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Frankie Dupont And The High Seas Heist SERIES: Frankie Dupont Mystery Series, Bk. #4 Written by Julie Anne Grasso Illustrated by Alexander Avellino Released  7/03/2015 978-0-9943216-0-2 132 pages      Ages 8—12 “Frankie Dupont seems to catch odd-ball cases in the most unlikely places. You would think he would be used to it by now. …

The weekend was all about Mr. Kennedy. What a luscious hunk of man he is.  I love this book, and hated every interruption I suffered while trying to savor this read.  The chemistry between Zak and Cassie was electric, and I could readily believe that he had the power to sweep this intelligent and stubborn woman right off of her feet.

And then there is this passage, that surely sent Cassie’s heart galloping out of control.

After rising her ire, Cassie tries to give Zak the cold shoulder.  It doesn’t work very well.  Zak is too blazing hot for a setdown.

Swoon!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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All this week I'll feature great beach books and my summer reading choices. To kick it off, check out my review of White Heat by Brenda Novak.

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Looking for a steamy romance/adventure novel to wrap up your summer reading? Then I highly recommend, White Heat by Brenda Novak, NY Times Best Selling Author.

Rachel Kessop, a beautiful, self-assured agent and Nate Ferrentino, handsome tough guy both work for the same private security contractor tracking down bad guys. The relationship is strained after Rachel, in a moment of weakness, lets herself into Nate’s apartment, and awaits his arrival in bed. After a passionate night together, Rachel claims her love to a reluctant Nate.

Now as a dangerous cult quickly takes over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona, Rachel and Nate must go undercover posing as a married couple to nap the leader, Ethan Wycliff.

How will they handle the close quarters of a pretend marriage? Will Ethan’s infatuation with Rachel put her life in mortal danger? Find out in this exciting read, White Heat. I had trouble putting this book down before the exciting conclusion.

For more information, check out Brenda Novaks web site at; http://www.brendanovak.com/

White Heat is available on Amazon.com

Now Playing - Crickets in the forest behind my house Life - One of these times, I'm going to get to spend my days off doing absolutely nothing and going nowhere. But for now, I'll have to be content spending it creating a nice little oasis for us to spend the evenings. AA dragonfly on the inside of the screen We finally finished the painting on our back porch last night (sort of. We actually

REVIEWS OF UNUSUAL SIZE BOOKS 5 THINGS ABOUT... CUT, PASTE, KILLby Marshall Karp2010, 296 pages, ARC 1 - This is the fourth book featuring the detective duo Lomax and Biggs. This time, they find themselves caught up in the crimes of a serial killer that believes they are righting society's wrongs, killing those that deserve it. At each scene the killer leaves an intricate scrapbook about the

Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars: The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas
Authors: Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin
Illustrator: Greg Ruth
Publisher: Orchard Books
ISBN-10: 0439828368
ISBN-13: 978-0439828369

The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas is the first in the proposed Baker Street Irregulars new series from Scholastic and I think it’s a great start. It begins with three tightrope walkers falling to their deaths in a London Circus and introduces the gang of street urchins that helps the great Sherlock Holmes in his crime solving.

Holmes has another case involving a missing and very valuable book and while he and Watson are solving other leads, the Irregulars, led by Wiggins and Ozzie get down to business with the circus folk.

The boys are all interesting and colorful characters with different stories and strengths. Ozzie in particular has quite a bit of depth and color. He’s the sick one of the bunch and very frail but has a razor sharp memory and an uncanny ability for copying documents. Wiggins is the leader and he’s the protective papa of the bunch always looking out for the others. I expect we'll find out more about the others in future books.

Besides the boys, there is the wonderful character of Pilar whom they meet in the circus. Pilar is a Spanish gypsy girl (fortune-tellers daughter) and seems to be able to genuinely see the future while going into a trance. She adds a dash of spice to the gaggle of boys.

The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas is full of details, reads like a casebook and has fine illustrations which give the book a good flavor. There’s Cockney slang, a glimpse of what life was like for the poor children of that time. It has a old style Victorian feel to it which gives the book a sense of authenticity.

Both boys and girls will love the book for its sense of fun and adventure. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

X-Rated Bloodsuckers
Author: Mario Acevedo
Publisher: Rayo
ISBN-10: 0060833270
ISBN-13: 978-0060833275

Felix Gomez is just your normal Chicano vato. He’s an ex-soldier recently returned from Iraq now living in Denver. Felix is a private detective now and has just been hired to find out who killed porn star Roxie Bronze. Oh yeah, did I mention Felix is a vampire? He got bitten in Iraq. Now that’s coming home with some bad war baggage, que no?

