Choices of One, by Timothy Zahn

Rating: 4/5
433 pages
2011
Publisher: Del Rey
Source: Library ebook

Description: Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion is in desperate need of a new base. So when Governor Ferrouz of Candoras Sector proposes an alliance, offering the Rebels sanctuary in return for protection against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are sent to evaluate the deal.

Mara Jade, the Emperor’s Hand, is also heading for Candoras, along with the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Their mission: to punish Ferrouz’s treason and smash the Rebels for good.

But in this treacherous game of betrayals within betrayals, a wild card is waiting to be played. (from Goodreads)

Dark Lover, by J.R. Ward

Rating: 4/5
393 pages
2005
Publisher: Signet
Source: library ebook

Description: In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams. (from Goodreads)

Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition, by Timothy Zahn

Rating: 4.5/5
403 pages
1991
Publisher: Bantam
Source: Library ebook

Description: Five years after the Death Star was destroyed and Darth Vader and the Emperor were defeated, the galaxy is struggling to heal the wounds of war, Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting twins, and Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of new Jedi Knights.

But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor’s warlords—the brilliant and deadly Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to create.

The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale—in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars. (from Goodreads)

Trapped Under the Sea, by Neil Swidey

Rating: 5/5
407 pages
2014
Publisher: Crown
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers

My copy is an uncorrected proof.

Description: In the 1990s, Boston built a sophisticated waste treatment plant on Deer Island that was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. The state had been dumping barely treated sewage into the waterfor so long that Boston had had America's filthiest harbor, with a layer of "black mayonnaise" coating the sea floor. Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals referred to floating tampon applicators as "beach whistles." But before the dumping could stop, a team of divers had to make a perilous journey to the end of a 10-mile-tunnel, devoid of light and air, to complete the construction. Five went in, but not all of them came out. (from the backcover)

The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham

Rating: 4/5
272 pages
1951
Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: Borrowed from family

Description: Tired of watching humanity struggle for survival against hordes of vampires or zombies? How about predatory plants for a change?

After a strange event leaves most of the world's population blind. Humanity's struggle to survive is complicated by the Triffids, a species of mobile carnivorous plants.

Betrayal, by Julian Stockwin

Rating: 3/5
344 pages
2013
Publisher: McBooks Press
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Description: Cape Colony is proving a tiresome assignment for Thomas Kydd’s daring commander-in-chief Commodore Popham: South America’s Spanish colonies are in a ferment of popular unrest. Rumors of a treasure hoard of Spanish silver spur him to assemble a makeshift invasion fleet and launch a bold attack on the capital of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate in Buenos Aires. Navigating the treacherous bars and mud flats of the river, the British invasion force wins a battle against improbable odds, taking the capital and the silver. But the uprising that promises the end of Spanish rule never arrives and the locals begin to see dark conspiracies behind the invader’s actions. Now Kydd’s men must face resistance and the betrayal of their closest allies. Can they save themselves and their prize? (From Goodreads)

The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi

Rating: 3/5
394 pages
2007
Publisher: Tor
Source: Barnes&Noble.com

Description: A human diplomat kills his alien counterpart. Earth is on the verge of war with a vastly superior alien race. A lone man races against time and a host of enemies to find the one object that can save our planet and our people from alien enslavement... a sheep. 

Yes, you read that right. Welcome to The Android's Dream.

For Harry Creek, it's a nightmare. All he wants is to do his uncomplicated mid-level diplomatic job with Earth's State Department. But his skills and past training get him tapped to save the planet - and to protect pet store owner Robin Baker, whose own past holds the key to the whereabouts of that lost sheep. Doing both will take him from lava-strewn battlefields to alien halls of power. 

All in a day's work. Maybe it's time for a raise. (From the back cover)

An Embarrassment of Riches, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Rating: 3.5/5
Publisher: Tor
383 pages
2011
Source: My collection

Description: Caught up in politics, Rakoczy Ferancsi, finds himself a virtual prisoner in thirteenth century Bohemia. Forced to make jewels for the local ruler and trying to hide his true nature, he gets caught in a web of court politics and blackmail which he can't escape from without risking the lives of those he's responsible for.

