tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30772782787106300312024-03-05T22:16:28.095-05:00AngloAddictThis is a blog about the latest British books, audio books, TV series and films I've discovered as anglophile stuck in the southern U.S.Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.comBlogger678125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-73041697347105376062022-10-30T22:38:00.006-04:002022-10-30T22:38:56.766-04:00I've Got My Pearls to Keep Me Warm<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLCoHljDO1n4ojR6Gp39Cm0_MCJTrHKcgElz1PW9Q1AQvpPPRIgt4fafWe5_VSXmZm1Fb0h1RXB-JeVxYVg_YXSW7EwNU474-Aa89tfj7q-T_mzmj5io3lu3-k6lbQNx9dilCqZKnKFn6tp2JPK0KHmdiokdN27RtvH2FPIpYFPhlpEYvgqfpYfgi/s2147/60321062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2147" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLCoHljDO1n4ojR6Gp39Cm0_MCJTrHKcgElz1PW9Q1AQvpPPRIgt4fafWe5_VSXmZm1Fb0h1RXB-JeVxYVg_YXSW7EwNU474-Aa89tfj7q-T_mzmj5io3lu3-k6lbQNx9dilCqZKnKFn6tp2JPK0KHmdiokdN27RtvH2FPIpYFPhlpEYvgqfpYfgi/s320/60321062.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><p></p><p>With the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family has been in the news once again. While fascination with the royal family rarely wanes, the younger generations tend to grab all the headlines. The Queen Mother, who died in 2002 at the age of 101, led a fascinating life where she encountered many of the well-known people of the day. She, like her daughter, had a great belief in "doing one's duty" and continued to participate in royal duties until just a few months before her death. This book takes a look at her life, decade by decade, to show the woman who tried (not always successfully) to avoid publicity.</p><p>I thought from the somewhat comical cover, that the book might be less substantial and focus more on the quips and (perhaps) public gaffs that the Queen Mother was known for. Instead, the book was a very in-depth look at the life of the woman who was born while Queen Victoria was still on the throne and died a century later. Not only are well-known sources quoted, but also people who knew or met the Queen Mother and also private letters and diaries were consulted to form a more rounded picture of the QEII's mum -- warts and all. </p><p>Anyone who is interested in the royal family will enjoy reading about the long and mostly happy life of the woman referred to as Buffy (by her siblings) and Cake (by her enemies in society). It was interesting to learn so many details that I hadn't known, such as the fact that the future King George VI had to propose 3 times to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon before she accepted. She was something of an "it girl" and had no interest in giving up her partying lifestyle for a life of duty and being in the public eye. But eventually, true love prevailed, and she and "Bertie" began their lives together. Everything changed when his brother, King Edward VIII, famously renounced the crown to marry Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth never forgave either of them as it meant her shy, anxious husband with the speech impediment was suddenly thrust into a role he had not really been prepared for. Elizabeth's long-standing grudge with the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor (as they became) throughout their lifelong exile in Paris is one of the more interesting events in the book. Neither brother (Kings Edward VIII or George VI) comes across in a very positive light, both being described as not overly bright, quick to throwing temper tantrums, and spoiled. But at least Bertie had the same dedication to the job as his wife did and he was surprisingly successful in his time as king. His somewhat unexpected death would leave his wife to live as a widow for the next 50 years. </p><p>There are plenty of funny stories about encounters with the Queen mum, most revolving around her love of a "little drinky-poo" (or twelve) before, during, and after lunch. Many people who had meetings with the Queen mum missed later appointments as she convinced them, quite cheerfully, to just have one more. Her kindness to servants who were employed long after they ceased to be able to perform their duties was also mentioned, as was her willingness to take the blame when things went wrong (so people wouldn't lose their jobs). The criticism of her weight gain was mentioned all throughout the book, but it never seemed to dampen her love of good food and drink, nor dim her cheerful good humor. The book is a fascinating look at the entire twentieth century and events that Elizabeth witnessed first-hand. A particularly poignant scene describes how she was interviewed by a historian about her recollections of Tsar Nicholas II's mother Marie, since Elizabeth was "the only person left alive who remembered her." All in all, a very entertaining book about a formidable woman. <br /><br />I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.</p><div class="big450BoxBody" style="background-color: white; background-repeat: repeat-y; color: #181818; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="big450BoxContent" style="overflow: hidden; width: 430px;"><br /><div><br /></div><div id="review-like" style="float: right; margin-top: 8px; text-align: right;"></div><div id="review-follow" style="margin-top: 8px;"></div></div></div>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-46544017140231710072022-09-18T18:47:00.000-04:002022-09-18T18:47:25.617-04:00Nix My Dolly<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXtPZsWO1L6UM01jr2mplPoj8TzSfcs5HsMb_yVYMlVAcg7bvwM8wP8B2DAtmley2NSgI7pCYnLY4OFRLjN-qu5Bv1jqE7p2e2YzWR8De4ZzcI8kdhfELaGN7lTVcX4ZPuGwmmwcnPxGFxkIsT_vgIfwGUnC_D34dsDiIRJHpzVzOpC3zB4kFvykF/s466/40909430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCXtPZsWO1L6UM01jr2mplPoj8TzSfcs5HsMb_yVYMlVAcg7bvwM8wP8B2DAtmley2NSgI7pCYnLY4OFRLjN-qu5Bv1jqE7p2e2YzWR8De4ZzcI8kdhfELaGN7lTVcX4ZPuGwmmwcnPxGFxkIsT_vgIfwGUnC_D34dsDiIRJHpzVzOpC3zB4kFvykF/s320/40909430.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>People who are arrested for serious crimes today look for any mitigating factors to deflect blame from themselves. Murder by the Book proves that this tactic is nothing new. In 1840 the elderly Lord William Russell was found murdered in his bed when his servant came to wake him up one morning. His throat had been cut but all of the blood had soaked down into the mattress. The police quickly arrived and detected valuables missing but no signs of any intruders. There had been an attempt made to look as if one of the doors had been forced open, but it was determined this had been done from the inside. With no intruders to blame, interest turned to the servants in the house. There were not that many: a female cook and housemaid as well as a male valet were the only staff who "lived in." When some skirting boards in the valet's room were noticed to be askew, some of the missing valuables were discovered hidden there and the valet was quickly arrested.<p></p><p>The valet, François Courvoisier, was originally from Switzerland and had been employed by Lord Russell for only a month. On the day of the murder, Lord Russell had been angry with his valet for forgetting to send a coach to pick him up at his club. This and the missing valuables were seen as enough of a motive to keep him locked up for trial.</p><p>At the same time as this scandal was rocking the city, a book and play about another famous criminal were dominating the social life of Victorian London. Jack Sheppard was a young thief who became famous when he repeatedly escaped from various jails before eventually being hanged for his crimes. In early 1839 the author William Harrison Ainsworth, who was one of the most popular authors of the day, published his "romance" called <i>Jack Sheppard</i>. It was so popular that it was printed in numerous editions and variations, while plays loosely based on the book were popping up all across London, to the delight of theatregoers. Some other writers, including Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, became disturbed by the glamorization of the criminal and his illegal lifestyle. </p><p>Once Courvoisier was convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang in only a few weeks, he offered several different versions of what happened the night of the crime. In one of his later confessions, he said that he had become consumed with the idea of turning to a life of crime after reading the book J<i>ack Sheppard </i>and seeing the play several times. He wasn't the only one to blame the book for his crimes, as petty crimes and thefts increased after the publication of the story of the daring criminal.</p><p>The book was very enjoyable and took an in-depth look at the crime, the accused, and the literary firestorm that raged around the author and the subject matter. Many interesting figures of the day are also drawn into the fray, including Dickens, Thackeray, and even Edgar Allan Poe. The disgust at the behavior of the crowd during the public execution was also something that disturbed many of the authors of the day (although they, too, turned up to witness the spectacle). The possible motive for the crime and the possibility that Courvoisier didn't act alone are also discussed in fascinating detail. A very interesting Victorian true crime mystery!</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-81711470385166053392022-09-14T12:05:00.001-04:002022-09-14T12:05:06.910-04:00The things the authors do to us readers<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yTrE1PTlxo2RwOO-OTY9h6SuKWbYbNvR3Mz62KoJEPi6KYgNy78UlC5FWd_KAuak-zOHrfzep7Efoyz1gMlcO3lJJ3_xAgKo_RE2bdll8bLZKNjaOOFXHuLTrvMsRbzmW1jkmLqhYCrF6_jhZQ7AXFU6dCv8Sf_6QcAng3QQGKm9fAVRPzzkRmni/s180/friends.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="118" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yTrE1PTlxo2RwOO-OTY9h6SuKWbYbNvR3Mz62KoJEPi6KYgNy78UlC5FWd_KAuak-zOHrfzep7Efoyz1gMlcO3lJJ3_xAgKo_RE2bdll8bLZKNjaOOFXHuLTrvMsRbzmW1jkmLqhYCrF6_jhZQ7AXFU6dCv8Sf_6QcAng3QQGKm9fAVRPzzkRmni/w210-h320/friends.