Ascendant Sun - Catherine Asaro

Ascendant Sun is science fiction based in a far future parallel universe where the human race has split into at least three separate factions. One of those factions is the Skolian Empire. This book follows the story of one Skolian, Kelric, and his efforts to make it through enemy space to safety after the collapse of the empire. To make it more interesting the collapse occurred while Kelric was in captivity for 18 years and presumed dead. The Skolian Empire is a series I plan to explore in more detail. Highly recommended.

Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse is the third in a series of novels by Meyer. The first two are Twilight and New Moon. There's a fourth book coming out in August called Breaking Dawn. What I really like about these stories is that even though they're about teenage love, vampires, and werewolves, they're appropriate for actual teens to read. No sex and no bad language. It's a real pleasure to read an excellent story that I can pass along to my grandkids.

Eclipse provides some new information about werewolves and vampires. There's plenty of action and some old enemies make their appearance. However this novel is still focused on the love story between Bella and Edward, and Jacob! Highly recommended.

In Odd We Trust - Dean Koontz & Queenie Chan

In Odd We Trust is a graphic novel. The story was good, although I found it hard to follow the thread from panel to panel. The illustrations were excellent. I'm just not a fan of graphic novels.

In Odd We Trust is a prequel to the first Odd Thomas novel, which was titled Odd Thomas. If you haven't read any of these excellent books by Koontz start with Odd Thomas the novel, then read In Odd We Trust, then move on to the other books in the series. If you have a shred of imagination you won't be disappointed. Highly recommended.

Rules of Deception - Christopher Reich

This is a book you can't put down until the last page. There are twists inside twists and there's plenty of action. The line between good guys and bad guys blurs and seems to disappear at times. At first it seemed the author was almost weaving too many threads into the story, but they eventually merge into a great ending. Very highly recommended.

Ceremony in Death - J.D. Robb

Another Eve Dallas novel. If you're paying attention, I'm reading these in no particular order since I started in the middle. This is the story where Jamie is introduced. I've run across him in a couple of other novels. I'm going to make a point of reading the first story in the series where Eve meets Roarke -- Naked in Death. I've missed that one so far. As always this is a story that captures your interest from start to finish. Witches and human sacrifice make for an interesting plot. Highly recommended.

The Broken Window - Jeffery Deaver

This is the latest Lincoln Rhyme novel. As always he's pitted against an impressive villain. If you were ever worried about identity theft this book could push you over into the paranoid category. It's got plenty of cliff hangers and there's one cop who doesn't survive. To make it even more interesting, the watchmaker from Cold Moon is nibbling at the edges of Lincoln's attention. Very highly recommended.

Blood Noir - Laurell K. Hamilton

This is a new Anita Blake novel. Rated X. Hamilton still draws me in with the vampires and weres, but she has Anita over think everything she does in her relationships. It's very frustrating. It's exactly the way you'd expect a woman to think. It's not the way I'd expect an editor to tighten up a story. I really enjoy the action parts of the story, but could do with less sex and introspection. Maybe I'll start looking for Hamilton's books in Reader's Digest Condensed format. Recommended.

The Reapers - John Connolly

The Reapers is a thriller that covers some interesting moral ground. The protagonists are assassins. The people they're pitted against are worse assassins. The line between good bad guys and bad bad guys is sometimes hard to define. There's plenty of action and lots of interesting characters. I've yet to read a Connolly novel I haven't liked. Highly recommended.

Deep Black: Biowar - Stephen Coonts & Jim DeFelice ...

This is the second Deep Black novel I've read by Coonts. If you're into high tech gadgets and lots of action this is a book you'll like. It did tend to jump around from one location to another quite a bit. I prefer books with one or two threads to follow rather then four. I enjoyed the book though, and I intend to read more Deep Black novels. Highly recommended.

The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death - Laurie Notaro

This is another laugh out loud book. I got strange looks last night while I was reading at the Chinese Buffet. It seemed a little slow to start, but I suspect that's because the author has no kids and is female while I have 4 kids, 10 grandkids, and I'm male. She missed out on most of what's humorous (in hindsight) in my life :) I'm going to be reading a few more of Notaro's books. Highly recommended.

Compulsion - Jonathan Kellerman

This is another Alex Delaware novel. It has the same cast of supporting characters as usual and the bad guys are particularly bad this time. Alex and Milo make an interesting pair. I really enjoyed this book if it just wasn't so hard to put down. Read or sleep? Life is full of choices :) Highly recommended.

Term Limits - Vince Flynn

This is a political action thriller that I found most satisfying. Mainly because some fat cat politicians had their terms limited -- permanently. The premise of the novel is intriguing and the suspense is tight. More than once I couldn't figure out what Flynn was going to do with all those pages still to be turned, but he always found a way to keep me turning them. Highly recommended.