Tag: book clubs

REVIEW: The Raven Thief by Gig Pandian

REVIEW: The Raven Thief by Gig Pandian

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Minotaur in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Tempest’s friend, Sanjay, has agreed to do a fake, “symbolic” séance for a client who is using Secret Staircase Construction to renovate her basement. The space used to be used by her ex as an office, but the client has had Tempest’s family  business renovate it into something all hers. For her housewarming celebration she wants to “banish” her ex-husband’s spirit from the property. Even though he’s not dead.

But someone takes that banishment seriously. And Tempest, Sanjay, and the others at the séance become suspects for the man’s murder. Now Tempest has a locked room mystery to solve involving at least 4 impossible elements. Tempest will have to put all of her magical knowledge to use to find the real killer.

Review

The set up of this Secret Staircase Mystery series is so clever! Between Tempest’s history with magic and illusions, and her family business of building secret rooms and trick bookcases, there’s a lot about the setting and cast that sets this series apart. And I love all of it!

Along with that unique set up, the mystery here is terrifically plotted. There were multiple “impossible” scenarios that Tempest had to peel apart to find the killer – and it was super satisfying to watch it unfold.

There’s a lot here to love! I was a bit disappointed and distracted in the reading, though. I am hoping it’s a matter of the review copy needing another round of edits, but I have never run into this with another ARC from this publisher. There were sections here that were repetitive, and there were odd word choices that jarred me out of the story as I read. And while I like that there is a series-centered mystery in addition to each book-centered mystery, this time some of the pieces about the family curse and what happened to Tempest’s mom were more of a distraction than an enhancement.

I adored book one, Under Lock and Skeleton Key, and the mystery in this sequel is top notch. I have my fingers crossed that the other issues are either a fluke or were resolved in final edits before publication.

Rating: ♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥½ = Good +

BONUS REVIEW: A Murder Between the Pages by Amy Lillard

BONUS REVIEW: A Murder Between the Pages by Amy Lillard

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

When Arlo and the book club laides helped solve the murder of author, Wally Harrison, Arlo assumed that was the first and LAST of their sleuthing. And of Wally. But the Books and More shop’s book club wasn’t done with Wally quite yet. They were reading Wally’s best seller, Missing Girl. And they are convinced he based his book on a 50 year old cold case – the disappearance of Mary Kennedy from right there in Sugar Springs.

Mary was last seen at Lillyfield, an historic mansion in town. As Arlo has to go out there to pick up a book donation for the store, the book club ladies insist on going, too, to snoop. None of them expected to witness the death of a young woman who had such a bright future ahead of her. Now the seniors want to help solve this new murder as well as the cold case. Arlo would rather leave the detecting to actual detectives, but the book club ladies are a force to be reckoned with!

Review

This is book 2 in the Main Street Book Club Mystery series after Can’t Judge a Book by Its Murder. Sadly, I did not enjoy this one as much as I did the first. For the longest time, nothing seemed to happen. The first third or more of the book felt like it just kept rehashing opinions on whether or not the book was about Mary Kennedy and what the book club ladies knew – or suspected or guessed – about the case. They did their “sleuthing” at the hairdresser’s, off page, gathering gossip. There was no movement or progress made for the longest time. I was disappointed. Then, when the new murder happened, it didn’t feel like it made much difference; it was just sort of “there” until the end.

The book club ladies were a LOT to take in this one. They have no self-control; they don’t listen to anyone who gives them a boundary or a suggestion for their own safety. Also, they have no regard for law enforcement, private property, etc. Only for their own whims. Some of that comes with the territory in a cozy with amateur sleuths, but this felt over the top for me. I also felt like Arlo was an ineffectual parent trying to corral a group of willful three year olds. She went along with things because she felt powerless to do anything else. She seemed to be there mostly for crowd control – without much control – rather than for sleuthing or digging into a mystery.

In the second half, the mystery started to pull together. And I enjoyed the romance thread for one of the book club ladies, but otherwise I didn’t click with the characters or the love triangle for Arlo. The ending of the mystery was satisfying, but the road to get there was frustrating. I don’t know that I will move forward with this series.

