Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 34

"The Continental Op" by Dashiell Hammett

This was an enjoyable collection of short stories featuring Hammett's never-named detective, or operative, who works for the Continental Detective Agency.  Hammett himself was a Pinkerton Agent, and I have always assumed that he based the way the Continental folks work on how the Pinkertons worked, which is a lot of fun.  Cuz the Pinkertons kind of fascinate me.  
Anyway, I didn't particularly love any of the seven stories in this, but I had a great time reading them.  My favorites were:

"The Gold...

"Lost in a Good Book" by Jasper Fforde

After rereading The Eyre Affair  last month, I simply had to continue with the series.  These books are so much nerdy, bookish, readerly fun!  I must admit I haven't laughed aloud as much over them as I did when I first read them, years and years ago, but that's okay.  I still love them.   And I did laugh now and then.
Thursday Next has a lot on her plate in this one.  Her dad's being hunted, her husband's in danger, her boss keeps yelling at her, her aunt and uncle disappear on purpose, and she d...

"Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson

I love this book.  I loved it as a teen, I loved it in my twenties, and I love it now.  And, my goodness, is it ever fun to read aloud!
When David Balfour's father dies, he sets out to find his uncle, whom he has never met.  His uncle Ebenezer turns out to be a horrible miser, unkind and unfriendly, even hateful.  He has David kidnapped and shipped off to a slave colony in the Carolinas, but the ship never leaves Scottish waters.  A Highland gentleman, Alan Breck Stewart, befriends and rescues Da...

"Fluff with a Side of Treason, Vol. 1" by Jenni Sauer

I love the way Sauer describes her stories in this collection, as fanfiction for her Evraft books.  Yes, fanfiction.  Even though they're written by the author.  She does not intend for these stories to be taken as canon, but just to be fun stories using familiar characters where she can explore whatever themes interest her.  Such a fun concept!
I actually loved all the stories -- not a single dud here!  Still, these were my particular favorites:
+ "First Date" -- I loved seeing Will Garrick and h...

"The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue" by Karina Yan Glaser

This series is quickly becoming an all-time favorite for me.  In this one, their mom is danger of losing her at-home baking business, so the kids try everything they can think of to help her keep it.  But someone keeps leaving animals on their doorstep in the middle of the night -- a box of kittens, two guinea pigs, a dog, and more.  How can they find new homes for all these critters while also helping their mom pass her kitchen inspection?

I really love how these kids and their parents interact....

Announcing the Outlaw Street Team!

I'm starting a street team for my Once Upon a Western series!

What's a street team, you ask?  Basically, it's a way for fans of my Once Upon a Western (OUAW) series to interact with me, help promote the series, and get some fun goodies.

Outlaws will get first dibs on advance reader copies (ARCs) of my books.  They'll see my book and short story covers before anyone else.  They'll get to chat with me and the rest of the team in a private Google Hangouts group.  AND they'll get a small welcome packa...

"Remember Me, Irene" by Jan Burke

Ooooooh, this was far and away the best Irene Kelly book yet!  Also, it's the first one I've read this year that was not a reread, so that added some extra zing, I suppose.  Though, to be honest, I haven't remembered loads about the first three either, since it had been so long since I'd read them the first time.
Remember Me, Irene kicks off with a homeless man at a bus stop recognizing Irene Kelly.  Not so shocking, as she's a pretty well-known reporter in Las Piernas, CA, and her picture has be...

"Twice Freed" by Patricia St. John

I can't believe I'd never read this book before!  I feel like I read something else by Patricia St. John, as her style felt extremely familiar -- I'm betting my childhood best friend loaned me one of her other books, as this was exactly the sort of sweet Biblical fiction her family was so good at finding.  My friend Eva gave me a copy for Christmas because she knew I love the story of Onesimus and Philemon in the Bible; she knows this because the character Ness in my book One Bad Apple is actual...

"Bridge to Trouble" by Elisabeth Grace Foley

What a galloping good time this novella is!  I read the whole thing in one sitting, not only because it's pretty short, but also because it just pulled me right in and I couldn't wait to find out how everything turned out!
Jeanette Pierpont flees home to her family's land in Montana to nurse some wounded feelings after a social embarrassment.  There, she gradually uncovers a sinister plot with the help of a new friend she's not entirely sure she should trust.  But if she doesn't trust him, who ca...

"The Prisoner of Zenda" by Anthony Hope

Well, this was a jolly romp of a tale!  Kind of a grown-up version of The Prince and the Pauper, in a way, but with the switch of commoner and royalty being deliberate and done for an actual reason.
Rudolf Rassendyll, a wealthy young man idly wasting his life at gentlemanly nonsense, goes to visit distant relatives in the middle-European (and fictional) country of Ruritania.  There, he meets another Rudolf, his distant cousin who is about to be crowned king.  After a night of drunken revelry, the...