More Book Club Snippets

Our book club read Karen White's The Lost Hours in November and we picked The House on Tradd Street for January. The two books had a very different feel to them, although they both contained White's very descriptive style of writing. I have to say, overall, I believe I enjoyed The Lost Hours a bit more (mostly because I really enjoyed the historical fiction part of the book).

Tradd Street finds realtor Melanie Middleton inheriting an old historic house in Charleston after meeting with its owner only once. She's not sure why she inherited the house, but agrees to live there for a year and oversee its restoration before she plans on selling it. Before she realizes it, Melanie stumbles into a bit of a historical mystery. She has a gift and can see ghosts (there is even a quote that seems to poke fun at the Sixth Sense's famous quote "I see dead people".) :-) Melanie and her friends come across information both in reality and through clues from the spirit world that solve the decades old mystery of a woman's disappearance.

This book is actually listed as a "romance". I can see why it was categorized as such because Melanie gets involved in a bit of a love triangle. However, I see this book more as general fiction. It has much more to it than just the romance. This is also the first in a series by White, followed up by The Girl on Legare Street (which I seen reviewed very well around the blogosphere).

Overall, I found the book very difficult to get into. It didn't move fast enough for me. The first half to two-thirds were rather dull. The last third or so really picked up and left me liking it overall just because the book ended so well. I probably will take a gander at the second book, but not sure I'll continue reading the series. Maybe eventually, but there are plenty of other books I'll get to first.
Source disclosure: Borrowed this book from the library.

Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know served as our book club pick for October. I read this one pretty quickly. It was well-written and a good story, however, the subject matter is a bit disturbing. The book opens with a woman claiming to be a girl who disappeared decades earlier with her sister. The authorities pull her over when she appears to be involved in a hit and run accident and disoriented. They are not sure if they should believe she is who she says she is. The book is written both in present day and through flashbacks explaining what happened to the two sisters.

You spend much of the book thinking one thing is going on only to do an about-face at the end of the book and something completely different was really happening. The interesting thing is that when you finally find out the truth about what really happened, the rest of the story seems to be a little less disturbing than you thought while reading it (does that make any sense?).
Source disclosure: Off my bookshelf, originally given to me by a friend.

Yarn Tales

Okay, time to get my reviews updated! I am soooo behind! Let's start with a couple knitting-related books.

First up, Laced with Magic, Barbara Bretton's sequel to Casting Spells. I enjoyed this installment of Bretton's series quite a bit. Maybe not quite as much as the first, but definitely still worth reading and continuing the series.

In Laced with Magic, Luke's ex-wife Karen suddenly shows up in Sugar Maple. First, Chloe didn't even know that Luke was married before, let alone had a daughter who passed away. Karen's arrival puts a damper on Luke and Chloe's relationship. Even though, Chloe is not particularly fond of Karen, she does agree to help save their daughter's spirit, who happens to be trapped by evil fae leader, Isadora. And just when you think everything has been worked out and Luke and Chloe can move on from the whole episode in this book, it ends with quite a bang! A cliffhanger that will leave your jaw touching the floor! Now, I can't wait to read the third installment to see what happens!

Source disclosure: Borrowed this one from the library

Spinning Forward is a debut novel from author Terri Dulong. When I spotted it on Shelf Awareness, I jumped at the chance to receive a review copy. After all, I was already hooked on Barbara Bretton's knitting series. And Spinning Forward was touted as the first in a series as well. Though this is decidedly very different from Bretton's light-hearted fare.

Sydney Webster loses her husband in a tragic car accident, only to find out that their idyllic New England life may not have been quite what she thought. In fact, her husband had a large gambling problem, taken a second mortgage out on their house that he couldn't pay, and left her with no inheritance, no house, nothing. She decides to pack up her meager belongings and move to the Keys where her best friend lives.

Spinning Forward is a story about one woman's journey to find herself again in her fifties when her whole life has been turned around. She focuses on what she can do, finds herself, new friends, and even love. She also randomly discovers who her birth mother is (Sydney was adopted and never really cared to look for her birth parents before now) and has a chance to forge a new relationship with her. Knitting plays a large supporting role in this story as Sydney decides to open a yarn shop in Cedar Key as a way of starting over and "spinning forward" into life.

While I found this book to be mildly entertaining, I think it might have been good enough as a stand alone novel. It is supposedly the first in a new series about Cedar Key from Dulong. But I have a hard time seeing where else the story is going to go. Everything seems to wrap up very well at the end of this and I'm not sure the characters or story hold my interest enough for me to pick up the second book. However, perhaps I'm just not the right age to fully appreciate the book either. I think Dulong's intended audience may have been more women of my mother's age. Despite not being wowed by this one, I may read the jacket of the second book just because I am curious where Dulong plans to take the characters.

