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| The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder by Victoria Dowd |
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Joffee Books
I began loving this and in the end liked it.
Showing posts with label book series. Show all posts
Book Review: The Smart Woman's Guide to Murder by Victoria Dowd
August 14, 2020
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Joffee Books
I began loving this and in the end liked it.
Book Review: The Last Emperox (The Interdependency #3) by John Scalzi
August 11, 2020
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| The Last Emperox by John Scalzi |
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Tor
I loved it!! I want to say so much but this is a finale and no matter one's enthusiasm, it can't be ruined for others.
Book Review: State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy
July 27, 2020
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Berkley
I checked this out of the library because it looked like a neat setting for a cozy. The cover is fantastic and the title cute.
Book Review: Wine and Punishment (Literary Pub Mystery 1) by Sarah Fox
July 15, 2020
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| Wine & Punishment by Sarah Fox |
Wine and Punishment by Sarah Fox
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Kensington
I picked this up in hopes that it would distract me enough from current events and provide an engaging story to make me continue with the series. I'm happy to report both happened.
Book Review: Planetside (Planetside #1) by Michael Mammay
June 5, 2020
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Harper Voyager
This was a fun read but it ended on the kind of mid-scene cliffhanger that made me want to toss the book across a room in frustration.
Book Review: Murder at Cold Creek College (Cold Creek #1) by Christa Nardi
June 3, 2020
My rating: 3 stars 🌟🌟🌟
Publisher:
This wasn't bad but it took me quite a bit to get through it.
Book Review: The Country Inn Mystery (Jenny Starling #7) by Faith Martin
May 26, 2020
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Joffe Books
A very fun entry in the series that has me hoping there's more Jenny Starling coming.
Book Review: A Story to Kill by Lynn Cahoon
April 2, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟 (2 stars)
Publisher: Kensington
When the series title character of a cozy spends the majority of her time being served food, napping and having teenage angst with her former high school beau, there's a problem. When a dead body is found in the main character's writer's retreat B&B and that main character doesn't seem terribly interested in finding out what's happened for many chapters or worried that one of her guests is a murderer, you've got a crisis as mystery tellings go.
Book Review: Colony War by Tarah Benner
March 31, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟 (2 stars)
Publisher: Blue Sky Studio
It's been a while since I posted reviews as my 2020 was crazy before Coronavirus so there's a bit of a backlog (because I kept reading just not posting here). Currently, I'm reading cozy mysteries so there's likely be a torrent of reviews of them after this backlog is posted. Now, let's get to Colony War!
This is one of those books in a series that you read and realize, you could have skipped entirely for all the forward momentum in plot that took place. The relevant bits could have been pared down and split between the first book and the third (heaven help me, I'm going to begin reading that one tonight).
Book Review: The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal
February 12, 2020
The Lost Ones (Nora Watts #1) by Sheena Kamal
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)Publisher: William Morrow
Nora Watts is not the sort you'd call when you need help. She's in desperate need of help herself. Still, when the parents of the baby she gave up for adoption come calling, she's the only one with enough tenacity and single-mindedness to find her.
Book Review: Colony One by Tarah Benner
February 10, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Blue Sky Studio
I was in the mood for a space station story so I decided to give this a read. It's been in my TBR pile for a while and one of my resolutions this year is to whittle away at that more than I have in the past.
Book Review: Negative Image by Vicki Delany
February 5, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
This was a solid three-star for me until the last third of the book which catapulted to a four. What held the story back in my reading was that the murder mystery had Winters' wife at the center of the suspect list and she, in the three prior books is pretty much a blank of a character. Truth be told, by the end of this book, if I never read about her again, it won't really matter. As I write this review, I can't even recall her name (and it's been mentioned in all four books of the series!).
Book Review: Winter of Secrets by Vicki Delany
January 31, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
A pretty good mystery overall. The question of why Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth was driving with the corpse of a friend, Ewan Williams before having an accident that plunged his SUV into the frigid river on a snowy night, was terribly engaging. I liked this one better than the first in the series and found that the beginning hooked me and before too long, I couldn't put this one down.
