HEARTS AFLAME (HAARDRAD FAMILY SERIES BOOK 2) 

by Johanna Lindsey  

5 stars

She writes such enjoyable stories. You feel connected to her characters, and want to know what happens after the story has ended. (Luckily, most of her stories have more books in the series to update you.)

Kristen Haardrad, a beautiful Viking maiden, wants love, but not from anyone in her homeland. She wants adventure and romance like her mother, Brenna.

Royce of Wyndhurst lost his family and beloved in a Viking raid. So her hates so Vikings. Or does he? Kristen enters his life, and shortly thereafter also his soul.

 

WHEN LOVE AWAITS

by Johanna Lindsey

5 stars

Great Tale. Another 5 star for Johanna. 

Lady Leonie is forced to marry her feared neighbor "The Black Wolf". 

Rolfe D'Ambert is plagued by his neighbor and her people. So he decides to marry to stop the harassment.

Neither of them can resist the pull they have between them.

LOVE ONLY ONCE (MALLORY FAMILY SERIES BOOK #1)

by Johanna Lindsey

5 stars

Regina Ashton is looking for a husband. But he must be accepted by her 4 domineering uncles.

When Nickolas Eden kidnaps her by mistake, she sees this as the answer to her problem.

The Mallory Family Series is one of my favorites (with 12 books). 

     

 A HEART SO WILD (STRATON FAMILY SERIES BOOK #1)

by Johanna Lindsey

5 stars

Courtney lives through an Indian attack, and is stranded in the town of Rockney with her stepmother. Believing her father dead, she is surprised to see a photo in a newspaper that looks like him.

Chandos is a gunfighter on a mission. But he has ties with Courtney that he just can't break.

SKELETON CREW: STORIES BY STEPHEN KING

by Stephen King

5 stars

 Stephen King outdid himself with this compilation of stories. The Mist, The Raft, and Mrs. Todd's Shortcut had me riveted. Word Processor of the Gods creates the type of power we all wish we could have at times. (added things to  life or deleted them from existence). Beach World and The Jaunt were probably my least favorite, but that doesn't mean they weren't good.

NAKED HEAT (NIKKI HEAT BOOK 2)
by Richard Castle
4 stars

In collaboration with the ABC series "Castle".

When Jamison Rook, famous author, gets involved in a murder of a gossip columnist, he is once again teamed up with NYPD Detective Nikki Heat.
As the case progresses, so does the romance between these two past lovers.
Just when you think you know how the case will end and whodunit., the final twist is set.

Enjoyable, funny, and easy to read. Relaxing.

THE YEAR'S FINEST FANTASY 1978

by Various Authors

Edited by Terri Carr
3 stars

There are 10 stories in this book. Many are worth the couple of minutes they take to read. A few are disappointing. A couple are memorable and stick with you long after reading them.

My favorites are:
The Cat From Hell (Stephen King) - of course anything from King is memorable. I am a cat lover, so                                                           this was great. A cat gets revenge for wrongs done to his kind.
 
Jeffty Is Five (Harlan Ellison) - The story of a boy who refuses to grow up, literally. Interesting tale                                                     of the supernatural, mind over matter and time. Ended by stupidity of another.

Growing Boys (Robert Aickman) - 2 young mischievous boys? 2 boys without parental structure? 2                                                            monsters? You decide!!

My least favorites are:
Black As The Pit, From Pole To Pole (Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop) - Too long, didn't hold my                                                       interest. The senseless journey of Frankenstein's monster.

Manatee Gal Ain't You Coming Out Tonight (Auram Davidson) - Boring, uninteresting. I couldn't                                                   take the lousy Jamaican accent that was supposed to be portrayed.

I would be remise if I didn't mention Probability Storm by Julian Reed. The story of a disembodied gentleman in a bar. The tale is weird and confusing, but interesting and likable.

THE TALISMAN (THE TALISMAN SERIES BOOK 1)
by Stephen King and Peter Straub
4 STARS

Jack Sawyer is on a quest to save his mother's life. The journey will take him through two worlds, many dangers, and test his heart and grit to survive.
Jack will meet friends and enemies, old and new.
Is he destined to complete the task, or will his Uncle Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris along with Sunlight Gardner/Osmond end Jack's and his mother's lives.

Sometimes hard to follow, but worth every second.

PET SEMETARY
by Stephen King
4 stars

The death and resurrection of the family cat leads to other deaths in the story of the supernatural.
Dr. Louis Creed and his family move into a new home, which is next to a road busy with semi truck traffic.
First his daughter's cat is run over and then his toddler son.
Once Louis is shown a way to bring back the cat, how can he resist resurrecting his son? Even though he realizes it really wasn't the cat the came back.

CHRISTINE
By Stephen King
4 stars



Lonely boy, picked on in high school, controlled by parents.

Arnie finds love, acceptance, and power with his new car. He is also protected by this cursed car.

I like the story, but it just didn't grab me the way it did years ago. It seemed to drag along for too long and was very repetitive for the first half of the book. But once Christine got rolling and the action really began, it was great.

SHADOWS 4

by Various Authors
Edited by Charles L. Grant
3 stars

Collection of 17 short stories. Most are less than 20 pages, one is 45 pages. Most of them are so short there is no time to grasp the meat of the tale, it is all set up.

I liked The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, Hearing is Believing, and Need. I did not care for Threshold, Echoes From a Darkened Stone, or Waiting For a Knight.

