Released

Released
Megan Duncan
260 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: Books With Bite Book Tours
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Abby and Carter's parents have been killed by the Demons.  After radio transmissions about a safe haven in New Mexico stop, they set out with their friend Max to find the place.  Along the way the pick up another survivor and are soon on their way to the Army compound in New Mexico.

Savannah from Books With Bite made this book sound so kick-butt that I was excited to sign up for the book tour and give it a read.  Unfortunately, I didn't like it quite as much as Savannah.

Here's why: I felt like there could have been a lot more backstory and fleshing out.  The book was extremely short, there wasn't more than a couple paragraphs of backstory and there wasn't much character development, either.  In addition to that, everything seemed to easy for the teens as they set out on their journey.

I didn't hate the book, though.  For one, Abby was a great protagonist.  Instead of being a nervous teenage girl about the end of the world, she picked up her rifle, swore at the demons, and aimed to kill.  You don't get much more strong and independent than that.  Despite her strong characteristics, I also loved her ability to be soft, to have a romance with Max and to save Taya's life.

And, as usual, the book was sprinkled with some minor spelling and grammar errors, like "your" instead of "you're," or "too" instead of "two."  These are things that really irritate me when I read a book.  Thankfully, it wasn't the worst I've experienced and the story itself redeemed this book a little in my eyes, particularly the last chapter.  If you're a huge fan of dystopian/end-of-the-world/zombies or something are coming to kill us all kind of books, you'll probably like Released.  It's only 99¢ for Kindle and Nook right now and at that price, it's definitely worth a read.

Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss
Stephanie Perkins
367 pages
Publisher: Dutton
Source: library
★★★★★∞

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I finally got my hands on Anna!  This book had hype... and do books usually live up to the hype for me?  Not usually.  Did this one?

Yes, yes, OMG YES!  I loved every single minute of this book and I didn't want it to end.  Anna is a senior in high school when her parents send her to boarding school in France because "it will be good" for her.  She's terrified at first to even leave campus, but she makes new friends easily.  She's drawn to Etienne, a handsome young American with an English accent, but he has a girlfriend.

This book was food for my teenage girl soul.  I felt like I identified with Anna so well, that I've lived a bit of what she lived through (though sadly not as romantically) and I knew her emotions were what my emotions would have been if I'd had her life.

The characters, the plot, the setting - everything was gorgeous and well written.  Anna and the French Kiss was romantic, sexy, page turning, and exciting.  I cannot rave about this book enough.

Seriously, I know I sound like a teenage girl from the valley in this review, but you need to read this book.  If you were ever a teenage girl, you need to read this book!

PS:  Is it just me or does the Anna in the book not match the book on the cover?
PPS: I never, ever pre-order books but I'm seriously considering pre-ordering Lola and the Boy Next Door, the companion book to Anna due out the end of September.

Shadowland

Shadowland
Alyson Noël
339 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: PaperBackSwap.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I don't know what it is about this series, but every book pulls me in!  Shadowland is the third book in The Immortals series.  When I finally got my copy last week it had been awhile since I'd read the first two books, Evermore and Blue Moon, so I couldn't quite remember the plot.  But after just a couple chapters I was back on track and completely absorbed into this third installment.

Due to the poison in the last novel, Blue Moon, Ever and Damen can't touch or their immortal souls will die, causing them to spend eternity in a dark place called Shadowland.  Ever is determined to find an anecdote to cure them of their poison.  Meanwhile real life happens - Ever is forced to find a summer job, though luckily she finds one that can help her in her quest, and it's there that she meets Jude, an attractive young man who will test her love with Damen.

Wooo, love triangle!  Albeit not as exciting as others, this was a love triangle done right - not forced from the beginning of the series, but something that occurred organically and believably.  The interesting plot thickened a little in Shadowland, the character were just as good as ever, and on the whole I enjoyed it.

Still, I felt like this book was more of a bridge between the second and fourth books and as such there wasn't a lot of action or new developments.  Regardless of that, I was drawn in and read it very fast.  I'm loving this series more now than when I started it!

One for the Money

One for the Money
Janet Evanovich
320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's
Source: Borders, at their first liquidation sale
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

One for the Money was published in 1994 and I can remember my mother reading the series when I was child.  Recently I'd decided I wanted to read One for the Money to see what all the fuss was - the Stephanie Plum series is wildly popular, after all (see neat-o NYT graph here.)  I ended up really enjoying the book.

