Review: The Murder Plot: An utterly gripping cozy crime novel

The Murder Plot: An utterly gripping cozy crime novel by Alice Castle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's the Christmas holidays and Beth Haldane is safely ensconced with her son at home. Her BFF Katie and family have gone skiing leaving Beth a bit high-and-dry, until she befriends another mum at the school gates, Nina. Nina is most definitely not like all the other Dulwich Village school mums, first off she works for a living as receptionist/dogsbody to a local solicitor, and second she is very working class. (There is a dreadful running joke that Nina gets all her proverbs/well-known sayings wrong eg, 'take it to the gravy' instead of 'take it to the grave', it's not in the least bit funny and it's rather unkind).

Anyway, Nina is convinced that her boss, Mr Potter is up to no good and persuades Beth to cover for her as receptionist while NIna looks after Beth's son (looking after consisting of feeding oven chips and fish fingers and plonking him in front of the TV all day). Soon Beth is breaking into her boss' office and trying to unlock his desk and filing cabinets.

Meanwhile, there is a spate of dogs dying, possibly poisoned, which has got the yummy mummies up in arms.

The romance with DI Heath has progressed, although I suspect Alice Castle is having second thoughts as neither seems particularly happy, especially since Beth seems to solve more cases that the police do.

This is the fourth book in the series that I have read and my feeling is that these are so 'cosy/cozy' that there is very little detecting involved, we read a lot about coffee in chi-chi shops and expensive handbags, and cat hairs then out of thin air Beth solves the crime without (as my maths teacher used to say) showing the workings. It is always as an afterthought that someone asks 'how did you know that X was the murderer' just so we the readers can find out what happened. These are okay but TBH if I didn't have the eighth book sitting on my TBR pile as an ARC and the books are all on Kindle Unlimited I probably wouldn't bother reading any more.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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Review: On the Line

On the Line by Amanda Chaperon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 91%, a new personal record!

Mitch is a professional ice hockey defenseman, playing for the LA Knights. Two years ago he was playing for the Michigan Warriors when he met Lexie at a club. Before he got his big break playing hockey as a teenager, Mitch and his mother suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father. Lexie is a successful headhunter travelling the US persuading candidates to accept jobs. The daughter of two highly-successful venture capitalists, Lexie was just a possession to them, something to be trotted out in front of family-focused investors, and she has suffered with abandonment issues ever since which she copes with by never getting close to anyone who could hurt her.

Told both in the present day (which itself moves forward at least a year) and in flashbacks from two years ago, and coming closer in time, we see how Mitch and Lexie met, had a smokin' one night stand, got together again and finally fell in love, only to spectacularly implode when Mitch got traded to the Knights.

Honestly, I really tried to finish this book but when the two of them started over with their push-me-pull-me shenanigans AGAIN I had to bail. When things get tough Lexie runs away (literally and figuratively), when one of them makes an approach to mend the rift the other pushes them away, then they each spend weeks (yes weeks) angsting about what they would have done differently. And then they do it again.

When yet another of these ridiculous scenarios starts for the umpteenth time, I threw in the towel.

Also, be warned, this is the sort of novel where Lexie has two besties from college who will literally shout at her for making it all about her when her boyfriend dumps her, not thinking about how him leaving Michigan affects his friends! These friends are all deeply insightful when it comes to Lexie's problems but I bet good money they were similarly clueless when it came to their own love lives. And fancy thinking that making MItch Best Man and Lexie Chief Bridesmaid at your wedding wouldn't be awkward!

Anyway, when you are forcing yourself to read a book and doing literally anything other than reading, it's time to quit, even if I was close to the end.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Here We Go Again...: Unpublished Letters to the Daily Telegraph 14

Here We Go Again...: Unpublished Letters to the Daily Telegraph 14 by Kate Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Always a winner for me in my Christmas Stocking, still going strong after fourteen years, although I am surprised that this won't be published until after Christmas.

These unpublished reader's letters to the Daily Telegraph range on topics far and wide including Partygate, Boris Johnson's stint as Prime Minister, the NHS, the Omicron variant, and the Royal Family.

Perfect to dip in and out of, always amusing, these readers really do write the most amusing letters. Perfect for the angry person in your life, keep it by the loo, or (more hygienic) on your bedside table for that amusing antidote to everyday life.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Sugar Plum Spies

Sugar Plum Spies by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charlotte Locke and Desmond Percy, Section 47 spies have inveigled their way into a Christmas party hosted by a notorious fence for criminals. The highlight of the party will be the unveiling of the magnificent Sugar Plum ring, worth $30 million, which each of the guests have paid $10,000 to see. Charlotte and Desmond hope to trap their nemesis, but information about other criminals is always handy.

