Month: October 2020

Book Review: The Door in the Dragon’s Throat

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The Door in the Dragon’s Throat
The Cooper Kids Adventure Series book #1
by Frank Peretti

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian adventure

Archaeologist Dr. Cooper and his kids, Jay and Lila, travel to a small country in the Middle East at the behest of the country’s president. Dr. Cooper is tasked with getting past the door in the Dragon’s Throat, a cave that has proved deadly during past expeditions. The president is hoping to find a fabled treasure, but what is really behind the door?

This is the first book in a Christian adventure series for kids and teenagers. I expected more of a straight adventure with a Christian message. Instead, it had quite the supernatural element to it, but I don’t want to say more and spoil anything. I should not have been surprised by how the story turned out, given the kind of books the author is most known for. It wasn’t bad, but it was surprising. I’m curious to see how if the rest of the series is similar in that regard.

One thing that I think was strange about the book is that the dad is really the focal point, at least in the first half of the book. I expected the kids to be doing their own investigating and discovering, but that didn’t happen for most of the story.

I’ve read others say that this is not their favorite book in the series, so I’ll be interested to see how the others are.

Find out more about The Door in the Dragon’s Throat

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

September in Review

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I read 10 books last month, which I’d say means I’m officially past my reading slump of recent months. Though according to Goodreads, the total page count was fairly low for 10 books, and yes, some of these books are a bit on the short side, but it wasn’t intentional, unlike last month. (Update: 3 of the books I read didn’t have a page count for the Kindle version, which is why the total page count seemed so low. I actually averaged around 300 pages per book, which is a decent amount.)

Here are the books I read in September:

Armada
Librarian
Sadie
Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000037_00024]
Anne 4
Shepherd
Cat Who 2
Jubilee
Cooper 1
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Armada by Ernest Cline (2 / 5)
The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer (5 / 5)
Sadie by Courtney Summers (4 / 5)
Time and Again by Deborah Heal (3.5 / 5)
Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery (3.5 / 5)
The Shepherd’s Wife by Angela Elwell Hunt (5 / 5)
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lilian Jackson Braun (4 / 5)
Jubilee Manor by Bethany Hagen (4 / 5)
The Door in the Dragon’s Throat by Frank Peretti (review pending)
before i knew you by Beth Steury (review pending)

This list includes 2 ARCs. My favorite book from September was The Shepherd’s Wife. I finished 1 series, continued 2 series, and started 3 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Jubilee Manor

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Jubilee Manor
Landry Park #2
by Bethany Hagen

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Dystopian romance

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous book, Landry Park.

As Madeline, her family, and the estate deal with the actions at the end of Landry Park, one of Madeline’s fellow gentry heirs is murdered. Madeline suspects a particularly hateful Rootless man, which puts her at odds with her uncle and cousin, as well as with David Dana. A second murder only serves to escalate the threat of violence between the Rootless and the gentry, as Madeline feels caught in the middle, hoping to make a difference, but unsure of who will listen.

This short book series has a difficult-to-define quality to it that gives it a charm and depth that I really enjoyed. Several surprises came up in this book, and though a few threads were still left hanging, overall, it was a nice conclusion to the short series.

Most of the things that bothered me in the first book were gone in this one. The relationship between Madeline and David deepened in a way that did still cause a lot of drama for Madeline, but it was based on a real conflict, rather than the immature-feeling jealousy in the first book. They argued a lot over Madeline’s insistence that the murderer was a Rootless man, though, and there were several things about that whole situation that bothered me–probably the biggest detraction in the entire book for me.

The mystery wasn’t very deep or intriguing, but it was a good catalyst for the plot. I wouldn’t go as far as to put this book into the mystery genre, but I think fans of romance and dystopian worlds, especially those who also like books set in the Victorian or Regency eras should give this 2-book series a try.

Find out more about Jubilee Manor

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

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The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern
Book #2
by Lilian Jackson Braun

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Cozy mystery

TCW 1-3

Former crime reporter Jim Qwilleran is ready to get off the art beat, though he doesn’t expect to move on to interior design. But the work isn’t boring, when the first subject of the newspaper’s new interior design magazine is burglarized, and there’s even a death involved. And it won’t be the last death in the interior design world.

The first full adventure of Koko and Qwill has a lot of charm, as Qwill takes to cat ownership with aplomb. Koko’s antics lead Qwill to question whether the cat is somehow psychic or it’s all just a big coincidence. The interactions between man and cat are always my favorite thing about the books in this series. And now we have Yum Yum to add to the fun in future books.

The mystery itself was better done than the first book, in my opinion. I was more interested in it and felt I had a chance of solving it. I didn’t, not really, but there was at least one crime I had pretty much figured out correctly.

In my review for the first book, I mentioned the male chauvinism, which is still present in this book, but not as heartily. Unless you count Odd Bunsen, a married father of six, who makes somewhat suggestive comments about other women all throughout this book. But hey, at least he only talks about looking, and nothing more…a distinction I’m sure his wife would appreciate.

Overall, it was a fun read, and I would recommend this book for fans of the classic whodunit & cozy mystery genres.

Find out more about The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!