Category: B reviews (Page 7 of 74)

October Round Up

November 1, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, narrated by Lorelei King – B I picked this audiobook up via my library. Lorelei King is a favourite narrator (she does the Mercy Thompson series) but I admit it threw me a little when Ted Bundy sounded like Adam Hauptmann!

I admit I knew little about Ted Bundy before this. (Hello. Australian.) I knew of him of course and that he was a serial killer but beyond that, not much else. Wow. What an animal he was. Cruel, vicious and manipulative. Ugh.

There’s an extra layer to this book though. Ann Rule was his friend. They met when they worked together at a crisis helpline. As I was listening there was a kind of meta layer to it and I spent a bit of time thinking about her relationship with Bundy and trying to put myself in her place. I think I would not have stuck by him or sent him money for cigarettes and postage stamps in jail. I think I would have washed my hands of him. That she did not was… a choice.

There are a number of afterwords which update events beyond the original ending of the book and take the story to Bundy’s execution in 1989. That last one seemed to shift in tone to more condemnation of Bundy than the original book did. I wondered about why that was. Continue reading

September Round Up

October 2, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Riley Thorn & the Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score, narrated by Natalie Duke – B+ I picked up this audiobook for $4.95 when it was an Audible Daily Deal recently but as it happened it was easily worth the cost of a credit. What a delightful find! Not only did I stumble into a new-to-me author (with a significant backlist for extra bonus points) but a fabulous new-to-me narrator as well.

Riley Thorn comes from a family of psychic women but has rejected her heritage and lives in denial. Except, when she is confronted by a vision of her creepy neighbour being murdered, things start to get real. Nick Santiago is a private investigator who was trying to serve a summons on the guy who (spoiler alert) ends up actually dead and because reasons, he ends up investigating the murder, along with Riley.

Riley lives in a large shared house filled with old people (for reasons I didn’t understand – perhaps I missed the explanation? – she has to pretend they’re all related) and they’re quirky, hilarious and also a wonderful found family. Riley is a bit of a caretaker and feels responsible for her neighbours and so wishes to protect them from any potential harm once it becomes clear that after the murder the bad guy may well be back for more nefarious deeds. Continue reading

REVIEW: Social Queue by Kay Kerr

September 28, 2021 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I was provided with a review copy by the publisher. The book is currently only available in/from Australia and New Zealand.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) ‘I thought I was nobody’s teen crush, but turns out I was just missing the signs.’

Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment.

When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list of romantic contenders from the past to reconnect with for her piece on dating, she is hoping one of her old sparks will turn into a new flame.

Social Queue is a funny and heart-warming autistic story about deciphering the confusing signals of attraction and navigating a path to love.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I don’t read a lot of YA – let’s face it, I’m in it for the romance. Zoe is 18 and so technically an adult but the book is very much a YA, not least because while there is a romance with a hopeful HFN ending, the main story is of Zoe’s own self-discovery and coming of age.

In her first year of university studying journalism, she wins one of three coveted four-week internships at “Bubble” an online media outlet which seemed something like a small Buzzfeed, based in her hometown of Brisbane. She’s also recently dipped her toe into the murky waters of online dating (something I have no experience with because I’m old and married) and it hasn’t gone so well. So she pitches an article for Bubble about her experiences as an autistic young woman navigating the apps. After the first article goes live, there are a five comments which seem to indicate that she’d missed prior signs from people she’d gone to school or worked a part time job with and that spurs a series where Zoe gets in contact with each of the five to find out what she missed and see if there’s a spark of something now.

Romance readers will not be surprised by who the eventual HFN is with but I will not name names here. Continue reading

Review at Dear Author

September 24, 2021 / Kaetrin

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell. Fun and sexy small town contemporary featuring the best friend’s little sister trope.

July Round Up

August 2, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

One Fine Fae by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi & Jonathan Davis – B- I listened to the most recent full length book in this series recently, Shifters in the Night, and realised I’d missed this novella where Jillian and Bael’s baby is born. So I backtracked, naturally. Charlotte is a fae-human midwife who uses her magic to bless the babies she assists into the world. Leonard is the hapless assistant to Sonya and Jillian at the League, living under a longstanding family curse which makes him clumsy when stressed. The more stressed he is, the more clumsy. Charlotte is instantly drawn to the sweet-natured Leonard and discovers that she may be able to break the curse.

And, of course, Jillian’s baby arrives. Given she is carrying a “giant metal egg” inside her I was interested in how she was going to manage quite apart from just wanting to listen to how the happy event occurs for Jillian and Bael’s benefit.

One Fine Fae is novella-length and does not have a suspense plot like the other books. I kept waiting for it but it never arrived. Continue reading

June Round Up

July 6, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

A Rogue’s Downfall by Mary Balogh – C+/B- I pick up Mary Balogh’s old Signet Regencies as they become available electronically. Some are better than others. A Rogue’s Downfall is a collection of three novellas which were originally published in multi-author anthologies between 1993 and 1995 and falls somewhere in the middling range overall.

The Anniversary tells the story of a rake who compromised a debutante and ended up married with a baby. Hugh Reardon, Earl of Richmond, feels guilty for his conduct and stays away for most of a year. In fact, he thinks of what he did as rape but it is clear to readers that Amy was entirely willing. I did not find any dubious consent in the story but I did appreciate that he wondered about his conduct and felt guilty and actually named it in his mind as rape. Perversely, if he was as bad as he thought he might have been he’d never have considered the term as applying to him. In any event, he had loved her from afar and has been true to his marriage vows. He longs fro his wife and son and tries to woo her of the course of the day of their “anniversary” (ie the anniversary of sex, not the wedding). While he does not regret their marriage he wishes what led to it had been different and so he tries a version of a do-over. Amy is, understandably, initially suspicious but as she loved him prior to their encounter too, she’s by no means immune to his charms. The story is sweet, full of inappropriate servants and could have been longer but I liked it well enough. Continue reading