The disappearance of two teens from the same school leads Charlie to an amateur-run safe house for teens that is sheltering a beautiful Pakistani girl trying to avoid a forced marriage. But when the manager is shot, Charlie must wade through a pit of secrets to find the would-be killer.
I am giving up on this series. The characters continue to be awful and the convoluted stories don’t hold my interest. I got halfway through and realized I didn’t care what came next.
in omnibus The Collected Tales Nurse Matilda
Even though they are thrilled to hear that Nurse Matilda is coming to visit, the Brown children take Podge, who has been rolled into a snowball, to their designated “hospital” to undergo surgery. Nurse Matilda is so disappointed at their naughty behavior that she sends them to hospital, but they overpower the ambulance attendants and run the hospital into the ground before being sent to the seaside to visit Great-Aunt Adelaide and Evangeline.
Not quite as lesson-less as Nurse Matilda Goes to Town , but nowhere near as well-done as the original Nurse Matilda, with some repetitive bits (such as the seemingly inevitable running-away sequence) and quite a bit of getting-away-with-being-naughty.
in omnibus The Collected Tales Nurse Matilda
The Brown children have become so naughty that Nurse Matilda returns, but they have mysteriously forgotten her except for Baby, and suffer through mostly the same punishments again to learn the same lessons.
Could have been titled “Nurse Matilda Redux,” as the actions mimic what happened in the first book in the series, Nurse Matilda. But it lacked the connection between action and punishment that livened up the first book, and Nurse Matilda’s inevitable forgiveness is not connected to repentance on the children’s part. Children will quite likely still enjoy the silly punishments, but as the gentle lessons in treating others as we would wish to be treated are missing, I would not want my children reading it.
in omnibus The Collected Tales Nurse Matilda
A mythical and hideous super-nanny comes to teach the naughty Brown children seven lessons. But the children find that as their behavior improves, so does Nurse Matilda’s appearance.
The best of the three books in the series, Nurse Matilda ties punishments to crimes and helps the children learn to think of other people. The punishments are quite magical and will send younger readers into gales of laughter.
Georgie is charged with hosting a visiting Bavarian princess whom the Queen hopes will lure the Prince of Wales away from Wallis Simpson. But a couple of deaths later, Princess Honi is the prime suspect in the murder of a public-school-educated Communist.
Although I enjoyed the beginning, it really can't be classified as a mystery as the crime doesn't occur until halfway through the book. The large pre-murder section contains involving storylines a la Upstairs, Downstairs, but it is far more than needed to build up to the murder. And the storyline following the murder lost my interest completely, as Bowen seems more interested in sniping at Wallis Simpson (probably a deserving target but long-dead) than moving the plot along. I was disappointed because I had enjoyed the first book in the series, but I finallly gave up because I just had no interest in continuing.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. When pharmaceutical rep Lewis inherits his uncle's bookstore in tiny Eureka, California, he and his super-materialistic wife Emily go to look at it and are astounded at its profitability in the post-paper-books world. But how long before they discover that its earnings have nothing to do with books?
I could not get into this book at all. The characters are so one-dimensional and uninteresting that the clever plotline is wasted. I gave up a third of the way through.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Newsboys Tait and Marcus hunt through about-to-be-demolished houses looking for valuable coins.
Zimmerle doesn't seem to have focused on a target audience. Calling the series "Baby Boomer Mysteries" makes it sound like he is writing for adults, but the first quarter of the book consists only of kids' everyday activities, definitely unorganized and uninteresting to this adult and I doubt it would hold kids' attention either. The lack of paragraph breaks was annoying, but the lack of an involving storyline was the killer.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Widowed teacher Ellie spends her summers drawing and writing in peaceful Hummingbird Falls. But when a loony neighbor tells her about a murder before the body is found, Ellie and postmistress Sarah decide to find the killer.
The characters were okay, but there were so many I had trouble keeping them straight. More important, the story never grabbed me and I quit a third of the way through. The Kindle formatting was okay, although there were occasional typos, such as "plaque" instead of "plague" and "all ready" instead of "already."
in omnibus New Celebrations: The Adventures of Anthony Villiers
Anthony Villiers just wants to collect his misplaced remittance and continue having fun, but he accidentally discovers a smuggling ring.
Most of the characters were unlikable and Panshin's writing style so odd I had trouble finding a storyline. I got more than halfway through and never found anything to keep me reading. All I can award stars for is good spelling, grammar, and formatting.
A South American millionaire summons Poirot, in fear for his life, but before Poirot arrives, the man's body is found in a shallow grave on a golf course.
Plenty of plot twists and kept me reading, in spite of Poirot's annoying habit of keeping his deductions to himself and Hastings' patronizing attitude.
eBook downloaded from www.Gutenberg.org A wealthy and generous but demanding woman is murdered, and it seems most of her relatives and hangers-on are relieved.
Painfully slow start, and Poirot's little mannerisms are annoying even in this, his first book. But once the murder occurred, it held my attention as I tried to pick out who had done what, and there were enough twists and turns to solidify Christie's reputation.
Collection of mystery short stories set in England, Scotland, and Australia.
Overall, the stories just weren't very interesting. Many are gloomy, some feel just as misogynistic as Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and they definitely reflect a time when kidnapping a woman to keep her from marrying the man of her choice was considered love rather than abuse. When I got halfway through and hadn't encountered a single gripping storyline, I gave up.
The first three of these eight stories feature Bertie Wooster and his perfect gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves: Leave It to Jeeves, Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest, Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg. The next four are narrated by Reggie Pepper and neither Jeeves nor Bertie appear: Absent Treatment, Helping Freddie, Rallying Round Old George, and Doing Clarence a Bit of Good. The final story, The Aunt and the Sluggard, returns once again to Bertie's narration and Jeeves' genius.
The stories ranged from mildly amusing to just plain silly. The male characters were not over-bright except for the servants, who were wily geniuses. The women characters were not only brainless but inconsistent; I particularly disliked the resolution of Absent Treatment. Unless you know you like this type of story passing for humor, skip it.
Collection of 12 Lord Peter Wimsey stories: The Abominable History of the Man with the Copper Fingers, The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question, The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will, The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag, The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker, The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention, The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran, The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste, The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head, The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach, The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face, The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba
As usual, uneven and some stories leaned towards horror. Only one was partially a talking-heads story this time, The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face. But all were clever and a few were even amusing.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Super-basic instruction in the various ways to cook eggs. Very short ebook; only 202 locations including the introduction and ending statement.
Although I'm a good cook, I was pleased to see a cookbook aimed at the inexperienced cook, and eggs are wonderfully flexible. If you can nuke a couple pieces of bacon, stick bread into your electric toaster, and fry or scramble a couple of eggs, you won't starve and you can even feed unexpected company. But these, sadly, aren't quite basic enough. Smedley starts with soft-boiled eggs and is quite explicit as to how long the eggs should cook or stand, but he seems to have gotten tired when he got to hard-boiled aggs as he starts giving ranges and adding "The exact time will depend on how hard-boiled you prefer your eggs to be." Well, duh, but how is the novice cook to know where in that range his preferred hardness will fall? Smedley's instructions for frying eggs start: "I use butter but you can of course use oil or margarine or whatever you prefer." Experienced cooks realize he is talking about some kind of shortening to keep the egg from sticking to the pan, but the inexperienced cook may decide "I like Worcestershire sauce or hot sauce on my eggs, so I'll use that." The results would not be good. Then Smedley instructs: "Crack an egg onto a plate ensuring that the yolk does not break." How? Even experienced cooks have trouble with this, and Smedley gives the novice no help. He also ignores flipping the egg (does he think sunny side up is the only method people like?) or just what "spooning" butter over the egg is. The same shortcomings appear for poaching eggs (no cooking times or ways to tell when the egg is done). For omelettes, he assumes the cooked omelette will slide effortlessly out of the pan; for scrambled eggs, he talks about how "creamy" you want the final product - maybe that is a British term but in the U.S. I've never heard it applied to eggs and don't know what he means. I tried his instructions to push the outside towards the center and it would have resulted in unevenly-cooked eggs, not a uniform scramble, if I hadn't watched and flipped uncooked bits. As is, it's probably a good book for the marginally-experienced cook, but not the raw novice. A few hours' work adding the information that a total newbie would need could make this a wonderful first-apartment or off-to-college gift.
