Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia | Recorded Books for audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was a three-star book for the first Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia | Recorded Books for audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was a three-star book for the first 2/3, and then at 66% it shot up to a four. I've just seen the 50s housewife criticism done better, or just done, many times before, and the way this was written didn't do much for me. I also didn't appreciate the twist. I wish this had been executed differently, maybe in a non-linear fashion, because I think it being a "twist" cheapens it, and the most interesting stuff happened during the smallest part of the book.
Anyway, not mad I read this, but I'm not the best audience for it anyway.
The audiobook narrator was fine, but didn't really stand out to me in any way, and I might have even liked this better reading with my eyeballs because I could have gotten through the sloggy bits faster.
Thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Audio, and Simon & Schuster Audio Originals for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
When I reqThanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Audio, and Simon & Schuster Audio Originals for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
When I requested this book, I had no idea that this was a) a novella, b) book 0.5 in a long series, and c) published originally in 2015 only in the UK. I just saw the author's name, realized I'd read a book from him before (Kill For Me, Kill For You) and enjoyed it, and thought the premise (former con man, now lawyer, does a really important cross examination) sounded interesting. And it was interesting! Now I feel like I have to read further in the series. This was absolutely the brainless type of procedural I needed at this moment. Something with some clever twists, a nice legal setting with stakes, don't have to invest too much into it. I'm interested to see what this character is like in a full length novel.
I don't know why the author, who is Irish, is writing about an American lawyer, but who cares, in the end. Read as authentic to me, and a lot of times they don't!
The audiobook was a nice listen, the narrator does a great job....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media | Tantor Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was a fine time, but it also Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Media | Tantor Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was a fine time, but it also could have been better, IMO. This is a book about a murderer (?) who starts sending mysterious letters and postcards about the disappearance of a woman called Charlie over a decade before to everyone who could have possibly been involved at the time. Charlie at the time worked for the Clarendon dictionary as a lexicographer, and now her sister Martha is the editor at the same place. Once the letters and postcards start arriving, they realize someone is trying to stir up trouble around Charlie's disappearance, and all of the letters have obscure clues that seemingly only these lexicographers can interpret, but to what end? Will they find a murderer at the end of the clues?
The problem with this book is that the clues and puzzles just weren't that fun! They weren't the kind you can solve yourself, unless you are also an Oxford educated lexicographer, or whatever. And they weren't put together in a way that you could get vicarious enjoyment from the solving of them, either. They were the reason I wanted to read the book in the first place, and they weren't something I ended up enjoying at all. The most enjoyable part of the book was the occasional fraught conversation/interviews the lexicographers have with various people, some of which get pretty juicy. I did end up enjoying the resolution of the mystery, as well, but the lure of this being a puzzle mystery and the puzzles being a non-entity just soured the whole thing for me.
Also, the plot took up a lot of space here, so it's not really a character driven book, and there were a lot of characters, and a lot of puzzles, so it didn't really leave any room for me to get to know any of these people or care about them. That wouldn't really have mattered if the puzzles were fun, but they weren't, so I missed having characters I cared about.
I would maybe read on in the series, but I would hope the author would go in a slightly different direction for it.
The audio production was really good, I enjoyed the narrator quite a bit. Very pleasant voice....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Ok but first, what in the hell was that endingThanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
Ok but first, what in the hell was that ending. I was going to give this a 3.5 star rating, probably round up to four because my time with the book was generally pleasant, and then by the end I was like, nah. Not after that. Maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle. I see now that contrary to the marketing and the blurb and the general feel of the book that this is the second book in a trilogy? I don't know, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Not a happy or intriguing surprise. Would be interested to see other takes on it.
Anyway, this book follows a detective who also owns a bookshop. He is visiting his ill mother and manning the bookshop when he is called back to work after a famous author disappears. His supervisor believes he's the best person for the job, since he is bookish and might appreciate the nuances of all the similarly bookish people he's about to interview. The story here never reached the heights I wanted it to, but the investigation was interesting, and the solution to the mystery was pretty good.
