Touch Not the Cat

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽, Moderator]

Annabel wrote: "In reply to Jay and Tadiana about Wind Off The Small Isles, the short story is called The Lost One and was discovered by the blogger who does Mary Queen Of Plots..."

Very interesting, Annabel, thanks for sharing! I'd love to see your story when you're done writing it. :)

[Annabel]

Sure, it should be done in a week or two. (The charms of the short story/novella - the novel I'm working on is meanwhile taking years!)

[Karlyne]

I'm going to go look for my copy, and start sometime soon.

[Bobbie]

I started last night.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

I've started. Beginning really pulled me in!

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽, Moderator]

Hey everyone, there are more specific threads in the Buddy Reads folder. Just so you know. :)

[Teaqueen]

I just finished touch not the cat a few weeks ago. I’ve had it on my bookshelf for years but to be honest it didn’t sound very interesting so I never picked it up. But a friend who has recently got interested in MS got it on Kindle and encouraged me to read it with her. Let’s just say I finished… And she didn’t! LOL

This story in my opinion took way too long to get started. And it wasn’t that interesting to me. I really prefer the exotic locations for MS books. As wonderful as England is it’s not exotic. I also felt the heroine was too passive. Also having all the action to take place at one location is… Not all that interesting. The history look back was kind of fun but really not enough to keep the story going for me. And as clueless as I am… I figured out the big reveal right off the bat.

However I do think the big suspense scene at the end is fabulous! And I do like the romance between the two lead characters. And now I can say I’ve read the book. Don’t know that I’ll ever read it again but now this just leaves me two more MS suspense books to read and I’m done with the set.

[Karlyne]

Teaqueen wrote: "I just finished touch not the cat a few weeks ago. I’ve had it on my bookshelf for years but to be honest it didn’t sound very interesting so I never picked it up. But a friend who has recently got..."

That made me laugh, Teaqueen! I can't be the only person who thinks of England as exotic, can I?! Have you read The Ivy Tree and Wildfire at Midnight yet? I think they're both very suspenseful, and memorable, too. (Midnight is actually set in Scotland, so it's not England, but it is U.K.)

[Teaqueen]

I love England and if I had to visit any country in the world it would be Great Britain. But no I wouldn’t describe it as exotic. LOL I have read the two books you mentioned and there is enough story to compensate for it not being in an exotic country! Sorry… I’m having too much fun with this! The Ivy tree is a fantastic Brat Farrar knock off. Doesn’t wildfire take place on an Island off the Scottish coast? I would consider that exotic… An island!

Well, it turns out my friend did restart touch not the cat and we are meeting tomorrow for high tea to discuss Mary Stewart! Since she has now finished Cat we can add that to our two books that we recently read together Madam will you talk and nine coaches waiting. Both of which take place in exotic locations. 😉

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽, Moderator]

I think Wildfire at Midnight and The Ivy Tree are both far better at creating a unique sense of place than this one, though they're all in Great Britain. She stuck to Great Britain in her later 3 books too: Rose Cottage, The Stormy Petrel and Thornyhold. Thornyhold is delightful but the other two are far less successful, and lack any real uniqueness.

[Teaqueen]

I have not read thorny hold yet. That one and the Gabriel hounds are the only two I need to read the complete her suspense/mystery books. I am really enjoying all my rereads of her lately. She is such an amazing writer! Thanks for the info For the location on those last three. I had speculated they were all in England. Although I thought Stormy was a coastal Island?

[Karlyne]

Wait, so you're not British, Teaqueen? I thought that was why you didn't think the U.K. was exotic! And, yes, Stormy Petrel and Wildfire are set in the Hebrides (I think...)
I wouldn't class Thornyhold as a suspense novel, by the way, so don't think of it in the same terms as, say, Nine Coaches Waiting. Much gentler.

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽, Moderator]

I consider Thornyhold kind of an in-between book MS's classic romantic suspense novels and Stormy Petrel and Rose Cottage, which have only a very little suspense. Or romance. Thornyhold is more gentle than her classic suspense novels, but not as bland as the last two. The romance in Thornyhold is nice, but there's only a modicum of suspense/mystery. It's definitely worth reading if you're a MS fan, though.

[Karlyne]

Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ wrote: "I consider Thornyhold kind of an in-between book MS's classic romantic suspense novels and Stormy Petrel and Rose Cottage, which have only a very little suspense. Or romance. Thornyhold is more gen..."

I agree, Tadiana, that Thornyhold is worth reading, although the first time I read it, I wasn't too sure about it! But the exotic locale (hahaha - but, seriously, it's so unlike my own locale that it is exotic!) and characters won me over.

[Bobbie]

Don't forget This Rough Magic, one of my favorites.

[Teaqueen]

Thorneyhold and Gabriel Hounds Are the last two to read and then I will have completed all of her mystery/suspense. Even though the last three books are considered her cozy’s I still put them in the suspense/mystery category. Since touch not the cat was holding me back… I had never planned to read it until my friend picked up a Kindle copy… Now I know I will finish them all.

There are several that I read over and over again such as this rough magic, moon spinners etc. but there are a handful also that I’ve only read once like my brother Michael and wild fire at midnight. I have pretty much completely forgotten the story in those two books. Since I am on such a Stewart tear right now I am going to go for it and try to get all these books completed!

[Louise]

I enjoyed this one. The psychic stuff was a bit weird, but I was glad the heroine ended up with the one she did.