February Minireviews // Part 3

The final February batch!!!  I also read The Bear and the Nightingale in February (and it honestly was probably my favorite book of the month), but since I read the other two books in the trilogy in March, I’m going to review them all together in a separate post.  So here are the rest of February’s reads!!

Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers – 3.5*

//published 1923//

A group on Litsy is reading some various vintage/Golden Age crime books.  I’ve always meant to pick up Lord Peter Wimsey, so I thought I’d read the first book in this series along with the group.  This one was fun with a good mystery. I got a little tired of the constant dropping of the letter g in the dialogue (“I’m just sayin’ that you must get goin’ if you want to be there on time”) and there were times where there were odd shifts in location in the narrative that felt a little confusing. For instance, at one point Peter and two other people are one place, then in the next scene Peter is at his mother’s house talking with her – when did he go there? Are the two people who were with him earlier now at his mother’s house as well? As the conversation progresses, we find out this information, but the initial shift feels rather jolting, and this happened a few times.

Overall, a decent start to a series, but one with a definite “first book feel” to it. However, I have the second book on my shelf as I definitely intend to give Sir Peter another try.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust – 2.5*

//published 2017//

Honestly, this book was just boring. There was a lot of potential here, but I never felt any kind of connection with the characters. Everyone was very cardboardy, especially the two main male characters, Mina’s father/the magician, and the king/Lynet’s father/Mina’s husband. Why was the magician so evil? Just for fun, I guess. We get nothing of his motivations, he’s just this dreadful, mean person lurking about in the background. Ditto for the king – why is he so obsessed the memory of his wife, to the point that he can’t bear to care about Mina? Why wouldn’t he be happy to let Lynet have a mother? Why would he rather pit them against each other? No clue, he just does and says stuff that doesn’t really make sense. There are only three men in this entire story. Two of them are emotionally abusive, creepy, selfish, and completely unlikable. The third one turns out okay, but he was literally created by a woman, so this book definitely has an anti-man taste that is always going to turn me off. Why does “feminist” in a book description always end up meaning “all the male characters suck”?

It’s a sad book, too. I liked the ending, but what a lot of wasted time, with everyone (especially Mina) assuming the worst about everyone else! I was so tired of listening to Mina go on about how no one could love her, even when people explicitly said that they loved her. I get that she was emotionally abused by her father (you know, the one that was a jerk for no reason that was ever explained… I guess because he’s a man?), but at the same time… oh my gosh, can you stop staring at your own navel for like half a second?? Please?? The author wanted so badly for Mina to be both the catalyst and still be a good guy that in the end she just annoyed the heck out of me.

Lynet is also boring and self-absorbed. It also felt a little creepy that she’s been living in a fairly insulated and isolated society, yet we’re supposed to believe that the first person she’s ever met who is around her age is also the perfect person for her to fall in love with. I’m sure that makes more sense than her just having a crush on the first attractive person her age to show up since she’s been a teenager. I think the story would have been a lot stronger with a friendship between these two instead of “love.”

I also found myself wondering throughout the entire book why any not-rich people are still living north of the frost line? It’s been snowing for literally years and years and years. Why would these people not have immigrated south by this time? What are they living on? How do they make any kind of living? What is keeping them here??

In the end, there was a lot of potential here, but none of these characters worked for me. In turn, that made the action feel clunky because none of the characters felt like they were speaking or acting naturally. I wanted to like this one, but mostly found myself bored.

Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher – 3.5*

//published 2022//

This one was gifted to me in a swap box, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.  It ended up being pretty funny with some good banter and likable main characters, and I’m always here for a fun fake dating trope.  However, while I do enjoy supernatural romances from time to time, I don’t care for one that also include angels/demons.  I believe angels and demons are real; shifters aren’t.  So stories that make demons out to be good, or even regular/just like people, are always going to be a turn-off for me.  So this was okay as a one-time read, but I won’t be reading the sequel, since it’s literally about one the sisters dating a “half-demon.”

Mystery by Moonlight by Mary C. Jane – 3.5*

//published 1963//

This is another one of those children’s mystery books that I bought at a booksale back in the mists of time.  This was a fun, if somewhat forgettable, little story involving some kids and the neighborhood “haunted” house.  It was pretty cute.  I’ve read and enjoyed several of Jane’s mysteries – while they are somewhat simplistic for adult reading, I know I would have loved them as a kid!

Running Total: Books that I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet: 58!!!  High/Low: 97/58

January Minireviews // Part 4

Final batch for January!!

