Important Note: All reviews reflected on this page are solely the expressed opinions of the reviewer. Our reviewers are not paid or given any incentive by any publisher.
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July Reviews
Title:Nothing to Lose
Classification: Fiction
Author: Lee Child
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating: 
Reviewer Comments: Wow! Jack Reacher (series) is back, bigger and better than ever as he uncovers the secrets in a small Colorado town where strangers are definitely not welcome. When the cops are called in response to Reacher's request for coffee at the local diner he's determined to discover what really goes on in the metal recycling plant owned, as is everything else in the town, by businessman and apocalyptic preacher Jerry Thurman. In a heart-pounding race Reacher has to take on the entire town to prevent a disaster of astonishing proportion. I couldn't put this one down!
Title: I Shall Not Want
Classification: Mystery
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating: 
Reviewer Comments: Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne are back in the first in this series since the death of Linda Van Alstyne, and Spencer-Fleming has allowed their relationship to dominate the book with enough sexual tension to classify this entry as a romantic suspense rather than a mystery. A definite distraction from what used to be a tightly-written series with a romantic subplot, and one I hope doesn't continue in subsequent submissions. Here, Clare caught up in the murders of undocumented aliens who are, unfortunately, so vaguely drawn that it's hard to keep track...since, after all, Russ is no longer married and the focus is on: when can Clare sleep with him? All in all, a letdown.
Title: Sugar Queen
Classification: Fiction
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Josey Cirrini is twenty-seven years old and still living with her cold, controlling mother. Her only solace is her secret closet stash of candy and romance novels which is where she's heading when she finds Della Lee Baker...a local waitress with a shady reputation who has apparently chosen Josey's closet as her hiding place. Why she's there, and how Josey's life begins to change as a result, are all part of another magical Allen read; this is one author who hasn't suffered sophomore slump with her second book! Don't miss it. (Click here to check out other reviews for this title)
Title: Fearless Fourteen
Classification: Mystery
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating: 
Reviewer Comments: It just wouldn't be summer without the new Stephanie Plum (series)...there's something about the Morelli/Ranger indecision that lends itself to a front porch and iced tea. This one is no exception, as Plum takes on temporary custody of a client's kid while helping Ranger protect a has-been singer and trying to keep Grandma Mazur from digging up Morelli's yard. (Well, she DOES think the nine million dollars is buried there). Add to the mix a kidnapping, a homemade cannon that shoots potatoes and a dog that eats underwear and Stephanie is pretty busy. No big guffaws, but lots of little giggles. (Click here to check out other reviews for this title)
Title: Black Out
Classification: Fiction
Author: Lisa Unger
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Ophelia is living a lie. Married to the mysterious Gray, mother of young Victory, she appears to have the perfect life, except that there is a hole in her memory that prevents her from knowing whether she is a murderer. This should have been riveting, but underdeveloped characters and an anticlimactic ending make it more slog than page-turner. Unfortunate, since Unger is really a very good writer, but you'd hardly know it from this effort.
Title: Blind Rage
Classification: Fiction
Author: Terri Persons
Publisher: Doubleday
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this ho-hum sequel to Persons' very good debut novel, FBI agent Bernadette Saint Clare returns with her second sight and a ghostly sidekick. Unfortunately, she continues to muddle, rather than clarify, the investigation into the drowning deaths of troubled college students and proves that her unusual ability to enter a killer's mind is less effective than good detective work. I hoped for more from this one, but was really disappointed.
June Reviews
Title:Come Closer
Classification: Vampires, Horror & Creatures of the Night
Author: Sara Gran
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2003
Book Rating: 
Reviewer Comments: Okay, so Amanda is slowly and insidiously being possessed by a demonic thing. She's acting really weird, but no one seems to notice...even her adoring husband. He even overlooks it when she takes up smoking and jams a cigarette into his hand. Too bad for him, because we know he's gonna be dead (and he is). But the worst, the absolute worst, is that even when Amanda gives herself over to the demon completely and is totally no longer a person, she continues to write in a sane and reasoned voice. This, quite possibly, is the weakest horror book ever written. Blech.
