I listened to the audio book Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz  a long time ago and I loved it. I recently discovered that there are a bunch of other books in the series, Forever Odd and Brother Odd, Odd Hours and In Odd We Trust. How great is it when you love a character and then discover that there’s more books abou them?

So I’m currently listening to Forever Odd, and I thought I’d give you guys a review of Odd Thomas. Odd Thomas is the main character’s given name. His parents were cruel it seems. Or maybe they knew he would live up to that name, because Odd has some very strange gifts.

He has the ability to see ghosts. Now, let me just stop and say that I’m the world’s biggest scardy cat! I can’t stand scary movies and I am a total chicken. Books are even more scary because of the whole imagination thing, but for some reason I still love this book. I get spooked, but Kootz is great at getting you into the story, and it allows you to see past the creepiness.

The ghosts are actually good, they come to Odd because they know he can help them. Thes ghosts can’t talk, but otherwise they are as real to Odd as any other person. He can see them, and he can even touch them. Sometimes the ghosts come to him for justice, and other times they try to help prevent a crime.

In this first book, Odd Thomas, Odd introduces us to his world of the supernatural. Not only does he have the ability to see ghosts, but he also has a way of “sensing things” and this sense usually leads him to the killer. There are only a few people who know about his gift. One of these people is the police chief, who Odd helps solve crimes with his paranormal tips.

I won’t say much more about the book, just that you definitely have to check it out if you like books with suspense. Odd Thomas finds himself trying to prevent a crime of catastrophic proportions. Told in first person, and switching from present to the past, you find yourself suffering right along with Odd thoughout this ordeal. Odd’s world is mysterious and sad, and it will definitely haunt you long after you’ve finished reading.

Also, if you check out the author’s website, there is a web site directory with more information about Odd Thomas and the series. I wouldn’t look through it until after you’ve read the first book though, just so it doesn’t spoil anything for you. Half the thrill of these books is trying to figure out what will happen next.

The Killer’s Cousin by Nancy Werlin, is a MUST READ. I loved that I listened the audio books version because the reader had an excellent voice, and I felt more into the story than I may have just curled up on my couch. The audio version had the creepy music, the suspenseful pauses. It was downright chilling. The only problem I had was getting too excited and accidentally speeding when the climatic parts of the story were read.

First let me just say that I’m a complete chicken when it comes to anything remotely related to dying, death, murder, or anything of the sort. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle this book without throwing the CDs into the freezer (remember Joey on Friends?). But this book did a beautiful job of being suspenseful and creepy without being scary.

The Killer’s Cousin is about a 17 year old, David, who was acquitted for the murder of his girlfriend the year before. All through the story, David tells bits and pieces of what happened the day that his girlfriend died, but we never get the full picture. All we know is that it was an accident, but it was still done by his hand.
Because of all the bad press and publicity of his trial, David’s parents decide to have him move in with his Aunt, Uncle, and 11 year old cousin in Massechusetts. His Uncle sets him up in his own mini apartment that is a converted attic. When he comes to this house, it is revealed that this attic apartment once belonged to his older cousin, Kathy, who died under strange circumstances four years before. David starts seeing a mysterious shadow that he realizes is Kathy’s ghost.

Meanwhile, he is dealing with hostility from his aunt, and even more hostility from his young cousin Lily. Lily is a strange child, with obvious psychological problems, and an even more obvious hatred for David.

I could go into more detail, but I would just ruin the story for you. While I will say some of the plot was predictable, it wasn’t in a boring way. Even though I predicted some of the events, I couldn’t wait to hear what happened next. This was an edge of my seat, can’t wait to jump in my car and listen thriller. What are you waiting for? Go read it!!

Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos started out slowly, but then rapidly gained speed. I thought it was going to be a story about petty neighbors in suburbia. Instead, it’s a deep and heartfelt story about loss, new beginnings, and hurt feelings. Cornelia is the center and the story teller, and the stories of Piper and Dev intertwine with hers. Marisa writes Cornelia in a way that makes me feel like she could be my friend. The heartache and betrayel each of the characters goes through is so real, and not over the top in a Hollywood kind of way. My only complaint is the way Cornelia’s monologues tend to ramble and are a bit confusing. But the overall plot of the book and each person’s story sucks you in, and leaves you as the reader satisfied at the end.

I chose this book from the library because it was written by Candace Bushnell, who wrote Sex and the City. I have never read that book, but I used to love the TV show. After reading this rambling drivel known as One Fifth Avenue, I have no desire to see what Candace’s version of Sex and the City is all about.

The entire time I listened to this audio book, I kept waiting for the plot. It sort of materialized, but it was so lackluster that it left me saying aloud, “Is that it?”

Basically all of these random characters live in the upscale apartment building of One Fifth Avenue. They’re all incredibly stuck up and filled with self entitlement. I didn’t care about any of the characters, and I couldn’t wait for the book to end. Basically this book is full of gossip, unnecessary drama, and rich people with far too much money. Definitely better left on the shelf.

I happened upon this book like with all my audio books, at the library. I didn’t know what to expect, having never read anything by Sarah Addison Allen, and I was blown away. I loved her story telling, and I felt drawn into the magic of the garden. Garden Spells is the story of a woman named Claire Waverley, who is a bit of an outcast/oddity in her small town in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She lives alone in her late grandmother’s house where she and her sister were raised, after their mother abandoned them. Her sister Sydney following in her mother’s footsteps, has long since skipped town, and Claire hasn’t heard from her in over ten years.

