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The Writing Life of a Tadpole

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Tag Archives: book review

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C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton (BR00129)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on February 17, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 17, 2019  

C is for Corpse  (Kinsey Millhone, #3)PLOT OR PREMISE:

Kinsey meets an accident victim in physical rehab, and he wants her to find out who ran him off the road and why.

WHAT I LIKED

Kinsey gets to know Bobby in the early stages of the case, and the mystery of the case is intriguing. It takes a while for the pinball to hit enough buzzers to do anything, particularly as his only real evidence is that he remembers knowing “something” and that he was in danger, but not what it was or from whom. The further developments of Kinsey’s character and her sense of justice are awesome.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

One of the sub-characters, his step-sister, is a caricature and a wasted distraction. Equally, another sub-story with someone trying to take advantage of Henry is both obvious and boring.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

A decent story, but not a home run.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, detective, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, Millhone, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, polywogg, prose, series | Leave a reply

B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton (BR00128)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on February 16, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 16, 2019  

B is for Burglar  (Kinsey Millhone, #2)PLOT OR PREMISE:

A sister hires Kinsey to find her estranged sister who seems to have gone missing.

WHAT I LIKED

The plot is interesting, as it starts to shape up as quite the mystery. The missing sister, Elaine, supposedly flew to Florida but someone else is staying in her condo there. Everybody has opinions, but no facts as to her whereabouts. And there’s a link to a burglary / homicide that occurred before she disappeared. Stolen identities, missing cats, firecracker old ladies, multiple clients and Jonah too?

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

A good portion of the novel is kind of muddy, with Kinsey blundering along, showing no real signs of any insight or deduction, just plodding along, with the mystery having to go at her pace too. None of the “drama” from the secondary characters tends to add any real intensity to the story, and many of the people just come off as lame.

MY RATING

Original: January 20, 2001

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Stealing someone’s identity is one thing, living their life is another

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, detective, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, Millhone, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, polywogg, prose, series | Leave a reply

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (BR00127)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on February 13, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone, #1)PLOT OR PREMISE:

Nikki Fife served 8 years for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. Now she wants Kinsey to clear her name.

WHAT I LIKED

The character of Kinsey Millhone, and her introduction on page 1 (“My name is Kinsey Millhone”) is the same general format that appears in all the books. Just the facts. But she talks about having killed someone and that it weighs on her mind. Cue the flashback. And the book has all the classic elements that show up in almost all the books…her apartment near Henry, Rosie’s, multiple cases at once, index cards to keep track of details, Deitz, Dolan, etc. This is a classic whodunnit with lots of twists and turns and misinformation from suspects, sometimes intentional, sometimes not.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

There is a bit too much relationship-angst in this outing, albeit briefly.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Like meeting an old friend.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, detective, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, Millhone, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, polywogg, prose, series | Leave a reply

The Two-Night One-Night Stand by Ryan Ringbloom (BR00126)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 27, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

The Two-Night One-Night StandPLOT OR PREMISE

A case of mistaken identity on a blind date leads to an one-night stand.

WHAT I LIKED

I don’t normally read romance or romcom, but I grabbed this off Kindle Unlimited because it was free, it sounded like it could be funny, and the initial question of the story — can you turn an one-night stand into a dating partner? — had some great potential. How do you go from sex without strings to a potential relationship?

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The writing is lacklustre, the sexual escapades beyond unrealistic (neither very experienced but both are supposedly MIND-BLOWING in bed — it actually contains the line that he has ruined her for other men), and the characters more stupid than immature. Plus completely inconsistent — hesitant, unsure of themselves, constantly letting their personal squirrels mess with their heads until they’re drunk out of their minds, having sex, etc., and then they suddenly become confident porn stars. And there were only two scenes that were even humourous, with neither rising to funny.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

More failed romance novel than RomCom

Disclosure: While I normally share my reviews on multiple public sites, I am only publishing this one here and on GoodReads as my rating is low (1 star) and the relatively new author doesn’t have more than 10 reviews on Amazon to balance out my review.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged book review, ebook, fiction, new, novel, polywogg, prose, reading challenge, romance, StandAlone | Leave a reply

X by Sue Grafton (BR00125)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 26, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

X (Kinsey Millhone, #24)PLOT OR PREMISE

Kinsey is hired by a rich client for a simple task — find her biological son who was recently released from prison.

WHAT I LIKED

There are three storylines running concurrently, and the mix of types of cases is interesting…a missing persons case, which gets complicated when Kinsey finds out after she finishes the job that the client was bogus and there’s more going on that involves a complicated divorce; problems with neighbours; and a leftover case from Pete Wolinsky, a private-eye who was killed in a previous novel. The start of the missing persons case is intriguing and the investigation part of the old case is solid.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The problems with the neighbours are so obvious, the solution is seen a mile away by everyone except Henry and Kinsey. And mostly just annoying. The interest from the missing persons case deteriorates almost into Kinsey Millhone, marriage counsellor. And the leftover case redeems Pete’s character but then goes way over the top at the end.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

A mix of three cases, none adding up to a solid plot.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, detective, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, Millhone, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, polywogg, prose, reading challenge, series | Leave a reply

The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton (BR00124)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 26, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

The Clockmaker's DaughterPLOT OR PREMISE

A house in the country has some hidden secrets as do some of the people who visit the house throughout 150 years of history.

