Bethany

I really wanted to love this

Revisado: 08-26-21

Unfortunately, there is a lot of filler, incorrect use of words (e.g. using 'elaborate' when 'exaggerate' is what was meant) and a lot of repetitive information. This last is not just from short story to short story, but within each story itself. I think the idea is fantastic and fun and there is some real potential in the characters, but the writing just does not do Drew Hayes justice.

Added in there (this is an aside that I probably would just deal with if the rest of the work reached its potential but which is admittedly an irritation) is a tendency for the main character to repeatedly mention that as a very uncool high schooler his only "friends" were people equally uncool and that he had not really liked and was forced to be friends with.

This really damaged my interest in following this so-called "nice guy" main character who doesn't get that disliking your friends because they aren't cool means that you're not really a friend and who seems to fill the Incel role a little too well for my personal liking. (Cheerleaders are sluts, no one understands him, jocks are inherently evil, women who are interested in said jock must be sluts, if the fit and beautiful woman who decides to talk to him gets distracted with what later turns out to be her job, she must be shallow, etc)

I dunno. I love the 5- minute sherlock series and the second hand curses...but this book needs an overhaul. My advice would be to broaden the main character's mind, change the format to chapters instead of short stories (and erase the repetitive explanations about about normal the main character is and how he is a vampire now) and definitely tighten up the writing itself.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Enjoyable!

Revisado: 08-26-21

I loved the first book of this series and I very much enjoyed this. I will say that, as much as I was hoping they'd be proved wrong, I have to agree with another reviewer that this feels more like a placeholder until the next book, than the actual next book. Sherman was gloriously Sherman, Watson was excellent, but there was something lacking in the tension department in this particular book which I think it would have been improved by. On the other hand, this is a very enjoyable book and Sherman Holmes is a wonderfully zany character and I was entertained....I just am hoping that book 3 will heighten the stakes a bit

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Decent story, eh narrator

Revisado: 07-25-21

The story here is not going down in history but it's enjoyabl cozy mystery, and that is probably what most people looking at the title are in search of. The main character is mostly charming, occasionally a little too "Lady Bountiful" for me but over all likeable. I found Mallow ( the "Watson" character) also likable but somewhat flat, somehow. Rather like a high-school theater actor. The idea of her (a grounded, sensible foil to her high maintenance mistress with a streak of fierce loyalty) is enjoyable but you're fully aware that she is a character acting out the part, delivering her lines but doing so a little patly and with contrived emotion

Still, the mystery passed the time and I enjoyed the historical and romance elements. I'm not sure about historical accuracy, honestly, the Edwardian period not being a time I tend to read much on but nothing described jarred or seemed obviously out of place (with the possible exception of Franny living on her own and seeing men without a chaperone-- I have no idea if this in fact could have happened as easily as described or not)

The narrator almost made me stop listening. She does okay with most things (tempo, volume, tone, characterization) but she has this dreadful habit of ending sentences with this little "uh" sound on the last syllable of the last word more often than not. Sometimes I would lose track of what the text was because I kept listening for that odd little stress on the words. I can't imagine deliberately choosing to listen to her again.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Excellent! (Trigger Warnings)

Revisado: 07-05-21

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of sexual violence, committed off page. Descriptions of suicidal thoughts and impulses. Attempts of self harm. Violent animal suffering and death, detailed on page. Expressions of homophobia, directed towards the main characters.



I absolutely loved this. I loved the fantastic, magical elements, I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the plot, I loved the dialogu, some of which had me giggling aloud. I've now read (or listened to) all of the books in two other of Charles' series: Sins of the Cities and Society of Gentleman, and while I did very much enjoy those books (some more than others,granted), this one is a clear favorite for me. While focused on romance to a healthy degree, it also offers a rich vein of fantasy which just improves the whole experience of Charles' excellent writing and grasp on characterizations that are human and flawed and sexy with it.

I offer trigger warnings because I personally wish every book came with them. I will say that I consider myself very sensitive to rape and mentions thereof, but was able to handle the violence talked about here. it's off screen with perpetrator and victims no longer in the picture. I do not feel it was overwhelming or that it detracted from my enjoyment of the story. I did not like the animal deaths, and will skip that little section in future, but it does not last long and it is not with an animal with whom the reader has formed a connection, so there is that.

