Novels Now

Near mid-century when Edward was born, the full moon was years from being the brightest. That would happen - in terms of luminosity and size - in the last month of the century. [Opening of The Brightest Moon of the Century]

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks
White Whiskers Books, 2009 (ARC)
Fiction; 312 [...]

But in Iraq, there was never one story, there were always many stories, layers of episodes, each one a wound. [pg 6]

The Weight of a Mustard Seed: The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny by Wendell Steavenson
HarperCollins, 2009 (ARE)
Nonfiction; 288 pgs
I am having the hardest time thinking [...]

Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn
Grand Central Publishing, 2009 (ARC)
Fantasy; 336 pgs
Book 6 in the Series

Trouble seems to follow Kitty no matter where she goes, and it certainly has found her in Denver. Something is stalking her and threatening her pack. She is up against a supernatural force she cannot explain, much [...]

Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand by Carrie Vaughn
Grand Central Publishing, 2009
Fantasy; 301 pgs
Book 5 in the Series

Kitty heads out of town again, this time for Las Vegas. She somehow was talked into hosting a live television special in the City of Sin and in delivering a message from Denver’s Master Vampire to [...]

These days the staff treated Natalie like a family retainer who had faltered long ago but was kept on, given occasional tasks and told nostalgic lies about her continuing usefulness. [pg 63]  
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories by Catherine Brady
University of Nevada Press, 2009
Fiction (short stories); 227 pgs
The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories [...]

Maybe I’m overstepping my boundaries, maybe I’m supposed to let my kids make their own mistakes—that’s what the self-proclaimed experts say—but I know about mistakes, about how indelible they can be. [pg 45]

Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
Harper Perennial, 2008
Fiction; 343 pgs
It is rare I read a book longing for more when I reach the [...]

This is what I’ve learned so far about Rhode Island chat rooms.Not everyone is from Rhode Island.
Correct spelling and complete sentences are signs of a newcomer.
And no matter what the supposed topic of the chat room, two-thirds of the conversations are always about sex. [excerpt from book]
Teaser by Jan Brogan
St. Martin’s Minatour, 2008
Crime Fiction (S/T); [...]

“We turn now to the issue of what constitutes an appropriate punishment for your various infractions,” said the judge in the middle, the gray-haired one whose name Jaywalker always had trouble remembering. [First Sentence]
The Tenth Case by Joseph Teller
Mira, 2008 (ARE)
Crime Fiction; 388 pgs
From the Publisher:
Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker, [...]

As long as he can create pictures from the words he reads—scenes filled with characters, conflict, good and evil—he can build a world that’s in many ways closer to the one other people inhabit. And this makes him feel less like an outsider. [pg 255]
First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
Forge, 2008
Crime Fiction (S/T); 400 pgs
The [...]

I must have passed out because I don’t remember who put me on this gurney without a blanket. [First Sentence]
Belly of the Whale by Linda Merlino
Kunati, 2008
Fiction; 199 pgs
I almost decided against reading Linda Merlino’s book, Belly of the Whale. It hits too close to home. Breast cancer has affected not only my [...]

In the year since I renounced my Mormon faith, and set out to tell the nation the truth about American polygamy, many people have wondered why I ever agreed to become a plural wife. [First Sentence]
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Random House, 2008
Fiction; 514 pgs
Religion is a subject that fascinates me in general, in particular [...]

Imaginary Friends edited by John Marco & Martin H. Greenberg
DAW, 2008
Fiction/Fantasy (SS); 304 pgs
The title was what first captured my eye. I pulled the book off the shelf, and it did not take me long to add it to my purchases that day. My curiosity got the better of me and I began [...]

I stared at my attorney as he began his defense that I did not share the blame in the murder of my son. [first sentence]
Janeology by Karen Harrington
Künati, 2008
Fiction; 246 pgs
It is difficult to know where to start in describing a book like Janeology. It is thriller-like on one level but also a bio-psychosocial [...]

“I ask for nothing but a kiss,” he said, his voice still calm and low, but his eyes dimmed. “Mouth to mouth. You might hold your stake between us if it would make you feel more as ease, Venator.”
“Perhaps I would slam it into your heart and send you to Hell, then,” Victoria replied, her [...]

Far World, Book 1: Water Keep
by J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain, September 2008 (ARE)
Fantasy (YA); 419 pgs
One of the first things I do when I crack open a book is to read the dedication. This one I read out loud to my husband and he immediately zeroed in on the mention of solving Ultima games. [...]

“It’s a sudden loss of muscle control,” is how I would always begin, feeling cornered, “while remaining conscious. It’s as if your body’s faintin’ but you’re not.” [ pg 24]
Aberrations by Penelope Przekop
Emerald Book Co, 2008
Fiction; 241 pgs
Angel Duet is 21 and everything she believed and thought she knew is about to change. [...]

I slept with close to forty boys and men before I figured out doing so was not serving me well. [pg 1]
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen
Hyperion, 2008
Nonfiction (Memoir); 210 pgs
Kerry Cohen was nothing like me; or was she? While she was vying for men’s affections and slipping under the [...]

If you live long enough, everything happens.
And then some of it happens again. [pg xii]
The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith
Harper Collins, 2008 (ARE)
Fiction; 209 pgs
Mark is an 11 year old boy whose life is out of balance. His mother has remarried and they have moved from London to the seaside community of Brighton. [...]

At this moment, I suddenly want to change everything that is me, the observer part, and move from something else: the living-your-life part. When does that start exactly? And something else. I look into the mirror and someone else says: What are you doing here? You have no right to live. [...]

Something in my soul had been hurt by what surrounded me, but I was not physically hurt. [excerpt from Nightwalker]
Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake
Harper, August 2008 (ARE)
Fantasy; 370 pgs
It has been too long since last read a fantasy novel about vampires. I was thrilled when I learned that I was selected to receive a copy [...]