reviews

The Edge of Dreams: A Molly Murphy Mystery – Rhys Bowen

Angela2 Comments

I found another great series while wandering up and down the aisles at my local library. Unfortunately, I did what I always do when starting a new series; I opened the front cover of one of the books, found the list of the books in the series, and grabbed the first 3 on the list. The books are not listed in order of release, as most series do, so I got 3 books in the middle of the series. I opted to read them anyhow since I had them, and on my return trip I will get the books starting from the beginning.

The story takes place in 1905, when transportation is trains, horse and carriage, as well as automobiles which are a rare site on the streets. I enjoy stories from this time period, reading about what food was eaten, clothes were worn, how homes were decorated, and how men and women behaved.

Molly Murphy Sullivan is from Ireland, living in New York City with her husband, police Captain Daniel Sullivan, and their 1 year old son, Liam. As Molly was a detective before marrying Daniel, she has a keen interest in his cases. In this story, she is the one who solves the mystery, with mush risk on her life.

Daniel is not 100% on-board with her help in his cases, but he is a loving husband who is concerned about his wife’s safety. He does ask for her help with a couple of things where she is more likely to get information than a police officer would.

Daniel has been receiving letters from a murderer both before and after the murder takes place, taunting him and the force for not being able to catch them. They know another is going to take place, and Daniel is determined to find the culprit before another life is lost.

I thought this story was great, and I really wish I would have gotten the first books in this series, where Molly was single, living in Ireland, and a detective. The book I am reading now is the one directly before this one, and the other book I got is the one right after this one.

Have you read this series? What do you think of series that take place in the past? They are some of my favorites! Let me know in the comments below!

Troubled Blood – Robert Galbraith

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Troubled Blood is book 5 in the Cormoran Strike series. At 927 pages, there was a lot to unpack about this book. I really enjoyed the story, but to say it was confusing is a serious, HUGE, understatement.

The Detective Agency had numerous cases they were working on throughout the length of the entire book, other than the main case that the story centered on. It was difficult keeping all of these other characters straight when they were mentioned in the story. I finally stopped flipping back through what I had already read trying to decipher who was who. I just kept reading through it figuring I would either figure it out in the end, or not. Some of them I did, some I didn’t. It had no effect on the main characters in the story so I stopped stressing about it.

This is precisely the same reason I did not like the 4th book of this series, Lethal White. It was like a bunch of characters and scenes were added just to increase the length of the book. I have read that she plans on 10-13 more books being written in this series. I am guessing this is in order to keep the television series going. I cannot imagine the length of the final book in this series if each one has to be longer than the last.

With that being said, I did like the story. I liked the development of Strike and Robin’s friendship? Relationship? Whatever they have going on, I am here for it. I will not say more about that since I try to avoid spoilers whenever possible.

I will gladly read the next book, and the one after that, and so-on. I just hope she can reign it in some and get rid of all the filler noise that is not necessary.

Did you read this book? What did you think of it? Let me know below!

All Murders Final – Sherry Harris

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Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series book 3

ALL MURDERS FINAL mech.indd

As Sarah seeks to expand her garage sale business, she decides to go online with a virtual garage sale to help out her sales during the cold, snowy Winter months. Things seem to be going well, until clients are getting robbed, and Sarah is getting threatened, all while trying to deal with the two men in her life, and the family of mobsters that are renting the apartment next to hers.

Sarah being the one to find the body of the woman whom she had an online argument with the night before puts her in the hot seat, and it will take all of her wits, as well as some help from her friends, and maybe the mobsters, to clear her name and stop a murderer. When someone near-and-dear to her heart is looking like the next victim, Sarah risks it all. But does she make it in time?

Up next: My review of book 4 in the series, A Good Day to Buy.

You can find book three here: All Murders Final – Sherry Harris

The Longest Yard Sale – Sherry Harris

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Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series book 2

The Longest Yard Sale book 2

As Sarah finds success setting up, and sometimes running, garage sales for others, she decides to have the Longest Yard Sale in New England. What looks like a successful turnout gets out of control as traffic gets jammed up everywhere, someone is setting fires in different spots all over town, and that dead body found in Sarah’s friend Carol’s Paint and Wine Shop is not the ending to the day that she was hoping for.

Now Sarah has to figure out who the murderer is, what happened to the painting that was stolen from Carol’s shop, and deal with two suitors; her ex-husband and someone from her not-so-distant past. Can she solve the mystery and clear her friends name?

Up next: My review of book 3 in the series, All Murders Final.

You can find this second book here: The Longest Yard Sale – Sherry Harris

The first book is here as well: Tagged For Death – Sherry Harris

Tagged for Death-Sherry Harris

Angela4 Comments

Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series

I managed to read the first four book in this series in about a week, and absolutely loved them!

