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wheems01's review
4.0
Summary:
Daisy Goodnight uses her ability to speak to the dead to help the FBI solve murder cases. When she is called to Minnesota to help the FBI with a murder and a kidnapping, she finds herself over her head in trouble. When she is kidnapped and manipulated by a mob boss, she will need all her skills to solve the crime before she is the next one dead.
Review:
I love Rosemary Clement-Moore's novels. When I read Texas Gothic last year, I loved how Clement-Moore built her story and her unique family of characters. In some ways Texas Gothic reminded me of an episode of Scooby Doo. It contained a great mystery, fun characters, and a lot of sassy humor. I couldn't wait to read her next book, Spirit and Dust because it would feature Daisy, who first made an appearance in Texas Gothic.
I love the Goodnight family, and wish my family was just as quirky and fun. All the Goodnights have "talents" and Daisy's talent is speaking to the dead. Daisy is sassy and smart. I love how determined she is and how incredibly strong.
This mystery wasn't as good for me as Texas Gothic. I did enjoy this book, but it lacked some of the humor of the first. This mystery felt much more dangerous and serious. Daisy was a fun narrator, and I loved her sass, but I missed the other Goodnights.
The mystery was a little like Indiana Jones. There was archeology, history, mysterious cults, action, adventure, and a lot of paranormal power thrown in. Oh, and don't forget the numerous museums.
The pacing of the novel is great. Clement-Moore keeps the story running from one place to another on a fast paced adventures. You never know what is going to happen next, or where Daisy will end up. She keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what will happen next and loathing stepping away from the novel for even a few minutes.
Overall:
While this book wasn't as fun for me as the first, I still found it highly enjoyable. I hope she plans to write more novels about the Goodnights, because I love this quirky family. This book was a fun read and one that I highly recommend.
Cautions for Sensitive Readers:
Violence: Yep
Language: Mild
Sex: None (some references)
Drugs: None
Daisy Goodnight uses her ability to speak to the dead to help the FBI solve murder cases. When she is called to Minnesota to help the FBI with a murder and a kidnapping, she finds herself over her head in trouble. When she is kidnapped and manipulated by a mob boss, she will need all her skills to solve the crime before she is the next one dead.
Review:
I love Rosemary Clement-Moore's novels. When I read Texas Gothic last year, I loved how Clement-Moore built her story and her unique family of characters. In some ways Texas Gothic reminded me of an episode of Scooby Doo. It contained a great mystery, fun characters, and a lot of sassy humor. I couldn't wait to read her next book, Spirit and Dust because it would feature Daisy, who first made an appearance in Texas Gothic.
I love the Goodnight family, and wish my family was just as quirky and fun. All the Goodnights have "talents" and Daisy's talent is speaking to the dead. Daisy is sassy and smart. I love how determined she is and how incredibly strong.
This mystery wasn't as good for me as Texas Gothic. I did enjoy this book, but it lacked some of the humor of the first. This mystery felt much more dangerous and serious. Daisy was a fun narrator, and I loved her sass, but I missed the other Goodnights.
The mystery was a little like Indiana Jones. There was archeology, history, mysterious cults, action, adventure, and a lot of paranormal power thrown in. Oh, and don't forget the numerous museums.
The pacing of the novel is great. Clement-Moore keeps the story running from one place to another on a fast paced adventures. You never know what is going to happen next, or where Daisy will end up. She keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what will happen next and loathing stepping away from the novel for even a few minutes.
Overall:
While this book wasn't as fun for me as the first, I still found it highly enjoyable. I hope she plans to write more novels about the Goodnights, because I love this quirky family. This book was a fun read and one that I highly recommend.
Cautions for Sensitive Readers:
Violence: Yep
Language: Mild
Sex: None (some references)
Drugs: None
julesgou's review
4.0
Definitely an interesting take on the whole ghost thing.
I loved the fact that Moore was able to incorporate mythology with the spirit, psychic and magic world. She was also able to through in a little bit of a crime family and a mystery.
