“You and your bats!” // Review of “A Murder of Crows” by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

Title: A Murder of Crows (Nel Ward Mysteries #1)
Author: Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
Audio book narrator: Kristen Atherton
Genre: Mystery
Intended audience: Adult
Date Read: 05/05/2023 – 09/05/2023
Rating: ★★★★

Review: 

I picked this book up because the blurb was giving me Midsomer Murders vibes and the audio version is read by one of my favourite audio book narrators. And I loved it!

The murder mystery is well laid out, with small clues peppered throughout the story for the reader to pick up on. I’m not the kind of person who can pick the ending of a mystery, but I was able to go “Hmm, that’s suspicious…” which added to the enjoyment.

I have to admit at the start that I was literally listening to the acknowledgements when I realised the play on words in the title: “Crows” is the surname of two of the murder victims. I’d spent the whole book trying to work out why that was the title when bats play a much bigger part. D’oh!

I also found myself invested in a love triangle for the first time in a long time… well, invested in one side of it. I really enjoyed some of the scenes between Nel and her colleague, Adam (later known as Rav). Their banter was fun and there were some cute, tender moments between them. In the last quarter or maybe third of the book, the miscommunication trope comes out in full force, which is a bit disappointing, but I’m hoping they will get themselves sorted out and have a grown-up conversation in book two.

It did strike me as odd that the other side of the love triangle is… the officer arresting Nel for murder?! Even if I accept that her initial attraction was when he just knocking on her door to ask a few questions, she forgave him far too easily after he arrested her on fairly flimsy evidence and brought up a past trauma in the interview to “rattle” her.

On that note, while I know that in these types of series, the police have to be a bit incompetent in order for the heroine to look good, these police just seemed… not very good at their jobs at times. It also seemed odd to me how casual the characters referenced each other: in scenes from DI James Clarke’s POV, I felt it would have made more sense for him to think of Nel as Doctor Ward, and in scenes from Nel’s perspective, it was jarring hearing her think about “James” and not DI Clarke.

Despite those quibbles, I found myself looking for more opportunities to listen to the book rather than read my physical one. I got home from work one evening and immediately cleaned the kitchen! The story was engaging and of course, Kristen Atherton’s excellent narration helped. I was listening to it through my library’s digital loans app, and it was the first time in a long time I didn’t need to extend a loan beyond the initial 14-day period.

There are already three books available in this series with three more announced. I’m hoping that I’m in for an enjoyable ride as I continue.

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“Tell the truth and shame the devil.” // Review of “All These Bodies” by Kendare Blake

Title: All These Bodies
Author: Kendare Blake
Genre: Historical/horror
Intended audience: YA
Date Read: 05/05/2023 – 09/05/2023
Rating: ★★

Review: 

The only word I have to describe this book is “dull”. And I feel bad about it. But it just… it promised a gruesome murder mystery and possibly some horror and a deep-dive into the nature of “truth” and what I got was… a lot of talking through the bars of a jail cell.

I actually thought the writing was quite engaging. I flew through the pages. But only because it was easy to read. Not really because I was hooked.

I think the main problem is that everything interesting has already happens when the story starts. Usually in a serial killer murder mystery, the murders keep happening as the story progresses, and the investigators are in a race against time. But there’s none of that, really.

All we have is a girl who was found at the crime scene, covered in blood, who claims she didn’t kill anyone. Who refuses to talk to anyone but our narrator, and half the time, doesn’t even answer his questions. I couldn’t get invested in their relationship at all.

By the end, Michael is willing to put himself at huge risk for her, but I had no idea why. There’s a line towards the end where Michael observes that none of the school mates he’s grown up with know him as well as Marie does, but I had no reason to believe that.

The horror elements are kept to a minimum, and honestly, that’s to the books detriment. The ending is supposed to be ambiguous, and it achieves that to a point, but some things were left completely loose-ended.

In the author’s note, Kendare Blake explains that this story was inspired by a real life killing spree that took place in a similar area of the US in the 1950s. I think trying to adapt real events while also throwing in elements of the supernatural, made for a little too much for one shortish novel and as a result, it ended up achieving very little.

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March 2023 Reading Wrap-up

March is always a difficult month for me. The mornings are dark and the days are shorter but daylight savings hasn’t finished yet. I end up being a bit of a zombie. This year that has manifested in awful nights of sleep and listless evenings. I’m looking forward to gaining an hour’s sleep on Sunday and having everything line up again properly. As a result of all of that, I’ve only read three books this month. Thank goodness I wasn’t doing any readathons.

