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Showing posts from December, 2018

Book Review: Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis

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Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis is the first installment in the Maya and Sandra Mystery series, a cozy mystery series centered on private investigators. The story follows Sandra Wallage , the wife of a U.S. senator and the newly elected president of Portland High School’s PTA, who becomes the latest target of a vicious gossip website called Dirty Laundry . After a heated PTA meeting, Sandra crosses paths with Maya Kendrick , a private investigator who has uncovered the identity of the person behind the gossip site. When the two women attempt to confront the culprit, they instead discover a dead body. Was it really a suicide, or did someone have a motive for murder? I’m a longtime fan of books by Lee Hollis , which is actually the pen name for sibling writing duo Rick Copp and Holly Simason . They’ve written several cozy mystery series, and what I appreciate most about their books is that they aren’t overly kitschy, unlike some other cozy mysteries I’ve ...
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Book Review: The Stranger You Seek (Keye Street, #1) by Amanda Kyle Williams

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The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams is set in Atlanta, Georgia, and the story begins as local media outlets receive chilling letters from a serial killer who promises to strike again. With each message, the pressure mounts on the Atlanta Police Department to identify the killer before another life is lost. Enter Keye Street, a former FBI profiler who now works as a private investigator and bail enforcement agent. As she digs deeper into the case and searches for connections between the victims, Keye begins to realize that the killer may be far closer to her than she ever imagined. This is a gripping debut suspense novel that I couldn’t put down from the very first page. It’s one of those rare books that pulls you in so completely that you wish you could call in sick just to finish it in one sitting. Sadly, I’m far too responsible to actually do that, so I had to settle for squeezing in chapters during my lunch break and every spare moment I could find. Before I gush too ...
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Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
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Book Review: Curse of the Spellmans (The Spellmans, #2) by Lisa Lutz

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Much to my surprise, I won a copy of Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz on a First Reads Giveaway on Goodreads.com in return for an honest review. It was one of the first books I ever won on the site. Super excited that I'd won this book, I picked up the first book in the series The Spellman Files off of my bookshelf so that I could read it before I got the book I won in the mail from the publisher. (Typically, I won't read a book in a series unless I have read all the ones that came before it.) It was kismet that I had found the first book in the series at Barnes & Noble in the bargin bin! Curse of the Spellmans takes place in San Francisco, California and is about a family of private investigators. In this installment, Izzy Spellman has been arrested four times in three months and has to be bailed out of jail by Morty, her aging lawyer because her parents (and managers) refuse to do so. While Izzy is busy surveying her next door neighbor, her sister Rae is bus...
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Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
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Book Review: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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As a high school student, I absolutely loved reading The Great Gatsby . I was enchanted with every book we read my junior year, but I remember this one being one of the ones that I enjoyed the most. When one of the book clubs I belong to decided to read this book, I was excited to reread it as I didn't remember a lot about it, and it allowed me to refresh my memory before the Leonardo DiCaprio version of the movie came out. As an adult, I wasn't nearly as enchanted with it as I was as a high school student.  There isn't a lot of plot to the actual story; the little plot there was moved extremely slow. Basically, Jay Gatsby, the narrator, is a very wealthy man who lives on Long Island in New York and is in love with Daisy Buchanan. He throws a lot of lavish parties where there is a lot of drinking going on. And, then, there is a car accident where a woman ran into the street and was killed by a speeding car. However, the character development and the visual d...
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Book Review: Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum, #13) by Janet Evanovich

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In Lean Mean Thirteen , written by Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum does a favor for Ranger by planting a bug in her ex-husband Dickie Orr's office. In the process of doing this, Stephanie sees one of their wedding presents, a clock, on his desk and tells him it is now hers. She then sees a picture of her arch nemesis, Joyce Barnhardt, on Dickie's desk and goes ballistic . . . punching and hitting him (and more). Unfortunately for Stephanie, the whole office sees her do this, so when Dickie goes missing, she's the number one suspect in his case. Overall, I enjoyed this book because it featured Ranger quite heavily, but I am growing tired of him always saying how he is barely keeping control of himself from having sex with Stephanie. I'd really like to see Stephanie's character finally get over her commitment phobia and settle down with Joe Morelli, her on again off again boyfriend. Morelli isn't in it too much and that was quite disappointing to me because...
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Book Review: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