Stephanie is out on her luck when she loses her job and sells most of her possession to get along.  Desperate to get money, she joins her cousin's bail bond business as a bounty hunter and begins her first case - hunting down Joe Morelli, whom she knows intimately from her past.

Despite a few descriptions of rape and murder, I actually found this book to be cute and sweet.  I think that is due strictly to the character of Stephanie.  She's so endearing, she was fun to read about.  I loved her relationship with her family and the character of her grandmother led some much needed humor into the storyline.

I couldn't decide while I was reading whether or not to give the book three or four stars.  Three and a half seemed appropriate, but I don't do half stars.  By the end, however, I was pulled in so much that I decided to go with four stars.  This was a mystery unlike any other I've read.  I tend to prefer cozy mysteries, but One for the Money seemed more like a cross between a cozy and a general mystery.  I enjoyed it and if you haven't read anything in this series yet, I suggest giving it a look.

Wanderlust

Wanderlust
Danielle Steel
506 pages
Publisher: Dell
Source: Paperbackswap.com
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

This was my first Danielle Steel, which I picked up because I'm doing a challenge and I need to read a bestseller from the year I was born.  There wasn't much to choose from that sounded good from 1986, so thus... Wanderlust.  Some people have called this Steel's best novel.

Audrey Driscoll grew up privileged under the care of her grandfather and caring for her younger sister.  The book opens as her sister gets married and Audrey can no longer fight her urge to travel.  She travels to Europe, falls in love, and had adventures, all while World War II is starting in Europe.

What I liked about this book was that it went beyond other romance novels.  The characters were more plentiful.  The main romance interests had lives outside of each other.  The book took place during World War II and Steel used a lot of that in the plot, much more than other romance novelists might have deemed necessary, but it was nice to read chapters about real life between the romance, if you know what I mean.  Basically, this book was just so much more than a typical mass market romance one might pick up today in a book store, and for that I was grateful.  I also liked that the plot moved at a good clip and there wasn't much wallowing.

This book is definitely worth a look if you're into romances.

Entwined

Entwined
Heather Dixon
472 pages
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Azalea and her eleven (!) sisters are devastated after the untimely death of their mother.  As their family goes into the one year mourning period, the girls whose greatest joy in life is to dance, cannot.  That is, until they find a magic portal in the fireplace in their bedroom to a place where they can dance, every night, under the watchful eye of the Keeper.  But the Keeper isn't as nice as they all think he is.

Entwined was part fairy tale, part historical fiction, and all parts enchanting.  I absolutely loved this book!  The story was simply lovely, enhanced by the characters of the sisters who are in various stages of growing up.  But despite their age differences, they all got along great - it was interesting to read about.  What I enjoyed the most were the descriptions of the dancing, which were very detailed.  The dances sounded beautiful.  I can't help but wonder if they're all real; I'd like to look them up and see them in person.

The book had no adult themes at all, just a little kissing, so Entwined would be suitable for the youngest of YA readers, but that won't keep it from being enjoyable to adults!  I definitely recommend it.

Moral Disorder

Moral Disorder
Margaret Atwood
225 pages
Publisher: Anchor Books
Source: PaperBackSwap
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I had to read a book by a Canadian author for the book challenge I'm working on, so naturally my first thought was Margaret Atwood.  I loved her book The Handmaid's Tale when I read it in high school and since I love short stories, I was glad to give Moral Disorder a go.  The book follows a woman at different points in her life through different short stories.

I was a little disappointed by the book.  I didn't feel like these were short stories so much as just chapters taking place at different points in the main character's life.  When I finished I didn't feel like some of the stories could be read independently of each other.  I was also confused that some of the sections were told in the first person, but some in the third person.  It took me a bit to realize they were the same person.

But I did enjoy the main character.  She was well-written and I really enjoyed reading about the relationship between her and her sister.  I enjoyed the stories that took place when Nell was young.  The stories that took place when she was 33 and older were a bit boring to me, but maybe I'm just not old enough to appreciate them.

Three stars.

Wither

Wither
Lauren DeStefano
358 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: library
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I loved this book!  In a world where females die by twenty and males die by twenty-five, teenage girls are captured and sold to wealthy young men to breed.  Rhine has been captured and married unwillingly to the unaware Linden Ashby, a young (obviously), wealthy architect along with two new "sister wives" Cecily and Jenna.  The book follows Rhine's attempt to fool Linden into thinking she loves him while she figures out a way to escape.