PAST MONTH’S READING:

• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (zombie/dystopia – 4 stars – review) [read February, reviewed March]
• A Kind of Magic by Anna Spargo-Ryan (memoir – unrated – review)
• Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek by Anthony O’Neill (historical/thriller – 3 stars – review forthcoming)
• Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (horror/noir – 3 stars – review forthcoming)

BOOKTUBE:

I’ve started making booktube videos again! Here’s the latest:

• Sims Readathon Mid-Month Update

INSTAGRAM:

You can see all my bookish photos and reels (plus some RL as well) on my Instagram.

CURRENTLY READING:

Physical book: I’m reading Fairest of All by Serena Valentino, a villain origin story for Disney’s Wicked Queen. I have to be honest, it’s not agreeing with me, though it’s hard to tell whether I think it’s actually bad or whether I’m just not the target age group.

Ebook: Nothing at the moment.

Audio book: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. This is a modern and self-aware whodunit drawing on the style of Agatha Christie and the other Golden Age of Mystery writers. I am rather suspicious of the narrator, who insists that he is reliable a little bit too much for me to trust him.

PLANNING TO READ NEXT:

In theory I am doing a readathon and have a planned TBR for April, but none of the books on it are calling out to me. One of the prompts involves a mood read, so I may very well be picking that one first!

What are you reading? 🙂

“In my mind, I am eloquent… but when I open my mouth, everything collapses.” // Review of “Warm Bodies” by Isaac Marion

Title: Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
Author: Isaac Marion
Genre: Pots-apocalyptic/zombies
Intended audience: Adult
Date Read: 12/02/2022 – 19/02/2022
Rating: ★★★★

Review: 

Not being a huge fan of zombie fiction, it’s likely I wouldn’t have picked up this book if I didn’t have hazy memories of enjoying the movie. Plus it was second-hand and $4, which helped.

The thing about Warm Bodies is that it’s a unique take on the zombie genre (she says from her very uneducated viewpoint). Yes, R, M and their Dead compatriots crave human flesh, but that’s not their sole purpose in life. They’ve created their own society, with rituals and bonds to each other. This was one of the things I found most fascinating about the book.

Warm Bodies is not just the story of a literal zombie apocalypse. There’s also a metaphorical one, and there’s a lot of examination of quality of life, and at what point (if there is one) are you or society as a whole better of just laying down and dying?

The evolution of R and his fellow Fleshies regaining their humanity while the Boneys (zombies that are literally just skeletons at this point) kick and scream as they resist any change is a perfect metaphor for a society rediscovering its soul.

R’s connection to Julie being the catalyst for these changes work well, but I have to admit, when I thought about the romance from Julie’s perspective, it was a bit ick. I mean, she’s talking about kissing him even before his heart starts beating again. Do you really want to kiss a corpse, even if he has expressed affection for you?

I hadn’t realised when I started the book that it’s part of a four-book series. While I am not opposed to continuing on, I have to be honest, this first one wraps up pretty well. I probably wouldn’t seek out the subsequent books, but I would probably check one out if I ran across it in the library. But treated as a standalone, this one holds up pretty well so I’d recommend checking it out if you’re curious.

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February 2023 Reading Wrap-up

February is one of those months where I tell myself the format of the books I read doesn’t matter (graphic novel, audio book, etc.) I read six books! That’s what matters!

Also apparently WordPress has a bug which means I can’t do my cute pile-of-books bullet points in the list below, which is sad. But my experience has apparently been passed onto the developers, so here’s hoping it will be back soon!

PAST MONTH’S READING:

• Heartstopper Volume 2 by Alice Oseman (YA romance/graphic novel – 3 stars)
• Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman (YA romance/graphic novel – 3 stars)
• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (dystopian/zombie fiction – 4 stars – review forthcoming)
• The Killing Code by Ellie Marney (YA historical fiction/thriller – review)
• The Clocks by Agatha Christie (mystery – 3 stars)
• Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman (YA romance/graphic novel – 4 stars)

BOOKTUBE:

I’ve started making booktube videos again! Here’s the latest:

• Sims Readathon Mid-Month Update

INSTAGRAM:

After spending some time being pretty broke,

You can see all my bookish photos and reels (plus some RL as well) on my Instagram.

