Book Review: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Mo LoBeau lives in Tupelo Landing with Miss Lana and the Colonel. Eleven years ago Mo floated down the river during a storm and the Colonel found her after getting into a car accident and forgetting his memory. They both settle in town and Mo lives with the Colonel and Lana who run a diner in town. She loves her adopted family fiercely (even though she still looks for her upstream mother) and most everyone else in town as the town is so small that everyone is heavily involved in everyone else's business. When a police officer comes to town looking for a murdered Mo and her best friend Dale will do everything in their power to protect the ones they love. 

What a funny, quirky mystery. The characters are just so amazing. I ended up wishing I could visit Tupelo and meet all these funny, loving people. Miss Lana and the Colonel are both a little bit crazy but you can see how much they love Mo and her friends. Lavender, Dale and Miss Rose were also really intriguing and interesting. I did find myself wondering if someday 10 years from now Mo and Lavender really will end up together. All of the characters and their small town in everybody's business love/hate relationships had me cracking up.

There were some parts of the plot I was able to figure out such as why Miss Rose had Dale fixing things up, however a lot of the mystery I didn't see coming including who dunnit which I was really excited about. It's been awhile since I read a mystery that I didn't figure out right away. I also loved it when the Colonel found out who he was. That brought a huge smile to my face. 

While it doesn't need it, I do find myself hoping for some kind of sequel. I would love to go back to Tupelo Landing and see Mo and Detective Starr solve another mystery.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

Celia West is the daughter of Captain Olympiad and Spark, Commerce City's two greatest superheroes. Unfortunately she has no powers and is totally normal, unless you count her ability to remain calm in the face of constant kidnapping. Now her parents greatest foe The Destructor is on trial and she is the forensic accountant assigned to find his assets. Her relationship with her parents has always been strained AT BEST, the events that follow can bring them together or take them apart.

As soon as I saw the cover of this book I knew it was for me. I recently discovered a love for Carrie Vaughn and I've always adored old school comics. This dealt with the realities of being related to a super hero and how it can hurt the family dynamic. Celia's pain was often palpable and it was impressive how she pulled herself out of her own drama and grew into a strong woman.

I do admit that the mystery was easy to solve. I knew who was committing the crimes, but the impetus behind it and how it related to the trial and to the past was very unexpected (I'm hoping this is vague enough not to give anything away.) I was so excited at how everything tied together at the end.

***Spoiler***
There was one thing that kind of bugged me. Sometimes it seemed like Celia was developing powers and other times it seemed like she was picking up Dr. Mentis' powers. I think you're supposed to infer that her power is more of a mental one but I'm just not sure and it was driving me insane. I want it confirmed!
***End Spoiler***

I loved who Celia ended up with. I did see it coming but not in a "of course that's going to happen kind of way" more in the "I hope that happens kind of way." They were prefect for each other.

Red Glove (Curse Workers, #2) by Holly Black

The new year starts and Cassel is still trying to be relatively good but his family just keeps getting him into more and more trouble. Especially when Phil gets murdered and the feds try and draft Cassel into a special program for worker teens. Lila is still cursed to love him and they were trying to stay away from each other but she's at school with Cassel, which is just more complications.

I really liked this and I'm not entirely sure how to say why. Cassel tries to do the right thing but thinks that he is a bad person, and I think a lot of times as a teenager I kind of felt that way. It's not that you are intentionally trying to hurt anyone or do bad things, it's that you feel like life leaves you between to impossible choices and neither one is a great option.

The mystery is definitely not as easy to solve as I thought it would be. Early into the book I totally thought I had figured out who had killed Phil. I didn't think there was any other choice and was mildly annoyed that it was so easy to figure out. I was wrong and it was a character I hadn't even really thought about because the were not as heavily featured in this book as the previous one (although if I hadn't been so wrapped up in who I thought it was I might have thought about it.)

I still love the world that Cassel lives in. The curseworkers rights movement harkens back to the civil rights movement of the sixties and I think that Holly Black handles it well. The mobsters remind of me of those old fifties movies or Dick Tracey even though it could be related to something newer. Maybe my frame of reference is just screwy.

A lot of things felt like they wrapped up nicely here. It doesn't really need anymore, but I'm still hoping that there will be a third book because I really really enjoyed it.

