Merry Christmas!!

 

Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Beach Read

by Emily Henry

Release Date: May 19th 2020

2020 Berkley

Kindle Edition; 384 Pages

ISBN: 978-1984806734

ASIN: B07XNKRV83

Genre: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They're polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

 

My Thoughts

Beach Read was a fun, easy read, but it was simply that.  After reading the description, I thought there would be more, maybe much more of an electric enemy to friendship to lover scenario, but while the friendship developed nicely, I didn't really feel that zing or zap I would have expected.  This is not a genre I read a lot of although I did go through a huge phase as a teenager (I mean, who doesn't?), but I would think there would still be that sexual tension that should exist between two people. I was a little sad about not liking it as much as other people did as the scenario seemed right up my alley; I mean who doesn't love a book about books and authors?

 

I will admit that I am not really all that into romance stories so maybe I am biased in that regard.  I enjoyed the earlier and the later parts of the the book as they were much more interesting, but I will admit I thought the middle section lagged a little bit.  It wasn't that it wasn't interesting, but you can only read so much about them looking at each other through their windows and writing cute notes to each other before you want to actually read about something happening, or see some dialogue, you know? I did like seeing how they each approached their own writing though as that kind of thing fascinates me as a writer myself. It would have been nice to see exactly what the two characters wrote though, as not a lot of detail was mentioned about their own books.  That was disappointing. 

 

I do feel like the author didn't really know where she wanted to take this novel in terms of plot though as it seemed like it was all over the place.  Was it supposed to be light and fluffy or dark and serious? Hard to say as both themes kind of ran contradictory to themselves.  You've got the two main characters sharing banter and spending time together writing their novels, but then you have January discovering this dark secret about her dad and Gus doing research on another dark and disturbing topic. There is nothing wrong with having all of these themes running through a romance novel, the problem lies when the author doesn't know what to do with those themes, and this is exactly what happened here.  All of a sudden, everything starts resolving itself, with little explanation, writer's blocks are fixed, books are finished within the time lines, and are sold with little problem. Whoa, wait! What happened?  Maybe that's why I don't read a lot of romance?

 

I also really liked January as a character (second book this year with a main character named January, love it!!!) as she was funny, witty, and vulnerable.  Gus though, was a bit pretentious and annoying, a bit too stereotypical a man for my liking.  He doesn't believe in romance or romance novels and thinks those types of novels are not great writing.  

Verdict

Beach Read is definitely the book for you if you want something that is light and summery.  January was far more appealing a character than Gus who was aloof and then took chivalry to annoying levels towards the end. I do feel like the author had too many threads going in this story and didn't quite know what to do with all of them so the story felt disjointed and definitely rushed towards the end.  I do feel like this book was over-hyped in its marketing, but I'll leave you to judge for yourself. 

 

 

 

Review: The Devil's Bones by Carolyn Haines

The Devil's Bones (Sarah Booth Delaney, Book #21)

by Carolyn Haines

Release Date: July 21st 2020

2020 Minotaur Books

Hardcover Edition; 368 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250257864

ASIN: B0818P8W8L

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Paranormal

Source: Review copy from publisher

3.5 / 5 Stars

Summary

Sarah Booth and Cece are in Lucedale, Mississippi, where the newly-pregnant Tinkie is treating her friends to a girls' weekend at the fabulous new Bexley B&B. The facials, organics, food, and fitness coaches are supposed to be phenomenal, but Tinkie's primary aim is to attend the Sunrise Easter Services at the incredible Palestinian Gardens, a miniature Holy Land that spreads over 20 acres and has recreations of all parts of Jerusalem—and to speak with the Biblical scholar, gardener, and creator of the Palestinian Garden Daniel Reynolds.

After waking up at the crack of dawn for the service the three friends wander around the gardens, taking in the wonder of entire cities in miniature and the acres of the Holy Land, with the River Jordan winding through it all. The day is brightening when the find themselves at the Mount of Olives—with a dead body.

