The Syndicate Six Murder - Geoffrey Osborne

 The Syndicate Six Murder takes place in rural Hampshire, England in a world-famous Police Staff College.  The murder victim is Detective Harold Ashington and since the murder scene is surrounded by police, the main suspects are all officers of the law.  Lead investigator Detective Superintendent Ralph Blade has a history with the deceased and has motive to want him dead (as do many other people).  The book is a fairly fast paced police procedural with an entertaining cast of characters and an interesting investigation thread.

 My favorite part of the book was by far the relationship between the different people in the investigative team.  I thought the main three - Ralph Blade, John Hyde, and Dorothy Fraser - were really well fleshed out characters.  The other members of the investigative team did tend to blend together more for me, but they had much less character development than the main three.  I liked how we got scenes in each of the main three's home lives with their spouses and their individual routines.  It really helped to see them as their own characters with their own complex lives. We don't get a lot of these home scenes, but the ones we do get are packed with information and are used very effectively.  The reader gets small glimpses into the lives of these officers and then we can see how some of their home lives bleed into the case their working on which is pretty interesting.  These home scenes were often somewhat lighter than the investigation scenes, so they served as very brief times where the tension and pacing could let up a bit and give the reader a bit of a break before diving back into the story.

The pacing of this book was pretty fast, but not in a bad way - it really felt like an hour long episode of a TV crime drama. I'm not usually fond of short or fast paced books, I want to read something I can really sink my teeth into and get to know the characters.  I'm more of a character-driven reader than a plot-driven one so longer books are usually my preference.  In this case, however, I'm glad I made an exception and picked up this 150 page book because there is so much packed into those pages that it really doesn't fall into the normal pitfalls of short books for me.  The narrative managed to cover a lot of ground and the characters had a good amount of depth to them. The mystery wasn't particularly complex or convoluted - but the investigators did chase down a lot of leads and suspects in the 150 pages.  There wasn't a whole lot of plot outside of the main investigation, which again helped the pacing to stay on a quick track.  There is a deadline given to Blade at the beginning of the investigation so he needs his people to work quickly and that pressure does come through in the narrative to the reader.  The only downside to the faster pacing was that there were so many different people introduced - especially in the beginning - that it was hard to keep everyone straight.  I had to keep flipping back a few pages to figure out who some people were.  But after the first 25% of the book, I had the different characters down pretty well.  I, naturally, wished we were able to get more of the character's backstory and history (especially more of Ashington's history with other officers) but that would have really dragged down the pacing of the book.  I do think we got all the information we needed as a reader but there were just some characters and situations that I really wanted more of. 

One thing that irked me a bit was the lip reading that was introduced.  From what I understand based on some YouTube videos made by deaf/Deaf/hard of hearing people, is that lip reading is very difficult to do and even the most skilled lip readers can often only catch a certain amount of words and then have to fill in the blanks to the rest of the conversation. So the fact that the DI Dorothy Fraser tells a story about being on surveillance and watching criminals having a conversation in a bar and being able to get all the details of the crime they were planning just from lipreading felt unrealistic and a bit convenient. Luckily, the lip reading only came into play a few times, mostly at the beginning of the book, and no major investigative steps were taken due to the information gathered from the lip reading so it in the grand scheme of the plot, it wasn't too heavy handed.

Another thing I did find it a bit annoying was that Blade was pretty sure he had figured out who the murderer was a few days before actually arresting them (to give his team time to gather evidence, run tests, etc) but he wouldn't tell anyone (not even the reader).  He would think to himself something along the lines of "I'll let him go investigate that thread but I'm confident I already know who did it".  I understand this can build tension in the reader because we want to know who the killer is also.  But the fact that we had to wait for Blade to make his grand presentation and arrest the killer at the end, in front of everyone, had me rolling my eyes a bit.  And maybe other readers will be able to pick up on stuff I didn't in the narrative and figure it out ahead of time, but I felt the breadcrumbs left for the reader were pretty limited as far as being able to figure it out for ourselves.  That being said, the ending did make complete sense and I was glad the motive didn't come out of left field or anything so it was satisfying even if I had to deal with Blade teasing the reader for a handful of pages.

Finally, this book is set in England and relies heavily on English slang.  I assume the author is also British, but he doesn't have any author information listed on GoodReads and I can't find any other author webpages or any other details about him so I'm not entirely sure.  In any case, the slang is pretty widely used in this book and some of the characters are specifically pointed out as being from specific parts of the country so they have very particular accents and slang.  I'm an American reader, but I do watch a ton of British TV shows and comedians so I feel that I have a pretty good grasp on the slang terms and I personally didn't have any trouble understanding the writing.  I did appreciate having a frame of reference so when the one character is described as having a Geordie accent so then going forward I would read her dialogue in that accent. There is a glossary of terms in the back of the book so anyone who isn't as comfortable with British slang will be able to still follow along.  The slang usage isn't overwhelming or overdone by any means, but it is fairly consistent throughout the book.

