The Printed Page

Relaxing as a cozy fire on cold winter evenings. As comfortable as a soft recliner. Books, Will take you on a journey, Without really taking you anywhere. Books, Fantasy, fiction, mystery, horror, They are all types and lengths. Books, Wild as a rollercoaster, Tame as a lamb. Books, Anything is possible, When you read… Books.

View Megami-kun’s portfolio at Deviant Art

In this fast-paced mystery, the author of the Ellie Forman series introduces suspended cop and now PI Georgia Davis. Georgia is hired to help clear a mentally ill man, Cam Jordan, who is accused of killing a teenage girl, Sara Long, in a local forest preserve. It looks like an open-and-shut case; Cam’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and the victim’s blood is on his shirt. However, Georgia and Cam’s lawyer suspect Cam is being railroaded. Through her investigation, Georgia finds Sara was killed at a high-school hazing, and a local teenage prostitution ring is operating on the North Shore, a privileged, upper-class area north of Chicago. Also, there is a shady real-estate deal going on. Even when Georgia finds enough evidence to cast doubt on Cam’s culpability, she continues her investigation, intent on finding out who killed Sara and why. Georgia is a loner with a minimalist lifestyle who is recovering from her breakup with her boyfriend. She is a principled, compassionate character, determined to do the right thing, even if it doesn’t follow conventional assumptions.

“That two-timing bitch,” he spat. “She’s going to pay. Big time.”

Georgia Davis tried to ignore the man’s venom, but the more he talked, the more vicious he grew. A potential client, he’d met her at Starbucks and immediately started to rant about his wife. Georgia listened, hoping she could remain dispassionate. “When did you first suspect she was seeing someone?”

“About six months ago.”

“You waited a long time to act on it.”

“I thought maybe she was telling the truth about the goddammed class. Then I called the school, and they had no fucking record of her registration.” His face grew so crimson, his body so rigid she was afraid he might explode. “She’s a whore. A godammed cheating whore. After all I’ve done for her. She was nothing before she married me.” He bunched his hands into fists. “A f****** nobody!”

Georgia sipped her coffee. The guy had come in as a referral from a PI she hardly knew. The dick worked in the western suburbs, but the client lived on the North Shore, and he thought Georgia would be better suited to the case. She’d gratefully snapped it up, but now she wasn’t so sure. Did the PI know what an asshole this guy was? Maybe she should have grilled him before she jumped.

Except the guy was paying good money. He hadn’t blinked when she gave him her per diem, payable up front, and he agreed to a bonus if she came up with the goods.

“Let me look into it, Mr. Colley,” she put down her coffee. “If it’s true, you’ll have your proof.”

“What, pictures? Videotape? Crap like that?”

“Something like that.”

“It’s gonna have to hold up in court.”

“It will.”

He eyed her skeptically. “Lamont says you’re new to this game.”

Georgia looked him in the eye. “I was a cop for ten years.”

“Where?”

“Up here. On the North Shore.”

“You spent your days tracking down lost bicycles and cats?”

And covered a lot of domestics, she thought. “Among other things.”

“This job—well—it’s not handing out speeding tickets on Happ Road. How do I know you can handle it?”

She leveled another look at him. “”You don’t.” She paused. “But if you have any doubts, you’re free to find someone else.” She lifted her bag off the back of the chair, and hiked it up on her shoulder. “Thanks for the coffee.” She stood up and turned around.

“Hold on.” Colley raised his hand. “I’ll write out a check.” ~ First section of Chapter 3, Easy Innocence by Libby Fischer Hellmann ~

Title: Voodoo Season Author/website(s): Jewell Parker Rhodes 273 pages Publisher: Washington Square Press Publication date: July ’06 Genre: Fiction Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Only if this subject/topic interests you Would I read more from this author: I might depending on the subject/topic Journal notes: Pleasure reading – no review.

Medicine and voodoo may seem at odds, but Marie Levant, first-year resident at New Orleans’s Charity Hospital, discovers she has a gift for more than one kind of healing. Rhodes develops this theme to full advantage in her second book (after Voodoo Dreams) about this descendant of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. Strange forces are at work in the humid heat, and Marie is plagued by disturbing dreams and the sense that she has lived this life before. She employs her inner strength and feminist powers in pursuit of the murderer of the gentle and handsome young man who shared her bed one evening, awakening feelings she had too long ignored. Marie’s mother fled to Chicago when she was small and cleaned houses to survive. When the mother died mysteriously, the daughter went into foster care. Events intensify with Marie’s delivery of a dead girl’s living baby. She feels herself the mother and resolves to find the baby’s origins.

