Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Released June 2010 www.sophiehannah.com It has been ages since a mystery kept me guessing until very close to the end. The Dead Lie Down did just that while also keeping me riveted to the stories of not one by two sets of characters. Ruth Bussey is falling in love with Aidan Seed, but she hides a secret that she's hesitant to reveal. The truth is, so is he, and it may be the secrets they hide that drew them together. When Aidan reveals he murdered a woman named Mary Trelease, Ruth is shocked and unsure what to do. Aidan knows he killed her, yet Ruth knows Mary Trelease is very much alive. Ruth contacts Sergeant Charlie Zailer to voice her concerns. Charlie's got her own troubles. Her engagement to DC Simon Waterhouse is not delighting everyone in their lives and it's stressing Charlie. However, she and Simon both get drawn into Ruth's story. When they meet Mary, they know Ruth is definitely telling the truth, yet Aidan is certain he killed Mary a

Reissued January 2001 www.hatchettebookgroup.com After seeing a South Park episode picking on the reasoning behind The Catcher in the Rye making the list of banned books, I decided to reread it. I remember having to read it in high school and don't remember loving or hating it. I think it fell in the land of in between. Either way, it didn't leave that much of a lasting impression. The plot within The Catcher and the Rye involves a 17-year-old private school student named Holden Caufield who shares a snippet of his life from a year earlier. Holden comes from a seemingly well-off family, but he doesn't try hard in school. At the age of 16, he's booted from a few and he's about to be booted from Pencey Prep because he's failing all classes except for English. After fighting with his roommate over a girl, Holden sets off into New York City. There the reader gets some insight into Holden's past, present and possibly his future. This is not a happy t

Released May 2010 (Paperback) www.themagiciansbook.com www.levgrossman.com www.penguin.com Pulling from Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia and other favorite childhood and young adult fantasy novels, The Magician weaves the tale of Quentin Coldwater, a teen who is fascinated by a popular fantasy series Fillory and Further . He's extremely gifted, which makes it hard to fit in, but his addiction with the novels complicates that even more. When he shows up for a college interview only to find his interviewer's body, Quentin is handed a mysterious envelope. That envelope brings him to a hidden college where magic is the main course. There in Brakebills Quentin discovers more about himself and magic than he ever thought possible. The Magician isn't going to be suitable for the younger crowd, but I'd happily let my high schooler read it with the understanding that life and relationships aren't always pretty. The writing is great and the characters are

Released May 2010 www.penguin.com www.jasminehaynes.com Hers for the Evening consists of three novellas. In the first, Three's a Crowd , Courtney O'Brien wants to revitalize her love life. While she and her husband Seth are still happily married, their sex life has been hit or miss. Their girls are growing and off at college, but Seth is busy with his job and it often seems too busy for her. Sparking a plan to put a spark back in their marriage, Courtney calls her friend Devon and asks her to set up a wild weekend where Courtney and a courtesan will give Seth an evening he'll never forget. Devon Parker gets her own story in Stand-in . She's been hot for her business partner for a long time, but being business, they can't risk a relationship. To ease her sexual frustration, she calls Courtesans and gets a Hunter Nash look-alike. What she doesn't know is that Hunter sees her tryst and wants in. Finally, Simon Foster wants nothing more than Haley Vent

Released March 2009 www.penguin.com You know, I really, really loved this book. It's everything I like in romance. Chemistry is plentiful. The characters are engaging and easy to relate with. Even the setting drew me in. It's easy to imagine living in Lamb's Corner and never wanting to leave. When I learned that author Rosina Lippi is one of my favorite authors Sara Donati, I now have some additional books to find! Julia Darrow left Chicago with a broken heart and started a new life in Lamb's Corner. There she owns a charming antique linens and pajama shop. While she's friendly with the townspeople, she doesn't want to share her past or her secrets. Every year or so, John Dodge packs up and leaves for a new location. He spends his months purchasing failing businesses, building them up and then moving on to the next challenge. He never expects to find love in a small town and he's not really sure it's the right thing when he knows he'll be m

