Lori

I really didn’t like the niece subplot to this book as Minnie was constantly dismissing her. When everyone in town tells you what a great person, she is or how hard of a worker she, then why are you so surprised? This book is a little darker than others before with Minnie having to talk to her niece about the trauma of seeing a dead body. A large amount of the book is taken up with Minnie’s need to connect with her niece with the authors need to create superficial reason why they don’t get along.

The mystery is very slow and its yet another ending where Minnie puts herself in danger. Thankfully, its Eddie to the rescue. I seriously stay for the cat.

Another bad book in the series. The relationship with Rafe is a little annoying as they are together, but we don’t get much of that new dating experience. The mystery was ok, but the end was an incredibly stupid set up. Seriously she gets run off the road by the murder suspects vehicle then goes to see if they are ok? Then she some how survives in a winter storm with no shoes or coat? How many times doe this woman have to be stranded with the bookmobile before she gets a satellite phone. Wouldn’t the library be concerned for their workers at this point? I am surprised that the police don’t just ban Minnie for wasting their time as this point. She stops in after every piece of gossip and “clue” she finds.

Why I haven’t given up on this series is that I enjoy the cozy side of the books. The towns folk are interesting, and the books are relatively peaceful for being apart of a murder mystery series.

This series seems to have one decent book then one flat one and sadly, this one’s on the down swing. The mystery was one of the weaker ones in the series as it is very obvious who it is and why. Still the author has Minnie act oblivious to the very unsubtle hints. The romance was also a huge detractor.

Why would you give great chemistry to Minnie and Ash then once they date its gone? The author throws in Rafe at the last minute, and she has somehow loved him all along? The author goes out of their way to constantly say that Minnie sees Rafe as nothing more then a friend and dating him would be like dating a brother. Apparently not anymore.

I liked the story but not the romance or main characters. The main story of the missing children and the Fae is interesting and if the plot was entirely about that I would have been happier. The world building is great and there is a lot to get into but once the missing children plot gets started. Sadly, the main characters personalities and romance get in the way of this book.

They are selfish and often use those around them. The way the female lead tortures the changeling child is pretty bad. I wish that the author chose to handle this obstacle in another way. The author goes beyond having this character not pick up social cues to having her genuinely not care about anyone. This character is quite an asshole. She makes constant stupid decisions that don’t line up with how smart she is supposed to be. The last part of the book involved an incredibly elaborate escape plan just for her to ruin it at the last minute. The male lead is not much better using Fae magic to charm people into doing his bidding.

The romance is thrown into the book and feels unnatural as there is no build up or organic chemistry between these characters. He is incredibly selfish and flirts with everyone, but we are expected to believe he’s been in love with her this whole time.

Again, this series features more cozy over mystery and I’m starting to really enjoy it. This is a slower novel, but I didn’t mind it too much. There is a better excuse in this book for the police, as they are understaffed and over worked, for them not solving these murders. I’m not going to lie, Minnie does contribute to wasting their time with frequent in person meetings. Why not just email in every now and then?

Her investigative skills were better in this book but for some reason she was constantly spacing out. It felt like a waste of time by the author. I enjoyed the mystery on this one and the running around town was for the most part more purposeful.

The biggest draw for this series at this point was the towns folk. I like the small-town family and the way the author builds the side characters.

The majority of the book is a miscommunication trope done poorly. The female lead does some incredibly stupid things that it’s had to believe she’s in the field that she’s in. The author wrote her too child like and constantly describes her as small. While the male lead is just this huge man, based on numerous descriptions, that has no personality. He’s so bland even his friends barely can describe him. His interests are working out and eating for fuel. There is a huge lack of chemistry between them, but we are told they fit together because he’s huge and she’s small. The book is almost two thirds done when the relationship finally starts to build. At this point sadly I’m no longer interested.

The author didn’t do a great job with her friends as they are only there to push the story forward and don’t show up unless needed. Even her asexuality is thrown in at the worst time and mention once. I don’t even want to start on the sex seen, just know he’s huge and she’s small. Its mentioned over and over that the male lead is an asshole and he really wasn’t the one actual instance brought up is him just doing his job. I don’t know why the author placed such an importance on mentioning that every other character thinks he’s an asshole.

This book felt like a step back. Some of the growth in investigating was thrown out and the main character ran around town putting herself into dangerous situations. At least they drop the doctor as a partner in this book. This book was filled with drama, and it was a off putting to the feel of these books.

Still, I liked the towns people and Eddie of course. The setting gives off a calm cozy familiarness to it at this point in the series. Eddie seems to have more involvement which is enjoyable, but I don’t care for the author bringing up the debate of if it’s weird to talk to you pet like the can understand you constantly through out these books. I 100% believe those fuzzy asses know what you say to them.

I found myself more interested in this book then the last. I would recommend reading the other books before this one. Despite reintroducing all the characters each book there is just so many of them that reading this one after another is really helping.

The mystery in this one was better although I thought the motivation was a little weak. The investigative ability of Minnie is getting better and it’s nice that the author included this growth. Since I listen to these books having the author say out every detail and make some quick recaps of the suspects has grown on me. It also doesn’t feel as constant as the previous books which is great. There is a lot of fluff in these books, but it does add to the cozy element. As long as you know it’s not 100% focused on the mystery it’s an enjoyable book.