DIFFERENT SEASONS
by Stephen King
5 stars

There are 4 stories within these covers. All are within 100 - 200 pages, which gives you enough to sink your teeth into and enjoy the taste. None of these stories are horror driven, they are more suspenseful.
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - Condemned for the murder of his wife and her lover, Andy Defresne is serving a life sentence in one of the country's hardest prisons. Day to day life now includes rape, helping guards and the warden cheat the system, and hope for freedom.
After 27 years, Andy gets his freedom. The how is as exciting and unexpected as the rest of the story.
Shawshank Redemption was made into a movie.

The Apt Pupil - When a 13 year old boy discovers a Nazi war criminal living in his neighborhood, he blackmails him into telling about the war, the camps, and all the horrible things he has done.
Partway through you begin to wonder who is worse, the Nazi or the young boy. Both begin to have nightmares over the stories.
The Apt Pupil was made into a movie.
The Body - 4 boys go on a trek to see and claim fame over a dead body. The journey is filled with more adventure than any of them expected.
The Body was made into a movie called Stand By Me.
The Breathing Method - An unwed mother is determined to have her baby, despite public opinion and other issues. There is a supernatural element to this one.

CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF
by Stephen King
4 stars

This is a very short story about 1 hr to read. Book is 127 pages with plenty of pictures, so maybe 50 reading pages.
Small town is terrified by a werewolf for 1 yr. Each month is it's own chapter with 2 to 4 pages. This is for a 10 to 13 year old just getting interested in this kind of thing. Hero may be surprising, villain isn't. By chapter 6 June, you should have figured it out.

 STAR QUEST by Dean Koontz
DOOM OF THE GREEN PLANET by Emil Petaja
3 stars

This is a two story book. You read one then flip to read the other. Both are 127 pages and take about 2 hrs or less to read.

STAR QUEST by Dean Koontz

3 stars

Space & time travel, alternate universes, mutants, bodiless brains - everything a young boy likes. This obviously wasn't my thing. But it wasn't a horrible book if it is what you like.
Tohm awakes to find his body gone and replaced by a machine. He produces a new body for himself and goes in search of his love, Tarnilee. He finds adventure and love, just not where or how he imagined.

DOOM OF THE GREEN PLANET by Emil Petaja

3 stars

The only reason I read this is because it came with the Koontz book. I never heard of Emil Petaja before.

Another book for young boys, but it was interesting and held my attention. Characters are well written and somewhat likable. Plot is simple.
Shalda was my main problem. She was a smart girl and trained fighter. Yet when she meets a stranger from the sky, it takes no prodding or time for her to tell everything there is about her planet, the people, and the situation there.

THE GUNSLINGER (THE DARK TOWER SERIES BOOK #1)
by Stephen King
4 stars


After a hard childhood being trained to be a gunslinger who feels nothing, Roland is on a quest to find the man in black and the Tower. He meets a young boy, and begins to feel for him. And remembers snippets of his past.
This story didn't seem to be my kind of thing at first. I'm not really into westerns. But it drew me in.
It's a mix between western, futuristic, and apocalyptic and fairy tale. Roland is an enigma whom we only see slightly into his mind and intentions. He is not a likable fellow for a hero, yet you begin to feel for him as the story unfolds.
This is book 1 of the series. Each book helps to understand Roland, his past, and his feelings (including regrets) and intentions.

CUJO
by Stephen King
5 stars


Cujo, a 200 lb. Saint Bernard, is bitten by a bat and becomes rabid.
Although the story seems to be about a rabid dog causing terror and mayhem, it is really more about the family dynamic of the Trentons and the Cambers.
How will Vic Trenton deal with his wife's Infidelity? What about 4 year old Tad's fear of the monster in his closet?
How can Charity Camber help to direct her son Brett's life into a direction other than what his father has planned?
This is one of King's scariest books because it can happen. It isn't an imagined ghost or monster. At any time your own pet can contract rabies and turn on you.
This is more frightening to read about if you can place yourself into the situation.

FIRESTARTER
by Stephen King
5 stars


This is one of my favorites. When Andy McGee decided to be part of a "Safe" experiment for $200 in college, He had no idea what his life would become.
Charlie McGee is a 7 year old girl with a power she can't control. This power has the potential to end the world or Charlie herself.
All characters are so well written that you either love or hate them with a passion. The plot is intriguing, and the story holds your interest the entire way through.
Charlie McGee is a character I would love to see again.

NIGHT SHIFT
by Stephen King
4 stars

This is a compilation of short stories ranging from 6 to 34 pages. Jerusalem's Lot, Children of the Corn, and Sometimes They Come Back are the three longest. Many of these of been turned into full length movies.
I was not a fan of "I Am The Doorway", "The Boogeyman", or "The Mangler"
My favorites were "The Ledge", "Children of the Corn", and "The Man With Flowers".

THE STAND (THE COMPLETE AND UNCUT VERSION)
by Stephen King 1990
5 stars


Original written in 1978, King was asked to drastically edit the novel. The publisher felt 1100 pages was too intimidating to the readers. So it was released with about 820 pages (400 cut out).  I have read both versions of this book and find that the extra pages and little to the story. There is a new beginning which helps to set the stage, a few parts in the middle which do little for the book, and an extra chapter at the end to let the reader know where Fran and Stu have ended up.
In the first quarter of the novel, we are introduced to some of the main players. (Stu Redman, Harold Lauder, Fran Goldsmith, Larry Underwood, And Nick Andros) We are given a little feel for how their lives were before the flu hits the country.
Once the flu hits, we feel their worlds change. Many people die from the flu, some from after effects (such as the elderly or children with no one to care for them), and a few are immune. This is the ultimate story of good vs evil, God vs Devil.
Randall Flagg is the dark man, the walking dude, the devil himself. Mother Abigail is an angel on earth, the positive image of all good and holy. Many survivors travel to met one or the other of these figures after seeing both in their dreams.
This is a long book. It took me a month to read. But it is really worth it.