Cute Cozy

Ill-Fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This has a fun premise for a cozy mystery series. The characters are engaging, and the mystery was decent (though I had guessed an odd aspect to it, but thought it was too odd to be plausible). (view spoiler)[the bit about concrete being used in the fortune cookies hit me due to her fortune about suffocating in concrete, but really thought that was too crazy to be actually used. I would think it would cause even more harm to customers than it did with that party of Moana's (hide spoiler)]

I liked the focus on her friend Kelvin, the shops nearby and her family.

Will read the second one when it comes out.

p.s I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, and happy to have read it earlier than my hold at the local library would have allowed.

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Best of 3

The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This makes a trio in terms of recently read books dealing with haunted houses.
One I gave a 3 to, primarily due to the narrative voice and humor
The 2nd I gave a 2 since it was just ok, the major flaw being no true explanation or world building.

This one gets a 4 from me because there was an explanation, and world building. I also appreciated that the couple told their friends about the odd things happening in their house. It seemed realistic that they would tell people versus keeping it quiet. This also allowed them to have friends doing their best, in the end, to assist them (I won't share here how succesful this was or wasn't).

I haven't read previous books by this author, but he is on my radar now.

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Will start the series from the beginning

Fateful Words by Paige Shelton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Started this series with this book, and enjoyed it so much will read the series from the start.
The characters were engaging, the red-herrings believable, and the solution made sense.

There's one aspect that conceivably could create a plausible follow-up, since with a couple of characters questions remain, but not sure if this is how she leads into each new book of this series.

Another reason to read the full series, and why I enjoyed this book so much, is that Edinburg is on my travel bucket list. I loved getting glimpses of the city via this book.

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Great story telling, but that ending....

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The writing is incredible. A true master class in character develpment. Cass's voice is amazing, as is PJ's. Murray is incredibly skilled at writing from the perspective of a child and a teen.

I honestly can't say much about the plot as I fear writing anything will ruin the storyline for others.

I also enjoyed the narratives from Dickie and Imelda, but was blown away by Cass's and PJ's in terms of an adult male writing them.

This is my first book by Murray, and at some point I will read his others.

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Learned a bit

There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History by Rory Carroll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I somehow wasn't aware of this particular bombing, that came close to harming Thatcher. This was during the time of The Troubles. An interesting narrative, that highlights what happened in Brighton in 1984, and details some other aspects of that time-frame.


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Just an ok read

The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am sitting here debating whether this is a 2 or a 3. I went with a 2 because it was "just ok" for me. I liked some aspects. It gives off a bit of a creepy vibe that kept me reading and waiting for some thrills, but overall it didn't add up for me.

I honestly had issues with people's ages, and while it could make sense in a paranormal way perhaps, there was absolutely no explanation for characters to have been a certain age in 1963 (at the youngest 22 perhaps up to 30ish), and apparently robust and fighting off others on the rooftop in the current day and time. And Lillian's age was really confusing. Flirting and possibly dating Chad as if she and Rosie are the same age, yet she was a child in 1963?

At one point I thought we were going with a vampire story, but that didn't come to pass.

I don't mind paranormal, but I do need a bit more world building in that area to explain what caused various elements of the story.

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Continues the great legacy of MHC

It Had to Be You by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MHC was my go to mystery author in HS (possibly MS), after a slew of Nancy Drew books when younger. Alafair Burke does a great job of continuing MHC's legacy.

I loved the set-up of this book, and rooted for many of the characters. The red herrings were great, causing me to go back and forth with who I felt was guilty.

The only quibble I had was it seemed like it would have been harder than it seemed here, for the guilty to keep the secret for as long as they did.

I received this as an arc from NetGalley

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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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