Source disclosure: Review copy sent to me from the publisher after I read about the book on Shelf Awareness.

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

I first discovered this book by reading a review of it at Wrighty's Reads. Wrighty so thoroughly convinced me I HAD to read this book, I immediately checked the library website and saw they had a copy. I went that morning to check it out!

Casting Spells is a delightful book about Chloe, the owner of Sticks and Strings, a yarn shop in Sugar Maple, Vermont. Though, everyone in town is somehow part of the paranormal world, humans/visitors to town only see "normal" things. They do not see anything out of the ordinary. This is all part of the protective spell that Chloe's mother and the entire female lineage of her family have put on the town. As long as the spell and the Book of Spells is passed down to another direct female family member, the town will keep its secrets and the inhabitants will be safe from the clutches of evil.

All of this seems like it will be put to the test when it appears that Chloe will not gain any magic powers from her family (she's only half-witch, her father was a human). And she has no children to pass the Book of Spells down to. Isadora, a fairy with an evil plan, is after the Book of Spells in order to take control and bring Sugar Maple to another realm. When a visitor to town winds up murdered, the state sends in a cop (Luke MacKenzie) to investigate. Chloe cannot deny the magnetism (and many sparks that fly) between the two and just as she feared she would never have magic, her powers begin to blossom.

Can she really be falling in love with a human? Will she make the same mistakes in life as her mother? Can she figure out what exactly is the Book of Spells and will she be able to save it from the clutches of Isadora? You'll have to read the book to find out!

What grabbed me about this book? Oh gee, I don't know. Could it be that it had to do with not only knitting, but a whole town of witches, vampires, fairies, trolls and more?! Yes! For some reason I really enjoy paranormal books, especially ones about witches. After reading Wrighty's review, I just HAD to read it. Casting Spells is actually billed as a paranormal romance, which normally would send me running in the other direction, but this little town and all its fantastic characters, plus the lack of too much romance (thank god!), make for a fun read. Especially around this time of year. I absolutely LOVED all the knitting references in this book. I was familiar with several of the yarns discussed and all the talk about the knitting projects just fueled my desire to continue reading. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Tips for Knitters found in the back of the book by Barbara Bretton and a couple other authors along with links to their knitting blogs.

The story is told in first person from both Luke and Chloe's viewpoints. Here are a couple of fun quotes:
In one of Luke's chapters:
"I stepped deeper into the store, past a polished maple worktable piled high with pointed sticks and scissors and things that would never make it past airport security. The place smelled of lavender and licorice and a hint of mint. Lots of magazines with sweaters on the cover were stacked in more piles on one side while an equal number of unfinished knitting projects were stacked on the other. I noted a ball of something blue and fluffy and picked it up. I squeezed it and the price tag jumped out and I quickly put it back down again. For one ball of yarn? This was worse than crack. Get addicted to this stuff and you would be living in your minivan." (page 76)

And from Chloe's point of view:
"Who are you?" I demanded and probably not in the friendliest tone of voice. For the record, I don't wake up each morning brimming over with the joy of life. The joy of life pretty much arrives around the same time as my third cup of coffee and the fourth round of my latest sock-in-progress." (page 79)

I have to say if you are a knitter, you may enjoy this book even more than others, just because you will be familiar with the terminology and yarn discussions. But these are not overpowering and I believe anyone can really enjoy this one.

And the great news is, this book is part of a series! Laced With Magic is now on bookshelves so you can rush right out and read that one too. I picked it up at the library this morning. Though, I'm disciplining myself and I have to read two other books I've had waiting around before I can get to it.

Highly recommend this one!
Here's the book trailer:

Sort of a theme

I was excited about Wicked Weaves by Joyce and Jim Levene, the first Renaissance Faire mystery featuring Jessie, a graduate student who works at the year-round Renaissance village during the summers, learning a new craft and choosing a new lover each year. This summer, she's learning basket-making from Mary, a Gullah who was exiled by her people. Mary's cousin also works in the village, and when her estranged husband turns up at the Village, strangled with one of Mary's baskets (or is it?), the police suspect Mary. Mary keeps to herself, but Jessie decides she needs to meddle and clear Mary's name, even going so far as to lie to give Mary an alibi, with no real motivation for her actions. In addition, a tedious romantic storyline takes center stage, and it goes something like this: "Oh, I can't get involved with Chase! But he's so attractive! But he has no ambition! Oh, wait, he has a BMW and a law license! Oops, I slept with him! I can't get involved with him! Oops, I slept with him again!" And on a nitpicky note (because I'm nothing if not nitpicky), Jessie has a mooch of a twin brother and makes at least two comments about how the two of them could have come from one egg. Well, unless one of them was identified with the wrong gender, they didn't, since opposite-sex twins are always fraternal, which means separate eggs. This mystery had so much potential, too. The Renaissance Faire Village is hilarious. I loved the residents who had worked there long enough to lose their sense of reality, especially a man who changed his name to Robin Hood, hangs out in Sherwood Forest, and steals toaster ovens from the rich. That's classic stuff. And the queen who takes the whole thing a little too seriously, the rules about staying in character, and the vaguely sinister monks. But all that takes a backseat to the romance. Oh, and this is a murder mystery, so there is a murder, but I felt like the murderer was wearing a neon sign flashing "I did it!" The murder also involves outsiders, which took the focus off the more interesting Ren folk. I might check reviews for the next in the series to see if the romance is less of a focus, but I was disappointed in this one.