I picked up this story free during an Amazon giveaway. Very short story attributing the development of the haggis to ancient Rome.
Cute, and definitely an original premise. But don't settle down for a long read.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Listings and descriptions of various old castles and manor houses in Great Britain, from the house where "Downton Abbey" is filmed, to fabulous Blenheim, ruined Nymans, and working Wimpole Estate.
A bit of a sales pitch, as the authors emphasize restaurants, hotels, and places available to rent for weddings and conferences, and contact information is provided for all sites. But the history is intriguing and the photos are gorgeous on my K4PC. In fact, my major criticism is that there should have been more photos. The book only covers 24 manors, with 2-3 photos per location, and could easily have included more photos. Particularly irritating is a description of an especially noteworthy place, such as "the awe-inspiring views from the Temple of Apollo" at Stourhead or "rambling alongside the Montgomery Canal" at Powis, and then not have a photo to go along with the description! This book is unquestionably gorgeous, but more photos would have made it spectacular.
I picked up this "book" free during an Amazon giveaway. Three cute cats get involved with a man in a Santa suit and take over a television station.
Complete gibberish in a very short (20 locations) piece, trying to incorporate politics and economics into a cartoon format. No wonder the author chose to remain anonymous - he didn't even give us different pictures of the cats!
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Collection of "best" short stories of 2009: "Animal Rescue" by Dennis Lehane, "Family Affair: A Smokey Dalton Story by Kris Nelscott (aka Kristine Kathryn Rusch), "Survival Instincts" by Sandra Seamans, "Julius Katz" by Dave Zelserman, "Seeing the Moon" by S.J. Rozan, "Dark Chocolate" by Nancy Pickard, "Telegraphing" by Marcia Muller, "The Valhalla Verdict" by Doug Allyn, "Pure Pulp" by Bill Crider, "Blood Sacrifices and the Catatonic Kid" by Tom Piccirilli, "Patterns" by Richard Lupoff, "The Tell-Tale Purr" by Mary Higgins Clark, "The Big Switch: A Mike Hammer Story" by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins, "Crazy Larry Smells Bacon" by Greg Bardsley, "Femme Sole" by Dana Cameron, "The Dark Island" by Brendan DuBois, "The Caretaker" by Terence Faherty, "The Case of Colonel Crockett's Violin" by Gillian Linscott, "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness" by Lyndsay Faye, "Time Will Tell" by Twist Phelan, "By Hook or By Crook" by Charlie Drees, "The Final Nail: A Val O'Farrell Story" by Bob Randisi, "Amapola" by Luis Alberto Urrea, "Cougar" by Laura Lippman, "Digby, Attorney at Law" by Jim Fusilli, "The Way They Limp" by Clark Howard, "O'Nelligan's Glory" by Michael Nethercott, "Between Sins" by Robert Levinson.
Since there is no interactive Table of Contents, pretty much the only way you can read through this large volume is to just read through it. "Julius Katz" was an unusual PI story; he wasn't constantly getting beat up and he uses an SF-quality gadget. Many of the stories had a dark, cynical feel, not surprising in P.I. stories but it also showed up in stories like "Family Affair," "Femme Sole," and "Blood Sacrifices and the Catatonic Kid." I had to laugh at the basic premise of "Telegraphing" although it's not a humorous story at all. "Pure Pulp" offered no likable characters but a clever solution. There had to be a couple of Sherlock Holmes stories, of course. "The Case of Colonel Crockett's Violin" was pretty decent, while "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness" glaringly failed to reproduce Doyle's narrative style. "Dark Chocolate" is horror rather than a true mystery. The book overall leaned heavily to PI stories, which I generally don't like. There were a disappointingly large number of typos and word misuses, such as "here eyes" instead of "her eyes," "check" instead of "cheek," "site precedent" instead of "cite precedent;" they didn't affect the readability much, but I don't expect sloppiness from this team and it's a recent enough book that the ebook should have been produced from an editorial file, not OCRed. Combining okay but not great stories with such poor proofreading, the highest I can rate this book is 3.
Sarah's tentative first stab at dating after her divorce shatters when the charming-sounding man who placed the personal turns out to be her father. Her well-meaning but overbearing sister places a personal ad for her.
I tried the first quarter of the book and it never grabbed my attention; the narrator wanders through her preschool teaching and family events apparently without purpose and certainly without anything interesting happening. If there was an actual story here, I never found it.
Widowed quilter Po, Kate, veterinarian Maggie, and Leah make up the Queen Bees quilting group. When a murder interrupts their usual Saturday quilting time, and fear takes over the friendly neighborhood, the women feel they have to find the killer.
Typically slow start as Goldenbaum introduced the characters by following them through their Saturday morning. Whodunit was pretty obvious. And neither the characters nor the meandering storyline ever grabbed me; I got halfway through and skipped to the end.
Investment counselor Hannah moves back to her small Illinois hometown to care for her sister Dilly, who is about to be released from prison. But Dilly has a new faith in Jesus and doesn't want Hannah to protect her.
I did not get far into this book before quitting; the characters are all carrying too much pain, and I don't enjoy wallowing in misery even if the ending is going to turn it all to joy.
Elderly widow Gertie Johnson decides the shooting of a local man was murder and determines to find the killer. Meanwhile, her son Blaze, the county sheriff, files suit to become her guardian and her best friend's hairdressing attempt leaves her with orange hair.
I can't complain about the slow start, as the first sentence is about the murder. But then Baker detours into a long presentation of her family and neighbors - and there isn't a likable character in the bunch. Gertie's involvement in the death has no real reason except orneriness, a pet peeve of mine. I got through the first quarter of the book, and I will admit I giggled when the fifth person asked about her newly-orange hair, but nothing else held my attention and I quit.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. A much-disliked woman dies unexpectedly and her physician brother suspects foul play.
Set in the Regency England of Jane Austen, the story is told completely in letters from a young woman living in Lyme to her sister Charlotte, who is visiting Bath. Unfortunately, Holt simply does not share Austen's genius at making the minutiae of the sisters' lives not only intriguing but relevant to the story. The first quarter of the book is tedious lead-in and it didn't become any more interesting after the woman's death. I quit a third of the way through the book. Kindle formatting was fine and there were minimal spelling/grammar errors.
Collection of short stories (The Coming of Mr. Quin, The Shadow On the Glass, At the 'Bells and Motley,' The Sign In the Sky, The Soul of the Croupier, The Man From the Sea, The Voice In the Dark, The Face of Helen, The Dead Harlequin, The Bird With the Broken Wing, The World's End, Harlequin's Lane) featuring Harley Quin, the "Harlequin" of theatre notoriety.
