What Are We Currently Reading?

[Darian]

Just about a quarter into Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith, which thankfully ended a disappointing stretch (it was short, thanks to borrowing e-books from the library. Give a book a shot and return it and onto the next. Must have dumped three or four in two days. Helped that one contained my dealbreaker: no quotation marks). The story is compelling, but I just love her writing style, as well. I enjoyed her This Close to Okay last year. Just saw that, fittingly for a Primetimer, I just got bumped to #1 hold for She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson, creator of Abbott Elementary.  Cannot wait. 

[Spartan Girl]

Started Tracy Flick Can’t Win, the sequel to Election, and I already kind of want a movie version with Reese playing her again. Even though the book ending was slightly different than the movie** it could still work, with Tracy not winding up where she thought she would be in her career. Anyway, I already love how this book has Tracy revisit her relationship with her teacher and realizing that she didn’t want to admit that she was not as in control of the situation as she believed she was.

Look, I get why people found her unlikable. While she was not the villain of the story, she could come off as extra and entitled. And that’s okay: nobody has to like EVERYBODY. But I think there are many of us that can relate to being an overachiever and/or loner and she definitely did not deserve the scorn she got, which this sequel makes crystal clear.

**I still prefer the movie’s softer, alternate, more faithful to the book ending, where Mr. McAllister apologizes to Tracy for sabotaging the election and owns up to projecting his issues on her. While I get why the filmmakers went with the darker, satirical ending where nobody learns anything, accountability is always a plus for me.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Scatterbrained]

Loved the movie Election.  I may have to check out the books.

[Scatterbrained]

I just finished Birds of California by Katie Cotugno.  It was a quick and easy read, but in the end it felt “unfinished”.  It is told in 3rd person point of view.  Chapters alternate between focusing of Fiona and Sam who, as teens, played brother and sister on a popular tv show.  Fiona, at that point in time became self-destructive tabloid fodder a la Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohan.  Ultimately, the story is really about Fiona.  Sam’s storylines remain mostly unresolved.  It is ultimately a “past and recent headlines” story.   I personally feel that makes it a weaker story overall.  I feel the author over relied on pop culture and the readers’ knowledge of it to create the characters and storylines.  
 

TL;DR: An easy read, but a shallow one.  Could be better.

[Browncoat]

I'm about to start a re-read of "Election", and will follow that up with "Tracy Flick Can't Win".  It's been too long since I read or saw "Election", and I need to refresh my memory.

[grommit2]

On 6/11/2022 at 7:44 PM, Browncoat said:

I'm about to start a re-read of "Election", and will follow that up with "Tracy Flick Can't Win".  It's been too long since I read or saw "Election", and I need to refresh my memory.

Hi Browncat...I also need to refresh my memory. 
If only I could remember where I left it.
HA!  I'm so...err...umm...funny! 🤪

[Anduin]

I've finally finished the Expanse series. Only the show to watch. And whatever other spinoff media comes along. Anyway, it's a very good series, though I say that with caveats. Honestly, the tone was always a little too heavy for my liking. That's why I stopped and started at least three times. But the science behind the books, people figuring out how to survive in space, that I loved. I always will.

That said, I'm not sure the last book is entirely there. It just felt too quick and easy of a victory. Yeah, it was also a big loss. But it doesn't feel quite right. Anyone else who's read the books, did you think that?

[Luckylyn]

I’m reading the historical romance An Earl, A Girl, and a Toddler by Vanessa Riley which is book 2 in her Rogues and Remarkable Women series .  After a shipwreck Jemina is left with amnesia and Daniel becomes the guardian of a step daughter his late betrothed never told him about.  Initially placed in an asylum due to her lack of memory Jemina is freed with the help of barrister Daniel.  After 2 years a powerful attraction has grown between them but there’s tension due to Jemina believing Daniel knows more about her past than he has revealed to her and Daniel wanting Jemina to stop seeking information about herself that could inadvertently uncover secrets about his step daughter.  There’s also a subplot of a secret organization called “The Widow’s Grace” where widows help each other when they have been mistreated.  

