Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Rating: 4.0

Chocolat is a tale of prejudice, bigotry....and chocolate? It's the tale of a beautifully pagan chocolotiere and a handsome red headed river gypsy who the town priest preaches against.

When the enchanting Vianne comes to set up a chocolate shop in a provincial French town, all hell breaks loose thanks to Pere Reynaud, the parish priest. Vianne refuses to go to church, she has a daughter out of wedlock, she tells all kinds of pagan stories and she wants to have a chocolate festival on Easter morning. She gets under Pere Reynaud's skin at every turn. All she really wants though is to make people happy. And she does. Chocolat has some beautiful characters and the pastoral setting was charming. The descriptions, especially of the chocolates, was mouth-watering and tantalizing. What I didn't like was the ending. Too much was left unsaid. There was not enough closure for my taste. Besides that, the book was a very enjoyable read. I think I enjoyed the movie a bit more though.

Word of warning: have lots of chocolate handy while reading this. ; )

Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

Rating: 4.0

Science and religion collide in Blasphemy with results that will change humankind forever. This one is hard to review without saying too much and spoiling it for you but I'll try.

A group of scientists deep in an Arizona mountain have created the world's largest supercollider which will "probe what happened at the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself". Opposing these scientists are the fundamentalist Christians who believe that these scientists are attacking their religion by attempting to disprove Genesis.

Blasphemy could be considered by many to be controversial with it's plot surrounding the clash of science and religion. The Washington Post says ".....the scenes of howling Christians eagerly killing fellow Americans who don't share their views are chilling, and history reminds us that the more feverish advocates of most religions have been spilling innocent blood for centuries. The novel is entirely readable, and its satire of religious extremism, if heavy-handed, often strikes home." The characters were well written for the most part and the pace moved along pretty well. Overall, I thought this was an entertaining read. There were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming and the one really big plot twist toward the end. The outcome wasn't exactly what I hoped it would be but I can live with that. This is definitely something different and worth a read.

The List of 7 by Mark Frost

Rating: 5.0

The List of 7 is positively one of the most fun adventures I've ever read! I've just finished reading it for the second time.

The plot is full of mystery and suspense as Arthur Conan Doyle and his few newly acquired friends try to stop the underground takeover of the world by a group of seven people. I know the plot sounds kind of typical but the characters are what bring so much fun to the story. The main characters are fantastic and supported by a cast of walking mummies, flying gargoyles and other nightmarish creatures to keep Dr. Doyle and friends on their toes. The ending doesn't bring a lot of closure and that's okay because this book has a sequel, The Six Messiahs. You don't want to miss this thrilling tale full of compelling characters.

Broken by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 5.0

Elena and her werewolf pack are back in action in Broken. This time around, a very pregnant Elena unwittingly opens a portal that may have unleashed historical Jack the Ripper onto an unsuspecting modern day Toronto. Amidst zombies, a cholera outbreak, and vicious and diseased rats, Elena and company must try to get the portal closed and kill the ones who came out of it while staying alive themselves.

I really enjoy this Women of the Otherworld series. What I love most about it is the wit, sarcasm and brass that Armstrong writes into her characters. It gives the books a fun and fresh feel that I really enjoy. Broken is exciting, very entertaining and has a great ending. I highly recommend this series.

The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Rating: 3.5

This is one of Koontz's first novels, written originally under a pen name. It's definitely not up to par with his latest works but it wasn't bad either.

A mother looses her son to a tragic accident while he's on a scouting trip in the Nevada mountains. A year later and she's coping....until two words show up on her dead sons chalkboard. NOT DEAD. Lots of mysterious paranormal incidents occur that lead the mother and her new flame on a hunt to uncover what has been covered up and to discover why.

The Eyes of Darkness was a good story but it didn't have enough depth. Why the events occurred was explained but the how part was left a mystery. The characters were very cardboard with very little background. If this was written by the Koontz of today I think it would make a great book.

Black Wind by F. Paul Wilson

Rating : 5.0

Black Wind is a stunning story of love, honor and betrayal set against the backdrop of World War II. F. Paul Wilson really brings the war to life in his detailed characters and settings.

