Review: The Murder Rule

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up from a 3.5 on this book. I was really looking forward into delving into this book, and while it was a bit disappointing, I still enjoyed it and was completely engrossed in the story.
This book is about Hannah, who finds her way into The Innocence Project at the University of Virginia. The reader knows she has schemed her way onto the campus and into the inner workings of The Innocence Project in order to subvert their case involving Michael Dandridge, who was convicted of murder many years ago. Hannah will do anything to ensure that Michael never sets foot out of prison.
While I will say that the story completely drew me in and I stayed up way too late reading because I had a hard time putting the book down, the book definitely had its problems.
First, the "Diary" portion of the book, which was interspersed with Hannah's action in the present, was a bit far-fetched (this could be a spoiler, (view spoiler)[ but maybe that was the point...? (hide spoiler)]). In the diary Hannah's mother Laura reveals the events that occurred during an ill-fated summer when she worked as a hotel cleaner in Maine. She relates dialogue and moment-by-moment events that seem to be a bit hard to believe, if someone is truly later writing down events that occurred earlier.
The writing style was a bit odd, as well. Minute details were added about very superfluous things, like exactly what characters ordered to eat in restaurants, exactly how characters walked outside to vehicles and unlocked the car and put their luggage into the trunk, or descriptions of the "curb appeal" of various locations. The very specific descriptions of details that were really irrelevant to the story felt odd and a bit jarring.
Then the big "twist" in the middle just kind of confused me more than anything. I needed a bit more explanation and clarification on the details.
But my biggest issue was with Hannah herself. I had a very hard time really identifying with her, or rooting for her. The reader knows her motivations, but Hannah comes across as slightly devoid of emotion. The reader knows that Hannah has had a very difficult upbringing, but that still doesn't quite justify her actions in the story. I was just missing an emotional connection to Hannah that let me excuse her dubious machinations because I rooted for her.
All of that makes it sound like I didn't enjoy reading this book, which is not at all the case. I was totally drawn into the story. This is not a bad book, but I've read better. Never Saw Me Coming is a book with a similar premise done much better. But if you enjoy mysteries, The Murder Rule might be worth checking out.

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Review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
This was definitely a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book! Which is in itself perhaps a strange thing to say, because all of her books are very unique. I can only describe this as a lush historical literary gothic tale with science-fiction overtones set in the Yucatan Peninsula. It is immersive, poignant, and thought-provoking.
Carlota Moreau has been raised in an isolated manner deep in the jungles of Mexico, and her only companions are 'hybrids"--the results of her father's experiments to combine humans and animals--and Mr. Laughton, the overseer of her father's ramshackle compound. When outside forces come crashing onto Dr. Moreau's enclave, including Mayan rebels and wealthy landowners, the precarious balance that has existed there for so many years is suddenly teetering on the edge of chaos and nothing can ever be the same again. But then, is that a bad thing...?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is such a fascinating author and she has yet again crafted a thoroughly compelling tale that also sheds light on cultural and historical events and beliefs. While this book was, to me, not as overtly sinister or "gothic" as Mexican Gothic, it had a dreamy, turgid tone that fit in extremely well with the hot and humid jungle setting of the book.
If you have enjoyed any of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books in the past, I would definitely pick this book up--because you know what you will be getting into! But if you enjoy literary fiction with a speculative sci-fi twist and well-drawn historical setting, you will also want to check this book out.

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Review: You Were Made to Be Mine

You Were Made to Be Mine by Julie Anne Long
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
This book was a miss for me. I had read the first book in the series, and was very pleasantly surprised by it, so I was excited to read this one. But I just didn't enjoy it. I had two main issues. One was that the two main characters did not even meet until 1/3 of the way into the book. Once they did meet, they had very few real conversations or time spent together. They had probably 4 conversations--most of which included other people, and only one of which was truly deep and meaningful--before the heroine decided she was completely in love. It didn't feel organic at all. My second big problem was that there was way too much inner monologue. It seemed like the author was trying to make up for the fact that the two MC never really spent time together by having them sit, staring out windows, and obsessing about their life choices and how much they were intrigued by the other MC. It got boring and hard to read, and I started skimming, waiting for some action or INTERaction to start occurring.
And this book might need to come with a trigger warning or something. The heroine suffers--off the pages--from a very serious sexual assault. And to be honest it made the MC's love scene in the book a bit cringy.
The secondary characters were fun, and this could be read as a stand-alone. But I also think that's part of the problem. I would not recommend this book. The focus for a great deal of the book was not on the MC's relationship, but on espionage, revenge, and the various inhabitants of The Grand Palace on the Thames. When the characters finally began to develop feelings for each other the plot felt rushed and flimsy. I really wanted to like it, but just could not.

