Killed by the Narrator

And the narrator was good.
And the book was good.
But...the book was set in the American South...at a college...the main character is a college student...so why a middle age British narrator.
Just pretty much ruined the whole thing.
I didn't have high hopes for Watching, the first in the Making of Riley Paige series. 
Blake Pierce and the series and all of the others books and series written under the name Blake Pierce are one of those...what are they called...I can't remember the term...hang on...syndicate is the word I found right now, but there is another word for it.  Like Nancy Drew but for adults.  But all of these books under this name are on hoopla and when there is nothing else to read, I have been tempted.  But man...the British narrator?  Just weird and maybe lazy. 

Jack McEvoy kinda troubles me...(NOT!)

Of course, one doesn't have to love a character to appreciate a book or series.  And Jack McEvoy didn't trouble me until The Scarecrow.  I really did enjoy The Poet but then I didn't like Scarecrow so much I was surprised by how much I really did enjoy Fair Warning. But FW was so good that I will read the book about Jack.  Even though I do find him troubling...I don't remember why...but there were some things in Scarecrow that really made me raise my eyebrows...but maybe I am just being picky.

NO NO NO WAIT!

Dude while I didn't like Scarecrow, it wasn't Jack that bothered me...it was the guy from the other book by that woman who writes about a woman priest and a sheriff.  And the sheriff guy is a HUGE Blame-the-Victim dude.  BIG Time!  This one! 

So I had to change my title of the "review."  Jack is just a regular dude.  I mean, do feel bad for him because he lacks a lot of self confidence, especially when it comes to love.  But he isn't a creep like the law guy in that other series!  Sorry! 

Years and Years and Years Ago

I listened to Wild Fire.  On a CD!  At the drive-in!  This was a LONG time ago!  And I LOVED it!  I just finished Plum Island, which is the first in the John Corey series and I loved it, too.  Because John Corey is hilarious. 

Here is just one of my favorite quotes:
She has clear, grey eyes, grey hair and a sort of interesting face with translucent skin.  A face that reminded me of an old painting.  Not any particular painting.
Or artist.
Or style.
Just an old painting.

I LOVED THAT!

Anyway...fantastic cop.  Fantastic book. 

So...this is weird.

In the Bleak Midwinter is the first book in the Rev. Clare Fergusson, and Russ Van Alstyne series.    This was not a book that came highly recommended.  In fact, when my friend told me about it she said, "These characters are terrible.  They are such jerks.  They are completely incompetent at what they do."  But then she told me that she has read every one of the books in the series.  And has every intention to read any forthcoming books in the series.  
Well I had to read one, right?
I am a pastor and so is Fergusson and so I figured that might be interesting.  And I love detective fiction, so I figured that might be interesting.  
It was not interesting at all!
My friend was right!  Neither Fergusson nor Val Alstyne are good at their jobs.  They are not sympathetic characters either.  But will I read the next one?  Yes.  I have already started it.  Will I probably read the rest of the series.  Probably.  It is like not being able to look away from an accident I guess.  I actually don't know.  It is just so bizarre.
Just.  Yeah.  I can't recommend this book either, but I will say if you read it, you might get hooked.  

Perfect for a Pandemic

I think it has been wonderful that Stuart Woods (along with Parnell Hall in this case) has released two books in pandemic time.  The world is in an awful place.  The United States is in chaos, "led" by a hateful man.  I feel helpless.  What better way to take a break from the hell that is reality right now than to read about Stone Barrington and his rich and charmed friends and family.  This is the fourth Teddy Fay book, Bombshell.  At was a great escape.

Not that we can escape all the time.  In fact, now more than ever we need to raise our voices and raise our hands and do all we can to protest the murder of African Americans, most recently George Floyd.  For the first time I preached what some might call a political sermon. I was very afraid.  The church at which I serve does not really address current circumstances in the world and country but I am trying to change that.  And it was Pentecost.  And if the Holy Spirit is with us well, we CANNOT be silent.  We MUST speak up.  Tomorrow I am going to my first protest vigil at my old church.  I am embarrassed and ashamed that it is just my first one.  But I can't be silent anymore.

