Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot #36) - Agatha Christie

Halloween is next week, and I figured this would be a great time to read this book.  I've read a few of Christie's novels, and I've watched most of the TV series on Netflix.  Loved the David Suchet Poirot series, but Netflix just removed it.  Bummer.

Anyway, in this novel, a fun Halloween party ends in tragedy.  Young Joyce has been drowned in the apple dunking trough.  Earlier in the day, she was boasting about witnessing a murder.  Poirot's friend, the quirky Mrs. Oliver, thinks there's something more sinister than the police suspect and asks Poirot for his unusual ways of discovering the truth.

Possible suspects are everywhere, and every character I read seemed to have their own suspicions about what happened.  One thing's for sure: Joyce wasn't really a very nice young lady and was known as a liar.  Even though she claims to have seen a murder, no one really believes she was telling the truth, so who would possibly kill her?

I liked this one a lot.  I had seen the show, but I didn't remember the whole solution to the murder, so I was fine reading through it.  I liked reading the personalities of different characters, and I'm a sucker for Hercule and his mustaches!  Good Book!

Hope Reborn (Texas Romance #3) - Caryl McAdoo

I have to admit, I really have no idea why I picked this up.  I've only read one other book by this author, At Liberty to Love, and I didn't really like it that much.  Apparently I didn't look at that review before picking this up. 

May is a writer.  She's on her way to Texas for some research and also to try and find the father of her close friend, Chester.  When she gets to Texas, she finds a fan and also the girl's father.  The man has a "zoo" of kids, and he's a widower.  May starts falling for him, and Henry thinks she's pretty attractive.  May is an agnostic and Henry is a Christian, so I'm sure that would've been a problem later on.  These two are older than you'd think.  If the woman on the cover is 41, (like May), she looks amazing!

I got to about 30% and just gave up.  The entire beginning didn't seem relevant to the story, and it went on forever.  The writing style was distracting, I had to go back and re-read sections just to figure out what the author was trying to say.  Sometimes I still didn't understand.

The relationships in the house were also confusing.  With so many people and such unusual relationships, I was lost.  Also, May's whole attitude toward the topic of children was just weird.  At one point, May said she would only give her heart to a man for one thing: her own baby.  She claims she doesn't need a man for anything, "except for making babies."  Strange way to say that...She doesn't really consider that she could be a mother to the children already there.  Maybe she does later on, but from what I read, she was focused on her own baby.

I usually post my reviews on Amazon, but I won't do that with this one.  It's my own fault for picking this up, and maybe it got better later on.  I don't think it's fair to the author to post a negative review on a book I knew I probably wouldn't like and didn't finish.  Major pass for me.

Love's Rescue (Keys of Promise #1) - Christine Johnson

I picked this one up because I liked the description and the cover.  This is a new author for me.  I went back and saw that other than this series, the author seems to write a lot of the "diet" books I read on occasion.

This is the first book in the series.  The other two are Honor Redeemed and Freedom's Price.

Elizabeth is on her way home to the Keys.  She's been gone four long years.  She was supposed to find a husband while she was gone, but she hasn't been able to get Rourke out of her mind.  A wrecker captain, he was never considered suitable for Elizabeth, but that didn't stop her from falling desperately in love with him.  Four years hasn't changed that for her.

Rourke used to see her as a little sister, but he sees her as a woman now.  When Elizabeth's ship runs aground, Rourke has to rescue her.  He wants to be with her, but there's a lot of obstacles in their way.  Things start to get mysterious and it doesn't seem like these two will ever be together.

I really enjoyed this book.  I loved all the characters, especially Charlie, Elizabeth's brother.  There were times that Elizabeth would get lost in thought so far that she created problems or compounded existing ones.  That was a bit irritating at first, but I came to like more as the story progressed.

Looking at the other books in the series, it looks like these can be read alone.  The characters in the second book aren't even present in the first book, and book three has Tom, a minor character from this book, in it.  I was a bit disappointed about that, I was hoping to read more about Elizabeth's friend, Caroline, and her brother, Charlie.  Maybe they'll be more in the future.  I certainly hope so!

This was a hidden gem for me, and I'm glad I stumbled across it.  I'll be putting the other two on my watch list and hoping the price drops.  Good Book!

Love in a Victorian (Come Home to Elm's Corner #1) - Lisa Norato

This is the second book I've read by this author.  I enjoyed Prize of My Heart, and when I saw this was free, decided to give this contemporary romance a try.  The cover seemed a little cheesy, but I was willing to look past it since the description was so interesting.

Rick has purchased his deceased grandmother's old Victorian home and is having it remodeled.  Unhappy with the progress, he goes to confront the job foreman, only to discover some teenage boy.  Except it's not a teenage boy, it's a young woman.

Jamie thinks Rick is a snob who looks down on her for being a woman.  Once he sees her work, he's convinced.  Jamie feels drawn to him, but isn't sure he'd ever consider her as anything more than a friend.  Since he clearly has a girlfriend, she doesn't feel she has a chance, even though her mother insists that Rick and his girlfriend aren't right for each other.

This is what I term a "diet" book, coming in at around 260 pages.  It's labeled as book 1 of a series, so there's probably more on the horizon, though I couldn't find any evidence of the next one at the time of this review.

The author has a lot of detail in there, mostly information about food and house restoration.  They were in-depth descriptions.  There were times when I was reading about some of the food and my stomach would growl.

Unfortunately, all this detail wasn't so good when characters were having a conversation.  I'd be stuck in their heads for long paragraphs, leaving me to believe these people either think super fast or there's long pauses every time they talk.  It wasn't as noticeable toward the end, so that was good.  The problem is, when I have issues with the dialogue and interaction of the characters, I have an issue with the book.

