Read on Arrival by Nora Page
This is the second book in the Bookmobile Mystery series, which stars a librarian in her 70s. I gave the first book three stars, but really struggled to get into the second one last summer. I'm finding that for me, some cozy mystery premises stop being engaging after a book or two, and I think that was the case with this one.
Twins 101 by Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin
My twins were born 9 weeks ago, but back in September, we had just found out we were expecting them, and I was reading all the twin things. Unfortunately, this book made having twins sound like a major crisis during which I and/or my babies would most certainly have a brush with death. I had to stop reading for the sake of my mental health. (And my pregnancy and delivery were both totally smooth, so all the dire predictions ended up being wrong in my case.)
Starlight by Debbie Macomber
I am very picky about my Debbie Macomber books, and in general, the older the book of hers, the less I like it. Since her 2019 Christmas book was a Mrs. Miracle title, and I don't like those, I decided to try this older one (from 1983) on audio as Christmas approached. There was nothing wrong with it per se, but I just never got into it, and by the time Christmas arrived, I was over it and ready to move on, so I did.
A Christmas Book by Elizabeth Goudge
This book I had to abandon because it was an inter-library loan and it was due back to its home library before I could finish it. Since it mostly consists of holiday-themed excerpts from Goudge's novels, I will probably get to most of these eventually, since what I did get to read I absolutely loved.
Murder at Icicle Lodge by J.D. Griffo
This is the third book in the Ferrara Family Mystery series. I have not read the first two books, but downloaded this from NetGalley because I liked the description and the wintry cover. Unfortunately, I was only 3% into the book when I realized that the writing was overly descriptive, and that the story wanted me to believe that a 65-year-old woman who would have grown up in the 60s and 70s was somehow ignorant of the concept of a "shotgun" wedding. There were just too many problems for me to feel like continuing with this book would be a good use of my time.
Pippa Park Raises Her Game by Erin Yun
I was torn on whether to accept this review copy from the publisher because it was a retelling of a classic (Great Expectations), and I tend to have issues with those. At the time, though, I had just received an unsolicited copy of More to the Story by Hena Khan, which is a retelling of Little Women, and I envisioned an Instagram or blog post highlighting both books. Unfortunately, as I should have suspected, I was irritated by the way the author tried to make the plot of the Dickens novel fit contemporary circumstances and I just couldn't make myself push through to the end. I now have a personal policy of not reviewing adaptations of classic novels!
Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin
I've been on a contemporary fiction kick since we've been in this pandemic situation, and when I was browsing ARCs on Edelweiss+ this title jumped out at me. A musician who performs sing-alongs for a playgroup? That sounded like me doing story time for my friends in my living room! So relatable! Except it wasn't. I was not prepared for how negative this book was. Every character in this book was just miserable, and they were so cavalier about everything from adultery to abortion. It was just too much for me, and I had to quit.
Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis
One of my reading goals for the Schole Sisters Reading Challenge this year is to read five books about linguistics. I realized, though, that what I really want is more of a "pop" approach to the topic than an academic one. Lewis is brilliant, of course, and the information in this book is fascinating, but it was not what I had in mind for right now.
A Mysterious Mix Up by J.C. Kenney
This is the third book in the Allie Cobb mystery series, the first two of which I enjoyed very much. This one, though, felt like it was trying really hard to be relevant by throwing in lots of pop culture references that didn't quite fit the context. I tried to power through and just focus on the plot, but it was just too distracting.
Deadly Ride by Jody Holford
This is the third book in the Britton Bay mystery series, the first two of which I also enjoyed very much. I think my issue with this one was the setting. The main action of the plot takes place at a car show, and I just couldn't get into it. I tried both the ebook and audiobook before realizing it wasn't me, it was the book.
What have you abandoned lately?
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