Kari
Phyllida is a little too snooty for me I think! But I liked the premise and the inclusion of other mystery authors.
Pretty sure I've loved everything she's written. She writes in a quiet, but impactful way that's hard for me to describe. I love the characters so much and the subject matter is so hard to read about, but I loved everywhere this book took me.
I enjoyed this cozy! Maggie was tough and vulnerable and the supporting characters were varied and fun. There were so many suspects, but it didn't feel chaotic and I wasn't sure who the killer was until all was revealed!
A cozy sort of mystery set in space. Aliens and twists and turns and lots of mystery. I enjoyed all the connections and how they eventually all get revealed. There was a bit of a lull halfway through, but it picked up and it really got my imagination going.
This just kept going and going. I can't say much was surprising and there were frustrating moments, but I quite enjoyed it.
Ridiculously silly, sweet and fun. I wish the second book just followed along with Cassie and Frederick, but I might be interested enough to see what Reginald gets up to.
You can read my full review on the Scott Pilgrim series on my blog here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2012/02/scott-pilgrim-is-awesome-like-ninja.html
I really do like this series. I like Rose. She's strong willed and good and flawed. I like the good vamps v. bad vamps. And I like that there's an ending to the series and it's not going to drag on forever!
It was good and a good ending at that. I would have loved a short story to come after though to see what happens in Talamh next. There's so much promised and we never get to see it!
While the parts in the past were tense and full of dread, the present time felt rushed, but also boring until the last chapter of the book.
I can truly say I knew who was doing what here, but I did NOT guess the truth about Daisy Darker. Strangely, I did at one point guess correctly, but it was so fleeting it doesn't count. Truly a twisty, fun ride.
This one was quite full of suspense since you start out with Tempe trapped somewhere. The story is then told back and forth from the present where Tempe is trapped to the past where she's piecing together what happened to her. Things were a little predictable for me. I knew who the bad guy was concerning Tempe's kidnapping, but the case that she and Ryan were working on was just filler. It was boring and basically unnecessary for the plot.
Another re-read and another long one, except this time I wasn't bored or irritated at all. This book had a lot going on. For such a quiet small town there was a lot boiling right under the surface and it all seems to boil over right after Caroline Waverly moves out there!
Roberts kept me guessing the whole time! And I fell in love with every character, but I especially loved Cy. He was a story all by himself. The murder mystery kept me wondering thoughout, even when I was distracted by Hatinger family drama or Josie's sexual adventures.
This one is easily a good story that was still entertaining to re-read a second time.
Lots of weird plot holes and things that didn't really make sense. For instance, how do Freddie and Marigold become “best friends” in three days? And when Leo tells the author about specific words she's using that are more Australian than American it sometimes makes sense, except that Freddie is Australian so it would make sense for at least her to use Australian terms.
And why was Leo suddenly so focused on the pandemic? Was it just to place the story in a time period? I think leaving Leo out and just writing a straightforward novel would let the story flow better. As it was I was pulled out of the story constantly to listen to an unlikeable character blabber on. Why was she sending him her manuscript even? I'm not sure if I missed that part or if that was never explained either.
The first book didn't make a big impression on me. I remember being disappointed because I've enjoyed all of Karin Slaughter's books, but not much else. This sequel was much better! Maybe because Andrea is actually living and making decisions about her life instead of reacting to things that were happening to her? I don't know, but this was full of interesting moments and little plot twists that made it pretty entertaining.
This reminded me of Hayley Mills's memoir Forever Young. She writes about how brilliant and wonderful her parents were, but really, they were awful. Selma Blair writes the same about her mother. She laughs at the scathing remarks her mother made to her when she was a child and says but she was just so honest and she loved me so much. Did she? I'm not sure about that.
This felt like a good and proper horror novel. The first book I felt was pulling my leg, but this one felt put together. Despite floundering a bit here and there and so much going on with so many characters I still felt like this was a better read than the first.