And to be fair to the ending I hated, it was definitely foreshadowed. I just think tonally it was completely out there. YMMV. Anyway, sorry this review sucks, the guilt of not reviewing an ARC was eating at me so I'm just word vomiting at this point. Would maybe read further from this author but would need to think about it first.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
So many thoughts, where to start. How about thThanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
So many thoughts, where to start. How about that cover? I love it, but questionable marketing. Not sure it conveys the tone of the story! Which is not horror, and is not cozy at all. There are definitely legions of cats in the story, but they are in the background. So, I am conflicted. (The town is overrun with stray cats, due to a local commercial series years before featuring kittens; everyone got a kitten after, and then everyone didn't keep or care for their kittens, so now cats are everywhere.) I also am conflicted because even though the cover doesn't really convey mystery/suspense, it is unique and sets itself apart from the crowd. So actually maybe it's genius, what do I know. I definitely read it because of the cover.
Okay but what about the story? I liked it! Our MC is Dolores, who left her infamous hometown eighteen years before and has never been back, and never exchanged more than an an unsigned birthday card with her family in the years since. (Her hometown is a famous Halloween tourist destination, but again, that's sort of background, not the focus.) Dolores is now a well-respected prominent forensic pathologist who often gives testimony at trial. The plot kicks off when she gets a call from the FBI saying that her father—the former mayor of her town and a former Senator—is missing. The reason that Dolores left is unraveled over the course of the novel, but you get hints right away. Pretty much right away after her unwelcome homecoming, there is a murder, and Dolores is sucked in to the investigation. The plot goes from there.
As with the cover, I am also conflicted about the fact that I figured out all but one part of the mystery, which is very unusual for me. I can't decide if I'm proud that I'm smart, or mad that it was too easy (I guessed a lot of it before I was even halfway through the book). Usually I err on the side of "this wasn't good if I could figure it out," but with this one for some reason I'm giving it more credit. Maybe it's because the book was also pretty thematically rich, and the only reason for reading it wasn't to find out what was going on and whodunnit, but to follow Dolores's emotional journey, and to see where it leads her.
All that said, this was really good, and I'll definitely read more from this author. I also kind of hope this isn't the last we see of Dolores....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
DNF @ 37%
UnfortunatelThanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for the audio ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
DNF @ 37%
Unfortunately my interest in this book did not survive the death of my cat. It's not the book's fault that I was listening to it on the day I found out she'd be crossing the Rainbow Bridge. It was probably going to be a 3.5/4 star read. Don't let this review stop you from reading it if you're interested! The audio was very pleasant to listen to. But I just can't bring myself to continue....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was unexpectedly a really informative and fun tThanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This was unexpectedly a really informative and fun time. But then, I love ABBA. Perhaps someone who doesn't love ABBA would not appreciate this, though it is clear that Jan Gradvall is clearly very steeped in his subject, eats and breathes the history of music. Also, he clearly loooooves ABBA. This book has a nonlinear structure, but for some reason it really worked for me, in fact, it probably retained my interest more than a chronological structure would have. Maybe because "the story of ABBA" is a much more clearly defined topic than other nonfiction books I have read lately that I thought needed better/more structural organization.
I really enjoyed the audio version of this. The narrator's voice was extremely pleasant. I have listened to ABBA Gold like four times this week. And now I reallllly want to go to London and see ABBA Voyage....more
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This had so much promise, and it started off so wellThanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This had so much promise, and it started off so well for me. I was delighted by the bitchy plant narrator (plus some others) that was obsessed with this woman, Neve, who runs a flower shop in an aging mall that is about to be closed and bulldozed to the ground. Our MC Shell was a good way in to the dynamic between Neve and the plant, whose name I have forgotten, and to the friend group who work at this mall in dead end jobs. It was intriguing and seemed to have good atmosphere. It's set in Ireland. Plus, I'd heard the whole thing was a metaphor for being in an abusive relationship. Then, Neve and Michelle's friends start getting involved and trying to take the bitchy plant down, and that was exciting. For a little bit.
And then . . .
It just kind of fizzled? And I almost completely lost interest? Not to mention the ending was a bust. It did not provide me resolution in pretty much any way. I don't know, I can't really explain this one. I would definitely read more books from this author, but only after people I trust have read it first (and that usually agree with me about horror books!). I'm not mad I read it, but I feel it had so much potential, and didn't live up to it.
The audiobook was the way to go, even if I didn't love how this turned out. There are two narrators, and both of them have Irish accents. The male narrator gives the bitchy plant just the right attitude.
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This isn't ever going to be a favorite series, but Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This isn't ever going to be a favorite series, but it is consistently entertaining, and I like the way that Golden is evolving Evelyn over time, something that a lot of cozies don't bother doing with their MCs. I do hope this series has an end point and that the author doesn't drag it out past its expiration date, but I'm in if and until that happens. I want to find out what happened to Evelyn's mother at the very least, and also see if she acquires any more animals she can name after iconic pop culture figures.
