Putney by Sofka Zinovieff

5 Stars

I’m not even going to bother with a review. I am going to say the blurb is about a million and a half paragraphs too long. Do yourself a favor and only read the first one and skip all the oversharing that could potentially ruin the entire reading experience. It tells you everything you need to know before deciding whether or not you want to give this book a chance. Putney truly is explosive and thought provoking and it certainly is about an illicit relationship between a grown man and a young girl. My only comment regarding the comparisons to Notes on a Scandal or Mrs. Fletcher are that Lolita was probably too obvious so the “blurbists” chose to mix things up a bit. Truly, though, Lolita is what can’t help but come to mind – only this version follows everyone for the next 40 years.

That’s all you get. This is a love it or hate it novel and, sadly, one that people will choose to judge without even reading a page due to the pearl-clutching type of storyline. There’s no point in wasting my breath . . . or manicure, I guess would be the case here. I have a feeling most discussions with the anti-Putney sect would only result in me looking something like this . . . .





All the Stars.

Snap by Belinda Bauer

4 Stars

On August 20, 1998, Jack’s mother leaves him in charge of his two sisters when their car breaks down on the highway while she goes for help. When she doesn’t return, the children venture out to track her down, but instead find only . . . . .



Fastforward to 2001 – pregnant Catherine wakes in the middle of the night thinking there’s an intruder in her house. She returns to bed where she finds a knife on her pillow along with a note . . . .

“I could have killed you.”

The remainder of the book is how the two characters’ lives intertwine – all while Jack is trying to figure out what ever happened to his mother and simultaneously trying to care for his siblings.

As often happens, I have no clue how I ended up requesting this book. I’m assuming it was from the library recommendation software when I was trying to check out something that was currently unavailable. I will say that I thought this was a young adult novel the entire time I was reading it. Then I discovered it’s on the Booker Prize longlist . . . .



I’m not sure if my rating/reaction would be the same if I had known going in this was supposed to be a smarty-farty novel. Pretend you don’t know either and enjoy it for what it is – a quality thriller with a finely woven storyline featuring quite an unforgettable kid lead and doesn’t throw the kitchen sink at you when it comes to finding out the whodunit.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

3.5 Stars

“For fans of John Dies at the End and Welcome to Night Vale”
I’ve never experienced Welcome to Night Vale (its fanbase has been pretty hardcore when it comes to deterring readers who aren’t podcast listeners), but when it comes to John Dies at the End?????



Seriously folks, this is the one time where there was a 100% spot-on comparison and it’s pretty much the only reason Meddling Kids even pinged my radar.

Thirteen years ago, Peter Manner, Kerri Hollis, Andrea “Andy” Rodriguez, Nate Rogers and a dog named Sean made the front page:

“Teen Sleuths Unmask Sleepy Lake Monster.” “Uncover Criminal Plot.” “Haunting Debunked.”

You know how it goes . . . . .



But in the present, that little niggling feeling that everything wasn’t on the up-and-up remains . . . .

“What about the house? The pentacle? The empty coffins? The symbols written in blood?!”

You know what happens next right????

“We’re putting the band back together.”

And I was all . . . . .



The end result ended up being a mixed bag. There’s zero chance I’m not giving this a fairly high rating simply for the nostalgia factor. I don’t really give a rip that many of the plot points were knocked-off of “Spooky Island” from the live action film. However, I can’t round up due to the vastly different reactions I had to the writing. Like how can this overwritten nonsense . . . .

She was joyfully drowning in Kerri’s hair, its fragrance and softness pounding on her senses like a cheerful Mongol army banging on the gates of Baghdad.

Possibly be from the same person with such an easy humor???

“So this is a witch’s house?” she said. She checked the spiraling ornaments of the porch lamps and the handrail, the silent wooden wind chime, the withered Christmas wreath on the door. “Looks like the place of an old lady who never got married.”

“That’s Puritan for ‘witch,’ ” Nate said, and he knocked again.

Not to mention the weird formatting where dialogue somehow goes from novel format to script format . . .

“Kerri! Get a foothold!”
KERRI: Tim, don’t fall!
ANDY: Kerri, get a foothold, please!

Or the ridiculous word inventions spattered throughout like “tragichuckled” or “deminodded” as well as all of the mentioning of Kerri’s hair having a personality of its own and the fact that it should have probably been more like a novella size because it seemed to drag on and on. All of that stuff made me want to take off my glasses. And you know what the result of that is . . . .



I'm sticking with 3.5 Stars for the wayback feelz, but I hope the author recognizes this is a one-hit wonder and should definitely not be the beginning of a “A Blyton Summer Detective Club Adventure” series.

How It Happened by Michael Koryta

4 Stars

I received an ARC of this one about a century ago and promptly put it on the backburner due to my friends’ “meh”-ish ratings and reactions. But then something popped up on my radar that changed my mind . . . .



