Today is an important day in our country’s history. I took the day off to commemorate this monumental day with my nine year old son. We woke up early and I took him to the school where we vote. He’s been very excited about the entire voting process. He watched some of the debates with us, and always had some very good questions about each candidates views. So, together we stood in line for a whopping 30 minutes before we were able to vote. I’m not complaining :). Polls close here in 7 minutes. My hubby and I will spend the evening watching the results come in (ok, he’ll be plopped in front of the TV, laptop on his lap, while I’ll be curled up in my recliner with a book, looking up every so often when new results come in).
I hope everyone took advantage of this amazing right we all have. For those of you on the west coast, you still have time! GO VOTE!!
Update on what I’m reading: just finished DEADLY HARVEST by Heather Graham. LOVED IT!. I have the other two books in her Flynn brothers series, but wanted to squeeze some other books in before I start the next one. Just started ANY GIVEN DOOMSDAY by Lori Handeland. I can’t guarantee how much reading I’ll get done tonight (oh dear, hubby is already up and cheering/yelling about something) so look for my review of this and DEADLY HARVEST by Thursday.
Ok…back to voting results!!
Book Description:
Olivia Chatham has found her calling. Crime buster. Mysterious Tucker Monroe realizes he, too, has a mission. Keeping up with her. When a Chatham, Wisconsin, resident is murdered, Olivia feels it is up to her to solve the case. The authorities have their science and labs, but she has an advantage. Olivia has common sense and the grapevine, which can be far more powerful than police procedures. Using a form of logic understood only by Olivia, and with the help of her best friend, ex-model Josephine Bookman, and Tucker, an enigmatic drifter, she peels away the ‘onion layers’ of the nefarious deed. Along the way she performs her normal anonymous random acts of kindness for folks down on their luck, blissfully unaware everyone knows she’s behind their windfalls. Olivia occasionally mangles a cliché, and utters a malapropism from time to time, but her heart is pure gold and her unconventional thought process is usually right on target. Although cynical and world-weary, Tucker is impressed by Olivia’s genuine concern for others. It’s possible she’s too naive, and her trusting nature could lead to trouble. Tucker assigns himself the task of keeping her out of danger. Little does he know how busy he’ll be with his self-imposed duty.
“She was born in April, but her parents named her January.” Thus begins the hilarious saga of Olivia Chatham, a weathly, recently divorced woman who had returned home to Chatham, WI to live with her parents. Her parents, the day after she was born, rethought their intial name choice, January Eighth, one that was based on their love of Elvis (January eighth is Elvis’ birthday). Instead they decided to name her Olivia, a name that popped into both of their heads simultaneously.
Olivia is quite the character. She’s decided to help the local police solve the murder of Cheryl Mecklenberg, a local university professor and Chatham resident. I must mention something about Olivia. She’s a bit…ditzy, but has the best of intentions. Picture a combination of Jessica Simpson and Janet Evanovich’s bounty hunting babe, Stephanie Plum. She, along with her best friend Josie (who believes Olivia is the smartest person she knows) and Tucker Monore (a drifter that has recently made Chatham his home) form their own private investigating “force” and attempt to solve the murder.
Depre does an amazing job with the characters and the storyline. The story draws you in immediately. The characters are so genuine and believable. I laughed at loud several times while reading at Olivia’s niavete and seemingly nonsensical investigating techniques. OBLIVIOUS is a must read!
is Callista! Congratulations, Callista! Please email me at jenlaw77ATearthlinkDOTnet with your mailing address.
Greetings all. K. Patrick Malone here, author of INSIDE A HAUNTED MIND and THE DIGGERS REST. Tis the time for all of us who like our ghosties and goulies and things that go bump in the night to celebrate our love of the things that scare us. Whatever it may be, books or films of all scares derived. Light the Jack-O-Lantern. Turn out the lights ( order a Pizza) and enjoy. . . Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill House, Jason, Freddie, John Carpenter’s Halloween, the old Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff films, Dracula, Frankenstein, Lon Chaney Jr. Wolfman films, the Hammer films, American International, William Castle films, Val Lewton (Cat People) from the 40’s, such a wealth of horror to be discovered by those brave enough to seek it out. Whatever it is that scares you, DO IT! DO IT! JUST DO IT! but whatever you do. . . .don’t go in the basement. Mwhhhaahahahaahhhahaha Very Scarily Yours, K. Patrick Malone BOO!
Click here to purchase
Inside A Haunted Mind
Click here to purchase
The Digger’s Rest
My next pick for my horror marathon is Deadly Night, by Heather Graham.