While it makes no sense that a virus would kill people off at exactly twenty or twenty-five years of age, I still was drawn in immediately by the plot.  DeStefano has a way of starting a book that draws you in right away without a chapter of back story to drag you down.  The characters were great, I loved the individual personalities of the "sister wives."  Obviously I was drawn to the character of Rhine (beautiful name, by the way) and the way she was able to innocently manipulate those around her to get what she wanted.  That might sound evil, but Rhine is one of the least evil characters I've read.

The only thing I didn't like was having to read the phrase "sister wives."  Yes, that's what they were, but it kept reminding me of that awful TLC reality show.

Anyway, I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy!  Seriously, you need to read this book!

A non-book related post

Readers,

I love all eighteen of you, but in my seemingly futile attempt to wrangle in more followers, I have changed my blog design slightly.  What do we think?

Divergent

Divergent
Veronica Roth
487 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

This was another one of those books that was so hyped to me that I thought for sure I would absolutely fall in love with it.  That didn't quite happen.  My high expectations were not met for most of the novel, though I did enjoy it from the beginning - just not as much as I thought I would.  At age sixteen, everyone must select a faction, one of five, to live in for the rest of their lives.  Those who cannot or will not choose become factionless, or essentially homeless.  When Beatrice goes through the testing, she discovers that she is Divergent, no faction is right for her, but she picks Dauntless anyway - the faction where they are fearless and they fight.  Meanwhile, the dystopian society they are living in is being threatened.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the beginning of the book, I just didn't feel that pull that I thought I would and I found myself not really caring if I picked up Divergent or something else.  The last third is what took my rating from three stars to four stars and sealed the deal for me.  I really enjoyed the blossoming romance between Tris and Four, which I saw coming but was glad to actually see on the pages.  The last few chapters were riddled with such awesome action that I couldn't not enjoy the novel in the end.

I loved the character of Tris.  Even though at the beginning of the book she doesn't know who she is, she finds out for herself fast and sticks to it.  She knows what she wants, she knows how to get it, and yet at the same time her character remains endearing.

Overall, the plot was good (even if it was a bit of a rip off of The Hunger Games), the characters were awesome, and the settings were diverse.  And of course now I'm eager to read the second book in the series since you know this one obviously ended with some cliffhangers.  I would recommend this to anyone who went head over heels for The Hunger Games.

Cold Kiss

Cold Kiss
Amy Garvey
336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Once Upon a Twilight Book Tours
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

When Wren loses her first love, Danny, in a horrible car crash, she can't bear to be without him and uses her powers to bring him back to life.  The story of the book starts just after that, when she spends her evenings sneaking into her neighbors garage loft where she's hiding Danny.  Things quickly go downhill after that.

Cold Kiss was a fast paced, quick read made even more of a page turner by the plot.  Wow - what a plot!  Basically, it was kind of like a short, fluffy, not-scary version of Pet Semetary for teenage girls.  And I mean that in a good way because if there's one thing the kids need to learn these days, it's that bringing people back from the dead isn't a good thing.  Thusly, I recommend this book to the female YA readers who love the paranormal and who may be considering using their magical powers to bring someone back to life.

The only downside to the novel that I could find was that I wished it was longer and I wish Wren (awesome name, by the way) and Gabriel had more chemistry.

Cold Kiss will be released in September, so be sure to pre-order your copy.  And thanks to Yara from Once Upon A Twilight for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book early.  If you found my blog from her site, please follow me with Google Friend Connect to catch all my reviews.

Full Dark, No Stars

Full Dark, No Stars
Stephen King
368 pages
Publisher: Scribner
Source: borrowed from hubby
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I'm a fan of Stephen King; I've been reading his works since I was in middle school.  I haven't read some of his more well-known novels (The Stand, It) probably because they're massive and I have book ADD - that's why I love his short stories so much.  I first came to know King through his collection Everything's Eventual.  There's something almost charming about King's short stories, I certainly can't quite put my finger on it, and while I do enjoy his novels, I really enjoy his stories.

Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four stories: 1922, Big Driver, Fair Extension, and A Good Marriage.  My absolute favorite story was the first one, 1922.  It was the most in depth and fleshed out story in the bunch and the one with the most horror.  The descriptions were amazing.  I thought Big Driver was the most realistic story in the bunch; Fair Extension I didn't care for; A Good Marriage really intrigued me.  That one just goes to show that sometimes you don't really know the people you think you know.

