*TOO MUCH MONEY* by Dominick Dunne

"My name is Gus Bailey...It should be pointed out that it is a regular feature of my life that people whisper things in my ear, very private things, about themselves or others. I have always understood the art of listening."The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. His propensity for gossip has finally gotten him into trouble -- $11 million worth. His problems begin when he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake story from an unreliable source and repeats it on a radio program. As a result of his flip comments, Gus becomes embroiled in a nasty slander suit brought by Kyle Cramden, the powerful congressman he accuses of murder, and he fears it could mean the end of him.The stress of the lawsuit makes it difficult for Gus to focus on the novel he has been contracted to write, which is based on the suspicious death of billionaire Konstantin Zacharias. It is a story that has dominated the party conversations of Manhattan's chattering classes for more than two years. The accused murderer is behind bars, but Gus is not convinced that justice was served. There are too many unanswered questions, such as why a paranoid man who did not go anywhere without bodyguards was suddenly left without protection the very night he perished in a tragic fire. Gus believes the answers lie with Konstantin's hot-tempered and vengeful wife, Perla. He intends to uncover the truth, even though doing so will gain him another dangerous enemy.

In true Dominick Dunne fashion, Too Much Money is peppered with thinly veiled fictions, keeping readers guessing about the real-world villains and intrigues that lie beneath its chapters. Dunne revives the world he first introduced in his mega-bestselling novel People like Us, and he brings readers up-to-date on favorite characters such as Ruby and Elias Renthal, Lil Altemus, and, of course, the beloved Gus Bailey. Once again, he invites us to pull up a seat at the most important tables at Swifty's, get past the doormen at esteemed social clubs like The Butterfield, and venture into the innermost chambers of the Upper East Side's most sumptuous mansions. Too Much Money is a satisfying, mischievous, and compulsively readable tale by the most brilliant society chronicler of our time -- the man who knows all the secrets and isn't afraid to share them.

*****Rate this 5/5. I am so sad that this is the end of Dominick Dunne's writing career. I read every book he ever wrote as well as all of his columns in Vanity Fair. I will truly miss him. I loved this book, another fitting tribute to Mr. Dominick Dunne.

*Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin

Official Book Club Selection is Kathy Griffin unplugged, uncensored, and unafraid to dish about what really happens on the road, away from the cameras, and at the star party after the show. (It’s also her big chance to score that coveted book club endorsement she’s always wanted. Are you there, Oprah? It’s me, Kathy.)Kathy Griffin has won Emmys for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, been nominated for a Grammy, worked and walked every red carpet known to man, and rung in the New Year with Anderson Cooper. But the legions of fans who pack Kathy’s sold-out comedy shows have heard only part of her remarkable story. Writing with her trademark wit, the feisty comic settles a few old scores, celebrates the friends and mentors who helped her claw her way to the top, and shares insider gossip about celebrity behavior–the good, the bad, and the very ugly. She recounts the crazy ups and downs of her own career and...

Rate this 3.5 out of 5. For the first 2/3 of the book, I was completely enthralled as Kathy is a very good story teller. She makes fun of herself before other people can, but sometimes I get the impression that being a star, being on camera, being in the spotlight is of such vast importance to her, that she leaves nothing else room in her life. She was actually a very sore loser because she lost out on her first Emmy nomination and stormed out, not attending the followup parties, etc. She justifies her yelling at the winners (Extreme Makeover) by saying it was all in fun and why couldn't they take a joke. It seems to me that she was wound up as a little performer in her early age, got a good response from it, and now can't get through a day without it being 'all about her'.

I Want: My Journey From Addiction and Overconsumption To A Simpler, Honest Life - Jane Velez-Mitchell

Host of her own Headline News show, journalist Velez-Mitchell addresses a number of her own issues in this honest but ultimately unremarkable narrative, focusing largely on former addictions to alcohol, cigarettes, food and money: "I've consumed all of those in massive quantities, and they've just made me miserable. Now, I want... the opposite of material. As sappy as it might sound, what I want is spiritual." Velez-Mitchell then recounts a childhood with parents who taught her to shun all authority but their own; a young adulthood in which she nearly drank herself into oblivion; her decision to get sober; how she came to terms with her homosexuality; and her climb to success in the world of television news. Despite these revelations, though, Velez-Mitchell's off-putting, self-righteous tone may make readers feel they're being scolded, rather than invited to understand or sympathize.


**Rate this book 2/5. While I thought that her addiction and recovery from alcohol would be interesting reading, it was not. She did attend AA, but this is briefly mentioned. She spends most of the book acting self-righteous and self-absorbed. She not only had an alcohol addiction that she overcame, she also was a compulsive shopper, became an animal rights crusader and a vegan, hug the trees, save the whales. It is a little bit of a stretch to believe all of her 'good deeds'. I was disappointed in this self-serving book.

*ANGEL TIME: SONGS OF THE SERAPHIM* By Anne Rice

Full of provocative moral reflections, this kickoff to bestseller Rice's new Songs of the Seraphim religious romance series centers on hired assassin Toby O'Dare, a one-time aspirant to the priesthood until personal tragedy unmoored his life. Guardian angel Malchiah visits Toby, who's just consummated his latest kill, and offers him redemption for his sins. After accepting the offer, Toby is whisked away to 13th-century England, where, in the guise of a Dominican friar, he becomes the protector of a Jewish couple accused wrongly by the gentile populace of having murdered their young daughter for her conversion to Christianity. Two eloquently told if clunkily joined digressions give the backstory on Toby and on the persecution of the Jews in medieval Europe. Readers will revel in Rice's colorful recreation of the historical past and in her moving depiction of characters struggling to reconcile matters of the heart with their personal sense of faith.

Rate this 5/5. I loved Anne's new venture into the light side instead of the dark. This book involves good versus evil, time travel and redemption. Now I can't wait for the second book in the series.

*HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY* by Audrey NIffenegger

Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London. When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt; they only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive former lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind. Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry: about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life -- even after death.

****Rate this as 4/5. The first 3/4 of the book were priceless, and kept my rapt attention. Then I was totally disappointed by the last few chapters, as well as the end. It just did not comply or fit in with the beginning of the story. I liked The Time Traveler's Wife so much better. I felt like the ending of the book was somewhat rushed on this one, which is a shame since the first 3/4 were excellent and I loved the characters.

*THE KENNEDY WOMEN* by Laurence Leamer

Based on five years of research, and with unprecedented cooperation from Kennedy family and associates, Laurence Leamer paints startling, in-depth portraits of the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters who struggled to build and maintain the Kennedy dynasty—from steerage on an immigrant vessel to the slums of Boston, from the court of St. James to the White House.