[Haleth]

35 minutes ago, Anduin said:

I've finally finished the Expanse series. Only the show to watch. And whatever other spinoff media comes along. Anyway, it's a very good series, though I say that with caveats. Honestly, the tone was always a little too heavy for my liking. That's why I stopped and started at least three times. But the science behind the books, people figuring out how to survive in space, that I loved. I always will.

That said, I'm not sure the last book is entirely there. It just felt too quick and easy of a victory. Yeah, it was also a big loss. But it doesn't feel quite right. Anyone else who's read the books, did you think that?

I think I've told you before I enjoyed the series up to (I think?) the 5th book.  I hated Marco so much (and Filip to a lesser extent) that I couldn't go on.  Watch the show though.  It's brilliant.  The cast is perfect.  (And Shohrah Aghdashloo looks fabulous throughout, which became the standard meme on the Expanse forum.)

[Anduin]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

I think I've told you before I enjoyed the series up to (I think?) the 5th book.  I hated Marco so much (and Filip to a lesser extent) that I couldn't go on.  Watch the show though.  It's brilliant.  The cast is perfect.  (And Shohrah Aghdashloo looks fabulous throughout, which became the standard meme on the Expanse forum.)

Yeah, each villain is worse than the last. Though at least Marco had a reason. Murtry was just a petty bully.

I've started watching. Amos really surprises me. I always imagined him as Adam Baldwin, Jayne from Firefly. Instead, the actor is awfully close to a young Vincent D'Onofrio. Nothing wrong with that, just surprised.

[DearEvette]

Sticking with my recent foray into cozy mystery/paranormal hybrid.  My latest is the Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic trilogy  which starts with Slouch Witch. 

It is set in current day Great Britain alterna history where magic exists in the world and there is something called the Holy Order of Magical enlightenment which exists as sort of an academy and ruling body of all things magical.  Ivy, the main character, is a witch who was kicked out of the order for cheating (she didn't) and assault (she did).  She's fine with it, preferring to be a taxi driver and sit on her couch and eat potato chips.  But she is actually quite powerful and innovative -- something the Order never recognized.

She gets mistaken for her neighbor ( another witch) and is accidentally dragooned into helping solve a mystery regarding a missing powerful artifact. 

The series is a hoot.  Ivy just can't be bothered and she's often quite funny in her asides and starts out as a terrible amateur sleuth (she always thinks the last person they talked to did it).  But she also can't help herself because, for once,  her mind is engaged in something so she is actually quite useful.

[dubbel zout]

4 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I’m reading the historical romance An Earl, A Girl, and a Toddler by Vanessa Riley which is book 2 in her Rogues and Remarkable Women series .  After a shipwreck Jemina is left with amnesia and Daniel becomes the guardian of a step daughter his late betrothed never told him about.  Initially placed in an asylum due to her lack of memory Jemina is freed with the help of barrister Daniel.  

This reads almost like a Mad Libs, it's so bananas. It's also almost bananas enough for me to want to read the book!

[Luckylyn]

18 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

This reads almost like a Mad Libs, it's so bananas. It's also almost bananas enough for me to want to read the book!

Okay I’ve read further along and it’s getting more bananas.  It’s getting a bit frustrating.  A simple honest conversation would resolve so much.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I couldn't start this until I finished my re-read of the Malorys.

But started Nora Roberts' Nightwork this morning on the train, and DAMMIT! She had me hooked from the first line. She is so in a perfect position to know how boys think, having been raised with four? five? (I can't remember) brothers and raising two boys herself.

But anyway, so, so good. I think the last time she had me hooked from the first page was Under Currents. Of course with that one, I was on tenterhooks in the prologue, or was it the first two chapters.

I'm loving tween/teen Harry.

But it was a gut punch reading

about Dana (Harry's mother's) cancer and chemo. As I remember what chemo was like. And

ESPECIALLY what it was like to lose my hair-my one vanity. And I FUCKING LOVED how he dumped Nita, the selfish twat.

I'm so gonna not sleep tonight until I finish this one.

[blackwing]

I finished Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li.

From Goodreads:

Quote

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now.

Will Chen plans to steal them back.

A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago.

His crew is every heist archetype one can imag­ine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down.

Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they’ve dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted at­tempt to take back what colonialism has stolen.

Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary cri­tique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity.

