Falling For Her by Monica Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Monica Murphy gave me my "can't put it down" moment. Falling for Her is the best kind of binge. Jake and Hannah could be a cliche, but end up stepping out of the obvious and into the emotional. Jake is the cool guy with the world at his feet. Hannah is the girl that is easy to forget. Except when she isn't. I'm not usually into young adult romance, but Ms Murphy has me rethinking my stand on that. 

The point of these quick takes post to catch up on my "To Write About" stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness. This is a little longer than most of these that I do, I just wanted to get caught up on my Library Book Audiobooks (I'm so thankful that I can get audio downloads from my library right now—I'd be lost without them!)
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Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey, Jefferson Mays (Narrator) Series: The Expanse, #2 Unabridged Audiobook, 21 hrs. Hachette Audio, 2017 Read: April 6-14, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
90% of the reason I'm doing this in a Quick Take post is because if I don't cover it in a paragraph or two, I'll take 15 pages (or the equivalent). I'm kicking myself so hard for not jumping on each installment of this series as soon as it was published (although, if I did, I would be missing out on the audiobooks). I read the first book shortly after publication, but missed the release of this book—so before I realized it I was two novels and over a thousand pages behind, and I just couldn't find the time to catch up.

Anyway, this might not have been the right time to listen to a novel about an unexpected, largely unknown, biological enemy of all humanity and the inexplicable reactions of several governments to it—through the eyes of people living in fairly enclosed spaces. Still, it's gripping, imaginative, wonderfully told and very compelling. I can't wait to see what's next (although, I'm pretty apprehensive of it, too). I loved the new characters and hope they stick around.

Heartless by Gail Carriger, Emily Gray (Narrator) Series: The Parasol Protectorate, #4 Unabridged Audiobook, 11 hrs,, 19 mins Hachette Audio, 2011 Read: April 1-3, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I think I'm about over this series, but maybe it was just this novel. Alexia seemed to run around oblivious to what was going on for almost the entire book—sure, it's kind of explained by the effect "the infant inconvenience" is having on her mind, but I don't totally buy that. (maybe that's my maleness talking). The first couple of chapters and the little bit at the end with the newborn were the highlights for me—the climactic battle sequence was fun, I just didn't like how we got there. Still, it was a fun listen and I enjoy the characters. I hope the series finale is better.

That said, Emily Gray is a delight. I seriously cannot listen to her enough.

Demon Born Magic by Jayne Faith, Amy Landon (Narrator) Series: Ella Grey, #4 Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., and 52 mins. Tantor Audio, 2017 Read: April 24-27, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Ella now knows where her brother is, but she's been cut off from her power, so she can't move on it. Due to her lack of power (and some other stuff—including a total and inexplicable lack of due process), she loses her job. She and Damien start a private consulting business, make a Faustian deal and will deal with the consequences over most of this book and the next. Along the way, Ella learns why her brother is off the grid.

The luster has really worn off this series for me. I think it's possible that Faith will stick the landing and I'll be happy with the set as a whole, but I think she's squandered a good start. If there was more than one book left, I'm not sure I'd bother.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman Unabridged Audiobook, 6 hrs., 23 mins HarperAudio, 2006 Read: April 28-29, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I remember being disappointed when I read the book a few years ago, because the movie version (that I love) was such a lousy adaptation. The text eventually won me over, but it took a long time. This is backward, I realize, but what are you going to do?

Anyway, I came into this audiobook with low expectations, but I wasn't in the mood to spend money on an audiobook and everything I wanted from the library was checked out. Listening to Gaiman's always fun, so I gave this a whirl. Between Gaiman, low expectations, knowing it's not the movie, and a story that's really good when you give it a chance, I had a great time.

It's a fairy tale that isn't. Gaiman draws on every convention, every trope and uses them the way a child uses a play-doh set.

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy, Eileen Stevens (Narrator) Series: Dumplin', #1 Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 45 mins. HarperAudio, 2015 Read: April 29-30, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
This was just cute. Another "don't make me spend money on audiobooks while I wait for holds to become available" listen. A YA story about a fat girl (her words, not mine) who joins her small-town beauty pagent, and the scandal that ensues. It's almost entirely predictable, but Murphy's style makes it feel fresh, and you just don't care about the predictability. Steven's narration is spot-on, too. I had a lot of fun with this.

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary Unabridged Audiobook, 3 hrs., 37 mins Annick Press, 2019 Read: March 31, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
McCreary was five when he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, but it had challenged him and his parents far before then. In this short memoir, he talks about growing up with ASD and finding his place in performing and comedy. This wasn't as funny as you might hope from a comedian's memoir, but given that the focus of it was on the way he got through life and learning his craft while learning how to live in a neurotypical world, it'd be hard to be funny. Still, there was a light-heartedness to the entire book that made it pretty appealing.

I had plenty of fun listening to this, and gained some insight (much needed, I expect) into ASD. I think the hard copy might be a bit better because there are charts, graphs, etc. he mentions throughout (yes, there are pdf versions available on the publisher's site, but who listens to an audiobook when they can stop and look at a pdf?).

Paradise Valley by C. J. Box, Christina Delaine (Narrator) Series: The Highway Quartet, #4 Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., 6 mins Recorded Books, 2017 Read: March 26-30, 2020 Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Here we go. Cassie Dewell vs. The Lizard King: The Final Battle. Kyle Westergaard comes along for the ride, too—because we can't have a Highway novel without a young person's perspective. A lot of other characters from the entire series make appearances (important ones), too.

This was a solid—horrifying, but solid—conclusion to this arc. And it does set up a way for things to continue beyond this point.

I'm really glad that I started this series (it, too, started with a "don't make me spend money on audiobooks while I wait for holds to become available" listen)

Entertaining cosy mystery set mostly in New York City at the start of the twentieth century. An odd mix of optimism, romanticising of the Irish and harsh historical detail.

Six years before Rhys Bowen published the first book of the "Her Royal Spyness" series, she gave us "Murphy's Law" the first book of the Molly Murphy Mysteries. "Murphy's Law" won the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 2001 and the series is now seventeen novels strong.

I listened to the book on a couple of long drives across the UK. It entertained me, told me a few things I didn't know, occasionally annoyed me, often made me smile at the mixture of bravado and naivety of the main character and kept me wanting to find out whodunnit right to the end. All-in-all, not a bad experience for a cosy mystery.

Molly, on the run from Ireland for killing the son of an English landowner, flees to America via a series of events that Rhys Bowen cleverly engineers to make her new life in New York City as complicated as possible. Then she gets involved in a couple more deaths, comes to the attention of an NYPD detective and ends up trying to solve a crime on her own to clear the name of a friend.

Molly is a larger-than-life, slightly atavistic character, who sometimes teeters on the edge of cliché but never quite falls off. She's fierce and kind and has a mouth that always gets her into trouble. To some extent, she's protected by her own innocence, which prevents her from fully understanding the dangers of walking into a bar in Hell's Kitchen and asking questions about a local man.

Although this a cosy mystery in an historical setting, not all of the book is cosy. Beneath the, slightly irritating ah-now-aren't-the-Irish-lovely surface, Rhys Bowen gives a fairly stark picture of travelling across the Atlantic locked up in storage class, of being processed through the newly rebuilt Ellis Island building at the mercy of well-meaning doctors who could send you home and sometimes corrupt guardians who could steal what little you had, living in the over-crowded, unsanitary, dehumanising tenements and the corrupting power of the Irish political lobby and their dominance of the police.

The series had a fresh feel to it and energy enough to make me interested in reading the next book in the series "The Death Of Riley".