Category Archives: Book Reviews

Reviews of Books

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The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis

Finished this cozy mystery out in the yard this afternoon.  I found this book cleaning out my bedroom and I swore that I had read this but the plot was not familiar.  I think I must have read a later one in the series.  Anyway, this one was a well written cozy with a great mystery and oodles of red herrings.  There were lots of clues pointing all over the place.

Loved the character of Sophie and I’m sure that as the series progresses her character will develop more depth.  The cast of characters had the prerequisite amount of quirkiness, but nothing too over the top as to be ridiculous. I liked that there was more than one love interest, but it didn’t turn into a triangle.

There could have been a little less emphasis on all the cooking and feeding the guests, but it was not so much that it distracted me from the mystery.  I also loved Judy’s love story with The Colonel.  I think it is great when an author shows an older person as a whole person interested in dating and still going out rather than just a stereotypical “grandma” type figure.

Very cute cozy and a fun read.  I look forward to reading more in this series.

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A Killer Read by Erika Chase

 

Just finished this for the Cozy Mystery Corner book group on Goodreads.  I really have mixed feelings about this. This book was on the short list for the Agatha Awards from Malice Domestic but it didn’t completely work for me.  It was as though the author had a checklist:  book theme, check, cats, check, small southern town, check, sheriff love interest, check, but she wasn’t really invested in these items.

I didn’t solve the mystery prior to the reveal but looking back I suppose I could have guessed at it.  The main character Lizzie was likable enough, but a little two dimensional.  I really didn’t need the description of all her outfits and yes, we understood that she was into fitness.  We didn’t really need to keep hearing how she needed to go run or run more or missed a day running and drinking her protein shakes.

My biggest issue with the book was the pacing.  Every time it seemed like something was going to happen, it didn’t.  The action stopped and she went to work or off on some mundane errand.  Slow pacing.  Even the little mystery book club started to get interested in solving the mystery and then they seemed to lose interest.  I also found the name dropping of other cozy mystery authors distracting, for some reason it seemed to pull me out of the story.

Often I find series improve after the initial book, but I don’t know if  I  will read another in this series.  On the other hand, the  fact that it was up for an Agatha makes me think I should give it another chance.

 

 

 

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The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Finished reading this today.  I’ve been reading bits and pieces of it for the last 3 or 4 days.  Fascinating study of habits, controlling them and changing them.  The author presents a multitude of examples, everything from alcoholism to gambling and from the military to Starbucks.  For my purposes,  tackling some bad habits of my own, it was almost too much information.

For practical application, the Appendix contains a section called aptly enough:  A Reader’s Guide to Using These Ideas.  This is a very brief section that explains how to apply the research based methods to your own habits.  Great synopsis of the Cue, Routine, Reward model and guide to using it.

 

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The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

Finished this tonight.  I loved this book.  The character of Les was so believable and I could relate to her so well.  The other people in her world, Wes, Harlan, her children, all seemed like real people. They have flaws, hopes and dreams.  They exhibited change over time as they came to terms with their situations. Excellent characterizations.

The plot is that Les has been married for 30 years and has finally decided that she has had enough and needs to do something  for herself.  The story is told from her perspective and her husband’s.  There are current time visits to the marriage therapists and then reminiscences from Les and Wes’s life.

Wonderful story with themes of family, change, friendship, and love.  I will definitely read more by this author.

 

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Question for Audio Book People

I have never been an audio book fan, basically I am a fast reader and so I prefer to read my books, but now I am planning for my annual 22 hour (one way) pilgrimage to drop my daughter off at college and I am thinking maybe audio books would be the way to go.   So questions for experienced audio book people:

  • I drive 22 hours straight down, only stopping for coffee, gas and calls of nature.  Would it be better to listen to one long book or several shorter books?
  •  Have you ever tried this and does the narration put you to sleep (can’t have that)?
  •  Are there narrators that you would recommend? IOW, are some too monotone to listen to like that?
  • I have 22 hours down, then we are doing several shorter jaunts 4 to 5 hours to see other colleges for my younger daughter and probably about 22 hours home.  So, how does the work…would you download all the books at once?  If I try this with my phone (android) and then listen to them that way would it be eating through my data plan or once it is on the phone does that not matter?  (I know I sound like an idiot…I just really don’t know)  Alternatively I have a Kindle, I don’t know if that would be better???
  • Is Audible.com the best service to use?  My library also has some books on cd. I just would have to call the car rental company to be sure the van has a cd player.  Is that the better option?
  • Any suggestions/helpful advice/recommendations?  I will say that if I go for one longer listen, I was thinking Gormenghast.  I’m just worried that it could get monotonous listening to the same story.  If I go shorter, I am thinking some cozy mystery series.

Thanks for any input or advice!

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Teaser Tuesday

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I read across genres and today I happen to be reading non-fiction:

 

My teaser sentences:

The MIT researchers in chapter 1 discovered a simple neurological loop at the core of every habit, a loop that consists of three parts:  a cue, a routine, and a reward.  To understand your own habits, you need to identify the components of your loops.

What is your teaser?

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The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

 

I have read and enjoyed other books by Liane Moriarty.  This one was good, but not as good as the others.  The premise is a woman, Sophie, inheriting a house from a family member of her ex-fiance.  The family lives on a small island and so Sophie becomes embroiled in this complicated and somewhat secretive group of people.  The characters are well developed and I especially was drawn into the Grace/Callum/Jake story line.

The plot deals with secrets in families, the work of maintaining a marriage, postpartum depression, same sex relationships, and how we define a family.  The focus is on Sophie as the main character but I really didn’t find her the most interesting.  I felt as though she was a catalyst for events that occur but her own personal story was not as engaging as some of the others.  I would have loved to delve more into Laura and Grace’s dynamic.

Overall, this was  a good read, just not her best offering.

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Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Cooperman

I have had this cozy on my TBR list for a long time now, so I was really happy when it was selected as one of this month’s read over at Goodreads in the Cozy Mystery Corner Group.

First, let me admit that I live in New Jersey and this book is set at the Jersey Shore.  Now, I will admit something that will probably get me chased out of New Jersey by an angry mob, so I will just say it once and then pretend it didn’t happen…I don’t like the Jersey shore.    Anyway, I am familiar with some of the locales discussed in the book, let’s just leave it at that.

I think because I had been waiting to read this one for so long, I was really expecting a great cozy and then I had a hard time getting into this book.  I will say that it picked up in the second half.  The red herrings in the form of Ned and Tony’s behaviors are really heavy handed.  The villain was sort of an unbelievable character.  In fact, most of the characterizations felt flat or like stereotypes (the overachieving PTSO mom) or odd to me, not odd in the cozy quirky character kind of way , just odd as in not right.  A couple of the plot twists made no sense to me.

I did love one scene at the end involving Paul and the guest house, just because of a personal connection.  My daughter’s grandfather, who has since passed, was an ornamental plasterer and there is a reference to a crew of old school plasterers coming and working on the guesthouse and that made me smile.

I am glad that I read it because it was on my TBR list, but if I want to read a ghost related cozy, I’ll stick with The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly.

 

 

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The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben Winters

This is a book that has been in contention in my house since it has been stolen from me mid-read, see post here.  I finally had it returned to me and finished it in one sitting.

Excellent pre-apocalyptic, Sci-fi, thriller, mystery read.  There is so much good about this book, I almost don’t know where to start. I don’t like repeating the blurb but a brief overview is that the world is going to end.  There is a giant comet headed to earth and we now have  a landing date in about six months.  There are a variety of actions from people all over the world.  Some people go “bucket list”, which is they take off and try to do all those things they always meant to do. Others commit suicide.  One woman shaves her head so she doesn’t have to spend time doing her hair for the final six months.  In this setting, Detective Hank Palace continues to do his job, solve crime.

Detective Palace is whose eyes we observe the story through and being a detective his observations are keen and clear.  The characters are well drawn and realistic with a full range of human emotion amid this setting of soon-to-be mass destruction.  The author creates characters that as a reader I cared about.  I wanted to know what was going to happen to them.

There are some funny moments or black humor,  such as when Palace is convinced the latest body is murder made to look like another suicide and no one else really is:

“I’ll tell you what,” says Dotseth genially.  “We’ll call it an attempted murder.”

“Sorry, sir?”

“It’s a suicide, but you’re attempting to make it a murder.  Have a great day, Detective.”

The plot is thrilling and drives you to keep going until you finish. There are moments of misdirection and false clues that Palace follows doggedly trying to solve the case,  Elements of a police procedural here, but one in which the “procedures” are all being turned on their head by the “end of the world”.  The mystery is well crafted and comes to a believable conclusion.  A great murder mystery even if you are not someone who would normally read this apocalyptic type fiction.

This book is first in a trilogy.  The second book is Countdown City and I am going to get that ASAP.  This really was that good.

 

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Sundays in Bed: The Siren by Tiffany Reisz (minor spoiler/warning?)

This is a meme hosted by Midnight Book Girl to be found HERE

Yesterday, I received in the mail a book I had read about on someone else’s blog and thought it sounded interesting.  The book is The Siren by Tiffany Reisz.

A beautiful cover is what drew me in, I’ll admit that I’m that shallow :).  The book is erotica, but definitely better written and attempts more depth than most.  There is funnily enough not  an overabundance of actual penetrative sex, but there is scads of talking about sex and agonizing about sex, and reminiscing about sex.  There are the obligatory BDSM club scenes.  The main character, Nora, is a switch, so while she is Dominant and the aggressor with some characters, she is then the submissive with others.

Ironically, there is some discussion of the movement of BDSM away from being defined as a pathology towards being an acceptable “lifestyle” choice.  I say ironically because in Nora’s case you are left wondering if this would have been a choice.  I don’t say this as a spoiler but more as a warning for other readers who might be turned off, not interested, upset by, etc. the idea that Nora was “introduced” to the “lifestyle” by an authority figure while she was still a minor (under 16).  She and her Dom attempt to excuse this by saying that they did not have “penetrative” sex until she was 20.  Doesn’t really fly with me, but maybe that is because I am mother of teens and an authority figure to other people’s teens and know the responsibility to be above reproach with them.   And then there is another minor child sex incident, for which no excuse is offered, and in fact the sex is held up as “therapeutic”.  I had a real problem with that.  Finally, there is a third character with the appearance of a teen who is the object of 33 year old Nora’s love/lust based on his looks, he is an adult but looks like a teen.  Problematic for me.

In all, the book is better written than many of the erotica offerings out there, but I did not find it erotic, if that makes any sense.  It seems like all the pseudo-psycho babble was a turn-off for me and many of the main characters came across as severely damaged, which is exactly the image BDSM practitioners are trying to shed.