September 9th's Weekly TV Thoughts

American Ninja Warrior – Joe’s out?  No!  Okay, so I know that not everyone makes it past level 2, and this new format makes it so more can.  But I feel like he was racing and that made him fall.  I knew I’d react this way if a favorite got out.  Another couple of shocking exits, too.  At least Daniel has made it on to stage 4.

Ahsoka – Tell me there’s a plan.  And this was really all part of it.  Because I feel like we are currently without hope.  Which is right where we should be at the mid-point of the show.  A little uneven, but overall, this is a good show pacing wise, as well.  I’m looking forward to seeing where things go next.

The Challenge USA – The alliances are pretty much breaking down the way I thought they would.  Got to hand it to Tyler standing up like he did and going into the final challenge.  And what a challenge!  I was tired just watching it.  In the first challenge, I thought everyone was going to have their own puzzle to work on.  I’m amazed at just how many people shared answers.  People on these shows sure do seem to forget that things are individual when the times comes.

September 8th's Friday Post

It's Friday, so it's time for a Friday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

This week, the teaser for the first three will be coming from Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry. 

This is the third book in the By the Book Mysteries.  They are delightfully wacky, and this was no exception.  You can get a sense of the humor from the snippets I'm going to share.

Okay, so I'm sharing more than a snippet from the opening.  But, really, with this beginning, I can't just share any less.

Gertrude's corpse lay at an unnatural angle on the floor of the Paper Trail bookstore.  Her pale skin glowed eerily under the lights, her deathly pallor made starker by the winged liner that circled her eyelids like a burlesque raccoon.  No one in the store could discern the cause of her death, but it was obvious to any trained eye that-
"Ouch.  I think there's a rock under my hip.  Wait a sec."

Yes, that is Gertrude talking there.  If you want to find out more, you'll have to get the book.

But I'm not done teasing yet.  There's also this from page 56:

Tess wasn't the only person to feel slighted by the sheriff's inclusion of Neptune Jones in what was likely to prove the most thrilling murder this town had seen since, well, the last murder.

I finished the book earlier this week, and I enjoyed it.  Look for my review next Thursday.

This week, the Book Blogger Hop is wading into some controversial waters with the question:

 Do you agree that libraries should ban books?

And I realize my answer is not going to be very popular, but here goes.

First of all, if a library doesn't have a book on its shelves, the book is not banned.  As long as you can buy it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or any other book seller, the book is not banned.  Period.  Let's stop using this term to mean something it doesn't mean.

Second, libraries make choices every single day about what books they are going to include in their collections.  They have to because, like us, they have budgets to consider and space limitations.  Obviously, they are looking at what they think people will check out.

Right now, the controversial books are pornography.  If you think I'm exaggerating, look at the books in question.  I have.  And then think about the age of the kids served by school libraries where the controversaries are swirling.  Yes, libraries should take into consideration the appropriateness of the content for the ages of their customers.  And we should be able to discuss what ages a book is appropriate for without any name calling.

So yes, I do think libraries should take the content of books into consideration when they consider purchasing books for their collections.  It should be one of many factors that they consider.

But it is not banning books.  As long as you can purchase the book for yourself, it is not banned.  Period.

Keep in mind that if you look at the stories of "banned books," you'll see books on the lists were the parents objected to their child and their child only reading a book in class.  In those cases, the parents said nothing about any other kids reading the book.  Yes, I know this is far afield from the question of the week, but it is important to include that context when looking at the topic of banned books.

The choice of using the term banned books when this conversation comes up is on purpose.  (And I'm talking about the general conversation, not this week's question.)  Instinctively, who is in favor of banning books.  Knee jerk reaction, we all say "No, I'm not in favor of banning books."  And they lead with the most ludicrous examples they can find to make it seem laughable.  But when you really look into it, you'll see that there are some serious issues that need to be discussed in a calm, rational manner.  And we need to search for compromise.  Much of this is designed to be a smoke screen for some real issues that should be addressed.  And that's why this subject clearly riles me up.

Okay, deep breath.

I hope you have a great weekend!

TV Show Review: The Flash - Season 9

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: A couple of episodes and some other moments

Cons: The rest is a mess

The Bottom Line:

Flash – final missions

Disappointing for this fan

Has subpar writing

“Is It Always This Crazy?”  “Well, It’s a Wednesday.”

