Category: book review

Sundays Are for Writing #212

This week, I wrote two book reviews, Code Name Sapphire, by Pam Jenoff  and Every Missing Girl, by Leanne Kale Sparks.  I’ve read–and loved–several of Jenoff’s previous books, but I didn’t enjoy this one quite so much. Every Missing Girl left some things unresolved, and I’m not a fan of that, so this was just an okay read for me. I DNFed two other books this week because I wasn’t crazy about the MC and found myself slightly bored while reading. I’m hoping to do some brainstorming on a project this week, plus several reviews, so here’s hoping.

Happy writing!

Book Review:  Every Missing Girl, by Leanne Kale Sparks   

Image belongs to Crooked Lane Books.

Title:  Every Missing Girl      
Author: Leanne Kale Sparks     
Genre: mystery/thriller    
Rating:  3.5 out of 5

The stunning landscape of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains are among our greatest natural treasures. But there are deadly secrets lurking in the craggy heights. FBI Special Agent Kendall Beck and Denver Homicide Detective Adam Taylor team up to investigate a kidnapping crime, but the case quickly turns cold. When Taylor’s niece, Frankie, suddenly vanishes at a local hockey rink, it’s clear that there’s a predator on the loose—and now, the case has turned personal.

One discovery after another leads Beck and Taylor closer to the truth, as they close in on the devastating truth about the fates of the missing girls—and the many who came before them. Will they be able to find Frankie before it’s too late?

I liked the beginning of this story, but I feel like the second half got a bit choppy and left some important thing unresolved. There were so many possible suspects for Frankie’s disappearance—among other things—but not all of these suspects’ stories were resolved…and that bothered me quite a bit. I feel like they got away with something. I liked the camaraderie between Kendall and Adam and the rest of their team, but the whole story felt unresolved to me, so I probably wouldn’t read more.

Leanne Kale Sparks lives in Texas. Every Missing Girl is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review and Blog Tour: Code Name Sapphire, by Pam Jenoff  

Image belongs to Harlequin/Park Row.

Title:  Code Name Sapphire     
Author:  Pam Jenoff   
Genre:   historical fiction  
Rating:  4.0 out of 5

1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her enigmatic brother Matteo. But when a grave mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves? Inspired by incredible true stories of courage and sacrifice, Code Name Sapphire is a powerful novel about love, family and the unshakable resilience of women in even the hardest of times.

I enjoyed this WWII fiction—one of my favorite reading genres—but I did find bits of it pretty sad (not surprising, considering). I liked Hannah, but found her frustrating at times, too. I would have liked to have seen more of her paintings in the novel. Lily annoyed me about half the time, so she wasn’t my favorite, but I enjoyed the relationship between the cousins.

Pam Jenoff is a bestselling author. Code Name Sapphire is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Park Row in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Wildblood, by Lauren Blackwood

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:    Wildblood    
Author:   Lauren Blackwood  
Genre:  Fantasy, YA   
Rating:  2.5 out of 5

Eighteen-year-old Victoria is a Wildblood. Kidnapped at the age of six and manipulated by the Exotic Lands Touring Company, she’s worked as a tour guide ever since with a team of fellow Wildbloods who take turns using their magic to protect travelers in a Jamaican jungle teeming with ghostly monsters.

When the boss denies Victoria an earned promotion to team leader in favor of Dean, her backstabbing ex, she’s determined to prove herself. Her magic may be the most powerful on the team, but she’s not the image the boss wants to send their new client, Thorn, a renowned goldminer determined to reach an untouched gold supply deep in the jungle.

Thorn is everything Victoria isn’t – confident, impossibly kind, and so handsome he leaves her speechless. And when he entrusts the mission to her, kindness turns to mutual respect, turns to affection, turns to love. But the jungle is treacherous, and between hypnotic river spirits, soul-devouring women that shed their skin like snakes, and her ex out for revenge, Victoria has to decide – is promotion at a corrupt company really what she wants?

This started off great:  vibrant characters, fascinating setting, interesting backstory. And then, about a third of the way in, it lost most of its cohesion. Everything—characters, actions, reactions, plot—seemed to become just random. Suddenly, Thorn was a “Christian”—when there’d never been any mention of faith in the story at all (And, I have to say, he was a Christian in name only, because he was still okay with murder, violence, and random sex—while claiming to be a changed man.). Dean, who had not shown even a glimpse of being anything other than a jerk, suddenly had noble reasons for his horrible behavior.

We get a revelation (actually, two) about Victoria’s history that changes everything, including the worldview of the setting, yet there’d been no hints of anything before. In short, this just did not work for me. If there’s been some breadcrumbs cropped along the way, this all would have been fine, but I felt like the author kept writing herself into a corner or against a wall and had to just pull something out of a bag.

