Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards ISBN-13: 9780007443499 Paperback: 358 pages Publisher: Harper Voyager Released: August 16, 2012

Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
In 2788, only the Handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet.


My Review:
Earth Girl is a young adult science fiction novel. Jarra started out with some issues. She wanted to get people to see her for who she really is and then confront them with their prejudices about "Handicapped" people. Only she gets to know the students from other worlds and starts to like them despite her own prejudices. She's stuck in a piles of lies. How could her new friends ever trust or like her once the truth comes out?

The world-building is worked naturally into the story and created a complex and interesting future without getting too bogged down in how everything worked. However, when I started re-reading the novel, I realized that I could skim over a good bit of the story because there was a lot of worldbuilding. The details brought the world vividly alive in my imagination, but they didn't need to be read twice.

The suspense came from the physical danger of the job and the relationship tensions. The characters were complex and reacted realistically to events. Jarra had a believable but unexpected coping reaction near the middle of the book. I wasn't initially sure that I liked the twist, but it worked out satisfactorily.

Some sex was implied. There was one instance of swearing and a minor amount of made up bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie

Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie ISBN-13: 9780062074089 Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks First Released: 1951

Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Mrs. McGinty died from a brutal blow to the back of her head. Suspicion falls immediately on her shifty lodger, James Bentley, whose clothes reveal traces of the victim’s blood and hair. Yet something is amiss: Bentley just doesn’t seem like a murderer.

Could the answer lie in an article clipped from a newspaper two days before the death? With a desperate killer still free, Hercule Poirot will have to discover whodunit before someone else dies.


My Review:
Mrs. McGinty's Dead is a historical mystery set in 1951 in England (though it was a contemporary mystery when it was written). I thought it was humorous what Poirot had to "suffer" through to solve this mystery. He had to stay with a very unorganized and unskilled-at-cooking family. Mrs. Oliver's situation was also funny.

On the other hand, I found the mystery confusing. The whodunit and how was complicated. Especially in the case of the first murder, it didn't seem to me that it was realistic that whodunit would have gone unnoticed. However, the clues were all there, even though the major ones might only be understood by the English of 1951. I certainly was left thinking, "Huh? I don't know anyone who did that" over something Poirot thought "everyone knows" (relating to names). Ah, well, learned something new.

There was no sex. There was a very minor amount of explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this novel to Agatha Christie fans.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Thread End by Amanda Lee

Thread End by Amanda Lee ISBN-13: 9780451467393 Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Obsidian Mystery Released: June 3, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer can’t wait to see the new exhibit at the Tallulah Falls museum on antique tapestries and textiles, including beautiful kilim rugs. But her enthusiasm quickly turns to terror when, the day after the exhibition opens, she discovers a dead body behind her store wrapped up in a rug from the exhibition. The rug isn't the only piece missing from the exhibition, either!

Along with her boyfriend, Detective Ted Nash, Marcy must unravel an intricate tapestry of deception to find a desperate killer.


My Review:
Thread End is a cozy mystery. It's the seventh in a series, but you don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the whodunits of the previous mysteries.

The mystery was clue-based. It was a unique idea to have the art thief dead yet the art still stolen. I started suspecting whodunit about halfway through, but I only started feeling confident of whodunit shortly before the heroine realized who it was. The characters were interesting, and the heroine and her boyfriend were generally nice characters with a sense of humor.

There were no sex scenes. There was a very minor amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Tempest in a Teapot by Amanda Cooper

Tempest in a Teapot by Amanda Cooper ISBN-13: 9780425265239 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: June 3, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
When her fashionable Manhattan restaurant goes under, Sophie Taylor retreats to her grandmother’s cozy shop, Auntie Rose’s Victorian Teahouse, where serenity is steeped to perfection in one of her many antique teapots. The last thing Sophie expects is a bustling calendar of teahouse events, like her old friend Cissy Peterson’s upcoming bridal shower.

Not everyone is pleased with the bride-to-be’s choice of venue—like Cissy’s grandmother, who owns a competing establishment, La Belle Epoque, and has held a long-simmering grudge against Rose for stealing her beau sixty years ago. Tensions reach a boiling point when Cissy’s fiancé’s mother dies while sampling scones at La Belle Epoque. Now, to help her friend, Sophie will have to bag a killer before more of the guest list becomes a hit list…


My Review:
Tempest in a Teapot is a cozy mystery. I almost didn't read past the prologue as I wasn't sure I'd like the heroine, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. The characters acted realistically and were more developed than in most cozy mysteries. The heroine was a mature person and someone I enjoyed reading about. I liked that she was logical and thought out all the possibilities rather than just assuming the obvious.

The mystery was a clue-based puzzle mystery. I had some strong suspicions about how everything was connected, but I wasn't sure of exactly whodunit until the big reveal. Not many authors can give enough clues to make things guessable and still keep me uncertain until the end, so excellent job! I look forward to reading more of this author's mysteries.

There was no sex. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd highly recommend this complex mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer ISBN-13: 9780061002045 Mass Market Paperback: 379 pages Publisher: Harper Released: 1955; June 28, 1996

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description, my take:
Lady Serena Carlow's eccentric father left her a fortune when he died, but in a Trust controlled by the man she jilted, Ivo, the Marquis of Rotherham. In order to get her rightful money, she must marry a man that Ivo approves of! The two are more likely to quarrel as both have strong wills and tempers, so her money seems forever out of her reach.

Then Serena's first love, a man who worships her and gives in to her every whim, bumps into her in Bath. Based on their heady, romantic reunion, Serena decides she could be happy married to him. Since Ivo separated them the first time, Serena is surprised that he makes no objection to the match. But Ivo has also chosen a bride--a meek, young girl who loves only his title.

It slowly becomes clear that each couple is an ill-suited match, each better suited to another. But it's too late...isn't it?


My Review:
Bath Tangle is a Regency romance. At first, I didn't think I'd like this novel much because the apparent "romantic couple" had genuine quarrels that even they decided wouldn't lead to a happily married life together. Both had tempers and were used to speaking their minds.

But as each makes a romantic match with another (as in, "oh, how romantic sounding! Of course you should marry!"), the story explores how a romantic match doesn't necessarily create a good match. There were others so obviously better suited to each person's upbringing and temperament. Yet now each felt stuck in a commitment made in the throes of romantic feeling, or temper, or gratification.

So the story is about coming to appreciate good qualities in others and about what makes a good match in a marriage. As usual, Heyer did a good job at bringing out how people really act and the humor of the situations.

There was no sex. There was some bad language--almost all of it a swearing use of "God." Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: A link to Amazon so you can read an excerpt using Look Inside.