My October Reads

All ratings are on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (great).

ROYAL BLOOD by Rhys Bowen - 4
Lady Georgiana is invited to a castle in Transylvania to be a royal representative at a wedding. But once she gets there, she sees stuff that seems to involve vampires. And that's before someone drops dead. What's really happening? Plenty of fun as always, although the book does have a bit of a slow start.

NAKED HEAT by Richard Castle - 4.5
Gossip columnist Cassidy Towne has been murdered, and Nikki Heat must solve this high profile case quickly. To make this worse, writer Jameson Rook was profiling Cassidy, so Nikki must reunite with Rook to try to find the killer. Lots of great action and plenty of fun for fans of the TV show Castle. The writing was definitely better this time around, too, although it still could have smoothed out in a few spots.

MURDER IN VEIN by Sue Ann Jaffarian - 4
Madison Rose is kidnapped and is about to be killed until she is rescued - by vampires. And they want to use her to try to solve a series of murders that threaten their secret existence. Can she even trust them? I enjoyed the book and really grew to like the characters. Some of the scenes were just too dark for me, however.

THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by CS Lewis - 5
A reread for me and the main reason I started rereading Narnia this year - the upcoming movie. Lots of fun as always.

NERDS: M IS FOR MAMA'S BOY by Michael Buckley - 5
The NERDS team is back and on the trail of a bank robber using squirrels as his accomplishes. Is it an old friend turned villain? This Bond spoof for kids is a very funny ride that I completely loved. Definitely consider it for kids on your Christmas list, but read it yourself first. You'll love it, too.

NIGHTMARE by Robin Parrish - 4
Maia is at the newest amusement park in the country - Ghost Town - when she sees a friend as one of the ghosts. Then she finds out this friend is missing. What is going on? This is a Christian novel with heavy ghost elements. Yet it treats the ghosts are real, or at least potentially real. Very well done with some creepy scenes. Perfect Halloween read.