Kill Shot

Author:  Vince Flynn

Publisher: Emily Bestler Books/Atria
Publish Date: 2012
Pages: 385
ISBN No.: 978-1-4165-44787-SGenre: Thriller
Sub Genre: Political Thriller
Reader’s Annotation: 
Mitch Rapp finds the stakes are higher than ever as he embarks on the journey that will turn him into America's most deadly asset.
Summary:
In the year since the CIA trained and then unleashed him, Mitch Rapp has been steadily working his way through a list of men, bullet by bullet. With each swift and  untraceable kill, the tangled network of monsters responsible for the slaughter of 270 civilians in the Pan Am Lockerbie attack become increasingly aware that someone is hunting them. Rapp is given his next target, and finds the man asleep in his bed in Paris. In the split second it takes the bullet to leave Rapp’s silenced pistol, the trap is sprung and he finds himself in the fight of his life.
Evaluation:
I had not read any of Vince Flynn's thrillers and stumbled across it once night at Barnes and Noble.  As I was looking for a political thriller, I decided to try it Kill Shot and was not disappointed. Vince Flynn's latest page-turner is a nonstop political thriller that kept me reading feverishly till I finished the book.  Flynn's Mitch Rapp is by far the best political thriller series that I have come across.
Why I Would Include It: I would include this book because I think it would appeal to both men and women readers who enjoy a good political thriller.  I usually try to find a book in which there is a female protagonist but happily I have found a new author to follow and series to continue reading regardless of the gender.
Rating: 4

Calder Pride



Author:  Janet Dailey
Publisher: Avon Books
Publish Date: 2007
Pages: 450
ISBN No.: 10-0060727233
Genre: Western
Sub Genre: Sensual Romance
Reader’s Annotation:
Calder Pride is the perfect combination of modern romance and a old-fashioned western.
Summary:
Chase Calder, patriarch of the Calder clan, still roams the land of Blue Moon, Montana as a large looming figure, despite the injury from a plane crash that left him with a serious limp. But even more devastating is the loss of his beloved wife, Maggie in the same accident. This chapter of the Calder saga opens with Cat Calder, daughter of Chase and Maggie, grief stricken over the death of her young fiance who was killed in a car accident. Vulnerable and emotionally spent, Cat's final evening in town while meant to be spent with close college friends, finds her  instead in the arms of a handsome, gray-eyed stranger. Cat gives birth, nine months later, to a healthy baby boy and raises him under the watchful eye of her powerful family.  Everything changes when Logan Echohawk, a lawman with those same arresting gray eyes arrives in Blue Moon, Montana. Logan has never forgotten the night he spent with the beautiful stranger, and it only takes one long look at the boy to know that the brief, passionate encounter had created a child. While Cat struggles to come to grips with Logan's appearance, an enemy's long-smouldering thirst for revenge flares to life, threatening Logan, Cat, and their beloved son. Logan's training as a lawman stands to be tested for he must save his family and ill Cat find a future with the lawman? 
Evaluation:
I am not a fan of western fiction so searching for a book in this genre took me longer than I wanted it to. I searched in bookstores and did not find a large selection to chose from except for the hard core westerns which if I tried reading I honestly do not think I would finish.  However, I had read of Janet Dailey's series in Genreflecting and decided it was worth a try and I was glad I did.  Dailey is an excellent writer and for a western romance she does fit the bill with this book.  I did not expect it to be sensual but it was a nice surprise.
Why I Would Include It:
In considering reading tastes across the board I am sure that as a reader's advisory librarian I would encounter someone, more than likely a female reader, looking for western fiction and maybe even like a bit of a romance tossed in.  So with that, Janet Dailey's Calder series would be an excellent recommendation for an enjoyable read on a warm, sunny day at the beach or in a backyard in a favorite hammock.
Rating: 4
Read Alikes:  The Calder Range, Stands a Calder Man, Calder Pride and Calder Promise are but a few in Dailey's Calder series.

Neverwhere

Author:   Neil Gaiman
Publisher: HarperTorch

Publish Date: 2001
Pages: 370
ISBN No.: 0-380-78901-9
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Sub Genre:
Reader’s Annotation: 
Richard Mayhew ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, as he embarks on a journey into dark and dangerous subterranean London Below.
Summary:
A young businessman, Richard Mayhew finds a girl on a London sidewalk, bleeding and being the good hearted soul that he is stops to come to her aid. and a dull job.  This act of kindness changes his life is forever. He finds himself drawn from his dull job, thrust into an alternate reality that survives in abandoned subway stations beneath the city among a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals. It is a world that he never dreamed existed. A shroud of a city lost in darkness with its forgotten people, places, and times.  Richard has discovered a dark subculture that flourishes in its own world, stranger and more dangerous than he could ever imagine.   He has descended through the cracks of reality and has landed in Neverwhere.
Evaluation:
This book starts out very well.  Gaiman's writing keeps the reader interested and wanting more. He offers characters with diverse personalities, dialects and tones.  The underground setting emerges as a house of mystery and imagination.  This book however, is not a good book to read before bedtime as the prose may just embed itself in your subconscious mind coming to life in your dreams.
Why I Would Include It:
I would include this book because it is a very good example of urban fantasy and would appeal to that segment of readers who are familiar with this genre.
Rating: 3

