2004 in Review

Happy New Year! In looking back, I've decided to review my year of reading and share what I loved and what I didn't. Here we go...

In 2004, I read 110 books. Quite an increase from 2003 where I only read 89 books. I feel really proud of that but still wonder where the time went and how come my to be read pile is still monstrous.

The best books I read in 2004 are:

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern - This book deals with one woman's journey through losing her husband to cancer. After his death, a box of letters is delivered. She is to read one a month and do what they instruct. The book made me laugh and cry.

Love With The Proper Husband by Victoria Alexander - Historical romance about a group of women who are distressed over the disinterest in matrimony by their children and decide to take matters into their own hands by marrying off their offspring. Their first challenge is the Earl of Pennington. I really enjoy this author's work. The heroine is keeping a secret from her betrothed and I enjoyed the way it all played out.

All-American Girl by Meg Cabot - This is a young adult romance about a girl who inadvertently saves the President of the United States from an assassination attempt. She is appointed teen ambassador to the UN and has caught the eye of the First Son. I really enjoyed the humor and angst of the lead character, Samantha Madison. She doesn't think she did anything heroic and would much rather draw.

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot - This is the sequel to The Boy Next Door. This book is written in memo and email format which I found entertaining. It's about a woman who works for the worst boss at the NY Journal. After she is forced to fire an employee, she finds herself being sued and has to give a deposition to a lawyer with a killer bod. The story was sharp, witty and full of humorous dialogue that this author does so well.

The Last Arrow by Marsha Canham - Historical romance about the daughter of the legendary Black Wolf who catches a mysterious knight trespassing on her family's lands. When she discovers he isn't just any ordinary mercenary, she fears he may have been hired to kill her brother, Robin. This book is part of Canham's Robin Hood series. I also recommend the first two books in this series, Through A Dark Mist and In The Shadow Of Midnight.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie - Contemporary romance about what happens when a relationship is started on a bet. This book was a lot of fun and I laughed quite a bit throughout the story.

Undead And Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson - Contemporary romance about the pitfalls of life and how it doesn't end when you die. The heroine Betsy Taylor is having a bad week including being laid off and being at war with her stepmother. As if that weren't bad enough, she dies. Worse, she doesn't stay dead. She's one of the undead and rises each night in search of sustenance and designer footwear. This book was a riot. I laughed throughout the story.

Wild Highland Rose by Dee Davis - Time travel romance. The heroine, Marjory MacPherson is happy for the first time since her parents were brutally murdered at the hands of the rival Cameron clan. But now, the man she was forced to marry, the son of her enemy has died in a rockslide and Marjory rejoices. When she goes to retrieve his body, she finds instead a living breathing man talking strangely and covered in blood. Though he wears her husband's face and kilt, he claims to be from the future and isn't at all like her husband. He's kinder and gentler. This was a beautifully written tale of second chances and redemption.

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich - This is book #10 in the Stephanie Plum series. It begins as an innocent trip to the deli-mart, on a quest for nachos. But Stephanie Plum and her partner, Lula, are clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. A robbery leads to an explosion, which leads to the destruction of yet another car. It would be just another day in the life of Stephanie Plum, except that she becomes the target of a gang---and of an even scarier, more dangerous force that comes to Trenton. With super bounty hunter Ranger acting more mysteriously than ever (and the tension with vice cop Joe Morelli getting hotter), she finds herself with a decision to make: how to protect herself and where to hide while on the hunt for a killer known as the Junkman. There's only one safe place, and it has Ranger's name all over it---if she can find it. And if the Junkman doesn't find her first. With Lula riding shotgun and Grandma Mazur on the loose, Stephanie Plum is racing against the clock in her most suspenseful novel yet. Loved this and can't wait for #11.