*****Rate this 5/5. The years of research paid off because this book was so well-written and thorough. One always hears of the Kennedy men, but little of their wives, sisters and mother. This book introduces all of them in depth and the lives they lived. This book was over 800 pages and took some time to read, but it was worth the effort. I had just finished Bobby and Jackie, A Love Story, so this book expanded on that one.

*THE MANSIONS OF LIMBO* by Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne has met them all--stars and slugs, criminals and victims, the innocent and the hideously guilty--and now his two provocative collections of Vanity Fair portraits are in one irresistible volume. From posh Park Avenue duplexes to the extravagant mansions of Beverly Hills, from tasteful London town houses to the wild excesses of million-dollar European retreats, here are the movers and shakers--and the people who pretend to be.
Among colorful profiles and revealing glimpses of Elizabeth Taylor, Claus von Bülow, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Aaron Spelling, discover who dumped an heiress the night before the wedding to run off with the best man . . . what happens when the ex-husband of a movie legend becomes president . . . why a beautiful singer fell in with the mob . . . and, in Dunne's most personal story, how a lying murderer and a limelight-loving judge denied justice to his family after his daughter's life was brutally destroyed.
Filled with pathos and wit, insight and sass, this candid, controversial volume gives you an extraordinary peek into the rarefied world of the rich, the royal, and the ruined. For Dunne is the man who knows all their secrets--and now those secrets are out.

****Rate this 4/5 as I enjoyed Fatal Charms more. I have to now anticipate Dominick's last book which will be released in December called "It's Only Money" It will the last book I read of his because I have read everyone ever published. I will dearly miss this author's writing!

*FATAL CHARMS* And Other Tales of Today by Dominick Dunne

From the author of the best-selling People Like Us and The Two Mrs. Grenviles comes this unvarnished look at the gilded world of the real-life rich and famous. Here are the highly colorful and highly provocative look at the gilded world of the real-life rich of famous. Here are the highly colorful and highly provocative close-up interviews Dominick Dunne has written for Vanity Fair. In them, Dunne tells all about today's creme de la creme as only as insider can tell it. Here is his engaging profile of the everlasting regal Elizabeth Taylor; a bizarre encounter with Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos exiled in Hawaii; a revealing, behind-the-scenes portrait of the great poseur Claus von Bulow; an inquiry into the squalid life and mysterious death of Alfred Bloomingdale's mistress, Vicki Morgan; Dunne's moving account of his daughter's violent death and the man who got away with her murder; as well as revealing glimpses of Ivan Boesky, Ava Gardner, Diane Keaton, Gloria Vanderbilt, Candy and Aaron Spelling, and others-plus a look inside the exclusive Mortimer's restaurant and the real Palm Beach. Sassy and stirring, candid and controversial, Fatal Charms is a startling expose of charm-in all its guises-both fatal and benign.

*****Rate this 5/5. I thought that I had read every book ever written by Dominick Dunne, but possibly due to his recent death I was able to locate both this book and "The Mansions Of Limbo" which I searched for years to obtain! Any time I read any of Mr. Dunne's books, I feel like I am conversing with an old friend. He 'lived' old Hollywood, he knew and was friends with so many stars and celebrities. I adore him and I am looking forward to his final book which will be out in December. You will be greatly missed Dominick Dunne!

*BOBBY & JACKIE, A Love Story by C. David Heymann

Pulitzer-nominated biographer Heymann delivers a gawk-worthy beach read with this fascinating look at Jackie and the Kennedy clan in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Life for JFK and Jackie was less than perfect; one story finds him cheating on Jackie during their 1953 Acapulco honeymoon, leaving the new Mrs. Kennedy "by herself on the verandah." Still, Jackie's devastation was real; afterward, her love for his brother Bobby was equally genuine. Unable to find peace (her Georgetown home had become a stop for all D.C. tour buses), Bobby gladly volunteered to play surrogate father to her kids; before long, an affair began. According to Truman Capote, it was "perhaps the most normal relationship either one ever had." It was not necessarily simple, however; both saw a number of people while together. Promiscuity aside, the Kennedys were also notoriously "chintzy" in their personal lives-they didn't tip and employed undocumented workers at home- though Jackie fares marginally better. It's anyone's guess how the affair would have ended if Bobby hadn't been killed; just four months later, she married Aristotle Onassis. Heymann's research is top notch, with plentiful attributions, making this train-wreck love story a substantial guilty pleasure and a sizzling reminder of how the rich are different.

*****Rate this a 5/5 as it was read in two sittings! Quite an engaging tale of the Kennedys and loaded with tidbits I never knew before. A very interesting read!

*MADNESS UNDER THE ROYAL PALMS* by Laurence Leamer

Leamer (The Kennedy Women) reveals the secrets of the Palm Beach elite who reside behind the high walls and manicured hedges of this exclusive enclave. A winter resident since 1994, the author gains the trust of his subjects, playing tennis with them and attending their parties. Such firsthand experience is supplemented by newspaper articles and interviews with scores of men and women who, although usually guarded, are unusually open to Leamer (the informant for the chapter "Palm Beach Millionaire Seeks Playmate" gave the author access to his personal papers, including unpublished memoirs). The book's highly visual vignettes-dominated by divorce, infidelity, excessive drinking and violence-produce a depressing picture of sad, angry, insecure and frequently nasty people hiding behind empty smiles, luxury cars and socially invisible servants. Leamer reflects: "Like [Henry] James, I found that few of the lives have the beauty of the surroundings, or the depths of the artistic vision that inspired this island." Some readers may find this book a penetrating portrayal of a privileged segment of the American population; others might regard it as a book-length gossip column.

****Rate this as a 4/5. I found this book to read as well as any good fictional story but it was true! Palm Beach people live much differently than the rest of us do. I am also anxious to read this author's book about the Kennedy Women

*NEVER MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE* by Nene Leakes

Outrageous, captivating, and unafraid to tell it like it is, Nene Leakes shares her wild journey from a scandalous past to the pinnacle of reality television stardom. Lauded by her fans for her refreshing honesty, infectiously genuine style, and clever sense of humor, Nene is an empowered, self-made woman who has not forgotten where she came from and knows exactly where she wants to go.
In this straight-talking and provocative memoir Nene charts her journey from family black sheep to single mother to making good and realizing her dreams. With her charm and bold, self-possessed voice, Nene tackles her painful childhood; the abuse she suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend; her struggle to support her firstborn son; and her path to true love, self-acceptance, and pride.
In Never Make the Same Mistake Twice, Nene dishes on her cast mates; takes on the rumors about her past; and shares hard-earned and inspiring life lessons in her fierce, no-nonsense, and irreverent style.