Hard Day's Knight by Katie MacAlister: Katie MacAlister is fun. I don't read much romance, but I had fond memories of The Corset Diaries and Blow Me Down, so I picked this one up as a companion to Wicked Weaves. Now, here is Ren Faire literature done right. To my surprise, the big focus was jousting, and this isn't a parody of Ren Faires. The heroine actually decides to learn jousting, so I learned a lot about it, too, and it was fascinating. Pepper's cousin C. J., a member of the Wench organization, takes unemployed, single pepper to an international jousting competition, primarily to meet attractive men in tights. She meets a couple of sexy knights, ends up deep in jousting competition intrigue, and keeps an eye on her aunt's cat (who steals practically every scene he's in). The mystery was well-done, the characters fresh and vivid, the wit plentiful, the jousting interesting, and the book was an overall good read--a romantic comedy with jousting.

Kilt Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett: This is the first in a series featuring Liss Maccrimmon, a Scottish dancer grounded by a knee injury who returns to Moosetookalook, Maine to help her aunt in her Scottish Emporium while she regroups. She finds her former teacher, Mrs. Norris, dead under a bolt of fabric in the store, and decides to investigate when the state police decide Liss must be guilty. She has help from Dan, an old friend, and Sherri, a part-time employee at the Scottish Emporium who is conveniently moonlighting as a police dispatcher. The mystery in this one was very well-done, complex but not confusing, with an ending that made sense, but which I didn't see coming. Liss was likable and sympathetic, and her interactions with Dan and Sherri made for pleasant, believable relationships. The ne'er-do-well brother and accusatory state cop add characters-you-love-to-hate to the mix. The Scottish component and Liss's manning the booth at the Highland Games were a fun counterpoint to small-town western Maine. An excellent first mystery--I'll be picking up the second, Scone Cold Dead.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

I really didn't like the first collaboration between Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer, though I'd loved previous Crusie books. The mix of military/action and romance/mystery/humor was just not well-executed. When I read positive reviews of Agnes and the Hitman that began, "I didn't like Don't Look Down, but..." I knew I wanted to give the duo another try. And, really, they're a likable pairing. Check out their website. Click on "How it happened" and "How it works." Funny stuff (and actually, it explains a lot). But on to the book!

Columnist and cookbook writer Cranky Agnes has a history of whacking guys upside the head with frying pans. This is understandable, since she's been engaged to some real jerks. But the most recent whacking, of a lowlife out to steal her dog, ends in death when the whack-ee falls into a previously hidden basement, possibly the site of the murder of an old mob guy. Confused yet? This plot is a doozy, but it's masterfully controlled, unlike the convoluted mess of Don't Look Down. Agnes got her house in a deal with Brenda Fortunato, in exchange for planning Brenda's granddaughter's wedding, and it looks like Brenda may be trying to renege by sabotaging the wedding. Agnes's fiance is starting to look like he could use some frying-pan action. And her basement may be the site of an old mob boss's murder (and the hiding place for $5 million). So her hands are pretty full when Shane, attractive and sensitive hitman, shows up. There is still a ridiculous body count, intrusive military speak, and unbelievably cruel treatment of bad guys, courtesy of Mayer, but either he's getting better at this chick lit thing, or Crusie had the plot more under control this time, because it's a pretty fun read. Lisa Livia (Brenda's daughter) is a fantastic character, Shane is actually a nice guy, so you can see the attraction for Agnes, and Agnes herself is a lot of fun.

Fans of Jennifer Crusie can rejoice in this one, and I think Evanovich fans would get a kick out of it, too. The authors have outtakes right here, but they have spoilers, so read the book first.