Book Review: The Teatime Mystery by Faith Martin
January 24, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟 (2 stars)
Publisher: Joffee Books
In a week that was insanely busy, this was the book I chose to read, and it took forever to get through. I've settled on the fact that it's not me, it's the book. This investigation into who killed Tris, the privileged local Lothario with a cricket bat had all the pop and swiftness of watching a glacier move, by the hour. The murderer was who I'd suspected and that didn't even bring a thrill. This is one of Jenny's outings that I'd recommend skipping (the food wasn't even inspiring!). That's enough said about it & I'm just glad it's over.
The next surely has to be better.
Summary: Jenny Starling is doing the catering for the village cricket match. But she’s not expecting one of the players to turn up dead.
Everyone from the village has turned out to watch the match, and with this being the club’s centenary, Jenny Starling has been hired specially to provide her stunning food for the event.
Then the next man up to bat, Tristan Jones, is nowhere to be found. He is discovered behind the pavilion, murdered by a blow to the back of the head with an old cricket bat.
The handsome twenty-something had a reputation as a Lothario, with an appetite for married women. Did a scorned woman or a cuckolded husband kill him?
However, he’d annoyed other people too. He was a stockbroker who took big risks with other people’s money and lost their lifesavings.
Soon another body turns up and Jenny Starling is going to need all her cunning to crack this complex case.
Book Review: Death of a Christmas Caterer (Hayley Powell #5)by Lee Hollis
January 8, 2020
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Kensington
It's the time of year when I like to get in some seasonal reads and the more snow & Christmas cheer, the better, so I picked this one up. This is a big deal as I've not read the four books preceding and I usually hold myself to being orderly with series. I enjoyed this and didn't find jumping in this far in to be a hindrance in understanding the setting and characters at all.
The conundrum of how Garth the caterer is beaten to death in his workplace is a classic locked-room mystery. I love those and watching Hayley insert herself into the investigation was as well done as such a thing can be in a cozy. I liked her for the most part (her love life was unnecessarily & tediously, messy). The clues blew around and suspects and red herrings came in flurries with no clear answer to how Garth died in the manner he did when there was no evidence anyone had come in or gone out of his place. The answer lie in a botched coroner's report and as soon as that was revealed, I knew the answer. I'm giving credit to my penchant for ID Channel and having seen a case where this exact thing happened to a man relaxing in his hotel room. The remainder of the story comes to a quick and satisfying close. I was dismayed to read that a botched coroner's report is the problem in prior books. There should be a better way to conceal the mystery than hinging the entire investigation on the coroner's mistakes. Also, how many mistakes can a coroner have and retain their position? Luckily for this hamlet where murders abound, the coroner retires at the end of this one, no longer to be the foil. I kind of just want to go on to the next one to see how the mystery is played with a competent coroner. I also have to say I was less than thrilled with the resolution of Hayley's rude, drunk co-worker who dabbles in sexual harassment at the office holiday festivities. I haven't read the prior books to know if there's an established reason for her excusing him for it but it didn't seem like this was the first occurrence for him so... it didn't play well for me.
All the Christmas trimmings came with this and that was fun. Carols, a Nativity play with a very funny replacement Joseph, a tree lighting with a run-away sleigh with elf atop and family togetherness. There were also recipes, which I didn't expect going into this! There was one food mentioned (holiday spice cake) that was described so yummily but had no recipe and it's just my luck to always have that happenstance when I read food inclined cozies. There's always one (looking at you Soup Lover's Mystery series!)!
Just what I wanted in a seasonal read so definitely recommended.
Summary: Who better than food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell to book a caterer for the Island Times holiday party? But Hayley's quest for a cook turns into the pursuit of a killer who caters to no one. . .
Office Christmas parties can sometimes mean career suicide--but they rarely lead to murder. Hayley thought Garth Rawlings would be the perfect caterer for this year's bash, but when the gourmet sees her budget, he goes galloping.
Unfortunately his run is short-lived. Garth is found dead on the floor of his kitchen, with his delectable creations burning in the oven. Faced with a spread of suspects, Hayley is determined to discover who would want to take out the Christmas caterer, because--no matter what the season--justice must be served.Office Christmas parties can sometimes mean career suicide--but they rarely lead to murder. Hayley thought Garth Rawlings would be the perfect caterer for this year's bash, but when the gourmet sees her budget, he goes galloping.
