Review: Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case by Kristen Painter

Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case : A Nocturne Falls Mystery

Author: Kristen Painter
Publisher: Sugar Skull Books
Series: Jayne Frost #1
Pages: Kindle Edition, 217 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: March 8th 2016

Summary:

Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year.

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost’s daughter, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now…private investigator. Sort of.

Needing someone he can trust, her father sends her undercover to Nocturne Falls to find out why employees at the Santa’s Workshop toy store are going missing.

Doing that requires getting to know the town, which leads to interesting encounters with a sexy vampire, an old flame, and an elevator that’s strictly off-limits. The more Jayne finds out, the more questions she has, but the answers lead her deeper into danger.

Will her magic save her? Or will she come up cold?

Review:

Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case is a spin-off from the cute Nocturne Falls Series. It totally works on it's own, so it's a fun book to read even if you haven't read that series.
While it is set in Nocturne Falls, the world building being the same, this novel has a quite different feel. It has more a Agatha Christie does Urban Fantasy vibe than the PNR cuteness of Nocturne Falls.

I love the mystery part of this novel. I love Jayne's POV. The entire book is told from her POV. Jayne, though sent on a mission by the Winter King, her antics reminded me of a young Miss Marple at times. The story line was extremely fun, the mystery was good- made me, think hard and yet solvable if you pay good attention...Just like I said, a good the butler did it anyway kinda mystery a la Christie. Right down my alley.

This is like the Nocturne Fall series light on world building. Vampires are vampires ( they don't sparkle in the sun *snickers*), elfs, were-animal, gargoyles, witches and fae- all present and while Painter doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to the paranormal beings, she very cleverly makes this her own with amazing and imaginative details. I love the snowglobe for example, and the snowy cussing... But then if you have read Painter, you would come to expect that, just like I have. Still, it's an absolute pleasure to read.

Since I basically been reading nearly everything Painter publishes, I think it's safe to say I love her writing style. Jayne Frost #1 just cements why I love her writing. There are some really brilliant moments, amazing descriptions and a well paced story line

I like Jayne -mostly. And I love her relationship with Jack Frost, Buttercup and Juniper.
Painter did a stellar job at the world building when it comes to most of the support cast. We even get to see some of our beloved Nocturne Falls characters again...
Cooper is the all around golden boy and I really liked him. I like the big resolve when it comes to him, btw. I kinda suspected something like that, but it was interesting how Painter did it, though I do hope that Jayne will take it up, I am not sure I like how it was left.
Greyson for some reason reminded me of Jonny Depp, and even when Painter kept saying his style didn't look gordy but sexy- I kinda thought it did. LOL
Honestly I liked Greyson, would like to know more about him and think he is an interesting love interest.
BUT and there lies probably the biggest issue I had with this. I didn't see the chemistry between Jayne and her love interest. I mean she seemed too calculated. Too, I dunno... I just didn't see it.
While I loved the mystery and thankfully this is more a mystery than a romance, it had too much romance in it for me. Maybe because I personally didn't much enjoy the romance bits
This is mainly due to Jayne's behaviour. And while this doesn't have a love triangle per se. Jayne's dating life and at her at times calculation behaviour didn't lie well with me. Juts my personal preferences.
Don't misunderstand me.. I so wanna know how things are going to go for Jayne romantically. LOL

I am not so sure I was satisfied with the villains in this one. Well I was to a degree. I got some of the motives, but I didn't with others. (view spoiler)

Jayne is an interesting character, and I enjoyed taking this journey with her, it was interesting to see the changes in her and how she made friends - how much her life changes because of it all. Best part how she dealt with everything, embraced the changes and made it her own.

So I am looking forward to the next installment- I am wondering where Painter will be taking it, hope there will be more intriguing mysteries and some of my answers and the romance will be solved.



Rating: 

Review: Lawless & The Devile of Euston Square by William Sutton

Lawless & The Devile of Euston Square by William Sutton

Publisher: Exhibit A
Pages: 528 Pages (Paperback)
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Summary:

Murder. Vice. Pollution. Delays on the Tube. Some things never change…

London 1859-62. A time of great exhibitions, foreign conquests and underground trains. But the era of Victorian marvels is also the time of the Great Stink. With cholera and depravity never far from the headlines, it’s not only the sewers that smell bad.
Novice detective, Campbell Lawless, stumbles onto the trail of Berwick Skelton, an elusive revolutionary, seemingly determined to bring London to its knees through a series of devilish acts of terrorism.

But cast into a lethal, intoxicating world of music hall hoofers, industrial sabotage and royal scandal, will Lawless survive long enough to capture this underworld nemesis, before he unleashes his final vengeance on a society he wants wiped from the face of the Earth?

Lawless & The Devil of Euston Square is the first of a series of historical thrillers by William Sutton set during the mid-nineteenth century, featuring Metropolitan policeman, Campbell Lawless, aka the Watchman, on his rise through the ranks and his initiation as a spy.

Before Holmes, there was Lawless…

Before Campbell Lawless, the London streets weren’t safe to walk…

Rating: DNF

Review: 

I very very rarely don't finish a book
But after 4tries I still couldn't get into it!