I had high hopes for this book.  But I was expecting a heist novel.  I wanted to read the scenes of the heists and how they were carried out.  And there's pretty much no description of the heists themselves.  So since I was expecting some Ocean's Eleven / Mission Impossible type action, I was a bit disappointed in that respect.

Overall however, the book is very good.  It does a very good job exploring each of the five individuals as Chinese-Americans and their dreams and their feelings about their identity.

I read that this book is going to be turned into a series on Netflix.  I'm wondering if there are going to be any heist scenes depicted.

[OtterMommy]

I finished Vermilion Drift, the 10th book in the Cork O'Connor series, by William Kent Krueger yesterday and loved it.  I did feel after the last book that the series would shift and I saw that in this book.  I've only read one of his standalones (Ordinary Grace), but I'll be starting This Tender Land soon and I do think that his style has been quite different between his standalones (based on OG and what I've heard of TTL) and his Cork O'Connor series, but this one felt more like a step in the direction of his standalones, while still keeping up the propulsiveness of his series.

I'm almost done with Yerba Buena by Nina Lacour.  Honestly, I almost DNF'd this one early on.  There is some rough subject matter in the early part of the book and I knew it would be too much for me if I continued with it.  However, I did check the Goodreads reviews of people I trust and they all loved it, so I decided to continue.  The rough stuff is pretty much over in the early part and the rest of the book is a character driven sapphic love story.  I think the characters are great and while the writing is quite good, I'm still having trouble clicking with it.  I'll probably end up finishing it today and will have more thoughts on it once that happens.

I did start The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan today.  This series has come highly recommended from various sources, but I've just started and don't yet have an opinion.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 6/9/2022 at 5:42 PM, OtterMommy said:

I just finished The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner and...oh my!  That is the soapiest book I've ever read!  I think if you can just accept it for what it is and not take it seriously at all, it's entertaining.  However, once you start to take it seriously, you will want to throw it across the room.

Next up for me on digital is Vermillion Drift by William Kent Krueger.  It's the next (can't remember what number) in the Cork O'Connor series, which is always fun to read.

Weiner really went off the deep end with this one.  It was bad enough 

Spoiler

Spoiler

when the father thought he might have fathered both the girl and her fiancé and did nothing to reveal it. But the gay affair between the brother and the fiancé was just too much.

Edited June 19, 2022 by EtheltoTillie

[GHScorpiosRule]

Work prevented me from finishing Nightwork last week.

Finished it last night and this is the first time when Nora has written purely and mostly from the hero’s POV. The first third is all from his experiences and how his life got set on the path of being a thief. I did see some similarities of Genuine Lies and Hidden Riches.

As for Miranda, I never really got a sense of her. It would have been nice to be in her head

after Booth left her because of LaPort

, but we never did.

While I didn’t think the ending was abrupt, I did, REALLY WANTED,

to see LaPort’s reaction when he was arrested and to have Booth tell him, HE (Booth) was responsible. If only to see his head explode.

One of the funniest lines, or rather, phrase used was by the hero as a tween, when setting his moral code not to steal from friends and clients: “Just rude.”
😅😅

It’s the tone. Makes me giggle.

And not spoiler tagging those because you know from the first line what he is.

Next up: Anne Stuart’s latest, coming next week.

[WritinMan]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:28 AM, Anduin said:

That said, I'm not sure the last book is entirely there. It just felt too quick and easy of a victory. Yeah, it was also a big loss. But it doesn't feel quite right. Anyone else who's read the books, did you think that?

No. Partially because I don't really consider it much of a victory. A Pyrrhic victory perhaps. It solved a terrible problem in the universe, resulting in a new set of terrible problems.

I don't think it felt quick or easy. To me that would been some sort of cop-out ending that wasn't earned after so much bad stuff happening in books 7 and 8.

Edited June 21, 2022 by WritinMan

[Luckylyn]

I just finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  I found it very compelling.  I love old movies and I could imagine the fictional Evelyn in that classic era.  I could see bits of Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, etc as inspiration for her story.  Evelyn is ruthlessly pragmatic, but I can respect her doing what was necessary to get ahead in Hollywood while also understanding that she could be hurtful.  There were times people were tools to her and at other times she would use her ruthless streak to benefit people she loved.  I see her as a grey character with a mix of good and bad.  I found the book an interesting mediation on love and its different forms.  I like that platonic love was as valued as romantic love.

