Tag: Book Review

Book Review

Cozy Corner: White House Chef Mysteries 

Tiffany Renee Harmon

While I review all genres of books on this blog, one type that is near and dear to my heart is the cozy mystery genre. These mysteries are characterized by amateur sleuths (often librarians, bakers, retired women, etc) and they have little to no violence, sexual content, or profanity. The murders always take place off scene, and the setting is often idyllic (despite the fact that a murder has occurred). I think that one of the reasons I’m so drawn to these books is because I know they’ll have a happy ending. Life is hard and sometimes I just need a guaranteed happy ending in my life. I’ve mentioned some cozies here among my other reviews, but I thought I’d start having a regular, expected “Cozy Corner” segment. The first series I want to review is the White House Chef Series by Julie Hyzy.

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The first book in this series is State of the Onion. I love the pun-ny titles! (I think my favorite title is either Buffalo West Wing or Eggsecutive Orders). The series follows Olivia Paras, a chef in the White House who has an uncanny knack for stumbling upon murders. One highlight of the series is that it’s a bit more action-packed than other cozies. I liked the fast-pace and the fact that there were some moments where I genuinely worried about the character even though I was certain that everything would work out in the end – it is a cozy after all.

Olivia is a great protagonist. She is career- minded and has to have some introspection as to whether or not she has time for romance in her life. She is a hard worker and is very competitive in the cooking arena, but she still has a soft side and cares deeply for her friends. This is not only a protagonist that you can root for, but she is also someone with a lot of potential for growth over the course of the series. While some characters in cozies (ahem – Stephanie Plum) never seem to grow as people, Olivia is one who seems to learn something about herself in every book.

I think that cozy lovers will naturally love this series, but this one could also appeal to people who like action/adventure with their mysteries. The White House is also a really cool setting, and I feel like I learned some interesting details about how it is structured and some details about the traditional role of the First Lady. Overall, I’m happy to recommend this to anyone looking for a quick escape from reality!

Book Review, Update

Book Review: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Tiffany Renee Harmon

One of my latest book club reads turned out to be really enchanting: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.

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This was just a really cute, light read. It starts out with a young Swedish woman Sara who arrives in Broken Wheel, Iowa to meet her elderly pen pal only to discover that she’s just died. The people in the small town take her in and, in return, she touches and challenges each of them. There are a ton of literary references that I also enjoyed in this book – I can see a lot of myself in the bookish, reclusive Sara. This was a fast read, and I hope my book club ladies enjoy it (we won’t be discussing it until April).

There was quite a bit of romance in this novel, and it did seem incredibly contrived, but sometimes I’m in the mood for that. Still, I felt like it was worth mentioning. If you want realistic, organic character development and you want to feel like love stories are earned through genuine depictions of life and psychology, then this might not be for you. However, if you just want a happily-ever-after and aren’t terribly worried about the details getting you to that point, the romance might not bother you much.

Overall, I was really charmed by this book, and I’m glad I had occasion to read it. I’d definitely try another by this author.

 

Book Review

Book Review: The Golden Compass

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I came to Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series as an adult when I was required to read the first book for a university class, but I absolutely loved it. Since Pullman has just announced that he is writing a companion series, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to review the first book in the original series: The Golden Compass.

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This is such an interesting fantasy series. It’s ultimately a coming-of-age story for the precocious protagonist Lyra. Watching her grow is a delight, and the interesting characters are mixed with an exciting plot. This is a great start of a great series.

While Lyra’s growth is integral to the series, the character in this book that intrigued me the most was the larger-than-life Mrs. Coulter. I don’t want to give away any of her secrets in case I spoil something for new readers, but she was written in such a way where I could absolutely feel the same level of intrigue that Lyra felt when she looked at this complicated woman.

The fantasy elements in this book are very clear, and they have a great balance between traditional and new when it comes to the structure of the world-building. There is a traditional quest and hero and sidekick and wise elder. However, the freshest thing about this book is the addition of personal daemons – individualized creatures that are connected to each person. Each one takes the shape of a specific animal and have a very close bond with their human. This is such an interesting take on a spirit animal since they are tangible and seen by everyone.

