Book Reviews -- Popsugar Book Challenge
Book #: 1
Title: Hardcore Twenty-Four
Author: Janet Evanovich
Category: The next book in a series you've started
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter. She's not a tough as nails bounty hunter, she's an adorable klutz who someone always seems to catch her quarry. Someone is stealing heads from the funeral homes. Her boyfriend, Officer Joe Morelli, is investigating a series of murders where the victims have had their heads or their brains removed. The local grave-robber is in custody... again... and knows nothing about it. The case is solved, not by Plum's brilliance, but by her stumbling into it. The fun of the book is watching Stephanie try to juggle the three men in her love life, Joe, Ranger and Diesel. I've read every book in the series so far, and I've started branching out into her other books.
Book#: 2
Title: Wicked Witch Murder
Author: Leslie Meier
Category: A book about or set on Halloween
Rating: 3 out of 5
I started reading this book for the Halloween category and was ready to drop it when the murder took place on Midsummer's Day. However, I needed a book to read while running errands and waiting in line and this was available, so I resumed reading. The book's climatic conclusion is on Halloween when the protagonist stumbles onto a Satanic ritual, and solves the case.
Lucy, the hero, is essentially Lois Lane in a small town newspaper. The red herring was too obvious, and such a deplorable person, I wanted him to be the bad guy. I'm not certain the author understands the difference between Wicca and Satanism, or cares. There were a couple of incidents of 'magical co-incidence' which serves as deus ex machina.
For me, it was a waiting in line book, not bad enough to quit, but not good enough to want to track down any other books in the series.
Book #: 3
Title: Rest You Merry
Author: Charlotte MacLeod
Category: A book mentioned in another book
Mentioned In: How the Finch Stole Christmas by Donna Andrews
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
My wife loves the author and has read most of her books. I've never gotten around to them. :) According to Google, this was originally published as a short story about a vicious Christmas prank which became the first chapter. It's also the first book in the series. As a first book, it spends some time setting up the series parameters and the love interest between the two main characters. However, I did enjoy the writing, and will probably track down both of her series.