Book Review #5 - The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club

 Disclaimer - I won this book in a giveaway from the publisher with an expectation that a review would be provided, although not required.  

The book has a few underlying themes - the Haves and Have Nots being one of them. Two friends, unlikely though they may be, work at a beach resort during the Second World War.  I say unlikely friends because one is a Have and the other a definite Have Not.  Apparently, the ongoing war had no impact on the summer women who still came to hang out on the beach to tan and read their books for their book club, when they weren't paying Cadence to read it for them and give them the synopsis.  Their book club not being the one later formed by Cadence and Bess (the Have in the friendship) for their own purposes.  

Did I enjoy the book, yes.  Did I love it, no.  I did want to learn the ending, but I wasn't dying to get there.  

The story is primarily told by the two main sisters of the book - Cadence and Briar Smith- although others get a turn as well.  Their brother Tom is in love with Bess, who lives with the family, and remains there after Tom heads off to serve in the war.  The story is shared in back-and-forth chapters between the sisters.  That can sometimes be a little tough to follow in that each character is telling in first person and you sometimes have to remind yourself who the "I" is in that chapter.  

Briar's share of the story is mostly her fascination with the War.  The soldiers training on the beach.  Her conviction that there is a German U-boat just offshore, and a spy somewhere amongst their small-town community.  Cadence's story focuses more on her dream of going to New York and entering the literary industry, fully supported by the summer beach ladies who all have ties to someone in the publishing world, but having to keep the family together first.

I found many instances where I had to suspend my own theories of disbelief.  And the ending wasn't a perfect Hallmark ending, but pretty darn close.  At times the story line felt disjointed and others felt rushed.  It just wasn't always smooth.   But that doesn't mean it wasn't a good story.

The overarching premise was a young woman, Mari, who flies across country on the pretense of having a private art lesson with a famous artist, Mrs. D.  We hear from each of them at the beginning of the book and again at the end and maybe just once in between.  When I got to their middle of the book chapters, I had honestly forgotten who they were.  Which is fine because the story of the Smith sisters was the main focus.  

All in all, a nice little read.  Not too long at 301 pages.  Not overly complex so I would put it in the category of a beach read.  Would selectively recommend.

Book Review #4 - The Final Problem

I received this advance copy of The Final Problem from NetGalley with the expectation by them that I would provide my honest review.

What a delightful story! An aging actor known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes finds himself the center of a real-life mystery while stranded by a storm on a Greek island.  

With elements of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None sprinkled throughout the setting, Ormond Basil finds himself reprising his role as Sherlock Holmes, with a fellow strandee crime fiction author serving as Watson, to solve not one but two locked room murders, with third murder tossed in for good measure.  The cast consisted of twelve - the hotel proprietress and three staff members; Mr. Basil; two female traveling companions; a German couple; Mr. Basil's television producer friend and his opera diva companion; and the crime fiction author Mr. Foxa.  

A massive storm preventing the authorities from being able to reach the island after the first death, the group looks to Mr. Basil to determine what had happened.  Knowing he is, as he continually reminds the group, only an actor, he tries to retreat into the background but his life's work of embodying the great detective has given him a certain overlay, art imitating life, and they all look to his "expertise" to answer the questions.  

As other deaths occur, Mr. Basil is forced into the position of having to solve the crimes, which he ultimately does.  And even though I marked every clue, I was still wrong in my determination of the murderer and was surprised by the ending.  

Each scene is set with references to certain real Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and the dialogue between the characters is often filled with quotes from the books.  Books I wish to check into now to round out my knowledge.  

Overall, an excellent short book, highly enjoyable with a "can't put it down" quality to it, and a 4-star review from me.

Book Review #3 - The Keeper of Lost Art

 I received this advance copy of The Keeper of Lost Art from NetGalley with the expectation by them that I would provide my honest review.

I loved this book!  I am truly a fan of historical fiction, and I enjoy stories that present a side not usually explored.  In this case, Italian art masterpieces moved from the Uffizi and other museums to protect them from the invading German armies in World War II.  But of course, that also presented dangers to the protectors of the art.  That is the crux of the story - the lives lived with the most precious of cultural treasurers hidden under their roof and the most dangerous of enemies all around.

The story is beautifully told, with incredibly rich descriptions. With some books, it seems the authors will empty their thesauruses out trying to find yet another descriptive turn of phrase for something.  This author made it seem effortless.  I could see in my mind's eye the olive groves, the cypresses, the fields of red poppies, the rooms of the villa, and the view from the villa's tower.  All extremely well done.  

The author did a very nice job leading into each chapter with quotes from Botticelli, as the creator of the art, and Captain Foster as the ultimate officer in charge of returning the works to Florence.   The feelings of one as the producer and the other as the recipient.  I enjoyed reading those statements that mirrored each other hundreds of years apart.