Charlotte is undercover as a waitress, dressed as a 'sugar plum' (FYI, this seems to mean more of a toy soldier) whilst Desmond is pretending to be a criminal. Things are going well until unexpected guests disrupt proceedings and try to rob the venue. Can Charlotte and Desmond, with the help of Charlotte's trusty ex-Section 47 friend Gabriel, thwart the thieves and complete their mission? What do you think?

If you haven't read the two Section 47 novels that precede this then this could be an entry-level novella. Basically alongside the mortal world is one involving people with supernatural abilities, or synesthesia, Section 47 are the police of these supernaturals, many of whom use their powers for evil, however someone (or more than one person) has been sharing confidential information with criminals and Charlotte and Desmond are determined to discover the mole.

An action-packed holiday novella, with all the tinsel you could wish, but without the schmaltzy Hallmark vibe. Short, exciting and a great read.

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Review: Princess and the Player

Princess and the Player by Ilsa Madden-Mills
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Where to start?

Francesca Lane is an artist who works as a tattooist while she tries to sell her art. When her fiance dumps her for the shop manager just before her wedding she decides the only way to get over the betrayal is to go to a masked ball at a sex club to get over him. At the ball she meets Tuck Avery, he's a big-shot NFL player but because they are both masked neither knows who the other is. After a steamy night they go their separate ways, never realising that they both live in the same apartment building (don't even get me started on how a struggling tattoo artist can afford to live in the same apartment building - it's a ridiculous story).

Tucker has a terrible family history (don't they all), he's the original poor little rich boy, and as a consequence he fears getting close to other people. Added to which a recent injury may spell the end of his NFL career and he is having trouble controlling his anger. At first when he sees Francesca at his local restaurant ordering take-out he is suspicious that she is stalking him (not the first time that has happened to him), but soon he is falling under her spell.

I seriously considered DNFing this book. I guess if you think it is perfectly normal (or even sexy) to go to a sex club in your wedding dress and hook up with a stranger then you'll probably find this a great read. I had seen rave reviews about Ilsa Madden-Mills so I was eager to request an ARC, but sadly this is is not for me. There are so many unbelievable plot lines (I won't even call them twists), Francesca calls them serendipity but I just see it as the author forcing a square peg in a round hole.

So, ridiculous plot and one bonk scene after another, not my cup of tea but horses for courses as they say.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Unworthy

Unworthy by Susie Tate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

It's now the turn of Yaz, Max's little sister from Unperfect. In a family of professionals, Yaz stands out, she's the yoga-teaching, windsurfer chick with a beach wardrobe that's the butt of everyone's jokes. Little do her family know that she is actually a very highly regarded windsurfer and runs her own beachfront business promoting wellness and giving classes to the community (although how on earth don't they know). Her parents have never truly understood why she didn't want to go to university and every conversation eventually circles round to that.

When she was a child Yaz idolised Max's BFF Heath, he and his twin Verity went to school with Max and befriended the little Northern lad who didn't fit into the posh private school. In return Heath used to stick up for Yaz, but more recently Heath has been her worst critic, as a Doctor he poo-poos all her alternative therapies and his favourite adjective is 'ridiculous'.

Heath and Verity might be fabulously wealthy but their childhood was anything but gilded, not many children are happy to go to boarding school at the age of seven, but they were. As a result, Heath has a list of qualities in his ideal woman and Yaz is the antithesis of every single one! Yet no other woman manages to create the same visceral reaction as she does. Can he get over himself in time to realise that what he thinks he wants isn't what he needs and that Yaz might not look the part but she is reliable, organised and loyal?

First off, I love Susie Tate's books and sat here on holiday thinking, I wonder if she has written anything or whether that pesky pandemic kept her nose too close to the grindstone. So I checked and there was a brand new book whoo-hoo. While I did enjoy this, I felt like Heath was sailing too close to some of her other MMCs who all make the wrong assumptions about the FMC, which is why my usual four stars got knocked down to three and a half. I have also redownloaded and started rereading all her other books, oh the joys of a two week beach holiday.

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Review: By a Thread

By a Thread by Lucy Score
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think it must be a sign of getting old when you think, 'this would have been a much better book if the author didn't insist on filling it with sex every five minutes'.

And OMG the angst!

Ally was a solvent, happy, thirty-nine year old until her father got sick. Then a bad situation got worse and worse (just catastrophe after catastrophe) and now she's working four part-time jobs and trying to repair his house in her (limited) spare time. It is in one of these jobs, waitressing at a pizza place, where she meets Dominic.