Title: Yellow Moon Author/website(s): Jewell Parker Rhodes 293 pages Publisher: Washington Square Press Publication date: August ’09 Genre: Fiction Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Only if this subject/topic interests you; I actually DNF’d Yellow Moon @ pg. 102 Would I read more from this author: I might depending on the subject/topic Journal notes: This is one of the review books I accepted last year. It was a book I was very much on the fence about accepting but the story line sounded intriguing enough for me to say yes. And a good lesson for me about why I’m limiting the genre of books reviewed in 2010. This is 2nd book in a trilogy which consequently means I needed to read book #1 (Voodoo Season) before starting Yellow Moon. Both Voodoo Season and Yellow Moon are well written stories that simply don’t appeal to me. I’d say if you have a strong interest in this subject/topic you would probably enjoy these two books. These books have some faction to their story lines as they make reference to Marie Laveau, a renowned practitioner of voudou in New Orleans. Usually when I DNF a book and/or author I simply won’t read anymore from them. Not so for Ms. Rhodes. Her historical novel Douglass’ Women holds great appeal for me and I hope to be able to read it this year.

In Rhodes’s superb sequel to 2006′s Voodoo Season, a wazimamoto, or African vampire, stalks Dr. Marie Laveau, a 21st-century doctor, modern voodoo practitioner and descendant of the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Haunted by the unquiet spirits of people killed by the wazimamoto, the young doctor vows to stop it with the help of new boyfriend NOPD Det. Daniel Parks; her Creole boss, Dr. Louis DuLac; and others devoted to Marie and her young adopted daughter, Marie-Claire. As the blood of the victims nourishes the vampire so it can completely assume human form, Marie must summon all her powers to vanquish it.

(Yellow Moon was provided to me by Karen @ Anita Halton Associates. I was not paid and this book is being passed along to the another book blogger through Read It Forward or being donated to my local library )

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Marie Levant, an ER doctor and the great-great granddaughter of the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, knows better than anyone New Orleans’s brutal legacy of slavery, poverty, racism and sexism. The struggle becomes personal, though, when an ancient African vampire – a spirit created by colonial oppression – grows intent on destroying all the Leveau descendants. The unforgettable heroine must fight to protect her daughter, her lover, and herself from the vampire’s seductive assault on both body and spirit.

Past the courtyard fountain, an impish, algae-covered fairy spitting water out of its mouth. Past the steel door, into a black-and-white tiled hallway. A huge gilt mirror was on the right, above the mailboxes. Two had broken locks. “Not much, but home. Elevator.” He pressed the button. “Third floor. You can rest a bit. No one will find you.” “It will. Just not tonight.” “The wazimamoto? Not if I can help it.” She smiled wanly. She wished Kind Dog were here. “You’re not seeing those spooks? JT, Rudy?” “’Ghosts’ or ‘spirits’ is more respectful.” “Are you kidding me? Respect spooks?” “Yes. If you’re with me.” The elevator door closed. Parks hit 3. He smoothed damp hair away from her eyes. “Okay, okay. Spirits, ghosts.” She nodded. That was the difference – how she’d changed. Old Marie versus new improved Marie. Growing up, her mother had had her sayings: “A broken-wing bird mean death”; “Scratch the wall, somebody die”; “Dead don’t lie” – useless sayings that added up to nothing about her family legacy. In New Orleans, she’d stumbled headlong into family mysteries and murder. DuLac had lifted her up, shown her how pieces of herself connected to an ancient tradition. He’d made her a believer. ~ Page 194, Yellow Moon by Jewell Parker Rhodes ~

I’m covering all my bases with this post. I love the cover, I added it to my Amazon wish list yesterday and found out just today that a copy is in the mail and on it’s way to me. Happy dancing Title: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici Author: C.W. Gortner Release date: May ’10

The most infamous queen of the Renaissance reveals her secrets in an epic tale of persecution, intrigue, and betrayal.

At the age of fourteen, Catherine de Medici, last legitimate descendant of the Medici blood, finds herself betrothed to the King Francois I’s son, Henri. Sent from her native Florence to France, humiliated and overshadowed by her husband’s life-long devotion to his mistress, when tragedy strikes her family Catherine rises from obscurity to become one of 16th century Europe’s most powerful women.

Patroness of Nostradamus and a seer in her own right, accused of witchcraft and murder by her foes, Catherine fights to save France and her children from savage religious conflict, unaware that her own fate looms before her — a fate that will demand the sacrifice of her ideals, her reputation, and passion of her own embattled heart.

From the splendors of the Loire palaces to the blood-soaked battles of the Wars of Religion and haunted halls of the Louvre, this is the story of Catherine’s dramatic life, told by the queen herself.

This is my first of two cover attraction posts today and they couldn’t be more different in look and subject matter. Title: Burn Author(s): Ted Dekker & Erin Healy Release date: January ’10

The past Janeal thought had burned away is rising from the ashes.