Unfortunately his run is short-lived. Garth is found dead on the floor of his kitchen, with his delectable creations burning in the oven. Faced with a spread of suspects, Hayley is determined to discover who would want to take out the Christmas caterer, because--no matter what the season--justice must be served.
Book Review: What She Gave Away (Santa Barbara Suspense #1) by Catharine Riggs
October 25, 2019
What She Gave Away by Catharine RiggsMy rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Talk about a quick read. I stayed up late reading this one and could not go to sleep until I'd finished. I'm giving no spoilers but I will say that as suspense reads go, this one plays the tension well throughout. Crystal and Katie are the dual narrators here that are thoroughly unlikeable (one is possibly very unreliable because she's downing boxes of wine like it's sport). The twists and turns come pretty quickly and so do the clues as to connections and where true blame should be assessed in the ledger of bad deeds before this culminates in a final showdown.
If I have one complaint it's that the ending is a bit pat and happy ending-esque. Now, I've nothing against happy endings and everything being tied up in a bow but it just wasn't something I needed in this story of suspense. I think the ending without the epilogue would have provided a more powerful read overall. Your mileage may vary.
This is my first read by Catharine Riggs and I'd read another (I plan on reading the next in this series). Recommended.
Summary: Imagining the best way to destroy a person’s happiness is Crystal Love’s favorite game. Devious and unpolished, the plus-sized loan analyst couldn’t be more out of place in her new town of Santa Barbara, where the beautifully manicured women never age and the ocean views stretch farther than the million-dollar lawns. And yet her eye for the power dynamics at play in this tony community is dead accurate.Kathi Wright, on the other hand, has made it her life’s work to fit in with the plastic people who surround her. But when her husband—a wealthy bank president—dies suddenly, she’s left with nothing. Then the FBI shows up, asking questions she can’t answer and freezing assets she once took for granted.
While Kathi struggles to outrun the mess caused by her husband’s mysterious death, Crystal seems focused on her game. But why? And who are her targets?
Spanning two years and told in Crystal’s and Kathi’s alternating voices, this tautly plotted novel reveals the power of choice and the price of revenge.
Book Review: The Recovery Man's Bargain by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
October 23, 2019
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: WMG Publishing
This is one more novella from the Retrieval Artist series that I realized I'd not read. There's nothing new here as it relates to the larger story. The story is told from the POV of Hadad Yu who takes a job from the Gyonnese to bring in Rhonda Flint Shindo. They want her to answer for her conviction for a major loss of life on their planet.
Rhonda happens to be Miles Flint's ex-wife and mother of their deceased daughter, Emmaline. And so too, she's the mother of Talia, the cloned sister of Emmeline. And about five other cloned versions of Emmeline, as it happens. That whole thread of story comes up here and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it in the main series. I was also reminded that for the life of me I can't figure out how Miles and Rhonda ever got together. She comes off as the most calculating, craven human being and her brilliance does not make up for it. While I accept that Miles and Talia loved her, I have never been convinced of her love for them. It rankles. So when Hadad does his recovery of her, there's not a lot of sympathy for Rhonda. For Hadad and this reader, all the sympathy goes to Talia. The story ties up well enough and unsurprisingly for readers of the series. I'm glad I read it but if this one is skipped in a reading of the series, nothing is missed.
Summary: Hadad Yu “recovers” things for a living. Things, not people, not animals. Things. Until he gets in trouble and must work for the alien Gyonnese. They want a person to answer for her crimes, and they want to use Yu to get her. He reluctantly agrees, and sets off events that will change his life and the lives around him forever. A companion piece to Recovery Man, The Recovery Man’s Bargain explores the motivations of one of the stranger characters in the Retrieval Artist universe.
Book Review: The Possession of Paavo Deshin by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
October 17, 2019
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: WMG Publishing
This is one more short from the Retrieval Artist series that I had in my ebook library that went overlooked when I read the series. I enjoyed it so much, I wished it were longer or expanded to be part of the wider work.