Daisy is really different from other girls. She is able to see the dead and talk to them. She gets thrown back in time in places like a museum. She also much prefers to wear her converses with skulls and crossbones drawn all over them. Her psychic ability allows her to help out the FBI on certain cases and when she stumbles on the disappearance of Alexis Maguire, it looks like she may have bitten off more then she can chew. Daisy is a very compassionate person; she is willing to help Alexis without the whole 3 promise thing. She is also very sarcastic and I love sarcastic characters.
Moore had a really great blend of all her elements. The psychic thing worked in really well with the detective parts. The plot was really good, too. All of the elements were blended together very equally. I didn't find any one thing that seemed to overshadow the rest. The way that Moore incorporated the Egyptian Mythology was genius as well. It added another part to the plot and it was a present surprises. I didn't know that there was going to be mythology and it really added to the intrigue of the plot. It made the plot seem more complex, but at the same time, it was still very easy to understand/read.
This is the first book I've read by Moore and I have to say that she has very much impressed me. It was a very unique type of novel and I look forward to reading more by her in the future.
I loved the fact that Moore was able to incorporate mythology with the spirit, psychic and magic world. She was also able to through in a little bit of a crime family and a mystery.
Daisy is really different from other girls. She is able to see the dead and talk to them. She gets thrown back in time in places like a museum. She also much prefers to wear her converses with skulls and crossbones drawn all over them. Her psychic ability allows her to help out the FBI on certain cases and when she stumbles on the disappearance of Alexis Maguire, it looks like she may have bitten off more then she can chew. Daisy is a very compassionate person; she is willing to help Alexis without the whole 3 promise thing. She is also very sarcastic and I love sarcastic characters.
Moore had a really great blend of all her elements. The psychic thing worked in really well with the detective parts. The plot was really good, too. All of the elements were blended together very equally. I didn't find any one thing that seemed to overshadow the rest. The way that Moore incorporated the Egyptian Mythology was genius as well. It added another part to the plot and it was a present surprises. I didn't know that there was going to be mythology and it really added to the intrigue of the plot. It made the plot seem more complex, but at the same time, it was still very easy to understand/read.
This is the first book I've read by Moore and I have to say that she has very much impressed me. It was a very unique type of novel and I look forward to reading more by her in the future.
katayoun's review
2.0
was so looking forward to this and therefore the two stars, though if there a few more chapters i think i would have settled for one! that said i would definitely read another of goodnight books and hope that it's going to be better, way better than this. lovely family, awful story!
sparkleplenty's review
3.0
This is almost 4 stars. It lost it a bit at the end. Still a fun read and the Goodnights are so enjoyable.
book_grinch's review
5.0
WOW!!
Review to come!
I think I've come out with the perfect title for this review, on my BL page. I believe I will call it: Jackals and Jackasses...
And yes, there is a perfectly good reason for it! ;)
It has been quite some time now _ a few weeks at least...which in the bookish world, translates to AGES! _ since I've loved a story this much!
Although the last part of Texas Gothic (the first in this series ) was amazing in showing the author's talent, _for me _ Spirit and Dust is so far, the real gem in the Goodnight Family series...
Of course I am partial to snark... and this book has it in spades! ;)
Daisy Goodnight which first appears in Texas Gothic, as the "Gothic" rebel teenage psychic that arrives to provide some paranormal insight during her cousins Phinn's and Amy's adventure; has in this story a most deserved spotlight.
And, boy, does she shine!
The girl is a natural in the position of leading character. She's one of the most realistic almost eighteen year old', that I've read about in the fantasy world.
Daisy may talk to the dead, but just like the rest of her extended number of relatives...(you may be dead, but you're still a Goodnight! ), the girl takes her obligations in a extremely serious way.
In this story, during another assignment in which she's helping the FBI, she founds herself in the middle of a terrifying situation: She's forced to help a notorious criminal element under the threat that something bad will happen to her family if she doesn't do...as asked.
One of the things in which I find that the author excels, is in her capacity of almost downsizing the magical part of the tale to something that just feels realistic. In here you won't find no hocus pocus or jarring mixes of the fantastical element with the contemporary.
