Saturday, April 29, 2017

Design for Dying by Renee Patrick

4 Stars

Lillian Frost & Edith Head Mystery - #1

Oh my, this was fun to read!  I am so glad it has a great cover because it was the cover that originally caught my eye.  One of the women I follow on Twitter is a librarian whose job includes purchasing the books for the library and she likes to tweet out book covers and give her thoughts on them.  So, she tweeted this cover, I was intrigued, I went to check the blurb and promptly added it to my 'to acquire' list.  It recently went on sale (as of this writing it's still $2.99 at Kobo) so I was very quick to pick it up.

And it's delicious!!  I love the setting - 1937 Hollywood.  The characters are terrific.  The heroine, Lillian Frost is right out of one of those detective movies of the 30s and 40s and I liked her right away.  I've been a huge fan of Edith Head for decades and love the way the authors (Renee Patrick is the pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Rosemarie and Vince Keenan.) have portrayed her.  The other supporting characters are perfect.  Gene, the stalwart police detective.  Vi, Ready and Kay friends of Lillian's who are wonderfully quirky.  Even the suspects in the murder case are great.  Some might call them all stereotypical, but they all evoke the genre so well that it's delightful!

I honestly felt like I was watching a movie.  Everything worked.  Even the plot of the mystery.  I thought person X did it, then maybe it was person Y then maybe it was Z and B working together, then back to X again all the while waiting for the one clue that would make me believe it was person N coming in from left field.  *LOL*

I guess one would term this a cozy style mystery even if it does take place in the decadent environs of Hollywood.  And I'll admit, they are not my favourite, but this one... I LOVED IT!   Can't wait to read the second one!

I highly recommend this - especially if you're a mystery fan and an old-time Hollywood fan.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Finding Ms. Write by Various Authors

3 Stars

Finding Ms. Write is an anthology of 12 f/f contemporary romance stories and I thought it a perfect way to discover some new authors without breaking my bank.  *LOL*  You see, most of the f/f authors that are recommended by folks publish with publishers that A) never seem to go on sale and B) sell their novels for $13 a piece.  Not conducive to exploring a genre.  And quite honestly, Bold Strokes Books and Ylva Publishing should take a look at that if they want to expand beyond their comfy genre niche.  I love romance of all sorts, but quite honestly, they don't make it easy.

So, on to the book.  The stories were well-written and somewhat engaging for the most part, but what struck me was that they all seemed to have main characters who had either been dumped/widowed/deserted in some way.  Is this a big f/f trope?  The anthology didn't seem to be going for that - it's supposed to be about the publishing industry - but it seemed that every last one of these ladies had some tragedy in their past.

For the most part, all the romances are very sweet.  Not much steam or heat happening, which disappointed me.  I like my romances to have some physical oomph to them.  There was just an element of blandness to many of the tales and characters.  Maybe blandness is not the right word... I don't know.  I just found most of them too calm for me maybe.  On the plus side, the majority of the characters weren't wet behind the ears kidlets under the age of 25.  It was refreshing to read about mature women - except jeez, did they all have to have lost a love?

One thing really irritated me though... I really don't need to be reading a romance story about a main character who has early on-set Alzheimer's to deal with.

In conclusion, I will say that Finding Ms. Write was a nice read, filled with nice stories about nice people.  Nice.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Crescendo by Rachel Haimowitz

4 Stars

Song of the Fallen - Book 2

I've had this in my TBR pile forever it seems and I wonder why? I loved the first book - Counterpoint - a lot, but for some reason I never got around to reading this one. I shouldn't have waited so long. Why? First off, because I enjoyed it, but secondly, because it follows right on the heels of the first novel (they could really be two halves of a whole epic brick of a fantasy novel) and I had forgotten many of the little bits and bobs of the plot that would have been nice to remember reading this one.

As I said, I enjoyed this one a lot. An epic fantasy, elves, dark creatures, big battles, intimate fights, slaves and magic songs, at the heart of it is the love story between Freyrik and Ayden, man and elf. I liked that the love story, while being very very important, didn't overshadow the plot of the book, but was like one half of the whole.

I did get the feeling, however, that near the end, the author just wanted to be finished with the story. It felt a little rushed. I would have liked more of Rik with the elves and how that bridge got built. I'd have liked to see it instead of just being told about it. I would also like to have seen more of some of the secondary characters, especially the some of the elves that we only really get to meet near the end of the book. And I would also have like more depth to the solving of the problem of the 'dark elves'.

But, I did like it a lot. :)

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

3.5 Stars

Old Man's War - Book 1

I've been eyeing Scalzi's work for a while, but not being a huge sci-fi fan, I've always tended to pass over his books.  But after getting hooked on the TV shows The Expanse and Dark Matter, and reading the first of the Expanse books and loving it, I decided - after a quick check with some long time friends - that it was time for me to try Scalzi out.  It helped, of course, that the book was on a really good sale.  :)

And I liked it.  :)  Military space opera.  A protagonist that's closer to my age than most others these days and some really intriguing future world-building that wasn't too scientific for me.  I don't enjoy reading scientific treatises, you see.  And quite frankly, that's why this isn't 4 stars - there was a little too much techy-techy, OMG what are we going to become etc... for me.  I felt like this book was a good tale, a romp with some great characters and terrific bantering dialogue and those few parts that were of a techsophical bent just seemed preachy to me.

