Smoke by Catherine McKenzie

December 7, 2015 By Leave a Comment

SMOKE
Smoke by Catherine McKenzie
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (337 pages)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

After a decade-long career combating wildfires, Elizabeth has traded in for a quieter life with her husband. Now she works as the local arson investigator in a beautiful, quaint town in the Rockies. But that tranquil life vanishes when she and her husband agree to divorce, and when a fire started in nearby Cooper Basin begins to spread rapidly. For Elizabeth, containing a raging wildfire is easier than accepting that her marriage has failed.

For Elizabeth’s ex-friend Mindy, who feels disconnected from her husband and teenage children, the fire represents a chance to find a new purpose: helping a man who lost his home to the blaze. But her faith is shattered by a shocking accusation.

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Engrossing… simply engrossing.

I’m generally not a fan of chick lit. Why? I like a little more romance to the books I read. That said, I did enjoy Smoke. There’s just enough going on in this book. It kept my attention and flowed well. The writing was good and I liked the characters for the most part.

The backdrop of the wildfires helped to illustrate the way the lives of the characters seem to be falling into shambles, but there’s a chance for rebirth. I liked that. I like knowing things aren’t always going to be horrible and this author did that for me.

The slow buildup of the characters could be a bit of a story killer for some. It’s not a fast moving book to begin with. I had to fight a little early on, but once I got into the story… I was hooked. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t engrossing, it just means you may have to put in some effort to get to the payoff. It’s worth it.

Elizabeth and Mindy are good characters and easy to relate to because we’ve all been in their shoes–kids, marriages, crises and the like. How the characters handled their problems was very down to earth and worth the read.

Grab a copy. Good reading.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Return to Dust by Andrew Lanh

December 4, 2015 By Leave a Comment

DUST
Return to Dust by Andrew Lanh
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (300 pgs)
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

When Marta Kowalski is discovered beneath the Farmington River Bridge, the police write off her death as an unfortunate suicide. Marta had become depressed since the death of an old friend. Marta was a simple woman who cleaned houses, mostly for elderly professors, and faithfully attended Mass. Sometimes she went gambling in Atlantic City or at the Indian casinos. She had no enemies, let alone friends. Murder? There’s no evidence of a crime. Yet her niece Karen is convinced of foul play. She hires Amerasian Rick Van Lam, the only investigator she knows in this bedroom community. He had never really cared for Marta. Yes, she’d dusted his apartment a couple of times, but she was a little too nosy. And she’d fought with a local gardener, a full-blooded Vietnamese man. Jimmy, his mentor and partner at nearby Hartford, Connecticut’s Gaddy Associates, aces at insurance fraud, frowns on Rick taking another murder case. But aided by his sidekick Hank Nguyen and Hank’s wise Buddhist grandmother, Rick begins asking questions and finds himself mired in affluent Farmington’s parochial pettiness and scandal. Digging deeper, he unearths rivalries, jealousies, and viciousness to shame a Miss Marple village―and realizes to his amazement that Marta was no mere unassuming housekeeper. Any number of townsfolk had reason to shove her off that bridge―one of them mind-blowing.

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Mr. Lanh’s detective is half Vietnamese and half American soldier. That makes asking questions is a bit harder. Neither the whites nor the Vietnamese trust him. The white’s don’t trust his dark skin; the Vietnamese don’t trust his blue eyes. He perseveres and has the skills to wait long enough to get answers or to get thrown out.

Marta was his housekeeper. She worked for many others. Most didn’t like her much. Maybe someone hated her. It’s when he finds out she had another side than the one he saw that he learns she had some secrets. She liked to drink, she liked to gamble, and she dressed for the part. Was that what got her killed?

This author has a way of drawing you in while showing you the secrets of families and friends. Most everyone in the story has a secret somewhere. He shows you that the death of a man she thought she was in love with was a big issue in her life. She kept trying to find him even after he moved. She was almost obsessed. What she finds by mistake gets her killed but that’s a mystery until the end.

The story is paced well, the clues he bleeds into the story keep you reading, and almost every character within is touched some way by this murder and the people involved. It was an interesting read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Dawnflight by Kim Iverson Headlee

December 3, 2015 By 1 Comment

DAWN
Dawnflight by Kim Iverson Headlee
Publisher: Lucky Bat Books
Genre: Action/Adventure, Historical
Length: Full Length (413 pgs)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Poinsettia

Gyanhumara “Gyan” nic Hymar is a Caledonian chieftainess by birth, a warrior and leader of warriors by training, and she is betrothed to Urien map Dumarec, a son of her clan’s deadliest enemy, by right of Arthur the Pendragon’s conquest of her people. For the sake of peace, Gyan is willing to sacrifice everything…perhaps even her very life, if her foreboding about Urien proves true.

