Happily Ever After & Everything in Between by Debbie Tung is a sweet, almost cozy collection of comics about Debbie and her husband's early years of mHappily Ever After & Everything in Between by Debbie Tung is a sweet, almost cozy collection of comics about Debbie and her husband's early years of marriage. While my newlywed days are long behind me, I still found much that was relatable in her little vignettes of daily newlywed life, whether it's the daily squabble over the thermostat setting, or the pleasure of a quiet night at home together. Also, who doesn't love a spouse who buys you books? The black and white art is charming, Debbie and her husband are sweet, and the stories are low stakes and positive. While the art and writing are unclear about ethnic identity, Debbie is apparently a Brit of Asian descent, so there are a few jokes or terms that were specifically British, and a bit of diversity underlying a fairly white passing comic. This is overall a very relaxing read, perfect for snuggling up next to my husband under the covers on a chilly evening. There's nothing revelatory about the collection--imagine a less neurotic Sarah's Scribbles, or a Seinfeld-esque book about nothing, except starring a likable married couple. But during a pandemic, a sweet and relaxing collection of comics might be exactly what we need.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for sharing a free temporary digital advanced copy with me in exchange for an honest review....more
Witch is When it All Began is not a book to which I'd usually be drawn. I'm not a huge fan of cozy mysteries and am picky about paranormal stories. BuWitch is When it All Began is not a book to which I'd usually be drawn. I'm not a huge fan of cozy mysteries and am picky about paranormal stories. But one of my reading challenges for the year was a book that is part of a series with more than 20 books, and I had a really difficult time finding anything I'd want to read that fit this challenge. Then someone recommended this series, and the library had the first book, so I decided to give it a try.
Witch is When it All Began is fine. It's cute and mildly humorous, full of quirky characters and zany situations, as Jill Gooder, PI, finds out she's a witch, and tries to cope with her new reality, and newly discovered family, while researching a potential serial killer as a private investigator. Jill is extremely quirky, with a lot of OCD tendencies, such as her inability to eat cookies that have been stored or even plated with other kinds of cookies, her revulsion at cookies being dunked in beverages, and her need to keep her home immaculately clean and orderly, down to cataloging her cherished Beanie collection. She's also not adverse to lying, a lot, harmless little lies that those around her may believe or not. The lying is written for humorous effect, wherein Jill would be questioned about something she'd rather not answer honestly, so she'd blatantly lie and then confess in parenthesis to the reader that her answer was the opposite from the truth.
This book doesn't really take much of anything seriously. The system of magic and the magical "sup" culture she discovers, as well as her extra zany magical family, seem internally consistent but not particularly taxing. And the relatively small amount of sleuthing Jill does is pretty lighthearted/ not necessarily realistic either. She has a love/hate relationship with a local police detective named Jack, as well as with her one eyed rescue cat Winky and her madly knitting receptionist Mrs. V. Based on this book alone, despite Jill's eventually solution to the question she's trying to solve, it's difficult to see how she's making ends meet as a detective. Hopefully her magic gives her a boost in that department, or she's going to need to move in with family.
Family is actually the one thing this book seems to take seriously. As much as Jill may deplore her adoptive sister's noisy, cluttered lifestyle and rambunctious kids, she is devoted to Kathy and her family, and becomes devoted to her new family once she gets to know them (except maybe her newly discovered granny. That is yet to be decided.). The good-natured bickering among siblings feels familiar and comfortable, as well as humorous, and adds a touch of reality to an otherwise silly book.
