Maybe One Day, by Melissa Kantor

Olivia and Zoe are sophomores in high school and have been in the same dance/ballerina classes together since they were little kids. Everything has been done together. So, the day comes that the New York Ballet Club announces to the girls that they are through, they are being cut from the program. This isn't just a bump in the road it is a roadblock that says, Ballet is not for you.

How will the girls react? Zoe throws away all her ballerina stuff, Olivia though goes to a rec center for poor children and starts teaching a ballet class. Which girl handles it best? Well, that's a good question. Just one of many good questions that the book will bring up.

As most teen novels this one will deal with the issues of friendship, bullies, cheerleaders gone wrong, athletes who are snobs, geeks who no one seems to get and then the two ballerinas who spend every waking minute going to school then going to dance and dance and dance some more.

How will the girls handle the rejection of the NYBC? How will their lives change? How will they explain to friends? How will they deal with a crush on a boy that is "off limits"? All these subjects pull together to make a great read.

Add to that one of the girls coming down with Leukemia. That adds a new dimension to the story. How they deal with it is what brings the joy in reading and learning and thinking, how would I handle this situation.

Your teen will enjoy the book and it will bring up many good life lessons to talk about.

No spoilers here, just read and enjoy and let your emotions go along for the ride and see where they take you.

Enjoy!

Mystery, Child Abduction and a Love Story, all in one.

What an interesting Ruth Galloway novel.  As always Elly Griffiths writes an amazingly good novel that weaves several themes together to draw Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson back together.  Ruth is doing a dig at a location where they believe they have unearthed the infamous Jemima Green a woman hanged about 150 years earlier for allegedly killing off the young children in her care.

DCI Nelson is on the case of a missing child who may or may not have been abducted by his "childminder." Nelson, Judy, Clough and Tim are trying their hardest to solve the case before the child dies. They do work out the case only to have another child go missing.  This is Judy's child.  So now the team is on the search to find one of their own.

Now, why do I say that love is in the air?  Well, Griffiths introduces Frank Barker, an historian, from the United States.  He has come to help with the filming of a documentary on Jemima Green.  He and Ruth are going to be filmed.  But funny thing, he and Ruth hit it off and there is a good tension between them.  Frank a widower and Ruth the unattached who has never looked for attachment.

Then there is Cathbad and Judy.  Their love tension rises again and starts to get more of the story line. Oh, and there is always the love between DCI Nelson and his wife and yet his love for his daughter, Kate, who is Ruth's child.

All in all the writing is vintage Griffiths and the story will draw you in and keep you reading until the very end.

I don't want to say more because I might spoil things for you.  This is a great read.  Enjoy.

If you haven't read Griffiths works before you might want to start with one of the earlier books so that you get to know the Characters better before diving into this one, just a thought :)

Another Crime Novel with a Vigilante - really good, really intriguing, well written

Alan Brenham writes with a clear distinct style that invites the reader in and keeps them turning pages until they are satisfied with the end result (which doesn't happen until the end of the book, which is nice since some writers forget that). His research is excellent on police procedure and his study of human nature is without flaw. He captures both well and his writing educates you while also entertaining you.

Jason Scarsdale, the detective, is a frustrated depressed man. He lost his wife five weeks earlier when she was killed in a car accident (which he thinks was his fault). He lost a slam dunk case against a pedophile when the jury let him off with a not guilty verdict (actually it is the DA's office who lost the case). Now the question he has is this, do I commit suicide because of my grief and pain over the loss of my wife, or do I continue to live so that I can provide for my five year old daughter and not rob her of both parents?

Then enter Dani Mueller, the police profiler. She also is overcoming grief. She lost her 10 year old daughter to a pedophile who also got off free and clear two years earlier. But she didn't take the loss lying down. Instead she waited, found her courage (if you can call it that) and with a thrust of a knife found the revenge that she wanted. Now she thinks she should do the same for the Crowley family who lost their daughter and watched the criminal walk free.

The two lives, Scarsdale and Mueller, intersect over this case. They get to know each other and develop a relationship that is convoluted by the details of their lives, and especially by the fact that Dani wanted to kill Lastier, the criminal, and Scarsdale is trying to find who actually did kill Lasiter.

Brenham builds the suspense of the story masterfully. He continues to build that suspense, chapter after chapter and further delves into the issue of pedophiles and the pain they inflict not just on their victims, but also on their victims families.

The book is well worth the small $2.99 Kindle price. You'll have an enjoyable few days digesting the story.

Enjoy!

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Vigilante by Kerry Wilkinson

Someone is on the prowl and killing off the "scum" of the earth. This delights some, including some police officers, but disturbs others. Our Vigilante is someone who is taking the lives of criminals who appear to have beaten the system and gotten off free and clear. But the amazing thing is that the DNA samples that are picked up from the victims point towards a man that is already behind bars.

How can our vigilante be a man who is already in prison serving a life sentence? That is what drives detective Jessica Daniel's crazy. All the DNA points towards McKenna, a man behind bars. So, Daniel's sets out to prove that he is the killer. Somehow he is getting out and killing these people and then getting back into prison.

Is a guard helping him to do this? Or has he dug a tunnel? Or is he maybe being framed? These are all questions that Daniels has to answer and she is doing her best to work on this.

Wilkinson takes us on a wild ride trying to determine who the hunter/killer is. The usual DNA match that would definitely prove someone is guilty of a crime is is disturbing as it points to a present inmate and it appears after investigation that said inmate has not been able to get out of prison and do these crimes.