I go back and forth in how I feel about Celia 

Spoiler

I found her hypocritical.  She was angry about keeping her and Evelyn’s romance a secret. Yet when they separated, Celia never came out. I completely bought into their love story.  Celia had the good girl persona but could be cruel.   I appreciated she acknowledged eventually that although she judged Evelyn for what she did to hide their relationship Celia was also relieved that Evelyn handled it.  I also liked when she finally acknowledged Evelyn was bisexual and embraced the whole of her identity.  Despite sometimes thinking Evelyn was too easy on Celia in her narration, I rooted for them to work it out.  They both made mistakes and contributed to the strains between them.  The fact is a lot of their issues were from outside forces making staying in the closet necessary at that time.  I don’t blame Celia for being frustrated over having to hide or Evelyn at being determined to protect both of them. 

[DearEvette]

27 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

I go back and forth in how I feel about Celia 

You are a lot more charitable about Celia than I am.  Even though she redeem herself in the end, I thought it was an 11th hour thing, so I ended not being a fan of hers at all.

Spoiler

I thought she was willing to let Evelyn make the hard and pragmatic decisions, but stand safely by the sidelines and condemn her for them. I also found , imo, Evelyn saw Celia through rose-colored lenses.

[blackwing]

I just finished Viola Davis' memoir, Finding Me.  I cannot say enough good things about this book.  She details her life story, from growing up in a home of poverty and abuse in Rhode Island and the path that has taken her on a journey to becoming one of the world's most acclaimed actresses working today.

In her own words from Goodreads:

Quote

In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever.

This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.

As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. We are forced to reinvent them to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.

Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.

The book is honest, heartwarming, heartbreaking, inspirational, philosophical, mesmerising, brutal,  powerful, empowering.  I went into this book already appreciating Ms. Davis' formidable acting talents, and I finished this book being completely amazed at her as a person and her strength of character.  

There is no co-author on the dust jacket... these are her words.  If you are a fan of hers, I strongly encourage you to go and borrow or buy the audiobook version.  She narrates it herself, and wow, it's like I was sitting in a room with her and having a conversation with her.

Viola Davis is a Grammy away from earning EGOT status.  I truly hope that she wins Best Spoken Word Album for this.  She deserves it, her book and her narration are that good.

[babyhouseman]

18 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I just finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  I found it very compelling.  I love old movies and I could imagine the fictional Evelyn in that classic era.  I could see bits of Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, etc as inspiration for her story.  Evelyn is ruthlessly pragmatic, but I can respect her doing what was necessary to get ahead in Hollywood while also understanding that she could be hurtful.  There were times people were tools to her and at other times she would use her ruthless streak to benefit people she loved.  I see her as a grey character with a mix of good and bad.  I found the book an interesting mediation on love and its different forms.  I like that platonic love was as valued as romantic love.

I go back and forth in how I feel about Celia 

  Hide contents

I found her hypocritical.  She was angry about keeping her and Evelyn’s romance a secret. Yet when they separated, Celia never came out. I completely bought into their love story.  Celia had the good girl persona but could be cruel.   I appreciated she acknowledged eventually that although she judged Evelyn for what she did to hide their relationship Celia was also relieved that Evelyn handled it.  I also liked when she finally acknowledged Evelyn was bisexual and embraced the whole of her identity.  Despite sometimes thinking Evelyn was too easy on Celia in her narration, I rooted for them to work it out.  They both made mistakes and contributed to the strains between them.  The fact is a lot of their issues were from outside forces making staying in the closet necessary at that time.  I don’t blame Celia for being frustrated over having to hide or Evelyn at being determined to protect both of them. 

It was an interesting book. I love old Hollywood and the scandals. I gave Celia leeway because of the times they were living in. I enjoyed this author so much I read all of her book. Daisy and the Six was my favorite. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Okay, I lied. Back to rereading Hideaway until Anne’s latest comes out.

