What are You Reading Besides a Cozy? Showing 1,801-1,850 of 2,075

[Mary]

The Curious Secrets of Yesterday by Namrata Patel

[Helen]

I’m putting my review of Cat Spitting Mad by Shirley Rousseau Murphy here as I think the story is too dark to be classed as cozy, even though it was one of my April challenge series.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mark]

Kicking off this week with the excellent historical mystery The Paris Mistress by Mally Becker https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alice]

I finished The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin. The book is about the life of Isabella Steward Gardner. Truthfully I did not like it that much. I didn't like the style of write ( a lot of it was letters written to friends) I have never found her a very interesting person but just someone who collects thing (I live in the Boston area and not a big fan of her muesum). Some friends like it a lot more than I do.

[Mary]

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

[Mark]

I'm starting off the week with The Last Thing Claire Wanted by Karin Fitz Sanford. This is a darker mystery, but I enjoyed it. It helped that I had fun with the setting - it was set in the town where I grew up.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alice]

I finished a delightful book The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick. Lovely setting in Italy. I group of 6 strangers take a trip to Italy and work through their problems while their friendships grow. Well written great setting and characters.

[Sarka B]

I plan to read The Little Italian Hotel soon.

[Mark]

I've got a rare non-fiction book today, but a book written by a mystery author - I Sleep Around by Sue Ann Jaffarian https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Helen]

My review of the Australian thriller
Is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alice]

I finished Diva by Daisy Goodwin. I am torn about this book. The writing and pacing were good. The book is about Maria Callas, the great Opera singer and also about Aristotle Onassis. I don't really like either one much. I can appreciate the voice Ms. Callas had but definitely played the Diva role. Mr. Onassis didn't much care for him. I have never read a book about either person so that was interesting.

[Christine]

Manatee Summer

[Helen]

My review of Devoted in Death by J.D. Robb is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Helen]

My review of Mrs Winterbottom Takes a Gap Year by Joanna Nell is here. A lovely book about a woman’s first year of retirement.

[Mark]

Wrapping up the week with Dance Hall of the Dead, the second Joe Leaphorn mystery from Tony Hillerman. A few parts got bogged down a little for me, but overall, I enjoyed this book.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Donna]

Sipsworth
Just started this one but I'm loving the writing so far.

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

Mark wrote: "Wrapping up the week with Dance Hall of the Dead, the second Joe Leaphorn mystery from Tony Hillerman. A few parts got bogged down a little for me, but o..."

I always like learning bits about the indigenous culture from these books. Thanks for reminding me I need to get back to the series!

[Mark]

You're welcome. Hope you find a place in your TBR pile. If it's like mine, that will be quite the challenge.

[BookishDramas]

Spotlight: The Complete Series: A Space Circus Villain Origin Short Story Collection


3.5 stars
Read as an ARC. BookSirens. Female author. Space opera.

My review here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

Mark wrote: "You're welcome. Hope you find a place in your TBR pile. If it's like mine, that will be quite the challenge."

I'll make room somehow :)

[Mark]

Ending the week with the sports themed crime short story anthology Three Strikes - You're Dead https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mark]

Starting out July with Murder in Rose Hill by Victoria Thompson https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Karen]

Been killing my cozy reading with romance. Didn't plan on it, but wound up reading a 435-page revenge story by Jordan Silver, Ninth Circle. The description sounded so good. I opened the book and saw 435 pages and thought, "No way." Then I read the opening and was hooked. Dangnabit!

I'm trying to decided on whether to write a review. I loved the heroine, Alyssa, and her hero, Garrett (love at first sight for him!), but it was long and a bit repetitive. There were editing errors with quotation marks that sometimes drove me crazy and errors with continuity (e.g., one character early in the book is five years younger than Alyssa, later she's only two years younger). I really hate continuity errors. And, while the ending was fine, I was a just a bit disappointed there wasn't more to it.

Part of the repetitiveness comes in getting POVs from different characters -- Alyssa and Garrett, of course, but we also see chapters from Alyssa's mother, father, stepmother, etc. -- explaining why they did what they did, etc. For people who claim to love and know Alyssa (family and BFF), they really don't get her. Garrett, for some reason, really does. I love how he supports her while trying to break down her walls (and while dealing with her brand of, well, crazy).

The story starts with the 23-year-old Alyssa closing a business deal with Garrett (their first meeting). The deal closes faster than she planned and she heads home to find her fiancé in bed with her BFF's little sister. She doesn't confront them, but sits in the living room eating the take-out meal she'd picked up for her and the cheater. When the two walk into the room and see Alyssa, she doesn't say anything. She stands up, goes into the bedroom, hauls the mattress to the back yard, and sets it on fire. Somewhere in the meantime, the cheaters "escape."

