Thoughts On THE WICKED DEEP

July 24, 2018July 21, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! It’s the last Wednesday of the month already. Time flies when you’re having fun (or just going about daily life), I suppose. Anyway, you all know what happens today: a book review! This week, I’ll be talking about The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw. It was published back in March of this year by Simon and Schuster. I read it with the reading group I’m in and decided that I have too many thoughts about it to not write a post. I usually try to keep my posts as close to spoiler free as possible (sometimes a couple will slip through), but that’s going to be impossible here. Spoilers this way lie. You’ve been warned.

The Wicked Deep is the story of a small town called Sparrow and the curse that has plagued it every summer for two centuries. Why is there a curse? Because the town sentenced three sisters to death by drowning for acts of witchcraft, of course. What is the curse? The three sisters possess the bodies of three girls from the town and lure boys to their death in the harbor. Poor Penny, a seventeen-year-old who lives on an island with her not-quite-all-there mother, has accepted that it’s the town’s fate to suffer the wrath of the witches every year. That is until Bo, an unwitting outsider, shows up and she decides it’s her mission to protect him. Things go all kinds of wrong from there.

I have to admit that I was totally in love with this book as I was reading it. The setting was wonderful and the writing pulled me along. Even after I finished it, I was prepared to give it five stars. Then, I took a breath and started thinking about it. Really thinking about it. That was when things got super dark, and not in a good way.

*spoilers ahead*

I ended up feeling sooooo bad for Penny. First, she’s possessed by Hazel (violation much?), but then there’s the whole Bo thing. I mean, there’s sex. That means Penny is basically ghost roofied and forced into sex without any say. To be fair, Bo doesn’t know about Penny being Hazel at first. But after everything is over, he keeps dating Penny like everything is normal and he was in love with her all along. At the same time, he keeps pining over Hazel. So, he’s not in love with Penny, which means she’s stuck in a relationship with some guy who’s not really into her. It all just got very rapey the more I thought about it. By itself that’s fine (not every story has to be a happy one), but there will be people who think this is a great love story and that’s what really makes me sad.

3cd8a33a — Me after really thinking about things.

Aside from that, I also expected more from Penny’s mom. She supposedly has some kind of psychic powers and knows when people are on her island and all that, but she doesn’t kick Hazel’s ghostly ass? She doesn’t really do much at all. It’s apparent during her conversation with Hazel that she knows things, but she doesn’t act. It was just a little disappointing.

Ultimately, I had a love/hate relationship with The Wicked Deep. I’ll still keep a look out for other books by Shea Ernshaw, though. It was good enough that I was swept along, which makes it worth looking into other stories by her.

Overall, my issues with it dropped my rating down to a 3 out of 5. I definitely suggest picking it up if you’re into stuff like that, but really think about the story. Maybe I’m making too much out of something small. Maybe you’ll find it creepy too. Who knows?

Thoughts On DEATH AND A POT OF CHOWDER

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! It’s the last Wednesday in June, so it’s time for another book review. Around this time of year, I have a tendency to miss Maine. I decided to request book one in a new cozy series called Maine Murder Mysteries. It’s called Death and a Pot of Chowder by Cornelia Kidd and it came out earlier this month from Crooked Lane Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. With that out of the way, let’s get on with it!

617YpVuTEbL — Adorable cover, but I can’t really remember a picnic.

Death and a Pot of Chowder is set on Quarry Island, a tight-knit community focused on family and lobstering. It focuses on Anna Winslow and her family. First, she receives a letter from a sister she didn’t know she had who wants to meet. If that wasn’t enough excitement, she brings Izzie (the sister) home with her only to discover that Anna’s brother-in-law, Carl, was murdered. Anna is a little resistant to getting mixed up in a murder investigation until charges are brought against her husband. Then, the fun really begins.

I knew nothing about this book going in, aside from the fact that it was set in Maine, so I had no expectations of it. That was a good thing, because I probably would have been sorely disappointed in it if I was expecting something. It was slow moving and just kind of drifted along like it wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere. Which isn’t a bad thing. It gave us plenty of time to get to know the characters and become invested in their lives, though I’m definitely more interested in Izzie than Anna. I didn’t really empathize with Anna the way I was supposed. It was mostly because she focused on wanting to know the “dad” who abandoned her rather than being content with the “step-father” who raised her. I just don’t understand people who are so obsessed with a sperm donor (there’s more to it, but that’s basically what he was). Especially when a loving father figure is in the picture. But anyway, I really liked everyone else.