Twelve Percent Dread by Emily McGovern – 2*

//published 2022//

This graphic novel started strong, with an fun story and likable characters, but the story went literally nowhere.  There is a bunch of build-up and then it just… ends.  No resolution.  Every single character is left hanging.  It was incredibly frustrating.  I also struggled with this one because the writing is SO tiny and hard to read, and because many of panels are so small, it could sometime be difficult (especially at first) to tell characters apart.  And also, I’m sorry but this is just the way it is, having someone’s pronouns be they/them can make it SO hard to follow a narrative when you can’t tell if the narrator is referring to one person or several.  I really like McGovern’s artwork, and many of her short-form comics (especially the Background Slytherin comics), but this book just really fell short of the mark.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley – 3.5*

//published 1818//

I had never read this classic before and was honestly quite intrigued to pick it up, considering that it is such a foundational piece of literature.  However, it wasn’t really for me.  The narrative structure can definitely be confusing (it’s someone writing a letter telling a story, and then he starts quoting someone else telling a story, who frequently quotes someone else telling a story… I mean, seriously), and while I understood why Shelley wrote it that way, it was sometimes difficult to remember who was telling who what.  Frankenstein himself drove me a little crazy and frequently did and said things that made no sense to me.  I was especially aggravated with (1) the fact that he creates the monster and then literally runs away immediately without a moment’s hesitation – seriously???  and (2) how long it takes him to actually take up arms against the monster, like literal months trailing this thing around and not actually figuring out a battle plan against it.  I also found the monster to be a bit unbelievable – I could buy him teaching himself to speak and read, but to be able to eloquently quote from ancient classics, and to formulate the kinds of arguments he did?  Well.

As a story warning about the dangers of dabbling in things we really don’t understand, and claiming that “science” justifies things like creating the atom bomb or seeing what kind of horrific diseases we can create in a lab, this reads great. As gothic horror, it reads okay.  It was definitely worth the one-time read, and I think it deserves its status as a classic, but it isn’t one I see myself rereading.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach – 2*

//published 1970//

My husband was given this book to read at an influential age, and would mention it from time to time as the first time he ever considered the concept of transcendence, so I got him his own copy for his birthday.  It’s the story of a seagull who isn’t content to just hang out on the beach and eat stuff like the rest of the flock – he wants to pursue the true magic of flight, beyond just the necessities.  Of course, this kind of attitude can’t be tolerated (for some unknown reason) so he is cast out from the rest of the flock.  Over time, Jonathan Livingston Seagull uses his extreme flight speeds to achieve another level of existence, which he teaches to the other young, rebellious seagulls as well, as they all pursue their flying nirvana, much to the horror of those boring, traditional seagulls who just want to do regular seagull stuff.

My husband enjoyed the nostalgia trip, although he wasn’t quite as enamored with the story as he was when he was 13.  That said, he did write, “Seagull is to flying as I am to _____” on our chalkboard as he contemplated what it is in his life that makes him fly haha  However, I’m not as “heady” as my husband, so I honestly just found the entire parable to be quite aggravating.  What’s the big problem with wanting to just hang out on the beach and eat breakfast?  Why does everyone have to suffer and struggle to try and transcend to the next level?  At the end of the day, it wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t a match for me.  I like doughnuts and sitting in the sunshine too much to spend my days trying to transcend!

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson – 4*

//published 1939//

Lawson wrote a few of these books, taking historical figures, putting some kind of animal in their life, and then telling the person’s story from the perspective of the animal.  This is the most well-known of them, with the life of Ben Franklin told from the perspective of his friend and companion, Amos the mouse.  Amos helps Ben make most of his discoveries and inventions, and helps him become a renown diplomat as well.  Amos lives in Ben’s hat, where it’s convenient for him to take notes and give Ben advice on the fly.  My favorite part was how many other famous people from the time had their own secret mouse-companions helping them along.  This one is fun and silly with fabulous illustrations by the author.  An all-around good time.

The Roundhill by Dick King-Smith – 3*

//published 1999//

King-Smith was incredibly prolife, writing, I don’t know, probably close to a hundred children’s books over his lifetime.  (I mean seriously, look at his list of published works on Wiki!)  I pick up his books whenever I come across them on the cheap, and have quite a few of them sitting unread on my shelves, despite most of them only being around 75-100 pages long.  With such a large body of work, some are definitely stronger than others (he’s best known for The Sheep-Pig, which is what the movie Babe the Gallant Pig is based from; I personally have a soft spot for the first of his books I ever read, The Fox Busters.)  All that to say, while this story was okay, it wasn’t one of his best (in my opinion).

Evan is a rather lonely boy who has a love for his special, secret place, which he calls The Roundhill. One day, he finds a girl there, who tells him her name is Alice.  At first annoyed that someone else has invaded his space, over the next few meetings Evan finds himself drawn to her.  However, she is also rather mysterious – to the point that Evan begins to wonder if she is even real.  This book is weirdly sad and doesn’t exactly go anywhere.  I never could particularly like Evan, who is rather mean to his visiting cousin at one point, and whom I just never quite connected to.  At the end of the book he is an elderly adult reflecting on his life, and I felt quite sad for him as he said he wished he could believe in God but just couldn’t.  All in all, there is a sad undertone to the story that kept me from really enjoying it.  At only 84 pages long it didn’t take me long to read, but I doubt I’ll pick this one up again.

Mr. Mulliner Speaking by P.G. Wodehouse – 4.5*

//published 1929//

Like Meet Mr. Mulliner, this collection of short stories are all told by Mr. Mulliner from his usual spot in the Angler’s Rest.  With so many relatives inclined to get entangled in all sorts of adventures, Mr. Mulliner has a tale for every occasion.  These stories are fun and silly, and delightful Wodehouse fare.

