Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 5.0

Another fun installment in the Women of the Otherworld series. This one features Hope (half-demon), Karl (werewolf), Lucas (sorcerer) and Paige (witch). They have quite an adventure when Hope accepts a mission from the Cortez Cabal that might not be what it appears to be. This story is fast-paced and will keep you guessing all the way to the end. The characters are, of course, well written and unique. I stayed up really late finishing this one and it was worth it.

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Rating: 5.0

The Pale Blue Eye is a very well written mystery with the emphasis on well written. The best thing about the book is the writing. Louis Bayard definitely has a way with words and that made reading this novel a lot of fun.

The story takes place at West Point Academy in the year 1830. One of the cadets has been found dead with his heart removed from his chest. The academy brings in Augustus Landor, a once renowned detective, to investigate. The academy grants him a cadet to serve as assistant and that cadet is Edgar Allen Poe.

The plot was interesting and kept me guessing. I really liked the characters. The greatest thing about The Pale Blue Eye though is how eloquently it was written. The New York Times says it best: "Bayard reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the 19th century as if he'd witnessed it firsthand. He employs words like "caoutchouc," "meerschaums" and "anapestic" as fluently as he uses Gothic tropes. Landor is attacked in the dark woods and in a dark closet. Messengers drive phaetons. There's black magic, phrenology, a profusion of ghosts, even a boat trip through torch-lit mist. But none of it seems musty. Bayard does what all those ads for historical tourist destinations promise: as Landor says at death's door, "the past comes on with all the force of the present.""

Lincoln's Dreams by Connie Willis

Rating: 2.0

I was very unimpressed with Lincoln's Dreams. It was slow, boring and I really didn't care about the characters.

It's hard to describe this book because I'm still not sure what it was really about. A young woman, Annie, starts having the dreams of Robert E. Lee (even though the title of the book is Lincoln's Dreams). They are dreams of war and carnage. Nightmares really. Jeff, a research assistant for a civil war novelist, tries to help Annie but they really just travel around to old battlefields and sit in coffee shops and generally don't do anything at all. Pretty boring. The only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of one is because of the historical references. I enjoyed all the quips about the Civil War and the people who fought it....that's really what kept me reading. There are much more interesting novels out there that deal with the Civil War though. I don't recommend this one.

Last Breath: The Limits of Adventure by Peter Stark

Rating: 5.0

Last Breath is a fascinating read into the physiological realities of a person on the brink of death. I liked the detail and depth Stark put into this book.

Each chapter of Last Breath is dedicated to a different adventure and a different malady. For instance, in chapter 5 a young man hits the ocean on his sailboat and forgets to take fresh food. Peter Stark details what happens to your body when scurvy sets in as well as a short history of the disease. In Chapter 8 a young couple head to a secluded beach in Australia where the reader learns about the sting of a box jellyfish. Peter Stark did an awesome job making these stories highly readable and interesting. They are part adventure story and part science lesson. And he covers a lot! Everything from hypothermia to heatstroke is covered. He writes about the bends as well as mountain sickness. Some of these stories have happy endings for the characters involved but many don't. I appreciated the realism.

Taken from the blurb: 'Readers will shiver with a man lost in the snowy woods, suffering from hypothermia and tearing off his clothes as he’s burning up from the cold; they will hallucinate with a young woman stranded at the top of Annapurna as she experiences a cerebral edema; and while a kayaker tumbles helplessly underwater for two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, readers, too, will gasp for their last breath.'

Night Shift by Stephen King

Rating: 5.0

Night Shift is an awesome collection of twenty short stories. I enjoyed all of them and loved many of them. Some of my favorites were Sometimes They Come Back (I grew up watching the movie), Quitters, Inc., Children of the Corn. If you are in the mood for some chilling tales about vampires, killer rats, the boogeyman and much more, then I highly recommend Night Shift. I've said it before and I'll continue saying it: Stephen King is a master at story telling and his most effective outlet is the short story. This is classic King. Read it. Seriously.

Transformed by Triathlon by Jane Booth

Rating: 5.0

I found Transformed by Triathlon to be a completely worthwhile and entertaining read for me. I plan on doing my first sprint triathlon next year and this book was pretty useful as a tool. There were plenty of tips for first timers and beginners that I made mental notes of.

Transformed by Triathlon was written by a woman in her 40's who decided on a whim to take up the endurance sport of triathlon. She transitioned from someone who loathed running and was terrified of getting on a bike (at least she was a decent swimmer!) to someone who completed both sprint and olympic distance triathlons and could call herself an athelete. This was quite an inspirational story that had me rooting for her throughout. It also had me telling myself 'if she can break into endurance sports at the age of 43 then my 31 year old body can do it too!'

I already had my mind set on completing a triathlon before I read this. This book has given me extra motivation to get out and do a run even though I may not be in the mood to run. It has given me the extra kick in the butt to get in the car and drive the 10 miles to the lake and swim laps even if I would rather stay in bed and sleep in. I highly recommend, for those interested in triathlons, this honest and frequently humorous story of one woman's ups and downs on the road to becoming an endurance athlete.

Lakewood Memorial by Robert R. Best

Rating: 4.5

Lakewood Memorial: Violent. Fun. Gruesome. Perhaps a bit superficial. Gory. Entertaining. Fast paced. These statements all describe Lakewood Memorial.

This book is basically about the takeover of a small town by zombies. It's blood-soaked good fun! There's a small group of main characters and we see the takeover from each of their perspectives. I liked that. And I liked the characters. There wasn't much depth to the cast or the story but there was enough excitement and the pace was so frenzied that it didn't really matter. From the first page the reader is thrown right into the action and it never lets up! If you want some hard core zombie killing action then I suggest you pick up Lakewood Memorial. If not....what's wrong with you?