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The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer

978-0099493730

Really very good book. A nice little murder, Pot loads of likely suspects. Very likeable hero and heroine with a pleasant romance thrown in.

Plot: Unpleasant mans fortunately early demise
Whimsical heroine all dewy eyes
Multiple suspects - motives no surprise
Pleasantly astute detective eventually sees through lies

Characters: Hero, Heroine, irascible victim - i do find it satisfying when nasty people are bumped off, multiple secondaries of varying degrees of annoya-bility (it's a word now)

What to love: The set up is good. The murderer reasonably unexpected and the structure excellent.

What to loathe: Sometimes you don't know whether to care more about the romance or the murder. On my dumber days ( of which there are many) I get a little bit frazzled by a split focus in a story. I think it is more a me thing than a story thing


Buy, Borrow or Bin: Buy - Really very good - and worth reading again even when you know who has done it.

If this book was a drink it would be: . A glass of iced milk. I love iced milk and often crave it so this is a good thing.

The gifts of Christmas by Mary Balogh et al

I can barely face reviewing this collection of short stories, it is so bad. Perhaps the name Merline Lovelace on the cover should have stopped me picking this up at the library altogether - it is practically diabolical in itself.

A handful of gold by Mary Balogh
** out of *****
She can write much better than this. Virginal showgirl shows rake meaning of Christmas. Makes you want to take up paganism.

A drop of frankincense by Merline Lovelace
* out of *****
Arranged marriage consumated by sneaky feisty wife, then they go to fight the Spanish and meet Queen Elizabeth I. Reads like a parody.

A touch of myrrh by Suzanne Barclay
** out of *****
Some interesting detail about the spice trade, however once again the heroine shows the hero the meaning of Christmas and makes us all sick with her feisty goodness. She would not have lasted 10 minutes in reality and the author cannot make us believe otherwise.

genre: historical romance

read: 12/4/8

Naughty Neighbor [Neighbour] by Janet Evanovich

**** out of *****

Fluff. This is part of series of re-issues of a short romances of a now more-famous author. Its lightweight with a lot of charm and demonstrates the quirky characters and snappy dialogue that she has written over and over again since. (perhaps too many times but we won't go into that). Short and modern. The cover doesn't really sum up the political intrigue central to the book though. And the title is a bit iffy too.

genre: romance

read: 12/4/8

The comeback kiss by Lani Diane Rich

*** out of *****

I should probably give this more stars, but the lead characters are such idiots they annoyed me the whole way through. It has a lot of similarities to Jennifer Crusie in terms of the writing style and elements of the plot, that I couldn't help comparing it to Faking It (minor criminal going straight) and Tell Me Lies (lost love returns). Both of which are better. Its promising and passed the time pleasantly but I couldn't love it, and with all the quirky small town atmostphere it is desperate for you to love it.

Genre: romance

Read: 12/4/8

Dates From Hell by Kim Harrison et al

This is a collection of short stories on the theme of bad dates with the supernatural. The blurb says "We've all [had] dreadful experiences that turned out to be uniquely memorable in the very worst way." Well, this book is another of those dreadful experiences. Its awful to varying degrees throughout.

Undead in the garden of good and evil by Kim Harrison.
* out of *****
Lame! Vampire mythology messed about purely for plot purposes, not to say anything interesting. Demonstrates the main problem with the supernatural romance-ish genre - the author really doesn't seem to understand either genre that well. To top it off, this is blatantly a filler between stories in a series, referring to characters and events outside the story to no purpose. Painful to read.


The Claire Switch Project by Lynsay Sands
** out of *****
Bearable. Especially after the last one. Its a bit sci-fi, but again science is pushed out the way whenever the author wants to have something happen in the plot. It is not possible to have any respect for the characters, they are such children. Pointless.

Chaotic by Kelley Armstrong *** out of *****
Ok, there was a bit of feeding in too much of an outside mythology for my liking but in this collection this story stands out like the light at the end of the tunnel. A half chaos demon that can find trouble runs into a werewolf and a reasonable plot ensues. The characters are interesting and likeable. Like a lot of supernatural romance this is heavily influenced by Buffy and written in first person. I wish people wouldn't do that! First person is terribly hard to do well. I would read this author again.

Dead Man Dating by Lori Handeland
** out of *****
Back to the lame vampiric demons. And a lame virgin sub-plot to boot. The demons are more believable than the virgin. Also, again with the first person. Dear Author, you are not as good as Mary Stewart so no more of the thoughts of the sub-Buffy idiot protagonist!

Genre: Supernatural/sci-fi romance

Read: 12/4/8

What The Lady Wants by Jennifer Crusie

***** out of *****

This was a re-read of the first Jennifer Crusie I really got. I tried Fast Women before this but couldn't get beyond the first couple of chapters. But this book moves much faster - its shorter and in a more popular style. Once you've got into Crusie's books there is no turning back. You'll still look back fondly at this one though.

There are some boringly stereotyped secondary characters in this, but the main protagonists are so appealling that its forgivable. As usual for a Crusie at the end I was still wondering quite what had happened. Which is a good excuse for a re-read.

If you like the mystery/mafia family plot of this, then try Agnes and the Hitman by the same author.

Genre: Romance with bit of mystery

Read: 12/4/8

Big Money P G Wodehouse

ISBN: 1841591513

I love P G Wodehouse. I am an odd ball amongst Wodehouse fans in that I tend to avoid the Blandings and the Jeeves books and hover around the stand alone stories like a hyper glycemic fly round honey...

Plot:
Chumps: Clueless adorable guys and gals find true love despite themselves and each other
Humps: How rude - not those kind - this is Wodehouse you remember - it is merely that the course of true love does not run smooth. Especially if you are engaged to the wrong person
Mumps: Its OK they are imaginary mumps.. Read the book and you will know what Imean...

Characters:
The standard and wonderful Wodehouse guys and girls by turns dizzyingly ditzy and pulse stopingly pragmatic. Beautifully drawn one and all

What to love:
Twisty plot, gorgeous dialogue, terribly funny, happy ever after

What to loathe:
Not quite as good as my fave Wodehouses - but honestly that is a pretty high standard

Buy, Borrow or Bin:
Buy - Really very good - also the hardbacks out at the moment are truly beautiful.

If this book was a drink it would be:

Rose Tea - Light, fragrant, complex and reassuring whilst being strangely unexpected

On Amazon Site

P.G Wodehouse Society