Readers who get a kick out of these feisty octogenarians should definitely pick this one up. The ladies are in rare form in this book. They were just too much for me. (Includes some dated references about homosexuality including a slur from the older characters that Arlo doesn’t address. This is keeping with her resignation that these ladies are going to do and say what they want no matter what she does, but it might offend some readers.)

Rating: ♥♥½*

*♥♥½ = Mostly solid to solid, some issues but overall okay

REVIEW: On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young

REVIEW: On Borrowed Crime by Kate Young

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Lyla Moody is the receptionist for her uncle’s private investigation business and a mystery buff. But she doesn’t expect to be personally caught up in a case in real life.

Carol Timms is a member of the Jane Doe Book Club with Lyla. So when the black BMW almost mows Lyla down, she recognizes Carol in the driver’s seat. She doesn’t get a good look at the person with her, but Lyla can tell Carol’s upset. But she never says anything to Lyla. She only drives away.

A hour later, Judge Timms, Carol’s husband, calls the PI office to hire Lyla’s Uncle Calvin. The judge claims Carol has either gone missing or been abducted.

When Lyla and her best friend Melanie find Carol’s body stuffed in a suitcase and left by Lyla’s door, all their mystery and true crime reading for the Jane Doe Book Club becomes all too real. Who could have killed Carol? Did it have to do with her time in therapy with Lyla’s father? Where there problems in her marriage? Could it be over money? Or does it have anything to do with the cold cases Carol wanted the book club to look into?

Lyla and Mel are determined to find out, both to clear Mel and Lyla’s father of suspicion, but also to ensure closure for their friend.

Review

The case at the center of this mystery is captivating. The Janes are drawn in not only because of Carol’s death but also because of the cold cases she wanted the group to look into. The book group didn’t feel very cohesive, and sometimes they didn’t even seem like friends, which was odd. I expected a cozier group for the namesake of the series. But I did like Lyla and Mel quite a bit, and I enjoyed watching them work through the case. I’m not sure if the author is setting up a romance for Lyla or a love triangle. We’ll have to see how things unfold as the series moves forward.

The author does almost too good a job in coming into the story in the middle of the action. There are references to Lyla’s past obsession with cold cases and subsequent therapy, but I didn’t feel like this was fully explained or explored. It made me feel like I missed a book in the series. I don’t mind that when I start a series with a later book, but this is the introduction to the series, so I want to feel like I have a great handle on the people, the setting, and the context.

The hints about Lyla’s mom’s past are intriguing. Those felt like teasers for something to dig into in a later book, and that was perfectly comfortable for me. I did have a hard time liking her mom, though. She runs hot and cold to the extreme, which started to wear on me in this book. Maybe with more of her backstory, she will either be more sympathetic, or she will relax some of her tight control because she isn’t trying to shield Lyla from the past any more.

The mystery was a mixed bag for me. I picked out the culprit the first time they appeared in the book. I like to work through the clues in mysteries and see if I can tease out the ending before the protagonist, so I was disappointed to figure it out right away. Some of the rest of the case felt scattered – like things were thrown at the wall to see what stuck. Instead of being intrigued by all of the possibilities, they were distracting instead. I do wonder, though, if I would have felt differently about those pieces if I didn’t already know who did it.

There are some solid pieces to this that I loved – Lyla, Mel, Lyla’s grandmother, and Lyla’s job. I might give the second book a shot to see if some other the other pieces tighten up in book 2. (Some language, a few gruesome descriptions.)

Rating: ♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥=Good/solid/fine

BONUS REVIEW: Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

BONUS REVIEW: Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book releases on September 8, 2020.]

Summary

Summer is back in her home community of Brigid’s Island for her mother’s funeral. And nothing is right. First, her mother was too healthy to have a heart attack with no warning. Also, her funeral is in a church. No one who knew Hildy would have planned a funeral for her in a traditional church. And then there are the threatening notes Hildy, and now Summer, receive saying to sell Hildy’s bookstore, Beach Reads, or die. Maybe Summer’s mom didn’t die from natural causes….