I tend to like short fiction when well-done, and the belated explanations of how-it-was-done in the initial, basically talking-heads story were very clever, and held my attention in spite of the lack of action. As the stories proceeded and Mr. Satterthwaite took a more active role in the situations, the stories became more active as well as clever. Like many Sherlock Holmes stories, apparently supernatural events turn out to have natural (although vicious) explanations. (Except for situations involving the mysterious Harley Quin, of course) The only element that bothered me was Christie's reliance on telling the reader what the characters were feeling, rather than showing; with her command of language, she could have livened up the stories considerably. As written, though, it is still an enjoyable collection of short trips to something similar to the Twilight Zone.
eBook downloaded from www.Gutenberg.org Old-fashioned romance as a young man pursues his lady fair by befriending her wild nephew, since her aunt wants her to marry a rich nobleman.
Okay but never caught my interest, consisting mostly of Imp's antics. I got halfway through and skipped to the end.
I borrowed this book from another Kindler through the Lendle.me website. When a vicious TV star shoots policeman Charlie Willis for making her late to a big sale, to avoid having her arrested the production company bribes him to star in his own series, and he takes it. But then he sees a beautiful young woman in danger from the same TV star and tries to protect her.
Although the writing was technically adequate, the characters were so unlikable as well as unbelievable I gave up 15% of the way through the book. Yes, life is strange in Los Angeles, but not *this* strange. The disjointed beginning didn't help.
A Terran spaceship pilot is captured by a 50,000-year-old sentient spacecraft that has replaced Earth's Moon in order to destroy the mutineers hiding in cold sleep under Antarctica. But the spacecraft also warns that a race of alien destroyers who has periodically wiped out developing life is headed towards Earth - again.
I rarely like threatened-end-of-life-as-we-know-it scenarios, and there was nothing in the first 15% of this book to catch my interest so I quit.
A man is severely mugged and has odd dreams and goes to live with his rich brother.
I read the first 10% and then quit, as nothing happened to grab my attention or even tell me what type of story was coming, and none of the characters were likable enough to make me want to read more.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. P.I. Jeff Rand accepts a job cataloguing and selling a gun collection when he realizes the collector's widow agreed to his exorbitant charge because she thinks the death wasn't accidental. He realizes the most valuable pieces have been quietly stolen and reveals the thief, while setting a trap for the killer that may cost him his life.
Unusual P.I. story in that Rand isn't constantly getting beat up. The plot moved right along. The only major flaw was that Piper his some of Rand's findings from the reader, and they would have affected the reader's expectations - I don't mind a writer fooling me but I demand that he play fair by revealing whatever the investigator learns. It had the feel of a series book, but if Piper wrote any more Jeff Rand mysteries, I haven't been able to find them.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Newspaper columnist Jillian and her plant-raising cronies are set to enjoy a gardening convention when the organizer's assistant turns up dead. Police chief Frank Viscuglia works with Jillian and company to find the killer.
Involving storyline but could have used proofreading as well as a dose of reality. The major flaw, that smacked me in the face on nearly every page once the murder had occurred, was the police chief's eager cooperation with Jillian in finding the killer. Not only do the professionals not welcome amateur involvement in crime-solving, in most jurisdictions they are not allowed to release details of the investigation to the public. And Jillian was logically one of the suspects! But this character practically acts as Jillian's assistant in the investigation, allowing her to rummage through the victim's belongings, calling her "partner," and even asking her to be present while he questions the other characters. The story itself was pretty interesting, but this was so blatantly unbelievable that I only got about halfway through before I couldn't take any more. The dialogue was awkward. There were lots of little flaws, such as a 2am murder being reported in the morning paper a few hours later - not enough time for a paper to be published unless they did a rare "special edition." Spelling/grammar/formatting were fairly decent, except for Thames' belief that to make a word or name plural, you add an apostrophe. For example, at one point, the chief exclaims "Rat's!" and at another, Jillian has "an appointment with the Westover's."
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Kayla left the cruise ship Aurora to escape a failed romance. Six years later, she is invited back as the author of a cruise ship travel guide, and meets both her scuzzy ex-boyfriend and a sexy magician. But when the ex-boyfriend turns up dead, Kayla and her friends are anxious to find the killer before any of them are arrested.
I started this book because it was labelled a murder mystery. It isn't; far more attention is paid to Kayla's love life and the various men in it than anything mystery-related. I got a quarter of the way through the romantic drivel and quit.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. In India, Polly Ghopal goes along as chaperone to her beloved grandson Yash when he is awarded a role in a Bollywood film. English fortuneteller Madam Zharinsky (actual name: Rose Catterat) attends a Bollywood film festival and meets famous Bollywood actor Dharma Trishna, who brings her to his Indian movie set. When the two women meet, Rose's resemblance to Polly's late daughter starts them investigating long-ignored family ties.
This book held my attention and I'm not sure why. I can only classify it as literary fiction, a genre that usually leaves me yawning with boredom. Forster-Walmsley writes from multiple points of view, a technique I usually dislike as distracting, but I had no trouble following this storyline. A long recitation of Mrs. Ghopal's family history got the book off to a tediously slow start, and then the first switch to Rose's POV interrupted the story again for a long recitation of her family history. Although there is no credit to a translator, there are odd misuses of words one would expect from someone who had not learned English as a first language, such as "seemed please to see her" or the phrase "the die was cast" mis-written as "the dye was cast." There are also a number of instances in which a common phrase is expanded to near-illegibility, such as "beginning to feel ice in his own lower extremities" instead of "cold feet." Every page features several awkward and convoluted sentences. Punctuation is erratic, including the missing period after Mrs in the title. Commas are scattered apparently at random; "the babbling of the, admittedly, spartan fountain" or "You pompous arrogant, old, prig!" But even though I found these flaws annoying, the characters and plot kept me involved right to the end. Kindle formatting was generally unexceptionable on my KK, except that the overused dashes appear as empty squares, but on K4PC there were odd type size changes and unindented new paragraphs.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Catherine Morton enjoys her life as a well-to-do spinster in Regency England. But when she accepts an invitation to visit family friends, she finds not only a man to whom she is strongly attracted, but also a murder to investigate.
Although it has some elements of a murder mystery, this is mostly a Regency romance, and I despise romances.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Nicholas Harford returns from a long research trip to find his father dead and his uncle Laurence threatening to contest the will leaving everything to Nicholas. But when Laurence is murdered, Inspector Fitzjohn has plenty of suspects besides Nicholas, who continues to search for information on his mother's death 30 years earlier.
Plot/Storyline:
Surprisingly good plot, although there are some minor inconsistencies, such as characters' ages not meshing with the elapsed time. There is also a feeling that Paterson hasn't decided whether she is writing a police procedural or a cozy, and I sensed occasionally that some scenes were put in because "I should show Fitzjohn's personal side here" rather than because it advanced the plot. The romance seemed contrived and was not very believable. What the Big Secret will be is pretty obvious. But Paterson managed several different storylines nicely and kept me reading from the solid fast start all the way to the end, without the all-too-common initial who-did-what explanations and plot-dragging in the middle of the book. Two major problems bothered me. When Nicholas gets the letter that Explains Everything, Paterson does not reveal the contents to the reader. I hate that and often quit a book at that point because the author has stopped playing fair with the reader. The ending left me confused. I didn't feel that I understood "why" so "who" wasn't quite believable.
Characters:
The characters felt real and Paterson avoided the tedious long background that too many writers indulge in, bringing the storyline to a screeching halt. We could have used a little more character explanation: Why was Lawrence so obnoxious? Why on earth did Julia ever marry him? But Paterson does a nice job showing us the relationship between a somewhat-dictatorial father and a cherished but independent son.
