Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011!

Just found a great new reading challenge on Book Chick City. It's a Mystery & Suspense Challenge. Totally right up my alley! It will actually be necessary to read all those mysteries that I love. Like I really need an excuse!

The rules are:
* Timeline: 01 Jan 2011 - 31 Dec 2011

* Rules: To read TWELVE (12) mystery & suspense novels in 2011 (12 is the minimum but you can read more if you wish!)

* You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

* You can join anytime between now and the later part of next year.

* At the beginning of Jan 2011, you will find a link to specific month to add your reviews. There will be a monthly prize too courtesy of the lovely Simon & Schuster - you must be signed up to the challenge and add the link to your review to be entered into the monthly prize draw.

And as an added bonus, publisher Simon & Schuster UK has been kind enough to offer all participants of this challenge a free ARC of The Survivor by Sean Slater. How cool is that!

Merry Christmas!!!

Woohoo! I finished all my challenges as of yesterday, Christmas Eve!

I really didn't think I could do it. It was getting really difficult towards the end. Especially with the Pulitzer and Booker Prize challenge that I left until the end. Those were really tough reads. There was one books that I really did not enjoy, so I really skimmed at least half the book. Then I'll have to admit that I might have cheated with the banned books. There were a few that were children's books: Alice in Wonderland, Bridge to Terabithia and Witches.

However, I persevered and actually finished a week ahead of schedule. I am so proud of myself!

2010 Book Reviews

So far I am on book 91. I'm thinking by year end I will have possibly read 2-3 more books. Maybe.

14/91 book reviews. That's about 15%. Less when I have my final total of books read. Not good at all. Obviously I am not meant to review books. I am horrible at it. I would just rather read. I have read some good books. I should just review the standouts. Maybe I'll try next year. It is too late for that this year.

ETA: Oops! Just checked and my first few posts of 2010 were actually about my reading challenges. So that is actually 3 less book reviews than I thought I had done. 11/91 book reviews is absolutely terrible! That's 12%! I could attempt to go back and do some book reviews for the books that I remember. Some do stand out more than others. I could try. Somehow I doubt I will, but I could try.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

About this book

In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling -- a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object -- artfully encoded with five symbols -- is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon -- a prominent Mason and philanthropist -- is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations -- all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning-paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown's fans have been waiting for . . . his most thrilling novel yet.

This was another fascinating book into the world of Free Masons. I also loved the tour of Washington DC and cannot wait to go to visit Washington DC and see it through new eyes. There were so many Free Mason references. I felt like I entered the secret society without the initiation.

With all the fascination and build up of suspense throughout The Lost Symbol, you have to anticipate that the ending cannot truly tell you what you want to know. Did one really think that a fictional novel will hold the secret of all secrets? It was the same with The Da Vinci Code. You get lost in the story and somehow came to expect to find out the secret of the Holy Grail. Of course you will not.

So while most of the book draws you in and Dan Brown tells a suspenseful thriller throughout, you cannot help but feel let down at the end of the book.

Blood Game by Iris Johansen

About this book

First comes darkness, then comes fear...

Eve Duncan is back! Blockbuster New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen’s latest thriller brings Eve closer to discovering her daughter’s killer…and into a web of danger from which she may not be able to escape…

Eve Duncan returns in a thriller that pits her against the most evil mind she has ever encountered: a ruthless killer who taunts her with his every move…and who has a special affinity for blood. When a Georgia senator’s daughter is found murdered, and her body drained of blood, Eve Duncan is drawn into the web of Kevin Jelak—a serial murderer who is on Eve’s short list of killers who might know something about her missing daughter Bonnie. When a goblet of blood is found in Eve’s refrigerator, she knows the taunting is over…and the games have begun. As Eve and Jelak engage in a dance of death, Eve must call upon those she loves and trusts the most…even if it means bringing them into the game as well.

I really enjoy the Eve Duncan series by Iris Johansen. However, Blood Game is a little weird even for my taste. I know that the last couple of books start delving into the supernatural but it is a bit more prominent in this book.

