June 2021 Wrap-Up

Books Read:

The Lost Man by Jane Harper  (2019)  4/5 stars  (my review here)

The Girl from Montana by Grace Livingston Hill (1908)  3/5 stars

Written in 1908, this novel follows the story of a young woman fleeing Montana to escape from a wicked man's evil intent.  During her flight, she encounters a man from the East, lost and in trouble, whom she helps, and who helps her in return.  While sweet and mostly entertaining, this Christian-themed novel is light on plot in the second half -- quite a let-down after the promising start.

The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1945)  

4/5 stars

When Carol Spencer arrives at her summer house in Maine, she discovers a burnt corpse in her linen closet, beginning a nightmare for her family and the small coastal town.  Written and taking place during WWII, this mystery is interesting, well-paced, and suspenseful.  The plot is convoluted, and couldn't be fully solved from the clues given, relying at times on information the detective has but doesn't reveal.  Despite that annoyance, it was a good, quick read, complicated enough to be enjoyable, with a surprising and satisfying ending.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley (2020)  3/5 stars

This thriller takes place on a remote island the day before and the day of the wedding of a high-profile couple.  It follows several members of the party, in first-person alternating chapters,  as they muse on their past and their personal demons, while gradually leading up to the end of the wedding and a murder.  The Guest List has some good twists, and I stayed mostly interested, but I was never invested in any of the characters or their situations.  The various voices weren't distinct enough, nor the prose engaging enough, to make it an immersive read.

Audio Books Completed:

The Lake House by Kate Morton (2015)  4/5 stars (my review here)

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie (1925)  3/5 stars

This is a sometimes convoluted story of international intrigue taking place in an English country house.  It's not one of Christie's best written or most believable, in part because not all the clues are available for the reader, but, despite that, it is still a generally entertaining escape, though not fully engrossing.

Did Not Finish

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

I feel bad for not finishing this one.  I was interested in the plot, liked most of the characters, and generally enjoyed the format, but. . . I didn't care much for Mary, the main protagonist.  I didn't feel like she was well-drawn, nor particularly likable.  There were several historical inaccuracies, as well.  I tried to tell myself that as alternate history, the author doesn't have to stick to the facts, but (as a history major), it grated on my nerves continually. Then, there was the main reason: I especially hated how Goss made use of a  character called "Sherlock Holmes" who had very little in common with the canon Holmes.  (As a friend and I have discussed lately, Holmes fans tend to be very passionate about their interpretation of him, and soundly dislike authors that break with that vision.)  I began dreading to read it, not wanting any more interaction with the faux Holmes, so, with 57% completed, I stopped.  I  think it's really a case of "it's not you, it's me".  Good book on the whole, but a bad match for me.

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

This is the second in the Rivers of London series (my review here), and it was quite good: witty, funny, and interesting.  Unfortunately, about the time I reached page 75, BOOM, I was out of the mood for fantasy.  I'll set it aside and pick up the series again when I'm in that frame of mind again.

The Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

Oh my.  I'm sorry, but this book is not very good.  Part of the problem is that Belle is depicting a fictional small town in the mountains of NC.  Now, I grew up in an actual small town in the mountains of NC, and her idea of how one works is quite different from mine.  Then there were several other things I found off-putting or eye-roll worthy, including a lot of ageism, so after over an hour of the audio book, I just quit.  

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

I really wanted to like this one, as it's got an average of over four stars on Goodreads, but, while it's not exactly a trigger, I just don't like to read about women in abusive relationships.  I made it a few chapters in, and decided it wasn't for me.