Dominic is fashion editor of his mother's print and online fashion magazine, brought in from his investing job a year ago after his father was 'exited' from the business for highly inappropriate behaviour. Dominic feels totally out of his depth, convinced the staff hate/fear him, knowing others are better qualified for the job, and wishing desperately for his old career. Against this backdrop, when an uppity waitress tells him off for using his phone in the restaurant despite the no phones sign and makes some totally inappropriate comments when he ignores her, he is gunning for a fight. When said waitress spells out a rude message in pepperoni on his pizza Dominic goes ballistic and gets her fired. Now leaving aside the improbability of the owner of a fashion magazine (think Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada) and her billionaire son eating in a questionable pizza joint, what kind of asshat gets a minimum wage employee fired? I get that this is supposed to be a grumpy boss romance but that's not grumpy, its abuse of power.

In fact, there seems to be a lot of rewriting of history in this book. At first the reader is led to believe that all the staff at the magazine fear Dominic because he never smiles, and they all call him Mr Russo, never Dominic, and I'm sure they all seem to shake with fear when he speaks to them. This is later refocused as everyone finding him so attractive that they can't even look him in the eye?

Anyway, the woman Dominic is dining with is his mother, and she chases after Ally and offers her an admin job at the magazine as compensation for her son getting Ally fired. She also has an ulterior motive, she wants to find out what staff morale is like after the departure of her husband and a number of the senior management.

Despite her monetary issues, Ally is incapable of keeping her mouth shut, and bolstered by Dominic's mother saying that he can't fire her, she is rude to him whenever they meet. He calls her Maleficent and she calls him Charming (because Prince Charming he ain't). Soon their 'banter' is the talk of the office, but because of his father's transgressions Dominic will never cross the line with an employee (which frankly leads to more disturbing scenes where he masturbates in his office bathroom every night). Similarly, Ally desperately needs this job to keep her father in the nursing home which looks after him, so she can't quit. But they are wildly attracted to each other. It's push-me, pull-me. Ally gets upset because she doesn't LISTEN to what Dominic says, he doesn't say he doesn't want her, he says he can't cross that line. Dominic gets upset because Ally won't divulge all her financial issues and secrets to HER BOSS.

Then there is the ludicrous scene where Ally resorts to amateur night at her BFF's strip club to earn money because there was a snafu with her pay and the payroll team just shrugged their shoulders and did nothing. Of course Dominic overhears and follows her to the stripclub where he pays for a private lap dance - sleazy much?

Overall, as others have said. This is supposed to be a romance about a thirty-nine year old FMC who has grit and determination and skills and her forty-four year old MMC boss, whereas it reads more often like a pair of high school teens. The snark and plot were really enjoyable and stopped me downgrading this to a two and a half star review but the rest was so cliched and angst-filled that it made me laugh more than anything.

Free on my Kindle Unlimited subscription and I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: About Time

About Time by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aanndd this series just keeps getting better, even though I'm not sure I can truly explain it coherently (although it all made sense when I was reading it, honest guv). I really don't suggest you start the series here as there are so many characters whose back-stories are laid out in the previous books, although you could probably get away without reading the St Mary's series beforehand (although why wouldn't you? They're awesome!).

The Time Police appear to be riding a tide of popularity, they are tipped to win a parliamentary vote to award them more funding and everything is looking rosy. Then a trip to arrest a minor criminal selling plastic skulls to gullible peasants blows up in their faces, unravelling unknown facts about Jane's family and the death of her parents. The secrets break up Team Weird (or Team 236 to give them their official designation, just when they were starting to get things right. Luke is threatening to leave the Time Police if he can't get reassigned, Matthew has gone to St Mary's, and Jane is hiding in her quarters arguing with Bolshie Jane.

With illegal trips to 1940s America to meet with Nikolai Tesla, a jump to a secret location which turns out to be way scarier than it first appears, and a brilliant comedic scene with Luke and his father goading their enemies this is Jodi Taylor gold, also I didn't miss the hidden nuggets she just tossed in like throwaway lines (of course I can't remember a single one at 3:36 am when I'm writing this because I've just flown halfway round the world and can't sleep).

Anyway, loved it, loved it, loved it. Can't wait for the first Time Police Christmas novella - Christmas dinner may be a bit late at our house this year.

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Review: Lady of Fortune

Lady of Fortune by Mary Jo Putney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Originally published in 1998, this has been given a new cover and (I assume) brought more up-to-date, if one can say that about an historical romance.