The people of Chilson have grown on me that I was interested in updates on what was happening with them. Something I like that the author includes is that other characters have things going on in the background. Having everyone else’s lives not revolve around the main charter really makes it feel like a living town. In this book the doctor love interest is clearly being pushed out for another and I don’t mind it. The other interest seems to understand her more.

You don’t have to read the first book to get into this one as almost all introductions are remade in this book along with quite a few new ones. It really is a huge cast of characters to keep track of and huge information overload.

I didn’t like this one as much as the first as the reasoning in this book is unpredictable. There are a few things the main character does that just doesn’t make sense. She ends up in some dangerous situations by herself when its not necessary and should just call the police. The investigation in this book is made by an amateur so there is a lot of repeating details and running around. In the end the mystery was solved by her sort of just running into the murder and there is not a good explanation to why this person went to these lengths.

The cozy part of the book is what keeps me interested in this series. The characters are all very lively with things going on of their own in the background. As it was with the last book the cat, Eddie, is great. This time he has almost a sixth sense to when things are going to happen. He’s not quite magical but close. The doctor love interest is back but he doesn’t feel as great of a fit into the bookmobile mystery life.

The book starts off with a ton of background information and throughout the book you meet person after person. It’s a little much to take especially considering the character has been living in the town for some time and there is history we haven’t experienced. All this bogs down the story and was a little too much for the first book of the series.

I was hoping the cat, Eddie, would be more involved but it’s the bookmobile lady, Minnie, who is the driving force of the story. The cat was honestly so good, he is part normal cat and part murder solver. He doesn’t outright help but drops little hints throughout the book and was the one that helped Minnie find the body.

The mystery wasn’t bad, but the author definitely writes the main character as a normal person who tries to investigate for the first time ever. It’s partly refreshing to have a normal person and not a secret super sleuth. Although this does mean there is a lot of repeating information and the investigation is not efficient. In the end it’s the cops that catch the killer, so it was partly a waste of time. With both the introduction to so many characters and the amateur sleuthing this story is very slow and info heavy. I did admire how the author chooses to have the main character be a normal person who is realistically shaken by seeing a dead body and is learning to investigate.

The setting is a nice small summertime tourist town. Any scene with the book mobile added to the cozy friendly feel of the book. There is a love interest introduce in this book, but it’s not framed as the main focus, which is nice.

I liked this book as it was funny, mostly lighthearted, and the widows were the best part. I was sort of expecting the book to be more about the struggle to blend their culture with the new society they were in, but the book only lightly touches this.

The widows are a well-rounded group with distinctive personalities that were so fun to read about. Their spicy stories as mentioned in the title don’t hold back. It is full beginning to end stories filled with sugar, spice, and everything nice. I was not expecting that. I know, again the title, but I thought it would be more like they are trying to write these stories not that there would be full stories within this one. Honestly, I would not say no to this author just writing a version for this book that were just these stories.

Why the book isn’t higher rated for me is that it the cultural divide and feminist topic by showing mainly bad male figures. There is no nuance to this. I wish there was more discussion with the widows in the book about these things to give life to the discussion and make it less one-sided.

I was looking forward to a tale of cannibalism, but this was not it. The cannibalising is a mostly fade to black type of situation. The biting critique of the weight loss industry had no teeth.

The description of this book mentions that it’s a little like the book Thinner. It is not. Thinner had an unlikeable main character that you still manage to sympathize with, and the author creates ramping tension right to the glorious end. This book however lacks that same tension and while I wanted to sympathize with the main character, I found my self disliking him instead. I understand struggling with weight and self esteem as many people do and the author should have had an easy time working with this. Instead, the main character does some incredibly stupid things while being an ass to others.

The best part of the book is sadly the childhood trauma flashbacks. I know it sounds awful, but these scenes were the most compelling parts. They are full of emotion and spotlight comments people make to shame you for eating and how they act like it’s so easy to hold back and eat less. What I didn’t like was the tie in at the end of the book. I wont spoil it for you but its just plain stupid.

One last thing was that I did listen to this book and the narrator was good but having to listen to them speak out all the different emojis was a little painful and there were a lot of emojis in this book.

Great idea and the execution at the beginning was enjoyable but the rest of the story is like getting a face full of mud. It starts off as a horror story with supernatural elements from a child’s perspective. I found this section to be the best part of the book. It had all the right horror elements and some great scenes. The main character is bully and not very likable, I was hoping this would change over the course of the book but sadly it doesn’t.

My issue with the book is the jump in timeline where this is all a dream in the main characters now adult mind. There is even another switch up later in the book. I really hated this decision by the author. I would have much preferred to stick with one boy’s fight against supernatural forces and a haunted house. The new situation was boring and almost completely removed from the first part. There is almost too much going on and keeping it simple would have been better.

This was not the creature in the woods horror that I thought it would be. Most of the book sets up the ski outing of the father and son with the father’s business partners. Really, not much happens and there is a lot of jumps back in time to going out with his mother and sister. I get that the author is either already knowledgeable about backcountry skiing or did his research but there is a lot of time spent educating the reader.