Anyway, the book gets four stars from me because I loved most of the book, it was just the story "Fair Extension" that I didn't quite get.  I would recommend this book to every King fan, but they've probably already read it.  If you've never read anything by Stephen King before, I think his short stories are a great place to start.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Michelle Hodkin
450 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: as one put it, it is the "traveling ARC of the NBC sisterhood" or rather, I got it from a fellow Nestie
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I've seen a lot of hype for this novel so I was excited to read it, thinking it would be amazing.  It was good, but didn't quite live up the hype in my head.  Anyway, the story is about Mara (a name she makes up for herself when telling the story) who has lost three friends in a tragic accident that she survived.  Her family moves to Florida to get a fresh start where she starts experiencing strange things and meets Noah, who unbeknownst to her is also experiencing strange things.  I don't want to ruin it for you by giving too much away.

I loved the characters, particularly Mara, who, despite her penchant for fainting all over the place, acted, reacted, and spoke like a real teenager.  Her boyfriend, Noah, was pretty swoon-worthy and the two had definite chemistry.  Characters and settings get an A+ but the plot gets an A-.  It was interesting and unique but it felt a bit overdone to me in parts, especially once I learned what the real deal with Noah is.

I don't get why the character of Jamie fell off the face off the planet, er pages, halfway through the novel.    I know what happened in the plot to cause that to happen, but I don't get why that had to happen.

My usual complaint: as page numbers grew and I got closer and closer to end, I saw a cliffhanger forming out of the sheer fact that I didn't think the plot would resolve itself in a mere fifty pages.  I was right, and there was the cliffhanger staring at me in the last sentence.  Why must every book end in a cliffhanger and become a trilogy?

Despite that, it was a really good book that was quite a page turner that I highly recommend you put on your fall reading list.

Mara comes out in September.  You're going to want to read it.  I've never read anything like it before and now I'm hooked, despite the fact that nowhere on the Internet is telling me about plans for a second book.

Revolution

Revolution
Jennifer Donnelly
472 pages
Publisher: Delacourte
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Andi is seriously depressed.  She blames herself for the death of her younger brother and her pills don't make her feel better anymore.  She's contemplated suicide a few times and is starting to flunk out of her exclusive high school in Brooklyn when her father announces she will be joining in him Paris, France for three weeks while her mother is admitted to a hospital for psychiatric treatment.  Rough stuff.  But when she gets to France she discovers a mystery about a young boy, meant to be king, who died tragically and the young woman who tried to cheer him up.

I read Donnelly's A Northern Light this year and loved it, but had read less than glowing reviews about Revolution.  I was concerned I wouldn't like it, but thankfully, I really enjoyed it.  I thought Andi's life in Brooklyn, though depressing, seemed realistic and raw.  I was happy for her to finally start enjoying Paris, though even there she had her ups and downs.  The mystery part of the plot was fantastic as were the settings, which takes the reader from stuffy palaces to creepy underground catacombs to the simple cafe around the corner.

I didn't always care for the diary entries that were included.  I enjoyed that it was set up in a way that I got to read along with Andi, but I felt like sometimes those entries could have been broken up differently.  I also didn't enjoy the part of the novel where Andi appears to be time traveling.  I rarely enjoy time travel in novels.

Jennifer Donnelly did a lot of research when writing this novel and it seemed pretty historically accurate, aside from the fictionalized parts, obviously.  I really enjoyed this novel overall and I recommend it.

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)
Betty White
258 pages
Publisher: Penguin
Source: PaperBackSwap.com
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

I was so excited to read this book and even more excited that it's been moving through the PaperBackSwap wishlist quickly.  I love Betty White!  Squee!

There's not much to tell, it was a short book and about a third of it was pictures.  Really awesome pictures, but pictures don't take long to read and I got through it in a couple hours tonight.  It was a really great book, filled with lots of anecdotes from Betty White's life in show business.  I was surprised to learn that this was her eighth book and now I'm going to have to go back and find some of the others, especially since she spent more time talking about Hot in Cleveland than The Golden Girls, which is what I really wanted to read about.

Short, sweet, and I highly recommend.