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Everyone who goes away to begin college or university can relate to the feelings of wanting to fit in and "find your tribe." Clare is no different. She heads to Edinburgh to begin her studies not knowing anyone in the city. Clare's background is also rather murky with something having happened in her past that caused her parents to disown her. She has two roommates, but she doesn't really feel any close connection with either of them. In one of her classes, she becomes intrigued by a striking girl, Tabitha, and is soon thrilled to be befriended by her and her group of friends. Ava and Imogen live in Tabitha's house, and her old friend Samuel is also around frequently. They all seem rather wealthy and Clare can't imagine at first why they want her to join their circle. When Tabitha invites her to France with the rest of the group, Clare is excited but also wary -- especially when she's told there is a "project" the group wants to propose to her.<p></p><p>The book moved at a glacial pace while Clare was taken into the circle of friends. Chapter after chapter of her wondering what every glance or phrase meant or didn't mean. It was very tedious. Things picked up about 1/3 of the way through the book when the group's interest in Clare was finally revealed. It took way too long for anything to be explained, and the events played out in such a drawn-out fashion that there was no tension. It's one of those books where you really don't like anyone, so there's no real investment in how any of them end up.</p><p><i>I received a copy of <b>The Things We Do to Our Friends</b> from NetGalley</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-68988242257458584842022-09-12T14:00:00.000-04:002022-09-12T14:00:24.490-04:00Is there any meaning?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDBJLD-f5xRn18oTMeEvDXoz_9KzhnsYae8kpMQruL7331MpMJtuyp1KVduSCF_c5p0KfqaeXRYa0uG5sjSiHdNPFaMCFCtXGzmaaDe-rM8nX2PMUXR5M_sDk5sptUlgs4ZnUmAYRuTKOQrylgZr-HEKw8B_B1DHrP9ukFfDkv7gFx6XrNl8krNWj/s2775/sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1838" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDDBJLD-f5xRn18oTMeEvDXoz_9KzhnsYae8kpMQruL7331MpMJtuyp1KVduSCF_c5p0KfqaeXRYa0uG5sjSiHdNPFaMCFCtXGzmaaDe-rM8nX2PMUXR5M_sDk5sptUlgs4ZnUmAYRuTKOQrylgZr-HEKw8B_B1DHrP9ukFfDkv7gFx6XrNl8krNWj/s320/sun.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>The 1986 unsolved murder of then Prime Minister Olaf Palme has remained one of the world's great mysteries. It is the backdrop of Blaze Me A Sun, where the first in a series of murders takes place on the same evening in a small Swedish village. Local police officer Sven Jörgensson is called to the scene when a young woman's body is found in a car at a remote farm. He quickly drives her to the hospital, but she doesn't survive. The murder is overshadowed by the more prominent murder in Stockholm, but Sven does his best to investigate a case that will soon consume him completely.<p></p><p>The book begins in 2019, when the writer "Moth" comes back to his hometown after a bitter divorce. He's living in his old familial home, next door to elderly retired police officer Evy Carlén. Thirty-three years earlier, there had been three murders and an attempted murder that were never solved in the village of Tiarp. Now the perpetrator has been found and the writer knows this will be the story to break through his writer's block. He begins talking to people in the area to hear their memories of the time of the events thirty years before. He also talks to Vidar, the now deceased policeman Sven's son, who also worked for a time on the police force. Sven died with the murders still unresolved and his failure to find the killer contributed to his early death (so many of the townspeople believe). </p><p>The story goes from the present, back to the events surrounding the murder, then on to Vidar's time on the force, before coming back to the present. One thing that was somewhat annoying in the book was the way so many town names were thrown around. For instance, the first page of chapter 43 talks about Halmstad (the city where the story takes place) but then mentions Tiarp, Ringenäs, Villshärad, Valläs, Åled, Kvibille, Haverdal, and Tylösand. All of these various place names add nothing to the story and the overall impression is that the author is trying to work in every town name in Sweden into the narrative. Every chapter threw around all these place names -- people living in one but working or going to school in another; the bus passing through this town and then that one, and then another one before turning around at a different one and passing back through; cops studying maps and feeling compelled to point out various towns where the killer might be from or have passed through . . . why??? It made for an alphabet soup of town names that were meaningless. I even asked my Swedish husband if he knew what this or that town meant (in case it had some significance that a non-Swede would miss) but he didn't know most of them either. Other than that, the story was interesting and contained enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing how it would all turn out in the end. </p><p><i>I received a copy of <b>Blaze Me a Sun</b> from NetGalley</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-18775423556855153822022-09-06T17:44:00.004-04:002022-09-06T17:44:48.933-04:00Setting many cats among many pigeons<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yZKOf06O2uBKaKRoYxB1d13TtnKPbRQh0AHEBq-_xq9KKUc7oo9jVCt1W64ASzyBhdxg2L8T8i-SeymWf2mKMgIUuR4HPaEXK_ryJhVgBHc7hYw8up98ZneP6p1zPNKPCQL5MEHb6GAfBGOx19rGLopi2wDYDNDBbFNi5Ikg6Gbewrv-jxFOO95z/s403/cover263470-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yZKOf06O2uBKaKRoYxB1d13TtnKPbRQh0AHEBq-_xq9KKUc7oo9jVCt1W64ASzyBhdxg2L8T8i-SeymWf2mKMgIUuR4HPaEXK_ryJhVgBHc7hYw8up98ZneP6p1zPNKPCQL5MEHb6GAfBGOx19rGLopi2wDYDNDBbFNi5Ikg6Gbewrv-jxFOO95z/s320/cover263470-medium.png" width="202" /></a></div>Poor Queen Victoria is 80 and really not amused this time. Just as work is beginning on the extension that will become the Victoria and Albert Musuem, a man is found dead at the construction site. Luckily for her, the museum detectives, Daniel and Abigail Wilson, are available to take the case. This is the 8th book in the "Museum Mysteries" series.<p></p><p>When the body of museum pottery curator Andrew Page is discovered at the museum construction site, Queen Victoria becomes concerned that the negative publicity and scandal will taint the memory of her beloved dead husband Albert. She calls in the Museum Detectives to investigate. As Daniel and Abigail begin to investigate the dead man's life, they discover many possible motives for murder: someone is stealing from the museum's budget; Andrew has many mistresses which his wife knows about but can't be too happy about; and Andrew's German brother-in-law has been staying with him and relations between Germany and England aren't too friendly at this point in time. There are many routes to investigate, all while the police chief remains incensed that these "amateurs" are stealing his limelight.</p><p>The story and setting were quite intriguing, but I thought the story got bogged down at times by all the history lessons. There were long passages about the history of the Victoria and Albert Museum, how museums are funded, the English/German/Boer conflict in South Africa, Queen Victoria's children, etc. It was also a bit annoying how smug Daniel was when he was waving around a letter from the palace instructing people to talk to him with regards to the murder case. The middle of the book got quite muddled and off-track, I thought, but the resolution was satisfying.</p><p><i>I received a copy of <b>Murder at the Victoria and Albert Museum</b> from NetGalley</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-18780491513407729962022-09-02T15:05:00.003-04:002022-09-02T15:05:54.899-04:00A little mayo goes a long way<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjdCSkcJG49ls1OF_KE0N1o82twylit0veSG71RtVdFJM20EH6kHRBahqjYsn_96gflvgMJRdz_NRipFQ5j1rm8QQnwRTI-qC2oQNXI-btpslEADCuxubRhiA5TUaApVwu8u-3jWNhpMCYAFFravvz1JHWUBXnsMBCoRydPRNHfCeWoj5msdmmQlI/s386/mastering.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyjdCSkcJG49ls1OF_KE0N1o82twylit0veSG71RtVdFJM20EH6kHRBahqjYsn_96gflvgMJRdz_NRipFQ5j1rm8QQnwRTI-qC2oQNXI-btpslEADCuxubRhiA5TUaApVwu8u-3jWNhpMCYAFFravvz1JHWUBXnsMBCoRydPRNHfCeWoj5msdmmQlI/s320/mastering.png" width="211" /></a></div>Picture it: Paris 1949. The city is still recovering from the devastation of WWII. Julia Child and her husband Paul have recently moved to Paris due to his job with the diplomatic service. Once in Paris, Julia experiences the delights of French cuisine for the first time, and the rest is history. Shopping for ingredients for her latest culinary masterpiece at a local market, Julia encounters fellow American Tabitha Knight. Tabitha is half-French, so after the war, without many prospects at home in Detroit, she moves to France to stay with her grandfather. The two American ex-pats strike up a friendship and Julia attempts to help Tabitha with her cooking skills and her love life. Sharing a flat with Julia and Paul is Julia's sister Dort. Dort works in the theatre and often brings back her pals for long boozy evenings. One night, Tabitha leaves one of these parties at the same time as a young woman she just met, Thérèse. Tabitha only lives across the street, so she bids Thérèse farewell and leaves her to wait for a taxi. The next morning, Thérèse is found murdered in the stairwell of Julia's building. Even worse, the murder weapon turns out to be Julia's favorite chef's knife. This means that someone who attended the party that night must be the killer.<p></p><p>Handsome Inspector Merveille doesn't believe that Tabitha is telling him all she knows about the mysterious Thérèse, especially after a handwritten note containing Tabitha's name and address is found in the murdered woman's pocket. Tabitha's father is a policeman back in Detroit, and she grew up listening to his stories of crime investigation. She's also an avid reader of mystery novels, so it doesn't take much persuading from Julia to convince her to do some investigating on her own. Julia sometimes helps out in the sleuthing (and she definitely wants to hear all about it), but she spends most of the novel cooking up delicious concoctions that keep everyone occupied as Tabitha goes about Paris looking for clues. Julia also has her own mystery to solve: why does her mayonnaise only work on certain days? It's a puzzle . . .