Digging through my Mystery piles

Well, in an effort to succeed in my challenges this year, I took to my book shelves. I really want to clean up what I own and give those darn books a chance before I send them on their merry way.

So I compiled all of my mystery/thrillers and decided to pull from this stack first but I will also pull from the library. I can't resist that. If I complete these, however, they will then fall under 2 challenges! My A-Z Mystery Author Challenge and the Read from Your Shelves Project. It's a win win, right?

Here's what I have found so far and yes, some of them are incredibly old.

Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett

Emperor's Tomb by Steve Berry

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Damaged by Pamela Callow

The Alienist by Caleb Carr (Stop right there Cheryl, I know!)*

The Reversal by Michael Connelly

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

The Unquiet by John Connolly

The Reapers by John Connolly (i'm horribly behind on my John Connolly reading)

The Anniversary Man by R.J Ellory

The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy

The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

Strong Justice and Strong Enough to Die by Jon Land

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

The Straw Men by Michael Marshall

City of Dreams by William Martin

Panic Zone by Rick Mofina

The Mist by Carla Neggers

The Eight by Katherine Neville

Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry (shaking my head and avoiding Cheryl's eyes)*

A Dark Dividing by Sarah Rayne

Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

Refuge by Gillian White

Hush by Kate White

* My good friend Cheryl, now guest reviewer, has been telling me to read these for almost ten years now.

Has anyone read any of these? If so, recommend any I start with?

Wish me luck!

Atleast I have Mr. Smily Face Beach Ball Man to cheer me on!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

2010 The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

Hi Everyone!

I am signing up for a Christmas Challenge. Like Halloween I only sign up for one holiday theme challenge at a time and well, let's be honest, I really try not to over "challenge" myself the whole year. I like to have fun and the holidays are a really good time to do it with my reading!!

Michelle at The True Book Addict is one of my favorite fellow bloggers and

she is hosting this challenge.

Here are the rules:

• challenge will run from Friday, November 26, 2010 (Black Friday) through January 6, 2010 (Twelfth Night or Epiphany).
• cross overs with other challenges is totally permitted AND encouraged!
• These must be Christmas novels, books about Christmas lore or a book of Christmas short stories (sorry, no children's books, but YA novels are okay).
• visit this POST for a list of new Christmas books for 2010. Also, Richard Paul Evans has a new book out this year, Promise Me. His Christmas books are among my favorites during the Christmas season.
• Levels:

--Candy Cane: read 1 book
--Mistletoe: read 2-4 books
--Christmas Tree: read 5 or 6 books (this is the fanatic level...LOL!)

Sign up here:

The True Book Addict Christmas Blog

I have not decided what I am going to read or what level yet. I know I will read Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb due to an already scheduled blog tour but aside from that...well, I'm leaving it open!

Hope you join!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

RIP Wrap Up

I am so horrible with challenges and challenge "wrap ups", I don't even really feel like I should post this but darnit! I finished one! (Did I happen to mention it's like 6 days late?!)

I chose to read one spooky book for this year's R.I.P challenge from Stainless Steel Droppings and I finished it!

The book was The Distant Hours by Kate Morton and it fit into the gothic category.

It FINALLY comes out in stores next Tuesday so read my review and go buy it!!!

Read it here.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

R.I.P Challenge V

It's that time of year again. Time for one of the coolest challenges out there. Check out 

Stainless Steel Droppings for the rules. If you are a fan of the creepy, eerie, gothic or strange; this challenge is for you!

Because I don't wish to overwhelm myself (which is super easy to do these days), I have settled on the very easiest of levels. Yep, one book. That's all I have to read.

I have chosen to read The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. If you've read some of my earlier posts you know that I have been looking forward to reading this one. Well, I'm excited to say, I got an advanced copy from the publisher and I am already loving it!

I actually squealed when I opened the package. Squealed, I tell you!

It would fall under the Gothic category.

Though I know I will read many other creepy, fantastical books during the next two months leading up to Halloween AND see a crap ton of scary movies, I think just one book will suit me just fine for this challenge.

Check it out!

Happy reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Review # 78: Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs

Title: Death by Darjeeling

Author: Laura Childs

Series: Tea Shop Mystery #1

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Format: Own Copy

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

ISBN: 0-425-17945-1

Price/Pages: $5.99/242

Description from back cover:

Meet Theodosia Browning, owner of Charleston's beloved Indigo Tea Shop. Patrons love her blend of delicious tea tastings and southern hospitality. And Theo enjoys the full-bodied flavor of a town steeped in history-and mystery...

