The Women's Murder Club series by James Patterson

Book: Women's Murder Club series
Author: James Patterson with Andrew Gross & Maxine Paetro
Rating: Somewhere between 2.5 & 3 stars.

This series is about Lindsay Boxer who works in Homicide for the SFPD. She does not let the fact that she is the only on the force get to her. On the contrary, she is proud of her position. She is tough, smart, and determined. On the other hand, she is impatient, somewhat short-tempered, and a workaholic. Even when Lindsay is on vacation or has the weekend off, she is not happy unless she is working a case.

Lindsay's best friend, Claire, is the chief medical examiner. Cindy is a reporter for a newspaper. And both Jill and Yuki are Assistant District Attorneys and together these ladies form the Women's Murder Club. Whenever Lindsay is at a dead end in one of her cases and she needs to get out of the office, she calls the girls and together they try to fit the puzzle pieces into place.

High speed chases, shoot outs, fires, bombs, deaths. You name it Lindsay Boxer has seen it.

The books are mainly from Lindsay's POV, but every so often it switches to that of the other girls as well as the law breakers.

My Thoughts: I was disappointed with this series. I had read all this positive feedback about these books and how wonderful they were, but they were just okay. I had to push myself to read them. I kept hoping something BIG would happen like one of the club members turning out to be a double agent, or Lindsay's boyfriend revealing his true identity as a convicted felon in disguise, or Mars-dwelling aliens abducting the San Fran law enforcers. Okay, okay, so I wasn't expecting the aliens, but you get the point. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing exciting happened.

Of all 10 books, only 2 stood out 4th of July and The 5th Horseman. Both were fast-paced and had a surprise twist at the end. These two are the ones worth reading. The other 8 books dragged. The victims of the "whodunit" crimes are almost always the same wealthy people, and they got redundant and dull. There was also no smooth transition between the books.

I actually think that the series would have been better if one of the other club members was the main character. Sorry to all the Lindsay Boxer fans, but I REALLY did NOT like her character at all. She is just annoying! I also think that the series should have stopped at 5 books.

What's Your Status?

This was started on Butterfly Feet Walking on Life. The objective is to write your reading status of the week, what you have read, what you are currently reading, what you plan to read next.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

The 8th Confession by James Patterson

The 9th Judgment by James Patterson

WHAT I"M READING NOW:
10th Anniversary by James Patterson (on page 70)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (on page 282)

NEXT IN MY TBR PILE:
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

What's your status?

POTTERMORE

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8579560/JK-Rowling-launches-Pottermore-website.html

According to this link this mysterious thing called Pottermore is going to be a website for Potter fans. There are dozens of Harry Potter websites, what makes this one so special? And if it is just a website, why all the secrets? I think there has to be something more. If it isn't another HP book, it could be a new book or series. Rowling's Twitter updates all say that she has been writing. I guess we won't know for sure until Thursday…

A Whirlwind of Pages

I seem to have fallen into the pattern of reading series this year. It was truly unintentional. I have a list of all books I wanted to read and somewhere along the way I added more.

I guess it all started when my friend gave me The Lightning Thief for my birthday. As soon as I finished it, I just HAD to know what happened next. Naturally, I went and bought the rest of the series as soon as I could. All five books were great! I actually couldn't believe that I hadn't read it sooner. But I am glad that I did. I enjoyed learning about Greek mythology. I wish I had had the opportunity to take a class on it.

I also have become, well not obsessed, but greatly fascinated by the writings of James Patterson. His Michael Bennett series is amazing. It is tension-building  and even funny at times. I just could not put the books down. I finished all four of them in two weeks, which is pretty fast for my standards. 

I would definitely recommend both of these series. They are well worth the read :)

I am currently reading Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. I am only on the 7th book out of 10, but I am hoping to finish them by the end of the month.

So, until next time, I bid you all happy reading!

Summer Reading

Is it just me, or has this year been going by fast? Summer is fast approaching and the big question everyone is trying to answer is What am I going to read this summer? Or something similar to that anyway. Personally, I'm waiting for the release of Twistedand Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard. What can I say? I'm addicted to her writing.

So, anyway, here are some suggestions for summer reading:

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Each of these books has its own unique plot. They are fun, addictive reads that are sure to add a bit of color to your summer. I really enjoyed reading these books and hope the same holds true for others.

Short Short Story

I was going through my computer and found this story that I wrote for my FictionWriting class in college, so I thought I'd share it.

Don't Mess With Me

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, my mother is coming over for dinner tonight,” Tyler said as he steered through the morning traffic.

I was in the midst of taking a sip of my Starbucks coffee, and choked spitting out the mouthful onto my shirt.

“What?” I cried as I searched for a napkin in the glove compartment.  I found one and started dabbing at the spot on my shirt.

“Yeah, she called last week saying that she was coming to visit,” Tyler said happily as he came to a stop at a red light.

*The old badger better not be staying the whole week.*

I sighed determined to restrain myself from arguing about it.  I resorted to staring out the windshield.  I could see 

Tyler out of the corner of my eye looking at me every few minutes as he wound his way through the slow-moving cars ahead of us as if they were traffic cones.

I sat seething as the car sped onward.  I had given up on the spot and was now crumpling the napkin in my fist.  He knew that his mother annoyed me.  And yet there he sat beside me humming along to the radio carefree and oblivious to my frustration. It was like he had purposely waited until now to tell me this.  Well, I wasn’t going to let him ruin my day.  

I was just pondering how to get back at Tyler, when he pulled up to the curb in front of my office.  I got out of the car, slammed the door, and walked toward the entrance of the building without a word.

“Jen, hold on,” Tyler called.

“What?” I demanded turning around.

*Why is he smiling like that?*

“April Fools!”

I marched back to the car and saw the smile slide from his face.  I slowly took the cap off of my coffee, opened the car door, and pretended that I was about to dump it on him. The stunned look on his face was priceless.  He cowered in his seat as I raised. the cup higher.

“Gotcha!” I said smirking at his expression as I turned away from the car.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

This is NOT your average girl falls for football player/rocker/rebel/vampire/whatever and ends up with him in the end high school fairy tale which is why I absolutely LOVED this book. King breaks free from this monotonous, overused, plot creating an Excellent and well-written story.

Vera's former best friend, Charlie Kahn, has died. As the story progresses, we slowly get a look at what their friendship had been like. They grew up living right next door to each other and so spent a lot of time together. As the years pass, they begin to drift away from one another. Vera gets a job and does volunteer work while Charlie goes hunting with his father and spends time in his tree house. But, when Charlie starts hanging out with a different crowd, things take a turn for the worse.

Vera knows how Charlie died, but she is unable to bring herself to tell anyone about it, even though it has had a big impact on her.

King depicts perfectly the effects of peer pressure in high school as well as how mean classmates really can be.

Overall, I thought King's work was amazing. Her characters are unique and the plot is fascinating. A highly addictive read which I recommend to…well, everyone.

Oh, by the way, I highly recommend that you read this book in print rather than on NOOK or Kindle. There are flow charts in the book that are impossible to see on the screen, unless you have super perfect vision of course.