</p><p>The book is a wonderful love letter to the sights, sounds and smells of Paris. Even though it's a large city, Tabitha and Julia live in a small neighborhood where everyone knows everyone, and the gossip is gentle. Julia is forever gathering ingredients for delicious meals she makes whirling around in her kitchen like a tornado. The story is very cozy, featuring grandfather and his partner "Uncle Rafe" and their spoiled pets, Oscar Wilde the dog and Madame X the aloof black cat. I also enjoyed the plucky Tabitha, complete with her trusty Swiss army knife, who fearlessly takes on danger in pursuit of the truth.</p><p><i>I received a copy of <b>Mastering the Art of French Murder </b>from NetGalley in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-48881995472067524872022-09-02T09:05:00.000-04:002022-09-02T09:05:54.283-04:00Mrs. Castle with the carving knife in the hallway<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTHKnyaJnd-w-y3GHsbNY98Dt7oZdoiffhNdvY7jYlVHDBLlbDd81FA-xj1fg1dPykCCgJfCgsyi52C9PfRs8b0QEz52z8j7bAZ8ksKzbkFPuLbavQ7_Gvrvzcp1CF5-zCsUDg-lNROexJprT5KuLDaOqj6XpYnAMpnGH0enM5GJw22PxRcd3MfobE/s346/game.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTHKnyaJnd-w-y3GHsbNY98Dt7oZdoiffhNdvY7jYlVHDBLlbDd81FA-xj1fg1dPykCCgJfCgsyi52C9PfRs8b0QEz52z8j7bAZ8ksKzbkFPuLbavQ7_Gvrvzcp1CF5-zCsUDg-lNROexJprT5KuLDaOqj6XpYnAMpnGH0enM5GJw22PxRcd3MfobE/s320/game.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />A delicious Christmas mystery set in a spooky isolated old house with a group of estranged cousins will certainly get us all in the mood for the holiday season. The Christmas Murder Game brings together the cousins of the Armitage family to play a game to see who will inherit the old mansion. Every day from Christmas day to the 6th of January, a clue will be revealed. The 6 cousins who are in the running to inherit must decipher the clues and be the first one to find one of 12 keys hidden around the house. Only one of these keys will unlock a secret door, and the cousin holding the lucky key will be the winner.<p></p><p>The cousins are: Lily, whose mother Mariana died in the house's outdoor maze when Lily was a child (suicide or murder?); Sara and Gray, who are the children of Mariana's sister Liliana, who took in Lily after the death of her mother; and siblings Ronnie, Tom and Rachel, whose parents were killed in a car accident when they were young. Aunt Liliana has recently died under possibly mysterious circumstances, but before her death she devised the Christmas inheritance game for the next generation. The six cousins are summoned to Endgame House to play the game, and the housekeeper/cook, Mrs. Castle, will be left with them. They must surrender their cell phones and the Wi-Fi is disabled to keep anyone from possibly cheating during the challenges (which is odd since all the challenges refer to the house or family history, so it's unclear how the Internet could help). When a snowstorm traps everyone in the house, blocks the roads with downed trees, and knocks out the single landline at the house, the participants are well and truly trapped. Of course, then the bodies start to pile up . . .</p><p>I enjoyed the story and the setting, but the main character, Lily, was a bit of a letdown. She really doesn't like the house, since she was living there when her mother died, and since the death occurred in the maze, she really, REALLY doesn't like the maze. We know this because at least once on every page, she tells us. Lily is a costume designer/dressmaker, and when she's not whining on about the maze, she's going on about her amazing corsets that she wears every day (despite being pregnant and starting to show) or rubbing her "tummy." She's always tired, or upset, and claims to have no interest in inheriting the house, although she races to solve every clue first so that everyone will know how clever she is. Annoying character aside, the story would make an interesting and atmospheric film!</p><p><i>I received a copy of <b>The Christmas Murder Game</b> from NetGalley</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-48830519977303823392022-08-17T16:37:00.003-04:002022-08-17T16:42:14.126-04:00There had been a day when you could reverse into things<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbghBfEPetsKValOYMr43M6B9TAyVkSJDTVxkfAXKQRD-MhRMv7y4gY2USNevuygEo6sJ3x43N9dI48HweBhm6XBlrwZCPOTSy3vDOgbHWBTZZGX4eKpsz06q3cJHvpTkyZTxyvY-mFYMJt66RIOvj-4lno_O8Zq6xqxH0WK7WIe0wGKvwbpYP8GlI/s500/chairs.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="336" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbghBfEPetsKValOYMr43M6B9TAyVkSJDTVxkfAXKQRD-MhRMv7y4gY2USNevuygEo6sJ3x43N9dI48HweBhm6XBlrwZCPOTSy3vDOgbHWBTZZGX4eKpsz06q3cJHvpTkyZTxyvY-mFYMJt66RIOvj-4lno_O8Zq6xqxH0WK7WIe0wGKvwbpYP8GlI/s320/chairs.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>Mma Ramotswe and her friends are back solving problems big and small in the latest visit to Botswana and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. The book begins with Mma Makutsi, partner in the firm, suddenly ordering stationery, name plates, and office upgrades which make it seem SHE is in charge of the first detective firm run by ladies in that country. Mma Ramotswe, the founder and force behind the company, is alarmed but decides to see where all this is going before confronting her friend about the situation.<p></p><p>The orphan farm, run by the well-known and beloved Mma Potokwane, gets a new bookkeeper in the form of a young woman named Patience. It turns out that Patience, like Mma Makutsi, comes from the village of Bobonong. Since everyone knows everyone there, the two ladies are acquainted with each other and happy to reconnect in the relatively cosmopolitan city of Gabarone. While catching up, Patience reveals that she has moved to town with her 14-year-old son because she was escaping a bad relationship but has fortunately met a very nice man. Her son, however, is making all of their lives difficult with his surly behavior. Mma Ramotswe may just have a plan to solve the problem . . .</p><p>At the same time, Mma Makutsi's husband, Phuti Radiphuti, is also facing worrying times. His furniture store is being undercut by a new, flashy furniture company in town. While they don't sell the same type of furniture, exactly (the new store places more worth on style than comfort), Phuti's business is in serious decline. It doesn't help matters when everyone's nemesis, the glamorous but evil Violet Sephotho is hired to be a model and CELEBRITY OPINION FORMER for the rival company. But once again, Mma Ramotswe can outmaneuver dirty business tricks with her own brand of wholesome revenge.</p><p>It is a pleasure to revisit all the characters and to find them pretty much the same as always: Mma Ramotswe enjoying red bush tea, Mma Makutsi and Charlie, the apprentice detective, sniping away at each other, Violet up to her old tricks, and Mma Potokwane baking and eating her fruitcake. It is lovely to step into their gentle and kind world and to know that everything will work out in the end, and the reader will have an enjoyable journey getting there!</p><p><i>I received a copy of<b> A Song of Comfortable Chairs</b> from NetGalley</i> </p><p><br /></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-15214715981752635232022-08-07T15:23:00.001-04:002022-08-07T15:26:10.659-04:00Harm to Animals, Followed by Throwing Up<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKL6ENePLlwiIhAjucQXApGdkMgyPmZyCWRXC1RcIf0XntvXJVw8XMnt7WwvZVbbQP-aWUniDHCk0VF3XsU13EHUX9I6aQ0F66lAe8Pm7E8K8mZ925IiIqxdSFmXBa5oup8t7V-ELeL6RLpQxEifmP86mf4iUltNvMd4izl-m7oJr_u70e8FNwid3/s474/killme.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKL6ENePLlwiIhAjucQXApGdkMgyPmZyCWRXC1RcIf0XntvXJVw8XMnt7WwvZVbbQP-aWUniDHCk0VF3XsU13EHUX9I6aQ0F66lAe8Pm7E8K8mZ925IiIqxdSFmXBa5oup8t7V-ELeL6RLpQxEifmP86mf4iUltNvMd4izl-m7oJr_u70e8FNwid3/s320/killme.png" width="214" /></a></div><p></p><p>If you ever think you're having a bad day, it's nothing compared to the day Amber Jamison is having at the start of Killing Me. Just a few months shy of graduating with a degree in psychology, Amber is abducted on her way home from class. When she regains consciousness, she's tied up in an unfamiliar basement. She knows what's happened: she's the latest victim of the serial killer known as the Pikachu Killer, who sends news outlets GPS coordinates to find the bodies. Amber is, of course, terrified, but at the same time has a plucky, almost upbeat attitude when confronted with her upcoming fate of being dismembered by an insane killer. Luckily, before that can happen, a tall blonde woman enters the situation from nowhere. It turns out that her savior, Grace, spends her time tracking down serial killers -- anonymously. This is just fine with Amber, who doesn't want to speak to the police due to some questionable events from her past. When Amber has to quickly leave town, it becomes apparent that her interactions with Grace have caught the eye of the most dangerous serial killer of all.</p><p>When the book started out in nearby (for me) Johnson City, TN, I was excited to read a book set in this area. However, soon after escaping the Pikachu Killer, Amber and all the action moves to Las Vegas. Once in Vegas, Amber, Grace, and an assorted group of colorful characters set out to trap a serial killer, without becoming his next victim. I really enjoyed the suspense of the book and the somewhat humorous tone, which lightened up the serious and violent subject matter of the book. There is something of a twist at the end that leaves the reader guessing about all that has happened up to that point. The afterward by the author promises a sequel, so I am looking forward to seeing what Amber gets up to in that one! </p><p><i>I received an Advanced Readers's Copy of <b>Killing Me</b> from NetGalley</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-1266657819729248352022-08-02T12:56:00.001-04:002022-08-02T12:56:00.181-04:00Is it really as bad as it seems?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ-6Tq5O6vJaXRjSkUB2DQO4WS44F7B0Q924-y0wzutN-24-ogwKOBMbXJIemeQ3vbx--SnHouE1CmqaUs5gxgsG61U-bXMU7S_Uzf_5jWEyerDH1BnuSEdaVmPSrptd_Rpjs733rNDMBhyyGryDv13ll1OYn_pF1qFnnEsF1m4OOgZ7IBndyutfl/s346/lying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJ-6Tq5O6vJaXRjSkUB2DQO4WS44F7B0Q924-y0wzutN-24-ogwKOBMbXJIemeQ3vbx--SnHouE1CmqaUs5gxgsG61U-bXMU7S_Uzf_5jWEyerDH1BnuSEdaVmPSrptd_Rpjs733rNDMBhyyGryDv13ll1OYn_pF1qFnnEsF1m4OOgZ7IBndyutfl/s320/lying.