As far as the plot goes, it was one of those where I figured out what was going on pretty early. The fact that Anna didn’t figure it out earlier was written off as her being too close to everyone involved, but what was Izzie’s excuse? Was she just too focused on her own stuff to see the signs? Maybe. Or maybe I just automatically assume the worst about people. But just because I knew what was going on, didn’t mean that I was sure about the murderer. I wavered back and forth between two people until close to the end, so that was nice. It’s a pretty standard plot, though.

71935-Chuck-Palahniuk-Quote-Maybe-we-should-always-assume-the-worst — Maybe.

The writing was okay. Like I said, it was slow and drifting. It was also one of those stories that had to repeat all the clues at least three times, which was annoying. But the parts about Maine and island life were lovely, so I didn’t mind the rest so much.

Ultimately, Death and a Pot of Chowder was just okay. If a second one comes out, I’ll probably pick it up because I liked the characters and want to give them a second chance.

Overall, I’d give it a three out of five stars. If you’re into cozies and Maine, give it a shot. Otherwise, it’s not going to hurt if you skip over this one.

Thoughts On THE ODDLING PRINCE

May 29, 2018May 25, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! It’s the last Wednesday in May, which means it’s time for another book review. This time, I decided to get into a fantasy novel to mix things up a bit. Cozies and thrillers are great, but sometimes you just need a break. So, I requested a copy of The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer from NetGalley. It came out earlier this month from Tachyon Publications. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. With that out of the way, let’s get on with it!

OddlingPrince-662x1024 — It has such a pretty cover!

The Oddling Prince opens with Aric’s father, the king of Calidon, on his deathbed. A ring of unknown origins is sucking the life from him, and no one can figure out how to remove it short of cutting off the appendage, which no one dares to do. At least not until a stranger arrives on a horse that disappears when he dismounts. The stranger saves the king without mutilating him and reveals a secret that only Aric immediately accepts as true. This leads to adventure and arguments and secrets and a level of brotherly love that verges on the incestuous at times.

I fully admit that this book caused my inner yaoi fangirl to come out. If you don’t know what yaoi is, the best way I’ve heard it described is that it’s beautiful boys kissing beautiful boys. Granted, it tends to go much farther than that, but I won’t go there because the book doesn’t. So, if you’re reading it and get some strange vibes that make you want to put it down, don’t worry. It’s really just creepy levels of brotherly love. For the yaoi fanpeople, you will be slightly disappointed. But hey! At least Aric and Albaric came together in the end. *winkwinknudgenudge* Just in a completely different, but equally satisfying way.

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But seriously, I found this story quite enjoyable. The characters were relatable despite being royalty. The plot was fun and had a lot of twists. My only complaint with this one is that the pacing is awkward. It feels like everything happens over the course of a few days, maybe weeks, but there are lines that suggest months have passed by. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able make a timeline for it even after finishing it, because I’m still not entirely sure whether days or weeks or months passed. That issue screws with a couple of other things, such as the relationship arc between Aric and Marissa. There wasn’t a sense of love at first sight, so when it seemed like they randomly fell in love after a couple of days, it felt like an afterthought. But if months passed, it makes a bit more sense.

vkgV9 — There were definitely no heart eyes when they first met!

As far as the writing goes, be prepared for older language and a rhythm reminiscent of fairy tales. It’s a little jarring at first, but it’s interesting. I learned things like a believable difference between calling a king “Sire,” “Liege,” and other things. Whether the information is entirely correct, I don’t know. I haven’t researched it yet. But it made sense in the story. And the author made the information feel like a natural part of the story instead of an infodump. It was really interesting

Ultimately, The Oddling Prince was a fun read. It seems like it’s going to be a standalone, but on the off chance there are more, I’ll pick them up. I also plan on looking for other books by Springer.

Overall, I’d give it four out of five stars. It’s a quick and amusing read. If you’re into fantasy or fairy tales or just looking for something light to read between things, I’d definitely suggest giving it a shot.

