Jenn's List: Top Books of 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, the time has come for us girls to tell you our favorite books of the year.  As I look over my read list, I'm pleased to see I've been reading more this year ~not as much as when I had a lunch hour before I became a stay-at-home-mom, but steadily increasing as my daughter is older and more independent.


ASLEEP by Wendy Raven McNair:  This is the first book in a trilogy by a self-published author and it's an amazing series so far.  It's YA super hero story with a strong, female, African-American hero.  (Review) AWAKE, the second book in the trilogy, is also tops on my list. (Review) Again I cannot recommend this series enough.  You really must read it!

The Liar's Lullaby by Meg Gardiner:  This is the third book in her Jo Beckett series. In this installment, forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett is called on to do a psychological autopsy of a country singing diva to determine murder, suicide, or conspiracy.  (Review)  If you love thrillers, you must try her books.  (China Lake is the first book in her Evan Delaney series and The Dirty Secrets Club is the first book in the Jo Beckett series.)

This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia: A sixteen-year-old, un-mailed postcard launches a story of uncovering, recovery, and self-discovery in this debut novel.  I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but I loved this one! (Review)

Columbine by Dave Cullen:  This was my non-fiction read of the year.  It's an incredible case study of an horrific event that changed the face of education. (Review)

The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen:  A little food and a little magic, there is really no one who compares to Sarah Addison Allen. (Review) All her books are hard-cover-must-haves for me and I anxiously await her March 2011 book, The Peach Keeper.  

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen: This is in the middle of the Rizzoli & Isles series, that the new TNT show is based on. I loved this book and the TV show, so I think I'm going to have to go back and read this thriller series from the beginning! (Review)

Virals by Kathy Reichs: This is forensic anthropologist Reichs' new YA series. It's an updated Nancy Drew with a paranormal twist. If you like her books but find them a little heavy, this is like reading Reichs-lite! (Review)

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel: I was a little "vamped" out, but this book made me fall in love with vampires all over again. I can't wait for the next book in the series due out in June 2011! (Review)

In the Woods by Tana French: This was a great case study in how are experiences impact our per eption and shape our future. I adored the rich detail and will be reading more from French this year, I hope.  (Review)

The Icing on the Cupcake by Jennifer Ross: I don't often enjoy a book where the protagonist starts off as unlikeable, but this was so well done, that I couldn't help but learn to love her as Ansley found her way in the world.  (Review)

I am excited about a new year of reading (yes, I'm nerdy, but we knew that,) and I hope that Roof Beam Reader's 2011 TBR Challenge will help me get to more books this year.

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year filled with good books.
Happy Reading!

~Jenn

Books to TV: Rizzoli and Isles

Jenn's Thoughts: It was everything I expected it to be and more. Tess Gerritsen is a master of suspense and I think that really came through on the screen. I look forward to seeing how the writers maintain that and keep the camaraderie. Although with all the serial killer tension last week, I'm not sure viewer's who haven't read at least some of the series really got to know the character's very well. It will be interesting to watch them balance the suspense and the character development. And I loved that Jane saved herself from the situation last week.

I loved the cast ~it was great to see Angie Harmon on TV. I really think this is perfect for her. Sasha Alexandra is a great Isles, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from her character. It was nice to see Billy Burke too ~in the series Jane marries an FBI agent, and I'm wondering if that was the set up for that... I hope so because it would be nice to keep him around.

The network has to be pleased, too. The show set a series-launch record with 7.6 million viewers. Let's hope they keep pulling them in!

On another note, I was a little disappointed with the criticism floating around the Twitterverse that Rizzoli & Isles is a cheap knock off of Bones. The characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles have been around longer than Seeley Booth & Temperance Brennan (from Bones on television). Now if you want talk Andrew Ryan and Temperance Brennan (frow Reichs's written work), that's a different story. However, it's certainly not a fair comparison. Book-to-television-wise, Rizzoli & Isles is truer to the written word than Bones. And that's not a criticism, for as anyone who reads our blog regularly knows, I'm a huge fan of both Rizzoli & Isles and Bones as well as Tess Gerritsen's & Kathy Reichs's books. Appreciate it for what it is, people!

There is actually a comment on Twitter from a viewer that said she hated it but then again she hates both actresses... now every one's entitled to their own opinions, but I was sorely tempted to respond with a line from Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "Well then it's a good thing you're going to a chocolate factory, you ungrateful little..." But I digress. What I'm trying to say is, if you are a fan of crime shows, keep watching. I'm expecting great things from this series.

What was the other thing wanted to say? Oh, yeah, and I'm glad it's Monday because I'll be tuning in again tonight!


Julie's Thoughts: Have I ever mentioned that I love Angie Harmon? Well when Jenn told me about Rizzoli & Isles being on TNT and she was a lead; I knew I would at least check it out. I have read a couple of Tess Gerritsen novels but it's been a few years. Apparently the first episode is based on the books I did read only because I remember the titles not the plot. I know that's pretty awful but pretty common among avid book readers.