Despite the silly tone, however, Witch is When it All Began ended up being enjoyable. I'd consider reading more in the series in the future, should I find myself in need of something light and easy-to-read. I'm mildly curious to see how Jill's magic abilities develop, how it affect her job, and if Jack ever finds out what it's like to kiss Jill. If you enjoy cozies with a touch of magic/ the paranormal, especially set in a distinctly British world, full of custard creams and tea, you may enjoy this story as well....more
Journaled to Death is a good solid enjoyable story. Not high literature, and not flawless writing, but interesting and engaging, in an appealing settiJournaled to Death is a good solid enjoyable story. Not high literature, and not flawless writing, but interesting and engaging, in an appealing setting, with characters with whom I could relate and a mystery that kept me guessing. I am not a huge fan of cozy mysteries, but I actually did enjoy this one. I think it's partly because it felt more probable/ less far-fetched than many cozy mysteries. For the most part, Mandy is a mature and responsible protagonist, who investigates the unfortunate murder using conversations and relationships, not risky sleuthing and blatant violation of direct police instructions. And she does all this while being a working single mom with a time consuming side gig, who maintains mostly healthy relationships with friends and family in the free time she does have.
As mentioned, the setting and the characters are interesting. Seattle doesn't seem like a very common location for book I've read, surprisingly, but it makes for a diverse and appealing setting. Mandy has friends, colleagues, and neighbors of different ethnic and religious origins. Her frenemy Reese is Hindu Indian-American, as is her friend Linda's ex-husband. Her boss Fannah is a gorgeous Ethiopian American who wears a head covering (I kept picturing Ilhan Omar.). Her cousin Ryan's friends are Asian and Russian. One of the characters is even eventually revealed to have been bisexual and in a menage relationship. The diversity felt organic, not forced, and helped create a sense of the multicultural setting of the book.
I also appreciated the subtle themes of girl power throughout the book. There are plenty of Bechdel test-passing conversations between Mandy and her friends and family members. Her relationship with teenage daughter Vellum is surprisingly strong and sweet, as is Mandy's relationship with her own mother. Mandy makes a point of being able to live on her own financial terms, despite having been recently and unexpectedly divorced by her irresponsible ex, who can't even be relied on for child support, much less alimony. Mandy certainly notices which men around her are attractive and to her taste, and enjoys flirting and looking attractive herself. But the focus of this book isn't romance, refreshingly, but on Mandy's day to day life and the solving of her cousin's murder. Mandy even has to deal with some unwanted romantic attention, and what entitled men can be like when angry because their desires have been thwarted, all of which was handled in a light-handed way that never got preachy.
Mandy's tight finances are another aspect of the story that I could identify with. I understand what it's like to work in retail and/or food service. To work side gigs to try to make ends meet. Mandy is responsible and resourceful and doing what it takes to provide for her daughter and herself. Her tenant/ landlord relationship with her cousin Ryan is definitely an arrangement similar to what many of my friends and family have had to do to make ends meet. Sharing meals and household chores, splitting rent. It all felt familiar and real. Mandy's investigations into the murder were constrained by her own work schedule, as well as the journaling vlog business on the side. No wealthy dilettantes investigating murders for fun here.
Because even the murder felt real. Messy and sad and seemingly pointless at first. Tragic and personal. Something that leaves family with unsettling questions and dredges up dirty secrets. (and that leaves Mandy locked out of her own house for days, and needing to clean it up afterwards.) But Mandy's cousin Ryan was a real character too, all the more fascinating as his secrets are revealed. We get to see Mandy grieve the loss of a loved family member as well as a roommate, as she tries to find out why he died. Since most of the suspects were in her own social orbit, the investigation consisted mostly of having conversations with those people, and listening to what they said and didn't say, as well as keeping an ear out for relevant gossip. Mandy isn't sneaking around in the dark doing breaking and entering, or violating the privacy of others, and I'm here for a believable investigation and a cordial relationship with the investigating officers.
I also found the gimmick of this book, the little niche field, of Mandy's work with her journaling and art vlog, to be really fascinating. This is something about which I knew nothing prior to reading the book, and I was fascinated by all the work that goes into those videos (that I admittedly never watch) on YouTube. To read about the profit margins of successful vlogs, about the products Mandy and Vellum made, the ways they made their brand unique (like always making sure to have cute manicures to be featured in their journaling/ art demonstrations), and promoted their brand--it was all really interesting and gave me a lot more respect for, if not interest in, the work that online influencers have to do to earn their income.