[Minneapple]

Just finished Book Lovers by Emily Henry, the hottest of all the hot romcoms and beachiest of all the beach reads. Has it been optioned for movie rights yet? I would be shocked if it hasn’t. Usually I’m just meh on the romcoms but I actually liked this one a lot. It’s very meta, the characters are enjoyable, the dialogue sparkles. I thought I knew where the book was going, turns out I was wrong. 

Next up, I think I’m returning to YA with The Agathas, recommended to me as being similar to One Of Us Is Lying, which I loved.

[MaggieG]

Went to a book signing last night for Riley Sager. Got a signed copy of his new book The House Across the Lake and got to chat with him a bit. I've loved all of his books so I was very excited. Also excited to read this new one.

Finished Darling Girl by Liz Michalski. It's a dark retelling of Peter Pan with Wendy's granddaughter as the main character. It was good but I did think the main character (Holly) made things difficult for herself by keeping too many secrets.

[Crs97]

Just finished In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner.  Beautiful story beautifully told. He can turn a phrase like no other.

[sugarbaker design]

23 hours ago, blackwing said:

Viola Davis is a Grammy away from earning EGOT status.  I truly hope that she wins Best Spoken Word Album for this. 

Fingers crossed!

[OtterMommy]

I finished two unexpectedly related books today.  The second book I finished was Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I loved.  I probably would have loved it more if I hadn't been spoiled (Damn you, David Suchet!).  

The second book was The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan.  My friend has been pushing me to read this for quite some time--it's a Canadian detective novel where one half of the detective pairing is a Muslim (the other is a non-Muslim woman).  This one dealt a lot with the Bosnian genocide, which I know disgracefully little about.   I really enjoyed the mystery but, man, the author did NOT do well with the female characters.  Other than the main character (who is described as stocky, unfeminine, and unattractive) the women are all sexpots that no man can resist.  I think if there had been one character like that, it wouldn't be an issue, but three????

And how are these related?  TUD is very deeply influenced by Agatha Christie.  In fact, I might even go so far as to say that

Spoiler

it is a retelling of one of Christie's most famous novels. 

[Luckylyn]

I just finished a contemporary romance titled The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert.  It’s also known by the title Wanna Bet.  Jasmine and Rahul have been best friends since college when she made it clear she didn’t do dating. Rahul could have had a temporary fling with Jasmine but choose to be her friend instead.  Years later Jasmine’s apartment if flooded and so she temporarily moves in with Rahul stirring up repressed attractions and feelings.  Sometimes Jasmine’s self sabotage could be frustrating but the book provides a foundation for why she’s so terrified to fall in love.  So I sympathized with her and I appreciated the book makes it clear love isn’t enough.  There were issues that needed to be worked through.  I liked both characters and really enjoy Hibbert’s romances.

[DearEvette]

On 6/20/2022 at 5:06 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

Work prevented me from finishing Nightwork last week.

I finished it last night. 

PROS:

I loved the close personal POV of Harry.  How it followed him, his life, his adventures.  I found him very interesting and the twisted relationship that LaPorte created also very interesting.

CONS: 

I agree about Miranda.  I was so involved in Harry and he was so interesting that Miranda tended to disappear even though she was imbued with a very forward and forceful personality when it came to Harrty.  But honestly, I never got a feel for her.  And there was a point in the middle where they reconnect that was probably the draggiest parts for me.

The ending.  Nora whiffed the ending so hard.  Reminded me of how she ended The Rise of Magicks (the third book in the Year One trilogy). 

Spoiler

All the exciting stuff happened off the page.  The entire heist that she spent the last third of the book setting up and all we get is Harry walks into his house after it is done and says "It went off like clockwork."  The entire thing should have been on the page and we should have gotten the satisfaction of "seeing" LaPorte's reaction.  Just like in Rise of Magicks where the big bad we spent two entire books hating on and who was responsible for the murder of a favorite character, was killed off page and all we got is "Oh Fallon took care of everything." dusting of hands.

  Sigh.  And now I am reading Abandoned in Death and I am on the struggle bus with this one too, because this one hits on my #1 pet peeve with this series. Only a little over three years have passed in the in book timeline, but here we are yet again, another serial killer with mommy issues.  I've lost count of how many have peppered this series and it just doesn't ring true that one detective in the course of three years would catch the case of so many serial killers!  But I am gonna stick with it cuz I hear it gets better.