Salute by C.W. Anderson – 4*

//published 1940//

Anderson’s Billy and Blaze books were some of my first introductions into the joys of horse stories, and I still snatch up any book written and/or illustrated by him that I can find.  He wrote several books for younger readers that are short chapter books (so a step up from the Billy and Blaze picture books, difficulty-wise), and Salute is one of those.  At only 64 pages, many of which are illustrated, it’s not a very in-depth book, but is still a fun story about a boy who is given a retired racehorse.  The odd part about this story is that Salute himself doesn’t show up until the very end of the story – it’s more about this first horse that the boy owns, helps restore to health, and then retrains to race.  Still, a nice little story that definitely added to my conviction as a child that someone would just show up and give me a horse someday!  LOL

Running Total: Books that I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet: 59!!!  High/Low: 97/59

January Minireviews // Part 2

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig – 3*

//published 2019//

I had really mixed feelings on this one.  I actually really loved it for the majority of the book, but the ending (a) got unexpectedly gruesome, way more down the horror spectrum than I was anticipating, and (b) the ending used a plot device that I somewhat consider cheating, especially since it didn’t really fully explain a lot of the mysteries.  I really liked the characters, especially the narrator, and the concept is done quite well, with a good creepy mystery going on, but then – it just kind of went a little sideways towards the end for me.  But a sequel is coming out the summer and I’ll probably read it, so there’s that haha

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder – 5*

//published 1933//

Continuing the chapter-a-day readalong of the Little House books, our group picked up Farmer Boy next.  For some reason, I always read this one much later in the series when I was growing up, so it was especially interesting for me to read this one right after reading about Laura being the same age.  If I had to pick, I would probably pick Almanzo’s life – much more settled, and SO MUCH good food!!  I really loved reading about all the “how tos” around the farm, and seeing Almanzo learn lessons about life.  I wish that Laura had written another book about Almanzo so that we could learn more about how he got from a prosperous farm in New York to the little frontier town in the Dakotas!

Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by C.J. Archer – 3.5*

//published 2020//

My sister started this mystery series and thought it would be fun for us to read together.  We’re going quite slowly, but that’s better than not at all haha

This one is set just before the New Year of 1900.  Cleo is moving in with her uncle, aunt, and two (adult) cousins, who own a luxury hotel in London (the Mayfair, naturally).  Cleo has been estranged from them for her entire life due to the usual mother eloped with an “unsuitable” man, etc.  This does a great job of giving Cleo an in-between position – she isn’t a guest, but she’s still an outsider learning her way.  She’s always been poor, but now she has money and is expected to act “appropriately” for her class.  When the murder happens, she doesn’t have too many preconceived notions to interfere with her theories.  Some aspects of this story definitely stretched my credulity, but on the whole I liked Cleo herself and found this to be a decent historical mystery with a fun setting.

Living With Pattern by Rebecca Atwood – 4*

//published 2016//

A while back I read Living With Color by this author, and absolutely loved it.  Living With Pattern is actually her earlier book, which I found intriguing since Color seems like a more natural place to start than Pattern (to me).  While I did enjoy this one and found some useful information in it, I didn’t love it the way that I did Color.  I think, for me, “pattern” as a concept is harder to grasp than color.  Pattern involves color, texture, shapes, space, distance, texture, etc.  While this can work if you’re looking at, say, one piece of furniture, it’s hard for me when you’re looking at a room as a whole and trying to identify what patterns you see and how they are interacting with one another.  Honestly, I would love it if Atwood wrote more books breaking down Pattern into more specific subcategories, like she did with Color.  I would happily read a book about texture or furniture placement.  When I read her book about color, I made my husband read it, too, and we discussed SO much of it.  (Part of this, I’ll admit, is because he works with color for a living – he paints cars, which involves a great deal of matching and adjusting color, so he is already familiar with terms and concepts like saturation, vibrance, and hue.)  But I never felt that kind of connection with this book.  And while the book about color had me looking around my whole house and thinking about my spaces, this book left me feeling a little overwhelmed and without a lot of starting direction.  I do think part of this is that our house is very open, and not very big, so while we have distinct spaces without our home, you can see almost everything from any point in the house.  From where I am sitting at my computer in the corner I can see our pantry, the kitchen, a work area, a sitting area, and part of the lower room.  So it can be a tad overwhelming to try and thinking about how all these different spaces are interacting with one another.  Although I did find myself starting to count rectangles, as that seems to be our favorite shape around here!

All in all, Living With Pattern was still a worthwhile read, it just was a bit more academic and less practical than Living With Color was for me.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie – 4.5*

//published 1930//

This was a reread, of course, of an old favorite.  I absolutely love this mystery.  Partially because I adore Miss Marple, but partially because I love the narrator of this book.  The Vicar is such a likable, self-depreciating individual, and he really levels up the story.  No matter how many times I read this one, I always seem to forget who the murderer is, and even when I do remember, I’m still just caught up in admiration for Christie’s many red herrings.  While not my all-time favorite Christie, this is still an absolute classic.

