Review: The Couple at Number 9

The Couple at Number 9 by Claire Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book. 4.5 stars!
I really really really enjoyed this book! Saffy, a young expectant mother, lives in the cozy cottage she inherited from her doting grandmother Rose. Saffy and her boyfriend Tom are in the midst of renovating their new home when contractors uncover two skeletons buried in the garden. Needless to say, Saffy is shocked, especially when it looks as though her grandmother could have some knowledge of how two bodies came to be buried at her old home. Rose suffers from dementia, however, and even when Saffy's capricious mother Lorna comes to help, everyone wonders if the real truth will ever come out. The stakes are raised when a mysterious man shows up looking for "evidence" and threatening the residents of the cottage. What exactly happened 30 years ago to cause Rose to abandon her home with her small child, and does it have anything to do with the deaths of two people?
Pretty much everything about this book was great. The characters really drew me in from the beginning and made me want to know what had happened in the past at the seemingly idyllic cottage, and how those in the present would get to the truth. The pacing was very well-done, too. It was slow enough to reveal nuances and yet fast enough to keep me interested and turning the pages as quickly as I could. I never got bored and wanted to skim anything. At about 2/3 of the way through I thought, "Wait a minute...what if...??!!" I had figured out the big twist, but I had to sit for a bit, staring off into space, trying to figure it all out in my head and see if it all fit into place. I thought, "I think THIS could be what's going on...! Wow!" And that's what really sealed the deal for me with the book. Sometimes when you figure out a twist it just seems too obvious, or you think," Of course this is what's happening. You are being too heavy-handed, author!" and roll your eyes. But in this case I thought it was very well-done, and the fall-out from revealing the twist really gave it serious impact. The ending was great, too. I have to admit I teared up at the last page. My only real issue was with Saffy. She was supposed to be an important character but she came across as whiny, petulant, and pouty to me--but she did redeem herself a bit at the very end. I really liked Lorna, Rose, and Theo much more than Saffy.
This book is full of tension, old mysteries, motherly love, and secrets that people will kill to keep hidden.
If you are looking for a great mystery, I would absolutely recommend this book.

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Review: The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received and ARC of this book.
I really enjoyed this book. It was compelling, atmospheric, evocative, and a bit creepy; all while telling a timely and timeless story.
Leigh Welles suddenly returns to the small remote Scottish island where she grew up after receiving word that her father has drowned as the result of an accident. Leigh moved to "the mainland" after WWII to find her way in the world, but was unsuccessful, and feels a bit embarrassed and ashamed among the people she left behind. Iain MacTavish is a former RAF pilot who lost a great deal in the war and has returned to the island to try to find a way to rejoin post-war life. Both have returned to a different island, however, during the strange and eldritch month of October. Every year, from October 1st to the 31st, the sluagh flock to the island in great numbers. Named for the legendary Celtic "lost souls," these birds have always been eerie and disconcerting. But is seems that in the past several years the birds have taken on even more dark and ominous and behavior. Amidst the threat of the birds, a teenager goes missing, and Leigh and Iain feel obligated to discover not only what has happened to him, but also what might be the truth behind what is happening on their island.
The author does a wonderful job right off the bat of creating an atmosphere of isolation, desolation, and slight dread. As soon as Leigh returns and the first sluagh show up, the reader knows that something strange and perhaps otherworldly is going on. The fact that the islanders completely accept the dangerous and escalating behavior of the birds adds to the feeling of almost mythological preternaturalness. When Hugo disappears the tension and creepiness of the story are ratcheted up, and--while the story has an almost ethereal and unhurriedly mythic fable-like quality--it becomes very gripping and is very difficult to put down.
Another great aspect of the book was the way tragedy, loss, grief, and sadness are woven in, both literally and allegorically. The residents of the island have faced unspeakable hardships both during and after WWII, and the way they have dealt and are dealing with these issues are extremely significant--both for their time and the present day. Whatever dark force has a grip on the island must be addressed, and if the islanders cannot come to terms with it, the force may completely take control of the windswept speck of land.
I would certainly recommend this book. It tells a very relevant tale in a lyrical, slightly frightening, and hauntingly poignant way. It would be perfect for a rainy October day. If you enjoy historical fiction, magical realism, Celtic mythology, or a creepy tale, you should definitely check this book out.