Dead To The World by Charlaine Harris - This is the fourth book in Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery series where vampires and witches and shapeshifters walk among us out in the open. Sookie Stackhouse is a small-town cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's pretty. She does her job well. She keeps to herself and has only a few close friends because not everyone appreciates Sookie's gift. She can read minds. Not exactly every man's idea of date bait. Unless they're undead. Vampires and the like can be tough to read---just the kind of guy Sookie's been looking for. Maybe that's why, when she comes across a naked vampire on the road home from work, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out he hasn't a clue as to who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric, still as scary and sexy---and dead---as the day she first met him. But now that he has amnesia, Eric is sweet, vulnerable, and in need of Sookie's help---because whoever took his memory now wants his life. Sookie's investigation into why leads straight into a dangerous battle among witches, vampires, and werewolves. But there could be a greater danger to Sookie's heart---because the kinder, gentler Eric is very difficult to resist....I have enjoyed the whole series and recommend the other books in the series, Dead Until Dark, Living Dead In Dallas, and Club Dead.

Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard - Suspense novel and probably one of her best since Mr. Perfect. It's about a woman named Lily who is an assassin working as a contract agent for the CIA. When she makes an unsanctioned hit out of vengeance, the agency sends in a field officer to bring her in or take her down. This story was full of intrigue, suspense and high octane action with an explosive twist near the end that shocked me. Loved it and look forward to reading more by Linda Howard.

Dance With The Devil by Sherrilyn Kenyon - This is book #4 of the Dark-Hunter series and is about Zarek who has a huge chip on his shoulder and a bad attitude to go with it. He has been exiled to Alaska for 900 years and being alone for that long can make anyone cranky. The Gods send Astrid in to judge Zarek to determine if he should be allowed to live. Awesome story. Zarek is a tortured soul both when he was mortal and now as an immortal. Astrid carries the power to heal him if he will let her. I've read three Dark-Hunter books this year and loved them all. I also recommend the first three in the series, Fantasy Lover, Night Pleasures and Night Embrace.

Kiss Of The Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Book #5 of the Dark-Hunter series. This one features Wulf Tryggvasen, an immortal Viking warrior who has to protect the last Apollite, Cassandra from the Daimons. With her death, so does all life. The only problem is that Cassandra is part of a race that Wulf has hunted for centuries. Not as good as Dance With The Devil, but highly recommend it.

Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Book #6 of the Dark-Hunter series. This one is probably my favorite so far. It features Vane Kattalakis and Bride McTierney. Bride McTierney has had it with men. They're cheap, self-centered, and never love her for who she is. But though she prides herself on being independent, deep down she still yearns for a knight in shining armor. She just never expected her knight in shining armor to have a shiny coat of fur....Deadly and tortured, Vane Kattalakis isn't what he seems. Most women lament that their boyfriends are dogs. In Bride's case, hers is a wolf. A Were-Hunter wolf. Wanted dead by his enemies, Vane isn't looking for a mate. But the Fates have marked Bride as his. Now he has three weeks to either convince Bride that the supernatural is real or he will spend the rest of his life neutered -- something no self-respecting wolf can accept....But how does a wolf convince a human to trust him with her life when his enemies are out to end his? In the world of the Were-Hunters, it really is dog-eat-dog. And only one alpha male can win. A true Beauty and the Beast theme and I loved it. I'm hoping that Vane's brothers will get their own story too.

Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella - I really loved this one. A hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:
SECRETS FROM HER MOTHER: * I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching "Ben-Hur." * Sammy the goldfish in my parents' kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.
SECRETS FROM HER BOYFRIEND: * I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks. * I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.
FROM HER COLLEAGUES: * When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) * It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.
SECRETS SHE WOULDN'T SHARE WITH ANYONE IN THE WORLD: * My G-string is hurting me. * I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.
Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.
But come Monday morning, Emma's office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn't possibly get worse -- Until they do.

Shopaholic And Sister by Sophie Kinsella - Book #4 in the shopaholic series. Newly married Becky Bloomwood Brandon is back from her honeymoon and trying to figure out how to tell Luke about all of the stuff she has bought when she finds out from her parents that she has a sister that she never knew about. Sounds great doesn't it? Finally, Becky has a sister! Someone to share everything with; like shopping. Until she meets her and finds out that Jess hates shopping and just about everything else Becky loves. I recommend the entire series, Confessions Of A Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, and Shopaholic Ties The Knot.