Writing style:
Dialogue was a little stilted but generally believable, sometimes even achieving distinct voices. Descriptions were usually adequate since I don't know the Sydney neighborhoods at all, so if it was important to know it takes a certain length of time to get from one to another, I missed it.
Editing:
Pretty good, with occasional word misuse such as "grizzly" when she meant "grisly" (describing a murdered body, not one mauled by a bear).
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. "Rabbi" Hawkins chose the army as an alternative to jail and his goal was to do as little as possible. He gets involved in a treasure hunt involving a couple of dead men.
The writing is generally adequate, although there were some spelling oddities such as capitalizing "platoon." There are no formatting or grammar horrors. It helps to be somewhat familiar with army training to understand what is going on. But Rabbi is not a likable character and his focus is on finding the treasure - the accumulating dead bodies are simply an annoyance to him. Nor does Miller stay focused on the plot. I got halfway through and realized during a long battle exercise scene (not relevant to the storyline) that I didn't care what came next. This seems to be another example of the "clever title, uninteresting story" rule.
eBook downloaded free from www.Gutenberg.org Beautiful authoress Augusta Smithers flees to New Zealand, and her fellow traveller is the selfish publisher Meeson whose refusal to pay her a fair price for her best-seller she blames for her invalid sister's death. But when they are shipwrecked and the dying Meeson wants to leave his fortune to Eustace, the nephew he disinherited for her sake, Augusta bears having it tattooed onto her skin and after being rescued, she returns to England so Eustace can claim his inheritance.
Although I can't point to any particular flaws, I never got involved in the story. The characters are fairly one-note but not obnoxiously so, and the story moved along as well as anything written around 1888. But it never held my interest; I got halfway through and then skipped to the end.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. It contains recipes using various kinds of truffles found in the U.S., particularly the Pacific Northwest.
While some of the recipes look interesting, and I enjoyed learning about truffle-hunting in the U.S., the formatting is so horrible that I was astounded to see that the long, boring introduction singled out NATS members by name to be commended for their formatting efforts! Some recipes don't even provide an ingredient list, so the cook has to pick out what will be needed by reading the directions. Some recipes clearly have missing directions, with partial sentences left hanging. Only recommended for utterly devoted mushroom/truffle fans and if they can pick it up free, but what I'd really like to see would be for the NATS to fix the formatting and update the book!
I borrowed this book from another Kindler through the Lendle.me website. Hannah and company investigate when a jazz band member is stabbed after a massive pile-up. Meanwhile, the unbelievable Norman/Dr. Bev engagement proceeds towards a wedding.
The engagement storyline is a huge drawback to the series. Norman is nice but not stupid, and it is not credible that he would enter into marriage based on the claim that he can't otherwise see a girl he supposedly fathered. I tried to concentrate on the murdered keyboardist storyline but couldn't get past the other; halfway through, I skipped to the not-very-satisfying ending.
in omnibus Miles, Mystery and Mayhem
Sent to Cetaganda to attend the funeral of the Empress, Miles stumbles onto a complicated plot to destabilize the Cetagandan empire and blame the Barrayarans. As he tries to assist the late Empress' haut Handmaiden to recover a missing genetic tool, he has to calm Ivan's fears and evade the Ambassador's questions - and those of his spymaster.
Complicated political storyline rich in a look at different cultures. I'm not sure I ever figured out all the layers of plot, but it kept me reading.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. Story: A loser complains about bad luck at her job and her husband dumping her for a pretty, young, successful Other Woman.
Unless you like train wrecks, there is no reason to read this book. There is no story, just Robin whining and being manipulated.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway. A postal employee/Miss Marple wannabe decides to investigate when a new resident is found murdered.
There are so many flaws I don't know where to begin. Rees gets off to a fast start but then loses focus. Why does Rees initially drown the reader with Miss Pettybone's morning routine, especially the details of her shower? When is the book supposed to be set? At one point, she establishes that Miss Pettybone has been working for the Post Office in the small town of Beatty, Mississippi, for 17 years, starting in 1975, which would make it 1992. But Miss Pettybone carries a cell phone, and in 1992 cell phones were extremely expensive, humongous devices requiring a battery the size of an attache case, and coverage was only available in large cities. Miss Pettybone has a boring job and a boring life, so that qualifies her to investigate a murder? She was neither likable nor believable. The spelling, grammar, and formatting are mostly acceptable (which is why it didn't get a 1-star rating), but the story weaknesses bothered me so much I quit 13% of the way through.
I picked up Heaven on Earth: New Zealand South Island free during an Amazon giveaway.
Narrative of the author's trip around New Zealand, with accompanying photographs.
I desperately wanted to like this book. I love good travelogues and the New Zealand scenery, from all the photos I've seen, is spectacular. But the book was just too awful for words. First, the narrative was disjointed, poorly written, and at times degenerated into gibberish. What they ate is arguably relevant, even when it is just "ham and egg on toast," but if Haws is sharing what food to expect, he needs to tell us what kind of "sandwich and pastry" he had. When he writes "a clerk cut up and gave us a fruit I had never seen before" but doesn't tell us what the fruit was or what it tasted like, how does that benefit the reader? What does "We went to the mall and walked around" contribute to the story? Haws' word use ranged from awkward to execrable; in one paragraph everything was "amazing," in another everything was "beautiful." What is a "communinal" kitchen? Cliffs may be "sheer" but they are not "shear." What is CHC? Or QTown? I eventually figured out that CHC was probably Christchurch, but if Haws is using local lingo, he needs to explain that to the reader.
I was really looking forward to the photos. They were too small to see on my K4Android, but reasonably sized on my K4PC. But too many of them were slightly out of focus and/or not relevant, such as the "campervan" the author rented or someone eating a sandwich at a picnic table. Some seemed to be missing - several scattered single-line descriptions appear to be captions, but there is no photo. One was too dark to see much. Why does he describe the beauty of the Blue Pools but offer a photo only of the swinging bridge on the trail to get there? He describes the rock formations in the Tasman Sea and visitors piling rocks onto driftwood. But the only photo he shares is a closeup of a forearm-sized white rock with their names written on it!
I could go on but it's too discouraging. There might be a good travelogue buried somewhere in this book, if the author was willing to pay an editor to pull it out. But as is, even though I picked it up free it was overpriced.
I picked up From The Back Acres, A Humorous Guide to Organic Gardening free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
Intended to be a humorous book of gardening advice. Several chapters from this book have been excerpted to sell separately by the author, including Let's Talk Veggies : A Small Garden Handbook (chapter 11).
The "humor" part is the commentary allegedly written by Tom and Barbara, the geese. I find that type of attribution uninteresting-corny so I would not describe the book as humorous. The spelling is erratic; not even the gardening terms are reliably correct. As an example, he praises "secession planting." That's right, according to Back, the Civil War was a type of gardening. Personally, I prefer "succession planting." The Kindle formatting is awful beyond description. The type size changes at random. Some photos were apparently laid out two-across, but there is not room for two of them on my Kindle Keyboard, so the photos appear one at a time and then I see the two captions with intermingled words so I can't even tell which words belonged with which photo. There is no interactive table of contents, only a list of chapters without links located BEFORE the "beginning" of the book.
So, if you can wade through misspellings and poor formatting, is the information valuable? By now, you probably won't be surprised to learn that at least some of it is flat-out wrong. He praises earthworms for, among other functions, processing compost. Anyone who has actually done worm composting knows that you need a different kind of worm, red wigglers, while the earthworms that are so useful in the garden are nightcrawlers. He also defines "organic gardening" as not using chemicals. In this case, it isn't just a matter of different people using different definitions. The USDA co-opted the term "organic" in 1990, and its definition (in complete contradiction of the spirit of organic gardening) allows some chemical poisons. Look up "organic food" in Wikipedia if it is too much to believe that an ebook published in 2010 would contain information 20 years out of date. Back also suffers from a common disease called "what happens to me will happen to everyone." The slugs that are prevalent in the Pacific Northwest, which he spends a lot of space discussing, do not exist here in dry Wyoming. And I would be thrilled beyond words to find wild blackberries growing on my property.
