I could stop this review with a single word. Wow. 

Emma and Dexter hook up their last night at university knowing that Dexter is going off to travel the world for a year or two imminently  Unexpectedly to both of them they remain friends, even becoming close confidants. The book checks in with them on that same day over 20 years. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes not. Sometimes one is doing well, sometimes the other. Life happens. Going into a book like this you know they will have their When Harry Met Sally moment, but it was still an enjoyable ride.

What I particularly liked about this book is that the characters grow and change. I actually wasn't sure I would enjoy it too much in the beginning as I didn't particularly want to spent a whole book with their 22 year old selves. However, the struggles and changes they went through rang true to me, particularly some of the angst in Emma's early thirties era. Shocking eh?

Long Story Short: This is a story about relationships. Don't expect to many action scenes, but do expect emotional high drama. A quick and enjoyable read.

News flash: processed food is bad for you. Ok, now that the shock and surprise is over we can talk about the book. Salt, sugar, fat is not a diet book or a lifestyle book. It is investigative journalism looking into the history of the processed food industry. It discusses each element in detail, how they are used in processed food, and how they affect consumers. It also discussed how the industry uses advertising to capture and manipulate us.

An interesting factoid... people have something called a "bliss point" with sugar. Adding more and more sugar to food makes it taste better up to a certain point, but then makes it taste worse. The inflection point is known as the bliss point. There is no such point for fat. You can keep adding more and more fat to a book and as long as it is not visually greasy or oily, people like it more and more. But when you mix them, the bliss point changes - the more fat you add, the more sugar you like! Take that waistline.

Another example, sales of crackers and cookies were going down due to consumers concern about uncontrollable snacking. People don't want to go down the cookie aisle because then you might buy a package of oreos, and once you have the oreos, you will eat them. All of them. So, the industry developed those 100 calorie packs of popular sweets like oreos to invite people back down the cookie aisle. The crazy thing is that people didn't just start buying the 100 calorie packs, they started buying more full fat cookies as well as other crackers and things in the same grocery aisle.

Long Story Short: A really fascinating read if you are interested in food, science, and manipulation. I promise it will change the way you listen to tv commercials and review the ingredients list on packages.

Stone Maidens is in my lady detective genre. The main character, Prusik, is a forensic anthropologist ala Bones. Prusik is investigating a case where a serial killer is leaving stones in the bodies of the women that he kills a ritual similar to a tribe she had studied (and been traumatized by) in school.

I give it a resounding "Eh". I was surprised to learn that this book was published recently. it reads much more like a detective story from the early 90s. While Prusik is supposed to have skills as an anthropologist, the discoveries in the case are made due to her intuitive profiling of the suspect. Go watch some early X-Files episodes for reference.  Prusik's character is social awkward and has a romance with the investigating police officer, again ala Bones, but doesn't manage to be charmingly awkward. I didn't actively cheer for her demise, but I also didn't really identify with her.

But, the mystery is about as good as you can expect from this genre for $0.99 (thanks, Kindle) and it filled some time recently hanging out in the airport. 

Long Story Short: Go in with low expectations, don't pay more that 99 cents, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Confession. I bought this book because I really liked the cover of the third book in the series. Maybe not the best reason for buying a book (I believe there is a proverb on this subject), but props to whoever does the cover art.

A Quest of Heros is a young adult, epic fantasy novel about a 14 year old boy, Thorgrin. I would say it is closer to children's literature than young adult. While there is some boy/girl smooching in this novel, the overall themes are less complex than your average Captain Underpants book.

However, in the way of books always intended to be long series, the story really begins an the end of this novel. Up to the last couple of chapters is really just character development. It is smoothly written and Thorgrin angst about proving himself, beating his brothers, and talking to girls probably resonates better with the appropriate age range. 

Long Story Short: Young adult book for very young adults, doesn't cross genres to be enjoyable by actual adults. 

I really wanted to love this novel. There are few things more beautiful in this world than a field of poppy flowers and just evoking that image made me want to buy it. The story follows a ship from America to India and then China during the 19th century opium wars, which I had just learned about in one of my Coursera classes. If you were wondering what lengths the British would go to for tea, wow.

