Book Clubbed

Book Clubbed by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this one, but...I kept yelling at the narrator, telling Tricia to "just CALL CHIEF BAKER ALREADY!" I know it's a cozy mystery, and the sleuth is the owner of a bookstore that sells nothing but mysteries, but if I were the chief, I'd bring her up on charges of obstructing justice for not turning over evidence and clues immediately. And her belief that she knows more than a detective about solving crimes/murders just because she's read about them for years? Seriously?? That's like people who think they can teach school because they used to attend it, or that they know more than doctors because they watch ER, House, Grey's Anatomy, or any other TV show about hospitals. Just...NO.

I'm pretty sure I'm done with this series. I hadn't read it in a while, and now I remember why: I'm a "character doorway" reader, and the characters in this series never learn or develop common sense. They are increasingly irritating to me as a result.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. A few mild swear words but no sex or graphic violence.

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The Shortest Way Home

The Shortest Way Home by Miriam Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hannah thinks she's got her life planned out: graduate, marry her boyfriend, take a high-powered job in NY, and live the "good life." And then a couple of weeks before graduation, a weekend getaway to wine country in California changes everything. Suddenly she's not sure whether she wants the life she's constructed.

I was expecting a romance, but she ends up breaking up with the boyfriend (smart) and backing off on starting a new relationship with the owner's son (after they sleep together), so it's not a romance novel. It's more of a finding-yourself-after-grad-school story.

I have no idea what's up with the title, as the main character seems to take the LONGEST way to figure out where home is and to come to terms with where she's from & call her mom back. Hannah had so much growing up to do--I never did quite grasp her need to flee her humble roots.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary. Contemporary setting, leisurely pace.

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