I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past few weeks. Not depressed, really, but feeling down and quiet – emotionally quiet. Not the standard terrible depressive spiral I tend to find myself in a few times a year but in an emotional funk. You know what I mean? When I’m like this, reading is difficult. Very little appeals to me so I bounce around a lot. This has made my reading commitments to my dear friend, Megan, tough to honor. But she loves me so she gives me lots of passes. And warns me off books that I’d likely rage endlessly about. She’s a peach.
Not wanting to make review posts tends to go along with being in a funk so I’m mashing a bunch of them together into this one post so I can get caught up and not feel like a loser for falling apart on my 2019 goal of posting at least a few sentences about each book I read this year. Ready? Good.
Going Up by A.E. Radley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I liked this book so much. I loved the two main characters and the author’s humor. Could be my favorite of all of her books – and there are a lot of them!
If you enjoy the ice queen thing – which isn’t something I would ever search out but I know it’s a big thing – and you also like witty banter and good, dry humor, you’ll very likely love this book.
Black Crow, White Snow by Michael Livingston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very much enjoyed this short book. Listened to it a second time with my wife and liked it even more. Definitely recommended.
Plant Based Diet: The Simple Plant-Based Diet Plan: Beginners Cookbook to Healthy Plant-Based Eating by Anne W Boles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Meh. It was ok. I don’t think I’ll end up making anything out of it but the non-recipe sections at the beginning were interesting.
Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders by Joe Sharkey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Definitely an interesting read. I’ve gone back and forth between three and four stars and am settling on four. Really, the story of John List/Robert P. Clark is sort of fascinating. I mean, this guy is a massive piece of shit on so many levels but he’s also a mild mannered, unassuming dweeb that most people who came in contact with him on a regular basis had to think about long and hard before coming up with anything of note to say about him. But he managed to avoid being apprehended for the murders of his mother, wife, and three kids for nearly 18 years.
If you’re a fan of true crime books – or documentaries about murderers – you’ll definitely enjoy this book.
Secrets in a Small Town by Nicole Stiling
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I wanted to like this book so much! The beginning grabbed me and I laughed a lot through the first several chapters so I thought I was in luck. I got over the fact that this very, very likely was a Once Upon a Time fan fic – which I normally don’t care for much unless the writing is really well done – and decided to just roll with it. After all, Micki and Savannah had great chemistry and banter and there was a cute kid and fun secondary characters. All the makings of a fun read.
And then the police work started.
I’ve been told many times – a few while reading this book and chatting about it with a friend – that I’m just too hard on f/f romance novels. And I probably am. But in my defense, if a main plot arc of a romance is solving a case and the main character solving it is a police officer – even in a rom/com – the police work should make sense and be somewhat believable. I didn’t think that happened here.
I did like the author’s voice and her humor so I would certainly try her next book. This one had too many rough edges for me to get into properly.
Thanks to Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for the chance to read an author I’d not heard of before!