I thought the narrator did well, and the book was a joy, Gothic, magical, lovely joy, and I would write more, but frankly I'm off to listen to the next in the series!

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Enjoyable, but not my favorite (Trigger Warning)

Revisado: 06-30-21

**MILD SPOILERS AHEAD **

Trigger Warning: book contains a family going through a miscarriage



First, I really am enjoying this series. I enjoy the writing and the characters. Sometimes I need this historical, quiet kind of mystery. I think so far in this series that the characters come first and the mystery second and while that's not right for all my moods, it is lovely when it is.


This particular book is, in my opinion, not as strong as the previous two. I don't recommend skipping it because each book in the series builds on the last but the fact remains that much of this book is centered around political ambitions and while I didn't hate it, I also had picked it up looking for a mystery and in large part that was not what I got.

I did however enjoy the building on Charles' life. The addition of a helpmeet continuing from book 2, the relationship between himself and his servants and friends and family. I will say that I am increasingly irritated the two regular female characters in these books, even by Lady Jane, which is not what I want.

In the first book she is described as calm and sensible...but has an appearantly out of character breakdown about a person she knew briefly having been killed. I can imagine how awful it would be to have someone you know even briefly murdered, so I'm not criticizing the response just pointing out it's described as out of character, because in the second she is repeatedly described as sensible and steady and reliable....and, in another out of character moment, is obviously keeping secrets and upset about it and the secret when revealed is so underwhelming that I can'tfathom why it was one.

So when we get to this third book, we are told once again how practical and reasonable and such that she is and she once again has an "out of character" moment of reactionary behavior in which she is troubled that she doesn't know Charles well enough to marry him (after having known him and been best friends and lived next door since childhood, and not after any change in behavior on his part, but because their mutual friends who have had a tempestuous marriage from the first introduction of the first book are fighting again).....I am really not too impressed with her.

The other female, a person named Toto, is encapsulated very easily. Asked her opinion on a pleasure trip to Ireland (a thing which would have been luxury and rarified indeed in this time when class distinction was even more separated by privileges and money then now) her response is to say "Too many potatoes". I understand her character is meant to be adorable in the way a small child insisting on a peice of candy is supposed to be cute but, given that this is less than 20 years after the great famine in Ireland destroyed so many lives and that the comment is absolutely typical of the character, the overall effect is that there aren't many reasonable females in this series so far.

this one, in short, is a little slow. It's pleasant and I did enjoy it but it did not rivet me or make me feel a burning desire to move on to book 4. the females are consistently disappointing and was it is a pleasant ittle time killer, essentially

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Good! (If you are patient)

Revisado: 06-24-21

I ended up really liking this but I almost stopped listening to this about a 1/3 of the way in.

I like Davies, the narrator, though I am aware that he appears to be somewhat polarizing for listeners. I agree with other reviewers that he is not the very best at distinguishing voices, but he is still good at it. His naturally gravelly baritone is surprisingly flexible and I find his reading a pleasure. I like the set up too, the (as far as I know) accurate historical representation, the style of writing.

What I initially had trouble with was the characters. Julius, so vain and frigid that it was hard to conceive of him in a romantic or sexual light. The self-absorbed and cowardly Harry and his obviously selfish parents. The self-righteous Richard, the bitchy Varona, the tyrannical Gideon. Try as I might, I could not feel chemistry between Harry and Julius (which made the first sex scenes a little weird) and my sympathies lay entirely with the other side of the political questions being raised, which is a first for me in a book. I agreed politically with Silas, of course, but he's not a main character.

HOWEVER!!

What ultimately DOES make this book worth the listen is the growth and/or greater understanding of the characters. Yes, it's a little slow. It's not a huge book and I actually love slow, rambling reads so it took me a little thinking to decide why it bothered me almost enough to stop reading. I think it's because the first 1/3 of the book is isolated with these characters, none of whom are very appealing. Harry is supposed to be charming but you're told that, you don't see it. Julius is supposed to be beautiful and appealing but his ice makes him rather unbelievable in the romantic sense. BUT, they grow.

As the book goes on, Harry starts to grow up and into his charm. Julius begins to thaw. They begin to make sense. and I, at least, began to want them to be together and to win. I think it's worth the read and the patience, if you think the setting and plot is along your tastes. I began to cheer the characters, and was swept up in the plot

I will be trying the next book in the series because I'm curious how the currently rather unappealing Dominic will be salvaged, as I believe he will be.

