mass market

Herein, you will find reviews of two mass market paperbacks obtained through paperbackswap.com.

Wish You Were Here is the first in the Mrs. Murphy series of mysteries, written by Rita Mae Brown's cat (or so it claims). This series features the postmistress of a small town in Virginia, and the pets who try to help her solve crimes (possibly only murderous crimes). It was a bit too cute for me. I didn't realize that the animals were going to talk. I didn't really like them talking and it actually made it hard for me to finish the book. But it was well-written, and funny in places. Two and a half stars.

( It's kind of funny how I wound up reading the other book... )

Queen's Gambit by Deborah Chester was longer than any of the books in the preceding trilogy - more than 400 pages. It is also much better than any of the trilogy books. Deeper, with more subtlety and more interesting themes. Pheresa continues to be a very sympathetic character, and continues to grow throughout the course of the book until its triumphant conclusion. The book doesn't have a lot of action in it, but it makes you feel as though it did, if you know what I mean. I also enjoyed very much the new character of Talmor. I was very happy with this book. It is quite unusual to see a series in any genre improve as it goes along, and I'll be following the next books with interest. Four stars.

out of order

So, I finished this book before I started the two that I just posted about. Sometimes that's just how it goes.

The Book of Lost Things was a Booksense recommendation. I had never read anything by John Conolly before. This was considered a young adult book, but I don't think I would give it to a young adult. It was very dark, although I imagine some of the dark aspects might be lost on younger readers. (I like it when authors set things up that way.) It was original and definitely had fairy tale aspects. I liked the way that it wove together fantasy and reality. I liked the interpretation of the Song of Roland. The villain, the Crooked Man, was utterly, utterly creepy. Recommended for fans of dark fantasy, but I don't think I'll read more of what this author has to offer. It was, in fact, a bit too dark for me. Three stars.