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Will Lee, or Willie, as he is called later in this book is the son of Will Lee, the attorney in Stuart’s book Chiefs. It’s a tale of, the law, love, and the IRA. Taking place around 1971. Will Lee is asked to take some time off Law School due to the fact that he was not living up to his expectations. So he travels to Ireland, the land of his mother, and spent some time with his grandfather. He meet a girl named Connie who teaches at a local school. When he can’t get what he really wants from Connie he moves on traveling to England. He meets a couple named Annie and Mark after saving a boat from crashing into other boats. Mark is a slightly eccentric ex Royal Marine is having issues with his wife Annie but is slightly oblivious to it. The boat that Will saved belongs to a man named Derek Thrasher. Thrasher is a very secretive man who has a high financial standing but likes to remain very private. Thrasher is sponsoring Mark to build a boat that Mark will sail in a single handed race and then turn the boat over to Thrasher. Mark asks Will, only after having known him for a few hours, to help him build to boat. Willie agrees taking the job that leads them back to Ireland to the same small town that his grandfather lives. In a pervious life, Mark killed a young member of the IRA while he was still severing in the Marines. When word gets out in this small Irish town it stirs up a lot of trouble for the three new friends. When Mark re-injures his knee, an injury that originally occurred the night he killed the kid in the IRA, and has to go back to England to have it repaired leaving Willie in charge, all the while trying to sneak the boat out of Ireland because Thrasher is being sued and it has been found out he is the true owner of the boat and the lawyers are trying to attach the boat to the lien. After a spat with Will, over a trip to Paris, Will hooked up with Thrasher’s personal secretary; Connie still helps Will finish the boat. While Thrasher’s law troubles are handled things start to settle down. It turns out that Connie’s best friend who was a nun is in the IRA and is the cause of major trouble for Mark, Annie, and Will. What keeps Will safe is his father is a prominent politician in the US and the IRA does not want to harm him because it could cause loss of support in the states. With the IRA after Thrasher, Mark and Annie the tale is intriguing.
This reviewer believed since, it was the second book Mr. Woods published he really found his style here. The book started out very slowly but about half way through it really pick up and almost could not be put down. Giving this book a 
rating. With a list of books to read it might be a little bit before this reader orders the next in the series.
So Lt. Eve Dallas is getting married. But that is just a back ground story. Dallas is a Lieutenant in the New York Police Department in the year 2058. Dallas works homicide. Which is where the book opens, she is called to a scene of one of her informants. She request an “attachment” from Peabody, another female officer she has worked with before in the past. Someone Dallas considers a younger version of herself. When investigating this murder, she and Peabody discover Boomer, her now dead informant, had a formula for a new drug and a sample of it in powder form. With the help of Roarke, Dallas’ fiancé, a ober billionaire who is a reformed bad boy, growing up in the slums of Ireland he had to do what he had to do to get by, who still is not squeaky clean; therefore has computer equipment that is undetectable, Dallas learns it is an “illegal” new drug that has properties to make the user look young again but at a price, it’s deadly. This leads Dallas to discover that her best friend has been at odds with the new spokes person for her Mavis, Dallas’ friend, new boyfriend’s new clothing line. The spokes woman, Pandora, turns up dead with the same drug in her system. Two more deaths occur and at the moment Mavis is the one who looks the most guilty causing Dallas to have to place her under arrest. With days away from her wedding and Mavis out on bail can Dallas put a close to these murders, with another cop, Casto, Boomer’s other handler from illegals, breathing down her neck, and the addition of two more murders on her hand.
This Review gives this book , it wasn’t as exciting as her pervious books but still very good. It still keep the attention of the reader and will keep the reader wanting to know where the rest of the story will take them. This reviewer has read the other two in this series and found them to be more addictive even though they were not reviewed in this blog.
Ms. Jance did it again. In this story Ali is called back to LA for her divorce, only to find out her soon to be ex husband is dead and since she was driving in the area near the murder during the time it occurred she is the prim suspect. New character are introduced such as Frang aka Paul's fiancée, yes yes the scum bag is engaged because the girl is knocked up and while the divorce papers are supposed to be signed on Friday the wedding on Saturday. Now since he is dead the only will that was signed was his old will even though he had one drawn up. Ali is the sole heir. This causes major issues for April, the fiancée, her mother, Monique, who swears she's there for the only interest is the unborn baby. More death occurs and a new blogger emerges as someone who finds it his personal mission to attack Ali via the Internet. Ali wrongfully dismissal suit lingers in the background but is handled. Ali's mom, Edie, and new friend Dave Holman , who in this reviewer's opinion a relationship may soon develop, come to visit to help. Her Son Chris and father come into play as well. With so many twist and turns you never see who did it till the end. Gives you a different perspective on Paul in the end...
