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Thursday, January 23, 2020
My First Audiobook a Slow, Gory Slog
7:29 PM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
As an aspiring journalist, 16-year-old Nathalie Baudin is thrilled to be writing a column for Le Petite Journal. Even if the editor, an old family friend, hired her only as a favor to her unemployed mother and away-at-sea father. Even if she has to dress as a boy to do her reporting. Even if the job means spending her days studying corpses at Paris' public morgue. Despite her unladylike interest in the macabre, she's as horrified as everyone else when a serial killer begins preying on the city's young women. She's even more aghast when, while viewing the victims' bodies at the morgue, she begins having nauseating visions of them being brutalized. Most confusing of all, the scenes are from the perspective of the killer. Why is she having these strange visions? What could they possibly mean?
Soon Nathalie realizes that her gruesome waking dreams are a weird gift that could help the police find the killer who has been dubbed "The Dark Artist." But that means opening herself to more violent visions, which leave her frightened and disgusted. Is it worth her sanity to encourage the blood-soaked visions? As Nathalie searches for answers, she stumbles across shocking secrets about her family and herself. Her sleuthing soon attracts the attention of the murderer. With a killer on her own tail, she must find answers—and fast—before she becomes the next corpse lying on a slab for all of Paris to view.
Spectacle, a debut novel by Jodie Lynn Zdrok, has an intriguing premise and a creepy, atmospheric Jack the Ripper feel. While neither of these elements is all that original, the combination presents a compelling jumping-off point. Unfortunately, the story Zdrok spins from it is slow, with a lot of meandering around before it gets anywhere. The tale gets repetitious and dull, making its 368 pages feel like double that. Add in a lot of bloody, gory scenes, some of which made me feel physically ill, and Spectacle became a tough tale to get through. I did become invested enough in the story to finish it, but in the end, I just didn't find the book all that enjoyable or satisfying. Needless to say, I won't be bothering with the sequel, Sensational, which comes out in February.
I should mention that I listened to Spectacle as an audiobook—my first one ever. The narrator, Laurie Catherine Winkel, is okay. Her narration is a little stiff, with her French sounding more natural than her English. My daughter says she sounds like the Google Translate voice. I don't know if listening to Spectacle as opposed to reading it altered my experience with the book or not. I think I would have felt the same way, no matter what, but I'm still a noob when it comes to audiobooks, so who knows?
(Readalikes: Reminds me of the Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting [The Body Finder; Desires of the Dead; The Last Echo; and Dead Silence] as well as various books about Jack the Ripper)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for brief, mild language; violence; disturbing subject matter; and blood/gore
To the FTC, with love: I received a free finished audio copy of Spectacle as part of a promotion offered by Audible.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
A Borrow, Not Buy Top Ten Tuesday List
8:26 AM
It's Tuesday, so that can only mean one thing: it's time for my favorite bookish meme. Since I already did a version of this week's topic (Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf) not long ago, I'm going to change it up a little and talk instead about the My Top Ten Most Recent Library Acquisitions. I've always utilized my local libraries (both city and county), but after spending a pretty penny on new books in 2019, I'm going to try to borrow more and buy less in 2020. We'll see how that goes ...
First, won't you join the TTT fun? It's easy and enjoyable, I promise! All you have to do is head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a few quick instructions, make your own list, and then spend some happy hours surfing through the book blogosphere. It's a great way to find reading recommendations, discover new blogs, and spread the love throughout our wonderful blogging community.
Alright, here we go with My Top Ten Most Recent Library Acquisitions:
1. The Wake of the Lorelei Lee by L.A. Meyer (audiobook)—Ever since I found that I don't actually hate audiobooks, I've tried to have one on deck at all times. I borrowed this one, the eighth installment in one of my favorite YA series, because of a recommendation from an anonymous blog commenter. I always enjoy the Bloody Jack books and this one is no exception. I'm especially taken with the narrator, the late Katherine Kellgren, who does an excellent job giving voice to the irrepressible Jacky Faber. The books are hefty, so the audiobook is over eleven hours long. Still, it's a fun one.
2. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths—I'm behind on the Ruth Galloway mystery series, but it's another one I've enjoyed immensely. This installment, the fourth, concerns the murder of a museum curator, then the museum's owner. Naturally, Ruth and D.I. Nelson are called in to investigate. I can't wait to catch up with Ruth and Co.
3. Aunty Lee's Delights by Ovidia Yu—I've heard good things about this mystery series starring a feisty Singaporean widow who runs a restaurant and solves mysteries in her spare time. The opening installment involves a murder and the disappearance of one of Aunty Lee's guests, two puzzling events that must be related.
4. What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr—In this standalone from Barr, a woman in her 60's wakes up in the Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home. Although she can't remember how she got there, Rose is convinced she's still in her right mind. When another shocking event occurs, she becomes sure of it—someone is trying to eliminate her. But why?
