Audio Book Review - Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong

How did I come into possession of this book?
I had listened to the previous book, Waking the Witch, without realizing that that book was part of a much longer series of books.  I really enjoyed it and was always on the lookout for another of her books on audio at the library.  I eventually found and listened to Living With the Dead and realized that some of the characters were the same from the other book and that a little previous knowledge might’ve helped to pick up on who and what some of these characters were.  I’ve since looked into this series of her books and realized you don’t really need to read all of them in order, but it might help with some things. After looking into these books I did find out that Spellbound came after Waking the Witch, and since I knew the ending of that book and most of the characters I decided to borrow the audio version of Spellbound from the library.

What is it about?
The story starts with a young witch who seems to have just lost all her powers in order to save a young girl from becoming an orphan.  Actually that’s the way the previous book ended but that is where the story picks up.  Suddenly she realizes she is being targeted what she thinks to be a witch hunter or possibly another supernatural.  Many supernatural characters come to light as they all try to get together to figure out what is going on in their world.

What did I think?
I really liked Waking the Witch, but this one left me uninspired.  Part of it might be because I don’t know all the characters from the previous books and therefore don’t care about them very much.  I also tend to like fantasy books that also involve reality.  Waking the Witch dealt with a lot of non-supernaturals but this book only dealt with those in the “Otherworld” and it got a little too out there for me.  I also felt like plot lines went in circles and not much was resolved or even happened.  I guess this will be resolved in her next book, but none of the plot lines were compelling enough to make me want to read any more about these characters.  I’m sad this book left me disappointed because I do think Armstrong is a good author but she just didn’t hit the mark with this one.

Who would I recommend it to?
I think I could only recommend this book to hardcore Kelley Armstrong fans that have read many of her ‘Otherworld’ books and feel very connected to many of the characters.  The only other way I would recommend this is if the next book in the series turns out to be great and the information in this book is necessary to things that happen in that book.  But I won’t be able to make my judgment on that, yet (I guess I just set myself up to read it)!

Book Review - The Black Ice by Michael Connelly

How did I come into possession of this book?
I think I got this book at the amazing free book exchange (oh how I miss you!).  I listened to his book The Scarecrow about a year ago and enjoyed it for a thriller type of book.  I figured this one would make a good airplane/traveling book and when I was flying back and forth from KY with my new job I decided it was one of the perfect books to bring along with me.

What is it about?
This is a somewhat typical thriller/police book.  Actually I'm not sure what I mean by that, but there were some things about it that seemed very typical to me.  A police officer is found dead and it is assumed to be a suicide, however one of the other members of the police force is having a hard time believing that.  He takes on some of the cases that were left and starts uncovering things to help his suspicion that it wasn't a suicide.  The story takes places in LA as well as just over the border in Mexico as he is trying to find all the answers.

What did I think?
I don't think I enjoyed this book as much as the last one I read by him.  The first half I kept wondering where things were going and the book seemed to move slow.  The last half all the way to the end got pretty interesting, but there were still some down moments where I felt like the story slowed or even came to a stop.  You also aren't sure for most of the book who is a good guy and who is a bad guy which is nice for some mystery but I felt like there was a little too much of that and after a while it just got annoying.

Who would I recommend it to?
Before I recommend this book I would first recommend reading The Scarecrow (or possibly one of his other books).  And if you have read that, and liked it, I would recommend reading this one.  I'm also not sure if because I listened to The Scarecrow I liked it more, so maybe try out this book on audio if you can find it.  If this were the first book I read by him I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but since I know he can do better I say give one of his other books a chance first.

The Grand Lexington Dog Park Tour, Stop 1

A new city with a dog means we get to explore all the fun canine places as well as the fun human places.  The bay area had many dog parks some were amazing (Point Isabel, Fort Funston) and some were a fenced in area next to or under an over pass and not so amazing (Linda park, Hardy park).  Lexington has 4 dog parks (that I know of, please tell me if there are others I'm leaving out!) I'm going to give you an overview of each one over the next few weeks.

Sign at the entrance

The first stop is Masterson Station Dog Park.  This is the largest park at 15 acres.  It is split into 2 different fenced off areas.  One side (the on to the left) seems to have more trees and most of the bigger dogs were playing in there so that's the side we went to.

Angel says "The grass tastes good here!"

There are lots of trees and the park is situated on a hill so it has a nice view of the rest of Masterson Station park.  It also doesn't seem to get too muddy which is great for owners of dogs who like to eat or roll in the mud.  The only downside to this park is that often there is a lack of dogs, maybe its just because it was winter but we went here twice and only saw one dog.  The third time we went the weather was nicer and there were probably about 10 dogs.  We have since been there a couple more times and there have been at least 10 dogs for Angel to play with!

Nice trees and nice grass

We like this park for the views/setting and the lack of mud, sadly it is on the opposite side of town from us so it isn't our go-to park.  But for anyone on the North/East side of town or if you willing to drive a bit further definitely check out this place!

I guess it might've been a little cold, RoB doesn't usually wear pants and a hoodie.