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dynila's review against another edition
2.0
Series is declining, but the MC owns a bookstore so I keep reading them...
isigfethera's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe this is my fault for reading this book without reading any others in the series, but it didn't really hang together that well for me. The motivations of the characters were a bit hard to follow- why are the main characters angry with each other? Why is everyone falling over themselves to befriend the main character, who clearly dislikes them? And it may be a small thing, but why did no-one seem to have a mobile phone? I kept thinking this was written a lot earlier because of the ways the characters acted... Though maybe it's more a reflection of my age. And no-one had heard of Renaissance Fairs?
It was fun though, I thought the characters had potential (maybe they would be more fun to read in earlier books in the series) and can't go past the premise of the bookshop owning sleuth. Wouldn't mind reading others, wouldn't go out of my way to do so.
It was fun though, I thought the characters had potential (maybe they would be more fun to read in earlier books in the series) and can't go past the premise of the bookshop owning sleuth. Wouldn't mind reading others, wouldn't go out of my way to do so.
sbunyan's review against another edition
2.0
Never got into it enough to finish. Didn't even stay long enough to find out who died.
bibliobabe94's review against another edition
3.0
It would be fun to have Claire Malloy as a friend. She gets herself into fun trouble. This book was not one of the best in the series. It took more than half the book to get to the dead body. A lot of time was spent setting up the realtionships, etc. Not really necessary. Overall OK.
jennaarrrr's review against another edition
4.0
Joan Hess is my dirty little secret. I started reading these as a bookseller in Oklahoma, and because Claire Malloy (our witty heroine) is a bookseller in Arkansas and Joan is an entertaining writer I got hooked. Damsels in Distress is Claire on her as-usual good game; the buildup is tantalizing and the resolution is clever. The cast (aside from her perpetually teenaged daughter and hunka cop fiance) are a ragtag group of players from a small medieval reinactment group. They're easy to relate to and poke fun at themselves. This book was great way to kill an afternoon between 700 page political tomes.
jennaarr's review against another edition
4.0
Joan Hess is my dirty little secret. I started reading these as a bookseller in Oklahoma, and because Claire Malloy (our witty heroine) is a bookseller in Arkansas and Joan is an entertaining writer I got hooked. Damsels in Distress is Claire on her as-usual good game; the buildup is tantalizing and the resolution is clever. The cast (aside from her perpetually teenaged daughter and hunka cop fiance) are a ragtag group of players from a small medieval reinactment group. They're easy to relate to and poke fun at themselves. This book was great way to kill an afternoon between 700 page political tomes.
ladylucky's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up in one of those "little free libraries" on my street. It is not really something I normally would have looked for. It was a decent enough book; my first time reading this author.
At times, the humour factor was really great and I found myself actually laughing out loud in places. The story line was unique and rather interesting as well. But my major criticism is that the vast list of characters tended to be confusing. The author did not take enough time familiarizing the reader with the long list of secondary characters before delving deeply into a plot line involving so many names. I was often left scratching my head and flipping back a few pages to try to sort it all out. I don't like that in a book. I like a book that is set up so well, it flows. For that reason, I can't give it a rating of four.
At times, the humour factor was really great and I found myself actually laughing out loud in places. The story line was unique and rather interesting as well. But my major criticism is that the vast list of characters tended to be confusing. The author did not take enough time familiarizing the reader with the long list of secondary characters before delving deeply into a plot line involving so many names. I was often left scratching my head and flipping back a few pages to try to sort it all out. I don't like that in a book. I like a book that is set up so well, it flows. For that reason, I can't give it a rating of four.
expendablemudge's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 3.25* of five
Claire Malloy, bookselling sleuth of the Farberville Book Depot, returns for her umpty-zillionth murder investigation (well, okay, only the sixteenth) but this time at a *shudder* Renaissance Faire!
Now seriously. Have any of y'all been to a Renaissance Faire? Have you not wished intensely for a lethal weapon and civil and criminal immunity? Milady Larchblossom and the Baron Quonsethut, oof! So as Claire snooped about, I found myself squirming in discomfort at the faux olde-tyme speak the cultists used (though not consistently, to the editor's lasting shame) and the instant sense memory of being at one of these events in Texas in heat just like Hess describes.
I can't think how anyone could *want* to don Northern European clothing from the era before central heating in the American South. My daughter, who belongs to one of these organizations and is quite renowned for her fighting prowess, will end up being Lanya (one of the characters) but hopefully with better-behaved children.
The mystery here is a murder; well, two; and the resolution was neat and tidy and strained credulity to the absolute minimum possible in a series where the sleuth is engaged to a police officer who does not chain her to her doorhandle to prevent her from messing around with crime.
I recommend this book without a blush. Newbies, start with "Strangled Prose" and move forward as haphazardly as you wish.
Claire Malloy, bookselling sleuth of the Farberville Book Depot, returns for her umpty-zillionth murder investigation (well, okay, only the sixteenth) but this time at a *shudder* Renaissance Faire!
Now seriously. Have any of y'all been to a Renaissance Faire? Have you not wished intensely for a lethal weapon and civil and criminal immunity? Milady Larchblossom and the Baron Quonsethut, oof! So as Claire snooped about, I found myself squirming in discomfort at the faux olde-tyme speak the cultists used (though not consistently, to the editor's lasting shame) and the instant sense memory of being at one of these events in Texas in heat just like Hess describes.
I can't think how anyone could *want* to don Northern European clothing from the era before central heating in the American South. My daughter, who belongs to one of these organizations and is quite renowned for her fighting prowess, will end up being Lanya (one of the characters) but hopefully with better-behaved children.
The mystery here is a murder; well, two; and the resolution was neat and tidy and strained credulity to the absolute minimum possible in a series where the sleuth is engaged to a police officer who does not chain her to her doorhandle to prevent her from messing around with crime.
I recommend this book without a blush. Newbies, start with "Strangled Prose" and move forward as haphazardly as you wish.
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