Daniel X: Watch the Skies by James Patterson & Ned Rust

I've been a bit busy reading, but I have some reviews from my mom, Pat, to share.  Today, my mom is going to share her thoughts on the latest young adult book from James Patterson.  Please give her a warm welcome.

James Patterson and Ned Rust's Daniel X:  Watch the Skies is the next book in Patterson's young adult series.  In this book, the aliens are taking over the town of Holliswood.  With the prevalence of televisions, computers, and portable devices, its easy to be in the face of every resident and document their downfall.

Daniel X, his sister Emma, and two brothers are still searching for who killed their parents.  This family must face the good and bad in this action-packed book.  Readers will speed through the drama to reach its conclusion.  It's a page-turner and a five-star, must read.

Please check out the book podcast.

My mom would like to thank Hachette Book Group for sending her a free review copy.  Clicking on title links and coverage images will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page; no purchase required.

We've since passed along this book to Anna at Diary of an Eccentric's girl and maybe she'll come back and give us her perspective.

8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's 8th Confession is the latest installment of the Women's Murder Club series.

Today's review is from my mom, Pat. Let's give her a warm welcome.

The Women's Murder Club mystery continues in 8th Confession and is a suspenseful, fast moving story. In the beginning, a homeless man is found brutally murdered. Meanwhile, wealthy residents of San Francisco continue to have lavish parties, including Isa and Ethan Baily. Someone close to them watches their every move until they are murdered. However, it is unclear how they were killed and there is no apparent evidence of a crime.

Murders continue to happen throughout many locations in California and the Women's Murder Club must solve these murders. The 8th Confession is not revealed until near the end of the book. Patterson has created another action-filled, five-star read.

Thanks, Mom, for another great review.

***Remember my Rooftops of Tehran giveaway***

Run for Your Life by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge's Run for Your Life is another in the Michael Bennett crime drama series. My mom, Pat, will be your guest reviewer today, please give her a warm welcome.

Run for Your Life chronicles another adventure of Michael Bennett, a detective in the New York Police Department who is a single father to 10 children. In this novel, a murderer who calls himself "the Teacher" takes New York City by storm, slaughtering the powerful and arrogant rich people of the city. "The Teacher" selects his victims from those he meets.

Michael Bennett races across the city to investigate these vicious crime scenes, and many of these are difficult to visit. While "the Teacher's" rampage across the city continues, Det. Bennett's children fall ill with the flu, making his job even more difficult.

Run for Your Life is another page turner that readers will be unable to put down. Another five-star crime drama from James Patterson, chock full of action.

Thanks, Mom, for another detailed review. Look forward to more from her later this week.

MAX by James Patterson

Welcome my mom's (Pat) review of MAX by James Patterson; she was kind enough to read this one a month ago, and I'm just catching up on posting some of her reviews.

MAX, the fifth book in the series, features the bird kids--Gazzy, Angel, Fang, Nudge, Max and others--after they join forces with the coalition CSM to stop the "madness." Off the Hawaii coast, ships, fish, and other creatures are being destroyed by something or someone. The bird kids always seem to be in danger, but they are keenly aware of the dangers they face.

Patterson's young adult bird kid series really heats up in MAX. But will Max and her mother live through this ordeal? If you are eager for another page turner, this is the book for you. Action-packed up until the end, and you will want read it again just to see how the kids find their way out of trouble. Five stars, a must read.

Thanks, mom, for another review, and thanks to Hachette Group for sending this book along. Stay tuned for my review of MAX, which the hubby and I are listening to on audiobook.

Have a great weekend everyone; I'll be offline spending time with the hubby and spring cleaning in June.

Check out this giveaway:

1 copy of Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham, here; Deadline is June 10, 2009, 11:59 PM EST

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I received Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One from Miriam at Hachette Group, and I sent it off to my mom for review. So without further ado, here's my mom, Pat, and her review of The Lucky One.

Logan Thibault finds a picture in the dirt on his third tour of duty in Iraq. He keeps the picture hoping that he will find the owner. His best friend and buddy has an explanation for Logan's good luck, the picture is his lucky charm.

Logan walks cross country with his dog from Colorado, stopping in towns to show the picture to people he meets. Nobody recognizes it. He ends up in Hampton, North Carolina where he meets Deputy Keith Clayton, who is divorced from Beth. Clayton and Beth have a son, Ben.

The journey Logan takes to find the picture's rightful owner is engaging and demonstrates the hardships family and friends can undergo. Sparks creates a heart-wrenching story. This is a must read, fast-paced novel. I give this five stars.

Testimony by Anita Shreve, Part Deux

I reviewed Testimony by Anita Shreve back in October 2008 when the book debuted; you can read my review here. My mom is always looking for a new book to read, so I shipped my copy up to Massachusetts for her to read.