Released March 2010 www.harpercollins.com www.loricopeland.com While this may be the third novel in the Belles of Timber Creek series, I didn't feel that I was missing any pertinent background. As a stand alone novel, I think One True Love works extremely well. Characters from the previous two books have minor rolls in Lori Copeland's latest, but the key focus is on Copper Wilson. Copper is happily involved in her new job as a school teacher, but things go awry when a cat and dog break into her school room and begin fighting. In the melee, the wood stove is knocked over and fire breaks out. Meanwhile, the vicious dog is blocking the doorway and the windows won't open. Copper is able to rescue two students trapped inside, but badly injures herself in the process. Her only hope of ever being able to use her ankle again involves traveling to Colorado to see a doctor more capable of treating her. This leaves Copper stuck with wagon master Josh Redlin. She's met

Released April 2010 www.centerstreet.com www.facebook.com/teddekker They're made to look beautiful, they're posed in a veil and then they're drained of blood. At the crime scene, he leaves a cryptic note. That's the MO of the Bride Collector and Special Agent Brad Raines is determined to stop him. However, before he can stop the madman's murders, he must figure out who the Bride Collector is. This means teaming up with a group of brilliant, yet mentally ill men and women from the Center of Wellness and Intelligence. Brad finds himself intrigued by Paradise, a young woman who has a special connection with the bodies. She's able to "see" everything play out. The problem is that she doesn't always remember what she's seen. When the killer targets those close to Brad, he realizes that he may need to take drastic steps to reveal the killer's identity before another victim is chosen. Can I suggest not curling up in the sun unless sun s

Released April 2010 www.whatsnewcupcake.com www.hmhbooks.com Blow your friends, family or acquaintances away the next time you're asked to bring dessert. Karen Tack and Alan Richardson's latest collection of "do-it-yourself" designer cupcakes is just as much fun as the previous book's. This time, I thought a little more care went into describing the techniques and equipment used before diving into the cupcakes. If you're unfamiliar with their cupcakes, Tack and Richardson turn ordinary cupcakes into extraordinary pieces of art. In the previous book, they tackled my favorite artist Monet and created adorable spaghetti and meatball cookies. This time, there are some that truly mesmerized. Top on my list are the Busy Bee cupcakes. They do look like a honeycomb, complete with jelly bean bees. My neighbor keeps beehives, so I've seen the inside of a hive many times and this cupcake collection is extremely similar, right down to the glistening honey in

Released November 2009 www.loriwilde.com www.avonromance.com Flynn MacGregor fell head over heels with the town's bad boy, Jesse Calloway, as a teen. That's why it came as such a shock when he was arrested for drugs and thrown into jail. Ten years later, Jesse's back and Flynn is just as smitten with him now as she was then. The problem is Jesse was in jail for a crime he's always sworn he didn't commit and that the evidence was planted. The difference now is that Flynn's been seeing a former classmate. Beau is now sheriff and while she may have reservations about marrying him, the townspeople respect him and he's always been good to her. When Beau beings urging her to set a date, Flynn finds herself torn. Should she settle with a man she admires or throw caution to the wind and choose the man she feels certain is her soulmate. The Sweetheart's Knitting Club didn't throw any twists in that shocked me. The story is straightforward. Romanti

I'm actually in the middle of two books, but the long weekend (Good Friday and Easter) have slowed my reading pace a bit. Watch for these reviews soon:

Released April 2010 www.avalonbooks.com Kat Callahan's publisher wants her "tell-all" book about Hollywood celebrities Alex and Victoria Janssen ASAP. The celebrity couple disappeared, along with their son, and the media's in a frenzy. Hoping to ride their current popularity, Winslow Publishing wants the book completed and printed now. The problem is Kat's computer got hit with a virus and the computer technician says all he can do is reformat her hard drive. She'll have to retype her edits. Meanwhile, Kat's R&R trip to Colorado is out. But the person with whom she was swapping homes shows up as expected. For the next few weeks, she has to deal with the sexy cowboy being her roommate. What she doesn't know is that cowboy Tanner is really Alex Janssen's brother, Luke. Luke is there to keep the book from being published so that the truth about Alex and Victoria's son remains secret. Tell-All is a fun romance. The chemistry between