Thoughts On SHATTERED MIRROR

April 24, 2018April 24, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! It’s that time again. Time for another book review! I got another Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from NetGalley, so I must thank them and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This month, I requested access to Shattered Mirror (An Eve Duncan novel) by Iris Johansen, which was released on the 24th (yesterday). It’s a thriller/mystery; genres I seem to be drawn to lately. What I didn’t realize when I requested the book was that it’s the 23rd in a series. That means I’m coming into a bunch of established characters and relationships that I know nothing about, which is always a little difficult no matter how well the author explains existing situations. With that in mind, I’ll get into the review now.

51dabfjk4uL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_ — Interesting cover.

Shattered Mirror opens on a lake cottage where Eve Duncan (one of the top forensic sculptors in the world), her husband Joe Quinn (ex-SEAL, current cop, and who knows what else), and their six-year-old son Michael (basically a wise old man in a kid’s body with a touch of ESP or something) live. The scene is serene until a gold box containing a burnt skull and a two-sided mirror shows up in the passenger’s seat of their jeep. As Eve starts the reconstruction, she and her family are drawn into a psychopath’s trap. Throw in some family members that were sort of adopted along the way (Cara, an eighteen-year-old violin prodigy with a tragic past, and Jock, a retired assassin) and a Russian mafia leader (Cara’s grandfather, Kaskov), and things get volatile pretty quickly.

First, let’s talk about the plot. It’s a pretty standard revenge plot, and a portion of the story is from the psychopath’s (Norwalk’s) perspective, which I liked. The story actually starts in his POV, which threw me a bit because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to know him from previous books or not. When I figured out what was going on, that it was going to be told from multiple points of view, I settled into the rhythm quite nicely. In the end, I would describe it as Criminal Minds and Bones meets *insert any ‘over-the-top action film with lots of explosions and a hero who fails to take the kill shot just to extend the action’ of your choice*. In other words, it’s fun as long as you don’t take it too seriously.

106ijj — We’ve all seen this scene in action flicks, the kitty just does it better.

Then, there were the characters. I actually found myself focused on Cara and Jock more than on Eve and her immediate family. You have this young girl who was saved as a child by this super attractive ex-assassin with a Scottish accent and they’ve been best friends ever since. Well, now she’s older and totally in love with him. Except he’s kind of a manipulative dick. I mean, the guy ignored her for three months then showed up and expected her to drop everything and talk to him because he was ready to talk. And she did. The mysterious bad boy routine would probably have intrigued me when I was younger, but now I just keep hoping she runs away from that crap (spoiler: she doesn’t). And, if I’m being honest, all the men in this book were jerks to some extent. On the flip side, the women felt a little flat until the last third of the book when they seemed to finally come alive. Maybe if I had read the series from the beginning, I would feel different, but coming in at this point left a lot to be desired on the character front.

a214e5ffdc1198b3ca3e0b4323a67000 — Except Cara is too sweet to be sarcastic with Jock.

As far as the writing goes, I enjoyed it. Johansen introduces the characters and gives new readers all of the pertinent information without it feeling heavy handed or like an infodump. She’s wonderful at manipulating the pace through sentence structure (something I need to study and work on). I found myself reading this book like a writer and noticing useful techniques that I can try out later. I also really liked how she wove a supernatural thread through the story by giving Michael and Eve a kind of spiritual connection. It didn’t feel awkward or forced like those things sometimes do.

Ultimately, it’s not my favorite series and, since I didn’t connect to the characters, I don’t really have any desire to hunt down book one to start there. But it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Overall, I would give it three stars. It’s kind of corny and over-the-top, which was fun, but the characters just didn’t draw me in. If you like thrillers and mysteries, give it a shot. If not, you’re not missing anything spectacular.

Thoughts On DEATH BY DUMPLING

March 27, 2018March 26, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ 1 Comment

Howdy, howdy! Welcome to another last Wednesday of the month book review. This month, I decided to go with another quick and fun cozy mystery. It’s called Death by Dumpling, by Vivien Chien, and was released on March 27th. Yes, I got another Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from NetGalley, so I must thank them and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Speaking of, let’s get to it!

9781250129154 — With a cover like that, who could resist picking this up?