Honestly, I would have been fine with The Flash ending at the end of season eight.  I hadn’t been enjoying the show for several years, which is a shame because it was so much fun when it started out.  And season eight wrapped things up well.  But we got a short season 9 that did nothing to help the legacy of the show.

This season finds Barry Allen, aka The Flash (Grant Gustin), and Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) preparing for the next stage of their lives.  Oh, Iris might not be pregnant yet, but they know it is coming soon from the time traveling that has happened over the course of the show.  Barry is ready to embrace it, but Iris is a bit upset that they are just playing into their futures.  Meanwhile, Joe West (Jesse L. Martin) has made a decision that impacts his relationship with Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) and Chester and Allegra (Brandon McKnight and Kayla Compton) work toward their own relationship.

And yes, there are villains.  Honestly, we once again get a couple of smaller arcs.  They are okay, but nothing spectacular.

Now, this is going to be a negative review (as if you hadn’t figured that out already), but I am going to say there were a couple of episodes I really did enjoy.  The season opener was fun even if it is a familiar plot device, especially in the Arrowverse.  We also revisited the pivotal season one storyline of what happened to Barry’s mom for an episode, and I really liked it.  Yes, even though we’ve been there multiple times.

I will also give them this, they do a good job of bringing back many actors from this show.  They also work in Olive Queen and Diggle, although I’ll admit to being disappointed by that episode overall.

Part of the problem with this season involves the actors.  Oh, I’m not saying that they were bad at acting this season.  They are all still doing their best with the material they are given – it’s just that the material is subpar.

No, what I’m talking about is the actor’s desire to do something different.  In the case of Jesse L. Martin, he wanted to do another show, so he only does a handful of episodes this season.  That’s his choice (this is a job, after all, and we all change jobs), but the way the writers handled it was poor.  I’m more bothered by the writers’ choices than his choice.

Likewise, original cast member Danielle Panabaker wanted to play someone new.  On this show, that’s a possibility, but the way the writers handled it was absolutely horrible.  Seriously, they weren’t even trying.

Then there’s the characters brought in from other shows.  Batwoman (Javicia Leslie) plays a part in the opening arc.  I felt like we had a good send off for her character on her show even if it was cancelled without much warning.  Dreamer from Supergirl (Nicole Maines) also shows up so we can get an update on her even though Supergirl got a final season to wrap up the characters.  While both of these shows were part of the Arrowverse, they weren’t a direct spin off of The Flash like Legends of Tomorrow was, at least when it first began.  And you know what we didn’t get?  Any resolution to the cliffhanger on that show.  Since Legends of Tomorrow was my favorite Arrowverse show when it ended, this really hurt, as you can see.

Then there’s the final fight.  All I have to say is, given what we’ve seen over the last nine years, it was way too easy.

All told, season nine consisted of 13 episodes.  There were moments I enjoyed, and a couple of fun episodes, but for the most part, these episodes were immediately forgettable.

If you’ve managed to stick with the show, you’ll want to see how it ends with season 9.  If you’ve enjoyed the last few seasons of The Flash, you’ll probably enjoy this one, too.  But me, I’ll be over here wishing that the wonderful writing of the first few seasons had continued throughout the entire show.

Book Review: Bring the Night by J. R. Sanders (Nate Ross #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, engaging plot

Cons: Wrap-up could have been stronger

The Bottom Line:

Mysterious death

If murder, who is killer?

Fun historical

Suicide?  Or Murder?

It’s not where you start a story, but what you do with that beginning.  That’s true in many genres, but I notice it all the time in mysteries since that’s what I’m most familiar with.  That was true with Bring the Night, the third Nate Ross novel from J. R. Sanders.  While the set up may be familiar, where it ends is fun.

The book takes us to 1939 Los Angeles where Nate Ross works as a PI.  In the middle of a rash of suicides that summer, a brother and sister walk into Nate’s office wanting to hire him to find the truth about their father’s death.  The cops quickly ruled it another suicide, but they insist that it was murder.  It isn’t long before Nate is finding more questions than answers and receiving threats.  Can he figure out what is going on?