From Publisher’s Weekly:
Bestseller Graham (Kiss of Darkness) spices up a spooky post-Katrina mystery in this solid trilogy opener. PI brothers Aidan, Jeremy and Zachary Flynn have inherited a plantation near New Orleans from Amelia Flynn, a relative they never knew. They consider selling the rundown house, but instead agree to restore it and move in. When Aidan finds human bones on the plantation’s grounds, further sleuthing reveals some local missing persons cold cases that might be connected to the house, already haunted by two Flynn cousins who fought on opposite sides of the Civil War. Meanwhile, romance slowly ignites between cynical widower Aidan and Kendall Montgomery, psychic and Amelia’s friend and former caregiver. Dream messages and premonitions, ghostly sightings, capable detective work and fascinating characters blend to make a satisfying chiller.
This is the first book in the Flynn brothers series. The next book in the trilogy, Deadly Harvest, will be released in November, followed by the final book in December.
I haven’t been fortunate enough (despite a lot of begging!)to receive review copies of these books, so I suppose I’ll have to wait patiently for their release!
Stay tuned for my review of Deadly Night.
Strange things are going on at Tyler High School. Recently converted to a charter school, Tyler High is undergoing a lot of changes. The principal, normally a very laid back and kind woman, has turned into a strict dictator-like leader. She has created a group of “Tyler Scouts” that parade around the school, empowering them to enforce rules and regulations with students AND teachers. Students and teachers that opposed the contract have gone missing. Ghostly images of children are seen playing on the school grounds, and student and staff alone are afraid to enter the school grounds at night alone. A handful of students and teachers still brave enough to stand up against the school join up and discover a way to destroy the evil at Tyler High. Bentley Little’s THE ACADEMY is full of horrific tales of the atrocities that take place at Tyler High. The ending seemed to be a little too “neat”, but that certainly didn’t take anything away from this great work piece of horror fiction. This was my first taste of Little’s writing; I can’t wait to read more from him!
Those that know me well know that I LOVE horror books and movies. I attempted to read and review only horror books for the month of October. Well, it’s the end of October and you can clearly see that hasn’t happened. Instead, I’m doing a mini-marathon of horror for Halloween week (thanks for the idea, Becky!)
My first horror book for the week is Bentley Little’s The Academy. No particular reason for starting off horror week with this book, it just happened to be the first book I grabbed off of my overwhelming and overflowing horror bookshelf.
From Publisher’s Weekly :
School principal Jody Hawkes, known for being easygoing, decides to turn John Tyler High into a charter school without notifying any of her staff. At first, as Jody promises additional freedom and autonomy, most faculty embrace the changes-but it soon becomes clear that a evil bait and switch is underway. Students and faculty who embrace the charter get steadily darker and more sadistic; teachers and students who oppose the charter find strange things happening and people disappearing; and the school seems to have taken on a life of its own. The resolution is painfully simple, but overall Little crafts a tightly allegorical piece of horror.
Stay tuned for my review! Also be on the lookout for my reviews of Heather Graham’s DEADLY HARVEST, and a special Halloween guest post by the author of INSIDE A HAUNTED MIND and THE DIGGER’S REST, K.Patrick Malone!
And, to enter to win a ghoulish grab bag of Halloween goodies, please comment below about your favorite horror novel or movie!
Cory Friedman was a typical five year old boy. That is, until he wakes up one morning with an urgent need to shake his head. This need is just the beginning of years of uncontrollable ticks, verbal utterances, and other unmanageable behavior. Cory is ultimately diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is a story told by Cory Friedman and his father, Hal. The reader gets an inside look at the living hell that this family went through in the thirteen years it took to “control” this illness. Cory was put on so many types of medications, they were soon unable to determine if the tics and other problems he was having was a result of the Tourette’s or of the medicine he was on. Nothing appeared to help; Cory’s symptoms just got worse. AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE is an honest, heart wrenching tale of Cory’s torment. Cory was willing to share this misery with others, in the hopes that someone with the same condition might gain something from this. I can’t say enough about how amazing this book is. I believe that this tale of perseverance, dedication, and love, would be beneficial to any family undergoing any sort of medical or behavioral problem.
Buy Against Medical Advice: One Family’s Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery
Now!
Four airplanes from various locations in the world are blown out of the sky. The world is thrown into a panic. Marie Peterssen, an American reporter, begins to investigate the attacks. Peterssen meets Julian Granot, an Israeli operative and FBI agent Morgan Easely in her hunt for answers. They soon uncover another terrorist plot, this time set to occur in New York city. The team must risk everything, including their lives, to find out the truth. RED SEA is a action-packed, heart-pounding read from page one. The possibility of such an act on the citizens of the world make the story even more realistic.
About E.A. Benedek
E.A. Benedek is a journalist and author whose articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Glamour, and on NPR, among others. Benedek spent a year following an FBI special agent working counterterrorism and wrote about an F-15C fighter pilot who flew in Operation Shock and Awe. Red Sea is E.A. Benedek’s first novel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B8fRLL5E40&hl=en&fs=1]
