Wicked Appetite (Book 1) by Janet Evanovich

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312652917
ISBN-13: 978-0312652913

Series: A Unmentionable Diesel and Tucker

First Sentence:"My name is Elizabeth Tucker."

Elizabeth Tucker is a baker, a baker of delicious cup cakes. However she is also an Unmentionable (not of the underwear variety), someone who has an ability. Lizzy's ability is to find magical objects. I one day she meets the darkly, menacing Wulf and the drop-dead spunky Diesel, who are both in a race to find a magical item that only Lizzy can find. Of course the fate of the world rests on finding the object, and she isn't so sure about her new side kicks the ninja cat or rude monkey.

There were lots of laugh out loud moments, and some sniggering moments. I could totally relate to the scene where Lizzy thought the last of the chocolate coated donuts had been taken. To be honest I thought she under-reacted (is that a word?) I would have karate chopped Diesel upside the head and drop kicked him outta the car.

Evanovich has created a great cast of characters who are all hilarious. My favorite though were the cat (called Cat) and the monkey Carl. Most of my laugh out loud moments involved Carl he was pretty good comedy relief.

My only quibble is that this seemed to follow the same formula as her Stephanie Plum series. Slightly useless, but loveable, main character, sexy side kick guy, another sexy guy (the baddie), weirdo friend, crazy pets, weirdo baddie, and a long suffering but normal co-worker. BUT Evanvovich does this formula well, and using the paranormal angle does make it refreshing.

This is obviously the first book in a new series as the story talks about a group of stones that need to be collected and only one stone is found in this book. I will definitely pick up the next installment. If you like the Stephanie Plum series, you will definitely enjoy this book.

Other Reviews

Books and Musings from Downunder

Movie Reviews - December

Over the past couple of months I have seen a few movies while on holidays and on DVD. I thought I might share some of my thoughts on these movies for everyone. The reviews will be short though :) Let me know your thoughts on these movies if you have seen any.


Despicable Me - A
Fun entertaining movie. Lots of laughs and cuteness. That is all you need really. A nice feel good story. Probably one of the best animated films for 2010. If you don't fall in love with the minions I will be very surprised. On the DVD there are three extra little movies which are worth the watch.


Love and Other Drugs - C
NOT a romantic comedy. The trailer is very misleading. A drama about a girl dealing with Parkinson's Disease. Found it boring in some places. Some scenes seemed out of context with the film.


Avatar the Last Airbender - B+
I never saw the tv series so cant comment on that side of it. As a movie by its self I quite enjoyed it. The special effects are great, and the acting by the kids is good. If they don't make any more movies though the ending seems silly.


Salt - B
An action film. Nothing really original but if you want to check your brain at the door for awhile not a bad film. Action is done well and the stunts are pretty cool. On a random note Angelina Jolie looks a little weird with blond hair.

Social Network - B+
An interesting film. Originally I was not interested in watching this film but thought I would give it a go. The acting is good, the story well written, and it is an interesting story.



Tomorrow When The War Began - B
I have to admit I am not a fan of most Australian movies. This one though was a pretty reasonable effort. There were some glaring discrepancies to the book (book is 15 years old and there were no mobiles and video chat for rural communities back then). But it is an acceptable effort. There is a decent balance between action and story telling. Will be interested to see if the rest of the books are turned into movies.

Dinner for Schmucks - B
More of a Dramedy then a full on Comedy. A decent film with some great laughs (especially at the end). There is a good script in there. Steve Carrel is wonderful. Nothing surprising about the film but still a good watch.

The Dead - Tossed Waves (Book 2) by Carrie Ryan

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (8 April 2010)
ISBN-10: 0575090898
ISBN-13: 978-0575090897

First Sentence: "The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going."

Gabry lives a quiet and safe life behind the barrier. But her world is about to shattered when one night of fun turns into a disaster. Now Gabry has to decide to live her quiet but safe life at the light house, or take a chance and leave everything she knows behind. Can she save her friends? what secrets is her mother keeping? and who is Elias?