Dominance

Dominance
Will Lavender
353 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Goodreads giveaway!
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

From the moment I saw a picture of the cover of Dominance on the Goodreads giveaway page, I knew I wanted to read it.  It's a bloody axe made of books!  I was thrilled when, the second time it came up for entry, I actually won.  I thought I would love it and I was right.

Dominance is like Agatha Christie on crack.  I absolutely could not put it down; you should have seen my trying to cook dinner tonight, one hand holding up the book, the other stirring the pot.  In 1994 a group of nine college students gathered to take a literature course from a professor who was in jail for the murder of two students.  What they didn't know when they signed up was that the class was a twisted game... Years later when one of the nine students is killed, the rest gather for the funeral under one roof.  When more murders occur, it's up to Alex to figure out what's going on.

I loved this book!  It's a mystery within a mystery that slowly unravels.  I was hooked right away even though I had no idea what was going on until at least a few chapters in.  Once "The Procedure" was explained, I got it, and I was hooked even more.  Seriously, the plot was amazing enough to warrant five stars from me on it's own.  The only thing I didn't like about the book was the character of Aldiss.  Most of the time when he spoke, I just wanted to kick him and scream, "Enough with your games, already!"  What twisted character.

And the last chapter in the book, ou baby, it was good.

Go read this book!

PS:  Even though I won this book and got a copy free from the publisher, that fact did not influence my review.

Shine

Shine
Lauren Myracle
350 pages
Publisher: Amulet
Source: library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

This is a serious YA book dealing with some serious issues.  Most notably, the book tackles hate crimes against gays as well as homophobia in general.  This book also tackles issues of drug use and, to a lesser extent, molestation.  I would not recommend this book for young teens because these issues are sometimes presented graphically.

After a traumatizing event when she was thirteen years old, Cat has drawn away from her friends and the outside world.  When her best friend Patrick is found the victim of a hate crime (left tied to a gas pump with the nozzle in his mouth) and remains in a coma, Cat makes it her personal mission to find out who did this to him.

I really enjoyed this novel.  The plot, though depressing, was good and told a valuable lesson.  I particularly enjoyed the setting.  Shine takes place in a small town unlike anything I have ever lived in or probably even driven through.  That setting leads way to a cast of rich characters, from the gossiping holier-than-thou church ladies all the way down to Cat's former friends who like to party too much.  All of the characters were well written; even Cat as the protagonist was a believably flawed character.  It was great to watch her grow and come out of her shell as the novel progressed.

I give Shine four stars.  Yes, it's a bit depressing to read, but it's absolutely worth it because it has hope.

Husband Reads, Vol. 3

It's in the tab above!

Columbine

Columbine
Dave Cullen
403 pages
Publisher: Twelve
Source: library
★★★★★

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

This book started off very intense.  For the first third of the book I couldn't read more than a couple chapters at a time.  The descriptions of the event itself lumped in the beginning of the book made me nauseated.  They made me cry - and I mean that in a good way because they were very well written and presented the facts clearly and definitively.  If you want to know what really happened, this is the book you need to read.

About halfway through the book the author got more into the media spin and general misconceptions about the event, which I found very interesting.  Sure enough, most of what I thought had happened were misconceptions about the boys, their motives, what went down, and also the myth of what happened to Cassie Bernall in the library...

I was twelve years old when "Columbine" happened and was at a brief period in my life when I was active in church.  In the book, Cullen talks about the differences between the Evangelicals in the area and the mainline protestants.  The Evangelicals had (and still do) see Cassie as a martyr who told Eric that she believed in God and that's why he shot her.  Columbine brought to light that that exchange never happened.  The book Cassie's mother wrote, She Said Yes, was published despite the fact that the police, as well as the publisher, knew the story was false.   I'm Lutheran (thus mainline) but when I was in youth group at the time, Cassie's book was passed around among us.  Several of us borrowed it, read it, and as impressionable youth, took it as fact.  I don't remember much about She Said Yes today, aside from the famous and false exchange, but I can't help but feel lied to now.

I enjoyed the books writing style.  It read like a novel at some points but presented copious fact.  It's obvious Dave Cullen spent a vast amount of time researching; there are endnotes and a bibliography attesting to that.  I believe he presented everything fairly and the story really opened my eyes.  Eric and Dylan weren't just a couple of kids from the Trench Coat Mafia who hated the jocks and targeted some kids.  It went way beyond that.  To say it's disturbing is an understatement.  The book gets five stars from me and I would recommend it to anyone remotely curious about what really happened in Littleton.

