Made For TV cont. (again again)

 Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs 

I have mixed feelings about this book. The premise was interesting. However, you can very much tell what was going on in the world when it was written based on some of the stereotypes that were used. I'm not a big fan or believer in conspiracy theories and this book was full of them. Bones that could potentially invalidate the story of the Resurrection is interesting, but the different books that have the different theories that are so disparate were too many conspiracies when coupled with the story being set at Masada. Listening to this 19 years after it was written, after the troops have been pulled out of Afghanistan but the genocide in Gaza being in full swing, it seems like this book was trying too hard to be controversial. But, that's looking at this in 2024, not when it was written in 2005. I like history and support the idea of finding and sharing the truth, so the idea that someone found the bones of Jesus is interesting. Again, it was an interesting premise; it just fell flat 19 years later. Also, Temperance is yet again in trouble because she acts without thinking. It's getting a little irritating. She is in her 40s. She should know better by now.  I think I would have liked this more if I had read it when it originally came our, or in the early 2000s time period. But, I will give this series another chance and hope that the stereotyping gets reducing in future books. Also, there was an inconsistency in this book. The bird. She said Andrew got it in a raid. But that's not what happened. They got it from the sister of the woman who was killed in the previous book because neither she nor her daughter could or wanted to take care of it. That was irritating.

Fine but Not Strong

 Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich 

The longer this series goes the more hit and miss each book is. This was more a miss. It wasn't as funny as I have come to expect. The bounty hunting didn't have as many exciting or amusing characters. I am not a fan of Wulf. Adding the paranormal aspect doesn't really fit with the series. The Kidnapping for a reality show was interesting, but when neither Stephanie nor Ranger got taken it was a little disappointing. Overall. it was fine but not great.

Low Stakes Mystery

 The Westing Game  by Ellen Raskin 

I LOVE a mystery. My favorite is a cozy mystery; I don't really like high stakes. And while I wouldn't consider this a cozy mystery, it was very low stakes. I had no idea who the "killer" was. I was surprised at every turn. I also didn't realize Turtle was the "main character" until the very end when she was holding court and figuring out the mystery. I was surprised when it wasn't really a murder but a faked death. I like that the book did a where are they now segment so we got some closure on the characters. Huge fan of this book.

Cozy Fantasy

 Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

This is both a prequel and a sequel all at the same time. This follows Viv and her adventures right after joining her troop. Hence prequel. But, it ends with a flash forward to her life now. Hence sequel. Viv is on her first adventure with the troop she joined and she gets a bad leg wound. They drop her at the nearest town and tell her they will see her when they come back through, as long as she doesn't die first. She has a couple setbacks from not listening to her doctor. She makes some friends, particularly Fern who owns the bookstore and starts up her love of reading. In fact, she spends most of her time with Fern, helping her revitalize her store. We discover how her friendship with Gallina started. We see her first relationship, and watch as it blooms knowing it is destined to fail. We have trouble with a minion of a necromancer. We meet my favorite character, Satchel, a sentient pile of bones that only comes to life when sprinkled with bonedust. He was created by the necromancer to be her servant, but he has a lot of skills. Viv and friends let him out and he gets to make his own choices for the first time ever. He also helps Viv defeat the necromancer. Her defeat grants him his life to live on his own terms. I would burn the world for him. This book had a lot more action than the first, but it wasn't overly gory. It set up a third book nicely and I need it desperately. I loved this book. I love this series. Cozy fantasy is my jam.

Weird. No.

 Five Star Stranger by Kat Tang

I won this from a goodreads giveaway. I can't stop thinking about this book, but I don't think I actually liked it. It was well written, but not what I was expecting, and not one of my normal genres. I thought this was going to be a romcom. It was not. We don't even know the main character's name! He is a friend/lover/partner for hire. He takes on different roles depending on what you want/need him to be for a set amount of time. He has a long term gig as Dad to Lily and husband to Mari. But that falls apart in pretty spectacular fashion causing him to quit his job and move to LA, where he grew up. We get no closure on him. He hooks up with a woman who knew his mom, but he doesn't tell her that she killed herself years ago. Instead, when she asks him if he ever read her play he says no, but something else she said makes it seem like she thinks he did and we never find out what she wrote (we can assume it was an unflattering view of her life as a mother). And we have no idea what he does for work once he moves back to LA. We don't know if he ever mails Lily the cartography kit and letter. We don't know if Mari's new relationship works out. We have no closure.  There were too many unanswered questions in this. I do not think I will be reading anymore from this author, not because they are a bad author but because this book was not enjoyable for me.

