Playing With Fire by Tess Gerritsen

I was provided an advanced reader copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher, in turn for an honest review.  Many of you may have heard of Tess Gerritsen  because of her "Rizzoli and Isles" series.  This book was not from that series but just as good; in fact I have never read a book with a plot similar to this one. 

Violinist Julia Ansdell is traveling in Italy when she happens upon a handwritten piece of street music in a music book she bought.  It is like nothing she has ever seen or played before; when she plays it she is entranced.   She finds though that when she plays it her daughter acts strangely, seeming to do almost evil things.  She researches the origins of the music, as well as taking her daughter to doctor after doctor, but everyone seems to think Julia is the crazy one.  Her research takes her back to Italy.  Shortly after she arrives there she finds people seem to want her dead.  But why?

Finally a stitchy post!

Sorry it has taken me so long..I keep getting engrossed in books and my stitching gets laid aside. :( I am trying to make a better effort to fit some stitching in each day, even if it's just on my lunch break. So here is my progress on the tavern as of today. I will probably work on it some more after I finish this post. 

My mom and dad were here to visit this past weekend.  We had a great time as always, and it 

went by much too fast, as always.   We had originally planned to go to Wilmington, but due to circumstances beyond our control, our plan was foiled.  We still had fun though-went out for breakfast and walked around downtown here in town, went to the mall for a bit, then just relaxed at home and had a nice dinner.  The next day we went to church then did a little more shopping after eating some lunch.  DD and I have birthdays coming up so they bought us some presents, then we headed home and rested our feet.

 I have taken a short break from Netgalley and am reading a book actually from my bookshelf that I haven't read yet; Echo Park by Michael Connelly.  It's pretty good so far.  Fortunately it has been a little easier to put down than some of the others I've read recently, so I actually get a little stitching done.  We'll see if it lasts..

Mrs. John Doe by Tom Savage

I'm sorry, I know I have been having a lot of book reviews lately and not a lot of stitching. I  just keep finding all these great books to read and get so engrossed I just want to keep reading.  Then I don't get any stitching done. Is anyone else like that?

This book was brilliant.  I had never read any books by Tom Savage before I read this one.  I was not disappointed.  I was provided an advanced reader copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in turn for an honest review.  This book was like none I have read so far.  I hesitate to even write a summary as I don't want to give too much away.  Nora Baron is called to England to identify the remains of her husband, who has died in an accident.  After doing so she is prepared to take his remains and go home, when someone tries to take her purse- someone she saw watching her on her flight over to England.  From there ensues an action-packed story with many twists and turns; I wished I had had a block of time to just sit and read the whole thing at once.  I definitely will be reading more of Tom Savage's books. This was an excellent story.

Cluttered Attic Secrets by Jan Christensen

I was provided an advanced reader copy of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.  It was a fun story and I was surprised by how the story panned out, which is a good thing. It is about a woman named Tina, grown but still living with her mother and uncle.  She is a professional organizer but evidently used to be a psychiatrist or psychologist. This comes out later in the story; I'm sure if I had read the series from the beginning it would have been spelled out. One night she is called by her best friend Leslie.  Leslie lives in an old Victorian house that has been left to her by her aunt.  It has been in the family for many, many years and has generations of stuff in the attic.  Although her aunt was a neat and organized person by nature, the attic is a disorganized mess.  Leslie decides to start going through it and hears unusual sounds, and thinks she sees an apparition of some sort. Leslie calls Tina to ask her to come help her and also help investigate as she is a bit afraid.  Then a man turns up murdered in the side yard of her house. The story goes from there, Tina and Lisa doing some investigating on their own, and eventually calling in the police.

This book is a part of a series and was the first one I read. I'm still on the fence if I will read another. I understand I read an advanced copy of the book, but there were many typos and at times the characters changed names, as well as other mistakes. I am curious if the other books are the same.  The main character, Tina, also kind of got on my nerves, though I can't put my finger on why.  Would I recommend it to someone? I'm not sure.  I see others have given it four and five star reviews, so others obviously liked it more than I did.  Overall not a bad book; I think if I liked "Tina" better I would maybe read another in the series.