This weekend I downloaded three contemporary romances from OverDrive. Two I read in about 24 hours each; the third I DNF at the 9% mark. I think I got my reading mojo back. Today I went to volunteer at the library (something I haven't done all March because of adult taskings); after, I decided to browse the fiction side for a change. 

I came home with 12 books (8 adult fiction titles, 1 middle grade that will fill a PS prompt, 1 graphic novel) plus I still have four books coming to me via ILL. In my defense, I was left unsupervised in a library.

Here's what I brought home:

1. George by Alex Gino (the MG for PS prompt)

2. Paper Girls (Book One) by Brian K. Vaughn et al (collects the first 10 issues)

3. Death on Tap (Sloan Krause Mystery #1) by Ellie Alexander

4. Once Upon a Spine (A Bibliophile Mystery) by Kate Carlisle

5. A Perfect Proposal by Katie Ffjorde

6. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

7. Dark Harbor (Stone Barrington Novel) by Stuart Woods

8. The Miner's Lady (Land of Shining Water #3) by Tracie Peterson

9. One Wish (A Thunder Point Novel) by Robyn Carr

10. Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

11. Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

12. Night Road by Kristin Hannah

This wasn't quite as entertaining as the previous books, but it was still very good. The delicious descriptions of chocolate and yummy goodies had me salivating, and the mystery kept me on my toes.

Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.

There are books you enjoy and there are books you hate, or almost worse, books that make you feel nothing at all.  Then there are the books that are none of the above; these are the worst because they aren't bad - they might be good, but they don't hit the high notes for whatever reason.

On Thin Icing is just such a dreaded book.  It's good: it's well written, it's well-edited and it's well plotted.  I like the characters and the setting, but I put the book down and thought "I don't know...".  It's a notch above meh.  Which means I have no idea if I should send it and its siblings to the big black box or hang on for another one.  Which leaves me feeling aggravated.

I think a large part of what's holding me back from 'true like' is the stupid stupid stupid love triangle.  If you're going to introduce a married MC who is still in love with her husband (and he in love with her) why are you giving her another love interest?!?!  This is the worst kind of love triangle and a level of emotional manipulation I despise, which I suppose says something about how enjoyable the rest of her writing is that I didn't send this sucker flying across the room.

I can't say if I recommend this book or not.  Nor can I say if I'll continue with the series.  I'm going to prevaricate and decide in July, when the next book comes out.  If I see it and buying it feels like a duty, the series is outta here.

Disappointed in this one.  I thought the first book was a strong contender, but this felt like a weak follow up.

Alexander writes a beautiful Oregon setting, and creates a strong, likeable MC (Jules), but follows up with some stilted, awkward dialogue between characters.  A scene where Jules' mother and her old high school sweetheart treat her like she's 8 just made me cringe.  Most of the dialogue between Jules and her mother actually read like a middle-school after school special.  A brewing love triangle on the horizon also contributes to my growing unease with this series.

The plotting was... not strong.  I didn't guess the murderer, but I'm not sure anyone really could by using clues because there weren't any.  Jules berates herself at the end for not figuring it out but I don't see how she could have, information was never given to make this character a suspicious one.  

I suspect bad editing needs to be blamed for some of the books weaknesses; it felt like there were chunks missing from the plot and at least once Jules mentioned a character telling her something relevant that she was never actually told.

I think I already own the third book, so I'll read it but unless the quality changes dramatically, this one's going in the box.