Pallas Poppies
So you try to be cool and tip a dancer at a club only for them to accidentally kick you in the face but it actually works out and you leave together to head for their place only to wake up with the cops knocking on the door and the guy is missing.
Fun even if I didn’t always buy their reasoning for not going to the cops.
I like Hayden and his new friends and I’ll give the second book a try.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I started this book back in October last year but I stopped due to one of the character getting cancer which is a little triggering for me and then a moronic asshole cop trying to pin a murder on a kid because? Anyways, kept popping up as recommendations so I gave it another try. I did enjoy this book as I care about the characters, Jack and Lana more than Beth. This 3 is stronger than meh which is usually how I feel about books that I give a 3 to but it’s missing in the mystery and suspense area. Sure they are sleuthing but there’s nothing at stake, there could have been more done.
Another ebook so maybe that’s why? But I doubt it. It was pretty flat and… The MCs sister gets into trouble at work and the whole family gets together with group hugs, sure I’m a bit messed up and my family don’t hug but it felt a little odd, than it got more so. The MC shows up to her sisters job to try and get it back?
I’m not much for paranormal or witchy cozies and I thought the talking cat would be an issue here but the dull characters and plot is. Even if a cat with human intelligence and this is actually all cats but this one just learned to talk to humans for some reason does bring up some issues but whatever.
The characters are flat and the romance is dull. Paper thin.
I liked this more than “The Last Chance Library” so I guess it should get a five star but it’s not like it’s as good as “Pride and Prejudice”. Nah, I’m holding back but a very strong four.
Grumpy older woman Dorothy is a nosy neighbor and after her apartment complex has been listed for demolition and one of the other residents is attack, grumpy Dorothy and standoffish Kat are joining forces.
Some more cozy vibes than “The Last Chance Library” and maybe Sampson should head for a full blown cozy next?
Oh and in my mind Dorothy was Miriam Margolyes, I could hear her voice.
I had the audiobook, might not be the best format for this. A physical book where you can jump around sounds much better.
I don’t know much about hiking so I don’t know if this is good. But I still want to go hiking and it seems like an honest view on the ups and downs of being on the trail. Brings up pre hike diet and exercises and all sorts of part of the planning. Also brings up some post trail TLC.
I wonder what post trail depression will do with my current depression?
“12 Trips in 12 months: Make your own Solo Travel Magic. Bestselling author Jen Ruiz takes readers on a trips around the globe in 12 Trip in 12 Months, defying societal expectations of what a woman is supposed to be - and empowering others to do the same.” Sounds great, I don’t have travel buddies and I want to visit some places so here we go, inspire me and empower me please!
So I thought it would be some fun travel stories and tips and idea to make your traveling happen but it’s not that. This is a woman contemplating her terrible love life while traveling, she even writes herself a powerful letter how she needs no man only to break down immediately by contacting some asshole man from the past and then hooking up with some random guy she found at an airport in Thailand after crying. See she's just turned 30 and is grieving.
At the end of the book, “If you’re thinking of casually changing your life, I happen to know the secret, I took 12 trips in 12 months. Now it’s you’re turn.” And in the epilogue I get the advice to sign up for a free web seminary…
There’s nothing in this book on how to have the courage to travel more, especially as a solo woman. Other than charge it to the credit card and be an influencer I guess. Disappointing.
A charming quick read that hit a little close to home.
June Jones life stops when her mother gets sick and dies a few years later. She lives in their old house, surrounded by the same things, even taking up her mothers job at the local library.
One day the council drops a bomb, they need to close libraries to save money. Junes library is one of those that might be closing down.
A lot of people depend on the library and they need to save it.
A story about friendship and healing, a love letter to libraries.
Booksirens read.
Judith St Clair moves with her father and siblings as he accepts a new position as rector. They arrive in Derbyshire shortly before Christmas.
Louisa-Margaretta Haddington has also had a rough move to the parish but for different reason.
The two you women are different but join forces after Louisa-Margarettas aunt dies at the Christmas ball and it's up to them to find out what happened. Along the ride we get to know the two women and maybe they aren't that different after all.
It’s a quick read and if you like books by D.S. Lang, Anita Davidson, Ava Ness or Anna Castle you’ll probably like this one too.
