Category Archives: Book Talk

Welcome to this week’s Book Talk!

Even though I tell myself I’m going to switch genres, I am still reading mysteries. Last week, I began reading Fiona McIntosh’s DCI Jack Hawksworth series. I finished the first book, Bye Bye Baby and I am currently reading the second book, Beautiful Death. I enjoyed Bye Bye Baby but it started off to a pretty slow beginning. Fortunately it picked up speed and I found it very difficult to put it down. I was concerned the same thing would happen with Beautiful Death but it has been quite captivating from the get go. I am a little over half way finished with it and I can’t wait to see where the storyline goes.

Since I am waiting on the 3rd book in the DCI Jack Hawksworth series to arrive in the mail, I am planning to read The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare next. After that, who knows? I might actually switch up genres!

Now it’s your turn. What have you been reading lately? Join the discussion by commenting below!

Welcome to this week’s Book Talk!

I am still reading mysteries. However, I’ve moved from Autralia to Shetland Island. I read the last three books of Ann Cleeves’ fabulous Shetland series. If you like a mystery with a truly atmospheric setting and a broody lead protagnotist, then you might want to give this series a shot. I also greatly enjoyed the brilliant British series Shetland. The scenery is breathtaking and the characters are wonderful.

The Australian mysteries I read last week: The Torrent by Dinuka McKenzie, Black River by Matthew Spencer, Daughters of Eve by Nina D. Campbell, and Margaret Hickey’s Cutter’s End and Stone Town.

This coming week, I’m going to begin reading Fiona McIntosh’s DCI Jack Hawksworth series.

Now it’s your turn. What have you been reading lately? Join the discussion by commenting below!

Are you a fan of series (I LOVE them)? Or are you someone that doesn’t care for them (please tell us what turns you off of them)? Or do you not feel strongly about them either way (let us know what draws you to or turns you away from a series)?

If you read series, do you prefer to start at the beginning? Or will you just jump in when you discover one? I prefer to start with the first book but I don’t hesitate to start a new series in the middle. If I like it enough, I will purchase the previous books too. If the books are only loosely connected, I don’t always read the entire series. Some books might interest me more than others so I tend to like reading a series that shares a common setting instead of interconnected storylines or characters.

My least favorite series are ones that end on cliffhangers and you have to wait for another book to release to find out what happens next. If I know ahead of time the first (or second) book leaves readers hanging, I’ll wait until the complete series is available before I begin reading it.

Comment below to join the conversation and share your opinion on book series. And if you’re currently reading a series, tell us about it!

The current series I am reading:

I have been reading Australian mysteries. The settings have varied between big cities and rural towns and while I’m partial to rural towns, I’ve enjoyed both settings.

The first book I read last week is Hayley Scrivenor’s debut Dirt Creek (read the description HERE). The mystery is pretty straight forward but the addition of chapters from the collective “we” adds an interesting perspective. The chapters switch between multiple points of view but the narrators have unique voices. The town’s residents have plenty of secrets and the mystery culminates with a shocking solution.

Now it’s your turn. What have you been reading lately? Join the discussion by commenting below!