I should have been suspicious when the critical reviews were glowing that this book would be a bit to sophisticated for me. According to my kindle I made it about 1/3 of the way through the novel before I (figuratively) threw it across the room. The main barriers for me were 1) the pace and 2) the fact that a large majority of the book is conversations in a ship board pidgin language that was deliberately not entirely understandable. I know its the cool thing to make up a new language for your story ala Klingon or Na'vi, but you're still supposed to provide subtitles for us slow language learners. 

Long Story Short: If you like critically acclaimed movies, give it a try. If you're more of a B movie type, maybe not.

Another entry into the lady detective genre, Guilt by Degrees follows District Attorney Rachel Knight through a murder investigation in Los Angeles. A lawyer with a big heart and steel tits, Knight takes over a case of a homeless man killed on the street. She needs to identify who the victim is and why he was killed and the story turns out to be much more complicated than initially assumed.

The book had a little bit of a multiple personality disorder going on. Its one part noir, which has certainly been well done in LA, but sitting at my table staring at the snow falling its hard to empathize with the cold winter imagery in LA. I used to live there. Just buy a jacket. Its also one part product placement. Knight is a foodie and there are detailed descriptions of the restaurants she frequents and the foods she eats. It didn't feel like ra-ra chearleading in the vein of Janet Evanovich's Trenton callouts in the Stephanie Plums Series (mmm Taskykake) or your average country song. Instead it was more like seeing the microsoft tablet in Suburgatory. Then there was Knight's relationship with a cop which is being sabataged by her early life traumas. Oh yeah, and a murder mystery. Which felt a little secondary .. or quaternary.

Long Story Short: A little slow, could have used a editor, but entertaining enough especially if you are an LA local. 

Before I Go to Sleep is essentially Memento for women. The gore quotient is much lower but the main character is still plagued by the feeling that something is not right beyond the fact that she loses her memory every time she falls asleep. Tattooing apparently doesn't occur to her, so she tries keeping a journal instead and that journal tells her not to trust her husband. So now what?

I found the book suspenseful and engaging. But .. there were some very obvious plot holes, some very convenient coincidences, and the twist you know is coming is exactly what you suspect it to be.

Long Story Short: Like any good roller coaster, you know where you're going to end up, so just enjoy the ride.

Everyone knows that the used Australia as a prison colony in the late 18th century / early 19th century. What I didn't know was that people were imprisoned in France in the 1600s for being poor. Debtors prison perhaps? But then imprisoned single women were shipped to Canada to be married to men who had moved there for the fur trade, etc.

The historical facts are really the selling points of Bride of New France. The story follows the life of Laure from her childhood in the prison being used as essentially slave labor for the production of lace. When she gets on the bad side of a prison administrator, Laure is sent to Canada, but this doesn't occur until more than half way through the novel. Laure is a survivor, so once she arrives she must figure out ways to survive under vastly different conditions than she had in France. She doesn't waste her time with existential questions like is she better off.

The story is very much a character study of what the experience must have been like through the eyes of a woman with reasonably modern sensibilities. 

Long Story Short: An interesting read if not a dramatic page turner.

More brain candy for you today. Mind over Monsters is basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with the X-Files if Buffy didn't find out about her secret identity until she was in her late twenties. Or maybe if Mulder had a better high kick.

The story begins with the main character Bea revealing her secret powers of telekenetics by saving a boy from being run over. She is recruited to a secret department of the FBI called FREAKS (Federal Response to Extra-sensory And Kindred Supernaturals) that deals with crimes and mishaps related to vampires and zombies and werewolfs and whatever other creatures pop up that aren't supposed to exist. Enter a hot werewolf and a hot vampire competing for her affections and a zombie breakout in small town somewhere and we're off to the races.

This book  is the first book in the series, and I think the series has potential. The characters are fun and I hope they will get more interesting and develop through the various adventures.

Two complaints. #1 - What is a Kindred Supernatural? I get wanting to come up with something to name the squad the FREAKS. Any ideas out there? #2 - Harlow should pander to her most likely audience (pink ruffling loving, Mr Darcy lusting women who are a little soft round the middle and prefer a nice Friday night home with a book) slightly less blatantly. Please? Let Bea explore her inner badass and I promise not to hate her if fighting monsters makes her buff.

Long Story Short: Fun, silly read. In the way of series I expect novels 2, 3, 4 will probably be better than 1, but the stage is set for some laughs.