People talk about ghosts, geas, witches, but it's as if that's the normal thing in the world.
I loved it. I loved it by it's simplicity, fluidity, and basic denial of anything cliché!
This was such an engaging read. Part adventure, part fantasy, but all of it, a pleasure to read!
There's so may things to gush over, but one of the main things, has to be the fact that for the second time in a row, the author made sure to give us, intelligent, capable teenagers, who are so much more than an amount of brainless, bubbling hormones!
YES!!
From this day forward, Carson will join my short and exclusive (lol) list of favourite bookish male teenage characters. In there he will join characters such as Derek from Kelley Armstrong Darkest Powers series, Jupiter (Jupe) from Jenn Bennett series "Arcadia Bell", and Sarah Rees Brennan "Jared" from the Lynburn Legacy...although Jared is a little insane o_O for his own sake.
Carson starts out in a somewhat disadvantageous position, but soon enough _due to the "amazingness" of the character development! _ he was winning cookie points! ;)
Daisy on the other hand, the way her character was build, is the reason why I keep reading YA books:
"Sweet Saint Gertrude, what was I doing? I couldn’t flirt with him. I didn’t even know if Carson was his first or last name. It didn’t matter, because he was an employee of a criminal enterprise and I was an FBI consultant and, oh yeah, technically kidnapped and probably in the throes of some kind of Stockholm syndrome."
There's danger aplenty, an intriguing mystery that will probably leave you clueless until the very end, (it involves the jackal part) and a simmering romance in the background...(there the jackasses references ;) just to keep things a little more interesting.
IT WAS GREAT!!
So, bottom line, if you love adventure stories with amazing well developed characters, nosy ghosts, some electricity floating around from all the romantic tension going around, mummies on the lose, and a bad guy determined to arrange minions to achieve world domination (don't they all?), this is just the right book for you!
Oh, and honestly I really hope that one of the reasons the Goodnights are such a numerous family, is that we are going to see more from them....hopefully in a near future?
Yes?
Review to come!
I think I've come out with the perfect title for this review, on my BL page. I believe I will call it: Jackals and Jackasses...
And yes, there is a perfectly good reason for it! ;)
It has been quite some time now _ a few weeks at least...which in the bookish world, translates to AGES! _ since I've loved a story this much!
Although the last part of Texas Gothic (the first in this series ) was amazing in showing the author's talent, _for me _ Spirit and Dust is so far, the real gem in the Goodnight Family series...
Of course I am partial to snark... and this book has it in spades! ;)
Daisy Goodnight which first appears in Texas Gothic, as the "Gothic" rebel teenage psychic that arrives to provide some paranormal insight during her cousins Phinn's and Amy's adventure; has in this story a most deserved spotlight.
And, boy, does she shine!
The girl is a natural in the position of leading character. She's one of the most realistic almost eighteen year old', that I've read about in the fantasy world.
Daisy may talk to the dead, but just like the rest of her extended number of relatives...(you may be dead, but you're still a Goodnight! ), the girl takes her obligations in a extremely serious way.
In this story, during another assignment in which she's helping the FBI, she founds herself in the middle of a terrifying situation: She's forced to help a notorious criminal element under the threat that something bad will happen to her family if she doesn't do...as asked.
One of the things in which I find that the author excels, is in her capacity of almost downsizing the magical part of the tale to something that just feels realistic. In here you won't find no hocus pocus or jarring mixes of the fantastical element with the contemporary.
People talk about ghosts, geas, witches, but it's as if that's the normal thing in the world.
I loved it. I loved it by it's simplicity, fluidity, and basic denial of anything cliché!
This was such an engaging read. Part adventure, part fantasy, but all of it, a pleasure to read!
There's so may things to gush over, but one of the main things, has to be the fact that for the second time in a row, the author made sure to give us, intelligent, capable teenagers, who are so much more than an amount of brainless, bubbling hormones!
YES!!