Obviously, it was murder.  I mean, if it were suicide, we’d have the most boring short story ever, and this is a novel.  But the book also doesn’t take that much time before Nate is convinced that it was murder and then has to figure out who and why.  I did catch on to a few things early on, but I didn’t have the entire thing figured out until the end.  Having said that, I feel like the book could have explained the why a bit more.  Thinking about it after I finished the book, I was able to come up with the reasons why things unfolded as they did, but a confirmation would have been nice.  Or maybe I’m just overly picky wanting to have everything spelled out for me.

This is a PI novel in the classic sense.  That means that Nate is the main returning character.  Yes, there are a few others we’ve seen before, but they are mostly background players.  Any of the characters who play a major part in the story are new here.  They are all interesting characters, and I enjoyed getting to know them.

Since this is a PI novel, it does have a bit more language and violence than in the books I usually read.  This is kept to a minimum, however, and I appreciated that.  A few of the characters do speak quite freely in the slang of the day.  While I appreciate the attention to detail, a little less of it would have been appreciated.  On the other hand, it does give the feeling of a classic PI novel set during that period.

As always, I enjoyed reading about LA.  Granted, this is set long before I was born, but it’s still fun to see locations I am familiar with pop up in a story.

If you enjoy PI novels, you’ll be glad you checked out the Nate Ross series.  Bring the Night will keep fans of the genre turning pages.

Check out the rest of the Nate Ross Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Ariel Miniature Ornament - 2023 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Ariel looks great as a mini ornament

Cons: The way her feet stick below the ornament is weird

The Bottom Line:

Mini Ariel

Ready to step onto tree

Good details for size

Add a Little Ariel to Your Christmas Tree

Last year, Hallmark released two miniature ornaments of Disney Princesses.  Since they often release characters as mini ornaments two a year, I wasn’t surprised when two more Disney Princesses showed up in miniature form this year.  The first of these is Ariel.

To be clear, this is Ariel from the animated movie.  But this is Ariel at the end of the movie after she’s become human.  She’s wearing her pink dress, and she’s got one foot sticking out from under her dress.  She’s also holding one part of her dress.  Essentially, it’s the pose we often get for Disney Princesses.

As I usually do, I want to make sure it is clear I’m talking about a miniature ornament.  Ariel is only an inch tall.  As long as you know this before you buy it, you’ll be fine.

Because, really, the level of detail is amazing.  Her hair is flowing down behind her and we can see the smile on her face as well as folds in her dress.

The odd thing about this ornament is her feet.  As I mentioned, one is sticking out below her dress.  I get it, that’s the pose.  But what’s weirder is the little knob at the back of the ornament.  Maybe it’s supposed to be another foot (even though it doesn’t look like it)?  Either way, between the two, there is no way this ornament will stand on its own.  It tips to a side no matter what you try to do.  Although, to be fair, setting this out to be displayed could be an issue given the size.

Fortunately, when you go to hang the ornament, you’ll find that it hangs perfectly straight.

I know mini ornaments aren’t for everyone, but any Disney fan who likes them will be glad they added Ariel to their tree.

Book Review: Pink Lemonade Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke (Hannah Swensen #29)

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love; delicious sounding recipes

Cons: The plot really doesn’t work

The Bottom Line:

Baseball and murder

In another weak entry

Recipes sound good

Three Strikes, You’re Dead

As soon as I saw the title for the newest Hannah Swensen Mystery, I knew it had to be a summer book.  What’s more summer than pink lemonade?  Naturally, I was right as the book is set near the start of summer and involves a baseball tournament in town.  Since I always enjoy it when I can read a book during the season when it is set, I’m glad I was able to work in Pink Lemonade Cake Murder before summer officially ends.

This is the twenty-ninth book in the Hannah Swensen series.  If you aren’t familiar with it, yes, this is a culinary cozy.  Hannah runs a cookie shop in the town of Lake Eden, Minnesota.  And she has the unfortunate habit of stumbling across dead bodies next to her latest culinary creations.

Lake Eden is celebrating the summer solstice by hosting a baseball tournament for the high schools in the region.  There’s also an All-Star competition, which is why Bernie “No-No” Fulton is back in town.  He’s a local who went on to pitch for the Twins for a part of a season before he left for less than stellar reasons.

