hunters, and strange animal behavior.  They attack and destroy a crashed alien spacecraft, and quarantine everyone who comes out of the woods.

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Author: Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran

Genre: Nonfiction

Subject: Alternative Fuel Technologies

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

Zoom, written by two correspondents for The Economist, is a discussion of the problems that result from our dependence on oil, and some of the solutions that are taking shape.  It discusses how the oil and auto industries grew together to become the giants they now are; why the Detroit automakers are suffering while Toyota experiences runaway success; and why the world’s dependence on oil is unsustainable for political, economic, and environmental reasons.  Zoom then explains some of the possible solutions and where they are being developed.  It’s hard to put this book in a nutshell, but here are some snippets to give you a picture of what it’s all about:

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Author: Lawrence Block

Genre: Mystery

Rating: *** (3 Stars)

Summary:

About the Series

In the Midst of Death is one of Lawrence Block’s many Matthew Scudder novels. They tell the story of an ex-police officer turned private investigator, who retired from the police force after the accidental death of a little girl during a shoot-out with two armed robbers. He is also a heavy drinker, although he doesn’t admit that to himself until much later in the series. Although the novels follow a rough chronological progression, they don’t have to be read in order. Each story stands alone, and backstories are briefly described for the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with them.

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

The Talisman is a collaborative effort between Stephen King and Peter Straub. It and its sequel, Black House, tell the story of Jack Sawyer, a very special boy who has many magical adventures while saving his mother’s life.

Jack is in his early teens. His father has been killed in a hunting “accident” which later turns out to be murder, and his mother, Lily, a retired actress, is terminally ill with cancer. Morgan Sloat, a business partner of Jack’s father is harassing Lily as part of a scheme to take over the Sawyer family’s share of the business.

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Author: Timothy Ferris

Genre: Self-Improvement

Subject: Financial freedom, Achieving your dreams

Rating: ***** (Five stars)

Summary:

The Four Hour Workweek has been getting a lot of buzz on the internet over the past year. It tells the remarkable story of how its author transitioned from working 15 hour days to traveling the world, ignoring his business except for a few hours on Mondays, while still making more money than ever before. More importantly, Ferriss doesn’t just tell his story, he shares step-by-step instructions for duplicating his results, challenging his readers to escape the daily grind and live their dreams.

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

It consists of two stories involving the same group of characters. The first story happens when they are children in Derry, Maine, in 1958. The second occurs in 1984, when most of them have moved away, and are highly successful in their careers. Both stories revolve around a monster known simply as “It.” It takes various forms, and can only be seen by children. To some of them, It looks like a clown, others see a werewolf or a giant bird. In almost all cases, the children who meet It are brutally killed.

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I noticed recently that I’ve been getting search engine referrals with the search terms “Harry Bosch chronological.” I assume that means people are looking for a chronological list of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels so they can read them in order. I don’t think that’s necessary, but who am I to deny my readers the information they want? I did a little research and put together a list. I haven’t read all of these yet, but I’ve commented on the ones I’m familiar with.

1. The Black Echo
2. The Black Ice (Click here for my review)
3. The Concrete Blond (4 stars)
4. The Last Coyote (5 stars)
5. The Poet
6. Trunk Music (Click here for my review)
7. Angels Flight
8. A Darkness More Than Night
9. City of Bones (5 stars)
10. Lost Light
11. The Narrows
12. The Closers

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Author: Robert Ludlum

Genre: Thriller

Subject: Espionage

Rating: *****(5 Stars)

Summary:

Hal Ambler is a patient in a mental hospital for former spies run by the US government. He is not insane, but believes he has been put there as part of a conspiracy. With the help of Laurel Holland, a sympathetic nurse, he escapes and begins trying to find out who locked him up and why. He discovers that his friends do not remember him, and that any record of his government employment has been erased.

As Ambler visits places where he used to live and work, he finds himself dodging “recovery teams” sent to retrieve him. At the same time, he begins to remember long-forgotten bits of his past, including the assassinations he participated in.

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Author: Michael Connelly

Genre: Crime/ Detective Fiction

Subject: Organized Crime, Murder Investigation

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

Trunk Music is one Connelly’s many “Detective Harry Bosch” novels. They follow a rough chronological order, but they also stand alone. You don’t have to read them in order for them to make sense, but you can see a chronological list by clicking here.

In Trunk Music, Detective Bosch responds to a crime scene where a body is stuffed in the trunk of an abandoned Rolls Royce. Predictably, the Rolls and the body belong to the same person, Tony Aliso, who turns out to be a shady character involved in money laundering and the production of bad movies.

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