Historical Romance, But NOT the Ususal Era Part 3

 Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore

The ending was not as strong as the middle for this book. This book has two of my favorite tropes and I really enjoyed a good portion of it, but I felt let down my the conclusion. Forced marriage and only one bed. Throw in a light enemies to lovers and this book seems like it could have everything that I would want in a book. But it fell flat at the end. So, Hattie goes to an art showing at Mr. Blacktone's house, only she doesn't know it's been cancelled and he doesn't know it was supposed to happen at all and when he walks to greet her he greets her with a kiss. She slaps him and runs away. He realizes who she is and finally agrees to one of the invitations that Mrs. Greenfield has been sending. They see each other at a lunchon and make conversation by the buffet. He opens the house up for the art shows. He plans to be seen with her, alone. But instead, they get caught kissing. She can't even say it was forced because she leaned in. So, they get married and he sells his 30% shares in a Spanish railway for half price. The do not consummate on the first night or the second. On the second day she sees a woman in the parlor with her hand on his face and she assumes that she's his mistress and that he's violating his marriage vows after two days. Really, it was a friend who was trying to help him seduce his wife. She goes to Lucy who gives her the means to run away to France where she could be safe. But, as she is heading to the train he grabs her and moves her to a different train, going to Scotland. It's rough going for a while and then it's less rough. The inn only has one bed and it takes entirely too long for it to work it's magic. In fact, it takes her getting drunk at a wedding, and him not doing anything and her getting to know him before anything happens. Then they are both insatiable. He is falling for his wife and she for him. Meanwhile, he is working on safety for the mine he bought and she is learning how to use a camera. Then, the mine collapses and he gets cold again. She returns to London to find the not mistress who tells her that his mother and sister both drowned in a mine that was owned by the man who he bought this mine from. Later, she hears noise coming from his study but it's not him, it's his man of all affairs and he is searching through his desk. He takes her hostage but her husband shows up and saves the day. They make up and then she tells him she wants to separate because she needs to be wooed, to know if she's in love with her husband because she's in love with him or because he was her captor. She goes to France and ends up teaching the other runaway women about photography. He waits 6 months then comes to get her. To court her. They go back to Scotland so she can take pictures of the miners and the book ends with them married again and her putting on an art show with her pictures of the miners from Scotland.  I enjoyed most of this, so much so that I had to text two different friends about it. But while the end was in line with the motives of the characters, it was lacking.

K-Pop Inspired

 XOXO by Axie Oh

This book was adorable. Giggling, smiling, kicking my feet adorable. I don't know of a single person who hasn't daydreamed of what it would be like to meet and fall in love with their celebrity crush. But, she didn't even realize he was a celebrity when they first met! Like Jenny I don't really know anything about K-pop so this was a new experience for me. But, it was so cute. I loved how Jenny thrived in her arts school in South Korea. She made friends, she learned the importance of being true to herself, she developed a relationship with her grandmother. All of it was wholesome and heartwarming. And Jaewoo. He learned that it's okay to live for yourself and not just for others. I was irritated at the secret nature of the relationship, but how it got resolved was great.  I liked the audiobook narrator; I'm not familiar with Korean so hearing the correct pronunciations of words was informative and enjoyable. I cannot wait to read the next book! Axie Oh is now on my must read list.

Goodreads Giveaway Win

 If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens 

This was not what I was expecting, but I was enthralled. I was expecting a cozy mystery or Scooby Doo style but this was more paranormal and a bit scarier than anticipated. Some parts were a bit repetitive, but I was enjoying the enemies to lovers so much that the repetitiveness didn't bother me; it just was noticeable. Pen is so relatable. While I am not Native and can never understand her experiences in that regard, her need to prove herself and her feelings of not being enough are eminently relatable. I am her and she is me. I liked that Neil was just as multidimensional and realistic. I especially liked that he was not some muscle hunk, that he is described as having a bit of a belly, which would be perfectly normal for an author, someone with a sedentary job. While I classified them as enemies to lovers, it was more a lack of communication and fear of rejection than true enemies. Watching them learn how to open up to each other, in the middle of dealing with literal ghosts, was adorable; like kicking my feet and giggling. I liked that we got a flash forward after the week was over; the 15 months in the future was really sweet. As for the ghost story: it was creepy enough to keep me on edge, but not so scary that I had to sleep with the lights on (I am NOT a horror fan). I liked that Pen and Neil both saw examples of the ghost independently before seeing her together and that her mystery brought them together. That the ghost only wanted to talk to Pen was weird, but it worked. And that they were able to understand her story and put an end to the haunting was nice. I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more from this author!

Made For TV cont. (again)

 Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs 

This was better than book 6, but not by much (and a lot better than book 5). This takes place in Canada over the course of about a week. I was irritated with Temperance and Andrew through most of the book and it kept switching who I was most irritated with; but I think it was her. How is she that smart but always making such horrible decisions! Yet again she is in mortal danger because of her own actions, which could have been resolved if she just talked to Andrew. I get she was mad at him because she thought he was cheating, and it's his fault for not telling her from the start what was going on, but she could have told him where she was going. And she not only put herself in danger, but her friend too! Him having a surprise daughter was unexpected, but he could have said something earlier than he did. Now, for the case. I was NOT prepared for stolen identities, kidnapped and tortured girls, and reverse Stockholm Syndrome. This was a lot, and these are crime books and this was still a lot.  It's going to take a while to recover from this story. But the past two have been much better and have me interested in the series again.

