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noumena12 reveals--

Turn Left at Sanity by Nancy Warren




Is he the only sane person in town? Corporate shark Joe Moncrief wastes no time in gettin gexactly what he wants. And what he wants is to spend one brief night in Beaverton, Idaho, buy up most of the land for a fertilizer plant, and get out. No one warned him that Beaverton is home to a kooky collection of outrageous eccentrics who don't seem to grasp the concept of money, or that his B&B, the Shady Lady, is a former brothel, which now houses retired ladies of the evening. Then there's the proprietor of the B&B, Emmylou Sargent. Pretty, warm, and apparently not deranged, she's a baking, homemanking, small-town girl -- the sort of woman Joe would never be attracted to under normal circumstances. But nothing in Beaverton is normal.

Or is normal highly rated?

Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner



From the back cover:
Lots of women put their careers aside once their kids come along. Kate Connor, for instance, hasn't hunted a demon in ages...

That must be why she missed the one wandering through the pet food aisle of the San Diablo Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, he managed to catch her attention an hour later - when he crashed into the Connor house, intent on killing her.

Now Kate has to clean up the mess in her kitchen, dispose of a dead demon, and pull together a dinner party that will get her husband elected to County Attorney - all without arousing her family's suspicion. Worse yet, it seems the dead demon didn't come alone.

It's time for Kate Connor to go back to work.

I haven't read it yet, but I somehow got two copies, so it can go out tomorrow!

The Devil Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger



Amazon.com
It's a killer title: The Devil Wears Prada. And it's killer material: author Lauren Weisberger did a stint as assistant to Anna Wintour, the all-powerful editor of Vogue magazine. Now she's written a book, and this is its theme: narrator Andrea Sachs goes to work for Miranda Priestly, the all-powerful editor of Runway magazine. Turns out Miranda is quite the bossyboots. That's pretty much the extent of the novel, but it's plenty. Miranda's behavior is so insanely over-the-top that it's a gas to see what she'll do next, and to try to guess which incidents were culled from the real-life antics of the woman who's been called Anna "Nuclear" Wintour. For instance, when Miranda goes to Paris for the collections, Andrea receives a call back at the New York office (where, incidentally, she's not allowed to leave her desk to eat or go to the bathroom, lest her boss should call). Miranda bellows over the line: "I am standing in the pouring rain on the rue de Rivoli and my driver has vanished. Vanished! Find him immediately!"
This kind of thing is delicious fun to read about, though not as well written as its obvious antecedent, The Nanny Diaries. And therein lies the essential problem of the book. Andrea's goal in life is to work for The New Yorker--she's only sticking it out with Miranda for a job recommendation. But author Weisberger is such an inept, ungrammatical writer, you're positively rooting for her fictional alter ego not to get anywhere near The New Yorker. Still, Weisberger has certainly one-upped Me Times Three author Alex Witchel, whose magazine-world novel never gave us the inside dope that was the book's whole raison d' etre. For the most part, The Devil Wears Prada focuses on the outrageous Miranda Priestly, and she's an irresistible spectacle. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Most recent college grads know they have to start at the bottom and work their way up. But not many picture themselves having to pick up their boss's dry cleaning, deliver them hot lattes, land them copies of the newest Harry Potter book before it hits stores and screen potential nannies for their children. Charmingly unfashionable Andrea Sachs, upon graduating from Brown, finds herself in this precarious position: she's an assistant to the most revered-and hated-woman in fashion, Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly. The self-described "biggest fashion loser to ever hit the scene," Andy takes the job hoping to land at the New Yorker after a year. As the "lowest-paid-but-most-highly-perked assistant in the free world," she soon learns her Nine West loafers won't cut it-everyone wears Jimmy Choos or Manolos-and that the four years she spent memorizing poems and examining prose will not help her in her new role of "finding, fetching, or faxing" whatever the diabolical Miranda wants, immediately. Life is pretty grim for Andy, but Weisberger, whose stint as Anna Wintour's assistant at Vogue couldn't possibly have anything to do with the novel's inspiration, infuses the narrative with plenty of dead-on assessments of fashion's frivolity and realistic, funny portrayals of life as a peon. Andy's mishaps will undoubtedly elicit laughter from readers, and the story's even got a virtuous little moral at its heart. Weisberger has penned a comic novel that manages to rise to the upper echelons of the chick-lit genre.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Serpent's Shadow#2 The Elemental Masters series by mercedes Lackley

