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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2340 KP) rated Charred in Books

Feb 25, 2023

Charred

GP Gottlieb | 2023 | Mystery

5.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Will Alene Get Charred During the Pandemic’s Early Days?

This book opens in May 2020 and finds Alene Baron trying to keep her café in Chicago opened with a reduced staff and takeout or delivery only. Things are complicated when her long lost uncle returns to town and wants to connect with his brother, Alene’s father. Oh, and there are bodies turning up in burned out buildings owned by Alene’s best friend’s husband.

Since this is the third book in the series, I like the characters. That helped me get on board with the story that is truly the main story in the book, not the mystery that you’d expect in a culinary cozy. While I enjoyed the real main story, that backwards emphasis bothered me, especially how the story of the burned out buildings was resolved. I’m not sure I was ready to read a book set during the pandemic, but the book does a good job of capturing how everyone was feeling about life then. However, it introduces the riots before the event that triggered them happened in real life. The end result was only average.

Kudos

Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Daughter of Hades ( Cerberus book 2) in Books

Mar 17, 2022

49 of 230
Kindle
Daughter of Hades ( Cerberus book 2)
By Helen Scott
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poppy never thought her life would get this crazy.

Sexy hellhound guards and being the future queen of the Underworld? She had been happy being a waitress and a freelance graphic designer in Chicago, hadn't she? What she was doesn't matter, that life is long gone now.

Before she can travel to the Underworld, she needs to find three judges that will preside over the souls of the dead. But who are they? Where are they? And how the hell is she supposed to find them?

As she battles agents of Hel at every turn and is confronted with mysterious new enemy Poppy is decidedly on edge. Will she find her judges in time or will her enemies get to them first?

We pick this up with Poppy searching for her 3 judges as well as getting closer with her hellhounds. It was ok it’s an easy series to read and can get a bit spicy. It was action packed too. All the things you expect from a RH. The one thing I’d like more is more depth.

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2340 KP) rated Fatal First Edition in Books

Feb 15, 2024

Murder Aboard a Moving Train

This book starts out in Chicago, where Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are attending the annual archivist convention. Lindsey is having a fantastic time, and that includes the train trip back home to Connecticut. Quite a few of the attendees are also on the train. However, when Lindsey wakes up the next morning, someone is dead in the compartment next to her and Sully. Does it have anything to do with the valuable first edition that Lindsey stumbled upon during the keynote address?

One thing I love about cozy mysteries are the familiar locations and characters, so I was happy to see this book found an excuse to spend a lot of time at home while continuing the plot. The series regulars gave us some great laughs. Meanwhile, the plot zigs in a different direction part way through, and I was hooked as a result. Unfortunately, it did make the climax a bit rushed, although it was still logical. Fans will be pleased with this entry in the series. If you haven’t started these books yet, you’ll be happy you changed that.

Kudos

50 Under 50: Innovators of the 21st Century

Eva Maddox, Beverly Russell, Farooq Ameen and The Images Publishing Group

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Features design innovations that have become the visual models for idea advancement worldwide. "...a...

Wetter - Radar - Sturm mit MORECAST App

Weather and Utilities

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

MORECAST is Your Complete Weather App with Radar&Globe and many more features! The MORECAST weather...

Erika (17789 KP) rated The Current War (2017) in Movies

Oct 29, 2019 (Updated Oct 29, 2019)

The Current War (2017)

2017 | Biography, Drama, History

7.2

(12 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

I believe I have finally reached Benedict Cumberbatch fatigue; all I asked myself during the entire movie was... No other actor could have played Edison? No one else?
First, this movie was supposed to come out in 2017, but was held up because of something to do with Weinstein. This movie hit theaters in the US this past Friday as The Current War - The Director's Cut.
Well, the director didn't cut out enough, in my opinion. It was one of the longest hour and 41 minute movies of my life. Cumberbatch's Alan Turing, sorry, Thomas Edison, was fine. My main issue with the film was that, I didn't know what the point was, it just kept going. I found out at the end, the point was who was going to light The World's Fair in Chicago. That probably should have been introduced a little bit earlier in the film.
I was mostly looking forward to Nicholas Hoult's Tesla. The movie needed more Tesla, and probably shouldn't have sidelined him for the majority of the movie. Shannon's Westinghouse and Macfayden's JP Morgan were both good too.
If anything comes out of this movie's release, hopefully it's that people stop thinking we use the current Edison used.