Carol's Notebook – Page 176

A Twist in the Tail by Leighann Dobbs

July 18, 2019August 1, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

First of all, A Twist in the Tail has talking cats. They don't talk out loud to people, but they talk to each other in English. They have conversations and find clues and discuss the best way to help their not so competent humans. It caught me off-guard. I knew there were going to be cats, just didn't realize the extent of their involvement, that they were also amateur detectives. I've read other Leighann Dobbs mysteries that didn't have talking animals and I don't think I could have been expected to know it based on the blurb. It turned out I enjoyed the book, so maybe it's just as well I was clueless since I'm not sure if I would have picked it up had I known. A Twist in the Tail is the first in a series, and it's a good start. It's fun and light-hearted but the mystery had plenty of clues for the cats to get Josie to...

Taking Out the Trash by Tristi Pinkston

July 16, 2019July 17, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

Taking Out the Trash is a cozy mystery that's trying to be funny, but fell flat for me. Estelle is a middle-aged housewife with an accountant husband, an adult son, and a quirky best friend, Vera. The cops find a Senator's body in her garbage can and her son, who has an internship in Washington, quickly comes under suspicion. Of course, Estelle and Vera have to investigate; they can't have Andrew convicted of the murder. I like that Estelle and her husband are a stable, loving couple, but I tend to prefer my heroines with a bit less lying to their husbands/having their husbands treat them like they can't take care of themselves. Granted, maybe she can't, she does end up in a couple of dangerous situations, but still, that's standard cozy behavior. And I wish she could have kept the hair color that made her feel so pretty. She also seemed a bit older than her early-60s to me,...

Mailbox Monday – 7/15

July 15, 2019January 6, 2020 by Carol9 Comments

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. Tell us about your new arrivals by adding your Mailbox Monday post to the linky at mailboxmonday.wordpress.com. I won Taking Out the Trash from the author on Facebook. And I picked up The Magician for my Autumn reading....

Sunday Salon – 7/14

July 14, 2019July 16, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for hosting The Sunday Salon. Stop over there or at the Facebook Group to participate. Week’s Highlight: We spent the weekend at Pymatuning Lake and had a nice time. We went to a couple of antique shops, ate too much, and just hung out with friends. Amber took this photo, but it's on my phone, so I can steal it. Reading: I finally set aside Woman on the Edge of Time. Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, but now I'm just not in the mood now I guess. It made me look at all the other books I have set aside to hopefully come back to. Any comments on them? Any you love? Any you think I should just take off my list altogether? My "to get back to" list: Don Quixote by Miguel de CervantesOur Man in Havana by Graham GreeneDune by Frank HerbertThe Woman in White by Wilkie CollinsGirl Waits with Gun by Amy StewartThe Long and Faraway Gone by Lou BerneyThe...

99 Percent Kill by Doug Richardson

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

In 99 Percent Kill, Lucky Dey has to find the missing/runaway daughter of a Wisconsin millionaire; a tough enough job in LA, where a pretty young girl is a target for all kind of nasty stuff, made even tougher by the father who insists on riding along. I liked Lucky a bit better this time around than I did in the first of the series, Blood Money. He's still tough, but he's not as mean. He's still single-minded, but this time it comes off as a good thing, an asset. He's also addicted to painkillers. He's one of those characters who has a chip on his shoulder and a black cloud over his head. I think I'd like to see him working as an actual cop one of these days. 99 Percent Kill is action-packed, not surprising when the author started as a screenwriter, but it gives us moments to breathe, essential when most of what we're reading is disturbing and violent....

Sci-Fi Summer Wrap-up

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019 by Carol3 Comments

Yes, the Sci-Fi Summer Readathon hosted at Seasons of Reading ended over a week ago, but I kept forgetting to post my wrap-up. Since this year's readathon was a month long, the goal was to read some science fiction/fantasy, but we could include other genres as well. Here's my list. The titles should link to my posts. Red are science fiction. Originally, the event was scheduled to last two weeks and I didn't have enough sci-fi titles ready when it was extended to a month. And I got a bit bogged down by The Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. I still haven't finished it. Has anyone read it? Should I keep going or give up? The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas The Three-Body Problem by Cixiu Lin A Knife in the Fog by Bradley Harper The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley Death of a Ladies' Man by Helena Marchmont My favorite of the sci-fi reads was...