I'm Reading - Quick Reviews

I loved Divergent. I ordered Allegiant as soon as I knew it was coming out. When I started to read it, I realised I couldn't remember what happened in Insurgent, so I read Insurgent then Divergent in the space of a couple of days. I was disappointed. I would recommend reading Divergent - and just that one. In the second two, I found there was too much going from this place to that other place to that place, for extremely vague reasons.

Burn for Burn was just okay. I like the idea of empowered girls taking their revenge. I didn't love any of the three characters, and the slight supernatural element, although I saw it coming, still seemed to come out of nowhere. I will probably read the sequel, but based on this review, I'm not sure why.

The Lucy Variations was interesting. I kept googling the music mentioned, and eventually had a classical playlist going the whole time I was reading. The young girl/teacher figure aspect was a bit icky.

I raved about Code Name Verity when I read it and forced Luke to read it as well. I loved Rose Under Fire almost as much. Read both of them. End of review.

I would have enjoyed Someday, Someday, Maybe more if I didn't know it was written by Lauren Graham. I was really distracted by trying to match up events in the book with possible real life events. And I don't like to think about embarrassing things happening to real people - characters in books are fine. But if I wasn't such a Lauren Graham fan, I would probably never have read it. I did enjoy it, but would have liked a chapter at the end explaining which parts were made up and which parts really happened.

I have read almost all of Philippa Gregory's books, and was eagerly awaiting The White Princess. It was okay. I was really interested to read about the person who was, per Wikipedia, the daughter, sister, niece and wife of English monarchs. However, the problem was that Elizabeth of York seemed to be always on the sidelines of the aforementioned English monarchs. She spent a lot of time sitting around having to wait for the outcome of the men's fighting to see what her fate would be. 

I have read all of Sue Grafton's Alphabet series, and about halfway through I started to wonder if she would really make it all the way through to Z - or if she even should. I haven't loved the last few, but I did enjoy W is for Wasted - maybe it was just a welcome break from all the teen crap I've been reading lately. I thought it was interesting having another point of view, but it didn't feel much different to Kinsey's usual voice, which was slightly distracting. I appreciate Kinsey's attention to detail (she is a detective, after all), but I am pretty sure that there was way more description than usual or was necessary.

Review 10: 'A is for Alibi'

This has always been one of those books that sat on my parents bookshelf and I thought to myself "At some point I might try that series." It just never happened. A is for Alibi is a Detective/Crime novel set in California (well, mostly) and revolves around Kinsey Millhone, a tough, gun-toting PI. For her first case in the "Alphabet Mysteries", Kinsey is hired by Nikki Fife, who has just been released from prison after doing 8 years for the murder of her husband, to find the real killer.

The first thing that stuck me about this book was how it was structured. It really manages to capture the way Kinsey thinks about the world, everything was dry and precise. Few books I have read, even in this genre, manage to capture the essence of the characters so fully. A is for Alibi also surprised me with how fast paced it was, Kinsey followed leads across the state, meeting contacts and gathering information almost nonstop, gradually bringing together the pieces of the puzzle. A number of times she arrives just to late, to find that a crucial witness murdered, or files missing, and you know someone is one step ahead (At this point I figured out whodunit, although I almost changed my mind later, good storytelling there).

While I did enjoy this book, I'm not sure if I would read more, for a number of reasons:

1. While the writing style was novel, well executed, and even fitted the book well; it did at times irritate me, although I'm not entirely sure why. 
2. There just weren't enough explosions. (Or any Magic)
3. I don't like starting a series which I seriously doubt I'll ever [get to] finish. I've heard that the later books in the series aren't quite as good, and let alone that, I dont really want to read 24 books about a character with whom I have no real emotional attachment (Oh yeah, I found Kinsey hard to relate to).

 So yeah.. To sum up: A is for Alibi is a good book, written well; but isn't really my favourite type of read, so I probably wont come back to it in the near future.. later however, I may be running out of things to read.

Challenge 10: 'A Is For Alibi'

When I was thirteen, my family took a very long train trip, and I had the worst ear infection I've had in my whole entire life. I also read my first Sue Grafton book. On the same trip, I also read my first Janet Evanovich, so that year was really the beginning of my detective fiction reading.

Luke, your Challenge is the first in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series, which if you ask me really went downhill after a while and also this is why you don't start theming your titles if you're not going to be able see it through, A Is For Alibi.


As I said to Luke, I don't think he will enjoy the Challenge when he hears it, but I think he will enjoy the book. There are bad guys, shooting, swearing, and um other things guys like.