New books in

Young Adult fiction novels written by L. J. Smith. The series takes place in a world similar to our own but one where vampires, witches, werewolves and shape-shifters live among humans. And the humans don't know the Night world existed. These supernatural races make up a secret society known as the Night World, which enforces two fundamental laws to prevent discovery: 1) Never allow humans to gain knowledge of the Night World's existence and, 2) Never fall in love with one of them.

I finished reading the first book, which consists of Secret Vampire, Daughter of Darkness and Spellbinder.

Love the book, though it is written for young adults, I am one a very ancient "young adult" is not willing to put the book down.

The Partner

By John Grishom

Initially, when I read the book, I never thought I would be so hooked on it. But John Grishom's books always are. And the ending was so unpredictable! I love the way he writes and how he can take the readers into his mind and become the character in the book. I felt the pain when the character was being questioned brutally, I felt the sadness when he lost the ones he loved and I felt the pain he felt when he decided some things that changed his life forever.

Its basically about a lawyer, who faked his death and went away with 90 million dollars which his company was trying to embezzle from another. And he was not part of it. Not the fact that he wanted to be part of it. But one thing led to the other, he hated his so called friends in the company, he hated his wife who was sleeping with her long term ex boyfriend, and he hated his life.

He planned everything, and he got away for 4 years. He fell in love and the love if is life helped him with his plan. Another lawyer, who helped him how to "dispose" the money if he was caught, and they have also made profit from the 90 million. And then they caught him. He could pay them off, together with the charges and still had about 30 million left for him and his soul mate.

It's one of those Must reads books. I will not spoil the ending here. But I must add, I have given in 10 out of 10. John Grishom has done it again!

Sons of a Fortune

By: Jeffrey Archer

I loved the book. I have had the books for a few years and forgot about it. Finally read it when we were refurnishing the house and rearranging the "library".

Basically, 2 brothers (twins) were born a few minutes apart in the local hospital, the same hospital where this rich political couple were about to deliver a baby after a few miscarriages. The doctor could not tell the couple that they baby did not survive.
The twins were separated since then. One grew in a political family, the other with his original parents. The nurse switched the baby then became the nanny for one of the twins. And she kept the secret to her grave. And so did the doctor- who did not have confirmation that it happened, but guessed as much, as he was the one that delivered the other baby that died.

The went to different colleges. They only crossed paths through friends. They never met.

Only after about 35 years later, when one is a successful lawyer, the other an accountant. Who also was a national her as he went served in the Vietnam war.

Though the book is very long, and as the "third person" you can actually hope for them to cross path. Jeffrey Archer made all the tiny details impossible for them not to meet. But they only met after one fateful accident. When the senator (the younger brother) crashed his car, he lost a lot of blood.

I will not say what happened next in this synopsis, that will just kill the ending for those who wants to read the book! :)

Ratings: 10/10- Ive always loved Jeffrey Archer

India

By: Sanjeev Bhaskar

Dry British Humor, which I love, Sanjeeve, being himself exploring into what we know as "third world". From high rise buildings to slumps. From first class international food to road side food which made him ill and running to the loo.


I never knew India produced so many different kinds of teas. I never knew that most Indians speaks fluent English, with British accent. I also never knew they have the same humor as the British..

This book brings us along with Sanjeev, a tv host in England, who wanted to learn about his roots..His typical British humor makes this book an easy read, too easy that I needed to read another book to keep me going.
It has some insignificant parts which made me turn the pages even faster. But it also thought me many things I didnt know about India.
For those who are adventurous, would probably want to take the next flight to India after reading this book...

Rating: 7/10

Everyone Worth Knowing...

When I first picked this book up, I wasn't (I meant "couldn't") really concentrate on the book, as I was more interested in baby books. So after 3 chapters, I gave up.
But I picked it up again last week and to my surprise, I couldn't put it down at all. It's what every girl should read!

Twentysomething graduate, Bette Robinson left her high-paying yet excruciatingly boring job at a prestigious investment bank after a particularly condescending exchange with her boss (who sends her daily inspirational e-mails). After a few weeks of sleeping late, watching Dr. Phil and entertaining her dog Millington, Bette's gay uncle scores her a job at an up-and-coming public relations firm, where her entire job seems to revolve around staying out late partying and providing fodder for clandestine gossip columns. Bette then started climbing up the social ladder at the expense of her friends, family, and the one guy who actually seems worth pursuing....things get complicated when all the partying and hooking up with a guy (she later finds out has more then one skeleton in his closet) just to climb up the corporate ladder...her life couldn't be more complicated as "Ellie Insider" a famous Gossip Columnist is out to 'get' her by continuously sprawling her daily updates in the column ...

