two more thrillers - May

Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan - The Jefferson Club, a super-elite resort in Montana, is currently hosting six of the richest men in the world for a very snowy New Year's Eve, when the place is taken over by anti-globalists, who free the men's families, but keep them to put them on trial for crimes against the world, broadcast over the internet. The problem for Mickey Hennessy, the club's security director, who was injured in the initial attack but managed to escape, is that his fourteen year old triplets (2 boys and a girl) are still inside, trying to find him. I really enjoyed it - over the top action, a damaged hero, spunky but not irritatingly so kids determined to find their dad, nasty bad guys, plot twists.

Watch Me by Brenda Novak - third in a related trilogy, stands alone without reading others. Twelve years ago, teenagers Sheridan Kohl and Jason Wyatt were attacked. Sheridan lived. Now some new evidence in the case has turned up and she's come back to Whiterock, TN to see if she can find out what happened all those years ago. And is immediately attacked by a masked man, who drags her out into the woods to bury her. She's saved by Jason's stepbrother, Cain Granger, who takes care of her after she gets out of the hospital. The problem is that Cain is a suspect according to the police, but Sheridan doesn't believe it. It got rave reviews over on Amazon - possibly reading the others might have made a difference. I found it a perfectly serviceable romantic thriller - good reading, but easy to put down and glad it was a library book. (S/T)

Woo! and that ends the Suspense/Thriller Challenge too!
Here's the full list with review links.

fat acceptance 101 - May

Lessons From the Fat-o-sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce With Your Body by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby - Excellent, irreverent introduction to Fat Acceptance/size acceptance. Lots of tips on how to break out of the body hatred mode that society puts us in, with lots of reassurance that yes, it's hard and no, you're not a failure. Harding and Kirby don't shy away from how hard learning to love your body is, but they also don't shy away from how rewarding the results can be. Includes references for further reading. A must for anyone who's tired of waiting to get thin in order to start living. Only possible negative is the irreverence is sometimes quite profane, but personally I liked it - felt it added personality to the conversational style. Your mileage may vary.

(this is the review I did on LibraryThing[g] - too lazy to do a new one)

A to Z title

pigged out on a new author :)

So I got a Kindle (LOVE it) and in my initial book order, bought a book by Patricia Briggs to see if I'd like her stuff. Oh, yeah! These five books and one short story are all hers - and all Kindle ebooks. Link above is to author, not doing individual titles. All are in the urban fantasy genre.

Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron-Kissed
Bone Crossed - This is the Mercy Thompson series. Mercy is a mechanic and a shapeshifter, who can become a coyote. In her world, supernatural beings live alongside humans, mostly hiding their abilities from the world at large. The lesser (less powerful, less scary) fae were forced into the public eye by their leaders because of advances in technology and forensic sciences that made them less invisible to the public, so they came out to help the scarier, more powerful fae stay hidden. Mercy, whose mother was human, was raised in a werewolf pack, but returned to her mother in her teens and has been a loner ever since. She lives in a trailer beside the estate of Adam Hauptmann, an affluent businessman and the local pack Alpha. In _Moon Called_, she gives a job to a homeless teen - she's sure he's a runaway and she knows he's a werewolf. She introduces him to Adam, as the boy is a fairly new were and doesn't belong to a pack. But there are people hunting the boy and trouble comes calling. _Blood Bound_ introduces us more to the vampires. _Iron-Kissed_ delves into the fae. _Bone Crossed_ wraps up some loose ends from _Blood Bound_ and gets further into Mercy's growing paranormal abilities.

Lots of fun - Mercy is a tough, no nonsense, take care of herself kind of woman. Fully developed characters, who grow and change. Side characters are interesting, not just there to fill a spot.
I read the first one and immediately splurged on the next three (plus the other two mentioned below) and I'll probably end up getting physical copies.

Alpha & Omega
Cry Wolf - Alpha & Omega series. Related to the Mercy Thompson series, can be read seperately with no problems, but reading the others gets you a bit more background of the universe. The short story introduces the main characters, Anna and Charles, but you can just start with _Cry Wolf_ - most of the background is there, just spread out. So far, this is mostly just the werewolves (the pack that Mercy grew up in). Anna is very different than Mercy - she was changed into a werewolf against her will and was severely abused by her pack. She is an Omega wolf - she has the ability to calm other wolves and help them control their beasts. Lots of stuff here on werewolf pack behavior. Also throws in an evil witch :)

So far, this is more of a paranormal romance than urban fantasy - and taking place in a rural forest area rather than a city is a big part of that. Still good characterization. Anna is a very damaged person, who is basically learning that almost everything she learned in her pack was wrong, and dealing with falling in love, moving from the city, and joining a new pack on top of it. She has a very strong inner core - now she just has to learn to let it out.

I'd recommend these for older teens too - the sex isn't very explicit and the violence/gore factor isn't that bad either. Lots of sticking up for your friends and what's right kinds of things :)