Title: Fidelity
Classification: Fiction
Author: Thomas Perry
Publisher: Harcourt Inc.
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating: 
Reviewer Comments: Phil Kramer is a savvy, careful private investigator. So how does he let himself be shot and killed while doing something as simple as getting into his car? That's what his wife Emily is determined to find out but, unfortunately, she finds too many implausible things to make this a convincing read. She's smart, too, so why didn't she know who her husband is? And what he was doing, at least some of the time? All the money is gone? There have been lots of women? He has a son? She doesn't know any of this? The only good news is that Thomas is working on a new Jane Whitefield novel, so maybe there's hope yet. For this one, though, pass.
Title: Obedience
Classification: Fiction
Author: Will Lavender
Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Professor Williams's Logic and Reasoning class begins with the words "There's been a murder," and his fifteen students find themselves challenged to find the victim. For, as Williams explains, the murder has not yet occurred and only they can prevent it by asking the pertinent (logical, reasonable) questions and solving the mystery in time. As the semester progresses, however, it becomes clear that there is more going on than a teacher's attempt to hone his students' logical thinking...no one is who he seems to be and there is no line between lies and the truth. This is a fine debut novel!
Title: Julia's Chocolates
Classification: Fiction
Author: Cathy Lamb
Publisher: Kensington Books
Copyright: 2007
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Almost-bride Julia Bennett has left her abusive boyfriend and run away, leaving her wedding dress hanging from a tree in North Dakota while fleeing to the safety of her Aunt Lydia in Oregon. Lydia, who hosts a weekly Psychic Night (Breast Power Psychic Night; Your Hormones and You) and who has large concrete pigs in her yard named after men who have made her mad, is the sane one in Julia's family which gives you an idea of the rest of them. This is a warm, wonderful book in the tradition of Billie Letts and Rebecca Wells...I highly recommend it!
Title: Phantom Prey
Classification: Fiction
Author: John Sandford
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: When the daughter of wealthy widow Alyssa Austin goes missing and a spray of dried blood is found in her kitchen, Lucas Davenport is tasked with finding the "fairy"...a mysterious woman who moves in the daughter's Goth world and is seen in the company of subsequent victims. This, the eighteenth in Sandford's Prey series, is not as compelling as the earlier ones, and the distracting subplot feels like filler. It might be time for Sandford to move on.
Title: Odd Hours
Classification: Fiction
Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Koontz returns with his fourth in the Odd Thomas series and seems to be a little tired of this protagonist. Odd has left his hometown of Pico Mundo and is working for former movie star Hutch Hutchinson when he meets Annamaria, a pregnant woman who promises to play a major role in Odd's premonition of a coming holocaust. However (and this is very unlike Koontz), the story of Annamaria remains unresolved and the rest of the plot meanders through a swath of fog and bodies. Even Odd himself, with his companions Frank Sinatra and Boo the ghost dog, fails to be as appealing or convincing as before. Time to wrap this up.
To read Nancy's past reviews, please visit The Back Shelves
Meet Nancy
After working in several word-related fields: copy writing, editing, freelance voice talent and theatre--followed by a long career as a stay-at-home mom I started working at the bookstore almost nineteen years ago, and was fortunate enough to be the manager for eighteen years. From my first day at work I had a sense of being home among the books and fellow book-junkies and that feeling only grew with the ensuing years.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a terrific team of booksellers and customers, and I am especially indebted to my fantastic family who supported my choice of jobs despite work hours that were definitely not conducive to family and social activities. I'm just now learning what all the fuss about weekends is all about!
My thanks to all of you who supported the store, who mourned its closing, and who asked us to establish this forum so that we can continue our tradition of exchanging opinions and ideas about books.