I Am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here is another book outside the realm of what I would typically read that I really loved. Once I started it, I could not put it down. And the short chapters made me feel like I flew through this book.

Zach is a 16 year old soldier for The Program. He goes through his life ever being the new kid at school, finding his target and eliminating it. All is well until he’s sent to New York with the target being the Mayor. The time frame for the mission is only 5 days which is out of the normal.

He meets the Mayors daughter in school as a way to get close to the Mayor and, after having two opportunities to finish his assignment, the target is changed from the Mayor to his daughter.

This is a quick, on the edge of your seat read. I can’t wait to read the next one! 🙂

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Whack Job by Kendel Lynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love books like this. Whack Job was a fun mystery set in South Carolina. Yes, one more book driving my desire to visit the Charleston area.

Elliott Lisbon works for a non-profit, The Ballantyne Home, but is a wanna be PI. She is on her way to earning her PI license but local law enforcement, the handsome Lt. Ransom, thinks she’s stepping on his toes. Apparently, there is a relationship in their past that may not be finished.

This is what I would call a madcap mystery. Some of the things Elliott gets into while trying to find a missing Faberge egg for a client are truly hilarious.

This would be a great beach read. It is the second in a series but I didn’t feel I was missing anything by not having read the first book. I highly recommend Whack Job and I do plan to read the first book! 🙂

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Magnificent Vibration: A Novel by Rick Springfield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was clever and you know how I feel about clever: I love it!

I originally wanted to read this book because Rick Springfield wrote it. I didn’t know what to expect and I was more than pleased. The story is about Horatio a.k.a. Bob, who finds God’s phone number in a book he has stolen. He then meets Alice and Lexingon Vargas who have both purchased a copy of the same book. They go on an adventure.

The story is clever, like I said and I liked the way it went back and forth between the past and present and Scotland and Los Angeles. I had no idea how those two story lines were going to come together.

Great book, I give it two thumbs up! 🙂

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The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this book and couldn’t put it down.

Becca is a high school girl who’s best friend leaves her behind when she gets a boyfriend. This hurts her and she decides that she is going to help out other girls like herself by breaking up girlfriends and boyfriends.

With the help of her sister, who was jilted on her wedding day, Becca devises schemes to break up couples wearing a costume of a raccoon mask and graduation gown, taking payments via PayPal.

Becca is really good at this and goes along until she’s faced with having to break up with the school’s most popular golden couple, the girl who is her former best friend and the boy she left her for.

Although she’s successful, eventually she’s exposed and Becca learns a valuable lesson in friendship.

This was a really great book and I highly recommend it! 🙂

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Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a wonderful book about a teenaged girl of Indian descent coming to terms with who she is.

Dimple is 17 years old and lives in New Jersey. She doesn’t feel American with her American friends but when she goes to India, she doesn’t feel Indian either. She is confused.

She is also a really great photographer and uses photography to help her figure out who exactly she is.

This is a great story that covers the climax of the confusion in Dimple’s life and brings her out the other side. Highly recommend! 🙂

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The Reluctant First Lady by Venita Ellick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Although I wanted to kick Ashley in the butt several times, I really enjoyed this book!

Ashley’s husband is elected President of the US. Although she helps him to win the election, always with him on the campaign trail, she has no plans to become First Lady if he’s elected.

When he is elected, her plans become public causing her to have probably more attention focused on her than less. Ashley doesn’t like living in a fish bowl, doesn’t like politics but realizes that her marriage may be in jeopardy if she is constantly in New York working at her museum director job while her husband is in D.C.

I would never consider not being First Lady if my husband were president so Ashley’s vantage point was different than mine but I still enjoyed this book. 🙂

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Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was awesome! So cute!

This is a story about a veterinarian who goes back to him home town to take over his dad’s practice after his dad passes away. He has been working as a pathologist previously so working with pets and their owners is all new to him.

He likes a waitress at the diner and his less than suave approach with that relationship makes him feel like the high school nerd. I love a book with a good dog and Stash fills the bill here.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it. Although it’s the second in the series, I didn’t feel like I missed anything not having read the previous book. 🙂

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The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was very unsure of this book before I read it. I’m not a science fiction reader and I also made the mistake of reading some reviews before I started reading. But, big BIG surprise, I loved it!

This book is about Penna and some people from the future coming back in time to 2010 to avoid plague and starvation. Penna becomes friends with Ethan, who is able to see time travelers so knew she was one without her having to tell him.

Together they discover something that should set the future right. In the process, they fall in love, something that is completely advised against in there traveler world.

I liked the story of Penna and Ethan. It could have happened in any time frame and it would have been a good one. Two thumbs up! 🙂

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Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. Well, I really liked this book. It’s the third in a series and the only reason I’m giving it a four instead of five stars is that I wandered around about the first third of the book trying to figure out who people were. Would it have been better if I’d read the previous two books first? Maybe.

But…once I got into it, I couldn’t put this book down. What an amazing tangle of mystery and intrigue. Frieda is a psychiatrist but apparently has been injured and recovering? But still, she is brought into the murder of a mother of one of her niece’s friends. That story I would have never figured out.

Then came another story where her life intersected with a former newspaper man who was on the trail of murdered/missing girls. Another big surprise.

I give this book two thumbs up but it may be good to read the first two books first. I know I plan to read them! 🙂

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