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stayshomeandreads's reviews
520 reviews
All That Is Hidden by Clare Broyles, Rhys Bowen
3.5
This new entry into the delightful Molly Murphy mystery series is all about the political scene of early 20th-century New York. When Molly's husband Daniel runs for office on the Tammany Hall ticket, the entire family is swept up into the dangerous world of political machines. Most of the book is about Molly learning more about Tammany Hall, which is very similar to organized crime, and wondering how and why her husband is becoming involved. The actual murder doesn't take place until well into the book. To me, this made the book feel a bit off on pacing, especially when it came to solving the murder. I also thought that some of the plot points were a bit predictable. However, the wonderful and funny characters from this series made up for that in my eyes. It was so fun to read about Molly and Bridie learning to adapt to life in the upper echelons of Tammany Hall. I am looking forward to the next book in the series! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Irish Coffee Murder by Lee Hollis, Leslie Meier, Barbara Ross
4.0
The perfect cozy treat for Saint Patrick’s Day! All three of these Maine-set short stories (novellas? I’m not sure how to technically categorize them) were festive and fun. Leslie Meier’s story was the one I was most looking forward to. It definitely didn’t disappoint, with its Irish dance mom murder mystery. If you’re like me and love the Lucy Stone series, you’ll like this one. However, my favorite story of the trio was from Lee Hollis. I couldn’t stop reading once I started. The whole setup of a Saint Patrick’s day comedy show was a great setting, and I’m definitely going to be trying out that Irish coffee recipe. Best of all, the mystery kept me guessing. Lastly, Barbara Ross’s story was a really interesting and unexpected twist on the theme that I thoroughly enjoyed and won’t spoil. Thank you so much to Kensington and NetGalley for the ARC, I really enjoyed it!
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
Also, here’s another pet peeve of mine: Lily isn’t female. Lily could get all the surgeries and hormones in the world and would still be male. And unless you have an intersex condition, your sex is not assigned at birth, it’s observed. Biological sex and gender identity are different, and it angers me to no end when writers conflate the two.
The entire back half of the story is a patronizing after school special pushing a singular point of view on these issues. It’s infuriating to read even if you’re generally supportive of the trans movement.
Lastly, WHY DID NOTHING HAPPEN TO MAYA, THE ACTUAL MURDERER WHO LITERALLY CONFESSED TO THE MURDER??? That made me want to throw the book against the wall.
2.0
I will preface this by saying I’ve never read from either of these authors before and I went into this one blind. I don’t recommend doing that. Seeing the stellar reviews, I thought this one would be a twisty, dark, thriller but it did not read that way at all. First of all, the entire story was really overwritten and melodramatic.
Secondly, the plot goes from a run of the mill murder story to a sermon about social issues. As a mystery reader, I was really disappointed in how boring Lily’s murder was. It was extremely cliche and so predictable. I can’t help but compare it to Defending Jacob, which was a lot more entertaining and somehow darker even though it didn’t try to cram every social issue under the sun into the plot.
I found the graphic descriptions of one character’s childhood gender transition and another character’s abortion to be really disturbing to read and not necessary to the story at all. I’m writing this review to let other readers know: this book isn’t about a mystery. It isn’t a dark twisty thriller that you can get lost in. It’s 450 pages of the authors fighting the culture wars in the clunkiest way possible.
If the story was entertaining, or maybe about 100 pages shorter, I wouldn’t even care. As it was, it just missed the mark for me. I’m giving it two stars because I loved the setting, the beekeeping details, the courtroom scenes and the discussion of how witnessing domestic violence impacts children.
The entire back half of the story is a patronizing after school special pushing a singular point of view on these issues. It’s infuriating to read even if you’re generally supportive of the trans movement.
Lastly, WHY DID NOTHING HAPPEN TO MAYA, THE ACTUAL MURDERER WHO LITERALLY CONFESSED TO THE MURDER??? That made me want to throw the book against the wall.
Why Do I Do What I Don't Want to Do?: Replace Deadly Vices with Life-Giving Virtues by Jonathan "JP" Pokluda
5.0
I am so grateful this book exists. In any season of life, it’s important to reflect on your own vices and virtues. What this book does is lay out not only 10 common vices, but the virtues we can turn to instead. The author has given readers the gift of his own authenticity— he is very honest about the mistakes he’s made from his life what he learned from making them. Although I’m not a Protestant and I grew up in pretty much the opposite environment that he did, I so related to and appreciated his wisdom. At the same time, even as he shared anecdotes, the entire book is rooted in and constantly goes back to scripture. Finally, the reflection questions at the end of each chapter were extremely helpful. Nothing in this book is sugarcoated. This is one of those rare ARCs that I think I will actually buy and go back to. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy.
Four Charming Spells by Lynn Cahoon
fast-paced
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for the ARC. I will say that this is the fourth book in a series. I was very lost with the worldbuilding because I haven't read the other books in the series. Lynn Cahoon's writing style is very readable and engaging. The setting was very charming, and the characters were interesting to read about. The biggest problem for me was the pacing. This ended so abruptly that it felt like half a book. I know it's a cozy, but in my opinion, more thought could have been put into the actual mystery itself. The paranormal elements were fun, especially the spells. However, it does involve goddess worship which some readers might not want to read. Overall, this book was extremely quick to read and very fun. However, if I could go back, I would read the rest of the series first.