In episode 17, we review the YA fantasy novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and briefly discuss the rest of the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series.
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Book Review Podcast Episode 17
Month: May 2025
April in Review
I read 11 books last month, a book less than the last 2 months, but still close or higher than the page count from those months, so apparently it was still an average amount of reading, even though I felt like I read a lot less last month.
Here are the books I read in April:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (5 / 5)
The Martian by Andy Weir (4.5 / 5)
World of Warcraft, Vol. 4 by Walter & Louise Simonson (3 / 5)
The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson (5 / 5)
Framed by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (4 / 5)
Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie (3 / 5)
Day of Doom by David Baldacci (3 / 5)
Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, Jude Watson (4 / 5)
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson (3 / 5)
Outfoxed by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)
When Tides Turn by Sarah Sundin (review pending)
This list includes 2 ARCs and 4 re-reads. My favorite book from April (that wasn’t a re-read) was Outfoxed. I started 0 series, continued 3 series, and finished 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: Outfoxed
Outfoxed
Andy Carpenter #14
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner
My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery
When a program to bring dogs into a prison for the prisoners to help train them results in convict Brian Atkins escaping, then Brian’s wife and former partner, whose testimony helped put Brian away, are found murdered, Andy Carpenter finds himself defending another fellow dog lover. But when the case inevitably turns out to be deeper than it looks on the surface, Andy may not be the only target this time.
There were a few new things about this book, enough to keep it fresh and keep me engaged. The basic formula is still intact, though, and in fact, this one seemed to have less of the 3rd-person narration showing us the more in-depth parts of the conspiracy. That’s just fine with me. I always prefer to stay with Andy and his crew anyway. I got a kick out of this technology-heavy case, because Andy is so out of his element, it’s endearing. If I ever go back through this series from the beginning (which I expect to do when I reach the end or catch up with new additions, because it has become a wonderful comfort read/listen for me), I may start keeping a tally of pocket-Marcus plots and Pete distrusting Andy, despite Andy being proven right so many times. I don’t want to make these sound like tired elements, though, because they’re part of what I love about the series. As always, Grover Gardner is the consummate Andy Carpenter, and I recommend this book for fans of mysteries and court dramas.
Find out more about Outfoxed
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
Book Review: Day of Doom
Day of Doom
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers #6
by David Baldacci
My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Middle grade adventure
Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Maze of Bones.
The Vespers have a doomsday device and still have control of the hostages that they’ve been using to control Amy and Dan for a while now. Can the Cahills free their friends and save the world?
The only reason I give this book 3 stars instead of less is because I still overall enjoy the world that has been set up here. But like the main series of books, the ending to this story arc left a lot to be desired. There were continuity and characterization issues, as well as story points set up earlier in the series that were forgotten or fizzled. I was cautiously excited to see how some of it played out, and it really wasn’t anything special in the end. I don’t know how much of that could be attributed to another brand-new author to the series, though, and how much was just a bad set-up. I have wondered throughout this entire series how much each author got to choose what was going to happen in their book and how much was dictated by someone at the publishing company.
The ending was fairly anti-climactic and contained one of the largest out of character moments in the entire season. I wonder if it would have been better if one of the authors who wrote many of the other books had written this one, but it is what it is. I do tend to think that this being a series meant for kids/teens has led the powers that be to feel that it’s good enough to throw action, adventure, and interesting locations out there and not worry so much about good plots and continuity of characters. Yet for all of that, as I said at the beginning of my review, I really do still like the story world and would recommend at least the first series to anyone who is interested in this kind of fiction. And I plan to read more of what was published later. But my interest in the overall series has diminished a bit at this point, so I may lose my momentum at some point.
Find out more about Day of Doom
If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!
A Journey of Words 