Uncle Stevie don’t spout off too often and I most certainly drink his blend of Kool-Aid.

The story here starts with a young woman in an interrogation room confessing her part in a pair of murders. She provides every detail regarding the where, when, why and how. The only problem? When searched, it’s discovered the bodies aren’t in the place she swore they would be. Now it’s up to FBI Agent Rob Barrett to figure out truly how it happened.

So I think I know what happened to at least some of the people who didn’t loooooove this one: THEY READ IT WRONG. Ha! I keed, I keeeeed. But seriously, if a reader picks this up expecting . . . .



There’s a very good chance they could be disappointed because this story? It’s 100% . . . .



(That’s code gif for police procedural.)

I dug it.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley!

One For The Money by Janet Evanovich

4 Stars

Dear Janet E:



Actually, that’s a boldface lie. I obviously have no desire to ever give up on our one-sided relationship. I mean, I’ve faithfully read about Stephanie Plum, her exploding cars, her gun-toting Granny, her former ho bestie, and her will she-won’t she relationships for over 10 years now. Not to mention all of her other series I’ve dabbled in, as well as some of her romance books, and dare I forget the pretty godawful movie version of this one that I just haaaaaad to watch . . . .



When I saw my friend Beverly was giving this a listen, I thought it might be right up my alley. Since my commute isn’t very long, I prefer shortie shorts that don’t require me to remember a lot of details in order to stay involved in the story. My mind tends to wander when dealing with the spoken rather than written word. You know what I mean . . . .



Twenty-plus books into this series, I forgot how solid this first one was. The slapstick level had not yet appeared, nor had the never-ending love triangle. Lula was still an actual ho and Stephanie had to contend with a pretty rough bad guy instead of the flashers of her future. But the most important thing? Lori Petty’s narration . . . . .



Holy crap she was good. Which means I’ll probably end up falling down this dang rabbit hole and re-experiencing these all over again . . . .

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

4 Stars

There are no bells and whistles for this one. Some books don’t need them. Darius the Great Is Not Okay is the story of a young boy who takes a trip to Iran with his family when they discover his grandfather is terminally ill. It’s about finding a place in the world when you feel like you’re nothing but a social outcast. More importantly, it’s about clinical depression. And it is DONE. SO. WELL. You can tell the author struggles/has struggled personally. Someone who has not dealt with the lying liar who lies which is depression might find Darius to be a bit of a pill – overly sensitive and quick to take offense – the kind of boy certain members of society would refer to as a “Snowflake.” I’ll admit there were moments when, despite my best efforts, even I felt that way too and in my head I was screaming “PLEASE JUST TALK!!!” or “THEY DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOUR FEELINGS.” But . . . . .



Sometimes making it impossible to break out of the spiral.

My only “complaint” with this story was that Darius was presented as an older teen, complete with job, but he read more like a middle-grader. That’s the age group I’d recommend this book to. My other “complaint” (for lack of a better word) has to do with the shelving of this book as “LGBT.” I’m assuming it stems from the following:

“Did you ever think that you wouldn’t get picked on so much if you weren’t so …”

“So what, Dad?” But he didn’t answer. What could he possibly say.

If readers want to fill in that blank with “gay” it’s certainly their priority, but it could easily be filled in with “nerdy” or “mopey” or “awkward” or “unsocial” or on and on and on. I read plenty of coming of age/first love/what-have-you stories – this wasn’t one.

Cross Your Heart by Sarah Pinborough

3 Stars

“Cross my heart and hope to die. You can’t break a deal like that. You can’t.”
I was one of the many readers absolutely blown away by Behind Her Eyes. When I saw Sarah Pinborough had a new selection, I immediately attempted to obtain an early copy . . . and my request remained in “pending” status until after the book was released, leading me to look a little something like . . . .



Luckily my best friend the library always has my back so I didn’t have to wait long before my turn came around. Then the fear set in that my expectations were waaaaaaaay too high leaving me like . . . . .



And I was right. I should have realized lightning doesn’t generally strike back-to-back when it comes to book releases.

The story here is of Lisa – overprotective single mother of a teenaged daughter named Ava. You know something happened in Lisa’s past immediately and Pinborough delivers once again when it comes to feeling the tension of the character. She also doesn’t drag you on for eternity and around the 30% mark you find out the superbadawful in Lisa’s past. Then you get to start in on the potential new superbadawful that’s getting ready to happen in the present.

So I dig Pinborough’s style. I appreciate the “getting there is all the fun” approach she has to storytelling. Unfortunately, unlike the whammy of a twist in Behind Her Eyes, this ending?????



Or I should say the additional thing doesn’t work. Again, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Some crazy twists are not only redonkulous, but are bad enough to lessen the reading experience as a whole.