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
"The ____'s Guide to _____ a/and ______" Accountability Rating: I have decided to start holding books accountable for frivolously using the extremely overused title construction this book also uses. This book gets an 1/10. This is not only a lazy title in that it uses this title construction, but it's also a terrible title. Absolutely no guide, and literally any mystery book is about both sleuthing and secrets.
Alternate Titles for This Book: The Socialite's Guide to Multilevel Murder (an MLM features heavily)...more
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
I'm sad to say this was a disappointment. Pretty Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
I'm sad to say this was a disappointment. Pretty sure I'm done reading this author's books, as both have resulted in the same outcome for me: frustration that a great premise (and great research!) was wasted on subpar execution.
Said premise: Dorothy L. Sayers (our narrator) has been the driving force behind the creation of The Detection Club, a real club formed in 1930 by Britain's most prominent mystery and crime writers, for the benefit of their genre. They were tired of being discounted by the literary establishment and wanted to safeguard their chosen form and promote it at the same time. Other members included: Agatha Christie, Baroness Orczy, Anthony Berkeley Cox, and G. K. Chesterton, the first president. (The club also famously wrote up The Fair Play Rules for mystery authors, which I most recently enjoyed a prominent mention of in Benjamin Stevenson's book, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.)
Queens of Crime opens when the club is having its initiation, and Sayers and Christie are both very frustrated at the attitude of the male members towards inviting more women than themselves into the club, as they view Sayers and Christie as exceptions to the norms of "womanhood". Your basic sexist bullshit. So Agatha and Dorothy scheme to get more women in, including Ngaio Marsh, the Baroness Orczy (The Scarlet Pimpernel), and Margery Allingham. I believe there were liberties taken with the membership history here, but I don't know for sure because the ARC copy didn't have her author's notes. But even as they are successful in getting five women mystery authors into the club, they are treated poorly or dismissed by the men, and determine to show themselves worthy of membership.
Firstly, this approach rankled me. Why must they have to go so far out of their way to prove themselves to these men? It's gross.
Anyway, they hatch a plan to solve the murder of a woman called May Daniels, whose body has just been found after she went missing months before. They choose May because they believe the men running the investigation have discounted many things about the case because they lack the perspective of women, and because the fate of the dead young nurse is one they'd like to address if they can.
This had the bones of a good story, great historical research, compelling characters (in theory), a twisty mystery, and an emotional hook based on these women doing something that men can't to fight for the respect they should have been given automatically. But unfortunately, Benedict's style is very lacking in almost every aspect of the craft that makes stories compelling for me. The characters are wooden, the descriptions and events as they are laid out are very very workmanlike with absolutely no sense of emotional or artistic flair. It is a logic-based approach to story, and it did not work for me at all. The result of all this is a book that feels overall plodding and lifeless, which is an impressive feat, considering the quality of materials the author had to work with. How do you make such vibrant historical women seem so mundane on the page?
I really wouldn't recommend this book. I wish this author would team up with another author with more artistic flair, or that someone else had written a book with this same premise, like happened with Benedict's other book featuring Agatha Christie*.
*The Mystery of Mrs. Christie was published around the same time as The Christie Affair, which was a much, much better book, in my opinion.
Very sad with this outcome, but it is what it is, and I've learned my lesson.
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This book should not have worked! ButThanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
This book should not have worked! But, it really did. At least for me.
This is an enemies to lovers slow burn romance set in an alternate Earth where magic is real. (Actual, real enemies, mind you, not just rivals or people who are annoyed at each other.) Aurienne is a gifted healer in an order of healers who is contacted by Osric, an eeeevil (but handsome and roguish) assassin, who has a fatal ailment to do with his magic that only Aurienne has a hope of curing (and it's a very very small hope at that). She does not want to help him AT ALL but is ordered to after he makes an obscenely large donation to their order, even though his only hope of a cure is based on folklore and fairytales, and is very unscientific (Aurienne frowns on non-evidence based magical healing). Osric is incorrigible and Aurienne is orderly and rule-following. Of course they are going to fall in love.
I really only have one main criticism, and the rest is just going to be a YMMV kind of thing. My criticism is that is STUNNINGLY unclear when and why this is all taking place, aka the worldbuilding. This is a world with electricity but people still wear suits of armor?? They have antibiotics but also medieval type places like brothels and castles and public houses? It's an alternate history world with magic*, where places like London and such still exist, but then there's new places and England is split into Tiendoms? (ten kingdoms) It's all very much unexplained. And yet, the central relationship, and the main plot points are all very clearly on the page, so in a sense the faffery surrounding the worldbuilding almost doesn't matter (ALMOST).
