Janet's Book Nook

The 8th Confession is the latest in the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Series. I have been a fan of this series since it first started. I love the characters and their diversity. I love that each new book can focus on a different character. I have had issues lately with some of Patterson’s books because they have become predictable. This book definitely doesn’t fall in to that category.

In The 8th Confession the members of the Women’s Murder Club are faced with several different murders. The first is a local street hero named Bagman Jesus who is found murdered on a city sidewalk. Cindy is determined to do a series of stories on how he changed the lives of neighborhood people and help to find his murderer. In the end though Bagman Jesus isn’t who he seems to be and Cindy has to help find the murderer even though she thinks he may have deserved it. The other murders are all connected and are all rich or famous people who run in the high society circles. Claire is faced with major issues when she can find no apparent cause of death. Some of these people die simultaneously but there are no signs of poisoning and no medical signs that they should have died. It takes some major investigative skills for Lindsey and Claire to realize that they are being killed by the bites of poisonous snakes.

In the end this book was much more interesting and suspenseful than any of Patterson’s other recent books. As a matter of fact I just finished reading Run For Your Life before reading this one. I find it funny that these books are strangely similar but very different in their ability to catch and hold interest. Both are about people who are trying to teach society a lesson and are killing rich people as the means to do it. Run For Your Life has characters that aren’t very interesting. Even though Pet Girl from The 8th Confession is a killer she is interesting. The Teacher from Run For Your Life comes off as arrogant and ridiculous and someone  you really couldn’t care about. There is a sense of pity for Pet Girl and the circumstances that led her to become a murderer. The teacher doesn’t invoke those same feelings.

I am not sure I will continue with any of the other series that includes Run For Your Life but I will most assuredly continue with the Women’s Murder Club series. I think that The 8th Confession does a much better job of discussing social issues and the people who try to avenge them. Enjoy!

I have been dying to find a new series to do a book club discussion on like we did with Twilight. I have put off reading the Dan Brown books because I just wasn’t sure I would enjoy them. I have seen so much hype this week about the release of Lost Symbol that I figured now would be a good time to start reading these books. I know if I commit to doing a book club discussion with you guys about these books that I will indeed make sure to read the books and post. I ordered them today and hopefully will have them within a week. Then I will need a few days to get started with Angels & Demons. If you are interested in participating in the discussion make sure to get your copies and get started reading them. The three books we will read and discuss is Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and  Lost Symbol. I will be posting some discussion questions each week and giving you guys a few days to answer them and comment on each other’s posts. Then I will post my opinion and answers to the questions. Let me know if there are any topics associated with this series that you want to be sure we discuss. I am going to plan on starting the discussion of Angels & Demons on November 1st. Can’t wait to see what we will uncover with this controversial and intriguing series.

Living in Louisiana can be tough on the allergies for kids and adults alike. We have all these pine trees and cypress trees and mold and spanish moss and so many other things that just set off the sneezes. When you add to that the fact that it is October 13th and still 90 degrees outside and we get a "cold front" every two days with the rains and my family as been miserable. I have all three kids home today with head colds due to allergies. They have runny noses and itchy eyes and headaches and are sneezing like crazy. I know it isn’t the flu because they don’t have fever and it is all in their head and not in the chest at all.

Lucky for me though because I am a member of BzzAgent and my campaign that just arrived in the mail is Children’s Zyrtec! That means they send me free samples of the product and let me try it as well as sharing it with my friends. I then report back to the company what the reactions of people are. I love these campaigns usually and this time it is SO timely.

I have used Zyrtec for the kids allergies for quite some time. As a matter of fact we started using it when you still needed a prescription from the doctor to use it. That Zyrtec used to taste awful and I would have to mix it with other liquids to get my kids to take it. Zyrtec is a very effective medication for allergies though so I never wanted to switch to one that tsted better. Well thank goodness they listen to thier customers because now Zyrtec comes in flavors. The product I got from them is the Grape and it came in "perfect measure" form. These are super for on the go moms. It is a little plastic premeasured "spoon" that you twist the top off of and then dispense the medication. I love this! No searching for measuring spoons or cups. Best of all is that I can run up to the school and give the kids some medication when they start to show signs of allergy attacks. I can carry these with me in my vehicle for when we are out and one of them starts to show signs.

I love it when an already amazing product goes the extra step to make things easy too!

Last year I got a beautiful new HP laptop from my husband for Valentine’s Day. I have been pretty happy with my gift for the last year and a half. I have always been an HP customer and I have had desktops that lasted years and years with no issues. I am having issues with my laptop now. I guess I never expected that laptops would be less durable than desk top computers. I can understand why they would be since they are moved all over the place and not stationary on the desk. I just have found that after almost 2 years I have missing keys, battery life issues, charging issues and finally not enough laptop memory. I am having to delete things in order to save new items. I never had that issue with my desktop. I kept 8 years worth of information stored on that machine and never had to delete so I could save more. I know I can go in and add more memory and I am sure I can buy a new battery and maybe even get the missing key replaced. I just hate that I have to. It will be a far cry cheaper to replace the parts that are causing me stress than to buy a new laptop but it still peeves me a little. The problem? I couldn’t ever go back to a desk top now. I love being able to use my computer in whatever room I need to be in. I love that I can put it away when I am not using it and I don’t need to have a special desk and area of my home to keep it. I guess for now I will just need to give my laptop some TLC so that it will give me many more years of service.  

I love a strong woman! I find it respect worthy for a woman to rise to the top of any career whether or not I agree with their actions or beliefs. I have to admire Hillary Clinton, Condoleesa Rice, and Sarah Palin. I admire them all for the same reasons though they are all so vastly different in their lives and careers. I can only imagine the struggles a woman has to deal with when raising a family and having a highly visible career. I doubt I would fair too well if media were there every time I went to the grocery store or had dinner with my spouse. It takes a special kind of woman to run a house and a high profile career at the same time.

These and many other are the reasons I think I will give Sarah Palin’s new book a read. I have issues with her on some level but I also have a great deal of respect. I am interested to see what she has to say about raising a family when you are in the bullseye of the spotlight. She has had the added stresses of teenage pregnancy, a disabled child and political scandals in her year in the spotlight.

Her book will be releasing on November 17th and is available for pre-order at many of the major retailers. I will give you a better idea of the content once I have actually read it but I wanted to let you know it was on its way to hitting stores. Enjoy!