****Rate 4/5 Love this book. My guilty pleasure is the Real Housewives and my favorite character on the Atlanta show is Nene. In this book she talks and thinks just like she does on the show.

*THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE* by J. Randy Taraborrelli

From New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli comes the definitive biography of the most enduring icon in popular American culture. When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's world and the complex family dynamic that unfolded behind the scenes is a story that has never before been told...until now. In this groundbreaking book, Taraborrelli draws complex and sympathetic portraits of the women so influential in the actress' life, including her mother, her foster mother, and her legal guardian. He also reveals, for the first time, the shocking scope of Marilyn's own mental illness, the identity of Marilyn's father and the half-brother she never knew, and new information about her relationship with the Kennedy's-Bobby, Jack, and Pat Kennedy Lawford. Explosive, revelatory, and surprisingly moving, this is the final word on the life of one of the most fascinating and elusive icons of the 20th Century.

*****Rate this well-written book about Marilyn as 5/5. I like the fact that the author did extensive research prior to writing it. There have been many misconceptions about her life and a lot of unknown facts. This book covers it all. I have read many books on Marilyn, but this is the most researched and well-written one by far.

*SOUTH OF BROAD* by Pat Conroy

Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Broad gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, our narrator, is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school principal and a well-known Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of thirteen, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tightly knit group of high school seniors that includes friends Sheba and Trevor Poe, glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father; hardscrabble mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead; socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge X; and an ever-widening circle whose liaisons will ripple across two decades-from 1960s counterculture through the dawn of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The ties among them endure for years, surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, and Charleston's dark legacy of racism and class divisions. But the final test of friendship that brings them to San Francisco is something no one is prepared for. South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest; a long-awaited work from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.


*****Rate 5/5. I waited a long time for Mr. Conroy's novel and I was not disappointed. His writing is so descriptive and lyrical. I loved this book, now I have to wait for the next!!

*UNMASKED: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin

In late December 2008, Ian Halperin told the world that Michael Jackson had only six months to live. His investigations into Jackson's failing health made headlines around the globe. Six months later, the King of Pop was dead.
Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Friends and associates paint a tragic picture of the last years and days of his life as Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the planned concert series at London's 02 Arena in July 2009. These shows would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but he could never have completed them, not mentally, and not physically. Michael knew it and his advisors knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. Why did it happen this way? After an intense five year investigation, New York Times bestselling author Ian Halperin uncovers the real story of Michael Jackson's final years, a suspenseful and surprising thriller.

Rate this 3/5. Before starting this book, I thought that it would another malicious expose, but it was not. I have never read this author before, but I will read some of his other books. Even though he focused mainly on Jackson's trial for alleged child molestation, which is olds news, I enjoyed the book. I feel that he was fair and researched his material very well. He felt, as I do, that Michael was used horribly by his syncophants for greed and that is in essence, what eventually killed him.

*LASHER* by Anne Rice

So stunningly bad is the first third of this book that only the lunatic and the true devotee are likely to get beyond it. It is actually a riot of Rice's worst sins: strained and wooden characterizations, the abandonment of plot for the sake of a tangled and murky history, and a sort of mutant prose stumbling between a modern person's idea of old-fashioned elegance and an old-fashioned person's idea of how people actually talk in the 1990s. Part of the purpose of this 200-page cancer is to make the transition from the novel's progenitor, The Witching Hour (1990), but this could have been accomplished in 10 or 15 pages. Well, let's say you made it through. What you get now is the best of Rice: a deliciously perverse image of an infant, Lasher, who grows to sexual maturity within days of his birth and immediately starts copulating with his mother even while she swoons with the pleasure of his suckling. Of course, it's always nice to read about sex, and Rice's romantic imagination doesn't let her down: Lasher is dark, handsome, sadistic, childlike, and tender. His mother cannot resist him even after she has twice miscarried in the space of three months. But Rice cannot quite bring home the promising story of Lasher's desire to repopulate the earth with his own kind, and the story limps to an unsatisfying conclusion. By the end, then, we've had a bit of everything: the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. Indeed, without her reputation, Rice would never have found a publisher for this wretched mess.

***Rate this 3 out of 5 by comparing it to The Witching Hour. Too much in depth on backgrounds of the characters, including Lasher. However, I will continue to read her books as they are so well-written and entertaining.

*SKINNY BITCH* by Rory Freedman

The frank, "get real" approach of this diet book may be just right for those who have tried and tried without success to lose weight and keep it off. As the title indicates, the language is salty as Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin tell readers just what they must get rid of in their everyday eating: sugar first, followed by meat and dairy. Freedman and Barnouin recommend a vegan lifestyle, and tell why, and then offer more than 75 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking. They help readers break through the mental denial about bad food habits, and offer responsible and fun food choices without denying cravings and appetite.

***Rate this 3/5. Since I have been attending Weight Watchers meetings, I was introduced to this book and anxious to read it. It does contain salty language and how one gets rid of sugar, all meat and dairy in their diets and becomes a 'skinny bitch'. It seems to me that both of the authors are promoting a Vegan diet which works for them, but would not work for me. Although the chapters on animal slaughter and dairy are quite informative and could turn off most people into eating either, I could not follow the Vegan diet. Interesting book though on why most 'diets' do not work. I will stick with my Weight Watchers diet, which I am doing quite well on! :)

*THE WITCHING HOUR* by Anne Rice

We watch and we are always here'' is the motto of the Talamasca, a saintly group with extrasensory powers which has for centuries chronicled the lives of the Mayfairs--a dynasty of witches that brought down a shower of flames in 17th-century Scotland, fled to the plantations of Haiti and on to the New World, where they settled in the haunted city of New Orleans. Rice ( The Queen of the Damned ) plumbs a rich vein of witchcraft lore, conjuring in her overheated, florid prose the decayed antebellum mansion where incest rules, dolls are made of human bone and hair, and violent storms sweep the skies each time a witch dies and the power passes on. Newly annointed is Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant California neurosurgeon kept in ignorance of her heritage by her adoptive parents. She returns to the fold after bringing back Michael Curry from the dead; he, too, has unwanted extrasensory gifts and, like Rowan and the 12 Mayfairs before her, has beheld Lasher: devil, seducer, spirit. Now Lasher wants to come through to this world forever and Rowan is the Mayfair who can open the door. This massive tome repeatedly slows, then speeds when Rice casts off the Talamasca's pretentious, scholarly tones and goes for the jugular with morbid delights, sexually charged passages and wicked, wild tragedy.

*****Rate this 5/5 and would score higher! I loved this book! Even though it was almost a thousand pages, it captures you at the first page and doesn't let go.