It's tea for 200 or so at the annual historic homes garden party. And Theodosia, as event caterer, is busy serving steaming teas and blackberry scones while guests sing her praises. But the sweet smell of success turns to suspense when an esteemed guest is found dead-his hand clutching an empty teacup. All eyes are on Theo...who is now trying desperately to save her reputation and track down the real killer. If only she can make sense of it all-before someone else takes their last sip...

My Review:

I have been told to read these for over a year now by my friend Trever. He is a tea lover and absolutely adored these books. Whenever we are in NYC, we go to Tea and Sympathy and have tea and scones. In fact, in May, we went there several times because we love it so.

I know very little about tea but I LOVE the pleasure of taking a sip of the hot liquid and then biting into a delicious scone with clotted cream and thick raspberry jam.

Ahhh.....

This first book in Childs' Tea Shop series is a foodie's dream. Her descriptions of the tea shop and the treats they bake and the teas they blend jump out of the pages. You start to feel warm and cozy and enveloped by that atmosphere.

It takes place in Charleston, so, for those of you who have read my reviews on Karen White's books, know that I am a little bit in love with Charleston right now.

Childs' also does a really good job at setting the mood and the feel of the Low Country, the history, the quirky residents, the culture.

Another thing I liked about this particular cozy was that Theodosia's involvement in the "murder" wasn't hoky or "Oops, looks like I ran into a dead body!".

Golly, I better solve this crime!

It was a bit more genuine and realistic.

She poked around but wasn't an immediate sleuth. Some cozies you find the lead character immediately put themselves in silly danger and find out everything at once.

Theodosia is a strong figure in the community, coming from a distinguished family, that her nature was much more calm, refined, eloquent and educated. I liked that.

I am excited to keep reading this series. I am horribly behind on my Cozy Mystery Challenge! The challenge was to read atleast 6 cozies by the end of September. This would be #2 for me.

I could, possibly, read 4 more of this series before then. Possibly....

Rating: 5 stars/ 6 stars

I highly recommend this one. A great start to a series and perfect for the upcoming fall season.

Even in the 98 degree weather outside, I still wanted tea.

Good job, Laura Childs.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

Cozy Mystery Challenge 2010

COZY MYSTERY CHALLENGE

Good Morning all. I have decided to join a challenge. I'm pretty darn sure I could handle this one. I discovered it through Dollycas Thoughts that linked me over to Kris at Not Enough Books.

Here are the rules:

1. The challenge runs April 1st, 2010 through September 30, 2010.
2. The goal is to read at least 6 cozy mysteries, one for each month. You can choose to read more, but you must read 6 in order to complete this challenge. You don't have to read 1 each month, you can read them whenever you like, you just have to read at least six.
3. While you can overlap with other challenges, please try to have at least 2 of the books only count towards this challenge.
4. Prizes you ask? Everyone loves a prize! Everyone who completes this challenge will get a bookmark made by yours truly (even if I don't mail them in a timely manner - I will mail them.)
5. Sign-up using the dedicated form. The form can be found in another post or here's a direct link. While it would be great if you signed up before April 1st, last year I had several people who wanted to join but didn't learn about the challenge until after it had started. Therefore you can sign up anytime between now and September 1st.

Go to Cozy Mystery Challenge website to sign up.

I have not decided quite yet what I going to read. But on my cozy shelf currently I have the Cooking Class Mysteries by Miranda Bliss and A Hemlock Falls Mystery by Claudia Bishop and A Stamping Sisters Mystery by Terri Thayer.

I am going to see what comes my way and what mood I am in and let in all flow.

I hope you join me on this challenge. It sounds fun!

Happy Reading!

red headed book child

Fall and Winter Mystery Reading Challenge Wrap up

I joined this challenge back in the fall from my fellow blogger Mysteries and My Musings.

The goal was to read holiday themed mysteries from October 1 to February 28.

I chose to read Leslie Meier's murder mysteries.

I completed Trick or Treat Murder, Thanksgiving Day Murder, Christmas Cookie Murder, Mistletoe Murder, and Back to School Murder.

My goal was 7. I read 5. I failed to complete New Year's Eve Murder and Valentine Murder.

Oh well. I did what I could and I can't do no more!

It was a lot of fun. I discovered a new author and a cute new series. I am confident that I will pick another up some time in the future.

That's good enough for me!

Happy Reading!

red headed book child