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beate251's reviews
357 reviews
Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for this ARC.
Björn Diemel, 42, is a criminal lawyer with a wife, Katharina, and a daughter, Emily who is 2 1/2 but talks like a 12 year old. He's a stressed workaholic who never sees his family until his wife forces him to see mindfulness coach and author of "Slowing Down in the Fast Lane: Mindfulness for Managers" Joschka Breitner, in order to save their marriage.
So when his client, crime boss Dragan Sergowicz interferes with his new found family time, he has no choice but to kill and dismember him. Mindfully of course. Dragan has a lot of people who work for him and Björn has to keep the illusion that Dragan is alive and giving instructions through him. However, the solution that Björn has mindfully come to is that it's easier to kill most of them. So begins Björn's journey into mindfulness and murder, while at the same time trying to get a preschool place for Emily, in his own surprising but mindful way.
This is a book by a German author that has been a success in German speaking countries since 2019. "Achtsam Morden" has finally been translated into English and is the first of a series of five books so far, which we will hopefully all be able to read in due course.
You get two books in one - a crime thriller and a mindfulness guide. There is a lot of talk about breathing exercises, time islands and mindful action. Mindfulness is all Björn ever talks about now, and he uses it more and more to justify his murderous actions. The advice from the mindfulness guide at the beginning of each chapter is repeated within the chapter, which made me skip the chapter introductions after a while due to overkill (pun not intended).
It's a darkly funny story about what happens when a stressed lawyer finds a new way of thinking and addressing his problems. It ends rather abruptly, but we're not done with Björn yet, and in the meantime, if I ever need to murder someone I know how to do it mindfully now.
This is an unconventional approach to crime narrated in first person by a smart but rarely likeable lawyer who tries to do what's best for his family in a rather violent but original way. There are plenty of twists in this very engaging read. Recommended for lovers of dark humour who don't mind the occasional torture or dismemberment taking place.
"Mindfulness was just autogenic training without lying down. Yoga without contorting yourself. Meditation without sitting crosslegged. Or, as the article in Manager magazine my wife once demonstratively placed on the breakfast table put it: ‘Mindfulness means taking in each moment with love and without judgement."
Björn Diemel, 42, is a criminal lawyer with a wife, Katharina, and a daughter, Emily who is 2 1/2 but talks like a 12 year old. He's a stressed workaholic who never sees his family until his wife forces him to see mindfulness coach and author of "Slowing Down in the Fast Lane: Mindfulness for Managers" Joschka Breitner, in order to save their marriage.
So when his client, crime boss Dragan Sergowicz interferes with his new found family time, he has no choice but to kill and dismember him. Mindfully of course. Dragan has a lot of people who work for him and Björn has to keep the illusion that Dragan is alive and giving instructions through him. However, the solution that Björn has mindfully come to is that it's easier to kill most of them. So begins Björn's journey into mindfulness and murder, while at the same time trying to get a preschool place for Emily, in his own surprising but mindful way.
This is a book by a German author that has been a success in German speaking countries since 2019. "Achtsam Morden" has finally been translated into English and is the first of a series of five books so far, which we will hopefully all be able to read in due course.
You get two books in one - a crime thriller and a mindfulness guide. There is a lot of talk about breathing exercises, time islands and mindful action. Mindfulness is all Björn ever talks about now, and he uses it more and more to justify his murderous actions. The advice from the mindfulness guide at the beginning of each chapter is repeated within the chapter, which made me skip the chapter introductions after a while due to overkill (pun not intended).
It's a darkly funny story about what happens when a stressed lawyer finds a new way of thinking and addressing his problems. It ends rather abruptly, but we're not done with Björn yet, and in the meantime, if I ever need to murder someone I know how to do it mindfully now.
This is an unconventional approach to crime narrated in first person by a smart but rarely likeable lawyer who tries to do what's best for his family in a rather violent but original way. There are plenty of twists in this very engaging read. Recommended for lovers of dark humour who don't mind the occasional torture or dismemberment taking place.
"Mindfulness was just autogenic training without lying down. Yoga without contorting yourself. Meditation without sitting crosslegged. Or, as the article in Manager magazine my wife once demonstratively placed on the breakfast table put it: ‘Mindfulness means taking in each moment with love and without judgement."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Murder
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is an epic, sweeping story spanning almost 30 years and has as many characters. To give a synopsis is almost impossible but I will try. It all begins in 1975, when teenager Joseph "Patch" Macauley rescues popular Misty Meyer from a kidnapper but gets snatched instead.