Historical Romance, But NOT the Usual Era Part 2

 A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore 

 I liked this more than the first book. It was a bit second chance romance, a bit friends and enemies to lovers. This focuses on Lucy, who while important to the cause does not play a huge part in book one (aside from letting Annabelle live with her for a bit), and Tristan, someone she has known since childhood. We get more of Lucy's backstory; she joined the cause and it led to her estrangement from her family. He is younger than she is and he has been infatuated with her since they were children. Now, with the help of her friends she has raised enough money to buy a publishing house, so they can start putting suffrage materials out to the public, but unbeknownst to her, he buys the other shares and now they have to work together. Also, the biggest book from this publishing house is a book of anonymous love poems that he just happened to write, and he wants to re-release with his name attached. Meanwhile, he is trying to gather a lot of money quickly so he can take his mother and run away to India; his older brother died making him the heir and his mother is not taking it well. Not only that, his father is a tyrant, and he fears he may hurt his mother to get back at him. In fact, he uses his mother as a way to force Tristan to rehabilitate his reputation or he will ship her off to an asylum. Also, he has picked out who Tristan will wed at the end of those 3 months. That turns out to be Lucy's cousin, who is being doted on by Lucy's mother. Annabelle holds a house party because Prince Albert wants to come hunting and Lucy and Tristan both end up there, and they dance scandalously close. Then, suffrage pamphlets get distributed and of course Lucy gets blamed, but her friends rally around her. She wants control of the publishing house and Tristan says he will sell her a share if she shares his bed. She puts him off for a while then finally agrees. And they become lovers. Fast forward, she asks him to go to the fair with her and he says no; he goes with his almost betrothed instead because his mother is missing and he thinks Lucy's mother might be able to help him find her since they were friends. But, he never gets a chance to talk to her. Then Lucy spots them together and she leaves. He follows. They are together all night, but the almost betrothed runs away, cries in a boathouse, and is seen leaving way after curfew wearing his coat. So he ends up at Lucy's parents house about to be married to someone he doesn't want when Lucy shows up to save him. Except the cousin is trying to pretend like something happened, but while she knows of his tattoo and it's location she doesn't describe it correctly and her ruse is over. Then, her father demands that Tristan marry Lucy and she says no because she's not getting married until the Married Women's Property Act is passed. But, they do get engaged and continue being lovers until, according to the afterward, the Act is passed two years later. This was funnier than the previous book. Also, it was nice to see the woman as the older partner in the relationship, by 2.5 years. The epilogue did a good job of setting up the next book and I am looking forward to it (more than I was this one).

Historical Fiction

 The Last Light Over Oslo by Alix Rickloff

I won this from a goodreads giveaway. I am a fan of historical fiction and I really wanted to like this, but it was very slow and felt unfinished. In the Author's Note she talks about the items that she used to research Daisy, but Daisy was not the main focus of the book, Cleo was. And Cleo's story went unfinished. Daisy was the historical part and Cleo (and Baynard) were the fiction part. But the ending made me more curious about Cleo and what happened to her than I was with Daisy getting safely back to America. I want to know if Cleo and Baynard survived and ended up together. I did not care about how Daisy was received at home and if she was removed from her post as ambassador. The book did not seem to flow very well and there were times where I was not sure if we were focusing on Daisy or Cleo. Plus the ending. I enjoy historical fiction but I will probably not read anymore from this author.

Did Not Enjoy

 When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. Alex was understandable, her fears relatable. But I just did not enjoy this. Part of the reason is because her father was the literal worst, well her step mother might have been worse, but she was so small of a role that it's debatable. Someone should have called CPS. I understand the librarians reasoning for not, but then why didn't she do more to help Alex. And like Alex I was slow to forgive Aunt Marla. She was so selfish. Everyone let down Alex. Everyone. She did a marvelous job taking care of Beatrice and her fear of her dragoning was reasonable. I'm glad Alex finally got a happy ending; she got to study what she loved, she married a woman that made her happy, and she had her dragon aunties, but she was also the only adult in this story, and she was forced to be an adult for the majority of it. I know this is classified as fantasy, because dragons. But, it's also giving sci-fi because of how much study went into the dragons. There were people studying why and how women dragoned. It was very science focused. But, unfortunately, that did not help me enjoy it.

Made for TV cont.

 Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs 

This was more enjoyable than the previous book. There were fewer characters, she spent less time traveling to different places, and there were fewer bodies. Temperance and Andrew finally spent some time together, but it was delayed because she found a body mixed in with the bear bones. Then, he had to go back to Canada because his niece was in the hospital (overdose). But he did come back. Also, like Brennan, I was convinced that her daughter's sort of boyfriend was up to no good, turns out he's just bad at his job. I was surprised at the killer and how involved all of it was. There were some really cute moments that involved her ex-husband's dog (who she was dog sitting). I liked this much better than book 5, and it was better on audio than book 5. I will continue listening to this series.