Rating. Again nothing to graphic so no nightmare for this pregnant gal! Already have book three on request from the library!
Let's talk about writers shall we? And what makes a good writer? Is it really someone who sells the most books? This girl dosen't think so. Salman Rushdie, famous for his work "The Satanic Verses which caused such controversy he actually had to go into hiding because a bounty was put on his head, is considered to be a great writer. When efforts to read "Shalimar the clown" this reviewer couldn't get through it. The language was difficult for this American girl to follow. Granted personally this reviewer has always had a tough time with proper "english" or Brit Lit as some prefer to call it. It was so dry and hard to maneuver through it probably would have gone on my zero star list. This reviewer has not read any of his other work because she was so put off by it she never gave any of his other work a shot. Could this one book been a flop, possibly but she finds it hard to believe many of the "great writers" out there works were truly boring. I'm sure my old freshmen english teacher would have a heart attack at these next words but well this is just an opinion right. Lets look at Hemingway or even Steinbeck other great writers they wrote the classics but how many of us could actually finish any of these works without falling asleep or because we had to for school. Is it the the time period is lost on our generation. (Proud to say this reviewer is the last year of generation X but shall digress)
Or is it that new authors have come up with with different techniques to capture today's readers? Are the old classics not relevant in today's society. The idea of "old money" a tradition held on to deeply in the south did not help out this reviewer when she had to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby."
And why is it when author's write someone must tear their work apart to say that ring the children try to catch to grab at on the carousel in the "Catcher and the Rye" really symbolized anything at all? Why can't writer's say a hat was blue just because they liked the color blue? Why is it some professor somewhere must say it means the person was depressed? Reminds me of the teacher who tried to say that all the Beatles songs meant something so John Lennon wrote "I am the walrus"
This slightly helps the thought segway into this. The last book that was reviewed in "A Southern Review" the author who very well maybe be famous, and even considered a great author of her time, personally not sure this girl really don't follow such things because normally the people she thinks writes well have never been heard of before, consistently used the term "getting their lumps" meaning taking what comes to them or handling what they must. Think of the expression they made their bed now they must lie in it. I'm sure if that book was every analyzed by a literary professor he or she may say J.A. Jance used it for x y or z reasons. But really couldn't it just be it's an expression Jance grew up with? If that is the case why or why must several of her character's use it? Isn't it the point of writing to give your character's their own personality? To take on a file of their own? I mean yes in the 90's "wuz up?" was a common expression but if you were reading a book based in that time period would you expect every person in there to say "wuz up?" No, not everyone talk like that. Did the screen writer for "Tombstone" Make every character use "Well ain't that Daisy" or "I'll be you your huckleberry"? No these were signature phrased used by Doc Holiday even though they were common expressions of the time period. By no means is this reviewer suggesting that author's need to talk a page out of screen writer's book, because she has been reminded over and over again that "that would be an insult" but she believes it's time to share thoughts and ideas with your counterparts. Make each character their own. And for goodness shakes people if you're going to turn a book into a movie at least find out what the general population likes about the book and don't cut that out! I.e. Alice's background in "Twilight" Down here, and maybe it's the fact that Alice was originally from the south but the team Alice/team Jasper shirts that have been floating around in these parts would give some sort of indication that the fact you haven't said one word of Alice's past a big no no.
Ok so this entry is probably leaving more questions then answers and it was a small vent about frustration. At least it leaves you with some food for thought.
