So awhile back I mentioned that I thought Anne Stuart changed publishers. She got new covers for some of her re-published works and some of her back list was being digitized. That doesn't necessarily mean she got a new publisher but I was struggling to find her in my local indies for awhile.
This series of books are all romances with a reoccurring plot line where the super secret organization known as "The Committee" is involved. Normally I'm not overly into governmental spy/military agencies with no oversight from Congress (::coughblackwatercough::) because that's how you get into multiple decades of a war in which many people die and no one goes in for war crimes that probably should. I got off track. These books are not blackwater-ey. Which is good. Nor are they full of alpha-military-assholes (although they are a band of mercenaries). Also good. The main leads tend to be Anne Stuart's norm of "bad boys" and her norm of slightly frigid career women. Granted, I just read a long form associated with Ronan Farrow's book about NBC and their cover-up of Weinstein and Laurer so I think frigid career women tend to be more of a defense because of men like that. It works in my head right now.
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I think I started this during a bubble bath and then finished it the next morning over coffee. I have a little sun room that's perfect to have a Sunday morning coffee if you're a heathen. The picture is a bit blury below, I got enlarged in the whole process of putting it on the blog. I mean, to be honest, it's a snapshot from my insta page...because the coffee moves. That's a fun little app find there.
Anyways. I was a bit hesitant to start this book because it's always a 50/50 shot with male authors isn't it? (More like 80/20 innit). I have to say, Olsen did not let me down. There is violence (I mean, a serial killer killed multiple people here) but it's not detailed and graphic. There actually isn't a whole lot of violence against women and the main character isn't as flat as most female-centric books written by male authors. It sounds like faint praise but I mean this as high praise. Gregg Olsen did well! Don't come for me with #NotAllMen. I get it. It's enough men writing women poorly that I don't feel bad for saying it. Also, it's enough men that the last time I talked to the bookseller at my local indie she mentioned that one of the books I picked up (and then re-shelved) had poorly done female characters. She did recommend a better (male) author who had actually worked hard to not have flat lady characters, so I ended up purchasing that one. It's a thing. This book is by Amanda Quick, which is a nom de plume for Jayne Ann Krentz. It's what she writes her historical romances under. Krentz/Quick has written a donkey load of books (like 50+) and this was my first one. I think. She looked familiar on the back cover but she also has the same 'author' hairstyle and and pose as a lot of other authors. Oh my god...this book. Holy cow. This is the third UK/Ireland area book I've read recently...and they've all been mindfucks. What it is in the water there?
I love it. I received this book from Netgalley via the publisher HQ Digital. Which is a digital first imprint from Harper Collins. I fully realize that Ireland and the UK are vastly different but I guess I'm grouping them together via geographical nearness...don't write me hate mail.
I think my book slump is over. I was struggling for awhile so I decided to re-read an Anne Stuart book as she's one of my favorite authors. I was hoping for a jump start and it worked because I read two books that have been sitting on my kindle for a month!
Also, I got to hear the fabulous Maeve Higgins on NPR and about died from her quips on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Apparently urinal is pronounced differently in other parts of the world and now I know. My phone bricked up and I lost all my pictures because somehow I didn't set them on any backup plan...so that was fun. Luckily I have a new phone now (and a backup schedule) but yeah, that sucked.
So this book is actually set in the UK and noting that the blurb is down my alley (murder-mystery)...I honestly picked it up because of the cover. Isn't is eye-catching? That yellow and blue/gray combo is perfection and I'm seeing it in other covers now. I bought it at Target because I have a Target problem. I'm working on it. I picked up some computer glasses at Target yesterday because I've had a spat of migraines...maybe because of the weather but maybe because I've been working on the computer a lot (?). They're not prescription, they're the "blue light filtering glare reducing" lenses. Meant for digital screens at least. So we shall see how that turns out. It's this exact pair as an aside.
I bought this book from my local indie last year but sat down and read it over the holiday break. I honestly picked it up because Liz Nugent is Irish and her bio on the flap looked impressive. Plus the cover (American, hardback edition at least) was creepy. Insta-buy! I received this from the publisher through NetGalley. I requested specifically because of the setting. Not only is it set in Scotland but features Glasgow! I love Scotland and Glasgow is such a fun place. Tons of history and really cool people, it's the perfect setting for a book.
I bought this book in my local bookstore under the misapprehension that this was more of a murder-mystery type book but it's not (not a complaint). It's a more suspenseful novel about friendships and romantic relationships.
So this book is part of a series, which I didn't know. I bought this book on a whim from either Target or Barnes and Nobles. That being said, while I'm not familiar with the series you can read this book as a standalone but I think it would have been better having read the whole series. This book is listed as number eight in the series, as a fyi.
Down the Darkest Road is a murder mystery by Tami Hoag, who writes a good murder-mystery read. I read this a few months ago without looking up the synopsis as Hoag is pretty much an auto-buy for me. I got this at a bookstore, but I can't remember which one now. It was either Barnes and Noble or Borders (RIP).
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