Again The Magic by Lisa Kleypas - Historical romance with a reunited and revenge theme. Lady Aline Marsden was brought up for one reason: to make an advantageous marriage to a member of her own class. Instead, she willingly gave her innocence to John McKenna, a servant on her father's estate. Their passionate transgression was unforgivable -- John was sent away, and Aline was left to live in the countryside... an exile from London society....Now McKenna has made his fortune, and he has returned -- more boldly handsome and more mesmerizing than before. His ruthless plan is to take revenge on the woman who shattered his dreams of love. But the magic between them burns as bright as ever. And now he must decide whether to let vengeance take its toll... or risk everything for his first, and only, love.

Armageddon by Tim LaHaye - The 11th book in the Left Behind series. I enjoyed the whole series but was a little disappointed with the last book only because the series built up such a huge anticipation that it seemed to fall a little flat with the ending, which seemed rushed. I still recommend the entire series, however.

3rd Degree by James Patterson - 3rd book in the Women's Murder Club series. Detective Lindsay Boxer is jogging along a beautiful San Francisco street when a fiery explosion rips through the neighborhood. A town house owned by an Internet millionaire is immediately engulfed in flames, and when Lindsay plunges inside to search for survivors, she finds three people dead. An infant who lived in the house cannot be found --- and a mysterious messge at the scene leaves Lindsay and the San Francisco Police Department completely baffled. Then a prominent businessman is found murdered under bizarre circumstances, with another mysterious message left behind by the killer. Lindsay asks her friends Claire Washburn of the medical examiner's office, Assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas to help her figure out who is committing these murders --- and why they are intent on killing someone every three days. Even more terrifying, the killer has targeted one of the four friends who call themselves the Women's Murder Club. Great story though I was saddened that one of the members of the Women's Murder Club is killed off. I hope Patterson continues this series.

Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Contemporary romance about a woman who returns home after many years away to confront the sins of her past and find forgiveness from the people she wronged and from herself. The girl everybody loves to hate has returned to the town she'd sworn to leave behind forever. As the rich, spoiled princess of Parrish, Mississippi, Sugar Beth Carey had broken hearts, ruined friendships, and destroyed reputations. But fifteen years have passed, and life has taught Sugar Beth its toughest lessons. Now she's come home -- broke, desperate, and too proud to show it. The people of Parrish don't believe in forgive and forget. When the Seawillows, Sugar Beth's former girlfriends, get the chance to turn the tables on her, they don't hesitate. And Winnie Davis, Sugar Beth's most bitter enemy, intends to humiliate her in the worst possible way. Then there's Colin Byrne.... Fifteen years earlier, Sugar Beth had tried to ruin his career. Now he's rich, powerful, and the owner of her old home. Even worse, this modern-day dark prince is planning exactly the sort of revenge best designed to bring a beautiful princess to her knees. But none of them have reckoned on the unexpected strength of a woman who's learned survival the hard way. While Sugar Beth's battered heart struggles to overcome old mistakes, Colin must choose between payback and love. Does the baddest girl in town deserve a second chance, or are some things beyond forgiving? AIN'T SHE SWEET? is a story of courage and redemption... of friendship and laughter... of love and the possibility of happily-ever-after.

The worst books I read in 2004 are:

Impulse by Catherine Coulter - When wealthy, beautiful Rafaella Holland puts her dazzling newspaper career on hold to care for her ailing mother, she learns of a long-held family secret: the true identity of her REAL father, whom she never knew. Wanting to exact revenge upon this notorious, world-famous man who had wronged her mother, Rafaella is determined to find him and face him. Her search takes her to an exclusive Caribbean island, a carefully protected sanctuary for the rich and powerful. There she meets Marcus Devlin, a handsome Irish daredevil who appears to have a secret agenda of his own. As they grow closer, they are drawn into a seductive world that threatens to spin wildly out of control -- imperiling not only their love, but also their very lives. I found the story to be dull and couldn't hold my interest.

