The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

If you have read any of Nicholas Sparks' other books then this one will be familiar. It was a bit formulaic at times but entertaining nonetheless. The fact that it was written first as a screenplay for a Miley Cyrus movie may turn some people off to the book but it shouldn't. I thought that it worked well as a novel and enjoyed listening to it.
Ronnie is 17 and is being forced to leave her home in New York and spend the summer with her dad in North Carolina, a dad whom she has not spoken to in 3 years after he left the family. She blames him for deserting her and her brother to the point that she quit playing the piano in rebellion and would have nothing to do with her dad, Steve.
Steve had been a piano instructor at Julliard before deciding to pursue his dream of being a concert pianist. The long weeks of travel eventually took its toll on his marriage and his family and he returned to his childhood home in North Carolina. He views the summer spent with Ronnie and 10-year-old Jonah, as a chance to make up for some of the time he has lost.
Ronnie's experiences that summer, not just with her dad but with new acquaintences, changes her life. She realizes just how childish and selfish she had been and finds new respect for her dad.
As with most Nicholas Sparks books, the book is rather clean. There is some language but not much, some violence, and some sexual innuendo, but compared to most books out there, it is squeaky clean. Rated PG.

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber

After receiving a Christmas card from a former college roommate depicting the perfect family celebrating the perfect Christmas card, or so it seems, Cassie realizes once again just how much is missing in her life. Thirty-something Cassie is attractive and intelligent and seems like someone who shouldn't have a hard time finding dates but she is struggling with her social life. Things just aren't going well, to the point that when her friend mentions a match-maker, costing $30,000 no less, Cassie is intrigued. After meeting Simon, the handsome and very grumpy matchmaker, she is assigned 3 tasks to complete, none of which are as easy as they seem at first, before he will introduce her to her match.
This book is completely predictable and lightweight but it was a fun piece of escapist fluff to read and very clean as well. Just a nice little romantic book to get away from things for awhile. Rated G.

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

Don't bother with this one unless you are a true fan of the series. It's just a compilation of short stories, only five of them, and is less than 100 pages some of which are drawings, that despite the extra-large print! The stories don't mean much unless you are familiar with the characters and they aren't particularly well written. It just seems like a ploy by Ms. Harris to make a little extra money by exploiting her fan base. There isn't a lot of profanity although there is an f-word, which along with the regular references to sex makes this rated R.

The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans

Christmas books!! Gotta love 'em!
I love Christmas books even when they are emotional and well, somewhat sappy. They still make you feel good.
My favorite Christmas story of all time (other than the REAL Christmas story) is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. We have seen it performed live at least ten times and watch Scrooge with Albert Finney every year. My 8 year old daughter watched it a couple of weeks ago and now has us reading A Christmas Carol out loud to her. A classic even for an 8-year-old!
The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans is based on A Christmas Carol. Evans writes a Christmas book just about every Christmas. I have read a few of them including last year's Grace which I didn't really care for it too much. This one I loved! It made me cry and seemed unbelievable at times but I still loved it.
James Kier is an alpha-male when it comes to business. He will win no matter the cost, and cost it has. His marriage, his relationship with his son, and many many friendships. He doesn't seem to care, and in fact seems completely heartless. He even served divorce papers to his wife on her first day of chemo. When his obituary is mistakenly published in the paper, James is forced to face up to what his life has been so far.
It doesn't seem possible that someone can change his life so completely based on one experience but as I thought about it, I remembered not only the story of Ebenezer Scrooge but examples from the scriptures when people did just that: experienced a complete change of heart.
I read this book very quickly. It is very short and easy to read AND you don't want to put it down once you start. Make sure you have nothing scheduled before you pick it up. Nothing particularly objectionable in it other than some people behaving like jerks. I would rate it PG for that bad behavior.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I listened to this book on my mp3 while I did my housework and made dinner so I didn't get the full impact of the book that I would have had I read it. When it comes out in paperback we will buy although now that I know what happens, it won't be the same.
In this book, Robert Langdon, Harvard professor, is called to Washington, DC to lecture as a last minute substitute as a favor to his friend Peter Solomon. When he arrives in DC, he finds that he has been tricked and that his friend Peter, and Peter's attractive sister Katherine, are in grave danger is Langdon can't solve the mysteries surrounding Freemasonry.
I thought that, although the book definitely has its faults, it was fascinating especially with all the details about many national monuments and famous buildings. I was completely unsure about what was factual and what wasn't but apparently much of it is true, both about the symbols placed in the buildings and about the masons. Here is a link to a Discovery Channel program about the book: http://www.nypost.com/t/Discovery_Channel
The action was non-stop with tons of twists and turns and unexpected surprises that come out of nowhere. My only criticism of the book is that the main characters don't seem quite human in both their ability to crack codes at the speed of lightening and to recover quickly from traumatic events. What I really liked was that the book was well-researched and is sure to bring up many interesting discussions.
The book wasn't too bad as far as language goes. I don't remember hearing any f-words. And there wasn't any sex. There was violence and I found the scene where Mah'lak (the villain) describes his self-mutilation rather distasteful. This is definitely an adult book but not quite a rated-R book. Rated PG-16.

Rough Country by John Sandford

I didn't have to get very far into this book to know that I would not be finishing it. The language was not good at all. Virgil Flowers is fishing in Minnesota when he gets an urgent call to help investigate the murder of a woman who was vacationing at an all women's resort. She was a high-powered businesswoman who had made a lot of enemies but after investigating, Flowers finds an earlier murder at the resort that may be connected.
Rated R for language.

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs

The television series "Bones" is based on this series of books. Temperence Brennan is a Forensic Pathologist in Montreal, Canada. Tempe, as she is known, and her ex-and maybe again-boyfriend Lieutenant Ryan are investigating a series of murders involving elderly women. Tempe finds her work being sabotaged, nasty letters and phone calls, and even a broken window at her condo are taking their toll on her but it isn't until she is abducted that things really get bad.
I haven't watched the tv series but thought that it sounded good, just don't have the time to watch, so I was intrigued by this book and hoped that it would be a good one. It wasn't until halfway through the book that the language got bad. It was from 2 minor characters that all the f-words came. I don't know how the other books in the series are, maybe they are clean? There was some other swearing but I really had high hopes for this one because I thought that the writing was very intelligent and the story interesting although it did drag at times with some of the technical discussions. Rated R for language.