Lelia is a young half human-half fae woman who lives with her parents on their farm and has an affinity for t4.5 "THIS IS FOR THE CHICKENS!!!!" stars.
Lelia is a young half human-half fae woman who lives with her parents on their farm and has an affinity for the farm animals, especially her donkey, Bagel. So imagine her horror when one day she sees a herd of black, skeletal scary looking horses appear in her pasture along with a bunch of plate sized spiders intent on attacking her chickens? Armed with nothing but a can of Raid and a battle cry, Leila wades in to save her livestock.
Turns out that while the spiders were malevolent and sent to kill her, the horses, known as Night Mares, were there to anoint her the new Queen of the Fae Night Court. They are like the Night Court's version of the Vatican's White Smoke. They pick and confirm the new King or Queen. They are also her official steeds.
In this world, Fae, Vampires, Humans, Werewolves and other supernatural creatures all live side by side. Except the Fae are pretty stand-offish. They tend to live in their own courts, not intermingling with humans very much.
Turns out not intermingling with humans gives them a lot of time to be nasty, cliquish little mean girls with each other. To their detriment. Because they are secretive and suspicious and all the Royalty and Nobility in the other courts constantly scheming against each other, it is causing disruption of the Fae realm which, if they don't get their shit together, might cause the fall of magic altogether.
With all that, one would think this book would be a tense, fraught story full of fights and drama. Not at all. It is 100% the opposite of that. It is light and really quite laugh out loud. And a lot of that had to do with Leila. She is a riot, so irreverent.
I liked this because it employs one of my favorite tropes: the outsider who shakes things up. When Leila goes take her seat as the new Queen, she meets nothing but complete hostility. She is an outsider and half human at that. She is also ignorant of all the undercurrents. Because people hate her and because she doesn't know any better Leila just shrugs and basically says 'You do you, Imma do me.' and proceeds to be the kind of queen she wants to be.
She is unpredictable and flummoxes everyone around her. But I liked how she began to build her team. And begins to slowly win people over to her way of thinking.
Like I said this book has a fair amount of humor, but there are a lot of other really good themes bubbling underneath that we see working out in real life. A big one being people working against their own best interests because of ignorance and fear.
There is also the start of a romance. One of the requirements is that before the Queen can be crowned she must choose a consort. In a bold stroke, Leila chooses Rigel, the Wraith, a deadly assassin Noble. Oh yeah, he once tried to kill her but ... bygones! And since she still has regular assassination attempts, maybe her new Consort can help out with that.
This book was super fun and the audiobook was very well narrated.
Bunny's mom comes to town and with her a LOT of Tea is spilled and it is piping hot.
So yeah I loved this oneThis was my favorite of the series so far!
Bunny's mom comes to town and with her a LOT of Tea is spilled and it is piping hot.
So yeah I loved this one because we get a lot of information about Bunny, her family, and about Fluffy!! The romance between Bunny and Connor, her hot Vampire Lumberjack is crack-a-lacking. I like that we got some definitive answers and learned a lot of new things we never knew we needed to know.
This may be a bit of an unpopular opinion but I hope Bunny comes to sort of peace with with her mother. (view spoiler)[ I didn't like her mother at first but as the book moved on and we got more revelations of her family and what her parents did, I liked the complexity of what the author did with her mother. One could argue that she was a bad mother but I think in the parameters set down for this world it isn't so black and white. At one point her mom says "that is what we were told to do" in order to get Bunny to manifest and their hard and fast rules were that she could not be told. I get why Bunny feels betrayed and hurt but I also can give her mother a tiny bit of grace. And the story is being told from Bunny's first person POV, we get all her feelings but I think there are context clues that her mother wasn't as unfeeling about what she did. Her father, though. No. (hide spoiler)]
On top of that, the mystery of week, the curses, was probably one of the more interesting with a surprise twist in the end.
I am ok with how everything ended up. One of the strengths of the series is how well the author continues to use the prior characters from the earlier cases and build on all the previous foundations. The person responsible for the curses makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Interested to see how things shake out going forward.
The humor and the town remain strong attractions for this series....more
Another quick and fun read in this series. I predicted these would be like eating popcorn or chips -- and it so.
Bunny is learning more about police wAnother quick and fun read in this series. I predicted these would be like eating popcorn or chips -- and it so.
Bunny is learning more about police work. And through Bunny (who is a tried and true literary staple as the character who is the stand in for the audience in some ways) we are learning more about the supernatural world. We learn more about the different characters in town. They are still pretty cool and awesome and the town is still quirky.
A character I rather liked turned out to be a bit of a bastard.
The writer gets teenagers right.
The humor is still in fine form. Bunny sets up a hot line for tips through the newspaper and the nickname the newspaper gives her (and the town runs with it) is pretty funny.
So very delightful. I had a hard time understanding why they needed to be in disguise until the end -- the ending required the sleight of han4.5 stars
So very delightful. I had a hard time understanding why they needed to be in disguise until the end -- the ending required the sleight of hand to make everything work.
One major part of the story kept me guessing. The 'Gentleman' made the second half of the story kick into high gear. So clever.
I love how all the schemes and plots all came together in the end....more
This is my third book by the writing team of Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer and they have a very recognizable recipe. I read Agnes and the Hitman and iThis is my third book by the writing team of Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer and they have a very recognizable recipe. I read Agnes and the Hitman and in my review for that book I noted that it had very similar DNA to the first JC/BM book I read Lavender's Blue.
Well if those two books were cousins, this book is a sibling to the Agnes book. Similar character types, similar set up: Nurturing outsider FMC, tough, shady MMC. Hidden money. Colorful characters. Organized criminals. A big central event. OTT humor. All there. I liked this one better than Agnes and the Hitman, though. The town is fun and I am curious to see what happens in the rest of the series....more
Our heroine, Bunny, is a former British upper class party girl who was turned into aUnexpected delight.
A nice urban fantasy/mystery/police procedural.
Our heroine, Bunny, is a former British upper class party girl who was turned into a Vampire against her will. She would have had to spend 1o0 years in servitude to the Master Vamp in England. But she managed to escape to a primarily supernatural town in Alaska that offers her sanctuary.
The town is run by a council composed of the leaders of the various supernatural groups: Vampires, Shifters, Witches, Merfolk etc. There are even a few very bad ass humans.
Bunny works in what is essentially the Sheriff's office. First as clerk but she has a knack for quick thinking in the field and in instrumental in solving the murder that is the main plot of this book.
I liked the town with it's easy small town feel that is also a little quirky. I think it is a law that any mystery set in Alaska must be quirky. I also like the characters. They are mostly decent and Bunny is developing a found family and getting a bit of romance.
And it isn't all murder and mayhem. There is a fair bit of humor especially since Bunny is a bit of a fish out of water and her culture shock -- both being new to America and being new to being a Vampire -- are used to good effect. It is first person POV and Bunny has a fun voice. I also like the running gag of people asking her about her name and she has a different, outrageous story each time.
Listened to the audio book it is nicely narrated and it goes fast. I have a feeling I am going to be consuming these like potato chips....more
After the run of really good installments in this series , this one felt like a bit of a crash.
I could not really stay engaged in the story because I After the run of really good installments in this series , this one felt like a bit of a crash.
I could not really stay engaged in the story because I didn't find the mystery that intriguing.
But even more the writing for this one felt odd. It was repetitive, overly explanatory of persons and events that happened in prior books, and extra descriptive of every room and outfit. I know Keira has an artists' eye and sees detail but it felt belabored. Simply too much exposition for a first person POV narrator. It has the effect of her explaining stuff that she already knows to herself.
As a result we'd get phrases like this: “It made me feel that in some way my mother—Emma’s grandmother—was with us in spirit.” Well, yeah we can work out the relationship, no need to spell it out.
