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Monthly Archives: July 2012

Review: Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

30 Jul

Cover: The Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa LutzMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Spellmans are one of the most hilariously dysfunctional (but overall loving) families around. When the family business is private investigation, the kids are likely to grow up a bit warped…

Summary via Goodreads:

FOR THE FIRST TIME in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. Mom has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities—with no apparent motive. Dad has a secret. Izzy’s brother and sister are at war—for no apparent reason. And her niece keeps saying “banana” even though she hates bananas. That’s not to say that Izzy isn’t without her own troubles. Her boyfriend, Henry Stone, keeps wanting “to talk,” a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry’s mother. Things aren’t any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, Rae is hired to follow a girl, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. And as the questions pile up, Izzy won’t stop hunting for the answers—even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family.

I think it might have been best if I had read books 2-4 in this series, or, failing that, hadn’t actually read book 1. I spent quite a chunk of mental energy trying to remember what I knew from Trail of the Spellmans, and figure out how the characters got from there to here.

But I did enjoy reading this book, although more for the characters (all the kids are grown up now) and the family drama (Grandma adds to the mix) than the mysteries.

Thinking back on the OCD college professor, the man who was clearly NOT having an affair, the college student with somewhat overprotective parents… the cases were interesting enough, but they won’t be what I remember about Trail of the Spellmans.

What I’ll remember is Isabel following her sister Rae to see exactly what is (or isn’t) happening with the above mentioned college student, Isabel following her client and running headfirst into her father on the trail of one of his cases, the investigation into why brother David is so upset with sister Rae (and why he isn’t taking revenge (and how his daughter’s fascination with the word “banana” fits in)), the relationship between Isabel’s mother and her mother-in-law, and the incredible techniques the entire family have developed to avoid confrontation.

I’m planning on filling in the gaps in my reading, and I’d recommend the series, although not necessarily starting with this book.

I obtained this book from the publisher for review.

 
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Posted by on July 30, 2012 in books, reviews

 

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Review: Cottage by the Sea by Robin Jones Gunn

20 Jul

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

My opinions on this book are mixed– conflicted, even.

Description via the Howard Books website:

A daughter’s gift of time, a father’s silent wish.

Erin Bryce and her best friend, Sharlene, count the day they start their wedding planning business as a very happy day. So much so that they name their company The Happiest Day to reflect the fulfillment of their long-held dream as well as their clients’ longing for a wedding celebration to match the exhilaration of being in love. As a bonus, the two women utilize their business to help Erin’s son Jordan and his fiancée, Sierra, plan a grand wedding.

But the two friends aren’t prepared for the cloud moving in to cover the sunny, successful start of their business. Erin’s father, who lives in a small coastal Oregon community with his brusque, downright odd second wife, Delores, develops a medical problem that puts him in the hospital. Erin responds by rushing from Southern California to her father’s—and oh, yeah, Delores’s—cottage by the sea.

What greets Erin when she arrives sends her tumbling down a bewildering path to a different kind of happiest day. Her journey tosses her through highs and lows of hurt and healing, betrayal and renewal, wrong assumptions righted, and the brightest future one could ever hope for. All just around the corner, at the cottage by the sea.

I have to start out by saying that I’ve been reluctant to read Christian fiction. One reason is that I really don’t want to read a book that preaches at me. That was not an issue at all with this book. The other is that I really don’t want there to be a shortcut, where God reaches down and fixes everything, and the righteous live happily ever after. This was a problem for me with Cottage by the Sea.

On the one hand, I really liked Erin and the way she handled a very tough situation with faith and strength. In fact, I thought all of the characters were interesting. I liked the writing in this book, and I felt it delivered the story as intended, with only a few exceptions.

I thought the book portrayed a very real, very tough situation, as Erin attempts to come to terms with the ups and downs of her past, and she tries to mend ties with her father who both loved her and hurt her. Overall, her reactions were exactly as they should have been.

So why am I conflicted about this book?

