Saturday, March 16, 2024

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

 
Setting:  Rhode Island, 1846
Main characters: 
WHIMBREL HOUSE -- Some say it's enchanted, or maybe haunted. Either way, it really doesn't seem to like Merritt. Built on Blaugdone Island in Narragansett Bay, it's been alone and uninhabited since 1737.

MERRITT FERNSBY -- Disowned by his father and burned by love, Merritt is a non-magical writer in his early 30s who has just inherited Whimbrel House. He thinks it will be a great place to write his next novel, but he doesn't know what he's in for. 

HULDA LARKIN  -- A confirmed spinster in her 30s, she has a small talent in augury, and works for the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms (BIKER) as a housekeeper. She's come to Whimbrel House to help tame it. But she wasn't expecting to find Merritt quite so charming. 

SIMON HOGWOOD -- a power-hungry necromancer who has learned how to siphon magic from other people...and from places like Whimbrel House. 

My thoughts:  This is an enchanting and fun fantasy. I love the role Whimbrel House plays in this one. From the melting furniture to the shrinking rooms, all the tricks it plays on Merritt, especially when it refuses to let him leave, are very humorous and sometimes a little frightening. I also really enjoyed Hulda's and Merritt's investigation into what, or who, is enchanting the house. They made an engaging team, even if neither one is very good at communicating their feelings. I also liked all the magic, and how Holmberg captures the time period. It's a captivating read with some good suspense at the end. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading! 


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

 
The plot:  Molly Gray is now the Head Maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. Her private life is going well, and she's taken the new maid, Lily under her wing. But then there's another murder at the hotel. The famous and reclusive mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe is about to make an important announcement when he drops dead on the hotel's tearoom floor. Poisoned. And of course, Lily, the maid who served him his tea quickly becomes a suspect. Molly herself is keeping a secret--she knew J.D. Grimthorpe from when she was a child and her grandmother worked as his maid. Many more secrets are going to come out before the investigation into Grimthorpe's death is through.

My thoughts:  I loved The Maid, Nita Prose's first mystery, and this sequel is almost as good. Molly is neurodivergent; she's organized and has a true eye for detail, but she often misses social cues and struggles with normal interactions with other people. I loved how we get to see moments from her childhood in this one, especially all her interactions with her grandmother. She is truly a unique character. The mystery involving Grimthorpe had some nice twists. I enjoyed following Detective Stark's and Molly's investigation, especially how at odds they are in the beginning, but how well they work together at the end. This is another well-plotted, character-driven, page-turning mystery. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!


Sunday, March 10, 2024

March's bookish art...

 
Hermann Jean Joseph Richir--Young Woman Reading


"You know you've read a good book when you turn to the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend."
--Paul Sweeney


Thursday, March 7, 2024

Two quick recommendations....

 

Network Effect by Martha Wells

Pesky emotions and even peskier humans keep troubling Murderbot. Figuring out the right thing to do all the time is hard work. Then something terrible happens to ART, the highly intelligent bot transport Murderbot calls a friend, and Murderbot must discover what happened and why...all whle trying to save ART's favorite humans. I love Murderbot! This is another thrilling and entertaining adventure with lots of humor. Murderbot's love of soap operas and all its snarky thoughts and asides makes me laugh out loud. 





The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong

Casey Duncan and Eric Dalton are running Haven's Rock, a sanctuary town hidden in the vast Yukon wilderness. It's a refuge for those on the run. Like ten-year-old Max and his older brother and mother. Then Max disappears. Was it the grizzly bear he thought he saw in the woods earlier? Or a crazed wildman dressed in bear pelts? Or did someone from their own town take him? Casey and Eric won't rest until they find the truth. ... What a great book! To say I love these characters and this series would be an understatement. This is another 5-star read from Kelley Armstrong. And one of my favorites of the year.




Happy Reading!


Monday, March 4, 2024

Midnight Creed by Alex Kava

 

This is the eighth book in one of my favorite mystery series. Ryder Creed is a former marine K9 handler; now he owns and runs a dog rescue center in the Florida panhandle where he rehabilitates and trains dogs as scent and search-and-rescue dogs. His best dog is a Jack Russell terrier named Gracie. He works with Jason, another veteran, and Brodie, his sister, and lots of dogs. He and Gracie are recovering from some injuries when he gets called in to help search for a missing boy. 

Maggie O'Dell is an FBI agent working a case in Washington D.C. that involves a serial killer who's been targeting the homeless. She and Ryder have worked several cases together, and their friendship has developed and deepened over the course of the series into something more. When Maggie tracks her killer to Florida, they find their two cases intersecting. 

Alex Kava always writes an interesting and engaging mystery. She creates great suspense, but it's her characters that really elevate these books. I especially love Ryder's relationship with his dogs and how they work together to solve each case. He can't help but rescue every stray that comes along. I like the way he and Maggie work together, too. I spotted the connection with the murderer early on in this one, but it didn't stop me from enjoying this book. It's a well-written and fun ride. 

Happy Reading!

Other Ryder Creed posts:

Friday, March 1, 2024

Randomness....

 

One of my bookish goals
this year is to read more Golden Age mysteries. I have several British Library Crime Classics and Otto Penzler's Classic American Mysteries on my TBR list. I hope to read at least one a month, and I started in February with Ngaio Marsh's A Man Lay Dead. It's an entertaining mystery that takes place during a weekend party at an English country house. And it involves a Murder Game. I quite enjoyed it. This month I'll be reading Dorothy B. Hughes's Dread Journey. 




Seven other library books I'm hoping to read this month:

Deaf Utopia by Nyle DiMarco
True Biz by Sara Novic
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead 
Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

And if I'm lucky, my library hold on Hurwitz's newest, Lone Wolf, will also come in this month because I'm eager to read the latest Orphan X novel as soon as possible. 

Three things that have made me glad recently:
  • Two days off from work....which always makes me happy.
  • New episodes of Ghosts and So Help Me Todd (two of my favorite TV shows); also that new show Tracker has been really good, too. Yay for something new to watch on TV.
  • I found a great 15-minute cardio workout I can do in the morning before work that's low impact but gets the heart rate up. I've been doing it for 3 weeks now and not only is it helping me to get in better shape for summer, but I've even lost a little weight. 



Happy Reading!

Monday, February 26, 2024

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker by Derick Lugo

 
About the author:  "Derick Lugo had never hiked or camped a day in his life. This Brooklyn-born, New York city urbanite hopped a train to Georgia, grabbed a taxi at the station, and told the driver to drop him off at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. Then he did as he has always done--put one foot in front of the other and never looked back."

My thoughts:  You already know how much I love reading about other people's journeys hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, and Lugo's is one of the better ones. He's a gifted storyteller, and this memoir is full of humor, adventure, and some profound and uplifting advice...not just about hiking the AT, but about living life. I loved it.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Favorite quotes from the book:
"I'm not going to fall into a mindset of maybe I'll make it. I already have enough going against me, starting with how clueless I am about the trail. Positive thoughts are my biggest asset out here in the unknown."

"This journey will go better if I don't dread and curse the things I cannot control."

"Change can be frightening at times, but out here it's our way of life. When I stepped onto the AT, I sought change. I wanted to move away from a static existence. Suitably, the end of one thing opens the way for something wondrous. I see not the end but a new start."

"Hike your own Hike."

Happy Reading!