37 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

I just finished a contemporary romance titled The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert.  It’s also known by the title Wanna Bet.

I love Hibbert's stuff too.  I read this one back when it was Wanna Bet.  I think she has pulled her early self pubbed stuff and is either revamping it or sold it to be published by Avon where she has a contract.

What I like about her is that she is not afraid to make her heroines a little prickly.  It seems like romance authors can be a little afraid to give their heroines some flaws because they feel they may become unlikable.  So sometimes they go overboard and make the heroines super noble.  There is a trope in rom-com called Grumpy/Sunshine -- a sort of opposites attract where the author like to play off the super optimistic one of the pair with the pessimistic one.  Most of the time the Grumpy is the hero and the Sunshine is the heroine.  But Hibbert flips that script with a lot of success.

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 6/25/2022 at 8:46 PM, DearEvette said:

I finished it last night. 

PROS:

I loved the close personal POV of Harry.  How it followed him, his life, his adventures.  I found him very interesting and the twisted relationship that LaPorte created also very interesting.

CONS: 

I agree about Miranda.  I was so involved in Harry and he was so interesting that Miranda tended to disappear even though she was imbued with a very forward and forceful personality when it came to Harrty.  But honestly, I never got a feel for her.  And there was a point in the middle where they reconnect that was probably the draggiest parts for me.

The ending.  Nora whiffed the ending so hard.  Reminded me of how she ended The Rise of Magicks (the third book in the Year One trilogy). 

  Hide contents

All the exciting stuff happened off the page.  The entire heist that she spent the last third of the book setting up and all we get is Harry walks into his house after it is done and says "It went off like clockwork."  The entire thing should have been on the page and we should have gotten the satisfaction of "seeing" LaPorte's reaction.  Just like in Rise of Magicks where the big bad we spent two entire books hating on and who was responsible for the murder of a favorite character, was killed off page and all we got is "Oh Fallon took care of everything." dusting of hands.

  Sigh.  And now I am reading Abandoned in Death and I am on the struggle bus with this one too, because this one hits on my #1 pet peeve with this series. Only a little over three years have passed in the in book timeline, but here we are yet again, another serial killer with mommy issues.  I've lost count of how many have peppered this series and it just doesn't ring true that one detective in the course of three years would catch the case of so many serial killers!  But I am gonna stick with it cuz I hear it gets better.

WHIFFED is the PERFECT word for what Nora did. Sometimes she gives me such SATISFYING endings, but then she does this, when the satisfied me, munching on popcorn is left disappointed. She did the same for Hideaway where we just get the dialogue from Red, that he and Michaela are heading over to jail to let Sparks know he failed.

And it’s not as if she’s still writing for Silhouette where she has a set number of pages to tell the story.

Edited June 27, 2022 by GHScorpiosRule

[isalicat]

Just finished a book from 20 years ago called Second Glance by Jodi Picault. I was not previously aware of this author - got handed the book by mistake actually (a group of us pantry volunteers all like mysteries so if we find a good one we pass it on when we are done). This is a sort of mystery and it took me a while to get into it, but once I did...SO GOOD! Its a romance, a brilliant expose of a real life historical travesty from the 1930s (it goes back and forth in a time a bit but in a good way), a ghost story and a who dunnit. Really well written - I recommend highly and will now seek out other novels by this author!

[grommit2]

Wow...finished The Gates of Europe, A history of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy.
This is the revised 2021 edition.
Thorough, detailed, authoritative, and a bit of a challenge to plow through. Maps are essential.
This is a complete, complex history, starting with Early Man (45,000 years ago) and running through each and every group that wanted a piece of Ukraine. This included Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and many, many more.
Highly recommended.
 

[Anduin]

I don't normally have much luck, but today was the day! I went to pick up a book I'd ordered and got the notification for a couple of weeks back. And it turned out the other one I ordered, the one I wanted more, had also arrived! Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art, by Rebecca Wragg Sykes.

Much like you may suspect, it's all about neanderthals. Where they came from, their discovery, their cultures, and so on. So far I've read about 50 pages. This book isn't a thrill a minute, but the subject matter is good. I'm looking forward to reading further when my brain is fresh and I have no distractions.

