Tag: The Agathas

Where Did My Books Take Me in May?

“Reading usually precedes writing. And the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.” – Susan Sontag

Why do you read?

I read for entertainment, and I read to escape.

I am a mood reader. I don’t do well with a to-be-read list. I won’t follow it. I read whatever I am in the mood to read at that moment. Luckily, I have a pretty big selection of books to choose from. I am trying to get more books read now that I am retired and have more time. I would like to start utilizing the Library more.

I had a productive reading month. The past few days I have kind of fizzled out but most of the month, I always had a book or two to read.

I read seven books in May. All were mysteries.

The Agathas by Karen Glasgow – I gave it 5 stars.

The Last Word by Taylor Adams – I gave it 5 stars.

Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart – I gave it 4 stars.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden – I gave it 4 stars.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake (Jane Lawless #19) – I gave it 3 stars.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St James – I gave it 4 stars.

K is for Killers by Sue Grafton – I gave it 3 stars.

The star rating here is mine. I’m not sure how others rate them. A three or above is good for me. A three could be a book I enjoyed but I doubt I would read again. Mainly because I have so many books to read.

A four means I really liked it and would probably read it again someday.

A five is the holy grail for me. If I rated, it a five it means I felt it could someday be a classic for readers in the future.

It also is how I felt at the time and that too could change if I chose to re-read it. I think it is similar to when you go back to your childhood home as an adult. Everything always looks smaller. Re-reading could be like that and I could wonder how I ever rated it the first time.

Everyone has different interests. I may have rated a book that you felt was a five star or a one star and I rated it three. That is okay. It’s all each reader’s own perspective.

How do you decide if a book is worth keeping or re-reading? Do you re-read or keep books?

If you want to see my full review of these books, just click on the dates in the May calendar on my blog and it will direct you to all my May 2023 book reviews.

Now to answer – where did I go in May?

For the Agatha’s it was Castle Cove, California. – I am guessing that is a fictional town.

The Last Word – was on the coast of Washington State

Rose Cottage – was Todhall, England. Even though there is a Todhall England, I thought I read somewhere where the author did make it a fictional one for the book. For this one, I also travelled back in time.

The Housemaid – was the Winchester Home. I don’t think I got what state this was located in. It is not the famous haunted Winchester Mansion in California.

The Lost Women of Lost Lake – was Minnesota.

Silence for the Dead – was Portis House – a mental hospital in England. I believe this was fictional. This too involved time travel for me, as a reader.

K is for Killer – Santa Teresa, California

Out of all these locations this month, I have actually travelled to California and Minnesota so it’s easier to imagine those settings. So those are the places I escaped to this month in books. Where did you go with your reading in May?

As of May 30th – My blog visitors for May came from the United States, Finland, United Kingdom, Poland, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Chezia.

So far, my most popular post for 2023 is still – What I Read in January with 107 views. Let’s see if we can break that record. I am doubting that will happen in May but there is hope for June. If you enjoy reading my blog and know other like-minded readers, please suggest your friends check it out, subscribe, and like. I would really appreciate it.

Do you have a book you think I need to read? Let me know in the comments. What are you reading in June?

Until next time – happy reading,

Virginia

A Young Adult Mystery Worth a Read

“Welcome to Castle Cove – A town cursed with missing girls, bad boyfriends, family secrets, and some very steep cliffs.”

I have had an exciting week of reading. Three books in one week. I will be fitting an extra post in this week to catch up. This is the first of the three books I completed.

I ventured into reading young adult fiction and it was worth it. This book has all the thrills and adventure of any adult mystery but with characters who are a little younger. If anything, their age made me more concerned about them confronting danger than I might have if the characters had been adults.

Summary:

Alice Olgivie is an only child of a wealthy couple who rarely stay home with her. She is being raised by a nanny. She is lonely and smart which doesn’t help when she is also fearless. Because of her loneliness, she has become an avid reader of the Agatha Christie novels. The beginning of each chapter starts with a quote from one of Christies novels.

Iris Adams comes from a home with only her mother parenting her. They live in an apartment complex and her mother works in a bar. Iris too spends a great deal of time alone but she does have a loving mother who she sees daily.

Iris is asked to mentor Alice to help her catch up with some of her classes. Alice’s boyfriend dumped her the previous year and Alice decided to disappear. She thought she was re-enacting an incident in her hero, Agatha Christie’s life who disappeared when her husband dumped her. Alice had a rude awakening when her best friend stole her boyfriend while she was gone. When that same friend is found dead Alice struggles with mixed feelings of both hating and mourning that friend. She and her ex-boyfriend quickly become prime suspects once Iris and Alice are able to convince the local police to actually investigate the friends death.

The two girls are not friends in the beginning. Who could become a friend with someone who is being paid to mentor you? Alice resented having a mentor while Iris resented Alice for having so much and screwing it up. Iris experienced envy when she first walked into the mansion Alice lived in until she noticed how alone Alice was rattling around in the huge empty space. Iris was able to push those feelings away when she focused on her goal of making enough money for her and her mother to escape their own bad situation in Castle Cove.

Both girls had their own group of friends. Alice’s friends dumped her though when she did her disappearing act because all of them had been investigated as suspects in Alice’s disappearance. Iris has a group of nerdy geek friends who do come in handy during their investigation but neither girl has a true best friend.

During the investigation the story points toward a handful of suspects, giving reasonable explanations as to why they might have done it. It kept me guessing right up to the end.

The rest of the story involves Alice and Iris investigating the friend’s death using techniques they picked up from Agatha Christie. They do solve the murder and become true friends.

Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were fun and their dialogue was perfect. I loved some of their attitude and dialogue reactions. Typical teenagers. I enjoyed their angst and watching them become more likeable human beings.

Both characters were well developed and felt like their own persons. Maybe because the book was co-written I am guessing that each author wrote in one character’s point of view.

Both girls were lonely and both needed a true friend. They found that in each other within this story. There were moments I worried about the situations they got themselves into but then I also celebrated their victories.

Interspersed between the story are text messages between the characters that really reflected that the characters were teenagers. It also cemented us into the timeframe of this story.

I think this is a fantastic read that sucked me in from the beginning. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. I gave this book 5 stars and plan to continue reading this series.

Title: The Agathas

First Published: May 3, 2022

Category: Mystery, Young Adult

Pages: 432

Rating: Goodreads: 3.96

Location: Castle Cove, CA

About the Authors:

Kathleen Glasgow is the author of the New York Times bestseller Girl in Pieces, How to Make Friends with the Dark, and You’d Be Home Now. She lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona.

Liz Lawson is the author of The Lucky Ones. She lives in Washington, DC with her family.

Coming Soon:

My next review will be coming up later this week for The Last Word by Taylor Adams. I hope to attend an on-line author event with him Tuesday evening. Hopefully that will give me a little more to share within his book review.

Happy Reading!

Virginia

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