Call Waiting by Michelle Cunnah - Emma Taylor knows the phone rules, but now Emma feels like she's been put "on hold." So, what's a girl to do? Make a list of course...If he's going to call, he'll do it by Tuesday to ask you about Saturday...If it works out on Saturday, he'll want to see you Wednesday...And after over eight months of dating bliss, he should at least ask you to move in with him...
1. Do not call lovely, lovely friends to whine incessantly about Claire Palmer, Jack's gorgeous, full-breasted boss. Must develop stiff upper lip.
2. Do something worthwhile and humanitarian to earn rest of inheritance from women's rights pioneering auntie. First part of inheritance: 9 1/2 long strong inches of fence post to which Auntie Alice chained herself ... I know! Join HUSSI - Hoboken United Sisters Suffragette Institution. Perfection!
3. Do impress Jack with worthy, meaningful acts. Don't let on you've seen emerald ring in his top drawer. Do tempt him with new confident, sexy image. He will immediately fall on one knee and propose --- won't he? I had high hopes for this one but it fell flat for me.

The Big Love by Sarah Dunn - Alison Hopkins is firmly, undoubtedly, and undeniably in love. She and Tom live together, they send wedding gifts as a unit, and, most important, they're happy together -- until the evening Tom goes out in the middle of a dinner party to buy some mustard and doesn't come back. He calls Alison to say that he has fallen back in love with his ex-girlfriend Kate, the kind of woman about whom men say rhapsodically, "She's like a drug." How can Alison compete with that? She had always feared that Tom's looks would land her in trouble -- having a handsome boyfriend is like owning a white couch, an invitation to disaster. But if Tom isn't Alison's Big Love, who is? Alison is tempted to take her humiliation and whip it into 700 words for the weekly column she writes about relationships for the local paper. Instead, she decides to treat her newfound freedom as a gift -- a shimmering portal to a whole new life, a whole new her. She risks a fling with her boss and makes the delightful discovery that "movie sex" -- like that scene in "Fatal Attraction," with the water running and the dishes in the sink -- isn't a cinematic fiction. But that is just the beginning of Alison's quest for The Big Love. Applying her restless intelligence to all the questions of the heart in the modern age -- Is love, in fact, enough? Does an undefined-yet-presumably-meaningless amorous encounter always turn out to be a mistake? What on earth do you tell your mother? -- Alison plumbs the depths and takes sight on the heights that love can lead to. Another one with high hopes that fell flat.

Olivia Joules And The Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding - Move over 007, a stunning, sexy -- and decidedly female -- new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that's "J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy") and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination. How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo -- he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination? Join Olivia in her heart-stopping, hilarious, nerve-frazzling quest from hip hotel to eco-lodge to underwater cave, by light aircraft, speedboat, helicopter, and horse, in this witty, contemporary, and utterly unputdownable novel deluxe. I kept comparing this character to Bridget Jones and it just didn't work for me.

Lost by Joy Fielding - It's almost five o'clock. Where the hell are you?
Losing Julia has become a constant in Cindy Carver's life. The first time Julia disappeared, she was five years old and vanished at the playground. That inspired motherly paranoia. The second was when, at age fourteen, Julia decided to move in with her father. That broke Cindy's heart. But when twenty-one-year-old Julia disappears without a trace after a promising audition with one of Hollywood's most powerful and influential directors, Cindy begins a frantic search. Secrets are revealed, lives are forever altered, and Cindy is forced to acknowledge the disturbing truth about the young woman she realizes she never really knew. Sexy, suspenseful, and utterly un-put-downable, Lost takes readers into the heart of a woman overwhelmed by her determination to find the daughter she's lost, and, if at all possible, to reclaim the respect she once had for herself. Every stranger was a possible fiend; every friend a possible foe. How well do we know anybody? How well do we know ourselves? Couldn't hold my interest.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler - Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens. With her finely sighted eye for the frailties of human behavior and her finely tuned ear for the absurdities of social intercourse, Fowler has never been wittier nor her characters more appealing. The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. I had trouble staying focused on the story. It kept jumping from the past to the present too sporadically.