There were a few bright spots. Bonnie Brock of course brought dangerous energy into every scene he was in. I am enjoying the inclusion of Henry in these books and actually would like to see more of his sibling make an appearance.
Very amusing. Very chaotic. Filled with over the top characters. melds murder, romance, big personalities, the mob, and a mystery pretty well.
Agnes has jVery amusing. Very chaotic. Filled with over the top characters. melds murder, romance, big personalities, the mob, and a mystery pretty well.
Agnes has just bought a house from the owner. The mother of her BFF. Per their agreement she doesn't have to pay the first three months of the mortgage if Agnes can host the wedding of her Bff's daughter (Agnes' own god daughter). But somebody is trying their hardest to sabotage that wedding. And, oh yes, her BFF's long dead father might have squirreled away millions of dollars somewhere in the house and Agnes has to deal with a parade of ne'er do wells trying to get into her basement.
If I did not know this was the same writing duo who did Lavender's Blue I would have easily guessed it. While that book had a more serious undertone even amongst it's own OTT story-line and quirky characters, both books have very similar DNA.
While I enjoyed this for the effortless storytelling and some legitimately amusing moments, there were a few times where the crazy being cranked up to 10 felt a little labored, rather than fun. ...more
I really like Lucy Score's work. As an rom-com author, she will often-times lean into the 'com' part of it. It is rare that I really, belly l2.5 stars
I really like Lucy Score's work. As an rom-com author, she will often-times lean into the 'com' part of it. It is rare that I really, belly laugh in most rom-com novels, but I do in hers and this one was no different. There were places that I really, honestly laughed and enjoyed. So the 'Com' part was a winner. It is the 'Rom' part that did not work for me.
Hazel Hart is a NYT bestselling romance novelist who has a beloved series set in a small town. But she hasn't met her deadlines on any new books, her publisher is thinking about dropping her, her agent (and BFF) has been fired by her own company, and Hazel is being evicted from the apartment she lives in because she was taken to the cleaners in her divorce.
Right off the bat this is strike one for me. I am not a fan of the 'broken down, at the rock bottom' heroine that starts off so many of these books. It is a conceit of the genre, I know, I know-- and mostly I can just handwave it. There has got to be something that makes the heroine run away from the big bad city to go to a small town. But Hazel was really just... girl...I ...why? She was not someone I wanted to hang around with. So the first few chapters were WORK. I wanted to DNF.
But Hazel decides to do what her heroine would do and run away to a small town. She buys a house sight-unseen from an online auction, packs up her stuff and drives to a small town somewhere in Pennsylvania. I can only assume it is somewhere in the southeast of PA closer to the New Jersey border because when she first encounters locals who see her New York License plates and immediately sneer at her for being 'Big City'. Now so much of PA borders New York, the entire Southern tier of New York state which is all rural and dotted with small towns itself. There is no way if she were further inland the sight of New York plates would elicit such a reaction.
Now see, this is where my mind goes when a book is annoying me.
Anyway, once Hazel gets to the town of Story Lake, and we meet more of the citizens, that is when the book takes off for me. I liked the various townspeople led by their 17 year old Mayor who often had to rush home finish his chemistry homework after town council meetings. They were colorful, really funny and gave the book a lot of charm. These characters, the funny little details about day to day living in Story Lake, the rivalry with another lake town, Dominion, their Bingo games, their town council meetings and other little details about the town single-handedly saved this book for me.
What didn't work for me was the romance and that was largely because the writing took pains to remind us we were in a romance novel with a romance novel writer. These parts of the book were coyly self referential. So many times Hazel reminds us that she is in a small town to write a small town romance. She is using the book's hero, Cam, as her inspiration for her hero in her novel. He is so grumpy (which we are told over and over again). Hazel using so many romance-y buzz words -- at one point she announces that she is the sunshine and he is the grump or engineering fake dating' or I want to get to my HEA' or during the 3rd act break up (which was... you know what, never mind...) she says to her BFF that she and Cam are in their 3rd act break up -- kept yanking me out of the book.