 

My Thoughts

The Devil's Bones is the next entry in the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series, one of my favourite cozy mystery series as it simply has everything; humour, paranormal activity, friendship, loyalty, and great characters. That being said however, this is probably not my favourite book in the series.

 

First of all, I really loved the setting in this one, which didn't take place in Zinnia, but in Lucedale, Mississippi.  Celebrating the end of their last difficult case and the fact that Tinkie is pregnant, the women decide to have a girls' trip to a luxury B&B and check out the Palestine Gardens, a local attraction.  I've included a picture here as I had no idea something like this existed.

 

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/13011

The plot line would have been great if the author had just stuck to the mystery developed in this story, but unfortunately, a previous situation was brought into this one and I don't really feel it was justified and just took away from the enjoyment of this book.  My first thought was, Really? Why?  I'm not adverse to a story carrying on from book to book but sometimes it just needs to stay away.  

The mystery in Lucedale was quite interesting and if the author had just stuck to that, it would have been a lot more fun.  Although it was easy to figure out who the culprit was, I had a lot of fun following the girls on their journey as they tried to figure it all out.  Other than CeCe taking off with a stranger, despite the reasons for it, at least nobody did something really stupid or rash in this one, where the police and company come at the exact perfect moment to save the day and all is well.  Yes, that was sarcasm. 

 

Verdict

The Devil's Bones was another fun entry in the Sarah Booth Delaney series, but was not my favourite of the series. I enjoyed the witty dialogue between the characters and it definitely helps to have read the previous entries in this series when it comes to the banter and humour between them.  I enjoyed the mystery and I definitely like this author's writine style, but would have enjoyed it a lot more if the author had just focused on the mystery in Lucedale without trying to set up the next book(s) in the series.  I just didn't think it was necessary.  

 

 

 

Review: The Daughters of Foxcote Manor

The Daughters of Foxcote Manor    

by Eve Chase

Release Date: July 21st 2020

2020 G.P. Putnam's Sons

Kindle Edition; 386 Pages

ISBN: 978-0525542384

ASIN: B07ZN352H9

Genre: Fiction / Historical / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found.

The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They're grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the house's dark, dusty corners. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a blissful summer world where normal rules of behaviour - and the law - don't seem to apply.

But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. And their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass.
Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece . . .

 

My Thoughts

The Daughters of Foxcote Manor is an easy book to read, with three intertwined narratives, two from the past and one from the present; it is basically a story about family relationships, especially that between mothers and daughters, of actions and consequences.  

 

I have always enjoyed multiple story lines in a novel, but lately there seems to be an abundance of them and they are not always done well.  I think the problem is when one story line is done extremely well, but the others are weaker, and this can take away from the enjoyment of a book as you tend to just flip the pages quickly through those chapters to get to the more entertaining chapters, and this is exactly what started happening to me in this book.  

Rita's story was the strongest part of this book.  A city girl, her desire to be a nanny for a wealthy London family turned upside down as she ends up on a country estate after a traumatic episode within the family.  Furthermore, she is asked to 'spy' on the mother of the children over which she is looking after by the father and this makes Rita very uncomfortable.  Awkward, self-conscious, but brave, she was probably the best part of this book. I really wish the story had focused entirely on her as I think it would have been a lot stronger than it was as I will shortly explain.

 

Sylvie's story wasn't as interesting for me.  I did enjoy the dynamics between Sylvie and her daughter as they were dealing with Sylvie's mother's accident, but I couldn't quite see why her daughter would behave the way she did other than due to being immature.  Yes, there were family secrets that needed to be revealed, but there could have been another way for them to be revealed, I would think.  It was this story line that the author started to lose me. I was actually way more interested in the dynamics of discovering one didn't love one's husband after many years together and the effect this has on a grown-up daughter who thought everything was perfect.  This dynamic should have been explored a lot more, in my opinion.  This is the part of this story line that was completely fascinating.  