Arthur map Uther is the bastard son of two worlds, Roman by his father and Brytoni by his mother. Denied hereditary rulership by the elders of Chieftainess Ygraine’s clan, Arthur has followed Uther’s path to become Dux Britanniarum, the Pendragon: supreme commander of the northern Brytoni army. The Caledonians, Scots, Saxons, and Angles keep him too busy to dwell upon his loneliness…most of the time.

When Gyan and Arthur meet, each recognize within the other their soul’s mate. The treaty has preserved Gyan’s ancient right to marry any man, providing he is a Brytoni nobleman—but Arthur does not qualify. And the ambitious Urien, Arthur’s greatest political rival, shall not be so easily denied. If Gyan and Arthur cannot prevent Urien from plunging the Caledonians and Brytons back into war, their love will be doomed to remain unfulfilled forever.

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When I read the description for Dawnflight, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of Gyan, traditionally known as Guinevere, being a warrior rather than a victim. Gyan certainly lived up to my expectations. She is a strong and courageous woman, and although she finds herself in the unenviable position of having to marry for political reasons, she is definitely not a damsel in distress. She is still the warrior and leader she has been trained to be. Even though Gyan wants peace for her clan, she isn’t willing to compromise her character by pretending to be something she’s not. I admire her spirit.

It is abundantly clear that Urien is not the man for Gyan. He is a thoroughly detestable man who treats most people poorly, especially women. However, Urien doesn’t see himself this way and seems genuinely confused when Gyan becomes upset with him. Gyan deluded herself from the beginning that she could ever be with Urien. They were never comfortable around each other and he clearly didn’t respect her or her people. Urien tried to be on his best behavior at first, but he couldn’t hide his true personality for long. His treatment of Gyan is appalling, especially toward the end of the book. I found myself very frustrated with Gyan and her reluctance to walk away from the match. While she has to marry a Brytoni nobleman, she doesn’t have to marry Urien. She still has a choice, and yet Gyan acts as if Urien is her only option even though many of her friends and family try to tell her otherwise. I couldn’t help but wonder if Gyan would recognize just how dangerous Urien is before it is too late.

Arthur is the opposite of Urien in every way. He treats everyone around him with respect, even the people he’s conquered in battle. From the moment Arthur and Gyan meet, the attraction is clear. They are well suited to each other. I could just as easily picture them in a passionate embrace as fighting side by side on the battle field. Unfortunately, their romance is complicated and finding a way to be together won’t be easy.

The characters in Dawnflight are truly compelling, but Ms. Headlee has also created a vivid world for her characters to inhabit. The day to day details Ms. Headlee provides made it easy for me to lose myself in Gyan’s world. I will admit that the pacing did suffer in a few places, but my patience was definitely rewarded as there are plenty of faster paced sections to satisfy readers who love a good battle, whether fought with swords or words.

Readers should also know that Ms. Headlee has provided supplementary material at the back of the book with lists of names, places, and pronunciation guides to some of the more difficult words. I enjoyed reading through these sections and encourage others to do the same. In fact, some readers might want to read these sections before diving in to the tale.

I truly enjoyed reading Dawnflight. Ms. Headlee’s version of the Arthurian legend is unique, and Arthur and Gyan’s romance is timeless. I highly recommend Dawnflight to fans of historical romance. I’m looking forward to reading the second installment in this series very soon.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays

December 2, 2015 By 1 Comment

WORLDS
Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays by Maia Chance, Janine A. Southard, Raven Oak, & G. Clemans
Publisher: Grey Sun Press
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Holiday, Contemporary, Historical
Length: Full Length (298 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

What do you get when you mix mystery and speculative fiction, then toss in the holidays for good measure? A mobster Santa, genetic hanky-panky, Victorian villages, time-travelling detectives, Krampus, eerie bell spirits, and more–this collection of short cross-genre fiction is the perfect counterpoint to traditional holiday reading!