This is the sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The story picks up roughly 20 years after the events in Forest of Hands and Teeth. Mary is the lighthouse keeper responsible for killing the unconsecrated (or Mudo as they are known in this town), and she lives with her 16 year old daughter Gabry. The story is told from Gabry's point of view.

The reader gets to learn so much more about the world Mary inhabited. Vista is similar to the village Mary fled from. It is controlled by the Protectorate a government that rules, from what I can tell, the remaining surviving cities. Young men are volunteered or dragooned as punishment into the military known as the Recruiters. Everyone else is encased behind solid walls and are forced to follow strict rules. I feel we also get a sense of the bigger picture here, of what has been happening in the forest and beyond.

There was not as much action in this book compared to the first book. Towards the end there was a lot of action, but I felt up to about halfway through the book, the pacing was fairly slow. The death toll of the main characters is pretty low too compared to the first book.

Gabry is a little bit of a strange character. I found on one hand she annoyed me, but on the other hand I liked her and felt sorry for her. Somehow she has grown up completely afraid of her world and even who she is. So she really struggles with the turn of events, and beats herself up over it. I enjoyed Elias as a character he has the whole mysterious stranger with a dark past thing happening.

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT - I was a little confused about Mary's story though. She apparently returned to the forest for a year or so, and its indicated she knows how to return to her home village. Yet she apparently has never returned even though it says in this book she spent some time in the forest previously (after fleeing originally). I am a little baffled as to what she was doing in the forest for that time?

DISCUSSION POINT - Another thing I don't really get plot wise is the zombies themselves. While Ryan does a decent job explaining why there is still so many around. It still doesn't ring true for me. I am positive in the first book Ryan said that the zombies sort of disintegrated the older they were. To me this would mean eventually the zombies would just decompose eventually. So why are there still so many around? I dunno maybe I misread, or I am misremembering that passage. Oh also I don't understand why the infection stopped the remainder of humanity using things like planes, cars or other technology? Wouldn't we have made power stations, airports etc safe to use? Also food, how are the remaining people living because farms don't seem to exist? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

This book sets up for another book as it ends with a bit of a cliff hanger then an epilogue. Looking on Carrie Ryan's website a new book The Dark and Hollow Places is due out March 2011. I will be interested to see where Ryan takes the story. If you have read the first book and liked it, then this is a must read to learn more about the world.

Grug and His First Christmas by Ted Prior

Rating: 4 out of 5
ISBN: 9780731814305
Category: General
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: 2010-10-01
Series: Grug Series
Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER AUSTRALIA
Country of origin: AUS
Age: Under 5

First Sentence: "One day Grug was strolling past Cara's hollow log"

Our little friend Grug is back and it is Grug's first Christmas. Grugs friend Cara tells him all about Christmas. He then sets out to celebrate Christmas. Grug makes a Christmas tree, bakes some goodies for his friends and even gets a strange package from someone called Santa.

A cute little book for your little one. Big colourful pictures and a basic story that a new reader will find easy to follow.

This year my son was just to young to really understand, he did enjoy the pictures thought. But I suspect this book well be great next year. It should be a good way to introduce him to Christmas.

If your child likes Grug this one will also be a hit.

Fan Mail (Sophie Anderson Book 3) by PD Martin

Rating: 4 out of 5
Paperback
Publisher: Pan Australia (December 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0330424025
ISBN-13: 978-0330424028

First Sentence:"The voice is deep and smooth. 'Agent Sophie Anderson?'"

Sophie moves to LA and on her first day in town is called out to a murder scene. It is of the famous crime writer Loretta Black. At first it looks like a simple case of murder, but then another crime author turns up dead and Sophie is suddenly hot on the trail of a serial killer.

This review will have to be short as I do not want to give anything away.

Another great installment from PD Martin. The new setting means a whole new swag of characters to get to know. Sorrell seems to be a good crime fighting partner for Sophie and I hope he is back in later books. He is a little gruff and burly but otherwise a pretty decent guy. I really don't like Justin, didn't from book two. I personally would be suspicious of a guy like him. But that's just me :) For a love interest I prefer Darren for Sophie and hope that now they are closer geograpahically he gets to be in the picture more.