I know I went off on a tangent.  But an important one.
I just wanted to make sure that it didn't seem as though it was okay to just escape into a book.  There is time for relaxing and reading, but there is also time (and the time is now) to stand up for what is right.  

WOW!

Because I LOVED The Selection series from Kiera Cass, I couldn't wait until The Betrothed came out!  And I have to say this was one of those times when there was NO disappointment even with such high expectations!  I can't wait until the next one!   Right now the pictures won't upload on Blogger, so I will have to do that later!  But even though this is romance and romance isn't my thing, I love these books by Cass!

Mike Lupica

I have said this before but I really can't say it enough, Mike Lupica does an excellent job of challenging Robert B. Parker and yet making Sunny Randall new and fresh and Lupica-ish!  Grudge Match is Sunny Randall #8 and I hope there are many more.  I love the connections with the whole Parker universe!  

Ah Lucas

Thirty books and Lucas Davenport still is a charmer. Masked Prey is set in DC but there is just something very Minnesotan about Lucas that makes me love him.  He is now a U.S. Marshall.  Great story line, great Sandford.  Thank you and now I can't wait until October for hopefully a new Virgil Flowers!

More Complications

Aren't there always? Of course, Whatever After is not complicated for me!  I love this series and was thrilled to see the second Super Special Abby in Oz.  I see that it listed as Whatever after 13.5 on goodreads.  The first Super Special was Abby in Wonderland.  The Super Specials seem to be books, whereas the "regular" Whatever After books are fairy tale-based and while the regular WA books feature Abby and her brother traveling into a story, it seems that the Super Specials feature Abby heading into fiction with her friends.
That is not complicated for me either, I love both kinds!
BUT what is complicated is the whole Wizard of Oz thing...I know it is a book, but I am thinking of the movie.  And I know that because of TWOOZ, Judy will indeed, as Frank said, never be forgotten BUT she was so abused as a child actress.  Not just by her mother but also by that rotten Louie B. and so it is hard. 
I guess I am thankful for Oz because it can serve as a gateway to finding out more about Judy.  But it pains me to think of her time at MGM. 
So the book was great!  It is just Oz that is complicated. 

Good Old Stone!

Hit List is the FIFTY THIRD installment in the Stone Barrington series and man, I hope Mr. Woods is planning to or has already written many more.  This one was really good and the ending means WOW (not that it was a shock but I am so looking forward to see how this all develops)!  I hope too that Peter and Ben come back into the stories soon!  Great stuff!  And no Felicity, which always makes a better Stone book for me!

I wish I could share this with my mom...

My mother is spending her first Easter with Jesus face-to-face and I am really happy for her, but man, I miss her.  A LOT!  And I hope that in Heaven she was able to get maybe even an advanced copy of The Missing Half of Joey Pigza.  It is one of the audible-only releases, the third in the Hidden Files of Joey Pigza series, written and READ by the incredible Jack Gantos.  The Dented Head of Joey Pigza was the first one.  Next came Pain in the Pigza, which I read and loved but did not write up because last year was a super icky year and so I didn't write up a lot of my reads.
My mom and I listened to both of those books and enjoyed them so much.  She and I were so happy that these hidden files were discovered!  Joey is such a caring, loving young man.  My mother really didn't like his grandmother very much because she can be mean with her words.  But while she is gruff as usual, in this one, her true heart really comes through loud and clear.  A wonderful addition to Joey's story. 

It Just Reminded Me... (SPOILERS)

Of the time I read some place, and I can't find it now, that Sharon Gless refused to allow her character on Cagney and Lacey to be raped for a third time.  I saw the twist coming in A Killer's Wife, but I hoped it wasn't really coming.  Jessica Yardleys falls in love with TWO twisted serial killers?  I just was a disappointment.  Which is a shame because I enjoyed a lot of this book.  It is the first in a new series and while I was so disappointed about the end, I am going to read the next one.  Part of it took place in St. George, Utah which is a lovely little town.  We stayed here a few years ago.  A lovely young couple owned and ran it.  I wonder if they still do. 