This collection stars four authors, each with their own distinct style. National bestselling author Maia Chance, who is famous for her cozy mysteries, dazzles with humor and folklore. IPPY award-winning science fiction author Janine A. Southard beguiles with unexpected time-travel science. Science fiction & fantasy bestseller Raven Oak offers a look into the gothic past. And for a whole new perspective, debut fiction author and art expert G. Clemans dives into the intersections of creativity and mystery.
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Joy to the Worlds brings together eight short works that explore mysteries across time and space. Ranging from dark dystopian worlds to comedic retro-futures, four diverse writers find new ways to combine these disparate worlds into something everyone will enjoy.

There are many mysteries in the Christmas season if you know where to look.

“Wild Hunt” caught my attention immediately. The narrator, Tyson, is the newest member of his supernatural hunting team. If he succeeds in figuring out how an innocent human was murdered, he’ll be promoted. Failure? That isn’t an option. The world building was so intricate that I briefly wondered if this was a prequel to a book. The society that Tyson belongs to was simply that well described. I also enjoyed seeing how this character attempted to solve the case. He had a methodical style of thinking that worked nicely for a murder mystery, especially once he began talking to the potential witnesses and suspects in the case.

In “The Ringers,” a girl named Elise moves to a strange, new town with her parents where both magic and curiosity are strictly forbidden. Elise needs to figure out why the citizens of this community are so quiet and sad before it’s too late. I had a hard time getting into this story at first because how slowly the plot moved in the beginning. Most of the characters were introduced right away, so it took me a while to figure out how everyone was connected as well. It would have been helpful to start in a less busy point so that I could have had more opportunities to piece everything together. The premise itself was creepy and interesting, though, and I soon came to enjoy it. A few of the other stories in this collection had similar pacing problems. I really enjoyed all of their premises. I simply needed more time to figure out what was going on in the first few scenes because their beginnings included so much information about what was happening in them.

One of the things I liked the most about “Odysseus Flax & the Krampus” was how many times it surprised me. This tale was about a man named Odysseus who finds himself temporarily stranded in a small town until the next train arrives. While he’s visiting, he overhears some local people discussing a local legend about Krampus whisking away the naughtiest children as a punishment for their bad deeds. It’s difficult to say anything else about the plot without giving away spoilers because the narrator does so many creative things with it. I was especially impressed with how she tied everything together. The twists were unexpected, but they also worked really well with what I’d already learned about the characters who were involved in them. This was especially true in the ending. I definitely didn’t see it coming ahead of time, but I could also completely understand why the author wrote it that way. It was really well done!

Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays was a fascinating mixture of genres. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries that are heavily influence by science fiction.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake

December 1, 2015 By Leave a Comment

scandal never sleep_front mech.indd
Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (400 pages)
Heat Level: Hot
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Honeysuckle

They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives . . .

Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him . . .

Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true . . .
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As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target . . .

Everly’s world took a nose dive when her friend and boss died in a plane crash. Now she has a new CEO who may fire her on the spot, cyber-security issues that threaten the company and a one night stand that feels like so much more…and those are the easy problems.

Hold on to your hats fearless readers, this is a bumpy ride with so many twists, turns and layers, I thought I was going to need oxygen at one point.

Both Lexi Blake and Shayla Black are known for writing intricately built worlds where just when a reader thinks they are going to zig, they zag. I couldn’t help but love every single minute of it. I’ve read everything Ms. Blake has ever written and this new series holds true to her writing skills. I got lost in this world of the privileged where life isn’t nearly as cushy and smooth as having money should make it. I loved the whole premise of a group of friends who share a bond forged by a common distaste for the life they’re forced into. They all know their futures are planned out and they have a duty to fulfill. It doesn’t mean they have to like it and it certainly doesn’t mean they have to fall in line quietly. In fact, thanks to the ring leader of this band of high society sons, Maddox Crawford, they’ll draw all kinds of attention before they assume their rightful places. But then Maddox had to go and die. It changed everything.

Gabriel Bond, Gabe to his friends, stands to both win and lose the most with Mad’s death. I like how Gabe is both alpha male and yet it’s clear his feelings for his friends and family run deep. It made him seem reachable and vulnerable and yet I had no doubt he’d get to the bottom of the problems Mad’s death caused. Gabe is also faulty. He has a short temper that tends to make him say things before his brain has time to consider otherwise. It gets him into hot water more than once in this novel. At the same time, when Gabriel wants to be smooth, he’s practically silk. Everly didn’t stand a chance.

