Reviews and More

I’ve been an active international traveler ever since I first got my passport 10 years ago. In that time, I’ve visited many diverse destinations, including capital cities in Europe, exotic islands in the South Pacific, and ancient historical sites in Asia. Of course, I’ve done my fair share of domestic traveling as well, and have been to all but 12 of our great states. Out of all the vacations I’ve ever taken in my life, I’d say my trip to Key West seven years ago is my most memorable one.

What makes Key West rank so high on my list? It’s not because of the Ernest Hemingway house or Sloppy Joe’s bar, even though those places were the main reasons I wanted to go to Key West in the first place. It’s not because I got to stand at the Southernmost Point of the U.S. and gaze out towards Cuba, a mere 90 miles away. It’s not even because I went parasailing and jetskiing for the first time in my life.

No; the reason I love Key West is that it’s where my husband proposed to me! It happened on the beach during a brilliant sunset, and I’ll never, ever forget it.

The first time I went to Key West, we were only able to stay for two days, which wasn’t long enough for us to do everything we wanted. So I would definitely like to go back there in the near future — this time making all our arrangements through a tour company like Trusted Tours and Attractions.

Trusted Tours and Attractions offer discount pricing on tickets to the most popular sightseeing tours, attractions, and museums in Key West and other top destinations throughout the country. By booking through them, we’d not only save money, but would also have a solid itinerary packed with fun activities.

I visited their website earlier today and saw that Trusted Tours and Attractions is currently holding a cool promotion. If you sign up for the Trusted Travel eNewsletter between now and the end of the month, you’ll automatically be entered in a drawing to win a free iPod Nano! I read through some of the archived issues of the newsletter, and found them to be chock-full of useful information, so I think it would definitely be worthwhile to sign up.

And now that I’ve been talking about Key West so much, I find that I have a sudden urge to go look through my photo album from that trip!

Although I’m not a Michael Connelly fan, I have his complete works on CD (loaned to me from a friend), and have been listening to these audiobooks off and on for the past year or so. I took a long break from Connelly because I didn’t really like his stuff, but started up again with Trunk Music a few weeks ago. I actually thought that was a pretty decent book, so I decided to continue on and check out Blood Work, the next novel in Connelly’s bibliography. Unfortunately, this did nothing but remind me of why I gave up on Connelly in the first place.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Blood Work is not part of the Harry Bosch series, so there’s a different protagonist in this novel. His name is Terry McCaleb, a 50-something ex-FBI profiler who had to retire early because of a heart condition. He recently had a transplant, and has been ordered by his doctors to take it easy. So he spends most of his time working on his boat (where he lives) and walking around the marina for exercise.

One day, McCaleb gets a visit from a woman who identifies herself as Graciela Rivers. Her sister Gloria was murdered several months ago when she got caught up in a convenience store robbery, but the LAPD detectives assigned to the case haven’t been able to find the killer. They’ve basically let the case go cold. Graciela read about McCaleb’s former career tracking down serial killers for the FBI, so she looked him up and decided to ask him to help with her sister’s case.

At first, McCaleb declines, saying that he doesn’t do that sort of thing anymore. But then Graciela drops a bombshell that changes McCaleb’s mind: the heart that he received in his transplant was Gloria’s. McCaleb basically owes his life to Gloria, Graciela reasons, so the least he can do is pull some strings and take a look at the case file. McCaleb reluctantly agrees.

That’s the basic setup of the novel, and the rest of the pages just deal with McCaleb’s investigation of Gloria’s murder. Like all of Connelly’s other novels, the author throws a lot of bureaucratic red tape in the main character’s way, adds a few cynical, uncooperative cops to the mixture, and throws in a romantic subplot for good measure. In addition, there are a few twists and surprises along the way, as it turns out that Gloria’s killing had a specific motive behind it and was not random at all.

My Reaction: As I said, Blood Work merely served to remind me of why I don’t generally like Michael Connelly books in the first place. It seems like Connelly definitely has a formula for his stories, as they’re all more or less the same. Yes, the details are different and all that; but the basic outline is pretty much the same. In fact, as I was listening to this book, I couldn’t help but think that McCaleb sounded exactly the same as Bosch. They use the same phrases, same clipped speaking style, etc. Sure, Bosch says “asshole” quite a bit more than McCaleb, but otherwise, I’d be hard pressed to tell them apart.

Quick question: who does Connelly write for? What demographic comprises his main audience? I just ask because it seems to me that his stories come of like nerd-boy fantasies. I mean, why else would he have McCaleb and Graciela tumbling into bed together within, what, 48 hours of meeting each other? This happens in all of his novels: the manly hero beds a woman in record time. Give me a friggin’ break already… why does there have to be a “romantic” component in all of his stories???

Ugh, I don’t really have much else to say about Blood Work. It was boring, trite, slow-moving, and featured lots of unbelievable actions on the part of the major characters. Stay away from this one!

DVDs make fantastic stocking stuffers, so this holiday season would be the perfect time for you to add to a friend or loved one’s collection. I want to make two quick recommendations today for titles that might not immediately come to your mind when considering which films to buy. The first is a Wallace & Gromit DVD called Three Amazing Adventures, and the second is Love’s Unending Legacy.

The Wallace & Gromit DVD features three popular short features from this acclaimed claymation series: A Grand Day Out, the Oscar-winning The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave. In addition to the hilarious films, the DVD contains bonuses such as commentary by writer/director Nick Park, a behind-the-scenes look at how the movies were made, photo gallery, and more. There’s no question that this DVD is must-have for all the Wallace & Gromit fans on your Christmas list!

Love’s Unending Legacy is a made-for-TV movie that first aired on the Hallmark Channel. This film is the fifth part of an entire series based on books by Janette Oke. I haven’t seen this movie myself, but have heard terrific things about it, so I’m definitely going to get around to watching all the films in order at some point. In the meantime, here’s a reprint of the official press release with more details about what Love’s Unending Legacy is about:

THE FIFTH INSTALLMENT OF JANETTE OKE’S BELOVED

BEST-SELLING NOVELS

LOVE’S UNENDING LEGACY

Comes To DVD December 4 From Fox Faith

CENTURY CITY, Calif. An inspiring story of faith and fortitude Love’s Unending Legacy, the fifth installment of Janette Oke’s best-selling books, arrives on DVD December 4.

The Western frontier is the backdrop of the uplifting and wholesome drama that chronicles the LaHaye family’s search for love and discovery. In Love’s Unending Legacy, Erin Cottrell reprises her role as Missie LaHaye, whose husband was killed after relocating to a new town and is forced to adapt to life in a new place on her own. After struggling to work the land and raise her son by herself she returns to her parent’s ranch, adopts a young girl and sets forth on a mission to find happiness for her new family.

With more than 30 million copies of the books sold, fans can continue to follow the inspirational love story of a more innocent time in this heartwarming film.

The previous titles in the series – Love Comes Softly, Love’s Enduring Promise, Love’s Long Journey and Love’s Abiding Joy - rank as the highest rated films in the history of The Hallmark Channel and have all been mainstays on the Christian Booksellers Association top 10 adult titles chart. Love’s Unending Legacy will be available at the suggested retail price of $22.98 U.S. / $37.98 Canadian and pre-book is November 7, 2007.

Now that sounds like a great movie for the holidays, doesn’t it?

At any rate, I encourage you guys to check out these titles if you’re looking for something a little different this winter. I’m sure any movie lover would appreciate getting these DVDs as gifts!