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Review: The Key to Deceit

The Key to Deceit by Ashley Weaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I must admit I was a bit disappointed by this book. I read the first book in the series and had some issues with the plot and pacing, but by the end of the book everything seemed to work itself out and I ended up enjoying it, so I was looking forward to this second installment.
This book had the very same pacing issues, however. For most of the book, Ellie talks to herself though inner monologue and narrates what is going on in her head. It gets repetitive and boring, not to mention the fact that I don't thing anyone actually speaks that way to themselves. It came across as stilted and inorganic. I just really needed some action in the story, and there was too little of it. The back and forth between Felix and the Major did not add any interest, either. I just got fed up with Ellie because it seemed pretty obvious to me that Felix is not the man for her.
I am not sure if I will read the next book in the series. It will either get better or get worse, and I'm not sure I can put up with it if it gets worse.

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Review: The It Girl

The It Girl by Ruth Ware
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.

This book just kind of fell flat for me. The story should have been interesting, but there was very little sense of tension, suspense, or even mystery. Told in dual timelines, this is the story of Hannah and the defining event of her life--the murder of her roommate and de facto best friend, April. The two bond in their first weeks at Oxford, along with a small group of other classmates. When April is discovered dead several months later, Hannah believes she knows who killed her, but all of April's "friends" seem to be affected by the murder in one way or another. Many years later, the man convicted of April's murder dies in prison, and Hannah begins to wonder if she pointed the finger at the wrong person.
This book just felt disjointed and a bit uninteresting. In the "Before" timeline, I just really got bored: we know that April will end up dead, but there was absolutely no feeling of suspense or doom. It just seemed full of anecdotes about how terrible of a person April was--were we supposed to think she deserved to die? The creepiest part of that timeline was John Neville, the man in jail for April's murder. I didn't have any sympathy for him, either, and so Hannah's quest in the "present" timeline to find out if he was really guilty seemed weird because John was so unsettling.
And then in the "After" timeline Hannah seemed like a completely different person than "past" Hannah. Not to mention the fact that she seemed to be dealing with debilitating PTSD-like symptoms. I really wondered how she had survived this far in life without having some sort of complete break-down.
When the tension finally picked up towards the very end of the book, it was too little, too late. I really didn't care what happened to Hannah, and was really only interested in who had actually murdered April and how they did it.
I don't think I would recommend this book. The pacing needed to be tighter and the book suffered from a lack of tension.

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Review: A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up a bit for this one. I get that this book is titled A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting, so the reader should expect a certain amount of mercenary behavior on the part of the "lady" in question--Kitty Talbot. But in order for the reader to either 1.) truly sympathize with Kitty's plight and understand her mammoth undertaking in finding a rich husband in order to save her family, or 2.) enjoy the machinations of Kitty as she searches for a wealthy man to beguile and entice into matrimony, the reader has to somehow root for and LIKE Kitty. And I did neither. She came across as robotic and unfeeling. The few misguided attempts to make Kitty seem sympathetic fell flat and so I really just began to feel sorry for Arthur. I was also astounded as to how she managed to be such a master manipulator when she had such a sheltered upbringing and gained most of her experience with men from her fickle "fiance." I was continually surprised by how easy it was for Kitty to find just the right thing to say or do to wrap Arthur around her finger. By the time the true love interest, Lord Radcliffe, was introduced--waaay too many pages in, in my opinion--I found I really didn't care about Kitty and was bored with the story.
I would not recommend this book. Is it trying to say something about the sexist and snobbish attitudes of Britain in the early 1800s? Umm...Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813…if you haven't figured out by now—over 200 years later—that Regency England had numerous flaws, then you need to be reading a different genre. If you are looking for something in the same vein as this--done much better--check out the real classics, by Georgette Heyer or Clare Darcy.