Against all the odds, he is found a year later by his friend Saint Brown. But he is not the same anymore, and he can't stop talking about a girl called Grace who periodically shared his cell and kept him sane by sharing knowledge and travel stories. Police Chief Nix and others think his mind has conjured her up as a means to stay sane but Patch dedicates his life to finding her again. Under the guidance of his mentor Sammy he paints her and other missing girls, many who turn up dead later.
There is definitely a serial killer on the loose but no one can catch him. Patch is in a relationship with Misty for a while, then starts wandering the country, visiting parents of missing girls and now and then robbing banks, only to give the money to charities that look for missing persons.
Saint grows up to become a police officer and she never lets go of finding Patch's abductor - and Grace. When Patch turns Robin Hood it sets them on a collision course, but they will never stop being friends, having each other's back.
When I say I read this in one sitting and you look at the page count you will surmise that I must have lost sleep at night. Yes, massively, but I couldn't stop. The chapters are so short, just one or two pages long that it was easy to simply read "just one more chapter".
But I am deducting points for the length because I think a good author should be able to get a story done within about 400 pages. There were definitely passages that dragged and were repetitive.
I also couldn't understand that it took decades for the serial killer to be found and the mystery of Grace solved. Saint had so many recordings of Patch giving her information and they knew who they were looking for, her not finding the right info earlier felt absurd. A man nearly died under the vile death penalty, for goodness sake!
This is the story of many traumas. This is the story of a pirate and a beekeeper, of a man who touched so many lives, and in the end they came through for him. This is a story of second chances, of friendships and of never giving up. Impressive stuff.
Against all the odds, he is found a year later by his friend Saint Brown. But he is not the same anymore, and he can't stop talking about a girl called Grace who periodically shared his cell and kept him sane by sharing knowledge and travel stories. Police Chief Nix and others think his mind has conjured her up as a means to stay sane but Patch dedicates his life to finding her again. Under the guidance of his mentor Sammy he paints her and other missing girls, many who turn up dead later.
There is definitely a serial killer on the loose but no one can catch him. Patch is in a relationship with Misty for a while, then starts wandering the country, visiting parents of missing girls and now and then robbing banks, only to give the money to charities that look for missing persons.
Saint grows up to become a police officer and she never lets go of finding Patch's abductor - and Grace. When Patch turns Robin Hood it sets them on a collision course, but they will never stop being friends, having each other's back.
When I say I read this in one sitting and you look at the page count you will surmise that I must have lost sleep at night. Yes, massively, but I couldn't stop. The chapters are so short, just one or two pages long that it was easy to simply read "just one more chapter".
But I am deducting points for the length because I think a good author should be able to get a story done within about 400 pages. There were definitely passages that dragged and were repetitive.
I also couldn't understand that it took decades for the serial killer to be found and the mystery of Grace solved. Saint had so many recordings of Patch giving her information and they knew who they were looking for, her not finding the right info earlier felt absurd. A man nearly died under the vile death penalty, for goodness sake!
This is the story of many traumas. This is the story of a pirate and a beekeeper, of a man who touched so many lives, and in the end they came through for him. This is a story of second chances, of friendships and of never giving up. Impressive stuff.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Steve and Amy Wheeler are FIL/DIL. There's a husband and son, Adam, but he's always somewhere else. Amy is a bodyguard for rich people and travels a lot, while Adam does the same for his job. Steve is a retired cop who loves his routine and hates to travel. Then Amy gets into trouble, dead bodies keep piling up and someone seems to want to frame Amy.
Steve loves Amy more than he loves his own son, so he gets himself onto a plane to the US (and then another plane and another, and there might be a helicopter as well), and with celebrity author Rosie tagging along, they try to find out who kills a lot of influencers and why.
If took me a while to get round to reading this but now I wish I'd done it earlier. This book is so much fun and eminently readable. There's a lot of characters but they are all drawn well - loved influencer Bonnie!
If you thought that Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim were a hoot then Amy, Steve and Rosie will absolutely delight you. I would go as far as to say this is better than the Thursday Murder Club. I particularly loved Steve and his reluctance to go anywhere where he can't have a Shepherds pie and his Wednesday quiz at the Wheatsheaf.