Death by Dumpling follows Lana Lee as she starts working at her parents’ noodle house, something she never wanted to do. She’s running away from a bad break up and the fact that she caused a scene while quitting her old job (this seems to be a common theme in many cozies). All the attention of the mall where their restaurant is located seems to be on her. At least until the property manager, Mr. Feng, winds up dead after eating shrimp dumplings from her parents’ restaurant. Throw in a couple of potential suitors, a bestie who will indulge Lana’s PI fantasies, and a lot of mystery, and this book is the perfect recipe for a cozy.

As usual, I went into this story not really knowing what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised. The characters are relateable. Lana is sassy, outgoing, and definitely not the biggest snoop in this book. She didn’t find the body, which was a nice change of pace from other cozies I’ve read. She also had a decent reason to go snooping around. It wasn’t that she was nosy that made her try to figure things out, though she certainly is, she was trying to clear the name of the restaurant’s head chef/her friend. I found it to be a nice variation of the norm from other cozies I’m familiar with.

its-not-being-nosy-its-called-investigating-and-gathering-information-just-wanted-to-clear-that-up-for-you-5f2cf — Yeah. And it’s not stalking, it’s social media analysis.

About the only complaint I had with this book was that I caught on to Mr. Feng’s big secret a little earlier than I think I was supposed to. It wouldn’t have bothered me, except when Lana finds concrete proof, she still tries to make stupid excuses for the people involved. I honestly think her mind would’ve gone exactly where it was supposed to go, instead of arguing with her bestie about it and trying to come up with an innocent excuse. I get that the woman involved is like an aunt to Lana, but all the signs were there. Why would she ignore them? That part dragged a little bit for me.

Otherwise, it was pretty easy to like this one. The writing was succinct, but still conveyed a lot of personality. Aside from dragging a little after I figured things out, the pacing swept me along. I’m a super slow reader, but it only took me a week to finish this one.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed Death by Dumpling. I’m definitely happy to see that book two, Dim Sum of All Fears, is due out in August. It’s going on my reading list!

Overall, I’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re looking for something quick and fun and you enjoy a saucy feel good mystery, it’s worth a look.

Thoughts On THE IMMORTALISTS

February 28, 2018February 24, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! We’ve reached the final Wednesday in February, so you know what that means. It’s book review time! Instead of grabbing an advanced reader copy of something, I decided to scroll through Amazon’s suggestions for me and pick a recent release. This time, I went with The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. It was released on January 9th by G. P. Putnam’s Sons and has received fairly high praise from what I’ve seen. I try not to look at reviews until I’ve formed my initial opinions, so I picked it up solely based on the cover and the blurb. Let’s get on with the review.

51MXjA0MaRL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_ — I really like the tree, but there’s no tree in the story unless you look at it as a family tree or the tree of life or whatever.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin follows the Gold siblings on their journeys through life. What’s so special about them? Well, it all starts when they go to a seer who takes them into her apartment one by one and tells them the date of their deaths. After that, the book is divided into four sections (one for each sibling) that reveals how they choose to live in spite of or because of having this information.

We start off with Simon, the youngest, who drops out of high school and moves to San Francisco in the late ’70s with his sister Klara, the only family member who knows he’s gay. He leaves behind a life where he’s expected to take over the family business and take care of his mother after his father’s death, a life he knows will make him miserable. He chooses to live the life he wants. And despite the way he dies, he’s happy at the end.

From there, things get progressively more depressing. Klara has always been the oddball of the family, wanting to be a magician and living in a world in her head where anything is possible, even overcoming death by dying. Daniel let’s his rage fester until it drives him to hunt down the seer as someone to blame for all of the death he’s had to deal with. And Varya spends so much time trying not to die that she forgets to live.

giphy (2) — A good summary of my thoughts as I read this book.

All in all, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. My only complaints with the book come from more of a writerly point of view than a readerly one. For instance, there was a ton of telling in this book. Instead of showing me the places that were important to the characters, it was as if the author wanted to cram in as many place names as possible. As someone who isn’t from New York or California, many of the places were unfamiliar to me and felt like filler. Instead of telling me every single club Simon went to or Klara performed at, it would’ve been nice to get a more in-depth view of those two characters. Their arcs felt really rushed whereas Daniel’s and Varya’s felt dragged out.

