Book Review: The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not sure what I expected when I started this book and at first I didn’t think I was going to like it.  There really isn’t a lot of meat to the story and there is a lot of unnecessary language.  Copious use of the “F” word, a lot of British slang, etc.  Not sure it added to the story, but perhaps that’s how they talk in Britain.  In the end, it didn’t really turn me off from the story.

The book focuses on the life of Jo MacKenzie, who is moving to a seaside community from the city to take over her Grandmother’s yarn shop.  She’s an avid knitter and recent widow.  Her grief is made worse to explain because her marriage was less than stellar and her husband wound up dying before an end could be put to the marriage.

The move turns out to be a good thing.  Her best friend Ellen, a well known reporter, is a frequent visitor from the city.  She meets new friends, including a movie star, which brings her more into community involvement, which helps her move forward after her husband's death.  The movie star part sounds outrageous, but that developing friendship is done very well.

The story is basically Jo and friends muddling through life.  There’s bit of romance and some family drama (Jo’s mother is somewhat of a flake), but it’s all about getting on with life.

I enjoyed the characters in the book, even the dog Trevor.  Have I mentioned that Jo is the mother of two boys?  Well, she is.  And, after reading this book, I’m doubly glad that I have no children and can’t imagine that this would inspire anyone to run out and have them.  I’m guessing, though, this is a fairly accurate portrayal of life with two small boys, no sugar coating.  They weren't little terrors per se, but very active.

Having said, all of this, I very much enjoyed this book and plan on reading the other two books in this series.  And, you don't to have to knit to enjoy it.  I don’t knit and after reading all about Jo’s yarn shop and knitting society, I kind of want to learn.  If you’re looking for a pleasant read, then give this title a try.


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Book Review: Better Read Than Dead (Psychic Eye Mystery #2) by Victoria Laurie

Better Read Than Dead by Victoria Laurie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I very much enjoyed the first book in this series (Psychic Eye), however, this book was somewhat of a disappointment.  Abby, the main character, comes across a little too dumb for her own good or just plain flaky.  She agrees to help out a fellow psychic with a wedding gig, only to find out part of the way through that it’s a mob wedding.  So, they bail.  Yes, they just leave the wedding.  Which, of course, brings them to the attention of the mob because, you know, they bailed on a gig for which they’d already been paid.  Or rather, friend had been paid, but he had a dispute with his significant other and headed out of state - with the money.  Through a series of events, Abby is then picked by the mob boss to be his new psychic and help him find his long missing wife and a successor to his fortune.

The side story is the police asking for help to find a rapist, then not listening to her, which of course proves fatal for the next victim.  Seriously, the cop all but begs for her help, then insist she’s wrong and they’re right.

What happens from here on is just a series of events that is just one bad thing after another.  Really, just one horrible thing after another piled onto Abby, who is hell bent on telling no one that the mob is terrorizing her into helping them.  Not only did I find a good part of the book implausible, but I really didn’t think anyone could be as naive (I’m tempted to say stupid, but am going with naive) as to try and handle things as Abby did.

Throw in a badly done romance with Dutch and another small story line that, in my opinion, really added nothing, and you have a book that just seemed to be never ending in it’s misery.

Everything, of course, is resolved and actually it all ties together, though it was a bit sloppy, and after the rest of the book seemed a bit rushed.  Naturally, everyone comes out okay in the end.  I’m not at all sure I’ll read the next book in this series as this one was just a bit over the top.


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Muddling through...

Well, it's been a little over a month with the new job. The more I learn about this organization as a whole, the more I know this is not an organization I want to work for long term. So, I'm coming up with a game plan and hope to be outta here after a year or so. When I took this job, I thought I'd done my homework so to speak. So, I'm more than a little disappointed at how bad it's turned out. You think you've learned from your mistakes, then you realize there are plenty of other mistakes to make. In this case, I simply didn't do enough research on the company. So, I add it to the lesson learned list and start making plan B.

To compound the problem, I still don't really care for the city, but I can manage until I can come up with a better place to live. For me, anyway. The city itself isn't bad, it's just not for me. Strangely, I've only ever lived in other place that that I didn't like. At least in the past, something was as least good. If the job was bad, I loved where I lived and if the city wasn't great, well, the job was okay. What I've learned from this move, is that there are things that I'm looking for in a city and a short trip for the interview didn't tell me enough. I'm not even sure a house hunting trip would have made a difference, but I'll definitely check out the future city a lot better.

The apartment has been a challenge on several levels. First, the trains, which some days I'm okay with and others I'm like enough already. So far, Sundays are high volume train days with an average of five trains going through between around 5:00 AM and 11:00 AM and there have been two trains through within a 45 minute period on Sunday mornings. I know because I've been working out and it's a 45 minute workout. Some aren't bad, others sound and feel like they are about to come through the house. Sadly, I didn't take my cat into account with the trains. In fairness, when looking I didn't realize they'd shake the apartment, but they do. So, I've got a kitty that is still spending the majority of time under the bed. I may consider moving to an apartment closer to work and further from the trains, both for her and for me.

Another challenge was the upstairs neighbor. Labor day was particularly bad, not just their stereo but a lot of thumping and banging, which at one point bounced my ceiling. I finally complained to management. Long story short, we wound up calling the police non-emergency number Memorial Day night. A lot of people according to the apartment manager and hosted by someone not on the lease. I hate being the cranky old lady downstairs and have never done anything like that, but it really was more than I could handle. There was no peace in my apartment for almost the entire Memorial Day weekend and my home is my sanctuary.

I have to say, with peace and quiet, I'm enjoying the apartment more. I'm not doing a lot of cooking, but I have done some, though I haven't gotten to where I'm whipping out new recipes. Still feeling my way around this new kitchen. I have found, though, a couple of grocery stores that will work for me. I also stopped by the mall the other night. I've always kind of enjoyed mall walking. Not an every week kind of thing, but I always saved up my errands and then just enjoyed a visit to the mall. Meh, the mall here was okay, but I don't think I'll be visiting it a lot. Just didn't grab me. That may change over time.

In the meantime, I continue to explore a little, mostly on walks at lunch when I'm downtown, but for the most part, I'm finding that there's enough to keep me going, but not truly endear me to my new city. So, while I'll admit I'm not doing change well these days, at least it won't be hard for me to move on from here. I'm putting that in the plus column.

Book Review: A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett

A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in a new series featuring Katie Bonner. It opens with the murder of Ezra Hilton, owner of Artisans Alley. Thanks to her late husband’s interest in Artisans Alley (he was also an artist), he invested their savings in it to become partners with Ezra. This leaves Katie with controlling interest in Artisan’s Alley upon Ezra’s death.

Sadly, it’s a struggling venture, but it appears that it is also what Katie needs to really begin moving on after her husbands unexpected death. It is not what Katie wanted, as her dream is to run a different type of business, however, this is what she has and in order to sell it, it needs to be turning a profit. So, she jumps in with both feet.

This book offered good characters a plenty in addition to a nice little mystery, with an ending I didn’t see coming, though the clues where there. Katie doesn’t set out to solve Ezra’s murder, but even though she didn’t have a close relationship with him, she feels he deserves to have his killer discovered. But, unlike many other cozy detective stories, she does try to pass on her information to the police. Alas, the detective is a little distant. Turns out he’s dealing with his own problems.

The mystery flowed well and the characters were well defined. This was simply a well done, enjoyable little mystery. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

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