Overall, this was a fast-paced, well crafted police procedural mystery.  The characters were well developed and the mystery was fun to follow along with. 

150 pages.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!  Publication date: October 30, 2020.

The Pvritan - Birgitte Märgen

Marketed as Mindhunter meets Hannibal Lecter, this book synopsis had me right from the hook.  We follow detectives Marti Zucco and her partner, Neil Cavanaugh, as they look for the killer who has been branding and mutilating their victims into grotesque angels.  Their search leads them all around the Boston area as they try to connect the dots between their very diverse victims and the secrets they held.  This is a fantastically crafted detective thriller and the comparisons to Thomas Harris are well-earned.  This book was nearly perfect for me right up until the last 5 pages or so which was a real disappointment.  

Overall, this novel has a fantastic atmosphere and setting.  It is a split POV with most chapters following Marti and Neil's investigation, but we do get some chapters from the killer's POV as well as flashbacks to 1600s Boston.  Märgen's descriptions are hauntingly beautiful yet simple so the reader doesn't get bogged down with the prose.  The narrative is almost deceptively simple but manages to build on itself over the course of a scene to really increase the atmospheric setting.  These more simple scenes are then used to highlight the occasional dream or possible hallucinations that some characters have.  These dream sequences are extremely vivid and often unsettling and bizarre which only added to the overall tone of the novel.  The best comparison for the overall tone would be the Hannibal TV series - it is very similar with the dream-like sequences, the brutal killings, and the pockets of dry humor stuck in odd places. (The Hannibal TV series is, in my opinion, one of the most perfectly written and structured TV series I've ever seen and I think everyone should watch it). Marti's partner Neil is a great tension release with his smooth talking witnesses and occasional jokes.  He felt like a sort of *wink wink nudge nudge* sense of humor which worked well to ease up the tension in a scene just enough for the reader to take a breath before diving back into the darkness.

The overall plotting of the investigation was very well done.  With all the detective fiction books I've read and TV shows I've watched, I can often predict what turn the case may take or what 'secret' the detectives would discover next.  However, in this case, I was completely blown away at what I felt were original and unique avenues for the investigation to go.  It was still a standard investigation, no rule breaking or going rogue or anything like that.  But when they enter the home of the third victim and find it littered with [thing I can't say because of spoiler reasons] I was pleasantly surprised that I in no way called what they would find.  I thought the investigation followed all the leads to their fullest extent before completely excluding that line of inquiry.  I do wish we would have gotten more action in the investigation - it was mostly Marti and Neil driving around Boston asking questions (which I fully acknowledge is like 99% of actual police work).  I thought the chapters in the killer's POV were interesting and did a good job of characterizing the killer, but I think they could have been used to amp up the action if we got the killer watching the victims or their mental state in the aftermath of the kills. Overall, the 'thriller' aspects really ramped up in the last 10% of the book and up until then it was a pretty standard police investigation with no real threats of danger or thriller.  However, the investigation was still really interesting and I didn't find it dry or boring.

Now on to where I feel the novel took a really hard nose dive: the ending.  In general, my issues with the ending can be wrapped up in the fact that there wasn't any sort of come down or resolution chapter.  There's the big confrontation at the end and then, if this was a movie, it would snap to black and credits would roll.  I've never met a book that handled the ending this way and liked how it was done.  Most of the time, it simply leads to a big case of emotional whiplash where the story was cruising along at 60mph and then hit the brick wall that is the end of the book.  In this case, however, the lack of resolution chapter left me with pretty significant questions that I felt needed to be answered.  And I don't usually mind open-ended books, but there's endings that are open ended because that's how life is and there are endings that are open-ended due to plot lines not getting tied up properly.  And, to me, this novel falls into the latter category.  

It is nearly impossible to explain further without giving spoilers, so I'm going to be as vague as possible and hopefully this makes sense.  A few chapters from the end, there's a big event happens that shatters our main character's world and makes her start to question everything in her life.  Then, in the final pages of the book, the main character states that event didn't happen like the reader thought it happened so it basically negates the main character's emotional growth.  However, that statement was made during the final confrontation and could have very well been a lie to save the main character.  If that was the case, then that's fine.  But the issue is that it isn't made clear one way or the other so now, as the reader, I'm left wondering if our main character is having a sort of mid-life crisis or if everything is going to more or less go back to normal because the big event didn't really happen.  Another issue was the very last line in the book - it implies that there was some sort of emotional arc in regards to a very specific part of the main character's past but the previous mentions of this part of the main character in the novel didn't seem that important.  It seemed like the main character had pretty much gotten past that part of her life as much as she possibly could and accepted it.  So I was confused as to why she chose to say those last words in the story and why Märgen chose to end the novel after those words.  I guess they didn't hit as powerfully as the last words of a novel should and left me wondering if I was a big idiot and missed something when I was reading.

