Book Review

Review: The Fireman by Joe Hill

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25816688** spoiler alert ** This book started out fantastic! I mean I seriously loved every single minute of it! Then I hit the 60% or so mark. It was all downhill from there. The camp, the items that went missing, the tension between the players…all of that was fantastic. However, somewhere along the way Hill seemed to get lost. For starters, where did the love interest between two main characters come from? I mean, we saw the Fireman at the start…and then he just kinda disappeared for a good portion of the book…then when he reappeared there was this relationship that was going on…there just wasn’t a foundation for it. I also have to say that the husband and wife thing…it really pissed me off…it was so cliche…she was madly in love with him…then he turned on her….then she realised that she hadn’t loved him for years and he had never really loved her. Seriously? Like THAT’S never been done before in a book. Stuff like that really pisses me off…but regardless of that, I tried to ignore that let down and got on with enjoying the book…but then we have the whole no relationship thing until in a blink of an eye we have a serious relationship thing….no….I don’t like it when I feel an author is taking me for granted and expecting me to suspend reality…

The storyline was fine…I was even excited about the thief and who it turned out to be…

Then we have the escape…and wham bam….the author expects me to suspend reality again and believe all these miracle close calls…

Yep…there will be a second book…and the Fireman will be the lead (without even being in the majority of the book again, I bet) once again…

Joe Hill, I love your writing…NOS4A2 was simply amazing…it kept me up at night…this one? I was just well and truly gutted that a book that started out so fantastic just took an easy way out at the end…It totally seemed that Joe Hill was simply writing to finish the book and not to finish the story…

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now The Fireman by Joe Hill

Review: Sunshine Beach by Wendy Wax

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This fun 4th in a series is set in the St. Pete’s area of Florida – near the famous pink castle, Hotel Don Cesar. 

In Sunshine Beach, a group of women find a run down property and hope to renovate it for their cable show “Do Over.” Problem is, the property has a mystery behind it, and the current owners are reluctant to sell. 

You’ll enjoy following Maddie, Avery, Nikki and Kyra — and their significant (and not so significant) others — as they try to solve a mystery, nail down their love lives, and use the paparazzi to their best advantage. 

I’ll admit that the characters and their relationships to each other confused me at first. Then I realized I hadn’t read the first three in the series! So if you want to pick up this cute summer read, do yourself a favor and read book 1 – Ten Beach Road – first. 🙂

-calliope

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Review: Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

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15790837Oh my word. I just love David Sedaris. I would love to try to match wits with him at least a few times…perhaps pick up trash with him on summer afternoon. I love to enjoy his books via audio simply because he is just so delightful. His voice and his delivery is half the fun when it comes to enjoying his book.

This one is no different than any of his other books. I love hearing about his family. I marval at how he has moved beyond his wayward youth…

I also never giggle more with any other author. I am often shocked and outraged. So much so that I can’t stop laughing! Outraged or not, he is spot on! That’s what makes him so brilliant! If only we were all so brave to be so honest and open with the things we see around us…

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

Review: The Little Village Bakery by Tilly Tennant

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This was a cute rom com, short on the rom and com, though, in my opinion. I read it more like a slice of life in a small town. I loved the characters, except for the villainess who seemed a little overly wacky and cruel for a light book. Millie was quirky and emotional, Jas and Rich were a fun couple, Dylan and Spencer were good male characters who made tremendous growth and development by the end of the book. Millie’s potions should have been edited a little to make them either more important or not in the story at all. I felt like her “magic” was an afterthought.

As usual, I was glad for the romance that eventually developed, and for the happily ever after, even as neatly tied up as it was.  
I did enjoy reading The Little Village Bakery, but wished there were more pastries, fewer psych problems, and a smidge more focus on the magic.  

-calliope

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Review: The Last Days of Summer by Sophie Pembroke

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Wow. I thought this was just going to be a bit of fluff based on the publishing imprint (Carina) and the title. But no. It’s almost a saga. There are juicy family secrets, tensions between siblings, eccentric writers, hidden woodland hideouts, varied buildings on the family estate, and the sudden appearance of an assistant, an envelope, and a diary. 

The Last Days of Summer explores deeper issues, too. I especially loved the discussion of the blurred line between truth and fiction — and the ways it can help or hurt a relationship. Pembroke also broaches the topics of forgiveness, honesty, and loyalty. 

My favorite character had to be carefree Caroline, though she was followed closely by her older sister, main character Saskia. I was enamored by their dad and grandfather… their warmth came right through the pages. 

Pembroke really showed her talent for weaving a complicated tale that reads easily. From the arguments to the embraces, the clothes-horse auntie to the raggedy writer, this story had threads of consistency throughout. Pairs of characters on benches, the office, the woods… Every repeated instance kept the storyline tight and moving forward. Brava! 

I sort of want to keep talking and writing about this book, but I don’t want to end up giving away spoilers… so I’ll end here! Don’t miss this excellent read. 

-calliope 

Buy THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER

Review: The Tulip Factory by Kacie Davis Idol

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I loved waitress-turned-receptionist-turned-successful-you’ll-find-out Corinne. And I loved James, student of the school of hard knocks, climbing his way up and out and free. 