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />Things aren't looking too good for Callie in The Lying Wife as she informs us in the first few sentences of the book that she's a wife, mother, friend and murderer. She's being interviewed by police about the aforementioned murder when the book opens. The chapters alternate between Callie in the interview room being questioned and the events leading up to that.<p></p><p>Callie was coming out of a relationship and working in a coffee shop when she met widower James. He sweeps her off her feet and they soon marry. She moves into his house, but his sons 15-year-old Dillion and 12-year-old Luke aren't so thrilled to have a new step-mother. The boys make life miserable for Callie, especially when James is at work, which is most of the time. Callie is studying to be a counselor but doesn't seem to have many ideas on how to deal with her own difficult situation.</p><p>As the situation with the boys continues to be difficult, Callie struggles to cope. Her father is suffering from mental health issues, and she sneaks off from time to time to visit him, since she's not told James about him. She fears that James will think she has inherited her father's mental instability (in truth, she worries about this herself). Her struggles with the boys, trying to keep up with her father, and continuing her studies all put Callie under so much pressure that she does some things that, with a clearer head, she would certainly not have done. </p><p>It's hard to know if we can trust everything Callie says. Are the boys really so terrible, or does she just take everything the wrong way? Is her husband James faithful, or are her suspicions about his relationship with a co-worker well-founded? I liked the way the story kept me guessing and trying to figure out just what was true. The story is certainly a page-turner and has a twist at the end, but after I thought about it a little, I was quite annoyed. Callie seemed to be taken advantage of by everyone and never really put herself first. James, her husband, was never home and seemed to want her only as an unpaid babysitter. She was the one keeping up with everything and doing all the heavy-lifting, while all the male characters around her were sullen and entitled. I was very angry on Callie's behalf by the time I finished the book!</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-29456633426513047542022-07-31T12:18:00.001-04:002022-07-31T12:18:37.835-04:00Other Times it Dragged Like Molasses<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><p></p><pre class="display" id="review-display" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 4px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Raleway-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-break: normal;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkzQ2Sq9DjJY3BK25j-ObkHcRm724-_tqzZQWkzYdAGvpyO0qAVMWuATJn0siX9-eE7AmkaB4eX1N-uENenR6X82po1x8s1c4zGy9U64FMbDj0N2g0bJ2LveS_qn7HVTV2SA-kb4Ljw0vbpn_7zxENs77a4c6N0_7P6Ynk2fUEy1H2r9Z1cRA3xoj/s388/goodpeople.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkzQ2Sq9DjJY3BK25j-ObkHcRm724-_tqzZQWkzYdAGvpyO0qAVMWuATJn0siX9-eE7AmkaB4eX1N-uENenR6X82po1x8s1c4zGy9U64FMbDj0N2g0bJ2LveS_qn7HVTV2SA-kb4Ljw0vbpn_7zxENs77a4c6N0_7P6Ynk2fUEy1H2r9Z1cRA3xoj/s320/goodpeople.png" width="210" /></a></div><br />The events in the novel go back and forth between 1994 and 2019 in the small town of Wakarusa, Indiana. In the 1994 chapters, the events and aftermath of the disappearance and murder of 6-year-old January Jacobs are described. In 2019, reporter Margot Davies returns to town to look after her uncle Luke, who is in the early stages of dementia. When Margot was a child, January was her best friend. Now working as a reporter, Margot has never gotten over the death of her friend. When another young girl goes missing in a nearby community, Margot is eager to connect the event to the still-unsolved murder of January. Her boss at the newspaper, however, has grown tired of Margot's obsession with the Jacobs case and fires her. Margot is dismayed to lose her job, but secretly thrilled, since she can now work on investigating the two cases without worrying about deadlines. Young January is obviously based on Jon-Benet Ramsey, as her provocative dance costumes quickly draw the condemnation of the media. Like Jon-Benet, January also has a brother her parents quickly come under suspicion. The family appears on a well-known true crime show after January's death, and every gesture and word are scrutinized (well, almost, the boy makes some questionable remarks that apparently are never followed up). In going back to 1994 and reading what January's mother Krissy was going through at the time, several possible explanations for events that follow are suggested. I enjoyed trying to guess what had happened to January, but I found the writing style exhausting. The author, for some reason, loves a comma, and every page has long and rambling sentences, separated by commas, that seem to go on forever, when surely a few better formed sentences, instead of all the commas, which, to be honest, are extremely annoying, would have helped the story move along faster, and therefore would have been much more enjoyable to the reader, who has to go back and re-read many of these sentences, since by the time you reach the merciful end of one, you have long since forgotten what was happening way back at the start. There are several ambiguous things that happen to major characters that are up to the reader to interpret. I also didn't understand what the author meant when she said the original name of the town, Salem, "invoked the killing of innocent girls." I'm not sure which Salem she's referring to, since the Salem Witch Trials all involved adults (girls were the perpetrators of those atrocities, not the victims).</pre><pre class="display" id="review-display" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 4px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Raleway-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-break: normal;"><br /></pre><pre class="display" id="review-display" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 4px; border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Raleway-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-break: normal;">I received a copy of <i>All Good People Here</i> from NetGalley</pre>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-83637156109210539342022-07-23T15:32:00.000-04:002022-07-23T15:32:32.285-04:00Weird Thoughts About Sepsis and Turnips<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-7pIHB8Oco2OBH45hHjxRW5kVjNjwH2czdiEAvTc2qj_D8YHuDtaQ_plHIoxI2ZNCnVBTPMnX2SkxfqQ0rcapT5uHjLIvTV3xBKu1G2T6Ty07Orj9R9tahwMYfJhoqF8pYgp7VsdQD7p1ZCSiISl6SgDCY9i5AWJva6SHnm-ZhEXIYLIgZbrqxF9W/s400/ido.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-7pIHB8Oco2OBH45hHjxRW5kVjNjwH2czdiEAvTc2qj_D8YHuDtaQ_plHIoxI2ZNCnVBTPMnX2SkxfqQ0rcapT5uHjLIvTV3xBKu1G2T6Ty07Orj9R9tahwMYfJhoqF8pYgp7VsdQD7p1ZCSiISl6SgDCY9i5AWJva6SHnm-ZhEXIYLIgZbrqxF9W/s320/ido.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Audrey Lavery has always had a bit of an unsettled life. Her actress mother has been successful on the stage, but not so much when it comes to long-term relationships. Due to her mother's constant need for new male attention, Audrey has spent her childhood adjusting to a parade of step-fathers. This lack of stability seems to have influenced Audrey's life as an adult, as she has been unable to form a steady relationship, finish her studies, or find a permanent job. <p></p><p>While living with her best friend Clara and their flatmate Paul, Audrey meets Josh during one of their many parties. He barely registers with her (as she spends most of the party kissing another man), but Josh is smitten. When they keep running into each other, eventually they start a relationship. </p><p>All of this is revealed in flashbacks since at the very beginning of the book, Audrey stumbles out of a church where her wedding to Josh has been interrupted. Through flashbacks, Audrey's past is revealed, including her one-day whirlwind relationship with Fred, which she has never gotten over. Audrey and Fred had a "meet cute" at an instant photo booth at Baker Street tube station and went out for coffee. They had an instant attraction and exchanged numbers. Fred's number became smudged and he never called Audrey, so she had no way of finding out why he didn't turn up for their planned date the following day. All these years later, Audrey is still pining after "the one that got away." Which is why she's stunned when Josh's sister Miranda turns up at their wedding with Fred as her date. </p><p>The timeline jumps back and forth between "One Day Before I Do" and various times throughout Audrey's life. I was getting definite "Shopaholic" vibes toward the end with some of the more outlandish situations Audrey landed herself in! I really enjoyed the London setting and trying to figure out who Audrey would end up with. The only problem I had was with Audrey herself -- she was a total mess! At one point Josh's wise Granny Parker asks Audrey what she's brining to the relationship, and I had been asking myself that for the entire book. Closing in on 30, Audrey has no real job, no skills, no plan for the future, and seems helpless in nearly all situations (when Josh asks her to do something to help plan the wedding, she turns it over to her mother). Still, if you can get over wanting to slap some sense into Audrey, the story is quite engaging (even including the unexpected Epilogue!).</p><p><i>I received a digital ARC of Before I Do from Shelf Awareness</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-38421411686778203602022-07-13T11:47:00.000-04:002022-07-13T11:47:23.439-04:00Whacked in the face with a suitcase full of karma<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbE0sNJgXdPGTg9i5tIFmdnCGsEYN-Nn63zcpkHfsg-OPFXb4vczWtAk_1FfI5f7k7H9jcfXPHJXzjorI2ID_N0zfuvwfQEmMZpyXoXKRTj5kmOIm65YtKJJ04ZoU8OJLZ-lkNxriAWcj_lRgSU_J23jmEvQI59JxScMT209jCrV_8UsdMk2GZL8q/s180/family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="115" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbE0sNJgXdPGTg9i5tIFmdnCGsEYN-Nn63zcpkHfsg-OPFXb4vczWtAk_1FfI5f7k7H9jcfXPHJXzjorI2ID_N0zfuvwfQEmMZpyXoXKRTj5kmOIm65YtKJJ04ZoU8OJLZ-lkNxriAWcj_lRgSU_J23jmEvQI59JxScMT209jCrV_8UsdMk2GZL8q/w204-h320/family.