A Leaf In The Bitter Wind by Ting-Xing Ye

Spanning 35 years, this enthralling memoir chronicles the life of a woman, a survivor, who has been buffeted by the winds of history. Ting-xing Ye was born in Shanghai, the fourth child of a factory owner who had his factory taken from him. By the age of thirteen, her parents were dead.

The Cultural Revolution then tore Ye's family apart. Writing with grim irony, she offers a riveting account of her work on a prison farm, where, as the child of a "capitalist," she was continually subjected to humiliating psychological torture.

She then wryly relates her change in fortune when she found herself accepted into Beijing University and eventually, in a consummate irony, was offered a job in the Chinese Secret Police. Managing to get herself reassigned to the Foreign Ministry as a translator, the girl from the prison farm found herself translating for the delegations of such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth, Ronald Reagan and Imelda Marcos.

In a moving and dramatic final section, Ye writes about her feudal-style marriage, her falling in love with a Canadian, and her eventual defection to Canada. 

I was absolutely blown away at how incredible this book was, how engagingly written it was, and what an amazing survivor Ye Ting-Xing is. 

A Love Match by Barbara Allister

Stephen Huntington modestly told Miss Rosemary Wyatt that his only title was that of Honourable, but Rosemary could see that this did not stop this wealthy, charming, devastatingly handsome gentleman from being the catch of the London marriage mart. Why then, did the Honourable Mr. Huntington set about courting an untried woman like her when the ravishing Clarissa Ravenwood set her cap for him? What dark intent might lie behind Stephen's dazzling smile and glowing gaze? Rosemary had good cause to fear all men - and this one above all, for she had no weapons to defend her heart against a love that well might be too good to be true. 

Light and fluffy nonsense.

The Clovis Incident by Pari Noskin Taichert

The Clovis Incident, an intriguing and superbly crafted murder mystery which following the unexpected adventure of Sasha Solomon, an ordinary PR director fired from her job as PR director of Albuquerque's only holistic HMO, and then travels to the small New Mexico town of Clovis to bid on a PR project for the local Chamber of Commerce only to become entangled in a dark and ruthless plot of murder and intrigue.

A quirky tale of murder, mystery and alien abductions.

The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter

Keeper of the demon of Secrets, Amun can manipulate the darkest thoughts of anyone nearby. But when the immortal warrior is chained and isolated to protect those he loves, death is his only hope of release—until he meets Haidee, a fellow prisoner whose beauty and hidden vulnerability draw him into a reckless test of his loyalty….
Haidee is a demon-assassin, raised to despise Amun's kind. Yet how can she hate the man whose touch sets her aflame? But to save him, she must give herself body and soul…and face the wrath of a powerful adversary sworn to destroy her. 

Another great installment in this series. There hasn't been much about Amun in previous books so getting to know him and his story was great. Haidee turned out to be a very sympathetic character with an interesting backstory as well.

The sex scenes were hot, but not as frequent or explosively hot as in some of her other books.

And....angels can be mean.  All that no showing any emotion and everyone is supposed to be as perfect as them stuff.  I'm hoping she writes a book where the head angel meets his woman and she brings him down a peg or two.

Very enjoyable read. 

The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax

Ten years ago authors Mallory, Tanya, Faye and Kendall met at their very first writers’ conference they have all survived the competitive publishing world and are still best friends. They are all very different. Mallory is a workaholic whose churns out one bestseller after another to support her lavish lifestyle. Tanya is a single mum who works in a cafe to supplement her writing income, she juggles work with kids,an alcoholic mother and her deadlines. Faye is the wife of a famous televangelist and writes inspirational romances, but she has a secret that could bring down her husband’s ministry. She is not the only one who has a secret though when Kendall Aims’s once-promising career appears to be on the skids -Her book sales are falling, her new editor hates her-and her husbands leaves her for a younger woman. She is told that she has until December to produce the last book of her contract, and no extension. Mentally crippled, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront her writers block and hopeless future. But her friends won’t let her face this trial alone. Together they decide to break their contract rules and secretly collaborate on Kendall’s novel. However each of them use their own lives as inspiration, and reveal truths in the guise of fiction, because surely no-one will ever discover that the truth is behind their words?

Really, really good. Glad I got to the 2nd half on a day off as I spent most of my day reading to finish this. I couldn't put it down. 

Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Journal Entry 1 by amberC from Darwin, Northern Territory Australia on Sunday, September 25, 2011 Different cover. Harm no human… A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he’d spend eternity protecting the humans he’d once considered prey. Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief—Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meeting the man who killed her family: Jess Brady. A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster… Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who’s assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he’s not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all. Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they’ve sworn to protect. Another in the Dark Hunter series.  They are always good, but, my complaint with this one is it introduces yet more gods and goddesses and associated legends and end of the world scenarios, this time native American.

Bringing Out The Dead by Joe Connelly

In a narrative that moves with the furious energy of an ambulance run, we follow Frank through two days and nights: into the excitement and dread of the calls; the mad humor that keeps the medics afloat; the memories, distant and recent, through which Frank reminds himself why he became a medic and tries, in vain, to convince himself to give it up. And we are with him as he faces his newest ghost: the resurrected patient, whose demands to be released into death might be the most sensible thing Frank has heard in months, if only he would listen.

An interesting novel about a burnt-out paramedic suffering from guilt caused by botching up on saving an asthmatic girl's life. His idealism shot long ago, he is riding an ambulance through hell (Hell's Kitchen, New York) with the disillusionment that the job is more about bearing witness than saving lives. Beware, though. The book really has no plot. It never seems to build up to a climax or anything for that matter, but this is the type of book you have to read because it effectively immerses you in the life (or death) of a stressed-out paramedic.


This was a very dark, almost depressing story, maybe a bit too realistic, but it still kept me hooked.