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LGBQT friendly historical romance

Revisado: 06-21-21

I am not usually a consumer of romances. Partially because I have an impression of them being rather one note (fair or not) and partially, no doubt, because my own experiences with romantic love have not been kind. But, this one promised at least some mystery and it was set in Victorian England and it has sexual, racial and ability representations which are deeply important to me. Added to that that this happens to be part of the plus catalog on a month when I cannot spend more money on credits, and decided to try it

I am so glad I did. I loved the narrator, who I thought did a great job (I am American and do not have a perfect grasp of regional accents elsewhere but I believe this was handled well, to my limited knowledge). I loved the characters: gentle, lovable Clem who is neurodivergent and courageous in a world which, even now, does not perfectly fit people like us. Capable, patient and traumatized Rowley, dealing with the spector of child abuse and rising above it.

I enjoyed their coming together (though I feel slow burn is a bit of an exaggeration, I also don't read many romances so maybe it is slow for them to get together by chapter 3) and I was surprised by the conclusion to a degree (I had my suspicions of the culprit but I really couldn't be sure). I enjoyed the descriptions and the writing. I don't really feel "cliffhanger" is accurate. You are given enough of an ending to reasonably stop reading the books if you want, and feel satisfied, though I intend to try the next myself.

I do want to address a couple of the other reviews, since I can't comment on them directly. Calling Clem "TSTL" really disappointed me. He is, in fact, NOT stupid. He is someone dealing with a difference that means that he has to think and react in ways that are not necessarily run of the mill but which do make sense. I think he was a very well researched character who adapted realistically within his capacity.

Living with neurodivergency is not a one size fits all thing and the author still represented him well to me, and I am both neurodivergent myself and work with neurodivergent people. Another review claimed that no one showed courage. Incorrect. Courage is not the absence of fear, after all. Both characters had challenges. Rowly came from a violent background and like many trauma victims had triggers. Clem was dealing with challenges that made doing ordinary things courageous in a way.

If you have a need for flawless characters with perfect bodies and minds who react to danger as if it's a game or as if showing feelings is weakness, this won't be your book. However, I'd take friends like these characters any day over that other type of character.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Fun fanfiction for those missing Firefly

Revisado: 06-20-21

I, like most of the people who have or will listen to this, still wish that the powers that be had given us another season or 5 of Firefly. I was not best pleased with Serenity and it simply feels like such a shame that such an interesting, vibrant cast of characters and such fascinating worldbuilding was let go like that.

I picked up this book with some desire to spend more time in the 'verse, and I enjoyed it. Was it brilliantly written? No. Did the characters get their due? It's clear to me the author tried, though honestly, I've read actual fanfiction that got nearer the mark. Was there sufficient knowledge of the original show? Yes. Though, sometimes it felt like the author had created a checklist of moments from the show to reference. I was happy to hear about Mama Cobb's knitting and Kaylee's layer cake dress. But the references felt heavy handed and rather forced at times. Would adult characters really have a arranged a meeting place around "that store that Mal got Kaylee's dress from?" I mean, maybe? But you've already mentioned the dress a couple times. We know you remember it. That's just how those moments came across me to at times.

The biggest issue for me was the back flashing to Mal's younger years. I tolerated it the first couple times, but the third time I skipped the section. Those sections went on and on about people I really did not care about while I wanted to know what was happening in real time to the crew of Serenity. And, in the end, Mal **apologizes** to the man who just about killed him and who had been leading people to kill others in a vigilante manner because, apparently, the girl choosing one friend over the other is just cause to kill people. That particular bit really aggravated me.

Anyway, I got this with my plus catalog. There were parts I really did find pleasant and I was entertained. It's not the best thing ever but it did keep me company while driving to work

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Too similar to first book in series

Revisado: 06-18-21

I'm sorry to give such a low review. it's really not something I usually do. The narrator was delightful and, as with the first book of the series, I throughly enjoyed the descriptions of small-town Wales and the Abby.

However:


** SPOILERS AHEAD**

I could not help noticing a couple things. One, I read the first book, in which a murder which no one else thinks is a murder occurs, it's apparent a person attached to the Abby is doing malicious or dangerous things, a young female stranger is taken into the Abby and Sister Agatha, the main character, is suspicious of her based entirely on being a young stranger, Sister Agatha takes small, ludicrously normal things as a sign of guilt or mystery in various situations, and, in the end the bad guy who has bad designs on the Abby and the surrounding town has hired someone else who has been "under their noses" and is part of the community to do the actual crimes, and the end of the book involves an adorable animal who helps save someone's life. *ALL* of this occurred in the first book AND in this book. While the names and faces are somewhat different, the similarities are too close and too obvious for my taste.