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>Grace Bernard has had a fairly rough life, even before she ended up in prison. Her young French mother, who came to London to be a model, gets pregnant during a whirlwind affair. It turns out the man is already married and wants nothing to do with Grace or her mother. Very proud, Grace's mother is forced to work very hard to support her daughter and dies young. Grace is taken in by a friend of her mother's (and eventually by her best friend Jimmy's family) but she grows up seething with anger that her father has rejected her. Although the family that takes her in is very nice to her, she always feels like a guest in the home. <p></p><p>Grace has always known her father is the extremely wealthy Simon Artemis, owner of the Sassy Girl fashion empire. Grace decides to learn all she can about her father by getting a job in the business. She eventually works her way up in the company in an effort to figure out how to get close to her father and his family. Her plan is to kill the Artemis family one by one, leaving her father until last so she can let him know who she is and that she is responsible for the deaths. Oh, and once they are all dead she can claim the Artemis fortune as the only surviving member of the family.</p><p>The book begins with Grace deciding to write her memoirs from prison. She is currently incarcerated for murder, but not for anyone she actually killed. She readily admits that she *has* killed quite a few people, just not the one she's in jail for. She's hired a high-powered attorney to appeal her conviction, so in the meantime, to stave off boredom and avoid interacting with her perky, annoying cellmate Kelly, she decides to secretly write down how she put her plan into action.</p><p>Grace is an interesting character, full of snark and totally focused on her family annihilation plan. That being said, from the start I was puzzled as to why she would put evidence of her crimes in writing IN A PRISON CELL that could be searched by her cellmate or guards at any time. I did enjoy the story, if I could suspend that disbelief in a totally out-of-character premise. There is a twist at the end with someone who shows up out of the blue, but overall, the story was quite enjoyable and I did, oddly, root for Grace to get her revenge on the (mostly) totally immoral and selfish Artemis clan.</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-34413047609727298052022-03-31T13:46:00.002-04:002022-03-31T13:46:13.737-04:00Be More Iona<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC6KHDZls14FOZjv0rTEi4N0sxnF-Y98whwSZkgblMJtvz9mDWcBzyDqG4sDyPn_ZZPNmt1uqkPratD_ZzD4D4baGFedehgUf6tEEcWQA9tNlWNRsX7uT_RoGXG3JEm0gJDDI4MndQlXDLlolZLtqvEsSAtMdB9cktmZy6ONIDfkEqZXh1UC0R7Ub/s385/Iona.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqC6KHDZls14FOZjv0rTEi4N0sxnF-Y98whwSZkgblMJtvz9mDWcBzyDqG4sDyPn_ZZPNmt1uqkPratD_ZzD4D4baGFedehgUf6tEEcWQA9tNlWNRsX7uT_RoGXG3JEm0gJDDI4MndQlXDLlolZLtqvEsSAtMdB9cktmZy6ONIDfkEqZXh1UC0R7Ub/s320/Iona.png" width="212" /></a></div>While Iona Iverson's second rule of commuting is "Never talk to strangers on the train," due to her flamboyant persona, she attracts a lot of attention during her daily train journey to her job as a magazine advice columnist. She has a seat that she always sits in, and her French bulldog Lulu is usually in the seat beside her. The layout of the seats includes a table for four people. Iona notices the regulars and gives them all nicknames such as "Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader." Iona is in her 50s and dresses to attract attention -- bright colors and patterns in a train carriage of browns and blacks. Her fellow commuters also have nicknames for her, such as "Rainbow Lady" or "Magic Handbag Lady."<p></p><p>Some of her fellow commuters include: Sanjay, an oncology nurse with panic attacks; Martha, a teenage school girl dealing with a sexting scandal that's made her an outcast; Piers, the "manspreader" whose high-flying career isn't all it's cracked up to be; and Emmie, who is dealing with a possessive boyfriend. As we get to learn more about the various characters and their problems, it seems that everyone must ignore the rules of commuting in order to make connections that will benefit everyone.</p><p>The story was very comforting and I enjoyed reading how all the characters came together to help one another with their issues. The story dealt compassionately with subjects such as bullying, LGBTQ discrimination, age discrimination, etc. An enjoyable story and tying up of all the storylines!</p><p>I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-90821517492370560322022-03-06T10:23:00.001-05:002022-03-06T10:23:04.649-05:00Who are these people anyway?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibFBv41nfqlD-aLJ4c_PKuG39RmhV-i--js_y2vH8CCFjCB0-clQGsMnA0ZV0AMKFco1FJu2Ove1v54chRRkvy72OwrhKhFDNrCVCD7dt2wPJ-WEb7g0u1dQlWKIJQUxKJirYm6u9l9nIvXZu5vzEWnwqmqizLW1djzpdg-X110UbplOXeGumH15qU=s500" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibFBv41nfqlD-aLJ4c_PKuG39RmhV-i--js_y2vH8CCFjCB0-clQGsMnA0ZV0AMKFco1FJu2Ove1v54chRRkvy72OwrhKhFDNrCVCD7dt2wPJ-WEb7g0u1dQlWKIJQUxKJirYm6u9l9nIvXZu5vzEWnwqmqizLW1djzpdg-X110UbplOXeGumH15qU=s320" width="211" /></a></div>I'm always thrilled to see there's a new No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency adventure. Stepping into Botswana and into the gentle world of Mma Ramotswe is such a pleasure. This new adventure features all the favorites (except we don't see much of part-time assistant detective Charlie, as he's on paternity leave). The various problems facing detectives Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are as perplexing and heartbreaking as usual: a man who fears his father's caretaker has exercised undue influence to get the will re-written in the caretaker's favor and a new arrival at the Orphan Farm who claims she had been held as a slave and other children were still there. The detectives must use their unconventional methods to learn more about the situation and to solve the problems as only they can.<p></p><p>The main story running through the book, however, concerns Mr. JLB Matekoni and his apparent "male menopause." After being persuaded to attend a conference and networking event for small businesses, Mr. JLB Matekoni encounters an old school friend who seems to have become very successful. While previously happy enough with his life and small garage, the friend persuades Mr. JLB Matekoni that he should invest in a new business opportunity: a bus company. Suddenly, Mr. JLB Matekoni becomes excited in a way he hasn't felt in a long time. He begins to see the possibilities of expanding his business holdings and living up to a potential he didn't know he had. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an unlimited supply of pula just lying around, so he uses the only asset he has: he's going to take a loan on the building that houses not only Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, but also the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Although those around Mr. JLB Matekoni are dubious about his new plans, when the man from the bank arrives to value the property and gives his dismissive evaluation, the alarm bells really start to ring.</p><p>While I always enjoy reading the adventures of these characters, this book left me with a decidedly uneasy feeling. Everyone seemed to be plotting and scheming behind Mr. JLB Matekoni to ensure he would not be able to invest in this new business. While he wouldn't be the only one affected if the business did fail, it was very discouraging to see that absolutely no one supported him in this venture. In the same manner, the case the lady detectives were investigating about the will and the undue influence also seemed to go in an unpleasant and unprofessional direction. Another book I recently read talked about fanfiction characters behaving "OOC" (out of character) and it seemed to me that most of the people in this new book were OOC. I can imagine it can be difficult to come up with new situations and dimensions for the characters to grow, but this felt as if every character (except the reliable Mma Makutsi) had gotten a personality transplant. I didn't recognize them. I hope the next book will have everyone back to their old selves, even if that means not a lot happens.</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-14919222482019927672022-02-06T12:50:00.000-05:002022-02-06T12:50:04.169-05:00So many suspects<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCsg7kOVqaIuS4UfFBAg6FyfEvTmiIrQY5b9ktIpq83DoL480cIfgLyWRauXd81nxNUWaEI2z1HJAPtQDPWznxS02JP0inwNV_ygD6NBJ4qcZjySnu8H-SevgmPV6PfROzHXjvzIUPAHiwQfTPE80ESh7eknb3ZoMaUa816F9j4T-RfKhSDm0BtMUF=s346" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCsg7kOVqaIuS4UfFBAg6FyfEvTmiIrQY5b9ktIpq83DoL480cIfgLyWRauXd81nxNUWaEI2z1HJAPtQDPWznxS02JP0inwNV_ygD6NBJ4qcZjySnu8H-SevgmPV6PfROzHXjvzIUPAHiwQfTPE80ESh7eknb3ZoMaUa816F9j4T-RfKhSDm0BtMUF=s320" width="209" /></a></div>Christine Donovan is living a complicated life. She's busy keeping up with her active toddler Heidi, recently married her long-term boyfriend Greg, and is carrying on a torrid affair with a married man. In the twisty thriller <a href="https://amzn.to/3LdYypp" target="_blank">She's Mine</a>, Chrissy soon learns that betraying her marriage vows will have devastating consequences. While out shopping with Heidi, Chrissy gets a phone call from her lover, telling her that their affair is over. Distraught, she moves away from where Heidi is sitting in a stroller to get a better signal on her phone so she can try to plead with her lover not to end things. When she eventually walks back to where she left Heidi, she's alarmed to see the child is not there. Heidi has been kidnapped. Although an immediate search is launched, the child is never found.<p></p><div>Fast forward 20 years, and Chrissy is a shell of her former self. Although she and Greg are still married and eventually had two more children, Ella and Daniel, she's never recovered from the abduction of her firstborn daughter. Due to that heartbreak, she has been an aloof and distant mother to her other children. She has also become addicted to exercise and is extremely thin and underweight. Greg has continued with his high-flying legal career, but he and Chrissy don't really communicate or even interact much anymore. Chrissy's friends Miranda (who has her own history with Greg) and Janine convince her to start seeing a new psychiatrist, Dr.. Freya Cousins. Although quite young, Dr. Cousins's direct and unsympathetic style resonate with Chrissy, whose guilt over losing Heidi has never abated. After so many years, it seems as if someone is trying to re-awaken the mystery of what happened to Heidi as anonymous notes, emails, packages and photos begin to arrive.