Beauty’s Beasts by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Review by Cynthia F. (frazerc)

This is an erotic ménage paranormal romance with all the trimmings: sex toys, a little bondage, a little anal and all the games that three people can play… Yeah, it’s that kind of book – so if that sort of stuff [and the language that goes along with it] bother you – stay away!

The heroine is Riley, a somewhat battered survivor of the foster care system, who is suddenly confronted by two men who claim to be there at the request of her parents, the parents she knows nothing about. Of course they aren’t really men but vampires who knew her parents – make that her killed-in-the-line-of-duty demon-hunting parents. Yeah, she’s shocked too. They coax her to New York with them with promises of information about her family. Their goal is to train her and have her help them kill the gargoyles that killed her parents.

Admittedly everybody has issues in this book: Riley with being left to the foster care system, Nicholas with his walls around his heart, and Damien who wants to heal the breach with Nicholas and perhaps for them all to be together… For an action based plot there’s a huge dose of relationship going on. There are definitely some hankie moments.

The sex scenes are well written, the relationships are intense, and the plot kept me going.  This is the second book in the Stonebrood series. I haven’t read the first one – Carson’s Night (only available as an ebook)  – which didn’t seem to be a problem.  All in all a good read-once.

The High Window by Raymond Chandler

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

In the third novel featuring LA PI Philip Marlowe, our series hero is hired by a mean old rich lady to recover a rare coin that was allegedly stolen by her daughter-in-law. Later a killing baffles everybody, since the person of interest didn’t even know the victim. A second killing makes no sense either. Readers like me will be relieved that the plot is not as convoluted as The Big Sleep or Farewell My Lovely. Rousing action is on the skimpy side. Nor does the private eye do much detecting. Chandler, always experimenting with language and going beyond the conventions of the mystery genre, focusses on setting, character and theme.

Marlowe’s investigations take him to locations ranging from ritzy to sleazy. On the first page, we get a sense of the tasteless consumption of Pasadenans in the boom years during WWII. The client’s mansion is decorated with “a stained glass window about the size of the tennis court.” We are then introduced to the mean old rich lady, with her “pewter-colored hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones.” No fault of Chandler’s that many writers imitated these dazzling expressions, too often not with as much literary taste.

The poor and middle-class characters don’t act better than they should either. Of a dubious dealer in old coins: an “elderly party in a dark grey suit with high lapels and too many buttons down the front… Fuzz grew out of his ears, far enough to catch a moth … a Hoover collar which no decent laundry would have allowed on the premises nudged his adam’s apple  and a black string tie poked a small hard knot out of the bottom of the collar, like a mouse getting ready to come out of a mousehole.”

Our hero Phil Marlowe is the only likeable character, although we readers are happy when in the scene we find Merle, a young secretary who has lost faith in herself. Her broken appeal is believable and moves the plot. Tough and resourceful, Marlowe can deal with all types of crook, such as the drunken stick-up artist Hench and the smooth villain Vannier. But Marlowe has a profound side too. He relaxes by doing chess problems. When he delivers Merle back to her parents back in Kansas he thinks, “I had a funny feeling … as though I had written a poem and it was very good and I had lost it and would never remember it again.”

Chandler brought serious themes to mysteries. In this one he examines the effect of power and coercion of human relations. For instance, his mean old client runs roughshod over her son and secretary and thus blights their lives for no discernible end. Chandler looks at the corrosive effects of infidelity on marriage. Marlowe’s sensitive relationship with the police is subtly and intelligently handled here than in most mysteries.

An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor

Review by Mirah W. (mwelday)

Almost two years ago my in-laws came for a visit and my MIL brought me a bag full of books.  Her sharing books with me all the time is just one of the many reasons she is an awesome MIL…and there’s no sarcasm intended here, she really is awesome. Anyway, I digress.  In the bag were about 15 books, several of which were part of the Irish Country Doctor series by Patrick Taylor.  I had never heard of the series but thought they seemed interesting.  So I put the bag of books next to the bookshelf with the best of intentions, things got busy, other books got read, and recently I rediscovered the bag and decided to give the first book of the series, An Irish Country Doctor, a try.

The story, set in the 1960s, reminds me of two of my favorite television shows: BBC’s Ballykissangel, which aired from 1996-2001, and the CW’s current hit Hart of Dixie. I know this may sound strange but hear me out.   I won’t provide in depth descriptions of both tv series here…you’ll just have to take my word for it or take the time to watch both series and judge for yourself.  Just as in Ballykissangel, the new doctor in Ballybucklebo (the novel’s rural Irish town) has to learn, and come to accept and/or tolerate, the way things are done there.  And just as in Hart of Dixie, the new doctor has to realize practicing medicine in a small town is different than the city; people want their doctors to do more than just heal and prescribe medicine and the role of the doctor takes on new dimensions. And the quirky characters of a small village in Ireland and a small town in Alabama are strangely, humorously similar.

So back to the book itself. Dr. Barry Laverty is recently out of medical school and looking to gain experience in the profession.  He is drawn to small Ballybucklebo and the opportunity to be an assistant at Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly’s practice.  In the beginning of An Irish Country Doctor, Dr. O’Reilly seems to be just a crotchety old doctor who is stuck in his ways.  Within a short period of time Dr. Laverty comes to see Dr. O’Reilly in a different light.  I won’t tell you what situations bring Dr. Laverty to this conclusion because that would just spoil things.

The quirky characters, funny doctor-patient visits, heartwarming moments, and bits of wisdom crafted by Taylor all come together to make this book an enjoyable retreat.  I look forward to visiting with the doctors again in the next installment of the series.  And I’m hoping my MIL may have some new books to share in the future; she has great taste.

The Castle Tower Lighthouse – Edgar Font’s Hunt for a House to Haunt, Adventure One

by Patrick H. T. Doyle

Review by Kelsey O.

Sir Edgar Fonts is an eccentric man. That is something that the reader discovers quickly. His two grandchildren, Garrett and Audrey, recall very little of their grandfather except that he always had fantastic stories to tell of his numerous adventures. Even that doesn’t excite them now that they have to spend the entire summer with him at his new home, The Sterling Oaks Retirement Village. To them it equals an entire summer of boredom with a lot of old people.

Upon arriving at the retirement home the witness their grandfather jumping off a balcony. And so begins a summer that they will never forget. Eccentric doesn’t begin to describe Edgar Fonts. He is not ready for the old people’s home yet and so he takes his grandchildren on a epic journey to discover the perfect house to haunt once he passes on. Their first stop is the Castle Tower Lighthouse where they discover there might not be room for Edgar here and instead they might just need to solve the mystery and save the soul that is trapped there.

Patrick H.T. Doyle has an imaginative mind and he uses that to engage the young readers with puzzles for them to solve. Being an explorer himself, the reader is able to pick up on his experience with each new page. This book could easily be enjoyed by readers of all ages and because of the fast-pace at which it is presented, it will hold the young readers attention and have them eagerly picking up the next installment, The Fakersville Power Station (which is next on my TBR pile).