Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

by Carol3 Comments
Janet Evanovich can be hit and miss for me. I'm not sure which category Curious Minds falls into. I like Knight and Moon. He is over the top eccentric, but cute and funny. Moon follows the rules, usually, but ends of having to go along with Knight. They are a good couple, and the dialogue at times is laugh-out-loud funny, but I'm not quite buying the sparks yet. I think for the pair of them, this was a good first novel. I think I'll enjoy them in later books, as long as the plot is a bit better. The whole conspiracy in this one was just over the top. Brothers working together to steal money from the Federal Reserve and more or less control all the world's economy, I think. The conspiracy reaches into the NSA and the Supreme Court. Maybe something like that could happen, but it stretched believability for me. It's just too big for the wacko and side kick to deal with...
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Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

by Carol2 Comments
I picked up Missing, Presumed because a.) I enjoy mysteries and b.) the blurb sounded interesting. I was expecting the standard police procedural, but what I got was more about the characters than the plot. I thought it was excellent, but if you're looking for a standard formulaic mystery, this isn't it. If you care about the people involved, about their flaws and strengths, their disillusionments and personal struggles, pick it up. It's more a general fiction than mystery to me, if that makes sense. It's not a puzzle with a neat set of clues and a clever wrap-up. Don't get me wrong, I love those too, but this one is less linear, slower pace with lots of side-tracking. Although Edith is the missing, presumed dead woman, Manon is the star, but she's complicated. In hindsight, she may have a few too many issues, but while reading the book I loved her. She's tough and smart, but lonely and needy. She's probably...
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The Witch Who Came in from the Cold: Season One by Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, Ian Tregillis, Cassandra Rose Clarke, and Michael Swanwick

by Carol4 Comments
The Witch Who Came in from the Cold was first published weekly on Serial Box, although I read the whole first season as a collection. That means no waiting, but I think I might subscribe for Season 2 next year and read an episode a week, since in theory that's the way it's designed to be read. This was a great mix of fantasy and espionage. Prague in the 1970s is in the midst of the Cold War, with spies from both sides keeping tabs on each other, trying to outwit each other, but there's another war going on too, a war between Ice and Fire, and your ally in one might be your enemy in the other. Secrets and more secrets, stakeouts and safe houses, clandestine meetings and backroom negotiations. This episode centered around a scientist who was defecting from Russia to the US, but he also has great value for the sorcerers. I like the world. It's based in reality and adds...
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Thursday’s Tale: King Garnet Stories

by Carol3 Comments
The King Garnet Stories by Marianne Parry are not traditional fairy tales, but they have that same feel - kings and queens, a touch of magic, a lesson to learn. The King Garnet Stories are fun. The first is my favorite. The King's legs grow way to long and everyone is worried. He is under a spell, but who is casting the spell made it a funny little story. In the second story, King Garnet comes up with a plan to stop his wife from being so bossy. He decides not to talk anymore. He lets his daughters, the doctors, and the witches in on the secret. In the end, the Queen goes back to the nice woman she used to be. It's a cute story even if the portrayal of the Queen is a little sexist. The last story ends with a light-hearted, almost Renaissance fair type battle. Everyone enjoys the day and the decide to make it an annual event. The illustration at the...
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The Pot Thief Who Studied Georgia O’Keeffe by J. Michael Orenduff

by CarolNo Comments
I'm sad. Why did no one tell me about this series before? The Pot Thief Who Studied Georgia O'Keeffe is smart, laugh out loud funny, and a good mystery. It throws in bits of history, literary references, and culture, and word play. It's just fun. Hubie is a criminal. He digs up pots illegally and sells them, but he justifies it well. He says, and I think believes, that the women who made the pots would rather have them in a household that cherishes them than a museum where they are rarely visited, or, even worse, left in the ground unappreciated. He's also a talented potter in his own right, making reproductions. The dead man is one of Hubie's associates, the one who had a buyer for the Tompiro pot. Hubie doesn't seem to broken up over the death, but I'm kind of assuming he was a character we would have met in a previous book or two. We've got his widow, a couple...
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Arena by Holly Jennings

by Carol3 Comments
If you're here for the A to Z Challenge, scroll down to the next post. Thanks! Arena is totally outside of my usual reading zone. It's YA and science fiction- neither of which I read. I'm not even much of a video game player, but something about the description grabbed my attention, maybe the hint of  "dark secrets" or just the quote in the blurb: She’s died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier... Whatever the reason, I picked it up, and wow, am I glad I did. It's not a perfect book, but I really enjoyed it. The Rage tournament is a virtual gaming event, kinda of like capture the flag, expect each team has a tower they're defending. It's televised each week and is really violent and graphic. The gamers are truly athletes, they have to train in real life to be able to do all the figthing in the virtual world. They are celebrities, catered to but also tied to their...
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