5. Second Sight by Aoife Clifford—I always like a good going-home-to-confront-secrets-of-the-past type books, so this one sounds appealing. It's about a lawyer who returns to her Australian hometown after a devastating wildfire, only to witness an old friend commit a crime that propels her on a journey to uncover the secrets others would like to remain buried forever.
6. Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson—I enjoyed Johnson's newest MG novel, Dog Driven, so I wanted to try another one by her. Ice Dogs is a survival story about a girl who gets lost in the Alaskan wilderness during a dogsled race. Sounds exciting!
7. The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan—I've only read a couple of Colgan's novels, but I loved them both, so I want to read more from her. The Café by the Sea is the first book in her Mure series. It stars Flora, who returns to her hometown to lick her wounds, only to find herself caught up in the dramas of island and family life. Fun!
8. Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Faulkner—Graphic novels aren't really my thing, but this one jumped out at me while my 11-year-old daughter was perusing the shelves for Pokémon books. The story centers on a half-white, half-Japanese boy who is sent to a California internment camp during World War II. Should be a quick, interesting read.
9. A Sky Full of Stars by Linda Williams Jackson—This is another book I noticed while browsing the children's section with my daughter. Set in 1955, the story is about a 13-year-old girl who's frightened of growing racial tension in her Mississippi town. Trying to decide if she should leave the state altogether or attempt to stay and push for change, she learns some valuable lessons about racism, community, and taking action.
10. The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers—I've never read anything by Meyers, but the title of this 2013 novel caught my attention. It's about a woman whose extramarital affair leaves her pregnant and alone. Five years after she places the child for adoption, her lover's wife finds out what happened. Told from the perspectives of three women caught in the drama, it's a novel about the consequences of infidelity, the journey toward forgiveness, and the power of family, even in the most unlikely of situations.
There you go, ten books I recently grabbed off the library shelves. Have you read any of them? What have you checked out lately from the library or acquired from a bookstore? I'd love to know. Leave a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
Monday, January 20, 2020
Cute YA Rom-Com Upbeat and Fun
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.
All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
From its peppy back cover plot summary to its charming cover to its totally apt title, you can tell that Tweet Cute, a debut novel by Emma Lord, is, well, cute. It really is an adorable romance starring two likable characters who find themselves thrown together in a funny (if a little implausible) situation that gets increasingly impossible and confusing. While there's some family drama thrown in for both Pepper and Jack to deal with, it's just enough to add substance to the story without throwing off its light, upbeat vibe. Overall, Tweet Cute is an engrossing, entertaining rom-com that's just fun to read. I enjoyed it.
(Readalikes: Um, I can't think of anything. Can you?)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (two F-bombs, plus milder expletives), innuendo, and depictions of/references to underage drinking and illegal drug use
To the FTC, with love: I received an e-ARC of Tweet Cute from the generous folks at St. Martin's Press (an imprint of Macmillan) in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Authentic and Compelling, Oakley's Latest an Enjoyable Read
9:04 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
For years, Mia Graydon has had recurring dreams starring the same dark-haired man. A man who is not her husband. She hasn't thought a lot of it as her life has taken its own dream-like path toward fulfillment. With a strong marriage to a handsome doctor, a spacious house (picket fence and all) in a quaint new town, a private studio which will allow for hours of peaceful painting, and a baby on the way after two miscarriages, Mia is experiencing the joy of hope and possibility unfurling before her. It feels as if anything could happen in her happy, privileged life.
Then, the unexpected occurs—Mia sees the man from her dreams. To her absolute astonishment, Oliver is a real, flesh-and-blood person. A nice one to boot and one with whom she feels instantly comfortable. Even more amazing, he has been dreaming of her too. As the two puzzle out the meaning (or lack thereof) behind their odd connection, Mia's orderly life starts to veer off the rails. With things falling apart in her real life, her dreams of Oliver start to seem more and more appealing. When it comes to a choice between salvaging her reality and chasing what could be, what will Mia ultimately decide to do?
You Were There Too, a new novel by Colleen Oakley, explores the intriguing question of what if? It uses a unique premise to ruminate on common themes like marriage, infertility, grief, guilt, and familiarity vs. newness in romantic relationships. The characters come off as authentic (flawed, but relatable), the prose is engaging, and the story compelling. You Were There Too kept me guessing right up until the unexpected plot twist at the end which seems to come out of nowhere, but is actually inevitable and, when you think about it, not entirely surprising. Overall, then, I found You Were There Too to be an engrossing, funny, poignant novel about love, loss, and the strange "coincidences" of life that maybe aren't so coincidental after all.
(Readalikes: Reminds me of novels by Joshilyn Jackson and Katherine Center)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder expletives), mild sexual content, and violence
To the FTC, with love: I received an e-ARC of You Were There Too from the generous folks at Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
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