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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated Read It and Weep in Books

Oct 12, 2019

Romance Overshadows Mystery

This fall, Lindsey’s friend Violet La Rue is directing a local theater production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and she is encouraging everyone to try out for it. Lindsey is more interested in working behind the scenes on the costumes, but many of her friends land parts in the play. The one non-community member cast is Violet’s friend, Robbie Vine, a celebrated actor. He brings with him his wife and his girlfriend, but he still is immediately smitten with Lindsey, and he starts flirting with her, which does nothing but irritate Sully, Lindsey’s ex. However, Lindsey’s romantic troubles aren’t the biggest issue on the stage. Instead, a series of increasingly more serious accidents seem to be happening in the theater. Is someone out to destroy the production? Is any one person the target? Will Lindsey get to the bottom of things before someone dies?

Since I’m behind on this series, I knew that Lindsey was going to have some serious issues with her love life, and that is the case here. In fact, it feels more like the focus of the book with the mystery being a sub-plot. I’m a guy, so I don’t tend to read romances, and I stir clear of many romantic comedies because they aren’t my thing. The romantic comedy aspect of this book certainly bothered me. While there are some mysterious occurrences, it wasn’t really until the second half when the mystery really got going and even then, is often overshadowed by the romance. There is a good twist to the mystery, however. And I adore the series characters. We get to see a different side of a couple of them and finally spend some time getting to know Violet. On the other hand, the suspects were rather weak. I’ve read enough of author Jenn McKinlay’s books to know this is a blip from an author I usually adore. If you are a fan of her books, you’ll still want to see what happens here. If you are new to her books, you’ll be better served starting with a different book and coming back to this one later. Personally, I am looking forward to visiting Lindsey again soon.

Kudos

Edwards ... One-Nil!: The Keith Edwards Story

Keith Edwards and Andy Pack

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Edwards - One-Nil! is the no frills and honest account of his life by Keith Edwards, a man who made...

The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2015

Mircea Pitici

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This annual anthology brings together the year's finest mathematics writing from around the world....

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated A Scone of Contention in Books

Aug 11, 2021

Food Critic in Scotland

Hayley and Nathan are finally going on their honeymoon – if you can call the trip that. They are heading to Scotland so that Hayley can meet Nathan’s sister, Vera, and their neighbor, Miss Gloria, and Nathan’s mother are tagging along. When they arrive, they quickly discover that Vera is in the final stages of a book about Scotland, but the tension among Vera and her coauthors is strong. An attempted poisoning and a suspicious accident make Hayley think that something strange is going on. Can she figure it out?

As a fan of this series, I wondering how I would feel about a book away from Key West since the location is a strong character in the books. Fortunately, we get some scenes before and after on the island and the characters left behind get cameos. The book balances travelogue with mystery well, and anyone who has wanted to visit Scotland will only want to visit more about reading this book. I did feel that both the main plot and subplot’s climaxes were anti-climactic. They did answer all of our questions, but they were a bit abrupt. I did enjoy getting to meet the new characters, and anyone as hungry by the talk of food as I am will be pleased by the recipes at the end of the book. Fans of the series will be glad we got to crash Nathan and Hayley’s honeymoon.

Kudos

Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Night Circus in Books

Sep 14, 2022

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry

8.1

(106 Ratings)

Book Rating

165 of 230
Book
The Night Circus
By Erin Morgenstern
⭐️⭐️

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

This took way too long to read I got seriously bored. I know this is a super popular book but for me I just didn’t like it. I fell into the hype I don’t know why I keep doing it to myself!