Jolenes Reading Information Blog

Archive for the ‘Favorite Authors’ Category

My next favorite author is JA Jance. She has three characters that she normally writes about and one of those is Ali Reynolds. Ms. Reynolds is a former TV News Anchor who lost her job and her husband (her philandering husband is the one who fired her) and decided to move back home to Arizona for a while to get her barrings. Her grown son encourages her to start her own blog and her adventures start there. Her latest book is “Trial By Fire”. Ms. Reynolds volunteers to be a Media Consultant for one of the local sheriff’s offices that is having a little trouble. She gets mixed up in a murder (of course), has no authority to investigate but gets pulled in nonetheless.

The Reynolds character speaks to me as she is about my age, has to look for another career, has a grown child and starts her own blog. I would like to become an investigator as well but, sadly, don’t have the time or the resources and quite frankly glad that I haven’t been thrown into any murder investigations. Ms Jance’s books are always entertaining as well as suspenseful, lots of action, and have a well thought-out plot. She is very descriptive about her surroundings and allows the reader to feel like they are there.

I am playing catch-up again and so you will notice that there are 3 or 4 articles added this time. Sorry about that. Don’t be alarmed as these are being back dated. As I have stated in previous posts I love to read and some of what I like to read takes time away from things that I need to do such as keep up with my blog postings. And I have to limit myself or else as you can see nothing will get done. I have to read articles, newsletters and other blogs to keep up with trends in my job for which I have a blog at: http://medicalofficeclerk.info. I have a couple of blogs for family and friends at: http://jolenesramblings.blogspot.com/
As well as an electronic bookstore that I am currently renovating at: http://jolenesbooksandmore.com
And I have started a new business of website and blog creation service that is still in it’s infancy at each of the following:
http://websforyou.info
http://blogsforyou.info
http://websforwriters.com
http://blogsforwriters.com
Of course, I have other websites and blogs and for shear dumbfoundedness on my part I volunteer to redo a website for our local Volunteers in Medicine chapter as well. Which I believe turned out pretty well. In between all of this I have found the time to read for pleasure as well.

One of my more recent books that I have read was Laurel Hamilton’s Divine Misdemeanors I wasn’t able to get the book when it was first release in December of last year like I normally do, you know Christmas expenses, but when I did read it it was well worth the read. Ms. Hamilton’s stories are always good and this book is about her second set of characters that she writes about Merry Gentry – Private Eye also known as Meredith Nic Essus, princess of faerie. It is the eighth book in the series and on her website you can still download the first chapter and read it. If you like books about supernatural stuff and murder mysteries then give this author a try. Her books have a great story line with suspenseful plots, great characters that are well fleshed out and she gives informative details about the worlds she has created that seem so believable that they could actually happen. Both her series that I read, Anita Blake – Vampire Hunter and Merry Gentry – Private Eye are set in the U.S. Anita Blake is set in St. Louis and Merry Gentry in Los Angeles. All of her works are great reads and take you out of the everyday!

We have added some new links under ‘Resources to Reader” that might be of interest to our subscribers. Most are for helping your kids to read and to learn to enjoy it. The other two are for aspiring writers. We have going into the Blog and Website creation business to help new writers advertise their products, talk to their fans and the build a email mailing list. Check them out.

The other part of this post is a book review of one of my favorite authors, J.D. Robb a.k.a. Nora Roberts. The new book is “Kindred in Death”. Our heroine, Lt. Eve Dallas is called on her day off to a fellow police officer’s home to investigate the death of his daughter. As the story unfolds we find that this is just the beginning and the killer has a list and he is working his way down it. On top of this Eve must participate another WEDDING! Oh, my she really doesn’t want to do that.

The story is, of course, great. I have always enjoyed J.D. Robb’s books and this one is no exception. My mom enjoyed it as well. The book has good pacing and some great plot twists and suspense. Each of the books and can alone but the whole series is like getting caught up on your family. This book brings some old friends back as well. Enjoy this and the other books written by this author. But I must warn you once you start to read Nora Robert’s books you will not stop!