Paavo Deshin, son of Luc Deshin (who figures into the main series) is central to this story as the little boy is being "haunted" by what he perceived as ghosts until one day while at the Aristotle Academy, it's made abundantly clear, they're quite real. Enter, Miles Flint, the main character of the series and the one whose appearance elevates the story by several notches. He's brought in on the investigation into how security was breached at the Aristotle Academy. It's a case that basically brings him out of retirement because his daughter Talia, attends the same school and he's as concerned as the headmistress and the Deshins. There's one more player on the board and that added to the tension and also gave another perspective on the sides taken between the Deshins and Paavo's "ghosts". I didn't know how this was going to resolved because truth be told, there aren't a lot of happy endings in this universe when it comes to Disappeards and anyone connected to them. All in all, this made me miss the series and again, recall it fondly.
Recommended.
Summary: All of his short life, Paavo Deshin has seen ghosts. The same two ghosts who have now approached him on the school playground, ghosts who look older and actually smell bad. Paavo’s cry for help brings the authorities, a few lawyers, and Retrieval Artist Miles Flint, who learns some secrets about the ghosts—and about Paavo’s parents. This short stand-alone science fiction novel in the Retrieval Artist series received a Special Mention from the prestigious international UPC contest.
Book Review: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
October 15, 2019
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. And I can't tell you how much that saddens me.
This began wonderfully and Aunt Lydia really saved the whole thing for me so I'm very glad I've read it. But here's the thing, I was never in this for what happened to OfFred's baby Nicole. I cared more what happened to her first child that was taken from her but that's not what made me want to know more at the end of The Handmaid's Tale. I was always most interested in Gilead and how this society took over and took shape (who are these Sons of Jacob who attacked & liquidated Congress... like, what does that even mean?! I need details!). I was relishing learning how it falls and seeing it happen. Well, that's hinted at, glossed over and it's stated it does indeed fall but there's nothing here to show it. And that was profoundly disappointing to this reader.
I should also say, I've only watched the first season of the series (I have to pace myself with intake of misery porn & borderline misery porn between books & television) and this may well read differently for those who have watched more of the series. I showed up for strictly the book Gilead and I don't think The Testaments is just an answer for that.
I've mentioned that Aunt Lydia was the saving grace for me, so I should also say the real drag in the story was Daisy aka Baby Nicole. She was exceedingly tedious and I had a very difficult time buying her and buying the fact that she'd survive given the stakes. She never seemed to really understand the danger or gravity of the situation into which she was thrust. She did at least convince me that Gilead was indeed on the cusp of its nadir as she wasn't summarily dispatched. Agnes Jemima was much more tolerable and not just because she was in her early twenties for much of her recounting. I understood her actions and thinking and even empathized with her given the circumstances. Her friend Becka aka Aunt Immortelle was, of the three young women the one who I will remember most fondly. She was pathos personified.
Also to the good were moments of wry wit and some truly memorable quotes that will remain with me. Atwood has a turn of phrase that demands notice. Recommended, even though you can't go home again. Not even to the hellscapes.
Some of my favourite quotes:
"I was pleased with this story. Ir was only later that I pondered it" how could Job have allowed God to fob off a batch of new children on him and expect him to pretend that the dead ones no longer mattered?" It's always nice to see a character voice a long-held opinion of your own.
"The strain of being in a strange and debilitating environment, such as Canada, can have that effect."
"Not for nothing do we at Ardua Hall say "Pen is Envy."
"Reading was not for girls; only men were strong enough to deal with the force of it; and the Aunts, of course, because they weren't like us."
"All things come to she who waits. Time wounds all heels. Patience is a virtue. Vengeance is mine."
"What am I doing here? I thought. This place is weird as fuck."
"The truth can cause a lot of trouble for those who are not supposed to know it."
From the Afterword:
"How did Gilead fall? The Testaments was written in response to this question. Totalitarianism may crumble from within, as they fail to keep the promises that brought them to power, or they may be attacked from without; or both. There are no surefire formulas since very little in history is inevitable."
Summary: More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.
Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.
As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.
As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.
Book Review: The Hollow (Hercule Poirot #26) by Agatha Christie
August 1, 2019
My rating: 4 stars (🌟🌟🌟🌟)
Publisher: Harper
I love mysteries. I read them and watch them and one of my favourite things about them is when you're introduced to the characters and one is so awful or has riled up so many people that you just know, there's your murder victim. Dr. John Christow, upon introduction, came screaming off the pages that he was that guy and it was all I could do not to skip forward to his demise (very end of chapter 10) to see how it was going to be done and who among the characters would be the one to send him on his way (preferably to cheers & accolades).
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