Steve loves Amy more than he loves his own son, so he gets himself onto a plane to the US (and then another plane and another, and there might be a helicopter as well), and with celebrity author Rosie tagging along, they try to find out who kills a lot of influencers and why.
If took me a while to get round to reading this but now I wish I'd done it earlier. This book is so much fun and eminently readable. There's a lot of characters but they are all drawn well - loved influencer Bonnie!
If you thought that Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim were a hoot then Amy, Steve and Rosie will absolutely delight you. I would go as far as to say this is better than the Thursday Murder Club. I particularly loved Steve and his reluctance to go anywhere where he can't have a Shepherds pie and his Wednesday quiz at the Wheatsheaf.
The Little Christmas Library by David M. Barnett
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for this ARC.
Molly moves back from London to Merry-le-Moors at Christmas time after a break-up. Her Dad Jack runs a mobile library there for the council after the physical libraries were shut down like so many services. There are a plethora of characters using the library, mostly elderly people just trying to get out of the cold. Soon, a table and chairs plus hot drinks making facilities and mobile heaters are added and the Merry-le-Moors Mobile Library Friendship Society is born.
This is a difficult book to review because it is well-written but the disconnect between the pink cover and cutesy title and the actual content is so stark. From the outside you expect a traditional fluffy romance book but you are getting a male author with lofty ambitions of being literary and letting you know it, by quoting Camus and referencing politics and racism.
He then goes on to comment on his own story: "Maybe if this was more of a feelgood Christmas story, which you may feel you were promised, then things would be different." I'm sorry, but thing's like that take me right out of a book. I don't want an author to comment on his own story, I just want him to write a good story. And this is largely a good story.
A lot of feel-good things actually do happen, with people connecting, reconnecting and breaking out of abusive relationships left, right and centre. There is community, romance and laughter, even in the face of a threatened closure of the mobile library service, and I liked the many supporting characters.
The narration hops from person to person and, strangely enough, to dogs too. You will never guess who the principal narrator is supposed to be!
There is a lot to like about the book but it might be better to change the cover and title to something more accurately reflecting the content, and to maybe leave the author's many comments on his own story out.
Molly moves back from London to Merry-le-Moors at Christmas time after a break-up. Her Dad Jack runs a mobile library there for the council after the physical libraries were shut down like so many services. There are a plethora of characters using the library, mostly elderly people just trying to get out of the cold. Soon, a table and chairs plus hot drinks making facilities and mobile heaters are added and the Merry-le-Moors Mobile Library Friendship Society is born.
This is a difficult book to review because it is well-written but the disconnect between the pink cover and cutesy title and the actual content is so stark. From the outside you expect a traditional fluffy romance book but you are getting a male author with lofty ambitions of being literary and letting you know it, by quoting Camus and referencing politics and racism.
He then goes on to comment on his own story: "Maybe if this was more of a feelgood Christmas story, which you may feel you were promised, then things would be different." I'm sorry, but thing's like that take me right out of a book. I don't want an author to comment on his own story, I just want him to write a good story. And this is largely a good story.
A lot of feel-good things actually do happen, with people connecting, reconnecting and breaking out of abusive relationships left, right and centre. There is community, romance and laughter, even in the face of a threatened closure of the mobile library service, and I liked the many supporting characters.
The narration hops from person to person and, strangely enough, to dogs too. You will never guess who the principal narrator is supposed to be!
There is a lot to like about the book but it might be better to change the cover and title to something more accurately reflecting the content, and to maybe leave the author's many comments on his own story out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.
Nicki is pregnant and her friend Charlotte is throwing her a baby shower and gender reveal party. Lauren and Steffi are invited too. Those four have been friends since university ten years ago but each has a different attitude to motherhood. Lauren has a nine month old baby called Woody but had a traumatic childbirth and hates motherhood. Nicki struggles with her sexuality and has sacrificed a lot to have a baby but she doesn't want this over the top baby shower. Steffi is happily child-free whereas Charlotte wants nothing more than to have a baby but three rounds of IVF later she is still struggling. She is throwing Nicki the shower she's always wanted herself, and it will be perfect.
It is a swelteringly hot day and they all literally sit in a glasshouse, while Charlotte had the bright idea to announce the baby's gender with a smoke rocket without actually letting anyone know this part. This can only go wrong and it does so spectacularly.