Years ago, the Gypsy Kumpania where Janeal Mikkado lived was attacked by outsiders. With her best friend about to be consumed by a fire, Janeal had two options: try to save her friend–at serious risk to her own life–or disappear with the million dollars that she had just discovered . . .

But the past is quickly coming back to haunt her. Both the best friend and the boyfriend that she was sure were dead have reappeared in her life, as has someone who knows about the money. There’s a debt to be paid for the money she found, but there’s an even greater debt she must face–and if the chaff isn’t burned from her own heart, it will consume her.

Title: Compulsion (An Emily Stone novel) Author/website(s): Jennifer Chase 308 pages Publisher: Outskirts Press Publication date: October ’08 Genre: Suspense Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Probably Would I read more from this author: I picked up the next Emily Stone right after finishing this one Journal notes: Pleasure reading – no review.

Emily Stone doesn’t have a badge. But that hasn’t stopped her from tracking down some of the West’s most dangerous child-killers. Armed with a digital SLR camera, laptop computer and her trusty Beretta, Stone uses her innate gift for detective work to identify the perps — and then anonymously e-mail the evidence to the cops.

Now, the hunt for two brazen serial killers on the loose right in her own coastal California town threatens to expose Stone’s identity — unraveling her carefully constructed cover and jeopardizing her life’s work. But when she gets too close to the action, this razor-sharp hunter becomes the hunted. Cooperating with the handsome local police detective could be the only hope for stopping the rampage directed at unsuspecting young women — and saving herself. Can they piece together the clues in time?

Title: Dead Game (An Emily Stone novel) Author/website(s): Jennifer Chase 376 pages Publisher: Outskirts Press Publication date: November ’09 Genre: Suspense Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: I would Journal notes: I enjoyed both Compulsion and Dead Game. If you can get past the uneven writing style and editing of Compulsion there is a decent suspense thriller within the pages. Even though Compulsion was bit rough around the edges I wasn’t ready to toss aside Ms. Chase’s storytelling and was looking forward to reading Dead Game. Right from the start the writing style of Dead Game was vastly improved and a much more enjoyable read. Both books kept me turning pages as Emily and Rick pursue those who commit unspeakable acts only to find themselves prey for those very same characters. As this series continues to evolve I imagine it becoming one of my favorites and making it to my auto-buy list. And yes I’m looking forward to reading a third Emily Stone novel if there is one.

In her independent efforts to catch child killers, Emily Stone discovers the evidence that the cops can’t—or won’t—uncover. Now, this covert investigator is back on the hunt for the world’s most sick and twisted murderers. But even with help from ex-police detective Rick Lopez, this time she’s facing her most dangerous opponent yet.

The headlines in the San Jose Mercury News blare updates on a serial killer who seems able to slaughter with impunity. Men, women—it doesn’t matter; the victims serve only to satisfy a perverted need to kill. The killer watches the moment of death on multiple computer screens, over and over again. The only connection is that they’re all devotees of the latest video-game craze—a sophisticated brain-puzzler called EagleEye.

When the killer goes after Lopez’s law-enforcement mentor, Lopez and Stone decide to give the cops a little extra, unsolicited help. What follows takes them deep inside a shocking high-tech world, a kind of social-networking community for serial killers. But when they start getting too close to the truth, all hell’s going to break loose.

Now, Stone and Lopez become the killer’s next target as Stone must make a difficult decision to leave the ones she loves in an all-or-nothing effort for survival. Can they stay alive long enough to blow the whistle on this unlikely perpetrator?

(Dead Game was provided to me by the author. I was not paid and this pdf file has been deleted from my Kindle )

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

*** No review/Read It Forward books this week but I’m am slowly starting to spend my Amazon $$.

*** Again this year I’m supporting Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign. For every link to a Mailbox Monday post left here at The Printed Page from now through end of the January I will contribute .50¢ to Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign. Last week’s Mailbox Monday raised approximately $25.

Can you help build a refugee camp library? For $2 you can, and you can even turn your donation in honor of someone into a last-minute holiday gift.

Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign for 2009 asks book lovers everywhere to contribute one of the 5000 bricks we need to build a library for Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad. Since Dec. 5, we have raised 821 bricks, 16% of our goal. Please join the effort, even with a single brick, by visiting: Library Builder

*** Compulsion by Jennifer Chase (An Emily Stone Novel) (new-to-me author) (finished it last night)

When Serial Killers Terrorize a California Beach Community, One Woman Stands in Their Way

Emily Stone doesn’t have a badge. But that hasn’t stopped her from tracking down some of the West’s most dangerous child-killers. Armed with a digital SLR camera, laptop computer and her trusty Beretta, Stone uses her innate gift for detective work to identify the perps — and then anonymously e-mail the evidence to the cops.