 

Hera's POV was interesting, but useless.  Unfortunately, what this POV did for me was dislike this character when I think I was supposed to feel some sympathy for her.  I really feel like I would have been more empathetic if I could have just seen her through Rita's eyes. I get that she was an adolescent trying to find her place in the world with a mother who was dealing with possible depression after a traumatic event, but her POV wasn't endearing.  It was used to bring a plot point forward and I think it could have been done in a different way.

 

The earlier chapters were actually quite interesting and I found myself quite immersed in the story.  But there were a lot of plot points and I think the author was trying so hard to pull together all of those plot points, which she did, that she lost the story and what made it so fascinating at first.  

 

Verdict

The Daughters of Foxcote Manor was a good book and I did enjoy it.  I definitely preferred Rita's story line the best as it was the most interesting and I thought the author fleshed out her character and developed her personality really well.  While I can definitely keep track of many plot points and threads, it is easy to lose the thread of a story if the author is too consumed with trying to ensure all of those points reach resolution in the end, and then we tend to see too many coincidences, which is exactly what happened.  So, the story kind of stutters in places and became mundane.  However, the ending was satisfying and sweet.  However, if you are expecting a Gothic treat like Black Rabbit Hall, you may want to avoid this one.   

 

 

Review: Deadly Touch by Heather Graham

Deadly Touch (Krewe of Hunters, Book #31)

by Heather Graham

Release Date: July 21st 2020

2020 MIRA

Kindle Edition; 384 Pages

ISBN: 978-0778309680

ASIN: B07WWP7GWR

Genre: Fiction / Paranormal / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

When Raina Hamish tries on a dress in a Miami boutique, she has a terrifyingly accurate vision of a murdered corpse in the murky shadows of the Everglades. She wants to help, but who would believe her when she can hardly believe herself?

Special Agent Axel Tiger has returned to Florida to help hunt a serial killer, but the investigation doesn’t have much to go on. Raina’s vision is their best chance to uncover more. Axel’s experience with the FBI’s elite paranormal team will nurture Raina’s abilities, and she may be able to help save a life—but it puts her directly in the crosshairs of a killer who is closer than they would ever suspect.

 

My Thoughts

Deadly Touch is the next instalment in the Krewe of Hunters and I'm not going to lie, these are a guilty pleasure of mine, books to be read in between the heavy hitting non-fiction and fantasy books that I have been reading lately.  One of the reasons I enjoy them so much is that they are predictable: girl/guy has vision/paranormal 'something', murder happens, Krewe gets sent in to investigate, girl/guy fall in love, murder solved, girl/guy live happily ever after, done.  And it works, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  This author has hit on a formula that is plain, simple, but effective.  

 

What I especially enjoy about these books is the historical background to each story.  As a history buff (and a history teacher), I love learning new things and this one focused on the Everglades.  Living in Canada, I have only ever visited that area once, and not long enough to really learn enough about it, but I have read a lot about it.  The author explores and explains a lot about the history of the Everglades and the devastating effects the pythons and other invasive plants/animals has had on it.  Fascinating stuff.  And I like how the history and legends blend into the story line so well.  Definitely appreciate it.

 

The story itself was a bit slow as the author took a longer time than usual to really get on with the mystery / murder.  I think the author is trying really hard to come up with different ways for her heroines / heroes to see ghosts as this time Raina started to see them after she tried on a dress worn by the victim.  I'm all for trying something new, but I don't see anything wrong with the classic story line either as it worked and sometimes you can get too elaborate.  Then it just sounds silly.  

 

Other than the interesting history, I thought the writing was just okay, even a bit different from previous books.  It seemed to have more of a juvenile edge to it with stilted dialogue, and I just didn't see the connection between Axel and Raina.  Either the author is losing her touch or she didn't believe in her characters as a couple either and it shows through her writing.  To be honest, I have found that the connection between the main characters seems to be missing as it's not the same as when we first met Jackson and Angela or Ashley and Jake.  

