Category Archives: Lilypad-Library

Books, blurbs, and bullrushes

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (2018) – BR00174 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 11 2020

Plot or Premise

A young girl who lives with her aunt and uncle is sent under mysterious circumstances to a resort hotel for Christmas break.

What I Liked

The story has a bit of a Harry Potter-esque feel to it at the start — things happening that seem magical, parents dead, not very nice relatives, and leaving on an adventure. The resort hotel is called Winterhouse and is an amazing place to hang out for a vacation. There’s another kid like her who enjoys puzzles, and she meets a few interesting characters who either live at the hotel or are other guests. The magical elements are “just right” (not too much, not too little).

What I Didn’t Like

I chose it as it is an Edgar Award nominee, and it was a bit disappointing that there are two plot inconsistencies, almost like no one did a continuity edit on the book for point of view. At one point, Elizabeth doesn’t know anything about what’s going on or why her aunt and uncle have “sent” her to Winterhouse, but then she later reveals that she overheard her aunt and uncle talking about it the previous week and she knew everything there was to know (someone else paid them to send her). In another spot, two characters are revealed as the schemers, but another character knew all about her arrival and some of her backstory, yet didn’t know the biggest piece which is the only reason he would know anything about her at all. Finally, if you have ever read a male-centric story and felt like the woman had nothing to do but be a damsel in distress, you’ll feel the same way seeing the other kid be completely irrelevant to the story. He adds a bit of Fifth Busines background info, as do some puzzle guys, but pretty lame. I am not sure the constant word puzzles add anything to the story; they didn’t for me, but were easily tolerated.

The Bottom Line

An okay book, will likely read the next two in the trilogy.

A Spy In The House by Y.S. Lee (2016) – BR00173 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
December 5 2019

Plot or Premise

An orphan in the mid-1800s is diverted from the gallows to a school for girls, gets her high school education, and graduates to become an operative for a special investigating Agency of women run by the heads of the school.

What I Liked

The story has a very strong “Anne Perry” historical fiction feel to it, but without the constant discussion of Jane Austen-style society. The mystery is solid, the characters are rich, and the investigator — Mary Quinn — is inexperienced, which shows in some of her actions. I didn’t guess the outcome, although I suspected some of it, and the hint of romance improves the flavour as it goes. She is more active than the Anne Perry-style heroines, and it shows as she breaks into various places.

What I Didn’t Like

Her age is a bit distracting as she is 17 passing for 20, which no one really believes.

The Bottom Line

Best mystery I have read all year.

The Burning Edge by Rick Mofina (2012) – BR00172 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
November 17 2019

Plot or Premise

A woman witnesses an armed robbery at a truck stop, and as the FBI closes in on the robbers, they worry that the woman saw too much.

What I Liked

The story is told from the perspective of four groups — Lisa, the woman who saw the robbers; Jack, a journalist digging for the story; the robbers themselves; and Frank, the FBI agent hunting them. The story jumps from person to person, which is great for seeing the different aspects of the investigation vs. home life. Short chapters, kind of Patterson-style, keep the action moving.

What I Didn’t Like

The short chapters seem a bit too jumpy in places, and the constant PoV shift isn’t even. The journalist is good, but the backstories for the witness and the FBI agent are overkill. Past losses, current illnesses, everything reads a bit more soap opera-ish than mystery novel. And the final motive for the robbery is ridiculous.

Disclosure

I am not personal friends with the author, but I have met him in person at a writers’ group meeting.

The Bottom Line

Well-written but superficial mystery plot.

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (2014) – BR00171 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 16 2019

Plot or Premise

After falling in love (book 1), and hiding in the past (book 2), Diana and Matthew return to the present to start a family and figure out what is in the Book of Life.

What I Liked

This third book recaptures some of the mystery from the first book and tackles head-on the issue of the lineage of demons, vampires and witches. Gone are the long, loving descriptions of places, and instead, there are multiple action scenes, broad moving parts across multiple continents, confrontations with the Congregation, and a reckoning for some wayward players. More importantly, you get to see Matthew and Diana weave all of it into a family. It even rectifies one of the glaring gaps from book 2 regarding a young boy named Jack.

What I Didn’t Like

The true villain of the trilogy is revealed, as is a hidden hero. But while the villain is vanquished, the hidden hero who is around for most of book 2 and is revealed in book 3 ends up disappearing near the end. It left a feeling of incompleteness, as did two other villains who are not really dealt with at all, except politically.

The Bottom Line

An action-packed but not completely satisfying ending

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (2014) – BR00170 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
November 14 2019

Plot or Premise

A witch and a vampire hide out in 1590 Europe while she learns to control her powers.

What I Liked

After timewalking from present day, Diana has to learn to live in Elizabethan England, adapt to the customs of the day, and attempt to blend in. Lots of historical figures pop in and out, friends of Matthew in the “School of Night”, and she feasts on the living history. But it is only when she is at Sept-Tours that the book really brings the same sense of place that the first book did. She learns about the nature of her witch powers from a coven, and her family grows in size, including a nephew named Gallowglass.

What I Didn’t Like

The sense of place that was so common in each of the locales in the first book is not as vivid, except in Sept-Tours with Philippe (Matthew’s father). In addition, the book drags on and on in places with hardly anything happening relative to the mystery of magic, rather than just politics of the day, yet there are two fairly important events regarding children that are practically ignored as commonplace (with seemingly no emotional impact at all). There are also major happenings that happen elsewhere in time, and you only hear about them as throwaway news, including the death of a significant character.

The Bottom Line

A slow middle book with no ending.