Lucky Bastard/Deborah Coonts/349 pgs.

Lucky O'Toole is the vice president of Customer of Relations for the Babylon, a casino-resort in Las Vegas. This is the fourth entry in a highly entertaining series. In each book, a murder takes place at the Babylon, and Lucky becomes embroiled in solving it. There is a recurring cast of characters,--"characters" being the operative word! They are funny, surprising, and totally enjoyable. I have never read  Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, but I can't imagine it being better than this. I would suggest, however, that you start with the first in the series, Wanna Get Lucky? Highly recommended. As an aside--Deborah Coonts is the wife of author, Stephen Coonts.

June Challenge

Vintage Children's Literature Reading Challenge

It's time to dust off those piles of books that you meant to read as a child, but just didn't get around to it yet.  Share one of your favorite childhood reading experiences with your kids or grandkids.  Let's go back to a time when technology was less instant, kids were allowed to ride bikes without helmets, and our houses were decorated with louder wallpaper.  It's the Vintage Children's Literature Reading Challenge!

The Rules:
1. Only titles published before the year 2000 count.  So that means only the first three Harry Potter novels would qualify for this challenge.
2.  The challenge focuses mainly on novels but you can choose collections of short stories or non-fiction,  if you desire

2 points for every "Vintage" Book.

Fables: Homelands (Vol. 6) / Bill Willingham / 190 pgs / Fairy Tales Challenge

The Fables are preparing for war.  They are on edge waiting for the Adversary's next attack.  In the meantime, Little Boy Blue goes undercover and sneaks back into the homelands to look for his long-lost love Red Riding-hood and to find out who is the main power behind the Adversaries.

Enchanted / Alethea Kontis / 308 pages / Fairy Tale Challenge

This book definitely falls into the fairy tale retold category.  Amazingly Ms. Kontis has cleverly interwoven most well-known, beloved fairy tales into this original fairy tale about the magical seventh daughter in the Woodcutter family.  Sunday's stories are legendary and often come true.  Sunday falls in love with an enchanted frog who was once a prince.  (No one knows but the enchantment is closely related to Sunday's brother, Jack, and his presumed death.)  Sunday's love transforms the frog into Rumbold, the Crown Prince of Arriland, who is believed to be responsible for her brother's death.  Several storylines entwine with the central plot to make for a captivating read.

When Will This Cruel War Be Over? / Barry Denenberg / 173 pages / First Book in a Series

Gordonsville, Virginia, 1864
Dear American #1, The Diary of Emma Simpson
Fourteen year old Emma Simpson used reading as a diversion from the horrible war.  Like Jane Eyre, her life "seems to become more complicated with every turn in the road."  Her brother was killed in the war, her father is off fighting for the noble Confederate cause, and her mother died of illness.  She corresponds with Tally, a young eighteen year old she met just before he, too, went off to war.  This is an excellent depiction of horrors of war from a Southern point of view.

The Guilty One / Lisa Ballantyne / 568 pages / Scottish/Irish Challenge

Sebastian Croll is accused of murdering Ben Stokes, one of his playmates, an eight year old boy.  He is reputed to be a bully and his counselor believes he comes from an abusive home.  Daniel Hunter, his solicitor wants to save eleven year old Seb from the cruel justice system.  He hates Seb's family and worries about the child returning to that world of material privilege and emotional deprivation, but the thought of Seb inside, in the system, was worse.  The evidence is circumstantial, but the press had already demonized him.  At the same time that Daniel is engaged in Seb's trial, he is setting to rest ghosts in his past - his own drug-addicted mom, his Irish adoptive Mam - Minnie, and his own predilections to violence.  A most surprising twist at the end causes the reader to gasp in disbelief.

"Fear's like pain.  It's there in your life to tech you about yourself."

The World Above / Cameron Dokey / 175 pages / Fairy Tale

This is the true story of Jack and the Beanstalk.  Here Jack has a twin sister, Gentian, and their mother tells them wonderful bedtime stories.  When they reach their sixteenth birthday, they discover that their mother came from the World Above and that their father had been killed for his position.  Celine Marchand fled to the World Below and lived a life of poverty.  Magic beans and beanstalks figure prominently in this tale; and we have the bags of gold; the goose who lays eggs with rich, nourishing gold egg yolks; the singing harp; Sean the giant;...and Robin (Hood?), the son of the man who murdered Gen and Jack's father.  This is a most enjoyable read with clever twists on the traditional tale.

