Monday, March 25, 2024

The Other Side of Disappearing - Romance Review

Goodreads: The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn

Rating: Just Okay (2 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .

Genre: Romance - Contemporary    

Why I Picked This Book:  Podcasts and family secrets are always plotlines that appeal to me.

My Impression: Oh I wanted to love this one - and there was quite a bit I liked.  I really liked the podcast angle and the investigation into Jess and Teagan's mother's whereabouts.  I thought Adam was a total sweetheart and liked how he dealt with everyone involved in the story.  He's intelligent and thoughtful though often gets dismissed because of his size.  Tegan is definitely a typical teenager - overly confident and super vulnerable at the same time.  I liked the writing style.  The author is fantastic at creating a world and complicated situations.  

But, unfortunately, there was quite a bit I didn't like.  Jess was difficult to warm up to.  Given her history I completely understand her reserve but her need to control everything and her single mindedness was frustrating and I felt like it took too long to see any cracks in her defenses.  As well, I felt like there was a lot of repetitiveness.  I liked the fact that the author alternated between Jess's and Adam's POVs as this gives the reader insight for both the subject and the investigator but the mutual longing and Adam worrying about Jess and Jess being angry got a bit much after awhile.  

It did resolve nicely and I did enjoy being along for the investigative ride but this wasn't a book I looked forward to picking up.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Probably.  I did enjoy the writing for the most part so if the blurb caught my eye I'd probably give it a try.   

Would I Recommend this Book? If you've had good luck with this author before or have more patience with a prickly main character than I do I would definitely give this book a try.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Sunday, March 24, 2024

This Week in Reading - March 24


It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:


Death Behind Every Door by Heather Graham - I really enjoyed last years Blackbird Files Trilogy which is essentially the Krewe of Hunters series goes international.  This one has ties to H.H. Holmes and looks like creepy fun.  (Publisher)

Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews - This is the next book in one of my favorite series so of course I couldn't resist! (Publisher)

Currently:

Reading:  Murder, She Wrote: Murder Backstage by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran and Peril in Paperback by Kate Carlisle

Listening:  Charms and Chocolate Chips by Bailey Cates

This week I finally finished Homecoming by Kate Morton.  I really enjoyed it but it's been a long time since I read anything that hefty!  I'm going to go for a smaller page count for awhile but it was a good reminder to mix in some chunky books now and again.

J and I have been watching Drive to Survive on Netflix and I've become absolutely fascinated with Formula 1.  There's a lot to watch so it's interferering with my reading a bit!

Have a great week and happy reading!

Saturday, March 23, 2024

A Deadly Affair - Classic Mystery Review

Goodreads: A Deadly Affair by Agatha Christie

Rating: Loved It! (5 Stars)
Source:   Purchased

Description:  Love can propel us to our greatest heights . . . and darkest depths. In this new collection of Agatha Christie short stories, witness the dark side of love—crimes of passion, games of the heart, and deadly affairs. This pulse-pounding compendium features beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, master of charades Parker Pyne, the enigmatic Harley Quin, and the adventurous Tommy and Tuppence, all on the ready to solve a tantalizing mystery.

In “The Face of Helen,” a night at the Royal Opera could reach a deadly crescendo for a woman caught in a dicey love triangle; “Finessing the King” delivers a curious ad in the personals that could mask sinister intentions; who’s in danger of getting stung in “Wasp’s Nest” depends on rounding up suspects and solving a murder—before it even happens; and more tales that make for essential reading that Christie fans old and new will simply love to death.

Genre:  Mystery - Classic 

Why I Picked This Book:  It's an Agatha Christie short story collection - I couldn't resist!  

My Impression: Even though I have all of these stories in other collections I couldn't resist picking this one up.  This is a collection of short stories all focused on romantic relationships.  Several of these involve Christie's main detectives - Marple and Poirot - and others involve her lesser known detectives who are no less entertaining - Mr. Sattherwaite and Mr. Parker Pyne as well as Tommy and Tuppence.  There are also a few stand alones.  

This is a good mix of stories involving different types of mysteries and Christie's writing experiments.  In addition to the usual murder mysteries some stories involve an paranormal element or studies in human nature.  All make for good reading - especially if you're new to Christie and don't already have these stories on your shelves in other collections.  My very favorite thing in this book was a personal essay at the end where Christie talked about two youthful suiters.  It was a fun peek at the personal life of one of my personal authors.

This was a great book to read while reading a few heavier books.  I could take a short story break with a Christie story when I had had just a bit too much heaviness and it was perfect.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course!  I am basically continuously rereading Agatha Christie's books.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you love Christie or if you want to read more of her this is a great collection.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Friday, March 22, 2024

Friday Fives - Five Books Set in Ireland on My TBR


I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. Ireland is one of my favorite places to have as a book setting so here are five books on my TBR set in Ireland.


1.  Tara Road by Maeve Binchy - I can't have a list about books set in Ireland without including something by Maeve Binchy!


2.  No Strangers Here by Carlene O'Connor - This series looks really interesting and the blurb for the first book really caught my eye.


3.  The Guest List by Lucy Foley - I've read a few books by this author and have enjoyed them for the most part and this one looks good.


4.  The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods - This book with touches of book related magic sounds like one I will either really love or really not so I need to try it!