My review of Don't Look Down

More Joan Hess, and Odds and Ends

I decided to transition from a kids' book (The Joy of Spooking) to literary fiction (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society) via mystery, so I chose #4 in Joan Hess's Claire Malloy series. Don't overthink it; it works for me. This entry, A Really Cute Corpse, finds Claire unwillingly overseeing the Miss Thurberfest pageant. After several attempts on the reigning Ms. Thurberfest's life, someone finally succeeds. This book is a bit longer in page count than the first three and it *felt* a bit longer. Since I like Claire and the supporting characters, I didn't mind this at all. The first perhaps half of the book is spent on pageant happenings and the political scene (a state senator is involved in the pageant; his aide once had a torrid affair with Cyndi) as Claire wonders if the accidents surrounding Cyndi are deliberate or not. Once Cyndi's out of the picture, Claire moves from suspect to suspect before she solves the puzzle. Objectively, I have to say that as a mystery, this is not Hess's best. However, I find the series so enjoyable that even a weak entry is a satisfying read. The pageant wasn't the most interesting setting and the suspects were a bit obvious. However, Hess's acerbic wit and deft descriptions were entertaining and funny as usual. If you're a cozy mystery fan looking for humor, pick up the first, Strangled Prose.

My review of #1 (Strangled Prose)
My reviews of #2 (The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn) and #3 (Dear Miss Demeanor)

I couldn't really find a good book for the plane (for maximum space efficiency, I only bring a mass market paperback in my bag), so I grabbed Sweet Talk by Susan Mallery since it wouldn't require that much attention and I would be able to put it down once I got home and got my review copies (which still have not arrived!). I enjoyed her Buchanans series as a diverting romance/women's fiction kind of series, but this, the first in a trilogy, was terrible. There are three sisters, and this one focuses on Claire, a famous concert pianist. Her sisters, Jesse and Nicole, hate Claire because she was sent away from home as a child prodigy to be spoiled and also because their mother died in a car accident while accompanying Claire). Jesse and Nicole co-own the family bakery and Nicole (who, by the way, is also not speaking to Jesse, whom she caught with her husband, and NOT playing Scrabble) has to have surgery. Jesse calls on Claire to come out and take care of Nicole. Nicole has no idea Jesse's done this and she's rude, ungrateful, and abusive to Claire when she arrives in the first of MANY scenes in which Nicole yells, throws fits, and blames her sister. Even when you think they've made progress, Nicole regresses into a spoiled, horrid child. Nicole has also whined about her sister to the extent that everyone she knows is hostile to Claire. One of those people is Wyatt, an I-am-through-with-relationships rude jerk. Mallery invokes that old friend to romance authors, magical sexual chemistry between people who hate each other, to get the relationship going. The best part of the book is Claire's developing relationship with Wyatt's deaf daughter. But it's not enough to recommend the book. It was obvious that Claire and Wyatt were going to end up together, but he was such a jerk, I was hoping they wouldn't. And her sisters were such jerks that the thin premise of "looking for family" didn't justify Claire's staying there. Claire herself was ridiculously naive, so she wasn't that likeable either. I only liked Amy, Wyatt's daughter. Presumably, in the subsequent books, we'll find out what happens with Nicole post-husband's-infidelity and with Jesse. But I really don't care.

Another book I attempted to read ages ago is A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh, book one in the Eddie Dickens Trilogy. I didn't get it. There were funny bits, but it was filled with tiresome one-liners so that plot advances happened at a glacial pace. My understanding is that it was intended for the Series of Unfortunate Events readers, but even the first of those (which, I must confess, I didn't like) was an improvement over this.

I just started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society and I'm loving it. This was an Early Reviewer book on LibraryThing and was really the one I wanted most. But I didn't get it, so I preordered it on amazon. It just came today and I opened it the minute I'd finished my Hess book. I can't wait to post a review.

Vacation Reading Part Two

The Sisters Grimm: Magic and Other Misdemeanors by Michael Buckley: I've gushed about this series before, and I'm about to do it again. In this, the fifth installment, the Red Queen has raised taxes to an outrageous extent, trying to force out all the human residents of Ferryport. The girls must help raise funds to pay the taxes while investigating their first solo case, a rash of magical thefts plaguing the town. Something I like about the series is its complexity. The Grimms are neither universally loved nor loathed by the town's Everafter residents. It's a complicated situation--the great-great-etc-grandfather both imprisoned them and protected them, so many Everafters are of two minds about the Grimms, with some fervent supporters and the Red Hand fervently opposed. I was glad I had book 6 on hand, because this one ends in a doozy of a cliffhanger.

The Sisters Grimm: Tales From the Hood by Michael Buckley: This is Book 6, and the most recent. I'm very bummed that I have to wait a year for more Sisters Grimm. Darn Buckley and his cliffhangers. In this installment, the Big Bad Wolf is put on trial in a kangaroo court for his past crimes. Granny and the girls (with the help of Puck) try to save him, first by hiring Robin Hood (sue the rich to give to the poor) and his Merry Litigators, then by seeking out a witness who can exonerate the Wolf. The trial has funny moments that are tempered by the desperation of the situation. It actually makes for an interesting examination of what to do when the justice system falls apart and no longer acts to protect citizens. I can't wait for book #7!

