Book Reviews

Thoughts on A DEADLY WALK IN DEVON

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’m sure it’s lovely somewhere or to someone, anyway. It’s only Tuesday as I’m writing this, but the forecast says thunderstorms, so it may or may not be lovely here. And I’ve used the word lovely too much, so now it sounds awkward. Let’s get to what this post is about… a book review! That’s right. It’s the last Wednesday of the month. This time, I decided to nestle back into my comfort zone with a cozy mystery. A Deadly Walk in Devon by Nicholas George was released on the 26th from Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. So, let’s do the thing!

A Deadly Walk in Devon follows Rick “Chase” Chasen, a retired San Diego detective who is grieving the death of his significant other. He’s struggling with life in general, so he decides to go on a walking tour of Devon where he meets up with Billie, a woman he knows from previous trips, and a handful of other guests who booked the same trip. On particularly annoying guest confides in Chase that he’s been receiving death threats and enlists Chase’s help in staying safe. Chase is hesitant, but also tempted by the puzzle of it all. When the man falls to his death, Chase feels the need to figure out what really happened.

The plot. An old, rich jerk falls to his death in a strange place surrounded by strangers. Or are they strangers? Cue the suspenseful “dun dun dun.” Of course, everyone except Chase suspects the trophy wife. Even the British inspector. Throw in a second, seemingly unconnected, death to stir things up. There are plenty of red herrings and a disturbing number of “jokes” that are technically attempted murder. A bestie who encourages all of the shenanigans is included as well. And there’s a potential love interest. Also, if you’re at all familiar with cozies, it isn’t difficult to figure out whodunit. It’s standard cozy mystery fare, which is what I was hoping for.

My only complaint is that a lot of the characters were pretty flat. Chase and Billie were great. The inspector was an amalgamation of a number of great detectives (Holmes, Columbo, etc.), but only if they were completely inept. Which is fine. But there were at least eight suspects and not much room in the book for them to be fleshed out, so a lot of them felt like stereotypes. It’s not that big of a deal, but I do enjoy more meat on characters, especially when they all stick around for the whole book.

The writing is nice and the description of the scenery is great. The pacing is a little on the slow side, but they’re on a walking holiday, so it kind of fits the story.

Ultimately, A Deadly Walk in Devon is a perfectly adequate cozy mystery. I enjoyed it. The whole walking trip angle makes for a fun series set up with plenty of settings to explore. I will definitely check out the next book in the series when/if it comes out.

starstarstarstarstar outline

Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. It wasn’t perfect. The characters need work. But if you enjoy cozies, I think it’s worth picking up.

Thoughts on FATHOMFOLK

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are about the same as always. The weather is drunk, but that’s normal for February in Texas. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of the month. You know what that means. Book review time! I decided to go with some fantasy this time because I love mythological water creatures. The book is literally called Fathomfolk, so you can see why I went with it. It’s by Eliza Chan and was published yesterday (the 27th) by Orbit Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

Fathomfolk follows three main characters: Mira, Nami, and Cordelia. They each find themselves in Tiankawi (one by birth, one by exile, and the other by seeking sanctuary), a half submerged city where the tensions between humans and fathomfolk are reaching a boiling point. Two of them are trying to fix things using vastly different tactics, and the other just wants to manipulate things to best serve herself. Can there ever be peace between humans and folk? Can it be achieved through laws or must violence lead the way?

The plot and moral of the story. As you can probably guess, this is a super political book that tries to address racism and immigration issues and equal rights and all of that. There are a lot of big ideas here, but the execution is not great. The entire moral of the story ends up feeling like “if everyone is the same, things will be fine.” That’s kind of icky, but it’s not my book, so I have no control over it. I thought I was overthinking it, so I looked at some other reviews and… I’m not alone. To be fair, I don’t believe that’s supposed to be the message just based on stuff leading up to the end, but that’s definitely the way it comes off. There’s supposed to be a second book, so hopefully it clears things up. If that’s supposed to be the meaning or whatever, cool. Own it. But based on just this book, it doesn’t match with the events of the story, so it feels gross.

The characters are all either really flat or they don’t show any growth by the end. Mira is the stereotypical rule follower. If she works her way up the ranks, she can fix things from the inside! But she can’t. She’s the token folk in the human police force basically. And Nami is the easily swayed rebel that gets mixed up with terrorists. By the end, she knows the dude’s a mass murderer and she still turns a blind eye just so she can make out with him. It’s ridiculous. And Cordelia never changes. The extras are all exactly what they’re supposed to be. Kai is the flawless, self-sacrificing husband (to Mira) and brother (to Nami). Everyone kind of sucks, so there’s no one to root for here.