5.  The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy - Libraries and Ireland and characters finding themselves make this sound like the perfect book for me.

What books set in Ireland do you have on your TBR?

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Books from the Backlog - Summer Reading


Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!


Goodreads:  Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay

Blurb:  For Samantha Gale, a summer on Martha's Vineyard at her family's tiny cottage was supposed to be about resurrecting her career as a chef, until she's tasked with chaperoning her half-brother, Tyler. The teenage brainiac is spending his summer at the local library in a robotics competition, and there's no place Sam, who's dyslexic, likes less than the library. And because the universe hates her, the library's interim director turns out to be the hot-reader guy whose book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry ride to the island.
Bennett Reynolds is on a quest to find his father, whose identity he's never known. He's taken the temporary job on the island to research the summer his mother spent there when she got pregnant with him. Ben tells himself he isn't interested in a relationship right now. Yet as soon as Sam knocks his book into the ocean, he can't stop thinking about her.

An irresistible attraction blossoms when Ben inspires Sam to create the cookbook she's always dreamed about and she jumps all in on helping him find his father, and soon they realize their summer fling may heat up into a happily ever after.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  Even though McKinlay is one of my favorite coy authors I haven't read any of her romances.  This one sounds fantastic and just like my kind of book!

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

The Lost Book of Bonn - Historical Fiction Review

Goodreads:  The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes

Rating: Really Liked It! (4.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  1946: Emmy Clarke is a librarian not a soldier. But that doesn’t stop the Library of Congress from sending her overseas to Germany to help the Monuments Men retrieve and catalog precious literature that was plundered by the Nazis. The Offenbach Archival Depot and its work may get less attention than returning art to its rightful owners, but for Emmy, who sees the personalized messages on the inside of the books and the notes in margins of pages, it feels just as important. On Emmy’s first day at work, she finds a poetry collection by Rainer Maria Rilke, and on the title page is a handwritten “To Annelise, my brave Edelweiss Pirate.” Emmy is instantly intrigued by the story behind the dedication and becomes determined to figure out what happened. The hunt for the rightful owner of the book leads Emmy to two sisters, a horrific betrayal, and an extraordinary protest against the Nazis that was held in Berlin at the height of the war. Nearly a decade earlier, hundreds of brave women gathered in the streets after their Jewish husbands were detained by the Gestapo. Through freezing rain and RAF bombings, the women faced down certain death and did what so few others dared to do under the Third Reich. They said no. Emmy grapples with her own ghosts as she begins to wonder if she’s just chasing two more. What she finds instead is a powerful story of love, forgiveness, and courage that brings light to even the darkest of postwar days.

Genre: Fiction - Historical

Why I Picked This Book:  I can't resist World War II historical fiction and books are involved.

My Impression:  I've read a lot of historical fiction set during this time period but none set in Germany pre-,during and post-war.  Emmy Christina, and Annelise are all very different people with different perspectives to what is happening around them but each storyline was incredibly compelling.  All three broke my heart in different ways.

For me, Annelise was the hardest to read as I knew nothing good was going to happen for the characters but I couldn't help but admire them.    We meet Christina in Annelise's story and I was both looking forward to and dreading see how their storylines met.  I found Emmy especially interesting.  She, like many other women of the time, is a war widow and finds herself in a land she hated and getting to know the people who she had thought of as the enemy and blamed for the death of her husband.  She is also a librarian and her love of books and insatiable curiosity can't be dampened.  I was captivated by all three stories and learned a bit from each one.

This was a wonderful fascinating heartbreaking book that is a very different take on the usual World War II homefront historical fiction and I will be looking forward to reading more from this author.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I really enjoyed this one.

Would I Recommend this Book?  Definitely!  Especially if you are a fan of historical fiction.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Top Ten Tuesday - Spring TBR


Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl which is all about lists.  Since lists are one of my favorite things this is one of my favorite linkups!  Today's topic is Spring TBR.  I'm not fantastic about reading all the books on my seasonal TBRs but I love making the lists!  


1.  Murder in Rose Hill by Victoria Thompson - I love this historical mystery series and am so looking forward to this one!

2.  Mind Games by Nora Roberts - I always enjoy Nora Roberts' romantic suspense and this looks like a good one.

3.  Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay - I love McKinlay's coy mysteries so I'm really looking forward to read one of her fiction titles.

4.  The Summer Swap by Sarah Morgan - I have really enjoyed previous books by this author so I'm really looking forward to this one.

5.  The Clock Struck Murder by Betty Webb - I don't know anything about this author but the blurb of this mystery sounds really fantastic.  


6.  Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - I've had this series on my radar since the first book came out and spring looks the time time to try this one!

7.  Blood Red by Wendy Corsi Staub - This is one of the books on my shelf that I'm hoping to get read this year and a suspense title is always a good choice!

8.  Nothing Venture by Patricia Wentworth - I love Wentworth's mysteries and this one off my classic mystery list looks like a fun read.  

9.  The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett - This looks gorgeous and I love that it's a very loose take off Anne of Green Gables.

10.  Death by Beach Read by Eva Gates - Not only is this the next book in a series I'm really enjoying but it also takes place during the spring so perfect timing!

What are you hoping to read this spring?