Running Total: (I think I forgot this on my last post!) Books that I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet: 74!!!  High/Low: 97/74

December Minireviews // Part 3

A Will and Way by Nora Roberts – 4*

So I had set aside this book with two Roberts stories in it, assuming that with a title like First Snow they were probably Christmasy.  Well, they weren’t haha  However, I did enjoy this one – classic trope where two people who don’t like each other have to live together in a giant mansion for six months in order to inherit the money.  Along with (naturally) falling in love, there’s a suspense element as well.  Nothing groundbreaking, but a fun read.

Local Hero by Nora Roberts – 3.5*

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much.  A single mom moves into a new apartment.  Her son hits it off with one of their neighbors, Mitch, who ends up also being the author/illustrator of her son’s favorite comic book series.  While overall this was a fun read, I did find Mitch to be kind of pushy, and it also felt a little weird that the mom was so immediately willing to trust him with babysitting her kid.  Not a bad one-off, but it definitely had the 1980s vibe going on.

Loves Music, Loves to Dance by Mary Higgins Clark – 4*

//published 1991//

Another not-Christmas read, this one was to fill in my 1991 slow for the 1982-2022 challenge on Litsy.  The entire premise centers on the idea of people placing and answering personal ads for potential dates, so that was kind of a fun throw-back.  A serial killer leaves behind just one shoe of each of his victims, which is really the only way the police have of connecting his crimes.  This one was quite suspenseful, and since we get some scenes from the killer’s perspective, pretty creepy, too.  A solid installment in Clark’s long list of writing.

Christmas With Anne by L.M. Montgomery – 4*

A little collection of Christmas-themed short stories by Montgomery.  Like most of the short story collections featuring her work, some of these were stronger than others.  A few were a bit on the saccharine side, but many were quite enjoyable.  It did feel odd to include two random chapters from Anne books in this collection – as someone who has read and is very familiar with the original novels, I enjoyed the revisit of these scenes, but if I had never read the Anne books, I think they would have felt a little out of place.  Enjoyable, but nothing that really stood out.

Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentina – 1*

//published 2022//

Not remotely Christmasy, I read this one for the traveling book club.  A retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, sort of, this one had loads of potential but instead decided to spend most of its time telling readers how terrible men are.  I ranted about this one at length over on GoodReads, and am actually going to link you there instead of copying it all over here.  In short, though, this one was just genuinely boring, the characters weren’t remotely believable or interesting, there were a lot of instances where character decisions/dialogue didn’t match up with earlier character decisions/dialogue, and the whole thing just felt jumbled and directionless.  This book just didn’t deliver. The writing was lackluster, the characters terrible, the plot nonexistent, the story repetitive and dull, and not a single moment of Halloween creepiness to make up for it.  Just.  Ugh.  No.

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan – 4*

//published 2019//

This is typical Morgan-fare.  Rosie is getting married in Colorado, so her family comes from England to Aspen.  They’re somewhat concerned because it’s been a rather whirlwind relationship – especially Rosie’s older sister, Katie, who is determined to breakup or at least postpone the wedding.  Rosie’s parents have been together a long time, but have secretly been separated for a few months and are planning to divorce – they just haven’t figured out how to tell their children yet.  As with all of Morgan’s novels, my only complaint is that it could have been longer and more detailed.  We have Rosie dealing with wedding complications, meeting her soon-to-be-husband’s family, and fending off the doubts Katie is planting.  We have Katie, who is so blinded by her assumptions that Rosie must be doing the wrong thing that she can’t actually see what their relationship looks like – despite the help of the best man, Jordan, who happens to be hot and single.  And then the parents, who feel like their marriage has just hit a dead end, but since their daughters don’t know that, have decided to pretend to be as happy as ever for the next few weeks, and then tell them the truth about their upcoming divorce after the wedding – but in the meantime, they’re sharing a cabin and Rosie keeps setting them up on romantic dates, determined that they should be enjoying a “second honeymoon.”  There’s some drama, some good conversations, and some fun scenarios.  Not my favorite book of hers, but still very enjoyable.

Running Total: Books that I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet: 87!!!  High/Low: 97/87

November Minireviews // Part 5

Part 5 & final for November!!!

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane – 3.5*

//published 2020//

If you’re looking for a fun Christmas romance that’s wildly impractical and has lots of dogs, this one would probably fit the bill.  It’s pretty typical Hallmarky fare – Ally returns to the small town where she grew up to stay with her grandparents, only to find that the funding for the dog shelter that they run has been pulled and they only have a few weeks to find homes for the dogs that are currently there.  The person who signed off on the funding removal is the mayor, grumpy single-dad Ben, who, in a moment of feeling really guilty about the situation, agrees to help Ally home the dogs.

There wasn’t anything groundbreaking here, but it was overall fun and relaxing with some funny dog moments.  However, I felt like the ending was rather drawn out and that Ben’s transformation wasn’t done particularly well – I honestly wasn’t sure he had really learned his “lesson.”  But still, good times.