Dumping Billy by Olivia Goldsmith - A modern-day battle of the sexes -- dished up with scathing wit, hilarity, and plenty of attitude.
There's something magical about Billy Nolan. It's not just that the Brooklyn bar owner is wickedly handsome; it's also that any woman he dates and dumps -- and he dumps them all -- immediately goes on to marry the next person she meets. But Kate Jameson is immune to Billy's charms. She left Brooklyn for upward-mobility in Manhattan at the first chance she got, and she's not about to fall for some cad from the old neighborhood. But when her best friend Bina's engagement is broken off, Kate hatches a plan: All she has to do is get Billy to date and dump Bina. Then, they'll wait for Bina's wayward fiancé to return and for the magic to happen. But the one thing Kate hasn't counted on is how Billy feels about the whole plot -- and how she begins to feel about Billy. She may have changed her style, but her roots are showing. Couldn't hold my interest.

A Kiss Of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton - My name is Meredith Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy, which is fine by me. Flashy attracts attention and I can't afford that. Rumour has it that I am dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. To speak that name after dark is to call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back home, one way or another. So the running is over. But the fighting has just begun... Another one that couldn't hold my interest.

Truly, Madly Viking by Sandra Hill - Jorund Ericcson is a tenth-century Viking warrior who lands in a modern mental hospital.
Maggie McBride is the lucky psychologist who gets to "treat" the gorgeous Norseman, whom she mistakenly calls Joe. Usually, I love Sandra Hill's books, but this one fell flat for me.

No Way Out by Andrea Kane - With a child's life at stake, a woman's deepest fears and desires careen toward an explosive climax where there is no time to hesitate, no going back, and NO WAY OUT!
Something is wrong with teacher Julia Talbot's favorite second-grader, the mayor's son Brian. Seeing the outgoing little boy become increasingly anxious and withdrawn, she suspects problems at home, inside the mansion of a high-profile political family. But even Julia doesn't know the real truth. Venture capitalist Connor Stratford, the boy's powerful uncle, does. Intrigued by Julia, Connor plans a campaign of seduction designed to keep her from snooping - and to get her into his bed. Yet Julia has already learned too much. As danger bears down on her like a runaway freight train, Brian vanishes, and a desperate hunt to find him draws Julia deeper into a family's secrets and an irresistible passion -- and closer to a place where a child's future, and her own fate, hang in the balance. Another one that couldn't hold my interest.

Barely Behaving by Jennifer LaBrecque - The moment veterinarian Niall Fortson spies Tammy Cooper sunbathing in the nude, he knows his new neighbor is naughty -- and a knockout! With a bad reputation and a bad attitude, Tammy has TROUBLE written all over her. And though Niall isn't looking for a scandal, he can't resist her. Luckily Tammy has a solution to cure them of their mutual case of lust -- a two-week secret affair. Tammy soon realizes the boy next door is almost more man than she can handle. And she's enjoying handling him -- a little too much. After all, someone with her track record is all wrong for a guy dreaming of white picket fences. Still, Niall's determined to be more to Tammy than just a boy toy. And with the way he makes her feel, Tammy's inclined to let him convince her....did nothing for me.

