I wish Geraldine DeRuiter had written a memoir or personal essay collection instead of trying to shoehorn facts into her book of essays. The connection between the topic, the some sort of personal story she’d include and the facts she footnotes was often very tenuous. She does not seem to be an academic, a reporter or … Continue reading
I listened to all of the Ann Cleeves Vera, Shetland and Two Rivers novels and then moved to the Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid. Some themes, like fatphobia re: the main character are similar and for both Vera and the first book barely mentioned the detective until most of the book was over and … Continue reading
The mystery in You Should Have Told Me was pretty solid but I wanted to say that I enjoy reading a book where the people aren’t just upper middle class or wealthy moms, lawyers, writers, doctors etc. Janie is a reluctant unemployed mother and her partner is a guitar teacher with a low paying indie … Continue reading
All the Little-Bird Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow Continue reading
I have been working my way through all the Ann Cleeves novels as audiobooks. Wild Fire is the last Shetland book. The series isn’t as fatphobic as her Vera series but I do think Cleeves tells on herself a lot in her books. Perez is a real jerk to boss and fling Willow! I have … Continue reading
I don’t read a ton of rom-com type books but I liked Josie Silver’s first book and much like Beth O’Leary I keep reading her subsequent books and they are fine but never quite as good. A Winter in New York seemed like a good seasonal read. I don’t like reading about Christmas or snow … Continue reading
Gilly Macmillan’s books are generally pretty fun so I was looking forward to The Manor House. I do enjoy books set in weird giant houses in England! This one focused on two couples–one living in a garish smart house on the former grounds of a historic house the other couple lived in. Lots of twists … Continue reading
I want to say upfront that I received an ARC of Lost to Dune Road from NetGalley so I’m hoping the mistakes are fixed before publication. I was excited to see Kara Thomas back! I still think her YA is a little more solid than her adult fiction but this was a good start to … Continue reading
I have watched the Vera show for years along with Shetland and the short lived The Long Call. I had read the first book years ago and Vera Stanhope is only in it briefly and the book was long and the writing a little stilted so I didn’t pick up more. Then I thought to … Continue reading
I liked the idea of The Summer She Vanished but it could have done with some editing. There was a fair amount of repetition—for example the main character, Maggie, thought things like “why didn’t I think of that” about nearly every revelation. The American characters also used a lot of British terminology like “smallhold” that … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 