The Ruins by Scott Smith

Rating: 5.0

The Ruins is relentless! I lost myself in these pages for hours at a time. Four college students, along with a German and a Greek tourist, are trapped on a vine covered hill. The Mayans surrounding this hill won't let the tourists leave. They are being quarantined and they don't know why. But they soon learn that something about these vines just isn't right. These vines are much creepier than I can describe.

But The Ruins isn't just a horror tale about a plant that acts more like an animal. It's about a small group of people struggling to survive and watching as page by page their hope for rescue slowly dwindles with their food supply. I thought the characters were well written with their own strengths and weaknesses. The pacing was unrelenting....something was always going on. And I loved the whole stuck on an ancient ruins in the Mexican jungle atmosphere. The Ruins is gory and not the most cheerful novel out there but it will make you appreciate a cozy chair and clean glass of water.

I like what The Washington Post had to say about it: "… there's a more timeless fable at work here, one that prompts thoughts of Heart of Darkness . Courageous in its pessimism and its embrace of horror, Smith's powerful tale, like Conrad's masterpiece, cautions against such reassuring conceits as civilization, conscience, morality, superiority -- and yes, good and evil. Hidden somewhere in the vines of The Ruins , like those of the Congo, beats the heart of an impenetrable darkness."

Night Probe by Clive Cussler

Rating: 4.5

Another fun Dirk Pitt story. Lots of history here. Pitt and company are in a race against time to uncover some important documents from a sunken ship in the St. Lawrence seaway and from a train that disappeared in 1914. These documents, important to Great Britain, could mean war against the United States. It makes for a very entertaining race between these two countries to be the first to recover the documents and in the case of Great Britain, destroy them once and for all. Night Probe has many twist and turns and many characters, but if you can keep up it's a great read.

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 5.0

Bitten is the first book in the Women of the Otherworld series. I was hooked throughout this entire novel. Elena is a modern career woman who lives in Toronto with her boyfriend. She has a very big secret though: she's a werewolf. She shuns her "pack" who live in upstate New York for the life of a regular woman who leads a normal life. Things change though when her fellow pack members call on her for help fighting some renegade werewolves who are threatening the security of the pack by killing people on pack territory. Elena must decide where she belongs....and why.

The characters in Bitten are very well developed. I loved all of the pack members and really enjoyed their distinct personalities. Kelley Armstrong did a good job writing her environments as well, whether it's the beautiful mansion Stonehaven where the pack live, the city life in Toronto, or even if she's just describing the forest where the pack runs as wolves.

Bitten is a fast paced thriller with a love story in it's midst. As Publisher's Weekly says, "The sensuality of Elena's transformations and the viciousness of her kills mesh perfectly with her tough personality. Filled with romance and supernatural intrigue, this book will surely remind readers of Anne Rice's sophisticated refurbishing of the vampire story."

Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian

Rating: 4.5

Before You Know Kindness is the story of a family thrown into an uproar after tragedy strikes. Twelve year old Charlotte accidentally shoots her father. She thought he was a deer. The result is the permanent loss of his right arm....and a press conference that almost tears a family apart. The big issue here is that Charlotte's father, Spencer, is head of a staunch animal rights organization called FERAL. FERAL wants to use this family's tragedy to highlight it's stance against guns and hunting, and that's where the family is divided. The problem is, that the infamous gun in this story belongs to the brother of Spencer's wife. You'll have to read the book to learn how and why Spencer's daughter Charlotte came to have that loaded gun in her hands the night she shot her father.

Before You Know Kindness has some really interesting characters. Bohjalian does a great job at character development and making the reader care. Nobody in this novel is perfect. But that just makes the story more realistic.

I was really drawn to the issues in Before You Know Kindness. Vegans vs. meat eaters. Animal rights activist vs. hunters. This is a very candid story covering these very divisive issues. Both sides are covered though, and no matter what your own persuasion, this is a good read. As the synopsis says, "Bohjalian manages to examine some very weighty issues without ever coming off as preachy or pedantic. A triumph."

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Rating: 3.5

I enjoyed Alice's many adventure in Wonderland, but I especially found things interesting through the looking-glass. This one book has both stories in it as well as the original illustrations. As for the stories themselves...the flow seemed very random. I got bored. These stories were written for children though and in that context they are very creative and imaginative. I just didn't enjoy it as much as an adult as I did as a child. I am looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland on the big screen in 2010!