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Review: The Second Husband

The Second Husband by Kate White
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received and ARC of this book.
I was very confused by my review copy and I will go back and change my rating if the review copy changes before publication., but..
But I did not enjoy this book. I had multiple issues with it, from the main character Emma, to the lack of tension or suspense, to the flimsy issue that the whole plot was based on. But I will not go into all of that because the last two sentences of the book literally made no sense--to the point where I think there was something wrong with my review copy. The book had no ending at all and the ending that was included sounded like two sentences had been copied from somewhere else in the book and jus stuck on.
As it is, I would not recommend this book, despite the fact that I really enjoyed the author's previous work, The Fiancee.

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Review: The Locked Room

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this installment of the Ruth Galloway series. This is only the second book I have read about Ruth, a professor of archaeology, her close friend Nelson, a detective, and all of their friends, colleagues, and families. Covid is just beginning to sweep across the UK when Ruth is called upon to help unearth the skeleton of a possible medieval plague victim. At the same time, Nelson finds himself investigating the apparent suicide of an older woman who lived by herself. When the body of another woman is found dead inside a locked room, Nelson and his team wonder if a serial killer is at work while everyone around them is trying to survive living in lockdown.
The mystery in the book was well done and the pacing was great. The influences and themes of the medieval plague victims interspersed throughout the story tied into everyone's attempts to adjust to living with the threat of Covid in the present day. The author did a wonderful job of capturing those early days of the pandemic, when hand sanitizer, masks, social distancing, and zoom meetings were all so new and different. I also enjoyed the relationships between all the characters. This aspect of the book made it quite satisfying.
This is a slow-burn, cozy mystery, but it was hard to put down and I would recommend it to any mystery-lover. I can't wait to read other books in this series.

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Review: The Drowning Sea

The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up a bit on this one. It was a good book, but not a great book. I read the first book in this series and was completely blown away by how much I loved it. But this installment left me a bit disappointed. It was slow, there was very little character development, and the various mysterious happenings in the story felt disjointed. If you have not read the previous books in the series you might feel as though you are missing key facts, as well. Having said all that, if I had not absolutely LOVED the first book in the series I may not have been expecting so much out of this book and I might have liked it better. If you are looking for a slow-paced mystery set in a cottage on the Irish sea-side, then you might want to check this out.

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Review: Breaking Time

Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book had a great (if not original) concept, but it was just not good. The characters were flat. Klara felt like the author was trying way too hard to create a stereotypical yet "cool" teenage girl and Callum felt like an overdone melodramatic "hero" from a teenaged girl's idea of a romance novel. The actual writing and word choice in the book was--I have to say it--cringy. No one talks like that. It felt like the characters were reciting lines from a badly-written play, and not having actual feelings and conversations. And what I am assuming was supposed to be a grounding in Celtic mythology just felt like a haphazard mish-mash of anything Irish, Welsh, or Scottish. You can't pick an obscure figure from Welsh mythology and stick that in with references to Irish mythology and then have a guy from hundreds and hundreds of years ago to be familiar with ALL of it. Either pick large, overarching general themes and figures from non-specific Celtic mythology, or pick Irish, Welsh, or--HEY, since you're in Scotland!!--Scottish mythology and stick with that.
I just could not get into this book. If you are looking for a time-traveling YA fantasy version of Outlander, I'd keep looking and skip this one (and to be honest, there are a lot of books out there that try to be a YA fantasy version of Outlander, and I haven't read a GOOD one yet...)

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