The Waverley’s are a legend in their town, known for their odd garden, which sports an apple tree that is rumored to be magical, and the women in the family who each have special gifts. Claire’s elderly cousin Evanelle has a compulsion to give people things, which turn out to be exactly what they didn’t know they needed. Claire has a gift for cooking and baking, and she turns that gift into a successful catering company. Her food uses edible flowers and plants from her garden, and when cooked in a specific way, contain a little bit of magic. Pansies for keeping children thoughtful, nasturtiums for helping to keep secrets, roses for love, and so on.

Claire’s life is going along just fine, even though it’s a bit lonely for her. Then Sydney unexpectantly shows up on her doorstep with a daughter of her own, seeking refuge from her abusive ex, and Claire’s whole world turns upside down.

This book gives an old fashioned magical element to it’s romances. I love that there’s a little bit of magic in an otherwise everyday story. When Claire gets mad she literally wilts plants with the heat fumes coming off her. When her neighbor Roger falls in love with her, he has little purple lights coming off of him that only the Waverly’s can see. It adds a fun element to the book, and it left me wanting to read more by Allen.

This book was pretty disappointing. Reading the CD jacket, I thought Rise and Shine ,by Anne Quindlen. was going to be a book about sisters, where the younger sister finally comes into her own, and realizes she doesn’t have to live in the shadow of her older sister. Instead, it’s a book that takes the most random twists and turns, and makes me loathe both main characters.
The main character, Bridget, hears about her sister Meghan, a big shot journalist, utter two swear words on national television, which consequently gets her fired. Bridget acts like her sister losing her job was equivalent to her getting mesothelioma cancer or something else life threatening.

This book had so much potential, but instead the author went off on tangenets about the social aspects of New York City, and then a very bizarre twist where the much too old Bridget becomes pregnant with twins, by her sixty something year old boyfriend. It was random, disturbing, and just plain wrong. Meanwhile, the son of Meghan, who is completely neglected throughout Meghan’s firing and then divorce from her son’s father, gets shot and is paralyzed from the legs down. WTF? None of it made sense, nothing had to do with the main plot of the book. Also, the narrative jumps around so much I don’t know if the narrator is talking about past or present, or future. If you’re considering reading this book, leave it on the shelves.

I’m on the second book in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber, by Diane Gabaldon and I haven’t been able to put it down. I read it on my lunch break, I read it while eating dinner, I read in bed. I’d read it in the shower if the pages would withstand it! I think being hooked to a page turner like this is one of the best diet supplements because I’m so busy reading I forget to eat! I’ll write a review for it as soon as I’m done. I can already say that I recommend it, unless you want something of a life.

This book was incredibly thought provoking. Not only does it tackle hard topics like the death penalty, but also child abuse, religious freedoms, and life changing choices.

The story is about a man, Shay Borne, who is convicted of murdering a little girl and her stepfather. He’s sentenced to the death penalty, something that hasn’t been done in New Hampshire in 69 years.

He has one final request-to donate his heart to the sister of the little girl he was convicted of killing. The little girl is dying of heart failure and needs a transplant. He says he has to donate his heart in order to be redeemed. However, lethal injection would stop his heart, making his last request impossible.

Called in to counsel him is Father Michael Wright, a Catholic priest, who intends to help Shay find God, and doesn’t believe organ donation is the way to salvation. Then Shay begins performing miracles in front of inmates, officers, and even Father Michael, and challenges everything the Father believes in.

I won’t spoil this story because I think it should be on everyone’s top ten list to read or listen to on CD. It is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and it really makes you stop and think about the people you judge based on appearances and first impressions. It makes you really wonder if people are what they seem, or if there is something deeper beneath the surface.

Since we’re headed out on vacation on Thursday, I’ve been frantically trying to empty my laundry hamper and tidy up the house. It’s been hard to do because all I want to do is sit down and read. I got the second book in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber and I can’t put it down. Usually you can tell if I’ve got a good book based on the cleanliness of my house. Unfortunately the house is a mess, but I am enjoying the read.

Besides books, TV has been severly lacking in entertainment value. Right now all my favorite shows are in repeat for the summer. Hopefully the networks will kick off their summer pilots they test and I’ll have something new to watch. Thank god for laptops and wireless internet, or I’d probably never fold my laundry. I love being able to carry the laptop around and watch shows while I get stuff done.

I’ve been reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I can’t put it down. All day today I’ve sat poolside pouring over the pages, not caring if I get burned. This book is written in a way that you get sucked into the story.
Centered around an English war nurse named Claire, a woman from 1945, who accidentally travels back in time in Scotland, to the year 1743. She should have bought some travel health insurance because she’s set back in archaic times, where whiskey is medicinal, and doctors can be mistaken for witches.

It seems far fetched, maybe hokey, but the way it is written is dead serious. She leaves behind her husband, Frank Randall, whose ancestor, Captain Randall, is one of the most evil and twisted English soldiers who ever lived.
In the mist of getting kidnapped, almost rapped, and nearly burned at the stake for being a “witch” she falls into an all consuming love with Jamie Fraser, a Scottish Warrior.

I won’t say more, other than this book is incredible. It’s got enough romantic to please the women, but enough blood, guts and action to entice most men as well. The best part about this book is Claire’s story doesn’t end with Outlander. There are five books in the series, and I can’t wait to start reading the second, Dragonfly in Amber. I highly recommend these books, you will not be disappointed.