Category: Rated

lanny?

Posted on by Greig

Fake Marrieds Meme

I’ve recently become fascinated with the Fake Married meme in fan fiction. I don’t review fanfic on this blog even though I read quite a lot (several novels worth a year) because it’s so variable in quality. Recently I thought ‘Why not hunt down some original novels using the meme?’. As a result the next few entries on the blog are reviews of ‘fake married’ stories.

Strange Bedpersons

Jennifer Crusie

strange bedpersonsHippy chick do-gooder agrees to pretend to be engaged to her ex-boyfriend so he can land the client that will get him a partnership at his law firm.
The book’s strength is in it’s witty dialogue but the plotting is incredibly predictable and the characters are so self-centred they actively become annoying at times.
I’ve read another previous Crusie novel (Faking It) and this just isn’t as good.

Rating: B-

watch?

Posted on by Greig

The Secrets of Ghosts

Sarah Painter

the secrets of ghostsI was really looking forward to this book after seeing a lot of potential in the author’s first book (reviewed here in 2013 and 2014).
Unfortunately it has the heroine suddenly act stupidly in a way that’s out of character in order to service the plot.
This is absolutely guaranteed to pull me out of a story. It’s a personal pet hate and it seriously diminished my enjoyment of the book.
It was nice to go back to Pendleford and I enjoyed Katie becoming the lead character (though I don’t get why she’s calling herself a Harper when she’s a Moore in the first book).
I would love to see the author try writing an adventure in a more overtly fantastical universe. The small town romance stuff is nice but is seriously threatening to get repetitive now.
Totally worth a read though.

Rating: B-

camptown?

Posted on by Greig

Flat-Out Celeste

Jessica Park

Flat-Out CelesteThis is a sequel to Flat-Out Love which I read last year after picking up as a Kindle Daily Deal.
Here we find the little sister of the earlier book taking lead role as she deals with the trials of the final year of high school.
The author once again delivers a generic romance with clichéd characters but it’s also tremendously readable.
I can’t honestly say that it’s a good book but I did enjoy reading it.
One for teen romance junkies only I guess.

Rating: B-

bauxite?

Posted on by Greig

The Portable Door

Tom Holt

The Portable DoorThis book is the first of a series set in an around a firm of consulting magicians. Within that series this is the first of a trilogy starring Paul Carpenter.
We follow our uninspired and unremarkable hero as he interviews for and unexpectedly gets a job at a mysterious but seemingly ordinary business. He then goes on a series of increasingly fantastical misadventures before the real nature of the firm is revealed to him. All this while he nurtures a crush on his fellow new employee Sophie.
I enjoyed the book when I first read it back in 2004. What I can tell you now that I couldn’t then is that it’s a case of diminishing returns with the rest of the books in the series. I only stuck with it as far as I did because I wanted to find out what happened to Paul.
Recommended for lovers of comical fantasy especially those who know a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan (which I don’t but apparently it enhances the experience).

Rating: B

nanette?

Posted on by Greig

The Language Of Spells

Sarah Painter

the language of spellsI first read this less than a year ago and quite enjoyed it. The author has since brought out a sequel. I read the first chapter of that book and decided that I’d best re-read this one first in order to be up to speed with the new novel.
My original review still stands – click on the link to see it.
I’m sure a review for the follow up will appear on the blog soon enough.

Rating: B

typeface?

Posted on by Greig

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore

Robin Sloan

mr penumbra's 24 hour bookstoreClay Jannon is an unemployed graphic designer and web developer who finds a job on the evening shift at a weird little 24 hour bookstore.
Pure boredom and intellectual curiousity combine so that he accidentally unlocks a secret about the bookstore draws him into adventure.
For some reason I kept expecting this story to go in different directions than it actually did. Something about the setup made me think of grand conspiracies and fantastic revelations and instead it kept on being charming and grounded in steady reality.
It’s certainly an enjoyable read and it has worthwhile things to say about the value of communities, the importance of archives and the need for open access to knowledge.
This one is recommended for those like their mainstream fiction on the quirky side.

Rating: B+

daphne?

Posted on by Greig

The Rosie Project

Graeme Simsion

The Rosie ProjectDon is a genetics professor. He’s a creature of schedules, rules and routines.
Though never explicitly stated he’s obviously somewhere on the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum.
After a disastrous date Don decides to initiate The Wife Project. A futile attempt to apply rationality to matters of the heart. His life and the book takes a turn for the screwball comedy when he meets Rosie and starts helping her identify her biological father.
This a fairly enjoyable romantic comedy that I picked up after seeing on sale cheaply in my local Tesco.
I felt that the portrayal of the inner mental workings of Don’s mind was a bit stereotypical and didn’t really feel authentic.
A decent little romance, worth reading if you have a fondness for screwball comedy.

Rating: B

boo?

Posted on by Greig

The Name Of The Star

Maureen Johnson

The Name of the StarThis is a thoroughly enjoyable YA supernatural thriller.
Rory, an American girl, has moved to London from Louisiana for school while her parents teach in Bristol.
On the day of her arrival a murder very much in the style of Jack the Ripper is discovered.
Just as she begins to make friends and starts to adjust to living in a strange country she finds herself caught up the murderous events.
This book is really entertaining and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel even though I’ve heard rumours that it has the worst cliffhanger in the world!

Rating: B+

hunter?

Posted on by Greig

Veronica Mars:The Thousand-Dollar Tanline

Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham

Veronica Mars: The Ten Thousand Dollar Tan LineThis novel is the follow up to the Kickstarter funded Veronica Mars movie.
It finds our plucky heroine working her first big case as a professional Private Investigator when two teenage girls go missing during Spring Break.
There are some nice twists in this tale and one very important figure from Veronica’s past returns.
I really enjoyed this book – it felt like a satisfying episode of the TV series. I’m willing to bet the audiobook voiced by Kristen Bell is even more enjoyable.
Recommended for fans of the TV series.

Rating: B+

wadjet?

Posted on by Greig

Half-Off Ragnarok

Seanan McGuire

half-off ragnarokThe latest Incryptid book is the first to feature Alex Price as the lead character, taking over from his little sister Verity.
Alex is a scientist specializing in reptilian cryptids and the book finds him working the Reptile House of a Zoo under a false identity.
When people and animals start turning to stone Alex has to investigate.
While this book was fun in the same vein of the first two books there were just a couple too any convenent coincidences in this one and it took me out of the book for a while.
Still don’t let that put of the series I think they’re well worth reading if you like a slice of escapist Urban Fantasy.

Rating: B