The year is 1942, and Jack Delaney is working as a writer for the local radio station where weird things happen, like actors going missing and potential German spies hiding in plain sight.
What I Liked
The story starts off confused, and a hint of someone in trouble. Delaney has to escape a chain gang to help a woman he loves, even if she is already spoken for in his mind. And the trail leads to a radio station in a coastal town where he gets work. At that point, the story is three-fold — a mystery involving German spies, a love story of sorts, and him learning about the radio business as a writer. The radio business part is awesome.
What I Didn’t Like
The German mystery is confused and the love story doubly so. Most of it makes very little sense and is more “hinted at” than “made real”.
A blackout hits New Jersey and two kids try to figure out both how it happened and how to fix it.
What I Liked
The level is middle-grade and moves along at an okay pace. The cause of the blackout comes down to computers, and the solution is relatively straightforward without seeming too simplistic. Good interesting characters, for the most part.
What I Didn’t Like
There’s a plot hole in the solution — without revealing spoilers, the solution might fix homes and businesses but it wouldn’t have fixed the street lights, for instance — but it’s a small quibble. The real challenge is the level of exposition that is frequently dumped heavily into the story. Since they’re kids, they don’t know the “details” so everything they find out, they ask someone to explain it to them. At length. It really slows down the pace. The book tries to ramp it up a bit with a bit of suspense and violence, but they seem more amateurish than threatening.
The Bottom Line
Okay, but expect most middle-graders would find it slow.
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.
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.
Two men from the same hometown and in love with the same girl go off to war and become fighter pilots.
What I Liked
This movie was the first movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture — in 1929! — and so I wanted to see how it held up. Surprisingly well for a silent picture. I was totally blown away by how good the aerial combat shots were. I was expecting some hokey special effects, but for filming in the 1920s, they did a great job. The two men are Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen, and while they are okay, it is a secondary girl from back home (not a Juliet to two Romeos but a second Juliet in love with the main hero who doesn’t really notice her) who steals the picture. Clara Bow plays the rough-and-tumble second Juliet who goes to France, drives for the motor pool, and does a lot of support work. She’s brash, happy go lucky most of the time, and great at mooning towards the unsuspecting lovestruck hero.
What I Didn’t Like
There’s a twist in the tale that is a bit hard to believe that pits the two fighters against each other, and some of the ending is a bit sentimental, but for a first Oscar winner, it holds up.