The end also didn't grab me.  Without giving spoilers, I can't really get into it, but Jamie's reactions to certain things made no sense.  For being a diet book, it felt much longer.  Maybe it's because I don't like cats.  Maybe it was the author's writing style.  I don't think the book was terrible, it just wasn't for me.

Shadows of the Past (Logan Point #1) - Patricia Bradley

This is the first book in the series.  The other three are A Promise to Protect, Gone without a Trace and Silence in the Dark.

Taylor has been profiling some intense cases and is dealing the with fear of a stalker.  She has a suspect in mind, one of her former students.  When her brother asks her to come home, she doesn't realize that she's only bringing her troubles with her.

Nick is searching for his brother.  He doesn't believe Taylor's claim that he's her stalker, and he's determined to prove her wrong.  He's still dealing with the death of his wife, but he's drawn to Taylor.  He wants to work with her to find his brother, but Taylor isn't so sure.

I really liked this book.  The one qualm I have with it involves the villain plot.  I liked how the author spread the suspicion around until I saw how it turned out.  Regardless, the end was suspenseful, and I liked the characters, especially Nick.

You'll meet Ben and Livy in this book.  Ben is a main character in book 2, and Livy is the heroine of book 3.  I plan on watching these, and I'm pretty sure they can be read out of order.

I've had a pretty tough time lately trying out new authors, so I wasn't optimistic coming into this one.  I loved the cover, and once I started reading, I found it was better than I expected.  Good Book!

Blind Spot (Chesapeake Valor #3) - Dani Pettrey

This is the third book in the series.  The first book is called Cold Shot, and the second is called Still Life.

The gang’s back, including the mysterious missing member of the team.  In this book, we have a terrorist threat, but there’s also a murder or two to solve.  The main romance of the story is with Declan and Tanner, and they’re getting the chance to work together.  There’s numerous points of view, but I didn’t have any issues keeping up.

I really can’t say much about the plot, since it has so many twists and turns.  I always look forward to reading Pettrey’s work, and the cliffhanger at the end, brilliant.  I love following the characters on their journeys, and I have problems putting these books down.  When I know there’s one for me to read, I basically make sure I have two days where there isn’t much going on.  THEN, I have to make sure I make myself stop occasionally or I’ll strain my eyes.

At this point, I’m going to tag this one as a continuous series.  I hadn’t done it before, but I think it’s appropriate for the series.  The characters from the other books are prominent, and there’s the common storyline of the evil Dr. Ebeid that still isn’t resolved at the end of this one.  You could technically read them by themselves, but I’m not sure why you would.  I’m normally not a fan of continuous series, but I’ll break that rule anytime when the writing’s this good.  These characters become part of your life, and I can’t wait to read what happens with Kate and Luke.  Great Book!

*I received a copy of this book from Bethany House through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Christmas at Carnton - Tamera Alexander

This is a prequel for a new series.  From the note at the end of the book, the series is based on the owners of Carnton, John and Carrie McGavock and their children, Hattie and Winder.  The prequel is about two people who end up with jobs at Carnton.

Aletta’s husband has died in the Civil War.  She’s got a baby on the way and a young child to care for.  When she loses her job, she ends up applying for a position at Carnton.  With her baby coming soon, she’s surprised when she ends up with two jobs.

Jake was a sharpshooter but getting wounded has damaged his eyesight.  Now unable to shoot with any accuracy, his commander sends him to Carnton to help out with a Women’s Aide auction.  While he’s there, he’s intrigued by Aletta’s courage and strength and proceeds to pursue her.

Overall, I’ll say this is a good tale, but it hurts me to admit it.  I can’t imagine any woman who truly loves her husband would find herself attracted to another man after only a few months.  Aletta hasn’t even given herself time to grieve, and she’s also got the raging hormones of pregnancy to deal with.  There are times in the story where she flat out says her attraction is her just missing her husband.  The timeline was just disturbing to me, but I have personal memories that color my interpretation, so I don’t think everyone will have the same problem with the story that I do.

I gave this story 4 stars for the writing.  I did like Tempy’s character, as well as the determined spirit of Mrs. Colonel John McGavock. I don’t think many people will have the issues I do with the timeline, and for that, I put aside my personal dislike and evaluated the story as a whole.  If I pretend Aletta actually took time to grieve her husband before falling for another man, the story is actually pretty good.

*I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Dangerous Legacy (Empire State #1) - Elizabeth Camden

This is the first book in the series.  According to the note at the end, in 2018 there will be another book surrounding Lucy’s brother, Nick.  He’s a prominent character in this book.

Lucy works for the AP news service and enjoys listening to the stories come across in Morse code and transcribing them for the world to read.  She runs across a story about Colin and decides to try and help him out.  When he discovers she has an illegal wire, he wants to know why.

Both Colin and Lucy are chained by their circumstances.  Colin has an estate, a sister and ninety tenants to consider, making him seek out an heiress to save his family home.  Lucy and her brother have been in a lawsuit with their uncle for years.  Their uncle is a ruthless man, and anyone who has contact with Lucy or her brother seems to feel his wrath.

I liked most of this book, really I did.  I loved the quirky interactions using carrier pigeons, how Lucy was dedicated to her cause, and how Colin was willing to get details about Lucy’s lawsuit to help her out.  But at a certain point, Lucy did a few things that aggravated me.  I can’t get into specifics since I don’t give spoilers, but the last 25% of the book was a letdown.  I didn’t like Lucy’s character and her decisions had me wishing Colin had a better option.

Next up is the book about Nick, Lucy’s brother.  I really liked his character, and I’m hoping it will be better.  I love Camden’s books, just not this one.

*I received a copy of this book from Bethany House through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.