There is an early section where Erin describes her husband’s history of depression. The book gives realistic detail about his sinking into a state which threatened her family. When she couldn’t take any more, she turned to her mother, who told her to pray. And she did. And everything got better. By the time the book takes place, he is the rock she can rely on. And this bothered me. Because if prayer was the cure for depression, I know of several people that would be living happier lives. If prayer had given her strength, and pointed her to someone (a therapist, a religious leader) that had given him the help to fight his way out, with her by his side, I would have been very happy. But that’s not what happened.

On the other hand, this was a bit of history, not the meat of the book. So I wasn’t going to let it get in my way. And indeed, there were no more miraculous interventions through the majority of the book.

Unfortunately, the end of the book was riddled with them, situations which suddenly veered off the path that events were leading them to. Erin still suffered loss, but too many other things were cleaned up far too neatly for me, in a way that I didn’t feel honored the rest of the events or her journey.

I’m not sure if I should just accept this as part of the Christian Fiction genre, and give this book a shrug, but avoid the genre, or count it as a weakness of this book, and continue to carefully explore others.

I received this book for review from Howard Books.  Thank you for this opportunity.

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2012 in books, reviews

 

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Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

15 Jul

Cover: Shadow of Night by Deborah HarknessMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a worthwhile followup to A Discovery of Witches.

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Shortly after Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont timewalk to London, 1590, they discover that the past may not provide a safe haven after all. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy Matthew Roydon, the vampire falls back in step with a group of radicals known as the School of Night who share dangerous ideas about God, science, and man. Many of his friends are unruly daemonsn – the creative minds of the age who walk the fine line between genius and madness – including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot. Matthew, himself, is expected to continue to spy for Queen Elizabeth, which puts him in close contact with London’s cutthroat underworld.

Together, Matthew and Diana scour the bookstalls and alchemical laboratories of London where they follow the elusive trail of Ashmole 782 – and search for the witch who will teach Diana to control her powers

It’s fairly different book than its predecessor, largely since it is primarily set in a very different time and place. In many ways, this is a historical novel, and it succeeds very well at this. It’s about the small details of life in Shakeseare’s England (and yes, he and his peers figure into the story!)

There’s a richness in the layers of historical information, the magical world created for these books, and a modern woman attempting to integrate them. This book (like the earlier one) feels like it is written by a smart woman, about a smart woman, for an audience that includes smart women.

The characters are also well constructed, and I found them interesting, if not always relatable or likable.

In particular, I still don’t see Matthew’s appeal, although I understand him much better now. The books explores the tension between him as a man of the time he was born in, a man of all the times he has lived through, a man of science and modern sensibilities, and as not just a vampire but a leader of vampires makes for an interesting character, even if not one that I’d find attractive.

Diana has a balancing act as well, being a witch that was raised with no apparent power of her own, a modern academic, a student learning about her unusual flavor of witchcraft, wife of a powerful vampire, all while trying to fit into life in a much earlier era. This makes for an interesting combination. In spite of being even more intriguing, I think I related to her even less here than in A Discovery of Witches. It didn’t matter, I still wanted to keep reading.

The action moved a bit slowly for most of the book, and surprisingly little happened, given the length.  The book seemed to be more about setting and world-building, which are interesting in their own right.

All in all, this was a successful story, and I’m looking forward to the third book.  I’m expecting it to have more action, and build on the base that the first two books in the series created for it.

Thank you to Viking for giving me access to Shadow of Night via NetGalley so I could read and review it!

 
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Posted by on July 15, 2012 in books, reviews

 

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Review: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

09 Jul

Cover: Lets Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson(With audiobook and book club discussion notes)

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. Not as much as I love the author’s blog, but close. What comes through both places is how wacky the author is, but also how many challenges (internal and external) she has to face.

Synopsis via Goodreads:

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father (a professional taxidermist who created dead-animal hand puppets) and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

Lawson’s long-suffering husband and sweet daughter are the perfect comedic foils to her absurdities, and help her to uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments-the ones we want to pretend never happened-are the very same moments that make us the people we are today.

