Jeff

• Rated 4 stars

“Fathom's Five: The Cross of Sins by Geoffrey Knight was a fun read. The book is a mix of Indiana Jones, The Mummy and Saturday afternoon action/adventure movies with a good dose of erotica thrown in as well.

The Fathom in the title is Professor Fathom, a super smart, blind professor who is interested in history and artifacts. He's assembled a team of experts that specialize in ancient mysteries and treasures: Luca, a art expert; Eden, a biologist/physician/genetic engineer; Shane, a cartographer; Will a history buff; and Jake, a treasure hunter. In this adventure, the five are out to find a religious artifact that is so controversial, it's artist was killed shortly after the piece was created. After hundreds of years lost, the mystery of it's location has been solved. Now Fathom's Five has to find the piece before it is destroyed by a group who doesn't want it to see the light of day.

I don't often read adventure novels, but Will suggested I give this a try. It was loads of fun as the five traveled around the world trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Of course, they were thrown into peril a lot and seeing how they'd work their way out of bad situations was a kick (How do you get out of an underground vault that is filling up with water at a rapid rate and several injured team members?).

This is the first in a series that Knight is writing and I'm already looking forward to The Riddle of the Sands.”

Jeff wrote this review Wednesday, October 29 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“"Ptown: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape" by Peter Manso was a very engaging book to read in the lead up to and time after our vacation to Provincetown. Manso has lived in Ptown since the 1950s and that put him in a unique position to chronicle the history of the town, which is a Portuguese fishing village, an artist colony, a haven for gays and lesbians and a wildly popular tourist destination. Yes... it manages to be all of those at the same time; though depending on the time one part of that is usually more present than others.

The part of the book I found most compelling was how the town has evolved, and not always for the better. It has long been a place where anyone could go and be accepted, which was what attracted the artists and later the gay and lesbian community. Disturbingly, it seems gays and lesbians tried to take over the town, raising property values and taking control away from the long-time citizens who made them feel welcome in the first place. Granted, Manso comes at the topic as one of those long-timers, but it is backed up with a number of facts. I'd like to believe it's not true that moneyed gays would do something like this, but all signs indicate it is something that happened in the late 90s and early 2000s. It is unclear the state of things today as the book was published in 2003 and, as far as I can tell, there is no updated copy.

Ahead of the vacation, it was a good education to read about carnival, the Crown & Anchor, the A-House, Spiritus Pizza and other landmarks in town. While in town, it was cool to find these locations and know a bit more about them than the regular tourist.

Other parts of town history were interesting as well. Learning about artist Jay Critchley, who works tirelessly for Ptown's survival as a town welcoming of everyone, as well as for those with AIDS with his annual "Swim for Life." Tony Jackett also provided an interesting read. He is one of the most colorful people in the book as he went from trying to be a successful fisherman to shellfish warden to a suspect in the Worthington murder.

All-in-all, a great book to read. It was great to read outside my usual genres.”

Jeff wrote this review Monday, September 1 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“ If nothing else this book should get best title of the year. "Fat Hoochie Prom Queen" is not only fun to say, it looks good on the cover too. Luckily this second novel from Nico Medina features a good story to go with its title.

The story is cut from the "Ugly Betty" style of plot development. Margarita Diaz, who goes by Madge in honor of Madonna, is "fat, foxy and fabulous." She doesn't sit around and complain about her weight and she doesn't take any grief about her weight. As young adult books go, it's great to see a strong, independent, woman protagonist at work. Madge is at odds with her former friend Bridget over something that happened nearly a decade ago and it has come down to a competition for prom queen. Everything is on the line for these two as they battle to see who can get the most votes and walk away with the crown.

There is a lot of great material in this book and I really can't give away the solid lesson that's learned at the end otherwise it gives away too much. Suffice to say as someone who grew up on Saturday morning TV where there was always a good moral, this book comes through with flying colors without seeming too preachy.

The thing that bothered me in this book, especially since it's targeted at the YA audience is the abundance of drinking and hardcore partying that happens with really no consequences other than a hangover. I kept looking for some sort of anti-drinking message here but it never came. I get that there are parents who look the other way when their kids drink and I get that kids drink. It just came off as excessive (I know I said I liked the non-preachyness and I think this could have been handled in a similar fashion).

Back to the positive points though, Medina also uses this book to let us catch up with the main characters from "The Straight Road to Kylie." It's been just about a year since that book happened so it was great to see what was up with Jonathan and Laura.

