#1 The Kitchen Witch by Annette Blair

Restarting count with the new year. My goal will again be to read 100 books this year, and if I don't make it, oh well. If I do, yippee! :) So here goes...

My Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

It was okay... a little too "happily ever after" for my usual taste. I found myself constantly berating Melody and Logan for their dense headed-ness in denying their feelings for each other. If they're both too stupid to go for the gusto when it's dumped right in their lap, then they deserve to be miserable! Fortunately, like all romances, both realize their true feelings and all is well.

Was Melody really a Witch? Well, they live in Salem, Massachusetts, and Melody has a cooking show named "The Kitchen Witch", a herb garden in her backyard, a purple front door with bright yellow stars, and a friend Kira who's also a Witch. Plus she has her "spells" and incantations she does during her cooking show. So I suspect she probably is, as her zest for life would seem to indicate.

But Melody's character, were she a true Witch, would've embraced the superficial differences she believed existed between herself and Logan, instead of trying to deny and supress the constant electricity between them. A Witch will go for what they want out of life, bring it into manifestation so to speak. So throughout the book, her actions had me doubting she was anything more than a Witch wanna-be. But there was never enough emphasis placed on any of her magickal workings to truly judge one way or another.

Logan's fear of trusting someone who claims to be a witch, while he himself lives in Salem, is pretty laughable. Is she really a Witch? he keeps asking himself. I don't think being a Witch—which is something I openly admit myself to anyone who asks—has the negative connotation it once had long ago, so I didn't care for Logan's inital aversion to Witches given where he lives (and grew up). Truth be told, it kind of made me like his character less.

I know it probably sounds like I'm being fairly harsh on this book, but I must say that despite all the criticism I gave it above, the story held my interest enough to keep me reading. So for those whom romance is their favorite reading genre, and who maybe aren't as critical as I am with regards to Witchcraft stuff, they might like this book better than I did. As it is, I gave it a 6 because to me, anything less than a 5 would indicate I had to struggle through it and almost didn't finish it, which certainly wasn't the case here. With the sole exception of Melody's denying her feelings for Logan, I admired her zest for life, a characteristic I strongly embrace in myself. Live for the moment!

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more reviews and information.

#87 The Awakening: A Vampire Huntress Legend (#2) by L. A. Banks

My BookCrossing Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

I found this, the second book of the Vampire Huntress series, slightly better than Minion, the first. However, some of the same things that bothered me about that book came to surface in this one too.

I’m glad I hung onto Minion because The Awakening picked up right where that left off, and I had to reread certain portions of that first book to reacquaint myself with some of the things that went down already. I don’t think the author did a very good job of allowing this book to stand on it’s own. Granted, series such as this are meant to be read in order anyway, but like Laurell K. Hamilton does in her Anita books, if she needs to refer to an incident from a previous book, she’ll usually provide enough additional detail so that new readers can continue reading, albeit with a little less knowledge and detail than someone who’s been reading the series in order. This was not the case here; if you didn’t read the previous book, and remember all of it’s little nuances, you’re going to need to before starting on this one. As it stands, I still had to refer back to things from book one since I’d read it 8 months prior to this one.

The story line is still interesting enough to hold interest, and because Banks doesn’t go into detail on each of the main characters in this book like she did in Minion, we don’t have as many passages that drag on too long like in the first book, though they’re certainly not gone completely. At times while reading, I felt that maybe the writing was done in discrete parts, not necessarily in sequence, since sometimes the scenes didn’t seem to blend transparently as they could’ve. Like maybe she’d forgotten she wrote something in an earlier scene, and then describes or talks about it again in a later scene, which may or may not completely jive with what was stated previously. Again, I noticed this behavior much more prominently in the first book than this one.

I won’t go into a synopsis of the story itself, since you can read that at the BookCrossing journal page for this book. But suffice to say, this series looks like it’s going to get even better going forward.

See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.

#86 Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

I really liked this book. I’ve enjoyed watching Rachel’s character become more proficient in her magick throughout the 3 books of this series. And mmmm… yummy Kisten… I’m glad he’s playing a more prominent role in this book too, and we get to learn more about him as a person. (And that Rachel is finally ready to kick Nick to the curb as she turns an admiring eye towards Kisten. But I won’t say too much there and ruin it for you.)

Ivy is no longer vamping out all the time over Rachel, and their relationship, while still very platonic, is less stressed than it was in the previous book.

That said, I think I still liked the 2nd book the best so far of these three, although this is still a very close 2nd, tied with the first one.

