Matchpoint (The Matchmaker Series #2)

Matchpoint
by Elise Sax
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780345532244
Series: Matchmaker Mystery #2
Publication Date: January 1, 2013
Pages: 263
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Ballantine Books

My DH tells me that the first time he saw this book on my bedside table he immediately thought “What kind of crap is she reading!?”

Thereby proving the adage that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

But boy can I judge this cover. Yuck. This cover has nothing to do with the story at all, which leads me to my next point: The publisher has this book listed under contemporary romance. ?!?! It and it’s predecessor (also with an awful cover, btw) are murder mysteries, first and foremost. This book has exactly 1 almost-but-not sex scene and 2 kisses. In the whole book. And almost no romance and only one romantic setting.

What it does have is a murder, attempted murder and a scarecrow that will scare the hell out of more than just the birds.

This is a hell of a good murder mystery.

Gladie is training to be a matchmaker and follow in her Grandmother Zelda’s footsteps. Gladie isn’t my favorite MC of all time, I’d prefer she be more fiscally responsible instead of revelling in debt. (I like my heroines to be responsible, even if they can’t be pulled together at times.) But she is a hoot and I do like her. There are some great slapstick moments in Gladie’s life. She struggles to make matches for others, and of course, her own love life is all over the place. She’s actively got the hots for her very mysterious neighbour with no history and she has the involuntary hots for the Police Chief who is the poster child for womanisers. It’s sort of hard to know who to cheer on, but there’s more comedic gold here, especially with the Police Chief.

Grandma Zelda is widely regarded to be a witch and there are quite a few things she says throughout the book that implies she is at least psychic. I love Grandma Zelda. The “lessons” from her at the beginning of each chapter are entertaining and sometimes priceless (I had to read the one on waxing out loud to my DH). She never leaves her house but always manages to be at the centre of everything happening in Cannes, California.

What’s happening in Cannes now is an invasion of Pagan’s awaiting the Arrival. They’ve taken over the town and hilarity is right around the corner. Collapsing yurts, broken chakras, donkeys and public fornication – Oh! and a truly gold moment with a steel pipe. Truly, the scene where we get to “hear” the police radio band had me giggling out loud. It is truly a comedic sub-plot for much of the book.

The main plot, the murder of the town’s dentist, was really well crafted. Suspects abound and I never had a clear suspicion of who committed the gruesome murder. In the end there was a bit of a twist, and I ended up not seeing it coming at all. I love when that happens! My only nitpick with the plot is
View Spoiler »

Throughout all of this, Gladie is desperately trying to make a match for a client. All in all it’s a really fun read, and I am really looking forward to the third book.

a scarecrow that will scare the hell out of more than just the birds.

INSERT SPOILER TAG HERE

This is a hell of a good murder mystery.

Grandma Zelda is widely regarded to be a witch and there are quite a few things she says throughout the book that implies she is at least psychic. I love Grandma Zelda. The ‘lessons’ from her at the beginning of each chapter are entertaining and sometimes priceless (I had to read the one on waxing out loud to my DH). She never leaves her house but always manages to be at the centre of everything happening in Cannes, California.

What’s happening in Cannes now is an invasion of Pagan’s awaiting the Arrival. They’ve taken over the town and hilarity is right around the corner. Collapsing yurts, broken chakras, donkeys and public fornication – Oh! and a truly gold moment with a steel pipe. Truly, the scene where we get to ‘hear’ the police radio band had me giggling out loud. It is truly a comedic sub-plot for much of the book.

Fair Game (Alpha & Omega, #3)

Fair Game
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 0441020038
Series: Alpha and Omega #3
Publication Date: March 9, 2012
Pages: 293
Genre: Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

While still a great read, probably my least favorite of the three (and a half) so far in the series. A crises of faith, of sorts, is visited upon Charles and the readers are the spectators as he makes every obvious, clichéd mistake on his path to enlightenment. Fortunately, while this is a main theme in the story, it’s not constantly front and center – there’s too much of the main plot going on for Charles’ crises to feel cloying.

The plot was amongst the darkest I’ve read of Ms. Briggs books. Torture, the feeding-off of pain, misery and agony. Very distasteful themes. The ultimate villain was immediately obvious to me, but it didn’t detract much from the story, because I was reading the book for the characters: Charles and Anna. Without these characters, written as well, and as likeable as they are, I’d never have started this series.

Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2)

Hunting Ground
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 0425269590
Series: Alpha and Omega #2
Publication Date: September 27, 2020
Pages: 286
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

A very good read. The characters are what sucked me in – I really liked reading about Charles; how his Native American heritage plays out in his daily life, how he works to balance power and morality. Anna’s struggles are less interesting, but still worth reading about. She adapts quickly, and I appreciate the minimum amount of wallowing the author allows (practically none) a character with such a dismal, black experience in her past.

Alpha & Omega (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)

Excellent introduction to Anna and Charles and the story of their meeting. A must read for anyone interested in reading Cry Wolf.

Cry Wolf (Alpha & Omega, #1)

Cry Wolf
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781440630811
Series: Alpha and Omega #1
Publication Date: September 27, 2020
Pages: 321
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

I’m a fan of the Mercy Thompson series, but I really had no interest in the Alpha and Omega series, since weres aren’t my favorite paranormal species.

But I found myself unspeakably bored at work yesterday and nothing on my kindle for mac app appealed. Until I stumbled across Cry Wolf and thought reading more about Bran and Charles sounded like a great idea

.An excellent read, although I’ll still maintain that I prefer the more diverse world of Mercy’s. It was a bit tough figuring out what was going on at first, since this book takes place pretty much right after the novella ‘Alpha and Omega’ – so if you’re looking to get into this series, start with the novella – it will make the beginning of this book so much more sensical.