Marie-Christine ('Christa'), Comtesse D'Estelle, flees France in the wake of the French Revolution believing her beloved mother Marie-Claire and English step-brother Charles. have been killed by revolutionaries as they tried to escape. She spends the first year in England with Charles' uncle Lewis who has inherited Charles' estate, but when Lewis reveals that she in penniless and offers his hand in marriage, Christa feels compelled to run away and seek employment as a governess. Unfortunately, at the height of the French Revolution London is awash with french emigres seeking employment and Christa is reduced to seeking employment as a lady's maid.

Captain Lord Alexander ('Alex') Kingsley receives word from England that his vicious, narcissistic mother has died, unable to command a naval ship after receiving shrapnel wounds in battle, Alex realises it is time to return to England and face his responsibilities as head of the house and older brother to his sister Annabelle and brother Jonathan. To his surprise, he is greeted with joy by his siblings, but he is horrified at the damage that his mother's spite has wreaked on them, both Annabelle and Jonathan are hesitant and prone to self-doubt, no doubt Annabelle's shyness and insecurity has been fanned by her mother's lady's maid who she has inherited, and who loved no-one but her mistress. His first job must be to find Annabelle a new maid to help her make the most of her features.

When Alex quite literally catches Christa as she is being forcibly ejected from her previous employment for spurning the advances of the master of the house, he is immediately struck by Christa's beauty, but also her quick wit and charm. He has rescued a lady's maid and his sister has need of one - how serendipitous!

Being a sophisticated and resourceful woman, despite being only twenty-four, Christa is soon able to dress Annabelle in clothes more becoming and fashionable than those chosen by her mother, with her knowledge of beauty treatments and the like she soon has the shy heiress looking exquisite. Christa also weaves her magic over Alex and Jonathan, helping the two of them learn to dance in anticipation of Annabelle's coming-out ball.

While Alex and Christa fight their growing attraction, little do they realise that a wealthy titled young aristocrat and his innocent heiress sister will be the target of fortune-hunters.

Well this has everything, missing heirs, wounded sea captains, fortune-hunters, elopements, compromising positions, daring rescues, and all's well that ends well. If I were being picky, Christa is a bit of a Mary Sue character, able to act as a lady's maid perfectly able to teach young men to dance, able to sew her own gowns beautifully, able to make herbal remedies and beauty potions, able to perform first aid, etc, etc. Also, there is a frankly ridiculous thing that happens on Stornaway, not once but twice, which stretches incredulity to breaking point. Nevertheless, this was a hugely enjoyable historical romance, which avoided some of the biggest cliches of the genre and tied everything up very neatly - maybe I need to read more historical fiction written in the late 1990s?

Recommended if you like a resourceful FMC and an honourable MMC, beset by trials and tribulations.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Threadneedle

Threadneedle by Cari Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anna has led a very sheltered life. After her father murdered her mother and then killed himself she has been brought up by her aunt. Her aunt is part of a witches grove called the binders who hope to protect witches from the Hunters who would torture and kill them, by binding their magical powers (which is just as nasty as it sounds). Anna's aunt wants her to be bound and has been training her to repress her emotions in various rather cruel ways.

Anna goes to a girls school in Dulwich and has spent her entire life trying to hide away, which has earned her the title of Nobody from the clique of mean girls who rule the school, led by the Head Girl Darcey. But all that changes when Anna cousin Effie and her boyfriend Attis announce that Effie will also be attending Anna's school and Attis will be attending the boy's school. As sixth formers they have classes together so it's as if they are at the same school.

Soon Effie and Attis are attracting all the wrong attention, especially from Darcey, and openly using magic in front of the non-magicals (cowans). Against her will Anna is drawn into their group and soon they form a coven - but are Effie and Attis all that they seem? And how will Anna avoid having her magic bound?

This is a dark twisting magical plot which really kept me guessing the entire time. Having failed to read more than a few pages when I first received the ARC (cough, 21 months ago), when I picked this up again I raced through it. There is clearly meant to be further books in this series and I would be intrigued to see where this goes.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: No, We Can't Be Friends

No, We Can't Be Friends by Sophie Ranald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sloane is a successful businesswoman, jointly owning a celebrity PR business with her friend Megan, happily married to Myles, a successful architect. Then one day she discovers what would make her life complete is a baby, but after months of trying it seems like she and Myles are further apart than ever.

Sloane and Myles have decided to totally remodel their house and have brought Bianca in to do the interior design. Unfortunately, Bianca's designs tend towards the award-winning cutting-edge show home rather than the cosy family home that Sloane envisages. Every decision about the house becomes a stand-up row, and Sloane begins to suspect that Bianca and Myles may be more than just colleagues. In her mid-thirties has Sloane left it too late to start again?

I enjoyed this, there are precocious children, aged actresses, reality TV stars, thirsty builders and friends where you least expect them. A solid Sophie Ranald women's fiction/romance.

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