Karen's Book Nook

I’m back on track with posting and just finished Clear and Convincing Proof by Kate Wilhelm, part of the Barbara Holloway series.

About the book: The Kelso/McIvey rehab center is a place of hope and healing for its patients — and for the dedicated staff who volunteer there. For lonely newcomer Erica Castle, its’ a place to make new friends. For brilliant physical therapist Darren Halvord, it’s a chance to showcase his unusual gift. For beautiful Annie McIvey it’s a sanctuary from a cruel husband. And for directors Naomi and Greg Boardman, it’s a lifelong dram about to be destroyed if Annie’s husband, David, has his way. A brilliant surgeon, an implacable misogynist, a man whose ego rivals his skill with a scalpel, David McIvey now has controlling shares in what has always been a non profit clinic. His plan to close the clinic and replace it with a massive new surgery center — with himself at the helm — means that the rehab center, with all its good work and good people, will be forced to close its doors. MORE HERE

My thoughts:  I love the Barbara Holloway series and especially get a bang out of her dad, Frank… “Christ-on-a-mountain,- Bobby!”  LOL.. I listened on audio and I’m used having the same reader for the series. This one took awhile for Barbara to get involved and I had to double check to make sure that it was one of the series of books. Once she did, she brought along her usual cast of characters and in true form, kept the reader guessing right up until the very end.

Rating 4/5

I continued in on my Barbara Holloway series with Desperate Measures by Kate Wilhelm.

About the book: Barbara Holloway has a reputation for taking on the toughest cases in the Pacific Northwest… and winning them. But this time it looks as though she’s up against an unbeatable opponent, her father, the lawyer who taught her all she knows.
2001

My thoughts: I always like to listen to these books on Audio and I likes listening to the series in order. The characters have remained constant throughout and the book followed the same pattern as all of the others… with a twist and Barbara always prevails.

Rating 3.5/5

Counts towards: Library Challenge, 100 Book Challenge, Audio Book Challenge, Finish that Series Challenge,

Continuing with Kate Wilhelm‘s Barbara Holloway series, I’m starting Book4,  Defense for the Devil.

About the book: Mitch Arno always meant bad news for Folsum, Oregon. When they ran him out of town seventeen years ago, he left behind a wife with two daughters and a family that never wanted to see him again. When he returns, he brings trouble in the form of a lot of suspicious money. As Barbara attempts to counsel Mitch’s wife about the money, a second form of trouble arrives, Mitch’s corpse.

Starting the final audio book in Debbie Macomber‘s Blossom Street Series, Summer on Blossom Street while I knit. This one is read by the famous Delilah.. I should really enjoy it since I love her voice and it focuses on Lydia from the first two books.

About the book: Knitting and life. They’re both about beginnings—and endings. That’s why it makes sense for Lydia Goetz, owner of A Good Yarn on Seattle’s Blossom Street, to offer a class called Knit to Quit. It’s for people who want to quit something—or someone!—and start a new phase of their lives….  More here.

Finally got the 3rd Barbara Holloway novel, Malice Prepense in  the series by Kate Wilhelm.  I read the first two in audio format but this third wasn’t available so I’m reading the paper version… it will likely take me awhile to finish but there are lots of books in the series that I want to get to.

About the book:  For the Defense: or, Malice Prepense
Teddy Wendover is a hulking twenty-eight-year-old with the mind of a child. An accident at eight left him severely retarded. But did it turn him into a cold-blooded killer? Someone has bludgeoned Congressman Harry Knecht to death. Knecht was the man who organized the field trip that led to Teddy’s injury.
Also started and finished Janet Evanovich’s Two for the Dough… the second in the Stephanie Plum series.

About the book:

It’s Stephanie Plum, New Jersey’s “fugitive apprehension” agent (aka bounty hunter), introduced to the world by Janet Evanovich in the award-winning novel One for the Money.

Now Stephanie’s back, armed with attitude — not to mention stun guns, defense sprays, killer flashlights, and her trusty .38. Stephanie is after a new bail jumper, Kenny Mancuso, a boy from Trenton’s burg. He’s fresh out of the army, suspiciously wealthy, and he’s just shot his best friend….  More Here.

Just finished Death Qualified and starting a second audio book by the same author, Kate Wilhelm.  This one, The Best Defense, follows in the sequence of Barbara Holloway novels.

About the book: The Best Defense
When attorney Barbara Holloway takeson the case of the woman the media have dubbed “Baby Killer” – accused of killing her six-year-old child – she uncovers a conspiracy to allow the real killer go free. Barbara discovers that not only her professional reputation, but her very life, is at risk.
1994

I was very happy to see that many of the downloadable audio books from my library are now iPod compatible so I was able to finally use them with my Nano instead of a cheesy mp3 player.  This series caught my eye. I haven’t read Kate Wilhelm before but I always like recurring character novels so I expect it will be a good one. Book 1 of the Barbara Holloway series  is Death Qualified.

Publishers Weekly: Nell Kendricks is charged with murdering her estranged husband, Lucas, who disappeared years ago while working on a top-secret experiment attempting to use chaos theory to change the observer’s perception of the universe. Now it appears that Lucas had spent the intervening years drugged and amnesiac, a handyman at the university where the studies had taken place. Attorney Barbara Holloway, who is “death qualified” (i.e., legally permitted to act in capital cases), agrees to defend Nell, despite having left the profession, disillusioned by its practices….