review

Dec 2013 7

Home For The Haunting By Juliet Blackwell: Review/Guest Post/Giveaway

2013 Articles, Cynthia Chow, Fantasy & Fangs, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Cynthia Chow
& Juliet Blackwell

In the spirit of goodwill, and a less-than-sober New Year’s resolution to be more charitable, has contractor Mel Turner volunteering to be “House Captain” for Neighbors Together, a charitable organization that renovates homes for the disabled and elderly. What this means is that poor Mel is not just wielding a hammer on an occasional Saturday, but is instead answering the endless nonsensical questions of earnest but extremely unqualified and very inexperienced volunteers.

Dec 2013 7

Second-Hand Stiff: An Odelia Grey Mystery By Sue Ann Jaffarian

2013 Articles, Cynthia Chow, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Cynthia Chow

It's "Storage Wars" in Long Beach for Odelia Grey during the post-Thanksgiving Monday that she spends with a little too much family. After only recently being reunited with the mother who had abandoned her when she was sixteen and discovering that Grace Littlejohn would go on to have entirely new family thirty years later, the news that they may unexpectedly be spending more time together is not entirely positive. When Odelia's security agent half-brother is called away on business before he can take Grace back to her home, Odelia tries to make the best of an uncomfortable situation even, though it has the two women accompanying another Thanksgiving relative to an auction for an abandoned storage unit.

Dec 2013 2

The Book Thief: Movie Review

2013 Articles, Movies, Terrance V. Mc Arthur

by Terrance Mc Arthur

Even though The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany, this isn’t really a war film. There are Allied bombing raids, and characters die, but there isn’t a lot of action for Spandex-superhero fans. It’s an intimate movie about people who are heroes in small ways, based on Markus Zusak’s popular YA book.

Nov 2013 23

A Basket of Trouble: A Claire Hanover Mystery By Beth Groundwater

2013 Articles, Cynthia Chow, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Cynthia Chow

Gift Basket designer Claire Hanover was hoping that the getaway to celebrate her brother's opening of his Gardner's Stables would be a successful venture, as well as a mending of the strained relationship between the siblings. After being forced to close his stable in Durango, Claire encouraged Charley Gardner to move to the more tourist-steady Colorado Springs area, where he and his wife Jessica would be able to operate commercial horse trail runs and even promote Jessica's non-profit hypnotherapy business that helps special needs children.

Nov 2013 23

Hurricane Hole By R.P. Dahlke

2013 Articles, Diana Hockley, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Diana Hockley

Leila Stanford, daytime “soap” actress, is awaiting the outcome of negotiations for renewal of her contract. She decides to take a sailing holiday on the boat belonging to her and sister, Kate. Leila’s mistake is to take family friend and fugitive from justice, the light-fingered Gabe Alexander along as crew, because now she can’t get rid of him! When they arrive at Puerto Felice, Leila tries to shed Gabe, but he is having none of it.

Nov 2013 16

Who Needs Enemies by Keri Arthur: Review/Interview/Giveaway

2013 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Lorie Lewis Ham, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Lorie Lewis Ham

Who Needs Enemies is the first book in a new series by fantasy author Keri Arthur. This one is my favorite kind of book, a combo mystery/fantasy and it is only available as an e-book.

Nov 2013 16

Catching Fire By Suzanne Collins

2013 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Teens

by Trista Holmes

In 2008, Suzanne Collins made us mere mortals think about civilization itself with her release of the inaugural book in The Hunger Games, a novel set in a post-apocalyptic society known as Panem.

Nov 2013 9

Heirs and Graces By Rhys Bowen: Review/Guest Post/Giveaway

2013 Articles, Mysteryrat's Maze, Sharon Tucker

by Sharon Tucker
& Rhys Bowen

Heirs and Graces is the seventh adventure with Lady Georgiana Rannoch, and as it begins both Georgina and the reader are sorely put upon. Georgiana’s insouciant, self-absorbed mother has decided that she should write her memoirs and that Georgiana is just the one to take dictation and transcribe the scandalous and duchy-toppling adventures as the former Duchess of Rannoch and Glengarry. How Georgina eludes this thankless task (and avoids becoming homeless as a result) requires the intervention of Queen Mary, Elizabeth II’s grandmother, in case you aren’t familiar with the series’ time frame.

Nov 2013 9

The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

2013 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Terrance V. Mc Arthur

by Terrance Mc Arthur

When she is losing everyone she loves, Leisel finds a book…and takes it. We all have to endure loss and we need to find a way of coping. Some people drink or use drugs. She becomes a book thief.

Nov 2013 4

Free Birds: Movie Review

2013 Articles, Movies, Sheryl Wall

by Sheryl Wall

I always look forward to the Christmas movies that come out every year in the Theater and to my surprise this year we got to enjoy a Thanksgiving movie called Free Birds. It is an animated story about Turkeys and how they don't want to be the main course for the holiday anymore.