WHAT I LIKED

The overall story is awesome, despite some accessibility challenges with the structure (see below). You get to see pieces of the long story in the 1850s with one character as a young girl and another as a young boy; period two is an outing a number of years later when a bunch of artists descend on the house for a seminal event in their history; later occupation of the house by a woman who runs a girls school there; transformation of the house into a museum much later, to honour one of the artists from the fateful summer; occupation of the house by a young family during WWII; a visit to the house by a man and a woman years later; and finally a visit by an archivist in the present day, trying to find out some of the history from those various periods. She has some of the clues about the various timeframes and is trying to piece together more information about the fateful summer.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

I didn’t like the constant jumping around in time and point of view, which is the structural problem I mentioned above. There are at least seven separate timeframes for the house, and even a couple more in there that are alluded to through reminiscing, but some of the timeframes are not indicated very precisely. You kind of have to figure a couple out as you go. In addition, while the author is a master of lyrical prose, you know some of the story is going to be a bit weird when early on you see an event from the point of view of a satchel that is being opened. Yes, the actual satchel, as if it is alive. It is not the only fantastical element in the book, but the rest would be too much of a spoiler to reveal. A bigger problem I had was that in one timejump, the new PoV is in the head of a woman who has a name VERY similar to that of another character; so much so that I was ten pages into the section before I realized that it wasn’t the woman I thought it was, and the timeframe was VERY different as a result. I often read books that have timeline issues that are way more complex than here, but even I had trouble following some of the hops. I also found part of the ending left things a bit hard to understand with one person acting very out of character and the final piece being a bit open-ended.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Great prose, wonderful saga, but difficult structure.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, ebook, epic, fiction, good reads, google, historical, history, kobo, library, library thing, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, paranormal, polywogg, prose, sleuth, StandAlone, time | Leave a reply

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich (BR00123)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 24, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum, #23)PLOT OR PREMISE

Stephanie gets a dream job — undercover in an ice-cream factory — while Lulu, Randy and Grandma are trying to make a naked reality show.

WHAT I LIKED

Okay, I confess, if you put Lulu, Randy and Grandma in any situation for a naked reality show, there are going to be some crazy-fun scenes. And ice cream wars are funnier than the NYC pizza wars, maybe because they have ice cream clowns.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The clowns. I mean, who needs freaky-looking clowns?

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

A decent mystery and some fun characters that don’t try to kill Stephanie.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged adventure, amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, Plum, polywogg, prose, romance, series, sleuth | Leave a reply

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich (BR00122)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 24, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

Tricky Twenty-Two (Stephanie Plum, #22)PLOT OR PREMISE

Men are stressing Stephanie out…a burglar who was covered in bacon grease, a frat boy who assaulted a Dean, Morelli who broke up with her, a businessman who hired Rangeman to protect him and his wife, and a guy who tortures women. And one of them has given her a pimple on her chin the size of Mount Everest

WHAT I LIKED

For once, there is a decent mystery about what’s happening at the fraternity and how everything else is tied to it. Grandma and Lulu are kind of fun, as is a small sub-story about catfishing. But a scene near the end with Mom is absolute gold.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The off-again relationship stuff with Morelli is nearing the stupid point, particularly as nothing changes between them, and the simple answer to the frat mystery gets messed up with something out of a Tom Clancy novel.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

An average Plum outing with a great Mom scene.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged adventure, amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, Plum, polywogg, prose, romance, series, sleuth | Leave a reply

Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich (BR00121)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 20, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

Top Secret Twenty-One (Stephanie Plum, #21)PLOT OR PREMISE

Stephanie is looking for a car dealer named Poletti and nobody seems to be missing him or know anything, except Randy Briggs who needs Poletti in jail.

WHAT I LIKED

The plot at least amps up this time to include human trafficking. And when someone starts eliminating loose ends, the threat quotient goes up.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

A sub-story with a consulate was ludicrous, and the overall ending way over-the-top.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Didn’t feel much like a Plum novel.

See more details –> goodreads

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Posted in Book Review | Tagged action, amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, Plum, polywogg, prose, series, sleuth | Leave a reply

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich (BR00120)

The Writing Life of a Tadpole Posted on January 20, 2019 by PolyWoggFebruary 13, 2019  

Takedown Twenty (Stephanie Plum, #20)PLOT OR PREMISE

Stephanie is trying to bring in an aging mob-boss who is Morelli’s godfather.

WHAT I LIKED

Everyone loves Uncle Sunny so nobody wants to help…not his goons, not Morelli, not Morelli’s family, not anyone in the burg. But that’s not unusual. Dead old ladies showing up in dumpsters and a giraffe running through the burg are unusual.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The plot was okay, although I didn’t find the end motive particularly great, nor the resolution. And the constant focus on the giraffe was just plain odd.

MY RATING

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Legend: 1/5 Finished 2/5 Not bad 3/5 Good 4/5 Enjoyable 5/5 Excellent

THE BOTTOM LINE

Good, but not the best of the series.

See more details –> goodreads

Book Review Index
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Posted in Book Review | Tagged action, amazon.ca, amazon.com, B&N, book review, chapters, crime, detective, ebook, fiction, good reads, google, kobo, library, library thing, mystery, nook, novel, OPL, Plum, polywogg, prose, romance, series, sleuth | Leave a reply

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