The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

The 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:

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

The Haunting of Maddy Clarie

The Haunting of Maddy Clare
by Simone St. James
Rating: ★★★★★
isbn: 9780451235688
Publication Date: March 6, 2012
Pages: 330
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: NAL / New American Library

Wow.

I put this book on my ‘maybe’ list well over a year ago and then promptly overlooked it for ages. I even gave up and removed it from my lists altogether because I figured if I hadn’t bought it yet, I wasn’t really interested.

A recent review here on BL highly rating it brought it back to my attention at the same time I received a coupon from my favorite online bookseller so I just ordered it.

Jeez am I glad I did. I loved this book. This book hit all the right buttons for me: it was scary without being terrifying; it had great sexual tension (I am not going to call it ‘romance’ because there wasn’t any romancing going on, but it was intense); it had a great plot and interesting characters and it was well-written. The writing style reminded me of authors of the past, particularly Phyllis Whitney.

My only complaint is now I’m suffering from a book hangover – right before I leave for a long weekend at the beach.