                                     Trust Me

                              

Author:  Jayne Ann Krentz
Publisher: Pocket Books a division of Simon and Schuster
Publish Date: 1995
Pages: 344
ISBN No.: 0-971-51692-2Genre: Romance
Sub Genre: Chick Lit, Mystery
Reader’s Annotation:
A modern-day romance complete with megabyte attraction, E-mail message, typical 1990s prenuptial heartache plus murder.
Summary:

Abandoned at the altar for a second time, the founder of his own computer securities company, Sam Stark is a man unlucky with love.  A strong, stoic hunk of a man is also emotionless, resembling a human computer. Stark shrugs off having been dumped at the altar and wants to close the book by settling the catering bill with Desdemona Wainwright. Ironically, she offers to take him to a family theatrical performance on his wedding night since Stark's fiance did splurge ordering hors d'oeuvres.   Forging a business relationship based on her catering service, this most ulikely pair become romantically involved. In the middle of their heavy romance Stark and Desdemona are in the when family concerns from both sides interfere, and a murder mystery needs to be solved. Desdemona’s intuition says everything will work out, but Stark may just be the bad news she does not need.
Evaluation: I had heard that Jayne Ann Krentz is a very popular writer so I decided to give one of her books a try and I was not disappointed.  It is a light, fluffy read that kept me interested and making a connection to the Desdemona and Sam.  Unfortunately the book ended when I wanted more. 

Why I Would Include It: 
This book would make a good beach read or a book to curl up with on a cold, wintry afternoon before a fire, snuggling with my pooch. 
Rating: 4

 

Containment

Author:  Christian Cantrell

Publisher: Cantrell Media

Publish Date: 2010
Pages: 241
ISBN No.: 978-0-9845505-1-7

Genre: Science Fiction

Sub Genre: Fantasy

Reader’s Annotation:
Containment has people, technology, plot and subplot and the questioning of what is real as ingredients for this science fiction tale.
Summary:
A brilliant young scientist, one of the first humans born on Venus, Arik Ockely works diligently to achieve the science of artificial photosynthesis, a project crucial to the future of his home, V1.  Arik, part of the first generation to be born and raised off-Earth, has suffered after a near-fatal, puzzling accident.  Finally, waking up he finds that his wife is almost three months pregnant. Since the colony’s environmental systems cannot safely support any increases in population, Arik immediately resumes his work on artificial photosynthesis, in order to save the life of his unborn child. Arik’s new and frantic research uncovers shocking truths about the planet, distorting the reality the founders of the colony have created for Arik’s entire generation. Arik must figure out the right path for himself, his wife and unborn daughter as all he has known he begins to question.
Evaluation: 
This book starts out very quickly and captured my attention from the beginning but then once I was into it the writing style became too technical and far-fetched for me.
Why I Would Include It:
I would include this because for what it is worth the book does have a certain appeal to the die hard science fiction reader. 
Rating: 2

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The House at Tyneford


 

Author:  Natasha Solomons

Publisher: Plume a division of Penguin Books
Publish Date: 2011
Pages: 359
ISBN No.: 978-0-452-29764-7
Genre: Historical Fiction
Sub Genre: Romance
Reader’s Annotation:
A story of love, family and survival set during WWII is also an elegy for the demise of a elegant country home.
Summary: 
It’s the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna.  Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlour maid, Alice, in England.  She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing.  When the master of Tyneford’s young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely upstairs-downstairs friendship that will transform Tyneford  and Elise forever.
Evaluation:
This is one of the best books I have read.  It is a history, a love story and all around great read.  The characters are well developed, the story is believable, and the author does an exceptional job of creating for the reader the setting.
Why I Would Include It: 
An overall good read that would probably appeal to both men and women - for men the historical aspect of the years preceding World War II in Europe and for women, of the course the love story is one of the best I have read.
Rating: 4

 Fifty Shades of Grey

 

Author:  E. L. James
Publisher:  Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Publish Date: 2012
Pages:  514
ISBN: 978-0-345-80348-1

Genre: Erotic Romance
Sub Genre: Chick Lit

Reader’s Annotation:
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, Fifty Shades of Grey is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you after the last pages.
Summary:
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is handsome, brilliant, and intimidating.  The unworldly, innocent Ana starts to realize she wants this man and despite  his enigmatic reserve,  finds she is desperate to get close to him.  Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent  spirit, Grey admits he wants her too but on his own terms.  Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates.  For all the trappings of success, his multinational  businesses, is vast wealth, and his loving family, Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control.  When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately, physical affair, Ana discover Christian’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.
Evaluation: 
This book is very well done in consideration of the eroticism. There is much more story behind the inital shock of the erotic nature of the book.  Christian is a man deeply troubled which will be divulged in the subsequent books.
Why I Would Include It: 
This book has created a tremendous amount of buzz! The author has been on talk shows promoting her book which skyrocketed to the best seller list.  I noticed that on FictionL one librarian commented that there were 36 or so holds on the book at her library alone.   So, considering all this, thought it would be a good idea to check it out and see for myself.  Well, the bottom line is it delivers what it promises and more for there is an underlying story to tell underneath the eroticism.
Rating: 5