</div><div><br /></div><div>The chapters are told from varying viewpoints, and we get to hear from nearly all the characters who are mentioned. We see what they are thinking, their histories with Chrissy and Greg, and how they all feel about the situation and each other. I enjoyed the different voices, but sometimes I had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to discover who the "I" and "you" were that were being discussed. There are plenty of clues to lead the reader to several possible suspects. Even though it's not too difficult to guess "whodunnit," there are some final twists at the end that are surprising.</div><div><br /></div><div>I received this book as a subscriber from the monthly <a href="https://lovebritishlifestyle.com/pages/tea-book-box" target="_blank">Tea and Book </a><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>Box </u></span> from Quaintly & Co. Each month I receive a lovely book along with a delicious selection of teas and snacks. I have been really impressed with everything I've received so far, and am anxiously awaiting the next installment!</div>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-5443032556248615242021-11-12T10:57:00.005-05:002021-11-12T10:57:40.100-05:00Lovely setting for a mystery<p>Helen is pregnant after several miscarriages and signs herself and her husband up for prenatal classes. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5_OHUhG4D8PMbE-P0mbvRDcuOuuj0HOUbnsQLF3mZaOAna_e0Zh3qTZF7oezQFQa1oiiOzffe2T72msHgMbR8ou82fc2KChSe3ZnEXQd3oJEOaomh-IWAep2KaBHcNyqpRWpLs1BH40/s188/OIP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="125" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5_OHUhG4D8PMbE-P0mbvRDcuOuuj0HOUbnsQLF3mZaOAna_e0Zh3qTZF7oezQFQa1oiiOzffe2T72msHgMbR8ou82fc2KChSe3ZnEXQd3oJEOaomh-IWAep2KaBHcNyqpRWpLs1BH40/s0/OIP.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>When her husband doesn't attend the first class, she pairs up with the only other single person there, a young woman named Rachel. Soon Rachel is popping up all over the place and before long she asks if she can stay with Helen for a few days. Helen is somewhat reluctant, but feels unable to refuse. The slovenly Rachel takes up residence in Helen's huge family home in Greenwich Park in London. Rachel's husband Daniel isn't too thrilled with their houseguest, either, but he is out working most of the time, so it falls to Helen to deal with Rachel. When Helen is persuaded to hold a big Bonfire Night party at the house, her brothers Rory and Charlie attend with their partners. Charlie, the somewhat irresponsible younger brother, also invites numerous acquaintances who proceed to turn the event into a drink and drug-fueled frenzy. Things finally come to a head with Rachel when Helen discovers some strange items hidden in her room, and Rachel is finally told to leave. After this, she disappears and is reported missing by her father. Helen feels guilty and beings trying to figure out what happened to Rachel. At the same time, she also begins to get strange messages about her and Daniel's finances. The police begin to take a closer look at Helen's brothers and their possible connections to Rachel. <p></p><p>The chapters are told in alternating voices between Helen, Rory's wife Serena, and Charlie's partner Katie (a reporter who is also investigating Rachel's disappearance). The action moves along quite quickly and of course, before we find out what happens to Rachel, Helen will find herself and her unborn baby in danger as well. I found Helen so hard to like or root for. She just sort of drifts along without telling anyone how she feels or attempting to find out what is going on in her own life. She snoops around in her sister-in-law's house and is so jealous of the beautiful Serena that what ever Serena has, Helen soon copies and buys as well. She thinks she makes "discoveries" and tells people her theories before she's even worked out what is going on. There is an "afterward" section that attempts to tie up loose ends, but it's very convoluted and long and is somewhat unconvincing. Overall, the story was enjoyable, but it was let down somewhat by the long and drawn-out final explanations.<br /><br /><i>I received an Advance Reader's Edition from the publisher.</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-75625118593394558472021-10-05T13:36:00.001-04:002021-10-05T13:36:00.187-04:00Certain Problems have only one solution<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yAFwyMdt3nJFJW82A8e7zCCxHYa1Z-jzLKUeceJOXUPiuy8nbXrBYzIJ53ZqXfPu3Ck_0PRhvwYy7jyiqn4pMeVUoveZz-L7auCQHf3wgP-Lrf7YE7gwRzB213iELGKPv2RKH4wO4lk/s500/elderly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_yAFwyMdt3nJFJW82A8e7zCCxHYa1Z-jzLKUeceJOXUPiuy8nbXrBYzIJ53ZqXfPu3Ck_0PRhvwYy7jyiqn4pMeVUoveZz-L7auCQHf3wgP-Lrf7YE7gwRzB213iELGKPv2RKH4wO4lk/s320/elderly.jpg" /></a></div>Having lived in Sweden for a while, I'm always happy to read books by Swedish authors that transport me back to that beautiful country. A few years ago we met Maud in An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, where she played a forgetful old lady when the authorities were sniffing around, but showed herself to be shrewd and calculating when on her own. In this follow-up, An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed, Maud is back solving Problems in her own unique and permanent fashion.<p></p><p>In the previous book, a dead body had been found in one of the rooms in Maud's large apartment that she rarely ever entered. Even though she's nearly 89, she travels a lot and it was unfortunate that a burglar had broken in with an accomplice and ended up murdered (presumably by the absent accomplice) and lain dead in her apartment for many days while she was out traveling. The police do try to get to the bottom of what happened, but poor Maud is extremely hard of hearing and confused (when they are around, anyway), so they don't get much information out of her.</p><p>Now Maud is preparing for a luxury safari trip to South Africa, but before she can leave, the police show up with more questions about the death. Maud is still not able to follow their questions or provide any information, so they leave in frustration and she is able to leave on her trip. While on the plane during the long flight, Maud remembers several other occasions in her life when she had to take care of Problems that cropped up in her life: a dependent sister, a co-worker in the way of advancement, a neighbor's entitled son. How Maud deals with these Problems and her complete lack of any sort of remorse is eye-opening, to say the least.</p><p>Once Maud gets to South Africa, she finds her frail little-old-lady act useful in getting out of tours and events that she doesn't want to attend. As always, she has her own agenda. Unfortunately, some Problems crop up on her vacation as well . . .</p><p>As with the previous book, I felt a bit misled by the cutesy title and cover of the book. It would suggest that this book is about a feisty old lady getting into amusing scrapes. That is not at all what goes on. Maud is surely a sociopath, taking care of Problems in very well-reasoned ways that leave her unsuspected. The portion of the book where she is in South Africa is also somewhat puzzling -- it goes into minute detail about what Maud saw, ate, and thought on the trip, the stores she visited, etc. It was almost as if the author was using her own travel diaries to construct the story. I wonder if this particular book might also get some backlash for the "white savior" actions taken by Maud in South Africa. The story was interesting enough and is a quick read, but it is just not what I thought it would be. </p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of <b>An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed</b> from NetGalley in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-54126719141773456292021-09-14T13:08:00.005-04:002021-09-14T13:08:52.736-04:00It sounds like paradise, but is it really?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkuBXdsrrESpHFVrOWFvygN3_iuGCOxjtKPHbg3D2g6ArDqMLDuwflFyYKG7NKXeIa3xRCTG1IBOtPEauCks-SVfU38tq3yibMVccpDLK7DbmlzLmkPLV_v0BcSABVTYLCz2cxcb1Ps4/s499/reckless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkuBXdsrrESpHFVrOWFvygN3_iuGCOxjtKPHbg3D2g6ArDqMLDuwflFyYKG7NKXeIa3xRCTG1IBOtPEauCks-SVfU38tq3yibMVccpDLK7DbmlzLmkPLV_v0BcSABVTYLCz2cxcb1Ps4/s320/reckless.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>This book kept me guessing right to the end! Lux McAllister is somewhat adrift. Estranged from her father, when her mother dies she feels she's all alone in the world. That is until she meets the gorgeous Nico. Nico is from a wealthy family, but refuses to ask them for any help. Instead, he sails around in his boat, stopping where the fancy strikes him, and does odd jobs to support himself. When he and Lux become romantically involved, he asks her to sail with him to Maui, then on to other romantic-sounding destinations when they get tired of Hawaii. Lux, with no other ties, jumps at the chance. Once in Hawaii, Lux has to work to support them while Nico doesn't seem in any hurry to do anything to put their dreams into action. Eventually, two young women offer Nico a large amount of money to sail them to the deserted Meroe Island. Having nothing better to do, he agrees and Lux, who suddenly finds herself unemployed, comes along. Once they arrive at the supposedly deserted island, they are somewhat dismayed to see another boat already anchored there. It turns out the Aussie couple on board, Jake and Eliza, are friendly, welcoming, and willing to share their provisions. Soon it becomes a daily event to swim to shore, spend the days on the beach and the nights eating and drinking. When another boat with a somewhat shifty-looking man arrives, the laid-back vibe of the island turns sinister. As strange things begin to happen, everyone's secrets come out and not everyone will leave the island alive.<p></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-25069344342368258902021-08-31T11:14:00.002-04:002021-08-31T11:14:59.926-04:00Tennis balls and apple falls<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlUqRA_TZ6A2kaNtatRhESGShtQmFS2grR5w6MfQus3xtCUiIAXoHrxENoTBw7NZp_XFVmYdFyd7dr3pqB5jkaHmR34q4FsnEW383oFGHgjzMfjUC4xOQfyWLPtACn9n1xBd5KEHoXxo/s499/apples.