The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

by Carol4 Comments
Yeah, so I'm not a fan of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm sorry, but it was kind of boring and I knew how it was going to end. The idea itself is interesting; Dorian doesn't age, but his portrait does and it shows all the signs of his downfall instead of him. Of course, it takes almost half the book to get to that part. it's a much more philosophical book than I though it would be. It touches on the nature of art and on society's adoration of youth and beauty. Sin is obviously important to the story  and what a person will do if they are free from consequences, but I think even more important is the dangers of truly influential people. Dorian wasn't the star for me, his "friend" Henry was. It's Henry who leads him down the hedonistic path. Henry is charming and witty, he theorizes and shocks people. He encourages Dorian, even though he himself seems to...
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The End of the Day by Claire North

by Carol5 Comments
Charlie is the Harbinger of Death. It's his job. He's a mortal, has no super powers except a support staff at an office somewhere who are great at making reservations, getting him across borders and out of jail, and paying ransoms. He meets good people and terrible people, and sometimes he's sent for ideas or ways of life and not individuals. He celebrates Life and we travel with him. That's what we do, we see what he sees, hear what he hears, including random snippets of conversation, go where he goes. We're with him when he meets people, gives them gifts, tells them he is the Harbinger and sometimes he comes as a warning and sometimes as a courtesy. We're with him as he listens to people's life stories and when he is beaten and held prisoner. After all, not everyone is happy when the Harbinger of Death shows up; some are though. Yes, sometimes we see slices of the lives of the...
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Wooing the Wedding Planner by Amber Leigh Williams

by Carol1 Comment
Wooing the Wedding Planner is the type of romance I enjoy. Both Roxie and Byron are good, solid characters on their own and their relationship gradually grows. Yes, they know they're attracted to each other way before they do anything about it, but they both have pasts that are standing in their way. The problems aren't too big though, they never seem insurmountable, which I like. I could be friends with Roxie. She's trying to be happy after her divorce, to make the right choices for herself, and she's good at her job. For the record, her family is terrible. Byron is sexy and smart. Due to a mix-up, they are both at the Victorian, although he's living in a separate apartment. He's a widower and has always believed that Strong men have one true love and that love lasts a lifetime. His family is fabulous, funny, accepting, supportive. I never doubted that they would get their happy ending, but I enjoyed...
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The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders

by Carol1 Comment
The Secrets of Wishtide is fine. I really just don't have much to say about it. Letty is a competent investigator, but I wanted her to have more of a personality I guess. She's a little bland, which does allow her to fit in unobtrusively, but I wished she had more of a spark to her. Ido have some hope for her and Inspector Blackbeard though. I liked the Victorian Britain setting, both London and the countryside. We see the seedy side of the city and the drawing rooms of the rich. We see inside of Newgate and the country manor. I do think it did a good job of portraying how women were treated and the (lack of) options in that era. As far as the mystery goes, what started as a short trip to look into an unacceptable love interest turns more complicate and dead bodies start to pile up. The story got a little complicated and I'm never much...
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Penance by Kanae Minato

by Carol2 Comments
The novel revolves around a group of friends in a small, rural town. The town is known for its fresh and clean air, which results in a company which makes precision instruments moving there. The workforce is not thrilled with the move, most come from Tokyo and don't fit in well with the locals. One of the newcomers' children, Emily, makes friends with a group of local girls – Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko. As the blurb states, one holiday the five schoolgirls, who were 10 at the time, are playing when they are approached by a man who chooses Emily to help him with a task. An hour or more later, Emily is found violated and murdered. At the time of this book, there was a statute of limitations during which criminals could be charged and so there is fifteen years to find the murderer. When the girls are thirteen, Emily’s mother invites them to her house and informs them that...
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Of Books and Bagpipes by Paige Shelton

by Carol1 Comment
I liked Of Books and Bagpipes much more than the first in the series. Delaney has been in Scotland for a while now and has come to care about the people she works with and her friends. I felt like her reason for investigating felt more natural this time around, a combination of natural curiosity and wanting to help. As a mystery, it worked well. There were plenty of clues and suspects and secrets that went back decades. It takes a lot of unraveling and I was surpised by the whodunnit, although I felt the motive was bit weak. And of course, Delaney gets herself trapped, but I didn't feel like it was because of stupidity on her part, which was nice. Sometimes female amateur detectives annoy me by taking risks that no sane woman would. Delaney didn't do that here. She has someone with her when there's a potential for danger, and always lets someone know where she is going. I...
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