Pallas Poppies

Well isn’t that convenient, oh what a coincident…

Where do I start, dull characters, everything feels very rushed and there are no twists or turns. No shocking reveals, no brilliant detectives working it out, no amature sleuth… this is dull and I will never read a book by this author again. Seriously, why is she popular? This was so dull.

There’s just stuff happening in a neat convenient order and no obstacles for anyone.

Swedish police in the 1920’s really were a bunch of incompetent wankers. So Nisse and Ellen are back and we are spared donkey boy and Einstein this time.

Nils finds a dead man in the waters outside of Göteborg and it takes him to an old quarantine hospital on an island where things are not what they seem.

I preferred Ellen in the first book but I think the real Ellen will be back in the third book which I will read. Nils showed very little personality in this one. You could have turned this up a bit and made it full blown horror but I’m glad she didn’t because it’s starting to get dark early.

Swedish police in the 1920’s really were a bunch of incompetent wankers. So Nisse and Ellen are back and we are spared donkey boy and Einstein this time.

Nils finds a dead man in the waters outside of Göteborg and it takes him to an old quarantine hospital on an island where things are not what they seem.

I preferred Ellen in the first book but I think the real Ellen will be back in the third book which I will read. Nils showed very little personality in this one. You could have turned this up a bit and made it full blown horror but I’m glad she didn’t because it’s starting to get dark early.

Hugo Lind is off on an adventure, part of his dead wife’s wish for him so off to Italy he is… and then after almost 300 pages, a death!

They do the discovery of the body right away and then a “Two Days Later” but we are then reading a tourist guide book about Capri, not much of a murder mystery. Too darn slow, nope. But I don’t mind going to Italy. This could easily be rewritten to a romance/feel good about a man learning how to love again, a lot more work if you want this to be a decent mystery.

Hugo Lind is off on an adventure, part of his dead wife’s wish for him so off to Italy he is… and then after almost 300 pages, a death!

They do the discovery of the body right away and then a “Two Days Later” but we are then reading a tourist guide book about Capri, not much of a murder mystery. Too darn slow, nope. But I don’t mind going to Italy. This could easily be rewritten to a romance/feel good about a man learning how to love again, a lot more work if you want this to be a decent mystery.

I don’t know. I liked the first book because of the humor. I’m missing the humor but I will finish off the books so I know what happens but did I enjoy this? Not really.

Abigail Dixon has been sent to Paris for work as a journalist, she wants to do real news but she’s stuck with dull fashion and society. On her first assignment she stumbles upon the dead body of her estrange stepmother and now has to avoid the guillotine.

This book benefits from the previous cozy I just read was pretty bad so this is coming off as a lot better.

The sleuthing falls into the background and there’s a lot of Gossip Girl makeover fashion moments that takes up too much time and the MC is suddenly a muse for a designer and goes to parties to market his designs, luckily for her she comes across people at these parties that might have facts that can help her.

More sleuthing in the next book perhaps? I might give it try. Unless more real historical people pops up in that one, I hate that.

This was fun and I do want to run, and I’ll eventually will give it a go. I did listen to this when I was out walking and I did run in a few places just because of it. Very basic for beginners. Didn't know there was such a thing as virtual races.

I also like the trigger warnings ahead of certain chapters about counting calories and such.

Netgalley read

On a morning bike ride influencer and blogger Emily falls over the dead body of her frenemy.

Our hero rolls out of bed everyday and gets fed sugary treats by her gay BFF and he also takes care of her dog pretty often while Emily… ? Um posts a random post on her blog? She even says “Bloggers and influencers often worked more than most people realized.” Not this one.

She then for no really good reason asks her followers for tips about the murder and could possibly destroy the whole investigation for the police. Her response is to stomps her feet and tells the cop “You can’t tell me what to do. This isn’t high school. I’m a grown up.”

I guess if this was an early draft and you cleaned it up, flesh out characters and make them more real and likable it could be good. Feels unfinished at this point.

This story takes place on a small castle island in Lake Garda during a wedding, say no more. There’s several POVs and yes, I liked it! (wow, what an amazing review...)

I will look for the rest of Tom’s books.

Netgalley read

On a morning bike ride influencer and blogger Emily falls over the dead body of her frenemy.

Our hero rolls out of bed everyday and gets fed sugary treats by her gay BFF and he also takes care of her dog pretty often while Emily… ? Um posts a random post on her blog? She even says “Bloggers and influencers often worked more than most people realized.” Not this one.

She then for no really good reason asks her followers for tips about the murder and could possibly destroy the whole investigation for the police. Her response is to stomps her feet and tells the cop “You can’t tell me what to do. This isn’t high school. I’m a grown up.”

I guess if this was an early draft and you cleaned it up, flesh out characters and make them more real and likable it could be good. Feels unfinished at this point.

This story takes place on a small castle island in Lake Garda during a wedding, say no more. There’s several POVs and yes, I liked it! (wow, what an amazing review...)

I will look for the rest of Tom’s books.

Been awhile since I read this series, I think? But I don’t remember Olivie being such a “not like other girls”. There are a few moments in the book where Olive says that and I rather see it and think it myself.

I didn’t really get the motive for the murder, and I did end up not caring all that much and lost interest towards the end.

Also, seemed like the locale police had it covered and didn’t need her. And please can we stop the “foreigner getting English idioms wrong”, it’s not cute or funny, I hate it. Hopefully the next is better.

Been awhile since I read this series, I think? But I don’t remember Olivie being such a “not like other girls”. There are a few moments in the book where Olive says that and I rather see it and think it myself.

I didn’t really get the motive for the murder, and I did end up not caring all that much and lost interest towards the end.

Also, seemed like the locale police had it covered and didn’t need her. And please can we stop the “silly foreigner getting English idioms wrong”, it’s not cute or funny, I hate it. Hopefully the next is better.

This was fun and I do want to run, and I’ll eventually will give it a go. I did listen to this when I was out walking and I did run in a few places just because of it. Very basic for beginners. Didn't know there was such a thing as virtual races.

I also like the trigger warnings ahead of certain chapters about counting calories and such.