My reviews of Sisters Grimm books 3 & 4 (with links to my reviews of 1 &2)

Mr. Knightley's Diary by Amanda Grange: This is fluff reading for the Jane Austen fan, but what fun! Your favorite scenes are still here, but we learn more about Mr. Knightley's feelings as they develop. The "I love Emma, blah blah blah" gets a bit repetitive, but the scenes with Knightley and his brother and friends are quite enjoyable. I wouldn't call it required reading, but if you're a Jane Austen fan looking for a beach read, I think you've found it.

Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange: The older I get, the more I like Persuasion. And, interestingly, I am more understanding of Anne's breaking the engagement, and her godmother's interference. Because Wentworth is young, and he spends his prize money as soon as he earns it, without regard to the future. Even if he is in love, he's not the surest prospect, and Austen shows us what happens when a woman marries imprudently for love (Mansfield Park-Fanny's mother). What would have happened to their love if Wentworth had failed to make his fortune? Anyway, enough of that. This was even better than Knightley's Diary, in my opinion, although I would have liked some diary entries from the eight years of separation. I really enjoyed the scenes with Wentworth and his brother, and with his friends. Another good beach read for Austen fans!

My review of Mr. Darcy's Diary

Gilding the Lady by Nicole Byrd: With nothing else at hand, I grabbed a Regency romance from my mom's shelf. I've never actually read one before, but this one sounded like it was My Fair Lady with a murder. I found it surprisingly good, although the My Fair Lady angle (one gentleman bets another that he can turn the heroine into a lady) is sort of dropped. Byrd seemed to be writing tongue-in-cheek, and it was actually rather funny. Compared to racier contemporary romance novels, all the furtive hand-kissing and gazing at ankles was actually refreshing, and the hero and heroine were kind of sweet. This would be another beach read for Jane Austen fans :)

How To Knit a Wild Bikini by Christie Ridgeway: This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and I admit, I picked it up mostly for the knitting reference. It wasn't great. It takes place in Malibu, where Nikki moves to be personal chef to Jay, who runs a men's magazine and is called Hef, Jr. Nikki bonds with Jay's teenaged niece, Fern, over their respective abusive relationships and heads into the knitting shop to learn. More knitting and fewer "love" scenes would have made it more interesting. I frankly thought the subplot about Nikki pretending to be a lesbian was stupid, and the Fern subplot was dark for a fluff book, not to mention the suicide subplot. This is obviously the start of a series, because there were a lot of relationships that were shallow and poorly developed. I assume they'll be the focus of future books. Nora Roberts and Susan Mallery do the same thing with trilogies, but somehow manage to make their books stand alone better. Look elsewhere for a good beach read.

A Laugh a Minute

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz begins with a car chase. The narrator evades the car and comes screeching to a halt, approaches her pursuers and says, "Mom. Dad. This has to stop." This is a clue that we're about to see new levels of family dysfunction. The Spellman clan are in the private investigator business, and our narrator is Isabel, the middle "child," now 28. Her older brother has escaped the family business and is a successful lawyer. Her sister is only 14, but already engrossed in recreational surveillance. The first part of the book is Isabel's explanation of her family and how she's changed, told through a series of lists, sections of dialogue, and scenes from childhood through today. Lutz's writing is smart and funny, and I laughed out loud in many parts. The mystery, when we finally get to it, is utterly absorbing. If this were just a book about how crazy the Spellman clan is, I'd give it five stars. If I were only grading on sheer entertainment value, I'd give it five stars. But I'm grading it as a novel, so it's three and a half, despite my utter enjoyment of Isabel and her crazy family, not to mention Lutz's fast and furious writing. As a novel, it's a total disaster. It reads like a screenplay (light dawned when I finally read Lutz's bio on the flyleaf...she wrote the screenplay for Plan B, a mob comedy that I'll have to check out), not a novel. The framing device she uses, after the introductory car chase, makes no sense. In a different font, so we know it's a different part of the book (can I just say that I HATE "clever" font changes?), we have a scene in which Isabel is interviewed by a cop. We learn that her sister (Rae) is missing. The sort of lame device for launching into Isabel's life story (and even before, with how her parents met) is the cop asking her to "Start at the beginning." After about 200 pages (okay, maybe only 180), we finally get to the "one last job" Isabel agrees to do in order to leave the family business. After page 300, Rae finally goes missing (the book is only 350 pages long). So framing the entire novel through the event of Rae's disappearance is a bizarre choice, and I found myself wondering (in the midst of enjoying learning the Spellman family history) when the heck we were going to get to the kidnapping, or running away, or whatever. It was distracting and pulled me out of the story. If she had scrapped that device, I would have been free to just laugh out loud at Izzy and her family's escapades. That said, I definitely recommend this book. I had read that it was similar to the Stephanie Plum books, and I'd say that's warranted to an extent. Of course, any book with mystery, romance, and humor with a female protagonist is compared to Stephanie Plum. Izzy is a little edgier, and her family more disturbing, but there are similarities. If you like Stephanie, I would give this a try.