Though I liked the characters and the trajectories Kacie Davis Idol wrote for them, I struggled with some technical aspects of this book:

  • I don’t like chapters that alternate narrators, but I can get over it… unless the author also uses flashbacks and flash-forwards. One or the other may have worked. As it stands it’s confusing for the reader. 
  • The author took up pages and pages describing things that didn’t move the plot forward: Corinne’s outfits, her sister’s wedding, that night at the bar… If it doesn’t add to character or plot development, it’s not needed. Once I realized the chapters were 80% extraneous, I started to skim over the pages of irrelevant details. 
  • The tone for James was inconsistent. Sometimes his chapters made him sound like a sensitive, artistic, loving guy. Other chapters made him seem callous and cold. I’m not sure a man crassly talks about his “kid” one minute and then says he’s in love with the baby a few moments later. 

I think this book has promise. With some paring down of details, reformatting of the order of the chapters, and an editor helping with consistency, The Tulip Factory would have been an enjoyable cute coming-into-her-own story. 

Review: The Wedding Sisters by Jamie Brenner

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This is a reader’s book for sure. English professor Hugh and wife Meryl have three daughters: Meg, Amy, and Jo. Sound familiar? 🙂 

When the three young ladies accept marriage proposals from their respective – and wealthy and socially prominent – boyfriends, a triple wedding is planned. 

I very much enjoyed the characters and the plot outline in this book. The writing was technically excellent, and the dialogue was on point. But there was something imperfect about it. Part of my struggle was that I thought this book was going to be quirky and fun, but it didn’t quite make it there. Brenner maybe needed to write with a little more jaunt and insouciance. Or if whimsical wasn’t the goal, more dramatic and saga-type scenes would have helped me identify the mood. 

Brenner did impress me by keeping the characters true to themselves, right up until the very end. I appreciate an author who will take a risk with every single character, making them face their own truths in order to be authentic to the people around them. ❤

-calliope

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Review (revisited): Life or Death by Michael Robotham

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25674405Okay, I’m a bit perplexed. All of my friends loved this book. Even one whom I never would have imagined to! For me however it was just okay. I did enjoy it. But I found it too much of a dramatized Hollywood made for telly movie of the week.

For me, a novel has to be believable. Even a fantasy books have to be believable. That’s why I get so excited when I read one that makes me forget that the characters aren’t real! This novel, well, I just didn’t find it believable. Trust me, I have no issues in finding certain people in society that we perceive as good turning out to be the bad guys. I also have no problem with parts of the criminal justice system being corrupt. Nor do I have issues with people who have amazing good luck and bad luck….

But this novel just had too much of all of the before mentioned all wrapped together in a nicely decorated package for it to work well for me.

Yes, this novel was entertaining. Yes, I say again, I did enjoy the majority of it, but towards the end it had just went on for too long with endless improbabilities for me to continue to enjoy it.

Until next time…

Urania xx

Review copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now Life or Death by Michael Robotham

Review: Death of a Nurse by MC Beaton

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25747142This was an okay read for me. Not a brilliant read, but certainly not a rotten one either. I can easily imagine having rated the book higher if I were more familiar with Hamish and his very quirky acquaintances. I love thriller crime stories, but perhaps murder mysteries of the good old-fashioned Agatha Christie style just aren’t really my cup of tea…However, since I’ve never actually read Agatha Christie I can’t really say that for a fact…

I did read enough to know that I would like to go to the start of the series and see if I can fall in love with Hamish as I see so many other fans have. I do see his appeal, however, coming into his entire weaponry of charm (hahahahaha) unprepared was perhaps my downfalling. I think I needed to gradually introduce myself to him and all of his charms…not just jump in buck naked and unprotected**….

**I hope you note my sarcasm and see that although I didn’t rate this book as high as I might have that I am very much worthy of learning up enough to become an avid fan

Until next time…

Urania xx

Review copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now Death of a Nurse by MC Beaton

Review: Extreme Prey (Lucas Davenport #26) by John Sandford

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26025992This one took me a bit longer to finish…I did enjoy it…I did! However, if not for the ending I might very well have rated it a teeny tiny bit lower.

The thing is, I love Sandford so much because of his incredible gift of writing dialogue. When Davenport is with his comrades, well it just doesn’t get any better. The banter between him and his friends/colleagues…well it just doesn’t get any better….Stanford really shines and it’s probably the main reason he’s been a favourite author for decades.

With this novel I just felt Davenport was adrift. Yes, he did his “job non-job”…but he was out on his own. Yes, we met some really interesting characters that I hope to run into again in the future….yes, we saw some old characters that we haven’t seen in a while. All of that was great…but that closeness, dialogue, and teamwork that we’ve always seen in the past was just missing for me.

Lucas hasn’t been happy professionally for a while now. That has left him adrift professionally, and now that seemed to leak into his personal life as well. I mean, really, he didn’t even seemed to connect with his family like he used to…

Hopefully the ending of this book will clear all of this out and Lucas will be part of a team again…in his personal life as well as his professional one…yes, he’ll always be the top dog, even when he isn’t…but at least he’ll be a member of the pack instead of just a lone wolf…

However…this does bring up new developments for that F’ing Flowers now doesn’t it…

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now Extreme Prey by John Sandford