 

Verdict

Deadly Touch is one of those books I read simply to relax between other books.  And I enjoy them simply for that reason, knowing exactly what I will get.  Unfortunately, the story line was slow and the writing did nothing for the characters in this one as I didn't feel the connection between Raina and Axel, both characters whom I liked very much.  If you read them knowing what you are going to get, you will enjoy them.  I definitely don't read these for their heavy material, but that's ok, I have other books to read for that. 

 

World War II Reading Challenge

 

World War II Reading Challenge

This is a new one for me and I am really excited for it.  I teach history, in particular WWI and WWII, so I love to read book about these time periods.  What is really interesting about this challenge is that it includes films and documentaries.  Very interesting!!

2021 World War II Challenge
Host: Becky's Book Reviews (sign up here)
Dates: January - December 2021
Goals: Read, Watch, Listen, Share WWII related stuff

Books

• Fiction published during 1939-1945
• Fiction set during 1939-1945
• Fiction that is about the leading up to the war
• Fiction that is about the direct aftermath of the war
• Nonfiction books about the War
• Biographies or Autobiographies with sections about the war
  
• Poetry or verse novels with a WWII setting OR publication date
• Essays, Articles, Op-Ed pieces
  
• historical-historical (straight up historical with no sub-genres)
• historical romance
• historical mysteries
• historical coming-of-age
• historical thrillers/suspense/spy novels

Music

• 1940 POP Hits Chronology January to December  
• 1941 Pop Hits Chronology January to December
• 1942 Pop Hits Chronology January to December
• 1943 Pop Hits Chronology January to December
• 1944 Pop Hits Chronology January to December
• 1945 Pop Hits Chronology January to December

• 1939 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1940 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1941 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1942 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1943 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1944 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• 1945 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)
• bonus years 1938 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist), 1946 Hits Archive (alphabetically by song title) (alphabetically by artist)

Films and documentaries

• any film made/released during 1939-1945
• any film set during the war 
• any documentary about the war
  

Some 2021 Reading Challenges

 

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge 

Challenge Rules:

• You can read any book that is from the mystery/suspense/thriller/crime genres. Any sub-genres are welcome as long as they incorporate one of these genres.
• You don’t need a blog to participate but you do need a place to post your reviews to link up. (blog, Goodreads, Instagram, etc.)
• Make a goal post and link it back here with your goal for this challenge.
• Books need to at least 100 pages long. Please no short stories.
• Crossovers with other challenges are fine.
• The Challenge will run from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st. (Sign up ends March 15th)

We still have our facebook group so if you haven’t joined we would love for you too! Here’s the group’s link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350512171977943/. It’s a closed group so just ask to join and we’ll let you in.

There will be a monthly link-up so we can see what everyone’s reading – and probably add some to our own tbr lists. At the halfway mark and at the end we will have a giveaway for those participating.

We’ll continue to use the hashtag #CloakDaggerChal.

Levels:

5-15 books – Amateur sleuth

16-25 books – Detective

26-35 books – Inspector

36 – 55 – Special agent

56+ books – Sherlock Holmes

Add a link to your sign-up post below.

 

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Everyone can participate! If you don't have a blog you can post a link to your review if it's posted on Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon, or you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish.

Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please use the direct URL that will guide us directly to your review)
Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, History/Non-Fiction, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th Century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

To join the challenge you only need to make a post about it, add your link in Mr. Linky below or just leave a link to your blog if you are not yet ready to post about it yet. If you don't have a blog you can just leave a comment for this post saying that you are joining, and link to your Facebook, Goodreads or other social media page where you will be sharing your reviews.

 

 

Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

Details

This challenge will run from January 1st, 2021 until December 31st, 2021.

You can join anytime. You do not have to post a review of the book. Books can come from any genre.