Lauren Blackwood lives in Jamaica. Wildblood is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

The Best Books I Read in January (2023)

I read 17 books in January, out of my goal of 225 books for the year, and DNFed one (I feel like that is a record for me).

Of those, I considered four of them 5-star reads….and I’d previously read three of them.

The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I decided to re-read this series this year because I love C.S. Lewis. He is such a genius and a remarkably gifted writer.

Poison Princess and Endless Knight by Kresley Cole. I’m re-reading this series in preparation for the final book coming out—finally—in April. I absolutely love these books and cannot put them down.

And I loved The Letter Keeper, by Charles Martin. I have loved everything Charles Martin has written–including his two nonfiction books–and I almost can’t put them down. Binge read? Yes, please.

What I Read in January (2023)

I didn’t hit my goal of 250 books the last two years…so I’m scaling back a bit to 225. I’m also cutting back on reviews a bit, and leaving room for straight fun reading.

Books Read in January: 17
Books Read for the Year:  17/200


Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

The Silmarillion, by J. R.R. Tolkien (TBR). This was…a hard read.

The Letter Keeper, by Charles Martin (TBR). Man. I had trouble putting this down…

The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis (Re-read). This isn’t my favorite of the series, but I love them all as a whole.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (Re-read). Love it.

Poison Princess, by Kresley Cole (Re-read). Dang it. I forgot how good this series is! Almost impossible to put down.

Endless Knight, by Kresley Cole (Re-read). This was another one I had trouble putting down.

Resilient, by John Eldredge (spiritual). I listened to the audio book, and I didn’t really care for this. A bit too…I’m not sure. Passive and crunchy granola for me.

For Review:

Sam, by Allegra Goodman. I didn’t really care for this. It seemed to be largely missing a plot, and Sam just let life happen to her without doing anything about it.

The Stranded, by Sarah Daniels.   This was an interesting dystopian read. Fascinating setting (an old cruise ship), and I’d enjoy reading more.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett. I found this a charming read! I liked Emily and her awkwardness–and her friendship with her annoying coworker.   

A Guide to Being Just Friends, by Sophie Sullivan. I didn’t realize I DNFed the previous book in this series because the characters were annoying until about halfway through. I liked Hailey’s character, but found Wes moderately annoying.

One Duke Down, by Anna Bennett. I liked this romance read, the second in a series of linked standalones. The characters were a lot of fun.

Against the Currant, by Olivia Matthews. This is the first in a new series of what I would call cozy mysteries. I really enjoyed the culture in this book–and liked the fact that there wasn’t a romance.

Son of the Poison Rose, by Jonathan Mayberry. Really enjoyed this snarky second book. Great epic fantasy.

Just Because:

The World of the End, by David Jeremiah (TBR). I enjoyed this.

Sprout: 21 Days for the Fruit of the Spirit to Bloom in Your Life, by Gateway Devotions. My church’s January devotional.

The Fallen Stones, by Diana Marcum (audio book). I don’t know if it was the author’s voice, or the narrator’s voice that was so snarky and sarcastic, but I didn’t care for this at all. I regret even bothering to finish it.

Left Unfinished:

Queen Among the Dead, by Lesley Livingston. What I read wasn’t bad–it just didn’t hold my attention. I didn’t really make a connection with the characters, so I wasn’t interested.

Book Review: Son of the Poison Rose, by Jonathan Maberry   

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  Son of the Poison Rose     
Author:   Jonathan Maberry
Genre: Fantasy    
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

The Silver Empire is in ruins. War is in the wind. Kagen and his allies are on the run from the Witch-king. Wild magic is running rampant everywhere. Spies and secret cabals plot from the shadows of golden thrones.

Kagen Vale is the most wanted man in the world, with a death sentence on his head and a reward for him—dead or alive—that would tempt a saint.

The Witch-king has new allies who bring a terrible weapon—a cursed disease that drives people into a murderous rage. If the disease is allowed to spread, the whole of the West will tear itself apart.

In order to build an army of resistance fighters and unearth magical weapons of his own, Kagen and his friends have to survive attacks and storms at sea, brave the haunted wastelands of the snowy north, fight their way across the deadly Cathedral Mountains, and rediscover a lost city filled with cannibal warriors, old ghosts, and monsters from other worlds. Along with his reckless adventurer brothers, Kagen races against time to save more than the old empire… if he fails the world will be drenched in a tsunami of bloodshed and horror.

