The Dirt on Ninth Grave (Charley Davidson, #9)

The Dirt on Ninth GraveThe Dirt on Ninth Grave
by Darynda Jones
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781250074485
Series: Charlie Davidson #9
Publication Date: January 16, 2016
Pages: 326
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Charley Davidson is living in New York City as Jane Doe, a girl with no memory of who she is or where she came from. So when she begins to realize she can see dead people, she’s more than a bit taken aback. Strangers who enter the diner where she works seem to know things about her…Then she is confronted by a man who claims to have been sent to kill her. Sent by the darkest force in the universe. An enemy that will not stop until she is dead. Thankfully, she has a Rottweiler. And the diner’s devastatingly handsome fry cook, who vows to protect her even though he seems to be lying with every breath he takes. But in the face of such grave danger, who can Jane/Charley/whoever she is trust? She will find the truth even if it kills her…or the fry cook. Either way…


My personal health reality includes sleeping medications, so I rarely suffer from anything that could be called insomnia.  Except on very rare occasions when they fail, and last night they failed spectacularly – I never went to sleep.  I finally started to nod off when MT’s alarm went off and I briefly contemplated instigating a domestic disturbance.

The good news – I guess – is that I finished The Dirt on Ninth Grave in one sitting.  I was engrossed enough in the story to not want to put it down, but I’d have preferred not feeling like a zombie on toast today.

I definitely, thoroughly, enjoyed this book but I liked it the least of the nine books so far.  It was the amnesia thing.  We finally got to a place in the story arc where we had answers and a clear goal in site and then this book comes along and we’re temporarily rebooted to Charley not knowing anything.  I thought this would only last a few chapters… maybe half the book at the outside, but nope: Charley doesn’t snap out of it until the end.

I saved this book until The Curse of Tenth Grave was released because I’d read from several places that Ninth Grave ended on a cliffhanger.  I’ll argue this ending isn’t a cliffhanger though, because the action comes to an end; the story is paused.  A major story-arc plot twist is revealed, but it’s more a ‘how will this affect the arc’ twist, rather than ‘ohmigod is someone gonna die in chapter 1 of book 10?!?’.

…I think.  Thankfully, I have the next book sitting here waiting, so I can find out.  After I take a nap.

(I might use this book as the Book with a terrible cover Summer Book Bingo square.  It’s not objectively terrible, but I don’t like it.)

Persuasion

PersuasionPersuasion
by Jane Austen
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781435127432
Publication Date: January 1, 2012
Pages: 228
Genre: Fiction, Literature
Publisher: Barnes and Noble

 

This was my “comfort read” for the Summer Book Bingo.  It’s a re-read, so there’s not much more for me to say than I’ve said before.  It’s Austen.  It’s brilliant.

I refrained from 5 stars only because it starts a bit slow and it’s not Pride & Prejudice, the standards by which I judge all my regency.  😉

On the Edge

On the EdgeOn the Edge
by Ilona Andrews
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780441017805
Series: Novel of the Edge #1
Publication Date: September 29, 2009
Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

 

I love the Kate Daniels series and the synopsis for this one sounded pretty good; a place where two worlds overlapped – an in-between space only certain people could live.  Intriguing.

But… no.  The writing is solid, descriptive, evocative.  But this is much more a paranormal romance than an urban fantasy and animal cruelty is just treated too casually for me; it’s not graphic, but it’s prevalent.

This is also a book that would lose a lot of readers in the first half, especially those with low tolerance for male posturing and non-consent (no rape, to be clear, just the whole ‘I will have you! crap).  Andrews’ here is a bit too clever for their own good (what is the proper pronoun usage for 2 people writing under 1 name?!?):  a lot of readers won’t have the tolerance to stick around and discover just how wrong perceptions are in the first half of the book.

Overall, I’m not sorry I read it, but I won’t read it again and I won’t read the second book (I think there’s a second book…).  I’ll stick with Kate and Curran.

Lost Among the Living

Lost Among the LivingLost Among the Living
by Simone St. James
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780451476197
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Pages: 318
Genre: Fiction, Paranormal
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

England, 1921. Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion to Alex's wealthy, condescending aunt, Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to the family's estate in the Sussex countryside. But there is much she never knew about her husband's origins...and the revelation of a mysterious death in the Forsyths' past is just the beginning...

All is not well at Wych Elm House. Dottie's husband is distant, and her son was grievously injured in the war. Footsteps follow Jo down empty halls, and items in her bedroom are eerily rearranged. The locals say the family is cursed, and that a ghost in the woods has never rested. And when Jo discovers her husband's darkest secrets, she wonders if she ever really knew him. Isolated in a place of deception and grief, she must find the truth or lose herself forever.

And then a familiar stranger arrives at Wych Elm House...


Of the 5 Simone St. James books I’ve read (and she’s published), this is the one I’ve liked the least.  Not to say it’s not a very good, well-written story–it is–it’s just much less gothic-y than at least 3 of the others.