Unfortunately, the first day of the tournament, someone kills No-No.  Even worse, Hannah’s mother finds the body under the bleachers.  Delores has a grudge against No-No as well, so Hannah jumps into the investigation.  Can she figure out who wanted to strike No-No out permanently?

There’s also a sub-plot with Mike, the local detective and one of Hannah’s love interests, dealing with burn out.  Unfortunately, that isn’t really handled the best way possible, and it slows down the main mystery at the beginning of the book.

Then there’s the talk of food.  I read plenty of culinary cozies, so I’m used to them, but again, it takes over the book at times, really slowing things down.

The mystery itself was decent.  It was more of a novella sized mystery stretched to turn it into a novel.  Obviously, since I read cozies, I’m willing to give authors and characters leeway in how they work together with the police to solve the crime.  This book went well beyond believability for me, which is saying something since this series has already stretched things pretty thin.

So why do I keep reading the series?  It is book 29, and I’m very invested at this point.  I do love the characters, and I enjoy seeing what they are up to.

On the other hand, this is one of the series that gives love triangles a bad name.

And the cliffhanger that ends the book?  We are right back in soap opera territory.

As always, the recipes in the book sound delicious.  Frankly, they are another reason I still look forward to the books, not that I’ve made any for years.  By my count, we get twenty-three new recipes here.  They are mostly desserts, although there are a couple of slow cooker recipes and a few drink recipes in that mix.

I will still continue to recommend the early books in this series.  For fans still reading these books, you know what to expect here.  There won’t be anything to change your mind about the series in Pink Lemonade Cake Murder, so keep that in mind before you pick up the book.

Here are the rest of the Hannah Swensen Mysteries.

Movie Review: Napa Ever After

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters you can’t help but root for

Cons: A small dose of cheese

The Bottom Line:

Romance in Napa

Rooting for the characters

Really glad I watched

Grab a Glass of Wine for This Enjoyable Romance

I stumbled upon Napa Ever After, one of Hallmark’s new romance movies, when I was looking for something else.  While I don’t drink wine, I did grow up in the county next to Napa, and so that immediately intrigued me.  Knowing nothing else about it, I decided to give the movie a try, and I’m so glad I did.

Cassandra (Denise Boutte) is an up-and-coming real estate attorney who has just made partner.  She’s also just inherited a winery in the Napa Valley from her grandmother.  She hasn’t been there since she was a girl, and her first instinct is to sell it.  But a visit and a letter her grandmother left her convince her to take a sabbatical from work and try to get the winery back into business.

That also means working with Alec (Colin Lawrence).  He seems to know exactly what needs to be done around the vineyard, but, much to Cassandra’s annoyance, he refuses to accept any money for his work.  Will Cassandra be able to turn the winery around?  And what about Alec?

This is a Hallmark romance movie, and I guessed what was going to happen pretty early on.  Obviously, the details were unknown, but that’s the charm of a movie like this, right?  I will say that Cassandra’s stubbornness about accepting help got old.  I get that it was a source of conflict, but come on!

On the other hand, there were some other tropes of the romance genre that the movie didn’t drag out any more than they needed to.  I was happy they moved past them quickly and instead used the results to further develop the characters and the story.

The movie does touch on some serious themes – loss and regret being the main two.  It did that without being overly serious.  But it still made the movie deeper than a typical romance.

As is often the case with these movies, the climax seems rushed, with us just supposed to accept some changes in the characters.  But I didn’t mind too much because I really did like how they played things out.

Not that I’m an expert on Hallmark’s non-mystery movies, but this was definitely one of the stronger ones I’ve seen.  I could feel the chemistry between the leads, I liked all the characters, the plot was smart, and I just wanted everyone to work things out.  Yes, I have some issues, but they are minor.  I really did enjoy it.

That’s not to say the movie didn’t suffer from low budget cheese.  It mostly came from the writing, but there were times the performances dipped into it as well.  On the whole, everyone brought their A game, however.

I don’t know for sure where they filmed this movie, but it definitely felt like Napa to me.  Granted, I haven’t spent that much time in Napa proper, but it captured the way that part of Northern California looks perfectly.