What I wish had been included, and granted this is probably something small and seemingly unimportant - but after all of the evidence was released, what did Harriet think about Dylan's writings about her?  I can't imagine.

Sleight

Sleight (AVRA-K #1)
Jennifer Sommersby
320 pages
Publisher: the author
Source: Books With Bite Book Tours
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

What a great read!  It's so different from all the other YA saturated on the market, but at the same time it is equally enjoyable.

Gemma has lived the with circus since she was a child, but since her mother passed away there have been some changes.  The circus is staying in one spot longer, they have a new wealthy financier, and Gemma and the other circus kids are being forced to attend public school.  There she meets Henry, the financiers son; they fall in love and discover they are heirs to a 3000 year old tradition of the AVRAKEDAVRA.  Soon they are on a page-turning, edge of the seat-sitting journey to keep the text in the right hands.

So what made this book so great?  There was a lot of action and romance.  The setting of the circus was new and different for me and I loved it.  I also loved the characters.  Even the plethora of circus characters, they all had backgrounds and depth and that made the unique.  Not to mention the plot, which made this book amazing - it had everything!  Ghosts, mystery, magic, an ancient tradition about to fall into the hands of evil...

Of course there was a cliffhanger, so I will be keeping my eyes out for the sequel.  Like I said, this book is different from the other YA on the market, which seems to be undergoing some paranormal kick.  While this book was refreshing, if you really love that paranormal aspect, you can still find it in Sleight, just done in a new way.

In her Acknowledgments at the end of the book, Jennifer Sommersby talks about how hard it is to get published and how independent publishing wasn't how she pictured this book.  I don't understand why all these publishers passed on such a great YA novel, but it's their loss now.  I hope this book tour will get this book onto more TBR piles!

Thanks so much to Savannah from Books With Bite for providing me the opportunity to read and review this book.  If you found my blog via her site, please follow me on Google Friend Connect so you can catch all my reviews.

State of the Onion

State of the Onion
Julie Hyzy
325 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Source: PaperBackSwap.com
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

White House assistant chef, Ollie, is on her way to work one day when she witnesses something strange on the White House lawn - a man being chased by the Secret Service.  When the Service can't catch up, Oliie whacks him with a fry pan to stop him.  Soon a killer is on the loose and after Ollie!  All while she's trying to deal with an extremely important state dinner and a potential promotion, that is if the job doesn't go to her arch nemisis.

While it seems like Julie Hyzy did her research while writing this novel (it was nice to learn about presidential china patterns, for example) the book doesn't get points for being realistic.  Granted, cozy mysteries are never that realistic, but this one was kind of out there.  The Secret Service would never be so off the ball that the White House assistant chef would be solving mysteries, but it's these strange things that make for a good cozy mystery, in my opinion.

I gave State of the Onion three stars because, while I liked it, I didn't feel much chemistry between any of the characters, in particular Ollie and her boyfriend, and there wasn't anything extra awesome about this cozy.  I would definitely recommend it to other cozy fanatics, though.

June Recap

Goodbye, June.  Hello, July!  Another month has passed and we're one month closer to whatever you're looking forward to.  For me, it's the Decatur Book Festival.  Anyhoo, here's the list of twenty-eight books I read this month whether a review showed up on my site or not:

Flowerbed of State by Dorothy St. James
The Halo Chronicles: The Guardian by Carey Corp
The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
The Creed Legacy by Linda Lael Miller
Butterfly by Jodi Bullock
What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Vibrational Passage by Jennifer Dustow
Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Crazy Things Girls Do for Love by Dyan Sheldon
The Undertaker by William Brown
The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove by Lauren Kate
Prince William and Kate: A Royal Romance by Matt Doeden
The Twilight Sage: An Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer
The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu
Torment by Lauren Kate
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Passion by Lauren Kate
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
The Healing by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
A Marriage Carol by Chris Fabry
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella
Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

So that's that.  Now that it's July I will be participating in my first ever Nest Book Club challenge.  I've got all my books mapped out and I'm almost done with the first one, already.  I have five on hold for me to pick up tomorrow at the library, too, some for the Challenge and some for fun.  One other bookish thing for tomorrow: the Eagle Eye Bookshop Independence Day Sale.  Fill a bag with books for five bucks.... hell yeah!

Boring stats:
YTD books: 127
YTD pages: 41,643