August reading - as part of procrastination

Harlan Coben: Just One Look; 383 pages (B)
When Grace Lawson picks up a bunch of photographs at the local Photomat she doesn’t know what this will cause. Among the pictures is an old picture of five people, one of them Grace’s Husband, Jack. When Grace shows him the picture, Jack leaves the house and disappears. When Jack does not return and the police don’t see a reason to search for him, Grace starts investigating herself. This is a wonderful book ful of intrigue and suspense. I wouldn’t compare it to Coben’s Myron Bolitar series, but this thriller is awesome!

Barbara Hannay: The Blind Date Surprise; 156 pages (B-)
romance

Susan Stephens: The Sheikh’s Captive Bride; 156 pages (B-)
romance

Shawna Kenney: I Was a Teenage Dominatrix; 169 pages (B+)
Shawna Kenney’s memoir about her life as a dominatrix is shockingly honest. She doesn’t hide behind the “it was actually pretty cool”, but tells it like it was. She met some strange men with strange fantasies, who paid a lot of money for her services. This memoir certainly was worth the time I spent reading – and I would have read more, if offered.

Alice Kimberly: The Ghost and the Dead Deb [2nd Penelope Thornton-McClure & Jack Shields]; 260 pages (A-)
After the first Haunted Bookshop mystery Penelope Thornton-McClure & Jack Shields are finally back. A year after an author died right in the shop during a reading, Penelope prepared the shop for another reading. This time the author is a friend of a murder victim and she wrote a book about the murder as it has never been solved. Not long after the reading, she disappears and is found murdered. It is Penelope and Jack's turn to solve the case... I just loved this one, plus it had a new "addition" - but that you'll have to read for yourself!

Victoria Laurie: Better Read Than Dead [2nd Abby Cooper]; 296 pages (A)
This time, Abby Cooper, a real psychic earning her money with her gift, helps out a friend reading some wedding guests. After only a few readings, Abby discovers that the wedding is in fact a Mafia wedding and leaves, pretending she is sick. Of course, the mob boss is not too happy the psychics at his daughter’s wedding left early. On top of that, there’s a serial rapist on the loose close to Abby’s office and it is Abby’s job to help Milo find him, after one of her clients was attacked after a reading. I just loved this book! Abby is a wonderful quirky, but strong character. The book is wonderfully written and leaves me with high hopes for the next in series, A Vision of Murder.

Donna Andrews: You’ve Got Murder [1st Turing Hopper]; 298 pages (C+)
Turing Hopper is a scentient AIP, an Artificial Intelligence Personality. When her creator, Zack, does not come to work without telling her for several days, she starts to worry. Upon contacting some friends of Zack’s, she gets the feeling something is wrong. With the help of Maude and Tim, she goes to work searching for Zack, only to discover that some sinister people are plotting against the AIP program and trying desperately to find Zack. For some reason I just didn’t get into this book. It appeared to be rather boring and annoying. I had hopes it might pick up a bit later in the book, but I was disappointed again. It just wasn’t a book for me.

Newt Scamander: Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them; 64 pages (B+)
This is one of Harry Potter’s schoolbooks, the book for Care of Magical Creatures. It was a short read, yet amusing and it was a little like sitting close to Harry during one of his lessons. An extra were the annotations by Harry, Hermoine and Ron. Their remarks throughout the book made me laugh even more.

Kennilworthy Whisp: Quidditch Though the Ages; 64 pages (A-)
Harry’s second schoolbook on Quidditch, well, actually it was more of a library book, was another good addition to my Potter-missing self. Always a fan of Quidditch (you’ve got to love the scenes on the field, be it in the book or in the movie!) I couldn’t wait to read it, and I was right. If we could use broomsticks to fly, Quidditch would be my game! The book explained where Quidditch originated from, explained the exact rules and gave a short overview of the most important British and Irish teams.

Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity and the Duke [2nd Aunt Dimity]; 348 pages (B)
In Aunt Dimity and the Duke I missed Aunt Dimity, because unlike in Aunt Dimity's Death Aunt Dimity hardly ever appears.
Emma is from the US and originally she had planned to spend some weeks in Great Britain with her then boyfriend, but he breaks up with her before they cango on the trip to marry a younger, thinner and blonder woman than Emma. So Emma goes on the vacation to see some gardens by herself and when she meets the Pyms, they talk a while before they tell her to go see a special garden which is actually not open for public. The Pyms give her a card with their recommendation to give the owner of the garden, a duke, and when Emma gets there the Duke thinks she is there to design his garden. Seems like Aunt Dimity had her fingers in the game again ;-) It is a wonderful book and I can only recommend the series!

Sarah Strohmeyer: Bubbles In Trouble [2nd Bubbles Yablonsky]; 315 pages (B)
Bubbles Yablonsky was supposed to be the Maid of Honor at a friend's wedding. When her friend Janice, the bride, does not appear Bubbles sets off looking for her, only to find Janice gone and her uncle, with whom she lived, dead. Despite the fact that everyone wants it to be either an accident or at least something domestic with Janice as the murderer (After all, where they live they have security all the time and those rich retirees don't want their home to be a place where a stranger could possibly come in and kill one of the inhabitants!). So Bubbles sets off to find out what really happened and lands in Whoopee, PA (which, btw, is a tiny town in Dutch Country, half way between Intercourse and Paradise *g*).

MaryJanice Davidson: Undead and Unwed [1st Betsy Taylor]; 260 pages (B-)
The day Betsy Taylor died pretty much everything went wrong for her. First, she misses her bus, then she gets laid off – and upon getting home she discovers her cat left her again. This is when she hears the cat meow-ing on the street, waiting to be saved from the cold snow. Betsy gets out to retrieve the cat when a car meets her and makes her fly through the air straight into a tree. This would actually have been it, had Betsy not been attacked a few months earlier. About three days after her death, Betsy wakes up in a morgue and discovers, that she can’t die anymore – she’s a vampire! This book left me confused and unsure whether I want to read the next in series or not. I can’t explain it, but something was weird. Her best friend isn’t scared in the least, when Betsy arrives the day of her funeral and explains that she is now a vampire. But the story was really funny and wonderful. It took me a few days to make up my mind about that series, but now I know I couldn't live without reading more about Betsy Taylor!!!

Plum Sykes: Bergdorf Blondes; 371 pages (C+)
In this book, some Park Avenue Princesses are on the hunt for a PH
- a prospective husband. The main character, an un-named journalist who grew up in England, first stumbles onto a photographer while she is trying to get her friend Julie Bergdorf a PH. It is Julie after whom the Bergdorf Blondes are names as she has the perfect blonde hair.