[dubbel zout]

The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune, which people have been raving about on a number of boards. I'm ambivalent so far. The main character, a 40-year-old man, screams and faints in fear a lot so far, and I'm only a quarter of the way in. At first it was kind of amusing, but now it's getting a bit tedious. But the story is enough to keep me going for at least another quarter, so we'll see.

[BlackberryJam]

I read The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James. I would have liked it better without the supernatural element. I felt that added nothing to the book. I would have liked Beth to have been 

Spoiler

Simply so wracked with guilt and mental health issues that she couldn’t move on, instead of being held to the house by a ghost.

Also, Shea doesn’t get in cars, but there is a backstory about 

Spoiler

Helping her sister move away from an abusive boyfriend by renting a UHaul. I get that a UHaul isn’t a car, but it’s still sitting in the front seat with a driver. 

That felt like a hole to me. 

[babyhouseman]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:48 PM, isalicat said:

Just finished a book from 20 years ago called Second Glance by Jodi Picault. I was not previously aware of this author - got handed the book by mistake actually (a group of us pantry volunteers all like mysteries so if we find a good one we pass it on when we are done). This is a sort of mystery and it took me a while to get into it, but once I did...SO GOOD! Its a romance, a brilliant expose of a real life historical travesty from the 1930s (it goes back and forth in a time a bit but in a good way), a ghost story and a who dunnit. Really well written - I recommend highly and will now seek out other novels by this author!

Jodi Picoult writes interesting books often about controversial subjects.

[Starleigh]

Just picked up a few reserved books from the library today.

The ones I am most eager to read:

Horse by Geraldine Brooks and the newest Riley Sager book, The House Across the Lake

[Haleth]

21 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune, which people have been raving about on a number of boards. I'm ambivalent so far. The main character, a 40-year-old man, screams and faints in fear a lot so far, and I'm only a quarter of the way in. At first it was kind of amusing, but now it's getting a bit tedious. But the story is enough to keep me going for at least another quarter, so we'll see.

Oh, keep going.  The whole book is quirky and irreverent, and the main character is patently weird, but once he starts connecting to the children it becomes a lovely story about accepting the weirdness in yourself and others.  I loved it.

[dubbel zout]

A bout of insomnia last night gave me the time to finish it. I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it. The message is worthwhile, at least.

[MaggieG]

12 hours ago, Starleigh said:

Just picked up a few reserved books from the library today.

The ones I am most eager to read:

Horse by Geraldine Brooks and the newest Riley Sager book, The House Across the Lake

Just finished this one and I really enjoyed it. I thought I guessed the twist halfway through and boy, was I wrong.

[Luckylyn]

I just finished Anyway the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell which is the final book in the Simon Snow trilogy.  What happens when the old chosen one meets someone insisting that they are the actual chosen one?  I really enjoyed the whole series and these imperfect but compelling characters.   It ended in a way that was satisfying but still left room for more of a story if Rowell wanted to continue.  I would love a spin off of Penelope and Shepherd and their magical adventures in America.  

[dubbel zout]

A little late to the party, since I buy only paperback books: I'm reading The 7-1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and am really enjoying it. Up next is something that's definitely heavier, The Parisian. Or maybe I'll keep things on the lighter side and go for Malibu Rising, which I should get from the evil empire today. We'll see how I feel.

[DearEvette]

I am halfway through Big, Wild Love Adventure by Julianna Keyes which is a rom-com about a baker who was dumped by her fiance at the altar and who goes on a tv reality dating show that seems like it is modeled on Bachelor in Paradise or Love Island?

It is really funny.  The book of course gives us the 'on the air' reality tv show stuff which I would totally watch, but also the the behind the scenes stuff with all the contestants interacting and how the show gets made.  There is one great scene where after the first 'couple elimination' ceremony, there is something where people on the chopping block get to 'shoot their shot' with a different contestant in order to stay on the island or rather jungle (they are in a jungle paradise).  It consists of shooting a foam cupid's arrow and hitting the person you want to try to pair up with.  The one guy can't get his arrow to hit the woman he wants and they have to do take after take after take.  At one point, the producer mutters 'Oh for fuck's sake!'  LOL.