Probably the part I liked the most about this novel was the flashbacks to 1600s Boston and the puritans/witch trials.  Of course, the book is called The Puritan so the reader knows these flashbacks will become relevant to the plot at some point, but it isn't clear at the beginning just how everything is connected.  In fact, all the pieces don't fall together until the last 25% of the book so until that point, these flashbacks serve as mostly atmosphere building scenes.  When everything is tied together at the end and the reader finds out what the trials in the 1600s have to do with the present day murders, it really pays off. That final puzzle piece falling into place was *chef kiss* perfection.  Until that point, I wasn't really sure how I felt about these POV chapters because they seemed so disjointed from the present day murder investigation but now, looking back, they were probably my favorite parts of the whole novel.

 

A fantastically paced and structured detective thriller.  Very atmospheric investigation with enough dark gruesome parts to satisfy fans of Mindhunter/Thomas Harris/Criminal Minds.  Ending is a bit abrupt, but until that point, this is one of the best written detective thrillers I've read in a long time.

318 pages

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC.  This book was published September 3, 2020.

Romance Wrap-Up 10/15/20 - 10/21/20

 Sergei - Naomi West

Not for me.  This is the first book in the Dirty Dons Club series and follows Sergei, head of the Bratva, and Naomi, waitress at a club.  The two meet at the club Naomi works at and have a one-night stand.  Months later, he goes back to the club to see her and finds out she's pregnant with his baby.  He steps up to the plate the only way a big alpha mob boss can - by forcing her to live with him and showing her with all the money and things she could possibly need.  Mafia romances are one of my favorite romance sub-genres and I've read a lot of Italian Mafia books so I was excited to pick up a Russian Bratva book.  However, this book was just super dull.  The only part of this book I liked was the heroine - she was an interesting character and I liked her attitude and outlook on life, especially her new life with Sergei.  Everyone else, however, was super dull.  Sergei was dull and his relationships with other characters were dull - at one point, someone close to him dies and we're told he's upset about it but we don't really see any of that emotion and we barely saw the two characters interacting at all anyway.  The mob plot line was really dull - two gangs fighting, A kills a member of B, B kills a member of A, lather rinse repeat.  And the relationship between Sergei and Naomi was basically non-existent and I found the chemistry severely lacking.  At one point, Sergei even admits to the reader that all they do is fight until enough tension is built up that they just have to tear each other's clothes off to blow off some steam and they just repeat that cycle.  Also, I'm 90% sure a character changes names between chapters - like one chapter he is called X and then the next chapter he's called Y.  I re-read the chapters a couple times to see if I missed a character introduction but I don't think I did and the name change didn't get caught in editing (this happens close to the end and it doesn't impact the story line at all but it was super confusing for a couple minutes until I just accepted this new name).  So overall, I wouldn't recommend. 

The Romeo Arrangement - Nicole Snow

This is listed as a stand-alone romance but it does take place in Dallas, ND where some of Snow's other books take place - we see Drake Larkin from Accidental Knight (which takes place before this book) and Quinn Faulkner from The Best Friend Zone (which takes place after this book).  This book follows Ridge and Grace.  He left Hollywood behind for a more quiet life and had it until she and her father came into town and brought the trouble they were trying to run away from with them.  After a chance meeting in a diner during a snowstorm, Ridge offers Grace and her father a place to stay until the roads clear.  However, once he finds out just what they're up against, there's no way he's letting them go.  This is a typical Nicole Snow action-romance, but a little different since in this one it is the heroine who is bringing the trouble (although the hero does still save the day).  I liked the added element of Grace's dad being sick and her trying to take care of him as well as keep them both safe from the bad guys chasing them.  Throw in a fake engagement and a spunky rooster and I was sold.  I did find this one a little slower paced than the other books of Snow's that I've read and I think it is mostly because there wasn't as much on the page threat/investigation as in previous books.  Ridge does a lot of reaching out to his buddies for info and then reading emails to Grace with what they found out.  I also thought the romance wasn't as built up as it needed to be given the ending.  They were both obviously into each other and had a good amount of chemistry, but Grace didn't even know if Ridge loved her for real or was still going with the fake engagement at the end and then not long after that they end up getting married?  I'm wasn't quite sold, but still had a fun time reading. 