I’ll be sending this book out on a private invitation-only bookring among some of my BC friends… you know who you are. :)

See the BookCrossing journal entry for this book for more links and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.

#85 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I liked it, though not quite as much as the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, which was my favorite of the three.

The Amber Spyglass picked up right where The Subtle Knife left off, and having been a couple months since I read that, and 15 other books in between, I kind of forgot some of the finer points of the previous story. I kind of wish I’d had that copy handy for a quick refresher before starting on this one. I was able to get back up to speed quickly enough, but there were still some references to previous minor events that happened, and I found myself having to work back through memory or hoping that they’d expand if it was really important to the story. An example that kept being referred to is how Will was arguing with his father at the time he died in book 2. Well, unfortunately, I couldn’t recall the circumstances surrounding Will’s father’s death clearly enough in my head to know if what they were arguing about at the time was significant to the story, and I didn’t even know how he’d died until that detail was eluded to in a later conversation.

I don’t think this was as much of an issue between the first and second books because more of the minor plots and events were wrapped up before the end, while of course the big plot that spans the entire trilogy is left open… but you don’t usually forget the major plotline anyway, just some of the details of the minor ones.

So I always like to give an objective statement or review about the book as well as my opinions on it. And that said, I thought the entire trilogy overall was very good and well written. Though I was both pleased and disappointed in the way everything was resolved. How can that be?

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT.
Highlight the text below in order to read it.

Well, I didn’t like that Lord Asriel died, and I didn’t like that Lyra and Will couldn’t be together after all they’d went through. I guess both those points added a note of sadness to the ending. Of course, all the events that had transpired thus far lead up to the final resolution, and I enjoyed seeing the way everything fit together nicely.

See the the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more reviews and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.

#84 Sex, Lies, and Vampires by Katie MacAlister

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

This was a fairly good read, though not quite as good as the previous book in the series, Sex and the Single Vampire. (This is the third book in the series and A Girl's Guide to Vampires the first.)

Thank Goddess we no longer see Joy and Roxy, main characters from the first book who reminded me of a couple of whiny teenagers, in this one. We do have Ally and Christian and a few other characters from the second book though and I was glad to see them return in this one.

In this installment, Nell Harris, a Professor of Medieval History at the University of Washington, is also a Charmer who can create and disarm magical charms and curses, a practice she gave up 10 years ago when she accidently killed her best friend while trying to disarm a curse. She's been asked to the Czech Republic by Melissande, a Dark One (sorta like a Vampire), on the premise of translating an inscription on a fourteenth-century breastplate. The real reason behind Melissande's asking Nell to come though is because she's aware of her background as a Charmer. Melissande wants Nell to use her Charming skills to help find her 10-year-old nephew Damian who's been taken by the demon lord Asmodeus.

Immediately, Nell runs into "The Betrayer", Melissande's brother Adrian, who has been bound to Asmodeus, while searching for clues to Asmodeus's whereabouts in Christian's castle. Adrian whisks Nell off against her will when he realizes what she can do for him. Despite Adrian's curse binding him to the demon lord by his father when he was only 2 years old, Nell immediately sees the good in him and they soon realize that Nell is Adrian's Beloved. (A Beloved is a Dark One's "other half" who is able to bring light into his soul, etc.)

Melissande, Christian, and the other Dark Ones including Melissande's other brother Saer are all against Adrian and would prefer to just do away with him. But Adrian also wants to save Damian as well as have Nell remove his curse. So Nell joins forces with Adrian and while working to get the information they need to free Damian, they must also avoid the other Dark Ones trying to slow them down.

Thoughout the story, Nell's character reminded me a little too much of Joy or Roxy from A Girl's Guide to Vampires—her comments and American colloquialisms were meant to be funny, but I found them annoying more often than not. Plus, she's a bit too mouthy for her own good and doesn't think how her actions will affect what she's trying to accomplish. Fortunately, there were a number of other funny parts in the story, the mummies for instance, which had me cracking up!

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more links and information.

#83 Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I almost didn’t finish reading this book… the first 100 pages were very tedious and boring me to tears. However, I wanted to read at least 1/4 of the way through (about 100 pages) before making a decision whether to put this book aside since I’ve read a number of good books that also started off slow. In this case, I’m glad I continued reading as things got more interesting right around the 100th page, when Azriel was made into the Servant of the Bones.

I didn’t particularly care for the style in which the story was told, with Azriel telling his story to Jonathan, in the style of Interview with the Vampire. The story wouldn’t worked just as well without Jonathan’s character.