And I think it is because of the anvils of meta references, the romance didn't feel organic, but rather like they were simply pieces to be moved around a game board to hit all the pre-destined tropes of romance novels because Hazel needs them to. For me it removed the suspension of disbelief necessary while reading to feel like I was in their world.
Cam and Hazel and individuals when they were involved in the other stuff in the town or as they related to his family or her friends were also great. When Hazel wasn't bludgeoning us over the head with her romance novel of it all, her inner voice was really fun. And the one part of romance novelist Hazel I actually loved was when she had random fan encounters. Those were great.
So yeah this was a general miss for me. I do like the town though, so I will definitely read the rest of the series....more
1 whole star is because I finished it. 1/2 star is because there were some parts that were actually interesting.
But overall, I just could NOT1.5 stars.
1 whole star is because I finished it. 1/2 star is because there were some parts that were actually interesting.
But overall, I just could NOT with this book and it is all because of the heroine.
Her name is Sarah Anderson. She is the most perfectest perfect that ever perfected!
She runs a multi-million dollar tech company in Silicon Valley that she single-handedly rescued from near disaster and bankruptcy from her horrible (now dead) husband. She is a coder extraordinaire, whose security encryption will revolutionize the industry. She is also the creator of wildly popular video games. She works 20 hour days juggling multiple projects, while also being a very hands on, involved mother of 2 young boys. She is a tough negotiator with her clients. She was taught to cook by a Michelin starred chef. She owns a ranch that has top tier breeding mares. She is a horse whisperer who is the only person who can calm a fractious stallion and administer his shots and diagnose his problems better than the vet. She is a major philanthropist. During the wedding at the very end when the Best Man (who is the hero's brother) makes his speech, it is all about what a genius and wonderful person Sarah is. He barely mentions his own brother!
And in addition she is one of those heroines -- the ones with a horrific back story who came from the foster system and poverty and abuse. And even through all of that she is super duper nice. Even thought her ex mother-in-law hates her guts and insults her openly, Sarah cleans her house, fixes her meals and gives her money.
I think I kept reading to see if she gave someone a kidney one time or spoke seven languages fluently. Because honestly I would not have been surprised.
The Hero is a rancher/super rich lawyer from a family of famous super rich lawyers. I feel like his role was to just discover how wonderful she was. There was no romantic conflict really. They fell in love in about 4 weeks, she's not like those other girls.
I sighed a lot.
I actually liked the kids though.
This is the first book by this author I ever read. I have a policy of trying again if the first time is a miss so I will try one more. But yeah this was a huge miss for me....more
I almost DNF'd this more than once. I read for pleasure and enjoyment and this just wasn't enjoyable.
I finished for two reasons: 1) I kept hoping it woI almost DNF'd this more than once. I read for pleasure and enjoyment and this just wasn't enjoyable.
I finished for two reasons: 1) I kept hoping it would turn a corner 2) I needed to see if all the agita was worth it in the end (spoiler alert: it wasn't)
I love books that use family dynamics as backdrop/plot propeller. Funerals with a mic drop in a will are the best! So much great fodder for drama -- family secrets come out, we get to see the different relationships among the different family members, we learn a lot about the character of the people under pressure. Bonus if the vibe is soapy and we get some a good romance, great revelations and a new (family) world order in the end.
So yeah, this book was right in my wheelhouse. The problem I had is with the execution. It was often boring, and instead of the drama being delicious it was most often bitter. The WASPs were at their most waspish.
In this one we have a super rich billionaire tech guy whom we are constantly told 'changed the world' with his smart devices that he started in his garage with a small loan from his parents (apparently Steve Jobs doesn't exist in this universe). He was a bit of a controlling autocrat who constantly tested his kids. And he is controlling them after his death by making them come to the family's private island to complete specified tasks to get their piece of his very big pie. Some of the tasks are worse than others.