There are honestly not many aspects of this book of which I felt critical. I don't care for the cover--I get that it is meant to echo Mandy and Vellum's journal art, but it looks tacky, cheap, and unattractive. I think Mandy's version of this would have looked much nicer and more professional. I thought Mandy's daughter's name (Vellum) was pretty cheesy, and I doubted whether Mandy's husband and uptight in-laws would have ever allowed her to name her daughter something that unconventional without a fight. Also, I occasionally rolled my eyes at Mandy's relationship with her frenemy Reese, because I don't understand the concept or appeal of frenemies in general. But their relationship grew on me, as I believe it is meant to do.
The biggest criticism I had was that there were a couple of descriptions of characters that bordered on fat-phobic. A character can be both bad AND obese. Those two aren't automatically connected, and using body shape as a way to insult someone makes me uncomfortable. For the most part, the book was relatively respectful of diversity and differences, so those negative comments (comparing someone to a beached whale, or describing their body as squishy, for example) were even more unappealing by contrast to the rest of the book.
But overall I found this book engaging and interesting, with enough original aspects to the story to keep me interested and guessing. I liked the protagonist and her family. I found the mystery challenging but believable. All in all, it was an enjoyable read, and I look forward to trying more books by the author in the future.
Thank you to #NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for sharing an #advancedcopy of #JournaledtoDeath with me. This is my honest opinion....more
Usually my taste in mystery novels falls nebulously somewhere between cozies and dark realistic ones. As much as I don't want violence that is too graUsually my taste in mystery novels falls nebulously somewhere between cozies and dark realistic ones. As much as I don't want violence that is too graphic or an unrelentingly dark and depressing tone, I find a lot of cozies too silly, too difficult for myself to suspend disbelief. But this year one of my reading challenges is "A book with a pun in the title". And what genre has more puns than cozy mysteries? None! My other problem with cozy mysteries is that they have tended to be unrelentingly white in culture, setting, and characters. I did not want to read any more books about small town white people who owned cats and liked to cook or bake or tend bees. I don't need recipes for Amish crumb cake or southern peach pie or Grandma's mac n cheese.
That's when I remembered coming across one of Vivien Chien's books in the library and putting it on my TBR to read eventually. I could have requested the first book in the series, but the title didn't seem sufficiently pun-ny for my purposed, and Egg Drop Dead, number 5 in the Noodle Shop mysteries, was available on NetGalley. Score!
So I requested a copy and started reading. And while I mostly enjoyed it, and found it a relaxing read, I did come to a couple of conclusions. First, I am still not a huge fan of cozy mysteries. It's still difficult for me to buy that a private citizen with no training could not only investigate mysteries as serious as murder, but also do so successfully and without getting themselves killed. But, secondly, if I was going to read a cozy mystery, I was glad I picked one of Vivien Chien's books. While I still found the plot somewhat implausible, I enjoyed the little glimpses into Chinese-American culture, Asian-American retail centers, and life in Cleveland, Ohio. References to things like the Great Lake that borders the city, with the lakeside mansions where many of the wealthy characters in the book lived, lent an air of reality to the story, and the dynamics of some of the Chinese-American families in the area, including their deepest, darkest secrets, made for enjoyable reading. I also appreciated having a heroine who works a service job as her primary employment. Middle class people need representation too!
The main character, Lana Lee, is a Chinese American woman who helps run the day-to-day work of the family Chinese restaurant, and who, apparently, solves mysteries on the side as a hobby. I don't feel like I missed out on much by not having read the previous books in the series first. Chien slips in the necessary details from previous books throughout this story in a natural, easy way. No boring info dumps or exposition. Instead, we pick right up with Lana's life, still dealing with the events of the previous book, still carrying on her relationship with her new boyfriend Adam, still living with her equally curious roommate Megan and her good-natured dog Kikko, still working at the family restaurant. And then we jump right into murder, at a party where Lana is running the catering at a party for a woman whose husband's murder was solved by Lana in an earlier book. Can't Donna catch a break? (The answer is no, and the only question is if she's the one who did the dastardly deed, to the maid in the swimming pool.)