Beauty and the Billionaire - Lauren Landish

This is the first book in the Dirty Fairy Tales series and follows billionaire Thomas and super-geek Mia.  Mia is a data analyst for Thomas's company and when she is put on a big project, she immediately catches his attention.  Sparks fly fast and the two are quickly entwined.  However, Thomas is haunted by his past and he has to constantly battle the voices in his head telling him he'll never be enough.  Mia has a similar story, but a much happier ending to her childhood so she understands Thomas but is also waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The two work on their relationship, slowly peeling away the layers and sharing more and more about themselves.  An outside force wants to destroy Thomas and his company so Thomas and Mia must put their histories aside and figure out who is behind the corporate espionage at the company.  I thought the relationship dynamic was really unique and I appreciated how real and raw a lot of the emotions shared were.  Thomas is by far the one with the most baggage in the relationship and it was refreshing to see a hero struggle instead of always having to be the one doing the saving.  This doesn't fall into the "love fixes everything" cliche and Mia straight up tells Thomas that she can't solve all his problems and will support him when he's ready to try therapy (which he does).  This book is multi-POV and while most of the chapters are either from Thomas or Mia's POV, there is a third POV of the big bad guy.  We only get the big bad POV a few times throughout the novel (maybe 4 or 5?) and those chapters really wrecked the pacing for me.  I know they are meant to ramp up the tension because we can see the big bad guy scheming but they were so few and far between that I really didn't care to see the puppet master.  I was much more interested in getting back to Thomas/Mia and their investigation.  Thomas and Mia's story is complete at the end of this book, but the overall big bad guy plot line does continue into the next book which focuses on two new characters.

Ruthless Prince - Faith Summers

Throwing in a good ol' mafia romance before the week is up.  This is the first book in the Dark Syndicate series and follows Massimo and Emilia.  Emilia is planning on going to art school in Italy when she is told she will instead marry Massimo in order to clear some of her father's debt to Massimo's family.  There is a good amount of bad blood between the two families, going back decades, and Massimo knows Emilia's father won't give up his empire without a fight.  From there, this is a pretty standard mafia arranged marriage romance.  The romance plot was so similar to Savage Beginnings by J.L. Beck and C. Hallman that I had to double check that I hadn't read this one before.  The mafia plot with the Syndicate group was interesting and that plot line continues into the next book in the series (but Massimo and Emilia's story is complete in this book).  I did like their chemistry and Massimo seemed softer than other mafia heroes.  He's not a softy by any means, but he does earn Emilia's heart by the end which stands out a bit in the mafia sub-genre.  So overall, it was a good mafia romance, but with a very similar plot to other books I've read.  That being said, I'm excited to continue on with the series to see how the Syndicate group plot line turns out (the other books aren't released yet) and to see Massimo's brothers get their happily ever afters.

The Haunting of Beatrix Greene - Rachel Hawkins, Ash Parsons, Vicky Alvear Shecter

 This book is an historical fiction set in Victorian London and follows spiritual medium Beatrix Greene.  She knows ghosts aren't real but she enjoys giving peace of mind to loved ones of the dead.  She runs into James Walker, someone who has been publicly discrediting other fake mediums, and he offers her a job for a single night in the reportedly haunted Ashbury Manor to either prove or disprove the manor's haunting rumors.  Beatrix accepts the job and during a séance, her true gift is awakened as is something else inside the manor.  Beatrix, James, and a small group of others must try to discover the truth behind the past events at Ashbury Manor while struggling to stay alive. 

First off, I loved the way this book was written.  I don't love historical fiction and I find the writing in many of them to be somewhat stuffy or pretentious.  However, since this was a horror/thriller historical fiction, I found the writing style to be a bit more modern and not so stuck-up.  The narration felt very modern while the dialogue was more old fashioned - which worked surprisingly well and even highlighted the difference between what people were thinking/feeling to themselves and what they were able to tell others (all that Victorian propriety, you know).  I thought the description of the séance scenes as well as one particularly gruesome death scene was spectacular.  I'm not one to shy away from gory stuff, but the descriptions were so gory that I was both enthralled and grossed out.  There were numerous times where the atmosphere in the manor changed based on the events taking place (a warm calming energy, a sinister cold energy, an angry firey energy) and the description and general narration really reflected the changes and the different energies that the characters were experiencing.  It was a very atmospheric read and I heavily applaud the authors for their success in this area.  I also couldn't tell that this was written by 3 different people, it was a very cohesive story.