Overall, I think this is an amazing, fast-faced book that people of all ages will enjoy. I can’t wait to read the new trilogy that Pullman has in store for us!

Book Review

Book Review: My Name is Lucy Barton

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I recently encountered a great character study, My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.

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This was a beautiful book, and I loved the character of Lucy Barton. When we meet her, she is recovering from complications from a recent surgery on her appendix. (Fun fact about me: one of my greatest fears is appendicitis!) While she’s recovering, her estranged mother comes to her side. Throughout this short novel, we learn a lot about the past and how discovering the past can change the future. The family secrets and the odd mother/daughter relationship made this one very intriguing, compelling literary novel. While it is certainly character-driven, it was also remarkably fast-faced. My only criticism is that I wanted more when I reached the end.

Book Review

Book Review: Wordcatcher

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I am such a nerd when it comes to books about words or the origin of words. I just love the English language. So, I loved Phil Cousineau’s book Wordcatcher.

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This book was a fascinating exploration of the origin of many common words. To be honest, a lot of books like this are kind of dry and have to be read slowly, but Cousineau does a great job at adding levity to this subject. His entries for each word are relatively short but contain a lot of fascinating information. Personally, I loved reading about the word origins for “fornicate” because I even learned some additional history from this entry.

I think that all word nerds will love this delightful book. It’s almost like candy – small bon bons of word knowledge instead of a really dense dessert that takes a month to get through. This book can be digested easily and quickly.

Book Review

Book Review: Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I work in a library, and when a patron came in ranting and raving about Anne Perry committing a murder, I thought maybe she was confused. However, after I googled it, I discovered that Anne Perry had helped to commit a murder when she was just 15 years old. To learn more about this situation, I read the book Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham.

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I must say that this story was fascinating. Back in the 1950s, Perry was known by her birth name Juliet Hulme. She and her friend Pauline had a bizarrely close relationship and together murdered Pauline’s mother. In this book, Graham did a great job at showing how their home lives and psychological issues might have contributed to what they did. He shows many factors that could have led to the murder and also discusses what happened to both women after they were let out of prison. Hulme served five years in prison because she was minor and then was reinvented as Anne Perry and became a wildly prolific author of murder mysteries.

After learning more about the situation, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to read another Anne Perry book. I feel like I’d just be distracted by thinking of her life and wouldn’t be able to separate that from the fiction. What do you think? If one of your favorite authors committed a horrible crime, would you still be able to read his or her works? I’m very curious!

Book Review

Book Review: Small Great Things

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Jodi is a tour de force in contemporary literature, and her latest book is no exception. Small Great Things is a book that is timely and tackles the difficult subject of racism in America.

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In this book, an African American nurse named Ruth is on trial after a baby in her care dies. This baby’s parents are white supremacists who had requested that Ruth not be allowed to touch their child. But when the baby starts having a medical emergency when Ruth is on duty, she has to make a decision whether to jump in anyway or respect the parents’ racist request.

This book is told from three different perspectives: the nurse, her public defender, and the white supremacist father. It took me quite a while to get into this book, but the ending was really great. While a lot of characters seem to rely on stereotypes, I felt like there were really good intentions by the author, and I think that a lot of people will hopefully understand the world a little better after reading this book.

I found that I identified with the public defender’s perspective more than the other two perspectives, so I enjoyed those sections more. However, the sections from Ruth the nurse’s perspective were also very enlightening. I’m sure Picoult was trying to be balanced by including the white supremacist father’s perspective as well, but I must admit that I skimmed over most of his portions and rolled my eyes a lot. I know people like him exist in the world, but it’s pretty impossible to sympathize with him in any way.

Overall, I think this is a good book with a slow beginning. However, the ending more than makes up for the beginning. I would definitely recommend this one to people looking for contemporary fiction. This doesn’t tackle racism as deeply as other books do, but it is still a good read.