JA Jance is a great writer of fiction and has several recurring figures that I enjoy reading about. Joanna Brady is a small town sheriff in Arizona. Ms. Jance’s other great character is JP Beaumont. She wrote a book several years ago where these two characters meet called “Partner in Crime”. That story left us readers wondering, “what if”. “Fire and Ice” follows these two characters through a series of murders that are connected. JP is following on the trail of a serial killer. Joanna is having problems with a murder as well. She also has an officer who is missing a sister. Yes, you guessed it, the sister is one of JP’s victims.

It is amazing how the author can keep the two areas separate in their series. You go from the desert area of Bisbee, Arizona to the rain-soaked area of Seattle, Washington. I think that is where the title comes from fire-hot Arizona to ice-cold Washington. It is a yin-and-yang kind of thing. And it makes for a “keep you on your toes” mystery!

Even though the Joanna character and the JP character do not meet up until the end of the book it is still a great story and has a very believable if maybe a somewhat disappointing ending. But it does end none-the-less. Pick up your copy today and give it a read. This story may inspire you to read the entire series of Joanna Brady and JP Beaumont books. You can find a listing of them on the author’s website:
http://www.jajance.com/jajance.com/Books_In_Order_List.html
You can pick up a copy of “Fire and Ice” from our ebookstore page as well as all the other great books by JA Jance. You pick up a paper copy of these books or if you own a KINDLE machine you can order the electronic book.
Cheers!
jolenemacinjax
Admin

“KEEP ON READING”

Fire and Ice

As I have said in previous entries one of my current favorite authors is Nora Roberts. Whether she is writing as herself or her alter-ego J.D. Robb. I have read practically everything she has written. Yes, she is probably one of the hottest writers today. And yes, her works older works are still being reprinted in various forms and combinations. I hope everyone will give her work a try at least once. I would not recommend her new Bride Quartet series as I really didn’t like the first book “Vision in White“. Her fans will have to judge for themselves. I would, however, highly recommend her book, “Black Hills”. You can get this and other great books by this author in our Ebookstore page!

You can read an excerpt on her site at: www.noraroberts.com . This story has everything, love, conflict, mystery and a chase through the Black Hills. This story follows the lives of two people from widely different backgrounds who first meet when they are pre-teens and become fast friends. Through trials and tribulations of life they are separated and lead different lives until a sudden illness brings them back together. The book is divided into three parts and will take some time to read but I found it very enjoyable and was unable to put it down. Nora Roberts knows how to keep her readers interested and come away from a book wanting more of her characters. This is the kind of book that I will read over and over again. She has often written trilogies and released them over time. And that can be fun but it is also very frustrating for those who like to sit down and read the whole story right through.

However she does write, we, her fans, will be waiting for her new releases.

Cheers!
jolenemacinjax
admin

black hills

“KEEP ON READING!”

Good Morning to all. Just wondering if anyone has read any good books lately. With me selling ebooks online and the fact that I love to read is what promted me to create this little blog. I hope to have good discussions about books with other readers and writers out there. As I find new and interesting sites I will pass them along. My favorite writer is Dorothy Gilman. I have read almost everything she has written and I even created a fansite for her several years ago. Check it out at www.mrspollifax.com. I have redesigned the site several times and now it is in Blog form with pages from the old site. The only books I haven’t read are the ones that I can’t find. If you get a chance and haven’t tried her yet you should start with the Mrs. Pollifax series. There are 14 books in the series and the main character is a widowed woman deciding one day that she is expendable and always wanted to be a spy. So, she goes down to Langley, Virginia and applies for a position as a Spy. The books are great for those who are young-at-heart and enjoy and fast-paced adventure. Her other books are great as well. Dorothy Gilman has been writing since the late 40′s but has published any new stuff since her last book, Kaleiscope, in 2002. Well, being as she is in her mid 80′s I guess us advid fans will have to be satisfied with what’s out there now. If you have read Dorothy Gilman and enjoy her work you should check out my fansite. We are always looking for more people to participate and hope to get some “Fan-Fiction” going!

