Locked On by Tom Clancy

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Jack Ryan Sr. out of retirement runs for president. Jack Ryan Jr. is involved with Pakistani dissidents plotting a war with India. There are stolen nuclear weapons. An American secret service operative is accused and on the run and looking to clear his name.

Audio:  17 hrs. 27 min.

Print:  592 pages.

"Entwined" by Elisabeth Naughton

This is the second book in the Eternal Guardians series and focuses on Zander, an Argonaut who is descended from Achilles.  At 829 years old, he is tired of living, especially since his soul mate, the healer Callia, betrayed him 11 years ago.  But since he is immortal, suicide won't work.  The king of his homeland, Argolea, needs an Argonaut to marry and impregnate the heir to the throne, his daughter Isadora.  When he asks for a volunteer, only Zander agrees.  However, he must be checked out by the king's healer to confirm his ability to procreate.  And who is that healer?  Yep, it's Callia, who believes that Zander dumped her 11 years ago.  Will all these misunderstandings and secrets keep them apart forever?  Will Zander marry Isadora and produce an heir?

I enjoyed this book more than the first in the series, "Marked."  Lots of action and suspense enhanced the complicated relationship between Callia and Zander.  This book strongly reminded me of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and even had some very close parallels with its characters and storylines.  Highly recommended for paranormal romance enthusiasts.  336 pages.

More Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins

I always like learning the stories behind popular Christmas songs. This book contained several that I had never heard of before while others I would find myself singing as I read about them. Most interesting tidbit? The composer of The Little Drummer Boy was born and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri. A good Christmas read. 224 pages.

"One White Rose" by Julie Garwood

I read this short historical romance while waiting for a book on hold at the library to arrive.  The story takes place in Montana Territory sometime in the 1800s. Douglas Clayborne arrives at Sweet Creek to take possession of an Arabian horse he bought from Parker Grant several months ago.  Unfortunately, Grant is now dead and his wife refuses to believe that he would sell one of her horses without telling her.  Isabel Grant is also alone and about to give birth prematurely, but no one in town will help her because they are intimidated by the town bully.  Will Douglas help her deliver her baby and lose his heart in the process?  What do you think.

I have read and enjoyed other books by this author, but this one seemed to have been written quickly without much depth of character or subtlety.  There are more books in this series, but I won't be reading them.  150 pages.

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

The White Tower is broken and the Forsaken rule! News that the Dragon has been Reborn has spread like wildfire, shattering all bonds as the Prophecies said he will. Nations are broken by civil war and refugees flee in every direction as an unnatural heat settles on the land.

The leader of the Aes Sedai, an ancient order of women who can channel the one Power, has been deposed costing Rand al'Thor one of his most stalwart allies and plunging the order into chaos and rebellion. The Forsaken, a group of powerful channelers sworn to serve the Dark One sealed outside of time more than three thousand years ago by the original Dragon, walk the world once more and secretly control the monarchs of several nations. Even after uniting the Aiel clans under the banner of the Dragon Reborn, one of them has rebelled and seeks to ravage the lands Rand seeks to protect. Meanwhile the seals on the Dark One's prison, the ancient entity of chaos and evil created at the moment of creation, are growing thin allowing him to touch the world once more and trap it in an unending summer.

The fifth book in the Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven is another one of my favorites in the series. There is a lot of plot and character development. The female leads Elayne, Nyneave, Egwene, and Moraine get some important developments and some major plot action. Moraine also gets catapulted up to one of my favorite characters. Mat develops his true place in the story and easily becomes the best character, while Perrin (in my opinion the most boring character) is thankfully absent from the book.

Pages: 736

Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser

Have you ever imaged that same search term by different person will bring back different search results? It is happening every day now. All the behavior data that we generate by using the internet has come back as a tool for business to re-target us. A wonderful book to examine all the major media, the business sector, and the internet companies, even ourselves have built a large filter bubble of our daily lives. Highly recommended.

304 Pages