Book Description:
Maya Witherspoon had lived most of the first twenty-five years of her life in her native India. As the daughter of a prominent British physician and a Brahmin woman of the highest caste, she had known only luxury. Trained by her father in the medical arts since she was old enough to read, she graduated from the University of Delhi as a Doctor of Medicine by the age of twenty-two. Welcomed into her father’s lucrative practice, she treated many of the wives and daughters of the British military personnel who made up a large percentage of their patients in the colonial India of 1909.

But the science of medicine was not Maya’s only heritage. For Maya’s aristocratic mother Surya, had not just defied her family, friends and religion to marry Maya’s father, she had turned her back on her family’s powerful magical traditions as well. For her mother was a sorceress—a former priestess of the mystical magics fueled by the powerful and fearsome pantheon of Indian gods.

Though Maya felt the stirring of magic in her blood, her mother had repeatedly refused to train her. “I cannot,” she had said, her eyes dark with distress, whenever Maya asked. “Yours is the magic of your father’s blood, not mine….” Surya had never had the chance to explain this enigmatic statement to her daughter, before cholera claimed her life. Yet Maya suspected that something far more sinister than the virulent disease had overcome her powerful mother.

But it was Maya’s father’s death shortly thereafter which confirmed her darkest suspicions. For her father was killed by the bite of a krait, a tiny venomous snake, and in the last hours of her mother’s life, in the seeming delirium of her fever, Surya had repeatedly warned Maya to beware “the serpent’s shadow.” With the sudden loss of her father, Maya knew she must flee the land of her birth or face the same fate as her parents.

In self-imposed exile in London, Maya surrounded herself with every protection possible. All the magic Maya knew had been learned by covertly observing her mother, and by cobbling this knowledge together with the street-magic gleaned from a few genuine fakirs. Her workings were a mixture of instinct, extrapolation, and trial-and-error. Crude, but somewhat effective, her spells let Maya hide her household behind a wall of secrecy in a poorer section of the city. Here, in a small but adequate house she lived with only the most loyal of her mother’s servants, and her mother’s seven unusual “pets”—if you could use such a word for creatures who seemed far more like friends. For Charan, the little monkey, Rajah, the peacock, Mala, the falcon, Sia and Singhe, the mongooses, Rhadi, the parrot, and Nisha, the owl seemed far too sentient to be ordinary animals. Maya knew that these seven unusual and loving companions had been in some way special to her mother, but their secrets were hidden to her, perhaps forever.

In her new home she fought the dual prejudices against her sex and her race to continue in her medical profession. Only her high scholastic abilities and her extreme determination enabled her to meet with any success. She managed to place herself in a minor position at a prestigious hospital while she pursued her own medical passions: helping the poor at a tiny clinic where they welcomed any doctor, and setting up a small, controversial practice which specialized in “female complaints” and offered “absolute discretion.”

But Maya knew that she could not hide forever from the vindictive power which had murdered her parents. She knew in her heart that even a vast ocean couldn’t protect her from “the serpent’s shadow” which had so terrified her mother. Her only hope was to find a way to master her own magic: the magic of her father’s blood. But who would teach her? And could she learn enough to save her life by the time her relentless pursuers caught up with their prey?

Tribefan Reveals....



Assassin Fantastic by Martin H.Greenberg and Alexander Potter, Editors

They're fascinating and they're fatal.

They're trained assassins-the targeted subjects of this killer collection of brand-new tales featuring the hottest hit men-and women-in fantasy today.

With a new Nightfall story by best-selling author Mickey Zucker Reichert, a dangerous turn with Tanya Huff's duo, Vree and Bannon, and a killer surprise from Michelle West's Kallandras-this is, truly, an anthology to die for.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Love & Other Recreational Sports, John Dearie's debut novel, Jack Lafferty is handsome, thirty-five years old, a successful Wall Street banker—and miserable. Left at the altar after his fiancée has an affair, Jack has sworn off women. There's no way he will be snared again, not even by Sarah Mitchell, a bright and beautiful corporate attorney. But just when Jack's romantic torpor finally lifts and he falls for the sensational Sarah, disaster strikes, pushing her away and seemingly out of reach. Getting her back will require a move so bold, so daring, that cautious Jack isn't sure he's up to the task. Or is he?

