January Mini Reviews

There are always a handful of books that I don't really want to write a full review of, but that I'd like some record or having read.  


Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.  I'd really have liked to review this one fully, but was completely stumped at trying to summarize the plot. I really enjoyed it a lot, loved the world Taylor created and the characters of Karou and Akiva and Brimstone. I loved the set up for the series, the reason for the book, if you will. I did think the last third of the book really bogged down, and if you've read it you know what part I mean. The more time that passes since I finished, the more I like it though, and at this point I'm very excited to see what happens next. Highly recommended.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. A 13 year old boy, an ill mother, a nightmare come to life. This one is loved all over the blogosphere and when I saw it on the library shelf I grabbed it. I really had no intention of reading it before seeing it there.  This is a short book, with lots of really striking drawings and terrific writing and is easily read in one sitting. I will admit that it made me sob, like it seems to do for most people. However. Almost the instant I closed the cover I felt manipulated. I didn't see any reason at all for the book, other than to make me cry. I went to read other reviews of people who saw Conor grow and confront his own guilt and grief but I was just a little bit annoyed by it.


Whiskey Sour (Jack Daniels Mysteries) by J.A. Jonrath.  This was my first entry into my personal challenge.  It was perfect for the time, I had a couple other books going that required more brain power. In the end though, I didn't love the book.  While the humor made me laugh in spots, the writing was a bit simplistic and I thought some of the jokes were a bit insulting. For funny mysteries I'd stick with Janet Evanovich, for interesting mysteries I'm still loving the Inked series by Karen Olsen, and for murder I'd choose J.D. Robb's In Death series every time.

Faithful Place by Tana French

I finally got around to reading a book by Tana French, thanks to the BlogHer Book Club. There were parts of Faithful Place I really liked, and parts that I decided just weren't for me. You'll have to click over to my review to find out which parts were which!  To see what other people in the Book Club thought of the book, click through to this page, where you'll find links to all the reviews (so far, anyway!)

Pretty in Ink by Karen E Olson

Pretty In Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E Olson is the second book in the series that began with The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery, which I read last year as part of the Read-a-thon. I put Pretty in Ink on hold at the library pretty much as soon as I heard the title, and it finally came in last week. (Or was it the week before? I don't remember.)  I only had a one week check-out on it so I got started right away.

In this installment, Brett, the owner of The Painted Lady tattoo shop, is pulled into the investigation of the death of  drag queen that had recently been tattooed at her shop. One of her employees goes missing, people get very sick, another drag queen dies, and Brett is in the middle of it all. Like the last one, there is plenty of good tattoo shop talk, plus the return of some of my favorite characters including a rival tattoo shop owner.

However, there were a couple of points in the book where I felt that Brett, who is presented as a smart woman, was taking a turn towards Stephanie Plum land. It just felt like she did a few stupid things that any smart woman would know was going to look really bad when the cops found out. She eventually pulled out of it, but I think this caused my enjoyment of it to go down just a bit. I'm still planning to read whatever comes next for Brett and would recommend the series to anyone who likes a light mystery.

The author maintains a website at http://www.kareneolson.com/ if you'd like to find out more.

Pretty in Ink
Signet
2010
320 pages


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The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E. Olson

The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E. Olson is the one book I managed to read during the Read-A-Thon. Clocking in at 320 pages, I was pretty proud of accomplishing that. (Plus another hundred or so of Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.) I don't read a lot of mysteries, but this one makes me want to read more. I'll definitely be picking up the followup in the series-Pretty In Ink.

So what's it about? Brett Kavanaugh owns a tattoo shop on the Vegas Strip called The Painted Lady. A few days after being contacted by a client to do a devotional tattoo, the client disappears and Brett and her shop are the last people to have seen her. It seems as though Brett may have been involved in her disappearance, so she decides the only way to clear her name is to investigate the crime herself.

What did I think about it? This one was a lot of fun to read. I love seeing the little bits of the tattoo shop and am always a fan of strong, sassy heroines. Brett is a lot of fun and the secondary characters will well done, with the exception of the shop manager (Bitsy) who I just didn't like. I don't read a lot of mysteries so my brain isn't really used to figuring out who-dun-it and I was happy just to read along and let the story unfold instead of trying to guess. It seems like perhaps the final explanation was a bit sketchy, but I still enjoyed it. It was great choice for the Read-a-Thon.

Have you read any Karen E. Olson? Are mysteries a normal part of your reading diet? How do you feel about mysteries starring NON-detectives like tattoo shop or candy shop owners? Do you prefer a more serious mystery? ( I admit that I find it hard to believe that places like a tattoo shop can run into enough mysteries to create a series. I'll still read them, but I prefer mysteries with logical protagonists. )

You can find the author online at http://www.kareneolson.com/ and her blog at First Offenders with several other authors.