*HOW NOT TO DIE* by Jan Garavaglia, MD

Thousands of people make an early exit each year and arrive on medical examiner Jan Garavaglia’s table. What is particularly sad about this is that many of these deaths could easily have been prevented. Although Dr. Garavaglia, or Dr. G, as she’s known to many, could not tell these individuals how to avoid their fates, we can benefit from her experience and profound insight into the choices we make each day.In How Not to Die, Dr. G acts as a medical detective to identify the often-unintentional ways we harm our bodies, then shows us how to use that information to live better and smarter. She provides startling tips on how to make wise choices so that we don’t have to see her, or someone like her, for a good, long time. • In “Highway to the Morgue,” we learn the one commonsense safety tip that can prevent deadly accidents—and the reason you should never drive with the windows half open• “Code Blue” teaches us how to increase our chances of leaving the hospital alive—and how to insist that everyone caring for you practice the easiest hygiene method around• “Everyday Dangers” informs us why neat freaks live longer—and the best ways to stay safe in a car during a lightning stormUsing anecdotes from her cases and a liberal dose of humor, Dr. G gives us her prescription for living a healthier, better, longer life—and unlike many doctors’ orders, this one is surprisingly easy to follow.

****Rate this 4/5. I love watching Dr. G on her show and when I heard she had written a book, I immediately wanted to read it. This was a very informative book about making changes in your life and living longer.

*MOMMYWOOD* by Tori Spelling

Tori Spelling might have grown up with everything a girl could wish for, but these days she's just another suburban working mom...whose toddler regularly recognizes her in the pages of Us Weekly. Welcome to Mommywood, where the stars are two feet tall and your neighbors know who you are before you move in.
Like most parents, Tori wants her children to have the one thing she didn't have as a kid — a normal family. On their hit Oxygen reality show, Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, the starlet and her husband Dean McDermott regularly wrestle dirty diapers, host the neighborhood block party, and tackle temper tantrums on the red carpet. But when the cameras aren't rolling, Tori's still having awkward run-ins with a former 90210 costar at a laser tag birthday party, scooping rogue poo out of the kiddie pool on a resort vacation, and racing to win back her pre-baby body before the media starts calling her fat. For all her suburban fantasies, Tori Spelling is no June Cleaver.
With the same down-to-earth wit that made her entertaining memoir sTORI telling a #1 New York Times bestseller, Tori tells the hilarious and humbling stories of life as a mom in the limelight. From learning to be the kind of parent her own mother never was to revealing what it's like to raise a family while everyone is watching, Mommywood is an irresistible snapshot of celebrity parenthood that you won't get from the paparazzi.

****Rate this 4/5. I adore Tori and watch all of her and Dean's shows. For growing up the way she did, she is doing her very best to raise a normal family. She has a great sense of humor, and reading her book, you think of her as a girlfriend, not a celebrity. Bravo, Tori.....I enjoyed your second book even more than the first!

*THE DRESSMAKER* by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck

In the rural French town of Senlis, mild-mannered, middle-aged tailor Claude Reynaud fashions wedding gowns, dresses and suits for Parisian women in the know; for the locals, he repairs torn seams, sews on buttons and alters hemlines. Claude's predictable life turns upside down when the charming parisienne Valentine de Verlay commissions him to make her wedding dress, and he falls in love with her. Claude's wife left him eight years ago (but, we learn early on, no divorce papers have been signed), and Valentine's fiance, Victor, is a singularly unlikable, one-dimensional character (whose last name, of all things, is "Couturier"). Claude and Valentine couple early on, but, despite being in love with Claude, Valentine stays on track for the marriage to Victor. When Claude joins up with a major Paris designer to be closer to Valentine, former Cosmopolitan columnist Oberbeck cleverly portrays Claude's entr e into high fashion, but she makes a weak case for Claude's dislike of all the attention. An inexplicably tragic side plot involving the teenage girlfriend of one of Claude's nephews further derails the proceedings. Oberbeck successfully creates the intrigue one wants for a wedding gown designer who falls in love with his client and vice versa, but doesn't manage it all the way through to the principals' New York collision.

***Rate this a 3/5. Although this book started out so well, it sagged in the middle and totally fizzled out in the end. I don't know why I finished it..............disappointing!

*ELIZABETH* by J. Randy Taraborelli

For more than six decades Elizabeth Taylor has been a part of our lives. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life and offers the first-ever fully realized portrait of this American icon. You'll meet her controlling mother who plotted her daughter's success from birth...see the qualities that catapulted Elizabeth to stardom in 1940s Hollywood...understand the psychological and emotional underpinnings behind the eight marriages...and, finally, rejoice in Elizabeth's most bravura performance of all: the new success in family, friendships, and philanthropy she achieved despite substance abuse and chronic illness. It's the story of the woman you thought you knew--and now can finally understand.

****Rate this 4/5. An amazing and thorough account of one of my favorite actresses, Elizabeth Taylor. What a beautiful woman she truly is, both inside and out. Her life, her loves, her career and her kindness towards the unfortunate are legend. I truly admire her and I always will.

*MICHAEL JACKSON: THE MAGIC & THE MADNESS by J. Randy Taraborrelli

So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with a remarkable level of access to the very closest circles of the Jackson family - including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloid rumours, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind Michael Jackson, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming of his talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarre publicity stunts. This major biography includes the behind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life: his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children. Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all of Taraborrelli's best-sellers: impeccable research, brilliant storytelling and definitive documentation.

****Rate this 4/5. I think I like Mr. Taraborelli's biographies more than any one else who writes biographies. This is due to the fact that he carefully researches his star and his sources, and does not speculate, but gives hard facts. He makes an interesting biography regardless of whoever he writes about. I had read this book long ago, but in light of Michaels' recent passing, I wanted to read it again. My next 2 books will be by Randy as well about Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.

*MY REMARKABLE JOURNEY* by Larry King

In this humorous, anecdotal account, King at 75-plus marvels good-naturedly at his staying power for a half-century as a talk-show host for radio and TV. Born in Brooklyn in 1933 to Jewish immigrant parents, young Larry Zeiger was profoundly influenced at age nine by the untimely heart-attack death of his father and by the medium of radio. Rejected by the army for bad eyesight and uninterested in going to college, he got his break filling in for a deejay at a radio station in Miami, where he took the name King in a pinch. His early scrapes are hilarious, especially with women (he married eight times), and he had an uncanny ability to snag famous personalities like Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon to be interviewed on air. By simply being curious and unassuming, King could make anyone seem fascinating, from a plumber to the famously laconic Robert Mitchum. Despite being fired in 1971 for financial shenanigans, King swept back on the air in Washington, D.C., before being hired to host a show for Ted Turner's fledgling CNN in 1985, where he has been following current affairs for the past 25 years. King, writing with Fussman (After Jackie), has produced a cultural history as much as a personal testimony, touching on world-shaping events over the last 50 years and sharing, with inimitable humor and grace, some quirky POVs from King's family and friends.