The Big Bad Wolf Tells All by Donna Kauffman (TBR)

Why Is It That I’m Not Willing to Settle for a Sheep Like the Rest of My Friends?
Sheep sex aside, what’s wrong with a man who puts family first, who maintains a steady job, has college funds set up for his kids and builds that nest egg for his retirement? Member of the herd, never straying. Solid, dependable Sheep Guy. Why can’t I love Sheep Guy?
For me, it’s all those wolves. They distract me from the sheep. Wolf Guy. Always on the prowl. Totally alpha. Not interested in being domesticated. So what is it about these men that makes my heart speed up in a way no sheep ever has or ever will?

Tanzy Harrington is the Bay Area’s most-read romance columnist and self-proclaimed love-’em-and-leave-’em artist--and she’s not quite ready to tie herself down to one man. That is, until Riley Parrish lands on the scene.
When Tanzy agrees to house-sit for her eccentric great-aunt, she finds herself sharing close quarters with Riley. At first he seems a bit too much like the “sheep” Tanzy derides in her column--too polite, the classic boring good provider. But when she catches a glimpse of the “wolf” lurking in his eyes, the ultimate alpha female is about to take a fall.

Malagan reveals
Heads by David Osborn



More shocking than Coma, more terrifying than The Terminal Man, Heads is a thriller that goes deeper into the horrifying future of medicine than any novel has dared to go before. In an ultimate step into terror, David Osborn explores the murky boundaries between volunteer and victim, ambition and ruthlessness, life and death, when what begins as highly-classified research by a team of responsible doctors ends as a deadly game in which any of the players can be condemned to a purgatory more ghastly than hell.

From the back cover:
“We only accept people on the verge of death. You won't be able to see your family or friends again, ever. They'll be told you died....”

The surgery is sanctioned by Washington, performed in secret – and afterwards, the patients are never seen or heard from again. Until Susan McCullough a young neurophysiologist on the staff of the eminent Borg-Harrison Medical Laboratory, opens a door that should have been locked. Behind that door is proof of the most shocking medical experiment of all time.

Now, Susan has discovered the truth – and she knows that her fate is sealed. For if she is caught, they will strap her on a table and wheel her into surgery. Then they will shut her away in that horrible room. The terrifying chamber that no one ever escapes...

wss4 reveals





The Husband by Dean Koontz


FROM THE PUBLISHER
With each and every new novel, Dean Koontz raises the stakes -- and the pulse rate -- higher than any other author. Now, in what may be his most suspenseful and heartfelt novel ever, he brings us the story of an ordinary man whose extraordinary commitment to his wife will take him on a harrowing journey of adventure, sacrifice, and redemption to the mystery of love itself -- and to a showdown with the darkness that would destroy it forever.
What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?

We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he’s standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch’s wife and he’s named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn’t care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He’s confident that Mitch will find a way.

If he loves his wife enough. . . Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He’s got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he’ll pay a lot more. He’ll pay anything.

From its tense opening to its shattering climax, The Husband is a thriller that will hold you in its relentless grip for every twist, every shock, every revelation…until it lets you go, unmistakably changed. This is a Dean Koontz novel, after all. And there’s no other experience quite like it.

Amazon.com
Marcus Stevens's debut novel, The Curve of the World, opens on a cinematic note: An Air France flight rapidly descends over the dense African landscape. The cockpit fills with smoke. Passengers brace for an emergency landing. Although the unlikely premise of this adventure tale--an American Coca-Cola businessman named Lewis Burke is lost in the rainforests of the Congo; his estranged wife and blind 7-year-old son fly to Africa to rescue him--sounds straight out of Hollywood, the story itself is surprisingly well written, unfolding with the grim beauty of a modern-day Heart of Darkness. Even Lewis's inevitable bout with malaria and the attentions of an elderly ndoki (witch) seem believable, set against the author's deft depictions of war-ravaged villages, the poverty and resourcefulness of the rural Congolese, and the complicated politics of the region. Stevens is less sure-handed where ordinary human relations are concerned. He underestimates the caution of mothers (it is hard to believe that Lewis's wife's own elderly mother urges her to go to Africa to find Lewis, and harder still to imagine the young woman bringing her handicapped child to a war zone) and overestimates the kindness of strangers. This is a gripping story nonetheless and a complex, accomplished debut. --Regina Marler

