Book Review: Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View by Elizabeth Schaefer

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View by Elizabeth Schaefer
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Del Ray


Oh, this was a fun read! Forty short stories, each from the POV of side characters in Star Wars: A New Hope. This is just my sort of read because I love SW and have always been eager for the wider GFFA experience. The galaxy is bigger than the Skywalkers and others also have thoughts, dreams, problems, lives, deaths and a point of view. I didn't love all of these but such is to be expected in a compendium of short stories but there was plenty here that I did love. Some of my favourites follow:

Book Review: Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: British Library Crime Classics


The story of how seven dead people come to be in a locked room of a manor house was what hooked me into reading this and I loved the way it began with a burglar being the one to happen upon them while trying to rob the house. Sadly, what followed was mostly disappointing to this reader. I loved Mystery in White by Farjeon so my disappointment was probably felt more.

Book Review: The Exiles Trilogy: Three Novels by Ben Bova

The Exiles Trilogy: Three Novels by Ben Bova
My rating: 2 stars  🌟🌟
Publisher:  Berkley

I picked this up because it was in a box of old books that we inherited and it featured scientists exiled on a space station because they're on the cusp of completing the human genome project and the World Government is worried that this knowledge will be too much for society to handle. It sounds silly of course because real life didn't proceed that way at all but it may have been more plausible when this was written in the 70s. Anyway, the blurb had me at "space station". This compendium has all three novels in the Exiles Trilogy and they were quick reads.

Book Review: Death on Windmill Way by Carrie Doyle

Death on Windmill Way by Carrie Doyle
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

This caught my eye (that cover is wholly responsible) and I'm always a fan of reading about small communities that are "off-season" (resort or college towns). This was set during autumn and gave a very good feel for the pace and also a look in at the shops and the inn Antonia (our amateur sleuth) owns and runs. I was about even on what I liked and what I found didn't quite work for me (pretty usual for a first in a series) so first what I liked.

Book Review: White Ivy by Susie Yang

White Ivy by Susie Yang
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 2020)

Very good. A very quick read as it's quite the page-turner.

This began as a bit of a character study of an unabashed social climber and ingratiator and in the second half segued into a bit of a thriller. One of the major revelations was telegraphed too early on for my liking but I don't know if I saw it because I read a lot and am of a suspicious nature or it was that baldly obvious. The thriller-esque happening was a decent surprise but felt a bit removed in tone from the rest of the story, still, I enjoyed it.

Book Review: Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison

 

Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Rosetta

Soylent Green was a favourite film with my father's side of the family. Often referenced and spoken about yet, it wasn't until I was a grown woman that I finally saw it (because my husband was appalled that my 70's film viewing had been so lacking; he considers it to have been a fantastic decade for film). 

Book Review: A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery #1) by Abby Collette

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher:  Berkley

I totally didn't need to begin yet another cozy mystery but I couldn't resist this when I ran across it. The sluether is the owner of an ice cream shop and the cover was neat. Happily, so was the story. Bronwyn Crewse has an already busy and challenging day on the re-launch of the ice cream shop that's been in her family for years. 

Book Review: Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaraies #5) by Martha Wells

Netwrok Effect by Martha Wells

Network Effect by Martha Wells
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Tor

Well. I'm going to be an outlier here... I didn't love it.