I think the casting is superb on the show. Angie plays a great cop, as most of her fans know. I know that Sasha Alexandra looks familiar but I can't place it. She's a great Maura Isles. The supporting cast looks to be solid as well. I hope that Bruce McGill is on the show more than once. And well what else can you say about Lorraine Braco but what a catch for the show.

I know that some people have a problem when Hollywood gets a hold of characters from books but I don't. Maybe it will make people who love the show go pick up the books and get more background more detail.

Maybe Jenn and I will share Tess Gerritsen books. :)

If you love police shows then you should most definitely check out Rizzoli & Isles on Monday nights on TNT at 9pm CST. It is perfectly paired with The Closer.

Jenn's Review: Ice Cold

Summary: In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness—someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.

Review: As I mentioned in Tuesday's post, I've read Tess Gerritsen before, but this is the first time I've read anything from her Rizzoli & Isles series. Now I have to go back and read the rest! I usually don't like to start in the middle of a series, but I had no trouble jumping right in and becoming thoroughly immersed in the lives of the characters.

Maura is clinical about everything in her life, except perhaps love. But it seems that every time she does go out on a limb and take a gamble, it's the wrong gamble ~ and worse still, it's for the wrong reasons. This is how Maura ends up stranded in a snowed in valley with four people she barely knows. To make matters worse, it is obvious that something went terribly wrong at the cult housing... and there is evidence to suggest that they aren't alone out there.

Gerritsen is a masterful story teller and her plot has lots of twists and turns, one of which, in particular, I should have seen coming, and yet another of which took me completely by surprise. Like Dan Brown, she's not afraid to kill off characters, and she dose so without trepidation, giving her stories a realistic, albeit chilling, ring of truth. When the case is wrapped, it is done without bending the plot to a preconceived notion of how the story should end... it is satisfying yet open ended enough to leave room for new characters to return and old ones to reemerge. (I actually had to google one of the characters from the previous book after reading the last page because the last few paragraphs seemed ominous without context.)

I am thrilled at finding another series to delve into, even though my TBR pile is towering precariously on my desk as I type. Gerritsen is fast becoming one of my favorite authors and I hope the TV series* based on these books does her justice. (This book will be in stores July 27, 2010.)

*See my previous post for more details

Final Take: 4.5/5

Book to TV: Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles

I heard rumors that there was a new novel-based series coming to TV, but I don't know if I realized it was from Tess Gerritsen. I've read some of her medical thrillers (in my quest for more books along the same vein as Kathy Reichs & Iris Johansen) but somehow I missed her Rizzoli & Isles series. I'm currently reading an advance copy of Tess Gerritsen's upcoming release in the Rizzoli & Isles series, Ice Cold, and loving it... and it's got me excited about the premiere of Rizzoli & Isles on TNT this summer.

I haven't seen a lot of promotion for this, but I don't start watching TNT until Leverage and The Closer return, so that's not a huge surprise. It stars Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli, detective, and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles, medical examiner. If you're not familiar with the series, here's TNT's official summary:

RIZZOLI & ISLES follows Boston detective Jane Rizzoli (Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander), complete opposites and good friends who solve crimes and bust some of Boston’s most notorious criminals. Growing up at opposite ends of the economic spectrum, the two remain strikingly different from one another in many ways. Jane, the only female detective in Boston’s homicide division, is a tough and gutsy cop who doesn’t let her guard down (except with Maura), dodges her overprotective mother and is better at basketball than her other. Maura, meanwhile, is usually more comfortable among the dead than the living. She is always impeccably dressed in designer duds with a steady, sometimes icy temperament. And she is working on curbing her tendency to diagnose the people she meets – including her first dates. Jane and Maura often find themselves working together as both use their brilliant minds and expertise to figure out the “who done it” as well as the “how done it” of Boston’s most complex cases.

Despite their many differences, Jane and Maura are best friends, with a quirky and supportive relationship. As Tamaro explains, “That Jane and Maura are so different and yet so effective as a team makes them unusual.… There’s something rare about their relationship that I see in the world but not enough on television: two smart, strong, competent women who instinctively drop the protective shield when they’re with each other.”

Is there room in the TV repertoire for another crime show, especially a book to small screen series? I think so. While Patterson's Women's Murder Club failed at it's attempted jump to the little screen, Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan series has thrived with Bones going into it's 6th season with a 7th season already signed. I think Reich's series had an edge because it was so different and well scripted whereas WMC seemed to have some plot direction problems.

Will Gerritsen's series be able to hold it's own? I hope so. It's not under as much pressure being a summer show on TNT. Angie Harmon is a perfect choice ~I love her and am thrilled to see her back in this type of roll (although she is still the voice of Lindsay Boxer, even as I read). TNT has also taken a leaf out of Castle's book and they have created twitter accounts for their characters which is great transmedia without being too much (like Heroes online comic books that I never had time to keep up with).

There is a niche out there for this kind of show and I think this might fit the bill. TNT does 'know drama' and I look forward to this new venture. I know I'll be tuning in July 12th at 10pm!