Ali Reynolds’ is over forty and just lost her job as a new anchor at a tv station that is losing ratings in LA. The man that fired her has been brought on to "clean up the station for rating" but since he is a pot head he lets it slip in front of a witness, whom Ali happens to be close with, a security guard, that she is to old for the job while many of her male counter parts who are much older than her are allowed to keep their positions. Ali decides to sue the station, her husband who works for the network grows angry over this, even though he knew about her firing before hand and didn’t divulge it to Ali. This becomes the under score of the story. Ali soon finds out her best friend from High School, Renee, has passed away, the police believe it to be suicide. But Ali doesn’t. So she and her son Chris, travel to Sedona AZ, Ali’s home town. While on the drive there Chris reveals to Ali that his stepfather is cheating on her, finally bringing Ali to file for divorce, and hires another lawyer from the same firm as her wrongfully terminated suit. Ali’s parents run a café called Sugarloaf, a second generation eatery that is famous for its cinnamon rolls. While in Sedona Chris helps Ali start a blog about getting fired, the blog gains popularity rapidly. Her blog winds up covering several different issues from the firing, ALS after finding out Renee had it, cancer which is what of Ali’s first husband died of Chris’ father, and domestic violence. While the local sheriff does all he can to help Ali uncover the truth about her friend, while the sheriff of the county that crime occurred in believes it to be suicide and wants the case closed. So Ali takes matters into her own hands, after all she is still a reporter, knows when a story is hot, and knows how to follow good leads. It appears that the more she digs the more she winds up in situations that almost cost her, her life.
An exciting tale this reviewer couldn’t put down. J.A. Jance is not an author this reviewer normally reads but she will be from now on. This novel was so good she went to the library the same day she finished book one to read to book two. The reviewer gives this book . An unpredictable ending. The reviewer stumbled upon this book because one further along in the series caught her eye in a book club magazine only by a brief excerpt. When someone so short could catch this pregnant gal’s attention she has to go with it. This novel is not graphic which is great for a night read which might come into your dreams.
Well I've had this blog for a while now and really have done nothing with it. So I figured it was time to introduce myself to the world. I wise professor once told me that when starting something new to remember the W's. Well I think it's the W's + an H. So
Who:
I am Bella Claybourne. I am a 25 year old student, married, and are expecting our first child come this summer. I am prior military but for the purpose of this blog it really shouldn't be relative.
What:
This blog is for my read, what I find as the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will try to give a brief over view of the book, if I liked it and if I didn't.
When:
Hmmm well how about now? Why put something off till tomorrow if you can accomplish it today? But as you can tell by create date, I am a huge procrastinator. So in trying to turn over a new leaf, why not start it today.
Where:
I could take this quiet literally; my husband says sometimes I'm over literal think Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, or maybe Sheldon from the Big Bang theory. So I will most likely due all of my updating from my home, more specially, living room my "husband's Chair" since it is to most comfortable in the house (it's a big jean blue over stuffed chair that is aunt gave us and I love it!!!)
Why:
This probably my favorite question answer. I hated to read till I had my honor's English class sophomore year of high school. It was American Lit, so we read the classics. Because it was an honor's class we had to read one book, and they were not small books, each month, write a report, take a test, really tricky test too ok for a high school student i thought they were and of course the dreaded vocab test. I am has aspirations to be a "writer" some day but lets just say the whole grammar and vocab thing never stuck when I was a child and it has carried through to my adult life. Go figure. So due to this class I learned at appreciate reading. It wasn't until very recently lets say the last past two years or so I have come to love it. Due to circumstance beyond my control I have lived the past couple of years with a on again off again relationship with television. So reading became my new favorite past time. I find, with my over active imagination, that i enjoy reading so much more than watching a movie. Yes it's not always an activity I can share with my husband but we each have our own things. He can spend countless hours on the Internet looking at real estate dreaming about what we could buy on day or what we can afford right now, so I can spend mine reading. I have always been very hesitant to venture into new works. I had several bad experiences in finding things on my own. So I normally go off the recommendation of friends. This has proven 1. a more effective way to read and B. (yes I do that a lot, all numbers then one letter or vice versa.) an ever better way since I am now pregnant and my reading have a tendency to sneak into my dreams to avoid overly graphic things that can hit this pregnant gal's over active imagination into over drive. The other way I have been finding my new reads is a friend belongs to a book club, they send her a magazine every few months with the most resent published books she can purchase. I read the little excerpt and they go to the Internet to see if it's part of a series. If so I start at the beginning. It's how i found out about J.D. Robb aka Nora Roberts, and J.A. Jance.
How:
Well obviously I'm portable, since I stated earlier that I bounce from place to place with my computer I work off a dell laptop. I think it's important to note i have a wonderful Christmas present that I use, it's a laptop desk with fan built in so I never have to worry about over heating my lap or the baby for that matter! Well that's it for now. If you have any questions please feel free to ask... Although I'm sure I don't have that many followers out there, if any at all. I'm going to try and write about the books I've read recently although you can find me on goodreads too to see the books i have read. :)
= Couldn't finish reading it