What I am really liking so far is that unlike reality shows, there are not people in slots -- the book treats them like real people who came on the show for reasons.  Some are shallow, some try to put on a facade for the show, but it cracks because it is an act, but nobody is outright mean or manipulative.

[Luckylyn]

I just finished contemporary romance The Bride Test by Helen Hoang which is a sequel to her book The Kiss Quotient.  This book focuses on Michael from book 1’s cousin Khai.  Because he is autistic Khai has struggled with expressing emotions and has decided he can’t have a romantic relationship.  Khai’s mother can’t resist playing matchmaker and finds a woman from their home country Vietnam hoping for a wedding.  Esme wants a better life for herself and her family.  Plus she wants to learn more about her heritage by finding her American father she never knew.  Esme and Khai clash despite Esme’s determination to win him over.  Esme really struggles with her self worth and I love how the book makes her journey about her growth and not just falling in love with Khai.  And I really felt for Khai who can unintentionally be hurtful because he’s genuinely confused by his own and other people’s feelings.  I like a romance where it’s not just love at first sight but the couple fall for each other as the story progresses. 

[GaT]

Just finished the 3rd Riley Thorn book by Lucy Score, & I enjoyed them all very much, so thanks for whoever recommended them here. They're cozy mysteries/PI/paranormal type books with a lot of humor, enough that I actually laughed out loud a lot. They're also fairly good size books which I like. At the end, the author says she was originally planning for the books to be a trilogy, but she has lots of stories she still wants to write, so I hope she really does write some more.

[festivus]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:07 AM, DearEvette said:

Sticking with my recent foray into cozy mystery/paranormal hybrid.  My latest is the Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic trilogy  which starts with Slouch Witch. 

It is set in current day Great Britain alterna history where magic exists in the world and there is something called the Holy Order of Magical enlightenment which exists as sort of an academy and ruling body of all things magical.  Ivy, the main character, is a witch who was kicked out of the order for cheating (she didn't) and assault (she did).  She's fine with it, preferring to be a taxi driver and sit on her couch and eat potato chips.  But she is actually quite powerful and innovative -- something the Order never recognized.

She gets mistaken for her neighbor ( another witch) and is accidentally dragooned into helping solve a mystery regarding a missing powerful artifact. 

The series is a hoot.  Ivy just can't be bothered and she's often quite funny in her asides and starts out as a terrible amateur sleuth (she always thinks the last person they talked to did it).  But she also can't help herself because, for once,  her mind is engaged in something so she is actually quite useful.

I had to go back and find this post because I ordered the 1st book on Kindle because this sounds right up my alley. Ivy is most definitely a hoot, I enjoyed it very much and just ordered the second and third. Just waiting for it to charge back up.

Brutus: Food. Food, bitch.

LOL.

[dubbel zout]

I finished Emily Henry's Book Lovers, a romance that was supposedly about the woman in romance movies that is left behind. You know, the big-city career woman who is so wrong for the hero you wonder how and why they got together in the first place. I don't think that quite worked here—she's the star of the book, after all, so we know she'll get a happy ending. That aside, it was a fun, quick read.

[DearEvette]

On 7/3/2022 at 4:06 PM, GaT said:

Just finished the 3rd Riley Thorn book by Lucy Score, & I enjoyed them all very much, so thanks for whoever recommended them here.

I think that was me.  So yay! I was able to hip both you and @festivus on a couple good series.

Right now I decided to pluck an old skool 80s contemp out of my pile as a re-read (I like to revisit old romances to see if they stand up(.  Some do well.  Some are just.... no.  So terrible.

This one I am reading, The Passions of Chelsea Kane by Barbara Delinsky, is about a woman who, after the death of her adoptive mother, is at a bit of a crossroads in her life decides to track down her birth mother.  She was adopted under shady circumstances (her adopted parents were very loving and very wealthy but very stiff upper lip New England WASP).  She follows some clues and ends up in a small town in New Hampshire with a lot of secrets and someone doesn't want her there asking questions etc.  etc.  It is kinda rom-suspense lite.  Filled with colorful characters and Chelsea is an agent of chaos and change in town.  So far it is holding well and I am very entertained.