This book felt like it was slow to start, because of that last line in the synopsis; they should have left that off, because I spent the first x% of the book waiting for the stranger to appear.  Only after that happened did I feel like the book picked up speed.  This story also felt somehow less creepy; maybe it’s just that I’ve read all the books too close together, and my threshold is lower.  Old creepy mansion: check.  Dark gray, misty atmosphere: check.  Ghosts: check. But still, somehow, not that creepy.

Lost Among the Living was also a lot more of a straight-up mystery: while the other books had a mystery aspect to them, the focus was on the hauntings.  Here, the focus is on what happened to Frances, the parallels between her life and Jo’s, and what Jo is going to do with her life going forward.  There’s also a lot less (read: no) sexual tension in this book, and I do find that spices a read up, even when romance is not the point.

This sounds like a rather negative review, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book; it’s a great story and it’s well written and it pulled me in.  My small dissatisfactions stem from the expectations I had from previous reads that I unfairly applied to this book and the author isn’t writing cookie-cutter plots.  Indeed, the next book’s preview is at the end of this one and it’s the first one she’s written that takes place in present day, with an alternating timeline in the 50’s.  Not sure if I want to go there, but I have the next year to adjust to the idea.

An Inquiry Into Love and Death

An Inquiry into Love and DeathAn Inquiry into Love and Death
by Simone St. James
Rating: ★★★★★
isbn: 9780451239259
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Pages: 355
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

Boy howdy can St. James write a ghost story!  I love this book; I woke up at 6.30 this morning and did nothing until I finished it and then I re-read a few passages just to make it last longer.

In 1920’s England, Oxford student Jillian Leigh’s uncle Toby, a renowned ghost hunter, is killed in a fall off a cliff, and she must drive to the seaside village of Rothewell to pack up his belongings.

Almost immediately, unsettling incidents—a book left in a cold stove, a gate swinging open on its own—escalate into terrifying events that convince Jillian an angry spirit is trying to enter the house. Is it Walking John, the two-hundred-year-old ghost who haunts Blood Moon Bay? Was Toby’s death an accident?

The arrival of handsome Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken leaves Jillian with more questions than answers. Even as she suspects someone will do anything to hide the truth, she begins to discover spine-chilling secrets that lie deep within Rothewell… 

If you’re a horror or psychological horror lover, pass this review right on by; this book is a cream puff in comparison to your regular fare, but for the rest of us, this is truly an old-school, spooky ghost story with a mystery and a romance (oh the romance…).  There’s nothing gothic about the story, but I keep thinking of the old gothics anyway, for lack of any better comparison.

I probably should have gone 4.5 stars because Jillian goes through an improbable – neigh, impossible – number of physical calamities to still be standing upright.  Or breathing, really.  But the story was just so good; I was sucked in so thoroughly that I was willing to overlook her superhuman regenerative powers.  Inspector Merriken was incentive enough to spur on a rapid recovery.

Ok, anything else I say beyond this point would just be repetitive gushing.  I loved this book; it gave me exactly the experience I hope for every time I start a new story and I’ll be looking for more of this author’s work.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

The Readers of Broken Wheel RecommendThe Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
by Alice Menzies (translator), Katarina Bivald
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780701189068
Publication Date: June 18, 2015
Pages: 376
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Chatto & Windus

Sara is 28 and has never been outside Sweden - except in the (many) books she reads. When her elderly penfriend Amy invites her to come and visit her in Broken Wheel, Iowa, Sara decides it's time. But when she arrives, there's a twist waiting for her - Amy has died. Finding herself utterly alone in a dead woman's house in the middle of nowhere was not the holiday Sara had in mind.

But Sara discovers she is not exactly alone. For here in this town so broken it's almost beyond repair are all the people she's come to know through Amy's letters: poor George, fierce Grace, buttoned-up Caroline and Amy's guarded nephew Tom.

Sara quickly realises that Broken Wheel is in desperate need of some adventure, a dose of self-help and perhaps a little romance, too. In short, this is a town in need of a bookshop.


I have a lot of thoughts about this book, all swirling around in my head avoiding cohesiveness.

This is not a gripping or exciting book and it isn’t a faced-paced one either.  This is a slow moving book and I suspect it’s appeal is going to be limited to those readers who have more than a little bit of the characters inside themselves.

I’m one of those readers; as much as my RL friends would say I’m outspoken and intolerant of crap, a lot of me shares a lot with the Broken Wheel characters, or I have at some point in my life.  So while I can’t say this book emotionally moved me or cause me to think Profound Thoughts, I did connect with it and enjoy the story.

3 things that nagged at me:

  1.  As lovely as the idea of sharing/selling Amy’s books might be, all I could think about was ‘who inherited those books, and are they ok with you liquidating the estate?!?’  I’m assuming it’s Tom, since no other relatives are ever mentioned, but never once is it brought up.  What’s the Swedish word for probate?

  2.  They misspelled Jane Austen’s Sanditon (Sandition).

  3.  I forgot the third thing, dammit.  Obviously something huge.

On a side note, my copy is a UK edition, so the translation from the original Swedish used UK words and idioms, which I thought was kind of funny for a story set in the middle of corn-field Iowa.

