Book Review

Book Review: When Tides Turn

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When Tides Turn
Waves of Freedom #3
written by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Historical Christian romance, mystery

Tired of only being used as a saleswoman in her job and wanting to be useful to the war effort, Tess Beaumont joins the newly established Navy WAVES program for women. She knows her tendency to be outgoing and peppy makes her look shallow to someone like Lt. Dan Avery, a deeply serious man who hopes to make admiral someday. Unfortunately, he’s been taken off the sea and assigned to a position that he doesn’t feel is as helpful to the Navy or to his own career advancement. As both Tess and Dan struggle to make themselves more useful, they also struggle to not be distracted by each other.

I’d put this book somewhere between the first (3 stars) and the 2nd (4.5 stars) in the series. Tess is a fun, energetic character, though difficult for me to identify with, since she’s far more outgoing than I am. I appreciated her desire to be known as more than just a pretty face (though again, I can’t identify, because that’s not an issue I’ve ever had) and actually be useful. Dan drove me crazy for a while with his strict workaholic ways, but I think that just made his character’s progression in the book that much more satisfying to me. I liked the emphasis on rest and integrity in his arc.

The mystery in this book was less engaging than the mysteries in both of the previous books. I think that was at least partly because it’s really just Tess alone working it out. Dan helps a little when he’s on land, but I like the way the mystery stretched across both MC’s stories in the previous book, and that didn’t happen here at all. In fact, after a while, I tended to start skimming during the scenes when Dan was at sea. I struggled to understand or frankly care about the work being done to help the Allies be able to find and combat German subs–not that that wasn’t super important work during WWII, but I’ve known Sundin to make history much more interesting in the past than this book did. That’s probably just personal preference though.

Overall, this is not my favorite of Sundin’s books or series. Still, I think many others wouldn’t be as bothered by those things that detracted from the book for me, so I do recommend it for fans of Christian romance, especially those set during WWII.

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April in Review

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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:

Guernsey
Martian
WoW4
monster
Framed
Poirot 13
Cahills vs 6
39 11
Murder
Carpenter 14
Waves 3
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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

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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.

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Book Review: Murder Between Friends

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Murder Between Friends
by Liz Lawson

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA mystery thriller

Grace, Henry, and Ally have been friends for a long time, growing up near each other. Then Henry’s brother Jake was arrested for the murder of a teach at their school, and Claire’s testimony helped clinch the conviction. Two years later, Jake’s conviction has been vacated due to impropriety during the trial. Ally wants to help her best friend’s brother by starting her own investigation, and even though Claire is beginning to question what she saw the night of the murder, Ally wants nothing to do with her traitorous ex-friend. 

I wanted to like this book, as much as anything because I wanted to be able to recommend it to my teenage daughter who loves YA mysteries and thrillers. But in the end, the characters kind of killed it for me. The plot was okay—nothing more or less than you’d really expect for this genre, but decent enough. The story is told in alternating POVs between the three once-friends, 1st person and present-tense in each. (Note on that: an author needs to be really good at writing different voices to pull off multiple 1st person POVs well, and this author probably should have made a different choice. The characters mostly all sounded the same.) Ally got on my nerves with her constant and never-ending, or even lessening, hatred and anger toward Claire. Claire starting to doubt what she thought she saw the night of the murder was an interesting angle that wasn’t used well. Her POV was kind of bogged down by “domestic” minutiae. And Henry mostly just seemed sort of wishy-washy. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, which made the book feel a bit like a slog.

In the end, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the book, exactly (well, other than a larger-than-normal number of typos for a traditionally published book, but those might have been fixed before it was published), but I was probably the wrong audience for it. Even my daughter, who often enjoys books that I don’t, is planning to pass on reading this after I told her about my issues with the characters. Still,  if you’re a fan of young adult mysteries and thrillers, you might consider checking out other reviews at the link below to see what others who liked it more than I did thought.

Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Cards on the Table

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Death in the Clouds
Hercule Poirot #15
by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

Not my favorite in the series, at least part of which is because it seems like a knowledge of the game of bridge would have helped me understand the story, or at least Poirot’s investigation, more. I also felt like I did near the beginning of the series—like the plot was a bit bloated. On the other hand, I enjoyed some of the characters involved, especially those who were working to solve the crime along with Poirot. There are a few twists at the end of this book, and because I’m gullible and these books aren’t exactly cozy mysteries (meaning they don’t necessarily give you the clues you need to solve the murder along with the investigator), I fell for each one of the misdirects. So overall, a decent read, but I still feel like it’s a bit of a let-down from some of the previous ones I enjoyed more.

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Book Review: Framed

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Framed
by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: True crime

This collection of 10 stories of innocent people who were convicted of terrible crimes was difficult to read. Though these incidents mostly happened decades ago and often involved the presence of bodily fluid that couldn’t be tested against suspects due to DNA testing not existing back then, I wouldn’t be surprised to know that these kind of injustices still happen now. After the first 4-5 stories, though, they became a little repetitive. I don’t want to diminish what these people have been through—and some are still going through—but I considered stopping partway through when I could too easily anticipate how the rest of the stories would go. 

Another reason I struggled to read the book was due to the matter-of-fact and graphic nature in which some of the terrible acts were described, particularly multiple sexual crimes, one of a child. So let that be a warning to anyone who is interested in the book but wouldn’t want to read about those kinds of things. I applaud both McCloskey and Grisham, though, for desiring to bring these terrible facts to light and appreciate that people like McCloskey work tirelessly to bring the truth to light. Most fans of true crime will likely enjoy this book, especially if they’re interested in organizations like the Innocence Project or Centurion Ministries (which was founded by McCloskey).

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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