I really liked the plot, but found it a bit predictable.  I don't read much horror (although I do watch a lot of horror TV and movies), I lean more toward the thriller side of things, so I'm not sure if these just so happen to be common tropes that come up in the horror media I do consume or if the story was overall predictable. I found myself a lot going "that's a bad person for sure" or "well obviously that's where all the bad energy is coming from" and all of my assumptions turned out to be true.  But regardless of that, it was still a very enjoyable read. I think the individual elements, while predictable, did fit together really nicely as an overall plot.  I felt like this book was a perfect blend of The Shining plus Poltergeist plus Penny Dreadful.  It was a pretty standard haunted house plot but was a fun read overall.

One of my least favorite parts (and a part that a lot of people were pointing out in their reviews on GoodReads) is the romance.  It felt very forced in the book and didn't have enough lead up.  When it first started, I thought it was the manor that was making the two characters act on their attractions.  It almost seemed like the characters were in a daze of sorts when they were first romantically interacting.  There is an event that happens later in the book as a direct result of the romance so I thought my initial feeling was correct that the characters were supernaturally affected by the house.  However, by the end, that didn't seem to be the case as at least one of the characters did seem to still be romantically attracted to the other.  If the romance wasn't caused by the house, then the whole thing seemed to develop incredibly fast (especially considering the times) and there was little chemistry built up between the characters prior to them becoming involved.  So overall, the romance was the weakest part of the plot and I choose to believe it was the house the whole time and the one character then caught a case of the feelings which lingered after the fact.

The entire cast of characters I found were well developed and interesting.  Each of them had their purpose and they all were necessary to propel the story forward.  It was a small cast of only 5 characters but since it was a very small setting (just the manor) and a short time-span (just one night), I thought it was impressive that each character was so well implemented into the plot. 

Pretty standard haunted house plot, great cast of characters, excellent writing and descriptions, romance felt a bit shoved in, but gave me some good spooky feels which is all I can really ask from a haunted house book in the first place.

198 pages

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC. This book will be published on October 28, 2020.

Romance Wrap-Up 10/8/20 - 10/14/20

 Rough Country - Lauren Landish

This is the third and final book in the Tannen Boys series and follows singer-songwriter Bobby and new to town Willow. Willow comes to town to reconnect with her uncle Henry and she starts to bar tend at Henry's bar.  Bobby is the most eligible bachelor in town and his live music nights at the bar are the place to be.  Bobby sees Willow across the room and is instantly smitten.  She's not so convinced that this man, who all the other women seem to be throwing themselves at, would be right for her.  Bobby shows Willow that he's only interested in her and the two click instantly (the chemistry between these two is fantastic).  But then a big Nashville music producer finds Bobby and offers him the record deal of a life time and Bobby is faced with a life-changing decision to either follow his lifelong dream of being a country music star or stay in town with his new love.  I absolutely adored everything about this book.  By book 3 in a series like this, the reader is pretty comfortable with the cast of characters surrounding the main couple, but we get some more great side characters in this book.  I've never related so much with a heroine before so I was rooting for her and Bobby so so hard.  Willow is someone who always takes care of others.  She like photography, but wants her blog to stay anonymous so she can highlight the little, everyday moments that she finds.  She is generally happy with her life and happy to help out those around her.  But she deserves someone who thinks she's the whole world and will take care of  her.  And that person is Bobby.  He's a big hunk of man with a soft center which comes out a lot in his songs.  He doesn't shy away from showing Willow exactly how much she means to him and makes sure to take care of her when she's taking care of everyone else (and that dirty talk!).  I really loved the ending and how much we got to see of these two after the main conflict of the story was resolved.  I liked being able to see the characters settle into their new lives a bit and not have the book end basically right after the conflict is finished. 

Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire - Pippa Grant

This is the third book in the Bro Code series and follows single dad Tripp and business woman Lila.  After an encounter in a NYC bar where Tripp lies about his identity, the two find themselves working together to revitalize Copper Valley's baseball team.  While the series can be read in any order, I would recommend reading at least book 2 first because it really introduces a lot of the recurring characters.  Book 1's characters do show up in this book as well, but in a much more minor role.  Pippa Grant is one of my go-to authors when I want a fun rom-com with little to no angst and this book is no exception.  I really liked how well developed the characters were and how self-aware they were about their flaws.  It can get real annoying real fast when reading about a character who doesn't know why X keeps happening and the reader is like "duh, it is because you're doing Y".  Not the case in this book.  Both Tripp and Lila have their own struggles and while they are both highly aware of them, they keep falling back into old habits.  I also liked how their struggles weren't the typical romance tropes that would cause tension in relationships.  I'm not a baseball person, so the fact that these two characters are managing a baseball team together didn't really enhance the story at all for me in fact, I wasn't really engaged at all with the baseball talk.  I was much more interested in Lila's romance book publishing company.  Overall, this was a super cute and fun read, I laughed out loud a few times, and I highly recommend the series overall.  

