the Book Brothel

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 310 pages, 2005

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: Reading all of Evanovich’s books is sort of becoming a bad habit.

Synopsis: A girl can only be shot at so many times before she starts to reconsider her career path, and Stephanie Plum is sick of the bounty hunter business and all of the explosions that seem to come with it. But her reputation proceeds her to her new would-be-jobs; it’s obvious someone didn’t get the memo that she’d retired because they keep trying to blow her up; and her curiosity is peaked when her cop boyfriend is looking into the case of missing men in her area of New Jersey. Stephanie is determined to find a nice, safe job, but someone is trying equally hard to keep her working - or to kill her to keep their secrets safe.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 371 pages, 2005

Rating: 6/10

Reason for Reading: I liked all of Kinsella’s previous books, so I took her new one out of the library.

Synopsis: The only thing Samantha Sweeting has ever wanted is to make partner at a top law firm, and she’s sacrificed a lot for it - namely, any semblance of a personal life and any activity that might be the least bit peaceful. Just before her partnership is sure to be announced, Samantha finds a problem while clearing off her desk. A big, big, huge problem that’s sure to cost her everything. Before she even knows what she’s doing, Samantha has hopped onto a train and is heading for the English countryside, where she quickly finds herself with a much simpler job offer on hand. Should she take it? Well, surely cooking and cleaning can’t be as hard as it sounds, and maybe she just wasn’t cut out for a career as a lawyer…was she?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 286 pages, 2005

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: How could I resist such an adorable cover?

Synopsis: Chloe Rose has just found herself on the path to her dream career at Issues magazine (well, ‘assistant to the assistant’ is bound to lead to the specially-created title of ‘Shoe Editor,’ right?), and it comes with all kinds of perks - access to the shoe closet, outfits from the fashion closet, and even the occasional attempt at some creative work for her not-so-easy-to-please boss, Ruth. But there’s trouble brewing around the promotion department of the magazine - it just seems like everything Chloe does draws a crowd, and not everyone is a big fan of hers…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 228 pages, 2004

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: Chant with me now: “Summer and chick-lit! Summer and chick-lit!’

Synopsis: Alison Hopkins is getting ready for a dinner party and sends her boyfriend of four years, Tom, out to get some Dijon mustard, but instead of returning he phones her to say he’s leaving because he’s in love with someone else. What’s a girl - a thirty-two-year-old girl that’s just lost her first and only ‘real’ boyfriend, no less - to do in a world of endless possibilities? A long-time friend, an off-limits co-worker, the stranger upstairs, or - dare she even think it - trying to win back Tom: is her romantic happiness destined to be linked with one of them, or is she searching for love in all the wrong places?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 257 pages, 2004

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: I’ve been hearing all of the hoopla about Sedaris for at least a few years, but never got around to reading him until now.

Synopsis: Dress Your Family is a collection of twenty-two humourous essays about Sedaris’ everyday life experiences with his family at various points in his life, covering everything from his brother’s first child to the search for the perfect apartment to a family trip to the beach.

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Chris Turner" />

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 466 pages, 2004

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: The Simpsons? Best. Show. Ever.

Synopsis: Simpson addicts unite: Turner looks at how a seemingly simple cartoon

has impacted so much on our society - how it stays relevent by reflecting our flaws and

triumphs back at us to mock us, make us laugh, and even to prod us into change. Everything

from characters to plots to mass merchandising gets analyzed in relation to the our modern

lifestyles and priorities.

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alt="The Book of the Story of My Life by William Brandt" />

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 320 pages, 2002

Rating: 7/10

Reason for Reading: It’s a fun title, isn’t it?

Synopsis: Frederick Case is starting to notice that his life just might be as much

of a flop as the movies he tries to produce. His career is washed up and he spends hours a

day reading dreadful movie scripts; his wife, Sophie, left him for her gorgeous costar after

a racy movie scene; and he’s spending money - his parents’ money - faster than he could ever

hope to recoup it. So where does a man go from there? Is it time to hang up the towel, or

can Frederick find it in him to take a cue from Hollywood and make a final Herculean effort to change his life?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 294 pages, 2001

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: It’s been a buzz book for teens (and a number of adults), so I

couldn’t skip it - what if (horrors!) I’d skipped the Harry Potter books thinking they were

only for kiddies?

Synopsis: It’s the first summer fifteen-year-old best friends Tibby, Lena, Carmen,

and Bridget will spend apart. Tibby is stuck at home working for the summer, Lena is

visiting her grandparents in Greece, Carmen will finally get to see her Dad’s new

place, and Bridget is off to soccer camp. So how will they keep from feeling alone? A

magical pair of jeans (they somehow look incredible on all four of them despite their

different shapes), which they vow to mail to each other every week so a little piece of them

can travel to their friends - and hopefully a whole lot of adventure, too.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 296 pages, 2004

Rating: 7/10

Reason for Reading: I wanted a mindless read, and was hoping a non-Stephanie Plum book would freshen up Evanovich’s writing.

Synopsis: Alexandra Barnaby, aka Barney, is living a normal, rather ho-hum existence in Baltimore when she gets a middle-of-the-night phone call from her brother, Wild Bill, saying he has to go away for a while. Before she can get an explanation, Barney hears a woman scream right before the line is cut off, so she decides to head down to Miami to bail her brother out of whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into now. But when she gets there, she discovers a boat is missing, a security guard has been murdered, and when she decides to check out Bill’s apartment she sees someone’s clearly beat her to the job. The missing boat’s owner, NASCAR driver Sam Hooker, insists on joining Barney, leaving her with two battles instead of one - to find Bill, and to fight off the constant advances of Hooker.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 326 pages (plus a reading group guide), 2004

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: It looked pleasant enough - like chick lit with a bit of bite to it.

Synopsis: Thirty-something Olivia Hunt has got a lot on her plate - she’s a
Hollywood producer trying desperately to get Don Quixote onto the big screen, her
last movie tanked and left her with a not-so-hot reputation, and her long-term boyfriend has recently just up and left. But then a drunken phone call from her father puts it all into
perspective: her younger sister, Maddie, the eternal optimist, has leukemia. Olivia finds
herself wading through a sea of maybes and has to take her chances on prioritizing her life
- what can wait and what can’t?

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