This is an exploration of motherhood and female friendship from all angles. The husbands don't really get a look-in. All four women feel judged for their life choices and actions. There is so much rage and resentment and failure to understand each other between the four that it seems almost insurmountable. They are accusing each other of being selfish and ungrateful, culminating in an almost hilarious 'Shut up, no you shut up!" shouting match on the parched lawn.
Like Steffi, I am happily child-free. I cannot understand the urge to have a child but even if I did I think the description of Lauren's traumatic labour and treatment in hospital would have turned me off children for life. Consider this a trigger warning for extreme description of labour. I still haven't recovered. I could however sympathise with all four women, at least for the most part.
The book is well-written and brings all the points across but suffers from repetition. I wasn't terribly interested in who ultimately started the fire. It was a scorching day with about 100 degrees, it was almost inevitable that something would catch fire sooner or later. I felt the police interviews boring and distracting.
You might get on better with this book if you have children and can recognise the longing and the feeling of inadequacy, either (not) becoming pregnant or being a new mother. There is a lot of backstory for everyone but Steffi and I would have wanted to give her life and job more prominence than it got.
Nicki is pregnant and her friend Charlotte is throwing her a baby shower and gender reveal party. Lauren and Steffi are invited too. Those four have been friends since university ten years ago but each has a different attitude to motherhood. Lauren has a nine month old baby called Woody but had a traumatic childbirth and hates motherhood. Nicki struggles with her sexuality and has sacrificed a lot to have a baby but she doesn't want this over the top baby shower. Steffi is happily child-free whereas Charlotte wants nothing more than to have a baby but three rounds of IVF later she is still struggling. She is throwing Nicki the shower she's always wanted herself, and it will be perfect.
It is a swelteringly hot day and they all literally sit in a glasshouse, while Charlotte had the bright idea to announce the baby's gender with a smoke rocket without actually letting anyone know this part. This can only go wrong and it does so spectacularly.
This is an exploration of motherhood and female friendship from all angles. The husbands don't really get a look-in. All four women feel judged for their life choices and actions. There is so much rage and resentment and failure to understand each other between the four that it seems almost insurmountable. They are accusing each other of being selfish and ungrateful, culminating in an almost hilarious 'Shut up, no you shut up!" shouting match on the parched lawn.
Like Steffi, I am happily child-free. I cannot understand the urge to have a child but even if I did I think the description of Lauren's traumatic labour and treatment in hospital would have turned me off children for life. Consider this a trigger warning for extreme description of labour. I still haven't recovered. I could however sympathise with all four women, at least for the most part.
The book is well-written and brings all the points across but suffers from repetition. I wasn't terribly interested in who ultimately started the fire. It was a scorching day with about 100 degrees, it was almost inevitable that something would catch fire sooner or later. I felt the police interviews boring and distracting.
You might get on better with this book if you have children and can recognise the longing and the feeling of inadequacy, either (not) becoming pregnant or being a new mother. There is a lot of backstory for everyone but Steffi and I would have wanted to give her life and job more prominence than it got.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship
The Mulligan Curse by Diane Barnes
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.
Mary, 54, is not content with her life. Her husband Dean is in insurance and does nothing but play golf in his spare time, neglecting her. Her daughter Kendra is planning to move to London shortly with her boyfriend Nate. Mary has menopausal symptoms and on top of that she regrets throwing away her career in TV reporting for becoming a mother and housewife. When she sees a magazine article about popular TV anchor Liz she thinks it should have been her and suddenly her wisdom teeth start hurting in response.
Then her cousin Darbi tells her a weird story - her wisdom teeth are coming through because she regrets a decision in her life and if she gets them taken out she will be the age again she was when she made the decision she now regrets. First she encourages Mary, saying it worked to reset her own life by seven years by allowing her to marry her wife Jacqui but when she hears that Mary would be a whole 30 years younger, she tries to discourage her.
This story is based on a hefty dose of magical realism, which I normally don't have a problem with. However, the reset confused me - it seemed odd that she was now 24 but everyone else was the same age. Would that not cause perception problems with other people? Even now that I write about it I can't get my head around it. Give me "normal" time travel any time!
This novel suffers from a lot of repetition. There are three things being repeated ad nauseam:
1. Mary wants to become a famous TV anchor at a major national news network, but not for serious news just feel-good fluff pieces.