Anyhoo, I really did enjoy the book.  Enjoyed Scalzi's voice for the most part and will indeed read further in the series.  When they go on sale again.  *LOL*  The budget, man, the budget!!

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Murder on the Last Frontier by Cathy Pegau

3.5 Stars

Charlotte Brody Mysteries - Book 1

For some reason, I expected this book to be a mystery with a f/f romance as the secondary plot (and I don't think I was the only one.).  Well... nope.  *LOL*  It's a m/f romantic subplot.  Sort of.  Vaguely.

Really, Murder on the Last Frontier is basically a cozy mystery starring a 1920s feminist on the Alaskan frontier.  Charlotte is a journalist who comes to visit her brother, a doctor, in the Alaskan town of Cordova (the town where the author lives today, so it feels really authentic).  There is a rangy assistant deputy who Charlotte finds herself attracted to in the course of solving the mystery of the murder of a young woman of the evening.

It's a good book.  I enjoyed my read even though I kept looking for the second heroine to appear.  :)  Much of my enjoyment was because I liked the character of Charlotte a lot.  She has some darkness and heartache in her background which is a large part of her coming to visit her brother.  She's kind of sassy and irreverent and I like that.

The mystery was okay, nothing spectacular, but it served to let me get to know Charlotte.  And by the end of the book, she's made some friends, a couple of enemies too and I find myself looking forward to reading some more about her.  :)

So yeah, if you like cozy mysteries in a historical setting that's different from most, then this is for you.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

3 Stars

Inspector Rebus - Book 1

Finally trying out a popular UK police procedural.  I do enjoy a good procedural.  And I enjoyed this one for the most part.

In some ways, John Rebus reminds me a little of my beloved Armand Gamache in that he's well-read, thoughtful, and somewhat tortured by things in his past.  My problem is that Rebus is also kind of a jerk.  I really didn't warm up to him much at all.  And his supporting cast wasn't all that likable either.

I thought there was a lot of faffing about in the first half of the book - a lot of delving into Rebus' psyche and woe-is-me attitudes and not a lot about the search for the burgeoning serial killer.  Which might have worked better for me had I felt a liking for Rebus.  *LOL*

As for the mystery of the kidnappings and murders, I suspected it pretty early on, but there were some twists and turns I wasn't expecting.

So, end result, it was a decent read and I'll read more about Inspector Rebus and hope that I grow to like him a little better.  :)

Sunday, April 2, 2017

The Obsession by Nora Roberts

3.5 Stars

I can always trust what I'm going to get with a Nora Roberts book and to date, I don't think I've been disappointed.  I thought this might be a first as I made my way through the first few chapters.  It was like an episode of Criminal Minds and that's not really how I want my Noras to be!  *LOL*  But then we got on with the story and things all fell into place.

All my fave elements were there, the hot hero, the heroine that I would love to share a bottle of wine and a giggle with, the supporting cast of friends and family and the obligatory dog or two.  Most importantly, the banter was there.  One of my favourite things about Nora books is the banter, indeed all the dialogue, between the characters.

In reading other reviews of this book, a lot of folks moaned about how much there was of the renovation talk.  I had no problem with it as that whole part of the plot was mirroring the inner journey of Naomi, our heroine.  What drove me nuts was the constant description of all the food!  I'm so not a foodie.  *LOL*

I enjoyed how Naomi and Xander fell in love and I totally enjoyed their courtship.  Yeah, Xander might be a little perfect, but it's a perfect I like and it makes me happy, so...  :)

The suspenseful part of the story was okay, not Nora's best nor her worst, but again, it felt like an episode of Criminal Minds and while that's one of my favourite shows, it's not really what I want in my Nora books.  I don't think it was too difficult to figure out who the bad guy was once the mystery part really got going.

Anyway, it was a Nora and I liked it.  :)

(By the way, I didn't really set out to read two books with the same title back to back, it just happened.  *LOL*)



Saturday, April 1, 2017

The Obsession by Liliana Lee

4 Stars

Princess Shanyin - Book 1

Holy steam bath, Batman!  This book is SCORCHING!

Erotic romance, emphasis on the erotic, done extremely well in my opinion.  Yes, there were a few passages of uber-flowery language, but I can overlook that.

The story is told from the POV of the Princess Shanyin, sister to the emperor who has a harem of 30 of the most gorgeous male concubines and then the very handsome Chu Yuan catches her eye and she decides that she must have him.  And thus the tale of her seduction of Yuan begins.

There's a plot here, beyond the seduction and heat which I thought added to the book, but make no mistake, this is a novella about erotic sex and it delivers.  I will be reading Books 2 and 3.  :)