Review: In the Frame

In the Frame by Dick Francis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More everyman adventures, this time in Australia. We barely touch on horse racing for this one. As is typical with Francis, sometimes you get a little racing, and sometimes you get a lot. Always with the everyman hero and some very light romance.

Artist Charles Todd visits his cousin Donald, only to discover Donald's wife has been killed in a burglary. Driven to help his cousin and with no real help from the police, the clues lead him to Australia. Charles, with the help of his old college friend and his wife, are on the hunt. Danger abounds! And Charles cracks the case to the immense appreciation of the police on two continents. Hooray! Classic Francis. 3 1/2 stars.




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Review: The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book hit all the right notes with me. Historical setting, family drama, romance, war, mystery. Totally my jam. Of course I loved it.

Laurel is an actress (a fairly famous one, btw). Her aging mother is dying and she is coming home to support her family. Laurel is also carrying a secret, one only she and her mother know. When Laurel was 16 she saw her mother stab and kill a stranger in the yard. Somehow they kept this from her siblings. And now that her mother is dying Laurel is bent on discovering the truth. We go on a journey of alternating timelines, past in WWII and present 2011. The mystery slowly unfolds, and it's a good one. I thought I had figured it out several times, then something else would happen to mess up my guess. And while I was mostly right about it, I was wrong in several ways.

Very satisfying story. I completely recommend it.


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Review: Wicked White (Wicked White #1)

Wicked White by Michelle A. Valentine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In the interest of transparency, this is NOT my usual genre. I don't typically read contemporary romance or new adult. That being said, the book was ok. I think if you like these genres you would probably love this book.

Meet Ace. He's a rock star who walked away from it all when his mother died. He's hiding in podunk Ohio. Meet Iris. She's an aspiring broadway singer who comes home after her grandmother died (who raised her, like all good book grandmas) to get the trailer park she owned back on track. Ace (who can't figure out that maybe not going by the totally common first name of Ace isn't a good idea when you are on the lam) rents a trailer from her. He's hot and cold. He pushes her away like a huge ass, then gets all protective and stalkery. She's angsty and dumb, and they deserve each other.

It ends like you would expect any New Adult romance genre to end. Enjoy your soppy HEA, people.

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Review: The Dancing Master

The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It all started with a romance reading challenge. I doubt I ever would have checked this book out of the library otherwise. And I liked it, because I am a sucker for a HEA.

Alec is a dancing and fencing master. I guess those go together because they both take grace and rhythm. He moves with his family to the Regency England version of the town from Footloose. Not kidding. Dancing is not allowed, and Alec is blackballed, beaten, and harassed at every turn. Julia, the rebellious, beautiful Julia, is the Ariel in this story. It's about the small-mindedness of small towns, and God, and change. And everybody cuts Footloose at the end, so it made me happy. 3 stars.

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Review: Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book. It's lovely. It wouldn't have been a book I could appreciate ten years ago, but I appreciated everything about it now that I'm older. So glad I read it. This book won't be for everyone, and that's ok. 4 stars.



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Born with Teeth

Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Captain Janeway is my favorite Starfleet captain, so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it. Kate Mulgrew has lead an interesting life. Impulsive, a bit crazy. Pretty much what you would imagine an actress's life to be like.

She shares the stories of her childhood, stories of getting stared as a young actress, and stories of her marriage and family. Entertaining and interesting, but I feel like it was very surface. While she let us catch glimpses of her world, she didn't actually let us in. Even during her story of giving her daughter up for adoption, a heart wrenching tale, she kept the reader at arm's length. The ending was abrupt, as well, and I actually thought I was missing chapters in my book at first.

I was expecting more, but enjoyed what I read. 3 stars.



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