Book Reviews.

With keeping up with my goal of reading 500 good books in my lifetime, so far this year I've read The Raven and Other Favorite Poems by Edgar Allen Poe and I just finished the 2nd book in the Nikki Heat series, Naked Heat, by Richard Castle.

My favorite Poe poem is still The Raven, I could read that over and over again. The style, flow, words and imaginative atmosphere for someone of that time period, he was ahead of his time. As I'm reading I usually picture the man sitting by the fire, tapping his finger, beginning his downward fall over the loss of Lenore. ('Lenore' was a poem itself, published prior to The Raven, which discusses celebrating the life one goes to after leaving this earth. Let's celebrate the journey that they are embarking on instead of grieving the loss of that person.) Yes, a bird tapping on your chamber door may not seem very frightening to you, but it always gets my heart pumping a little faster.

Naked Heat was a better read that Heat Wave, it just had more content, better flow & twists to the plot. While I thoroughly enjoyed Heat Wave, Naked Heat was more like an episode. Okay, it would be a movie length episode, but it was great. The chemistry after the fact of Rook & Nikki was right on. The push and pull of combining your work & play lives was woven in beautifully... and you feel the emotional baggage on a daily basis when the relationship fails.

There isn't any time wasted before getting right into the murder of a gossip columnist who was famous for ruining the lives of famous New Yorkers with revealing their most intimate details & secrets. Since their 'break-up', Nikki and Rook haven't been spending that much time together - but when he's already at the crime seen when she shows up (sound familiar?), what choice does she have but to let him be involved.

The attention to detail with the private scenes, detective work & attacks were wonderful. I had chills reading about The Texan - I could see this huge man standing in front of me with that damn dental pick... yikes.

As the bodies and suspects keep piling up, you'll be excited to turn to page to see what's happening next!

This is a must read for all Castle fans.