Lana is very curious, and I can see how that might drive her to investigate situations when she doesn't have all the answers. She is also rather impulsive, with a flexible relationship with telling the truth. She adds additional danger to her part-time hobby by lying to friends, family, and even her boyfriend about what she's doing and where she's going. She came across as immature to me--well-meaning and nice, but immature and prone to poor decision making. I was frustrated with her more than once throughout the story. I especially didn't see how her boyfriend could still be involved with her, considering how much she lied to him, even after they swore to each other to tell the truth. But there we go with cozies being unrealistic again....
Overall this wasn't a bad book, as cozies go. Lana and her friends, family, and boyfriend were likable people. I honestly had no idea "who done it" until the final reveal, and I enjoyed the glimpses of life of middle class and wealthy Chinese-American families in Cleveland. The title is certainly clever, as is the attractive cover art. My own personal tastes in books means that I probably won't seek out the rest of this series, but I would certainly recommend it to friends who do enjoy reading cozy mysteries. If you also enjoy cozies, I hope you'll check out the series too.
Thank you to #NetGalley and St Martin's for sharing this advanced copy of #EggDropDead with me. This is my honest opinion....more
There's a scene in this story where the main character, whose name has slipped my mind already, is invited to tea with two eccentric ladies, who serveThere's a scene in this story where the main character, whose name has slipped my mind already, is invited to tea with two eccentric ladies, who serve her weak tea and dry half-burnt molasses cookies. I feel like that scene is a fitting description of this book. Weak tea is exactly what comes to mind when reading this. Not terrible. Just weak. Even the title, which is vague and forgettable and seems to have no real connection to the story. I should start with the admission that I am not a frequent reader of cozy mysteries, so perhaps this book suffers from my unfamiliarity/ lack of passion for the subgenre. But I'd still like to think that there are certain standards for writing interesting and compelling mysteries, even cozies. I read this as an ARC, so I'm hoping the most egregious mistake has been corrected by publication time. I'm only mentioning it in as a spoiler. (view spoiler)[the main character's cell phone is temporarily confiscated as evidence. The afternoon after she's relinquished her phone, she walks over to take photos of an antique, takes them with her phone, and emails them to someone. Then a day later one of the police officers drops off her phone to her. I'd think it was a mistaken reference to a digital camera that she mentions later in the book, but she specifically emailed the pictures after taking them. (hide spoiler)] But there are other complaints too. The heroine has a number of TSTL (too stupid to live) moments--for instance, running into dark woods to search for a missing woman, after one woman has already been murdered, WITHOUT HER PHONE OR A FLASHLIGHT! Also, in general, the police tell her not to meddle in the investigation, and she just actually ROLLS HER EYES at them and keeps on meddling. Of course, one of the detectives "keeps her updated" on information about the investigation in a way that did not seem at all realistic or professional, even if he was trying to get into her pants. She also meddled in the affairs of a mentally handicapped adult character multiple times in this story--while she's presented as caring about him very much, and desperately trying to help him and advocate for him, her behavior is inappropriate and reckless and seems actually harmful to his mental health. I was angry at her several times for how she interacted with him. The romance in this story felt both forced and dragged out. I appreciate the reality of two people who have lost beloved partners having some qualms about risking a new relationship, but the story still dragged out their interactions (should we? shouldn't we?), while somehow imparting far more seriousness to a relationship than their actual interactions actually warranted. Also, there's an attempt to force suspense towards the end of the book which just does NOT work--it's obvious the person is a red herring meant to horrify or at least disappoint us. I was not in suspense; I just rolled my eyes. And diversity in this book? Well, there's a hotel employee who is described as of mysterious ethnic origin (turns out to be Romani, I think), and gets described by things like her "exotic" clothing and her broken English. Not a very deep portrayal. There's also a brief mention of a black character, who literally only exists for how he affects a white female character. I get that this is set on remote Scottish islands, but this story is still so white it glows in the dark. There