Friday, July 31, 2009

What I'm Reading...

The Defiant Hero is the 2nd book in Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter series. I talked last week about how much I loved The Unsung Hero. I absolutely couldn't put that book down. It was one of those that I carried with me whenever I left the house...you know, in case I was lucky enough to get stopped by a red light where I could read a page. That's how much I loved that book!

This one, not so much. It's good. But I have no trouble putting it down and only going back to it when it's convenient. Of course, now the writer in me is spending more time analyzing it as I read, trying to figure out exactly why I don't love this one as much.

Here's the cover and the blurb from Suzanne Brockmann's websit:


"The United States refuses to negotiate with terrorists." Meg Moore remembered the warning from her job as a translator in a European embassy. Those same words will spell out a death sentence for her daughter and grandmother who have been kidnapped by a lethal group called the Extremists. Meg will do anything to meet their unspeakable demands; anything -- even kill -- to save her child.

When Navy SEAL John Nilsson is summoned to Washington, D.C. by the FBI to help negotiate a hostage situation, the last person he expects to see holding a foreign ambassador at gunpoint is Meg. He hasn't seen her in years, but he's never forgotten how it feels to hold her in his arms. John could lose his career if he helps her escape. She will lose her life if he doesn't...

HERO: Lt. (j.g.) John "Nils" Nilsson, U.S. Navy SEALs
HEROINE: Meg Moore
LOCATION: Washington, D.C. and Florida

Does that ever happen to you? You love a series as a whole but there are some books within that series that you just can't get into? Can you pinpoint why you don't enjoy those books as much?

I'm working on plotting a series...I need to know!!!! LOL


Have a great weekend!
Peace and Love,
Alannah

6 comments:

mslizalou said...

I'm reading Hunted by PC Cast & Kristin Cast. It's a YA book and the latest in the House of Night series. I only started reading it last night, but am already loving it.

I have run into a book in a series that I didn't love, but still liked. I love the entire Black Dagger Brotherhood series, but never really connected with Phury's book Lover Enshrined. Maybe it's because I already knew so much about his story from the other books, but it just didn't grab me the way the other books in the series had in the past.

Silver James said...

To me, there are series and there are themes. Series depends on the same people, all interconnected and you need to be familiar with all the books to figure out what's going on. Themes may touch on previous books and characters but the reader isn't dependent on previous books to figure out who's who.

The only series I'm still reading is JD Robb's In Death/Eve Dallas books. All the others lost me because they seemed to recycle plots (even *plagerizing* previous books) and simply changing the characters names.

And now I've forgotten the question, LOL! I just finished BLACK AT HEART! My favorite of Leslie Parrish's Black CAT series, even though it was the most predictable. I also finished Toni McGee Causey's CHARMED AND DANGEROUS and I"m really looking forward to GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE GUNS, the second in the Bobby Faye series. That said, I think I'm going to start Roxanne St. Claire's Bullet Catcher series next. We'll see what falls off the bookshelf as I walk bay. LOL Have a great weekend.

Unknown said...

Liza - I'm the same way with Phury's story. In fact, I started reading the wole BDB series several weeks ago and when I got to Phury's I stopped. Hmmm...another one that I'll have to try to figure out what made that one different.

Silver - thanks for the great answer. I've read 1 or 2 of the Bullet Catcher's books and loved them. Now I'm wondering why I haven't gotten all of them. Shit. Another series to add to my to-be-gotten list! LOL

Have a great weekend, both of you!!

mslizalou said...

Alannah, I think that it is because we knew so much of his story already. His story was so connected to Zdasit's book that it was almost a re-telling of Phury's life. Plus, he never really seemed like he wanted to be happy, so I never really liked reading about him as much as the other brothers.

Silver, you will LOVE the Bullet Catcher books. Still one of my favorite series ever. I loved Black at Heart best too, but it is also the only one I figured out who the bad guy was before the book ended.

Paula R said...

Hey Alannah, great topic. I love series as a whole, but there have been some books that I didn't love as much as the others. Maybe it is more the theme thing that Silver talks about...I found those in the Born in the U.S.A. series published by Harlequin several years ago. Some of those books didn't grab me and I just didn't like the writing style of some of the authors in the series. There are some books that become too predictable, and I lose interest, but I keep plugging away. I am reading Les' new series too, and I love it. The stories are so different, but that common thread of cyber crimes, keep me wanting more...I too love the in Death series. I found those books to be different, but seamless. It was great. I love it!


Peace and love,
Paula R.

Unknown said...

I think you're right, Liza. I like Phury, but sometimes I got tired of him always being the good guy/hero. LOL You know, he was always such a martyr. (?Spelling).

Hi Paual!! I need to get to B&N this weekend and see if I can find Leslie's new book. I liked the first one and she said the 2nd has more romance so I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Thanks for dropping by today!