From this day forward, Carson will join my short and exclusive (lol) list of favourite bookish male teenage characters. In there he will join characters such as Derek from Kelley Armstrong Darkest Powers series, Jupiter (Jupe) from Jenn Bennett series "Arcadia Bell", and Sarah Rees Brennan "Jared" from the Lynburn Legacy...although Jared is a little insane o_O for his own sake.
Carson starts out in a somewhat disadvantageous position, but soon enough _due to the "amazingness" of the character development! _ he was winning cookie points! ;)
Daisy on the other hand, the way her character was build, is the reason why I keep reading YA books:
"Sweet Saint Gertrude, what was I doing? I couldn’t flirt with him. I didn’t even know if Carson was his first or last name. It didn’t matter, because he was an employee of a criminal enterprise and I was an FBI consultant and, oh yeah, technically kidnapped and probably in the throes of some kind of Stockholm syndrome."
There's danger aplenty, an intriguing mystery that will probably leave you clueless until the very end, (it involves the jackal part) and a simmering romance in the background...(there the jackasses references ;) just to keep things a little more interesting.
IT WAS GREAT!!
So, bottom line, if you love adventure stories with amazing well developed characters, nosy ghosts, some electricity floating around from all the romantic tension going around, mummies on the lose, and a bad guy determined to arrange minions to achieve world domination (don't they all?), this is just the right book for you!
Oh, and honestly I really hope that one of the reasons the Goodnights are such a numerous family, is that we are going to see more from them....hopefully in a near future?
Yes?
stelladora's review
3.0
Ok, so once again I thought I would dive into a light and fun read that wasn't incredibly deep and dark and thought provoking. This was sort of a palette cleanser after heavier reading.
I found this to be a charming read, but I definitely enjoyed the first book of the series more. It's probably just a matter of character chemistry with regards to the leads. The characters were interesting, and actually the more detailed plot (with its additional twists) made for a much better story. But Daisy was a little less interesting to me than Amy and Carson, though heavy on the dark and broody, was less compelling than Ben. Either way, this was a fun quick read that did leave me giggling and full of the warm and fuzzies in the end.
I found this to be a charming read, but I definitely enjoyed the first book of the series more. It's probably just a matter of character chemistry with regards to the leads. The characters were interesting, and actually the more detailed plot (with its additional twists) made for a much better story. But Daisy was a little less interesting to me than Amy and Carson, though heavy on the dark and broody, was less compelling than Ben. Either way, this was a fun quick read that did leave me giggling and full of the warm and fuzzies in the end.
vegancleopatra's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
Spirit and Dust was a really fun read. The main character is spunky, intelligent and sarcastic, the mystery is compelling and the plot is full of so many different things you cannot help but be entertained. Mobsters, FBI agents, ghosts, mummies, Cleopatra's ghost, witches, a T-Rex, spells, a secret brotherhood and I could go on. The author already had me absorbed but then she went and added in Cleopatra's ghost and mummies and I was a goner. Honestly parts of this book felt like The Mummy movie and Night At The Museum, with some random mobster movie thrown in.
Overall Spirit and Dust is fun with a little dash of everything, including romance and witty dialogue. I will definitely be going back for more of this series and Rosemary Clement-Moore's writing in general.
Spirit and Dust was a really fun read. The main character is spunky, intelligent and sarcastic, the mystery is compelling and the plot is full of so many different things you cannot help but be entertained. Mobsters, FBI agents, ghosts, mummies, Cleopatra's ghost, witches, a T-Rex, spells, a secret brotherhood and I could go on. The author already had me absorbed but then she went and added in Cleopatra's ghost and mummies and I was a goner. Honestly parts of this book felt like The Mummy movie and Night At The Museum, with some random mobster movie thrown in.
Overall Spirit and Dust is fun with a little dash of everything, including romance and witty dialogue. I will definitely be going back for more of this series and Rosemary Clement-Moore's writing in general.
therealestreya's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent mystery with loads of twists and turns! I really wish we could know more about the Goodnigjt family. They're really positive, strong role models!
kelly13's review against another edition
4.0
Great character, good story. The Egyptian mythology was a bit confusing, as was the ending (what happened there???)