We have his wife Elizabeth who is the very flat template of cold, stiff upper lip society wife. She was a cipher, honestly. There was nothing interesting about her.
There is the oldest daughter, Greta, who all her life has been carrying on the least secret affair with her father's body-guard/pilot/chauffer. Everyone knows it but politely pretends they don't. She is her mother's shadow. The only interesting thing about her is her affair with the body-guard. He is actually more interesting with the tiny amount to page space he gets.
There is the oldest son, Sam. He is Nepo bro who has been given a job in his father's company and has every expectation of being named the CEO. His entire existence in the book was vibrating with 'I AM THE ELDEST BOY!' energy. He has the biggest fright of a wife. She is a piece of work. I think I would have given this book 5 stars if it has turned into a murder mystery with her being the victim.
There is Alice. The daughter who is the main POV character of the book. She was estranged from the family for years. She got engaged to a guy her father despised and she broke some cardinal family rule. (view spoiler)[She also spoke on record to a reporter about a sexual harassment scandal in her dad's company that was being hushed up. (hide spoiler)] Alice feels some type of way about being banished and none of her siblings coming to visit or reach out. My problem with Alice is that she has the harlequin heroine syndrome. She is so noble, so taken by surprise whenever any of her siblings takes a nasty shot at her.
And then finally there is Emily. The youngest, most petted daughter. She was probably the nicest character but she was also given a rainbow road in this book. Even her wife was great.
Most of the time they were sniping and fighting and just being annoying. There was only one part I really liked was during the It's-Not-A-Funeral-It's-A-Celebration service on the island where the siblings sat at 'the kids table' and snarked. For once it wasn't bitter sniping at each other, but the sort of shorthand/memories and good natured ribbing that so many siblings have. They were funny and irreverent and felt like a team. But that lasted only about two pages and they were back at the races.
Again, I would have scored the book higher if the siblings had been shown to be an affectionate team who banded together despite their terrible parents. It would have made the ending more believable to me.
We do get secrets and revelations and a new (family) world order in the end, but the revelations/secrets felt bland and the family dynamic change at the end felt abrupt and unearned.
There is a romance that also felt rushed and unearned.
Yeah so overall I found the book to be labored, with a lot of unlikable people and a plot that feels under cooked....more
I liked this a tick less than the first one it didn't quite have the zing of the first one. But it was still fun. This one felt like a more conventionI liked this a tick less than the first one it didn't quite have the zing of the first one. But it was still fun. This one felt like a more conventional bread crumb mystery with Kit and Thane trying to find out a) who a John Doe dead body is they fished out of a murderous river and b) why the person got dead.
So many red herrings and suspects! But there were also many amusing moments. Thane with a kitten! Also in the first book there was the whiff of a hint that Kit might have a future romance with the Alpha of the big wolf pack. This one however makes it plain that Thane is the one that Kit is attracted to a definitively puts the kibosh on the other possible romance (in a very funny scene).
Also introduced an interesting new character, an information broker, that I wouldn't mind seeing again. Realistically -- we will see her again.
This was a really fun read with a very cheeky payoff.
Kit Mccafferty is (hilariously) considered a middle aged cat lady. She's fit and in her early-forThis was a really fun read with a very cheeky payoff.
Kit Mccafferty is (hilariously) considered a middle aged cat lady. She's fit and in her early-forties, but yeah she talks to cats. She lives in a magical city near Scotalnd and has a room to let in her house.
Nick, a young teen-aged werewolf, the scion of the most powerful werewolf clan, comes to answer the ad for the room. Normally Kit would steer clear. She does not need any of the smoke that clan would bring. And why the heck would this young man need a room when he most assuredly has a room in his family's a mansion?