The story revolves around Stella, a young girl at the start whose mother sends her from their home in an Italian city to live in the country with her mother's brother and wife and their children.  Believing she'd be safer there.  There are undercurrents at the home that take Stella a while to understand, but she ultimately does.  The aunt that seems to not want her there at first ends up being her best mentor and role model, and protector.  While there, Stella befriends Sandro, a boy just older than her that, for all intents and purposes, believes himself to be orphaned.  His brothers are fighting in the war, and he has no one else to care for him.  He arrives at the villa with many other refugees seeking shelter in the large wine cellar. Stella and Sandro teach each other when school is stopped for the fighting - Stella helps Sandro with his reading and Sandro helps Stella learn to draw.  Sandro is one of the few people that is allowed to see the Treasure Room, as Stella calls it, and he wastes no time mimicking the great works.  

My only critique of the story that isn't positive is that I felt a little editing could have been done in the middle.  I guess like in war, there was a repetition to the days and the middle section felt a little repetitive as well, without advancing the story much.  

The ending was bittersweet, in several of the storylines, but they felt true to the story.  It was a telling of real life, not a fairy tale, so we didn't get the fairy tale ending that I'm sure some readers would expect.  

Overall, a really enjoyable story and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy this genre. 

Book Review #2 - The Cemetery Spot

 

The Things We Do For Love

I received this advance copy of The Cemetery Spot from NetGalley with the expectation by them that I would provide my honest review.

 

The underlying theme of the book is that family relationships can be complicated and that sometimes we will do anything for those we love.   Whether or not they deserve it.

To me, most of the characters didn’t deserve the grace they were being given.  For me to enjoy a story, I need to be invested in the characters themselves, first and foremost.  I could not generate any enthusiasm for August (Auggie) or April (Ape).   As an older sister myself, I found the storyline of the sisters when they were younger to be abhorrent.  August put her younger sister into a horrible situation, from which then she then needed to save her.  Instead of being furious with August, April then spends her subsequent years feeling indebted to August, ultimately helping with August’s own family situation.   Poor decision-making abounded.

The book was promoted a bit like a mystery, but the answer was fairly obvious early in the book.  I was not surprised by the reveal surrounding the central theme of the story.  Also, the Frieda McFadden-esque “twist” at the end completely fell flat for me.  Again, because the characters involved meant nothing to me.  It felt like that extra bit was thrown in because of the success of Ms. McFadden’s (who was listed in the acknowledgements as a contributor) own books and the hope that it would be successful here, but it just wasn’t to me.

Overall, not a story I enjoyed, nor would I recommend it.

 

Book Review #1 - The Damages

 I am trying something new.  (Some of you getting this email out of the blue after 4 years will probably be surprised, and this may not be your thing.  Just skip over it.)  I have discovered a world where folks like me get advance copies of books and are asked to give reviews.  As a part of that, the reviews need to be public and published places where they will be seen.  I just finished my first of three books that I have received, and I wish my first one had been better.  Until I can figure out how to categorize these in a different manner, they will just be on my main feed for now.  

The Damages (Marian Warner #2)

Shelley Costa

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this advance copy of The Damages from NetGalley with the expectation by them that I would provide my honest review. 

I did not love this book. 

Initially, the author's writing style was hard to follow. There were punctuation errors, or it was -missing completely. Phrases that didn't read well. And later there were even places where the person changed. The sentence read "Marian threw up my hands." It should have been Marian threw up her hands based on the narrator's point-of-view. The book just felt like it hadn't been adequately proofed and edited.

But I tried to move past all that and just focus on the story itself. It wasn't a bad story, but it was incomplete, in my opinion. This is the second book with common characters. I will be honest and say I didn't read the first one before starting this one. Maybe that would have helped. But The Damages was not listed as a sequel, just the second in a series. Series books should be able to stand, somewhat, on their own. A little more background filler to help develop the characters in this book would have been helpful. The author obviously assumed that the first book would have been read because there were vague references to "that time in January" and such, but not enough for me to understand the true relationships between some of the characters. And without that background, I just didn't find myself really invested in them. And because I wasn't invested in them, I didn't really care.

My next issue was with the wrap-up of the story itself. A successful mystery will leave appropriate clues for the reader to find, without giving away the ending. I have yet to understand how Marian solved this case based on what was presented. The story jumped around and that left gaps and then suddenly she's got it all worked out and calling the Sheriff. The final chapter made absolutely no sense. Absolutely superfluous. The two characters involved had only been given a brief interaction earlier in the book, but it was made known they were close. Just not as close as became obvious at the end.

In all, I found it disjointed and not an easy read. It shouldn't take 20 days to read 200 pages, but it was just not that interesting and I wasn't compelled to keep reading. I read most of it on a 3-hour flight because there was nothing else to do.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9154491-deanne-tanksley