Azriel recalls to Jonathan his experiences serving various Masters as the Servant of the Bones, starting with his youth growing up in Babylon, circa 600 B.C.E., and ending in present-day New York, where he uses his supernatural powers to uncover a world-threating conspiracy by a magnanimous cult leader. And in the process, truly transforms himself from the demon he believed he once was, to a true Angel of God.

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more links and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.

#82 Fool Moon (The Dresden Files book 2) by Jim Butcher

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

I really liked this book, even better than the first one. I think Harry’s character is endearing to both men and women alike so I just recently started my husband on this series with Storm Front since I believe he prefers a male lead. That said, many male leads are often indifferent or unemotional like so many men are, but Harry allows you to see his softer side at times too, beneath his tough outside exterior. Because every good guy has a good heart. :)

This book centers around werewolves and their various forms, and as Harry enters into a battle with the supernatural creatures, all the aspects of his personna are stretched and put to the test, including again, his friendship with Murphy, which still hadn’t fully recovered from the last episode. Susan is back and Harry looks deeper at his feelings for her, especially when their lives are threatened and they’re clinging to each other on what might be their last night alive.

(I hope this review is coherent… I’m writing under the influence of Dayquil and many other pain killers. Go Pats! Go Yule Tree! So much to do today… must banish all the ickiness!)

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more links and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.

#81 Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy edited by Dana Stabenow

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
Some of the stories in this book were really good, while others I didn’t really like at all.

Cold Spell by Donna Andrews
A cute and interesting story involving wizards, mages, and magic. And the quest to discover a strange murder. Like Donna Andrews other books, I enjoyed this story a lot.

The Nightside, Needless to Say by Simon R. Green
Green has penned an entire series involving the Nightside, and I’m anxious to read it after reading this short story. This story involves a P.I. named Larry Oblivion whose been murdered, but due to a magic wand obtained from the Unseelie Court, is able to stop time, and thus, take a time out before passing on to try to find out who murdered him.

Lovely by John Straley
A strange story about a raven named Gunk looking for a “dead thing” to eat. A strange story, but amusing nonetheless.

The Price by Anne Bishop
A great story by Anne Bishop set in the same stage as her Blood Trilogy, where women represent power and men are meant to serve them. Unfortunately, an angry witch full of hatred has her own ideas…

Fairy Dust by Charlaine Harris
A little bit weaker than the previous stories but a good read nonetheless. Sookie Stackhouse, of Harris’ Southern Vampire fame, uses her telepathic gift to discern the true killer of Claudine’s twin sister, part of a fairy triplet.

The Judgement by Anne Perry
A strange story… I didn’t really get it. It was still interesting, but I’m sure I would’ve gotten a lot more out of it if I understood the deeper meaning which escaped me. I also didn’t care for the bible-thumping piousness of some of the characters who tried to accuse of Witchcraft.

The Sorcerer’s Assassin by Sharon Shinn
Another story that takes place in a school with mages and wizards. Someone is killing off the 6 most powerful, one-by-one, and the remaining are fighting time to discover who’s the guilty party before they’re next.

The Boy Who Chased Seagulls by Michael Armstrong
Stupid story… I didn’t like this one at all. It was about an old man who had a story about… you guessed it, a boy who chased seagulls, and he used this story to scare a little boy. So what?

Palimpsest by Laura Anne Gilman
I hadn’t yet read anything by this author at the time I read this story, though I do have two of her books, Staying Dead and Curse the Dark, on my TBR pile. I had mixed feelings about this story. I felt it had a lot of potential, but it fell flat in some areas and left me wanting more. So now I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do with a full-length book, where the characters and story can be a bit more fleshed out.

The Death of Clickclickwhistle by Mike Doogan
Stupid story… I didn’t like it at all. It was more of a sci-fi story than a mystery, although there supposedly was a murder they were trying to solve. But I thought all the characters were idiots and the story bored me to tears.

Cairene Dawn by Jay Caselberg
Another story that I believe had a deeper meaning than I could grasp. Sure, I got the whole reference to the Egyptian pantheon, Isis, Osiris, his brother Set, and son Horus, but I believe there was something else going on here, eluded to by the last paragraph of the story which is “Do you know what a jackal sounds like in the fog of a Cairo dawn?” I was like… huh??

Justice is a Two-Edged Sword by Dana Stabenow
This story started off kind of slow and I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d like it. But things picked up and got interesting about half way through and I found I enjoyed this story as much as some of my other favorites from this book.

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more links and information. See more progress on: In 2005 read 100 books.