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlUqRA_TZ6A2kaNtatRhESGShtQmFS2grR5w6MfQus3xtCUiIAXoHrxENoTBw7NZp_XFVmYdFyd7dr3pqB5jkaHmR34q4FsnEW383oFGHgjzMfjUC4xOQfyWLPtACn9n1xBd5KEHoXxo/s320/apples.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Stan and Joy Delaney are at loose ends in Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Their four adult children are all out living their own lives, and they've recently sold their tennis school. That might explain why Joy is delighted to have a stray waif to mother when a disheveled young woman suddenly appears on her doorstep. The young woman, Savannah, says she has been assaulted by her boyfriend and knocked on the Delaney's door because the house looked nice. Without a thought, Joy immediately takes Savannah in. Over the coming days, Savannah returns the favor of having a place to stay by preparing amazing, gourmet meals for the couple. When Joy suddenly goes missing, her children and the police go back in time to investigate events leading up to the disappearance. All four children have their own problems. Oldest son Troy has recently been left by his long-term girlfriend because he's too passive. The other son, Logan, is also separated from his wife but she has recently come back into his life to ask a big favor. Daughter Amy is something of a free spirit who is currently sharing a house with much younger housemates and flitting from job to job. Youngest daughter Brooke has her own physiotherapy practice, but her husband has also left and it's been hard for her to attract clients to her new business. All of the children have a complicated relationship with their parents, especially their father. He coached them all in tennis as well as taking on numerous students over the years. All of the children eventually gave up the game, and Stan's best student left him for another coach as just as success started building. Stan and Joy have also had a somewhat tumultuous relationship over the years, with Stan frequently walking out and staying away for frightening periods of time. Still, he surely couldn't be responsible for Joy's disappearance? The story goes back and forth between present time and the days surrounding when the mysterious Savannah turned up. I listened to an audiobook version read by Caroline Lee. Her narration was very good, if a bit squeaky when she wanted to convey disbelief. Overall, the story was very good and many clues were dropped throughout which were eventually explained satisfactorily. The only quibble I have is the tennis angle. It was way overboard, in my opinion! Tennis, tennis, tennis on every page and coloring every action. It all got to be a bit much. If you can overlook that, it was a very enjoyable book.<p></p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received an audiobook copy of <b>Apples Never Fall</b> from NetGalley in exchange for this review</i></p><p> </p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-62267834013932924142021-06-24T08:00:00.001-04:002021-06-24T08:00:00.228-04:00Keep Your Secrets Close<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPhHA_RT98-RO2qxHVRcW_4D-a14qmYgKdGAi9O9Vq1GKZzqnH5Lvj63k9rH0FJyJoTagmCNVnX0acrTcuGSAzN6o6nskmOdOBRU4NyIjK2jPNLW3jgtGGN0z5jTE5p-mjSqZYE74lKw/s499/therapist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPhHA_RT98-RO2qxHVRcW_4D-a14qmYgKdGAi9O9Vq1GKZzqnH5Lvj63k9rH0FJyJoTagmCNVnX0acrTcuGSAzN6o6nskmOdOBRU4NyIjK2jPNLW3jgtGGN0z5jTE5p-mjSqZYE74lKw/s320/therapist.jpg" /></a></div>Alice seems to be living the perfect life in <a href="https://amzn.to/3stuf3M">The Therapist</a>. She's just moved to London to be with her boyfriend Leo, with whom she's been having a long-distance romance. You'd think that she would be excited to start her new life, but Alice is a bit nervous. She's moved from her hometown of Harlestone where she lived in a cottage she loved. Not knowing anyone in town, she's eager to meet her new neighbors. She and Leo move into a big house in an exclusive neighborhood called The Circle, since the houses all form a circle around a central communal garden area. Soon after moving in, she invites everyone in the Circle to her new home for a neighborly get together. <p></p><p>While she is entertaining, she notices that one couple, Maria and Tim, haven't turned up. When a lone male rings the doorbell, she assumes it's the missing Tim and invites him in. He asks to see the house and she happily shows him around while everyone else is out in the garden. A few days later, she meets the real Tim and is shocked to discover he's not the man who came to the party. Disturbed, since they live in a gated community, she begins asking everyone if they know who the man could be.</p><p>Leo is no help, since he was not too thrilled about having people around anyway. He's also not very interested in getting to know the neighbors. Since he works away from home during the week, Alice is left to try to investigate what's going on. Her uneasiness isn't lessened when she keeps feeling as if someone is breaking into the house at night and watching her sleep. When she discovers some information that Leo has been keeping from her, she is drawn into investigating some disturbing events that happened before she moved into the Circle.</p><p>Occasional chapters from some sessions between the "therapist" and the clients are interspersed with Alice's search for answers into what happened in her house in the past, and the strange events that are happening to her in the present. We are left to wonder both who the therapist and the clients are and if there is a sinister connection between those sessions and what is happening in Alice's life.</p><p>The character of Alice is a bit of a trial. She works from home translating books and has no family other than Leo, so at times it seems as if she has too much time on her hands. The way she badgers her neighbors about every little thing is quite annoying (when one of the neighbors gives Alice a telling off late in the book for this behavior, I had to cheer her on). She also has so many options when things get a bit tough that it's hard to believe. Not only does she have a friend who owns a farm back in Harlestone who's forever offering her an indefinite place to stay, she has another friend in London with the same offer, as well as one of the neighbors who offers to let her move in. She and Leo seem to shuttle around (mostly apart) playing musical houses amongst all the various friends and acquaintances. It's all very difficult to keep up with! The actual mystery of the novel, what happened to the previous occupants of the house, gets re-hashed and worked around so much that the final resolution is a bit too long in coming.</p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Readers' Edition of <b>The Therapist</b> from St. Martin's Press in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-52432517682285843742021-05-25T13:26:00.002-04:002021-05-25T13:27:03.646-04:00Working women don't have Stepford husbands<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Iw8Td0CteASbDPYGGLsGMxlBGhPLCirB8Q-fW3gNOBpiiaoJOEnrMBRz66jNLeL8_51kZnFtCJKdgiI_AOHfK2V8RUH6qk3npliLWLf9Kt3uQSLb_ngxI4sP-hhmznr1cdaZDdFzPbs/s346/husbands.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="228" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Iw8Td0CteASbDPYGGLsGMxlBGhPLCirB8Q-fW3gNOBpiiaoJOEnrMBRz66jNLeL8_51kZnFtCJKdgiI_AOHfK2V8RUH6qk3npliLWLf9Kt3uQSLb_ngxI4sP-hhmznr1cdaZDdFzPbs/s320/husbands.jpg" /></a></div>Nora is a stressed out working wife and mother who's just asking for a little help from her spouse in The Husbands. Although her husband, Hayden, helps out occasionally and will do specific tasks if asked, the vast majority of logistical household and personal duties fall to Nora. While this situation would be maddening enough without the extra stress, Nora is in the process of going up for partner at her law firm. To make matters worse, she also feels like she can't say no to any requests from her firm to work extra or be on call for emergency tech help from the older male partners.<p></p><p>Since Nora is expecting a second child, she and Hayden have outgrown their current living situation and begin looking around for a house to buy. Nora thinks they've found the perfect home in the housing development known as Dynasty Ranch. She becomes a bit alarmed when it seems like buying the house doesn't just require the signing of documents, but that she and Hayden will need to be approved by the current residents. </p><p>Nora gets along well with the other women of Dynasty Ranch, although she is dismayed to find out that an author whose work she admires, Penny, has recently lost her husband to a fire. Hayden isn't as charmed by the house or neighborhood as Nora is, but (as usual) he is content to let her sort out all the details. At some social gatherings where they are being vetted by the current residents, Nora is amazed at the amount of cheerful help that the husbands of the neighborhood provide. In order to see if she can't get Hayden on this bandwagon, Nora talks him into attending some couples therapy sessions with Cornelia, the resident therapist. While these sessions are somewhat unorthodox and dredge up some information that she would rather keep hidden, Nora can soon see a definite change in Hayden's willingness to help out around the house.</p><p>As Nora is brought in to investigate the fire that caused the death of Penny's husband, she begins to sense that everything might not be as picture perfect in Dynasty Ranch as it appears at first glance. It was very easy to see how overwhelmed Nora is and to sympathize with her situation. While the amazing array of professional women at Dynasty Ranch seem to have come up with the perfect solution to getting a little help, their techniques might be a little drastic for some!