The book isn't 100% beyond hope. There are a few helpful (if correct) factoids about companion planting and growing vegetables, and he offers an interesting look at gardening in the Pacific Northwest (if nowhere else). But unless you pick up this book free and absolutely cannot afford to purchase a more useful one, the scattered gems are buried in too much muck for my taste.
After losing both parents during the Civil War, Kentucky tomboy Jesselynn tackles taking what is left of their horse farm stock to safety.
I couldn't get into this book at all, it was too depressing and gloomy - not surprising given the subject matter but not what I enjoy reading.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway.
I'm always skeptical of claims like this, but I am so morbidly obese that I'm facing a second surgery to try to lose weight, so I will try just about anything.
The author claims that if we stop dieting, we would wind up at our body's "natural shape" except that we'll either get "pulled" into trying one more diet, or binge and scare ourselves into trying another diet, or "experience a short 'honeymoon period' of normal eating and exhilaration followed by excitement about the weight you're losing which drives you back to counting up and measuring what you're allowed to eat (back to dieting)."
The foreward immediately aggravated me by telling me what I was going to feel. Lady, you don't know me, or you'd know how your patronizing attitude was making me feel pissed. The rest of the forward was unsupported claims intertwined with gibberish. The one clearly true statement is "I'm not a doctor or a psychologist and I don't have any medical qualifications." Of course, that doesn't keep her from claiming to be a weight loss expert anyway, as she attempts to brainwash the reader about the "evil diet industry" that has been keeping us from losing weight all these years. Her three options (previous paragraph) were so absurd that she lost me 11% into the book. I went YEARS without dieting, which would make my "natural shape" double what would be a good weight for me if her "plan" was correct. Just another ripoff of those of us who desperately want to lose weight. There is no active table of contents, but spelling/grammar/formatting are okay.
Nikolas pulls Mags and his team into investigating again when the mysterious killers are replaced by two incredibly dangerous agents. But when Mags finds a link between the new agents and the Palace, the assignment ends abruptly.
As often happens in the final book of one of Lackey's trilogies, this one had a much darker feel than the earlier books. Mags and Nikolas are desperately trying to prevent the destruction of Valdemar during a misery-making heat wave that even drives wedges between Mags and his friends. And Lackey includes spurts of preaching (her major weakness as a writer), this time equating belief in the "one true way" idea with being an evil super-agent. The whole information-from-a-stone storyline smacks of deus ex machina, and those who were disappointed at the failure to resolve the major storylines have a valid criticism. But the bottom line is: as with previous books in the series (although not all of her series by any means), this kept me reading and I had trouble putting it down.
I picked up this book free during an Amazon giveaway.
Very short pamphlet with 25 suggested comments and compliments for parents (or other relatives or friends) to use with children.
This happens to be a hot button for me. Before I had kids, I saw many parents making vicious, derogatory comments to kids that were just being kids, and I was determined to both offer positive comments to my children whenever possible and to make sure that when necessary, I would criticize the action, not the child. Kightly selected some of the same phrases I used, such as "I'm proud of you" and "You're the best daughter/son ever." But I don't see a difference between, say, "I love you," "I adore you" (which I actually think sounds phony), and "I heart you," which Kightley lists as separate items. And she could have expanded on when to use some of the comments. Text-speak would only be meaningful to a child who had a cell phone and enjoys texting. Hugging and kissing a child could be reward or punishment, depending on the child's age and preference. Same for singing "You Are My Sunshine." "I'm proud of you" is marvellous encouragement WHEN the child has either just accomplished something, or made a real effort at a task that he/she was unable to perform. But children know when they haven't done anything to be proud of, and "I'm proud of you" under those circumstances is more likely to reinforce a poor self-image. "Gee, I'm so pitiful that Mom (or Dad) has to lie to me." (If the parent is proud of the child for something more general, like "you've remembered to feed the dog all week" or "you haven't hit your little sister all month," it needs to be spelled out for the child.) The book is a good starting point for parents (or other relatives) who lack good parental role models, but it does not provide one-size-fits-all recommendations.
Collection of snack recipes suitable for casual parties.
Many of these recipes, as expected, are the same you've seen in dozens of other cookbooks and websites: tortilla swirls, jalapeno poppers, flavored pretzel/cereal/nut combinations, numerous burger and chili recipes. But the ones that seemed unique enough to check were all taken from websites without permission or credit. That is called plagiarism, Jarrett, and is both illegal and unethical. Roasted Pepper, Basil and Fontina Sandwiches, Festive Spinach Dip, and Mushroom Super Bowl Chili were stolen from cooksrecipes.com; Shaved Pork Loin Sandwich with Caramelized Onions came from AmericanProfile.com; Green Chile Bread Bowl Fondue exactly matches the recipe on meals.com. 1 star for plagiarism.
Mushers running the famous Iditarod race are dying of unnatural causes. Investigator Trooper Jensen asks musher Jessie's help in understanding the race and the racers, in order to find the killer.
Straightforward police procedural but in a challenging setting that held my interest, although the storyline jumped around at times and the sheer number of characters left me occasionally confused. The backstory on mushing the trail was fascinating and never allowed to overpower the plot, and the ending satisfied.
Patricia Ann and Mary Alice are sisters and complete opposites. But when the man who sold Mary Alice a C&W bar is killed there the next night, the sisters find themselves trying to prove the murderer is not one of Patricia Ann's former students.
Surprisingly interesting, since Mary Alice is an overbearing know-it-all and Patricia Ann lets her dictate large chunks of her life. But it kept me reading up to the awful deus-ex-machina ending and explanation that mostly relied on information that had NOT been given to the reader, which bitterly disappointed me and is the reason for the low rating.
Peter and Kori Brichter travel to Pennsylvania to participate in an SCA "war." But Kori finds a genuinely dead body, which abruptly ends the fun and Peter must prove to the closed-minded investigator that she is not the killer.
Pulver nails the exciting/bizarre atmosphere of SCA activities, but didn't need to spend the first 40% of the book on it. And there were so many characters that I only managed to keep a few straight - I don't count it against a story if I don't figure out the killer, and I expect red herrings as well as legitimate clues, but the sheer quantity of people made it not even fun to try to figure out who was where when. The story kept me reading but the ending did not satisfy me.
A Pinkerton's man and his assistant head for 1870's Cheyenne to solve a murder.
This story badly needs proofreading (at a minimum) and editing sure wouldn't hurt - sentences with too many verbs and confusing/repetitive descriptors sometimes made it a challenge to figure out what McCormick was trying to say. Looking at a map would have been a good idea, too - the story opens as Gideon and Killian travel across the plains of the new state of Nebraska - TOWARDS Omaha. But Omaha is right at the eastern edge of the state, which would make them travelling east rather than west, towards Cheyenne. In addition to all this, McCormick was more interested in philosophizing than telling a story. I gave up about 10% through because practically all that had happened was talking heads.
Law school dropout Abby owns a struggling flower shop, but when a fleeing man (who may have just committed a murder) smashes into her beloved Corvette and runs off, she is determined to ignore the "leave it to the police" attitude of the arrogant bar owner next door and track him down.
