"Cars, Coffee, and a Slightly Used Casket" by K. C. Hilton

Our favorite car dealer is back, kicking ass and taking names, and she's just as fabulous as ever.

Julia Karr is a used car lot owner and she isn't expecting an invitation to the popularity pool. Her business is drowning with past due accounts, difficult customers and crazy repossessions. In order to get the vacation of her dreams, Julia makes a deal with her husband.

After catching a burglar, tackling a customer, and looking down the barrel of a gun, it's clear to this feisty car dealer that her vacation may be harder to achieve than she thought. Daily chaos drives Julia to eat more chocolate, buy more wine, and prepare for the afterlife. She could blame it on the contractor, the cheap casket, or a naked friend, but she'd rather blame it on the car lot.

Julia Karr is at it again. It's always one crazy thing after another when it comes to her and her used car lot. This time around, she catches a would-be burglar stuck in her office window, is remodeling her kitchen and making plans for what will happen once she's no longer living (it helps that the local mortician makes amazing cookies). You just never know what will happen when Julia is around.

I enjoyed Cars, Coffee, and a Slightly Used Casket far more than the first book (it's advertised that you can read these as stand alones, but I don't recommend it. Read Cars, Coffee and a Badass Ninja Toilet first). While several of the chapters were semi episodic, this book had an overall plot from start to finish which appears to be a necessity in my reading. Several characters had and arc this time as well. I also liked that there was more character development and overall more characters. I'm still not in love with the made up names for characters (Julia's husband is Romeo for instance) nor with some of the pun humor (not my taste), but as I am now used to that being the style, it didn't bother me as much this time around. The one thing that really bothered me was the reference to Janet Evanoich's Stephanie Plum series, but I know that I just don't like those kind of references in books. 

Overall, this was a fun read. I wasn't certain if I would like this book as the first one wasn't quite my cup of tea (or coffee), but I always feel the need to finish a series once I start. I am glad that I kept reading. It really felt like K.C. Hilton had found her niche with Julia's character and this book was so much stronger than the first. I never felt like I was waiting for the action to get started. I'm very curious to see where this series goes (assuming there are more books coming, I'm not privy to that information). Readers that enjoy zany characters in hilarious and unbelievable situations, will likely enjoy reading this book.

Happy Reading!

-Melly

"All These Things I've Done" by Gabrielle Zevin

The Balanchine family doesn't really follow the laws of 2083. They have chocolate in the safe and Anya goes to back rooms to enjoy coffee. Their world isn't too different from the one we live in now, just with different laws about what is and isn't illegal. At the start of the novel, Anya breaks up with her boyfriend Gable which in turn causes a lot of problems for her. She soon meets a boy named Win and of course we know that he is going to become the romantic interest of this novel. Too bad he is the son of the new assistant D.A. When Gable shows up at Anya's apartment begging for chocolate, she has no idea that it has been poisoned and that she will soon be a suspect of his near death.  She then spends that rest of the novel struggling with following the path set for her because of the family she was born into or following her heart's desires. There is quite a bit going on in this novel- suspense, family drama, illegal doings and decent amount of action. 

This book is one that has intrigued me for quite some time. The cover has a heart dripping chocolate on it, of course it caught my interest. It wasn't really what I expected, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a world that's not super familiar to me where family is often corrupt (as are those you're not related to), where family members close to you may get killed and where you have to be aware of your every action. Though these are concepts that aren't that unique, this is one of the few books I have read that has dealt with such topics. It is very interesting to see how in Anya's world many things are extremely different from the way things are now, so many many others shows how events can repeat themselves through history.  I am glad that I have read so many books this year that don't feel like books I have already read. This is yet another plot that feels like it is telling it's own story and not just retelling something that has already been told over and over again. I think that Zevin has created a very interesting story and I can't wait to read past All These Things I've Done.



Happy Reading!
-Melly

NaNoWriMo Day #2

So far so good!  I set a goal of 5000 total words today and called it quits for the night at 5064 words!  I'd do a happy dance, but I'm a bit too tired.  Thank goodness for coffee and generic Mountain Dew!  I almost changed  my story this morning.  I took my two characters (college age) and re-wrote a scene where they were about third grade age.  It was amusing but I realized that I didn't have anywhere for the story to go.  I think that I will hold onto the piece however, it was fun to write and I think it would be fun to develop these characters into a book for young readers, or at least a short story!  Either way, both pieces will involve a scene featuring pancakes.  Chocolate chip pancakes!





"All great art comes from a sense of outrage."
-Glenn Close

As I've been writing, I'm realizing how much certain people in my life have influenced this story.  I'm still not sure where it is going, but I have begun to develop a plot line that addresses some drama that was in my life this past year.  I am very curious to see where this will take my characters!


Are there any other NaNoWriMo-ers out there?  How are your progressing?  Any of you just writing whatever comes to mind or have you plotted out your story (I haven't plotted mine).  Feel free to add me as a writing buddy!


Happy Writing!
-Melly