She's here today to share her thoughts on the book with you. Welcome, my mom, Pat:

At Avery Academy, a prestigious New England boarding school located in Vermont, the headmaster, Mike Bordwin, finds in his possession a video tape--a disaster in a small package waiting to stir up trouble for the students at the academy. The sexual acts displayed on the tape involve four older students--juniors and seniors--and a freshman girl. The headmaster also engages in illicit activity following the incident and its fallout.

The events are set in motion, and Shreve uses testimony from all the students involved in the incident, the headmaster, and numerous other characters to tell her tale. These stories are woven together to show how this one incident impacts all the students involved as well as others in the book. Additionally, readers will get a glimpse into what happens in the lives of these students after the scandal breaks.

I give this book 4.5 stars and declare it is a must read.

Cross Country by James Patterson

Miriam at Hatchette Group sent Cross Country by James Patterson for my review. However, while I've been an avid James Patterson reader for some time, I decided to have the biggest James Patterson fan I know review it. My mom, Pat, offered to review the book for me. I'm sure my review will follow sometime in 2009.

About the book (from Amazon.com):

In this 14th Alex Cross thriller, Cross, a Washington, D.C., police detective, takes on a very different quarry—a human monster known as the Tiger with ties to the African underworld. When the Tiger and his teenage thugs butcher writer Ellie Cox, her husband and children in their Georgetown home, Cross is devastated because Ellie had been his girlfriend in college. The Cox family massacre proves to be just the first in a series. Cross pursues the Tiger to Nigeria, where the profiler finds himself at the mercy of corrupt government officials who may be working with the Tiger.

Here's what Pat had to say about the latest in the Alex Cross Series:

James Patterson's Cross Country is a page turner from beginning to end.

Alex Cross and Brianna Stone are called to a horrific crime scene, one of the worst murder scenes Cross has encountered in his entire D.C. police career. Families are brutally murdered in their homes. One scene involves Cross' ex-girlfriend Ellie Randall Cox and her family, and the death of the entire family. Ellie was a reporter who uncovered a series of brutal murders happening both in the United States and Nigeria, Africa.

Cross ends up in Africa on the trail of a notorious killer, Tiger, and his boy killers. From the moment Cross sets foot in Nigeria, he is kidnapped, beaten, and shot at. The fast-paced style that Patterson has cornered the market on continues in this latest Alex Cross story. Everyone Cross comes in contact with is dying or in danger, and eventually, Tiger follows Cross back to Washington, D.C.

This book is fantastic, and I would rate it with 5 stars. It will keep readers glued to the page until they are finished. This is one of the better books in the Cross series, and setting a portion of the tale in Africa was unique and believable.

***Don't forget about the Gods Behaving Badly Contest, which runs through January 5 at Midnight EST.***

Against Medical Advice by James Patterson

James Patterson and Hal Friedman's Against Medical Advice is the first book my mom, Pat, will be reviewing here on Savvy Verse & Wit.

According to Amazon.com's Product Description:

Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck. From that day forward his life became a hell of irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances, and Cory embarked on an excruciating journey from specialist to specialist to discover the cause of his disease. Soon it became unclear what tics were symptoms of his disease and what were side effects of the countless combinations of drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life was a living hell.

Against Medical Advice is the true story of Cory and his family's decades-long battle for survival in the face of extraordinary difficulties and a maddening medical establishment.

Without further ado, here's mom:

Patterson usually writes fiction, but this non-fiction work is well written. Patterson and Hal Friedman met at an advertising agency and both are writers. They took four years to write this true story about Hal's son, Cory, who has Tourettes Syndrome. One symptom of the ailment is body ticks. After a variety of medical treatments and medications, symptoms were not alleviated and lead to Cory's over-eating and weight gain.

Cory, an athlete in school, eventually gets into trouble with the "wrong" crowd. Alcohol consumption exacerbates Cory's medical problems and things spiraled out of control for him. After a number of treatment facilities, Cory is sent to a wilderness camp to help him cope with his ailment.

This is a story of one family's struggles with a disease that is hard to treat and deal with, and about how this struggle impacted them. I would recommend this book to James Patterson fans and would consider this among his best books. I consider this as a 5-star book.

Thanks mom for your review of James Patterson's Against Medical Advice.

Pat is an avid James Patterson reader and loves to follow his latest novels. I even thanked James Patterson in person for getting my mom to read. She didn't read much when I was growing up, at least from what I can remember. Now, if we could only get dad to start reading.

***Don't forget my giveaway for an inscribed copy of Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. Deadline is Dec. 21 and the contest is international.**

***Check out the winner of the Green Beauty Guide and an announcement about First Book.***