2. You only appreciate what you had once it's gone. Before she becomes younger, Mary does nothing but complain about Dean and her wasted life. The moment she gets her wisdom teeth out, she regrets it and finds only the good in him and her old life. I almost got whiplash, it was so sudden!
3. Mary doesn't understand she can't return to her old life. She has reset her life by 30 years and must live them again. She is not in an alternative world, she's simply 30 years younger and there is no known way of returning to the life she left behind.
"Taking a mulligan" is an expression used in golf to describe when a player is allowed to replay a stroke after a poor shot. Giving Mary the last name Mulligan is a clever play on this expression and explains that Mary gets to replay the last 30 years, and that it's rather a curse to her than a blessing.
This is such a frustrating read. Mary stubbornly assumes things, doesn't listen to Darbi's warnings, constantly repeats what she would do when she got back to her old life and just blunders into situations without thinking. Darbi isn't a real help though - she has plenty of opportunities to explain to Mary the repercussions of her decision but always chickens out and lies by omission.
Mary at one point opines that "She couldn’t believe she’d ever thought a career at a news station would fulfill her. Only the love of her family and friends could do that."
To me that is a deeply problematic statement, that a woman shouldn't attempt a career as only being a wife and mother would give her life happiness and meaning.
This, coupled with the weird magical realism rules and Mary's stubborn stupidity put me off this story. This is a unique story about regrets but it wasn't for me.
Mary, 54, is not content with her life. Her husband Dean is in insurance and does nothing but play golf in his spare time, neglecting her. Her daughter Kendra is planning to move to London shortly with her boyfriend Nate. Mary has menopausal symptoms and on top of that she regrets throwing away her career in TV reporting for becoming a mother and housewife. When she sees a magazine article about popular TV anchor Liz she thinks it should have been her and suddenly her wisdom teeth start hurting in response.
Then her cousin Darbi tells her a weird story - her wisdom teeth are coming through because she regrets a decision in her life and if she gets them taken out she will be the age again she was when she made the decision she now regrets. First she encourages Mary, saying it worked to reset her own life by seven years by allowing her to marry her wife Jacqui but when she hears that Mary would be a whole 30 years younger, she tries to discourage her.
This story is based on a hefty dose of magical realism, which I normally don't have a problem with. However, the reset confused me - it seemed odd that she was now 24 but everyone else was the same age. Would that not cause perception problems with other people? Even now that I write about it I can't get my head around it. Give me "normal" time travel any time!
This novel suffers from a lot of repetition. There are three things being repeated ad nauseam:
1. Mary wants to become a famous TV anchor at a major national news network, but not for serious news just feel-good fluff pieces.
2. You only appreciate what you had once it's gone. Before she becomes younger, Mary does nothing but complain about Dean and her wasted life. The moment she gets her wisdom teeth out, she regrets it and finds only the good in him and her old life. I almost got whiplash, it was so sudden!
3. Mary doesn't understand she can't return to her old life. She has reset her life by 30 years and must live them again. She is not in an alternative world, she's simply 30 years younger and there is no known way of returning to the life she left behind.
"Taking a mulligan" is an expression used in golf to describe when a player is allowed to replay a stroke after a poor shot. Giving Mary the last name Mulligan is a clever play on this expression and explains that Mary gets to replay the last 30 years, and that it's rather a curse to her than a blessing.
This is such a frustrating read. Mary stubbornly assumes things, doesn't listen to Darbi's warnings, constantly repeats what she would do when she got back to her old life and just blunders into situations without thinking. Darbi isn't a real help though - she has plenty of opportunities to explain to Mary the repercussions of her decision but always chickens out and lies by omission.
Mary at one point opines that "She couldn’t believe she’d ever thought a career at a news station would fulfill her. Only the love of her family and friends could do that."
To me that is a deeply problematic statement, that a woman shouldn't attempt a career as only being a wife and mother would give her life happiness and meaning.
This, coupled with the weird magical realism rules and Mary's stubborn stupidity put me off this story. This is a unique story about regrets but it wasn't for me.
Death by the Book by Lucy Connelly
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC.
This is book two in a new cosy murder mystery series by Lucy Connelly. Mercy McCarthy, an American crime writer, and her twin sister Lizzie have recently inherited a cottage and bookshop in Ireland from a grandfather they never knew. Shamrock Cove, especially a posh housing estate called The Court, has a tight-knit community into which the sisters were warmly welcomed.