were elements that I didn't care for that I'm guessing were more conventions of the subgenre than poor writing, per say. Heavy-handed descriptions of EVERYTHING, especially food and clothing (I was surprised not to see recipes at the end of the book, honestly). A weird moment of magical realism wherein the antique dealer heroine gets funny tingly sensations when touching certain antiques that turn out to be valuable finds. And of course, the MC's meddling in the investigation despite police instructions. I also found it interesting to note aspects to several British crime dramas and/or novels in this book. Was the similarity to the mentally handicapped adult suspect in Raven Black accidental? How about the back story for the love interest being almost exactly like David Tennant's character from Broadchurch? I guess if it's small enough similarities it's just sampling? Despite the issues I had with the writing, I managed to read most of the book in one day. It was relaxing escapist fare, and I honestly didn't know whodunit until the final reveal (although I knew several people who did not do it, despite the book trying to fake me out). Also, not knowing much about antique dealers and evaluation, I did not realize how suited they might be to investigation, with their eye for detail and interest in research. So that was an interesting aspect to the story. If you're a fan of cozy mysteries, especially ones set internationally, and don't mind a glaring lack of diversity and the occasional lapse in logic, you may enjoy this book very much. And you'd be in luck, as apparently this is the beginning of a series. Given the resolution to this story, I'm not sure how that will happen, but I guess finding out will be part of the fun for those who do read more in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion....more
I can't often say that I 'haven't read a book like this before"...but I have not read a book like Auntie Poldi before. Which really worked to my advanI can't often say that I 'haven't read a book like this before"...but I have not read a book like Auntie Poldi before. Which really worked to my advantage and enjoyment. I'd been in a terrible book slump--no book had been able to hold my attention for more than a few pages for almost a week--when I decided to give the old ARC I had of Auntie Poldi a try. I was drawn in right away by a very vivid setting in Sicily, vivid, quirky characters, and a writing style with which I was not accustomed. The story did not disappoint as I continued to read and finished it in two days, as time permitted. I didn't guess who the murderer was until very close to the reveal. And as peculiar as Poldi was, I felt myself cheering for her to find a reason to stay sober. Because, boy, could that lady drink. The writing style--long sentences. Lots of description, of people and places and events. Touches of fantasy/ whimsy, such as conversations with death. Third person view of Poldi, the main character, but with bursts of first person written from the perspective of Poldi's nephew who occasionally lives in her attic to try to write his own magically realistic historical family epic novel. In theory, these various elements of writing styles generally wouldn't work for me, but all put together, they mesmerized me, and I kept reading. Perhaps I gave them more latitude initially because I knew they were translated into English and might reflect a different language's writing style. I enjoyed Poldi and the aunts. I appreciated that the main characters were ladies of a certain age, who were nonetheless energetic, resourceful, and sexual. The nephew didn't seem very sympathetic to me--he mostly talked about how he couldn't seem to write his novel, and listened to his aunt tell him WAY too much about her sex life. And, while I didn't dislike Montana, I disliked the relationship he and Poldi developed. Poldi deserved better, regardless of whether she seemed content with what they had at times. Especially given her depression and alcoholism, he seemed like a bad influence in her life. Poldi definitely suffered from depression, whether chemical or simply induced by her experiences in a long and difficult life. the fact that the author could make a charming character out of a woman retiring to a rural Italian village to drink herself to death says a lot for his writing skills. Because Poldi, as crazy and impulsive as she is, and as many bad life choices as she makes, is likable and charming. She's a great reminder that older women can have satisfying sex lives too, and shouldn't have to ashamed of that. I also enjoyed how much I seemed to learn about modern Sicilian life and culture. I enjoyed seeing glimpse of a different way of life (and climate. phew! it sounds really hot there.) I enjoyed the secondary characters, and appreciated that they included a couple LGBTQ characters. I learned about the apparent ties between Germany and Sicily too . It takes quite a long time in the story before the author really