Pallas Poppies

Same issues I had with the third book, feels paint by numbers and I think the murder here is clunky. In the first book the three sleuths all have their own things going on and have an arc but now it feels almost like there’s one person too many and there’s not enough for everyone to do. Feels a bit lackluster and uninspired.

Just another meh for me. Didn’t get why the MC became BFF with one of the ex wives right away. And there were more than one person that said something like, “Well her ex husband cheated on her, that can drive them to murder” (not murdering the ex husband but going crazy and kill people), what?

Yeah, meh.

Despite having a lot of things that I really liked I didn’t get fully into this. Maybe if there had been some more humor? I might give the next book a try and see if I was just in a mood or something. I should have liked this more.

In this one Frank and Sarah are on their honeymoon so this time it’s up to Maeve and Officer Donatelli to solve the case, with a little help of course.

It was nice and refreshing with something new but at the same time, nothing was really different with how the sleuthing happened. A bit slow and I like Sarah and Frank more.

It will be interesting to see what the next book will bring.

I started reading this in October and then I got a message that books ready to collect at the library and I managed that on time and then when I was going to get back to this book, more books arrived at the library and I didn’t get back to this book until late December. So this stop start reading might have something to do with how I felt about it.

I like some parts, felt like they were interesting and relatable. And then there were things that felt a little vague and unfinished, somethings happening off page that I would have liked to see.

If you have seen Xirans videos (that’s how I found this book) you can hear their voice in the book, same humor and directness.

It was refreshing to have an MC that just went there and being unapologetic about it.

Not very entertaining as some non fiction can be but it’s about a very interesting woman during an interesting time. Makes me want to watch the series The Chinese Empress with Fan Bingbing.

I didn’t really get into this one. Never fully understood the world and why they had a Battle Royal thing happening. Why are the N*zis called the Allied Forces? They are not allied to people and where are they from? The Arctic? Who moved to the Arctic, can’t be many living there in that harsh climate so… Maybe the author didn’t want to give a nationality to bad guys and offend anyone?

A map could have been useful here, I didn’t know where I was or how the world looked.

It is mentioned that the baddies liked Scandinavian stuff so maybe they started using Norwegian/Danish Ö for aesthetic reasons but I read it as Stööörmbane each time, there was kömmand in there as well. Can’t help but laugh. I think spending some more time with the languages would have been good or skipped it all together. As everything is set in our world there should be some similarities with a real language but doubt that was the case.

Now to the characters, I didn’t get to know any of them, not really. We have Coa that’s off to the Great Hunt, and a guy that winks a lot and despite being forced to strip and at gun point Coa has the time to appreciate how hot he is and admire his penis. What does she do… um, she’s sent to the game and… yeah.

Then we have… Efi? Who’s an exotic princess who pretends to be older and stupid and marries a n*zi to spy and get revenge.

Doesn’t feel like much happened at all… Early draft vibes after watch Hunger Games a few times and being scared with our worlds current political climate but doesn’t do it for me. Needed more work.

PS. Very cliffhangy ending and I hate that with a passion.

I didn’t really get into this one. Never fully understood the world and why they had a Battle Royal thing happening. Why are the N*zis called the Allied Forces? They are not allied to people and where are they from? The Arctic? Who moved to the Arctic, can’t be many living there in that harsh climate so… Maybe the author didn’t want to give a nationality to bad guys and offend anyone?

A map could have been useful here, I didn’t know where I was or how the world looked.

It is mentioned that the baddies liked Scandinavian stuff so maybe they started using Norwegian/Danish Ö for aesthetic reasons but I read it as Stööörmbane each time, there was kömmand in there as well. Can’t help but laugh. I think spending some more time with the languages would have been good or skipped it all together. As everything is set in our world there should be some similarities with a real language but doubt that was the case.

Now to the characters, I didn’t get to know any of them, not really. We have Coa that’s off to the Great Hunt, and a guy that winks a lot and despite being forced to strip and at gun point Coa has the time to appreciate how hot he is and admire his penis. What does she do… um, she’s sent to the game and… yeah.

Then we have… Efi? Who’s an exotic princess who pretends to be older and stupid and marries a n*zi to spy and get revenge.

Doesn’t feel like much happened at all… Early draft vibes after watch Hunger Games a few times and being scared with our worlds current political climate but doesn’t do it for me. Needed more work.

PS. Very cliffhangy ending and I hate that with a passion.