The Perfect Illusion - Winter Renshaw

 Meh, this book just wasn't for me.  It follows architect, Hudson, and his secretary, Mari.  As she's in the process of quitting working for him because he's a huge jerk, he offers her millions of dollars to be his fake fiance.  He doesn't take no for an answer and she eventually agrees.  Now, fake dating/engagement/marriages are one of my favorite romance tropes so I was all in (I even broke my personal 300 page rule for this book because the summary sounded right up my alley).  However, the rest of the tropes in the book are some of my least favorite ones ever (and I can't go into too much detail because they're all spoilers).  The worst of which was the fact that Mari has a secret that could derail the whole fake engagement aspect and, of course, she doesn't tell Hudson until the last possible moment.  Ugh, angst for angst sake.  She mentions numerous times throughout the story that she should tell him but she just never does and at one point she writes off not telling him because she's "living one day at a time" which almost made me throw my eReader across the room I was so mad. And the worst thing is, if she would have told Hudson her secret right at the beginning it could have done a few different things: 1 - it could have gotten Mari what she wanted initially which would be for Hunter to back off, 2 - they could have still gone through with the fake engagement and the second half of the book when we find out more info about the secret would have been even more dramatic and angsty.

Wicked Sexy - J.T. Geissinger

This is book 2 in the Wicked Games series and it was the only one that I was really interested in reading.  It follows Tabby, a hacker with a photographic memory, and Connor, a marine, as they work together to track down a sociopathic cyber criminal.  This book was fantastic.  I found Tabby and Connor to both be super interesting characters and their chemistry is off the charts.  They have crossed paths previously so while we don't get to see their initial meeting, their history means we get a kick-start to the romance and the two get together pretty early in the book (around 25%).  I was instantly intrigued with the cyber criminal plot line and found it very interesting that Tabby was the 'good' version of the cyber criminal with all her skills and knowledge.  I loved Tabby and Connor's banter back and forth and the whole cast of characters that we meet are just great.  I thought the twists uncovered during the investigation were really well done and who doesn't love a big alpha marine hero coming to save the day.  Loved it, loved it, loved it!

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus - Jaime Jo Wright

 This book follows two women - Pippa in 1928 and Chandler in present day.  Both story lines take place in the same small down which is the wintering grounds for Bonaventure Circus.  

Pippa is the adopted daughter of the circus's owner after being abandoned as a baby by one of the circus workers. She is receiving mysterious messages from someone called "The Watchman" who says he knows the truth about her heritage.  Wanting to know the truth, Pippa searches for The Watchman and starts becoming more involved in the circus life than her father or her fiance would like.  She finds out that there may be a serial killer in the circus and her search for answers may put her in danger.  

Chandler is a real estate developer whose company just bought the abandoned circus train depot with plans to renovate and restore the historical site.  But with it's dark history, the depot may be more of a project than she expected - raising questions about the murders from the 1920s but also a missing local woman more recently.  Chandler is a single mom with an autoimmune disease and a huge chip on her shoulder, thinking that she needs to do everything for herself and that everyone else in her life wants to see her fail.  

Overall, I liked this book just fine.  I was really intrigued by the dual timelines and the serial killer / haunted circus premise.  The two main characters were well developed and complex and the story had good ~spooky~ vibes.  However, I found the ending just a bit unsatisfying - the dual timelines made it feel like it wasn't as high stakes as I would have liked (further explanation below). 

The slow and steady build up in this book was fantastic.  Jamie Jo Wright did a great job of giving us just enough of one timeline before switching to the other which really helped pull me along through the narrative.  The first third of the book was really setting up who these two women are, what their worlds look like, and what they are searching for.  I found Pippa a little annoyingly naive and Chandler a little annoyingly jaded but overall, I did like their characterizations.  They were so different from each other which I really enjoyed.  The middle third was when the eerie elements started coming in and I'll admit I got spooked a few times while reading.  There wasn't anything overtly scary that happens, but there's a general spooky vibe going on which was exactly what I was hoping for.  The setting of the circus was really atmospheric.  All the side characters were circus workers and they all had individual reasons for working at the circus none of which were particularly happy reasons.  We find out pretty early the identity of one person who will be killed and we know the killer was caught and was a member of the circus.  This really heightened the suspense because the reader knows from the present day plot that some of the characters we are following in the 1920s plot aren't who they say they are and it was really fun trying to figure out who would end up being the bad guy. 

