The 19th Wife

Since I am a huge history buff I am always interested in reading about historical figures especially women and I do not always like the heavy textbook format. The 19th Wife is two main stories in one with lots of smaller side stories. I really wanted to love the story but with so much going on it got super confusing at times and jumped around so much I got lost in parts.

The historical story is about Ann Eliza Young, the woman who divorced the prophet and managed to bring about laws outlaws polygamy. 

The story taking place in modern day is about a 19th wife accused of killing her husband and her exiled son coming back to the town to try to help prove his mother is innocent. 

Everything moved along at a snails pace and while it was not bad it was not really exciting either. I just really think the writing style of jumping around so much turned me off from the story. Despite that I did learn a lot about Ann Eliza and the strides she made to better the world according to her points of view. It would have taken a great amount of courage to stand against the church as a divorced woman who two young children to support. 

Peril in the Park

I received Peril in the Park for free in exchange for an honest review. The third book in the Jamie Quinn mystery series things take a bit of a different turn. Instead of a person being accused of murder Jamie is now being targeted by a stalker trying to get to her boyfriend Kip.

Once again it has been several months since the last book and I like how things are spaced out making it more believable. I really wanted Jamie's cat to scare her in some way, have her think it was the stalker which would have been a great moment for a laugh, sadly that did not happen. Busy with trying to secure citizenship for her father and spending all the free time she can with her boyfriend Kip Jamie is living a great life until someone starts threatening her to get to Kip.

Jamie has really come into her own as a character and I like how she is not so sad over her mother anymore, time has passed, she is busy with her father, and having  fun with Kip. It felt like a natural transition. I also enjoy how all the books are approximately the same length and not full of useless fluff.

The Leaving

The cover of The Leaving caught my attention so I read the back and it sounded interesting. Sadly I ended up being highly disappointed.

It starts out with five kids who disappeared eleven years ago being left in the middle of no where in the middle of the night. The only thing they know is their name and each one has a map in their pocket. Right away the kids figure out the map must be to their home and all follow the way home. Despite five kids being returned you only have the point of view of two of the five returned teens is crazy. For some odd reason the child who did not return has a younger sister who has points of view as well.

Nothing is ever really explained just a jumble of thoughts and possibilities. I kept waiting for the actual plot line of the story to start but it never seemed to happen. I am not even sure what was really going on with the kids even after the big reveal. Key aspects were left out and all in all it felt like a badly kept journal the three kids were keeping.

I also did not like the formatting. It made no sense, random things were thrown in such as / and large gaps like the character was thinking but not. The book was broken down into days which was an interesting concept but then the kids points of views jumped around so much I had trouble keeping up, I would have preferred anything but the system that was used to indicate a new kids point of view was occurring.  Bold name, an indent, an underline, just something easier on the eyes to make the transition smoother between points of view. Since I did not care at all for the writing style I will not be pursing more work by Tara Altebrando.

The Case of the Killer Divorce

I was given a copy of The Case of the Killer Divorce in exchange for an honest review.

Having gotten to know Jamie in the first book set up a good base for The Case of the Killer Divorce. I really enjoyed how some time had passed since the first book, Death by Didgeridoo. It makes the story seem far more believable. Jamie is feeling a bit more like her life is normal since her mom passed and has made the hard decision to look up her father. With the help of the private eye Duke Jamie embarks on a journey to discover more about her past.

Mrs. Venkataraman did a wonderful job portraying deep feelings that Jamie was feeling as she struggled with figuring out to do about the search for her father. While Death by Didgeridoo had a bit more humor The Case of the Killer Divorce was all about emotion and using that to make choices in life. I would like to see a bit more of the cat in the story, I really enjoy having animals doing some mishaps in cozy mysteries. 

Lobster Boy: The Bizarre Life and Brutal Death of Grady Stiles Jr.

I am not really sure what I expected when I read Lobster Boy but it was not what I got.

Grady Stiles Jr grew up in the world of freak shows, born with no legs and hand that ended in claw like items gave him the sideshow name Lobster Boy. Sadly his life was not all lights and glitz outside of the sideshow. Cruel to his family and wanting to pass on his genetic disorder Grady was happiest when drinking. All that changed when Grady was shot in the back of the head sitting in his own house. With plenty of suspects the police, a jury, and judge have to find out who killed Lobster Boy.

The story was just strange and I am not sure I really disliked it but it was not a story I had to keep reading. I do enjoy true crime  but this was just so far out I had trouble believing it was based on a true story even. 

The Couple Next Door

I grabbed The Couple Next Door from a a second hand store while browsing one day. Since I was without my tablet I was looking for something entertaining but not a heavy read.

After attending a dinner party at the next door neighbors Anne and Marco come home to discover their six month old daughter, Cora, is gone. Horrified that they left their baby while at the duplex next door the couple calls the police and a whirlwind of an investigation begins. With almost no leads and no suspects the police have their work cut out for them.

The mother, Anne, is clearly distraught and so out of it that it is hard to see her as a grieving mother. Instead of being proactive in finding Cora Anne prefers to sit around tearing herself up for leaving Cora alone while at the dinner party.

Marco is the calmer of the two parents and far more proactive in trying to find out what happened to Cora and where she is. It does start to feel like Marco goes in circles and runs into more problems then solutions as he searches for Cora.

I love how the story started off with a bang and really caught my attention right away. A couple parts were on the slower side but I never got to a point where I did not want to stop reading the story. The only reason I did not give five stars is that I was not overly fond of the ending. It was too open and feels like it could have set up for another story despite the story clearly being done.

Countdown to Danger: Alive After New Year\New Year's Target

Countdown to Danger is two novellas in one book format.

The first story Alive After New Year is the longer of the two and was my least favorite of the two stories. Parts drug and yet it was short so I feel like certain parts should have been kept to a minimum to make more way for the actual mystery.

New Year's Target was short but to the point for the most part. An actual mystery with different possibilities happened.

It is really hard to say anything about either story since I do not want to ruin the mystery and both stories were right around a hundred pages.