Eve is stalked by a wanna be vampire who happens to be on the short list of possible suspects of her daughter's kidnapping/murder years ago.

Somehow Eve gets on his radar again. He seems to believe that he must perform a series of sacrifices, ultimately ending Eve, in order to achieve his goal of being a true vampire.

Eve must act before too many lives are risked.

In the meanwhile, things are happening with Joe. Things that he is not comfortable with. In a prior book, he had contact with a woman whose apparent talent is to release latent powers within someone or to drive them insane. Now Joe is hallucinating, or so he thinks. He is on the hunt for the serial killer who is has killed a prominent politician's daughter. One and the same who is after Eve.

Joe has to decide whether he will let his new talents drive a wedge between himself and Eve.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

About this book Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

This is the first book in a dystopian trilogy. Katniss who comes from District 12, the coal mining district, has been been forced to fend for her family by learning to hunt in the forbidden forests after her father is tragically killed in the coal mines. When the annual Hunger Games come around and her little sister Prim, is chosen, Katniss automatically volunteers to take her place in order to save her sister's life. Petra, the baker's son, was the other chosen one. In a live press conference at the Capitol to introduce the Hunger Games tributes to Panem, Petra confesses is unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss is taken aback but assumes that it is part of the plan to garner sympathy and therefore sponsorship to get help during the games.

Katniss is a fierce competitor. Katniss' survival skills prove to be a tremendous asset for her.

The tributes are been thrown for a loop when it is announced that 2 tributes from the same District can be victors. So there is a scramble to everyone to find their fellow tribute. Katniss needs to find and team up with Petra. In the meanwhile she finds an ally in Rue, a little wisp of a girl from the agriculture district.

One by one, the tributes go down, including Rue. Katniss does eventually find Petra but he is in horrible shape. They play up their "love" for the viewers and are rewarded with sponsors' gifts and medicine for Petra.

At the end, with the final on command confrontation between the remaining tributes, Katniss and Petra are the last ones standing. They are the winners, or so they think. The rules are changed again and there is to be only one winner. Katniss in a fit of defiance declares that she and Petra will go down together by ingesting the poisonous berries she still had. The Capitol had no choice but to declare the lovebirds winners because there cannot be no winners.

The Hunger Games is definitely a must read! It is full of adventure and twists and turns that have you on the edge of your seat.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

About this book

Recipe for disaster: Celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle comes to Trenton to participate in a barbecue cook-off and loses his head – literally.

Throw in some spice: Bail bonds office worker Lula is witness to the crime, and the only one she’ll talk to is Trenton cop, Joe Morelli.

Pump up the heat: Chipotle’s sponsor is offering a million-dollar reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the capture of the killers.

Stir the pot: Lula recruits bounty hunter Stephanie Plum to help her find the killers and collect the moolah.

Add a secret ingredient: Stephanie’s Grandma Mazur. Enough said.

Bring to a boil: Can Stephanie hunt down two killers, a traitor, five skips, keep her grandmother out of the sauce, solve Ranger’s problems and not jump his bones?

Warning: Habanero hot. So good you’ll want seconds.

Janet Evanovich does it again! Finger Lickin' Fifteen is downright hilarious. The trouble and mischief that Stephanie Plum, Lula and Grandma Mazur get into is too funny for words.

Lula inadvertently witnesses a mob murder. So now she is a target. When it is determined that the unfortunate headless victim was a celebrity chef who had come to town to judge a babecue cookoff, Lula decides that she is going enter the barbecue contest. Not only enter it, but to win barbecue cook off as well. Lula is forgetting one little, very important, fact - she can't cook!

Lula destroys, I mean, cooks her way through Stephanie's apartment and Stephanie's parents' kitchen and backyard. And she enlists Grandma Mazur as her trusty assistant.

While Lula lives at her place, Stephanie crashes at Ranger's apartment and takes on a job at Rangeman as well. Sparks fly but Stephanie manages to deftly avoid them while she is figuring out her latest tiff with Morelli.

Another great read by Janet Evanovich. Counting the days until Sizzling Sixteen!