This is just the type of attempted-cutesy tale I despise. Abby has no spine and turns to goo whenever patronizing Marco stares at her or touches her. Collins wanders back and forth between the current story and meditations on Abby's ambitious mother and perfect brothers. Then there was the whole mysterious "them" out to get Abby. I got a quarter of the way through and gave up - there simply wasn't anything to like.
Supposedly "garden tricks and tips not found in the garden books." An excerpt, Chapter 11, from his book From The Back Acres, A Humorous Guide to Organic Gardening, but not identified as such.
Back is apparently a big fan of seed packets. All I can say is that whoever he buys seeds from must put more information on their seed packets than the ones I buy. Yes, they cover the basics like how deep and how far apart to plant, but sometimes they don't even include how many days to harvest! Back does give some useful information on onions, peas, and carrots, particularly how to get the onions ready to store. He also gives good information on saving seed, including *how* to "ferment" tomato seed (which I have seen recommended other places, but no actual instructions). His spelling and grammar are better than most indies (although he still misused "it's" when he meant the possessive "its"), but his habit of sticking random phrases inside quotes quickly became annoying. The rating was raised for containing useful information I haven't seen elsewhere (although I haven't tested how accurate it is) but lowered for excerpting another book without telling the reader - smacks of deceptively trying to get you to purchase the same material twice. (This might be accidental on his part, he is selling a number of ebooks that are actually excerpts from the same main book but are identified as such in the product description.)
The usual recommendations: follow the DASH diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, cut down on salt and sugar, lose weight. But she included specific foods to increase intake of potassium, magnesium, and calcium, and suggests stevia instead of artificial sweeteners. She also recommends eating whole fruit instead of fruit juice, which has more concentrated sugars. Then she discusses alternative food therapies such as fish oil, garlic, turmeric, green tea, and folic acid, and activities such as biofeedback and yoga. And of course she includes that you need to quit smoking.
While there were a few new ideas in the book, her ideas of flavor seem to be quite different from her audience's. I like salads, but would not consider one a substitute for mac & cheese, no matter how many times she describes it as "yummy." And olive oil spread on a baked potato is not what I would call "delicious" - cardboard-tasting would be a more accurate description. Some of the recipes looked interesting, although I've never been able to get anything usable from fennel and the idea of sardines in a salad almost sent me running to the bathroom. I'm also suspicious of recipes using cream cheese, which is high in sodium as well as fat. Most of the alternative therapies I couldn't use, such as cranberry juice (which tastes awful and didn't she just recommend NOT drinking juices?). Also, the cover is for a different book - sloppiness on the author's part. I'll be trying some of the dietary changes simply because I'll try almost ANYTHING to get my blood pressure down, but overall, there isn't much here for anyone who is moderately knowledgable about their body.
As The Tradition forces Godmother Lily's gold-rich kingdom towards catastrophe, she desperately tries to protect Princess Rosamund and her people by setting up trials to win the Princess' hand.
Plot/Storyline: 4.75 stars
When she doesn't get distracted into preaching mode, there are few who can match Lackey for sheer storytelling, as she demonstrates again in this book combining elements from several different fairy tales. From the fast start, the reader is never given a chance to draw breath as the plot-driven tale rocks from one danger to the next. There is the usual slight disjointedness as Lackey tends to write several sequential stories rather than a single unified storyline, but each story is enjoyable on its own, and Lily's desperate attempts to come up with suitable trials are sheer genius. There are a few minor plot holes. It didn't make sense that an evil sorcerer is able to hide from experienced godmother Lily but sets inept spells to control Rosa. I'm not convinced that the final great plan to protect Eltaria would be less expensive than war, although it was certainly creative! The ending was a little disappointing, but believable and consistent with the existing canon. However, these quibbles don't change the fact that the story gripped me almost immediately and never let go. There are very few series that I will buy immediately, even by authors I generally like; the turning-classics-sideways Five Hundred Kingdoms is one of them, and this is a worthy addition to an enjoyable and satisfying collection. About the only people I can think of who wouldn't enjoy this book would be those who don't like fantasy of any kind.
Characters: 5 stars
The main characters are well-drawn, and their pure goodness (as well as the pure evil of the bad guys) is believable because it is required by The Tradition. But even within those limitations, Lackey was able to make them more interesting. Rosa is eager to learn self-defense. Siegfried's thews of iron cover an actual brain, and his aid to animals is classic Hero behavior as well as foreshadowing. Godmother Lily combines Fae cleverness and human determination with a natural despair at being able to manipulate The Tradition to adequately protect her kingdom. The secondary characters include a lisping unicorn, whose dopey behavior around virgins again lends a delightful comic note, as well as obnoxious dwarves and a smart-mouthed mirror servant. Lackey also managed a character who had both good and bad qualities, and who the reader couldn't anticipate would be a help or hindrance in any particular situation. As usual, some characters did not behave as a fairy tale reader would expect!
Writing style: 5 stars
Dialogue moves along well and displays distinct voices for the characters. Descriptions are appropriate and left me feeling I could see the dwarves' hovel or find my way around the castle.
ebook downloaded free from www.webscription.net
Count Vorkosigan assigns new Academy graduate Miles to investigate what might be the murder of a deformed baby. To succeed, Miles will have to overcome not only the hill people's suspicion of an outsider but their misjudgment of him as a mutant.
Plot/Storyline: 4.75 stars
First, I should make it clear I am not a fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, and if I had realized before starting this short story that it was a Vorkosigan story, I would have skipped it. And I would have missed this lovely example of that rare genre, the SF mystery. The plot-driven tale starts quickly, as Miles meets up with bereaved mother Harra, claiming her right to appeal the murder of her baby daughter to the Count. Miles' digression for a burnt offering on his grandfather's grave slowed the plot down a bit but otherwise it moved right along, as Bujold deftly wove Miles' background and relationship with his father's men into gathering information on the murder. The available scientific and medical techniques of the future are reasonable, as is the hillbilly environment where the murder took place. The one unbelievable element was that such a young man, who had suffered so much from needing to prove himself, would make such a satisfactory investigation and judgment. His consideration and understanding that the local residents will have to still live with each other after he leaves are suspiciously well-developed, but it's easy to forgive Bujold that stretch. It made me want to try the rest of the Vorkosigan books again.
Characters: 5 stars
Bujold's familiarity with the universe and characters she created shows. Miles and Harra both feel real, although we are given minimal backstory on either of them. (We eventually learn more about Harra through Miles' eyes, inspecting her house.) Bujold shows us details such as Count Vorkosigan trying to balance his responsibilities to his people and his son, and the local "speaker" with different priorities than Miles. Bujold excels at setting up the reader to expect one type of behavior from a character and then providing something different - a nice asset in a mystery. Even the minor characters were completely believable, from the Speaker's excitable boys to the Count's fussy assistant physician to Miles' horse. In fact, it's amazing how much character development Bujold crams into a short story without hampering the storyline.
Writing style: 5 stars
Sentence structure is fine. Dialogue is excellent and conveys much information through style as well as words. Descriptions are appropriate and informative.
Uneven collection featuring different sleuths Collection of four Lord Peter Wimsey stories (The Image in the Mirror, The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey, The Queen's Square, The Necklace of Pearls); six Montague Egg stories (The Poisoned Dow '08, Sleuths on the Scent, Murder in the Morning, One Too Many, Murder at Pentecost, Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz); and two "other" stories (The Man Who Knew How, The Fountain Plays)
The stories vary somewhat in style and quality. The Image in the Mirror and Sleuths on the Scent were "talking heads" stories and never grabbed me. The rest were quite clever, although some in a creepy way that bordered on horror. This isn't the most engrossing collection I've ever read, although Lord Peter fans will want to read it to make sure they have finished the oeuvre.
