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Book Reviews
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Books You’re on the Fence About - 2024
A Spy In the House – Y S Lee – 3***
This is the first in a series featuring Mary Quinn (nee Lang), a Chinese-English young woman who has been recruited into The Agency – an all-female organization providing discreet investigations. Mary is intelligent, inquisitive, observant and compassionate. She is also self-possessed, resilient and quite capable of getting herself out of a jam, though Victorian gentlemen are prone to coming to her rescue regardless of her own abilities. I look forward to reading more books in this series, and more from this author.
LINK to my full review
Swift River
had a great concept but I was t thrilled with the execution. My three star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Go as a River
was beautifully written but too slow and depressing. My 3.5 star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dad Camp
was a little too sweet for me. My three star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here is my 3.39 rounded to 3 stars review of Lying Next to Me
by Gregg Olsen:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mystery / Police Procedural
Great Characterization, but unlikeable characters
Switches points of view frequently
Flashbacks without warning
Great atmosphere
Dark and twisty plot
The House In the Cerulean Sea – T J Klune – 3***
Linus Baker is summoned by Extremely Upper Management and given a highly classified assignment: go to an orphanage on a remote island and evaluate the six dangerous magical children living there. This is a modern fairy tale for adults with a message of tolerance, kindness, courage and forgiveness. The sentiment is charming and Klune gives us a wonderful fairy-tale ending. But the story fell flat for me. I felt I was “missing the magic” that so many of my friends experienced.
LINK to my full review
I found The Great Divide to have too many characters and not enough plot. My three star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Starlite Drive-In – Marjorie Reynolds – 3.5***
The discovery of human bones when developers begin demolishing the old Starlite Drive-In site takes Callie Anne Benton back to her childhood. She was twelve the summer of 1956, when she experienced first love and began to understand the complexities of adult relationships. A great coming-of-age story that captivated me from beginning to end.
LINK to my full review
Here is my 3.19 rounded to 3 stars review of Troubled Waters by Carly Fall:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Paranormal Military Romantic Suspense
Book 1 on the Supernatural Renegades series
Lacked Suspense
Slow pacing
Some action late in the book
Lack of depth on supernatural power
Good setting and characterization
Enjoyable as a romance
Here is my 3.28 rounded to 3 stars review of The Novelist from Berlin by V.S. Alexander:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Historical Fiction
Slow Pacing
I had a hard time engaging with it.
Based loosely on the list of German novelist Irmgard Keun
Seems well-researched
The Sicilian Inheritance has a dual storyline. Once again, the past is much more interesting than the present. My 3.5 star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What Was Never There by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo
A beautifully written short story collection, but the endings were a mixed bag for me.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Kindle AlexanderChaos, Tatos & Ties - Kindell Alexander
Part of the Tattoo & Ties series
Genera: M/M Romance/Motorcycle Club
Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray – 3***
As she has done with other women “lost in history,” Benedict shines a light on a little-recognized woman who had enormous influence on American culture. Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who passed as white to work as J P Morgan’s personal librarian. It’s an interesting history lesson and well told, if somewhat repetitive.
LINK to my full review
Murder on the Class Trip (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #3)
by Lee Hollis
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I listened to
Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Tuscan Child – Rhys Bowen – 3***
Bowen uses the ubiquitous dual timeline to tell this story that spans three decades: 1944 to 1973. Joanna finds some papers among her late father’s effects that indicate he had a love affair with a woman in Italy while serving as an RAF pilot in WW2. Joanna feels compelled to travel to the area where her father’s plane went down to find his lost love, Sofia, and to get answers to what really happened during the war. This was a fun, fast read with some intrigue to go along with the romance. And, I loved all the references to food!
LINK to my full review
One Italian Summer – Rebecca Serle – 3***
Katy has always been very close to her mother, Carol, and when her mother dies Katy is left feeling alone, abandoned and lost. At her husband’s suggestion, Katy decides to take the trip to Italy she and Carol had planned. I was fine with this story at the outset, though I thought Katy was very immature for a woman who is thirty. It held my attention, and it was a relatively fast read. But I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
LINK to my full review
Bear
is a loose takeoff on a fairy tale. My three star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Surely You Can’t Be Serious – David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker – 3***
Subtitle: The True Story of Airplane! This is the creators’ memoir of how they came to think of the parody, and their (often naïve) efforts to get it written, produced, cast, made and distributed. Yes, I saw the surprise comedy blockbuster movie when it first came out. I remember little about it. I laughed and thought some bits were hilarious, but I also thought that much of the humor was juvenile and typical of middle-school boys.
LINK to my full review
The Fells by Cath Staincliffe
A cold case procedural with some interesting novelties and a believable ending.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here is my 3.48 rounded to 3 stars review of Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Murder Mystery
Entertaining and enjoyable.
Murder at the Spelling Bee by Lee Hollis 3 1/2-StarsHelicopter parents can make a kid miserable.
My Review
Mod
The Nurse Behind the Gates by Shari J. Ryanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ms Demeanor – Elinor Lipman – 3***
It begins when attorney Jane Morgan is spotted by a nosy neighbor with binoculars engaging in consensual sex on her rooftop patio. Soon she’s sentenced to six months of house confinement. And then she discovers there is another resident of her building also wearing an ankle monitor. Cute, modern, rom-com. I love Lipman’s sense of humor.
LINK to my full review
Death Cleaning and Other Units of Measure: Short Stories by Nancy Burke
Didn't work exceptionally well for me but it had its plus points.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I imagine the colourful music scene of Taylor Jenkins Reid's best-selling Daisy Jones & The Six will be better onscreen with real music and everyone looking high and beautiful.
My review of Daisy Jones and the Six
Ruddy Gore - Kerry Greenwood – 3***
Book number seven in the delightful Phryne Fisher series of cozy mysteries set in 1920s Melbourne, Australia. I like Phryne as a character. She is her own woman and quite modern in her thinking. She’s independent, curious, observant and can take care of herself. She’s also beautiful and wealthy. And she quite enjoys time in the bedroom with a gentleman. Brava, Phryne!
LINK to my full review
My review for Rules for Second Chances
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review for
Knife Riverhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware 3 1/2-StarsOn an Island Paradise what could go wrong?
My Review
All's Fair in Love and War by Virginia Heath 3-StarsOpposites attract.
My Review
First Gen – Alejandra Campoverdi– 3***
Campoverdi’s memoir details her experiences and that of her family, particularly the women. From growing up poor in a single-parent household with her grandmother, three aunts, and mother, the author writes about her path to success as a “First and only.” Her story is an interesting one, but I didn’t really identify with her experiences, and felt she was not fully identifying the causes of her feelings of inadequacy.
LINK to my full review
Here is my 3.3 rounded to 3 stars review of Girl Abroad by Elle Kennedy:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
New Adult / Coming-of-Age / Romance/ subplot of a Mystery
Cute, but predictable romance with some humor
The research project mystery was the best part of the book.
Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 2 - The Pillars of Civilization, a graphic novel adaptation of the second section of 'Sapiens' by Yuval Noah Harari
Great graphics, decent information, highly lopsided.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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A mixed bag for me. The atmosphere is great, but the characters and the infodump endings somewhat ruined the overall satisfaction.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...