Perhaps not the best time...

To go back and relisten to Life as We Knew It, the first in the Last Survivors series by the incredible Susan Beth Pfeffer.  I loved this series...and I still do...but it was more "real" listening to it now and I don't think it was good for my psyche-- except it WAS!  I mean, there is hope in this book, there is hope in the whole series. It is just so well done.   I wonder if SBP has had anything to say regarding parallels.  I know she retired in 2014, maybe?  Oh she has been active on Twitter!  I will have to follow her! 
In 2013 I had the total honor of meeting her at PLA...she was so so so so so cool and nice!!

Just finished rereading The Dead and the Gone.  Love this one, too.  But still...hard to read right now...

A Lot of Evil

Men (and women and trans and fluid gender) people can do a lot of evil deeds.  We have seen it through history, we see it today.  Are there people who ARE evil?  I don't think so.  I mean, I would certainly say that someone like Adolph Hitler makes me think there are, but I wonder...and I am reminded that Hitler, too was made in God's image, but did NOT grow in God's likeness.  Did he not grow in God's likeness and, quite the opposite, was responsible for the death and torture of millions because he was missing something, as sociopaths are said to be missing the ability to experience empathy?  Did he do these things because somehow evil got inside him?  And does that make HIM evil or was it his ACTIONS that were evil?  Does it matter?

That has nothing to do with anything right now except that the second book in the Detective P.T. Marsh series is called The Evil Men Do.  And there is a lot of sorrowful evil in this one.  For some reason I wasn't as caught up in it as the first, hence four stars.  But I will try the next one. 

The Last One

Keep in mind, I don't like romance mixed with murder.  This is just me...but The Last Sister will be the last book I will read in the new Columbia River series.  WAY too much love WAY WAY WAY too much love.  But if you like thriller chick-lit, it might be for you!

A GREAT BOOK from MR. Kellerman!

As you know I love Faye Kellerman but I am kinda hit or miss with Jonathan Kellerman.  But Museum of Desire (Alex Delaware #35) was just fantastic.  VERY creative, I think.  Super creepy premise and didn't let up on the tension until the end.  Great stuff.

For some odd reason

I had never read the first two books in the Jonathan Stride series!  Which is kinda good because I was just able to enjoy them tremendously for the first time.  Immoral and Stripped.
These were simply excellent mystery/thriller/detective books, man.  Just awesome.  And Stripped has a character in it who was way before her time and I think that the way in which Freeman writes about her, Amanda, shows the beauty of this writer's character.  He dealt with gender and sexuality in such a Christ-like, decent human being way in this book.  Totally freaking awesome.  Love this series!

Very Cool

The third installment of The Perfect Score series, The Perfect Star was really, really good.  Again, Buyea took on important issues without it feeling forced or preachy.  Made it really real and again, the characters are really real.  Great, great series. 

Notorious

I have always been a fan of Biggie Smalls.  I love him, but I am more a Tupac girl if I had to pick.  Notorious RBG, well I didn't know much about her except that I liked her decisions, so reading Who Is Ruth Bader Ginsberg?  was a great idea and I like her even more!  May she stay on the bench for MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH longer!  Again I find these Who/What/Where/Is/Was books to be just excellent.  I am still hoping for a Judy one though!

I Have to Try to Remember

that if someone on goodreads has tagged a book as "romantic suspense," it is probably not for me.  You would think I would have learned this by now.  The Third to Die is probably a great book!  And I feel bad only giving it a 3 star rating because I am sure that as far as romantic suspense books go, it is probably a 5!  It is first in a series but I won't lower the overall star ratings by reading any more because it just isn't my cup of tea.  But if you like romance with your detective fiction, go for it!