Everly is one those heroines that I love pretty much immediately. She’s a geek and truly nice to everyone who isn’t crazy mean. I say that because there is a crazy mean girl in the picture. Seriously, this girl has issues but she isn’t Everly’s main problem, just a side slice of pain in her behind. I had no problem at all in cheering for Gabe and Everly’s HEA. They had so much chemistry. I also love that she isn’t afraid to walk away from Gabe, she doesn’t want to but she’ll stand up for herself even if it means losing him.

Readers who enjoy a hot romance with lots of non-sexual action and suspense outside the bedroom should give this series a read. This is book one in the Perfect Gentlemen series. It gives the overall back story and introduces the men who’ll star in the next books. They’re all so different and I can’t wait to be a part of their stories. This is a must read!

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Ruby by Juliet James

November 30, 2015 By Leave a Comment

RUBY
Ruby by Juliet James
Book 1 Come By Chance Mail Order Brides
Publisher: Squeaky Clean Western Romance
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (180 pages)
Heat Level: Sensual
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Myrtle

It’s 1884, and love is in the air in the town of Come-By-Chance!

In this much-loved series strong women risk everything to rise above their desperate circumstances, find true love, and wed real men who’ll treat them right.

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Ruby sees an advertisement in the Matrimonial News and takes a desperate chance, writing away to the handsome Six-feet-four James Drinkwater.

Will James be the answer to Ruby’s plight? Is the handsome Montana man all that he seems? Or will someone else come to Ruby’s rescue, so together they can find true love?

Every cloud has a silver lining, or so Ruby had always been told, but after working for Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, doubting had become easy.

It’s 1884 and beautiful twenty-year-old Ruby works a decent job as a house-worker in a lavish home belonging to the owners of the “worst school in Pittsburgh.” When the husband claims his wife has “shut up shop” meaning no more romance in the bedroom, he decides that Ruby should provide those services, too. The vile and disgusting man has Ruby on the hunt for an escape from her undesirable life when she comes upon an advertisement from a rich Montana man looking for a bride. He sounds too good to be true, but after exchanging a few letters, Ruby packs up and heads for Montana.

Unfortunately, things are not always what they seem, and Ruby’s belief in a “silver lining” starts looking a bit tainted in Montana. Slim Jim turns out not to be the perfect man Ruby envisioned after all, but upon her arrival in Big Sky Country, a whirlwind wedding followed by a hotel room honeymoon that serves only her new husband’s needs, leaves Ruby confused and scared. Finding out there are more farces than truths when it comes to Slim Jim, Ruby welcomes her new friendship with Lettie, who knows Slim Jim as the true scoundrel he is. On Ruby’s behalf, Lettie makes a deal with Slim Jim, and soon bride-worthy men start admiring Ruby. The three Wilkinson brothers, each more handsome than the next, decide it is high time to find brides for themselves making things even more interesting for Ruby.

This quick read tells a decent story, but there is not much “meat” to the tale. The writing and editing are both good, but the story just scraped the surface making it feel more like a draft than a final version, especially at the end, which lacked detail and wrapped up the next day/month/year in summary form. I would love to read something full length or more detailed that this writer has written, because she does have a flare. Several more Mail Order Bride books are available by this author, and given the talent in Ruby, although it has room for improvement, I am not opposed to trying another.

If you enjoy historical romance, or happen to be a mail order bride story fan, this might be the perfect quick read for your next lazy day afternoon or vacation getaway.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

I’ll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton

November 26, 2015 By Leave a Comment

NEVER
I’ll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full Length (367 pgs)
Heat: Spicy
Rated: 3.5 stars
Review by Poppy

LOVE HURTS

He promised to kill her. One night four years ago, Leah Carson’s husband almost succeeded. Philip stabbed her twenty-three times before fleeing. The police are sure he’s dead. But fear won’t let Leah believe it.

AND SOMETIMES

It starts with little things. Missing keys. A flat tire. Mysterious flowers. All easily explained away if the pattern wasn’t so terrifyingly familiar. Leah has a new veterinary practice and a new life with no ties to her nightmare. But Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent Alex Morgan suspects something. And when another woman’s body is found, stabbed twenty-three times, Leah knows her past has found her.
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IT KILLS

As Leah and Alex untangle the horrifying truth, he watches her, ready for the perfect moment. Until death—that was the vow they made. And a killer always keeps his word…

Far more suspense than romance, I’ll Never Let You Go had a heart-stopping plot.

The heroine, Leah, is incredibly strong. She (barely) got away from her abusive husband once and is determined to never be a victim again. She has a lot of deep-seated fears and a little bit of OCD behavior (like checking and re-checking her locks), but who could blame her. She manages to lead a pretty normal life despite it all. I really loved how she recognized her weaknesses but took steps to overcome them. Leah was a woman to be admired.

