August …
The month of heat and reading in the pool. Loving the August reading experience.
Silent Deception: A Paranormal Gothic Romance Novella by Cathie Dunn
4 Stars a Good Read
The Forgotten Summer by Carol Drinkwater
This one really didn’t work for me.
The mystery was so obvious that I had resolved it about a third of the way into this story.
Likewise the sub-plot, why is Mother-in-law so horrid, was pretty easy to work out.
That made the reading of the rest of the book heavy going.
The digression into wine and olive oil production whilst informative added little. As did the description of the towns and villages and the mention of the swimming pool being cleaned …. no body even goes in the pool.
An inventive story padded to novel length instead of edited to a short story.
The mystery was so obvious that I had resolved it about a third of the way into this story.
Likewise the sub-plot, why is Mother-in-law so horrid, was pretty easy to work out.
That made the reading of the rest of the book heavy going.
The digression into wine and olive oil production whilst informative added little. As did the description of the towns and villages and the mention of the swimming pool being cleaned …. no body even goes in the pool.
An inventive story padded to novel length instead of edited to a short story.
Just a Fair Read
Oh! To be in England & A Little of What You Fancy by H E Bates
A very painful read in more was than one. There is the pain of Pop’s heart attacks … Ma’s refusal to recognise how much she was contributing to his problems.
The relationship between the Vicar, Mr Candy, and Primrose is worrisome to. Last time we met them she was just 14! The period of time elapsed since is never clear but Oscar is now at school so several years. Phew!
Then you get the casual racism of Ma’s disapproval of bare-breasted black women on TV. The narrow minded anti Common Market slogans bandied about . All very uncomfortable stuff written 7 years after Oh! To be in England but actually not the England it was.
A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
A Young Adult fiction story of a young girl growing up with her runaway mother in Poplar just before the English Civil War.
Makepeace is not a normal girl, she has a space for ghosts inside her …
A very cleverly plotted story, spoilt slightly by the use of different fonts to differentiate the different voices.
Four stars and a GOOD READ
Time, Tide and Trouble. Sun, Sand and Secrets. Rocks, Roses and Riptides by Carolyn L Dean
Three more cosy crime stories set in the Oregon sea side town of Ravenwood Cove.
Amanda gets involved in solving murders with her boyfriend James the detective. All very gentle and as comfortable as a room at the Ravenwood Inn and as sweet as the cakes served in the towns café.
Gentle EASY READING
Varied Traits by Patrick Brown
The first book featuring Salem Reid. A private vigilante . This story revolves around the ‘adult entertainment’ industry as a background to crimes of sexual violence and extreme violence. How on earth Salem gets away with the trail of death and mayhem is beyond my belief. On the other hand it is a readable page turner. The excitement keeps the pages turning, even if smacking the head of a bad guy against the pavement until his skull is pulp tends to push the other way.
A three star Fair Read
Magic Vodka Wardrobe by Sheila Patel
Insanity, in a young woman’s wardrobe is a vodka only disco bar from the 1970s.
Shaz, her sister and her aunt are the only customers. They get blasted, dance to old disco and have failed relationships with assorted blokes, who sit on a sofa outside the corner shop.
I had volume 2 on Kindle Unlimited, I sent it back unread … nuff said!
No picture, no link, don’t go there unless you like strange alternate urban realities, vodka and YMCA!