RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

3* Not an exciting tale but it's better than the previous book I read by SR. This is book X in a series and you won't be lost if you've not read the previous ones. There are low-key murder-mysteries set in Cornwall with a DS who's not long widowed, and who has a little girl that he pretty much dumps on his parents to look after. I've never really had the sense that the tales are full of tension or anything exciting but the police team do their jobs, sometimes fall for the obvious that's not necessarily the right thing, big things up a little - Googling is a skill a colleague has mastered - yawn, and ultimately get there. Dialogue is occasionally stilted and teaches readers to such eggs, but it's a readable series. In this one, the prologue told us the killer was a guy, so the chercher la femme was a bit of a waste of time, especially when the cops knew there had been a mystery guy around the first deceased all those years ago... ARC courtesy of NetGalley and...

4.75* I stood Eve Dallas up for Margot Phalen, and have no regrets.  Book 2 in the new MP FBI series can't be read as a standalone. The discovery that MP made, that I thought was just a bit too convenient at the very end of book 1, helping to exonerate Wes, makes another appearance (or few) here, and we get to hear the unsub's voice throughout the tale. We also find out that they/another unsub? want what's theirs back - this is cleverly done, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind as to what said voice was referring to. But, I was big time wrong as to their identitiy/ies and to what was wanted back. This author does beautifully with setting her scene and unsub/s.  The wolf character of the tale and the title sounded weirdly believable, to the point it had me pondering mental health as an illness versus delusions/indoctrination/cult. I'm still no closer to understanding the guy by the end of the tale, but suspect that he's done for in this series. There is more than...

2.5* With this book, MK falls off my autobuy list. It's all styling, very little substance, with so-not-believable baddies. And editor, what editor?  Joffe Books, I'm finding can be quite inconsistent in quality and editing. MK is normally an author whose books I tend to watch out for, but even for 99p, it's not a great effort.  The storyline piques attention, as does traumatised little 6yo Joshua. Until suddenly, 2 chapters from the end, he too morphs into getting chapters from his 1st PPOV, in far too grown-up a voice and tone. It's just not believable. It mimicked the rest of the chapters when the baddie/s were anonymous in their 1PPOV storytelling - unburdening and freaking out - but it felt inorganic. As to the Maguire brothers? Too many all-mouth-no-trousers types, with all 3 living ones and the dead one having secrets. And the Maguire women? Made out to be certain types that then turned out not to be those types. Really not believable that one had hidden cojones ...

2* This poor author feels like a 'we've got to publish him, but don't really want to stand by him' author from Joffe Books. I used to get ARCs by Joffe Books but I suspect they don't like critique, as they've been rejecting all my recent requests. I've been harsh at times but also pretty fulsome where praise/feedback was warranted. This book was a free-to-read-now tale, and I can see why. There's really nothing to recommend here. There's alluded-to stuff with a DI who holds the lead character's  - so unmemorable that I've forgotten his name  - puppet strings, the reasons for which don't get revealed beyond brief allusions about events that made him have to leave The Met. Just silencing looks. I got tired reading about his unexplained exile from The Met and his not liking Wiltshire.  The thing with the lady vicar was pointless. The thinking by his young sidekick about whether single vicars are allowed to have sex was archaic. The plethora ...

4* Refreshing intro to a police procedural set in the UK, but some slightly irritating quirks and style - maybe those will grow on me, as I enjoyed the tale despite them. I wasn't lost in this tale despite being new to the series. What I didn't like were the 'they work but they're made-up words' that peppered both narration and dialogue, and weren't limited to the Porson character, who I found unbelievable for a law enforcement type in 2026. The guy wasn't offensive per se but seemed to be lacking self-awareness and general awareness with some of what he came out with. That aside, it was a decent enough tale. One where I got to quite like Slider, but thought some of the other characters, especially the female cop brought in to use - unknowingly or not  - her feminine assets, inorganic and unnecessary. The storyline was sad, with a seemingly pretty decent person dying. That the guilty parties didn't fall over each other to make a deal, didn't quite se...

 3* Misses the mark due to uninteresting and unlikeable main characters. The 2 besties are great, though.  I've only read Always You and Me by this author, a book that had me in tears at the start and end. It set a really high bar that unfortunately this book couldn't reach for many reasons, the main 2 of which are in the review title.  So, the male lead, despite being a dad, was pretty boring and a bit of a wallflower. I really couldn't see him despite the many mentions of startling green eyes and the lightning 'tattoo'. He seemed blind to his ex's machinations, and to the ex's BFF's machinations, and fell for the fake illness episode they concocted. No questions asked. Hmm.  The female lead seemed unemotional and selfish, ghosting her best friends for 9 months until she decided she needed to make changes to her life. Why they gave her the time of day was beyond me, because the author didn't tell us a single likeable thing about her. Just that her h...