CURRENTLY READING:

Physical book: I’ve just picked up Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia again, after putting it aside last October when I was sick and exhausted (right before going travelling for 3 months). Ugh, it is exactly the vibe I’ve been wanting. I wish I’d picked it back up sooner! The only is that the print is really small but I’m coping!

Ebook: Nothing at the moment.

Audio book: I’m listening to A Kind of Magic by Anna Spargo-Ryan. This is a memoir in which the author documents her lifelong struggles with mental illness. It can be harrowing at times but she approaches the subject with a lot of humour. Anna narrates the audio book and hearing her describe her own experiences adds another special layer to it.

PLANNING TO READ NEXT:

I’m not sure yet, but it might be Tussaud by Belinda Lyons-Lee. I picked this up earlier in the month and wasn’t getting into it, but maybe it’s time to try again.

What are you reading? 🙂

January 2023 Reading Wrap-up

We have been back on home turf for a week now, and it’s been such a relief! I’m heading back to work tomorrow and it will be good to really settle back into routines. Quantitatively, it’s been an excellent reading month, but Heartstopper was the only book that I gave more than three stars to. The rest of my reads have all been fine down to okay. Fingers crossed for some 4 and 5 star reads in February!

PAST MONTH’S READING:

1. Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic (Dowsers #1) by Meghan Ciana Doidge (cozy mystery/urban fantasy – 2 stars – review)
2. The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast by Sophie Love (cozy mystery – 3 stars – review)
3. Miss Percy’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons (historical fantasy – 3 stars)
4. A Study in Time by Maureen Flynn (sci-fi – 3 stars)
5. Behind the Veil by E. J. Dawson (historical fantasy/horror – 3 stars – review forthcoming)
6. Mrs Rochester’s Ghost by Lindsa Marcott (thriller – 2 stars)
7. The Mightnight Library by Matt Haig (magical realism – 3 stars)
8. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (YA romance/graphic novel – 4 stars)

BOOKTUBE:

I’ve started making booktube videos again! Here’s the latest:

1. Sims Readathon February TBR

INSTAGRAM:

Not exactly a bookish photo but book-adjacent! I only used my British Library card for one day and I won’t get back there before it expires, but I was pretty chuffed to get it!

You can see all my bookish photos and reels (plus some RL as well) on my Instagram.

CURRENTLY READING:

I don’t actually have anything on the go at the moment. I finished Heartstopper earlier this afternoon.

PLANNING TO READ NEXT:

It’s very likely it will be Heartstopper Volume 2. Being very simple graphic novels, these do not take long to get through at all and my partner has bought the whole series. I’m doing the Sims Readathon in February and one of the prompts is to read a book with a school setting, for which this series works perfectly.

What are you reading? 🙂

Book Review: “The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast” by Sophie Love

Title: The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast (Canine Casper Cozy Mystery #1)
Author: Sophie Love
Genre: Urban fantasy/cosy mystery
Intended audience: Adult
Date Read: 03/01/2022 – 04/01/2022
Rating: ★★★

Review: 

I have to admit, I went into this because it looked spooky and paranormal. Having now read it, I would have to say that is the books’ weakest feature. While there is definitely something ghostly going on, it really had no impact on the story itself.

I did enjoy the cast of characters. It was particularly nice having a lead character, Marie, who is nearing 40, rather than the usual mid-20s protagonists. I did have to suspend my disbelief a little with how easily she set up the B&B – less than $11k in savings to fix the place up and no building inspections or approvals in sight. Just set up a website!

Sometimes the writing felt a little bit repetitive, especially as different characters kept asking Marie about the rumours that her aunt’s manor might be haunted, and she gave the same answer every time. There was also a lot of hand-wringing over whether she could afford to keep the B&B running, which got a bit tiresome after a while, even if it is realistic.

But the idea of a paranormal investigator being in town at the same time as a noted sceptic and the latter ending up dead… that’s an excellent premise for a cozy mystery, and I did enjoy that side of the book. The investigation moves along at a good pace, and it doesn’t feel like there’s any padding while the story waited for Marie to find more clues.

While I enjoyed this instalment well enough, I did pick this up as a freebie. I am not sure I am necessarily invested enough to continue the series. It might remain at the back of my mind, but I have so many other books to read, it’s unlikely I’m going to return to these ones.

