Despite being super busy at the orchard in October, I weirdly got in a lot of reading. So here is another batch of reviews!!
Our House by Louise Candlish – 3.5*
//published 2018//
This one had such an engaging premise. Bram and Fi are taking the “mature” course by following a modern co-parenting technique instead of a traditional divorce – they’ve kept their house and also rented a small apartment, and they take turns staying one place or the other, while their son is able to stay in his house all the time – the “bird’s nest” method. Except one day Fi comes to her house after a few days not there to find total strangers moving in. Bram is missing, and now no one seems to know what is going on.
This one kept me engaged and reading, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, so it brought my overall enjoyment down a bit. Still, a solid thriller with some fun twists.
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd – 3.5*
//published 2022//
Sometimes I read a book and wish it were a lot better, and this was one of them. The concept here is absolutely fabulous, but the inconsistency in the world/magic-building was just dreadful. There were so many things that didn’t match up, so many people whose motivations were never remotely explained, and just – it was close to being this big win but ended up being flat, despite me wanting to love it, because I LOVE MAPS and the idea of magic maps was just completely intriguing to me. I don’t have to have every single thing about a magical system explained to me line-by-line, but there needs to be consistency and in-world logic, and that was totally lacking in this book. Still, I would be willing to give another of Shepherd’s books a try… probably.
Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery – 3*
This collection just wasn’t what I was expecting. I was anticipating a book of ghosty stories, but instead these were all just sad. Apparently the “darker side” is really just stories with sad endings and sad characters. Lots of adultery, drunkenness, and death. Some of the stories weren’t bad, but I didn’t love any of them.
Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting by Mary Higgins Clark – 3.5*
//published 2013//
I’m still working through the pile of Clark’s mysteries I’ve accumulated at random book sales. However, I didn’t take notes on this one and can’t remember it very well, other than feeling rather meh towards it in the end, since it went into the giveaway pile!
Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie – 3.5*
//published 1938//
While I’m always going to enjoy a Christie mystery, this isn’t one of my favorites. I just felt so bad for this whole family who has been abused their entire lives by their horrid mother! It was hard for me to get past that. The actual mystery is good as always, and I do love Poirot, but this one is just really sad.
The Aroma of Books 