Overall, another solid read from Nico Medina. I hope he's already working on another book.”

Jeff wrote this review Saturday, July 5 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“Why? Why is this book so uneven?

I’ve been a big fan of Christopher Rice’s since he published "A Density of Souls" back in 2001. His style is typically a thriller with just a tinge of supernatural.

There’s no supernatural or even a solid thriller in Rice’s latest, "Blind Fall." There is a murder mystery. There is a gays-in-the-military theme, although that doesn’t really go anywhere. There’s some family woes thrown in here too. The sad thing is it doesn’t hang together well at all. It’s a bit too forced and a bit too contrived.

The book started out good as we met Marine John Houck on the battlefield in Iraq and his rescue of his friend and captain Mike Bowers. However, as things proceed–finding out why John was distracted that day in Iraq and then, jumping forward a few months, his discovery of Mike’s murder scene–the plot starts to unravel. Rice tries way too hard to make ever single piece of plot stick to another. Often it left me asking: So you’re tying point A to point B like that?

The biggest problem I had is that it was impossible to be emotionally connected to anyone because no one seemed genuine. John has so many demons, he doesn’t know how to behave naturally. Alex, the guy he’s trying to save from being framed from murder, almost won me over… but then he went and did some truly off-the-wall things. At the end, I though I found someone having a genuine moment, only to get burned by one of those moments where Rice Crazy Glued the sub plots together.
”

Jeff wrote this review Thursday, June 26 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This time out Henry asks Vicki to help friends of his who are being murdered. Of course, Henry being a vampire, he's got some interesting friends. In this case, its the Heerkens, a family that runs a sheep farm in rural Ontario. What makes the Heerkens different is that they are werewolves. The Heerkens have lived for decades on the farm, being good neighbors and integrating into society (one of them is on the London police force and the teenagers are in school). But someone has figured out their secret and a marksman is picking them off one by one. This book takes place a few months after Blood Prince. The relationship between Vicki and Henry is still in its early stages and its fun watching the way they interact with each other, occasionally tentative , occasionally feisty and occasionally just plan hot. And with Henry in the picture, Vicki's relationship with her ex police partner Celluci is put to the test since she can't reveal Henry or the Herrkens true natures. Most of all what I love about the book is the werewolf plot. Huff weaves a rich bit of history around the wer and how their packs function, both at home and while out in the human world. Did you know the wer can only change from human to fur form they can't be dressed or confined in any way. They also control their changes, it doesn't just happen. Anyway, this all added to the great read.”

Jeff wrote this review Saturday, May 24 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“I feel like it took me forever to read this book, which is not a good sign. An even worse sign is that I nearly abandoned it a couple of times and I did skim over entire parts of it. I’m usually a huge fan of Ford’s work, but Changing Tides left me a bit cold. Yet, I could never quite abandon it because just as I was at that point something would happen that would reengage me. The book has three primary stories: 1) Marine biologist Ben is facing the prospect of spending time with his sixteen year old daughter, Caddie, for the first time in nearly a decade. He’s been divorced and pursuing his own thing when his ex-wife decides that Caddie needs to spend the summer with him in Monterey. 2) Caddie resents leaving LA and her friends for a summer in Montrery. She is the perfect, nearly cliched, picture of the angry young woman. 3) Hudson is a grad student from Yale in Monterey to research John Steinbeck and Ed Rickets and he brings with him a manuscript that might be a lost Steinbeck work. While the Ben/Caddie story is quick to start, it takes a long time, way too long, to bring HUdson into the picture and an even longer time for Ben and Hudson to figure out they might be more than friends. Why does it take so long, well there’s this subplot of the the Steinbeck novel, of which we are given copious passages. This is the part of the book that I started to skim. I’m sorry, but if I’d wanted to read Steinbeck, then I would’ve picked up Steinbeck. I didn’t need to read fake Steinbeck tossed in with this story. And in the long run, and here comes a spoiler if you want to skip to the next paragraph, we never know if the manuscript is Steinbeck’s or not. Yes, it makes sense why we don’t, but after wading through the passages it would’ve been nice to know the outcome at least within the universe of the book. As I mentioned though, there were passages that kept me moving through the book. Some of the scenes between Caddie and Ben are quite good as they discover how to be father and daughter, roles neither had been good at earlier in their relationship. Ben discovering his closeted feelings also made for wonderful reading. The ultimate resolution between father, daughter and newly found lover was good, so at least I’m not disappointed that I actually finished the book. ”