****Rate this 4/5. I love Larry King, and I loved this autobiography. I don't think there is anyone better than Larry when it comes to interviewing people. This was a very enjoyable and funny book to read. I especially loved his take on all the different presidents he has known and interviewed, very interesting and informative.

*AFTERMATH, INC. Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home by Gil Reavill

In this grisly, swaggering tale of gut-churning crime scenes and the men who clean them up after the forensics team is done, veteran true crime scribe Reavill (Beyond All Reason: My Life with Susan Smith) holds nothing back. From descriptions of crimes ("The fusillade of bullets tore through Johnson's body.... Blood, bits of flesh and bone fragments exploded everywhere") to hepatitis C "bleed-outs" ("All four walls of the bathroom looked like someone had taken a blood hose and turned it on them"), Reavill grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go. He follows the techs from Aftermath, Inc.—a bioremediation outfit in suburban Chicago—as they make the rounds of shotgun suicides, multiple murders and meth lab cleanups; dealing not only with the gross-out of the work but trying to stay sane doing it. While some black humor seeps in around the edges, Reavill mostly depicts a cadre of low-key, hardworking men doing a horrible job with respect and compassion. The narrative pace flags a bit in the last 50 pages when Reavill tries to connect Aftermath's work with larger moral issues, but otherwise, if anything can get CSI watchers to flip off the tube and pick up a book, this is it.

***Rate this 3/5. An interesting book on an occupation that I have always wondered about. I wondered what type of people do the job, what they charge ($250/hr) and how they do it. This is not a book for people with a queasy stomach as it is very descriptive, but it was worth the read. Sometimes, you have to just read this type of book, ya know!

*YANNI IN WORDS* by Yanni with David Renson

Yanni is practically a force of nature. Not only has he sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and earned 35 gold and platinum awards, this inspirational artist has entertained millions more with his groundbreaking concert events at the Acropolis, in Athens, at India's Taj Mahal, and in China's Forbidden City. No wonder the Washington Post called Yanni's career "a miracle, a lesson in pluck that could be taught in business school, preached from pulpits and woven into bedtime stories." And yet, even Yanni's greatest fans know very little about the man behind the music.
Yanni in Words is the remarkably forthright, never-before-told story of the critically acclaimed musician's personal odyssey: from his childhood under a Greek military dictatorship to success as his country's national 50-meter swimming champ at fourteen; from his college years at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a degree in psychology; to his wild years playing rock and roll across America before going solo. Yanni openly discusses his intense nine-year relationship with Linda Evans (Linda herself contributed to the book); his battle for respect from critics and a music industry bewildered by his new style of contemporary instrumental music; the journey through a burn-out depression that threatened to derail his career and prevented him from touching a piano for a year; and his eventual recovery and return. This is a story of how a single-minded musical vision and indomitable will to be heard became the source of Yanni's biggest frustrations, greatest triumphs, and deepest insights about creativity.
Yanni in Words is also a love letter to his parents, under whose enlightened and gentle guidance he learned lessons about love and truth that have lasted a lifetime. It is brimming with a clear-eyed understanding of the human condition, the rewards of original thinking, and the secrets of satisfaction -- all of which evolved as Yanni confronted challenge after challenge in pursuit of his musical dreams. Yanni in Words also includes an exploration of the creative process by which Yanni composes his unique music -- and that anyone can use to pursue their own creativity. As poignantly memorable as it is unprecedentedly candid, this is the story everyone has been waiting to read. Yanni in Words is heartfelt, open, inspirational, honest, and emotional. Just like Yanni's music. Only in words.

****Rate this 4/5. I adore Yanni's music....it was interesting to read his book. He is very frank about his lovelife and Linda Evans, but the part I enjoyed the most was how and why he writes the beautiful music that he does. It contains so much soul and love, and as he explains, that is how and why he writes it. He had a dream, and he fulfilled it, and I am happy that he did.

*A RELIABLE WIFE* by Robert Goolrick

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways. With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

*****Rate 5/5! If I could have rated this at a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 5, I would have. I enjoyed this book so much. A 'read in one sitting book', I was up until 1:00AM finishing it. A beautifully written thriller that keeps one turning the pages.

*CROSSROADS* by Belva Plain

No one explores the rich tapestry of the human heart as Belva Plain does. Her more than twenty New York Times bestsellers have captivated readers and garnered legions of devoted fans. Now Plain dazzles us once again with a new novel of rare eloquence and raw emotion…a powerful tale about the consequences of greed—and the acts of love and forgiveness that can heal the heart.Cassie Wright never saw it coming. As owner of Wright Glassworks, the foremost company in a thriving New England town, Cassie’s life was quiet, focused on her work and home…until a tragic accident turns her carefully ordered world upside down. For there is a surviving child to think about—and Cassie must take in one-year-old Gwen, who has no one else to care for her. As the years pass, Cassie will raise Gwen as her own, and a little girl who lost everything will flourish in a world of privilege and opportunity. Enter Jewel Fairbanks. Beautiful and conniving, Jewel will touch the lives of both Cassie and Gwen in powerful ways. From the moment they meet, Jewel envies Gwen, who seems to have everything Jewel wants. The two couldn’t be more different, but their lives will soon become inextricably intertwined. Both will marry—but to profoundly different men. For Gwen, it is honest, hardworking Stan who steals her heart; Jewel will set her sights on Jeff, a shrewd businessman who owns the company where Stan works. But when Stan makes a shocking discovery on the job, relationships begin to shift and change...and soon a tangled drama of greed, jealousy, and betrayal will encircle both couples, as a chain reaction of unexpected events changesfour lives forever—in ways they never could have foreseen….

****Rate this 4/5. It has been a long time since I last read a novel by Belva Plain. This book reminds me of why I loved her books initially, it was very good.

*THE STORY SISTERS* by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman’s previous novel, The Third Angel, was hailed as "an unforgettable portrait of the depth of true love" (USA Today), "stunning" (Jodi Picoult), and "spellbinding" (Miami Herald). Her new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters–Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart’s desire, and a demon who will not let go.What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? These are the questions this luminous novel asks. At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. It confirms Alice Hoffman’s reputation as "a writer whose keen ear for the measure struck by the beat of the human heart is unparalleled".

*****Rate this 5/5. I wait patiently every time I know that Ms. Hoffman is releasing a new book with anticipation. Then I have to have the book immediately upon it's release date. After I do have it, I try not to literally read it all in one sitting! This is how much I love her writing and her latest book is just another jewel in her crown. This story was so sad, yet so filled with redemption. I loved it.........now I patiently wait for her next book.