"Acting on what you fear instead of what you know is never a wise choice."

"|Belonging is more than just an accident of birth."

|"It's good to put your trust in something greater than yourself.  It makes the world less frightening."

The Original Adventure of Hank the Cowdog / John R. Erickson / 149 pages / First Book in a Series

Hank the cowdog is head of ranch security.  There's been a murder on the ranch and Hank is determined to find out whodunit.  Who or what is killing the chickens?  Unfortunately, Hank cannot prevent himself from eating one of the dead chickens and is accused of the murders himself.  He decides to run away and become an outlaw.  He joins a coyote band against his will and better judgment.  When the coyotes attack the ranch, however, Hank shows his true colors. 

Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride / Barbara Ensor / 147 pages / Fairy Tale

Did you know that Thumbelina was exactly 1 and 5/8 inches tall?  Her story was reputedly told to Hans Christian Andersen by a passing sparrow.  Her mother was terribly over-protective and Thumbelina longed for adventure.  This is the true story of Thumbelina and her misadventures and her happily ever after ending.  Illustrated with black paper cutouts similar to the woodcuts of Andersen, this quick read would work well as a comparison/contrast with Disney's movie version.

The Reluctant Assassin / Eoin Colfer / 341 pages / Irish/Scottish Challenge

W.A.R.P.  Book 1
Chevron Savano is a seventeen year old American Indian orphan FBI agent.  The FBI had put together a program, "The Witness Anonymous Relocation Program - W.A.R.P.," in conjunction with Homeland Security to "stop terrorist cells from getting a grip on the minds of high school kids.  Half a dozen orphans were trained at Quantico and inserted into schools.  Chevron's target was an Iranian family with four kids in school.  Her observe-and-report mission turned deadly when a jeep full of guys accosted the Iraninas outside the movie theater.  Chevron came to the rescue and was banished to the hinterlands - London, as the Senate investigates the incident and the program.  Guarding a futuristic pod, she encounters Riley, a street urchin, magician apprentice from 1858.  Together they travel back in time.  "Like Holmes and Watson [they] are, but with extra munitions and explosions."  The time traveling adventure has multiple plot twists and nonstop action, not to mention a close-up tour of Victorian England.

Beyond the Highland Mist / Kren Marie Moning / 509 pages / Scottish/Irish Challenge

Okay...Beware...This one starts off racy!!  Adrienne's last boyfriend used her as a courier in his drug business, unbeknownst to her.  When she discovers his duplicity, she swears off men.  When she is whisked back through time, however, by fairie magic, and encounters James Douglas "Hawk" in 1513 Scotland and Adam the blacksmith who is not what he appears, she changes her mind. 

Screwed / Eoin Colfer / 301 pages / Irish/Scottish Challenge

This is the second Daniel McEvoy book and it is almost as good as the first one.  Ex-bouncer, now nightclub owner, Daniel McEvoy, is once again given a seemingly impossible assignment by local mob kingpin Irish Mike Madden.  Joe's ties in Ireland where Madden's mother lives have kept Joe safe.  When she dies, all bets are off and Madden threatens Joe's associates to secure his co-operation.  Mr. Colfer's sense of humor and "head-spinning plot twists" make this a sure bet good read.

Walking Disaster / Jamie McGuire / 437 pages

I can't say I enjoyed this at all.  In fact, I almost stopped reading it at several points along the way.  I found the characters and their situation to be totally unbelievable.  Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox's mother, on her deathbed, had asked him not to settle, to fight for the person he loved, and for the first time he did what she expected of him.  He finally lived up to who she wanted him to be.  He gave up bagging girls and married Abby.