The writing is meh. I think a really big problem with this book is that the pacing is awful. Everything is much too slow. Even the stuff that’s supposed to be action packed is a slog. But the worldbuilding is nice. That’s something, I guess.

Ultimately, Fathomfolk wasn’t for me. Like I said, there’s supposed to be a second book, so maybe it gets better. I’ll probably forget it exists by that time, though, which means I won’t read the sequel.

starstarstar outlinestar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. I started at 3, but the more I think about it, I just don’t like the book. I think 2 stars because it tries to tackle big issues is fair. But there are definitely better books that do a better job out there.

Reading Has Been Unfulfilling

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this delightful Wednesday? Things here are a little busy this week. Just stupid things. Ran some paperwork over to our CPA on Tuesday and grabbed some Captain Ds on the way home. Have to take Bonnie in to get spayed later this week. Sophia did really well when she was spayed and is back to normal. Anyway, it’s Tuesday still and I kind of forgot about needing to write a blog post. Go me! Ugh. So, the only thing I can think of to ramble about is reading. I’ve read five books so far this year and it took me like three hours to remember four of them. I had to check my GoodReads page to remember the fifth. Needless to say, I haven’t really been satisfied with anything I’m reading. That’s usually a sign I’m burning myself out, but it could just be the books.

1. Clover Hendry’s Day Off by Beth Morrey. This was my review book for January, so you can find my thoughts here. Short version, it started out great and quickly devolved into a dumpster fire. Meh.

2. The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec. It’s a Norse mythology retelling. You would think it would be right up my alley. But I don’t remember much about it. I know I enjoyed it as I was reading it, but I can’t remember any particularly wonderful moments. It basically just exists on my list of “I read this and remember the basic premise, but not much else” books. It was good enough to me simply because I enjoy Norse mythology. That’s about it.

3. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. This is the one I didn’t remember at all. When I looked at my list of books, I knew what it was, but I totally forgot it existed. It’s one of those books that is super popular and people kept recommending it to me, so I read it. I really like the premise that we can spend that moment between life and death hopping around our “what if” lives and choose to stay in whichever one feels right to us. But the whole ‘suicidal person hopping lives only to realize their current one is the only one they want to live’ thing is kind of annoying and the message is super heavy handed. And frankly, it isn’t something I find believable. So maybe I just blocked out reading this book because it pisses me off when I think about it.

4. Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens. This one is probably the only book I’ve read this year that was even remotely satisfying. It’s adorable gay fluff AND it’s got the gloomy person falling for the sunshine boy! That’s one of my weaknesses. The story itself was entertaining, but kind of rushed. I was just there for the cute romance though, so I didn’t mind the actual plot being a bit wobbly.

5. Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry. I really liked the first two books in this series, but this one was such a let down. The plot made no sense. The only character who actually behaved like they’ve been built up so far was Gertie. The FBI agents were beyond ridiculous. It honestly felt like someone input a premise with the instructions to write like Tamara Berry into some AI program and this is what came out. It starts out okay, but gradually becomes more outlandish and just idiotic by the end.

So, that’s been my year in reading so far. I’m currently reading the review book for next week’s post, another book to review the first Wednesday in May, and I just started another cozy mystery as my for fun book. We’ll see how those go. What have you been reading? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or questions here or on my social media pages!

Thoughts on CLOVER HENDRY’S DAY OFF

~ shawnaborman ~ 4 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are usual. It’s the last Wednesday of the month, though. Where did January go? Anyway, that means it’s book review time! This month, I stepped back into that weird literary/women’s fiction genre. I just call it slice of life, but apparently that’s wrong. I don’t know why they have to make it complicated. Whatever. I went with Clover Hendry’s Day Off by Beth Morrey. It was released yesterday (the 30th) from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing!

Clover Hendry’s Day Off follows (you guessed it!) Clover Hendry as she finally says screw everything and takes a day to do as she pleases. Skipping work and pampering herself and causing trouble wherever she ends up. Why not? All she has done her entire life is say yes to people and take everything on herself. She’s never taken a break or stopped to breathe. But that all changes right now. Will the world implode around her if she’s just a little bit selfish? It’s time to find out.

Before we go into the review, there will be spoilers. I try to stay vague most of the time, but once in a while, specific things need to be mentioned. Feel free to skip ahead to the picture that says “the end.” If this is on your TBR list, you’ve been warned.

