THE BROKEN TEAGLASS (Literary Mystery-Billy Webb/Mona Minot-unk loc-Contemp) – 1st book - Emily Arsenault In the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editors is editorial assistant Billy Webb, just out of college, struggling to stay awake and appear competent. But there are a few distractions. His intriguing coworker Mona Minot may or may not be flirting with him. And he’s starting to sense something suspicious going on beneath this company’s academic facade. Mona has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the quotations from it are far too long, twisting, and bizarre for any dictionary. They read like a confessional, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime. As Billy and Mona ransack the office files, a chilling story begins to emerge: a story about a lonely young woman, a long-unsolved mystery, a moment of shattering violence. And as they piece together its fragments, the puzzle begins to take on bigger personal meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine their notions of themselves and each other.
Charlotte – DNF – Even though she liked the subject and information on lexicography, she found the characters irritating and stopped. Christine – DNF – She originally liked the plot, but the story began to slow and by Chapter 10, she was done. The characters had very little personality and the story became boring to her. Linda S – VG – She like the descriptions of lexicography a lot and all the information related to it. The plot was not really believable but it was intriguing. She did enjoy the quirky humor. LJ – G+ - Learning how dictionaries are created was the most fascinating part of the book. The character of Billy seemed young for 24 and I became tired of all the alcohol. However, I did like that we did learn his history as the story went on. Mona was actually the strongest character and retiree Mr. Samuelson the most interesting. It’s more of a literary novel than a mystery, but I did quite enjoy it.
Group Rating Average: Okay
DJIBOUTI (Suspense-Dara Barr-Africa-Contemp) – Standalone – Elmore Leonard Dara Barr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, recently arrived in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa (the gateway to Islam . . . or the back door to the West) to film Somalian pirates in action. With her assistant, a 72-year-old sailor named Xavier, Dara, armed with a concealed spy camera, sets off onboard the Buster in search of pirates. She finds plenty, but she and Xavier also land in the middle of an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a tanker loaded with liquefied natural gas.
Charlotte – DNF – She felt the part on the pirates was interesting but the Dara and the cameraman were rather cold. She downloaded the sample and really wasn’t interested in reading more than that. Christine – DNF – Looking at the book, she expected it to be fabulous. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel any connection to the characters and the story bounced around. It was very choppy and she just couldn’t get into it. There was no flow to it. Linda F – DNF – She tried but just couldn’t get into it. Linda S – Good + - She read the book some time ago and then listened to it again last month. She liked the film crew characters and was interested in the topic. She also thought Leonard’s commentary about the current political events was interesting. She did like the two main characters a lot. Marcy G – DNF – Marcy took a cruise in that area when the pirates were active so she understood the threat and feeling of fear the passengers have. She has read Leonard before and liked him but here, there were too many characters and POV changes that didn’t make sense. She finally gave up.
Group Rating Average: Okay
A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY (Unl Invest-Stella Hardesty/Chrissy Shaw-Missouri-Contemp) – 2nd in series – Sophie Littlefield Stella Hardesty, avenger of wronged women, is getting cozy with Sheriff 'Goat' Jones when the tornado that is blazing a path of destruction through town blows his scheming ex-wife, Brandy, through the front door. Adding to the chaos, the tornado destroys the snack shack at the demolition derby track, pulling up the concrete and unearthing a woman's body. The main suspect for the dumping is Neb Donovan; he laid the foundations, and there's some pretty hard evidence pointing to him. Years ago, Neb's wife asked Stella for help getting him off oxycontin. Stella doesn't believe the gentle man could kill any woman, and she promises his frantic wife she'll look into it. Chrissy Shaw, now fully employed at Stella's sewing shop, helps with snooping around as Stella must negotiate the unpredictable Brandy and the alluring Sheriff.
Linda S – Good – After the group read book 1, she had read book 2 and was a bit disappointed. This book was better than #2. She really likes the character of Stella a lot and the plot was better here as well. Linda will probably keep reading the series to see where it is going. However, it almost seems as though the author wrote book 1 as a standalone as all the character growth and development happened in that book and now seem a bit stuck. She’s not sorry she read book 3, but the first book, “A Bad Day for Sorry”, was the best so far.