When someone sets Summer’s childhood home on fire – with her inside – she feels that clinches things. Someone is after her family. While the police chief is disinterested in Summer’s theories – there’s just too much history and bad blood between them – at least the cute fire chief is willing to consider that Summer might be right. Now, she just has to find proof, and the murderer.

Review

I have mixed feelings about this one. There were parts I liked – Summer’s relationship with her family and her mother’s bird, the book store, and a twist right at the end. But there were numerous other places where I struggled.

Passages felt repetitive – things said by the same person, statements rehashed, and sections that didn’t seem to move anything forward. Some of the spots felt like filler. Also, one of the book club women had an alibi for the time of the murder, but she kept weighing in on the details of the day as if she had been there. I was confused by it several times in the story. Then, the book club meeting, which was going to be a significant moment in the story, was “tomorrow” for almost a week. I started counting how many times it was “tomorrow” and then how many “next mornings” there were before the next time someone said the meeting was “tomorrow.”

I was surprised by these issues. This is a seasoned mystery author. My hope is that the above issues were addressed in the final edits between the production of my review copy of the finalization of the novel. Usually the ARC has been edited more tightly than this.

While those issue may be resolved by the release date, I ran into other issues. Summer was hard to like. As a romance and cozy reader – in the act of reading a cozy mystery – I was put off by Summer’s snootiness about “real literature” vs. genre literature. It didn’t endear her to me. The author worked to soften her over the course of the book – this was intentionally part of her character at the start. But I personally read cozies because I like the protagonists. Summer made that difficult. Also, her phobia was a quirky thread in the story that never clicked for me. It didn’t feel integral. I was disappointed that the potential love interest disappeared in the latter parts of the book. Also, as a matter of personal preference only, the new age/tarot/goddess pieces aren’t a good fit for me as a reader.

Regarding the mystery, I was sadly disappointed here, too. I felt like the killer was obvious from the beginning. I zeroed in on this person and never second guessed my choice, even as other suspects were presented. None of the rest felt like real possibilities. And in the end, I thought the motive could have been stronger, especially for when Summer became the target.

If the edits I mentioned have been addressed before publication, my rating would maybe be a half point higher. Otherwise this just wasn’t the right fit for me. But the series has potential if some of these pieces are developed in the future. (Some language, new age/occult references)

Rating: ♥♥½*

*♥♥½ – Mostly solid to solid, some issues

 

REVIEW: The Fantastic Library Rescue and Other Major Plot Twists by Deborah Lytton

REVIEW: The Fantastic Library Rescue and Other Major Plot Twists by Deborah Lytton

Posted on by Jaymie

[Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for the opportunity to read an electronic ARC/review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Ruby Starr is a book fanatic. She loves to read and even started a book club with her friends. And then other kids also started book clubs. They’ve started a great reading culture in their school.

When Ruby and her friends pick out a brand new book for their club to read, they struggle to get enough copies for their group to share. That’s when Ruby discovers the school library is having budget issues. The library hours are being cut, and they can’t buy any new books.

Ruby and her friends decide to do something to help the library. But Ruby’s desire to be the hero in her own story causes some trouble that snowballs into a big mess.

Review

This is a cute middle grade book that feels geared toward the younger side of the age range. The characters are around ten and their interactions focus on friendships, homework and food fights. Ruby is a fun, imaginative, and creative character. The action of the story is occasionally set to the side when Ruby’s imagination kicks in.

I love that Ruby owns and names her feelings – even if she’s not proud of them. She recognizes that she wants to be in charge, be the hero, save the day. And that can make her envious and make her refuse the help of others around her.

The story about the book club and the library rescue was solid, but even better was Ruby’s personal story. Her thoughts and feelings and choices, her triumphs and failures, made this a worthwhile read for me.

This is the second book in a series. I haven’t read the first book, but that did not impact my understanding of the things going on in this story. Give this to elementary kids who enjoy friendship stories and stories that celebrate books and reading.

Rating: ♥♥♥½