So this will be a really short review.
The biggest issue for me was definitely the writing style. It's just really not to my liking. But on top of that the whole thing was extremely long wound and had so many details added it became rather complicated to keep the storyline in mind.
I do get what the author was trying to do. The fact that he tried to recreate that world and tried to portrait the society at that time. But somehow it got lost in too much and it felt like he was trying to hard.
Still there are aspects I did like, the whole entrepreneurial view of London at that point. The fact that the world was vastly changing thanks to visionary inventor and investors.
I was looking forward to something in the lines of Sherlock Holmes. I love novels written in that era. But this was nothing like a Holmes story and I felt I was drowned by too much world building.

I am not rating this, since I never got past the halfway mark. I found the different slangs impossible to understand. which made this beyond difficult to read. Add to that, the slow plot and that I didn't like the writing style. And this  was mission impossible for me


ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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ARC Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Publisher: Dutton Adult
Series: Age of X #1
Pages: 464 Pages (Hardcover)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Summary:

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

Rating:


Review:

I had pretty high expectations for this one. Mead is a really good writer and I love everything I read from her so far.  THIS actually did exceed my expectations. Gameboard of the Gods is rather different from Mead's usual paranormal adult and young adult books. I was taken aback how much Mead has honed her craft since her first Vampire Academy book. Don't get me wrong, I think they are good, but this is seriously good stuff. Even while reading Gameboard I took note of it, but once I finished and all came together it was undeniable. In my opinion this is one of Mead's best works.

Mead mixed sci-fi, dystopia, mythology and mystery to make up a fast paced intricate plot, that kept me guessing and hoping at once. It's a Mead book so its fast and kick-ass, just what I like about her. But at the same time, there is depth to it and it made me think for a bit after. The first half or so has quite a bit of technical terms in it, being a geek I really enjoyed them though.

The character building is superb, I think Mead has always been good at this probably my favorite part of her writing. I happily would read her books even if they would be totally character based. To my amazement she manages to improve with each piece she write on this aspect. And in Gameboard she came up with faceted intriguing and captivating characters. The two MC's Mae and Justin are flawed, likable and extremely different, at least on the surface. They have palpable chemistry and I loved seeing how their relationship evolved just as much as the two characters. The support characters though were extremely well written as well and I think they highlighted the different aspects of the MC's superbly. As example Justin's relationship with Tessa on the one end highlights how protected and naive she is (Justine being the opposite) but it also shows that Justin has a generous and sweet side to him.

The world building is incredible! Mead created a post-apocalyptic world made up with pieces of the  world we know today, old school mythology and great sci-fi. It's so well done that it is totally believable and more importantly it's fresh and exciting and unique. I just must say, I loved the ravens!

Mead's prose was always beautiful and really great, and she does deliver another well written book. While this is really different than her previous books, it still is recognizably her style.  Her descriptions of the characters feelings and their relationship with others left an impression on me, that stayed with me for days and made me think about it. Which in means that Gameboard of the Gods will probably made it into my favorite books and definitely is one of my favorite releases in 2013 so far.

My only minor criticism- the lusting for each other but cant have each other romance. It's kinda Mead's MO i guess and to be honest she does it so well, that I didn't mind too much.

Fabulous action scenes, well crafted mystery, fascinating world building and likable interesting character left me wanting more! I'm looking forward where Mead will take this exciting and fabulous new series.



ARC was provided by Publishers through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

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ARC Review: Peregrine Harker & The Black Death by Luck Hollands

Peregrin Harker & The Black Death by Luke Hollands

Publisher: Sparkling Books Ltd
Pages: 192 Pages (Paperback)
Genre: Young Adult
Release Date: June 3, 2013
Summary:

Peregrine Harker is about to learn you're never too young to die.

London 1908: A secret society stalks the murky streets, a deadly assassin lurks in the shadows and a series of unexplained deaths are linked by a mystery symbol…

When boy-detective Peregrine Harker stumbles across a gruesome murder he sparks a chain of events that drag him on a rip-roaring journey through a world of spluttering gas lamps, thick fog, deadly secrets and dastardly villains.

Every step of Peregrine’s white-knuckle adventure brings him closer to the vile heart of a terrifying mystery – the true story behind the Brotherhood of the Black Death.

Rating:


Review: 

This is a book for the boys. At least that's what I concluded at the end.
To be honest I just couldn't get into this one. At first I thought it might be my mood, so I read something else in between.. and when I came back to it, I still felt the same. So I kinda struggled through it.
See this is not really bad actually. Just not my cup of tea. The writing is kinda classic boy's adventure/fantasy. And I thought I liked those. But maybe not so much?
It's a bit silly and funny, fast paced and has every typical element a ya mystery/historical fiction usually boasts. All is there the undercover agent, bombs, fights, the big showdown and THE girl. Still I was always left feeling like something was missing.
I think my biggest issues were that Peregrine sounded way older- more like 30 or 40 at times not like a fifteen year old guy and I was hoping that there would be more plot or character development as it went on. But that never really happened. In fact both plot and characters felt more and more generic.

This felt more like one of those action spy movies to me and while I do watch those ones in a while, I think I don't wanna read books like that. Saying that though I also have to say that I am sure that many others will enjoy this more than me. As I say right in the beginning it think this one is one for the boys. The 15year old ones that secretly dream of being a undercover agent on dangerous missions and getting the girl at the end.



ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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