The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

The Sixty-Eight Rooms is a magical tale set in Chicago in the present day.  On a field trip to the Art Institute, Ruthie and Jack discover a key that allows them to shrink down and explore the Thorn Rooms.  The Thorn Rooms are miniature rooms from different times and places in history.  Ruthie and Jack are thrilled just to explore the rooms, but they are even more excited when they discover that the rooms are actually portals that allow them to travel to different times in history.  But how does it all work?  And has anybody been in them before?  Ruthie and Jack put together the clues to unlock the secrets of the Thorn Rooms.  A very fun read and excellent on audio.  Great for fans of Indian in the Cupboard or From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

 

Searching by Nora Roberts

I listened to this book and I quite enjoyed it on playaway.  It is the story of a woman who is still dealing with the scars of being almost abducted and killed by a serial killer.  He is now in jail, but someone else has decided to take the reins up where he left off.  Fiona has made a life for herself after what happened.  She teaches dog obedience classes while working as a volunteer for a canine rescue unit.  But when a new killer seems to target her, she will have to be braver than she has ever been.  Luckily, there is a new man in her life that should help her face her darkest fears.  This is a suspense novel, but also a love story between Fiona and Simon.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

A sequel to Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Death Comes to Pemberley takes place about six years after Darcy and Elizabeth wed.  Life is good for the Darcy’s and Bingley’s.  Elizabeth is busy preparing for the annual ball given at Pemberley when her sister Lydia shows up, hysterical, claiming that her husband is dead.  Darcy goes out with Colonel Fitzwilliam and a few others to see what happened.  In Pemberley woods, they find Wickham covered in blood over his dead friend,  Captain Denny.  It appears as though Wickham is a murderer.  Darcy must step in once again to try and help though he holds no regard for Wickham.  This is the story of the investigation and trial of Wickham and the toll it takes on the Darcy’s.  A well crafted sequel that keeps to the same spirit of Austen’s original tale.

Plugged by Eoin Colfer

The first adult fiction book by popular children’s author Colfer, Plugged is a gritty mystery with an odd mishmash of characters.  Daniel McEvoy was once in the army, but now works as a doorman in a strip club.  He is going bald, feels his age, and is good with a knife.  When people start dropping dead all around him, it is up to him to put the pieces together and hopefully not get killed.  While I felt this book had a slow start, it definitely offers up plenty of action later on.  McEvoy is a likable character who we learn more about through his inner musings.  He is at heart a hero, but it doesn’t always come across that way.  The narrator of the audiobook did a great job with the accents ranging from Dublin Irish to Southern debutante.  A gripping book.

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George

In this sequel to Princess of the Midnight Ball, we get to hear the story of Poppy who we met in the previous book.  Three years have passed since Poppy and her sisters defeated the King Under Stone and stopped having to dance nightly with his sons.  Now, Poppy is visiting her cousin and hoping to have a nice time meeting new people.  But everyone is amazed that she won’t dance and there are rumors that she and her sisters can do magic.  Poppy still manages to find some good friends, but when another curse threatens to ruin those friendships, she knows she will have to unravel another curse.  This time, it is based on the tale of Cinderella, but Poppy is not Cinderella.  It is a wonderful tale.  George is an exceptionally good writer and manages to make fairy tale retellings come to life.

The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal

This book got great reviews and I was anxious to listen to it.  The audio was read by Mandy Williams who is a phenomenal narrator.  When I red Entwined, it was her narration that kept me listening to the book, not the actual story.  In this story, we meet Sinda, who at 16, discovers that she is not real the royal princess, but was used as a place holder to keep the princess safe after a horrible prophecy is read.  Sinda has always believed she will one day be the ruled of Thorvaldor, but now must cope with life as a commoner.  First she is sent to live with her aunt, a dyer, but she is incapable of doing the mundane tasks commoner’s must.  However, she discovers that she has magic and decides to go back to the capital to get training.  She ends up in the house of an eccentric wizard and starts to learn about her magic.  But trickery is afoot and Sinda uncovers a dastardly plot that she knows she must put a stop to.

In the midst of this upheaval, is her bff Kiernan, who is an Earl’s son.  She thinks he will no longer want to be friends with her because she is now a commoner, but she couldn’t be more wrong.  And with his help, she will unmask a traitor to the throne and save Thorvaldor.  A thrilling tale with lots of twists and turns.

The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

After listening to a Thursday Next book, I thought I would try one of the Nursery Crimes novels.  I had picked one up before but didn’t care for it.  The audio, however, I loved.  In this one, Jack Spratt, head of the Nursery Crime Division, is investigating a missing persons case.  The missing person?  Goldilocks.  With bears and porridge rations and a crazy theme park, this book has it all.  Add in the Gingerbread Man who is a serial killer escaping from an insane asylum and going on a mad rampage, and you have a rip roaring (yesp, I said rip-roaring) good read.  I really enjoyed this book and plan to listen to others in the series.  A very funny interesting mystery.

The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron

 

This audio book was very well one.  IT tells the tale of Eli Monpress who happens to be a magician and a thief.  He decided to kidnap a king in order to raise the ransom on his head.  Sounds crazy, but Eli’s plans make perfect sense to him.  Enter another magician who is determined to capture Eli in a country that hates magic users and you have a recipe for disaster.  But when a sinister magician rears his head, Eli and Miranda must band together to stop him before he destroys an entire country.  A clever delightful read.

Spousonomics by Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson

 

A very clever book that uses the principles of economics to look at why marriages succeed or fail.  It reminded me a bit of Freakonomics, but with an emphasis on marriage.  I was quite amused by some of the anecdotes and appreciated the rational approach to relationships.  A clever, fun read.

Entwined by Heather Dixon

  I listened to Entwined on audio as I traveled to and from work.  It took me a long time to get into it, but I did enjoy the final few discs tremendously.  It is a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses.  It is a unique telling, but I felt as though Azalea, the eldest princess, is a bit self involved.  I never really liked her.  She chose to do things because she wanted to and for no other reason.  While I enjoyed the twist on the traditional story, I felt like the characters were very flat.  I would rate this book a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I would not recommend it, but it had enough good parts to make it not a complete waste of time.