An O’Brien Family Christmas by Sherryl Woods – 3.5*

//published 2011//

Conveniently, the next book in the Chesapeake Shores series was a Christmas book!  The entire clan is off to Ireland for the holidays (wouldn’t it be nice to be rich??).  My main problem with this book is that while I was fine with the woman-is-older-than-the-man in this pairing, everyone kept going on about the “huge” age difference.  How huge is huge??  Five years?  Ten? 25?  I honestly couldn’t decide if I was comfortable shipping them because while I knew that the guy was in his mid-20s, the constant “she’s SO much older than him” started to make me uncomfortable, not because of her being a woman and being older, but because if “so much older” meant she was 45 or something, that would just be kind of weird no matter what lol  It felt awkward that everyone kept going on and on about it.  For the rest, typical of the series with a little side story of the grandma/matriarch of the clan reuniting with the guy she loved in her youth, which was pretty sweet.

Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Mary Higgins Clark – 4*

//published 1995//

Last year I was participating in a challenge hosted by someone on Litsy who was turning 40 in 2022 and decided to try to read at least one book from every year she had been alive, 1982-2022.  Since I also turned 40 last year (!), I really enjoyed participating.  For the most part, I was able to hit every year organically, but by mid-November I still had a few years left to find, so I sorted through my TBR to see if I could prioritize the years I needed.  All that to say, that was how Let Me Call You Sweetheart got bumped up the list, but I’m glad it did because it was a properly creepy little thriller.

Kerry is a public prosecutor and a single mom.  When her daughter’s face is cut in a minor car wreck, Kerry takes her to a well-known plastic surgeon for treatment.  However, during the visits, she notices that two other patients that she sees there have a strange resemblance to a murder victim from a decade ago.  It appears that the doctor is “recreating” this woman’s face – but why?  And is he really?  This one had loads of red herrings and I really had no idea how things were going to come together.  One of my favorite MHC books I’ve read to date.

Dashing into Disaster by Rachel John – 4*

//published 2021//

I really enjoyed this modern riff of Sense and Sensibility, and also the twist on the fake-dating trope, where instead of falling for each other, one of the participants falls for someone else!  Like the rest of these Austen-inspired books by John, this one was just a little too short – I wanted more of the characters and their back stories and conversations.  This one just skimmed along the surface with a fun concept and likable characters, but not quite enough pages to really get into the story.

All I Want for Christmas by Wendy Loggia – 3.5*

//published 2020//

This was a pretty cute YA Christmas read.  17-year-old Bailey absolutely loves Christmas, and this year her Christmas wish is to have someone special to kiss under the mistletoe.  When she keeps running into an adorable guy with a British accent, she KNOWS he has to be the one – right?  And it’s definitely NOT going to be her classmate Jacob, who’s always been a little annoying – right??  There was a lot here that was a lot of fun, and it was so refreshing to read YA where the main character actually gets along just fine with her parents and family.  However, it definitely felt like the love triangle part dragged on for too long, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at Bailey who would get annoyed with Jacob for doing things like wrestling with his buddies or burping (ONE time, and he immediately said “excuse me”!).  Like, girl, he’s a 17-year-old guy, so maybe you need to get over yourself just a smidge.  But still, fun and fluffy, even if it wasn’t a new classic for me.

Running Total: Books that I’ve read but haven’t reviewed yet!! :::97!!!

November Minireviews // Part 4

Towards the end of November, I decided it was probably close enough to Christmas to start reading Christmas books haha

The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman – 3.5*

//published 2002//

This one was a decent mystery, but I was somewhat aggravated by how much trouble Bernie got in, considering she had no reason to suspect that the body she found had been murdered.  Still, it was nice to see the Chee/Bernie relationship finally getting some traction!

25 Days Til Christmas by Poppy Alexander –  3.5*

//published 2019//

My first Christmas read of the season was a bit of a mixed bag.  I liked the characters and even the overall story, but Kate’s life started bad and kept getting worse and worse!  Every time there was a chance for something to go wrong, it did, so the majority of the book was kind of depressing.  Then, everything gets magically resolved in about five pages towards the end.  I don’t always need my Christmas romances to feel super realistic, but after so many pages of unrelenting things-going-wrong, it would have been nice to have more reassurances that the turn for the better was actually permanent and not a fluke!

Christmas Ever After by Karen Schaler 3.5*

//published 2020//

Schaler’s books are always a mixed bag for me, mainly because she is always a little obnoxious about herself and how popular her own books are, something she somehow manages to work into these stories in a meta fashion.  My original review says that “this one was pretty terrible, but that’s kind of what I’m into when I’m reading Christmas romances,” and I have to say that still stands haha  The drama meter was at max here, but it was still an okay read.

A Treason of Thorns by Laura Wemouth – 3*

//published 2019//

Sometimes a standalone fantasy definitely feels like it should have been more than one book, and this was the case here.  I wanted more of everything – more character development, more worldbuilding, more conversations – the concept here was SO intriguing and interesting, and I felt like we barely got the surface of what was happening.  There were also a lot of weird jumps in characters – someone is a bad guy, oh no wait actually a good guy after all! Without a lot of in between to explain why we suddenly trust this person when we didn’t trust them at all a few pages ago.  I really wanted to like this one because I found the concept so interesting, but in the end it just didn’t work for me.

