i'm baaa-ack and so are the sweet valley twins!

So after my month long hiatus, I'm back.  Not sure why I quit writing, but I just did and now I'm back, ready to go.  Anyways, if you didn't already know, Francine Pascal just released, (like last month), a new book starring Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield!  The infamous twins from Sweet Valley.  How exciting!  I remember reading Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High.  And if you were anything like me, when these series were popular, say 15 years ago, then you couldn't get enough of Jessica and Elizabeth.  The new book is called Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later and it's awesome.

front cover.

back cover.

The girls are now 27.  Elizabeth lives in NYC and Jessica lives in Sweet Valley.  Remember Todd Wilkins?  Oh yeah, he also plays a MAJOR part in the book!  I bought this book last Friday and finished it yesterday.  Four days was all it took to get wrapped up into the lives of the twins before it was over and I was sad to see it end.  Granted the writing isn't the best and the story can be jumpy/choppy at times, but if you ever loved the Wakefield twins, then you have to read this!  Reading the book definitely took me back in time.  It was a trip down memory lane.

i mean, look at these retro pics of Jess and Lizzie.  look like the old book covers??  (from inside cover of book).

But now, it's 2011 and the twins and I have grown older together, we're practically the same age!  If you weren't yet convinced that you need to read this book, here are a few more names that might jog your memory---Lila Fowler, Ken Matthews, Bruce Patman, Steven Wakefield, Caroline Pearce, Enid Rollins, Winston Egbert.  You just HAVE to read this book to see what everyone's up to! 

look how happy it made me.

read in death

Another new obsession that will keep me occupied for quite some time, well maybe until summer, is JD Robb's (aka Nora Roberts) ...In Death series.  If you're a sucker for a good mystery, like me, then you'll definitely want to check out her books!  The main character, Lieutenant Eve Dallas, is at the heart of every story along with a good murder.  The books are set in the future, mid 21st century, and the futuristic details added by Robb are fun and lighthearted.  No science fiction-y, confusing time travel stuff here.  Just a good story with a little romance and a lot of mystery.  Each story builds upon itself, so definitely read the titles in order.  I've read the first three--Naked in Death, Glory in Death and Immortal in Death and 29 left to go!!!  There's no possible way I can keep track of the order of these books, but thankfully JD Robb, herself, has put together a neat, little quick reference list of the books IN ORDER, because I heard Amazon doesn't easily put them in order and at my public library, they're in ABC order...yuck!  So anyways, here's the quick reference list...

Can you believe that this series began in 1995 and she's still writing books?  The newest addition to this series came out in February, of this year!  So, start reading!

It is my mission to read this entire series...I'll keep ya posted on how I'm doing.  I heard the storylines get a bit predictable, but once you're hooked, you're hooked.  So far, I've been stunned with who the murderer is in each story, so hopefully the pattern continues.  Plus, I'm a sucker for any mystery.  Agatha Christie mysteries are quite predictable, but I love them all.

p.s. If you only associate Nora Roberts with romance novels, don't write these books off.  The In Death books are heavy on the mystery and suspense and light on the romance.  I think that's why Nora Roberts wrote these books under a pen name, so that she could disassociate her name from romance.

Also, on a side note...my husband and I are going to Phoenix in June and guess what I found to do there?  Visit a locally owned bookstore wholly devoted to mystery books!  It's called The Poisoned Pen.  How cool is that?  I'll have to let you know how it turns out.  I'm super excited to visit.

keep on reading!

book and a movie!

There is pretty much nothing I love more, (well maybe my family), than books and movies.  I LOVE to read and I read of a whopper of a book a few weeks ago.  I'm so glad that a coworker passed this book along to me and told me to read it and then let her know what I thought.  My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner!  The book sat in my school bag for a good three months before I took a chance and read it.  Anyways, here's my review of Hunter Huntress by Darcy Scott.

Genre:  Psychological Thriller/Suspense, Adult Fiction
Length:  340 rapidly moving pages
General Summary:  Jamie is a grieving mother who lost her two-year-old son in a car accident.  Jamie has never fully dealt with the death of her son and soon finds a way to get revenge on the man who caused the accident.  Jamie lies to her husband and betrays her friends in order to carry out her mildly disturbing plan of revenge.

My thoughts:  Oh wow!  A real page turner!  Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down.  The author does a fabulous job depicting the hurt and grief Jamie experiences over the loss of her son.  Unless you have personally lost a child, there's no way one knows how that feels, but I think Darcy Scott came as close as possible to describing those thoughts and feelings.  At times, I thought Jamie's plan was eerie and disturbing, but I can only imagine that the thought of revenge was worth it for her.  The book was extremely well written and left no holes in the story line.  The ending is extremely surprising.  Your heart may break, but will then be healed over by a turn of events.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK and if you visit Darcy Scott's website, you can learn where to purchase the book, or check your local library!


Next item of business--a movie you must see!  It's in theatres right now and it stars Liam Neeson.  Any guesses??  The movie is Unknown and it is awesome!  Lots of plot twists, good guys vs. bad guys action, (but who's who?) and Liam Neeson, duh!  If you loved him in Taken, then you'll love him in Unknown and if you haven't seen Taken, shame on you.  (It's an action-packed wonderful little movie that might scare parents into never letting their children travel alone).  But anyways, I don't want to give too much away about Unknown, but if you've seen the previews and you think you've got the movie all figured out, then oh boy...just you wait!  So, go now and spend a night at the movies.  You won't be disappointed!