I enjoyed this read a lot! It took a while to read, but that wasn’t a bad thing. The first book, it took me a bit to get into. This one did not. Kagen’s banter with his friends is the best part to me, but I loved all the action and trying to guess what would happen next. This is a very solid epic fantasy—and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Jonathan Maberry is a bestselling author. Son of the Poison Rose is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Against the Currant, by Olivia Matthews   

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: Against the Currant     
Author:  Olivia Matthews   
Genre: Mystery    
Rating:  4 out of 5

Little Caribbean, Brooklyn, New York: Lyndsay Murray is opening Spice Isle Bakery with her family, and it’s everything she’s ever wanted. The West Indian bakery is her way to give back to the community she loves, stay connected to her Grenadian roots, and work side-by-side with her family. The only thing getting a rise out of Lyndsay is Claudio Fabrizi, a disgruntled fellow bakery owner who does not want any competition.

On opening day, he comes into the bakery threatening to shut them down. Fed up, Lyndsay takes him to task in front of what seems to be the whole neighborhood. So when Claudio turns up dead a day later—murdered—Lyndsay is unfortunately the prime suspect. To get the scent of suspicion off her and her bakery, Lyndsay has to prove she’s innocent—under the watchful eyes of her overprotective brother, anxious parents, and meddlesome extended family—what could go wrong?

I really liked the cultural aspects in this book! They absolutely fascinated me. I found myself looking up soca music and some of the foods—which sounded amazing—just to settle myself a little more deeply into the characters’ culture. I think Lyndsay is a great character:  she’s grown a lot from childhood, but she’s still fighting not to go back to old habits. And this isn’t a romance—unusual for a cozy mystery—although the potential is there for the future. The vibrant characters kept me engaged, and there was never a dull moment while reading this.

Olivia Matthews is a bestselling author. Against the Currant is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:   One Duke Down, by Anna Bennett

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: One Duke Down       
Author:   Anna Bennett  
Genre:  Romance   
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

A FISHERMAN’S DAUGHTER
Miss Poppy Summers is determined to keep her family’s fishing business afloat. Her poor widowed father has fallen ill, and her foolhardy brother has moved to London, leaving her precious little time to read or pursue her own dreams. But she’ll do anything for her family, so she cheerfully spends mornings in her rowboat, casting her nets. The very last thing Poppy expects or wants to find tangled in them is a dangerously attractive man. Especially one with a head wound—who’s convinced he’s a duke.

AND A DUKE OUT OF WATER
Andrew Keane is the Duke of Hawking, but he’s having the devil of a time convincing his fiery-haired rescuer of that fact. The truth is he came to the seaside resort of Bellehaven Bay to escape his life in London. Unfortunately, someone in Bellehaven wants to kill him—and he intends to find out who. He implores Poppy to tend to his injuries and hide him on her beach, reasoning it will be easier to find his attacker if that man assumes Keane is already dead. She wants no part of the scheme but can’t refuse the generous sum he offers in exchange for food and shelter while he recovers. It’s a mutually beneficial business arrangement…nothing more.

ARE ABOUT TO MAKE WAVES
Under Poppy’s care, Keane regains his strength—and a sense of purpose. As they work together to solve the puzzle of his would-be murderer, he’s dazzled by her rapier wit and adventurous spirit; she’s intrigued by his mysterious air and protective streak. Though Poppy’s past gives her every reason to mistrust someone like Keane, the seawalls around her heart crumble in the storm of their passion. But when clues hint at the prime suspect in Keane’s attempted murder, Poppy must decide where her loyalties lie. Torn between the world she’s always known and the one she’s always dreamed of, she’ll need true love for a shot at her fairytale ending.

I really enjoyed this read!  I like that it’s a linked standalone in the Rogues to Lovers series, because I really liked the first read in the series, too. I thought Poppy was a great character, and I loved how she took no nonsense from anyone—including her family! Keane was also a great character, and I loved the interplay between he and Poppy. This is a perfect binge read!

Anna Bennett lives in Maryland. One Duke Down is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: A Guide to Being Just Friends, by Sophie Sullivan

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title: A Guide to Being Just Friends       
Author:  Sophie Sullivan   
Genre: Romance    
Rating:  4 out of 5

Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.

Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.

When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.

What could possibly go wrong?

First, a confession:  when the previous book in this series came out, I tried it, and could absolutely not stand the main characters. They were both jerks. I didn’t actually realize this until halfway through reading this one.

Hailey’s salad shop totally intrigued me, and I enjoyed her personality and growth a lot. Wes was…a lot. I’m pretty sure I’d have smacked him a time or two. How can any one person be so oblivious to the feelings of other people? (Hang on. Maybe go ask my ex that question.) This ended up being a quick, enjoyable read…but I still wouldn’t recommend that previous book.

Sophie Sullivan is from Canada. A Guide to Being Just Friends is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)