*I highlighted several instances of language that makes no sense outside of our world, for instance the phrase "crime-scene chic" and certain body parts being called "Thoughts and Prayers" (in a world with no guns??). But those might be gone in the final version, I don't know.
I feel where this book is really going to succeed or fail for people is the voice, the writing style. It is very informal, at times vulgar, and has a sense of humor that is extremely specific. This very much worked on me, and I laughed out loud multiple times over the course of the book. Most of my highlights were things that had me giggling. But it also has this sweet heart underneath all the name-calling and ribald jokery. I really believed it at the end when both people had realized they had feelings for the other; it made me go "Awwwwww".
Here are some examples of the language (again, ARC copy, subject to change):
"There is some family," said Mrs. Parson. "Father from the Danelaw, mother from Tamazgha. Both presently in London. No debts to speak of; she's rather well-off. Kidnap would, of course, always be an option." "A classic," said Osric.
"More whinging than Aurienne had expected from a Fyren. Weren't they meant to be rugged killers? This specimen had the fortitude of a wet quiche."
"I detest operating in this improvisatory manner"—"just titting about the countryside without a plan—" Mordaunt, seized with sudden liveliness, leapt to Aurienne's side. "Let's tit about. I love titting about."
"He was a Fine Specimen in the way an abscess might be a Fine Specimen; the best, most shapely, most beautiful abscess in the world still brimmed with foulness and ought to be incised and drained."
"Osric noticed that, under Patient Name, she had inserted an alias, which was fine, but that the alias was U. Ganglion, which offended him."
And I had a lot more than that! I got my copy months and months ago, so the final copy might very well be a lot more polished. I guess I'll see! Because I have this coming in a subscription box next month. For me, the charms of this book vastly outweighed the things that bothered me. But that is the reason it's not getting five stars, because I kept getting the urge to sit down with a red pen and fix things.
If you like banter, antagonism, scatological humor, inexplicable worldbuilding, and animals, this might be a book for you....more
This just isn't working for me right now. The writing style isn't doing much for me, there's a focus on personal drama over worldbuilding, anDNF @ 15%
This just isn't working for me right now. The writing style isn't doing much for me, there's a focus on personal drama over worldbuilding, and I don't feel anything for the characters besides the occasional annoyance. I could finish it, but I doubt it would get higher than a three star, so this is where I'm leaving it. I wish I wasn't DNFing another ARC so soon after the last one, but forcing myself through this right now sounds terrible. Not rating....more
Thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media & Dreamscape Lore, Bindery Books, and Ezeekat Press for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
I Thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media & Dreamscape Lore, Bindery Books, and Ezeekat Press for the ARC. It hasn't affected the contents of my review.
I had a great time with this weird little genre-bender. I love books where the author was like, should I do mystery? Romance? Paranormal? Horror? Sci-fi? Why not all?? Indeed. Why not all.
Our two main characters are ship's AI's, the navigator, and the ship's doctor. Demeter is the ship's name, and when the book starts she's just a normal ship, doing her job transporting humans back and forth from Earth to Alpha Centauri. But soon after that, she's a ghost ship, her entire crew and all of her passengers murdered by a mysterious entity (a ghost of the name Vlad Tepes on her logs) save for two children she is now tasked caring for until they make it back to Earth. From there, the plot is sort of all over the place (my one criticism of this book is that the structure of the story felt a bit of a mess while I was reading it). But basically it all boils down to: Why Demeter? Why poor, poor Demeter? And what can we do about it?
(The bit with the Cthulu aliens was truly wild.)
From there, we've got vampires, we've got werewolves, we've got aliens, we've got mummies, we've got a ton of shit that should not be in a spacefaring story, but is, and somehow works.
I will definitely be watching out for whatever Barbara Truelove writes next, because this was a fantastic, imaginative debut with exactly the right tone I look for in stories (goofy, heartfelt, serious, all at the same time).
Highly recommend this one!
(Worth noting: Although I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, it had some very obvious production errors, particularly with one narrator, who kept mispronouncing things or pronouncing them inconsistently, or using malapropisms all over the place, i.e. saying "immorality" instead of "immortality," pronouncing Agnus's name "Angus," and I stg, "dementors" instead of "demented.")...more
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