The plot is super cute until it isn’t. As someone who imagines the worst and people pleases and all that, I immediately liked Clover. I appreciated her breakdown. But what started out as fun and relatable, quickly devolved into a petty slog. Yes, slack off work for an art show and good meal. No, don’t dump a random kid in an art installation when his parent is there, but not paying attention. Yes, stick up for your gay friend when someone is being a bigot, but when your friend says stop, you stop. Definitely don’t steal a statue from a house your bestie is watching because you’ll just be getting her in trouble. Some of the stuff made no sense. And then there was the whole rape revenge thing that was supposedly the trigger for this whole breakdown. It felt trite and completely unnecessary. Clover had plenty of reasons to go off the rails. Tossing in the rapist dude just felt like overkill. And then when revenge is had, it’s brushed off like nothing happened in favor of more family drama. There’s just too much going on and not enough room for everything to feel natural. For such a short book, it’s like they tried to jam every possible plotline into it and it becomes a checklist instead of a story. Shitty boss, check. Distant children (bonus for twins), check. Narcissistic mother, check. Etc.

Honestly, the only character we really get to know is Clover. She starts out great, then becomes annoying, and finally mellows out a bit. But everyone else are just cardboard cutouts and that’s sad. It’s part of the reason I usually avoid literary type fiction. It’s not uncommon for books like that to focus on one character and just leave the others as stereotypes. It’s fine, but meh.

The writing is actually really enjoyable. Before the plot became a slog, I was seriously considering giving this 4 stars because it was fun and it was a smooth, quick read. It was a fitting style for the story.

Ultimately, Clover Hendry’s Day Off starts out great and then fizzles out. But I did enjoy the writing enough that if I run across other books by Beth Morrey, I’d give them a chance.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. It’s fun enough, but there are better stories like this out there. If it sounds like your thing, try it. If it’s not your typical genre, try something else first.

Thoughts on ON THE PLUS SIDE

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? How were the holidays? Things here were pretty quiet. Dad made a roast beast, asparagus, and smoked mac and cheese. Be jealous. We watched tv. It was nice. But I’m not here to brag about food. It’s the last Wednesday of the month (year!), so that means it’s book review time! I decided to try a little romance this month, something outside my comfort zone. On the Plus Side by Jenny L. Howe was released from St. Martin’s Griffin yesterday (the 26th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

On the Plus Side follows Everly as she struggles to find herself and to start living instead of existing. When the crew from her favorite reality TV show arrive at her job looking for her, Everly gets thrown right out of her comfort zone in order to help her become her best self. She loves it at first, but after seeing how real reality TV is (or isn’t), she begins to doubt one of her favorite things in the world. But is she strong enough to stand up for herself? And, of course, it wouldn’t be romance without a dude or two tossed in.

The plot. There’s a crappy love triangle and you know right away who the endgame is because one dude is a douche and the other is literally perfect. The whole reality TV aspect is about a show that helps fat people realize they are allowed to exist and be comfortable with themselves and that they are beautiful/fierce/handsome/all of that. There’s family drama and trauma and all the usual things needed to make a nice little book. My biggest issue with the plot is that it’s supposed to be so body positive, but both the potential love interests are muscular gods, which is fine but annoying. There’s a spot where the perfect dude doesn’t want to take off his shirt because he doesn’t have a six pack, which is supposed to be a big sensitive moment, but I guess I’m not sensitive because it was just stupid to me. But overall, the plot was cute enough. Oh, and there are a couple of fairly graphic scenes. That’s fine for me. I just wasn’t expecting them. It was like “oh, hey there, mini pr0n.” So, if you pick up this book and don’t like on-the-page sex, be prepared.

As far as the characters go, Everly is very dramatic and acts like no one has ever felt these feelings before. No one could possibly understand. Anyone who says anything nice to her doesn’t actually mean it. I tried very hard to care about her, but couldn’t really manage it. The rest of the characters were cookie cutter stereotypes that did no growing or changing. Logan is perfect from the get go. It’s not even clear why he’s in love with Everly. Book magic, I guess. The villain is an unrepentant bitch. Everyone else is just there to make Everly look good. So, while the plot was fine, I wasn’t a fan of the characters.

The writing was decent. It made for a pretty quick read. Nothing spectacular. No quotes stood out. But it was smooth and didn’t try to be something it wasn’t. It was just a quick, cute read.