The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Rating: 4/5
Publisher:
401 pages
2009
Source: Barnes & Noble

Description: A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing.

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late. (from the dust jacket)

Borne in Blood, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Tor
367 pages
2007
Source: My collection

Description: The year is 1817.  In Switzerland, the Count Saint-Germain leads a comfortable life with his paramour Hero whose husband died fighting Napoleon. Saint-Germain's loving kindness cannot keep Hero from missing her children who are being raised by their hard-hearted grandfather. 

The Count has become intrigued by the work of an Austrian noble investigating the properties of blood, a subject always of key interest to a vampire.  But when the noble's beautiful ward fixates sexually on the Count, the vampire fears for himself and his gentle lover. (From GoodReads)

Roman Dusk, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Rating: 2.5/5
Publisher: Tor
344 pages
2006
Source: My collection

Description: Rome is crumbling. The child-emperor, Heliogabalus, diverts the Roman populace with parties, circuses, and celebrations, while his mother and grandmother jockey for power behind the scenes. The government is riddled with scandal and no business is conducted without bribes which grow ever larger. Religions joust for prominence, with factions of Christians seeking to overthrow the ancient Roman pantheon. Courtesans, once honored for their skills and protected by special guards, have become targets of opprobrium. (From the dust jacket.)

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics (My copy. Its in the public domain.)
444 pages
1897
Source: Barnes & Noble

Description: A young solicitor named Johnathan Harker goes to the Carpathians to finalize a real estate deal with Count Dracula. He soon realizes Dracula is a vampire and must help defeat him.

Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann

Rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: Flying Dolphin Press
341 Pages
2005
Source: Library

Description: A sheep detective story. What more needs saying?

Scoundrels, by Timothy Zahn

Rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: Del Rey books
393 pages
2013
Source: Library

Description: Ever wondered what would happen if you took an episode of Leverage, and set it in the Star Wars universe?

Review:This book was a lot of fun to read.

Unfinished books of 2012

I read a lot of books, but I don't finish everything. They aren't all bad books, some just don't click with me and I decide to move on. Sometimes I still have thoughts on them.

Sweet Valley Confidential, by Francine Pascal

Source: Borrowed from library
Rating: 0.5/5
2011
Reason for reading: I was looking for a fun, cheesy read after finishing House of Leaves and Battle Royale back-to-back.

Description: Hooking up with your twin's long time boyfriend causes family rifts. Who knew?


I read the Sweet Valley High series growing up and I was expecting more of the same. Maybe, if I took down the nostalgia filters, I got more of the same. My expected fun, cheesy entertainment turned out to be moldy Limburger.

After about 100 pages, what finally got me to give up was the ice.

I don't drink, and I don't hang out in bars or clubs, yet I was thrown out of the story when someone requested ice in their white wine and the person offering the drink didn't  find this strange. After I was thrown out of the story again when a bartender asked if someone wanted a dirty martini, "on the rocks," I didn't go back.

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith

Source: Borrowed from library
Rating: N/A
2000
Reason for reading: A random number generator assigned me this book for a group reading project.

Description: Middle-aged man hooks up with teenager, and it actually doesn't come off as creepy. Then we follow his family and the family of his good friend.


This is not a bad book, it just didn't work for me.

The main reason it didn't work for me was, whenever Archie came on the page, Beck's "Loser" started running through my head, and I really hate that song.
 

 Skarlet, by Thomas Emson

Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewers program
Rating: 2/5
2012
Reason for reading: I liked The Passage and The Strain.

Description: Drug dealer passes out drug that turns people into vampires. They run amok in London. 

This was an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC), so maybe the "queasy bladder" and the "sagging bladder" will be gone by the finished version. But the unlikable heroes, the plot holes, and the villains who where creepy, but in the wrong way for a horror book, will probably all make it.

The two stars is probably generous, but it might have redeemed itself in the final third of the book.