Lily's wedding to Sailor is fast approaching, but a kidnapping outside her shop on Haight Street and a murder on Alcatraz prove distracting and threaten to jeopardise a lot more than her upcoming nuptials.  

I read this right on the heels - literally, as I was on the plane when I started it - of our day-long layover in San Francisco.  This was a definite plus, as so many of the places she mentions in the book were places I had just visited.  

I've always enjoyed this series, and I'm a little bummed that this one reads like it might be the last; the series arc comes to an end, and all sorts of loose ends are tied off.  On the other hand, it was a good story, even if the villain was recycled from a previous story, and the face of villain was fairly obvious early on.  I love the characters, and at this point I'm probably devoted to them more than I am to solving the mystery.

Hopefully there are more books to look forward to in this series, but if not, at least it feels like it ended in a good place.

I read 30 books in July with an average score of 3.83. I read 14 YA books and 5 graphic novels. My most-read genres were contemporary, romance, and fantasy.

My favorite book was Charged: the New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration - Emily Bazelon, even though it was a tough read. My least favorite is no contest at all: We Know It Was You - Maggie Thrash. I haven't had a one star read in a long time, but there was no question on what I was rating this.

5 Stars

4.5 Stars

4 Stars

3.5 Stars

3 Stars

2.5 Stars

1 Star

Books by author gender:

• Male: 6
• Female: 23
• Male/Female Mix: 1

Books by format:

• Physical: 10
• Audio: 20

I thoroughly enjoy this series, and I enjoyed this one too, but I think it might be the one I liked least.

Anyone who has read the earlier books in the series will readily agree that Lady Darby has had an unarguably difficult and painful past.  Her first husband, a famous anatomist, forced her to attend his human dissections to draw the illustrations required for his planned masterwork on the human anatomy.  When her part was revealed upon his death, she was vilified and run out of London. Now she's back, in love, married, and pregnant, and her timing is awful; burkers have been caught attempting to sell the body of a dead boy to anatomists, and it's obvious he did not meet his end naturally.  Then the nobs start getting killed in the streets of Mayfair and everyone is looking at Lady Darby again.

It's a great story, but unfortunately, Kiera's wallowing just a bit.  Not as much as your average historical heroine cliche, but more than what I'd expect from this strong and talented character.  Call it a justifiable response to the equivalent of PTSD, but she became a victim, and it was a bit disappointing, given all the adventures she's had.  Usually, this wouldn't be as big of a stand out as it is this time, but the murderer was obvious to me from the start, so I had nothing to distract me from Kiera's sudden-onset mousiness.  She gets her mojo back in the end, so that's something.

In spite of my nit-picking, it was still an enjoyable read overall, and I look forward to the next one.

For my tastes, this series isn't quite as strong as her Chicagoland Vampire series, in terms of either storyline or writing.  Not that it's badly written, just that it doesn't quite nail the rich, humorous dialog Neil achieved with Merit and the gang.

This one reads as though it might be the final book in the series, and it wraps up all the loose ends nicely, with Claire and Liam venturing beyond the veil into the fae beyond to retrieve an artefact that may help them finally defeat the fae that have waged war on the city of New Orleans.  There's a small, bittersweet moment at the end, but generally, everyone gets their happily ever afters or, at least, happily-for-nows if Neil has plans for a 5th book.

Not quite Ilona Andrews or Patricia Briggs level of UF, but I enjoy Neil's writing; she offers a slightly less gritty, and very enjoyable, brand of urban fantasy.

Cover Shot

by LynDee Walker
Book 5 of A Nichelle Clarke Crime Thriller

Cover Shot was another enjoyable installment of the Nichelle Clarke series, with more convoluted twists to Nichelle's investigation, and a sort of personal touch involving some emotional back story on Nichelle's part, even if only touched upon briefly.  This particular book was also a bit more subdued on the dark and gritty than the previous book was--you don't even get to see the first murder victim, and the entire "hush-hush" on the investigation thing almost made me forget that there'd been a murder victim in the first place from page one.

There isn't a whole lot to say, as Nichelle is as spunky, resourceful, and persistent, as usual... except I DO wish she would stop trying to get herself killed while proclaiming that she has no desire to get herself killed.  As an investigative crime reporter, TSTL seems to be one of her traits that I've learned to live with, and meeting unknown sources in back alleys is probably one of the few ways she depends upon for information.

Meanwhile, I absolutely enjoyed focusing more on the multiple lines of investigation going on, with two crimes occurring that verge together in the end to make sense.  Gone are the 'Mean Girl' cat claws and hissing between Nichelle and Shelby, and even Charlie seems more subdued after her first sarcastic insult at Nichelle.  Unfortunately, without those, the book seems to fade the two rivals out, as if their only purpose was to be rude and antagonistic to Nichelle.  But whatever, at least we can skip all of that, because Nichelle had more worries on her mind to deal with in the first place.

We've also set the romance on the back burner, as Nichelle had officially made her choice previously, so we got to kiss the love triangle good-bye... even IF I still don't see the chemistry between her and Joey, and even IF the male posturing still continues on.  In fact, the mystery mafia man still doesn't strike me as all that appealing, and it seems that aside from a mutual attraction, food, and sex, the two don't really have a whole lot in common.  And since Joey remains so shrouded in shadows, you don't get to know him well enough, and neither does Nichelle, to understand why he's the better choice.  Although in the long run, I suppose Nichelle's feelings on the matter are truly all that matter.

On the flip side, Kyle has grown a bit petty.

Anyway, another strong, solid entry into the series that I'm still enjoying!


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #17:
Square: The Stay-cation 9 | Read a book that includes a visit to a museum, a concert, a library, or a park, or that the author's name begins with one of the letters in R-E-L-A-X.

How it fits:  Author's name begins with the letter 'L.'
Page Count:  360
Cash:  $3