Pallas Poppies

Same issues I had with the third book, feels paint by numbers and I think the murder here is clunky. In the first book the three sleuths all have their own things going on and have an arc but now it feels almost like there’s one person too many and there’s not enough for everyone to do. Feels a bit lackluster and uninspired.

Just another meh for me. Didn’t get why the MC became BFF with one of the ex wives right away. And there were more than one person that said something like, “Well her ex husband cheated on her, that can drive them to murder” (not murdering the ex husband but going crazy and kill people), what?

Yeah, meh.

In this one Frank and Sarah are on their honeymoon so this time it’s up to Maeve and Officer Donatelli to solve the case, with a little help of course.

It was nice and refreshing with something new but at the same time, nothing was really different with how the sleuthing happened. A bit slow and I like Sarah and Frank more.

It will be interesting to see what the next book will bring.

I didn’t really get into this one. Never fully understood the world and why they had a Battle Royal thing happening. Why are the N*zis called the Allied Forces? They are not allied to people and where are they from? The Arctic? Who moved to the Arctic, can’t be many living there in that harsh climate so… Maybe the author didn’t want to give a nationality to bad guys and offend anyone?

A map could have been useful here, I didn’t know where I was or how the world looked.

It is mentioned that the baddies liked Scandinavian stuff so maybe they started using Norwegian/Danish Ö for aesthetic reasons but I read it as Stööörmbane each time, there was kömmand in there as well. Can’t help but laugh. I think spending some more time with the languages would have been good or skipped it all together. As everything is set in our world there should be some similarities with a real language but doubt that was the case.

Now to the characters, I didn’t get to know any of them, not really. We have Coa that’s off to the Great Hunt, and a guy that winks a lot and despite being forced to strip and at gun point Coa has the time to appreciate how hot he is and admire his penis. What does she do… um, she’s sent to the game and… yeah.

Then we have… Efi? Who’s an exotic princess who pretends to be older and stupid and marries a n*zi to spy and get revenge.

Doesn’t feel like much happened at all… Early draft vibes after watch Hunger Games a few times and being scared with our worlds current political climate but doesn’t do it for me. Needed more work.

PS. Very cliffhangy ending and I hate that with a passion.

Holly is forced back to her home town when her fiancé cheats on her just before the wedding. Back in Mistletoe she helps out as her parents Christmas tree farm, one evening after an argument between her father and the cranky lady, Holly finds the lady dead…

All in all it was fine but doesn't really do that much for me. If there was as much time spent on the crime as it was on the Christmas fun it might have been better. Feels more like a romance that a mystery.

At one point Hollys mom says the cute sheriff doesn’t date. And Holly asks some more questions and mom continues, “Nope. Ask anyone. I think every single woman in town made a trip to his doorstep when he first moved here last summer. Some kept after him for months, but he wasn’t having any of it. Eventually they all gave up.”

I hate that sort of stuff, like the MC is so special (why?) he falls for her right away.

At one point the cute sheriff says, “Maybe we can work together.” Why? Why would he do that?

The whipped cream in a can… what the heck? Doesn’t anyone in the US actually whip cream? I always see those horrible cans in books and movies.

It’s fine but the back stories are really starting to feel neglected.

I can’t understand why Cleo is so reluctant to try things with Harry, I really don’t and I didn’t get it in the previous book either.

Than we have Flossi, she does nothing in this book and going nowhere. Floyd who’s a bit like an older brother and it’s a nice relationship but he does nothing in this book, going nowhere. Cocaine auntie? Doing nothing, going nowhere. Uncle whatever his name is, same… and everyone else of her friends at the hotel… so many characters but no action whatsoever.

The ending felt forced, must put Cleo in a “damsel in distress” situation, must be saved by love interest. It’s so short, blink and you missed it. Ugh and why?

Another knockout in the series. Enjoyed it like I always do with Caimhs books.

In other news, I think Bunny would enjoy a Finnish sauna more than a Danish spa so maybe he can find his way over to Kani next? Can we get Bunny to Finland, please? Maybe he’s visiting Santa for some reason?

