REVIEW: Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell

Title: Millie’s Fling
Author: Jill Mansell
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: September, 2009
Genre: Chick-Lit
Rating: 8/10

Description: He's the best thing that ever happened to her. He's also the worst. He's Millie's Fling. Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be.

 With Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable for all concerned...

My Thoughts: Millie’s Fling by new to me author Jill Mansell delivers a fresh, funny and enjoyable story about a very likeable girl looking for love and finding it in the most unexpected way. This story is set in England, which pleases the anglophile in me. When an author writes a great lead character that the reader can relate to and empathize with, it forms a bond with the story. When an author writes great supporting characters, it enhances the story all the more with flavor and detail and takes the reader on a journey that they don’t want to come back from. I felt that way while reading Millie’s Fling. I didn’t want it to end and was cheering for a happy ending for Hester, Orla, Lucas, Con and Millie’s parents.

The only thing that didn’t work for me is the book ended a little too abruptly for me with many loose ends for a lot of the characters. After connecting with so many of them throughout the story, not having the closure on them at the end left me with a feeling of unfinished business.

I will be looking for more of Jill Mansell’s books to add to my Nook. As a long time fan of the chick-lit genre, I wish I had found her sooner. If you are looking for some light reading that tickles your funny bone while entertaining you, look no further and pick up Millie’s Fling.

REVIEW: Possession In Death by J.D. Robb

Title: Possession in Death (In Death, #31.5)
Author: J.D. Robb
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: November, 2010
Genre: Mystery / Thriller Rating: 10/10

Description: “The devil killed my body. I cannot fight, I cannot find. I cannot free her. You must. You are the one. We speak to the dead.”

Immediately after hearing these words, uttered to her by an old Romanian woman bleeding to death in the street, detective Eve Dallas begins to notice that her latest case has come with a number of interesting side-effects: visions of the deceased, instant familiarity with rooms she’s never seen before, and fluency in Russian. Likewise, there appears to be a force inside of her, a spirit other than her own, that won’t let her rest until she’s found Beata, the old woman’s great-granddaughter, whose disappearance two months prior remains a mystery.

Desperate to be free of her new “gifts”, Eve pursues the facts until she discovers a link between Beata’s disappearance and the disappearance of eight other young women, all of whom attended the same dance classes, none of whom were ever heard from again.

My Thoughts: Possession In Death is a novella originally released in the anthology “The Other Side” and is the only story in the anthology I read. I love this series so much that I have to read the in-between stories that are released in the anthologies. With Possession, I am glad I did because it picks right up where Indulgence in Death ends so it felt like a continuation of the story instead of a new one.

Though Possession in Death is a short story, it packs a huge punch with non-stop action when Eve inadvertently becomes possessed by the spirit of a Romanian woman after she dies at Eve’s feet. I enjoyed seeing how Eve dealt with her new gifts of being able to see the deceased souls and her ability to speak and understand Russian as well as knowing the recipe for goulash from memory. Eve handles it as only as Eve can. She gets pissed off and becomes determined to get to the bottom of the mystery so she can get her life back.

Eve’s stellar investigative skills and the assistance of her crack-shot team prove invaluable as the clues provide more than Eve imagined when she uncovers multiple victims of a sadistic killer. As no surprise to me as usual, I was way off-base on the killer’s identity. Lucky for me that I don’t mind being wrong. The biggest joy I get from this series is how I continue to be surprised and thoroughly entertained with each book.

REVIEW: Lifeguard by James Patterson

Title: Lifeguard
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July, 2006
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Rating: 5/10

Description: Working as a lifeguard at a luxurious Florida resort, Ned Kelly meets the woman of his dreams. It feels perfect in every way-except that she's used to caviar and Manolo Blahniks, and he's used to burgers and flip-flops.

So when Ned's cousin offers to cut him in on a fast break-and-enter job, Ned can't turn it down. The risk is high, and the reward is even greater-$5 million. But the robbery goes devastatingly wrong. Forced to run away from his town and the woman he's fallen in love with, Ned knows that only distance and secrecy can save his life. But who is pursuing him? The FBI? Whoever sabotaged the heist? Or is it all somehow tied in to his new love and his oldest enemies?

 My Thoughts: I love Patterson. Even when his books aren’t his usual nail-biting, edge of my seat, have no food in the house or clean underwear because I’m ignoring my domestic chores books. Sadly, Lifeguard is one of those books. It was just OK for me. Ned Kelly is a likeable character and I felt a lot of empathy for him and what he goes through in this story. Unfortunately, Ned doesn’t seem capable of making smart choices. Not when he falls in love, not when he agrees to help his cousin with a burglary, not when he goes on the run, not when he kidnaps an FBI agent, and not when he nearly gets himself killed on more than one occasion.

I was very disappointed with the FBI agent, Ellie. She came across as a little flaky at times, though she could be quite tenacious at times. Her area of expertise is stolen and forged artwork but she jumps into a murder investigation with both feet, despite repeated admonitions from her supervisor to stay out of it. What I didn’t find believable is how she willingly went with Ned when he kidnaps her and then is helping him until he lets her go. OK, so she isn’t trained in violent crimes, but she is still an FBI agent, so why wasn’t she putting up a tiny bit of resistance?

