Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

by Carol4 Comments
Wicked Charms is silly and funny and cute. It's an adventure story/ treasure hunt, but it's all over the top. Lizzie is pretty sane, but she is surrounded by oddballs, like a young man who tends to talk like a pirate and her friend who tries out spells with varying degrees of success. We've got a very rich man who wants to become a demon incarnate - if he can quit barking. Diesel is sexy and a bit dangerous, a typical character for this kind of story, but his monkey pal is rude and a riot. There are a couple of moments of true danger for Lizzie, but she keeps her head, and - surprise- Diesel rescues her. I know the whole thing is goofy, but it made me smile, just like candy. It's a short read too, so I don't want to give too much away. There's not a lot of meat to the story, but that's the style. I actually...
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The Quick by Lauren Owen

by Carol3 Comments
The Quick was this year's RIP read-along, co-hosted by The Estella Society and Amanda at Fig and Thistle. I listened to the audio version and to be honest, I found it a bit boring. It was slow and atmospheric, but even the "exciting" parts didn't really grab my attention. I was kept waiting for something to happen and then when it did, it was rather anti-climactic. Here are the discussion questions and my comments. 1. What genre (or genres) would you say THE QUICK falls into? What genre or author influences do you see in this book? I think it's a mix between historical fiction and horror. There have been so many vampires over the years, but I think these fall more along the lines of Dracula and Anne Rice's set, although not nearly as sexy as hers. They are definitely monsters. 2. Emily Richter figures into many of the book’s most pivotal early scenes. How much do you think she knows or doesn’t know about James...
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The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

by Carol10 Comments
Some books are like good meals, rich and worth savoring. Some are more like popcorn, light, fun and forgettable. I like both, but The Scam definitely falls into the second category. The plot is a bit over-the-top as are the characters, but that's part of the charm. And the writers/narrator know it. They take us on this trip from Hawaii to Vegas to Macau with a sense of humor even in the midst of dangerous situations. It's funny and action-filled and just a blast. Brick does a great job at the narration, keeping a light edge and letting us know that even the though the characters may take themselves seriously, we shouldn't. This is the fourth in the series and we know the formula pretty well by now. Kate and Nick have a bad guy in their sights. they get a team of together, including Willie, who can drive anything, and Boyd, an actor who takes his parts very seriously, Jake, Kate's dad,...
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The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

by Carol10 Comments
I love Penny's Gamache series. I may want to live in Three Pines and be friends with the characters - as long as I didn't get murdered; it's one of those towns where you don't want to be a minor character or a new arrival. Actually, there are a lot of new characters in this one and we know one (or more) is the killer. The Nature of the Beast is set in Three Pines, where Inspector Gamache has now retired with his wife Reine Marie, but of course life can't be quiet for Gamache. A young boy is killed in the village and by not believing what the boy had told him, Gamache feels partly responsible for the death. At the same time, the local amateur theater is planning on producing a play written by a serial killer. As readers, or listeners in my case, we know the two have to be connected, but the question is how. This time, the...
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First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

by Carol2 Comments
I almost quit listening to First Impressions about halfway through, mostly because I had an audiobook waiting in the wings that I was really, really looking forward to, but I stuck it out to the end. I'm not sure if that was a good choice or not. It wasn't torture, but it wasn't great either. The story alternates between chapters focusing on Sophie in now and Jane back then, which worked well really, even if from what I understand a lot of the Jane portion was as fictional as the Sophie part. I knew who the bad guy was - from the moment he showed up; I knew that Sophie would find proof that Jane Austen was not a plagiarist; I was sure Sophie would end up with the right guy and that Jane Austen would become a well-known novelist. And guess what- I was right. What kept me listening was that Sophie, and especially her uncle, love books. The libraries and...
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Malice by Keigo Higashino

by Carol4 Comments
Keigo Higashino is a Japanese author, apparently a very popular one. I've read two of his books before from the  and loved them. This one is from a difference series, #4, but the only Kaga mystery translated into English at this time. Happily is stands well on its own. As the blurb states, the story is more of a cat and mouse game than a traditional mystery. We learn early who the killer is, even hear their confession, but as Kaga, our detective, digs deeper he questions what he's been told. I have to say I've never read a mystery quite like this one, and I've read a lot of mysteries. The killer's thought process and actions are pretty fascinating really and the motive was not what I was expecting. In the beginning, we see things from two points of view, Kaga's and Nonoguchi's, but as time goes by we hear more Kaga's thoughts and his interviews with people who knew the...
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