Second Sight / Amanda Quick 305 p. First in Series

This first in the Arcane Society novels introduces Venetia Milton and Gabriel Jones.  Gabriel hires Venetia to photograph all the treasures of the Arcane Society, a 200 year old highly secretive organization founded by an alchemist.  Venetia decides the remote location, far from family and London's gossip driven society, is the place to have a one-night fling with Gabriel.  Upon reading of his death, Venetia adopts Mrs. Jones as her professional name and portrays herself as a widow.  She embarks upon a career as a photographer in London, where her gift of  'seeing' beyond her subjects, allows her to capture a quality that makes her photographs very desired by the fashionable elite.  When Gabriel strolls back into her life, she finds herself somewhat bound to him, as he seeks to find the someone who goes to any length even murder to gain the Arcane Society's ancient secret.  A romantic story involving the paranormal set in Victorian times is deftly handled by Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz).

October Sky/Rocket Boys/ Homer Hickam/ 368 pp

Homer "Sonny" Hickam and his friends became known as the "Rocket Boys" in their hometown of Coalwood, West Virginia when they decided that they would launch their own rockets in response to the Soviets launching Sputnik.  This captivating memoir chronicles a time when children were allowed to play all day without adult supervision.  When Sonny announces that he's going to build his own rockets, his mom replies "Just don't blow yourself up."

I very much enjoyed this memoir.  The movie was enjoyable but, as usual, the book was better.

The House on Mango Street / Sandra Cisneros / 134 pages

     I listened to this book on CD because it was recommended and because it was about Mexican Americans in Chicago.  There was also a forward by the author who read the book.
She was involved in the famous Iowa writers program and this book is acclaimed.
     For whatever reason, it just didn't keep my interest.  Maybe it was "too Iowa writer style" although I could see how well written it was.  Maybe it was that I have read a lot of these kind of books.  Maybe it was that first person narrative.  I just couldn't get into it and found myself listening to anything on NPR instead of driving around just to hear another paragraph of a book as I usually end up doing.  I give it no thumbs and one shoulder shrug.  Sorry.

The Black Box / Michael Connelly / 403 pages

You cannot beat Michael Connelly for police detective mysteries.  His character Harry Bosch is terrific.  I'm sure we all have "Harrys" in our lives....the people who are passionate about what they do and are willing to buck the system to do the right thing.  I wonder if I met Harry would I like him?  He is so driven to find justice for his cold case victims that he walks over whoever he needs to in order to solve his case.  He doesn't listen to the advice of his coworkers and friends yet he wants to be a good dad and tries so hard to do the right thing with his teenage daughter Madeline.  I see a storyline developing where Madeline might join the police force as well.....which means more Harry Bosch books.  Yeah!

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks/ 306 pp

Inspired by the story of the first Native America to graduate from Harvard, the author weaves a fictionalized story around how he got there.  The story is told from the viewpoint of Bethia Mayfield.  In 1665, on Martha's Vineyard, young Bethia feels constrained by the limitations put on young girls.  She desires to be educated and fulfill her potential.  Bethia meets a young Native American boy, who she calls Caleb.  Eventually, Bethia's father, a Christian minister, begins to tutor Caleb along with Bethia's older brother with the intent of qualifying for the best education the New World can offer, Harvard.

Told over the course of many years, the reader is carried along by Bethia's struggles and observations.  It was a difficult time and place to live.  I enjoyed being transported back in time but I'm glad I live when I do.

Touch & Go/Lisa Gardner/423 pgs.

Oh--my--gosh! I loved this book! I have always enjoyed Lisa Gardner's books, but this is one of her best efforts! It begins with an entire family being kidnapped: Justin and Libby Denbe, and their fifteen- year-old daughter, Ashlyn. Justin is the chief owner of his own very successful construction company, so the kidnapping has to be about ransom and money--or does it? There are secrets, lies, and skeletons in the closet. Right when you think you have it all figured out, something blows your theory! I especially liked how some chapters of the book are told in Libby's voice, and that one of Gardner's recurring characters, Tessa Leoni, has a key role in the book. Highly recommended.

Witness in Death/J D Robb/516 pages

J D Robb's Eve Dallas has another mystery to solve.  This time she actually witnesses the murder along with 2,000 other theater patrons.  During the final scenes of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution a stage knife is replaced by a real knife and a famous actor is killed is front of thousands.  Dallas and her team know what happened, but not who was truly responsible for the very brutal and very public execution.  It also turns out there was no want for motive, either, as every actor and a few of the stage crew had a reason to hate the victim.  This series entry had a very intriguing twist near the end that was very surprising.