Alex is part of the internal affairs department at the police department and not well-loved by his fellow officers (except his family, who are all involved in law enforcement in some manner). Still, he has strong values and convictions and manages to not let it really affect him. And when he has to investigate Leah’s best friend, he uses Leah to get information, not realizing that eventually he’d find himself legitimately attracted to her. I got a kick out of Alex and his interactions with his family. He’s an awesome guy, but almost a little too perfect. I don’t think he honestly had any flaws. He was handsome, smart, honorable … but he was also likely exactly what Leah needed. Her former husband certainly had his share, so perhaps Alex in all his perfection was the only thing that would have worked for her.

The story is packed with twists and turns. While I wouldn’t say it was a non-stop, adrenaline pumping suspense, it certainly kept me thinking and wondering. All the hard evidence from the past points to Leah’s husband being dead, but everything happening now screams that he’s alive. I knew there had to be a twist somewhere, and there is, but you won’t find out until the very end!

The main reason I chose the rating I did here, though, was because the book is marketed as romantic suspense and it really isn’t. The romance is nearly nil. Calling the heat “spicy” is almost a misnomer—as there is one very briefly described (no sexy details) sex scene and honestly, the first three-quarters of the book, it’s really as if Leah and Alex are barely friends. Yes, there is a HEA for them, but it’s a pretty quick turn of events. Believable, I suppose, but I really missed seeing the relationship truly develop over the course of the entire book.

So, don’t go into this expecting romance like I did. You’ll likely be disappointed. Go into this for a mystery instead and then you’ll get the most enjoyment from the story. Mary Burton is a very good writer, with a clever mind and clear description. The next time I pick up a book of hers to read, though, I’ll know what to expect.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

In the Company of Wolves by Paige Tyler

November 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment

WOLVES
In the Company of Wolves by Paige Tyler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (278 pgs)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Xeranthemum

There’s a new gang of criminals in town and it’s organized, ruthless, and, most importantly, a pack of wolf shifters. Eric Becker and his Dallas SWAT Team are determined to rid their streets of these lowlifes, but when his fellow cops collide with the criminals in a shoot-out, he finds himself face–to-face with the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

Incapable of shooting or arresting the alluring shifter who’s stolen his heart, Becker decides to hide her and leave the scene with the rest of his team. Now Jayna, his mystery woman, is left not only wondering why she was protected, but also what a street-savvy thief like her is going to do with a hot alpha wolf officer like him…

There’s a new meaning to the acronym, S.W.A.T. and it’s really cool. Special Wolf Alpha Team consists of good guys with paranormal talents that get the job done when regular humans can’t due to the high risk. Eric was lucky to be part of the S.W.A.T. team but not everyone is so fortunate to find a pack that protects your back. Enter Jayna, the heroine and an unlikely one at that. She doesn’t see herself as anything other than subservient to her alpha, but things are about to change and wow, does it get exciting!

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The action scenes are gritty, the suspense is knife sharp and the romance sizzles. Ms. Tyler weaves intrigue with lust, suspense with laughter and shocks with revelations. In the Company of Wolves is a busy book with lots of layers for readers to explore.

However, the author actually starts off with how Jayna’s turn came to pass in the prologue. It’s scary because she was just a kid when it happened and the violence was shocking. It’s not until the chaos of the first chapter that I found out what had happened to Jayna and I was horrified. How could she have gone from the frying pan to the fire? It’s through Eric’s determination and dogged perseverance that I found out. Eric is a man of action but even he, with all his wolfie talents, might not be enough to save the day. The ‘how’ of it is another reason why I found this book hard to put down.

When Eric and Jayne follow their mating instincts, it’s really hot stuff. Those scenes are well-written, well placed and every one of them is worth reading.

Secondary characters are key. The ones in Jayna’s group provide motivation, heart and conflict. The villains are decidedly creepy, violent and effective bad guys. Even someone who used to be good was actually bad and that made me sad. It was Jayna’s remembrances of him earlier that made it so hard to reconcile the past with the reality of the present. My favorite secondary character was Cooper. Ms. Tyler put my emotions through the wringer when she had him on stage. I think what got me the most was how she described his smile.

For romantic suspense readers, this novel has enough chases, fights, bullets, blood, drama, action, trepidation and heart stopping moments to cause an adrenaline rush. It’s riveting!

