Monday, August 19, 2019

Witch is When series books 1-3 (Witch is When it all Began, Witch is When Life Got Complicated, and Witch is When Everything Went Crazy) review by Adele Abbott

Witch Is When It All Began (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 1) by Adele Abbott
Paperback: 212 pages
Publisher: Implode Publishing Ltd (August 24, 2015)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

So, this series starts off okay. Not super thrilling, but not so horrible that I didn't finish the book. The main character is Jill Gooder who discovers that she is a witch.

I do think the secondary witch plot-line took too much of the story space up, I think it could have been used to develop the characters more. Jill's sister Kathy comes across as a bit of a bully, but apparently Jill is a serial liar to Kathy. Jill needs to grown a spine and stand up to Kathy every once in a while.
Spoiler...
Jill in an ineffective P.I., the crime solved itself. She was also very lucky to have not been killed confronting the killer alone and not letting anyone know, especially since Jill knew he killed his sister.



Witch Is When Life Got Complicated (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 2) by Adele Abbott
Paperback: 237 pages
Publisher: Implode Publishing Ltd (August 24, 2015)
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

This book is more of the first book, but the characters are even flatter. Jill becomes a doormat for her sister and cousins to walk all over. I completely disliked Kathy in this book, she bullies Jill into giving her daughter, Lizzie, some childhood toys that Jill had lied about getting rid of previously.
And if I remember correctly Jill goes again to confront the murderer with no backup and not letting anyone know what she is doing. The book felt dragged out, and that the author forgot her own character (i.e. Jill criticizes someone else's 70s style clothes, forgetting that her apartment is done in 60s and 70s style furniture.)



Witch Is When Everything Went Crazy (A Witch P.I. Mystery Book 3) by Adele Abbott
Paperback: 227 pages
Publisher: Implode Publishing Ltd (September 7, 2015)
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

It feels like the author still hadn't figured out her own world. In this book Jill has to attend two events on the same day. One of the events is in Candlefield (where her witch relatives live) previously time was supposed to not pass while Jill is in Candlefield, but in this book Jill gets very worked up about how to attend the two events on the same day. Doesn't make sense. Jill hates everything except her beanies, that she let her sister, Kathy, bully her into giving to her niece Lizzie.
It feels like the mystery plot-lines in these books gets overshadowed by the craziness of Jill's life.



In conclusion... this series I believe is up to 33 books at the time of writing this post. It may get better, but I won't be continuing on with the series. It seems to average at 4 1/2 stars on amazon.com, I don't know how. In three books I became very frustrated with the characters, I wish the mystery plot-line and the witch plot-line tied in together, which it may do further in the series, but at the start is where it was really needed.



Currently watching:Robotech - First Contact (Vol. 1)
Watching this with Jasmine.

Currently reading: The Countess (The Madison Sisters #1) by Lynsay Sands
Cheesy romance.


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Friday, June 30, 2017

High Kicks, Hot Chocolate, and Homicides by Mary McHugh (with spoilers)

High Kicks, Hot Chocolate, and Homicides (A Happy Hoofers Mystery Book 5) by Mary McHugh
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Kensington (September 27, 2016)
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

Uh. I don't even know where to start. Well, first off if I had realized this was the 5th book in the series I wouldn't have requested it from NetGalley. I think I'll try and finish the rest of the cozy mysteries I've been approved for on NetGalley, but I won't request any more, because the ones I've gotten, including this one, have been horrible.
I know most authors will claim that a book in their series can be read as a stand alone, but I have found that claim to not be true, you always miss a lot of development between characters and events that have happened in previous books can still effect the characters, that being said this book is no exception.

To start off, I hate the main character, Mary Louise "Weezie", of this story. For a woman who is supposed to be in her 50s she's a whiny baby of a character who doesn't know her own mind. She spends 90% of the book flipping back and forth if she should leave her husband, George, of 30 years (and you can't forget that it's been 30 years because you are told every time she thinks of divorce), for Mike. Now, why does she want to leave George? Because he would like her to be at home so they can spend more time together and he can decompress at night by talking to her after a long day of being a lawyer, he doesn't listen to her, but that's another story. She doesn't take into consideration that with her dance troupe traveling to so many countries that George has spent weeks, possibly months alone. Mary never talks to George about the problems they are having, neither does she suggest that they consider marriage counseling, or just spending time together.