This time we are at the ten day Shamrock Cove Literary Festival in which both sisters are heavily involved. The first murder is author James Brandt, an arrogant diva not many people had a good word to say about, apart from his literary agent Sebrena. But then she is found murdered too. Who has an interest in seeing them both dead, and has it something to do with their past in Shamrock Cove and an old manuscript?
The author skilfully draws up an atmospheric literary setting, with the bookshop exhibiting secret doors and a fairy garden, plus there is a lot of mention of food!
The Americanisms in an Irish setting take some getting used to - there is definitely no sign of assimilation to Irish English yet but I've learned the word "hinky" for suspicious.
The mystery about their father and some letters continues, plus there is scope for a relationship between Kieran and Mercy, who still aren't dating but getting on very well, with Kieran allowing her some sleuthing under the proviso that she doesn't get herself in danger.
This can be read as a standalone as anything worth knowing will be seamlessly woven into Mercy's narrative, though Mercy's stalker way back in New York and Lizzie's traumas from the past really didn't need repeated airings, especially as they have nothing to do with the case.
I can't wait for the next installment, not for the murders so much as for the interaction between the quirky community members! They and dog Mr Pie really make the book.
This is a fast, easy, warm-hearted read that doesn't disappoint. The characters are interesting and the setting is beautiful. Who doesn't love an Irish community where even the police are called by their first name?
This is book two in a new cosy murder mystery series by Lucy Connelly. Mercy McCarthy, an American crime writer, and her twin sister Lizzie have recently inherited a cottage and bookshop in Ireland from a grandfather they never knew. Shamrock Cove, especially a posh housing estate called The Court, has a tight-knit community into which the sisters were warmly welcomed.
This time we are at the ten day Shamrock Cove Literary Festival in which both sisters are heavily involved. The first murder is author James Brandt, an arrogant diva not many people had a good word to say about, apart from his literary agent Sebrena. But then she is found murdered too. Who has an interest in seeing them both dead, and has it something to do with their past in Shamrock Cove and an old manuscript?
The author skilfully draws up an atmospheric literary setting, with the bookshop exhibiting secret doors and a fairy garden, plus there is a lot of mention of food!
The Americanisms in an Irish setting take some getting used to - there is definitely no sign of assimilation to Irish English yet but I've learned the word "hinky" for suspicious.
The mystery about their father and some letters continues, plus there is scope for a relationship between Kieran and Mercy, who still aren't dating but getting on very well, with Kieran allowing her some sleuthing under the proviso that she doesn't get herself in danger.
This can be read as a standalone as anything worth knowing will be seamlessly woven into Mercy's narrative, though Mercy's stalker way back in New York and Lizzie's traumas from the past really didn't need repeated airings, especially as they have nothing to do with the case.
I can't wait for the next installment, not for the murders so much as for the interaction between the quirky community members! They and dog Mr Pie really make the book.
This is a fast, easy, warm-hearted read that doesn't disappoint. The characters are interesting and the setting is beautiful. Who doesn't love an Irish community where even the police are called by their first name?
The Year of What If by Phaedra Patrick
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for this ARC.
Carla, 42, believes in maths and logic. The rest of her vast family (sister Jess, grandmother Lucinda, aunts Mimi and Evelyn the most prominent) are deeply superstitious. They claim a hundred year old curse exists that women in their family are destined to be unlucky in love, starting with ill-fated couple Agatha and Lars.
After an acrimonious divorce from first husband Aaron, Carla founds a match-making agency called Logical Love, which heavily relies on questionnaires and pragmatic algorithms. These algorithms have led her to Tom, her fiancé and soon to be husband. The wedding is mere weeks away and this time, Carla will avoid all mistakes and prove her family wrong about the curse.
Then her family take her to a fortune teller called Myrtle who is also a distant relative. She gives her six tarot cards, claiming they represent past lovers and that one of them that she met on her gap year travelling around Europe 21 years ago is her forever love.
So she takes herself off to Barcelona (Pedro), Portugal (Adam), Amsterdam (Ruben), Sardinia (Fidele) and Paris (Aaron), while Tom has swanned off to the US for a boardgames convention.
I love Phaedra Patrick's books. They cover so much. Here, Carla is sent on a journey of self-discovery - not just to find out what she has learnt from her past relationships but also find out more about that inconvenient curse.