But rents him the room she does. And from there it all starts popping off. This is a story that is both a quirky small town urban fantasy and a bit of a cozy mystery
There is so much to like about this book:
1) I liked Kit so much as a main character. The author does that thing I really love where as the story goes on we learn more and more about the main character as the book goes on. Like an onion being peeled. And each layer we get some great info. Kit was fabulous!
2) I liked the city of Coldstream, it's inhabitants, the personalities we meet as Kit goes about her business. There is Trilby, the proprietor of the outdoor market stall that carries everything magical you'd ever need and knows more than they'll admit, The MacTire, Nick's uncle and alpha of the MacTire pack, Samantha his cool as ice beta, and Thane the mysterious lone wolf.
3) The cats. I loved how the book conceived the cats and Kit's relationship with them. And how they named themselves: She Who Hisses and He Who Must Sleep and She Without an Ear etc.
4) The overall mystery. Nick's kidnapping. Why he got kidnapped, the slowly ratcheting up of the stakes etc.
Since Julie Garwood passed away last year, I have been picking up a book of hers to read here and there as palate cleansers between other books I am rSince Julie Garwood passed away last year, I have been picking up a book of hers to read here and there as palate cleansers between other books I am reading.
I know for a fact that when I was first introduced to her work back in the late 80s with The Bride, I had since read every historical and some contemporaries that she'd written. Each book, no matter how long ago I last read them, I remember a little something about each one.
So this past week I had finished a book I liked but couldn't decide what new to start and decided to pick out one or two of hers to read. As I was perusing the titles, this one came up and for the life of me I could remember nothing about it.
I really enjoyed this. It has Garwood's hallmark humor but it skews just a wee darker than some of the others.
This one starts out with prologue of a family being betrayed, the death of a parent, and two young sisters separated in the night. There is a bit of a mystery about a missing box that contains something important that the King needs.
Time passes and we learn that the sisters have never been reunited. One has been brought up by her uncle but under the threat of a crazy Baron, the other has disappeared into the Higlands with a new identity.
This one follows Gillian the one who stayed in England with her uncle and under the thumb of her "guardian" the Baron. We are introduced to the adult Gillian and she is rescuing a young Scottish boy who has been kidnapped by her Baron. The two of them form a bond that is nice to read through the rest of the book as she schemes to get him back to his family.
His family consists of a a fierce Highland clan who are allies with the hero Brodick's clan.
This is a Garwood Highland romance so there is lots of big brawny men, a sprinkling of 'Tis the Truths' and a quirky heroine to shakes things up. There is also a fair amount of suspense in this one as we learn the mystery of the box and what happened to Gillian's sister.
There is also a secondary romance.
I listened on audio and the narrator was great. One of my favorite aspects was her voice for the young 5 year old Alec. He was Gillian's' fellow kidnappee and he would often begin a sentence with 'You know what..?' it was very endearing. That kid was a scene stealer!...more
This book is a little weird to rate. So I am thinking I am gonna go with 3.5 stars rounded up because it is high 3.5 rather than a low.
On the one handThis book is a little weird to rate. So I am thinking I am gonna go with 3.5 stars rounded up because it is high 3.5 rather than a low.
On the one hand, I liked the messy family stuff and all soapy elements. I really liked Gia and Margot, the two sisters who are the main characters in this.
But the other hand, there were some frustrating elements about the story that pulled me out one in awhile. And the romance piece was rather, eh.
And, oh yeah, the title had NOTHING to do with the storyline. Sure, Gia started a Banned books club when she was in high school, but we only get a couple of tangential mentions of a book or two and two meetings of the club where they didn't really talk about books and both were just set pieces to act as a backdrop for messy character drama.
The story follows the two sisters, Gia who when she was 17 accused a popular teacher of sexual misconduct. It went to trial, he was found guilty, was fired and had to register as a sex offender. As is often the case with stuff like this, there are people who believed her and there are people who did not. The non-believers tend to be more vocal, blaming her for ruining a good man's life. Gia also feels like her family didn't stand as ten toes down for her as they could, so as soon as she could she got out of town and forged a life on her own, only seeing her family rarely.