Click on the Bookstore Page and then in the favorite authors listing and you can buy some Dorothy Gilman books as well as some of my other favorite authors books as well!

Have you ever read anything by Anne George or Janet Evanovich?  If you haven’t you should give both these authors a try.  Sadly, Anne George passed away in 2001 and she no longer has her won website but she wrote 7 of the funniest mysteries.  Beginning with “Murder On A Girl’s Night Out” and Ending with “Murder Boogies with Elvis” you are dropped into the world of southern women.  These stories revolve around two sisters who reside in Birmingham, Alabama and are total opposites.  One sister is petite, demure, married to the same man for years, Patricia Anne, and the other is big, brassy and has been married to several different men and is currently looking for another, Mary Alice.  Between the two of them they seem to get into all sorts of trouble besides tripping over dead bodies.  The stories are fast-paced and suspenseful.  They hit the right note on what being a southern women is all about. 

Janet Evanovich, on the other hand, has a northern women character she writes about called Stephanie Plum.  She is young, sometimes attached and sometimes not, recently unemployed but finally lands a job as a bounty-hunter.  She has no skills for this trade but she has heart, determination and the insane ability to fall over her prey.  She was born and raised in New Jersey with a hot-to-trot grandmother and parents who can’t understand why their little girl isn’t married with kids of her own.  The stories are fast-paced and laugh-out-loud funny.  Stephanie has the worse luck with cars.  I can really relate to some of her trials and tribulations, her problems with money, and her Murphy’s Luck.  There are currently 19 books featuring this character with more on the way.

When comparing the these characters you will find that they are truly funny, trying their best everyday and the epitome of what characterizes northern versus southern women.  I hale from the south and have all of my life but I have friends who were born and raised in the north.  We have different outlooks on life.  Of course, there are similarities as well as opposites in what the rules are.  You know what I mean; “never leave your front room dirty in case of company”, “don’t stay in your bathrobe after a certain hour unless you are sick”, “when company comes over have both non-alcoholic as well as alcoholic beverages available (that might just be a southern one)”, “a lady always dresses appropriately for any occasion”, etc.  I am sure you can think of many more.

So, give these books a try and tell us what you think!

Cheers

Jolenemacinjax

As I stated in one of my previous entries. I like to re-read my favorite books each year. The best is when there are several of the same character. Laurell K. Hamilton writes the Anita Blake series and currently has 16 books out with the great female character with a new one being released in June of this year. The first story, Guilty Pleasures (Buy a box set = Laurell K. Hamilton Set – Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe) was first published in 1994. I just got through re-reading the entire series last weekend. I probably should have waited until the first of June to read them again but I am in-between projects right now and low on funds so I am trying to be good and just read during my off time.

These stories are packed full of fun, adventure, mystery and after the 5th book has some very interesting love scenes. The series centers around a female character who is in her mid 20s, short, black hair, buxom but fit and has some strong values and, of course, would like everything to go her way. She is a typical 20-something female in the modern era living in St. Louis except she raises zombies for a living and on the side she assists the local police with cases involving supernatural bad guys. Meanwhile she is trying to cope with being a single woman dating a Vampire, a werewolf and later on in the series living with two leopardmen as well as dating the vampire – Master of the City- and sometimes dating the werewolf – Ulfric or Clan Leader. She has to cope with the stress of the police work and the “good-ole-boy” code, a pushy boss who wants all of her time devoted to raising zombies and making him money, the demands of her boyfriends and their weird relatives, as well as trying to keep fit so that she can outrun the bad guys. Later in the series the vampire hunters are granted Federal Marshall status so that they can hunt bad guys across state lines. This is a help as well as a hindrance for her. She also has an edge. She is what is known as a necromancer with the ability to control all of the “dead”. As her power grows so does her enemies.

