Creepy YA horror

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This engaged me throughout, and I worried about many of the characters (which kept me reading). Feels more like a YA horror than a thriller. Deals with grief, and revenge in a unique manner.

Not sure I liked the ending; it didn't wrap up terribly smoothly for me.

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Funny and engaging

When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice from a Professional Clown by Kenan Thompson


I tend not to rate memoirs. This one is a bit different from some though, as it isn't revealing a huge scandal or difficult childhood etc., but I will still stick with not putting stars on it.

Listened to the audio, which was Kenan himself. Enjoyable, and interesting overall.
Light and funny, and over-all respectful of other actors and comedians.

The chapter on being single though, he kind of references women in a typicaly "bro" manner though, which was odd.

But, I enjoyed listening to him, and remember his shows from when he was a kid. I do watch SNL, so it was interesting to hear about and remember his early years on it.

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Decent sequel

A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable follow-up, and a series I will continue reading.

The mystery this time involves the mayor's death, and all the varied suspects seem plausible. Decent resolution as well.

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Hurricaine and human antagonists

One Deadly Eye by Randy Wayne White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had been an avid reader of this series, but skipped some of the recent ones (and started his YA series, but only read a couple; both decent).

It was nice to catch back up, and there were a few developments I hadn't been aware of, in Ford's life.
I particularly enjoyed the hurricane description, and the focus on Sammy and his group and their attempts to deal with the horrible storm

I also enjoyed the banter between Ford and other characters.

I didn't care for the level of brutality described that dealt with the human antagonists though, and while I thought the idea of awful people targeting hurricaine victims, and know this takes place, this aspect in the novel was a bit too much and a bit too unbelievable.

The book ends on a cliff hanger in terms of a couple of important people in Ford's life, which I won't detail to avoid spoilers, and due to the fact that I read an ARC via NetGalley

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A true thriller

Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read any of his previous books, but they are going on my TBR as a result of reading this.

I was hooked from the start, and riveted by each narrator's storyline. The twists were great, and most unexpected.

Takes the classic "Strangers on a Train" and twists it up in truly unique ways.

Great characters, great plot, and a true thriller.

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Nice follow-up

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This started off quite well for me, and I felt the spark that made me love Divine Rivals. I have never been a fan of stories about battles, and when this delved into that it kind of made that spark flicker out.

I did want to know more about Dacre and Enva, so appreciated that, but would have preferred learning more about the other gods, myths, the music etc versus the battles.

Overall I felt it was a fitting end to the duology. Thus, I liked it.

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resolution fell apart

A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I do enjoy cozy mysteries. The premise and setting for this one had me hooked.

Initially I pretty much knew where the murderer was from (basically you're looking at locals or tourists) and thus I focused on certain characters.

The issue though was even though I was essentially right, the character involved didn't make much sense. The reasoning for the crime didn't add up (as earlier aspects of their values etc wouldn't have allowed this person to murder for the motive provided, despite any perceived harm being done to them..and by the way those earlier aspects are all at the end as the person essentially confesses to Este) So, the murder mystery really fell apart for me at the end.

Another thing that irked me, was the detail of what she prepared. Pages were devoted to her prep work and making of various pies. One feature of many cozy series involves recipes, especially if the protagonist owns a unique coffee shop, ice-cream shop or diner, as Este does in this series. However, usually the meal or dessert etc would be briefly mentioned in a mouth watering way, and then the recipe would be provided at the end, as an addtional perk for the reader. At times I thought I was reading a cookbook, because there was too much detail in the pie recipes. And yes, there are actual recipes at the end of the book, which do look good. However, I would have preferred more sleuthing than those descriptions, and defintely wanted a resolution that made a bit more sense than this one did.

Having said all of that, I would be tempted to read the 2nd, and hope that mystery revolves more around the lucky pies, and perhaps a recpient not liking the results or something.

So, overall this was an ok read for me.

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Humor was nice

The September House by Carissa Orlando
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyed the humor and the narrator quite a bit. Loved how the rationalizations developed so seemlessly. Living with odd things as if all is normal made sense in this novel.
The build up was well done, and most aspects were believable.

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The Nurses in Vietnam

The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am close to Hannah's age, and thus the recollections she has of the Vietnam war (that she mentions in the afterword) are similar.

I truly appreciated the narrative that dealt with the nurses in Vietnam. The horrors they witnessed, and the lives they saved. I thought the experiences shared seemed real, including Frankie's return home and her path to therapy etc.

I was honestly irked by the various love stories, and more irked by the resolution of a couple of those. While I do think romance will obviously happen in historical fiction, since romance happens in real life, it threw the narrative off for me in this novel.

I also wish there had been more about Barb and Ethel, perhaps chapters from their perspectives.

Overall, I do think the novel addressed a forgotten group of women, and it told that story well.

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Dragged a bit

The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decent 2nd story to this series. Started off very strong but the middle was much too long, and I was practically begging for the resolution to arrive.

I enjoy the setting and some of the returning characters a lot, so stuck with a 3 instead of a 2.

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Bland thriller

The Weekend Retreat by Tara Laskowski
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It started off nicely, but the build up and character development were stilted. I got confused between Harper's husband and brother so at one point thought some sort of incest was involved (it wasn't, it was merely my confusion because the characters lacked definition)

I knew right away who "The Party Guest" was, so that was rather disappointing, while not knowing the why until later in the book. While the why had merit, the execution by the party guest was rather stupid. They could have easily developed a legal case rather than the ridiculous method they chose. Other characters had equally weak reasons for their choices.

Basically, it isn't the typical reunion at an isolated place with bad weather coming story. It was a bland version of that trope with weak plot and characterization.

I did finish it, and thus rated it a 2

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Debut cozy

The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premise and story line were intriguing. If it ends up being a series I will try the 2nd. I did find the main character not as well drawn as I had hoped. For 20 years she has had nothing to do with the business, much less any kind of detective work, yet repeatedly we are told that she can easily solve the murder mystery. That was a bit odd to me, and would have merited a 2 overall, but I ended up deciding it was a 3 since the version I read was an ARC, and perhaps the published version corrected editing issues (that also bugged me) as well as too many references to her skills that weren't backed up by anything.

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A bit unbelievable

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a decent enough book, with plausble red herrings, but some aspects felt a bit leaden to me. A slower paced story than was necessary I guess. I honestly didn't believe how long a process the therapy aspect took. I feel she would have remembered what happened sooner than she did.

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