The last third is when everything started really ramping up and I was super on board but this is where I found the dual timelines were hindering the suspense.  I've liked this same mechanic in other books in the past so I'm not sure why it didn't work for me here, but I felt like the times where the narrative cut back and forth weren't at the ideal times to boost suspense (if that was what the author was going for).  It was almost like each break in the timeline came just a bit too far after a reveal.  So I would be reading along and then *something would happen* and there would be a bit more plot after of the characters just starting to deal with the *event* and then it would cut back to the other time.  The little bit of the characters starting to deal with what just happened took away from the drama and then I wasn't as stressed about getting back to that timeline because there was a bit of a resolution after the plot point was revealed.  I think the overall plots of both times were really suspenseful and thrilling and I thought the timing of the switching timelines for the first 2/3 of the book was fantastic, the last third just didn't click as well for me.

I really enjoy reading split timeline books and it is a mechanic I think works really well in thrillers, especially.  The best praise I have for this book is that both timelines were so entertaining and interesting that I would have read either of them as a stand alone book.  I find in a lot of dual timeline books, one is the 'main' story and the other is mostly there for context or to build suspense and so one timeline seems to be less developed or interesting than the other.  Not so in this case - in fact, I really wanted more build up with both of these timelines, more suspense during the investigation, more red herrings revealed.  I wanted to sit in each world longer and really get into the deep underbelly of this circus.

 I also enjoyed how the ending isn't 100% resolved for all the characters (though it is resolved for the reader).  The characters in present day get exact answers to some of the mysteries they were investigating, but one mystery they have only a theory on and no exact proof.  The characters talk about how hard it would be to prove something that happened so long ago but overall they are satisfied with their conclusions.  We flash to the 1920s characters and have that theory confirmed.  I thought it was a realistic touch that one set of characters wouldn't be able to find with 100% certainty something that had stayed a secret for so long.

 A final note is that one of this book's genre is listed as Christian Fiction.  That isn't a genre that I gravitate toward and honestly didn't realize it was a Christian fiction book when I initially requested it.  I felt like there was a good amount of discussion between the characters about their faith and their views on God's role in their lives.  However, I didn't feel like these discussions were very smoothly incorporated.  It felt to me like the discussions were added in after the rest of the story was written as an extra layer (or maybe they were much lighter initially and then boosted up during the editing phase).  Based on some of the GoodReads reviews I skimmed over, a lot of people really liked the faith discussions in the book so this just might be something I'm not used to since I don't read this genre very often. 

 

 

 Spooky, dual timeline investigation of serial killer and possible haunting of a circus.  Very atmospheric first 2/3s and then the last 1/3 really steps up the action.

391 pages

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

Romance Wrap-Up 10/1/20 - 10/7/20

Only 5 books this week, but 4/5 were the first books in new series.  I won't be continuing all series, but it was nice to try out some new ones this week.

The Best Friend Zone -  Nicole Snow

This isn't listed as a book in a series, but it does take place in the same town (Dallas, North Dakota) as some of Snow's other books (Accidental Knight, for example) but you do not need to read the other books before this one.  This book follows childhood best friends Quinn and Tory.  They both spent time in Dallas each summer and then returned home for the school year.  They haven't seen each other since Quinn was 20 and Tory was 17 but life events have the two coming back to the small town 10 years later.  After reconnecting and reminiscing over their old fun times in childhood, they both have some pretty heavy baggage that they're working through and some quiet time in Dallas is just what both of them need - too bad it doesn't stay quiet long in a Nicole Snow novel.  I love friends-to-lovers romances and this is no exception.  The two characters are equally attracted to each other and they mutually decide to take a chance on a relationship (only pushed slightly by Tory's meddling grandmother).  I love a good love declaration of "I've always loved you" or "I've never stopped thinking about you" and we get some heartwarming declarations from both sides in this book.  The outside danger element I wish was a little more developed, I didn't feel the danger closing in on the couple like I normally do with a Nicole Snow novel, but overall was a good plot line.  And there's a big dog named Owl that absolutely stole the show.

 Sweet As Sin - J.T. Geissinger 

Not for me. This is the first book in the Bad Habit series and follows lead singer Nico and makeup artist Kat.  The two meet on a video shoot for Nico's rock band when Kat needs to unexpectedly stand in as the love interest in the video.  I was intrigued by this premise and unfortunately that's where the things I liked about this book ended.  First, this book is angsty, super angsty, like 16 year old thinks she's going to die of embarrassment at prom sort of angst levels.  I'm finding that a lot of angst isn't my cup of tea, especially for adult characters with established careers and mortgages (Nico is 30ish and Kat is 25).  Second, I really don't care about music stars as romantic leads in my books, I find the whole brooding artist trope annoying and find any details about filming a music video or recording new songs boring.  Third, I found Kat to be super uninteresting.  I think it is a bad sign that I was more interested in her two best friends (who are the heroines of books 2 and 3 in the series) than Kat.  My main issue with this book (which almost made me put it down) was Nico's and Kat's relationship felt super toxic to me.  Right from the beginning, red flags were going off in my head.  This is the first romance book I've read where I actively wanted the characters to not end up together.  The fact that Nico and Kat end up together so early in the book made me think there might be a second hero waiting around the corner, but no such luck.  Nico has never been in a serious relationship because he's a rock star.  Kat has been in 12 relationships by the time she's 25 and all of them were toxic or abusive (she gives a quick rundown at one point in the book).  She doesn't like Nico's super possessive attitude, short temper, or violent outbursts but then she goes and does the same thing to Nico (which he calls her out on but thinks that it is cute that she's possessive of him).  The whole book is them fighting, her running away, him finding her, them having angry make up sex, then being all sweet together.  Lather, rinse, and repeat.  I don't believe for a second that these two will have a happily ever after and that's a bummer for a romance book.  After looking through the descriptions of the other 2 books in the series on Goodreads, they don't sound like healthy relationships so I'm not going to continue the series.