The other sister Margot, was the quieter, well behaved daughter who married well, had two lovely kids and has been a dutiful wife.
But their mother is dying of cancer and Margot has asked Gia to come home and help with their mother's care.
Gia returns and Margot waves her husband goodbye as he leaves for a week-long hunting trip, packs up her kids, and gets the hell out of dodge leaving no tracks.
So a lot is going on: Gia coming back, the old scandal getting fresh life, new scandal as Gia gets involved with the son of the teacher she accused, lot of public chest beating. And then there is Margo's entire deal. And her husband, who is a nasty piece of work. It is all a delicious mess.
So where's the frustration?
First there is constant yelling at Gia for ruining a man's life. It is believable that people still wouldn't believe her, but during the constant confrontations you'd think Gia would point out that she had nothing to gain by accusing him. Also some of the people who are loud and wrong claim to be her friends. yikes.
And then there is Margot. (view spoiler)[As a reader we see inside of Margot's marriage. Her husband is not physically abusive, but he is incredibly abusive -- verbally and emotionally. So here is my biggest frustration. After Margot is gone without a trace, the people in town are speculating on her leaving. Nobody, not even her family suspects abuse. I checked, the word 'abuse' appears in the book 7 whole times. Most of them are Margot (rightly) lamenting that people would not consider verbal abuse 'real' abuse. But nobody ever says the word. Her father say's hesitantly 'You don't think he'd get violent with her, do you?' But that's it. Even Gia, who is the actual recipient of his increasingly unhinged behavior after Margot disappears and who acknowledged that he was a controlling bastard, never outright suspected him of actual abuse. We are supposed to believe people think she just packed up her kids, left with no tracks (while her mother could die any day now from cancer) because her husband was cheating on her? Not a single person speculated that something much more sinister than mere cheating was going on inside that marriage? (hide spoiler)] Now granted, I am not from Iowa, so I don't know how people from Iowa act. But you can't tell me, in the Year our Lord Beyonce, 2024, that there would not have been way more whispering and uncomfortable side-eying that what we actually got?
Anyways.. the ending/vindication for both sisters was nice. The Epilogue was sweet....more
Not as giddily awesome as the last book in the series, but a good installment.
This one takes a bit of a different track. It takes Emma out o3.5 stars
Not as giddily awesome as the last book in the series, but a good installment.
This one takes a bit of a different track. It takes Emma out of London and to the small village where she was born and where her parents were murdered. There is a series of murders that points to a Supe perpetrator. They are not supposed to be outside of London, but as we learned in the last book there are quite a few who live on the down-low outside of London.
There are a couple of reasons I didn't rate this higher: One the one hand, I loved learning about Emma's background and how she became a Phoenix. So that was a plus. But On the other hand, this book has one of those convenient tie-ins we where the past and present murders connect with the protagonists own personal long standing memory. On the other, other hand it was all by manipulative design. But I don't think the execution of the story bore that out.
Also the motives of the big bad were so, very meh. Kinda like in the first book when we learn the motives of Emma's murderer. This one was just as much of a 'That's it?'
And finally this is the second book in a row where Emma is saddled with an officious, blowhard superior who takes over her investigation and isn't as good as she is and gets in the way more than they help. Yeah it is only the second time, but it already felt old.
Emma has come in to the Supe squad, established trust, solved some high profile crimes and turned the office around. Yeah she is a newly minted detective but It is established that the Supe squad is an unpopular and dreaded posting. That being the case, and Emma doing a bang up job why not just let her keep doing it as the person in charge? Anyway, this part just feels like additional conflict for conflict's sake, when the murders and investigation and the Supe personality, culture, and politics themselves already offer an embarrassment of riches there.
Still I am enjoying this series quite a bit. ...more