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich: Speaking of the devil! I've been reading Stephanie Plum for a long time. My mom was reading Hot Six when I was home from college, and she kept laughing hysterically and I thought, "I've got to read that." I did, and we picked up the first five books as well. There's a formula here that works. It's a long series and has its ups and downs, but there are usually good laughs, and I like Stephanie, her family, and the other secondary characters. I found this one to be funny, though light on the skip tracing. The focus is on protecting Joe's house from treasure hunters more than Stephanie doing her actual job. I was also not very happy with the treatment of Lula. The subplot involving Lula this time made her look desperate and a little pathetic, and I didn't think it was in keeping at all with the character, who has been through a lot. Even if she doesn't bother much with filing, she's always strong and larger than life, and this was bizarre. That subplot wasn't wrapped up yet, so I'll withhold judgment until I see where it goes in 15 (which I believe I read will be the last one?). There's definitely a sense of winding things down, but there were still some laugh-out-loud moments in Fourteen, and I enjoyed it.

A Couple of Little Things

I forgot to mention that I read On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, the first in the Coffeehouse series. I had read this and maybe one of the sequels ages ago. It's a decent cozy mystery series with enticing recipes. A few things bug me. It starts out with a prologue from the stalker's point-of-view a la James Patterson or Jonathan Kellerman, which I think is super cheesy. Despite throwing around Italian terms like someone who knows what she's doing, Coyle (or her editor) has used the wrong accent over the 'e' in the Italian word 'caffe,' (It should be the opposite accent of the one over the 'e' in the French word 'cafe,' but I can't figure out how to do diacritical marks in Blogger) and spelled 'baci' (which means 'kisses') 'bocci.' There are other typos in plain old English, typical of this genre's mediocre editing. Despite some annoyances, the book is kind of cute and I enjoyed the coffee information, which I thought complemented, rather than distracted from, the narrative flow. Clare Cosi returns from suburban New Jersey to manage once again The Village Blend, an historic coffeehouse in New York City at the request of her former mother-in-law. You can bet the ex-husband will be around to bug her/be strangely attractive. One morning, Clare arrives at the coffeehouse to find it empty and dark. She finds her employee, Annabel, dead at the bottom of the basement steps. The police are treating the death as a tragic accident, but Clare thinks differently. Also, she thinks the detective is pretty cute. Typical cozy mystery investigating ensues, in more-interesting-than-average-cozy fashion. I'll read the second one, Through the Grinder, soon.

I also read "The Twelve Desserts of Christmas" by Joanne Fluke, one of four novellas in the holiday romance collection Sugar and Spice (available for the cost of shipping--used on amazon.com). I didn't read the other three, which are more typical romance, but I thought the Joanne Fluke story, featuring two teachers stuck with six kids at a boarding school over the holidays, was a cute confection. Hannah Swensen delivers desserts to the group and solves an innocuous little mystery. Most of the recipes are title recipes from previous books, but a couple may be new (I'd have to check Sugar Cookie Murder, which has tons). If (like me) you're waiting for Carrot Cake Murder to come out in paperback, this is a nice little diversion.

A few reviews

This is a pretty random assortment of reading here!

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn: This is the first Daisy Dalrymple mystery, and I thought it was lots of fun. These are set in the 1920s England and Daisy is a Town & Country reporter, shocking her family (I think her father is a baronet or something). Anyway, Daisy is likeable and I think Dunn evokes 1920s England well, at least to someone who's seen Gosford Park. The plot is well done. Daisy is at a family's country house when an apparent accident takes place. Daisy's photography uncovers a suggestion that it might have been murder. I'll have to find the second in the series--I think there are 16 or something. It was cute and well-written. I think cozy readers and those interested in historical fiction might get a kick out of this.

Duma Key by Stephen King: It's been hit or miss for me with recent Stephen King, but I had a hard time putting Duma Key down, even with 600+ pages. He's used his personal experience with recovering from a terrible accident and placed in on Edgar Freemantle, who loses an arm and scrambles his brain in an accident. His 25-year marriage ends, and when his doctor suggests "geographical therapy," Freemantle (randomly, he thinks) chooses Duma Key, an isolated island off the coast of Sarasota. He takes up painting with a vengeance, stunning gallery owners in Sarasota, and haunted by his phantom arm and the voices of the shells under his house, he begins to uncover the truth about Duma Key and its oldest inhabitant, Elizabeth Eastlake. His hired help, Jack, and Elizabeth's companion, Wireman (who has also suffered a head injury, as has Elizabeth), help him find the source of his talent. If any part of the novel dragged, it was pages 500-600 or thereabouts--the exciting conclusion was really kind of long. But I found Edgar's emerging talent engaging, and King did a great job of the terror gently creeping into the story.

Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber: I read the first of these, The Shop on Blossom Street, ages ago. It took me a while to get into this one. The intro in which Macomber basically explains everything that happened in the series so far was very long and dragged, but once I got into it, it was pretty fun. These are the most wholesome romance novels you've ever read, seriously, but they're also about the personal struggles of the various characters. She writes from the point-of-view of several, which is totally cheating, but it works for the stories she's telling. The prose is...saccharine is a good word to use here, maybe a really long Hallmark card is another way to put it. But if you're in the mood for uplifting, obviously telegraphed happy endings, and women solving their problems in a knitting group, this book is for you. I don't mean that as negatively as it maybe reads. I enjoyed the book, I did, it's just not particularly challenging and it's not my usual fluffy reading (very little sense of humor here). Anyway, Lydia owns a knitting shop and decides to have a class on doing prayer shawls. Each of the women in the class has a different problem going on, and everyone's happy at the end. There are really no surprises in this one, but it's pleasant and comforting.

I also zipped through How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich. She co-wrote this with a creative writing professor, to make it more credible, I guess. Anyway, the poor professor's parts are fairly dry, but useful and well-organized. The book is mainly Q&A with Evanovich, based on questions asked by fans on her website. It's often interesting to read how a writer writes, and Evanovich is funny and entertaining. As a writing book, it doesn't hold a candle to Stephen King's On Writing, but it was interesting, and samples of query letters and manuscript pages, and advice on joining groups and attending conferences, is worthwhile. All in all, not an essential read for writers, but a fun one for Evanovich fans.

One of these things is not like the other...

I picked up Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer as a bargain book ($3.99--yay!). The reviews for this were really mixed, so I'd put off reading it. I do love Jennifer Crusie, whose Welcome to Temptation, Getting Rid of Bradley, Manhunting, and other laugh-out-loud contemporary romance-with-some-mystery novels have been very enjoyable, so I suppose I can blame Bob Mayer for this convoluted mess of a book. Mayer is apparently a military adventure-type novelist, and my guess is, not a very good one. I have no idea why Crusie, Mayer, and the publisher thought this was a winning combination. It's as if someone said, "People like peanut butter! People like pickles! Let's put 'em together!" Mayer appears to adore a certain word that begins with the letter 'F' and its variations (clusterf*** is a big favorite...I didn't count, but I believe he topped 20 incidences of this one alone). Now, I'm not offended by vulgar language, and I think in some settings, it's the way to go, but not in a contemporary romance novel. It just shows a lack of imagination on the part of the author--really? You couldn't come up with ANY other word to use? Besides, that annoyance, there are passages of military-speak that must be mind-numbing to most of Crusie's fans. Discussions of various weapons and military strategy just didn't go with the rest of the book. Speaking of which, the plot was confusing and convoluted, with an unnecessary and poorly explained plot by the bad guys and inexplicable responses by good guys. The best part of this book is a charming and adorable Wonder Woman Party for Lucy's niece, but even that is constantly interrupted by people knocking on the door in a tiresome fashion. I'm not even going to summarize the plot for you, just advise you to skip this one. They have a second collaboration called Agnes and the Hitman, that got much better reviews, and since I still love Crusie's humor, I may pick that one up at some point. But maybe at the library!

I've starting reading Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson mysteries from the beginning, and I'm having a great time with them. I think I may have read as many as the first 3 when they were first out, but I can't remember who the killers were, so it's like reading them for the first time. The first, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, has been re-released with a bonus 100+ page novella at the end that was pretty cute, and some additional recipes. I baked Peach Almond Muffins adapted from the Peach Bread recipe in Key Lime Pie Murder. Yum! Basically, I just dumped the batter into 18 muffin cups instead of 2 loaf pans and cut the baking time. Fantastic.

A few short reviews

Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson: Heckie can turn anyone into an animal and Dora can turn anyone into stone. The two are best friends until a falling-out over a hat. They end up each getting duped by a furrier looking for a cheap and easy way to get exotic pelts, but join together to make everything right in the end. Not her best effort, but a cute story nonetheless.

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson. Tired of waiting for the next dark wizard to take his place, Arriman the Awful decides to marry. He auditions all the local witches with a contest--whoever performs the darkest magic wins. Belladonna desperately wants to win, but flowers and fluffy bunny rabbits tend to spring up all around her and she finds dark magic impossible to perform. With the help of an orphan named Terrence, she comes up with a plan. This one is really cute and charming. Terrence is adorable, and Belladonna's inadvertent white magic is very funny. Arriman is a hoot. This is one of my favorite Ibbotsons, and that's really saying something.