I'd give the book 9/10...

The Friday Knitting Club

I have been away for a while as I was on maternity leave. One would think that we have more time to read when you're on maternity leave. I was very wrong...:) I spent most of my time with my baby, and when baby's asleep, I log on Internet to get some work done. I did manage to finish off (sort of), 1 book though. But I couldn't call it complete reading. I did fast forward a few pages when I thought nothing much happens in the chapter.
Don't get me wrong though. The book was not at all boring. Just I didn't have time to read word for word on every pages.

Whats it about?

Georgia, a single mom to Dakota (12 yrs old), runs a knitting shop, Walker and Daughter in Manhattan with the help of her good friend, Anita, who was slightly much older and richer then her. Anita lost her beloved husband, and was trying to find things to do to keep her occupied. Upon meeting Gerogia, who was heavily pregnant and didn't have a job, she decided to help Georgia out with giving her a loan to help open a knitting shop. Which became successful and famous which draws loyal customers and a few oddballs. Darwin Chiu, a feminist grad student, who believes knitting is downright old-fashioned, but she's drawn to the club when her young marriage is on the rocks. Lucie, 42, a television producer, is about to become a single mother. Alone without a husband, she takes into liking for knitting as it helps her "move on". A book editor KC finds her career has stalled unexpectedly, and Peri, who works at Walker and Daughter by day and designs handbags at night.
Georgia then had an unexpected visitor, two of them, in fact, one, her long lost best friend, who ditched her the minute she got into college which Georgia turned down, and second was Dakota's father, who was hoping for a second chance.
And an unexpected tragedy peaks the moment for the book, which I would not want to reveal to spoil the ending for those who have not read the book.

Ratings: 6/10

New In March 09...

Sophie Kinsella- Remeber me?

When 28 yr old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she's in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident- in a Mercedes, no less, and she's about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow Lexi went from a 25 yr old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek
new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband-who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mid still stuck three yrs in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all. Suddenly, Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?

India- Sanjeev Bhaskar

As a young British Asian growing up in 1960s west London, writer and actor, Sanjeev Bhaskar was fed stories of exotic old India- of cobras and leopards, trapping fireflies and riding rickshaws. But his childhood visits to the old country revealed stifling heat, power cuts and the pervasive aroma of cow dung-baffling to a young boy brought up in an England of fish and chips and light drizzle.
Now, years later, Sanjeev embarks on a uniquely personal journey through the heart of India, where he is reunited with old relatives with traumatic stories of Partition-but also discovers a shiny new India of high-tech industry and glittering Bollywood kitsch. Sanjeev paints a unique picture of this chaotic, beautiful and remarkable country-this is India as you've never seen it before.

Playing for Pizza- John Grisham

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock- and was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.
But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent finds a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Rick finally gets a job- as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Partners...of Parma, Italy. The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL Player, any former NFL Player-at their helm. And now, they've got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn't speak a word a word of Italian. To say that Italy-the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football Americano-holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery wold be something of an understatement.

The Golden Cup- Belva Plain

In this magnificent return to the world of Evergreen, Henrietta Roth, an extraordinary women, fights to control her destiny, and three turbulent generations come vividly to life against a background of immigrant struggle, war and passion.

Message in a Bottle- Nicholas Sparks

Divorced and disillusioned about relationships, Theresa Osborne is jogging when she finds a bottle on the beach. Inside, is a letter of love and longing to "Catherine" signed simply "Garrett". Challanged by the mystery and pulled by emotions she doesn't fully understand, Theresa begins a search for this man that will change her life. What happens to her is unexpected, perhaps miraculous-and encounter that embraces all our hopes for finding someone special, for having a love that is timeless and everlasting.

The Friday Night Knitting Club- Kate Jacobs

It starts almost by accidents, the women who buy their knitting needles and wools from Gerogia's store linger for advice, for a coffee, for a chat and before they know it, every Friday night is knitting night. And as the needles clack, and the garments grow, the conversation moves on from patterns and yarn to life, love and everything. These women are of different problems, but they are drawn together by threads of affection that prove as durable as the sweaters they knit.

Sunday's at Tiffany's- James Patterson

Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, a powerful Broadway producer, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend, a handsome comforting funny man name Micheal. He's perfect. But only she can see him. Micheal can't stay forever, thought. On Jane's ninth birthday he leaves, promising her that she'll soon forget him.
Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets someone- a handsome, comforting,funny man. He's perfect. His name is Micheal.

