Laydown Lowdown

Spring is definitely in the air and it seems a lot of publishers must he having a touch of spring fever as there aren't many new releases available today.

Romance lovers can get their hands on the paperback edition of "Heatseeker," by Lora Leigh today.

Mystery/Thriller maniacs can get their kicks with "Breaking Point," by C.J. Box, "Rage Against the Dying," by Becky Masterman, and "The Andalucian Friend," by Alexander Soderberg.

Science Fiction/Fantasy fiends can delight over the Terry Brook's latest, "Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara," and "Rebel Angel's," by Michelle Lang.

However, Young Adult fans have a lot to celebrate today with a slew of new releases in the genre.  "Promises to Keep," by Amelia Atwater Rhodes, "Escape Theory," by Margaux Froley, "Deep Betrayal," by Anne Greenwood Brown," "Code," by Kathy Reichs, and "The Secret Circle: The Temptation," by L.J. Smith.

 
If you're suffering from spring fever yourself and none of these new release interest you.  I recommend you contact your local used bookstore and seek out this gem....This book is unintentionally hilarious.  I loved every corny, snark-tastic minute of it. 

What are you reading this week?  Share with us and remember to support your local bookstore when ever possible.

The Sweet Life

On the heels of the success of the New York Times best-seller, "Sweet Valley Confidential," Francine Pascal continues the story of the legendary, Sweet Valley twins, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield in the e-serial, "The Sweet Life."  The series of novellas began its release Sunday, July 15, 2012 with Parts 1 and 2 and subsequent installments will be released ever Sunday through August 12, 2012.  So, how is life in the Valley these days?

"The Sweet Life," picks up three years after "Sweet Valley Confidential" left off.  Jessica and Elizabeth are now in their 30's.  Jessica is married to Todd and they have a two-year old son.  Meanwhile Elizabeth is content living with Bruce Patman. Steven Aaron are also living together and raising a little girl that they had via a surrogate. Lila Fowler, aka Mrs. Ken Matthews is a budding reality star of "True Housewives of Sweet Valley."  Life seems pretty sweet from the outside but since this is Sweet Valley, it won't last long.

Todd and Jessica's relationship is on the rocks because Todd feels Jess spends too much time at work and not enough time at home.  However Jess loves her green cosmetics marketing job  Even her flirty, sexy co-worker can't distract her from the work she loves but can she resist the affections of Hollywood's biggest leading man?  Elizabeth soon doubts her trust in Bruce when an intern from his company files attempted rape charges against him.  Bruce claims he barely knew the girl but she claims he forced himself on her.  Elizabeth finds herself in way over her head when she decides to use her investigative journalism skills to help Bruce and ease her doubts.  Lila may be a rising reality star but her manipulations to get there bring out the worst in her and may ultimately cost her the one thing she truly loves, her husband.  Elsewhere is Sweet Valley, Steven and Aaron constantly fight over how to properly raise their daughter Emma.

In Part 2, "Lies and Omissions," Ms. Pascal gets a little help from co-writer, Cara Lockwood.  Todd and Jessica have separated and Jessica has made a potential relationship ending mistake.  As Elizabeth gets closer to Bruce's alleged victim, she starts to wonder if she really should be helping him or if the girl's story is actually true.  Lila continues her battle to be a reality show queen but a reality show starlet wannabe is fighting for the title.  Lila's fight will have to get even dirtier.  Bruce struggles to figure out what exactly happened the night he saw his former intern at the bar before blacking out from what he believed to be food poisoning. Bruce's confusion and anger at his inability to remember lead him to a foolish the choice that makes him appear quite guilty.

As Part 3 opens, Todd is reeling from the news that Jessica has betrayed him and begins to pursue a new relationship. Bruce finds himself in more trouble than ever and discovers that not only does Elizabeth not trust him but she has been working with his accuser.  Lila finally has the upper hand and has won the affections of her reality show co-stars, the viewing public and her husband but how long will it last given the manipulations it took to get her there.  Steven and Aaron's bickering over child rearing tactics is soon the least of their worries when their little princess is kidnapped. 


I love Sweet Valley.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Life is far from dull.  I am disappointed in Jessica though.  Not because she makes a foolish choice with a man at the risk of her marriage but because she ultimately wants to leave her job in an effort to win Todd back.   For once, Jessica has a job that she loves and excels at.  The old Jessica would never, give up on a dream just to please a boy/man.  I still, despite reading about her and Todd's love in "Sweet Valley Confidential" and this serial so far, see what she see's in her sisters ex-boyfriend who she once considered exceedingly dull.  Todd complains Jessica spends too much time at working meanwhile you never hear about him cutting back at The Sweet Valley Tribune where he is a sports reporter.

Lila is a master manipulator and knows how to play the reality TV game.  If only she'd put that much focus in to doing something worthwhile like convincing her best-friend Jessica to keep her job.  Or develop a real relationship with Ken and tell him that she adores him every bit as much as he adores her.

