Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Released October 2006 www.jodipicoult.com Once again, the key reason I picked up a copy of Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is because an area high school banned the book from its English class. This time, parents claimed the book was violent, there was graphic rape and bullying. And again, I still feel parents are being overprotective because like it or not, rape does happen, bullying happens and kids see far more violence on the nightly news or in a newspaper than they'll "see" in this book. In The Tenth Circle , Trixie Stone is heartbroken over the break up of her and her jock boyfriend, Jason. Jason is the classic all-American with a bright future. He's the town's hockey star and idol of many. One night, Trixie is at a friend's house where a plan is in store for Trixie to make Jason jealous and win him back. The night ends with Trixie saying she's been raped by Jason. Trixie's dad, Daniel, will do anything to protect his only child. W

Released February 2008 www.jodipicoult.com I have this thing about book banning. After hearing on a local news station, that parents confronted an area high school and demanded that Nineteen Minutes be banned from the classroom, I decided I had to read it for myself. I do agree that it's a parent's responsibility to monitor what their child reads, plays and watches. However, banning a book being taught in an English class because of the content seems a little absurd. Life, in general, is full of atrocities. Columbine happened and you can't make it go away. Even if parents think they can ban away fiction of this nature so that their teen doesn't know, you can guarantee that your teen is exposed to things ten times worse on a daily basis simply by watching the evening news. If you were to ban every book that contained violent or graphic context, you'd have to remove To Kill a Mockingbird (rape and racism), Romeo and Juliet (suicide), Macbeth and Hamlet (

Released December 2010 www.eharlequin.com www.jacquelinediamond.com The latest entry into Jacqueline Diamond's Safe Harbor Medical romance series shares Sam Forrest's story. Sam's created a few ripples as head of pediatrics. Once again, she finds herself in a heated battle with the hospital administrator, Dr. Mark Rayburn, when she learns he wants her clinic space for a new fertility lab. Things take a turn when one of the teen moms Sam's been counseling gives birth to triplets and decides they're too much. Sam's already fallen for the newborns and agrees to adopt them herself. Mark is shocked that workaholic Sam would agree to add more chaos to her life. However, the more time he spends with her, the more he's falling in love. The question remains--will she ever see him as more than an obstacle to her life goals? Set in the midst of the holiday season, The Holiday Triplets is a sweet romance. Characters shine and adjust to new situations. I

Released December 2010 www.avonromance.com www.kathryncaskie.com Following the death of her fiance, Lady Siusan Sinclair has felt empty. A passionate encounter in a dark library invigorates her, but at the same time, she knows she's risked a lot by having sex with a complete stranger--unprotected sex at that. Her family's already been through numerous scandals, so she opts to run off and become a teacher at a school for young girls. If she is pregnant, her father will never know. Sebastian Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, must find a bride. However, the only woman to appeal to him is a complete mystery. He never saw her face, only her dress as she ran from the dark library where they made love. He knows she is the woman he needs, yet he has no idea how to find her. When he heads to Bath to discuss Gemma, his niece's, education, he's surprised at how drawn he is to Gemma's teacher. Little does he know that his mysterious woman and Gemma's teacher are one and

Released September 2003 www.crownpublishing.com If zombies were real, how prepared are you for survival? Max Brooks bestselling The Zombie Survival Guide delves into the best way to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. From the best weapon to the best vehicle for travel, nothing is ignored in this guide. Presented as a non-fiction "how-to," the son of famed Mel Brooks melds humor to every page. The book contains a thorough weapons guide, best hideouts, places to avoid and even covers the best terrain for traveling. He finishes the book with details on recorded zombie attacks and leaves you blank pages for noting additional zombie attacks, as well as a sample on how to fill out the pages. If you're a fan of zombie flicks, particularly Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead , you're definitely the right person for Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide . It's humorous and definitely needs to be studied by some movie makers who keep trying to come up with a zombi

Released October 2010 www.theelevatorgroup.com Seeing friends struggle to make ends meet and eventually divorce, twenty-four-year-old Jessie knows her ticket in life was to meet and marry a rich old man. When she meets seventy-four-year-old Sam Sharpe, owner of a number of gas stations and body shops, Jessie knows he is her ticket to her desired lifestyle. Jessie does what she pleases and Sam seems to dote on her every movie. She never expects him to open their new home to his elderly cousin Myrtle though. As time passes, Jessie's resentment towards being Myrtle's caregiver grows. Meanwhile, Myrtle realizes that Jessie's simply after a sugar daddy and definitely not the right woman for her cousin. Myrtle's been evicted from her home and sees Sam as gullible enough to taking her in for good, especially if she acts bedridden. She begins to plot to get him to see the light and remove Jessie from his life before it's too late. Myrtle's running a con of her