Vanishing Acts- Jodi Piccoult

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance', and a job she loves, finding missing persons.
But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagues by flashbacks of life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks at her door, and her world fractures into something unrecognisable...


Note: Synopsis are from book covers. My review will come after Ive read the books :)

My Name Is Salma...

Author: Fadia Faqir

Its about an Arab women who got pregnant before marriage. To restore their honour, the villagers set out to kill her. A runaway from her tribe, her days playing the pipe for her goats and swimming in the spring are over. She is placed in prison for her own protection, and upon delivering, her newborn baby was taken away.

Few years later, she moves to England to seek asylum. She began her new life in the middle of the most English of English towns, Exeter, where she learns good manners from her ancient landlady, and strives to have a social life at the local pub. But it is with the help of Parvin, a feisty Pakistani girl on the run from an arranged marriage, that Salma is finally able to forge a new identity.

Still, deep inside her, she still hears the echos of her baby girl. When she can no longer bear them, she decides to go back to her village to find her. It is a journey that will change everything - and nothing.

It left me with a long sigh after reading this book.

Ratings: 6/10

Slumdog Millionare

Previously Published as "Q&A".

It took me 3 days to complete this book. It would have in fact taken me a day to finish it, but due to some other circumstances, it took me longer then it should have.
I did not want to put the book down. As soon as I started reading it, i was hooked. The writer (who is a professor) managed to bring me "meet the character". He is tiffin boy, who managed to win 1 billion rupees by answering 12 questions in a game show. (If you have seen who wants to be a millionaire, you will not have problems understanding this book). But he was brutally taken to prison with the reason that he cheated at the game show. With the video of the game show, he carefully explained how he knew the answers to each of the questions based on the eventful life experiences.

Its a straightforward read, with many teeth gripping life events. Also, after reading this book, it takes my believe in Karma to a whole different level.

I'd rate this book 10 out of 10. Its no wonder the movie won so many awards...

: Watched the movie. The book is MUCH better...

New in Feb....

*The Harmony Silk Factory*




The Harmony Silk Factory tells the story of Johnny Lim, a Chinese-Malaysian man during and after World War II. Tash Aw's novel is in three parts, with each section telling a different perspective on Johnny's life. The first section is told by his son, Jasper, who searches for the story of his father's life to find out how he became such a despicable man. He finds that his father worked in a British-run tin mine in Malaya, chafing at his poor treatment by his racist masters. The murder of one of his bosses allows him a career change to become a brilliant salesman at the Tiger Brand Trading Company. When Tiger Tan's mysterious death puts Johnny in charge of the company, he marries the most beautiful woman in the valley, Snow Soong. The second section of the book is Snow's diary of a belated honeymoon trip, accompanied by a Japanese professor, Mamoru Kunichika, and a British aesthete, Peter Wormwood. The third section is Peter's remembrance of the same trip, and his fond memories of both Johnny and Snow. The Harmony Silk Factory explores the life of a man as told from three different sources, all with their own memories and limitations. Tash Aw's debut novel has received mostly positive reviews with the London Times saying, "From the clunky unreliability of Jasper, through the pellucid prose of Snow's journal to the intelligent, slightly camp, aesthetic eloquence of Wormwood, Aw orchestrates a graceful ballet of dissonances and congruences, of echoes and discords."


* "Slumdog Millionare"
-Previously published as Q&A *


A former tiffinboy from Mumbai, Ram Mohammad Thomas, has just got 12 questions correct on a TV Quiz Show to win cool one billion rupees. But he is brutally slung in a prison cell on suspicion on cheating. Because how can a kid from the slums know who Shakespear was unless he has been pulling a fast one?

In the order of the questions of the show, Ram tells us which amazing adventures in his street-kid life thought him the answers. From orphanages to brothels, gangsters to beggar-masters, and into the homes of Bollywood's rich and famous, this book is brimming with the chaotic comedy, heart stopping tragedy, and tear-inducing joyfullness of modern India.

*Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*


A classic odd-couple duo: a crusading financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, and a freelance private investigator, Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Larsson himself, whose work exposing racism and fascism made him particularly unpopular with his country's far right.

Blomkvist is at a low ebb when an ageing businessman, Henrik Vanger, offers him a diversion. He wants him to spend a year writing the Vanger family history, while secretly investigating a cold case close to his heart: the disappearance of his 16-year-old grandniece, Harriet, over 30 years ago.