Ultimately, On the Plus Side was just kind of meh. I didn’t hate it, but it’s nothing I’ll ever think about again. I gave it a shot and now I know it’s a thing that exists. That’s about it.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. If you enjoy romances with cookie cutter characters and a cute but standard plot, check it out. If not, you’re not missing anything.

Thoughts on GODLY HEATHENS

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Did you have a good Thanksgiving (or Thursday)? We had a nice one. The neighbor and his family came over as well as the minion and one of his spawn. It was good. Yummy food! But it’s the last Wednesday of the month, so we’re here to ramble about a book. I decided to request a YA fantasy type thing to try something a little different. Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon was released yesterday (the 28th) from Wednesday Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. So, let’s do the thing.

Godly Heathens follows Gem, a trans teen in small town Georgia, as they struggle with mental issues and trying to find their place in the world. Throw in the discovery that they’re the reincarnation of one of the most powerful gods from another world and a downright villain, and life gets pretty complicated. Other reincarnated gods want to make Gem suffer for past transgressions. Meanwhile, Gem just wants to live their current life.

This book has content warnings. I have yet to find a book with content warnings that I actually enjoyed, so I had little hope for it when I saw them. I get what they’re for, but I don’t believe they’re necessary 99% of the time. They either give something major away or they draw unnecessary attention to things that are super minor in the book. It’s annoying. That’s just my opinion. But they also seem to be most prevalent in books that try too hard. And this book definitely tries too hard to be… relevant, I guess. And edgy. So freakin’ edgy. It borders on hilarious at first, then it just becomes sad.

The plot is neat, but far from original. Teenagers as reincarnated gods from another world. It’s fun enough. But it’s super slow and the big bad shows up halfway through, but they turn out to be nothing special in this world. And we’ve got this whole build up to a show down between specific characters only to have a complete rando show up like 5 chapters from the end that they all have to fight together. I feel cheated. It is definitely not a satisfying ending. Granted, there’s supposed to be another book, but at least wrap up the story arc of this book first. But no. We get a bullshit ending that does absolutely nothing.

I had high hopes for the characters here, because I’m all for villain stories and diverse casts, but I was disappointed again. Sure, Gem and the Shade might’ve been villains in their own world, but here, they’re just whiny little bitches. All of the characters are. And none of them grow or change by the end of the book. There’s nothing to root for because they aren’t actually doing anything. Yes, teenagers are generally dicks, but they grow and learn things quickly. They try on personalities like outfits, changing pretty much daily. But not these characters. They’re just asshats. It’s boring.

The writing is meh. Like I said, it tries too hard to be edgy and all that crap. It ends up making the book a slog to read.

Ultimately, Godly Heathens was a huge let down. I probably won’t bother with the next book unless it falls into my lap. It was a waste of time and not in the good way.

starstarstar outlinestar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, really. It got published and some people will like it. But I think there are better books to spend your money on.

Thoughts on MAGIC BY ANY OTHER NAME

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this delightful Wednesday? Things here are coasting along. I know it’s not the last Wednesday of the month, but this is an extra book review for the month! A while ago, Simone Jung from Books Forward (a marketing and publicity firm) got in touch and offered me access to an ARC for a fantasy book in exchange for a review. The premise was interesting, so I said sure. Magic by Any Other Name by Alison Levy was released yesterday (the 7th) from SparkPress. Let’s get on with the review!

Magic by Any Other Name follows Ivy (aka Georgette) as she and her best friend Mei-Xing run away from Ivy’s emotionally abusive mother and insane family. As she struggles to build her new identity as Georgette, she collects a strange but powerful found-family to help her figure out who she is while she helps them. Werehyenas, vampires, Valkyries, and numerous other magical folk fill the pages of this book. Plus, there’s the human love interest. But before she can settle down, Georgette must confront the darkest parts of her upbringing as a witch as well as work through her trauma.

The plot is standard fantasy fare. Witches enslave “familiars” (any other magical creatures collectively called fae for some reason) by branding them. But one young witch uses the brand to share power with her magical friends. One of her new friends’ family member (wife) was taken by the big bad (fae traffickers) and together they must save her. Things go from bad to worse until finally there’s a happy ending. Wrap it all up in family trauma and that’s the book. Not bad. I enjoyed the plot for what it is.

The characters ranged from fleshed out and interesting to stereotypes. I wanted more out of Kazimiera. She was on the flatter end of the spectrum, as was Mei-Xing. Georgette and Ishak were the fleshiest, so to speak. I wasn’t particularly a fan of Ishak. The whole point of the book is emotional growth, but Ishak keeps playing on Georgette’s guilt instead of trusting her to help him because she wants to. It’s super annoying. He does it all the way through and no one calls him out on it. Yes, she’s a witch. Yes, her kind are generally dicks. But she’s proven her loyalty to the fae time and time again. Stop being an asshat.