In the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editors is editorial assistant Billy Webb, just out of college, struggling to stay awake and appear competent. But there are a few distractions. His intriguing coworker Mona Minot may or may not be flirting with him. And he’s starting to sense something suspicious going on beneath this company’s academic facade. Mona has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the quotations from it are far too long, twisting, and bizarre for any dictionary. They read like a confessional, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime. As Billy and Mona ransack the office files, a chilling story begins to emerge: a story about a lonely young woman, a long-unsolved mystery, a moment of shattering violence. And as they piece together its fragments, the puzzle begins to take on bigger personal meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine their notions of themselves and each other.
Charlotte – DNF – Even though she liked the subject and information on lexicography, she found the characters irritating and stopped.
Christine – DNF – She originally liked the plot, but the story began to slow and by Chapter 10, she was done. The characters had very little personality and the story became boring to her.
Linda S – VG – She like the descriptions of lexicography a lot and all the information related to it. The plot was not really believable but it was intriguing. She did enjoy the quirky humor.
LJ – G+ - Learning how dictionaries are created was the most fascinating part of the book. The character of Billy seemed young for 24 and I became tired of all the alcohol. However, I did like that we did learn his history as the story went on. Mona was actually the strongest character and retiree Mr. Samuelson the most interesting. It’s more of a literary novel than a mystery, but I did quite enjoy it.
Group Rating Average: Okay
DJIBOUTI (Suspense-Dara Barr-Africa-Contemp) – Standalone – Elmore Leonard
Dara Barr is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, recently arrived in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa (the gateway to Islam . . . or the back door to the West) to film Somalian pirates in action. With her assistant, a 72-year-old sailor named Xavier, Dara, armed with a concealed spy camera, sets off onboard the Buster in search of pirates. She finds plenty, but she and Xavier also land in the middle of an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a tanker loaded with liquefied natural gas.
Charlotte – DNF – She felt the part on the pirates was interesting but the Dara and the cameraman were rather cold. She downloaded the sample and really wasn’t interested in reading more than that.
Christine – DNF – Looking at the book, she expected it to be fabulous. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel any connection to the characters and the story bounced around. It was very choppy and she just couldn’t get into it. There was no flow to it.
Linda F – DNF – She tried but just couldn’t get into it.
Linda S – Good + - She read the book some time ago and then listened to it again last month. She liked the film crew characters and was interested in the topic. She also thought Leonard’s commentary about the current political events was interesting. She did like the two main characters a lot.
Marcy G – DNF – Marcy took a cruise in that area when the pirates were active so she understood the threat and feeling of fear the passengers have. She has read Leonard before and liked him but here, there were too many characters and POV changes that didn’t make sense. She finally gave up.
Group Rating Average: Okay
A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY (Unl Invest-Stella Hardesty/Chrissy Shaw-Missouri-Contemp) – 2nd in series – Sophie Littlefield
Stella Hardesty, avenger of wronged women, is getting cozy with Sheriff 'Goat' Jones when the tornado that is blazing a path of destruction through town blows his scheming ex-wife, Brandy, through the front door. Adding to the chaos, the tornado destroys the snack shack at the demolition derby track, pulling up the concrete and unearthing a woman's body. The main suspect for the dumping is Neb Donovan; he laid the foundations, and there's some pretty hard evidence pointing to him. Years ago, Neb's wife asked Stella for help getting him off oxycontin. Stella doesn't believe the gentle man could kill any woman, and she promises his frantic wife she'll look into it. Chrissy Shaw, now fully employed at Stella's sewing shop, helps with snooping around as Stella must negotiate the unpredictable Brandy and the alluring Sheriff.
Linda S – Good – After the group read book 1, she had read book 2 and was a bit disappointed. This book was better than #2. She really likes the character of Stella a lot and the plot was better here as well. Linda will probably keep reading the series to see where it is going. However, it almost seems as though the author wrote book 1 as a standalone as all the character growth and development happened in that book and now seem a bit stuck. She’s not sorry she read book 3, but the first book, “A Bad Day for Sorry”, was the best so far.
Group Rating Average: Good