Now, Mike is "perfect." Mike does everything right, always pays attention, always leaves work to help Mary, even though he is supposed to be the head of the OB/GYN department at the hospital he works at. Mike and Mary met on one of the previous trips the Happy Hoofers took for a dancing job. I don't know if in that previous book they had a physical relationship, they don't in this book. Mike likes Mary because of how much she resembles his dead wife, Jenny. That is mentioned a couple of times.

This lady also has image problems, she's constantly commenting how she herself, and her friends, are slim and in good shape for being 50 year-olds, when the main part of the story begins she comments on each of the Rockettes they meet. "Because of the hours we spend dancing, we're slim and in good shape. If it weren't for that, I'd probably sit home and eat chocolate peanut butter Häagen-Dazs ice cream until I weighed a hundred and fifty pounds." I wish I weighed 150lbs.

Then there's the rest of the dance troupe that make up the Happy Hoofers. Honestly they blend together. They are four other white ladies in their 50s who like dancing, and they've all previously had trouble in the romance/love/relationship department. But apparently they either have good alimonies, or part-time jobs, or maybe trust funds, because they have no problem going from New Jersey to New York City for months to train with the Rockettes.

I'm not sure how much research the author did, but at times the book reads as a tourist advert for New York City, but then the Happy Hoofers exercise for an hour and take three hour lunches. Mary raves about a croque madame (which is just a grilled cheese with a fried egg on top) and every place she has lunch with Mike they have to ask for a recipe from the restaurant and they get the recipe! In the book Rockettes aren't allowed to be pregnant and dance, but simple Google search of "can you be pregnant and be a Rockette" brings up this news article from Working Mother about Cassady Chiarelli, given it's from 2006, so rules could have changed, but below that on the search brings up Nicole Baker who was also pregnant and dancing as a Rockette, that article is from Dec. 2015. I think the author could have picked up the phone and at least tried to reach a PR manager, a retired Rockette, somebody? At least a dancer. I mean, even on the Rockettes' own page, Feb. 2016, they have an article about New York City Ballet's Prima ballerina, Ashley Bouder, still dancing at six and a half months pregnant, and I don't mean practice, she was in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker‘s Sugar Plum Fairy, and Waltz of the Flowers.

I hate that all the POC in the book are described by their skin color, there's the tall, black detective, one dancer is described as brown-skinned and doesn't even get a name until the next chapter, and then there's "An Asian man". Yet, not one of the Happy Hoofers, husbands, partners, or boyfriends are ever described by their skin color. Why? Because it's supposed to be understood that they are white. You should know that the characters are white until they are described to not be white.

And, at least in this book, the Happy Hoofers don't solve the murder, Mary is told who did the killing, and then she's held at gun point a ridiculous amount of times. By chapter 16 the murder is solved, the culprit arrested, but there's three more chapters to go, I could understand one chapter to tie up the loose ends, but three? Well, yeah, because there's nine pages (I'm on kindle for this book,) describing the dinner setup and no dialogue.

And then if you didn't have enough of this book being an advert for New York City there's 12 more pages!

I'm just glad I managed to get through the book without throwing my phone against a wall.



Currently watching:

Robotech - Battlefront (Vol. 4)
Watching this with Jasmine.

Currently reading:

The Countess (The Madison Sisters Book 1) by Lynsay Sands
Cheesy romance.


If you'd like to request that I review a book please leave a comment. Include a brief description of the book, including which genre it is. Please also note if the book is an ARC and whether you are self-published.

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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene

The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene
Paperback: 354 pages
Publisher: Berkley; Reissue edition (December 1, 2015)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It isn't super exciting, there's no super climax and resolve. It's just a book about four women forging friendships over tea and food, and it was really enjoyable.

I've already put other books by the author on my wishlist.



Currently watching:

The Secret of Moonacre [Blu-ray]
So, I had to have watched this before, I remember all of the costumes, but I didn't remember the story at all.

Currently reading:

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans (A Dragon's Guide Book 1) by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder
This has been a really cute Middle School age story of what happens when a dragon gets a new human as a pet, but the human thinks the dragon is the pet.