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Review: The Bodyguard

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I loved this book! And it's been a long time since I've said that about a Contemporary Romance, or a Romance in general! This book was just fun. I enjoyed the characters, the plot was not too far-fetched, and the dialogue didn't make me roll my eyes. This was like the great rom-com movies they used to make.
Hannah is an Executive Protection Agent--bodyguard--and is coming off a very bad breakup with a co-worker, when her boss gives her a new assignment: incredibly hunky actor Jack Stapleton. Hannah has seen most of his movies but is determined to not let his good-looks or dazzling persona distract her from doing her job. Problems arrive however when Jack tells Hannah she's going to have to pose as his girlfriend to keep his sick mother's stress-level down. Hannah will have quite the job to do, protecting her client AND protecting her heart.
I just really enjoyed reading this book. It hit all of the rom-com notes without being cheesy or annoying. No one got on my nerves, everyone (maybe except Hank) felt real, and the actions and decisions of the characters felt organic. I was rooting for Hannah and Jack from the very beginning and their relationship was sweet and mature, never falling into trite or unbelievable territory.
If you are looking for a well-written movie-script worthy romance, definitely check this book out!!

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Review: The House Across the Lake

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
This book can be described as "Rear Window" on a lake in Maine--the narrator, Casey, even admits it at one point in the book. Casey, a widowed actress who has been "banished" to her family's lake house after spiraling into alcoholism after her husband's untimely death, witnesses some strange and unsettling actions through her window and comes to the conclusion that the wealthy man across the lake has murdered his ex-model wife. Casey spends the rest of the book trying to discover what exactly happened at her neighbors' mansion, and make sure the killer pays.
I will admit that I went into this book with trepidation, because I haven't always liked Sager's books in the past, and because I am SO INCREDIBLY TIRED of the unreliable female narrator who abuses alcohol/drugs and who inserts herself into her neighbors'/friends' affairs. But I will also admit that after a few chapters in, I really did like Casey and was rooting for her; Sager gave her rooting value and made me "get" her motivations (or at least I thought I understood them with the information I had at hand...).
So up until the "big twist" was revealed, I was enjoying the book. I--naively--thought that I had figured out the twist, and it was really adding to my enjoyment. But then when Casey went into her neighbors' cellar looking for answers, the wheels just fell off for me. What she found there was just too much. I am all for a creepy paranormal element in a book, but in this case it did not feel at all organic or in keeping with the rest of the tone up to that point. And from then on I was just rolling my eyes and groaning. It was all too much--including the "you-thought-you-had-it-solved-but-what-about-this!" stuff at the very end. I was not at all impressed. The plot was just ridiculous.
I would not recommend this book, although I know a lot of Sager fans will read it and enjoy it, regardless. I personally will probably avoid any other Sager books in the future, however.

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Review: Death and the Conjuror

Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
This was a very interesting book, and I really enjoyed it. The story felt like a throwback to the good old detective stories of the 1930s and 1940s, with its locked-room murders and cast of fascinating suspects, plus our Scotland Yard detective and the eccentric yet highly perceptive retired magician who helps him solve the case.
One dark, rainy evening in the fall of 1936, an internationally renowned psychiatrist is found murdered in his locked study. No one can figure out how the murderer got in, much less the murder took place, or who could have been responsible. Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard calls on his old friend Joseph Spector, an enigmatic character and "professional trickster," who may be able to give some insight into the crime. The two men have a varied and intriguing array of suspects and persons of interest to look into, including the doctor's patients, his striking and intelligent daughter who is a doctor in her own right, her ne'er-do-well fiance, and mysterious dark-clothed figures who go skulking about in the gloom. The reader is challenged to solve the mystery along with Flint and Spector, and it is a challenge gladly accepted!
The characters in this book are well-done--just enough about them is revealed to make them fully-dimensional and interesting, but not so much detail to bog the story down. The plot is well-crafted and is a quick, easy read. The mystery is tantalizing and the reader knows if he or she just thinks about it hard enough, the answer will materialize right in front of them.
The book was not perfect. There were a few instances in which I wondered, "why are they waiting so long to to ask ... about ... ?" or "why has no one thought about ... ?" and I got just a bit frustrated. But those few things did not mar my enjoyment of the book at all.
If you enjoy Agatha Christie novels, the old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone, or if you liked The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I would absolutely recommend this book. I hope that in the future we get to see Flint and Spector investigate more unsolvable crimes!

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