review

… the healing powers of a martini? Sarah Strohmeyer’s story is about a female relationship of Kindred Spirits. One friend is dying of cancer, and her friends gather around her to offer support.

… New York City’s infestation of demonic bedbugs? And now that I’ve freaked everyone out, I highly recommend Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters, which is horror fiction at its creepy-crawly best! The story follows Susan and Alex Wendt, who have just moved into a spacious (and cheap!) apartment in New York City.

… ways to spend smarter and save money? Clark Howard’s Living Large in Lean Times is a lot of common sense, with some new twists that you might not have thought of. This is a brand new, up-to­-the-minute book on the current recession we are going through. There are more than 250 ideas and lots web sites for further ideas to check out.

… the best friends who do everything together? In Amy Crouse Rosenthal and Scott Magoon’s Chopsticks, the title characters are best friends.

… a traveling band of gypsies? Treat yourself to the musical DVD Barrage, Vagabond Tales. Through music, you will learn about a group of traveling gypsies who gather in their ancestral land to decide who gets leadership of the tribe. This is a twelve-person ensemble of mostly violins and fiddles and lots of hijinks. The narrator tells the story as these extremely talented musicians play their music and dance and sing a little bit.

… the living airships of World War I? The audiobook Leviathan* is a fantastic example of steampunk fiction done right. Scott Westerfeld adds mechanical robots and whale airships to World War I which makes it a hundred times more exciting.

… the mystery shopper who is also a sleuth?  An Uplifting Murder is the sixth book in the series* by Elaine Viets.

… The Breakfast Club? Or Sixteen Candles? Ever heard of Ferris Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?

… the historic hotel that is being refurbished in BoonsBoro, Maryland? In The Next Always* by Nora Roberts, the three Montgomery brothers and their very eccentric mom take over redoing an old inn. The descriptions are like reading a very expensive design magazine. Each room at the new inn will be named after a literary couple.

… the manga based in nineteenth-century Asia? Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story transports readers to the Silk Road, where a young woman from a nomadic tribe (Amir Halgal) has been married to a twelve-year-old boy in a small village (Karluk Eihon).