Friday Fives - Five Books I've DNF'd Recently

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  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.   Today I'm talking about 5 books I DNF'd recently.  I'm not much of a DNFer but it's a habit I'm trying to get better as since it does me no good to unhappily trudge through a book.

1.  Happy Place by Emily Henry - This was my first book by Emily Henry and I really wanted to love this one.  I didn't hate it but I just never got into it.  I was never interested in any of the characters and I didn't care where they ended up and who they ended up with.  I've heard some mixed reviews on this one so this probably isn't the last Emily Henry I will read but this one just never clicked with me.  DNF'd 56%

2.  House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick - This was my TBR Tarot Card choice book for February and while the cards have given me some of my favorite books sometimes they don't quite come through.  This was one of those times.  There were three timelines though I never saw much of the 2nd one.  I was interested in the plot of the first one more as there's a missing person and an old journal discovered (I'm guessing that's where the 2nd time line shows up) but I couldn't stand the main character  and was quite sure her dog deserved better.  I liked the characters a little better in the first timeline which involves the Winter Queen and takes place during the mid-1660s but found it a bit overwrought. While I liked the idea of this book the execution didn't work for me and this will probably be my only try with this author.  I don't think her style works for me.  On the plus side, it's one book off my physical shelves.  DNF'd Page 160

3.  How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix - I've seen some good reviews for this one and I did like the premise but in excecution it just didn't quite work for me.  I disliked all the characters including the deceased parents and after a few hours decided I didn't care if the whole lot of them got stuck in a haunted house surrounded by possesed puppets and dolls.   DNF'd 21%

4.  Murder at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day - I was super excited about this one as it is a historical mystery set at Agatha Christie's home during World War II.  While the writing style did work for me I hated all the characters including both Bridgets.  Other than a prolouge I never actually made it to Greenway but after the first 5 chapters I just couldn't bring myself to pick it back up and wouldn't have minded if the characters (other than the nameless faceless children) had all perished on the train journey.  DNF'd Page 54

5.  When The Marquess Met His Match by Laura Lee Guhrke - I've been reading this author for years and usually enjoy her books.  1 is on my Reread Shelf and the rest I've enjoyed to varying degrees.  I went into this one with highish expectations and was disappointed.  The hero, Nicholas, is fine.  He's got the tarnished background but there are some reasons that keep him from being a total villian and while his motivations are connected to money he's upfront about it.  I was really not a fan of Belinda, the heroine.  She's judgemental and a bit vindictive and not willing to listen.  She also has her reasons for her thoughts but since those thoughts turned into actions without any real reason I wasn't quite as forgiving.  The main issue was I just bored.  I didn't really care to spend anymore time with Belinda and no one else involved was interesting enough to make me overlook her.   I'll read more from this author but this one just wasn't a winner for me.   DNF'd Page 67

Books from the Backlog - Etiquette and Espionage

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:  Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Blurb:  It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  I was flipping through my Audible Library and was shocked to see this.  I was so excited to get it but then never got around to reading it.

The Rose Arbor - Historical Mystery Review

Goodreads:  The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen

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

Description:  1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.

Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again.

As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?

Genre:  Mystery - Historical 

Why I Picked This Book:  I always enjoy Rhys Bowen's books and the blurb really caught my attention!

My Impression: I've enjoyed Bowen's cozy mysteries and her standalone historical fiction and this was a lovely mix of both!  At the beginning we start in the little village of Tydeham right before it is evaculated for use in the war effort.  I deeply sympatized with the characters as they faced being suddenly upended out of their homes as they also deal with all the chaos or the war in general.  

25 years later we meet Liz who after a failed attempt to break a big story is booted down to obituaries and her career is hanging by a thread.  She jumps at the chance to follow her friend Marisa, a police detective, to track down a lead on the most important kidnapping case in the news.

I was quickly pulled into this one.  I love a historical mystery and this one is not only historical but is looking into a potential wartime mystery which is so many of my favorite things in one.  There are also past and present day missing person cases and so many threads and stories for the characters to sift through.  

I liked Liz and her drive to find out what happened as well as her confusion with what everyone around her is telling her.   I found the story and pacing compelling and while I had several theories of waht was happening I wasn't fully sure until the very end.  I've read a number of books by this author but have been neglecting her standalones.  I won't be making that mistake in future!  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I always look forward to her cozy mysteries and I will be reading her backlist of standalones.  

Would I Recommend this Book? If you like historical mysteries with lots of atmosphere this is a fantastic read.