I don’t generally talk about book structure unless it’s glaringly flawed, so guess what! It’s not great. Every chapter is from a different POV. Usually, it switches between three characters, but there are at least nine POVs that get at least a chapter. It’s too many to keep track of, especially when they show up once and that’s it. It’s also unnecessary. The prologue being from the aunt’s perspective could have just as easily been in Ivy’s perspective. The aunt didn’t play a role at all in the book. And the guy who just shows up to die. His chapter was useless. Nico’s chapters were okay, but not exactly necessary either. Same with Neil. There should be like five POVs, tops. Any more and it gets super hard for the average reader to follow.

Me to half these POVs.

The writing itself was nice. There was a lot going on, but the pacing was pretty good. It dragged in the beginning, but got better.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Magic by Any Other Name for what it is. A found-family fantasy story. If there’s another one, I’ll give it a shot. It’s called book one, so I’m guessing it’s supposed to be a series, but it’s an okay stand-alone.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. There’s room for improvement, but if you enjoy fantasy and found-family stories, it’s not bad.

Thoughts on MURDER UNCORKED

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this gloomy Wednesday? I’m a little sad because I found out Sakurai Atsushi (the singer from Buck-Tick) died about a week ago, but otherwise things are fine. Anyway, no time to mope. It’s the last Wednesday of October! That means it’s review time. I stuck with the cozy mystery genre for this month, mostly because I was too lazy to look for anything else. Murder Uncorked is the first novel (though there is a short story prequel) in a new series by Maddie Day and was released from Kensington Books yesterday (the 24th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it.

Murder Uncorked follows Cece Barton as she moves to be closer to family and tries to settle in a small California wine country town. She’s kind of a suspect when a guy she’s been arguing with via email about business matters ends up dead. She’s only met him once, but she feels the need to clear her name. Toss in every cozy mystery stereotype (enthusiastic supporter of shenanigans, inept and exasperated detective, mysterious love interest, etc.) and you’ve got yourself a story.

If I’m being honest, the plot is super thin here. The obvious killer is the killer. There’s no real hiding it. The bank robbery thing that’s thrown in there to muddy things up is extremely awkward and not set up at all. It comes out of left field and just feels random and unnecessary. It made me cringe. Besides that, the plot is pretty standard and not all that entertaining.

Also, the pacing is rough. This is most obvious in the dialogue with the completely random and jarring changes of topic. All of these characters blurt things out like it’s a natural thing, and in real life, a few conversations might go that way, but not in books. The dialogue needs to flow naturally and convey information in a smooth manner. Just like the rest of the book should. But everything here is choppy and annoying and jars me out of the story.

The characters were all flat and did nothing to break free of their stereotypes. The attempted growth between Cece and her daughter is the most interesting thing in the book and it’s just emotional blackmail. I mean, seriously. Cece calls up her basically estranged grown ass daughter and is all like “I almost got killed because I keep putting myself in stupid situations. Feel bad for me and love me again.” And the daughter falls for it. There’s no actual growth despite what the story says. You can’t just put emotional blackmail in a book and call it character development. It’s gross. And none of the other characters are any better.

I have nothing nice to say about the writing either. A lot of the problems came from the poor quality of the writing. I don’t know if this book was just rushed to publication or what, but it really needed more edits.

Ultimately, Murder Uncorked was not worth reading. I know Maddie Day has another series, but I have zero desire to check it out. Hopefully it’s better than this one.

starstarstar outlinestar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, really. One because it got published so someone likes it and a half because I finished reading it. But unless you’re a fan of the author, I don’t recommend wasting your time with it.

Thoughts on MURDER IN AN ITALIAN VILLAGE

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? The end of September has arrived and it’s still in the 90s here. I’m sure we’ll get an autumn eventually, but not yet. Anyway, the last Wednesday of the month means it’s book review time! I decided to try something set abroad, but still well within my comfort zone (a cozy mystery). Murder in an Italian Village by Michael Falco was released on the 26th from Kensington Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

Murder in an Italian Village follows Bria Bartolucci as she struggles to fulfill her late husband’s dream, be a good mother, acclimate to a new home, and find herself in the process. Her new B&B is set to open in a couple of weeks when someone shows up dead in one of her guest rooms. She can’t let that ruin her opening, so of course she has to solve the murder! Throw in a couple of love interests, a family and bestie who encourage all of her antics, and police officers who actively seek her help and you’ve got yourself a typical cozy mystery.