Radio play about two reporters investigating who wants to demolish a senior residence - and why.
Although the occasional incorrect grammar bothered me, the larger problem was the discrepancy between ambition and execution. Even though the author crammed a lot of events into a relatively short piece - I'm guessing it would take less than a half-hour to stage - I didn't like any of the shallow, undeveloped characters, and the play didn't hold my attention.
In medieval Japan, Judge Dee is drafted to rubber-stamp an apparent suicide on Paradise Island, but when he finds surprising similarities to a 30-year-old suicide in the same room, he and Ma Joong dig beneath the glittery surface.
Impeccable history, believable characters, and an involving storyline with plenty of plot twists. I would have liked a little more character development, but on the other hand, van Gulik avoids the trap of having too much going on in the character's heads.
Low-fat recipes considered flavorful by the Kelleys.
Many of the usual attempts to make low-fat edible, including adding fat-free cheese to egg whites and calling the result an omelet, and "blueberry" muffins made with oat bran instead of flour. However, there are also plenty of recipes using normal ingredients, some of which look pretty tasty, like the Posole or Red Snapper Veracruz. Unfortunately, they did not include an active Table of Contents, so you are on your own for finding any specific recipe.
Plot/Storyline: 4.25 stars
This book, frankly, suffers from genre confusion. It opens in the most tedious chick-lit-style, as Moore devotes the first 20% of the book to a disorganized history of Sidney growing up in the South, her shopping activities, bypassing college (and, more astonishingly, sorority rush) to work in NYC, her apartment, her clients, adjusting to life in the big city, and her activities. But once the High Steppers assemble and Sidney and co-worker Jay start shepherding them on the tour, Moore switches to a plot-focused mystery. She provides a valid reason for amateur Sidney to investigate the murders, avoiding one of my pet peeves with cozies. The pace drags a bit in the third quarter, common in mysteries, but it wasn't bad enough to set me skipping parts of the book. I found Sidney's occasionally clever actions inconsistent with her frequent distraction by arrogant and/or suspiciously-behaving men (unless this is meant to be further illustration of the "Marsh curse"). Some well-organized red herrings confused Sidney as well as the reader. I did not find the ending satisfying. I can't point to any specific piece of information that wasn't given to the reader, but my reaction when All Was Revealed was "huh?" rather than "aha!" That the story kept me reading, curious to find out what happened next, raised my rating somewhat.
Characters: 2.75 stars
Overall, characterization was weak. Moore started by dumping way too much Sidney information on the reader. Sidney claims Jay is a perfect best friend, but his actual behavior is not supportive or reliable. We are told rather than shown that the Murphys are obnoxious but memorable. The rest of the High Steppers remained mostly indistinguishable from each other or the ship's crew, and I had a lot of trouble keeping the characters straight. Moore included information in the scenes to help the reader remember who the characters were, but with better-fleshed-out characters, she wouldn't have needed to.
Writing style: 3.5 stars
Dialogue was believable but never felt specific to any character. Descriptions of the locations were fine - Moore is clearly very familiar with both shipboard travel and the Scandinavian cities her characters visit - but shortchanged the people.
School psychologist Skye Denison reluctantly moves back home after losing her job and her fiance. But the hometown folks haven't forgiven her for telling them off 12 years earlier, and the police chief is determined to prove her brother Vince murdered a vicious former resident.
Mostly believable characters make a pleasant change in this fast read. Skye isn't a wuss, she just gets out-maneuvered. The obligatory romance did not ring true, and the stereotypical religious-type character was unbelievable as well as annoying. And I'm not sure the evidence was there to figure out whodunit. But the story kept me reading and I found the ending believable. And the title was very appropriate.
Sir Geoffrey is assigned to investigate a series of murders, first by his lord Tancred; then by the Advocate, secular head of Jerusalem; and finally by the Patriarch, head of the Church in Jerusalem. As he investigates with the help of his fellow-knights Hugh and Roger, he also has to dance around the complicated political allegiances and the possibility that one of the men he reports to may not want the truth revealed.
Geoffrey is a likeable if not-completely-true-to-his-period hero. Part of the difference is explained by his interest in learning, but he still didn't feel right. I would have forgiven this if the story had held my interest, but it dragged by the time I was halfway through, and I finally skipped to the end.
In this 11th entry in Dunn's cozy historical mystery series, Daisy's working trip to ancient Brockdene is co-opted by her mother for a family Christmas with an earl. But a murder pulls Alec back into working mode, with enthusiastic help from Daisy, Belinda, and Derek.
Engaging and mostly solid story with some weak elements. See my more detailed review at http://redadeptreviews.com/
An oversized female Manhattan PI investigates the murder of a reclusive old lady.
Typical smart-mouth PI-type narrating a boring story in what she thinks is a cute way. Another piece of evidence for my theory that a clever title means the author has used up her quota and the story itself will lack any interest.
New empty-nester Frances is surprised to be hired as chaperone to an obnoxious child star. But her sympathies swing to little Twinkle, and when a death occurs, Frances doesn't know whether Twinkle is responsible - or the intended victim.
Stenstreem specializes in unlikable characters, which means I give up on most of her books fairly quickly. But she occasionally produces a story that holds my attention in spite of the awful characters - and this one kept me reading right up to the end.
The author writes a spy story around "cute" photos of his kittens.
Mildly amusing concept but expanded way beyond what it could support.
An officer's wife in 1930's England writes in her diary about the people and activities in her life.
Mostly unlikable people doing boring things. Husband Tim is a self-centered twerp, and Mrs. Tim seems to spend most of her time gossiping. I couldn't get into it at all, and the lack of a storyline didn't help.
Marcus drafts Libertus to investigate the death of an arrogant visitor with Imperial ties. But Libertus' suspicion of the Imperial warrant may end in his own death.
Involving story, as Libertus tries to solve the mystery without getting himself or his patron in trouble with the Emperor, and a satisfactory ending. There was a lot of explaining at the end, and talking heads always drag a bit.
When a widely-disliked man is found dead at the vicar's house, he wants to be part of the investigation. Among the other village residents who keep turning up, asking whodunit, is Miss Marple.
In this first book in the Miss Marple series, she does not show to advantage; she's a nosy village spinster, and the storyline itself dragged terribly. I had trouble keeping the characters straight and finally skipped to the end.
Living in London with his dying mother, young Digory befriends Polly next door. When his selfish Uncle Arthur tricks them into going to another world, they inadvertently bring a cruel witch to London and then find themselves at the birth of a new land called Narnia, where Digory will suffer the most agonizing test of his life.
Although not the first Narnia tale Lewis wrote, it tells the tale of how Narnia came to be, as well as being an engrossing story in its own right, with charming color illustrations. Although technically written for children, and suitable for most young people (the Witch may trigger nightmares in very sensitive little ones), the beautiful characterization and layered plot lines provide plenty to enthrall adults as well.
Sales pitch for rearranging one's eating and exercise to mimic the professional athletes and bodybuilders.
Kelley makes some good points, but this book is ONLY a sales pitch - there is no how-to at all, not even a "join this program" or "buy this book" although he does mention his Fitness Program book. As is, this book is a waste of time.
Very short (285 locations) ebook of moderately funny one-liners.
Not great, and certainly not worth paying for, but most of them made me smile even if nothing was so irresistibly funny I laughed out loud. Tayler's obsession with baldness might be more amusing to someone fighting that problem than it was to me, but there was a good comment that bionics should be cheap by now and another about the lack of email in Star Wars.