Somehow Roxie’s murder is connected to the vampire world and the bosses (like mob bosses vampire style) want Felix to take the case and find out what’s really going on with the L.A. vampires. There’s this cool Mission Impossible you’re message will self destruct trick when the message from the vampire bosses goes up in flames when Felix holds it to the sun. The message was written on vampire skin.

Felix doesn’t really want to go to the L.A. of his childhood, but he’s got the higher ups wanting him to go and he also finds himself intrigued by the case and by the woman who hired him, Katz Meow who has disappeared. He packs his bag and heads off to L.A.

“Even with supernatural mojo, I still felt queasy coming here. Since I had left many years ago, vowing never to return, I had graduated from college, gone to war, become a vampire, and settled in Denver. And here I was, back in Pacoima anyway.”

Once in L.A. he meets one hell of a crazy vato named Coyote who also happens to be the ancient vampire son of the Malinche and Hernan Cortez, the original hijo de la chingada. Coyote loves his rat blood chorizo. Blech.

X-rated Bloodsuckers takes you on a colorful trip to L.A.’s underbelly and the porn industry in the Valley. It’s a wild ride with interesting characters and that unlike anything else L.A. flavor, “Seen from the freeway, the sprawl of the San Fernando Valley stretched in relentless monotony. A line of homes clung to the surrounding hills like the ring around a bathtub.” The story is gripping, the investigation crazy with unexpected twists and turns culminating in a surprising ending with the most unlikely of murderers.

It’s not just a detective story, it’s not just a vampire story, it’s not just a Chicano story – X-rated Bloodsuckers is just a damn good story that transcends all that genre pigeonholing. It’s innovative, exciting, different and keeps you wanting more. Mas, mas mas!

The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle

by Catherine Webb

When youthful thief Tess breaks into the house of Horatio Lyle, she gets more than she bargained for. Horatio is an inventor and scientist, and his house is full of gadgets, some of which are very effective at trapping would-be thieves. Horatio agrees not to turn Tess in to the police if she agrees to be his assistant for a week.

Horatio is also a special constable, and he's called into duty when a supposedly impenetrable vault at the Bank of England is broken into. Among the items taken was one of little value but "cultural significance": the Fuyun Plate. Lyle is commissioned by Lord Lincoln, personal aide to Queen Victoria, to recover it. Tess accompanies him to investigate the crime. The two are also accompanied by Thomas Elwick, whose father Lord Elwick was responsible for keeping the Fuyun Plate safe and whose vault was the one broken into.

As Lyle, Tess, and Thomas get deeper into the investigation, they discover that there is more to the mystery than they are being told. The Fuyun Plate is an object of power, and an ancient race known as the Tseiqin is trying to recover the plate for their own purposes. The Tseiqin are powerful beings, but their power is limited by iron. With the plate, their power will have no limits and they can rule the world and free it from the burgeoning industrial revolution, which they abhor. Lyle, Tess, and Thomas have only their wits, and Lyle's inventions, to stand against these powerful beings.

I first read Horatio Lyle for the Cybils, and I had to read it rather quickly because I had a lot of books to get through. This is such a rich and complex book that I didn't think a review based on a quick reading would do it justice, so I decided to read it again and take my time with it prior to reviewing it. Some books are just as good the second time around, and some aren't. A rare few books get better on a second reading; The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle is one such book.

It's a treat worth savoring, especially for anyone who loves words and language. The descriptions are rich and poetic, yet they don't interfere with the flow of an exciting and suspenseful story. Webb has a masterful command of the English language. She also writes with a wonderfully understated wit and sense of irony; the book is peppered with pithy social commentary.

The characters are fascinating and delightful, starting with Lyle himself. the obvious comparison is to Sherlock Holmes, and indeed, there are some obvious similarities here. Lyle shares Holmes deductive powers and interest in science, but his personality is more human, although he does have a touch of Holmes' arrogance about his own abilities. Tess and Thomas are much more interesting sidekicks than Watson; Tess in particular is quite likeable. Even the minor characters are well-drawn.

The many details of the setting give the reader an amazing sense of the Victorian era. I don't know enough about the Victorian era to know how accurate it is, but it certainly has verisimilitude. (I did some Googling and found out that Webb is a history student, so I suspect the historical details are accurate).

Given my glowing praise of the book, I just wanted to make a comment about why I didn't vote for it in the final vote for the Cybils shortlist. There were two overriding principles that we used in judging the Cybils nominees: literary merit and kid appeal. Were the books judged on literary merit alone, I would have voted for Horatio Lyle without hesitation. However, I worried that the complexity of language and plot would put off some teens. I think some teens will love that complexity, but others might find it too challenging. I opted to vote in the final vote for books that I thought had a wider kid (or teen) appeal. (I did vote for Horatio Lyle in an earlier vote).

The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle isn't published yet in the U.S., but you can buy it from Amazon.co.uk.