MY REVEAL:

Charmed & Dangerous
by Candace Havens



Potions: 30
Spells: 2
Dead demons: 1
Witch's friends who are boys: too many.

This is Candace Havens's first novel, and it's a charmer about Bronwyn, a young witch with killer protective skills, great intuition, and way too many romantic issues. Her purpose is to rid the world of evil, not in a Buffyesque way but in a "destroying bad guys one day at a time way." She's a one-woman secret service to the British prime minister, whom she saves from assassinations and other troubles, and she's able to help Sheik Azir as well. But when it comes to men -- well, since warlocks tend to throw black magic at her, why would she be attracted to the local warlock? And why does he spend so much time with her best friend? Told in diary format, Charmed and Dangerous is a delicious comic romp. Ginger Curwen

FROM THE PUBLISHER
When Bronwyn turned twenty she took the oath to protect, and for the last five years she's kept that promise, working as a kind of one-witch secret service to the British Prime Minister. Her arsenal includes a combination of potions, spells, explosions, mind-reading tricks, and general butt-kicking skills. But Bronwyn has a soft side, too-especially when it comes to Dr. Sam, the favorite physician of her new hometown, Sweet, Texas. He's smart, funny, adorable, everything she could want in a man. Except he's also a warlock-a big no-no in Bronwyn's book of dating. Being a witch is definitely getting in the way of her sex life. If zapping evil jerks is easy, why is findinga boyfriend so hard?

LML's reveal:

The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer

Meet Faye, Shirley, Marilyn and Alice: four women with skills, smarts and secrets - all feeling over the hill and out of the race. But in a moment of delicious serendipity, they meet and realize that they share more than raging hormones and lost dreams. Now, as the members of the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake, they vow to help one another...and themselves.
For these women, the time has come to use it or lose it - be it their bodies, their brains, their spirits, or their sense of fun. Together, they realize that they can have it all, perhaps for the first time in their lives. And though what sags may never rise again, feeling sexy has no expiration date. And best of all, with a little help from her friends, a woman can always start over, and never, ever give up what matters most.

Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

The deceptively quiet voice that inhabits this intelligent and moving first novel belongs to Tamara Anderson, 15 years old in 1954, who comes of age within an unconventional family that's struggling in an era of social conformity. Her father is a landscape painter, so the family (including Tamara's younger siblings, Robert, 11, and Megan, seven) moves every year, living in furnished houses from Georgia to Idaho to Maine, owning only what can fit in a trailer. Stuart and Liz, Tamara's parents, met when Liz modeled nude for art classes, with Stuart defying his family to marry the woman who had flirted with the Communist Party. Now they are determined to bring up their children as atheists, teaching them evolution and carefully explaining sexuality and reproduction. The '50s era, with its shadow of Moral Rearmament, is vividly evoked with references to Davy Crockett hats, the generalized fear of a Communist conspiracy and the atom bomb, as Tamara's perceptions of her new home in upstate rural New York drive the narrative. She explores her new school, and religion and sexuality with the boy across the street, juxtaposing her need for stability against her family's transient life. When Liz becomes seriously ill with tuberculosis, the Anderson family is weighted with fear, sadness and uncertainty of a kind entirely new to them. Willis deftly balances her depiction of the domestic unit: vulnerable Tamara correctly believes no one is listening to her, and knows that in Stuart's life, art ranks above his children. Liz and Stuart are devoted to each other, and are alternately selfish and caring parents; their idiosyncrasies, such as overrationalized reckless styles of driving the family car, suggest larger problems. Not a seamless tale, the narrative is hampered by a few stale patches of exposition, but overall, Tamara's uncommonly lucid, honest and expansive view marks this as a luminous, impressive debut.