The Blythes are Quoted by L.M. Montgomery – 4*

Somehow, I had never heard of this book until it was picked for our Kindred Spirits Buddy Read in November!  Apparently, shortly before her death, Montgomery gathered together some short stories and poetry and put them together, although it wasn’t published this way until just recently.  The poetry is presented as though written by Anne or Walter, with usually a few lines of commentary afterwards by whichever family members were gathered to hear it read out loud.  The majority of the book is set during the era of Rainbow Valley, with a shorter section (maybe a third of the book) set after WWI, as WWII is looming on the horizon.  If you come to this book hoping to get a lot of post-Rilla of Ingleside information about the lives of the Blythes, you won’t find it here.  We get hints that everyone married the “right” person (Rilla/Ken, Jerry/Nan, etc), and you did see some of the emotional difficulties that the family faced after the war was over, adjusting to the fact of Walter’s death.

My biggest issue with this book is that the Blythes are SERIOUSLY quoted.  Like, constantly.  Usually 3-5 times per page.  I almost wonder if Montgomery was purposefully trying to be obnoxious since everyone wanted her to keep writing Anne books long after she had lost interest in the characters.  Most of the mentions of the Blythe family (and Susan Baker) are tangential – along the lines of, “he knew it to be true, because he had heard Dr. Blythe tell the story last week” or “she reminded him of Dr. Blythe’s wife – not exactly beautiful, but still captivating.”  I recognized some of these short stories from other collections, except with a generous sampling of Blythes sprinkled in!  I was reading these just one or two stories a day for the entire month, so it worked for me.  However, I think the Blythe-references would have gotten pretty aggravating if I had tried to read this entire book in one go.  I’m not sure this is one I’ll pick up again, and I definitely don’t think that it adds anything to the Anne series as a whole, but it was still very interesting to read once.

Running Total:  I’m going to try something new and keep a running total of how many reviews I have left to write at the bottom of each of these posts! I’m curious to see if I’m gaining any ground at all, or if I will always be five months behind!!  Current number of books read but not reviewed: 86!

November Minireviews // Part 3

I need to be off work more often! Look at all these posts in a row!!

Borgel by Daniel Pinkwater – 5*

//published 1990//

I can’t really explain why I love this book so much, but I absolutely do.  Along with The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, this is probably tied for my favorite Pinkwater book of all time.  This book is full of nonsense and adventure, as Melvin travels through time, space, and other with his maybe-uncle and a talking dog.  As I said the last time I read and reviewed this book – If you’ve ever thought that maybe time was like a map of New Jersey and space was like a poppyseed bagel, this may be the book for you. It’s also a great read if you love popsicles.

Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon – 4*

//published 1944//

This is one of those books that has been on my shelf forever and I’m not sure why I’ve never read it.  The musical The King and I is based on the story of Anna Leonowens, a young English widow who becomes a tutor for the king of Siam’s favorite children and concubines in the 1860s. This is historical fiction that is stronger on the historical than the fiction, as Landon greatly admired Leonowens and drew heavily on her journals and letters from the time.  As a look into a completely foreign culture, this book is quite interesting, although as a straight story it has moments where things drag a bit.  And, because it’s based on real life, not everything gets tidied up the way one would wish.  Still, an engaging and worthwhile read.

Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman – 4*

//published 1999//

Another solid installment to this series, with a giant manhunt through the dangerous canyons on the Utah-Arizona border.  As always, Leaphorn and Chee are following separate yet connected threads that bring the mysteries together to a satisfying conclusion.  I’ve also greatly enjoyed watching other relationships develop in these stories – they could definitely be read individually, but working through them in order makes the secondary characters much more engaging.

Persuading the Captain by Rachel John – 4*

//published 2020//

Another fun little Austen modernization, as with the other two books I read of John’s, this one was just a little too short to really get into the characters’ lives and motivations.  Still, a fun, fast read.

The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy – 4*

//published 1919//

This one is a collection of short stories, so they do start to get a little same-y after a while.  Still, it’s always great fun to see how the Pimpernel and his colleagues are going to triumph over the dastardly villains, so overall a fun read.

November Minireviews // Part 1

Woohoo!! On to a new month of books!!

Sir Percy Leads the Band by Emmuska Orczy – 4*

//published 1936//

I’m slowly working my way through all of the Scarlet Pimpernel books. Most of these are old enough that they’re out of copyright and I can get them as cheap reprinted paperbacks, or even little hardcovers.  Not as fun as getting them as actual old books, but here we are.  I definitely recommend reading the original book first, but after that most of the other books are similar in substance.  This one involves a big rescue mission and a love triangle, jealous romantic rivals, and plenty of adventures.

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer – 4*

//published 1935//

I really love Heyer.  Her books are such a delight, with likable characters, sassy conversations, and plenty of little adventures.  This one was a little more melodramatic than some of her others, and I didn’t feel like the relationship between the two main characters was really that well-developed, but it was still a fun romp.