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

Top Ten Tuesday - My Ten Favorite Books in Ten Different Series

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 my Ten Favorite Books in Ten Different Series.  I read a lot of series so it was a bit of a challenge picking just ten!

1. Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gilman - I have enjoyed every book I've read in this series but I think this one was my favorite.

2.  Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery - I love all the Anne books but I think this is my favorite.  Not only is the ending absolutely wonderful but I love seeing Anne make new friends and even connect with her past a bit.

3.  Be My Ghost by Carol J. Perry - This was a case of right book at the right time and I loved everything about it - the dog, the ghosts, the inn stuffed with stuff from previous owners and previous guests, and the mystery.  I've enjoyed the rest of the books in this series but this one was a standout for me.

4.  The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth - I love all the Miss Silver books but this is one I reread or want to reread the most.

5.  The Lantern's Dance by Laurie R. King - I have been reading the Mary Russell/Holmes series from the very beginning and always enjoy the books.  This most recent book was especially enjoyable and is my favorite of the series by far.

6.  The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley - I really enjoyed all the books in this series but this one was my favorite - and I have a new appreciation of my pearl jewelry.

7.  Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie - This is probably one of my very favorite Poirot books and one of my very favorite Christies overall.

8.  The Glow of Death by Jane K. Cleland - I've enjoyed this series from the beginning but this was my favorite with secret identities and all kinds of other mysteries within a mystery.

9.  Killer Research by Jenn McKinlay - This is a long running series that I've been reading from the beginning and this one was probably my favorite.

10.  God Rest Ye, Royal Gentleman by Rhys Bowen - I'm not fully caught up on this series but I've read most of them and this countryhouse style murder mystery involving a very royal suspect or two has been my favorite.

What are some of your favorite books in different series?

House of Glass - Mystery Review

Goodreads:  House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Rating:  Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

Genre:  Mystery 

Why I Picked This Book:  I've read other books by this author and enjoyed them and this sounded intriguing.

My Impression: This was an intriguing and unsettling read.  Stella is an attorney appointed to help decide custody of a little girl after a shocking and traumatic event that is tearing her family apart.  To determine this she must dive deep into the lives of both parents and everyone that surrounds the little girl.  The more she investigates and spends time with the family the more she realizes that nothing is as it seems.

I was pulled in from the first page.  Stella has her own traumatic backstory that impacts and at times potentially hinders her ability to thoroughly represent the best interest of the little girl, Rose.  But since she is an outsider to the family she's able to provide almost a bird's eye view of everything that's going on.  

This is a fast paced read and the author does a good job really bringing the creepy atmosphere of the Barclay's house to life.  I was caught up from page one and it was one of those stories that lived on the edges of my mind until I was able to return to it.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  This was creepy and interesting and kept me turning pages.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you like a creepy and unsettling read but aren't in the mood for horror or lots of violence on page this is a great choice.

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

Reading Recap - July 2024

 

Monthly Recap:

Monthly Reading Count -  17 - a little lower than usual but July was a busy month!

Print - 5

Ebook - 5

Audiobook -7

Mystery -  13

Fiction - 3

Nonfiction - 1

Favorite Books of the Month:

Favorite Audio:  The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber

Favorite Read:  The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander

Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews

15 Summers Later by RaeAnne Thayne

Least Favorite Book of the Month:

Old World Murder by Kathleen Ernst - I love the concept of a murder taking place in a living history musuem and I didn't hate this one but the main character drove me batty and the mystery didn't quite come together for me.

Armchair Travel:

Domestic Travel:

I went to Idaho, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Alabama for the first time this month.  

I revisited California, Illinois, Arizona, New York, Maine, Texas, and Wisconsin.

International Travel:

I went to England (twice) and France this month.

Where did you armchair travel with your books this month?  What was your favorite read?

Friday Fives - August TBR

 
I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  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. This is the first Friday in August so I'm picking out five books I hope to read this month.

1.   Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews - I love this series and am so excited to read this newest one!

2.   Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan - I read the first book in this contemporary romance series and really liked the character of Frankie so I'm excited to listen to her book this month.

3.  Poscards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark - This is a book on my Priority Reading list, I've heard fantsatic things about the author, and I love the premise of this one.

4.  A Late Phoenix by Catherine Aird - I really love this classic mystery author and this is the next book in the Inspector Sloan series.

5.  Take the Honey and Run by Jennie Marts - I've been wanting to start this series since it started so when the TBR Tarot cards told me to choose a book with a yellow cover it seemed like a sign!

What are you hoping to read this month?