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Book Review: “Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic” by Meghan Ciana Doidge

Title: Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic (Dowsers #1)
Author: Meghan Ciana Doidge
Genre: Urban fantasy/cosy mystery
Intended audience: Adult
Date Read: 01/01/2022 – 02/01/2022
Rating: ★★

Review: 

I’m not having a lot of luck with urban fantasies lately. Anyone who knows me I will snap up anything that features both baking and magic, but this one really needed a good edit to make it stand out.

There were a lot of things that weren’t really explained very well, and other times where the main character explains too much at a bad time, halting the plot and making the reader forget what was actually happening. Several times, the narration would say something like “Now that I knew how to…” or “so that was why…” and I had no idea where the revelation had come from.

They mystery itself was actually decent enough. I didn’t mind reading the ins and outs of the characters pursuing their leads. The villain was fairly obvious but when it came down to it, I couldn’t quite understand their reasoning, and I’m still not sure what actually transpired at the end. Maybe that’s explained in later books, but I’m not interested enough to continue the series.

I think my favourite character was the vampire Kett. He was the one who seemed to have the most interesting personality, and who seemed like the most fully-formed of the side characters. While there were more werewolves on the scene than vampires, the most interesting one of them ends up dead early on and I never particularly warmed to any of the others.

One more thing to note: a key element of the story is that Jade thought she was half-human, half-witch, but the human aspect may not be correct (she never knew her father). When she finally does get her mother and grandmother to open up at the end of the book, they tell her her father was someone her mother hooked up with while backpacking through Australia and taking part in an “aboriginal fertility ceremony”. Yikes. I’m not an Indigenous Australian, but I would still encourage this Canadian author to not throw around terms like that in the name of humour or a quirky plot point.

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December 2022 Reading Wrap-up

Hello from Rome, and Happy New Year! December started off strong in the reading department, but it fell down in the second half of the month. Obviously that’s going to happen while travelling. Honestly, it’s 19 days until we return to Australia and as much as we still have some great places to visit, I am looking forward to being home again.

PAST MONTHS’ READING HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Planting Pearls by Virginia King (suspense/paranormal – 5 stars – review)
2. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Bakin g by T. Kingfisher (MG fantasy – 4 stars – review)
3. The War of the Fae: the Changelings (YA fantasy – 1 star – review)
4. The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud (YA fantasy/dystopia – 3 stars – review)

Once again, I’m skipping the usual Booktube and Bookstagram sections on this post. From February, I’m hoping to be more active in both those spaces again and then I’ll re-incorporate them into the blog.

CURRENTLY READING:

Physical book: Nothing at the moment. I will admit that I am looking forward to being home with my bookcases.

Ebook: Cupcakes, Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge. This was a Kindle freebie and it’s… fine. It’s a light-hearted paranormal mystery but it’s nothing mind-blowing.

Audio book: Nothing on the go at the moment. Maybe I should download something for the plane home…

PLANNING TO READ NEXT:

Genuinely no idea! It’s harder to determine that when you’re confined to ebooks and can’t cast your eyes over the bookshelves to see what you fancy. I am sure I’ll find something, though.

Well, this post has been short and sweet! I’ll finish it up here.

What are you reading? 🙂

#AusReads Planting Pearls by Virginia King

Title: Planting Pearls (Selkie Moon #1)
Author: Virginia King
Genre: Mystery/paranormal
Intended audience: Adult
Date Read: 01/12/22 – 02/12/22
Rating: ★★★★★

Review: 

I heard about this series through the author’s sister, with whom I do musical theatre, and I’m so glad I checked it out. I loved this one!

Planting Pearls is a suspense novel with a hint of paranormal. I really enjoyed the way that Hawaiian folklore was incorporated into the story. Admittedly, I am not familiar with any of the stories and I have no idea whether the folklore and native stories have been well represented, but at face value, they add to the story.

I mentioned in a recent review that the main character was a sexual assault or rape survivor, but this only ever seemed like a superficial reason for the character to want to leave town. I was pleased that in Planting Pearls, the effects of an abusive relationships were well-developed, as awful as they were. Selkie’s (ex-)husband sends her threatening text messages, cancels her hotel reservations once he’s discovered where she’s gone, and makes Selkie out to be the villain to their friends.

Selkie is a strong lead character, and her friends, particularly Wanda and Derek, make a good team. The mystery unfolds at a solid pace and I didn’t ever feel like the author was trying to pad the story out. I’m definitely looking forward to checking out more of Selkie Moon’s adventures.

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