sorts out for the reader the ethnic identities and countries of origin for most of Poldi's extended family, and they are mostly a sometimes confusing melange of Sicilian and Bavarian culture, language, and food. This seems to be a reflection of the author's own life, as he appears to be of Italian heritage, but was born and lives in Germany, where this book was originally published, in German. The book in general can feel like somewhat like a reflection of Mario Giordano's life, especially when you see his dedication includes a thanks to HIS Auntie Poldie. So, if you don't mind a little sorting out of identity, a dash of magic realism, and a very vivid German-Sicilian experience, recorded in an uncommon (at least to English) writing style, within a competently written mystery, please do give this fun and refreshing story a chance....more
***Since first reading and reviewing this book, it has come to my attention that the author is actually a white male who simply "saw an unfilled niche***Since first reading and reviewing this book, it has come to my attention that the author is actually a white male who simply "saw an unfilled niche in the market" and decided to write cozies in the voice of a Black woman. Furthermore, he gets really defensive when asked about sensitivity writers. The fact that he gets defensive, and that he felt a need to hide behind a gender and culture ambiguous pen name should tell you an awful lot about how inappropriate he is to be writing a book like this. I will not be reading anything else by this author, and cannot recommend this book.
One of my reading challenges this year was a book by a local author, and I knew just the book I wanted, having seen the Mahalia Watkins Soul Food mystery series come through our library. Surely a book set in Prince George's county, of all places, must be written by a local (who else would think to set a story here, and especially in such detail). Also, I appreciated that for once a cozy didn't star an elderly white woman with a taste for antiques or a feisty young white librarian. Halia is a responsible single African American woman in her 40s, who runs her own restaurant and lives and works with her mother and her younger cousin Wavonne. She doesn't waste her time worrying about finding a relationship (she leaves that to her mother), but seems happy on her own. The only indication the reader has that Halia might go off script sometimes is her choice of business partner/ investor, the charming but shady Marcus Rand. So when he turns up dead in her restaurant kitchen, it gets the story rolling. I mostly liked Halia as a narrator. She was a nice change of pace, and I suppose it makes sense that someone who is normally a calm and responsible creature of habit might go off the rails and make some poor choices when faced with sudden, unexpected stressors like a murder on the premises. I was frustrated that those poor choices she makes near the beginning of the book are pretty much the impetus for the remainder of the plot. Without the choices she and Wavonne made, there wouldn't have been much to write about. Wavonne is in general irresponsible and pretty annoying. I think she's meant to be comic relief, but her constant poor choices, in actions and words, were frustrating to read. Given the family dynamic/ Wavonne's history, I understand why Halia and her mom deal with Wavonne's behavior like they do, but she wasn't my favorite character to read about. Halia's mom was probably my favorite character. Moms just know things, and she didn't stand for nonsense. The best scene was where Halia brought her mom along on the investigation. Overall, this book was a fast very easy read. It was fun hearing local towns and landmarks named off, and hearing a more detailed history of Prince George's county than I, as a transplant to the area, would have known, along with some insight into local African American culture and practices (like the various groups in attendance at funerals) and African American issues in general (the insight into why African American women dressed up so much for church--they were segregated from attending many of the places and events where white women would typically have showed off their finery, caught me by surprise, but made sad sense.). However, even with those insights, the tone is not self pitying or dark. there's some sadness with the solution and resolution to the mystery--I prefer less moral ambiguity--but overall the book is fun and fast paced and cheerful. ...more