Eleyna has hidden her mother's gorgeous court gown for years, to keep her stepmother from selling it. But when the duke finally gives a ball, Eleyna is determined to attend wearing the gown and dazzle everyone.
A bit slow-paced but the ending caught me completely by surprise. More of a concern is that none of the main characters were particularly likable.
Mrs. Pollifax helps a frightened girl she finds hiding in her house escape from the thugs pursuing her, and winds up preventing the murder of an African king.
I have finally tired of this series. While the characters remain likable, the convoluted and coincidental plot (entirely typical of the series) simply irritated me. I got halfway through and quit.
An Irish woman narrates her experience of coming to the U.S. to work at the Magic Kingdom.
Might be moderately interesting to someone contemplating following in her footsteps, but since I've been to Disney numerous times, had friends who worked there, and never intend to work there myself, I was completely bored and gave up before she actually started work.
ebook short story downloaded free from www.Gutenberg.org
A Frenchman blackmails an English duke to introduce him into society to pursue an English beauty.
Predictable storyline but interesting portrayals of both individuals and Regency English society mores.
ebook downloaded free from www.Gutenberg.org
A poor printer and his family try to survive in London.
If there was a story here, I never found it, only tedious descriptions of his neighborhood, his unproductive business, and a brutal criminal neighbor. The endless descriptions rivaled Dickens in quantity but not in quality. I dragged myself through as much as I could but didn't manage to get through the first quarter of the book.
Science Fiction ebook downloaded free from www.webscription.net
Humans land on a planet populated by sentient clam-analogues, and their only food source is clam regurgitations.
This story was stronger when it focused on the sentient clams than the humans that landed on their world. The human part of the story dragged so much that I gave up about halfway through the book; it wasn't interesting enough to keep me reading.
ebook downloaded free from www.Gutenberg.org
A young man is shipwrecked aboard his father's East Indiaman sailing to the Orient.
Okay Robinson Crusoe-type South Pacific adventure, probably aimed at boys, featuring native attacks, finding food, and young Mark at the center of every event. But it's a slow read and I skimmed through the second half.
A secretly impoverished French nobleman decides to marry a secretly impoverished proud beauty and her solicitor tries to get the nobleman to agree to a marriage contract without seeing any money from it.
I don't like golddigger stories whether male or female, and in this case both parties were out for the money (nor was the story interesting or humorous) so I quit.
Bree's discovery of her supervisor's murdered body sets her up as the prime suspect and affects her jobs and relationships in her small Vermont town.
Flawed but overall enjoyable tale with serious formatting problems. See my more detailed review at http://redadeptreviews.com/moonlighting-in-vermont-by-kate-george/
A small-town Englishwoman writes a book portraying her neighbors - who don't appreciate it.
Realistic enough characters, but not necessarily likable, and the disorganized storyline was about as exciting as watching grass grow as it bounced between characters. I got about a quarter of the way through before giving up.
A Southern matriarch/mayor feuds with her governor nephew.
Another story that lost me at the beginning. The mayor is sentenced by an obviously prejudiced judge but doesn't appeal it. I can suspend some disbelief but this was so blatant I couldn't ignore it. Also, I have suffered enough injustice from the courts in real life that I don't enjoy reading about it in fiction.
Grandmother recollects growing up in the Mormon church.
I could not get into this at all. Geer started with an extended description of being grateful she was born a white Mormon and then went into how our God "grew up" under a different God that did not interest or appeal to me at all. I gave up quickly.
An Irish flight attendant babbles about serving travellers, living with her parents, and the screenplay she wants to write some day.
I don't know what is with this "author" because she doesn't write stories. If you want to listen to an endless stream of self-pitying drivel, you'll love this book. If you look for an actual story, better skip it. I finished the 10% sample out of sheer determination, and had no interest whatsoever in reading any more.
eBook downloaded from www.Gutenberg.org
Short story about an old Frenchman who comes to Paris to see why his nephew and heir is suddenly penniless
Moderately interesting but shallow characters
In 1705, a Puritan tomboy's world is shattered when her mother is captured in an Indian raid, but she stays with a kind pastor's family and sees how useful the womanly skills are that she has scorned.
Mostly likable characters in a story that moves right along, and the few historical flaws (such as a Puritan mother allowing her daughter to abandon housewifery to play with her brothers) would not affect young readers. The charming illustrations showed up well even on my Kindle for Android phone. Good story for somewhat advanced readers, comparable to the Bobbsey Twins books in length and vocabulary.
eBook downloaded from www.Gutenberg.org
Adam gives deceitful Ottila one year to become the woman she pretended to be or he will end their engagement. Meanwhile, spending time with another friend, he falls in love with generous and virtuous Sylvia.
Alcott's saccharine praise of "modest womanhood" gets old, and both Adam and Sylvia are one-note characters that did not hold my interest. I only lasted about a third of the way through this very preachy tale.
A woman who just turned 30 searches for a Mr. Right to escort her to a party hosted by a highschool tormentor.
Yet another chick lit tale featuring underemployed, unlikable women desperate for men and bouncing from one bed to another. I finished the sample and had no interest in reading the rest of the book.
Self-character-study of a Ukrainian woman trapped in her crime-ridden town without decent men or a future.
Thoroughly depressing but quite possibly accurate depiction of post-Soviet Russia, but without a real storyline. I quit about a quarter of the way through.
A collection of recipes designed to be made in the crockpot
Interesting-sounding but the non-dip recipes I tried did not come out well. See my more detailed review at http://redadeptreviews.com/
A vacationing poet who finds a dead woman in a mysterious toy shop recruits Fen's assistance, drawing them both into a complicated plot.
I thought whodunit was pretty obvious by the time I was halfway through, but the twists and turns kept me reading anyway, and it turned out I was wrong! Always a plus. However, Fen is such an irritating character that I don't particularly want to read more about him, no matter how clever the storylines are (and I'm not convinced all the clues were there for the reader to figure it out).
A woman has to arrange care for her father, his wife, and her mentally handicapped son.
Totally unsympathetic and unbelievable characters. Rebecca flies across the country to come to the aid of the father who abandoned her, and the woman he abandoned her for? Instead of letting the local social services worry about it? And the woman who broke up his marriage is still trying to justify herself? Hey, folks, if you go catting around and dump your legitimate family, there will be consequences. I got about 60 pages read, to see if anything interesting was going to happen, and it didn't so I quit.
A meter maid who wants to be a detective bores the reader with endless backstory on her life.
So my description doesn't sound like a story? There WAS no story! Even for a self-pub, this was a mind-boggling collection of drivel. I gave up when I got 11% through and THERE WAS STILL NO SIGN OF A STORY!
A runaway priest is shanghaied into a troupe of players that presents a play based on a local murder.
I give up on this author, he hasn't written ANYTHING that held my attention. In this case, the narrating priest is more focused on "if I had only known" breastbeating than telling a coherent story. The characters were moderately interesting but they didn't DO anything.
eBook downloaded from www.Gutenberg.org
An American millionaire sets off on a walking tour and is distracted by a lovely Kentish lass.
Rather sweet romance with the course of true love complicated by misunderstandings and villainous neighbors.
How to get out from under massive debt.
This is yet another short basic finance book, with the same good advice as found in most of them: get an accurate picture of your financial status, pay off the most dangerous debts first, negotiate with creditors, reduce your expenses. Although Adams replaces the usual word "budget" with what she considers a more friendly term, "spending strategy," the advice still boils down to self-control and assumes the debtor has income, savings, and expensive possessions whose value can be tapped to reduce debt. No better and no worse than any other get-out-of-debt book.