As for the happy ever after, it’s perfect because it comes with a couple of surprises. That last couple of sentences were so romantic they left me sighing. It was all worth it. In the Company of Wolves definitely gets a thumbs up from me. This is an awesome book and an easy one to recommend to other readers. It’s a standalone so a new reader can jump right in and feel welcomed. Certainly, it’s one not to miss.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Life and Other Near-Death Experiences by Camille Pagán

November 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment

NEAR
Life and Other Near-Death Experiences by Camille Pagán
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: Full Length (262 pgs)
Rated: 4.5 stars
Review by Poppy

Libby Miller has always been an unwavering optimist—but when her husband drops a bomb on their marriage the same day a doctor delivers devastating news, she realizes her rose-colored glasses have actually been blinding her.
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With nothing left to lose, she abandons her life in Chicago for the clear waters and bright beaches of the Caribbean for what might be her last hurrah. Despite her new sunny locale, her plans go awry when she finds that she can’t quite outrun the past or bring herself to face an unknowable future. Every day of tropical bliss may be an invitation to disaster, but with her twin brother on her trail and a new relationship on the horizon, Libby is determined to forget about fate. Will she risk it all to live—and love—a little longer?

From critically acclaimed author Camille Pagán comes a hilarious and hopeful story about a woman choosing between a “perfect” life and actually living.

Alternately exceptionally deep and heart-rending and absolutely hysterical, Life and Other Near-Death Experiences was nothing like I expected and completely enjoyable.

From the first page, I was both chuckling at Libby’s attitude and heart-broken at the way her life was crumbling around her. She has the kind of snarky, internal (and sometimes external) humor that I absolutely enjoy. Despite her world falling apart, she moves forward and makes choices and does what needs doing. Sometimes I questioned her choices, but not having walked in her shoes, how would I know what the “right” way to behave would be.

The author has a descriptive but breezy style that’s so easy to read. While this isn’t my typical genre, I’m glad I grabbed it. It was both edifying and uplifting and so very interesting. Parts were a little draggy, but mostly I zipped right through the book. From Chicago to the tropics, I was right there with our heroine as she went from giving up and deciding to die, to learning how to live and love again. It was an incredible journey that sometimes left me breathless and ultimately left me moved. I’m glad I decided to pick it up and recommend it to any reader who enjoys a book both meaningful and completely entertaining.

Filed Under: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Good Cop by Dorien Grey

November 24, 2015 By Leave a Comment

GOOD
The Good Cop by Dorien Grey
A Dick Hardesty Mystery, #5
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Genre: Suspense/Mystery, Historical
Length: Full Length (151 pages)
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

All Tom Brady wanted was to be a good cop; to keep a low profile and prove to a notoriously homophobic police department undergoing its own internal upheavals that gays deserved the right to be among them. But when he and old friend Dick Hardesty go out for a quiet evening, an incident leads to Tom shooting two thugs attacking patrons of a gay bar. Dick finds himself trying to protect Tom from being outed, while heading off a violent antipolice rebellion by the gay community.

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Dick has really grown as a person since the first instalment in this series. While it isn’t strictly necessary to read The Butcher’s Son, The Ninth Man, The Bar Watcher, and The Hired Man first, I’ve deeply enjoyed seeing how this character has changed over time. Just like living people, his personal growth hasn’t always been steady. Sometime it stalled or happened so slowly that I could barely notice any difference in him. When I compare the sometimes reckless Dick I knew four books ago to the much more thoughtful one I met this time, though, I’m amazed at how much he’s learned from his life so far. His maturation process has been a lot of fun to witness, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he changes in the future.

At times the subplots threatened to overwhelm the main plot due to how many of them there were and how long it took to introduce all of them. While I was interested in them, I would have liked to see more attention paid to figuring out what was going on with the fallout from the shootout that Tom was involved in early on in the plot. There was a lot of interesting information about those events that never had all of the time they needed to be explored because so many other things were happening simultaneously.

With that being said, Mr. Grey definitely knows how to keep me guessing. One of the things I appreciate the most about his writing style is how much time this author spends exploring the world his characters live in. Having such a clear understanding of what life was like for gay men in the 1980s only made me want to know what was going on in the moments before the crime Dorien investigates even more earnestly because of how steeply the cards were stacked against justice ever being served for the victim or the LGBT community as a whole at that point in history.

I’d recommend The Good Cop to anyone who is in the mood for a mystery set in the recent past.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,
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