Blomkvist agrees, and decamps to the small island, three hours north of Stockholm, where Vanger lives, along with a handful of surviving family-members. These include Harald, a half-mad Nazi-sympathiser, Cecilia, his daughter, and Martin, Harriet's brother and currently CEO of the family business.

The case has intriguing aspects. On the day of the girl's disappearance in 1966, the bridge to the mainland was blocked by a traffic accident, and Hedeby Island itself was chock-a-block with Vangers present for a family dinner. It is, in Blomkvist's words, a "locked-room mystery in island format".

It's a fair analogy. The book feels closer to Agatha Christie than Henning Mankell, more concerned with the idea of detection as an intellectual exercise, like a crossword puzzle of human emotions, than a murky procedure compromised by the buffets and trials of real life. Nor is it a breakneck page-turner. It takes Blomkvist almost half the book to make any kind of breakthrough, when he spots something odd in a photograph of Harriet taken on the morning of her vanishing, and a series of coded numbers are revealed to him as that old serial killer standby, references to biblical chapter and verse.

Salander joins forces with Blomkvist for the novel's second half, a 24-year-old anorexic and bisexual loner with multiple piercings and tattoos, a history of mental illness, a photographic memory and some useful – and never explained – computer hacking skills.

She is at once a vision of female empowerment – a kind of goth-geek Pippi Longstocking – and an echoing agglomeration of clichés, not least in the scenes where she is viciously sexually assaulted by her mental health worker and proceeds to take her revenge. Her understandably pitiless view of men ties in with the grisly secrets that the duo's investigations unearth in the Vangers' past and present, and informs the later books, which deal with sex trafficking and government corruption.

*Keeping Faith*


In the small town of New Canaan, N.H., 33-year-old Mariah discovers that her husband, Colin, is having an affair. Years ago, his cheating drove Mariah to attempt suicide and Colin had her briefly committed to an institution. Now Mariah's facing divorce and again fighting depression, when her eight-year-old daughter, Faith, suddenly acquires an imaginary friend. Soon this friend is telling the girl how to bring her grandmother back from the dead and how to cure a baby dying of AIDS. As Faith manifests stigmata, doctors are astounded, and religious controversy ensues, in part because Faith insists that God is a woman. An alarmed Colin sues for custody of Faith, and the fear of losing her daughter dramatically changes meek, diffident Mariah into a strong, protective and brave womanAone who fights for her daughter, holds her own against doctors and lawyers and finds the confidence to pursue a surprising new romance with TV atheist Ian Fletcher, cynical "Spokesman of the Millennium Generation."

Reviews are from internet and book covers. My review will be in separate posts after Ive finished reading the books. :)

Innocence...by Kathleen Tessaro

Writer: Kathleen Tessaro
Ratings: 10/10

My favourite book this year! Took me only a couple of days to finish reading it despite the heavy work load and being 7 months pregnant. :)
The writer managed to bring me into character, Evie Garlick a 30 something American girl, lives in London, being haunted by her dead best friend. But its not one typical ghost/paranormal stories which you've come across, its more about live, how the haunting made her realise what she has become and how her best friend has helped her getting through hectic London lifestyle.
Being somewhat a failed student actress due to a huge love for a man type decision she made in her 20's which affected her career, she then ends up being an acting teacher, stuck in her own world.
But not all the decision she made in her 20's was bad ones, she does however has the best thing that ever happened to her, Alex, her son.


Book cover synopsis:

It's 1986 and eighteen-year-old Evie dreams of being an actress. Leaving her hometown of Eden, Ohio, for the first time, she's heading to London to study drama. Together with fellow students Imogene (a born-again Laura Ashley poster child and frustrated virgin) and Robbie (a native New Yorker, budding bohemian, and very much not a virgin), Evie's flung into a thrilling new world -- a world illuminated by the glamorous, outrageous Robbie. Together, any thing's possible.

But then life, and love, intervene.

And everything changes.

Fifteen years later, Evie's a single mother teaching drama to night students and living with the eccentric Bunny in her house of artistic renters. Robbie's gone now, killed in a car accident. And Evie's doing her best to forget the past, as well as the dreams they once both shared.

Then an old friendship comes back to haunt Evie.

Literally.

And suddenly everything is about to change again.

New in this month...

I got a few new books in this month....