Notes On The Windowsill by Jennifer L.B. Leese - Jordan Raven has experienced ghostly encounters since the age of four. When a white pick-up truck causes the early and tragic death of her soon-to-be fiance, Martin, on the evening of their soon-to-be engagement, Jorie watches in horror from the window of their favorite restaurant. Just as she starts to get her life together, it spirals out of control and takes a turn for the worse when she learns that her mother is dying of brain cancer. She wonders how she can go on....Day after day ghostly sightings of her fiance, pacing footsteps in the hall, and voices, grow more intense and more frequent. Can Martin comfort his true love from the afterlife? Will Jorie accept his need to communicate with her? Only after visiting Madame Daluka, a fortuneteller, Jorie begins to realize just how out of sorts her life truly is. She is ready to give up and accept life as it is, until Kelly Spencer enters her life...and she finds herself wondering if Madame Daluka will be able to fill in the blanks for her...I had high hopes for this one but the plot seemed to jump all over the place and not making a lot of sense.

Sam's Letters To Jennifer by James Patterson - Laced with mystery, SAM's LETTERS TO JENNIFER combines two unforgettable love stories in a novel that's absolutely impossible to put down. Jennifer returns to the resort village where she grew up to help a beloved relative -- and ends up experiencing not one but two of the most amazing love stories she's ever known. The first is completely unexpected. In a series of letters that Jennifer finds, her relative reveals that she has concealed a huge secret for decades: Her great love is not the man she was married to for all those years. As Jennifer reads about this passionate partnership, she learns more about love's imperatives and secrets than she ever dreamed possible. And then comes the biggest surprise of all. At a time when she thought she could never love again, Jennifer lets her guard down for a moment -- and is suddenly caught up in the greatest flight of exhilaration she's ever known. But, just as suddenly, she learns that this new love comes with an unbearable cost. Jennifer doesn't think she can survive the pain -- but the letters she's been reading make her think that love may help her find a way. Too depressing for me.

The Spaniard's Passion by Jane Porter - Sophie is penniless since her late husband's death left her with nothing but a pile of gambling debts. She needs closure on that unfortunate period in her life, and the only way to get it is to travel to South America and put the past behind her. But Sophie cannot forget that she agreed to her loveless marriage to escape her overwhelming attraction to another man, South American millionaire Alonso Galván. And Alonso has never renounced his vow that, one day, Sophie will be his. So, finding her alone, vulnerable and in desperate need of his help is the answer to his prayers. Now he can show her real passion... and that he means to make her his bride! Did absolutely nothing for me.

Bliss by Lynsay Sands - If King Henry receives one more letter from either of two feuding nobles, he'll go mad. Lady Tiernay is a beauty, but whoever marries the nag will truly get a mixed blessing. And Lord Holden -- can all the rumors regarding his cold heart be lies? The man certainly has sobered since the death of his first wife. If he were smart, Henry would force the two to wed, make them fatigue each other with their schemes and complaints. Yes, it is only fitting for them to share the bed they'd made -- 'til death do them part! Perhaps they will even find each other suitable; perhaps Lord Holden will find in his bride the sweet breath of new life. Heaven alone knows what will happen when the two foes are the last things between themselves and the passion they've never known they wanted. It started out really good but started to drag and then totally lost my interest.

To Be Someone by Louise Voss - Helena Nicholls is no ordinary girl. In fact, she's famous. For many years she was the bassist and lyricist for Blue Idea, a band worshiped by adoring fans all over the world throughout the eighties. Following their breakup, Helena switched gears and became the most popular morning DJ in London with her all-request show. Listeners could call her and request songs, but Helena wouldn't play them until the callers gave the details of why they wanted her to play them --- where they were when they first heard the song, what they were wearing, who they were with, and why the song means so much to them. The show's success put Helena back on the map, but now that's all over. After a night of partying ends in a horrible accident, Helena wakes up in a hospital bed. As she groggily opens her eyes, she realizes that her irresponsible behavior, so completely uncharacteristic of her, has left her bruised and battered. The doctors tell her it will take months to recover --- who knows if her wounded ego will ever heal. Couldn't hold my interest.

Good Grief by Lolly Winston - A brilliantly funny and heartwarming debut about a young woman who stumbles,then fights to build a new life after the death of her husband. I found it morbidly depressing. I thought it would have more humor like P.S. I Love You, but this one fell flat.