The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil

This was another read for work which is why the review is so light. I know I need to read this again so I wasn't willing to go too in depth in case I honestly get sick of it.

Sophie see's a woman in a window at school and drags two of her friends. The women needs help solving a twenty year old mystery that may reunite her with her estranged daughter. In addition to the mystery there are boy problems, a Great Expectations skit and an evil deacon.

This was a cute little mystery. There wasn't anything super exciting about it. If you think about it enough a couple chapters in and you can figure out who dunnit. The girls are sweet and likable as are many of the other characters (except the bad guy of course.)

My one complaint is that there was math. The girls need to solve a series of puzzles and the whole thing leads to some plane geometry. Oh there were vicious vicious flashbacks. I was not happy.

There is also a slightly religious aspect to the entire thing, however it's mostly from a historical perspective and no one's being beat over the head with anything. All of the parts discussed end up being relevent to the story.

Vixen by Jillian Larkin

Vixen follows three girls living in the roaring twenties. Country-cousin Clara is putting on a show of being a goody two shoes while staying with her cousin. She's living in Chicago with her cousin Gloria who is supposed to be planning one of the most important social events of the season, her weading to Sabastian Grey. Lorraine is Gloria's childhood best friend and she is getting very jealous of Gloria. Gloria's fun in the speakeasy, Gloria's upcoming marriange and Gloria's relationship with her cousin Clara.

It took me a while to review this one because I kept getting distracted by other things. I should have reviewed it right away so I could be more specific but cest la vie.

The beginning of this book was just not entertaining to me. It felt like the author was trying to hard. There was too much slang and it didn't all sound right. Some of the descriptions were a little heavy handed too. (The description of her first taste of gin was just a little bit much, I'm not going into specifics cause it was just gross.)

However as it progressed I started to enjoy it more and more. There were lots of little mysteries going on. What was Clara's secret? Who kept spilling Gloria's secrets? I felt like these little mysteries made it more interesting and kept the book going for me.

Devoured by Amanda Marrone

I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to start reading this book and it's a good thing I couldn't sleep because I didn't want to put it down. This book is actually a modern day continuation of the Snow White tale that takes place many generations after the original. I never would have figured out based on the description although after the fact I do see some hints on the cover.

Megan has had a difficult life, when she was 8 she was in a car accident with her twin sister Remy and her father. Remy died and her father is in a coma and ten years later Megan is still seeing Remy's ghost, and lately she's getting more and more violent and Remy's visits are getting harder and harder to stop/ignore. To add to Megan's issues she also gets a job at The Land of Enchantment, a local fairy tale themed amusement park to keep an eye on her boyfriend Ryan and his best friend (who has professed her undying love to him) Sammy. Megan's first day at the park she meets Luke, who can also see Remy and hopefully help Megan help Remy to move on.

There is a lot going on in this book and the frenetic pace can make it difficult to keep up at times (especially at the end) but it is well worth the read. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened next. I really liked how the author wove the different elements of Snow White into the story. The description of the book sounds so much like a paranormal romance love triangle type thing, but really it's more of a murder mystery and I think that is what really keeps the plot going. Now I'm kind of torn because I want to go further into why I like the book but I don't want to give anything away.

Dream Life by Laura Mechling

Claire is just as quirky as ever but at the end I found myself not liking her as much. Claire still has the black and white dreams that draw attention to her future, but Becca seems to be growing apart from her and Andy seems to be avoiding her so she feels left out. In her efforts to deal with her issues, she ends up not talking to practically any of her friends. Then she gets let in on Becca's big secret, and involved in a new mystery.

***Spoiler***
I didn't like that the cameo punished Claire for going out with Alex. Andy wasn't behaving well this book and she was extremely patient with him. She had every right to take someone else when he refused to go.

***Spoiler ends***

I also thought that Claire was being extremely naive not to realize that the Blue Moon's activities reflected well on the girls parents and were repayed with favors. The mystery was interesting and I was surprised when I found out who was really responsible for all the trouble. The dreams were a lot clearer and it was much easier to see how they fit into the bigger picture. I liked that Claire's powers did develop in the second story and she wasn't still stuck being frustrated.