To up the ante in this game the killer "accidentally" kills Daniel's friend Corrie Jones. Is this because Corrie is a criminal herself or is it just being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Daniel's is also dating for the first time in forever. Her date is one of the lab scientist who is working on the case. How will she and Adam get along? Will the case mess with their relationship?

Wilkinson weaves a solid story through the many issues he will explore. Those issues are good detective work, DNA samples and how they are used and/or abused. Also through the story we find lying, deceit, manipulation and love. All these set in motion the story and it is a good one.

I believe you will thoroughly enjoy the writing. Our writer is new to us in America, but proven in his home country of the United Kingdom. So, this is not a first time author with first time author mistakes. He is accomplished and has developed his craft well. You will enjoy every minute of this Detective Novel.

Political Suicide, by Michael Palmer

Michael Palmers new novel featuring Dr. Lou Welcome is sure to be one of your best buys of the holiday season. The character development is rich, the story lines are crisp and sharply written. The close to reality of the scenario will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end and are left wanting more.

Dr. Lou Welcome is a true loyal friend, who also has a set of moral values and tenacity that an Explorer Scout would be desirous of. Lou is the kind of guy that has faced his own problems up close and come out the better man on the other side.

In this gripping novel he is faced with helping a friend prove his innocence in the murder of a U S Congressman. The police feel they have an open and shut case and it would appear as though they are correct. But Lou comes to his friends aid only to discover that the Congreeman had some heavy duty enemies in the Secretary of Defense and a Marine Colonel who have a dirty little secret that they are closely guarding. But would that have been enough for them to kill a congressman?

Now enter Susan Cooper, the high price defense lawyer, who also happens to be a beautiful and you weave a burgeoning love affair into the triangle of this novel. Too bad that her first husband died at the hands of a neglectful doctor. This leaves her with a distaste for doctors, especially one sticking his nose into her business. But, yeah folks, you see it coming, that attractional tension between man and woman that adds flavor to a story.

As the book winds it's way through all the aspects of a great novel there will be other characters who enter the picture and restore your faith in the fact that there are still honest, upright,people with integrity that builds in them true courage in the face of terror.

Also the sub plot of a military unit filled with men who have no fear and you will have a great read.

Thanks Michael for a wonderful new novel.

In the fairness of honesty I want to thank Mr. Palmer and his publicist, Lizzie, for sending me a review copy of the book. It was a wonderful gift.

Poseidon's Arrow, by Clive & Dirk Cussler

Clive and Dirk Cussler do another excellent job of giving us a mystery / adventure that we can delve into and fall in love with. The writing is crisp and clean as always. It is fast paced and well balanced. You will find three main threads to the story line and be able to follow each well. Maybe the only downfall is that you want to know what is going to happen in one of the threads, but the writers go on to the next thread. But trust me they eventually get back to the part you want to find out about.

Dirk and Giordano are tasked with finding out who is pirating tankers that contain rare earth elements, i.e. rocks/minerals. These minerals are important to the production of almost all technology. China and others are trying to corner the market on these materials and if they are successful they will dominate the economy and put a real dent on the U.S. in it's ability to function well and at a reasonable cost. Yeah, that's right it's always about us in the U.S. and our needs. We are selfish, just face it and get over it.

Then Summer and Dirk, Jr. are out tracking the cracks in the ocean floor and trying to place sensors along a rift in the ocean floor that will help us to track and detect underwater earthquakes quicker so that any resulting tsunami's are caught quickly and the alarm sent out to all those in it's path. But low and behold, they stumble across an operation that will dove tail back into what their dad and Giordano are working on.

Then throw in a new character from NCIS and you have your third thread in the story that will give us all the adventure we could ever want.

I won't give any spoiler's but I will tell you this, the book will keep your attention and you won't want to put it down until you finish it. So, just prepare to loose some sleep.

Enjoy it completely.

Tripoli's Target, by Ethan Jones

I am growing to really enjoy Ethan Jones writing.  He brings good action, good scenario's, good characters together to bring a read that you will enjoy.  If you like spy novels, Tom Clancy, or Vince Flynn you will enjoy Ethan Jones.

His action hero's are agents who work for the Intelligence service of the Canadian Government, yeah that's right, the Canadians.  While we think that they are just the Northern neighbor's of the U.S. without much in the way of action we find that a different fact when reading Ethan Jones.

The story starts out with a very realistic look into the mind set of a terrorist who is part of a cell that is going to target Tripoli with multiple car bombs.  Their interest is to sew anxiety but also to create a diversion into what the group really wants to have happen.  Justin Hall and his fellow operatives come into the picture through a different project that they are working but soon discover that the stories are going to overlap.

The characters are well developed, the writing is crisp, the story timely and the action is non stop and well developed. 

There are many different sub plots that will be running through the work.  Such as the Romantic life of the operatives who are wanting to get back home, but keep getting pushed into another adventure.  Or the sub-plot that maybe Justin Hall's boss is actually trying to get him killed!  Maybe she has sold out her agents, or does it just appear that way?

Another sub-plot is how the agencies of different countries don't always get along.  The Israeli's are targeting terrorist, but don't care if a Canadian gets in the cross hairs.  The U.S. wants to protect their own interest but really don't care what the Canadians are finding out and that their work will add the Americans if they will just let them.

Oh, and don't forget the terrorist and wealthy Arab oil Barons.  Tripoli's Target is a great read, one that will keep you on the edge of your seat and will leave you wanting more.  Jones' first book, Arctic Wargame wsa good, but with this book you can see that he is developing his writing style and getting better and better.  Now I can't wait for the next book in the adventures of Justin Hall.

Enjoy!