Month: August 2024

REVIEW: The Blast from the Past by Lucy Score

REVIEW: The Blast from the Past by Lucy Score

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

At the end of their last adventure, Riley, Nick, and Kellen found out that Kellen’s missing and presumed-dead sister is actually alive. And this has Nick ignoring Riley, turning down paid work, and obsessing over finding Beth.

But Beth surprises everyone by coming home on her own – with a story straight out of a decades-old movie – to explain her 6 year absence. And Riley ends up burning out her psychic gifts when she tries to use them to discover the truth.

So Riley and her friends will have to use more traditional means to figure out Beth’s real story as well as solve several small but important cases for Nick’s business before Riley loses everything she holds dear.

Review

This series makes me deliriously happy. I suffered at the end of this because I couldn’t immediately start another one. Book 4 didn’t exist at that point! By the time this posts, though, the book will be out, and I will have finished it. So stay tuned for another Riley Thorn review in the coming months.

This series is like the Bakeshop mysteries or the Meg Langslow series in that the core cast is what makes the series so appealing. I love these characters so much! I would forego the mystery and still be just as happy with these books. Thankfully, though, Score keeps serving up fascinating, twisty crimes for readers to enjoy alongside the antics of the series regulars.

The main mystery here is a bit thin – we know Beth is lying and it takes a while for the truth to come out. But the side cases Riley and her friends are working are enjoyable and wacky and keep the reader thoroughly entertained.

I can’t get enough of the series. Each book brings me true joy. It’s not often a “rom-com” truly can make me laugh, but these books deliver every time. The author left a note in this one explaining how she planned a trilogy, but the series ideas keep growing. And I couldn’t be happier. More Riley! More Nick! More Burt! More Wander! More Gabe! Well, you get the idea. Series fans should not miss this one. Newcomers should start with book one, The Dead Guy Next Door. (Language, sex, TW: Bullying, paranormal: tarot, clairvoyance)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read

BOOK NEWS: August 6, 2024

BOOK NEWS: August 6, 2024

Posted on by Jaymie

Happy August! It’s a great week for book lovers with TONS of new books releasing. Here are some of the new books out this week:

Books for Kids

 

Before the Ships: The Birth of Black Excellence – A picture book of Black history from before the beginning of the slave trade.
Memoirs of a Dog – Book 6 in this fun picture book series.
Mothman’s Happy Cryptid Halloween – Book 2 in the Cryptid Holiday Classics series after Mothman’s Merry Cryptid Christmas. Mothman and his friends help out when Halloween gets rained out. I enjoyed the first book so much – looking forward to reading this one!
Stay Angry, Little Girl – An encouragement to little girls to be brave and share their ideas, even if they might meet resistance.
We Are Definitely Human – Three aliens crash land on Earth and ask for help from the neighbors to get back home, insisting they are “definitely human.”
Cat on the Run in Cucumber Madness – Book 2 in the Cat on the Run series. Princess Beautiful is still on the run, but finds unexpected assistance.
Disaster Squad: Wildfire Rescue – First in a new series from Branches and Scholastic about a family that travels the country helping with disaster relief.
The Epic Guide to Dragon Masters – A resource guide for the Dragon Masters series.
The Puppy Place: Trixie – Book 69 in this long-running chapter book series.

Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults

The Legend of the Last Library – In a future where trees have been wiped out and paper is rare, three kids stumble onto a secret – there’s a hidden library still in existence. The last of its kind.
Molly and the Bear: An Unlikely Pair (Graphic Novel) – Molly’s new best friend is a huge bear who is afraid of everything.
We Are Big Time (Graphic Novel) – Aliya is new to Wisconsin and new to her school. And the basketball team is pretty dreadful – something she hopes to help change.
Who Is Lin-Manuel Miranda?
Silent Sister – Two sisters go missing on a class trip, and only one is found. While she has no memory of what happened, she’s determined to use her sister’s journal to help her figure it out.
Witty in Pink – A girl is stuck with her nemesis all summer.

Books for Adults

Apprentice to the Villain (Trade Paperback) – The sequel to the delightful Assistant to the Villain. (My favorite book of 2023.) The Villain’s sunshine assistant needs to step up her game if she’s going to help protect her boss and the entire kingdom. This will be a drop-everything-and-read book when my preorder from 2023 finally arrives!!
Behind Every Good Man (Trade Paperback) – The wife of a Maryland senatorial campaign manager goes toe to toe with him when she starts working for his boss’s opponent after catching her husband in a compromising position.
Between a Flock and a Hard Place (Hardcover) – A home improvement reality show runs into trouble, first when a flock of wild turkeys are lured to the property, and second when someone is murdered.
Errands & Espionage (Trade Paperback) – A newly-single mother is recruited to pose as a recently-killed spy to finish her mission.
Full Speed to a Crash Landing (Hardcover, novella) – First in the new Chaotic Orbits series. A space looter is picked up by a government ship on a secret mission – where the agent in charge starts to think there might be more to their unexpected guest than meets the eye. Yes, please!
The Great Dating Fake Off (Trade Paperback) – There’s some complicated crushing going on when a couple spends time together during a large Italian wedding – where both of them have shown up in fake relationships. Yes, this too!
Hot Earl Summer (Trade Paperback) – Book 5 in the Wild Wynchesters series. A spinster and an inventor posing as an earl get stuck in a captivating castle while it is under siege.  Yes, please!
Plot Twist (Trade Paperback) – A first time romance novelist and a long-time crime novelist dig into an online feud that challenges them to write something together. Yes, please!
Zero Stars Do Not Recommend (Trade Paperback) – When the sun explodes while he’s on an island vacation, Dan will have to decide if he’s going to stay on the island to help the other vacationers or if he’s going to try to get one of the last seats off the island.
I Surrender All (Trade Paperback) – Something new from Priscilla Shirer.
New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary (Hardcover) – Looking forward to this New Testament commentary!

 

REVIEW: The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

REVIEW: The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Dial Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Twins Page and Turner love going to the New York Public Library. In fact, one day they take their father’s rare copy of Dracula to the library for some research.  Page feels like their dad spends more time with his collection than he does with his kids. Taking his book feels like “revenge.” But when the rare – and expensive – book CRAWLS away and disappears in the library, the twins need help.

They meet the Night Librarian and discover that books, especially old books, have magic. And their characters can sometimes leave their stories! And Dracula, and others, have done just that.

Page and Turner team up with some other book characters to see if they can find the escapees, especially Dracula, before their parents get home.

Review

I loved the artwork in this graphic novel, and the magical library premise is a lot of fun. I was frustrated at times, though, when the main plot – the lost book and escaped characters – took a long backseat to establishing the world building. In addition to significant world building, the author is also trying to establish the character dynamics for the twins and their parents. It’s an ambitious undertaking. I loved it in principle, but didn’t always like it in execution.

Page is hard to like, and Turner’s negative self-talk and low self-opinion even makes him hard to root for at times. The escaped book characters are mostly fun, and the choices of books to highlight in the story were good. There’s one moment where the storytelling hits a hiccup – a twist in the story that is “told” rather than “shown.” It felt abrupt, and like a missed opportunity to develop Turner’s character a bit more. Thankfully, the final solution, while similar in it’s suddenness, was laid out in a more satisfying way.

So this was uneven for me in a lot of ways. Would I suggest it to kids? Sure. Graphic novel fans, book lovers, library lovers, and fantasy lovers may all find something enjoyable here. But I personally didn’t love it enough to pick up a sequel if there ever is one.

Rating: ♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥ = Good, solid, fine