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Friday, March 30, 2018

Review: The Pros of Cons

The Pros of Cons The Pros of Cons by Alison Cherry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pre-ordered this as I highly anticipated this. Also really like the clever word-play-title.
OK, but in the beginning no page-turner, no suspense. But as it is ok lengthwhise, I finished it fast.
A bit much with the (sexual) diversity, just glad no disabled or coloured person was added to the group, it would have been too much.
The different MCs where all likeable and even the minor characters like Beige (a toddler singing German Opera...) and her Mother where well fleshed out and believable.
The MCs all really grow in the short time of the cons.

Recommended, but 1 star less as it could have been more suspenseful. Not sure wether there will be series / sequel, but I would pick it up in an instant without thought. Or maybe wait for the price to sink though - and this also goes for this one.
For fans of comic con and other cons, and books about them like two Fangirls, this Fangirl and this one FanGirl (not finished yet) and also Queens of Geek Queens of Geek ) and also "If I was your Girl" If I Was Your Girl (inserted links to books on Goodreads a day later, as it was not working due to some reason yesterday).

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Review: Flammenkinder

Flammenkinder Flammenkinder by Lars Kepler
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Blurb sounded ok, so I bought this for a promo price from a lesen.net email - which I also saw as a recommendation... was I wrong in that.
No suspense, style boring, and I DNF'ed it after more than a year pretending to read it at 19%. FF through some of the rest of the book. Nothing to write home about.

Read the German translation. And it was even for a promo too expensive for that.

Deleted this one from my Amazon account, never to read it again (a first).
I have two more books from that author, and will skim about 5% and then probable delete them.

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Monday, March 26, 2018

Review: Flammenkinder

Flammenkinder Flammenkinder by Lars Kepler
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Blurb sounded ok, so I bought this for a promo price from a lesen.net email - which I also saw as a recommendation... was I wrong in that.
No suspense, style boaring, and I DNF'ed it after more than a year pretending to read it at 19%. FF through some of the rest of the book. Nothing to write home about.

Read the German translation. And it was even for a promo too expensive for that.

Deleted this one from my Amazon account, never to read it again (a first).
I have two more books from that author, and will skim about 5% and then probable delete them.

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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Review: Third Watch

Third Watch Third Watch by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lent with Kindle Unlimited, got that for 2 months on a Eur 0.99/month promo from Amazon.de.
As before noted, a lot of books are available cheap to buy and not the top-notch, this short (47 pages) story one of the rare exceptions - buying it would have cost me Eur 2.99, where imho even Eur 0.99 would have been too much, even though this author is one of my favourite crime authors.

Even this short story was very good, highly recommended, even if you have never read one book of the Tracy Crosswhite series. But still I think, it should have been available for free, and as such, it is one of the rare reasons to pay for Kindle Unlimited. Still KU is not for me, I will cancel it after the cheap 2 months, the usual price is ok, if you are constantly lending books from authors you do not know, or beginning books and not finishing them and giving them back, still, I'd rather buy them cheap.


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Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Review: Call to Arms

Call to Arms Call to Arms by Rachel Amphlett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Most what I say here is from my other reviews of books in the Kay Hunter series.
tl;dr: highly recommended, nice developing of the MC to a higher rank with leadership responsibility.

Will order the next book as soon as it is possible to. Some may think 5 stars is too much, what with the fast read (helped by the short chapters), again a little short, but I like this, and I stand by it.
Good police procedure, UK, nothing about BREXIT, no sex. Again 5 stars as the story is strong, no mistakes in the procedures and all was very good integrated in the series.

For fans of these series (Author - Heroine):
Angela Marsons - Kim Stone
Robert Bryndza - Detective Erika Foster
M.J. Arlidge - DI Helen Grace
Celina Grace - Kate Redman (too much romance and not strong enough heroine for me)
Griffiths, Elly - Ruth Galloway (must admit, I have only read 2 books and a novella yet)
Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite
Rachel Amphlett - Kay Hunter

And with the caveat of a male MC (but a female sidekick):
Last Gasp

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Thursday, March 8, 2018

Review: Last Gasp

Last Gasp Last Gasp by Robert F. Barker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very well written selfpublished (?) book, available cheap as an ebook.
Some errors, but minor ones, I would guess a dozen, one sentence with "he he (in context of he is doing this or that, so two he's are certainly wrong here)", once a capital character within a sentence, so imho little things, which did not stop me from enjoying the book and did not hinder the reading flow much. Not reading this on a Kindle, I was not able to mark this errors and send them to the publisher (with a Kindle this is built in and fairly easy).

There are 3 interchanging storylines: a current serial killer, an old serial killer case where the Killer was caught and died in prison and a family-affair-project. The book takes place mostly in the UK and a short trip elsewhere. Both locations are well done, with some local dialect and I had the feeling of being there.
The descriptions of police procedure and even the stress all sound true to me, exceptionally well written, as far as I can tell.

While the MC is male, his partner is female and some scenes are from her POV. Both and the Killer and some other characters are well fleshed out.

This being a rather cheap book, with only a few reviews so far, I recommend it highly, I got it for free (informed by the daily email from Fussy Librarian), and I just looked, it is still free (at some places, maybe not all). Feel bad not having paid for it, it is worth buying.

I will certainly buy and read the next book in the series and look for other books from this author.

Trigger Warning: this goes into the BSDM-scene, so some graphic scenes should not surprise, the killings are gruesome, but the details are on a normal level for a book about a serial killer, imho, could easily have been even more gruesome, or may be I am just used to it. No sex, which is rather surprising but a little romance.

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