Mister Billions - Cassie-Ann L. Miller

This is the first book in the Bad Boys in Love series and follows billionaire Cannon and bridal shop owner Lexi.  After Cannon discovers his long term girlfriend and best friend in bed together, he returns to his hometown where he runs into Lexi at the local coffee shop.  They immediately do not get along - Cannon is a huge grump and Lexi calls him out on it - but Cannon is intrigued by Lexi's spirit.  Soon, local business owners are being evicted due to not paying their rent on time and Cannon makes Lexi a deal that if she marries him for a few months, he'll stop the evictions for the whole town. Lexi agrees and feelings don't take long to follow.  This book was perfectly average in every way.  I didn't particularly love any part of it but I didn't hate any parts either.  Overall, I found the plot cute and Cannon and Lexi's chemistry was good.  I found the conflict to be pretty surface level (it could have gone deeper, but then it wouldn't have been easy to fix) and the stakes were pretty low.  I was much more interested to see what happened between the end of the main story and the epilogue.  The time jump was only 18 months, but it seemed like Cannon did a total Scrooge 180.  He was slowly changing for the better throughout the book, but then went from 0 to 60 during the 18 months we didn't see.  I would have really liked more of that development to happen on the page.

Heartless - Winter Renshaw

This is the first book in the Amato Brothers series and follows oldest brother Ace and makeup artist Aidy.  Aidy finds an old journal in the bushes outside Ace's house one day and takes it home by accident.  After reading it, she finds it is filled with details of a passionate love affair.  When Aidy tries to return the journal, Ace insists it isn't his (despite it being found outside his house).  The two keep having chance encounters in NYC which eventually, of course, develop into a relationship.  This was a very brief enemies to lovers situation and while that trope isn't my favorite, I really liked how the two characters sat down together one day to hash out their issues with each other.  They cleared the air and were able to put aside some misunderstandings which the whole 'enemies' thing was built upon.  Communication for the win!  I thought Ace and Adiy had really great chemistry and I really liked how she had a blossoming career that she was very focused on.  Ace is a retired baseball pitcher who is trying to figure out what his next career move is so it was nice to see the reverse of what a lot of romance books show for the main characters' careers.  I do wish the book was longer and the plot device of the diary used more in the story.  But overall, I really liked the slight twists on typical romance tropes that this book delivered and I think I'll give the next book in the series a read.

Southern Charmer - Jessica Peterson

So brooding rockstars aren't my thing (see Sweet as Sin above), but charming southern chefs sure are!  This is the first book in the Charleston Heat series and follows local chef Eli and aspiring romance author Olivia.  After rejecting her boyfriend's proposal, Olivia drives from upstate New York to Charleston, SC to take a month away from her responsibilities and figure out what she wants out of her life.  Does she want to marry her boyfriend?  Does she want to write romance novels? Who is the handsome shirtless stranger next door?  All important questions Olivia must answer.  Eli is a big hunk of muscle with an even bigger heart.  He's trying to figure out the answers to his own questions in life and the two end up finding solace in each other's company.  I felt this book had two main messages - follow your dreams to your own happiness and relationships can't be used as a quick fix.  The second point, especially, was really important because I think a lot of times relationships in romance books are framed in such a way that the people 'complete' each other, inspire them to be a better person.  And, to an extent, this can be true.  But for Eli and Olivia, in order for their relationship to have a chance, they both needed time to get their lives together and figure out what is going on in their own heads.  Olivia just got out of a 3 year relationship that everyone (including herself) thought would last a lifetime.  Eli just suffered a personal loss and he isn't sure who he is anymore.  Eli ends up going to therapy (yay for therapy!) and working on finding himself again after his loss rocked his world a little too hard. If you like loving, supportive friends to lovers who have the emotional maturity to admit they need to work on themselves before being ready to jump into a long term relationship then this is for you!