As some of you might be aware, I recently started a new job. My first real job since Bunnybean was about a year old…and she’s 13 now. So, its been a while. The great thing about this job, is that I’m not in an office — I’m out driving around and visiting elementary schools, and talking about books. I know! Books! In my first week, my new boss gave me 9 brand new books to read. It was amazing. And then they showed me the […]
A coat of many murders
This is book one in the Vintage Clothing series, and I was intrigued by the review of it here last month by sistercoyote to request a copy from the library. It’s a cozy mystery set in Portland, Oregon with Joanna Hayworth as the main character. She owns a vintage clothing store (hence the series name) and she herself is portrayed as someone who would rather live in the past. She only wears vintage, her music collection is vinyl, she doesn’t own a cell phone, and […]
“You left me alone but you’re still my own”
The key to a good suspense/mystery novel is similar to that of a good horror film. The characters reactions to things have to be realistic and make sense. That doesn’t mean they have to necessarily be smart or follow basic common sense. It means they have to make sense given what we know about the character’s past experiences and personality. That way, when everything goes pear shaped, it feels like these things are being experienced by a real human and not merely a vessel to […]
Home is the place where when you go there, you have to finally face the thing in the dark.
Drumroll…………. It makes its second appearance in my Cannonball Read in as many years. (Here is my review from last year.) But dangit, it’s just absolutely outstanding all over again. Honestly, I might be at a loss for words now, and I think that’s because Stephen King took all of them. All the words. It is so long. But it reads so fast! I can’t put it down, and I don’t want to put it down! It’s just one of those books. So, the timing […]