Maïté Robert is going green, or trying to, or thinking about it at the very least. She draws comics about the problems she runs into, such as loving plants, and books, and meat, and having a friend who is totally ecofriendly.

I liked the style of the comics, but it’s the sort of comic that should be enjoyed in small dosage, such as once a week or month (probably the original format). Though there is an overarching theme (going green), there is very little that connects the individual “chapters”.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Took a while to get into this book. Effie isn't the most likeable character.

Bit dull.

The story is a bit repetitive. The days seem to go like this: Jules walks (or drives her golf cart) around the site of her resort and talks to a few people. The next day, Jules walks around the site of her resort and talks to a few people. Not even the people she talks to seem to differ much.

There are a few outliers, when she packs up the stuff of a deceased, or when she snoops around in the tiny house one of her guests is staying. The later is unethical, and using her cleaning staff as a cover even more so.

There doesn’t seem to be much work to do on the resort for Jules, or at least it is rarely mentioned that she does any. She does wander around the film set (on the resort) a lot and everyone always has time to chat with her or is okay with her just hanging around.

And Jules goes out to lunch a lot with her friend Pixel, who has to drive out for at least twenty minutes to get to Fern Valley (so probably also doesn’t have much to keep her occupied in her day job).

Anyway, I found the story far from gripping. Despite the large cast of characters that could have made the story interesting, the plot failed to be entertaining. Too much of the same thing happening, not enough speculation about whodunnit. (The story failed at making more than one character stand out as a possible suspect.)

There were some minor editing issues. A character’s name changed from one paragraph to the next and while Jake had ordered spaghetti he ate a sandwich (and then settled the bill twice).

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Tish Tarragon had to close her cafe and is one catering job way from unemployment (or finding a great real estate deal so she can open her cafe again). The catering job is a few meals for a wedding party at a B&B.

One of the other guests at the B&B is a TV chef, best known for his business breaking reviews of restaurants and other places that serve food. He’s in town to film a few segments for a new episode of his show and somewhere along the way, someone has served him some poisonous mushrooms. He dies.

Two complicating details: the man was as much as jerk in real life as he was on camera, so pretty much everyone that knew him hated him. And, at every place he ate the day he was poisoned, he was served mushrooms in one way or another.

Tish and Clemson investigate.

I liked the plot, but there are a few things about the story that bothered me:
- Gunnar Randall is a bully and brings all the women over 50 he bullies to tears. Seriously, all of them. As if women that have been successfully running their own business since their twenties suddenly loose the ability to stand up for themselves as soon as they hit menopause. (The younger women also all cry.)
- Tish and Clayton slurped their noodles. Apparently, my misophony extends to when eating noises are implied in writing.
- Tish and Clemson talk to two people that give a different account of who set up a meeting. They see no reason person A would lie, therefore, person B must have been lying. (And then wonder why person B lied to them.) How about: just because you see no reason person A would lie, doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason.

Clemson and Tish are moving on in their personal relationship, which means there is zero romantic tension between them. They do quip a lot, but mostly they are just dull together.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Daisy is taking part in a baking contest, spin-off of that great British baking show. All episodes are shot over the course of two weeks and candidates have to stay at the venue where filming takes place.

That’s not the most complicated thing about this competition. There are two deaths. First a candidate and later a judge. Daisy decides to investigate and with the help of a little magic she tries to get to the bottom of it.

I loved the baking competition. The murder investigation was less interesting. It lacked urgency for Daisy to get involved. We hardly got to know Chloe before she died, and David … Well, it made more sense for Daisy to make sure her tracks were covered and to lay low.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Third book in the House of Magic series. I’ve loved the other two books and was very keen to read this one. It did not disappoint.

It’s a fast paced action packed story where Phoebe and her friends are trying to find out who is targeting one of the most powerful vampires in London. Either that person is very dumb or another powerful vampire.

Meanwhile Phoebe is learning magic, and though she does everything right, the words, the hand gestures, the end result is anything but. Which she finds very frustrating, but everyone around her finds curious at the most.

It’s moments like these though, that gave me the most trouble imagining Phoebe as someone much older than a schoolgirl. She even has a schoolgirl infatuation with her teacher/boss Archibald Kane.

Looking forward to the next in the series, where hopefully while Phoebe’s abilities grow, so does her confidence and maturity.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

I wanted to write a glowing review, but I'm too shook by the epilogue. That's no way to end a book. Not unless you want to manipulate your readers.

Spoiler

The ending would have been perfect if it had not included the morning after the night before.

Other than that, once again another great story in the House of Magic series. The final battle (the other three books had final battles too, this is not a spoiler) had a few too quick resolves (compared to the rest of the book).

Guess I'm now looking forward to book five.

Spoiler

Which could have started with the morning after the night before.

I received an ARC from the author.