I enjoyed the idea of the serial killer targeting crime writing authors. It brings a refreshing twist to the crime writing books. Actually all the books so far in this series I felt were the same. They had fascinating themes in them in terms of the serial killers. Makes the books stand out from normal crime stories. Well that and the visions of course.

The ending was a surprise which is great. I definitely didn't see it coming which is good as normally I can guess what will happen.

A good installment in the series which I enjoyed reading. I look forward to reading the next book.

Whales' Tails and Turtle Trails by Tammy Yee

Rating: 5 out of 5
Board book: 16 pages
Publisher: Island Heritage Publishing (July 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597009288
ISBN-13: 978-1597009287
Under 5

Opening Sentence: "Turtle dreams of turtle trails and riding high on whale's tails."

When on holidays in Hawaii recently I wanted to get my son a picture book with a story about Hawaii. This was a lot harder then I thought. So I settled for a Hawaiian author and a story that had Hawaii iconic things in it (like lei's and hibiscus flowers).

This is the tale of Turtle, who goes on a dreamy adventure through his habitat with his friends Seal and Whale. Along the way he encounters many things and creatures that inhabit his world.

This book is so much more then just a Hawaiian book, and I am delighted we picked it up. The story is a simple which makes it very easy to follow for young readers. It follows the rhyming and lyrical pattern which means it flows easily while reading it. Also woven into the story there is also counting, shapes, and colours.

Tammy Yee has illustrated the book itself and the pictures are wonderful. They are bright and colourful. The animals are in cartoon form with big eyes and wide smiles. What is really great is nearly every image has pictures with in the image. For instance on the pages with four big fish on it, the fish scales are pieces of fruit (for instance the orange fish has scales of oranges). So there is so much more to this then just a story and pretty picture.

This is one of my sons favorite books and I would definitely recommend it to any one with young children.

Where Is The Green Sheep? by Mem Fox

Rating: 5 out of 5
Reading level: Baby-Preschool
Board book: 32 pages
Publisher: Penguin Group (Australia) 2006
Language: English
ISBN-13: 9780143501763
Under 5

Opening Sentence "Here is the blue sheep"

Another brilliant edition to Mem Fox's range of children's books. In this book we meet lots of different sheep, but we can not find the green sheep. Where is it?

Mem Fox again uses a lyrical style with rhyme and repetition. This works really well and makes the story fun, simple and easy to follow for babies and toddlers. The whole way through its shows lots of different sheep and at various points the book asks where is the green sheep? This builds the anticipation for children as right at the end Mem Fox says "turn the page quietly - let's take a peep...." and there is the green sheep fast asleep.

Judy Horacek has done a lovely job illustrating the book. She has used bright and vibrant colours. The pictures are simple and clear making it all stand out. Each page has a sheep "doing" what it is. For instance the bath sheep is sitting in a bubble bath. Even though the art work is simple the sheep still manage to be full of character.

A wonderful book to read to your toddler and for them to learn to read with. If you only get one or two Mem Fox books this has to be one of them.

The Dance of the Dinosaurs by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins

Rating: 4 out of 5
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks (4 Nov 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0007114443
ISBN-13: 978-0007114443
Product Dimensions: 25.8 x 22.8 x 0.6 cm
Recommended Ages: 3-6

First Sentence: "Lightening flashed, on a wild and stormy night and Georgie and Dee shivered in fright".

It's a dark and thundery night and Georgie and Dee could not sleep. Their cat, trying to show them there is nothing to fear of thunder storms, takes them on a magical journey to a land where Dinosaurs roam, and party creating thunder!

A lovely bedtime story for children about Dinosaurs who dance and make thunder. The story uses rhyming couplets that make it fun and easy to follow. The rhythm is good and the pacing just right for reading aloud. There is also opportunity for the reader to interject noises, such as loud roars, which makes the story more interesting to the child listening.

