Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Wednesday Reads & News (Good and Not so Good)

First the GOOD news. J Even with still 2500 words to chop (well, maybe 2400, I’m still chopping), my editor is willing to read BITE ME!! Yay! J I’m saving the not so good news for the end.

Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Jul 24: “Seeing Ghosts” by James Garcia, Jr. This is a paranormal/horror book. Blurb from Goodreads: Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with - alone for the week in the expansive two-story house that he will soon discover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world - his sanity. I enjoyed this story. Some scenes were a little slow, but for the most part, it was a good creepy ghost story. Parts of it kind of reminded me of Joe Hill’s “Heart Shaped Box” (a book I also enjoyed). I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Jul 26: “Stolen” by Allison Brennan. This is a suspense (with some romantic elements), the sixth book of the Lucy Kincaid series. Blurb on back: Nothing is more important to private investigator Sean Rogan than his relationship with FBI trainee Lucy Kincaid. But when his past catches up with him, Sean faces an ultimatum: clear his name and help the FBI take down a rogue agent, or go to prison and lose everything he holds dear. With only Agent Noah Armstrong as his back-up and forced to keep Lucy in the dark, Sean steps back into his old world. But the longer he’s undercover, the more dangerous the game becomes. More than Sean’s future with Lucy is at stake--so is his life. Lucy can’t imagine Sean would keep secrets from her--until an FBI agent casts doubt about who he really is…and who he used to be. Why did Sean quit his job with his brother and move to New York? Why hasn’t he told her anything about his new job? With more questions than answers, Lucy doesn’t know who to believe or who she can trust. All she knows is that Sean is in grave danger, and this time, it’s personal. I zipped through this book (actually read it in two days); it was so hard to put down. I love this series and learned more about Sean (and his family). A great suspenseful read! I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Now for the not so good news. L You know I love riding the bike trails, but apparently they aren’t always safe. On Monday, my daughter and her friend were walking on a bike trail (doing some geocaching) and were robbed at gun point. Luckily the only things the thugs took were their iPhones. When I first heard about the incident, I blamed it on geocaching -- I mean, anyone could lurk around a spot and wait for some unsuspecting person -- but these were kids who had just stolen some bikes and my daughter and her friend just happened to pass them on the path. A scary event in any case. I’m just so glad they’re okay!! It could have been so much worse.

Happy reading, and take care!

 

Stacy

 

19 comments:

Maria Zannini said...

I'm glad your daughter and her friend are all right. That's horribly scary.

But you bring up something about geocaching that makes for a good warning. You never know.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Ack! Stuff like that terrifies me - what with my daughter being so far away and in a city. :shudder: I'm glad they're okay. Did the police catch the guys?

Yay for the good news, though. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

JeffO said...

Wow, I'm glad they're okay. People shouldn't have to be afraid when walking on trails.

Anne Gallagher said...

Oh god, that is so scary. I'm glad the girls are okay.

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Whoa! That's scary! So glad your daughter and her friend are OK. Glad to hear Bite Me will gat a read, too!

Crystal Collier said...

Yikes! Glad your daughter and friend came away safe. I used to worry about stuff like that while living in NYC, but apparently people leave you alone there when you're dragging along little kids. *shrugs*

Stacy McKitrick said...

Maria - Unfortunately, I always think the worst. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes, not so good!

B.E. - No, they didn't catch the guys. My daughter and her friend will be giving a description to a sketch artist.

Jeff - I'll certainly be paying more attention while I'm on the bike path (not that I was lax before).

Anne - Yes, that is the important thing.

Jennette - It's hard to be happy about the read, but I can't let the bad stuff take over, right?

Crystal - First, thanks for visiting! It's funny, but of the few times I've visited NYC, I've never felt threatened. Not even in the subway! Probably because there were so many people around.

Jen B said...

Oh no - so sorry to hear about that. Hope everyone is okay, that is really scary.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Jen - They're shaken up, which is understandable. My daughter is tough, though. She'll get through this okay.

Mark said...

Glad everyone is okay. Editing can be tough, but your kids matter way more...I say this as a new dad with a 7 month old. Darn that geocaching;)

The Happy Whisk said...

Oh my goodness. I am happy to hear they are okay. That is terrible.

LD Masterson said...

Yikes. I'm glad they're all right.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Mark - It's been nearly 28 years since I've had a 7 month old, but I know what you mean!

Ivy - It's terrible that people can be so cruel, but it happens, huh?

LD - Me too!!

Kristi said...

Oh no! So sorry to hear about your daughter...that's horrible. Just glad she and her friend are okay. Very scary!

And congrats on the editor read! Weeeeeee! ;-)

The Happy Whisk said...

Yeah, agreed.

Michael Seese said...

Regarding the cover of "Seeing Ghosts" ...

I've never been to Kansas. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that when I do go, I'm not going to see that in a corn field.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Michael - Ah, but can you see ghosts? Maybe THAT'S the difference!

FYI: Seeing Ghosts isn't set in Kansas, it's set in California. :)

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