Book Review: Stolen Secrets by Sandra Levy Ceren

Katie January 6, 2012 0 Comments

Stolen Secrets is a Dr. Cory Cohen Mystery by Sandra Levy Ceren.  The book centers around Dr. Cory Cohen, a psychiatrist.  It starts out when one of Cory’s patients, Morgan, gets a creepy phone call that mentions one of her fantasies that she has only told to Cory.  Obviously due to confidentiality reasons, Cory has told no one so she is desperate to find out how someone knew this.  She ends up accidentally stumbling upon a microphone under her couch and tries to figure out which one of her other patients might have planted it.

We meet a few of her other patients – the hunky Alan who seems to have trouble with women.  Carlos and Jolene who are having marital problems and see Cory both separate and together.  Kevin who seems to have an obsession with being better than his “older” (twin) sister.

After Morgan tells Cory about the mysterious phone call, she seems to vanish.  A few days later Cory gets a letter that she is with her sick father in Greece, but Cory is suspicious.  She ends up hiring a private detective to try and figure out who might have planted the microphone, but asks him to train her because she doesn’t want to divulge information about her clients due to confidentiality issues.

There are a few twists and turns in the story and some of them I did figure out and others I couldn’t quite put my finger on (but was heading in the right direction).  The book is well written and a quick read.  It is just over 200 pages and has 50 chapters – but don’t let that overwhelm you as some are only a page or two and the suspense will want you to keep reading!

This book is the 2nd in the Dr. Cory Cohen Mysteries series.  I think that I am going to need to go back and read that one too – and any others that might be released because I am now hooked on this character!

About the Book

A woman reveals her most intimate fantasy… a stolen secret which could lead to murder!

A strait-laced patient in San Diego running for District Attorney is threatened by a midnight phone caller who knows her dirty secret – her fantasy of living as a prostitute – a secret she shared only with Dr. Cory Cohen. After confronting her therapist, she vanishes.

As Cory wrestles with her patient’s disappearance, the security breach and the potential harmful effects on other patients, events escalate. A patient is blackmailed. Cory is stalked, and her quarters burgled, forcing her to escape an unseen enemy and sender her on a spiraling trail of deceit, betrayal, blackmail and murder.

I received a free copy of this book from Modern History Press.  I was not required to write a review, but I chose to anyway.  I was not compensated for this review.

Book Review: The Big Book of American Trivia

Katie January 4, 2012 0 Comments

My brother is a trivia junkie, and I guess the rest of my family is as well (we do watch Jeopardy nightly).  When I heard about The Big Book of American Trivia I knew I needed to get it and try and stump my brother.

It wasn’t hard to stump him – it turned out that he didn’t know what states made up New England and kept yelling out “PENNSYLVANIA” for questions that said “Which New England State…”  After asking him if he ever has been to the Big E (a yearly exposition celebrating the New England states held in Massachusetts) we realized he had never been.  Not that that is a valid excuse, but I suppose this year we’ll have to bring him. (And I won’t bring up the fact that WE LIVE IN NEW ENGLAND…)

Each section is broken down into different categories – the one and only “which state is the only one..”, TV questions, landmarks, etc. All relating to America.  I have to admit – my obsession with elongated pennies and collecting them and working for pennycollector.com definitely helped me out here (and it helps me out on Jeopardy as well from time to time)

There are tons and tons of questions so far starters we picked out just a few here and there to quiz each other with – I imagine it will take us quite some time to get through the whole book of 3,000+ questions!  (And hopefully it will make my brother all the smarter so he can win more gift certificates on his trivia nights out with the guys!)

About the Book

Impress your friends with knowledge of all things American—geography, history, entertainment, people, culture, and quirky miscellany. More than 3,000 questions will fill countless hours of fun as you learn fascinating facts about our country. Now with facts and trivia related to the American flag and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” The Big Book of American Trivia has hours of fun packed within its pages. Perfect for party games, family gatherings, and vacations.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Media Center in exchange for writing this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Book Review: Sierra Jensen Collection, Volume 1

Katie January 3, 2012 4 Comments

Last month I read Departures, which introduced me to the characters Sierra Jensen and Christy Miller.  This month I read Volume 1 of the Sierra Jensen Collection by Robin Jones Gunn.  The collection has 3 different stories within it – Only You, Sierra, In Your Dreams and Don’t You Wish.  Each of the books come in at under 20 chapters each and the complete collection clocks in at 322 pages.

In Only You, Sierra – Sierra is away in England with her friends on a missions trip.  Although her friends are a few years older than her, she feels like she is one of the gang.  While heading home, she meets a guy who needs change to call home with his flight schedule.  It turns out that they have the same flights home and she thinks that God wants her to fight for him.  They do not sit together on their first flight,but are next to each other on the second.  Sierra isn’t sure she makes a great impression with Paul, but she has fallen pretty hard for him.

In In Your Dreams, Sierra is left at home to take care of her sick Grandmother while the rest of the family is away.  She is also trying to get a job so that she can visit her friends on Easter break in California.  Her grandmother gets a phone call and says she needs to be taken to the hospital at once for emergency surgery.  Since Sierra’s Grandmother is not often in the present time, Sierra doesn’t believe her.  However, when she calls the doctor’s office she is set straight and brings in her Grandmother for the surgery, all while trying to get a hold of her mother who went off to her sister’s house after her sister was in a car accident.  Sierra has gotten a letter or two from Paul, but after writing him a nasty letter back she doesn’t think he’ll want anything to do with her.  She also meets a new boy from school – Randy.

In Don’t You Wish – Sierra and her sister Tawni head to California to meet up with Sierra’s friends.  All of them quickly pair off (including Tawni with a friend of the group’s, Jeremy) except Sierra, making her the 3rd wheel (Or 11th.)  Sierra thinks that something might be going on with Randy, but there was a misunderstanding and he was asking her advice on corsages not because he was asking her to the dance – but because he was asking someone else from school.   Feeling like she will never fall in love (even though her older friends keep telling her not to rush it), Tawni gets a phone call from Jeremy and who pops back in the picture – Paul.  Jeremy is Paul’s brother and Jeremy is coming up to visit and will be hanging out with Tawni – and bringing Paul along.

These books are quick reads and I really enjoy following the story of these characters.  The books do have a lot of mentions of God as they are Christian Fiction, so if you are unable to look past that, they might not be the books for you.  There are several other volumes in Sierra Jensen’s story and in Christy Miller’s as well and I look forward to the possibility of reading and reviewing more of them in the future.

I received a free copy of this book to read through Waterbrook’s Blogging for Books program.  I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are mine.