Only 5 More Books To Go This Year!

For book #25 (25!) I read the third book in the Warriors series "Forest of Secrets" by Erin Hunter. I have really enjoyed this series, including this book, but it was hard to get through.

The Warriors series follows the stories of four cat clans living in the forest. Fireheart lives in ThunderClan after living life as a kittypet and struggles with being accepted by the others in the clan at times. He feels that the clan deputy, Tigerclaw, can't be trusted, but isn't sure if anyone would believe him. He continues to look for proof to back up his suspicions while still being a loyal clan warrior.

My difficulties with this book lie with the major changes that occur within the clan. I was in tears at one point, not believing that the story was taking the turn that it did. The end of the book left me feeling down, even though an event I had been waiting for finally happened. Now I can't wait to start on the fourth book. Hopefully, some of the sadness will be resolved in the next story.

As always, the book was well written and the characters and settings are described so clearly I could probably paint them. Although this is a children's series, it is a wonderful read for adults too!

Another Stephanie Plum Novel for Book #24

My most recent book is part of the Stephanie Plum series, written by Janet Evanovich. I was eager to read "Hot Six" and see where things went after the fifth book. As I expected, I was not disappointed.

In this installment, Stephanie Plum the bounty hunter, is given the task of looking for her mentor, Ranger. She quickly turns down the skip and it's passed on to her arch-enemy, Joyce Barnhardt. Joyce isn't the only one looking for Ranger though, in fact a lot of people are. And all of those people think Stephanie is the one to lead them to him. This is where her trouble begins.

Just to add interest to her already chaotic life, Grandma Mazur has a disagreement with Stephanie's father and moves in with her which really puts a stop to Stephanie's love life. Her love life, of course, was already a mess at the end of "High Five", but you will have to read "Hot Six" yourself to find out how that all turns out.

As always with the Stephanie Plum novels, Janet Evanovich has me laughing out loud chapter after chapter. They are smartly written and I never feel like it's a cheesy book that I'm just burning time with. The characters are well-described and I am fully invested in each and every one of them. I highly recommend the series and although you don't need to start with the first one, it's well worth your time to do so.