At the heart of the story are four characters. "Matsuo Okumo, born in Japan, raised in America, and hated in both lands; Hiroki Okumo, his brother, a modern samurai sworn to serve a secret cult and the almighty Emperor; Meiko Satsuma, the woman they both love; and Frank Slater, the American who turned away when Matsuo needed him, and who now struggles to repay his debt of honor." This love story is set amidst the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Doolittle's raid, the bombings of Tokyo and finally the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

This book is unforgettable! I loved every minute of it and really had a hard time putting it down. The characters come to life and seem so real that it's easy to lose yourself in these pages. Black Wind was an excellent read....one I can't wait to read again.

The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson

Rating: 3.0

The Mirror of Her Dreams is a fairly slow fantasy novel. It's about Terisa, a girl from our own world, who travels through a mirror into a world of Stephen R. Donaldson's making. This new world is a place where mirrors are used not for their reflections but for portals into other times and places. This is a world where a King seems to have lost his mind and treachery and betrayal run rife. This is where Terisa questions her role among an overlarge cast of character.

The Mirror of Her Dreams had some interesting aspects that I really enjoyed. I loved the idea of mirrors as portals. Overall though the story seemed to move at a very slow pace. I got bored while reading this. I just wasn't feeling it. I have read much better fantasy but I've also read much worse.

Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist by Adrian Desmond & James Moore

Rating: 5.0

If you are looking for a book encompassing the complete Charles Darwin then look no further. This one has it all. From his birth to his interment at Westminster Abbey after his death, this biography illuminates all of who Darwin was as a man as well as a scientist. This book is extraordinarily comprehensive as well as being highly readable. After reading this I felt I truly understood who Charles Darwin really was. So much so that I got a little teary eyed at the end when it described his death. This biography contains many many illustrations and photos of Darwin and his friends and family. We all know what Darwin looks like but now you can put a face to the whole Darwin clan. At nearly 700 pages this book is a doozy, but entirely worth the time expended.

"In lively and accessible style, the authors tell how Darwin came to his world-changing conclusions and how he kept his thoughts secret for twenty years. Hailed as the definitive biography, this book explains Darwin's paradox and offers a window on Victorian science, theology, and mores. Contains a wealth of new information and 90 photographs." -Barnes&Noble.com

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 4.0

Another fun book in the Women of the Otherworld series. It took me about half the book to really get into this one though. The first half was kind of slow but the second half kicked butt!

The heroine in Haunted is Eve Levine, a deceased witch/half demon and the mother of Savannah from the previous two books. Eve is sent on a mission, literally to hell and back, to hunt down a ghost, called the Nix, who is causing harm to humanity. This Nix thrives on murder and mayhem and gets a little too close to the loved ones of Eve. Haunted was a fun read but I just wasn't crazy about the ghost world scene. I preferred the other books that took place in the here and now and had living breathing human characters.

Haunted has some very interesting and unique settings and characters. I had a hard time putting the book down once I got past the first half. And the climax was awesome!

Deception Point by Dan Brown

Rating: 4.5

Deception Point is a fast paced thriller that I had a hard time putting down. It's one of those books that I just had to know what was going on. It kept me reading long into the night.

NASA discovers the find of the century buried in an ice shelf in the Arctic Circle. When the President of the United States sends a team of four civilian scientists up there to corroborate the find, they discover something not quite right. Soon, these civilian scientists are running for their lives while trying to discover the truth. The stakes are high in Deception Point, with the office of the Presidency and the future of NASA on the line. Intrigue and lies abound in this novel which kept me guessing to the very end.

The only thing that kind of annoyed me about this book is a couple of the supporting characters. They were over-written and just didn't seem right. They are a couple of the world's leading scientists but bickered and teased like school children. Other than that small annoyance, the book is great.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Rating: 5.0

Middlesex is intriguing and creative. It's about genes and family histories and the effect of a certain recessive gene on the fifth chromosome of Calliope Stephanides. She/he is a hermaphrodite and Middlesex tells the wondrous story of his life.

From the 1922 burning of Smyrna to the Detroit race riots of 1967. From San Francisco in the '70's to Berlin in 2001. This story does a lot of time traveling as we follow the story of Calliope's incestuous grandparents to the modern day Calliope who becomes just plain Cal. There is a lot of family history here which makes for very interesting reading.

Middlesex is beautifully written as it invokes images of the life of three generations of a Greek family. I loved all the different settings in this novel. All the different places and times made Middlesex an exhilarating story with some very original characters. It's no wonder it won the Pulitzer.