another college dream

For me, a typical college dream. I am on campus but I don't have my class schedule. Classes have already started. I am searching for my campus ID and my mailbox key through boxes and boxes of papers. My schedule should be in the mailbox. The room I'm in sleeps four or six, unlike the small dorms we had. I walk through the dorm, worrying about the classes that I am missing. Dinner is being served in the dining hall.

I swear, college was a great and very exciting time for me. I don't know why all my dreams about it are like this.

(no subject)

Title: Size 12 is Not Fat
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: Heather Wells
Genre: Mystery, chicklit, fiction.
Pages: 345, plus a reader's guide.
Copyright Date: 2006
Cover: A red dress with no wearer, twisted in the middle.
First line: "'Um, hello. Is anyone out there?' The girl in the dressing room next to mine has a voice like a chipmunk."
Best part: Very funny, especially the characters.
Worst part: Sometimes just a bit slow.
Grade: B-.
Recommended for: Those tired of skinny-chick fiction. Fans of funny mystery.
Related Reads: Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella, Agnes and the Hit Man by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer.

( A further quote. )

Heather Wells is remarkably philosophical about the turn her life has taken. She lost her recording contract, she caught her popstar boyfriend in bed with another popstar, her mom ran away with her manager and her life savings, and she gained a few pounds and a few dress sizes, too. But that's okay, life goes on - now she lives rent free with her ex's hunky brother and is writing her own songs while she works as an assistant director at a local residence hall. All is going well until one of the dorm girls dies. Everyone thinks it is a tragic elevator surfing accident, but Heather knows better. Can she get to the bottom of the mystery?

This is a light and charming diversion by the author of The Princess Diaries. Sometimes Heather made me roll my eyes, but mostly it was good fun.

The Last Embrace by Denise Hamilton

Title: The Last Embrace
Author: Denise Hamilton
Genre: Mystery, historical fiction.
Pages: 384, plus a reader's guide and an interview with the author
Copyright Date: 2008
Cover: A black cat sits on a white-sheeted bed, staring at an old-fasiong telephone. A glamorous red dress hangs in the background.
First line: "It felt like she'd been running for days."
Best part: Really impossible to predict whodunit.
Worst part: The ending was perhaps a bit unbelievable.
Grade: B-.
Recommended for: Fans of noir.
Related Reads: The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe (a fantasy revisioning of noir), The Book of Air and Shadows (set in modern times, but with a strong noir feel), The Genius by Jesse Kellerman (a mystery with some of the same qualities of glamour and surrealness).

Lily Kessler has no place. World War II took the life of her fiance. The war's end took her job as a successful covert operative. Trying to find a life to reconnect with, she travels to meet her beloved's family. But here, she finds more questions than answers. His sister is missing in her native Los Angeles, and his mother thinks that Lily is the one who can uncover the truth. LA's glamour and glitter mask webs of intrigues and jealousy. Will Lily's wartime skills come back in time to save her life?

Great setting, great time period, believable characters, interesting and sometimes funny dialogue, and a true plethora of plausible suspects. It's fascinating to see noir done with this mixture of modern sensibility and authentic feeling. B-.

March is Question Month... also known as, you can never spend too much time on the Internets.

Ask me a serious question, get an honest answer.

Fine print: Comments are screened. Questions will be reposted without the questioner's name unless you tell me you want credit. If you want to know something about a negative thing in one of my relationships, you should provide an email address, because I don't talk about those things on my blog. Answers to some questions may be filtered; again, providing an email address will make sure you get to see yours. "Who let the dogs out?" and similar do NOT count as serious questions in the Magical, All-Knowing Book of LadyA. I will answer one or two questions a week until I run out of questions or out of March.