What if it never existed but lives on as a self-fulfilling prophecy? What if Tom never was "the one" because their compability was wrongly calculated? And why does she keep finding out deeply important and personal things that nearly derail her path in life?
Altogether, this is a charming book with a very smart core, interesting characters and lovely travel descriptions. There is so much love for partners but also for friends and family that it's really heartwarming. Highly recommended to anyone who likes an eventful story and a slightly open ending.
Carla, 42, believes in maths and logic. The rest of her vast family (sister Jess, grandmother Lucinda, aunts Mimi and Evelyn the most prominent) are deeply superstitious. They claim a hundred year old curse exists that women in their family are destined to be unlucky in love, starting with ill-fated couple Agatha and Lars.
After an acrimonious divorce from first husband Aaron, Carla founds a match-making agency called Logical Love, which heavily relies on questionnaires and pragmatic algorithms. These algorithms have led her to Tom, her fiancé and soon to be husband. The wedding is mere weeks away and this time, Carla will avoid all mistakes and prove her family wrong about the curse.
Then her family take her to a fortune teller called Myrtle who is also a distant relative. She gives her six tarot cards, claiming they represent past lovers and that one of them that she met on her gap year travelling around Europe 21 years ago is her forever love.
So she takes herself off to Barcelona (Pedro), Portugal (Adam), Amsterdam (Ruben), Sardinia (Fidele) and Paris (Aaron), while Tom has swanned off to the US for a boardgames convention.
I love Phaedra Patrick's books. They cover so much. Here, Carla is sent on a journey of self-discovery - not just to find out what she has learnt from her past relationships but also find out more about that inconvenient curse.
What if it never existed but lives on as a self-fulfilling prophecy? What if Tom never was "the one" because their compability was wrongly calculated? And why does she keep finding out deeply important and personal things that nearly derail her path in life?
Altogether, this is a charming book with a very smart core, interesting characters and lovely travel descriptions. There is so much love for partners but also for friends and family that it's really heartwarming. Highly recommended to anyone who likes an eventful story and a slightly open ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld for this ARC.
Death feels burnt out and underappreciated so puts in for a sabbatical in London in the body of a young woman, Delara Donn, that her sister Life provides her with. Yes, Life and Death are women.
The problem is that in this body, Death is suddenly mortal, and just as some Unplanned deaths occur - deaths that she is not responsible for and which consequently threaten the fabric of life and try to bring about the apocalypse.
So Death tries to find out what's going on and why the Italian mafia wants to poison people with food while the Vice President for Pandemonium & Perdition or in other words the Devil is sabotaging her at every turn.
The Boss (God) isn't very interested but she gets help from the Human Communications Director (Jesus, who makes shampoo adverts and every now and then dies for three days) and a human parasitologist named Marco. Is there romance in the air? Can Death actually fall in love, and what does that mean for her job?
This is a darkly funny, uniquely absurd and madly entertaining debut novel about a contemplative Death discovering the meaning of life a la "Live, Laugh, Love" whilst trying to help her sister, solve some murders, keep the VP at bay and prevent the apocalypse.
It's nice to get a different perspective on Death. I could practically hear Louis Armstrong crooning "What a Wonderful World" in the background at some of her observations! Read if you liked Good Omens, it's the same sort of wit and humour.
Death feels burnt out and underappreciated so puts in for a sabbatical in London in the body of a young woman, Delara Donn, that her sister Life provides her with. Yes, Life and Death are women.
The problem is that in this body, Death is suddenly mortal, and just as some Unplanned deaths occur - deaths that she is not responsible for and which consequently threaten the fabric of life and try to bring about the apocalypse.
So Death tries to find out what's going on and why the Italian mafia wants to poison people with food while the Vice President for Pandemonium & Perdition or in other words the Devil is sabotaging her at every turn.
The Boss (God) isn't very interested but she gets help from the Human Communications Director (Jesus, who makes shampoo adverts and every now and then dies for three days) and a human parasitologist named Marco. Is there romance in the air? Can Death actually fall in love, and what does that mean for her job?
This is a darkly funny, uniquely absurd and madly entertaining debut novel about a contemplative Death discovering the meaning of life a la "Live, Laugh, Love" whilst trying to help her sister, solve some murders, keep the VP at bay and prevent the apocalypse.
It's nice to get a different perspective on Death. I could practically hear Louis Armstrong crooning "What a Wonderful World" in the background at some of her observations! Read if you liked Good Omens, it's the same sort of wit and humour.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
A Thousand Tiny Stitches by Stephanie Claypool
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for this ARC.