Oh I had the audiobook and Morgan C Jones was great like always.

I don’t really give 5 stars because no book is better than “Pride and Prejudice” but to show love and support I raise my 4 star to a 5 star.

Lady Ellen Ashcombe checks into Millar’s Hotel while getting her house back in order after it’s been used as a convalescence home during the war.

While at the hotel she comes across two old acquaintances, one she’s glad to see and one she hopes would choke… only to fall dead into his soup.

Almost a little too cute and wholesome for me. Lady Ellen shows up in the kitchen as she likes one of the maids and helps her cut beans and butting in, in a way that really isn’t appropriate. She then commandeer the maid away from the hotel and acts pretty bossy. All while wanting to be treated like everyone else.

(I actually broke a rule when reading this book. I have banned books with the cover that has that pose, they are so many of them and they are never good)

I kind of read this in preparation for when everyone told me how great it is and that I have to read it just like they did with “Thursday Murder Club” which I first DNFed and then after more recommendations I finally pushed through and it was just meh. And I expected nothing else from this, but was pleasantly surprised, I liked it!

Rosie steals the show but I’m starting to feel that the glamorous hard drinking older woman is starting to become old, how many times has she been on page now? But I like Rosie.

Amy also feels a little bit done, a hard woman, rough upbringing and doesn’t like to talk about emotions… I’m still not sure how having a tough time growing up and then working at a gym can give you a job where you suddenly jump out of a chopper and throwing hand grenades but maybe we will find out in another book? Her background/job qualifying part was possibly my least favorite part… along with her hubby that felt kind of pointless but maybe he will be important later on.

I also liked Carlos… and the cat!

You need to go with it from the start and lean to the fun parts and read it like a comedy, things are convenient for the main characters and many things are unbelievable.

I’m willing to bet money that this started out as Only Murders in the Building fanfic.

It’s cheesy and cute and I’m okay with that. Reads pretty young but there was something about it that made me stick around. Sure, a lot of things are very convenient for the MC. I’ll give the second book a read, but it will be weird if a whole bunch of dead body start showing up in the same building complex.

I quickly went to “dramatization” instead of facts and with that, I did enjoy this. It was fast paced and enjoyable. But it’s not written as fact but much more like fiction, if you want facts, I’m sure there’s a better book available.

I listened to the audio version.

As a non fiction it feels like there are plenty of times the author takes liberties and put thoughts and feelings in peoples head that I don’t know how he would know about. He’s a bit dramatic…

Couldn’t help to react when the author calls a man Judas for giving up Booth and later there’s also a mention of Jesus and Golgotha when someone gives Booth water… Booth was a racist ahole, he wasn’t Jesus. Author is clearly fascinated by his subject so he feels bias. There was a part in the epilogue as well when I was like, “Did I hear that right?”

First in a series so a little slow to get started as they are setting everything up. A lot of potential but felt pretty meh.

The misfits at Olivia's job are a few too many and it feels a little crowded and leaving little space for any of the characters, perhaps if they were fewer we could focus on building a connection to them?

This womans diet… bad coffee for breakfast, cheeseburger and fries for breakfast/lunch (she does say at one point that it’s her daily cheeseburger) and then some chips and cookies for snacks in the evening… she must be supernatural eating that.

Also, she’s on her way to her brother in San Diego when he car breaks down in Arizona. Maybe I missed it but I don’t remember her ever call him or having him mentioned again. “Haven’t heard from my sister in a week after she said she was driving here, I’m sure she’s fine.”

What do a cop, a corrupt ex cop now working for the Mafia and a female Pinkerton Detective have in common? They are all trying to find the notorious axe murderer in New Orleans.

So New Orleans 1919 and there’s a serial killer on loose, sign me up, sounds great!

But I don’t really get into it, it’s too slow, nothing really at stake. No suspense and no thrills. Another book that makes me go meh, has such a promise though. Feels like a book I will forget I ever read before the year is over.

I did like the characters but I think they could have popped more, if the axeman gets them… oh well.

Wait, what? It was THE Louis Armstrong? Why?!

