Book: In The Company of Witches

 Book: In The Company of Witches

Author: Auralee Wallace

Pages: 336

This is the 231st read for the year

What Amazon says:

For 400 years, the Warren witches have used their magic to quietly help the citizens of the sleepy New England town of Evenfall thrive.  There's never been a problem they couldn't handle.  But then Constance Graves - a local known for being argumentative and demanding - dies while staying at the bed and breakfast Brynn Warren maintains with her aunts.  At first, it seems like an accident....but it soon becomes clear that there's something more sinister at work, and Aunt Nora is shaping up to be the prime suspect.  There's nothing Brynn wants more than to prove Nora's innocence, and it hurts her to know that even two years ago that might have been easier.  Brynn, after all, is a witch of the dea - a witch who can commune with ghosts.  Ghosts never remember much about their deaths, but Constance might remember something about her life that would help crack the case.  But Bryn hasn't used her powers since her husband died, and isn't even sure she still can.  Brynn will just have to hope that her aunts magic and her own investigative skills will lead her to answers - and maybe back to the gift she once thought herself ready to give up forever.

This was a pretty good book.  I listened to it, and it is narrated well.  The story is easy to follow and the characters likeable (the ones that are supposed to be likeable).  It is a cozy mystery where the mystery was good and kept you guessing on where it was going.  Good side characters.  Could picture the town and its people.  The main character, Brynn, is loveable.  Good ending.

Stars: 4

Book: Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

 Book: Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret

Author: Benjamin Stevenson

Pages: 192

This is my 230th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

My name's Ernest Cunningham.  I used to be a fan of freading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones.  I'd hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays.  I was wrong.  So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered.  My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.  The magician, the assistant, the executive, the hypnotist, the identical twin, the counselor, the tech.  My clues are even more abstract: a suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there.  A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens.  And an advent calendar.  Because, you know, it's Christmas.  It I can see through the illusions, i know I can solve it.  After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn't it?

This was a good book.  This is the third installment in the Ernest Cunningham series, and it did not disappoint.  I liked the characters, and even though it was a quick read, there was a lot of content in those pages.  The mystery is well developed.  I did figure it out pretty early on who it was, but it didn't take away from the story.  These books are humorous, and I like the writting style - that Ernest is the writer of this book and he is telling us the story of the murder.  Very clever.  

Stars: 4.5

Book: The Chritmas Tree

 Book: The Christmas Tree

Author: Julie Salamon

Pages: 134

This is my 229th read for the year

What Amazon says:

On his annual search for Rockefeller Center's next Christmas tree, the chief gardener spots an ideal candidate: a stately Norway spruce located on the grounds of a convent.  There he meets Sister Anthony, a nun for whom the tree has special meaning.  Orphaned and sent to the convent as a lonely young girl, Sister Anthony befriended the then tiny spruce whom she lovingly named "Tree".  Over the following decades, as the tree grew, so did Sister Anthony's appreciation for the beauty and wonder of nature.  She is reluctant to see her oldest and closest friend chopped down and sent to NYC.  But when a fierce blizard threatens the old tree's existence, Sister Anthony realizes it's time to let the world enjoy Tree as she did for nearly her whole life.

This was a great little book.  It is very short and an easy read - read it in a few hours - but I am glad I did.  I liked the story and the message, and it was a good choice for the holiday season.

Stars: 4

Book: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching A Killer

 Book: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer

Author: Maxie Dara

Pages: 352

This is my 228th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Murder is not her department.  It's not like it used to be.  Modern-day grim-reapers wear business casual, not black cloaks, and they don't carry scythes, they work for S.C.Y.T.H.E. (secure collection, yielding, and transportation of human essences), where the Department of Natural Causes is the least exciting gig.  And that's how Kathy Valence likes it: Boring and predictable.  She has enough stress in her personal life; she's mid-divorce, pregnant, and terrified she doesn't have what it takes to be a good mom.  Then she goes to pick up a new client and finds his soul is missing.  When she finally tracks down Conner Ortiz, he angrily insists he was murdered, and he refuses to move on until Kathy finds out why and by whom.  Kathy only has 45 days to solve the mystery before the boy's soul is doomed to raom te earth as a ghost forever.  To do that she'll have to call on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband - and invonveniently, Conner himself.  This is the wildest case of her career - and on wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

