Cherry Bomb by JA Konrath

ISBN:  9781401302818

Publisher:  Hyperion

Rating:  B

I was very upset with the ending of  FUZZY NAVEL, it was the epitome of a cliff hanger ending, and I am glad that CHERRY BOMB relieved me of that feeling of intense hatred towards JA Konrath and his evil evil plot to make me suffer.  I do know that I was not alone in my feelings after FUZZY NAVEL, but I am not as clear if I will be alone in how I felt after CHERRY BOMB.

Jack vs Alex ultimately who will survive this battle.  Alex is back to haunting Jack and killing the people who matter most to her.  It’s a game of cat and mouse and Jack better learn how to be the cat otherwise she’ll lose everyone.  She’s officially off the Alex Kork case, but she refuses to be taken out and keeps evidence from her Brothers in blue.  Is Jack sliding down that slippery slope that she will never be able to come back from?  We’ll have to see.

Now on to how I really feel about CHERRY BOMB and the demise of one of my favorite characters.

**** SPOILERS ARE COMING I CAN’T HELP IT****

Since we learn that it was Latham who Jack loses at the end of FUZZY NAVEL, I am not saddened by this loss.  He was an afterthought character, one that didn’t matter to me as a reader.  It was sad for Jack, but other than that it didn’t impact me as much as say reading 3RD DEGREE by James Patterson and having it change the core of the stories forever.  Latham passing won’t have any lasting effects on me.  However, Jack’s lack of moral compass in CHERRY BOMB I think might have me questioning if I will read the next book, IF there is a next one.  It’s a kind of ambiguous ending and I am not sure what will come of it.  I’ve always been impressed by Jack Daniels and her center, she was always a strong fiesty kick ass cop who I loved from the first WHISKEY SOUR, but she was definitely lacking in most of those areas in this book.  Her fiance is dead, and she sleeps with the sexy bank robber.  WHAT?  Really?  All the things that happen in this book feel hypocritical to me as the reader and that just pisses me off.

Is Jack over?  I usually request a double shot, but now I’m kind thinking that Jack Daniels burned me a little too much this time around.

Lover Avenged by JR Ward

ISBN:  9780451225856

Publisher:  Penguin USA

Rating:  A

I can honestly say that I wasn’t entirely sure where Lover Avenged was going to end up because the beginning felt like a big old mess.  There was just too much gibberish and wavering back and forth that I wasn’t sure which story I was reading and which one I actually wanted to read.  It took me about 200 pages to figure out that I was going to like this addition to the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Rehvenge is a character I was interested in from the beginning, much like Zsadist he had to have a story and I knew it had to matter.  Learning about Rehv’s past and how he came to be the Drug Lord of Caldwell New York is important not only to this story, but to all the preceding stories as well.

When I picked up this chunker and I wasn’t instantly mesmorized I was starting to have some doubts about this series and this author.  I was afraid that she had gone too far too fast and there was no way that her later books could possibly live up to the earlier books like Dark Lover and Lover Eternal.   Lover Avenged is a building novel as well as the story of Rehv and the sympaths.  John Matthew and Tohr begin the circle again, and Wrath has a lesson taught to him in a beautifully yet poignant way.  Fans of the series shouldn’t be disheartened in fact that should feel renewed as this latest chapter in the Brotherhood concludes.

Current Reading Choices

I am currently reading Lover Avenged by JR Ward, and for the first half of the book I had trouble getting into it.  It felt very disconnected and like it bounced around too much.  I wasn’t sure who’s story I was supposed to be focusing on.  However, 200 pages into the book and I feel like I am back where I belong in Caldwell New York.

I am currently listening to Vision in White by Nora Roberts, and I am already in love with this trilogy.  It’s the story of my dream come true, to own a wedding planning business.  I am enjoying the fact that it is the photographer’s story first because photography is important to me as well and reading a book that combines 2 things I love is making me one happy reader.

My next set of reads will be Bulls Island by Dorothea Benton Frank and You’ve Got Murder by Donna Andrews both are new to me authors and I am very excited about trying them.

Cherry Bomb by JA Konrath is waiting for me to pick up at the library but I know that I will only have 7 days to read it so I am going to try and wait to pick it up to the very last second or Tuesday.

Does anyone else plan their reads?  I don’t typically do this but I am kind of excited about it.  I have far too many books on my shelves and I think I am being overwhelmed by MT TBR’s avalanche.

The 8th Confession by James Patterson

ISBN:  9780316018760

Publisher:  Little, Brown & Company

Rating:  B

In this 8th installment of The Women’s Murder Club, we are charged with finding the murderer of a homeless street saint “Bagman Jesus” and trying to figure out what and who is killing High Society types for there appears to be no cause for their deaths.

In the case of Bagman Jesus, the cops are told not to bother working his case because they MUST focus on the high society murders  because a lot of the victims have friends in high places.  Cindy Thomas, crime reporter for the Chronicle, refuses to let this case die because she was one of the people who found him.  His death was marked with extreme brutality, shot 6 times in the face and beaten beyond recognition and from the gathering of the homeless around his body Cindy is convinced that he was important even if society says he is not.

On the flip side, the socialites that have been murdered, show no outward signs of the crime.  Claire Washburn the county Medical Examiner, can see no inward signs of a crime either.  All the tests come back negative and that leads Claire to tell the cops that they need to do their jobs in order to figure this one out because forensics is tapped out.

It’s an interesting plot to have 2 crimes, one of which is obviously a murder and that the cops don’t take notice of, and one of which doesn’t appear to be a crime but they are told to focus on this crime as opposed to the homeless man who was brutalized.   Cindy was more integral in this story much like she was in 1st to Die, and I liked seeing and hearing from her more.  The “club” effect seems to have died along the way now they are more involved in each others lives as opposed to solving crimes together.  I miss the times of talking about the cases over margaritas, and getting everyone’s perspective.

While the characters are growing and becoming distinct I miss the core of this group and as a reader that saddens me.  Instead of working together I feel like the characters are working independent of each other on the same case, but they aren’t a unit anymore.  I want my WMC back.

I felt that the cases were peripheral and that they didn’t impact the characters in a “real” way.  It felt that the police procedural was just added as a way to move the story along and not meant to impact the story.

Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter 17

ISBN:  9780425227725

Publisher:  Penguin Group USA

Rating: A

There will never be another series for me that can make me laugh, make me cry or make me hurt for the heroine other than Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series.  From the beginning of this long running series starting with Guilty Pleasures I wasn’t sure if Iwould like Anita because she was a little too cold for me.  As my journey’s to St Louis became more frequent, I learned to see beyond the mask of “The Executioner” into the heart of the character, and I knew Anita would be a character I carried with me always.

There are fans of the Anita Blake series who lost faith in the character and in the author and that saddens me beyond measure because they truly do not know what they are missing.  Skin Trade is almost the perfect blend of “old Anita” and “new Anita”.  Anita was back to her hunting days and dealing more with who she is on her own level and learning to be one with the ardeur rather than fighting it.

As a fan in this series, I feel incredibly vindicated to see that how I felt about Anita and why she needed to grow as a character was the point in having the ardeur affect our heroine so distinctly.  Sure she is 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’ and can kick some series ass, she still needed to learn that affection isn’t a negative and caring and loving aren’t weaknesses.  She had to learn that giving and receiving love are strengths.

It’s awesome to see Anita kicking bad guy butt again and not only dealing with vampire politics, but I missed Jean Claude and Nathaniel more than I could express, but I cried for Requiem and I felt for the Wicked Truth.

I can not wait for the next installment and I wish I had the pleasure of knowing in advance what is going to happen to my favorite heroine.