I was excited at the start and there were a few phrases that was fun and a hint of Austen but, quickly things are slowing down and I felt so uninterested.
Mr. Wickham is murdered in a house where basically everyone wants him dead. It would have been so funny of the whole house party was like, “We have to make it look like an accident!” and everyone is just trying to cover up the murder from the law.
It slowed down so much that it was dull to read but I made it to the end (and it felt like a victory) and by then I didn’t care much.
I haven’t read all Austens books but a few and I have liked them. None of these re imaginations are anywhere near capturing the core of the characters.
Less PTSD and sex and more sleuthing, over 60% in and it starts to sleuth some more but a little late.
Feels like the friends to the MC are not really in this. It feels flat and meh.
I still like the nature and animals being a part of the book and I feel the place standing out because of it, I do like that.
Annie dropped her plans of becoming a privet investigator when her best friend who she was going to start her agency with is murdered their last year of college. Instead she moves to the small town of Redwood Groove and works at a bookstore. The store is struggling and to make some money they have a book festival which brings tourist and money, but also people from her past… and before you know it, she stumbles upon a dead body.
Annie is likable enough with an interesting back story but…
I wish there was a reason for her to get involved in the investigation. And I don’t like how the investigator just shares everything with the MC because they know each other. There’s nothing at stake here.
The love interest and Annie has this dislike for one and other and they have “banter”. Annie always says he’s so annoying and I can’t really see that he is. Give us a reason for him to be annoying and then have it change over time. I call this a false Darcy and it’s a pet peeve of mine.
I liked the elderly gay couple, you don’t see that very often. But I didn’t always like how Clem treated Margery.
There wasn’t much proper sleuthing, no proper reason for them to get involved. Need to get my hands on a “real” cozy, feels like it’s been ages since I read one. I won’t continue this series.
Jenny is 77 and feels she hasn’t accomplished enough in life, she has a “silly” dream to the popular baking show. On a whim she applies and she gets on the show, it starts to stir up some old memories, a secret.
I didn’t really get this. Everything just chugs along, nothing really happens. Nothing is thrown Jenny’s way, no big hurdles. And there are other characters in here but it feels like she never really interacts with them, everything feels very superficial.
I would have loved a book about a woman doing something for herself, maybe some ageist people standing in her way and she saves the day because of her age and experience.
Maybe it was because I read this as an ebook, not a big fan and maybe it was why I never really got into this one? I have read her other series about Poppy Denby and I liked that one.
But this… felt flat and unfinished. If I can find the other book as a physical or audio I’ll try it but… this was forgettable.
The story is set during a few months in Göteborg around the Gothenburg Tercentennial Jubilee Exposition in 1923. There’s a little bit of a mystery/suspense element to the story but not a proper mystery or such.
There are 4 different POVs, 19 year old Ellen who’s working for the daily newspaper at the exhibition and wants to be a New Woman, Nils 29 year old police officer who has recently due to tragic events been promoted, Otto a kid who’s in charge of leading a donkey around for other kids to ride around the exhibition area, and then we have Albert Einstein.
I like Ellen and Nils but Otto and Albert are not that interesting. This is a series and I might give the other books a try as it was a charming world created. Not thrilled with the 10 year age gap between Ellen and Nils but, fine.
Netgalley read.
A gang of strangers join a pub quiz team, all for different reasons.
They all need professional help, and I think I need therapy too.
I don’t like any of these people. There were no one I could sympathies with and it was just getting worse and worse for them, all of their own making. Then at the end, despite pretty bleak situations all scenarios were quickly fixed. It was way too neatly done, not proper setup and payoffs.
“I don’t have a clue how the various acts and scenes of my life have gone down with you, dear reader - I hope you have enjoyed reading it. I’ve enjoyed living it.”
Well first off… there was a lot more c*ck s*cking than I expected, especially from a lesbian.
I enjoyed spending time with Miriam, first half is better than the second but all in all fun. I want to read more memoirs as I found Miriam and me being very different people. But I only want to read if people are open and fun like Miriam. A lot of these books are just PR but didn’t get that feeling here.
… I wonder what she would think of me if she met me?