ofclumsywords's Reviews (486)

This book was so magical! This is the second Jenny Bayliss book I've read and it was exactly what I was expecting it to be. I loved every single moment of it, from start to finish. 

There was barely any drama unlike other Christmas-y books out there. Of course there was a bit of drama, but none that didn't get resolved quickly and wasn't the main part of the book. All the relationships in this book were written well, where the partners weren't overbearing or annoying at all. Each had their problems of course, but much like the drama it was resolved quickly.

There is some sort of strange magic that takes place when a book is set during Christmas in a small town. Something about a small community coming together to get the town ready for the holiday season is just so comforting that I will never pass up a book like it. The theme of sisterhood and family was also very strong and seeing the three estranged sisters heal their grievance's while also bringing the town together for a celebration was fabulous. I can't wait to reread this book next year and relive the magic that this book contains.

A bookshop wrote a tiny blurb to describe this book saying: “Six Slytherins compete for five spots in a super secret society…” Which pretty much sums up this book.

Most of these characters are terrible people, ones that you instantly hate but can’t get enough of. The whole magic system in this book was so interesting and I loved the idea that the library of Alexandria was not actually destroyed but instead hidden and became the heart of a secret society that only the best of the best are selected for every ten years. At its heart this book is all about magic and books and that was what drew me in immediately. This is a type of book where you immediately hate most of the characters, but the farther into the plot you get you start to understand them and their past more. Not a lot of authors can write that well, but this author did. Getting to gain knowledge from one of the greatest libraries in the world along with the characters was amazing and I honestly did not want this book to end. 

The only thing I think I have to say negatively about this book is that the title is a little on the nose. A character is named Atlas and it is revealed at the end that he is the bad guy, hand selecting these initiates to make his own group of Medeians in order to take over the society. Kind of gives away the point of the book if I’m being honest. But even with the bad guy being revealed by the title of the book, I honestly have no idea where this plot is going besides Atlas wants to take over the world. This series is three books long and I am very interested to see how this plot grows and eventually resolves.

Lost interest. I do want to come back to this book but the pacing was strange and I thought that the ex-husband would not show up so early on considering that he was someone the MC did not want to run into again after their past. But the humor was great and it was a cool take of an ex-pirate who is pulled out of her retirement to go on one last great adventure. From the pages I read it was clear that the MC was being pulled into two directions, her love for the sea vs the pull of raising her daughter and a quiet life with her family. 

Got over half way through and nothing was getting resolved. The two characters were just realizing they liked each other but were still hurt over the “break up” which wasn’t really that dramatic. The break up was very obvious to everyone else besides the two MC’s and it got very repetitive and slow. This book was also not very Christmas-y. It was more of a cozy wintery book than Christmas since there was only a smattering of Christmas things like seeing the houses decked out for Christmas and decorating the ski lodge (that actually happened off page and then the male MC was like “whoa! She decorated!”). 

This book begins with an introduction by Agatha Christie explaining that this was one of her favorite books to write and waited until she had it fully fleshed out before she wrote it. With further research I realized that Crooked House was not written until 1949, over 20 years after her first book was published. You can tell by reading this how much thought Christie put into the murderer. The reader honestly cannot guess who is the murderer is since each family member of the crooked little house is just that... crooked. Each family member is unique, annoying, and have motive to kill their patriarch. But it isn't until the very last second that the truth is revealed by a letter of confession. Its funny that the murderer ends up being the character I liked the most, just shows how well Christie is at writing such interesting characters that you end up liking the murderer. I was excited to see that there is a recent movie that was made of this book so I can see it played out on screen since this book is now easily one of my top Christie novels.

While once again it's proven that Agatha Christie is the queen of mystery, I found this book a little hard to follow. With so many different characters flitting in and out of the chapters it was sometimes hard to keep up. Then you find out later on that some of the characters were the same people in disguise made it even more confusing to untagle the web of mystery. This is a book that needs to be read more than once to really get down who everyone was. I did appreciate the fact that Christie summed up the book with a letter written by the killer (something that I am realizing is becoming a theme with Christie's works). The letter helped putting two and two together and further understand why the murder took place and how they pulled it off. 

Of the characters who didn't constantly change their face, Frankie was by far my favorite. Plucky is a great definition for Frankie and she isn't like the typical Earl's daughters that you meet in period films and books. She dove right in and began to solve the mystery herself and even though she was an amateur detective, she did have really good ideas and the murder was solved in the end. Bobby and Frankie were a good team and worked well together to get the job done and make it fun joining them on a wild adventure. 

The fourth book in the New Doctor Who Adventures is written by the same author that wrote the first book in this series; one that I really liked. After the trainwreck the third book was, I was a little apprehensive starting the next book but only a few pages in I knew it was going to be a good one. Not only was it written well, but Captain Jack Harkness joins the Ninth Doctor and Rose on their next adventure. Whenever Jack is around, it always means a good time and there is going to be a lot of snark and flirting involved. But this book had a more serious tone from Jack, one that we see more in the Torchwood TV show instead of how he usually is with the Doctor and Rose. Though that's not to say that Jack wasn't his usual cheeky self but he was a little more serious since the three of them arriving in the town was Jack's fault and he felt responsible for some of the events that happened and wanted to help the town and its people.

This story takes place in 21st Century Russia, in a small little town forgotten by the government. Which is just the set up for something sinister to happen right under everyone's nose. As all Doctor Who stories go, especially when they happen on earth, the answer is always aliens. Sinister rocks sucking the life out of humans until they are lifeless shells? Aliens. A strange sentient ship that crashed right by the tiny town and sending out a distress signal for help? Aliens. This book really honed in on humanity and what humans would do when they discover alien technology that can aide them in living forever. The scientists really became so self absorbed that they were willing to sacrifice an entire town of innocent people just to give the alien technology enough energy so they could use it for their gain. But of course that is where the Doctor comes in and refuses to let them get away with it.

It was a great book from start to finish and once again captured who the Doctor is perfectly. I have faith that not all the books in this series are going to be as terrible as the last one was and I am excited to read more. And I forgot to mention in my last reviews of the little easter eggs hidden about Bad Wolf. I love the fact that even though these are books instead of episodes in the show that they still tie in all together and I love that these books are truly additional adventures the Doctor and his companions go on that we don't see in the show.