Jeff wrote this review Sunday, April 27 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“I went back to some cowboy romance for my latest read with Riding Heartbreak Road by Kiernan Kelly. The story follows closeted rodeo rider Jake and the out New York City boy Brent. Brent gets stuck in a small Texas down when his car breaks down. He meets Jake in a local bar and the two discover they are both looking for the same thing--someone to spend the night with. Of course, what they didn't expect was to fall in love during that one night stand. During the days it takes to repair Brent's car, they spend time together at the rodeo and at around town. Unfortunately, a couple of no-goods find out about them and they beat Brent nearly to death. It's here the two find out how tight their bond has become as Jake stays by Brent's side while he recuperates. They have to negotiate getting to know each other's family and friends. The ultimate issue to take care of is the aftermath of the hate crime and the ensuing trial. The book was a great, fast read. It would've been an ideal beach book if I'd read it during the summer. The romance was great (especially the lengths these two would go to support each other), the steamy scenes were good and the drama ratcheted up very nicely. Most importantly, the characters were well drawn and were people you'd like to know. The clinker in the book was the epilogue. It completely changed the vibe of the story and was really unnecessary. I was warned to not read it so I could just stay in love with the ending of the story itself. I would carry that suggestion on to anyone else who reads the story. Let your imagination work with the ever after for these characters rather than what the author actually wrote. The epilogue drops this to three stars from what would have been four. ”

Jeff wrote this review Tuesday, March 18 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Breakfast with Scot was a quirky read. The story centers on a gay couple, Ed and Sam, who end up as guardians to Scot after his mother unexpectedly dies. Once they have Scot, they quickly realize the have a unique boy on their hands. At just 11 years old, Scot has enough eccentricities that he might as well be 111. He arrive at Sam and Ed's home in suburban Boston with a ton of odd possessions and a sensibility to go with them. He's quite happy wearing eye shadow to school, turning a yellow sweater into a yellow dress or carrying a coat full of Chap Stick with him just because he (or someone) might need it. Sam and Ed don't know what to do with this. Their friends, even their friends with kids, don't know what to do. Ed in particular is quick to stand up and defend Scot because he doesn't want Scot judged on such superficial things. Ed wonders though if they are raising someone who can function well in society later. I liked the book a lot. I liked Scot's fearlessness that had a healthy dose of fear under it. I also like his mix of 11-year-old insights with some very adult ones. You know those kids who can just zing you with their insights? Scot has a lot of them.”

Jeff wrote this review Wednesday, March 12 2008. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 2 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“I was completely enthralled by "Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time" by Rob Sheffield. Reading the book, I was reminded of my own love of the mix tape and the sheer number I made in high school and college. Sheffield, a writer for "Rolling Stone" and other music magazines, uses the mix tapes he's made to mark time. The book chronicles the first tape he made with his father in 1972 through 2002 with the core of the book being the relationship between Sheffield and the girl of his dreams, Renee. Their life had music at its core and the couple made many, many mix tapes. Each chapter of the book looks at some span of their time together and features a particular mix tape that sets the theme. When Renee dies suddenly, the result of a pulmonary embolism, his relationship to music changed along with the rest of his life. The book struck me on so many levels. If I've done the math right, Sheffield and I are about a year apart in age. I've made mix tapes strikingly similar to his. I've been through some very similar things in my life, especially learning how to be a husband. I can't even fathom would it would be like to loose the love of my life, though I think I got a good glimpse of it through this book. The writing is so vibrant going from his early love of the mix tape in middle school and high school, through it being one of the ways he initially connected with Renee and on to all the music they shared during their five years of marriage. He also discusses how he finally reconnected with the rest of the his life in the aftermath of Renee's death. It was a remarkable read—highly recommended for lovers of music, lovers of the mix tape and anyone who is in love.”

Jeff wrote this review Monday, February 25 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Another excellent romance from J.L. Langley. Set in the same town as Langley's "Tin Star," this time out it is the Sheriff and the foreman on his parent's ranch that get together after more than a decade of ignoring each other in the aftermath of an unexpected kiss. The two get through all sorts of complications to finally end up together. It was a great romantic read.”

Jeff wrote this review Sunday, January 13 2008. ( reply | permalink )