If you'd like to request that I review a book please leave a comment. Include a brief description of the book, including which genre it is. Please also note if the book is an ARC and whether you are self-published.

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Monday, June 26, 2017

Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (with spoilers)

The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch Book 1) by Rin Chupeco Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (March 7, 2017) Rating: 2 out of 5 stars I got a free eARC from Netgalley. This book was such a chore for me to get through. I didn't give this book a star rating, because if I hadn't have gotten it from Netgalley in return for a review I wouldn't have finished it.

The author made words to fit details of her world, but they are never explained. For example, hua, it's a type of dress the asha (which I'm guessing is a female (that part is touched upon)magic using entertainer, but also a warrior) wear. My best guess is that a hua has the empire waist of a Korean hanbok, the sleeves of a Japanese kimono, but also the side splits of a Vietnamese ao dai. The descriptions of the hua are never very clear, at least they weren't for me.

Another is darashi oyun, some times it's talked about as if it is a regular play or event, but then some times it is talked about as if it is the name of a place, but either way it is never capitalized, and never fully explained. Will they die if this isn't done?

Daeva, are they demons? Resurrected dinosaurs? Evil Spirits? I don't know.

Heartsglass, it is never explained WHY people HAVE to have their hearts on a necklace for the rest of the world to see what emotions they are feeling.

There are many other terms, but I won't list them all.

Tea is drooling over Kance, as much as a 15 year-old can, throughout the whole book, but she reanimates Kalen. It's never explained how or when he died, and when Tea's affections changed. Besides of the teenage angst flirtations Tea has briefly with Kance Tea doesn't seem to connect with any of the other characters, she almost emotionally exists in a bubble.

There are also some logistical problems. Chapter 2 mentions Murkwick, the closet town being "fifteen leagues" away, a league is three miles, that makes Murkwick 45 miles away. In chapter 3 Tea and Mykaela arrive in Murkwick four hours latter, meaning they would have had to walk, or more likely run at 11 miles an hour.

The book is unfortunately full of tiny things that detract from the whole story and for me made reading it a chore.


Currently watching:

Star Trek Beyond
Just realized this is the second time Beastie Boys was used for this reboot series.

Currently reading:

The Sunday Philosophy Club (Isabel Dalhousie Book 1) by Alexander McCall Smith
I haven't gotten very far with this book, yet.


If you'd like to request that I review a book please leave a comment. Include a brief description of the book, including which genre it is. Please also note if the book is an ARC and whether you are self-published.

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Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates: The Leaky Battery Sets Sail by Gareth P. Jones

The Leaky Battery Sets Sail (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates Book 1) by Gareth P. Jones
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Stripes Publishing (February 1, 2015)
Rating 5 out of 5 stars

This was a great Middle School level book. I think it would be a great introduction for children to learn about steampunk, or at least the steampunk aesthetic. It really is too much of a good book to give away spoilers for.



Currently watching:

Star Trek
Beastie Boys!

Currently reading:

Champion (Legend Book 3) by Marie Lu


If you'd like to request that I review a book please leave a comment. Include a brief description of the book, including which genre it is. Please also note if the book is an ARC and whether you are self-published.

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Thursday, February 16, 2017

Red Hot Steele (Daggers & Steele #1) by Alex P. Berg

Red Hot Steele (Daggers & Steele Book 1) by Alex P. Berg
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Batdog Press; 1 edition (October 16, 2014)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Jake Daggers is supposed to be a brilliant detective, but you can't really see it. He blunders from one clue to another accueses the wrong people and doesn't seem to make any deductions. He's completely sexist to his new partner, meaning every time he opened his mouth some type of misogyny and to spew out. Once or twice would have been enough to get the point across, so often was just grating. I will try the next book in the series, but it needs to spectacular for me to carry on.


Currently watching:

Jumanji
Great for laughs.

Currently reading:

Ghost of a Chance (100 Dresses Book 2) by Susan Maupin Schmid
Loved the first book, nothing but quick little chapters, it was great for reading to Jasmine.

If you'd like to request that I review a book please leave a comment. Include a brief description of the book, including which genre it is. Please also note if the book is an ARC and whether you are self-published.

Swagbucks it is how I make money for Amazon gift cards!
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