In talking to my book club about the book, I suspect that already knowing Jenny through her blog really helped me at the beginning of the book. I came in already invested in Jenny’s life, and I had some idea where this collection of odd anecdotes were taking me. I think I would have enjoyed them even if I didn’t, but I’ll never know for sure.

It really is when Jenny hits adulthood that the book hits its stride. I’d have to say that starts with the chapter on drugs. I have no personal experience to compare it to, but I felt like I was experiencing her very own reality.

From there, it was a bumpy but engrossing ride. I really liked the balance between the funny stories and those that showed the other dimensions of her character, the echos of the past she had left behind in the future she built for herself.  I like stories like her telling how she and her HR coworkers dealt with men who e-mail photos of a certain part of their anatomy.  I liked the look at how a person can keep going, even after completely breaking.

If swearing bothers you, avoid this book. If you aren’t sure about the humor, read a couple of her blog posts (http://thebloggess.com/). If they don’t appeal to you, give this book a miss. If they have you rolling with laughter, rush out to pick it up.

Audiobook Notes

Narrator: Jenny Lawson narrates the book herself, and it is hard to imagine it any other way.  She has an interesting voice, and brings her own personality to the reading.   She does have a very definite accent (Southern/Texan), and some interesting pronunciations, but for me, that just added to the charm.

Production: With the author as the narrator, all things are possible.  She makes minor changes (referring to “this audiobook” rather than “this book”, and works footnotes into her reading), she sings the chapter titles, and generally makes it into an almost conversational experience.  The downside is that you don’t get the photos, the proof that these things really did happen.  Luckily, the author has loaded them on-line.

Print vs. Audio? I loved Let’s Pretend This Never Happened in audio, and would strongly recommend this format for this book.

Book Club Notes

I’m the one that suggested this book for our group to discuss, even though I wasn’t sure everyone would enjoy it.  Still, I was expecting that most people would, and was quite surprised when pretty much no one had finished the book (although there were some reasons involving timing of the meeting that impacted that), and that pretty much everyone else had trouble with the first section of the reading, although several people found it improved for them once they got past the author’s childhood.

Out of the 5 of us at the meeting, one had barely started, two were less than halfway through, one was close to finishing, and I’d finished and even re-listened to parts of it.  This made discussion difficult, particularly since I think that the childhood sections are most interesting in how they influence her as an adult, and we simply didn’t have enough of us that had reached that point.

I still think this could be a good book club selection, but I can’t give any evidence to support that based on our meeting.

 
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Posted by on July 9, 2012 in Book Club, books, L, reviews

 

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June Wrap Up

03 Jul

June CalendarSummer is here, and you know what that means?  No time to read!

My reading was down significantly this month, and only partially due to the arrival of warm weather and no school for my daughter.  My total book count is down compared to the earlier months this year, and even that is heavily frontloaded in the month.

Paper Books

  1. A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet #2) by Julia Quinn
  2. Grace Among Thieves (Manor House Mystery #3) by Julie Hyzy
  3. Spy Mom (Sally Sin #2) by Beth McMullen
  4. Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Audio Books

  1. The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
  2. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
  3. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  4. The Gods of Gotham (Timothy Wilde #1) by Lyndsay Faye
  5. Very Valentine (Valentine #1) by Adriana Trigiani

My top reads for the month were the ones I was most looking forward to– they didn’t disappoint.  Spy Mom, followed by Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, and Very Valentine.

This month’s reads bring my yearly totals to 76 books read:  22 paper, 38 audio and (still) 16 Nook books.  I’m on track to make 150 books read this year, but only if my pace picks back up from this month.  I’ve been spending time watching kittens on-line and chatting with new kitten cam friends.  I’ve also been struggling with reading one PDF format ARC on my Nook.  I’m loving the book, but the logistical issues are really slowing me down.

I’m still holding at one review a week, and I’ll plan to keep up that pace.

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2012 in books, summary

 

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