**END SPOILERS**

Along with being too similar to the first book for its own good, Sister Agatha is just plain annoying to me. She contaminates a crime scene (though granted it doesn't appear to be a crime scene to anyone else, even me, the reader), she takes things away from the scene, she obsessively thinks a young woman who makes a joke about disliking the deceased might be guilty and indeed owes her an explanation for where she was on the night of the murder. In fact, in the first scene with this character, Sister Agatha thinks this character might be about to make a confession based...on...the fact that this young mother of four looks tired and has been crying....yeah....

Mystery writers please, please make it possible for your amateur sleuths to learn the facts without randomly insisting people with no clear connection to the crime owe the amateur sleuth thorough explanations for their lives, mistakes and foibles. This is NOT a procedural, these are not cops or detectives or lawyers. Amateur sleuths are just people and that's what makes it interesting for them to be solving a crime. but being just people, they are NOT owed explanations for other peoples lives. when someone behaves like Sister Agatha, assuming guilt because, shocker, someone doesn't want to explain every moment of their day to this person they don't know, is obviously ridiculous and totally, absolutely annihilates my suspension of disbelief. I LOVE the idea of a normal human solving murders and crimes precisely because they are normal and human, but that person really does need to maintain some sense of proportion in regards to their own rights and the rights of the people around them.

in the end, if you haven't read the first book, this is probably going to be entertaining, and since it doesn't cost anything if you have the plus catalog, it might be okay if you just want something going on in the background if you have read the first. but that's about the best I can say, unfortunately

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Really enjoyed most of it!

Revisado: 06-18-21

I was surprised by this novel, not least because of a previous review suggesting that it be made into a children's story. I'm trying to be more careful with how much I spend on books, audio or physical copies, and so am trying to use more of the books included in my membership so, despite misgivings, I decided to give this a try.

I was surprised how interested I was. I sincerely cared about what happened to the community of nuns described in the book, was enchanted by the setting in small-town Wales and, being American, not overly troubled by the few mistakes I knew enough to catch(Welch people do not use the word Zucchini-- they call them Courgette, for one example). I found many of the characters endearing and was pleased by the author's ability to describe both setting and person.

However, this cozy breaks some of my "cozy rules". the most important being that the amateur sleuth in question must not be so outrageously nosy and self important that I want to fling the book or phone away from me, s/he must be savvy enough not to distrupt crime scenes by removing items or otherwise keeping salient facts from the authorities, and they must keep their leaps of assumption confined to what the reader might reasonably leap to themselves. I'm perfectly fine with being mislead by my own assumptions and biases but I do not want to be sitting and groaning with annoyance while my amateur sleuth is suspecting murder because someone breathed the wrong way, or, as in this case, bought a new tablet.

Sister Agatha is unfortunately all of these things. She's the sort who goes up to a grieving person and needles them about where they were at the time, and then thinks it's suspect when the person doesn't respond by telling her their life story. I don't think in this particular book (though certainly in the next) that she contaminated a crime scene, but she does constantly suspect people of murder (a very serious, life destroying action) on very little ground indeed. The worst example in this book is the suspicion of her very long term friend and fellow nun based on the fact that the woman **bought a new tablet** without letting her know.

I know I probably sound petty but I want to be honestly unsure and logically confused when I read a mystery, cozy or not. I want to puzzle things out with my amateur sleuth pal. I want to trust their judgment or at least know why they think what they do. If they have a suspicious nature, I want to see intelligence laced into the suspicion and if they take on sleuthing, I want them to recognize that they are not entitled to everyone's cooperation and work around that, not act as if people expecting privacy is weird. in short, I do NOT want to be rolling my eyes and wasting pages of reading of the sleuth feeling suspicious of a person who I logically know probably hasn't even done anything morally wrong, let alone illegal.

That being said, Sister Agatha has her charming moments and I do enjoy much of the rest of the book. Just WHY can't elderly women sleuths be a little more subtle, intelligent and loyal than the typical one is described as being in these cozy mysteries?

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