</p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of <b>The Husbands</b> from the publisher in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-11870229031497714522021-05-17T10:31:00.001-04:002021-05-17T10:31:13.197-04:00No time for knitting<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlL1F9eCC2Bt54Vc6YcownYW7cPnEgXiwsKrB748iy83f3hcVm2ucStGNcRvKa7QxaVnQ52vnRZoaIzDlFDcDlAZKKOuOJ85rQeyk83zvnjfaeRU6Gs7We5Oj608fnm-BfkLNwfG7d16g/s499/Thursday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlL1F9eCC2Bt54Vc6YcownYW7cPnEgXiwsKrB748iy83f3hcVm2ucStGNcRvKa7QxaVnQ52vnRZoaIzDlFDcDlAZKKOuOJ85rQeyk83zvnjfaeRU6Gs7We5Oj608fnm-BfkLNwfG7d16g/s320/Thursday.jpg" /></a></div>Far from looking forward to their weekly bingo game for some entertainment, the four members of the Thursday Murder Club hold meetings in their retirement community (when they can squeeze in around other groups) to discuss unsolved murders. There's Joyce, a retired nurse; Ron, who is famous as a labor activist; Ibrahim, a retired psychologist; and Elizabeth, who did all sorts of mysterious and dangerous work although we're never really given any clear information about what her job title might have been.<p></p><p>After one of their meetings the group sees Ian Ventham having a heated exchange with Tony Curran. Ian is the owner and developer of the retirement village and is planning a huge expansion over some nearby farmland which will require, among other things, the relocation of a cemetery. The current buildings are on the site of a former convent, so the cemetery is the final resting place of the many nuns who lived there. Tony is Ian's right-hand man, doing everything from building work to some light "enforcement" duties when the situation requires it. Just hours after that argument, Tony ends up murdered, and the members of the club can't believe their luck -- here is a murder they can investigate where they know all the players.</p><p>A female police officer, Donna De Freitas, comes out to give frequent talks on safety, so the members of the club hope she will be helpful to them in supplying information about how the investigation is coming along. Donna isn't allowed on the "murder squad" at the police station, but that's quickly arranged with a few quick phone calls from Elizabeth. Donna and her boss, the overweight and slightly depressed DCI Chris Hudson, try their best to investigate Tony's murder, but really, the Thursday Murder Club is miles ahead of them in terms of technique and resources. Still, they do share any helpful information with the police, and occasionally a helpful piece of information comes their way from official sources.</p><p>Another murder occurs, in front of nearly 100 witnesses, and the body of a victim that has remained undiscovered for nearly 50 years also turns up. The members of the club keep busy trying to sort out who the killer (killers?) might be and trying to untangle all the possible motivations.</p><p>The story is very entertaining, and because there are short chapters alternating with entries from Joyce's diary, the action moves along at a fast pace. My only criticism is that there are an awful lot of characters to keep up with. A list of characters would be helpful, especially since some of them have very similar names. I also wasn't too thrilled with the ending, since several strange plot holes weren't addressed. Still, it was a fun story and it was quite entertaining to see what information Elizabeth would unearth next from her never-ending "sources" from her previous life.</p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-81975028900114994542021-05-05T09:21:00.002-04:002021-05-05T09:21:52.693-04:00Where the Literary Conversations are Ubiquitous<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKk6MYFCo-p1FRFysgyGjRp-IiFOtqpXxID3vJb9eFUHPV_34a5OEITEV6_lymN-xm_aNUqpLwU1uo1Lt9G2zF9_FyTFm2U_FOi-6AKeL8BW351QAiOcC3jWGxsqamXXX4qP0BgPxquVQ/s382/bookshop.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKk6MYFCo-p1FRFysgyGjRp-IiFOtqpXxID3vJb9eFUHPV_34a5OEITEV6_lymN-xm_aNUqpLwU1uo1Lt9G2zF9_FyTFm2U_FOi-6AKeL8BW351QAiOcC3jWGxsqamXXX4qP0BgPxquVQ/s320/bookshop.png" /></a></div>Grace Bennet and her friend Viv are beyond excited to have finally escaped their small village of Drayton for the bright lights of London in August 1939. Friends since childhood, they had always dreamed of more exciting lives than what Drayton could offer. When Grace's mother dies, she is told to leave the house she as lived in all her life and this is a good reason to fulfil her dream of moving to the big city. Luckily, her mother's best friend, Mrs. Weatherford, has always offered Grace a place to stay if she ever comes to London. <p></p><p>Grace and Viv are welcomed excitedly by Mrs. Weatherford and her son Colin. Although Colin is a few years younger than the girls, Grace has known him since childhood. He works at Harrods in the "Pet Kingdom" department (which seems, sadly to have become extinct in more recent times). Colin helps Viv to get a job at Harrods, and Grace is told Mrs. Weatherford has arranged a job for her at Primrose Hill Books, owned by her friend Mr. Evans. Grace, having never had much spare time, isn't a reader, but with no other prospects, she agrees to the job until she can find something better.</p><p>The store turns out to be very dusty and disorganized, so Grace immediately sets out to do what she can to make the shop more appealing to customers. Having worked in her uncle's small store for most of her life, she knows a thing or two about enticing people into the store and persuading them to buy. Mr. Evans doesn't put up much resistance to this new plan, and soon the store is very popular. Unfortunately, just as Grace is settling in to her new life, World War II breaks out. </p><p>Having survived the first war, Mrs. Weatherford is calm in the face of air raid sirens. Colin has constructed a bomb shelter in the back yard, so everyone in their small house has a place to go when needed. Mrs. W is terrified that gentle Colin will be drafted, and soon enough, this happens. Not long afterward, Viv also decides to volunteer and moves away for training. Grace has also met a very interesting and handsome customer, George Anderson, but he is also called away to serve. Left somewhat alone, Grace volunteers to be a local Air Raid Warden. After her days working at the bookshop, Grace spends her nights patrolling the neighborhood, assisting people to shelters, putting out small fires, and helping to look for survivors after bombings.</p><p>As the title suggests, soon Mr. Evans's bookshop is one of the few that hasn't suffered extreme bomb damage, and therefore becomes something of a refuge for booklovers. Grace helps to spread her newfound love of literature to others by reading aloud in bomb shelters and the bookstore, drawing even more crowds.</p><p>The book does a very good job of showcasing the lives of regular people during WWII. Dealing with rationing, awaiting the next air raid siren, and emerging to find dead bodies and destroyed buildings was a daily part of the lives of Londoners for many years. The fact that the bookshop was a central place for people to gather and find some distraction from the events taking place around them makes the story very enjoyable. Perhaps things were very different in those days, but I did find it a bit of a stretch that apparently very, very few people were familiar with the works of Dickens, Austen, Eliot, etc. but it was heartening that once exposed to those classics, everyone embraced them enthusiastically! </p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of <b>The Last Bookshop in London</b> from <a href="http://www.netgalley.com">NetGalley</a> in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3077278278710630031.post-89077332080475813892021-05-03T15:01:00.003-04:002021-05-03T15:01:53.005-04:00Leaving you in the care of an illiterate shoemaker would have been a crime<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkcLUnjvn4ptY7jTALiT0Qb35kLAQcM8auOImA1qFuJ_WuF_Y0SFrUihZ7qEF7qf1xLPFgU88cgILlcseo6mWnqO5m6PQ5B7-3kOeMyIos1A3bkzm6wRunlCgwvB-azA-9Kh9yDUUP8A/s500/hangman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYkcLUnjvn4ptY7jTALiT0Qb35kLAQcM8auOImA1qFuJ_WuF_Y0SFrUihZ7qEF7qf1xLPFgU88cgILlcseo6mWnqO5m6PQ5B7-3kOeMyIos1A3bkzm6wRunlCgwvB-azA-9Kh9yDUUP8A/s320/hangman.jpg" /></a></div>Christopher "Kit" Marlowe is known both for his plays and for his untimely death at the age of only 29, purportedly after a disagreement over a bill at a tavern. In A Tip for the Hangman, Allison Epstein looks at the tumultuous events that were happening during Marlowe's life, and offers up a different motivation for his death.<p></p><p>Kit was a student at Cambridge University when the story opens in October 1585. The son of a poor and frequently drunken shoemaker in Canterbury, Marlowe was given a scholarship to study at the university, a fact which made both him and his professors feel he is unworthy to be in such exalted surroundings. It comes as something of a shock when Sir Frances Walsingham, the Royal Secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, comes to Cambridge to recruit Kit to be a spy. Catholic sympathizers are plotting to overthrow the queen and install their own favorite, Mary Queen of Scots, on the throne. Walsingham wants Kit to pose as a servant and gather as much information as possible about any potential threats to the crown. </p><p>After this assignment, Kit moves to London and becomes a celebrated playwright until, due to his previous work and his talent at breaking coded messages, he's called upon for another mission 5 years later. Unfortunately, his champion and protector, Walsingham, is not exactly the picture of health . . .</p><p>To make matters worse, Kit is romantically involved with Tom, a fellow student from Cambridge, who isn't too happy about Kit's spying activities. Kit also has a never ending series of conflicts with various family members who aren't at all impressed by his fame as London's leading playwright. Kit gets involved in some double-dealings which also put him in danger from both sides of the political divide.</p><p>I enjoyed the time period and all of the details of the story that put the reader back in Elizabethan times. All of the political wheeling and dealing and double-crossing is somehow very familiar to a modern reader! I didn't always enjoy Kit's spying activities, which seemed to involve everyone taking him at his word, even when he'd been involved in some pretty suspicious activities that would have likely caused some questions among those he was spying on. Still, it is good to have Kit Marlowe brought to life in this adventurous book.</p><p><i>Disclaimer: I received a copy of <b>A Tip for the Hangman</b> from <a href="http://www.netgalley.com">NetGalley</a> in exchange for this review</i></p>Lisanne624http://www.blogger.com/profile/14515571677458538151noreply@blogger.com0