Carol – Page 53 – Carol's Notebook

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

April 26, 2023April 26, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Maybe I'm just tired of "final girls." Maybe the characters were underdeveloped and the plot was not gripping. Maybe the book can't decide if it's funny or not. Any which way, The Final Girl Support Group was a disappointment for me. Our narrator, Lynette, is one of 6 final girls who have been attending group therapy for 16 years in the basement of a church. Lynnette suffers from the aftereffects of the trauma she faced as a teenager over 20 years ago. She is paranoid about safety in her house and rarely goes out. Each of the women has coped with her trauma in different ways, but when one of them is killed, Lynn knows that there's a monster after them and they need to protect themselves and each other. Or at least that's how Lynn sees what's happening. The book has lots of action, some really stupid decisions, some paranoia, and a mediocre motive. A lot of people really enjoyed...

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

I adored Bellweather Rhapsody. But as a former high school band geek of the early 90s who still accompanies kids at solo and ensemble and a lifelong lover of whodunnits, I am probably the perfect audience. It's fun quirky and there are a ton of characters all of whom I loved - well, except one, but she was the one I was supposed to dislike anyway. The Bellweather Hotel in upstate New York is long past its heyday of elegant ballroom dancing and fine dining. Now, which in the novels world is 1997, about the only thing that keeps the Bellweather afloat is hosting "Statewide", an event where the best NY State high school musicians and singers are brought together for four days of musical excellence and all the accompanying drama. So, this weekend, we've got tons of high schoolers, their chaperones, and conductors converging on the hotel. The characters are where this book shines. Yes, they're over the top and...

Much Ado about Nauticaling by Gabby Allan

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

Much Ado about Nauticaling is a breezy cozy mystery set on Santa Catalina Island, California. Whitney Dagner has left the corporate world to return to her hometown to help her brother, Nick, run the family glass-bottomed boat tour company and open her own island gift shop. Everything is going well until a wealthy businessman is found in the water, strangled to death. Nick quickly becomes the number one suspect, and Whitney is determined to clear his name. Much Ado about Nauticaling was fine. I liked the small island setting and some of the characters, especially Whitney's grandparents, were charming. Whitney herself was persistent but needs to hone her investigative skills a bit more. Felix, her potential love interest, was almost too perfect. And to be honest I didn't feel like Whitney was special enough for him and her best friend to just up and move for/with her. I did love her cat though. Whiskers is a pretty good partner, The mystery was...

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat

April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Carol4 Comments

The Blind Owl is unsettling and darkly romantic. It's an Iranian classic and I only ran into it because I was looking for something by a South Asian writer, but it's definitely worth reading. The book has two distinct parts. The first one feels almost like a nightmare, but a calm one. It has an inevitability but not one that makes you scream. I chose not to use the word nightmare because no matter how macabre this first part is, it has a peaceful almost tranquil quality to it. Our narrator sees a beautiful woman who he falls in love, or at least lust, with. Then, he ends up killing her and the section becomes more and more disturbing. Then we have a break. The second part presents an alternative story, maybe more realistic but our narrator is still not fully connected with reality. He tells us about his complicated family history and about how he is in love...

Spring into Horror Readathon

April 1, 2023April 26, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

The Spring into Horror Readathon hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading starts today and lasts all month. The only requirement is that you must read one scary book. However, that book can be horror, paranormal, thriller, mystery, etc. The social media hashtag is #SpringHorror. I'll list my Spring into Horror reads here. The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix...

April Cloak and Dagger Link-Up

April 1, 2023March 22, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Happy April! Any books you are particularly looking forward to this month? A couple of readathons I'm participating in this month: Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon on April 29-30 and the Spring into Horror Readathon hosted at Seasons of Reading. Is anyone else joining in? If you know of any other events, please post them in the comments. Link up your April Cloak and Dagger reads below. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter...