Reviews: The Short of It
Been playing catch up
with reading and reviewing. I’m 33 books behind schedule. Goodreads said so. Why should I care about what Goodreads say? You see, I
joined the 2015 Reading Challenge and pledged to read 80 books, which
translates to 6.66 books per month (I’m glad I’m not superstitious).
Easy peasy, right? No. It’s September and I’m still struggling to get halfway
through the challenge. I’m still convinced I could do it, but I’m going to need
a strategy of some sort. I realised that I could probably pull this one off by
reading all the short stories and novellas on my TBR list.
It’s not cheating. Just slightly devious planning.
Two women, memory loss, a dead man, and a psychic. Everything
else are fragments. This is a bizarre story that I quite frankly did not get
the first time I read it. So I had to read it again. I like to believe I got it
the second time around. Or probably not. It’s like the movie “Inception”.
People think they got it, but they probably don’t.
The truth is it’s a mystery right to the very end. I
don’t care if I don't get it right because I enjoyed the writing, the build up, and the intrigue.
This is not spoon feeding. You have to think. Think until it hurts and you beg
for more.
Andrew O’Sullivan is a medium and spirit photographer called
on by Detective Angus Mallory to help investigate the gruesome murders that
shook Beacon Hill. It’s Sherlock meets CSI meets ghost hunter in 1800s
steampunk Boston.
This is more than just a murder mystery; it also
introduces us to the young Caitlin O’Sullivan. If you’ve read The Boston MetaphysicalSociety webcomics, the last few pages of The Devil Within will certainly have
an impact. If not, that’s quite all right, there’d still probably be an “aah”
moment, if you were paying attention. There, I’ve avoided spoilers.
Children’s book writer
turned crime fiction writer Marnie Riches shows her versatility with The Love Potion. Why was I reading a
Valentine’s Day e-short, you ask? I think I have a compulsive completist disorder**
It’s wickedly funny and naughty and cruel. But it’s a love story.
It’s also a cautionary tale: Don’t date a pharmacist
if you’re a lying, cheating bastard.
As a bonus, you’d probably find a cure to what ails you.
As a bonus, you’d probably find a cure to what ails you.
**A personality quirk that compels its victims to complete collections.
In this case, books written by the same author.
This is the (short) prequel to Demons & Pearls. Having
read the two books in the series made me feel that this is quite basic as an
introductory piece. We meet the young Ivory Shepard and her cousins as they try
to protect themselves and escape from men who have set their eyes on the prize.
To me, the two books are sufficient. This is just a
bonus.
But this I can assure you: If you read Ivory Dawn, you
will want to read all the books in the series.
How hard is it to kiss the girl of your dreams?
Terribly hard if you’re a teenage boy named Scott. A desperate boy who wanted
to be the first to kiss Clarisse.
So it’s a race against time and against Jay (who is
God’s gift to teenage girls in Nowheresville, apparently). Dreams may just come true
if you’re armed with a cunning plan and plenty of mints.