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Something Borrowed by New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin is a fast-paced, emotionally charged story about friendship, love, loyalty, and impossible choices. Set in Manhattan, the novel follows Rachel White, a hardworking lawyer who has spent her life living in the shadow of her best friend, Darcy Rhone.  From childhood, Rachel has always been the Watson to Darcy’s Sherlock ... the reliable sidekick to Darcy’s dazzling, larger-than-life personality. But everything changes when Rachel unexpectedly confesses her true feelings to Darcy’s fiancé, Dex. To her shock, she discovers that he feels the same way. As Darcy’s wedding day approaches, Rachel finds herself facing an impossible decision: should she steal the man she loves from her best friend, or walk away from him forever?  From Movie Trailer to Must-Read Novel  When the movie trailer for Something Borrowed was released, I knew instantly that I wanted to see it. At the time, I had no idea the film was adapt...
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Book Review: Teamwork (Sweet Valley Twins, # 27) Created by Francine Pascal

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Teamwork (Sweet Valley Twins, # 27) created by Francine Pascal is a story about twin sisters, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, deciding they want to visit their great aunt, but their parents decide that the girls need to learn a lesson about money and earning the bus fares themselves. Determined to show their parents that they know the value of money and being responsible, they decide to start their own dog walking business, which quickly expands to dog sitting. Taking on a second client for dog sitting, the girls and their friend, Ken Matthews, quickly learn that the dog has been abused and take matters into their own hands to keep him safe. Sweet Valley Twins is the series that made me an avid reader, and now, that I'm rereading the series as an adult, I love the fact that it teaches kids valuable lessons about serious issues and how to deal with them as a kid. I know some adults might say that Teamwork glossed over the issue of animal abuse, but we have to keep in mind ...
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Book Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

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1850, Adam Ewing, a notary, is traveling home to California on a ship. 1931, Robert Frobisher, a composer, orchestrates a way into a sickly maestro's home. 1970's, Luisa Rey, a journalist stumbles across a story that threatens her life. Present Day, a Korean superstate has overtaken England. Post-apocalyptic Iron Age, the last days of Earth on Hawaii. Then, we go back in time in reverse order, finding that all the characters are connected and intertwined. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell was a book selection for the first book club I ever joined. It isn't a book that I would've ever picked up to read on my own. I loved the concept of the story when I read the synopsis and was looking forward to reading it. Typically, I don't mind when a book jumps from one time period to the next, but with Cloud Atlas I did mind. It took away from the overall story line and made it very choppy. It felt like five distinct short stories, not a cohesive story. The only t...
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Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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It appears suddenly with no announcements, no advertising. Yesterday, there was nothing, and today . . . today there is Le Cirque des Rêves . . . a circus like no other. Mystically delightful in shades of black and white and unique acts you'll find no where else. Unbeknownst to those involved, a game is taking place within the walls of the tents . . . a chance of only one to remain left standing. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was published in 2011 and was a selection for one of the book clubs I joined. I promptly bought the novel on my e-reader, a Literati sold by Brookstone. It's in this book club that they announced that the author was doing a book signing with a local bookstore, The FoxTale Book Shoppe , and I immediately bought tickets to attend, and it included a copy of the book that would be signed at the event. Was I ever glad that they allowed us to pick up the books early because my Literati died on me in the middle of the book and wouldn't power ...
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Book Review: The Devil's Tickets - A Vengeful Wife, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age by Gary M. Pomerantz

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The Devil's Tickets: A Vengeful Wife, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age by Gary M. Pomerantz opens in 1929, Kansas City, with a seemingly ordinary evening that turns deadly. Myrtle and Jack Bennett invite another couple over to play Bridge, a popular card game of the time. During the competitive match, Myrtle complains about Jack’s poor gameplay, prompting him to slap her and announce he’s leaving. Moments later, in a shocking act of violence, Myrtle shoots and kills her husband. What follows is a sensational murder trial in which Myrtle Bennett is represented by none other than James A. Reed, a former U.S. Senator and one-time Democratic presidential candidate.  I won a copy of The Devil's Tickets through Goodreads.com’s First Reads Giveaway. Entering the giveaway, I was drawn to the book because the premise sounded intriguing ... a story of murder, high-stakes card games, and a courtroom drama with a political twist. I was ecstatic when I found out I had actually won a ...
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