Hallmark movies really are a genre all their own.  If you enjoy them, make time to watch Napa Ever After.  You’ll be glad you did.

September 2nd's Weekly TV Thoughts

The Challenge USA (8/27) – With all the sympathy they were building for Wes all episode, I thought he was a goner.  I’m surprised he pulled it out.  A bit disappointed, too, since his arrogance is keeping me from viewing him as an underdog.

 

American Ninja Warrior – I had asthma as a kid, so I really feel for Najee.  So hard to watch him go out like that.  I have great respect for him for getting as far as he did.  Happy Daniel Gil made it to stage two.  Lots of people going against friends in the races next week.  I’d say it was rigged, but it was based purely on seeding.  Interesting that only one of the guys with a safety pass needed it.  He definitely made the most of it, too.

 

Ahsoka – I started to roll my eyes a bit at the training scene, but then the episode got good.  Those creatures in the clouds felt a little Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to me, but still, it was a solid episode that leaves me wondering what is going to happen next.

 

The Challenge USA (8/31) – I did feel sorry for the woman who couldn’t make any baskets in the elimination.  Granted, that would 100% be me if I were on the show.  It will be very interesting to see how things change now that it is individual.  I feel like alliances are going to be very clear now, none of this working with and around your team.  It’s been fun to watch, but now I want to see how things change.  But it looks like I have to wait a week.  I think we are down to one episode a week now.

September 1st's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday, and a holiday weekend for those of us in the US.  I hope if you get the extra day off, you have something fun planned.

But before we get there, we need to get through Friday, and I'm going to kick off Friday with a Friday Post, where I will link up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

For the first three, I will be using quotes from Bring the Night by J. R. Sanders.

This is the third book in his Nate Ross series.  Nate is a PI in 1930's Los Angeles.  That is set up pretty well in the opening sentence.

Suicide was all the rage in L.A. in the summer of '39.

I think that's a great opening.  It certainly caught my attention, but it also sets the time and place very clearly.

Moving on to page 56, we get this exchange:

"I stopped by the library earlier, and he wasn't there.  They said he didn't show for work or even call in today."
She sat, frowned.  "Well, that's odd.  He likes to take time off and drive up the coast occasionally, but it's not like him not to call work if he wants a day off."

How does this missing man complicate things?  I leave it for you to find out.  I've finished this book, and I enjoyed it.  My full review will be up on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, let's finish off the week with this week's Book Blogger Hop.  The question is:

Please suggest a book for Billy's 42nd birthday.

Happy birthday!  I'm going to go with the easy answer to this one - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I'm assuming that you've read it, Billy, but if not, you'll understand why when you do read it.  (And yes, I realize that this mystery reader is recommending a science fiction classic.)

That's it for me.  Have a great weekend!

Reading Challenge: COYER Chapter 3 - In the Beginning

It's time for Chapter 3 of this year's COYER challenge.  And this chapter takes us back to how it all started.  Since the goal is to clean out your ereader, only ebooks count.  And only books that you got at a discount.  ARCs count, which is fortunate given how busy I'm going to be with ARCs in October.  And most are eARCs since, you know, everything has to be an ebook.

I'll be listing reviews below as I post them.  It will be interesting to see how I do with this over the course of the next four months.

That's right, this runs from September 1st to December 31st.

1. Fahrenheit 501 by Diane Vallere

2. Have Yourself a Deadly Little Christmas by Vicki Delany

3. Sugar Plum Poisoned by Jenn McKinlay

4. Brush Up on Murder by Sybil Johnson

5. Hunters of the Dead by Steve Hockensmith

6. Mistletoe and Murder by Connie Berry

7. Murder by the Seashore by Samara Yew

8. A Nutcracker Nightmare by Christina Romeril

9. Barbecue Can Be Deadly by Ryan Rivers

10. Cheap Thrills by Wendall Thomas

11. Tulle Death Do Us Part by Diane Vallere

12. Calico by Lee Goldberg

13. The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen

14. Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

15. City of Betrayal by Victoria Thompson

16. Keep Your Family Close by Annette Dashofy

17. Murder Under the Mistletoe by Erica Ruth Neubauer

18. Dearly Deleted by Sarah E. Burr