As usual, I tore through this racy cozy. Phryne Fisher is perfect, as I realized in this book. She never seems to do anything wrong, but is always kinAs usual, I tore through this racy cozy. Phryne Fisher is perfect, as I realized in this book. She never seems to do anything wrong, but is always kind and generous and gracious to those who deserve it, and ruthless with those who do not. I don't see this as a bad thing, though. It's more comforting. I can look at dark and scary subjects, like illegal abortions, rape and other sexual assault, etc, while still feeling secure that Phryne will sort it all out, looking glamorous the whole while, and get home in time for some beautiful young booty, and Dot will come along behind her making everything neat and tidy. While the Robinson of the books feels much different than the one I met first, in the TV series, he is growing on me too. and I was delighted to be introduced to Jane (and Ruth) in this book. I'm curious to see where the series goes next, as Phryne's fame spreads and her little circle grows. I can't really say if the mystery was surprising in this story, because I'd already seen the episode, so knew generally what to expect. This story did differ significantly from the TV episode, probably because the villain and reason for villainy in this book wouldn't have played as well on TV. whatever the reason, I thoroughly enjoyed it and have the next book requested already....more
I give this 4 stars, not because it's brilliant, but because it's fun. Maybe the plotting and verging-on-racist minority caricatures, I mean characterI give this 4 stars, not because it's brilliant, but because it's fun. Maybe the plotting and verging-on-racist minority caricatures, I mean characters (yes, it's historically accurate for them to have been this way. No, I still don't enjoy it.), were not worthy of 4 whole stars. But this book was fun! It's a fast, easy read (or listen, in my case) with humorous banter, interesting bits of Egyptology and archaeological information, engaging amusing main characters, and a mystery that kept me guessing. My library discs kept skipping, so I had to go get a paper copy too, so that I could read what I was missing and then pick it back upon audio. The easiest way to summarize this might be to imagine a more forceful Emma Woodhouse meets a slightly sturdier and scruffier Mr Darcy, as well as a Jane and a Bingley, and they have a Georgette Heyer sort of comic mystery adventure caper in historic rural Egypt around an archaeological dig. Like Heyer, the ending felt a bit terse, compared to the writing style of the rest of the story, but it was satisfying nonetheless. Alternately, you can look at two of the main characters in this book as eerily parallel with the romantic leads in the Parasol Protectorate series. All of these comparisons are recommendations to me, though. I'm glad this is a nice long series--I intend to pick up the next one soon, when I need another fast, fun read to re-energize my reading. ...more
This is a pleasant read. I believe the term is "cozy". It's not incredibly mysterious--I guessed the outcome of most of the plot lines well in advanceThis is a pleasant read. I believe the term is "cozy". It's not incredibly mysterious--I guessed the outcome of most of the plot lines well in advance--but the setting is unique and interesting and the characters are lovable. I enjoyed the introduction of the two children, at least the girl. Her little brother isn't very remarkable or likable so far. I also enjoyed getting to know the other characters better--Mma Ramotswe, Mr. JLB Matikone, and Mma Ramotswe's secretary (whose name I can't remember). My spellings are probably incorrect: I haven't seen most of the names spelled out, since I listen to the book on audio. I love hearing the story read with appropriate accents to set the tone. it gives extra character to the stories. This was a relatively short story, with too much exposition for my taste, but otherwise unobjectionable and often interesting, especially in its details of traditional Tsetswana life and of the topography and politics of Botswana and surrounding countries. I would probably listen to another book in this series, but I'm in no rush to do so either. I'm sure they will still be there, and be just as cozy whenever I get around to wanting another pleasant undemanding story to listen to. ...more
I listened to this book on CD, and, although I'm not a big fan of audio books in genera, I am glad I did. the narrator is from South Africa originallyI listened to this book on CD, and, although I'm not a big fan of audio books in genera, I am glad I did. the narrator is from South Africa originally, and does a beautiful job with the accents. At first they were distracting, but once I adjusted to them, they gave a wonderful depth/ authenticity to the story, to hear what the characters might really sound like. The story itself was pleasant. Not something I'm dying to read the next of, but an enjoyable way to entertain myself while cooking and cleaning. I enjoyed learning more about Botwanan culture, geography, government, etc, and a bit about Africa in general. Precious is a nice enough character, and I really liked Mr. JLB Matikon (sp?). Her father was a good man too. I like the respect many of the characters in this book show to women, and the way those who don't are portrayed. So overall, an enjoyable way to kill some time. ...more
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