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 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 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.

Thoughts On HALF PAST

September 26, 2017September 6, 2017 ~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! Welcome to the first monthly installment of book reviews! A friend recently introduced me to Net G alley, a site through which publishers offer ARCs (advance reader copies) in exchange for honest and unbiased reviews. While going through their options, I came across Half Past by Victoria Helen Stone, which came out September 19th, 2017, and decided to give it a shot. First and foremost, I have to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. Here’s my review.

51n7fhiyAwL._SY346_ — The cover is nice.

I originally chose to read Half Past because it sounded interesting. Hannah Smith, the 45-year-old protagonist, has returned home to rural Iowa in order to take care of her ailing mother and recover from a divorce and being let go from her job. She discovers that she might be adopted and decides to go on a journey of self-discovery in the hopes of finding out about her origins. The back blurb hints at a dark story, so even though it’s not something I would normally pick up, I tried it.

The whole premise of the novel turned out to be flawed. Hannah is O- blood type and she discovers that her mother who has dementia is AB+. The narrator mentions that anyone who took high school biology knows this isn’t possible, and a brief Internet search seemingly supports that, but I happened to have a doctor’s appointment while reading this book and she said it technically was possible. So, I dug a little deeper (it wasn’t even a difficult search) and discovered articles by a geneticist who teaches at Stanford that explain that while it’s extremely rare, there are a few ways an AB parent can have an O offspring. And if it was just Hannah assuming she knew everything, I could overlook this, but a doctor tells her she must be adopted instead of telling her she needs to consent to more tests to be positive. The whole thing tainted my view of the book, but I kept reading.

QtFZ0PR — Facepalm was an accurate reaction throughout the book.

Then there was Hannah herself. Honestly, she acted more like a fifteen-year-old than anything. Everything was a major drama that she couldn’t handle, so she constantly ran away and blamed everyone else. She complained about never fitting in, but she never made an effort to do anything about it. And I’m sorry, but at 45 years old, you should know that the woman who raised and loved you (because her childhood was a happy one) is your mom. You don’t run away from her in her time of need to search for your “mom.” I had no way to connect to Hannah until the very end when she finally takes a little responsibility for everything, but by that point I already disliked her. If she were younger and this was a story about her finally becoming an adult, I probably would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. As it is, she came off as a flaky, annoying, crybaby.

The story itself was a quick, easy read. It felt a little predictable, but my mind goes to the dark places a lot easier than other people. I did think it was a little too drawn out. If I found out I was adopted and the only lead I had was a strange birth certificate, the first thing I would’ve done was look for the witness listed on it. Maria Diaz ends up being an afterthought when nothing else pans out. I think Hannah conveniently forgot the name so she could go on a vacation. That’s what it felt like anyway.

tenor (1) — This was the look that accompanied the facepalm while I was reading.

I will say that I enjoyed the writing style. It was comfortable and kept me reading despite my issues with the story and with Hannah. While I wouldn’t put it on my list of favorites by any means, I wouldn’t tell people not to read it. It simply wasn’t my cup of tea, but other people might enjoy it.

Ultimately, I’d give it three out of five stars. I wasn’t a fan and I think some things should’ve been better researched, but beyond that it was well written.

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