Lily Wolfe is at a point in her life where she should be able to lean back and enjoy her retirement. But her daughter Amanda has recently died in a car crash together with her husband Matt, so their 8 year old daughter Emma is now an orphan and needs her.
Lily loves quilting and the love has clearly been inherited by Amanda who bought a run-down house with a view to turning it into a quilt shop before she died and which Lily is now trying to make habitable.
I'll be honest, I requested this book for the utterly gorgeous cover but I also love a renovation project, especially if it's done as a healing process. This delivers in spades, with Lily discovering how many good friends she has who love to help, like the women from her quilting circle and her friends Becca and Vicky.
Lily is warm-hearted, nurturing and loves to feed people, so when she discovers a young army veteran squatting in her barn she lets him stay in exchange for help with the renovation. Doug is a skilled wood worker but thinks he doesn't deserve a good life because of guilt he has over a fellow army friend who died on his watch. This was his friend's dad's house, but the Dad, Jack, is now in a care home with dementia and thinks he's his son Billy. Jacks old dog, a Jack Russell first called Jack then Russell, adopts Doug, Lily and Emma as his new family.
We need to talk about Philip - lawyer and widower of Lily's friend Rose who somehow thinks she wants him around all the time. He is bossy, arrogant, selfish and annoying. Instead of supporting Lily's new venture and friendship with Doug, he jealously tries to sabotage them at every turn.
No wonder Lily gets overwhelmed with trying to keep her daughter's dream alive while at the same time looking after grief-stricken Emma who resorts to pulling her own hair and acting up in school after being bullied by a classmate.
It is incredibly moving how Lily, Emma and Doug work through their grief while not only renovating a house but also trying to help the community. There is also a lot about how quilting is good for the soul and how it helps to bring people together. I really liked this gentle story about grieving people getting better.
This is an engaging read about strong and resilient women who deal with loss and find love and friendship. Recommended even if you don't care about quilting.
“We think it’s the patchwork that makes a quilt, but it isn’t. A patchwork alone is nothing but cloth. A quilt is when you layer it with batting and a backing and bind them together with a thousand tiny stitches.”
Lily Wolfe is at a point in her life where she should be able to lean back and enjoy her retirement. But her daughter Amanda has recently died in a car crash together with her husband Matt, so their 8 year old daughter Emma is now an orphan and needs her.
Lily loves quilting and the love has clearly been inherited by Amanda who bought a run-down house with a view to turning it into a quilt shop before she died and which Lily is now trying to make habitable.
I'll be honest, I requested this book for the utterly gorgeous cover but I also love a renovation project, especially if it's done as a healing process. This delivers in spades, with Lily discovering how many good friends she has who love to help, like the women from her quilting circle and her friends Becca and Vicky.
Lily is warm-hearted, nurturing and loves to feed people, so when she discovers a young army veteran squatting in her barn she lets him stay in exchange for help with the renovation. Doug is a skilled wood worker but thinks he doesn't deserve a good life because of guilt he has over a fellow army friend who died on his watch. This was his friend's dad's house, but the Dad, Jack, is now in a care home with dementia and thinks he's his son Billy. Jacks old dog, a Jack Russell first called Jack then Russell, adopts Doug, Lily and Emma as his new family.
We need to talk about Philip - lawyer and widower of Lily's friend Rose who somehow thinks she wants him around all the time. He is bossy, arrogant, selfish and annoying. Instead of supporting Lily's new venture and friendship with Doug, he jealously tries to sabotage them at every turn.
No wonder Lily gets overwhelmed with trying to keep her daughter's dream alive while at the same time looking after grief-stricken Emma who resorts to pulling her own hair and acting up in school after being bullied by a classmate.
It is incredibly moving how Lily, Emma and Doug work through their grief while not only renovating a house but also trying to help the community. There is also a lot about how quilting is good for the soul and how it helps to bring people together. I really liked this gentle story about grieving people getting better.
This is an engaging read about strong and resilient women who deal with loss and find love and friendship. Recommended even if you don't care about quilting.
“We think it’s the patchwork that makes a quilt, but it isn’t. A patchwork alone is nothing but cloth. A quilt is when you layer it with batting and a backing and bind them together with a thousand tiny stitches.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Car accident