After figuring out what was going on though, I really liked the dynamic between Anna and Charles and I appreciated the amount of time spent on them before launching into the action. The action itself, while not gory, was hard to read at times and I’ll admit, I passed right on over anything having to do with hurting animals. It makes up a small, very small part of the story, but those few sentences were more than I could bear. Otherwise, the subjugation of one person by another (I won’t say human, as I don’t think it applies in this case) is a big theme in the story and I thought Ms. Briggs did a very good job with it – reading it made me uncomfortable, as it was meant to.

I don’t know if I’ll read the next or not, but I’ll certainly be checking it out.

Fashionably Dead (Hot Damned, #1)

A fun, somewhat amusing way to pass time when you’re stuck at work with nothing to do (not even legitimate work!).

The premise of the story reminds me a lot of the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson. With Prada. The story is told to entertain, with a few sex scenes to make it a bit steamy, and eccentric characters galore. Also, chock full o’ girl power.

Cotton Candy comes to mind when I try to make a comparison: fun, sweet, in swirly bright colours, it gives you a rush when you first consume it, but it doesn’t stay with you long.

The story leaves off with a cliffhanger, so there’s definitely another book in the future. If I’m still looking for an entertaining way to kill time, I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading it.

Bran New Death (A Merry Muffin Mystery #1)

This is a very well written book with an excellent story and plot. It misses that last half star because I just didn’t connect well with the main character. Her two friends, yes. Her hinted-at future love interest – not even a little bit. So I was left feeling that while I really enjoyed the story, I didn’t empathise with the main character or her future life in Autumn Vale at all.

The setting was really well done – Autumn Vale is full of quirky, eccentric folks and I found that the setting was written with realism – this isn’t the idyllic quaint town that hums along; this is a quaint little town that is dying, with more storefronts closed up than open. There’s a lot potential here for future development in subsequent books.

The central murder plot was very well crafted; this is a meaty story and not one I think you’re likely to breeze through. Ms. Hamilton writes another series and in comparison, there is a much more mature quality to the plotting and writing in this first-in-a-new-series. The action moved along, there was well crafted dialogue, and not a lot of filler in the form of internal dialogue – there was a bit of ‘let’s sum up the suspects’ but it was minimal and didn’t really take me out of the flow of the story.

A convoluted plot with suspects known and unknown. Well done to the end.

I’ll definitely pick up the next book – there’s a bit of a cliff hanger in the form of a puzzle yet to be solved; that could prove to be fun. I’ll hope that in the next book I’ll find more to connect with regarding the main character, Merry.

Gone With the Woof (A Melanie Travis Mystery #16)

I’ve been a fan of this series since the first book came out years ago, and they’re books I will occasionally re-read. I was certain the last book, Doggie Day Care Murder (Melanie Travis Mysteries, #15), was the last one, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the upcoming release of Gone With the Woof. I made sure to pre-order it and couldn’t wait to revisit old friends.

For this long time fan, the story didn’t disappoint. Melanie, Sam, Aunt Peg, Bertie – the gang is all here and are as likeable and delightful as ever. Aunt Peg is still bossy, Sam is still easy-going and Mel is still giving as good as she gets.

The plot is one involving the sins of a father and son and I thought it was well done. There was a pivotal moment in the book when I had the ‘ah hah!’ moment and knew who the killer was – but it happened towards the end of the book and nothing was really lost with the knowing.

I found the climax a little bit odd as there was no way the killer wasn’t going to be caught so I don’t know what motivated that final scene. But I enjoyed it all the same.

I don’t know whether to look forward to another book or not? I certainly will be pleased if there is, but with 5 years in between this and the last, and after 16 books, I’m afraid to get my hopes up too high.

Clammed Up (A Maine Clambake Mystery #1)

This book started slow for me, and I was certain it wouldn’t be a 4 star read. But it was well-written and something kept me from just putting it down and walking away. As I kept reading, the story built momentum, and I became more engrossed, more invested, with each chapter.

The story takes place in Maine and the characters adhere to the stoic typecast of most residents of Maine. The result is not a light-hearted, humorous book or setting. The characters are likeable, but they aren’t charming or witty or cheeky; it takes time to warm to them. There’s also a fair amount of family drama to work through in this book, and that ratchets up the stoicism just that little bit more.

Julia has just moved back to Maine from New York City in an attempt to save the family business, and has no real friends in town to speak of, so no opportunities for banter or for the lighter side of a personality to shine through. Quentin shows promise in the future for more levity, but he doesn’t play a massive part in this plot and isn’t seen very often.

The plot itself was delightfully twisty and the ending was skilfully done; there was no guessing on my part – I hadn’t a clue how the story was going to end. A few threads were tied up a bit neatly at the end, but none of them central to the murder and none of them a surprise. I will say the author knows how to end a book too!

A very strong first, and I’m looking forward to reading the second.

Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid, #2)

A fun, entertaining read that I found myself lost in and didn’t want to put down. All the characters in this motley crew were likeable (except the female dragons, and we don’t see them much); I think Islas might be my favourite; she had some of the best lines in the book. The writer used humour to soften what could have been some dark scenes – something I appreciated as I don’t really go for the dark stuff.

The plot was very fast-paced with constant movement; not a lot of time was wasted with unnecessary dialogue, there was always something happening to forward the storyline.

The writer mentions at the end of the book that the next book will focus on another member of the Price family, so I’m not sure I’ll pick up the next one or not. I really grew attached to Verity, Sarah, Dominic and the Freakshow crew.