RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

2.5* Sadly, nowhere near as good as the series books Norman Norman has been in before. This free-to-all ARC of the first book in a new series feels very forced. We're told things, not shown. Fay doesn't feel like her own woman - she's a prop and a sort of PA to her partner/hubby Norman, who's lost the Norman wisdoms - no pun intended - of previous books. Sadly, she feels like a well-trained four-legged friend. Things are repetitive. Gestures are repetitive. The tale is boring, but does have some sleuthing, though you have to suspend disbelief that a vicar's wife would let newcomers to the village - Norman and Fay - into a deceased's house, so they can look for evidence. Norman and Fay's partnership is boring and docile. They don't talk much and when they do, she feels like the lesser party, like the less important one, an afterthought, almost.  The actual death takes a back seat to the going ons and gossip and WI meetings in the village. The herbalist wa...

0* Non-tech and pissed-off review. I initially got the lovely sage-green budget/basic Kindle in the run-up to the October Prime day sales, for £89.99, down from £134.99. It was plasticky and kept freezing. The tech team couldn't help and could only send me a black replacement, as the green was out of stock.  The black one ended up delayed, and the same freezing happened, so I returned it for a refund after a day's trying - I'm not the patient type. I then bought the new Alexa+ fire tablet with 'early Alexa+ access' for £60 off at £139.99. It arrived the day after release day. Looked lovely, but was very slippery, and very sluggish during set-up. It lasted an hour.  So, yes, the first one froze during set-up, the tech team couldn't sort it and sent a new one - which as I whinge-review, is just going back for a refund. The kindle app keeps freezing on non-Amazon-bought/borrowed books, and then the power button freezes and does nothing, and a hard restart becomes n...

4* Follow-up to book 1 gives answers right at the very end, and omg, does a great job of amping up the anticipation for book 3. So, the lead female character - I've forgotten her name - has her thinking still as skewed as in book 1, with her priorities being work  work, work, still, and not her about-to-be-born child that she's risking by working so much. She's still not likable but you feel for her when she discovers something about her missing fiancé and starts to think back on conversations cut short, telephone calls that had to be taken elsewhere, changes of plans, and her own lack of attention to him and their relationship, because, duh, job 🙄 Did she really know him at all? Is his disappearance a ruse? Fake? Is he dead? Was he party to some current pretty horrendous breaking news? Did he lie to her? Was it all planned? Yes, she gets some answers, and it costs her mentally and physically, and leaves the book on a cliffhanger. Separately, there's an excellently wov...

4* Best to reread book 1, as I was lost in thus at the start. Methinks there'll be a book 3, from this one's ending. So, first and foremost, I didn't like Laurie, the DCI, in book 1, and she wasn't much nicer here, but she did seem to be trying to help with her FIL with dementia, though he was a git. BUT, she didn't deserve the betrayal at the end. No one does. In my book, no pun intended, and in hers, you don't come back from that. Nuh uh. And that the other party still had her love, saddened me. What a secret to out.  Back to the tale - as good as book 1, but a little confusing too, as Sammie appears and disappears, and Laurie's dead sister's ghost, Isabel, appears, too. Or, at least Joe thought she did, Sammie did, and I did, but at the end, I couldn't fathom if it was his PTSD from book 1 manifesting itself.  The tale twists and turns and the baddie/s' reveals are kind of whodathunk. The motivations felt realistic, and there was another death...

4* Another good tale with Detective Elea Baker, that can be read as a standalone. It was about 2 chapters into the tale that I realised the female detective sounded familiar and went googling. I got clued in quite quickly and had no issues jumping into this storyline, although it's very different to book 1 and did require a bit of suspension of disbelief. I don't quite get the guest policing in the UK that allegedly happens so easily and smoothly in this book, but it was a decent read with a detective with good instincts, kickarse autonomy, confidence in her skills and abilities, and who's not afraid to take risks, break rules and make decisions that logical bureaucracy would have meant the opposite of. The killer is behind bars, isn't he? But, there's so much that's happening now that happened before he was captured, that they're not sure if he's got a copycat fan, an acolyte or if he's orchestrating things. Elea uses her wiles and her takes-no-pris...

4* Fine as a standalone, and a decent tale to boot. Don't you just love a book where those who've evaded justice through a name, money, power, threats, 'facilitators' and because they've bought local cops and judges, get their comeuppance? Well, that's what happens here, and it happens in a way that gives power and vindication to someone wronged. It happens as an aside to the main storyline, and it's hugely satisfying.  The storyline is kind of WTF because of the 3 days the missing girls have been gone, and because of the huge issue of optics and politics that results in TSTL decisions. Frankly the parents didn't deserve their kids, and I'd have loved to see this go to court - sadly, no chance of that - or to be a fly on the wall once debriefs are done.  The girls were decent, despite their parents. The mother found her backbone before it was irreparably late, and ditched her alcoholic crutch. The baddie/s in theory felt believable but didn't pan...