CARBS AND CADAVERS

James has moved back to his hometown after the death of his mother to care for his father. His father is a reclusive unhappy man. James' wife has divorced him. He had to give up the job he loved as a professor to return home. Now he works in the town library. He feels his life has gone from dull to duller. Worse yet, James realizes that he is fat. By chance, he is invited to join a group of four other overweight people in town to form a supper club. The goal of the supper club is to encourage each other in their weight loss and to share a good meal once a week. James' life seems to be picking up when the town jock and former football hero is found murdered. The Supper Club is sure that Whitney, their favorite waitress, couldn't possibly be to blame and they set out to prove it.

This is my first book in the series by J.B. Stanley. This series was highly praised by quite a few in my online reading group, so I decided to give it a try. These are definitely in the "cozy" catagory, but it is interesting to have a male protagonist. The dieting angle adds some fun and poignant additions to the story. One can't help root for James as he starts to enjoy life. I will certainly be reading the next book to find out how everything turns out for James and Lucy and the rest of the Flab Five.

Rating - 4.5 stars

JULIA TO JULIE

Julie Powell is tired of her life. She is bored with her job. She works long hours only to bring home takeout to eat late at night with her husband. She has always dreamed of being an actress. It doesn't look like that dream is going to come true. As she nears 30, she feels her biological clock ticking but she really not sure she wants a baby. What does she decide to do to get out of her funk? She decides to cook every single recipe in Julia Child's "The Joy of French Cooking" in a year. It's not easy cooking gourmet food in a tiny New York City apartment kitchen and she has over 500 recipes to finish. Still, the project is intriguing and Julie shares the joys and the struggles to reach her goal.

This book started out as a blog of Julie's cooking adventures. I am not a cook, but I do love to bake, so I could kind of relate to Julie's thrill with cooking these challenging recipes. At times, I thought Julie was shallow and self-centered. I also hated her profanity! Still, some of the stories were absolutley hilarious as she described cooking her first lobster, eating calf liver or chopping open a bone to get out the bone marrow. I'm sure that at some point I would have thrown in the towel. I guess that's why I had to how Julie finished the project.

Rating - 4 stars

CRUEL INTENT

Ali is busy remodeling an old house. The whole event is being filmed for HGTV. She is desperately hoping to be able host Thanksgiving Dinner in her new home. Her son and his fiance announce their engagement. In the midst of this hubbub, her contractor is being accused of murdering his wife. Ali is very sure that he didn't kill anyone but it's not going to be easy doing it. As her friend begs to help him clear his name, Ali is drawn into a website that the murdered woman had been frequenting - Single at Heart. Soon Ali's own life is in danger.

As usual, J.A. Jance writes a wonderful mystery. Her stories are filled with warm loving characters that seem like the people we know and love. At the same time, she weaves in a great intriguing mystery. I'm a huge fan of the Joanna Brady series, but I like Ali alot, too. She is a little older and a little wiser than Joanna. As usual, I can't wait for the next J.A. Jance book!

Rating - 4.5 stars

WEDDING BELLES

What is a mother to do? Her wonderful 28-year-old daughter has announced her engagement. Instead of being thrilled, her mother is horrified. The groom-to-be is none other than her husband's best friend. Yes, he's closer to 60 than 30 and he has a wild past. Georgia is horrified what people will say about her daughter's fiance who has been married twice and every woman in town knows his reputation. Georgia hopes to find a way to stop the wedding without losing the daughter that she loves. Luckily for her, she has a great group of friends who will support her in any way they can.

I almost chucked this book in the first 50 pages or so. It was a little too sappy and the women were a group of Red Hat Club who had been chums since high school. It was all a little too convenient. Still, the story drew me in. Georgia's anxieties about the upcoming wedding was both funny and real. Overall, these Southern women and their friendships made for a pretty good story.

Rating - 3.75 stars

EVERYONE WORTH KNOWING

Bette is sick and tired of her seventy hour work week in the wonderful world of banking. One day, without really thinking it through, she tells her boss that she quits. No one is more surprised than Bette. Through some connections of her uncle's, she starts a totally different job as an events planner for a public relations firm. In other words, she goes to parties for a living. As delightful as it sounds, Bette soon finds that the lifestyle of the rich and famous can be overwelming and somewhat shallow. She also finds herself in the midst of a relationship that really isn't a relationship at all, but merely a publicity scam. When she meets the man of her dreams, a bouncer at one of the nightclubs her group often frequents, there are many complications to their relationship.

This is the second book that I've read by Lauren Weisenberger and for the most part, I enjoyed it. Bette's description of the party life was fun and almost disgusting at times. Her friend, Penelope, and her parents were delightful characters. There was quite a bit of a side story about her love of romance novels. Somehow this didn't really seem to fit in the overall scheme of the book. I also thought this book was plenty long but overall, it was fun. The ending was a little too fairy tale but hey, this wasn't supposed to be real life, or was it?

Rating - 4 stars

MURDER IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

Paige Turner has promised her new boyfriend, Dan Street, that she won't get involved in more murder cases. She plans to honor her promise until her late husband's best friend in Korea comes to New York to ask for her help. His sister was murdered and he doesn't believe the police's insistence that the case was a simple burglary. Paige is convinced, too, when she sees the amazing diamonds that the girl's brother, Whitey, found hidden in her box of Quaker Oats. Paige sets out to find the murderer, even if it means keeping the truth from Dan. Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, Paige is on the trail of a murderer.

Amanda Matetsky has written another delightful book set in 1954. Paige is a great heroine, not too brave or too perfect, and her friends are wonderful characters, too. The actual murderer was something of a surprise, but mostly this book was fun just for the great storyline set in New York in the '50's. I'll be looking forward to the next Paige Turner book.

Rating - 4.5

ANOTHER MAN'S MOCCASINS

Sherrif Walt Longmire has a problem. A Vietnamese girl is found dead in a field. In a nearby culvert, a homeless Indian is sound asleep. Even though it would seem obvious that the Indian with his previous record of homicide is the killer, Walt isn't convinced. As Walt with the help of his deputies and his friend, Henry, attempt to solve the case, Walt is drawn back to his own time in Vietnam. Fighting with his own memories, Walt is unsure if he is biased about the case or not.

As usual, Craig Johnson has written a story that keeps the reader drawn in. His characters are wonderful and in this fourth book, they seem like old friends. There was less romance in this book and that was fine. I'm not a big fan of the sherrif and his deputy getting together. At times, this book was confusing, as the story went back and forth between the present day and Walt's time in Vietnam. I would also have enjoyed more of an update on Walt's daughter and her head injury. Once again, she was something of a secondary character.

Rating - 4 stars