Books 2 and 3 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first is The Lightning Thief (the author is Rick Riordan), and 2 and 3 are NOT a disappointment. If anything, they're even better than the first. I really don't want to say too much and give anything away, so go read them!

I also read Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. Everyone says the between-the-numbers Plum books are not as good, and they're right. But this was still fun. Grandma Mazur at the slots, Lula modeling underwear, a guy who thinks he's a leprechaun...what's not to like? And it's a fun diversion while waiting for Fearless Fourteen to come out.

Summer Reading

I finished a couple of books that I thought I'd review:

Putting on the Dog by Cynthia Baxter: It really wasn't that good, and I don't feel I'm overly picky when it comes to cozy mysteries. The sleuth was nosy and wishy-washy. Her annoying boyfriend whined through the whole book. Jessica kept saying how great he was, but I never saw it. Although, she was really no prize either, insisting that she wanted to make it work with the boyfriend in one paragraph, and getting drunk and slow-dancing with a movie star alone in his mansion in the next. Then she'd get mad that the boyfriend was jealous. Um, hello? The solution was really telegraphed quite a bit, too, and I didn't care that much by the end. If I weren't so compulsive, I would have stopped halfway through. Also, this woman is a vet, and she keeps leaving her dogs in her van while she runs errands. And it's summer! Duh! She says she cracks the windows and leaves water, but seriously, that's not gonna help. All in all, I really wanted to like these (Mystery? Animals? Crazy famous people? Yay!) but this one was just not great. I might check reviews of the others in the series to see if they get better, but I'm not too hopeful (this was #2).

I also read Halfway to Half Way by Suzann Ledbetter. The first in this series (mystery/romance) is South of Sanity, and these are cute. Hannah Garvey manages a retirement community that serves as home to some elderly busybodies who love to solve crimes. She's kind of their den mother. They're good-natured, funny, light reading, and I enjoyed this newest installment. You don't have to read them in order (although if you read this one first, it gives away something that happens in early books), and they're all funny.

I'm now reading The Science of Harry Potter and Hurricane Hannah by Sue Civil-Brown.

Book review - An Assembly Such As This

I finished An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aiden. This is the first in a trilogy that tells the Pride & Prejudice story from Mr. Darcy's point-of-view. I thought this would be really interesting since P&P doesn't give you much insight into how Mr. Darcy goes from completely dismissive of all country society (including Lizzy) to saving her family from ruin and falling in love with her. But as it turns out, I think she gives you all you really need. I enjoyed this book, although it was much too long. This should be one book, not a trilogy. Ms. Aiden isn't a great writer. I would describe this as above-average fanfiction, honestly. Ms. Aiden adds some elements to show Mr. Darcy's character and circumstances. Some of these work, and some are clunky. His conversations with Bingley are interesting, and some of the P&P scenes she shows are cool to see with his thoughts revealed. The clunkiest ones are when he talks to his horse and dog and this whole ridiculous thing where his valet ties his cravat in a new way and this other guy is really jealous, which just seemed stupid. And she went on and on about the dang cravat for like two chapters. The political stuff that's alluded to could have been really interesting, but I don't think it's handled all that well.

Do I recommend this book? Hmmm. Die-hard Jane Austen fans like me may enjoy it despite it's shortcomings. I am interested enough to want to read the other two books. Definitely buy it used, though, or get it from the library. This is not a full-price from B&N book :)

Other Jane Austen related series to check out: Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries, in which Jane Austen solves mysteries (these sound really fun) and Carrie Bebris's Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mysteries. Both series sound like lots of fun, and maybe the genre change to mystery negates some of the issues I had with the Aiden book.

Ha! See, Holly, I read a new book :)

More Jane Austen, Not Less

My mother-in-law gave me An Assembly Such as This, by Pamela Aiden. It's the first in a trilogy that tells Pride & Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. She loved it, but I haven't read it yet. Just wanted to alert fellow Jane Austen fans that this is out there :)

Summer reading

So, I've been on a mildly trashy contemporary romance novel kick, and I thought I'd admit to it here :-) These books are so quick to read, and fun, and there are so few surprises that they're comforting in a way. And as the weather gets warm, they're just perfect sometimes. So, if anyone is looking for cute, fluffy reads, Susan Donovan's He Loves Lucy and Rachel Gibson's Sex, Lies, and Online Dating are both very cute and enjoyable. I can also recommend almost anything by those two authors, as well as Jennifer Crusie and Janet Evanovich (who also does the Stephanie Plum books but has been cranking out the romance lately).