*THE MIRROR EFFECT* by Dr. Drew Pinsky

Based on groundbreaking new research: widely respected addiction and behavior specialist Dr. Drew Pinksy’s exploration of narcissism in celebrity culture—and how it is damaging our culture, our children, and our lives.
Britney Spears. Lindsay Lohan. Paris Hilton. Anna Nicole Smith.
Who are these troubled, and troubling, figures who dominate our national attention—celebrities, moguls, train wrecks? Why are we so deeply interested in their lives and loves, their endlessly repeated journey from rising star to inevitable flameout? In spite of extreme fame, fortune, and opportunity, why do their lives always seem so steeped in drama? And—most important—how are their lives changing ours?
In this shattering new book, authors Drew Pinsky and S. Mark Young offer an eye-opening new look at our celebrity-crazed culture-from what drives people to seek fame in the first place, to how our obsession with celebrity is changing the emotional landscape of America. Drawing upon an unprecedented academic study of celebrity personality they recently published in The Journal of Research in Personality (Sept: 06)—the first such study to collect in-depth research data from actual celebrity sources—Pinsky and Young explore the widespread prevalence of narcissistic behavior among celebrities from all walks of fame, from actors and musicians to comedians and reality TV stars. Their core finding was that individuals who become celebrities are more likely to have certain kinds of psychological damage—narcissistic personality issues, often rooted in childhood trauma, with attendant mood disturbances, melodramatic tendencies, and substance abuse problems—than average Americans. And those issues, in turn, lead to the private—and increasingly public-struggles of celebrities that ultimately command public attention.
Pinsky and Young map this terrain—but then press further, exploring how these celebrities’ constant public exposure (in every sense of the word) is being modeled on a 24-hour basis to the rest of our culture—and especially our children. The American demand for celebrity gossip seems insatiable: Magazines like People, In Touch, and Us Weekly continue to grow at a rate of 50 percent per year; 100 million viewers tune into shows like Entertainment Tonight and Hollywood Insider every night; and gossip websites like perezhilton.com and tmz.com have exploded on the Internet and even spawned their own TV shows. Pinsky and Young argue that this ongoing real-life soap opera—with its daily cycles of bacchanalian drinking and drug use, wanton self-exposure and other pornographic behavior, and self-destructive excess of every kind—is doing serious and potentially long-term damage to children, adolescents, and adults alike.
With his insider access to celebrities of all kinds—many of whom he has treated—and his years of clinical work with issues of addiction, drug abuse, and other disorders, Dr. Drew Pinsky has a fascinating vantage point from which to assess this revealing cultural phenomenon, and a trusted voice that will bring the issue home to both parents and troubled teenagers.

***Rate this as a 3/5. I loved Dr Pinsky's "Cracked: Life On The Edge In a Rehab Unit" and throught this would compare. It does give a very concise description of narcissism vs. egotism and they are so different, but I liked his first book better.

*NEW MOON* by Stephenie Meyer

I FELT LIKE I WAS TRAPPED IN ONE OF THOSE TERRIFYING NIGHTMARES…For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just beginning. . . . Legions of readers entranced by the New York Times bestseller Twilight are hungry for the continuing story of star-crossed lovers Bella and Edward. In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality

***Rate this as 3.5/5. Second in the Twilight series, I found this book not as interesting as the first book. It did lag in the middle and was over 560 pages.......could have been told in a shorter version, but overall, not as interesting as the first book. Off to read the 3rd in the series.

*TWILIGHT* by Stephenie Meyer

In a style reminiscent of Anne Rice, Meyer brings the macabre to a small Washington town in a novel combining mystery, romance, fantasy, and sensuality. Isabella Swan has moved to her father's house in tiny Forks, Washington, a twilight town where perpetual rain and mist stand in stark contrast to her mother's home in Phoenix. Isabella is the new girl who discovers that small town life is pretty slow-paced, and small town people are pretty friendly. She settles in quickly, and finds the most intriguing thing about her new school to be the Cullen family, a group of four amazingly beautiful young people who keep to themselves in school. Edward Cullen is Isabella's lab partner, and he avoids interacting with her or even looking at her. However, when an accident almost ends her life, Isabella finds out the truth about Edward and his family, a group of benevolent vampires who have chosen the misty city so that they can blend in and live among humans without discovery. Isabella and Edward begin a courtship dance in which they are drawn closer and closer, knowing the danger of their being together. Isabella soon discovers that not all vampires are kind, and the book shifts into suspense mode with Isabella running for her life. Meyer's description of the lovers' emotions is palpable, and readers will be drawn into the couple's spiraling dance, feeling the intense longing that comes from being a hair's breadth away from the thing you want most in the world.

*****Rate 5/5. I must admit that I was extremelly hesitant to even begin this series of books about vampires, even though I love books about vampires! My heavens, I adored The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I was not finding many books to sink my teeth into and decided to pick this up and read it just because everyone raved about the series. Well, it literally 'grabs you by the throat' the very first chapter. This author has a way of snatching her reader's interest immediately. I am now looking forward to the second book "New Moon" in the series of 4. Even though each novel is around 450-500 pages, it is fast and suspenseful reading.

*THE LAST SECRET* by Mary McGarry Morris

Mary McGarry Morris has been hailed as “one of the most skillful writers at work in America today” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). In The Last Secret, she tells the riveting story of Nora Hammond, a woman blessed with the perfect life: a charming husband, two bright teenage children, a successful career in the family’s newspaper business, and an esteemed role in the charity work of her New England town. But Nora’s comfortable existence threatens to unravel when she learns of her husband’s longtime affair–and when the specter of a sordid incident from her youth returns with terrifying force. Confronted by shame and betrayal, Nora suddenly feels dangerously alone. With no one to turn to, she becomes easy prey to a ghost from her past–the cunning, relentless Eddie Hawkins.A tautly told tale of psychological tension and chilling moral complexity, The Last Secret accelerates to a shattering conclusion as it explores the irreparable consequences of one family’s crimes of the heart. The Last Secret burnishes Mary McGarry Morris’s reputation as one of our most pro­digously gifted writers.

*****A 5/5. Another winner from one of my favorite authors! I literally got this book the very day it was released and sat and read it in a day and a half. I love Ms. Morris's writing, and I now have to wait for another book. I have read everything she has ever written and I was not disappointed in her latest venture. Riveting, suspenseful with very interesting characters. Even though I felt sorry for Nora in the end, you reap what you sow and secrets can be damaging.

*ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION* by Keith Donohue

Keith Donohue’s first novel, The Stolen Child, was a national bestseller hailed as “captivating” (USA Today), “luminous and thrilling” (Washington Post), and “wonderful...So spare and unsentimental that it’s impossible not to be moved (Newsweek. His new novel, Angels of Destruction, opens on a winter’s night, when a young girl appears at the home of Mrs. Margaret Quinn, a widow who lives alone. A decade earlier, she had lost her only child, Erica, who fled with her high school sweetheart to join a radical student group known as the Angels of Destruction. Before Margaret answers the knock in the dark hours, she whispers a prayer and then makes her visitor welcome at the door. The girl, who claims to be nine years old and an orphan with no place to go, beguiles Margaret, offering some solace, some compensation, for the woman’s loss. Together, they hatch a plan to pass her off as her newly found granddaughter, Norah Quinn, and enlist Sean Fallon, a classmate and heartbroken boy, to guide her into the school and town. Their conspiracy is vulnerable not only to those children and neighbors intrigued by Norah’s mysterious and magical qualities but by a lone figure shadowing the girl who threatens to reveal the child’s true identity and her purpose in Margaret’s life. Who are these strangers really? And what is their connection to the past, the Angels, and the long-missing daughter? Angels of Destruction is an unforgettable story of hope and fear, heartache and redemption. The saga of the Quinn family unfolds against an America wracked by change. As it delicately dances on the linebetween the real and the imagined, this mesmerizing new novel confirms Keith Donohue’s standing as one of our most inspiring and inventive novelists.

*****Rate this book a 5/5. It held my interest from the very first sentence. I enjoyed this immensely. I will also read his other book The Stolen Child and have ordered it from my library. I love the combination of excellent story telling combined with fantasy and magic.

*SANCTUARY* by Norah Roberts

Twenty years after her mother's disappearance, Jo Ellen gets photographs in the mail. They are photographs of her mother: some candid, some close-up, and some of her naked, beautiful, and dead.
Jo Ellen hasn't been back in years. She thought that she had left that house a long time ago. Left the darkness that came over the island off the coast of Georgia and her family's lives when her mother, Annabelle, disappeared. But that island, Sanctuary, is a part of her. It haunts her dreams, and Jo realizes that it is time to go home, back to the island inn run by her family. Upon her return, Jo finds tragedy and loss still heavy and looming, and she is enmeshed once again in the troubled relationships she has struggled so long and hard to forget. With the help of one man, she learns the truth about who is stalking her and about the sordid past. But the threat that drove Jo back to the island in the first place has followed her there. And Sanctuary proves to be a more dangerous place than anyone had ever thought.
Nora Roberts's latest novel, Sanctuary is a story of dangerous liaisons and family betrayals. Roberts's characters are right there, real and honest. These characters are the plot. They bring you into a different world for a time and keep you there with their story, their words.

****Rate this 4 out of 5. I have never read Norah Roberts before, but I did enjoy the mystery associated with this one. Quite a good read overall, kept my interest and I liked the characters.

*CUTTING FOR STONE* by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel — an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics — their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him — nearly destroying him — Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.

***Rate this 3/5. All in all, this could have been a much better book if there were less words. Reading 533 pages in a story that could have been told in a more concise way was disturbing to me. I really wanted to love this book, but I couldn't.

*THE TEA ROSE* by Jennifer Donnelly

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

****A 4/5. A very good historical novel which I enjoyed reading even though it was 534 pages long. This is a new author for me, but I will read her novels from now on.

*A GOOD WOMAN* by Danielle Steel

From the glittering ballrooms of Manhattan to the fires of World War I, Danielle Steel takes us on an unforgettable journey in her new novel—a spellbinding tale of war, loss, history, and one woman’s unbreakable spirit....Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Worthington was born into a life of privilege, raised amid the glamour of New York society, with glorious homes on Fifth Avenue and in Newport, Rhode Island. But everything changed on a cold April day in 1912, when the sinking of the Titanic shattered her family and her privileged world forever. Finding strength within her grief, Annabelle pours herself into volunteer work, nursing the poor, igniting a passion for medicine that would shape the course of her life. But for Annabelle, first love, and a seemingly idyllic marriage, will soon bring more grief—this time caused by the secrets of the human heart. Betrayed, and pursued by a scandal she does not deserve, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, hoping to lose herself in a life of service. There, in the heart of the First World War, in a groundbreaking field hospital run by women, Annabelle finds her true calling, working as an ambulance medic on the front lines, studying medicine, saving lives. And when the war ends, Annabelle begins a new life in Paris—now a doctor, a mother, her past almost forgotten…until a fateful meeting opens her heart to the world she had left behind. Finding strength in the most unlikely of friendships, pulling together the broken fragments of her life, Annabelle will return to New York one more time—this time as a changed woman, a woman of substance, infused with life’sexperience, building a future filled with hope…out of the rich soil of the past. Filled with breathtaking images and historical detail, Danielle Steel’s new novel introduces one of her most unique and fascinating characters: Annabelle Worthington, a remarkable woman, a good woman, a true survivor who triumphs against overwhelming odds. For Annabelle’s story is more than compelling fiction, it is a powerful celebration of life, dignity, and courage—and a testament to the human will to survive.

***A 4/5 Not usually being a fan of Danielle Steel novels, I ordered this book bccause it involved medicine and a woman becoming a medical doctor. I wound up thoroughly enjoying it, though! Now I guess I will have to read a few more of her novels!

*SING THEM HOME* by Stephanie Kallos

Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for Hope’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is now an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable; and the youngest, Bonnie, is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on. When they’re summoned home after their father’s death, each sibling is forced to revisit the childhood tragedy that has defined their lives. With breathtaking lyricism, wisdom, and humor, Kallos explores the consequences of protecting those we love. Sing Them Home is a magnificent tapestry of lives connected and undone by tragedy, lives poised—unbeknownst to the characters—for redemption.

**Rate this one 2/5. While I loved the author's first novel, I was disappointed in her second book. The book was way too long in telling the story and I couldn't establish any bond with any of the characters like I did in her first book.

*DISQUIET* by Julia Leigh

Leigh follows her internationally acclaimed The Hunter with a haunting family drama tightly packed into a tense novella. Olivia, referred to primarily (and somewhat affectedly) as "the woman," has fled her abusive husband with her two sharp-tongued young children. She seeks refuge at her mother's chateau in France, which she left on bad terms to get married 12 years earlier. Soon after Olivia's unexpected arrival, her brother shows up with his wife, Sophie, and the body of their stillborn child. Although the plot feels a bit slight, there is great emotional weight and disturbing imagery, as Sophie wanders aimlessly, still wearing her hospital ID bracelet and carrying her lifeless daughter in her arms as if the baby were a doll. The chateau is an ideal gothic setting for the morbid events that occur over the course of several days; indeed, there is only one scene that takes place off the chateau's grounds, infusing the novel with an unsettling atmosphere of claustrophobia. Death and impending death reign, but Leigh also paints a subtle portrait of a broken family trying to piece itself back

*Rate this one 1/5. Although it is 'THE' novella to read, I was disappointed in it. It was short, being only 120 pages, but it was too dark, confusing and left too many unanswered questions about the characters. I did not care for this short novella, but did finish it since it was short.

*THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY* by Tiffany Baker

When Truly Plaice's mother was pregnant, the town of Aberdeen joined together in betting how recordbreakingly huge the baby boy would ultimately be. The girl who proved to be Truly paid the price of her enormity; her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth, and was totally ill equipped to raise either this giant child or her polar opposite sister Serena Jane, the epitome of femine perfection. When he, too, relinquished his increasingly tenuous grip on life, Truly and Serena Jane are separated--Serena Jane to live a life of privilege as the future May Queen and Truly to live on the outskirts of town on the farm of the town sadsack, the subject of constant abuse and humiliation at the hands of her peers.Serena Jane's beauty proves to be her greatest blessing and her biggest curse, for it makes her the obsession of classmate Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of Robert Morgans who have been doctors in Aberdeen for generations. Though they have long been the pillars of the community, the earliest Robert Morgan married the town witch, Tabitha Dyerson, and the location of her fabled shadow book--containing mysterious secrets for healing and darker powers--has been the subject of town gossip ever since. Bob Bob Morgan, one of Truly's biggest tormentors, does the unthinkable to claim the prize of Serena Jane, and changes the destiny of all Aberdeen from there on. When Serena Jane flees town and a loveless marriage to Bob Bob, it is Truly who must become the woman of a house that she did not choose and mother to her eight-year-old nephew Bobbie. Truly's brother-in-law is relentless and brutal; he criticizes her physique and the limitations of her healthas a result, and degrades her more than any one human could bear. It is only when Truly finds her calling--the ability to heal illness with herbs and naturopathic techniques--hidden within the folds of Robert Morgan's family quilt, that she begins to regain control over her life and herself. Unearthed family secrets, however, will lead to the kind of betrayal that eventually break the Morgan family apart forever, but Truly's reckoning with her own demons allows for both an uprooting of Aberdeen County, and the possibility of love in unexpected places.

*****A total 5/5. What a wonderful first novel this author has written. I literally had to pace myself in order not to read it all in one sitting. I loved the main character, Truly, and all the other characters in this wonderful book. I hope to read this one again some day. Now when is her second novel going to be published? I can't wait...............

*SECRETS CAN BE MURDER: THE KILLER NEXT DOOR* by Jane-Velez Mitchell

Respected television news journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell asks a probing, disturbing question: Are killers like Scott Peterson and Andrea Yates all that different from the rest of us?
What kind of monster would do this? When journalists break the story of a child who's been kidnapped, a young woman who's been brutally raped, or a family who's been slaughtered, that's the question most of us ask. Secrets Can Be Murder exposes the hidden motivations behind the most sinister acts of recent times, with a behind-closed-doors look at these sensational crimes that will astound you.
After weighing in on high-profile cases for CNN, Fox News, Court TV, and MSNBC, author Jane Velez-Mitchell helps us understand these infamous crimes by unmasking the deceptions that turned toxic, exploding in rage and violence.
People lie every day to protect secrets, big and small. From desperate Hollywood personalities covering up their eccentric lifestyles to Bible Belt mothers who take the lives of their own children, Secrets Can Be Murder probes twenty-one separate cases. Each illustrates how leading a double life can land you in prison, and how failing to spot liars can get you killed.
Secrets Can Be Murder offers the inside story on each horrific case, unlocking the jaw-dropping secrets of the accused and revealing the common, innocent mistakes of the victims. After all, many of us have gone out alone late at night like Imette St. Guillen, or partied while on vacation like George Smith and Natalee Holloway.
From Dan Horowitz, the high-profile lawyer whose wife was brutally murdered by a teenage neighbor while Horowitz was defending a housewife accused ofmurder, to Neil Entwistle, the British husband who ran out of funds for an extravagant American lifestyle, Velez-Mitchell shows how each of these crimes has its own secrets to spill.
Many of us possess the same trusting nature as victims and carry around the same secrets as criminals—whether it's debt, infidelity, or fetishes. With fascinating new insights from investigators and psychologists plus the friends and family of both the victims and the perpetrators, Secrets Can Be Murder illustrates just how little separates our so-called normal lives from that of a sociopath—and how you can stay out of harm's way.

***Rate this 3/5. I watch Jane's show on CNN and always have found the backstory on murder's as interesting as the case itself. This covered many trials and murders and was quite interesting overall.

*THE BLUE COTTON GOWN: A MIDWIFE'S MEMOIR by Patricia Harman

A debut memoir interweaving a nurse-midwife's personal and professional trials with the intimate stories of her patients In Patricia Harman's exam room, patients open their hearts. Harman, a nurse-midwife, manages a private practice with her husband, an ob-gyn, in Torrington, West Virginia—a practice now providing only gynecological exams and first trimester care because they've been forced by escalating malpractice insurance costs to give up delivering babies. Despite this, the women who sit before her receive nurturing in all aspects of their lives.This unique memoir juxtaposes the tales of these women with Harman's own story of keeping a small medical practice solvent and coping with personal challenges. Her patients include a mother of seven who is stalked by her ex-husband; a teenager who is pregnant with twins and loses first one then the second baby; a young mother addicted to drugs; a long-time patient's dangerously anorexic daughter; and a professor who needs help and support in transitioning to become a man. The nurse-midwife tells her secrets, too. Her outwardly successful practice is in deep financial trouble. She develops serious medical problems, including uterine cancer, and her thirty-year marriage seems on the verge of collapse. This vivid narrative, full of courage, is impossible to put down.

****Rate this book 4/5. Every health professional can read and identify with this wonderful book. We are taught to hold our emotions in check, not get involved with our patients so that we can treat them effectively. This is nigh on impossible to do with some patients, as described in this book. I love the way this author uses phrasing, at one time she describes her emotions regarding patients as being "embroidered on my heart with colored thread". I can so identify that. Over the years there have been patients that I feel the same way about, and yes, they are still embroidered on my heart. I also love the way she phrased her thoughts on one especially starlit night when she sat thinking to herself: "reaching over the porch rail, I hold my hands open and let the starlight pour into them. I take the light and splash it up on my face. Four or five times, I let it pool and pour it over my head". The visual in my mind is breathtaking