Released October 2010 www.thestraintrilogy.com www.harpercollins.com Continuing where 2009's The Strain left off, The Fall continues the saga as man battles vampire to save the planet. I highly recommend reading The Strain first. It details a lot of backstory involving the characters and their plight.  A few characters share center stage in the second of this trilogy. Ephraim Goodweather is doing all he can to keep his son, Zack, safe. Zack's mother has been turned and desperately seeks Zack so that she can obey her master's request that she spread the disease to her pre-teen son. While trying to remain a step ahead of his ex-wife, Ephraim is also trying to help learn how the vampiric disease came about and what they can do to stop it. Abraham Stretrakian survived the Holocaust and is damned if he'll let vampires end his life. He knows more about the vampires than anyone and knows that everyone's future depends on his obtaining the rare book Occido Lume

Released December 2010 www.penguin.com Five months after a passionate affair, Sam Kelly is shocked to find Sophie Lundgren floating half dead in the lake behind his home. He and his brothers, all part of the Kelly Group International, nurse the pregnant Sophie back to health. All are suspicious of her actions, but she's told them they're all in danger, so safeguarding all members of the family takes priority. Soon, it's apparent just how much danger they all face. Keeping Sophie, her and Sam's unborn child and the rest of the family is going to require every ounce of skill the men and women of KGI possess. The storyline in No Place to Run certainly takes an important place in this story. The reader knows Sophie's secret from the start, but the rest of the KGI has to learn what she's hiding. This heightens suspense as the reader waits to see if they'll be able to figure it before it's too late. Sam and Sophie's relationship is very steam

Released December 2010 www.avalonbooks.com Meet Nicole Vitarelli, host of the new cable show A Taste of Romance . Nicole's show is doing well, but her executive producer wants to put a face to the boyfriend she's always mentioning on air. There's one big problem, Nicole's as single as they come! Desperate to find a stand-in beau, Nicole asks her neighbor, Jeremy Perez, to play the part of her boyfriend. He agrees on one condition, Nicole must cook dinners for him from time to time. Nicole loves to cook and she certainly doesn't mind being in Jeremy's company, so this arrangement can't be bad! There's just one little problem. The pair of them have relationship phobias that they must overcome if they can make a real go of their budding romance. I fully enjoyed the relationship between Nicole and Jeremy. They clicked from the start and had a great thing going. Now, every romance story has to have that hurdle. I'm still waiting on that one ro

Released October 2010 www.bestamericancomics.com Comics by nature are subjective. I never understood my brothers' fascination with superheroes any more than they understood my passion for Archie comics. The Best American Comics 2010 introduces segments of what the editors felt were some of today's best comics, many came from graphic novels. Qualifications for those comics that made it into this book included: Book had to have been published in North America Publication date had to have been between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009 Among the comic snippets, I certainly had favorites. C'est ci n'est pas une comic (A George W. Bush Administration Retrospective) cracked me up. There's a lot of truth to that one. The Lagoon was intriguing, somewhat creepy yet also slightly romantic. The comic series starting with Defining Beauty that chronicles a pregnancy certainly will hit many women as being very, very true. But hands down, it was The Alcoholi

Released November 2010 www.bradmeltzer.com www.harpercollins.com Every now and then a book really catches my attention and Dead Even is one that hooked me from the start. The story is pretty involving. Sara and Jared Tate are happily married attorneys. Sara's finally landed a job after months of searching and she's working for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Jared is a defense attorney on the ladder for promotion to partner. On Sara's first day as ADA, she takes a case meant for another lawyer but that seems so dull, she figures he'll never miss it. She finds out soon enough just how wrong she really is. The simply burglary case isn't quite what a seems. Suddenly, Jared's dragged into the case after the accused hires him as his defense attorney. Jared's been told that if he loses, Sara dies. Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger catches up with Sara and informs her that if she loses, Jared dies. If they tell anyone else, again their spous