All in all, a book I enjoyed.

The Counterfeit Heiress (Lady Emily, #9)

The Counterfeit HeiressThe Counterfeit Heiress
by Tasha Alexander
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 6781710024695
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #9
Publication Date: January 1, 2014
Pages: 292
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: Minotaur Books

This should have been a lot creepier than it was and the dialogue failed in a lot of places, leaving Emily sounding like a boasting second grader at times and Colin a condescending but kindly nanny.

Even though the story didn’t quite meet the level of creepy it was capable of, it was still a good story and definitely not one that’s been overused.  Cecil’s odd childhood friend grew up to be an adventuress who always appeared in the news from a different spot on the globe.  Then one night at a masquerade in London, Cecile is introduced to her friend, and it’s an imposter.  The imposter turns up dead the next morning and everyone is off in search of a killer and, incidentally, to find the real Estelle.

I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one or not – it does feature Jeremy Bainbridge and he’s one of my favourite characters, but the odd dynamic between Colin and Emily really threw me off.

The author does include a note at the back explaining the historical connections to the creation of this plot, and I always enjoy these; I always learn a little something from each one.

Perhaps if the next book is on sale…

Marked in Flesh (The Others, #4)

Marked in FleshMarked in Flesh
by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: The Others #4
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 416
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: ROC Hardcover

 

Well, obviously I loved this one. I almost went the whole 5 stars, but I was able to put it down when I finished and not just start re-reading it, so I figured it must be lacking something.  Let’s call it ‘not enough Tess’.

But honestly, I had some fears over this one because surely the author couldn’t keep on writing books this consistently good; surely there had to be a weakling among the litter?  If there is, it hasn’t yet been written.  Once I started it, I didn’t want to put it down.

That’s all I’m going to say, because I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t read it yet.  But yes, it is well worth the read.

Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson #9)

Fire TouchedFire Touched
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Mercy Thompson #9
Publication Date: March 4, 2016
Pages: 342
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?


Maybe my favourite of the nine books so far.  It was fast-paced, a little bit breathless and everybody pulled their heads out of their… and started acting like a unit instead of a roomful of kids hyped up on too much birthday cake.

Fire Touched took a page of out Zee’s book of philosophy and played no games; there weren’t any sly plots on the side, no melodramatic angst, no misapprehensions or misunderstandings.  It was a welcome change to have a story where Mercy and Adam worked together from beginning to end.  I loved that Zee got a lot more page-time and I think it might be a little wrong how much I liked Baba Yaga’s character.  These two and Margaret’s cameo made up for the absence of Samuel and the small bit with Bran (although I loved this scene, with Charles playing invisible chorus).

I’d have liked to have known more about Aiden’s power (how it works) and his past, although I did enjoy learning a bit more about Underhill and, I don’t know if the author intended this or not, I liked the allegory of mankind’s treatment of Earth.

At the end of the book, I had a feeling it lacked a very small something, but on thinking about it, I think that’s more about my expectation of side plots and melodrama (because let’s face it, that’s pretty much SOP in most books) going unfulfilled than anything of substance actually missing.  I went 4.5 stars because as much as I really enjoyed the plotting, the writing and the characters, fae politics just aren’t that fascinating to me, and that’s purely personal taste.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Briggs does next.

Foreign Éclairs (White House Chef Mysteries, #9)

Foreign ÉclairsForeign Éclairs
by Julie Hyzy
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9780425262405
Series: White House Chef Mystery #9
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Pages: 295
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Things are about to really heat up for Ollie. News of a bombing and attempted breakout at a federal prison reveals that the brother of a terrorist she helped defeat is back with a vengeance. And after she gets mugged on her way home from work, the Secret Service won’t leave her side, fearing she is now a target.

When a White House staff member is murdered, officials rush to action over a possible security breach. It may be time for Ollie to trade in her apron for a bullet-proof vest as she becomes part of a bold strategy to make sure this terrorist gets his just desserts…


The bad news is that this is the last book in what is a very, very well written cozy series.  There aren’t enough good cozy series left out there and the loss of one is disappointing.

The good news is that this was the author’s decision and as such, this book is written with no loose ends, and for that I am thankful.  It’s bad enough to lose a good series, but for it to end abruptly, with stories half-told, is an insult on top of injury.

Hyzy doesn’t own the copyright on this series or the characters, so while the story brings us to a good place for a series end, it’s also left in an interesting place that allows for someone (Hyzy, one hopes, after obtaining copyright on what is arguably her own work) to someday bring Ollie and Gav back into the thick of things where they belong.

The plot is action packed, fast paced – almost a cozy thriller.  It’s got a bit of an out-there plot like a thriller too, but it works within the confines of the world Hyzy has created from the first.  This isn’t really a mystery at all; we always know who the perpetrators are and what they want; it’s just a matter of what the solution will ultimately cost our MC.  The final part of the roller coaster plot was gripping and left me with a bit of an adrenaline rush.

Thank you, Julie Hyzy, for 9 wonderful adventures with Ollie. I’m gonna miss her and Gav, although I’ll revisit them often in my re-reads.