The plot is pretty typical, but the way it unfolds is disappointing. Every time something happens or they make a big discovery, there’s a conversation about how it all makes sense, but it never makes sense. Bria or Luca make some wild guess that isn’t led up to in the story at all and it’s like the reader is supposed to go aha! but it’s just something that was pulled out of thin air. Like, why? Put it in the plot. Don’t just make it a random declaration. It’s not bad per se, but it’s definitely not a satisfying way for the story to move forward.

The writing. This is something I usually just mention in passing, but I was so distracted by the writing that I have to talk about it. The detail in this book is absolutely ridiculous. I get that authors do a lot of research and we want to include it all, but don’t. It’s not necessary and it makes for a slog of a read. I know nothing about the road system in Italy, so telling me stuff like “Bria took Viale Pasitea to Via G. Marconi and then hopped onto Strada Statale 163 toward Spiaggia di Tordigliano” etc. doesn’t help me at all. And anyone who lives in that area would know how to get from point A to point B, so you’re not really helping them either. It’s just padding and not very interesting padding at that. There’s a lot of that in this book. Also, there’s an entire chapter devoted to describing outfits. I’m all for clothing descriptions, but not an entire chapter’s worth. And only one thing relevant to the plot is mentioned in that chapter, so if you haven’t figured out who the killer is by that point, it becomes blatantly obvious who it is.

I liked the characters for the most part. Everyone is constantly screaming or shrieking, which I think is just poorly chosen wording, but other than that they seem cool. I wanted more from Giovanni. Marco was far too angelic (no kid is that good). Loved Bravo (the dog). Bria, Luca, Rosalie, and Nunzi were all pretty interesting. I thought some of Bria’s outbursts were out of character, like when she flat out accuses Daniela of murder and keeps repeating it. Nothing about that scene felt natural. Otherwise, the characters were the best part of this book.

Ultimately, I found Murder in an Italian Village a little too dense with useless trivia and a bit too thin when it came to actual plot. It was okay and if another one comes out, I’ll grab it if I see it. I won’t go looking for it, though.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. It was fine. If you want to learn a crap ton about Positano, Italy thinly disguised as a cozy mystery, try it.

Thoughts on THE SUNSET YEARS OF AGNES SHARP

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing on this lovely Wednesday? It’s the last Wednesday of August, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I opted for a cozyish mystery. The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann was released on the 29th by Soho Press. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp follows Agnes (duh) and her housemates as they try to solve a series of murders while keeping the police from looking too closely at the death of their friend. Sunset Hall is a place where elderly people go to have companionship without pity in their declining years. Their eclectic backgrounds make for an interesting group of sleuths. Throw a newbie and a grandson into the mix and things can get dramatic. Can Agnes and her friends solve the murders? Iffy memories and stiff joints don’t help, but they’re determined.

The plot started off strong. It’s pretty standard stuff: multiple murders, inept police, nosy people. There are even two sets of twins to confuse things. It’s also fairly predictable, which is fine. But as the story progresses, it becomes choppy and jarring. I understand the why, but it doesn’t make it any easier to read. The beginning flows nice and is pretty linear, but the end jumps around and timelines overlap and it’s just not cleanly done, so it gets confusing. It all comes together in the end. I just feel like the ride could’ve been smoother.

The POV changed a lot without warning. I’m sure usually a fan of jumping characters mid-chapter, but it was handled pretty well in this book. There were a couple of times where I knew the POV had changed, but I wasn’t sure whose it was until a paragraph or so in. That was annoying. But I enjoyed getting closer to the characters (including Hettie the tortoise), so a little confusion here and there was okay.

I loved the characters. Most of them have backgrounds like police detective (Agnes) or military (Marshall) or some kind of spy (Edwina) or possible gangster (Bernadette) or whatever. They may be old, but if you’re a criminal, they aren’t the right senior citizens to mess with. They’re well written and mostly fleshed out. And they have very distinct personalities, so they’re fun to read about. The only one I was hoping for more out of was the baddie. It’s really hard to flesh out a character like that without spoiling things, though.

The writing was nice. It was a pretty quick read that I had no trouble picking back up after I put it down for the day. I had no trouble putting it down either. Take from that what you will.

Ultimately, I thought The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp was fun. It’s probably not something I’ll remember a year from now, but I enjoyed it while reading it.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. If you’re into murder mysteries and like older characters, check it out. If not, give it a miss.