Did I happen to mention....

THAT JUST ADD MAGIC HAS A COVER!!!!

9 Dragons

I've blogged about Michael Connelly before, maybe several times. Maybe I've got a thing for him. Okay, I know I have a thing for him. I raced to get to the top of the library's CD list for his latest, 9 DRAGONS, which I listened to it in the car. I like having a book in the car, but since I am rarely in the car alone, it takes me a while to get through an audio book unless I'm on a trip. So, Michael and I took a drive alone to the mountains. It wasn't quite as romantic as it sounds, but it was still a good opportunity to listen to 9 DRAGONS.
My favorite detective Harry Bosche was on a very personal investigation that took him to Hong Kong.
For Bosche fans 9 DRAGONS pulls together lots of great seeds from past Connelly books: The rat tunnels of Vietnam, his brother Mickey Haller who works out of the backseat of his Lincoln, and the three loves in his life: his ex Elonore Wish, his daughter Maddie, and Los Angeles. But it also opens a whole new world including Asian gangs, Hong Kong, and a very personal side of Bosche and his relationship with his ex-wife and daughter. I didn't love the idea of taking Harry out of LA and making him a father figure because it was a significant change from who he was and why I loved him.
In the end it all worked and I enjoyed the book, err... I mean CDs, very much. More or less than other installments? Maybe not as much, but in all fairness, the bar there is set unrealistically high.

Espressologist

First off, you've gotta love the title and this cover. This sweet story begs to be made into a movie, probably with Taylor Swift.

The 411 from KristinaSpringer.com: What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

The Recommendation: [Insert the Facebook "like" symbol here]. It was very good, very cute. As a coffee lover, I loved the setting. I gave it to my 11-year old to read. And for you teachers, it's fine for any age. Nothing risque.