I am also disgusted with Elizabeth.  She has known Bruce Patman almost her whole life and has dated him seriously for three years.  She doubts his story about the attempted rape incident because of another incident when they were both drunk in high school, she wasn't herself and he tried to take advantage of her.  To me, it's quite a leap from being a drunken, horny high school boy to attempting to rape an intern.  Elizabeth has always been very nosy, it's what always made her an excellent investigative journalist.  However, these instincts seem to have kicked into serious overdrive.   Not only is she breaking her journalistic ethics, she's manipulating Bruce's alleged victim worse than the victim ever claimed Bruce victimized her.

2nd book from the L, is a SVH book!

I can't wait for next week!  If you haven't gotten sucked into Sweet Valley yet, there is no better time to start.  The e-novellas are only $1.99 a piece.  If you don't have an e-reader, don't fret, the serial will be compiled into a traditional book format in October and will be available at bookstores everywhere.  So, there is no excuse not to continue to support your local bookstores. 
Check back in 3 weeks for my review of the concluding volumes of this e-serial.  Hopefully there will be more to come after that!

Laydown Lowdown

First up, I erroneously reported that this weeks latest Romance novels came out last week.  I'm sorry if I created any confusion amongst the romantics.  "A Most Naked Solution," by Anna Randol and "Somebody Like You," by Candis Terry are available today, for real this time!

Meanwhile, there must be a crime spree because there are dozens of new mysteries available today.  Some of the highlights include "A City of Broken Glass," by Rebecca Cantrell, "A Fountain Filled With Blood," by Julia Spence Flemming, "Creole Belle," by best-selling author James Lee Burke, and "Fire Season," by John Loomis.

Best-selling author Orson Scott Card teams up with Aaron Johnston to pen a prequel to Card's "Enders Game," series, "Earth Unaware."  Other new releases in Sci-Fi/Fantasy include "Queen's Hunt," by Beth Bernobich, "Ripper," by David L. Goleon, and "The Coldest War," by Ian Tregillis.

Over in Young Adult, you'll find "Spark," the 2nd novel in the "Sky Chasers" series by Amy Kathleen Ryan and "A World Away," by Nancy Grossman.

I normally don't report on e-books but I feel that "The Sweet Life," is worthy of an exception.  "The Sweet Life," is a six-part e-serial that is set three years after "Sweet Valley Confidential."  The infamous characters are now in their 30's and find their lives a lot more complicated than they used to be.  Parts 1 and 2 were released this past Sunday and subsequent installments will be released every Sunday through August 12.  Look for my review later this week.

Other new releases in fiction include "Shine, Shine, Shine," by Lydia Netzer and "When In Doubt, Add Butter," which surprisingly is not a Paula Deen cookbook but a novel by Beth Harbison.

Keep cool and Happy Reading Everyone!  Remember to support your local bookstores whenever possible.

That's the Best Book I've Heard All Day

June is Audiobooks month.  To commemorate, we thought we'd share some of our favorite audiobooks with you.

I actually haven't listened to that many audiobooks.  However, I do remember one wonderful day when I discovered audiobook versions of Sweet Valley High books 2 and 3, "Secrets," and "playing with Fire."  I ran home and put them in my cassette player.  This audio version didn't feature any voice actors, instead they were narrated by a man who sounded distinctly like John Ingle who plays billionaire patriarch Edward Quartermaine on "General Hopsital."  It was oddly comforting to hear teen books read by someone who sounds so much like your beloved, cantankerous TV grandfather.  I tried to research these tapes to find out if John Ingle did the narration but unfortunately my search merited little results.

Meanwhile, Jess B, loved listening to "Trace," by Patricia Cornwell. "This book was amazing by itself," she says,  "...Carolyn McCormick who voices it just makes it.  Being a Mystery it is filled with ups and down...she just makes the story come alive!"

Jess P can't get enough of Jim Dale's work on the audio versions of the Harry Potter novels, "[he] is phenominal! Different voices for each character...I'm impressed he got them all straight!"

True to form Naomi has a great story that is best told in her own words, "Audio books are super difficult for me to listen to because I am not an auditory learner at all and can't focus without concrete things in my hand (not concrete as in concrete, but like, physical objects), but one day I was sick and Rebecca had the audio book for 'Ella Enchanted' by Gail Carson Levine. It was the first time I had even heard of the author. The girl who narrated it also did the voice for the young Miriam in The 'Prince of Egypt' (I'm pretty sure). I loved how she did all of the voices and it was just wonderful."

Meanwhile, Rebecca is a huge fan of audiobooks, they helped her commute fly by she had a hard time selecting a favorite.  However, "if I had to choose a favorite I would go with the' Series of Unfortunate Events.' Most of them are narrated by Tim Curry and he does all of the different voices and makes it absolutely hilarious. And the books he doesn't narrate are done by Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket himself. I love hearing the author read because you know you're getting exactly what they intended in all of the inflections."

So, what is the best book you've heard ?  Share with us, we're all ears !