My audio version had an authors notes at the end and he was taking about how he felt about his first draft and he said basically what I’m still thinking, something about how this adolescent tripe and that the MC was stupid.

Bond wish women were in the kitchen and he wants to f*ck Vesper to make sure he dick works after he’s been tortured. He calls her bitch repeatedly but never to her face, he’s such a pretentious douchebag and I did think that this is some old man fantasy about being a guy, gross. Some racism as well because why not. Started early with, “Ears small, with large lobes, indicating some Jewish blood.” It was a stupid book.

Amanda is struggling with life after her daughter is murder and her husband kills himself, she wants the man responsible dead. She’s meets Wendy at a support group and they start taking, maybe they can help each other out?

My previous thriller had no thrills, there’s plenty in this one. Maybe the ending escalated a little too quickly for me but all in all I enjoyed it, it was a fun ride.

When it comes to cameras and DNA… I just went with it, not always believable but I decided to just not care.

SPOILER: But why the F did she burn Sparkles? Her daughter would have trusted her to look after Sparkles, she’d be devastated to know what happened to him.

Layla has a normal life but her actor boyfriend is desperate for a break and begs her to be part of a reality show. She accepts and off to tropical paradise, the first night on the island a storm hits and they are now cut off and needs to survive…

“As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla realises that someone is playing this game for real - and they’ll stop at nothing to win. Ten might have arrived, but who will survive to the end?”

I thought it was going to be a thriller but it’s more a physical drama and doesn’t really connect with the blurb.

It does raise some interesting questions about survival and decisions you might make as a group etc but… I was pretty bored. Maybe not sell it as a thriller full of suspense?

The characters felt paper thin and I didn’t care who lived or died. The MC had an inner dialog, something like, “It must have been horrible to have his young beautiful niece dying”. And yes, the death of ugly young nieces are much easier to deal with. And she also gets surprised that a beautiful woman could be in an abusive relationship. Sure, this were issues that could have been addressed if the MC was vain and all about looks but realizing that survival isn’t skin deep but it doesn’t.

I wanted, “And Then There Were None” in a tropical paradise and I feel cheated. It felt uninspired, thank the Gods I didn’t pay for this books. Libraries are amazing!

Ellie Mallory's having a bad day, she’s getting fired after being arrested at a suffragettes protest and when she accidentally comes across a mysterious map an amulet in her bosses office she decides it’s time for an adventure. But when stealing the map she’s soon found out and the villain is after her across the Atlantic…

This is like the cheesy lovechild between The Mummy and Indiana Jones. It’s not perfect but reads like an 80-90’s adventure movie and it’s kind of fun.

Didn’t really buy the love story, the MC throws a few “Why you stuck up, half witted, scruffy looking nerf herder!” his way just because. The first impression and irritation between them feels pretty forced. Both of the MCs are very cliché, we’ve seen these characters before in movies. There’s a lot of mention of how muscular the man is, male flesh etc etc and he’s often missing his shirt. Maybe tell yourself that this is an 80’s movie and you can just roll with it? If those kind of movies are not appealing to you, maybe this is not the book for you.

But I had fun and I will look for the second part in the series and see if it can keep it up for a second book. Just finished it so maybe I’m overdoing it but, eff it, 4 stars!

I saw the cover with the Cloud Cutter and was intrigued and booked it at my library. If it had been an other cover I might never have read this book.

Parts of the book is great, parts of the book is slow, a lot is unbelievable. It’s written in 4 parts and the first part is the best part and after that I was sort of hoping it would pick up again, a little slow build up but no, doesn’t happen.

The ease of travelling and no mention of money is unbelievable to me.

Still enjoyed it all in all and I’m happy I read it. Due to the strong first part I will give it a 4 but most of the book is around 3-3,5.

The murder and mystery is kind of fun but it’s a book of it’s time. You can tell by looking at people if they are foreigners, “The man is a Frenchman—I would take my oath on that—”

And then we have Captain Hastings, a man in his 30’s lusting after a child, “ I judged that she was little more than seventeen…”