Book Review

Book Review: My Sweet Angel

Tiffany Renee Harmon

I’ve been reading a lot of true crime books recently, and I came across this well-written book: My Sweet Angel by John Glatt.

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This book tells the true story of Lacey Spears, a woman convicted of murdering her son as she suffered from Munchhausen’s by Proxy. Glatt does an incredibly job at telling this story. Unlike many true crime books that start with the crime and reveal details as they were revealed during court, Glatt tells the story linearly. He begins by talking about Lacey in her pre-motherhood days and goes linearly through time until we reach her conviction. I thought this was a very effective way of showing us the progression of Lacey’s decline. She was clearly ill before she was even a mother – there is a lot of evidence that she was obsessed with and hurt other children – but things escalate after she has her own child.

Glatt’s research shows the many lies that Lacey told over the years. She seemed obsessed with being the center of attention, and she used social media to find bigger audiences. She manufactured tragedies to get more and more sympathy. Lacey is a truly fascinating person, and I’m still curious as to whether or not she believes her own lies. Unfortunately, she hurt people to get this attention, and her poor son died as a result of her actions. The evidence definitely shows that she murdered him deliberately. I will say that this book was very hard to get through because of the subject matter. I’m not even a mother and I found it emotionally devastating to read, so I imagine it would be even harder for most mothers to read. Still, Glatt is one of the best true crime writers out there, and I’d love to read more of his style.

Book Review

Book Review: Sarah’s Key

Tiffany Renee Harmon

There have been so many wonderful books written about World War II, but sometimes I get tired of reading them. It’s emotionally difficult for me to read about the holocaust over and over again, so I’ll admit that when I’m in the mood for historical fiction, I often prefer to grab something based in a different time period. However, there is one book that I’m so glad I read because it was quite the gem: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

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This book is set in Paris and has two timelines: half of the book takes place during World War II and the other half takes place in the present. Both halves are intricately intertwined as the narrative in the present is also working towards discovering what happened in the aftermath of the events of the past. Typically, when I read books that have two big storylines or timelines, I find myself strongly preferring one over the other and wishing that there was a singular focus, but that was not the case for this book. I actually thought this worked beautifully and I was engaged with both timelines.

This book explores very complicated themes but does so in a relatable and entertaining way. Whenever the past of World War II is getting too dark, the narrative switches to the complicated domestic relationships of the present. It has a good balance of light and dark and past and present and history and domesticity. I read it in one sitting because I was just so enamored that I didn’t want to put it down.

So, for anyone who is looking for historical fiction, I would highly recommend Sarah’s Key. And if you, like me, are getting tired of reading World War II narratives, I assure you that this one can be set apart from the rest. It was a great reading experience.

Book Review

Book Review: Thr3e

Tiffany Renee Harmon

Sometimes, when I’m looking for escapist fiction,  I am just not in the mood for something light and fluffy. I think that exciting, action-packed fiction can work just as well as an escape. One book that really sucked me in with all the danger and plot twists was Thr3e by Ted Dekker.

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Ted Dekker is a Christian author whose books, while containing religious themes, can appeal to an ever wider audience. Even if you are not a Christian, I think that you can absolutely still enjoy his books as well as Frank Peretti’s books. They are very similar and write excellent horror thrillers.

Thr3e was one of the wildest literary rides I’ve been on. It was very fast-paced and I just couldn’t put it down. I had been told that there was a big plot twist at the end (and there is) so I just wanted to discover it as soon as possible. It was well worth the read!

In this book, the character of Kevin receives a mysterious phone call from someone who tells him that he has three minutes to confess his sins to the world or there will be dire consequences. When he ignores the phone all, his car explodes, and he embarks on a path of danger and self-discovery, trying to uncover the identity of caller and making peace with his own past. I don’t want to say too much more because I don’t want to risk revealing too much about the exciting twist, but this is a great book. It was filled with a wonderful amount of suspense and a thrilling plot. I definitely recommend this one for anyone who is looking for a high-octane escape.