More Trashy Reading

Sometimes a good trilogy of trashy reading is just the right thing! I just finished Nora Robert's Key Trilogy

This series had all the elements I was looking for when I picked it up. Easy to read, good story line, mystery, and challenge. It was a great read and a divine time!


"Key of Light"
by Nora Roberts


Book Description: The life of gallery manager Malory Price is stalled when she is invited to a reception at a mansion near her small Pennsylvania town. Upon her arrival, she discovers that she is one of only three guests-all of whom are feisty young women with life challenges just like her own. Their mysterious hosts explain that centuries earlier, they allowed the souls of the three demigoddesses under their care to be stolen by a sorcerer. Legend says the demigoddesses cannot be freed until three mortal women find the keys to the glass box in which they are housed. Should they agree, Malory, Dana Steele and Zoe McCourt will each receive $25,000 to search for the keys, plus a million dollars if they succeed. They nervously accept, and Malory is the first to tackle her task, with the help of Dana's charming but commitment-phobic brother Flynn. The legend is as mistily silly as the art history Malory uses to search for clues, and the financial incentives smack more of a reality show than Celtic lore. Fortunately, Roberts's crisp writing, earthy humor and vivid characterizations combine to make this a compelling read.



"Key of Knowledge"
by Nora Roberts


Book Description: Following hot on the heels of the first installment in Roberts's Key trilogy, this second book (following Key of Light) continues the story of three contemporary female friends chosen to free the souls of ancient demigoddesses called the Daughters of Glass. This time, the heroine is Dana Steele, a librarian who is sure that the key she's seeking lies in a book. As she begins her search, Dana renovates Indulgence, the gallery-cum-salon-cum-bookstore she is opening with her friends Malory Price and Zoe McCourt. She also spends sometimes passionate, sometimes vexing time with Jordan Hawke, the thriller writer who broke her heart years earlier when he abandoned her and their small Pennsylvania town of Pleasant Valley to seek fame in New York. Dana slowly realizes that the love they once felt for each other has not died-and that Jordan's writing is inextricably entwined with her supernatural quest.


"Key of Valor"
by Nora Roberts


Book Description: This book concludes Roberts's Key Trilogy, in which mortal women quest to unlock the spellbound souls of ancient demigoddesses. The third and last woman to make the attempt is hairstylist Zoe McCourt. Like her friends Malory and Dana-heroines of the previous installments (Key of Light, Key of Knowledge)-Zoe has a single month and a cryptic set of clues with which to find her key. The angry sorcerer Kane fights her efforts as friends both mortal and immortal lend their support. As she searches, Zoe is courted by Bradley Vane IV, the sexy heir to a home improvement empire. She's not sure which is more difficult: accepting that she's magically linked with Brad or trying to quell her suspicions long enough to accept his love in the here and now. When she finds the courage to do both, the souls of all three goddesses are finally released. Smart but struggling single mom Zoe is an appealing heroine whose working-class grit finds a perfect foil in Brad's patrician confidence. Scenes involving her feisty son, Simon, temper the story's mysticism with humor, and the joining together of the trio as a family is genuinely moving. When it comes to combining sweetness, sexiness and the supernatural, Roberts proves once again that she is the most powerful spellbinder of all.

Plane Reading

I love riding on planes and after this trip, I think I know why. It's complete uninterrupted time for reading!

I finished four books last week.


"Love"
by Toni Morrison


Wonderful Toni Morrison novel which leaves you thinking about what Love is and what Love does to people.

Book Description: May, Christine, Heed, Junior, Vida–even L: all women obsessed with Bill Cosey. The wealthy owner of the famous Cosey’s Hotel and Resort, he shapes their yearnings for father, husband, lover, guardian, and friend, yearnings that dominate the lives of these women long after his death. Yet while he is either the void in, or the center of, their stories, he himself is driven by secret forces–a troubled past and a spellbinding woman named Celestial.


"Lost in a Good Book: A Thursday Next Novel"
by Jasper Fforde


I love this series by Jasper Fforde! This review by Publishers Weekly hits it on the nose -- Det. Thursday Next is back for another round of time traveling and bookish sleuthing after Fforde's successful debut, The Eyre Affair. Like his earlier novel, this one is set in the U.K., in an alternate version of our universe-one in which time travel is possible and the boundaries between life and literature are porous. Thursday works for Special Ops in the Literary Detectives division. She's made an enemy of the corrupt Goliath Corporation, which manufactures absolutely everything, by imprisoning one of its executives, Jack Schitt, in the pages of Poe's The Raven. In return, the corporation eradicates her new husband, Landen. Since no one really dies in this chronologically fluid universe, Landen could be restored-but Goliath won't do it until Thursday brings back Schitt. But rescuing Schitt is easier said than done-Poe's oeuvre is dangerous territory. Thursday enlists the help of Great Expectations' Miss Havisham, who works for the intra-literature police force, Jurisfiction, and the two leap into the pages of Kafka's The Trial, Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Thursday also finds time to authenticate Cardenio, a newly discovered Shakespeare tragedy, and save the world from being engulfed by an oozing pink sludge. Time flies-and leaps and zigzags-while reading this wickedly funny and clever fantasy. Would-be wordsmiths and mystery fans will find the surreal genre-buster irresistible.

And then because thrashy romance novels are great for plane reading, here are my final two books.


"A Useful Affair"
by Stella Cameron


Book Back Description: The Marquis of Granville's deadly efficiency makes him invaluable to the Crown. But his latest mission has nothing to do with his work for England and everything to do with avenging the murder of two members of his family. Killing would be too good for Bernard Leggit, the wealthy and corrupt merchant responsible for their deaths. Granville has a better plan: Seduce the old man's young wife, Hattie, then let society know about their affair. For Leggit, living with shame will be worse than death.
Hattie Leggit married her odious husband in a devil's bargain to save her parents from debtors' prison. She has a scheme for freeing herself from this private misery, but foiling Leggit is taking too long. The opportune arrival of the dashing Marquis of Granville inspires a daring new plan: Pretend to engage in a very discreet affair with Granville and make her freedom the price for not flaunting their liaison in society.


"The Sherbrooke Twins "
by Catherine Coulter


From Publishers Weekly
Those who are drawn to the humor and cozy family dynamics of Coulter's Bride series (The Sherbrooke Bride, etc.), starring the lovable Sherbrooke family, will relish this new installment, which focuses on dashing identical twins James and Jason. The twins have had their share of sexual escapades, and though they think they still have a few more years to sow their "wild oats," romance sneaks up on them. James finds himself drawn to his tomboy neighbor, Corrie, who transforms from duckling to swan for her first season in London. Meanwhile, Jason waltzes into love with the alluring and mysterious Judith McCrae. But the twins' romances are put on hold when someone tries to kill their father, Douglas. Suspicion revolves around a man named Georges Cadoudal, a French spy who died 15 years earlier. Douglas suspects that Cadoudal's children may be trying to seek revenge, but he doesn't know how to track them down. Those new to the Sherbrooke family may be baffled by the mystery surrounding Cadoudal, but they'll be thoroughly charmed by James and Corrie and the affectionate banter among the family members, though some of their gags grow old after a while. A clever surprise ending wraps up the mystery subplot neatly and will ensure that many readers return for the next entry in Coulter's Sherbrooke saga.

All in all, a great selection of plane reading!