The Cat Who Saw Red

Title: The Cat Who Saw Red
Author: Lilian Jackson Braun
Rating: Four and a Half Guitars

Sizzilin' Summary:
Qwilleran has a new job in the paper business: reviewing restaurants! He soon moves in to a boarding house for food-related job people: Maus Haus! He meets his old flame, Joy, there, though she is now married.
But a mystery soon abounds. A scream in the night wakes Qwill and his Siamese pets Koko and Yum Yum.
Then Joy vanishes...

Rockin' Review:
A little tip: this is actually book 4 in the series! Yet I was able to pick it up and read it. The only new thing was Yum Yum, the new main-character female cat.
This was an amazing book. It was extremely well-written. The mystery could have been tweaked a little, but this was an amazing book all the same. No wonder the series is still around!
This is a book to pick up... it's rockin'!

Metal Fire

Title: Metal Fire
Author: Jack McKinney
Rating: One and a Half Spaceships

Sizzilin' Summary:
The government wants a team to go inside the downed ship. Who else but Dana's squad goes? But even if they survive, the Robotech Masters have a plan to plant a spy... a spy named Zor, AKA the Red Bioroid Pilot!

Rockin' Review:
I shall go far to say that this was worse than the last one. There were times that I would lose my spot and have trouble finding where I was! That was not good! Near the end, there were some good spots, but it was only average (well, this is still in the section of the Robotech anime I didn't care for).
I did not care for this book.

Buttercream Bump Off

Title: Buttercream Bump Off
Author: Jenn McKinlay
Rating: Three Guitars

Sizzilin' Summary:
Valentine Day's coming fast, and Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are ready for it. Even Mel's mom is in the spirit, getting a date. What she doesn't suspect is that her date's going to end up dead! She's a top suspect, and Mel is trying to find out who-dun-it so she can keep her mom out of jail.
But things are getting problematic...

Rockin' Review:
Not as good as the first one. The mystery was confusing, and it didn't center too heavily on the mystery, and then it did. It was confusing whether or not it centered on the mystery or not. It was enjoyable in some parts, including the new side-character Marty. I think Marty was one of the better parts of this book.
This wasn't as good as the first book in the series (Sprinkle With Murder), but at least it didn't bomb the place.

Sit, Stay, Slay

Title: Sit, Stay, Slay
Author: Linda O. Johnston
Rating: Four Guitars

Sizzilin' Summary:
Kendra Ballantyne was once a great lawyer. But a scandal forced her resignation, and now she has crashed onto hard times, even renting her Hollywood home! She manages to get a new job as a freelance pet-sitter.
She soon discovers she enjoys her new life, but it's about to take a dangerous turn. One of her clients, who used to be her client when she was a lawyer, turns up dead. Kendra is the top suspect, and let's say that the detective won't let it go.
Kendra, with the help of the hot detective Jeff Hubbard (one of her pet-sitting clients), is going to have to find this killer herself...

Rockin' Review:
This was a pretty good book. It was well-written, and the main character felt very real. Then there's the detective... man, I hated him! I wanted to punch him in the gut pretty much all the time. That character was very well made, especially if you're meant to hate him. I sure did!
The story was pretty good... but the mystery needs some work. When we discover the killer in the end, things didn't click in. It makes semi-sense when explained, but I think that different clues could have been dug up that would make more sense in the end. And there was part of the ending scene that didn't make sense.
This was a pretty good book overall.

Another Friendly Warning:
Yeah, be used to Bond-level sex. And I'm just warning you... there's a scene that seems like it would go into detail, but it luckily doesn't. But be used to Bond-level sex if you want to read this book, folks!

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

Title: The Cat Who Could Read Backwards
Author: Lilian Jackson Braun
Rating: Four Guitars

Sizzilin' Summary:
Jim Qwilleran has just gotten a new reporter job at the Daily Fluxion, in a world unknown to him... art! But things are going to get dangerous when artists are getting murdered.
It's up to Qwilleran and an intelligent Siamese cat named Koko (short for Kao K'o-Kung) to solve this mystery...

Rockin' Review:
A pretty good book. In a way, I can see how the Cat Who series became famous. The book was very well-written. The characters were pretty well done. I enjoyed Koko the cat as well. My complaint is that it took about half the book to get to the mystery. It needed setup, however, but this is still a little annoying.
All in all, this is still a very good book.

Southern Cross

Title: Southern Cross
Author: Jack McKinney
Rating: Three and Half Guitars

Sizzilin' Summary:
20 years after the First Robotech War, a new alien race threatens Earth... the Robotech Masters! A war begins once more...
Will Dana Sterling, the half-human half-Zentraedi, be able to lead her squad into victory?

Rockin' Review:
This wasn't my favorite book of the Robotech series. It wasn't terrible, but it was only about average. Then again, we're covering the part of the Robotech anime I didn't overly care for.
And I actually enjoyed this book better than the series-section it was following! Part of it is that Jack McKinney is a pretty good author (though you have to get used to his style, which includes some Point Of View [POV] mistakes), and part of it is that I got to learn stuff that I didn't learn in the series. Like they explain the "Army of the Southern Cross" in here. I never truly understand that in the series. And we get some indication why Dana was left on Earth... though we're really not sure.
This is not my fave book, but maybe one to get if you're collecting the series, and/or need something (or understand something) better after watching part of this section of the Robotech anime series.