Title: The Name of the Star
Author: Maureen Johnson
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal
Pages: 384
Year: 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 5/5

Summary:

Rory, a teenager from Louisiana, gets to spend her last year of high school at a boarding school in London. And she is psyched. But her move to London coincides with the start of a string of murders – all copycats of Jack the Ripper. Her year begins to look much different when London is thrown into terror and the murders are occurring within blocks of the school. When Rory, and only Rory, spots a man near the scene of the crime, the police aren’t the only ones who are interested. Rory may be the next victim, unless she can solve the mystery that has sprung up around her.

My Thoughts:

This book came around right when I needed it. I was (am) in quite the reading drought. Nothing was keeping my attention. Enter The Name of the Star.

I couldn’t put this book down.

The Name of the Star has England, a boarding school, and Jack the Ripper. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a win. I was already a big fan of Maureen Johnson’s, but she continues to impress me.

Now, partway through this books I thought, “huh, I didn’t know there was a paranormal aspect to this story.” That has happened to me before (since everything seems to have a paranormal element these days) and it takes a moment to shift gears. But here, despite my failure to realize it woud be there, the paranormality just flowed right with the story.

Ultimately, I loved the characters, I was sucked into the mystery, and I am very excited that there will be more in this Shades of London series (this one stands well on its own though so don’t let a series deter you). If you haven’t already, I highly recommend picking this one up for an enjoyable weekend read.

Others’ Thoughts: Devourer of Books; Fiction Folio; Chrisbookarama (audio) 

Title: Birds of a Feather
Author: Jaqueline Winspear
Narrator: Kim Hicks
Genre: Historical Mystery
Pages: 360
Audio: 10.3 hours
Year: 2004
Publisher: Sound Library
Source: Library
Rating: 5/5

Summary:

In this sequel, Maisie is hired to find the daughter of a successful business man. But while looking for Charlotte, Maisie stumbles upon a bigger mystery, one that has left Charlotte’s three school friends dead. Now Maisie must solve these murders in time to save Charlotte.

My Thoughts:

While the first Maisie Dobbs was largely dedicated to backstory, Birds of a Feather is focused on the mystery at hand. However, there is still much living-in-the-past going on. A decade later, The Great War continues to play a large role in who people are and why they act the way the do. This book, while offering a compelling mystery, also paints a detailed picture of life at the time. This combination is what leaves me unable to put these books down.

Birds of a Feather is a worthy follow-up to Maisie Dobbs and I am looking forward to continuing the series.

Audiobook Thoughts:

My first reaction was disappointment when I realized this was not the same narrator as the first Maisie Dobbs. But Ms. Hicks won me over. She did an excellent job narrating this and I continue to enjoy experiencing Maisie Dobbs on audio.

Others Thoughts: The Adventures of the Intrepid Reader; Literate Housewife

Happy Mother’s Day, moms of the world (or the U.S. at least – but you all deserve celebration). I will be one of you very, very soon. Between baby preparation and organizing the new house (see previous posts this week for some pictures), I haven’t found much time to read anything other than audiobooks. I have had Shine in my possession for almost two weeks and I am still only 100 pages in despite my, to quote Ben, Harry-Potter-level excitement for it pre-release. By the time things settle down and I can read again, I suspect it will be time for the little guy to make an appearance. But this is growing up, right? And on that note, I am ending this brief post to go fold some more baby clothes and paint some more things.

Have you ever had a book that you were crazy excited for and then put off reading once it was released?

I know I promised you a tour of the upstairs next but it’s not quite ready (in some respects it feels as though we have taken steps backwards). So I will show you part of the upstairs – the guest room/library – and then two areas that my dad painted while he was here.

The guest room is oversized, so we decided to make it a guest room AND a library. All of these books need somewhere to live. (I believe that’s a super moon in the window by the way).

Unfortunately, Ben and I both had to work for a lot of my dad’s visit so he requested more projects to do while we were gone. We had some leftover paint from the green cabinets I painted awhile ago and decided to brighten up this little hallway and add a splash of color to the otherwise neutral walls downstairs.

Then we took some of the paint from the baby’s room and freshened up the half bath downstairs.

No nursery pictures yet – it’s coming along but I’m saving that for last for a big reveal. So here is the baby’s bathroom with the super cute whale theme to tide you over.

More pictures to come. Eventually.

Title: A Duty to the Dead
Author: Charles Todd
Genre: Historical Mystery
Pages: 336
Year: 2009
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Personal Collection
Rating: 3/5

Summary:

Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse aboard the hospital ship the Britannic, made a promise to a dying soldier to deliver a message to his brother. When the ship sinks and Bess is injured, she takes the opportunity to stay with the Graham family and fulfill her promise. But just sharing this message isn’t enough. While there, she stumbles upon a bigger family mystery that must be solved.

My thoughts:

After reading, and loving, the first Maisie Dobbs book, I thought I might have discovered a new genre I enjoyed. It turns out that was a bit overly optimistic. A Duty to the Dead was fine, but I doubt I’ll be continuing with the Bess Crawford series.

The mystery felt contrived and the story was often forced. For example, Bess had to keep finding ways to go back to this town that she really had no ties to so there were all of these reasons that conveniently appeared. I understand the story has to move forward but it just felt unnatural to me. Maybe I like Maisie better because she’s an actual detective so there is always a reason for her to meddle.

