A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss

Rating:

DNF

Themes:

Mystery

Thoughts:

I really struggled with this book and don’t think the series is for me. I found that the characters were pretty much all caricatures which in a series is really unnecessary as we have the time to learn about each new main character and the all cops stupid but the new boy trope was done to an extreme. This felt even weirder to me as the story/mystery was slow to start but it wasn’t because we had to meet the characters in depth since they lacked depth and just followed stereotypes instead. It was also weird that Crystal’s scent was mentioned soo much, even if it is important to the mystery later it felt overboard to have it mentioned multiple times a chapter. I found the Brunswick ‘romance’ element really icky with the age thing even for the time. Working it out Brunswick is about 38 but the girl he is fawning over and chasing is only 19 so it’s nearly a 20 year age gap. As far as the point I DNF’d it, these things were irrelevant but even if it’s important to have an age gap later in the story it was a 10 year gap that was common, not a middle aged man with a child.

Favourite Quote:

“Demanding for crimes to be 'solved' was an ignorant and unreasonable position to take, in Steine's view. It was simplistic. Many crimes went unsolved in this world; it was very common for a crime to go unsolved. In many ways, Steine felt that an unsolved crime was more satisfying - in philosophical terms than a solved one. Complete in itself, it had more integrity as a concept Once you started trying to solve it, it came apart in unattractive ways.”

Comments

Mint and Murder by Carly Winter

Rating: Stars Themes: Short Story, Cosy Mystery Thoughts: Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I had to read this book, seeing it was available, after reading Pipers Piping and Puppies last year. I did read it as a standalone (it’s not the first time I’ve read a series out of order and likely won’t be the last) I managed to follow along fine although I’m sure I’d have understood the relationship dynamics better had I read it in the correct order. I found the story great and as for the mystery I was guessing myself right the way through until Sam figured it out. Sam is a strong female main character who feels worth investing in so I may have to go search some more of the Heywood Herbalist series out. I enjoyed seeing Sam interact with her friends as they had great chemistry and it felt real, and also really liked Sam’s interactions with Doug as it added another layer of humanity to her and reality to the town. I would love ...

Shame-Sex Attraction by Lucas Wilson

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

The Staycation by Cressida McLaughlin

Rating: DNF Themes: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction Thoughts: Thoughts I tried to like this book I really did. I'd put it down to DNF only to return the next day to give it another go but unfortunately this story really couldn't keep my attention and i found myself scrolling on my phove with the book atill open in my other hand. The story has a sweet premise though it didn't exactly call to me but looking at other less favourable reviews this isn't indicative of Cressida's best work so I may have to have a go at a different book. Favourite Quote: Over the last week or so I've been seeing things a bit differently. I've been reminded that life doesn't have to be small and neat, everything put away in separate boxes. And that, even if you'd like it small and neat, that's not always how it turns out."

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