The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston – 3*

//published 2014//

I read The Rules for Disappearing in October and really enjoyed it, so I found a copy of the sequel.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.  The action in this one felt choppy and less cohesive, there were some character actions that didn’t really make sense to me, and Elston seemed to think just sort of killing off a bunch of inconvenient people in the end was a good way to wrap things up lol  And while I still liked the two main (YA) characters together in this book, there were times where Ethan seemed weirdly possessive instead of protective.  It was an okay read, but while I can see myself rereading Disappearing some time, I doubt I’ll pick this one up again.

Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey – 4*

//published 2022//

After coming close to giving up on contemporary romance, this one was an unexpected delight.  I loved the characters and all the snark, banter, and inside jokes. I absolutely loved Sandy’s best-friendship with Honey. I really loved that there wasn’t a “bad guy” situation here – just regular people who made choices, some of which they regret. I loved that the overall theme of this book was about that balance between embracing and loving your life where you are, but still reaching for a dream. I really loved that Winfrey set this story in a small, rural Ohio town and actually populated it with regular human beings instead of a bunch of stupid hicks. I loved how Sandy and her friends love living in their small town and aren’t spending all of their time trying to escape it. I loved that Sandy had regular parents who love her and with whom she has a good relationship as an adult. I loved that the romance was closed-door and the swearing was minimal. I loved that a bunch of story revolved around the town’s festival/fair and how much of that felt realistic and familiar to me. I loved the puns.  I loved the absurd Ohio-themed B&B.

Ironically, the actual love story was what felt a bit weak for me – I really like Hank and Sandy and actually totally ship them as a couple, but their drama went on a little too long for me, and I was also somewhat uncomfortable with this whole “you’re happiest when you’re together“ presented in a sort of “this person will save you“ kind of way, especially since the entire rest of the book does such an amazing job of showing people who have decided to embrace where they are with their lives.

Also, do pumpkins really get that big by August?

But on the whole this book was just so funny and with such likable characters – I thoroughly enjoyed it, and greatly appreciated some positive Ohio representation!

Dracula by Bram Stoker – 4*

//published 1897//

Last year, I signed up for the “Daily Dracula” posts.  Dracula is comprised entirely of things with dates, like letters, telegrams, and journal entries, so some enterprising fellow thought it would be fun to read the whole thing by reading what went with each day ON that day.  It started in the spring and didn’t end up November – there are some fairly large gaps between entries, especially towards the beginning.  On the whole, I think I did this book a disservice by reading it that way for the first time.  Because of the gaps in time, or times when I was busy and didn’t have the time to sit down and read a longer entry straight through, I tended to lose some of the threads of characters and action.  I think the Daily Dracula would have been a really fun way to reread this book, but was maybe not the best way to read it for the first time.

Still, the story itself is great.  It’s a bit ridiculous and melodramatic, and it totally works.  There is definitely a lot of unnecessary filler in this book, and times where it gets a bit repetitive (instead of saying something like, “they caught him up on the details they had just discussed,” we literally get three pages of the same details we just read three pages earlier, etc), but I think it definitely deserves its slot as a classic.

October Minireviews // Part 4

Last batch for October!! Still less than six months behind LOL

A Horse Called Mystery by Majorie Reynolds – 4*

//published 1964//

This is one of those older books that has been on my shelf forever.  I know I read it as a kid, but couldn’t really remember anything about it.  Owlie (so-called because of his glasses) is a bit scrawny and a bit of a target for the local bully.  He’s been saving his money to buy a bicycle, but on his way into town he sees a horse being mistreated and impulsively uses all his money to purchase it.  The rest of the book is about Owlie and the horse (Mystery) growing stronger together, and Owlie learning how to handle other people trying to manipulate and bully him.  This is one of those delightful books that has a lot of lessons without feeling remotely preachy.  I especially loved Owlie’s dad, who is an amazing role model.  Owlie’s mother is deaf/mute, and this is also handled so well throughout the story.

While this didn’t become my new favorite book forever, it definitely stayed on my shelf for a future reread.

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len – 4*

//published 2022//

This one was a surprise win for me.  Frequently, I find the OwlCrate books to be a bit meh, but this one was innovative and engaging.  The world-building was fun, the main character actually an interesting and likable person, and the story fairly well-paced.  I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed/too tidy.  I know that this is actually going to be a trilogy, but in some ways I didn’t exactly like where this one ended.  Still, I’m very interested to see what happens in the next book, which I do believe is coming out this year!!

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware – 3*

//published 2017//

I’m quite behind on Ware’s books, but the ones I’ve read I’ve enjoyed, although none of them have been ones I saw myself rereading time and again, as the characters generally manage to be quite unlikable.  Such was the case here.  There was an intriguing set up, but everyone in this book was just dreadful.  And while the atmosphere was good, I was never shocked or surprised by anything that happened, which meant the entire story felt rather draggy.  It wasn’t a terrible read, but definitely not a great one.