The illustrations are bright and colourful, filling most of the page. The animals are in cartoon form with big round eyes, and large smiley mouths. This makes them non threatening and very cute.

A delightful book with a lovely message of there being no need to fear thunderstorms. Because it is just Dinosaurs having some fun and dancing the night away. Is a perfect book to read at bedtime.

Ghouls Just Haunt To Have Fun (Book 3 Ghost Hunter Mystery Series) by Victoria Laurie

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Signet; Reprint edition (March 3, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451226305
ISBN-13: 978-0451226303

First Sentence: "Here's some free advice: Never go into business with your best friend."

Ghost hunter M.J Halliday returns for another mad cap adventure. In this installment she and Gilly travel to San Fransisco to star in a new tv show. Everything is going well until the knife appeears. Then all hell breaks loose with a demon on the rampage. Now M.J must defeat the demon and send it back to hell where it came from.

This is a wonderful light hearted series. You will find yourself chuckling at the antics of Gilly and MJ. Most of the humour comes from MJ and Gilly themselves. A few of the scenes had me chuckling. I particularly loved the scene after they encountered the demon and were covering up their encounter with the hotel manager.

I enjoyed the introduction of Heath and Detective MacDonald. Heath compliments MJ very well and they make a good team. Detective MacDonald makes a refreshing change, being open to what MJ does and how she works. Most of the time she encouters skeptics, but MacDonald lets MJ go with it and assist with the investigation.

The series I think is going in an interesting direction that will set it apart from other paranormal detective series. The introduction of the tv show and twist on the whole paranormal tv series is an interesting one. It could either work really well with the series or not work at all. Only time will tell. For this book it worked well.

I had read three post apoclyptic books in a row and while they were good I need something fun and light to read for something different. This book is it. A delightful, fun series that should not be taken seriously. You can knock it over quickly but thats the point, its not supposed to be taxing just silly brain candy fun.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Book 1) by Carrie Ryan

Rating: 4 out of 5Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN-10: 0575090863
ISBN-13: 978-0575090866

First Sentence: "My mother used to tell me about the ocean. She said there was a place where there was nothing but water as far as you could see and that it was always moving, rushing toward you and then away."

Mary is like any normal teenager. She hangs out with her friends, she has a crush on a boy, and she never goes beyond the fence. Mary lives in a village in the Forest of Hands and Teeth where the unconsecrated live. The world as we know it is gone, an infection that turned humans into Zombies ravaged the planet leaving only Mary's village as the sole survivors. The village is controlled by the Sisterhood, who govern and protect the inhabitants. But Mary is curious and in the Sisterhoods eyes dangerous. Eventually Mary must decide between her village or her dreams, and keep her friends safe at the same time.

A fascinating debut novel. Even though the story is set in a world full of zombies, its not really about zombies at all. The story is character driven and is about Mary figuring out the world around her and her place in it. Mary is a great character, not a typical YA novel protagonist. She is a little selfish, and shallow, but at the same time brave and loyal. She is a likable character though, and realistic.

I was a little disappointed while reading the book, about the lack of elaboration on what happened with the world. At the time I read this book (middle 2009) I didn't know there was another book. However after I finished the book I thought the lack of information was appropriate. Mary and her friends only know what they have been taught about the outside world, so it would seem silly for them to tell the reader all about it. Also it would seem and obvious story filler, if they stumble on a book/room/person that could tell them exactly everything they needed to know. Life doesn't get tied up in a neat little bow so why should this story?

There are some pretty emotional scenes in this book. With out giving much away, two main scenes stand out. One with Mary and her Mother as they say goodbye, and the second was when Mary was in the tree houses with her friends. I will leave it at that.

Ryan has done a fantastic job drawing you in and making you care about the main characters. She also makes the story suitably creepy, with a touch of horror. This is where I think the lack of information really helps to build the suspense. As they don't know what expect they are shocked or discovered by discoveries. Also there is a lot of action and carnage in this book.

All in all a really solid first book. It was a great read which was hard to put down. If you like zombies this would be a great read, but even if you don't like zombies (like me) this is still a good engaging read.