Another thing I noticed was that the story seemed to randomly change between present and past tense. It didn’t detract from the story, but it was something I noticed. I’d go back to try to figure out why the shifts occurred and, a lot of the time, I’d find no real reason for it. Couple that with random changes in character points of view (Mom taking over a scene in Klara’s section, the niece taking over part of Varya’s section, etc.), and it made for some awkward reading moments.

AstonishingTestyIvorybackedwoodswallow-max-1mb — Me trying to figure out the tense and POV.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the book and am happy I bought it. It’s a quick read. It only took me about six days to finish it (I’m a super slow reader). Despite my issues with it, I thought it was a nice reading experience.

Overall, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re into slice of life stories or literary fiction with a hint of magical realism, I’d definitely recommend picking it up.

Thoughts On THE WIFE BETWEEN US

January 31, 2018January 27, 2018 ~ shawnaborman ~ 2 Comments

Howdy, howdy! It’s the last Wednesday in January, which means it’s time for another book review. This time, I decided to go for something I wouldn’t usually pick up. It’s called The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and was released on January 9th. It received a lot of hype and a friend recommended it to me as she had also been able to pick up an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC). Yes, I got another ARC from NetGalley, so I must thank them and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to the reason you’re here now!

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The Wife Between Us is a domestic suspense novel that follows a woman, Vanessa, as she stalks her ex-husband’s (Richard’s) new fiancé and tries to prevent their marriage. Sounds simple enough, right? It’s not. The blurb on the book tells us all the things we’re supposed to assume as we’re reading, then tells us to assume nothing. That was a huge red flag for me, basically saying “hey this book is going to be convoluted and annoying!” But I chose to read it anyway.

I admit that by the end of Part One, I was really disappointed. I had figured out the big reveal within the first few chapters and kept telling myself I couldn’t have guessed it that easily. The book promised twists and turns and unimaginable things. So, when I turned out to be on the right track, the book became less fun, because the “aha” moments became “yeah, and?” moments. Part Two was a little better with the twists, but it was still pretty easy to decipher what was going to happen. Though, I admit that the last big reveal was something I didn’t see coming. But at that point, I had stopped caring about the characters I was supposed to care about. I mostly wanted to know what was going on with Richard and his sister (the one connection the authors didn’t over-explain). That was the creepiest relationship in the whole book.

saw-that-coming-i-did — Pretty sure that was the face I was making the whole time.

Even though I mostly figured things out ahead of time, I admit that it was a fun, quick read. The writing style was able to draw me in and the conversational tone allowed me to stop and let the narrator know she was being an idiot (yes, I talk to other people’s characters too) without interrupting my reading flow. So, I’m not say it was bad, just predictable.

The major thing that I didn’t care for about the book was that it felt like two different stories mashed together. It was as if one author wanted to write about a woman escaping an abusive relationship while trying to prevent her ex from abusing anyone else (a good premise), and the other author wanted to write about a woman whose mistakes in college haunted her the rest of her life (another good premise). But, instead of trimming things away to make a nice, cohesive story, they just stuck everything together and hoped it worked. Most of the time, it was okay, but there were parts that I kept looking at and asking myself what the point was.

are-you-serious-gif-8 — Not an uncommon reaction while reading this.

Ultimately, The Wife Between Us was an okay book. I’m not upset I read it or anything, but I’m not going to rush out and look for everything else by these two authors. It simply wasn’t my cup of tea for the reasons listed here.

Overall, I’d rate it a 3 out of 5. If you’re into books like that, you will probably love it. If you’re not, skipping it isn’t going to hurt your reading list.

Thoughts on A MURDER FOR THE BOOKS

December 27, 2017December 26, 2017 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! We’ve reached the last Wednesday in December (the last one of 2017). Can you believe that? And that means it’s time for my monthly book review. For December, I chose a cozy mystery (think along the lines of Murder She Wrote, only this heroine is a young librarian). I was looking for something light and fun this time, and A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert, which was published on Dec. 22nd, popped up in my recommendations list on NetGalley. Yes, it’s another advanced reader copy (ARC), so I must thank the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for giving me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Now, let’s get on with the actual review.

51dt-gfX8YL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_ — An interesting cover, but the more I look at it, the less it fits the book.