Micheal Crighton - State of Fear

In Paris, a young physicist performs an oceanographic experiment-then dies mysteriously after a romantic tryst with a beautiful stranger.
In the Jungles of Malaysia-powerful hypersonic cavitation technology capable of toppling mountains with sound is purchased by private interest for an unspecified purpose.
In Vancouver- a businessman leases a small research submarine for use in the waters off New Guinea
In Tokyo, in Los Angeles, in Antartica, in The Solomon Islands...an intelligence agents races to put all the pieces together to prevent a global catastrophe
*Ive not read this but from the synopsis, it sounds thrilling!*

Stephen King- Thinner

"Thinner"-the old gipsy man barely whispered the word. Billy felt the touch of a withered hand, gentle on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered, then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The court had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.
Later, when the scales told him he was loosin weight, it was what the doctor has ordered. His wife was pleased- as she should have been...But... "Thinner"- the word, the old man's curse, had lodge in his mind like a fattening worm, eating his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, came violence.

*I read this a while back, whilst in University. It was a hardcover Christmas gift from a friend. I somehow lost the book, and found a second hand copy for sale last week. Its definitely worth to be read for the 2nd time*

J.K Rowling-The tales of Beedle the Bard

A wizarding classic, first came to Muggle reader's attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermoine Granger's new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes and illustrations by J.K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales.
*An interesting read especially for bedtime stories...Those who loved Harry Potter would love this book*

Agatha Christie- The Unexpected Guest

When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog in South Wales and makes his way to an isolated house, he discover a women standing over the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband, a gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story.

But is it possible that Laura Warwick did not commit the murder after all? And if so, who is she shielding?

*I was an Agatha Christie's fan when in school, and when I saw this book in a 2nd hand store going for real cheap, I had to purchase to re read it. Obviously being a "mature" reader, the storyline was quite straight forward. But nevertheless, it is a good book for a short flight for those who loves Agatha Christie..*

Janet Tamaro- Breastfeeding Basics

*no need explanation for this one* :)

Kathleen Tessaro- Innocence

It's a long way from Eden, Ohio to London. 18 yr old Evie leaves her hometown for the first time to come to England to follow her dream of being an actress. With fellow students Imogene and Robbie, she studies drama- and life. Her friendship with the Bohemian, outrages Robbie illuminates her new world. Together, anything is possible. But then life, and love-in the shape of struggling rock musician Jake Albery- intervene, and everything changes.

15 years later, Evie is a single mother, teaching drama and living with eccentric Bunny in her house of artistic lodgers. Robbie's gone. And Evie is trying to forget the past and dreams they once shared.

Then an old friendship comes to haunt her- literally. And suddenly everything is possible again....

*Sounds abit like my story when I first went to England, character even shares the same name! :) Not read this book yet, but sounds promising...*

Kathleen Tessaro- The Flirt

Sexy, independent Leticia Vane runs her own bespoke lingerie shop and knows just how to make a women feel beautiful. But love is strictly off limits for Leticia. She doesnt even believe it exist.

Socialite Olivia Bourgaly du Coudray has an exquisite house in Chester Square and everything money can buy, except a happy marriage.

Luckily, handsome young Hughie Venables-Smythe is discovering a secret new profession-the timeless art of the flirt. It can save a marriage or lift a heart faster then any therapy.

Only Hughie is something of a wild card. And when provocative anonymous notes are delivered to both Olivia and Leticia, events take a delicious turn. Who is flirting with whom? And is flirtation innocent- or can it lead to more dangerous territories of the heart?

*can't wait to read this one!*

Lauren Weisberger- Everyone worth Knowing

Soon after Bette Robinson quits her horrendous Manhattan banking job like the impulsive girl she's never been, the novelty of walking her 4 pound dog around the unglamourous Murray Hill neighbourhood wears as thin as the "What are you going to do with your life?" phone calls from her parents. Then Bette meets Kelly, head of Manhattan's hottest PR firm, and suddenly she has a brand-new job where the primary requirement is to see and be seen inside the VIP rooms of the city's most exclusive nightclubs. But when Bette begins appearing in a vicious new gossip column, she realizes that the line between her personal life and her professional life is...invisible.

*Also, can't wait to read this one!*

Death of a Dream

Death of a Dream, a true Crime account from behind the scenes by: Paul Larosa and Ein Moriarty


True crime drama about a dream of a Broadway dancer turned into a nightmare. She was found murdered in her apartment. 2 suspects came into custody, an innocent looking yoga instructor who was her current boyfriend, and a dodgy looking housemate who was her ex-boyfriend.

The book was not as gruesome as you may think, the thorough investigation done by the police took me into my own CSI lab.

I enjoyed the book, the writer managed to bring me into the murder, the life of a dancer and the lives of her partners, family and friends.

Ratings: 7/10

I would recommend those CSI lovers to read this book along with any other more "in depth" books which may sometimes bring you straight to sleep. :)read more on Death of a Dream here