This story also touches on the problems of those of us who work nights. Granted she has been taught that zombies can only be raised at night and one of her boyfriends is only alive at night but she also has to deal with friends who call when she has only had two hours of sleep, sales people who call during the day when you forget to turn the answering machine on and in the beginning of the isolation that comes from not being on everyone else’s schedule. For me I just turn the phone off, wait till the kids are off to school, and call my friends and relatives first thing in the morning. And, I like her attitude about life in general, if you can’t do anything to change the bad things happening right now deal with what you can one thing at a time.

These stories will take you out of your stress-filled days and entertain you as only good stories can. These books appeal to both men and women, young as well as old alike. And by old I mean those who are over 100 as are most of the vampires in this series. So, if you feel that you are different and just don’t fit in anywhere just remember somewhere out there there are more people like us we just have to find a way to connect. As these books are about those who are different from the norm each of us can find someone to connect with if we keep trying, reading, researching and participating. Life is an active exercise!

This is a great little interview by JA Jance on her book “Web of Evil” that I found on YouTube! Have you had a chance to read this great writers books? Give them a try. Visit her website for more information and a booklist. I have read all of her books and my favorite character is Sheriff Joanna Brady. She begins as a wife of the local deputy who is running for sheriff and is the daughter of a former sheriff in a small town in Arizona. The story lines moves from working for an insurance agent to her losing her husband and her becoming sheriff while trying to raise her little girl with the help of her best friend, a woman minister, and her in-laws. Her mother is a little “stuck-up” and not much help more of a hindrance to her daughter. Sheriff Brady must get training for herself after she is elected where she meets her future love interest. There are now 13 books with this character. “Web of Evil” is a middle book in the series with the character Ali Reynolds. Ms Reynolds is recently divorced lady who decides to create a blog and gets involved with murder! She also writes about a Detective in Seattle J.P. Beaumont. There are 18 books with this character. I haven’t read all of these yet. Ms. Jance has one book that involves both of these characters called “Partners in Crime”. That is really a great story. I have read all of the Joanna Brady series at least twice. She is another one of those authors that you can re-read her books over again every year and find something that you missed the first time and still enjoy them!

A Great Interview with JA Jance by Stacey Cochran that was talks about how she got started writing, how she creates her characters and her latest book Damage Control. This video is about 20 minutes.

Authors@Google Interview with JA Jance as she talks about her book “Damage Control”! This video is about 50 minutes.

That question gets asked a lot in various forms on any kind of social networking website such as this one, myspace and reunion.com to name a few. I think it is a great question because it tells you a little bit about a person and whether or not they really have similar interests as you. I love all kinds of books but mainly I read mysteries. The romance and suspense novels are great for a little light reading but a good mystery whether or not it has a sex scene is a great diversion for me. I have read and enjoyed all kinds of mysteries over the years and my favorite authors are JA Jance, Iris Johansen, JD Robb, Faye Kellerman, Nevada Barr and Elizabeth Peters to name but a few. Each of them have a certain style with their characters that keep me coming back for more. I just wish we could instill in our children this love of reading as well. I am having a half and half success with mine. My oldest and youngest children don’t seem to be great readers and my middle two are doing much better. I have always told my children that I didn’t care what they read so long as they do.

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of these authors I have listed the first book in the series of my favorite characters that each of these writers have created. I seem to always start in the middle of a series when I find a character I like to read about so I end up having to backtrack to find out what happened in the beginning. So, if you are like me and would like to read a series from beginning to end then try the books below. You can go to their websites and get a listing of the other books within the series once you have found one that you really like!

Until next Time — Keep Reading!

Jolene

Elizabeth Peters – Crocodile on the Sandbank (1st Amelia Peabody)

Iris Johansen – Face of Deception (1st Eve Duncan)

JD Robb – Naked in Death (1st Dallas & Roarke)

Nevada Barr – Track the Cat (1st Anna Pigeon)

JA Jance – Desert Heat (1st Joanna Brady)

Faye Kellerman – Ritual Bath (1st Peter Decker & Rini Lazarus)