A Dog on Barkham Street by M.S. Stoltz – 3*

//published 1960//

Another older book that I picked up on the cheap somewhere, drawn in by the delightful illustrations by Leonard Shortall. However, this one just didn’t work for me.  I wasn’t really a fan of how the whole bullying situation was handled.  While the main character, Edward, is physically attacked and pushed around by Martin, Edward in turn frequently retaliates/starts conflict by calling Martin names and making fun of him.  I wasn’t sure who was bullying who.  Edward’s dad talks about how Martin is the way that he is because people in his life are mean to him, but everyone just kind of acts like oh well, guess Martin’s dad beats him up, nbd; and at the least Edward’s dad doesn’t even seem all that fussed that his son is mocking someone else.  I don’t know, it just felt a little stereotypical without a lot of resolution.  This was a short, fast middle grade read that is in the giveaway box now, adorable Shortall illustrations notwithstanding.

The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston – 3.5*

//published 2013//

This was one that I was planning to rate higher until the last few chapters went off the rails.  Meg’s family is in the witness protection program, and she barely remembers her real name any more.  She’s tired of her life being upended at a moment’s notice, but her dad refuses to tell her what he’s done to put their family in this situation.  The pacing was good here and the writing engaging.  I really did want to find out what was going on with Meg and her family, and there was definitely a lot of “who can you trust” done really well.  However, in the end Meg acts like a wildly stupid teenager, to a level of completely unbelievable, and it really lowered my overall enjoyment of the book.

While My Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark – 4*

//published 1989//

Ethel isn’t particularly well-liked: she writes exposé books about various rich and well-connected individuals, so when she winds up murdered there are plenty of suspects from which to choose.  But Neeve Kearney, who owns an upscale fashion boutique, had a genuine soft spot for Ethel, one of her best customers who has become a friend.  Neeve is drawn into the investigation, and as things progress, realizes that this murder seems to have some startling parallels to the murder of Neeve’s mother several years earlier.  This was a great mystery from Clark with likable (and unlikable) characters, good motivations from various suspects, and an intelligent MC in Neeve.  However, as usual, the love story aspect leaves quite a bit to be desired, and a few of the twists towards the end felt like a bit of a stretch.  Still, on the whole I liked this one and can see myself rereading it again someday.

August Minireviews // Part 3

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens – 4*…ish

//published 1870//

Can you give 4* to a book that isn’t even finished?  I actually didn’t realize that this one was never completed until after I had started it.  (Thankfully I found out before I got the abrupt stopping point!)  I would have LOVED to see where this story ended up.  There are some great characters here and some very sinister set-ups.  It seems obvious what is going on – except towards the end of this partial story, Dickens is already starting to muddy the waters.  A really engaging piece of writing, even if it is rather disappointing that it just ends!

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan – 4*

//published 2021//

I wasn’t expecting to so thoroughly enjoy this OwlCrate book, but I actually was completely engaged with the world-building and characters.  It’s a debut novel, so there were times that the pacing was a little off, but on the whole I definitely wanted to keep reading this Asian-based fantasy.  It’s listed as a standalone and I can find nothing about a potential sequel, but the ending/epilogue of this one definitely gave off “in the next book” vibes, so that was a little confusing.  While looking for information about the nonexistent sequel, I did find an official map on the author’s website – why it wasn’t in the book, I’ll never know, as it was VERY HELPFUL.  I printed it off and stuck it in the book so it will be ready next time I read it!

The Lies We Told by Camilla Way – 4*

//published 2018//

This was a perfectly fine but ultimately forgettable thriller.  I’m never a big fan of the “inherently evil child” trope, but once the other storyline started, I was able to work with them both and wanted to see how they were going to come together.  As with many thrillers, this one works best if you just suspend some disbelief and roll with it. I didn’t want to put it down once I got hooked, which bumped it up to 4* for me.

The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth – 4*

//published 1859//

Originally published in 1859, this book was reissued by Lamplighter Press back in the 1990s.  Keeping in mind the publication date, you would be correct in assuming that there are language and actions that don’t fit our modern sensibilities, but I found it to honestly be a completely engaging look at life in the “wilds“ of the Virginia mountains. “Old Hurricane“ is an Revolutionary War veteran who, through a series of events, ends up adopting an orphan girl named Capitola, mainly for his own selfish reasons – Cap is actually the long-lost heiress of a neighboring estate, currently owned by Hurricane’s arch-enemy. However, Hurricane is not remotely nefarious (although very temperamental) and soon is completely won over by Cap’s bold, saucy ways. Cap is no missish heroine, waiting to be rescued. She makes things happen, charging about the countryside on her pony, rescuing people herself, and causing all sorts of trouble. This story is completely ridiculous, with melodramatic villains, sweeping coincidences at every turn, and plenty of absurdities, but I honestly enjoyed every page.

I Found You by Lisa Jewel – 4*

//published 2016//

Pacey, engaging, and intriguing, this was a solid thriller that kept me going.  Even though I figured out parts of it ahead of time, I didn’t solve all of it.  I’ve really enjoyed all of the Lisa Jewel books I’ve read so far, and have several more on the shelf that I want to get to soon.