Finally, when shit goes down, I thought we would get to the creature horror that attracted me to this book or even a fight for survival that the description leads us to. But… nothing. There is some survival work done and despite all the survival instructions from earlier it’s not them against nature battle. The most interesting parts of the book happen at the end but its quick and lacks tension.

I thought that there would be more set up to the story, but the creeping unease and horror starts up quickly. The author does very well at building tension and creating a fear of the unknown. The first half of the book is great in this regard. The second half is trying to explain to much where I would have been happy it to keep it unexplained. I really liked the creature communication with the wife through her sleep and again I would have been happy to keep this unexplained. Still, I liked the book overall.

Something to note is that the author talks about the inclusion of indigenous folk lore in the story and about trying to be diverse but respectful and it’s nice to see authors make the effort. One specific thing he mentioned was that he had the natives in the story not be all knowing like in other stories, which is a thumbs up for effort. The natives in my opinion where well written but I didn’t like that only the natives seemed to die in this story while helping the main white characters. He was doing so well until this.

I shouldn’t have tried this book after reading Beloved and hating it, this authors style is not for me. I chose to read this book as it filled in another reading challenge prompt. I hated this equally if not more then the Beloved. I found there is less confusing dream sequences but the same slipping in and out of time in while in conversations or stream of consciousness sections. There was also the bad narration by the author herself in the audiobook. What really makes this book bad is the sexual content and the weak blue eyes plot.

The sexual content is about rape and its is handled in the worst of ways. One of my favorite books is The Color Purple and it handles rape throughout the book in what I feel a powerful yet respectful way. It doesn’t hold back on the horror of rape, but it doesn’t over describe and even worse sexualize it the way this book does. This author fully describes what happens throughout the rapes and writes it in a style similar to a romance book. There are times when the author goes so far as to add lines that make it sound like the children were ok with what happened and at one point almost empathizes with the rapist.

The author does not explain why the main character is so focused on blue eyes specifically. A focus on light skin is more easily to understood then blue eyes as we see that problematic view even now. Much of the reasoning behind these characters doesn’t make sense. Like the father raping his child because he doesn’t know how to love her? There is so little of this story actually dedicated to the main characters body dysmorphia and obsession on white beauty standards.

I didn’t mind the set up of them both being hung up on other people, it was an interesting way to start the book. It wasn’t a bad book but is felt more like a Young Adult book then an Adult one. Both characters felt like teenagers in the way they handled their situations. This isn’t bad, but I’m almost 30, and I’m not interested in childish relationships in my romance novels.

The main characters talk openly but still manage keep things from each other. There is a lot of cycling in the story of should I trust him/her and am I over my crush. I felt like the author should have focused more on getting over people that aren’t interested in you and finding love for yourself then a dramatic story. The drama is puffed up fluff that doesn’t present a good enough reason to keep them apart.

There are some good writing and parts of the story. I am unsure if I will try the next book as I want something a little more grown up then this one.

Something to note is that the book focuses more on the little coffee shop and it’s two employees then the elderly characters. It’s not a bad thing but from the cover and description I thought there would be more focus on the elderly. Despite this I liked the story, it’s short and not overly sentimental. The humor was pretty good and the antics the main character Jack got up to was pretty funny. I was listening to the book at work, and the gym scene got me laughing. It is so easy to see that really happening to Jack.

The main character is not the most loveable person, but it was nice to see him grow over the course of the book. This selfishness was realistic and even the way he handles his father’s fraud issue is how most people react. It’s not a great way to react to an elder falling for a romance scam but the character does learn to be better from it.

What sets this book apart from other books of this type is that the people aren’t storybook good and all the issues the characters face are not miraculously solved by the end of the book. It’s a fun read with a good story.

This book is not one where you would have to have read the first in the series to get. Sadly, most of the friend group are not even in this book or if they do it’s for a visit. This book seemed removed form the first that it could have been a standalone novel. All this aside I found this book slower paced and too long. The book is marketed as a marriage of convenience although the characters don’t get married until about halfway into the book. There is so much wasted time in the first half of the book.

The romance is barely apart of the story as the second half of the book focuses on the male lead’s past. It’s interesting but the back and forth on if he’s a good person or not was another waste of time that takes up the last half of the book. I liked the issues the female lead had with her parents as it felt unique although it was resolved with one confrontation. It’s not a bad book but not that great either.

This book has the same failings for me as the first book. How can I care what happens to this colony when the main character doesn’t. His unbothered personality is hard to build a survival story around. Thinking back on the plot of this book I would say that more happens in this book than the last. The author takes time to build the creeper societies’ and there are lots of interactions between different characters.

Why this book is rated lower than the last one is because the is no growth or development of the characters two years after the last book takes place. The side characters almost seem lesser in this one as well. They are there but more as filler to Mickey’s story. Mickey himself is so unbothered by once being an expendable, but when he is forced to think about becoming an expendable again, his only thoughts on it are that he doesn’t want to do it. That’s it…

Its written too simply and carefree for me to enjoy.