But... it doesn't stop there. Alyssa's father blew up her life when she was eight by having an affair, divorcing her mother, and marrying his mistress. Her line in the sand has always been cheating, EVERYOINE who knows her knows this about her. Alyssa sets out on a revenge terror to takedown those who ruined her life by cheating, starting with her father and his now wife and her daughter, her cheating ex-fiancé, Denny and his co-cheater paramour, Lacey, etc.

Alyssa and Denny were to get married a few days after her return. Rather than cancel the location wedding, she decides to throw a family reunion (minus the evil stepmom and step-sister, who weren't invited to begin with). Meanwhile Garrett, who fell in love at first sight, sets out to win Alyssa. He arrives at the "wedding" with a proposition to marry him -- and since a wedding was already set to happen...

Let the fun begin!

Alyssa's revenge is the stuff of fantasy. I found myself laughing while also being (a bit??) horrified at times.

[Mark]

My other book for the week is the cozy-adjacent Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[L J]

The Pumpkin Spice Café
by Laurie Gilmore

The book's okay for what it is but not being what I wanted was disappointing.

Though it is on cozy mystery lists to me it is small town city-character/country-character romance. The mystery is just a plot device to draw the couple together. Cat on cover (view spoiler)[part of the night noises, prowler, etc. mystery (hide spoiler)] is hardly there at all after first appearance which was just another way to draw couple together.

[Helen]

My review of Madukka the River Serpent by Julie Janson is here. A book about a First Nations woman detective and corruption in the Australian outback.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Helen]

Although it’s one of this month’s CMC challenge books, and set in a remote Canadian village, is definitely not cozy.
Review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Alice]

I finished A Girl Called Samson by Amy Harmon. I enjoyed it very much. A lot of book was set in Massachusetts near were I grew up and of ancestors are mentioned in the book. I didn't like the romance in last third of book. It was not accurate.

[Leona]

Alice wrote: "I finished A Girl Called Samson by Amy Harmon. I enjoyed it very much. A lot of book was set in Massachusetts near were I grew up and of an..."

Were these your ancestors? The book sounds interesting because of the history.

[Helen]

My review of Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything by Julia Baird is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sherrie]

I am reading Liar's Point

[Alice]

I finished an excellent book Crow Mary . Set in 1800 Montana and Canada. Real story of Crow Mary. A Crow Indian who married a white man. Excellet information of time. Her great grand daughter helped with the book. I highy recocmmend.

[Alice]

Leona wrote: "Alice wrote: "I finished A Girl Called Samson by Amy Harmon. I enjoyed it very much. A lot of book was set in Massachusetts near were I gre..."

The people she lived Deacon Thomas is a great x5 grandfather.

[marita]

listening right now to:

[marita]

and reading on my kindle

[Mark]

I'm finishing up the week with another great Michael Connelly book, The Wrong Side of Goodbye https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Helen]

Part of Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny is cozy, but part definitely isn’t. Review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

At the end of the audio of one of the Gamache books, there was a brief Q&A with the author. I don't remember everything she said, but she was adamant that the series is *not a cozy series. I just call them mysteries - not cozies, not thrillers, just... mysteries :)

[Mark]

I'm starting off the week with Joshua Tree by Sandy Dengler. The book finds Jack Prester taking a case that should be super easy. Only he quickly gets more questions, and more danger, than he bargained for.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[TracyPixel]

Currently busy with Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky. After this I'll read The Diva Goes Overboard by Krista Davis. Looking forward to it. In between that a Hardy Boys mystery or 2.

[Zermeena]

I finished The Premonition: A Pandemic Story. it was a fascinating book about why strategies to mitigate the most recent pandemic were botched. I gave it four stars only because the ending felt weak. It was a behind the scenes look at what was going as the pandemic unfolded.

[Helen]

My review of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley is here. Fascinating.

[Leona]

Mist and Moonbeams: Stories from the Great Lakes Edge by Paul Michael Peters

[Alice]

I finished a very good Historical Mystery, Death in a Blackout by Jessica Ellicott. Book one of the series. I like her Beryl and Edwina series quite a bit. I like the story about women were trying to do help out the war effort in Britain in 1940. I want to read Book 2.

[Mark]

I really enjoyed both books in that series, too, Alice. I keep hoping we get a third, but no word so far.

[Mark]

I'm closing out the week with the uneven thriller One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[CherD]

I'm reading People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear .

I live in Cody, WY and the Gears live here in Cody.

[Helen]

My review of Paradise by Patricia Wolf is here. Contemporary Australian mystery/thriller.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Helen]

My brief review of Castle Cay by Lee Hanson is here. I found it underwhelming.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mark]

Hey Helen, I'm not seeing the link to either of your reviews.