Iris Johansen Sucks!!!

Those were my exact words as I read the last line of Johansen's latest novel Eve. Why, you may ask??? Because of what I saw immediately below the last line..."Look for Quinn by Iris Johansen. On sale July 12, 2011"!!! Now I have to wait a month and a half to find out what happens, and I am a very impatient person when it comes to my reading.

Oh, well! Here's a little about the book (even though my daughter is the only one who reads this...Hey, Kendra!). Eve is the first of a trilogy from my favorite author that begins to answer some of the background questions that have been left in readers' minds over the years as we have enjoyed the many Eve Duncan books. In this first installment, we go back to Eve's teen years, see her life growing up with her drug-addict mother in the projects of Atlanta, and meet the young man who fathered her child, Bonnie. We then come back to the present as Eve comes closer than ever to discovering the identity of Bonnie's killer. Catherine Ling is back in this book and is intent on helping Eve find the killer, even if Eve doesn't want to believe that the killer may be someone who was very close to her at one time, Bonnie's father, John Gallo.

As usual, the action and storyline were classic Johansen, but this book had a lot more steamy scenes than some of Johansen's other Duncan stories. The cliffhanger ending made me mad, but longing for the next installment. I guess that's one thing a good author strives to do, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I guess I'll get over it somewhere around July 12!

Check out the Scene of the Crime blog for an interview with Johansen about the new books.

Cleaning vs. Reading

So much cleaning that needs to be done, but so many books that need to be read! I have closets and cabinets at home that are in desperate need of a good spring cleaning, but there are lots of books sitting on the shelves that I really want to read but haven't gotten a chance to read yet.

Hmmm...what to do? Let's weigh out the two options...

Cleaning
Cleaning is hard manual labor.
Cleaning makes me get all sweaty and dirty.
Cleaning makes me sneeze from all the stirred-up dust.
Cleaning isn't fun.

Reading
Reading can be hard mental work, but not much physical labor is required (unless it is a REALLY BIG book).
Reading involves no sweating or getting dirty (unless you are reading while lying on a beach towel at the beach).
Reading does not make me sneeze (even though I have been known to get an itchy nose when reading really OLD books).
Reading is LOTS of fun!!!

Hmmm....

After thoroughly examining the two options, I think I will be spending some time reading over the spring break. I will try to work in a little cleaning between chapters, just to say I did my spring cleaning. Here are some of the books I hope to get a chance to read over the break.

Magyk (Septimus Heap Book One) by Angie Sage
Green by Tedd Dekker
Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Crossbones by Patrick Carman
The Raven by Patrick Carman
Trackers by Patrick Carman
This Book Is Not Good for You by Pseudonymous Bosch
This Isn't What it Looks Like by Pseudonymous Bosch
Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey

Those are some of the ones I want to try to read, we'll have to see how many I get through. Will update you on my progress after spring break.

Beware of the Big Black Bats!

My oldest daughter,Kendra, recommended Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy to me. She said that they were really good books and she thought I would enjoy them. When she gave me a $15 Barnes and Noble gift card for my birthday, I decided to use it to buy the Circle Trilogy 3 in 1 NOOKbook for $14.99.

The first book in the trilogy is Black. I read the first few chapters and then called Kendra and said, "You didn't tell me about the bats!" She had told me that it was Christian fiction with lots of political intrigue, a real thriller. What she didn't tell me was that it was Christian fantasy. Now, I like fantasy, but I would have preferred to have been prepared before reading about the giant, man-sized, black bats called Shataiki. Then came the giant white bats called Roush. I was expecting a political thriller, and I got BATS!

After I got past the shock of the bats, I realized that this was an amazing analogy of the Biblical fall of man. The book follows the main character, Thomas Hunter, back and forth between two realities: Earth in the present (also referred to as the Histories in the other reality) and a new Earth after the tribulation where the inhabitants live in a colored forest, practice the Great Romance, and regularly commune with Elyon. When Tanis, the First Born, becomes consumed with defeating the Shataiki and is deceived into crossing the bridge that separates the colored forest from the black forest, evil is released into and destroys the colored forest. Meanwhile, in the Histories, a new airborne virus is threatening to destroy the human race. Thomas learns from the Roush and Tanis when he is in that reality that this virus is what precedes the Great Tribulation. Now Thomas feels that he is being called upon to change history and save both worlds.

Dekker masterfully creates worlds and characters that the reader cares deeply for. I found myself completely  engulfed in the stories, sometimes wanting to quit reading because I didn't want what I thought may be about to happen to actually happen, but unable to stop reading just to see what did happen. If I had only purchased Black I would have been extremely upset when I got to the end, and would have probably had to drive to the nearest bookstore to purchase the next one (so glad my NOOK lets me purchase automatically though) because you cannot believe the cliffhanger at the end of Black. I HAD to immediately start the sequel, White. When I got to the end of White, there was no way to pause before going into Red. Dekker is most assuredly a master of the cliffhanger! There is no way to delve into all the details of the stories, but you can read more about the books and the author at http://www.teddekker.com/.

These books are about Thomas' battle to save both worlds, but they are also about a battle for the soul and the love and sacrifice of Elyon (God). The new world is a reality where sin is portrayed as a physical manifestation (especially in the last two books), but so is redemption and acceptance of Elyon's love. What first freaked me out with giant, evil bats, soon tugged at my heart and made me question the strength of my devotion to my Lord and Savior. I now look forward to Green the prequel to the trilogy and then move into the Lost Books series.

Joining the Universe of Blogging

While creating a blog for my media center, I discovered that almost everyone has a blog covering almost every imaginable topic. I've tried book blogging before, and I always ended up getting bored or forgetting to update or figuring that no one was reading it anyway so why continue. So, what makes me think that this time will be any different? Absolutely nothing!

This blog is going to be just what the title says, "Random Ramblings from a Reader's Mind". I LOVE reading and read almost constantly. This is just thoughts on what I'm reading or what I've read. Maybe some recommendations. Maybe some spoilers. Just random thoughts!