RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

5* Wow, what an intro to this author. I'm a British Asian born and bred, and rarely have I seen a kickarse Asian female lead like Mumtaz.  I've not read the previous books in this series, but was drawn in by the author's name and Mumtaz's. And what a find it was. A solid, tragic (or was it?) storyline; 2 separate deaths in 2 different communities; investigated by the same team of no-frills, no-dressing-it-up detectives; with an unexpected link between the two; further intensified by another death and someone pivotal who'd seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet; with an ending that'd been only vaguely hinted at, and with a fight-for-your-life actual ending. Utterly satisfying.  I'm just slightly confused about the Punjabi wedding stuff at the end, when the wedding was clearly a Muslim one, but prepared to go with the flow with it.   Now off to buy books 1 and 2.  ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Canelo/Hera, for my reading pleasure.

4* It's not Cat and Bones, but it's powerful being against powerful female with a little added extra, so kinda like C&B. Ish. A slightly different take on C&B, because this heroine kills bad guys willingly, needing to feed the thing inside her and keep it under control. She comes across a supernatural community right under her nose, despite thinking she'll once again have to up roots because of the killings. Not this time. Not too much happens other than a fight for territory, some long-dead truths being outed, betrayal and unfortunately giving an...enemy? frenemy? leverage. Oh, and a potential other suitor right at the end. So, yes, it ends on a damned cliffhanger, with the next book not out for 5 more months, in February 2027.

4* Was on track to be a 5* tale but for the totally-doesn't-work ending. With today's world full of cameras, looky-loos, cctv, smart phones, it just couldn't work.  This isn't an exciting or dangerous-feeling tale but it drew me in. The POVs of various characters. The spooky house. The feud (low key) with jealousy and resentments. The affairs. The back-stabbing. Amy morphing into Raine. The sense of entitlement from several characters. The lengths people will go to for money and the prestige of a name...  Raine utterly lacked personality but she seemed a half-decent person. Judson wasn't a dashing cop, just a busy one. Their romance rekindled didn't work for me. No passion. No real time alone. And maybe more than one killer. But, that ending absolutely wouldn't have worked, not unless it'd been under the cover of total darkness, with street lights broken, cars with fake plates, mobiles left home, and, pizza was about to arrive. Not sure what MB and her e...

4* Very confusing at times, with some pretty big leaps to find the killer/s(?), but very readable, especially with the secrets that out.  This tale is gruesome in its opening; 'good but with a pinch of salt' in its detecting; confusing when it comes to Ella, as it's not clear if she's having visions, dreams or psychiatric episodes (not sure that her condition is ever mentioned, or, as it turns out, even real); sad in the Eabha situation, especially when her mum's secret is revealed; freaky at times when Roisin screeches; 'omg, really??' at more than one point, with things coming together seemingly out of nowhere, yet believably so; and, satisfying at the end. It also had a couple of junior detectives that I couldn't fathom how or why hadn't been carpeted for attitude and laziness.  The team seemed to have resources and budget galore, which felt unrealistic, but it made for a decent tale. I think this could've been more visual on a small screen, a...

5* Omg, omg, omg, the series continues!! Another brilliant tale. When Emma fell pregnant in book 3, and after THAT case and all the dangers, I was convinced that that was the end of the series. I saw this come up as an ARC and devoured the book in under 2 hours. It's the same, yet different, high-danger, high-octane type of case, with weirdos and crazy preppers. Thankfully the bigwig that'd been trying to throw his literally considerable weight around in the first 3 books doesn't feature, but it's even scarier because of the preppers and their mindsets and codes. The tale is by no means cut and dried but prosecutors are after a result and you just know they'll be convinced they've got a cut-and-dried case, which Dean very nicely, with the help of his investigator, pulls to pieces, but not in the way Dean, or the opposition, had expected. A total gotcha.  We've not left this world of preppers, as something Emma innocently does has a repercussion no one could...

3* Why, Emily?? Why Ms Greene? This felt like lazy writing and editing. SPOILERS follow: This is sadly the weakest book in the series. The Antonio thing has peaked and he's bought a house nearby, the divorce is nearly done, then something happens that makes Emily rethink all, and decide she can stay in the marriage, but not back as wifey. I kid you not. Then, the baby turns out to be not Antonio's, and the book ends in a scene where she's covering his hand that's reaching over to her as they sit and have a drink. Yet again, I kid you not.  The tale was pretty good at first. Some real creeps, some characters who deserved what they got, some people who deserved better, and a decent storyline that should've culminated in who was protecting the bad guys and why their immigration files were so redacted. It turned into a bit of a 💩 show, tbh, with a far too convenient killing of the bad guy by one of his own, meaning that the US government agency at the core of things wa...