Now, the hunt for two brazen serial killers on the loose right in her own coastal California town threatens to expose Stone’s identity — unraveling her carefully constructed cover and jeopardizing her life’s work. But when she gets too close to the action, this razor-sharp hunter becomes the hunted. Cooperating with the handsome local police detective could be the only hope for stopping the rampage directed at unsuspecting young women — and saving herself. Can they piece together the clues in time?

Compulsion mixes CSI-style investigation with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot and a dose of romance for a keeps-you-guessing, fast-paced and savvy thriller, right up until the shocking finale.

Knight of Desire (All the King’s Men, book #1) by Margaret Mallory (I finished it already)

FEARLESS IN BATTLE

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn.

TENDER IN BED

Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she’s keeping secrets and dares not give him her heart. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to fill out Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out Mister Linky.

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• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

Mailbox Monday Participants

1. Savvy Verse & Wit 2. Beth(bookaholicmom) 3. Freda’s Voice 4. Karissa’s Reading Review 5. Elysium 6. gautami tripathy 7. Bekah (Bekah’s Bytes) 8. Library of Clean Reads 9. Katrina (Bloody Bad) 10. Bluestocking 11. Yvonne (Socrates’ Book Reviews) 12. Toni @ A Circle of Books 13. Laura (The Calico Critic) 14. Shelly (Write For A Reader) 15. Kristi (Books and Needlepoint) 16. Wrighty’s Reads 17. Vicki~Reading At The Beach 18. Katy (A Few More Pages) 19. Zia@My Life In Not So Many Words 20. Snowbell 21. Mary (Bookfan) 22. Sharon (Books to the Ceiling) 23. Kristen (BookNAround) 24. Kathy/Bermudaonion’s Weblog 25. Kim (Metroreader) 26. Diane (Bibliophile By the Sea) 27. Laurel-Rain Snow 28. Marie at The Burton Review 29. Reading WIth Mo 30. Nicola (Back to Books) 31. Jo-Jo 32. Melissa C 33. RAnn 34. Wordsmithonia 35. Alyce (At Home With Books) 36. Staci-Life in the Thumb 37. Bonnie (Redlady’s Reading Room) 38. Alita (alita.reads.) 39. Rose City Reader 40. Carrie K. (Books & Movies) 41. Amber Stults 42. Avis (she reads and reads) 43. Laza (GimmeMoreBooks!) 44. Wendy (Caribousmom) 45. Crystal (My Reading Room) 46. Andrea (So Many Books, So Little Time) 47. MarthaE (Martha’s Bookshelf) 48. Michelle (The True Book Addict) 49. Diary of an Eccentric

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Read It Forward details

Title: Knight of Desire (All the King’s Men, book 1) Author/website(s): Margaret Mallory 384 pages Publisher: Forever Publication date: July ’09 Genre: Historical romance Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: I picked up book #2 right after finishing this one. Journal notes: Pleasure reading – no review.

FEARLESS IN BATTLE

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn.

TENDER IN BED

Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she’s keeping secrets and dares not give him her heart. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

Title: Knight of Pleasure (All the King’s Men, book 2) Author/website(s): Margaret Mallory 363 pages Publisher: Forever Publication date: December ’09 Genre: Historical romance Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: Looking forward to book #3, Knight of Passion coming in June of 2010. Journal notes: Even though this was a review book it was pure pleasure reading. Honorable, handsome knights in shining armour. Beautiful, feisty damsels most certainly not in distress but in a spot of trouble and usually with their besotted knight. Hot, steamy passion with the requisite lovers quarrels. What perfect way to start the new year. I devoured both these books in about 2 days. A perfect blend of love, loyalty and spying to save King and country. June can not get here fast enough.

A note to Ms. Mallory if you should happen upon this post. Even though we got just very small glimpse of Robert’s past in Knight of Pleasure please consider writing his story if you’ve not already done so. He is such a great character and his story deserves to be told.

THE GREATEST PASSION

Lady Isobel Hume is an expert swordswoman who knows how to choose her battles. When the king asks her to wed a French nobleman to form a political alliance, she agrees. But that’s before the devilishly charming Sir Stephen Carleton captures her heart-and tempts her to betray her betrothed, her king, and her country.

IS WORTH THE GREATEST PERIL

Sir Stephen Carleton enjoys his many female admirers-until he dedicates himself to winning the lovely Isobel. When a threat against the king leads Isobel into mortal danger, Stephen must prove that he is more than a knight of pleasure … and that love can conquer all.

(Knight of Pleasure was provided to me by Anna at Hachette Book Group. I was not paid and this book is being donated to my local library )

Knight of Passion (All the King’s Men, book 3) June 2010