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June in Review

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I read 9 books last month, the 2nd-lowest number so far this year. Considering that the 2nd week was Vacation Bible School at our church, and my husband and I are directors, and the week before that was full of last-minute prep, this number is actually higher than I expected. The majority of the books were read in the 2nd half of the month though, so apparently I was making up for the first 2 weeks.

Here are the books I read in June:

Good Girl 3
Anne 2
Power of Six
Lightkeepers
Carpenter 4
Bees
39-1
Dream
Version 1.0.0

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson (1.5 / 5)
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (4 / 5)
The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (3 / 5)
Lightkeepers by Kennedy Plumb (3 / 5)
Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
He Should Have Told the Bees by Amanda Cox (4 / 5)
The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan (4 / 5)
A Dream within a Dream by Mike Nappa & Melissa Kosci (4 / 5)
Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)

This list includes 2 ARCs and 2 re-reads. My favorite book from June was Sudden Death. I started 1 series, continued 3 series, and finished 2 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: Dog Day Afternoon

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Dog Day Afternoon
Andy Carpenter #29
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When defense attorney Andy Carpenter is asked by his mysterious and stoic associate Marcus to defend a man who is accused of a mass murder at a law office, Andy agrees, perhaps less reluctantly than normal. Though the accused man’s alibi is a bit sketchy, Andy begins to uncover a complex conspiracy that could possibly prove his client’s innocence…if only he could understand it enough to use it.

I have not read all of the books up to this point, but I’ve read enough to know that Marcus has been a background kind of guy for most of the series. For him to be more involved is an interesting change for this book, which is important this far into a series. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about these books is the variety of characters Andy uses in his investigations, which grows a little here and there. Marcus was always the comforting protective presence who had little personality, which I never felt detracted from the books. Here, though, we see a little bit of character development, yet not so much that Marcus doesn’t remain a bit of a mystery.

These books are normally in 1st-person perspective, but there are bits here and there from 3rd-person to show the reader things that Andy doesn’t directly see. I don’t know when this started in the series (or if it was new to this book), but it threw me off at first. I think that’s just because I have recently been going through the series from the beginning and have not encountered this yet. The only complaint I really had was that the conspiracy started to get a little convoluted and difficult to follow, with a lot of names that I struggled to remember. It all came together well in the end though. And Carpenter’s trademark wit and sarcasm are in full force in this book.

This series has become something of a comfort read for me. Or more accurately, a comfort listen, since, though I’ve enjoyed the books from the first one I read, once I started at the beginning with the audiobooks, it amplified my enjoyment a lot. Therefore, receiving an ARC of the audiobook was a real honor. I highly recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, and though there are some over-arcing storylines throughout the series, you don’t really need to start at the beginning (though I’d still recommend it). 

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: July 2, 2024

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Book Review: He Should Have Told the Bees

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He Should Have Told the Bees
by Amanda Cox

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian fiction

When George Walsh dies and leaves his apiary to both his daughter, Beckett, and a complete stranger named Callie Peterson, it throws both of these young women’s lives into a whirlwind. Callie is in a difficult financial situation and could use the money from the sale of the farm, while Beck is afraid of losing the only place she’s ever felt safe. Both must learn difficult truths about their upbringings and secrets kept from them by those they loved while also trying to navigate the confusing joint ownership. 

Probably the most intriguing thing about this book was all of the various descriptions about beekeeping, which provide a sort of backdrop to the rest of the story. The author clearly knows her stuff, and I enjoyed the way Beck shared the beekeeping duties with Fern, a young girl spending the summer on a nearby farm. Like the beekeeping aspect, though, the traumatizing backgrounds of both main characters are not something I’m terribly familiar with (except for Beck’s agoraphobia—I may not be fully agoraphobic, but I have anxieties that sometimes seem similar). My mom had some major trauma in her life before she married my dad and had us kids, but much of this I only learned about after her death last year. So I could identify somewhat with what these ladies went through, but probably not as much as would have been helpful to become more invested in the story.

The Christian message in this book, though light (and I don’t mean that in a bad way—I don’t need a book to be preachy to count as Christian fiction), was appreciated. Trauma, abuse, and neglect are terrible things to go through, and I truly don’t know how anyone finds their way out from under the weight of these things without God. However, though I have nothing against therapy and counseling, those tools seemed to be pushed a bit more, and while perhaps the author meant the two to be entwined, I don’t recall the therapist that Callie sees referencing God much, if at all. Still, though this book was perhaps a bit slower-paced and more drama-filled than my normal preference, I’m glad I read it. I think there’s probably a better audience out there for it than me, and I do recommend it to anyone who is interested in Christian fiction with a focus on trauma and family connections.

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May in Review

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I read 13 books last month, a comeback from last month’s low number. I don’t feel like I’m reading much, especially with Vacation Bible School, for which I’m the director, starting in a week and lots of work being done for it in May, but then, that’s where audiobooks come in, and I did finish 4 of those during May.

