From the Bookshelf of Read with Pride Northwest…

Sun Valley was a textbook case of what happened when nepotism and ineptness collided, sort of like the Bush administration on a much smaller scale.

"...I am hypnotized by David Caruso’s ability to act with his sunglasses. I mean, who allows themselves to get out-acted by an accessory?"

"Living with a moody, self-absorbed artist is a total pain in the ass."

"Living with me is a total pain in the ass. No difference."

"Well, I wasn’t going to say that…."

"I know. You’re Buddhist, and so much nicer than me. See, that’s why I need you. You can patch up all the gaping holes I punch in people’s emotional walls."

He paused briefly. "Was that a mixed metaphor?"

"Fuck if I know. I think after the interview I just had, I’m just gonna start saying "I am a fish" for the next hour or so."

I don't like how often they use the word pussy derogatorily. I mean, I hate the word, but it's still so like using "that's so gay."

I love that a woman says:

If I’m gonna watch a porn, it’s gonna be a gay porn. Straight porn just makes me ill.

I agree wholeheartedly. (I think I just outed myself as a feminist/egalitarian who watches porn...)

He used "truthiness"!

A clipboard for a nurse talking to a patient in this day and age in Seattle?

I don't know any hospital campuses where you can smoke, certainly not in Seattle. They don't have designated smoking sections. The exception is sometimes there's a smoking balcony on the locked mental health wards, but not usually even there. They make patients use patches.

The author and I have similar tastes except I'm into more mainstream alternative music than Roan's indie stuff. I do like some of those bands though. (And she's a Pepsi person and I'm all about Coke.) But when she makes references to TV shows but without mentioning that they're TV shows, I almost always not only know what she's talking about but used to watch the show. It also makes me feel old because how many younger readers know what "...being Hawk to his Spenser," refers to? (It's always bothered me--even when I was a kid--that his name is spelled with a second S instead of a C.) but it's weird that these young people do.

Do roofies work after the fact like that?

I'm not as upset about Holden's actions as I think I should be, although it does bother me a lot. Maybe it's because we worked up to it with (view spoiler)[two abortive attempts (hide spoiler)]. Maybe I wasn't wrapped up in that storyline enough.

Regardless, I really enjoyed this book, my favorite of the series so far. Lots of action, danger, peril, mystery, humor, etc. I'm eager to read the next one.