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.

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

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

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

This is another of my favourite books.

10 Great things about this book

1. The heroine loves baking and understands the profoundly mystical significance of cinnamon rolls as large as your head.

2. The heroine has learnt many useful and lifesaving things from her dedicated novel and trashy newsfeed reading habit (See - it is good for me!!)

3. Decent plot

4. Great ensemble cast

5. Convincing world building - You can see the world Sunshine lives in

6. Quiet heroes - Like Mr Darcy both Con and Mel benefit from saying little but acting with integrity

7. Great baddies human and non human

8. No annoying Rice-ian sex scenes despite the fact Vampires exist in the world

9. Great anthromorphism - I like the way McKinley creates characters for things as well as people. It keeps things lively

10. Happy Ever After

How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the art of Comfort Cooking - Nigella Lawson

ISBN: 978-0701171087


Warning: Do not read if even the slightest bit hungry.

Those put off by the overly blousy sexy Nigella of recent tv series should not be.

This is why the women became famous in the first place. She really seems to write cook books for women. Real women who love the ida of cooking, who understand the sheer tactile joy that can be had from whipping up a batch of meltingly warm cupcakes for the menfolk.

I don't mean to be all unreconstructed here - but there is definitely a kind of power in home baking. Whether it is the sheer awe it inspires in all the chaps in my house or just walking around the house in a lovely warm cloud of vanillla, whatever it is ...that sense of warmth and mystery is found in this book.

Nigella gets it, she quantifies it and she has pulled together some lovely recipes so you can repeat it. Its a great book.

DON'T even look at it if you are contemplating a diet.

Nigella's site - the recipe section is fun - if only for the seriously random recipes and comments some people have posted

The Making of a Marchioness Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 1903155142

A more or less grown up read by the writer of The Secret Garden

This is a lovely book. In all the ways a books can be lovely. The only way it could be lovelier is if it was the worlds first nice smelling scratch and sniff book.

I read this book in its latest incarnation as a Persephone Book.

(If you don't know Persephone are a brilliant publishing house that specialise in reprinting literary gems that ladies will love to read. Each title is bound in lovely silver soft cover with a distinctive print on the inside.)

The story itself is a Worthy Cinderella tale that segues into a wonderfully melodramatic thriller. I love it because even though it is sort of a romance it is more a book abot women and the triumph of character over adversity. Also the best thing in it is the female friendships - which hardly ever get written about in a convincing manner in modern books.

This satisfies on pretty much all levels for me and has serious re-readability.

Plot: Turn of the 19/20th C Cinderella with a basket of fish instead of a glass slipper. Also a slice of life after Happily Ever After ....

Characters: Caricatures - but it kind of works as they are a reflection of the strangely mannered world of the British upper and middle classes.

What to love: Emily Fox-Seton is a very lovable heroine and her triumph over adversity through sheer (strangely not nauseating) sweetness of nature is refreshing. The ascerbic Lady Maria brightens up things immeasurably.

What to loathe: The unthinkingly racist, classist and sexist nature of pretty much everything in it. This really is a book of it's time. Do not read it expecting it to be modern and fair in outlook. It is a product of Empire...

Buy, Borrow or Bin: Buy

If this book was a drink it would be: A ladylike cup of tea in bone china served with lavender biscuits.

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Read the scanned text

good reads reviews

The Secret Diaries of Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn

***** out of ***** then downgraded to ****

Enjoyable fluff. Julia Quinn's stuff is always funny and barely historical. Like Loretta Chase on a sugar rush.

Genre: Historical Romance

Read: 29/8/2007 and 14/11/2007

The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair

**** out of *****

Promisingly entertaining and original but falls apart. Plot disjointed, character motivation jumps about all over the place and there is too much sex. I would try another of her books, but if it is as disjointed then it won't be worth the bother.

Genre: Modern Romance

Read: 19/12/2007