I also got pretty sick of people talking about “duty” all the time.

But I don’t want this review to be harsh. I didn’t really dislike the book – I just didn’t love it. If you are more of a mystery reader than me, you might enjoy it quite a bit. My issues might be more with the techniques common in the genre than with this particular book.

Have you read this series? What did you think?

Others’ (More Positive) Reviews: Devourer of Books (she actually says it isn’t contrived – further proof that no two people read the same book); nomadreader.

Let’s continue with the tour of the house, yes?

One of my favorite rooms is the kitchen. I love the light. This picture was taken at 8pm and it is still full of light.

After years of apartment living, I love all of the counter space.

The dining room (which still needs a little unpacking) is right off of the kitchen and also gets a ton of light.

And from the dining room, you can walk out to this deck on the side of the house.

From the kitchen, you can walk out to the screened in lanai. It needs some furniture, but we’re waiting since it will be too hot to really use it before the fall. I can’t wait to open up all of these doors and windows in the winter.

Looks like only one cat snuck in this time.

We’ll be heading upstairs in the next post.

You’ve asked for them, so here they are: house pictures! In order not to overwhelm you (and because some rooms aren’t quite finished), I’ve going to do this in a few different posts.

Here is the exterior of the house. Isn’t it cute?

And here is the view from the porch. I think this porch needs rocking chairs, don’t you?

The front door brings you right into the living room (please ignore the poorly arranged pillows).

The living room from another angle. The hallway to the right leads to the garage and the downstairs bathroom. Continuing straight brings you to the kitchen and dining room.

And here is the our favorite part of the living room:

Let’s look at those books again, shall we?

We actually have more of a library upstairs, but these hold a lot of our favorite books.

I think that’s enough for today. I’ll move on to the kitchen and the dining room (and the deck and lanai) with the next post. Then we’ll go upstairs after our bedroom furniture is delivered and the nursery is finished (thanks to my visiting dad).

Bonus: how many cats did you spot?

April was the month that I didn’t read. There are four books here. Two of them are audio and two of them are really, really short. EDIT: I forgot THREE books when I originally posted this! I’m not so much of a slacker as I thought.

• A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd (not pictured)
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (not pictured)
• A Good American by Alex George (audio)(not pictured)
• Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (audio)
• Candide by Voltaire
• Countdown by Mira Grant
• Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan (audio)

It was also the month that I didn’t review books. I didn’t get to any of the ones I read in April. The four I managed to bring you:

• The Invisible Ones by Stef Penny
• Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
• Baby Bargains
• The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

But, lest you be too concerned, I did talk about a few other things, like my new favorite breakfast; the UCF Book Festival; the new Shins album; my love of Blind Pilot; and dance shows.

And now it is May. And I could have a baby this month. So I should probably squeeze in some actual reading while I can, huh?

So it’s been a week since I posted anything. I apologize. But we moved this weekend so be reassured that while my blog is taking a backseat, THINGS are happening for me behind the scenes. But I do have a quick post for you today.

On Saturday, I was given an absolutely lovely baby shower. I could show you pictures of the amazing cake, gorgeous table, or fabulous diaper cake made by my equally fabulous mother-in-law, but I am going to skip right to the thing you all like most: books.

My hostesses, knowing we are a family of readers, gave me a surprise. They asked every guest to bring a book or two so baby will start his life with his very own library. Obviously I love this. My dad is coming this Sunday to help me paint and set up the nursery and I can’t wait to see this little library on display.

My best friend back home is also having a baby. Her shower invitation included instructions to send a book with an inscription instead of a card. Have you been to showers that had a bookish element?

Title: The End of Everything
Author: Megan Abbott
Narrator: Emily Bauer
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 256
Audio: 8.4 hours
Year: 2011
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Source: Library
Rating: 2/5

Summary:

When 13-year-old Lizzie’s best friend, Evie, goes missing, the community reacts. The adults are afraid. The kids are curious. But Lizzie knows that Evie will come back and that somehow she will help find her.

My thoughts:

I kept thinking that there was going to be more. After I finished this book, I sat there trying to figure what I was missing. This is not really the story about a girl that goes missing and how the mystery gets solved. It’s about what happens to the people who are left behind. Which could really be interesting, but the people are all pretty creepy and unlikeable. And they all seemed to have this weird crush on the missing girl’s dad. Even his own daughter. It confused me.

At the end of the day, I’m not sure WHY I read this book. I know we have story for story’s sake, but sometimes I just can’t really figure out what a book was going for. This book was like that.

I am making little sense. I realize this. I am struggling for the words to adequately describe why this book didn’t work for me. Which really isn’t fair to the book or you but it’s what I have.

So please go read my good friend Jen’s review as well. Not only does she have a better grasp on language than I apparently do, but she really liked this audiobook, so it will be a good contrast.

Audiobook Thoughts:

The narrator got on my nerves. She had to be a 13-year-old girl, so I tried to cut her some slack, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. It was like every sentence had to have so. much. feeling. It made the actual dramatic moments indistinguishable from the unimportant ones. Everything was emphasized. It led me to expect more than I was getting from the story. If you are going to read this one, I’d probably recommend trying the print.