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

Kat has no idea who she is. All she knows is that Grace has raised her along with her own daughter Anna. When Grace dies Kat leaves everything behind and goes to London to try and find out her past.

****Spoiler****
It's an interesting take on what could have happened to Katherine Parr's daughter. However this mystery was really only a small aspect of what made the novel interesting for me.
****Spoiler****

In the beginning I was afraid it would be full of back stabbing and cruelty but while it is a sad story and some of the sadness is brought on by people's cruelty it isn't all because of the things people do to each other, a lot of it is just brought on by situations, particularly people's stations in life.

The author beautifully captures just how both the low born and the high born have very little say in their lives. It's interesting to see how Kat's life, which in many ways changes drastically when she becomes one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting, doesn't really chane at all when it comes to her personal freedoms. She still has no say in who she marries, she still must do as she is told.

I really wish we had found out what Rafael came home for and whether he really just wanted Kat or whether his desires were more sinister then that.

The discriptions of clothing are gorgeous and I can imagine the beautiful embroidery that Kat does. I loved that the dress she embroidered for Queen Elizabeth, it sounded like such a beautiful piece. The description of the piece helped set the tone and mood of the story for me.

I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It by Adam Selzer

This book was an arc someone I work with got at some meeting or conference. No one seemed to really want to read it and it languished in our summer reading prize box. At the end of the summer we got to grab what we wanted and this made me think of my friend Jenn. She is the one I will go looking for when the zombie apocalypse happens and most likely she would be the reason I just might survive. She loves any and everything zombie. Naturally before I gave it to her I had to read it myself.

In Ally's world zombies, vampires and other paranormal creatures and critters are par for the course. Ally starts the novel and the snotty ice queen. She works on the school paper and her and her fellow journalists are known for her witty but cruel sarcastic commentary both at their lunch table and in the papers gossip column.

I actually really liked this book. I found it to be a more "realistic" Twilight story. (I use the term realistic very loosely I honestly just can't think of a better way to phrase it.) The "realistic" opinions and character development added a lot of humor to the story and made me really respect the author. Ally's first love ends up being a zombie. She goes through the typical responses of a girl in puppy love/lust, but she also realizes that this relationship has a short shelf life and she recognizes some of her mistakes along the way. The relationship changes Ally in a lot of ways, in ways that you would wish any teenager dating someone who's not quite right for her would. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad I thought it was a great take on a paranormal romance that hasn't really been seen yet.

Also worth checking out is the books official website. It's got a great soundtrack you can download for free and some other great extras, such as pamphlets and blog posts detailing where some of the inspiration came from. It's a quick read and I will admit to being sorry to have forked my arc over to my friend, but she loved it too, so it was worth it.

Other by Karen Kincy

Gwen is half-pooka in a small town where people don't really appreciate 'others'. She is forced to hide her secret from everyone except her parents and others like herself. Although she is thinking of coming out to her boyfriend. Then Others are being murdered and the police are turning a blind eye, so Gwen begins to search for clues before she becomes the next victim.

Gwen is a hugely likable character even if she is a little bit headstrong and her actions are sometimes unrealistic, to the point where I was becoming annoyed with it. I really liked Tavian too, although I would have liked to know a bit more about him and have had his character more fully developed. (Maybe the next book in the series could be told from his point of view.) Zach was annoying to me but most likely that is because his strong religious back ground. I am always irked by people who let their common sense be blinded by religious belief, even though in this case it lead to some major plot points. (I'm going to leave this ambiguous so that I don't spoil the story.)

I loved the different Others that existed in the story. I thought they were all really interesting and some of them were really unexpected. I particularly appreciated that the author selected mythological creatures from all over the world, and not just the standard vampires, werewolves and fairies.

There was a lot going on here in terms of plot, but it was all dealt with in a timely fashion. Nothing felt rushed or jammed in at the last second. As far as the mystery was concerned I felt like it was maybe a tiny bit predictable mainly because tolerance and lack of tolerance were such a big part of this story how could you not see this coming.

Suzi Clue: The Prom Queen Curse by Michelle Kehm

I just couldn't get into this one. I really wanted to enjoy it cause the cover was cute and the premise was adorable; plus a friend of mine read it and really seemed to enjoy it.

Suzie Clue is kind of an alternative type chick and doesn't really fit in at school. The BG's rule the school and all of the prom queen nominations come from their ranks. When someone starts harrassing prom queens and playing mean pranks, rumors of a prom queen curse start circling the school. Suzi loves mysteries so she decided to investigate.

But the whole thing felt forced and completely unrealistic. Adults would never let things go as far as they did in the book, both with Suzi's investigations and with the actual pranks played. Now adults would intervene and have handle things quickly.

If an unrealistic investigative process and the lack of adult interference wont bother you there are some important themes about being yourself and being compassionate worth exploring here. There is a lot to think about regarding some of the decisions Suzie makes; particularly regarding the culprit (I am trying not to give a spoiler here so forgive me for being vague.)

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

I was so excited to get the new Sookie Stackhouse novel and while it was good and I did like it, I felt like it was slower then previous books. This volume seemed to focus on Sookie getting her life back into some semblence of order and there was a lot of emphasis on her living her day to day life; gaining a new roommate in the form of Claude and working on recovering her body physically from the torture she experienced in the last book. Even Sookie felt the lack of action, frequently complaining that she felt lonely and bored.

The mysteries weren't solved until the last couple of pages (which is good cause I was getting soooo close to the end I was afraid that they were going to carry over into the next book). We also get a lot of interesting background on both Bill and Eric and their makers, which I always love, and a really great couple of chapters dealing with Sookie and her nephew trying to figure out how to teach him to deal with his powers. A lot of this book felt like everyone was still in a holding pattern, like the author hadn't really decided what direction certain parts of the story were going to go in. Hopefully the next book will be a little bit more dynamic the way previous books have been.(As it has to becuase there were a few unresolved problems.)

Naughty List by Suzanne Young

The cheerleaders at Washington High School are more then just cheerleaders. They are an elite team of spies who have their own detective agency the Society of Smitten Kittens. SOS checks out guys for girls who are afraid they are being cheated on, and if the guys a cheater he gets his very own spot on the Naughty List. When Tessa the captain of the squad and head of SOS gets a text annonymously accusing her boyfriend Aiden of cheating, her perfect life starts to show some cracks.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I should have because it was so much more then I expected it be (I know this sounds weird but I will explain). I loved the premise and I thought it was such a cute idea and that it would be a light fluffy read, which is what I was looking for when I started it. But as I read the book I realized that this was not going to be a piece of light fluff, there was some serious character development and mental issues at play here. Which normally I would love because there is nothing better then finding out something is better then you expected but you know how sometimes you just want something that is a quick and dirty fun read? That's what I was in the mood for.

While the spying story is a little incredulous and definitely has some fun aspects to it, what was really interesting in this book and what I wasn't expecting was getting to watch Tessa develop. Tessa has been trying to be perfect and in this book you see the beginning of her desire to become a well developed person. Unfortunately because it's a series (or at least has a sequel) the development doesn't fully flesh out before the story ends. I hope this trend continues in the next book in the series.

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Kat used to be a thief (it's the family business) but she decided she wanted out and conned herself into one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the United States. But now Kat's dad is being accused of a robbery he didn't commit (mainly cause he was busy committing another one somewhere else) by a pretty scary guy. With Interpol hot on her dad's trail Kat needs to clear her dad of the second crime, or else. So Kat sets up her team and breaks into one of the most well protected museums ever.

This was an extremely fun read, think of it as Ocean's Eleven with teens and girls. Kat and her compatriots are incredibly likable characters. While technically they are criminals, they do have a code of honor that is highly important to them and their own sets of morals that are important to them. This goes a long way to making them likable. A lot of this book focuses on that code of honor and on righting previous wrongs and contextualizes an important part of how theft can sometimes be justified. (Yeah I know that sentence was really ambigious but I am trying not to be spoilery.)

Tarnished Angel by Kurt Busiek

Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains.

The title refers to Carl himself who is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous. They complement the noir style of the story. The story itself is interesting and as usual we get to many different and interesting characters, including one of my new favorites Mock Turtle.

I just love this series and the way each book focuses on a different character and location within the city. I can't wait to read the next one.