A Murder for the Books is the first in a new cozy series collectively known a the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries. It follows Amy Webber, who has moved in with her elderly aunt Lydia under the guise of taking care of Lydia (who doesn’t really need much in the way of help), but is actually fleeing her old life after making a public scene when she found out her long-term boyfriend had been cheating on her. She’s gone from being a librarian at a major university to being one at a small town public library. Plus, she’s self-conscious about her weight and wary of anyone who shows a romantic interest in her. Cue the entrance of Richard Muir who is a dance instructor at her old university and is new to her little town. He asks for some help researching an old murder and that’s when they stumble upon a fresh murder and things just get weirder from there.

After the last three ARCs I got turned out to be less than satisfying, I had very low hopes for this book. But I went into it with an open mind and, to my surprise, I liked it quite a bit. The characters were relatable (if somewhat over the top occasionally). And the plot was fun. It was a little predictable at points, but the main antagonist turned out to be a bit of a surprise. I figured they were somehow involved, but I didn’t think they’d actually do their own dirty work. So, it was fun.

97729b971da436e63aa7fffa96aafb99bf6c1a07e41c0735eb372697f71484ba — And they did it.

That being said, I did have one major issue with the plot. Every time Amy painted herself into a seemingly inescapable corner, instead of finding a logical way out, the author employed a deus ex machina (plot device where something is magically cleared up by the intervention of something random). A book that’s been lost for years shows up even though they had done a complete inventory of the library earlier that year and no one had found it, another book randomly falls off a shelf at her house… twice, a shadow in the woods spooks the killer into running away, a gust of wind on an otherwise calm day knocks the killer off balance, etc. These things are explained away as the possible actions of a ghost, which would be fine if this were a paranormal series (I love ghost stories!). But it’s not. The whole prospect of ghosts doesn’t even come up until more than halfway through the book, so it feels like a lazy escape method from having to find logical alternatives.

Beyond that, the writing was good. There was a little too much focus on description. I didn’t really need to know what every house and garden Amy went in looked like in full detail. That made it drag a little bit in places. And there was a lot of hair twirling and similar actions that could’ve been left up to the reader’s imagination. But none of that detracted from the fun of the story itself, so I’ll let it slide.

Ultimately, I was satisfied with A Murder for the Books. It was interesting and fun enough that I’ll probably pick up the second book when it’s available. Hopefully, there won’t be as much deus ex machina in the second one.

Overall, I’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re looking for something nice to snuggle up by the fire with, this one would be a good choice.

Thoughts on THE CURIOUS AFFAIR OF THE WITCH AT WAYSIDE CROSS

November 29, 2017November 26, 2017 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! It’s the last Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for another book review! For November, I read The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle. It was published on November 28th. As with my last two reviews, I must thank NetGalley and the publisher, Hydra, for giving me access to an ARC (advanced reader copy) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. So, let’s get on with said review!

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross is the second in Tuttle’s series about detectives Jasper Jesperson and Aphrodite (Di) Lane. I admit that when I realized this was book two, I bought and read the first. And I had a lot of the same complaints about both books. The premise is a fun one, basically being a supernatural version of Sherlock Holmes. The Witch at Wayside Cross sends our detectives out of London to Aylmerton in search of the story behind Charles Manning, who dropped dead in their front hall after showing up at two in the morning, delirious and babbling about being hunted by witches. Sounds exciting, right? Not so much.

I wanted to like the book with its promise of intrigue and witches, but it fell flat with me. There were at least five suspicious deaths throughout the book and one missing baby. It was a lot to keep track of, but we weren’t allowed to forget a single detail. Not because every aspect of each crime was astounding or even memorable, but because everything was explained to us at least three times. That’s still better than the first book, which explained every detail of the climax five different times. It was as if Tuttle didn’t trust the reader to understand what was going on the first time around. I found it a bit off putting in both books.

giphy — Me every time I read a recap of something I just read in this book.

Aside from that, I found myself more interested in the supporting characters than the detectives themselves. They seemed more well-rounded than both Jesperson and Lane. This can be risky. It’s what made me want to keep reading this book, but since none of them seem like they’re going to become recurring characters, it doesn’t give me any incentive to pick up the next book should there be one.

