February's Monthly Reading Summary

Yes, I'm a little late getting this up, but here's the summary of what I read this month.  All links take you to my full review.

All ratings are on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (great).

KILLING CUPID by Laura Levine (Jaine Austen #12) - 5

Jaine's latest freelance writing assignment is for Joy Amoroso, founder of matchmaking service Dates of Joy.  However, Joy is a liar and a cheat, and that's putting it politely.  When Joy dies at the company's annual Valentine's Day party, Jaine has to figure out who of the many people Joy cheated had finally had enough.

This series is always funny, and this book is no exception.  The characters are good and the plot has some good twists, but the humor is the biggest star.  I laughed, chuckled, and smiled my way through to the ending.  If you want a light mystery, I can't recommend this series highly enough.

MORIARTY RETURNS A LETTER by Michael Robertson (Baker Street #4) - 5

The latest case for brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath solves a mystery 100 years in the making.  When Reggie goes to set up a display of the some the letters written to Holmes over the years, he accidentally lets out a secret people will kill to keep quiet.  Can he figure out what it is?

While playing with the Holmes lore, this series is different from the famous stories.  Still, it's very fun.  We know most of what is going on early, but watching to see if our heroes can figure it out kept the pages turning.  I love the characters, too, which helps.

While book 4, this one heavily follows book 2 and spoils much of that one, so make sure you've read it before jumping in here.

MAYHEM AT THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Kylie Logan (League of Literary Ladies #1) - 4

After being forced to form a book club with her feuding neighbors, Bea is shocked to find the owner of the local Chinese restaurant dead behind his cash register.  With events that are mirroring their first book, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, Bea and the reading group must figure out what the clues mean to find the killer.

The pace seemed off at times, although part of that was setting up the characters and the series.  There was still plenty of time for some great twists that would have made Christie herself proud.  Throw in some good characters and a nice dose of humor and you've got a winning series debut.

FAIREST OF ALL by Sarah Mlynowski (Whatever After #1) - 5

Abby and her brother Jonah make a shocking discovery when the mirror in the basement of their new house sucks them through and they find themselves in the woods.  When they keep Snow White from eating the poisoned apple, they must find a way to fix her story and make it home.

This was a short but delightful story that anyone looking for an early chapter book will appreciate.  A twist or two along the way even surprised me.  I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

NOTE: I won this book in a contest.

CITY OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy #13) - 5

When a case Daniel is working on turns dangerous, Molly and Liam leave New York to join Sid and Gus in Paris.  But when her reception is not what she expected, is Molly in more danger now than she was before?

More than any other book in the series, I felt this one had a large number of real people popping up in Molly's fictional world.  The plot was good with some twists I didn't expect and the characters are so real by this point I just love visiting them.  All told, it was a great trip back to 1905.

NOTE: I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

MURDER PAST DUE by Miranda James (Cat in the Stacks #1) - 5

When Charlie's high school rival, successful novelist Godfrey Priest, comes to down, Charlie isn't too thrilled.  Godfrey was always an ego driven jerk, and time and success hasn't changed any of that.  But when Godfrey is killed and Charlie finds the body, he starts poking around trying to figure out who did it.

This series debut had lots of twists to the plot, even in the first 100 pages.  The characters were real and fresh right out of the gate as well.  I truly felt for them.  I can't wait to visit them with the next book in the series.