Tagged for Death cover image

Freshly divorced from her husband, CJ; Sarah now finds herself with plenty of time on her hands since she is no longer an Air Force wife. Her love for garage sales, finding a bargain, and negotiating a deal keep her occupied, and also open the door to a new form of employment; running other’s garage sales.

The cause of their divorce, a now-pregnant 19 year old named Tiffany, has gone missing. Sarah finds a startling discovery of bloody clothes belonging to CJ, (who happens to now be the Ellington Chief of Police), while she is going through some bags of items donated to the thrift shop on the base.

Her initial reaction is to hide them until she can figure out what is going on. Soon enough she has to bring it to CJ’s attention, and now they are both trying to clear his name, and find out what happened to Tiffany. Even though Sarah seems to have a couple people who are not fans of hers, she has her close friends who will stand by her through it all.

Up next: My review of book 2 in the series, The Longest Yard Sale.

You can learn more about Sherry Harris here: Author Sherry Harris

What are you reading right now? I have started on a new cozy series, and will be reviewing that very soon as well!

And The Winners Are…

Angela4 Comments

…Lisa and Janine! I have sent you an email with further instructions so I can get your gifts shipped to you.

I will be having another drawing shortly for ebooks for my international followers, as they were not able to participate in this giveaway…again, very sorry, and I am looking for a way to resolve this issue in the future for printed books!

More to come on the next giveaway, as well as some more book reviews!

Thank you to everyone who participated, as well as Julianna Deering for helping me out with this! This has definitely become my favorite cozy mystery series! I love being able to give these types of gifts to readers 😊

Babylon Rising – Tim LaHaye and Greg Dinallo

Angela3 Comments

Wow! Just Wow! What a page turner this story is! This was another random find as I was strolling through the aisles in my library, and I grabbed this book and the second book in the series. As I normally do, I looked it up online to find out exactly how many books are in this series.

I was hesitant to even start this book (series) as not only did I find there are 4 books, but all of the reviews lead me to believe that the fourth book did not wrap up any of the stories, and that at least one more book was meant to be/needed to be written.

Did I want to start a series that was not going to be wrapped up all nice and neat at the last book available? Not really. But it is about Biblical history, prophecy, and the coming end times, all of which fascinate me. So I got comfortable in my bed, or I should say my two cats got comfortable on me in my bed, and I opened the book.

Benjamin and Franklin
Benjamin and Franklin; my reading partners and all-around naughty boys.

Michael Murphy is a Professor, as well as Biblical Archaeologist. Thanks to a nemesis who is more than willing to have Murphy (as he is called) risk his life to get his hands on these historical treasures, this latest test involves the book of Daniel, and an object that is not only priceless, but will also help Murphy in his quest to prove the Bible is historically true.

Babylon Rising cover image

This book is one you will not be able to put down; or at least I couldn’t as I read it in a day. The twists and turns will have your heart not only racing, but also breaking, and celebrating all at the same time. There is a group of people who have set out to make all Evangelical Christians look like fanatics willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to get their point across to the public. Who would devise such a plan, and why? And why is this small group of people so powerful that they are able to get a few individuals to do their bidding, no questions asked?

I cannot wait to start book 2, The Secret on Ararat, and hope I do not regret reading this series which does not end all wrapped up nice and clean with a bow on it.

Lethal White – Robert Galbraith

Angela4 Comments

Well, I finished this book over a week ago, and have been avoiding writing a review on it ever since. I liked it well enough, but I certainly did not love it like the previous 3 books in the series. I had no sense of enjoyment every time I picked it up to read it. The first thing I always checked was where my bookmark was, and how much farther I had to go. It is hard to read a book that you just aren’t loving.

Lethal White Cover Image

The things I didn’t like were …. The length of the book. I felt like there was way too much detail to every single thing in the book that was not necessary and did not add to the story. Then there were so many characters, I had a hard time keeping up with all of the different story lines and subplots and interactions with everyone. The last few chapters felt like everything was just tossed out there to tie everything together.

I love the characters of Strike and Robin, and they were both going through personal issues that lent a new dynamic to their working and personal relationship. The blackmailing and possible decades old murder of a child are what was driving the story plot, and it was just too much.

I’m not the only one who took issue with this story. I have seen more reviews with the same complaints I have than reviews that were all positive.

Will I read the next story in the series? Absolutely! I also had huge issues with her novel “The Casual Vacancy”, but it did not stop me from picking up the first book in this series, “The Cuckoo’s Calling”. My review on “The Casual Vacancy” had comments from most that felt the same way I did. And one comment from someone who had a real issue with the fact that I did not like the book, and dared to say so on my own blog that I pay money for to keep up every year 😊 Such is life; you can’t please everyone. You can see my rant over that story, nearly 4 years ago, here: The Casual Vacancy book and TV Show

I got 12 books from my local library yesterday, so I am back to enjoyable reading time! How did you feel about this book?