This was an interesting book.  The characters are pretty well developed - I really liked Kathy's ex-husband.  Conner took some getting used to.  He is written with a really foul mouth, but he eventually tapers off, and then got to be a much better character.  Kathy was a good character - but I didn't like her as much as I wanted to.  The way she treated her ex-husband never really made sense - he was written as the nicest guy.  But she was quirky and fun on many occasions which redeemed her some.  I liked the ending. It is a bit of a cozy mystery and I am glad I read this one.

Stars: 4

Book: Krampus

Book: Krampus

Author: Brom

Pages: 368

This is my 227th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Set in Appalachia, this is a twisted fairytale about a failed West Virginia songwriter who gets ensnared on Christmas Eve in an eternal war between anot-so-saintly Saint Nick and his dark enemy Krampus, an ancient trickster demon.  Krampus has been imprisoned by Saint Nick for 500 years and Saint Nick stole his magical sack.  Jesse, the songwriter, finds the sack and upon discovering what it does leads him on a path he never expected to try and save his ex-wife and daughter from some bad people.

This was a pretty good book.  I liked the inclusion of a bit of Norse Mythology along with the story of Krampus.  It is well written and the characters were well developed.  Most of the story was about Jesse and trying to get his wife and daughter back with the battle of Krampus and Saint Nick as a second story.  I liked how it ended - thought it wrapped up well.

check this one out.

Stars: 4

 

Book: The Night watchman

 Book: The Night Watchman

Author: Louise Erdrich

Pages: 464

This is my 226th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota.  He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new "emancipation" bill on its way to the floor of the US Congress.  It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn't about reedom; Congress is fed up with Indians.  The bill is a "termination" that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity.  How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans "for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run"? Since graduatin high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice.  Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to hear herself down with a husband and kids.  She makes jewel bearing at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to suppoer her mother and brother.  Patrice's shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terroize his wife and childre.  But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to Minneapolis.  Very may have disappeared, and is rumored to have had a baby.  Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.  Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice's best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, a white high school math teacher who is in love with Patrice.  

This book is hard to review.  Overall I think the story was good.  But it takes a lot of concentration to follow this book.  It is all over the place as far as tying all of these characters and stories together.  I am not sure why the author just didn't tell the story of Thomas - who is based on her own grandfather.  There are a zillion characters.  A lot of minor characters have storylines.  Lots of rambling and loss of relevance made it just not an overall enjoyable read for me.  Trying to piece out what she was talking about took too much work.

Stars: 3

Book: Sheltering Rain

 Book: Sheltering Rain

Author: Jojo Moyes

Pages: 450

This is my 225th read for the year

What Amazon Says:

Estranged from her mother since she ran away from her rural Irish home as a young woman, Kate swore a future oath that she'd always be a friend to her daughter, Sabine.  But history has a way or repeating itself, and Kate now faces an ever-widening chasm between herself and her daughter.  With Sabine about to make her own journey to Ireland to see the grandmother Kate abandoned, Kate is left wondering how they ever made it here, and what she can do to close the gap between them.  For Joy, seeing her granddaughter is a dream come true.  After the painful separation from Kate, she's looking forward to having time wiht Sabine.  Yet almost as soon as the young woman arrives, the lack of common ground between them deflates her enthusiasm.  And when SAbine's impetuous, inquisitive nature forces Joy to face long-buried secrets from her past, she realizes that perhaps it's time to finally heal old wounds.

This was not a good book.  I think I read that this was her first one, or one of her first, so I will give it a pass if that is the case.  I did not like any of the characters.  The three main women characters were the worst.  It isn't well written, and it was so up and down with love/hate that I just lost interest.  In the end I didn't care what happened to them and good thing because the ending wasn't good either.

Stars: 2