Search

Search only in certain items:

Lime and Punishment
Lime and Punishment
Cathy Wiley | 2025 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder Leaves a Tart Taste on This Festival
Jackie Norwood and her friends have landed in Maverick Key, one of the smaller of the Florida Keys, for their key lime festival. Everyone is happy to be there since it is February. But Jackie is disturbed to find out that two bar owners have been killed in the last few weeks. She was hoping for a more relaxed festival this time, however, it looks like murder has followed her once again. But it’s only after she runs into her high school band teacher and learns he’s the prime suspect that Jackie decides she must investigate. Can she clear her friend of the crime?

This book sets up the story as quickly as possible and then delivers a mystery filled with plenty of twists, great suspects, and red herrings along the way to the logical climax. All of Jackie’s friends are present, and they continue to provide the cozy core of these travel stories. I love how some relationships continue to evolved. We also get a nice dose of puns and other humor. There are plenty of key lime based recipes, and not all of them dessert. I was thrilled to be back for Jackie’s latest adventure. Fans new and old will find plenty to enjoy here.
  
How To Flirt with a Naked Werewolf was a cute fun quick read. I was sucked into the story right away by the fun witty voice of the interior monologue, relaxed writing style, and likeable characters (oh ok and drool-worthy male protagonist). I don't often find such a fun writing style or voice from romance novels, but Molly Harper has surprised me. She used creative descriptions, character, and personality in her writing.

(minor spoiler alert, this paragraph only!) The plot itself was a little "twilight-esque" with the whole "we can't be together so I'm going to leave and be emo" thing, the "I'm too dangerous for you" thing, and the constant nausea and realizing she's pregnant thing. But I liked Mo a lot better than Bella (who, can I just say, deserved an emo masochist) so I'm not too bothered by it. Plus, these 370 pages had just as much plot—and maybe more—than the entire twilight saga combined. Then again that's not hard to do.

I really enjoyed this book and would pick up the next ones in the series if I had money and a job. Alas, I have $0.70 in my checking account and no income. I'll have to pick it up over the summer when I get my job back…

Content: some sex, mild language. Ages 18+
  
EH
Every House is Haunted
Ian Rogers | 2012
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Standouts:
Cabin D - Intriguing beginning gave way to fascinating ending.
The Nanny - This just made for a neat ghost story.
The Cat - I could use a cat like this, but I don't know if I'd survive.
Charlotte's Frequency - Creepy and weird. Me likey. After reading, I wondered who'd win in a Cat vs. Charlotte battle. <spoiler>I vote for draw, or else they team up and annihilate humanity. That's probably more likely.</spoiler>
The Tattletail - Kinda cute, actually.
Inheritor - I kinda saw where this was headed but it still made for a darned good yarn.
The Candle - Appropriately creepy and a good book ender although I'm not exactly sure what the heck happened.

Ho-hum
Autumnology - I get it, but I think I'd get it more when I'm an old geezer. Physically, not just in mind.
The Dark and the Young - This was just too long and explained things too much but with little point.
Woods - I liked the thought behind this but the ending just didn't do anything for me.
Relaxed Best - In a different anthology, I might have liked this better as I like noir, but I just didn't care for where it went.
Twillingate - Meh.

All the rest of the tales fell somewhere in between awesome and meh, but even in the Ho-hum category, I didn't actually hate any of the stories.
3.5 stars
  
The Ploughmen
The Ploughmen
Kim Zupan | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-ploughmen-by-kim-zupan

<b><i>Darling - come alone to the shed.</b></i>

I’ve found it so hard to write a review for this book because it was such a moving, descriptive novel. It was sort of one of those reads that I loved for no particular reason, it was just a gorgeous book at the right time.

This book was by no means an “easy read”, it has some very dark and upsetting subjects running throughout it but it was one of those reads that I fell into so easily and smoothly every time I picked it back up. It was a complete pleasure to read. I gave it only 4 stars because various things in my day-to-day life made my reading of this very choppy, so I think I’d like to read this again in the future in a more relaxed time and maybe this would even get a 5 star rating.

I think this book and its characters are definitely going to stay with me for a while. Valentine was a precious soul, and in his own way, John was too.

Thanks to my quarterly challenge for forcing me into reading this because I don’t think I would have picked it up for years and years otherwise!
  
Little Women (2019)
Little Women (2019)
2019 | Drama
If I’m honest, Little Women probably isn’t the kind of movie I’d generally watch. But I’d heard great things about it, and my wife and daughter both wanted to watch it, so I decided to give it a shot. I haven’t read Little Women the book, and I haven’t seen any of the numerous adaptations prior to this one either, so you should probably take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

Little Women switches between two different periods in the lives of four sisters - their current lives and their lives seven years earlier. And I quite often struggled to tell when it switched, leaving me slightly confused on more than one occasion. I eventually learned to identify which timeframe we were in depending on which of the sisters Laurie (Timothée Chalamet) was currently hitting on, but there was a lengthy period around the middle where the meandering story, and the rather hot cinema, saw me gently closing my eyes for a short while

But, after my short power nap, I actually grew to enjoy the last third of the movie. I’m a big fan of Saoirse Ronan and, along with Florence Pugh, who is currently having the most amazing year, they really make this movie. Relaxed, authentic dialogue and great chemistry between the sisters and the other characters made this a lot more bearable than I was expecting!