I also found Miss Lane to be kind of dense, which was where a lot of the multiple explanations stemmed from. For a detective, she has a really hard time putting two and two together. Considering we’re in her perspective throughout the book, it gets a little tiresome. It’s like she’s being willfully stupid at times just so Jesperson will have a reason to speak. For the time period, that kind of behavior is understandable, but she should at least make the obvious connections in her head. At one point, she basically gives up trying to think and just follows her partner around because all will be explained. For a story that seems to be trying to say women can do whatever men can do, Miss Lane fails miserably at matching Jesperson’s wit and intelligence.

Beyond all of that, I found the writing to be kind of rambling and there was a lot of focus on unimportant things. I didn’t particularly care what they were eating as they were discussing the case. I felt the kidnapped baby arc was thrown in to add an actual paranormal element, but wasn’t exactly important to the main story. A lot of the story made me feel this way. I understood why it was there, but it felt like it was there in order to turn a good novella into a mediocre novel. That’s not the kind of writing I can enjoy.

Ultimately, I kind of wish I hadn’t wasted my time on The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross. I feel bad for not liking it better, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. And I won’t be going out of my way to get a sequel should one come out.

Unfortunately, I’d only rate this one a 1 out of 5 stars. It sounds really cool, but it was poorly executed. If you want a good story about witches and mystery, this is not the book you’re looking for.

Thoughts On COURT OF TWILIGHT

October 25, 2017August 31, 2017 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! It’s that time again, the last Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for a book review. This month, I’ll be talking about Mareth Griffith’s Court of Twilight, which came out on October 17, 2017. First and foremost, I have to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Parvus Press, for sending me an ARC (advanced reader copy) in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the actual review.

I really wanted to like Court of Twilight by Mareth Griffith. The basic premise is that fairies (or trows, as they’re called here) exist and once a year, the King who is chosen by lottery every April is killed by the Enemy the following March. Ivy Gallagher, a seemingly normal human being, is dragged into this drama simply because she answered an ad that seemed too good to be true on Craigslist for a flatmate. Sounds fun, right? And it is to a point, but I had far too many issues with the story, so it was often hard to enjoy.

For example, Ivy was portrayed as your average twenty year old, but a lot of the time, she had about as much brain power as a box of rocks. Especially when the secret of the trows was being revealed to her. Even though the guy kept telling her that humans had a tendency to ignore the unusual, she couldn’t pick up on the blatantly obvious weirdness going on around her. It was as if she was being willfully ignorant. And she couldn’t remember names that she had heard in the last day or so, even though they were odd and important. And when she finally remembered, it was like the biggest revelation ever. Aha! moments are great, but not everything needs to be one. Worst of all, she didn’t recognize her own mother whom she had lived with until she was twelve. I understand they hadn’t seen each other in seven years, but she had pictures hanging on the fridge and everything. How could she forget her mother? Ivy was just too stupid for me a lot of the time.

MjAxNC1lNTM1NTc2NGYyN2Y3MzQy_53028754e707b — Rocks might even be smarter.

I wanted to blame all of her stupidity on the veil (the mechanism that keeps trows invisible to humans), but nothing in the book supported that hypothesis. It made things invisible to the naked eye, but the book didn’t say anything about it messing with people’s memories. Unfortunately, there’s a limit to how much I can buy into characters being idiots without a reasonable explanation.

Another thing that got to me was that throughout most of the book, Ivy had no love interest (which I was totally down for because not every book needs a romantic subplot), but at the end she suddenly has feelings for a trow she had spent the majority of the book wary of and occasionally downright hating. Like, when did the whole love thing happen? And why? At least take the effort to thread it throughout the book.

Aside from that, the writing is fairly ramble-y and there’s too much filler. I don’t really care about Ivy standing by the sink eating a pot of noodles unless I’m learning things while she’s doing it. But at the same time, I’d rather see her eat noodles than have the same thought discussed in her head for an entire page or more. I found myself constantly thinking “I understand that’s how she feels, now what’s she going to do about it?” for the first two thirds of the book. I’m impatient, I know. And when things finally started getting good and I wanted it to slow down, a couple of pages later, it was over.

Ultimately, it was left wide open with more unanswered questions than I’m usually comfortable with, so I’m kind of hoping for a sequel. Even with all my issues, the premise was interesting enough that I would give a second book a shot.

I’d rate it 2 out of 5 stars as it is. It had a lot of promise, and if a little more work had gone into it (on top of what I’m sure was already a ton of work), I think it could have been great.

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