Just finished reading...

Die for you by Lisa Unger.

I believe I requested this book because it was mentioned on DorothyL and thought it sounded interesting. And it was interesting, though only in the manner of an assumed identity thriller. It's the story of Isabel Connelly Raine, whose husband Marcus leaves for work one day and never returns. Isabel goes to his office the next day to talk to his business partner, who has not heard from him either. While checking Marcus' desk, she is interrupted by a raid. The group are wearing jackets with FBI on them, but they turn out to be fake. One of them, clubs her over the head and she wakes up in hospital.
When the police inform her that the real Marcus Raine died several years earlier and her husband was an impostor, Isabel takes matters into her own hands to find the truth.

As I said, a fairly typical thriller plot.

What is really wonderful about this book is the prose. Unger comes up with some incredible descriptions of the characters' feelings and thought processes. A description of a feeling Isabel had after her father committed suicide when she was a child:

"It was a strange lightness, a drifting feeling. Zero gravity. I understood that everything that once seemed solid and immovable might just float away."

This book was a real pleasure to read!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

I'm Zazzling!

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

Recent reads

Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle.
This is the first book I purchased (and read) on my Sony Reader. (Yes, I have the elegant red one.)
Our heroine, Brooklyn Wainwright is an expert in rare books and their restoration. Although she'd been estranged from her mentor, Abraham Karastovsky, she is happy that they have reconciled. Until she finds him lying in a pool of blood in the midst of restoring an edition of Faust that is said to be cursed.
When Brooklyn is hired to complete the renovation of the Faust, she suddenly begins to have accidents, obviously caused by the person who killed Abraham.
Brooklyn is sure that Abraham was not killed by a curse, and she is determined to find the person responsible, although handsome security expert Derek Stone seems equally determined to keep her out of trouble, though she sees it as "getting in her way".
The bookbinding theme is not at all boring, as some might expect. Brooklyn is a vibrant, interesting protagonist and I look forward to further installments in the series.


Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen.
In which we meet Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, known to her friends as "Georgie". Thirty-fourth in line to the throne, Georgie became virtually penniless when she turned 21, as her allowance was cut off. Frustrated living with her older half-brother "Binky" and his wife at the family's estate, Castle Rannoch, Georgie decides to strike out on her own, and removes herself to the family's London home, Rannoch House. After an unsuccessful few hours as a cosmetics salesgirl at Harrods, she decides to start her own housekeeping business. The only problem is that the only housekeeper she employs is herself.
Binky joins her at Rannoch House when an unscrupulous Frenchman claims to have proof that their father gambled away the family lands. But when Georgie returns home to find the Frenchman drowned in the bath, with Binky the obvious suspect, she is certain that Binky is not smart enough to have committed the crime and sets out to clear his name.
In the process, she encounters some hilarious and harrowing situations, including several attempts on her life.
The book is written as a series of Georgie's diary entries, seems to me to detail the life of a young woman in 1930s London quite well.
The sequel, A Royal Pain, is already available in paperback, and Royal Flush, the third in the series, has just been released in hardcover. They will be added to my toppling TBR pile soon!

Just finished reading...

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.

I received this book through the GoodReads first reads program.

It's the story of Rachel White, a young attorney in Manhattan. Darcy, her best friend since childhood, is engaged to Dexter, who went to law school with Rachel. Rachel thinks Darcy is tall, slim, beautiful and charismatic, always feels mousy and insecure next to her, and has resigned herself to being in Darcy's shadow. Darcy is really loud, brash and arrogant, and treats Rachel almost like Cinderella.

The story begins on Rachel's thirtieth birthday. A group including Rachel, Dexter and Darcy is bar-hopping. Darcy overdoes it and goes home, while Dexter and Rachel go to "one more place". Rachel is surprised when Dexter ends up spending the night with her. She and Dexter then have to figure out how to keep their tryst from Darcy, who, they are certain, would react very badly were she to find out.

The remainder of the book follows the friends through the summer as they rent a beach house together. Rachel tries to be a dutiful maid of honor, at the same time as she is wracked with guilt.

Under normal circumstances, I would be horrified by Rachel and Dexter's behavior. But Darcy is an incredibly arrogant prima donna, and frankly, I identify with Rachel, having been the "mousy friend" most of my life.

The ending completely surprised me, although it probably shouldn't have. Giffin is a pretty good writer and I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would.

Knitting mysteries

Just by chance, I happened to pick up two knitting mysteries in a row. I spotted While My Pretty One Knits at Borders a few weeks ago, and while I was reading it, Patterns in the Sand came in for me at the library.

While My Pretty One Knits by Anne Canadeo.
This is the first in the Black Sheep Knitting Mystery series. Canadeo is the real name of Kate Little,author of several titles for various Harlequin series, as well as Katherine Spencer, ghost-writer of the Cape Light series by Thomas Kinkade.
The story revolves around five women who meet weekly at Maggie Messina's Back Sheep Knitting Shop in the fictional New England town of Plum Harbor. When the owner of a rival shop is killed, Maggie is suspected of the crime. Her four friends are certain that she is innocent, and set out to determine the identity of the real killer. This is an easy read, and I had picked out the culprit about halfway through the story. It's not badly written, but despite being nearly 25o pages long, it goes down as quickly as a ... Harlequin romance.

Patterns in the Sand by Sally Goldenbaum is the second in the Seaside Knitters series.
This series also takes place in Massachusetts, in the fictional town/artists colony of Sea Harbor.
Nell and Ben Endicott's weekly Friday barbecue is interrupted by the call from the police. The yarn store owned by their niece Izzy has an intruder, who appears to have died in the front window of the shop. Ben, Nell and Izzy arrive to find that the young woman nestled in the yarn displayed in the window was merely asleep. Izzy decides not to press charges when the young woman, a fiber-artist named Willow, explains that she has come at Izzy's invitation. After some conversation with her, Ben and Nell determine that she's not dangerous, so they allow Willow to stay in their guest house.
Though a little shy, Willow seems to adapt to Sea Harbor just fine. But the next day, a well-known artist with whom she was heard arguing is found dead. Of course
Willow is the main suspect, especially when a relationship between the two of them is discovered.
A well-written and enjoyable read, this is still a fairly predictable story, but I have to admit that I was surprised by the identity of the killer.

I look forward to trying the next installments of both series.

Wow! I finished something!

I've been seeing the same hairstylist for about 5 years now. I've followed her from salon to salon. But when she told me she was moving to Riverside County, I decided I just couldn't make that drive to get my hair done.

She's been very good to me. Last month, when I was broke, she gave me a complimentary color (and it looked great!). So I decided I had to make her something special.

I didn't have much time, so I decided on this Drop stitch scarf. It took me just over 2 weeks to complete it, and I think she was quite pleased. She promised to send me a photo of her wearing it.