Here are the books I read in May:

carpenter-3
captains-daughter
nd2
boy-who-loved
regency
dragonback-6
poirot-4
Last Man
minor
romcom
masterminds-3
Cranford
tidemagic
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Bury the Lead by David Rosenfelt (4.5 / 5)
The Captain’s Daughter by Jennifer Delamere (3 / 5)
The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (4 / 5)
The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman (3 / 5)
The Regency Brides Collection by various authors (3.5 / 5)
Dragon and Liberator by Timothy Zahn (4.5 / 5)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (3 / 5)
The Last Man by Thomas Goodman (3.5 / 5)
The Minor Miracle by Meredith Davis (4 / 5)
Seeking Real Life Irish RomCom by Katie Nelson (2.5 / 5)
Payback by Gordon Korman (5 / 5)
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (review pending)
Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit by Clare Harlow (4 / 5)

This list includes 3 ARCs and 0 re-reads. My favorite book from May was Payback. I started 0 series, continued 3 series, and finished 2 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: Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit

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Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit
by Clare Harlow

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy, mystery

Ista Flit has traveled to Shelwich to find her father, one of many who have gone missing recently. The disappearances are attributed to monsters that come with the mist and seem connected to the rising and falling of magic that comes with the tides—magic that has given Ista the ability to “borrow” someone’s looks. With the help of some new friends, Ista won’t stop until she finds out what happened to her dad.

I’m going to do things a little out of order for this review and give my recommendations up front. I struggled a lot with writing this review and assigning a rating, but in the end, I rated it based on what I thought of the story, world-building, and characters. However, I don’t really know that I could recommend it to anyone in the age group it’s meant for, due to the subtle inclusion of LGBT elements. The attempt to normalize these things for kids is a major issue for me, and I am certain that there are others who will want to be aware of this in advance. At the very least, if have the same concerns at all, I would recommend reading the book before allowing your child to read it, to evaluate for yourself whether you feel it’s okay for them to read.

That being said, I do think that Clare Harlow is a talented author and world builder. The fantasy elements are interesting, and the mystery surrounding the monsters and disappearances is engaging. It ends with a cliffhanger and a clear opening for future books, though it takes such a turn from the rest of the book that I am not sure it did it’s job, for me, in making me want to come back and read more, especially when coupled with what I mentioned above. 

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

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Book Review: The Last Man

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The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery
by Thomas Goodman

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Crime fiction

Based on a real crime and its aftermath in 1927, this is the story of a bank robbery gone horribly wrong and the consequences faced by those responsible. I was careful not to look up the robbery that the book is based on in advance so I could let the story unfold the way the author intended. In the end, though, I did find myself wondering what the real intention and plot of this story were meant to be. The robbery happens, there’s a shootout, and an attempted escape by the robbers, and then the rest of the story follows these men through the rest of their lives, however short they may be. The bulk of the story seems to be about the trials and imprisonments of the criminals, with a long stretch of one man living on death row and watching prisoner after prisoner go through the door to the death chamber and not come back out. There are more trials, prison escapes, and then in the last third of the book, the story of a second chance that is touted in the official synopsis finally begins. 

I don’t think I can really say that the book isn’t what it claims to be, minus the truncated “second chance” aspect, but I think I was just expecting a bit more variety in the story. The redemption story near the end, had it been expanded on more, might have made for an overall better book. However, I don’t meant to say that the book is bad. The story is well written and seems to be very well researched. I did find myself somewhat invested in the fates of these men, though it was difficult to get past the brutality that they were involved with to be sympathetic to them. So in the end, I’m probably not the right audience for this kind of true crime fiction, but I can confidently say that if you’re interested in the story, you should consider giving it a try.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Book Review: The Minor Miracle

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The Minor Miracle: The Amazing Adventures of Noah Minor
by Meredith Davis

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade fantasy

When he was a baby, Noah Miracle survived a sixteen-story fall with no explanation. Fast forward to twelve-year-old Noah, who is an average kid wishing he was as extraordinary as his miraculous fall made him seem. Then he is contacted by a secret government group called Gravitas and told that he does have abilities, if he can only learn how to use them. But they also tell him that the man who dropped him from a balcony as a baby, his uncle Saul, is a villain with powers of his own, and that they need Noah’s help to stop him.

This was a fairly quick read with characters that may start out a bit stereotypical, but I think the author took some interesting turns with them. The powers possessed by Noah and other gravitars were a bit deeper than your average super hero or magical powers, especially at this age group, but I liked the way the author explained the gravity-controlling powers. It’s really more sci-fi than fantasy in that way. I also appreciated that Noah, though possessing stronger-than-average powers, still struggles a lot to learn to use and control them. And that his stronger powers aren’t just a coincidence because he’s the MC or a “chosen one,” but rather were caused by something specific.

Though I understood Noah’s difficulty in basically having to choose between Gravitas and Uncle Saul, certain aspects of the plot were fairly predictable (though would probably be less so to the younger audience this book is meant for). It was no surprise to me that Noah couldn’t keep a secret and used his powers in public, though I’ll admit I was a little surprised that there seemed to barely be any consequences. I also think there was a lot that could have been expanded upon and some things that could definitely continue on into another book. I see no signs that there will be more to follow this book, but if there is, I’ll definitely be reading it. I would recommend this book for pre-teens or young teens, especially those interested in fantasy, sci-fi, or super heroes.

Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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April in Review

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I read 8 books last month, which definitely reflects me backing off on reading a bit after pushing so hard to finish the reading challenge at my local library in February and March. I’ve also been working a lot on VBS prep as director at my church, which takes up a decent amount of my free time as well, and will continue to do so until mid-June.

Here are the books I read in April:

juliet
bee
embers
Illusion
dragonback-5
marvels
Anne 1
39 black book
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The Juliet Code by Pepper Basham (3 / 5)
Bee’s Gift by Dana Romanin (4 / 5)
Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin (4 / 5)
Illusion by Frank E. Peretti (5 / 5)
Dragon and Judge by Timothy Zahn (4.5 / 5)
A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure by Angela Bell (5 / 5)
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (5 / 5)
The Black Book of Buried Secrets by Mallory Kass (4 / 5)

This list includes 3 ARCs and 2 re-reads. My favorite book from April was A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventures. I started 1 series, continued 2 series, and finished 1 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.

*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.

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: A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure

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A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure
by Angela Bell

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

A failed engagement leaves Clara playing protector to her family of eccentrics, lest her ex-fiance have them committed as insane. When her grandfather takes in an apprentice for his clockmaking shop, a broken vagabond with a false name, Clara is certain he’s a spy sent by her ex-fiance. Then her grandfather takes to the skies in a flying machine he invented, bidding both Clara and Theodore, his apprentice, to follow his clues in a scavenger hunt across Europe. As Clara attempts to find her grandfather before the wrong people do, she may just have to let go of the idea that protecting everyone she loves is entirely up to her.

This book has everything I love in this genre and then some. Both of the main characters are complex, well-crafted characters. Side characters are colorful and fun. There’s adventure, symbolism, and romance that doesn’t take over the story. Though perhaps the heavy burdens that both Clara and Theodore carry throughout much of the story is a bit overdone, they both separately culminate in ways that I loved. There’s one scene in particular on Theodore’s side that brought tears to my eyes. There is quite a bit of Christian-related content in this book, but to me, it’s not the amount of references to God or the Bible that can make that content feel forced or preachy but the way it’s used, whether it’s well-infused with the story being told or not, and I felt Bell did a great job of having it all work together.

What really made this book fun and adventurous was the side characters, namely Clara’s mother (lovingly denoted “Mrs. S.” by Theodore), with her penchant for collecting abandoned or broken critters, and Clara’s grandfather (“Grand” to her and “Drosselmeyer” to Theodore), who isn’t present for much of the story overall, but drives the plot with his scavenger hunt and words of wisdom about Clara’s tendency toward self-reliance. I don’t know how realistic Grand’s automaton inventions were for that time period (or for modern times, even), but I truly do not care. They appealed to my escape-room-loving heart and added so much whimsy to the story.

I’m a fairly picky reader, but I loved this book and recommend it for fans of historical Christian fiction. If you enjoy this book, I strongly suggest checking out the author’s contribution to The Lassoed by Marriage Romance Collection, a book of short stories by different authors. Her story was my favorite in that collection (and also involved automatons) and what led me to look for other writings of hers just in time to read this debut novel, and I’m so glad I did!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Embers in the London Sky

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Embers in the London Sky
Allegiance Under Pressure #1
by Sarah Sundin

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance

While fleeing the Netherlands that has just been invaded by the German army, Aleida’s abusive husband sends their son with strangers, shortly before losing his own life to the Germans. Once in London, she starts a long, difficult search for her son. There, she meets Hugh Collingwood, a BBC radio correspondent trying to inform the public and boost morale while reporting on the Blitz. When his uncle and friend are murdered, it looks like the bombs falling on the city every night aren’t the only danger.

In a way, this book almost seems like two different stories. The first is a combination of Aleida searching for her son while also trying to shine light on the way some of the kids are treated as they’re evacuated out of London during the Blitz and Hugh trying to maintain integrity in his reporting while struggling against the threat of censorship. This main part of the story kept me engaged, and I liked seeing these different sides of London during this part of history. Then the book turns into a murder mystery as Aleida and Hugh, both apart and separately, try to solve a series of murders. I’m a fan of mystery, and the rest of the story was interesting enough that I didn’t need the mystery angle to be expanded on. Still the pacing of the mystery being in the background for a long time to then suddenly jump into the foreground threw me off just a little. 

I appreciated the development of the relationship between Aleida and Hugh and that it didn’t come across as the main point of the story. I prefer a subtle romance, and Aleida and Hugh developed a great foundation of friendship first. Though some of the drama involving their relationship felt too much like it was thrown in there just to prolong the inevitable declarations of love. I look forward to the next book, which appears to be about Aleida’s cousin, who is still in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and I recommend this one to anyone who likes historical fiction from this time period in the Christian romance genre.

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

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