Thrown into this story are a lot of supporting characters that I had a very hard time keeping track of and how relevant they were to the story. So, instead of the heart-pumping suspense I have come to anticipate and expect when I pick up a Patterson book, I got a mostly mediocre story that is just OK.

If you are looking for depth and substance when you pick up a book, give this one a pass. If you are looking for a fluff mystery to read on the beach or during your lunch break, this will fit the bill.

New Additions To The TBR Pile In March

In addition to some old favorites, this month saw several new to me authors added...

Stake That by Mari Mancusi

Description: Two sisters—as different as the sun and the rain. For one, getting into the Blood Cover is to die for, but it seems destiny has something else in mind...

Rayne McDonald had it all figured out. Get turned into a vampire, become the mate of the Blood Coven leader, and live the high-life for all eternity. Too bad the head vamp took a bite out of her twin sister by mistake. Now, not only is Rayne still not a vampire, but she learns she's a slayer instead—destined to destroy vamps gone bad.

After being recruited by a secret organization, Rayne is given her first mission: infiltrate a seedy bar downtown and expose its vampire owner, Maverick, for purposely spreading a nasty blood virus. Luckily the Blood Coven sends some help—in the form of sexy vampire Jareth. Will vampire and slayer be able to settle their differences and work together to bring down the evil Maverick? Or will they find their own hearts on the line?


Piper's Fury by Rachel Firasek

Description: It's an empath thing...

Using your "powers" to help the Dark Hills Police Department hunt down serial killers doesn't leave much time for dating. Not that Piper Anast is complaining. The last thing she needs is some guy brushing up against her and pumping his pornographic thoughts into her head.

When she meets Bennett Slade, a sexy, tormented vampire, Piper stumbles headlong into a telepathic connection with his missing daughter. She can't leave the kid to the evil surrounding her unwanted visions, nor can she resist her draw to Slade. He's the first guy she's been able to touch vision-free in, well, forever.

As she and Slade close in on the evil creature holding his daughter, Piper's powers morph into a deadly fury. To save Slade's daughter-and herself-Piper must face down demons she never knew she had and trust the one thing she keeps from everyone.

Her heart.


Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell

Description: He's the best thing that ever happened to her. He's also the worst. He's Millie's Fling.

Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be.

With Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable for all concerned...


Lifeguard by James Patterson

Description: Working as a lifeguard at a luxurious Florida resort, Ned Kelly meets the woman of his dreams. It feels perfect in every way-except that she's used to caviar and Manolo Blahniks, and he's used to burgers and flip-flops.

So when Ned's cousin offers to cut him in on a fast break-and-enter job, Ned can't turn it down. The risk is high, and the reward is even greater-$5 million. But the robbery goes devastatingly wrong. Forced to run away from his town and the woman he's fallen in love with, Ned knows that only distance and secrecy can save his life. But who is pursuing him? The FBI? Whoever sabotaged the heist? Or is it all somehow tied in to his new love-and his oldest enemies?


Indulgence In Death by J.D. Robb

Description: When a murder disrupts the Irish vacation she is taking with her husband, Roarke, Eve realizes that no place is safe — not an Irish wood or the streets of the manic city she calls home. But nothing prepares her for what she discovers upon her return to the cop shop in New York City. . . .

A driver for a top-of-the-line limousine service is found dead — shot through the neck with a crossbow. The car was booked by an executive at a venerable security company whose identity had been stolen. Days later, a stunning, high-priced escort is found killed at Coney Island, a bayonet stuck in her heart. And again, the trail leads to a CEO whose information has been hijacked.

With a method established, but no motive to be found, Eve begins to fear that she has come across that most dangerous of criminals, a thrill killer, but one with a taste for the finer things in life — and death. Eve does not know where or when the next kill will be, or that her investigation will take her to the rarefied circle that Roarke travels in — and into the perverted heart of madness. . . .


Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon

Description: THE TRUE STORY OF CINDERELLA'S FAIRY GODMOTHER...

Lil is an old woman who spends her days shelving rare books in a tiny Manhattan bookstore and lonely nights at home in her apartment. But Lil has an intriguing secret. Tucked and bound behind her back are white feathery wings–the only key to who she once was: the fairy godmother responsible for getting Cinderella to the ball to unite with her Prince Charming.

But on that fateful night, something went terribly and beautifully wrong. Lil allowed herself the unthinkable: to feel the emotions of human beings and fall in love with the prince herself, going to the ball in place of Cinderella in her exquisitely gorgeous human guise. For her unforgivable mistake, she was banished to live among humans, far from her fairy sisters and their magical underwater world. But then one day she meets Veronica–a young, fair-skinned, flame-haired East Village beauty with a love of all things vintage and a penchant for falling in love with the wrong men–and suddenly it becomes clear to Lil that she’s been given a chance at redemption. If she can find a soul mate for Veronica, she may right her wrong and return to the fairy world she so deeply longs for.