Tag: book blog

Dandelion Dead by Chrystle Fiedler

Title: Dandelion Dead Author: Chrystle Fiedler Pub Date: 27-Sep-2016 Rating: 5 Stars
Title: Dandelion Dead
Author: Chrystle Fiedler
Pub Date: 27-Sep-2016
Rating: 5 Stars

Dandelion Dead, by Chrystle Fiedler, is the fourth book in the Natural Remedies series. Even though this is the fourth book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone book. Ms. Fiedler did an excellent job of giving the reader enough background information on the characters so you do not miss out on anything happening in the story.

Willow McQuade wears many hats, owner of Nature’s Way Market and Café, holistic doctor, animal rescuer and part time sleuth. It all starts when Willow is catering an event for Pure, a local winery, run by her ex-boyfriend Simon. All is going well, at least on the surface, until during the party the body of Amy Lord is found and it is discovered that she died from ingesting poison hemlock. Amy is the sister-in-law to Simon’s business partner David. The leading suspect in the case is Willow’s assistant Lily and the police are convinced they have their killer since Amy had both motive, opportunity and the knowledge of poisonous plants.

With the police refusing to look for another suspect, the trio of Willow, Simon and Willow’s boyfriend Jackson team up to put their amateur sleuth skills to work. What they uncover is a tangled web of lies, jealousy and deceit. They suspect that David was the real target and not Amy. As they try to unravel the mystery of Amy’s death there are additional attempts on David’s life confirming their theory and spurring them on to discover who the real killer is.

There are several interesting twists that made the story very compelling. The back stories of the characters were very thoughtful done and gave the story a real believability. The pace of the story was good and I particularly liked how all the lives of the characters were intertwined. All in all, this book is a great cozy mystery. I really loved all the herbal lore and remedies in the story. The author’s love of herbs and holistic remedies really shows in this book.

Anyone who loves mysteries is bound to fall in love with this one. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Winter Park by Graham Guest

Title: Winter Park Author: Graham Guest Pub Date: 4-Mar-2016 Rating: 3.7 Stars
Title: Winter Park
Author: Graham Guest
Pub Date: 4-Mar-2016
Rating: 3.7 Stars

Winter Park, the debut novel by Graham Guest, is an unusual read. In fact, I have never read anything like it. I think that is what intrigued me most about the novel. I found the plot a little lacking; yet, what Mr. Guest does do well is interject a mix of thought provoking ideas with an absurd sense of irony that really worked. Due to the lack of grammar, the prose can be difficult at times to follow and the characters are nothing short of bizarre.

The story starts with a young Philosophy PhD student, Eric Swanson, on spring break headed to Winter Park, CO to a reunion of sorts with friends he left behind. What ensues is a drug/drunken calamity that ends in murder. Part I abruptly ends when Eric wakes up from his stupor and recalls what happened.

In Part II, the reader is then whisked away to a rehabilitation camp in Texas called The Dude Ranch. The camp is run by a strange group of people. Eric has now metamorphosed into a paraplegic as a result of the trauma in Part I. He is then given an alias, as everyone is, of Wayne Ford and is paired with Harris Birdsong. Harris is a savant of sorts in that he has memorized the whole dictionary but appears to function on a social level of a young child. The story from this point is mainly a continuous stream of Harris’s thoughts. Without a doubt, the intent here is to recall the idiom “out of the mouth of babes”.

I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

Title: The Impossible Fortress Author: Jason Rekulak Pub Date: 7-Jan-2017 Rating: 5 Stars
Title: The Impossible Fortress
Author: Jason Rekulak
Pub Date: 7-Feb-2017
Rating: 5 Stars

Vanna White in Playboy that is how it all started. All Billy and his friends, Alf and Clark, wanted was to get their hands on a copy. Simple… not at all. You have to be eighteen to purchase Playboy and they are always kept behind the counter at Zelinsky’s store. After several failed attempts to lay hands on the coveted prize, they hatch a plan to steal a copy. All they need is the code to the security alarm. The plan involves Billy cozying up to Mary, the shop owner’s computer nerd daughter, and getting it from her. Billy, a computer geek himself, ends up falling for Mary. What is a guy to do? Betray his friends or betray Mary?

Oh, the nostalgia! The Impossible Fortress, by Jason Rekulak, brought back a lot of memories for me. The story was great and I kept rooting for Billy even though I could see he was heading for trouble. The characters were flawed but in a good way. The story was paced well so you never got bored and it did not feel rushed either. Great coming-of-age story and thoroughly enjoyable!

I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Risen by Ron Rash

Title: The Risen Author: Ron Rash Pub Date: 16-Sep-2016 Rating: 5 Stars
Title: The Risen
Author: Ron Rash
Pub Date: 16-Sep-2016
Rating: 5 Star

The Risen is another Ron Rash novel that the prose just sings off the page. Rash never fails to disappoint me in his use of descriptive verse. He so easily transports me to the stage of his characters. It was as if I was sitting on that river bank soaking my toes in the icy waters of the mountain stream known as Panther Creek. The story itself is rather quiet and ambles along at a nice pace and then before you know it you have reached the end. Then I exhale in a long sigh because it is always bittersweet to come to the end of a story well told.

The book is both a coming of age story and a murder mystery wrapped up in one neat package.  The story revolves around two brothers, Eugene and Bill Matney, 16 and 20 respectively, and one pivotal summer in 1969. Bill is home from Wake Forest for the summer and he and Eugene have gone fishing after church, as they do every Sunday, when they meet Ligiea. Ligiea, 17 herself, has been exiled by her parents to her Uncle’s in rural Western North Carolina in an attempt to remove her from the drugs and counterculture of the 60s she has been involved in at Daytona Beach.

For these young boys/men, she is a temptress. She is worldly to their innocence and Eugene is captivated by her. With her, he experiences alcohol, drugs and sex for the first time. Bill, is much less progressive, while at first he joins in, later, after his girlfriend visits, he under goes a metamorphosis. A sibling rivalry of sorts ensues and the brothers drift apart.

Years later, Eugene is an alcoholic and his brother is a prominent surgeon in Asheville and though the physical distance between them is short, in reality, they are worlds apart. Then the unimaginable happens, a body is found near the spot where they fished that summer in 1969. The remains are identified as Ligiea’s. The police start asking questions. She can’t be dead, Eugene knows Ligiea was on a bus bound for Florida.

I have had this book on my desk for over a month. I kept putting it off for others that were more pressing. Now I want to read it again. Great Stuff!