The Lovely Bones

Author: Alice SeBold


I thought this story was sad in a way to find out right off the bat on how Susie died.
It is a story that was told by Susie that she made it to heaven. And watched over her family on how they coped of her death and how they got their lives, or tried to get back to normal. I thought that Susie's mother's coping with the death was strange but I guess everyone grieves in their own way.

It is a story that was told beautifully. It made me start thinking of my own life and family. All the how's and why's. I would like to think that my dad is up in heaven looking down and making sure things are right.

The Salmon Family had a dog named Holiday. Holiday got old and went to his Rainbow Bridge and stayed with Susie. I'm happy to know that someone else believes in the Rainbow Bridge. I know my Sammy is there and some day I will see her :)

Heaven for Susie is not all happy and floating like angels. It gives a reality check when a person is taken from their world brutally that their heaven is of frustration and they search out why.

I related to most of the sites in the book. It is based in Philadelphia,PA where I am from. Even though it was written in the 70's some of the wording I had to laugh because I haven't heard that since I was young. ie. the word highball

The meaning of The Lovely Bones was explained in the book. How I think of why it is, that all of Susie's family came together. They found comfort in knowing that somehow Susie did touch each of their lives. Whether they believed she was right beside them or not. Sadly they couldn't have a closure of how we know. So knowing that they had each other would be the best feeling.


I give The Lovely Bones 5

This is a bookcrossing book and will be on it's way to: MO
Amazon says What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item? 50% buy the item featured on this page ; 30% buy The Lovely Bones: Deluxe Edition; 9% buy The Lovely Bones; 6% buy Almost Moon:The Novel

I really wanted to read more from this author. Looking at the stories that she wrote I see that she writes just on the experience that she had as a young adult. Thats fine, but when it is story after story of similarities it gets boring. So I feel that The Lovely Bones is the best book she has done.

View my Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com

Black - Headed Pins

This is the first book that I read from these authors. It is tagged to be of an old fashioned mystery. At the end of the book it actually had THE END written. Haven't seen that from a story for a long time.
As I was reading I thought of the game Clue. Someone was murdered and where are the clues and how do they fit?
I really did enjoy this cozy. I felt like I was back in time. It just wasn't straight mystery. There was laughter too. Some of things that were said especially by Mrs Ballinger were funny. She is a penny pincher and heaven help the person she finds taking more than they should. LOL!

The character that I really liked the most was Leigh. Poor girl, what she had to put up with from Mrs. Ballinger. And than to deal with some creepy stuff that was happening in the old house. I never seen the ending coming. I really didn't know who did it. The characters were placed just right that you (I) might of thought everyone did it. No one was safe. The big question at the end was what were those Black-Headed Pins for? Hmm.. scary

Again like an old fashioned mystery the plot was told in detail how the murder went down. To top it off the person who actually planned it told the story. It was like when Monk (tv show) does his thing. Here's what happened..

I give Black-Headed Pins 4 

I am looking forward to reading more of Constance & Gwenyth Little's books

A Little Information on these Authors You can find a list of books, and to buy on Rue Morgue Press @ http://www.ruemorguepress.com/index.html

This book is on it's way to MA and is a book crossing book

View my Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com

A Merry Little Christmas

Author: Shelley Freydont

I liked this book. It was a cozy mystery for the holidays.
At first I wasn't too sure. It read fast and you had to keep the names straight, since the story started up right away. But the story got real interesting. First time I read about a murder that happened around dancing. If you don't count what happened to Mary Katherine Gallagher's parents from the movie "Superstar" LOL!

Two of the girls Lindy and Rose make a good team. Even though things were not smooth all the time, they tried to get the job done and find their guy.
Funny to read about the dance competition being in Atlantic City, NJ. I was just there and they described that you lose time in the casinos because it's just there own little world. So a murder can happen easily without anyone ever knowing what happened. Just like what was happening around Lindy and Rose and the others. Also a little romance for Lindy ;)

I liked how everyone were friends and for the most part they all got along. The ending was good. I did figure out who the culprit was. Only to have suspicions of others.

I would read more of Shelley's books, pretty good.


This is a bookcrossing book and will be on it's way to Texas soon. I give A Merry Little Murder 5 

Amazon says: Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought High Seas Murder, Midsummer Murder, Halloween Murder, Back Stage Murder written by Shelley Freydont. Also was bought Twelve Sharp by Janet Ivanovich

View my Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com

Haunted Ground

I picked up this book awhile ago and just got to reading it.
Well I am a little disappointed. It wasn't what I expected. I'm a person that likes to get the history behind what a story is trying to allude to.

In this case it was about the bogs and bog people from Ireland. Being that my father was an historian and did research of over 800 years of Irish history, I heard a lot about the bog people.

It's fascinating when reading this story about what their beliefs, ideals, and their intentions were when these historians dug up the bogs what was present in the sodden old logs. It gave them info about what tools they used, the system of labor it took to accomplish. And like one of the professor's said in the story it is concrete clues as to what whole society of the bog people, the way of life was like.

I liked how the two main characters Cormac and Nora worked together. She understood how important it was to excavate by hand to find microfossils, insects remains, seeds, plant matter. Anything helps especially when Nora was trying to find out who this person was that they found buried in a bog.
Nora explained to Cormac that she worked in a lab and learn t that
it is very mysterious the way unsaturated fatty acids are replaced by saturated fatty acids with two carbon atoms less. The body's organic compounds aren't broken down in the usual way, but chemically transformed.
All this is taken in account. Who is this person, what happened to them? A modern CSI back in time.

Haunted Ground was very slow reading in about half the book. But found it to pick up toward the end. That's when strange things started to happen for Cormac and Nora. They started to put things together. They found out who and why innocent people were missing. The story took on a life. Sadly I had to wait.

I myself did not know what was happening. There was a twist. The ending of story was good. After answers were found out the body in the bog started to change. The cell walls had begun to break down at a fast rate. Opening to spread of invading mold and bacteria that would gradually transform the body. As it did to all living and dead things.

This is the interesting part of who and what these bog people were. Not scary, but what about the bog, the ground itself? Hmm...

I give Haunted Ground 3 

This is a bookcrossing book and is going on it's way to WI very soon.
Amazon says What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing Items Like This? 93% buy the item that is featured. And 7% buy Lake of Sorrows: A Novel by Erin Hart

View my Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com

Strange Blood

This is a book and author that is new to me. It is the second book in series. But it isn't a book that should be read after the 1st. The main character is Megan Rhys.
I like her. She is a woman that seems to know what she is doing, confident in her work. Shame the men around her life doesn't think so.

It wasn't a blood and guts book. The horror in it was what the murderer did to the victims. I actually didn't want to look for who did it.

Although I never thought who did it was the one. I actually thought the person should of been someone more creative. But I guess it wouldn't of worked out as good.

Something I forgot to add the 1st time. I noticed reading this book that the author at times would go right into a another subject where I got confused . I thought I was still reading one thing but I wasn't. It was a little hard to follow. But it just happened a few times though.

I intend to read the 1st book called Frozen. I do have a soft spot for the characters, Megan and others around her.

This book is on it's way now to NY and is a Bookcrossing book.


I give Strange Blood 4 

Amazon says Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought: T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton, Hard Row by Margaret Maron, Bones to Ashes: A Novel by Kathy Reichs, Playing for Pizza: A Novel by John Grisham, Down into Darkness by David Lawerence

View my Guestmap
Free Guestmaps by Bravenet.com