You do not need to link up each spoonful.

Make a page or a post or a GoodReads shelf where you will keep track of your spoonfuls.

Crossovers to other challenges are allowed and encouraged!

It’s an alphabet challenge!!! The challenge is to read one book that has a title starting with every letter of the alphabet.

You can drop the A’s and The’s from the book titles

 

Review: Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

Peace Talks (The Dresden Files, Book #16)

by Jim Butcher

Release Date: July 14th 2020

2020 Ace

Hardcover Edition; 340 Pages

ISBN: 978-0451464415

ASIN: B082S1N875

Genre: Fiction / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

3.5 / 5 Stars

Summary

When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago--and all he holds dear?

 

My Thoughts

Peace Talks is one of those books I went into with a lot of trepidation.  I have been a fan of this series since the first book was published, and while it was not my favourite, Harry and company have grown on me to the point where I really looked forward to the release of the next book every year.  May it's his sarcasm that I understand so well, or the way he cares about people, but there is definitely something endearing about him as a character and I have followed his growth throughout the books.  Knowing what was to come in these two books, Peace Talks and then Battle Ground, made me put them off because I was afraid of what was to happen.  However, I enjoyed both of those books for different reasons. 

 

First of all, this book is definitely a set-up for Battle Ground.  When I first read it, I didn't yet know that the two books were originally one and were split for publication purposes, and that definitely made more sense.   And I think if you go into this book with that knowledge, as I did not, it is much more enjoyable. 

I tend to more or less agree that the last couple of books shifted away from the general direction the story had been going, but I am of the opinion that books need to fundamentally change focus or they become mundane and boring.  I like the direction this book is going and the path these characters are on. The author has created some flawed characters, but that's what makes them so interesting. They have these amazing powers, but their personalities and the personal quirks often get in the way of all of that and that's where all the trouble lies, which is exactly what humanity is all about.  Who says that awesome power equals awesome people?  I personally like the flawed characters and the mistakes they make is what drives the story.  

The book was a bit slower than what I was expecting, but I was fine with that.  There were a lot of characters coming out of the woodwork, so to speak, and the author needed to find a way to reintroduce them in a way that wasn't boring or mundane, and I thought he did a great job doing that.  Again, knowing that this was actually one book made sense in that regard as the slow buildup would eventually lead to some explosiveness later on; unfortunately, the real battles did not happen in this book which I think disappointed some people, but not me.  Knowing all the different characters from the other book helps when reading this one, and if you skipped a few books, you may be missing a few things.  

There were a lot of interesting things happening in this book: a lot of the jokes were actually quite clever and I appreciated them, and there were some scenes between characters that I think fans have been waiting for for a long time, some emotional ones.  I definitely appreciated those.  

What I really do miss in these books are the investigations.  The earlier books used to centre on Harry's detective skills, but I feel some of that has been lost as the books have progressed.  In this one, we have a mystery but no rhyme or reason for why it happened, just this violent act.  I am also wondering if maybe the scope of the characters was too large for this book.  Perhaps the number of characters got away from the author and he didn't quite know what to do with them all as even Harry, Murphy, and Lara seem a lot more passive than usual, you know, reacting to events rather than taking control of things and trying to really figure out what is going on.  Character development has always been one of my favourite things about these books, but there was not a lot of that happening in this book.

Verdict

Peace Talks is one of those books where knowing it was intended to be part of a larger book would have helped.  I would have therefore, expected a slower build, less action, more character/story introduction, and no resolution.  I originally gave it a lower rating, but changed it after discovering this information as the book made a lot more sense once I realized that.  Going in knowing nothing gets resolved and that you are going to be introduced / re-introduced to whole whack of characters with little knowledge as to what is really happening helps and makes the book a lot more enjoyable.  There are a lot of thinbs being set up in this book and you will have to read Battle Ground in order to find our the resolution to all of this.